Sunday, December 26, 2010

What the Queer JuBu Said

I'm giddy that he liked the book. But what's even cooler is that reading it spurred him to go on a search for other gay-Asian-supernatural-historic-revenge-reincarnation-romance fiction. Apparently there's more of it out there than you would think. I didn't even know it was a subgenre; I was just going on what the story of YU demanded that I write.
Mr. Horn does a fine service for readers of gay relationship fiction, and slips in a plug for his own story in this subgenre, which appeared in a 2006 anthology Charmed Lives: Gay Spirit in Storytelling. He says of that story,
"Musuko Dojoji was a retelling of a thousand year old Japanese folktale (Musume Dojoji) framed by a contemporary gay love story. The folktale is connected to the contemporary story by a reincarnation motif. I wrote this story out of love for my late boyfriend, Hiroshi Aoki, as a way of keeping his memory alive through our shared love of folktales and mysticism. It was one way of honoring our connection -- a connection I always felt was something that went beyond my limited understanding of reality."
Although, like some of you, I already have too many unread books on my shelves, side tables, and floor, I can see that there are a few more to be added, from the tempting gems Mr. Horn has found for us.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Heart of Recognition

Ever wondered just how the Buddhist lamas of the Himalayas search out and recognize reincarnated masters in chubby baby boys between 12 and 18 months old?

I just discovered a 2008 documentary film, "Unmistaken Child," which follows a young Nepalese monk as he searches and tests the possible reincarnation of his beloved master lama, whom the monk had attended for most of his life.

While the search, test, and recognition process is followed and revealed in a respectful, unobtrusive way, it is the monk's journey from heartbroken grief at his master's death, to hope and then joy at finding the child-form of his master, that is the most compelling part of this film. This young monk had been a boy when he began attending the elder lama, and wound up as the nurturing mother-father, "Big Uncle," to a bright two-year-old boy.