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30 Years Later, Gay Author Michael Nava Re-Imagines His 1st Mystery Novel

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“Little Death” Returns As “Lay Your Sleeping Head,” A Work Of Depth and Maturity

In a major LGBT literary event, 30 years after its original issue,  Michael Nava has published a revision–or more accurately, a re-imagining–of his first mystery novel, The Little Death. The new publication, entitled Lay Your Sleeping Head, is a mature novel that transcends the expectations of the mystery genre.

In the 1980s, Nava emerged as a leading practitioner of the gay mystery novel. In his acclaimed seven-novel series featuring Chicano lawyer Henry Rios — The Little Death (1986), Goldenboy (1988), How Town (1990), The Hidden Law (1992), The Death of Friends (1996), The Burning Plain (1997), and Rag and Bone (2001) — Nava established himself as a worthy successor to Joseph Hansen, who pioneered the gay mystery novel in the 1970s by presenting for the first time in the crime genre a rich variety of LGBT characters, unsensationally, as individuals with understandable desires, triumphs, and frustrations.

As Ted Pebworth has observed, Nava’s protagonist is conceived in the mold of the American hardboiled detective who stands outside society and, as a consequence, sees more clearly than most its corruption, injustice, and inequality.

Rios is doubly an outsider in all of the worlds in which he lives and works. First, he is a Chicano in an Anglo society and an Anglo-dominated profession. Although his brilliance as a criminal lawyer is widely recognized, he often feels uncomfortable with and condescended to by his clients and professional associates.

Second, he is a gay man, who faces homophobia both in his profession and in the Chicano society with which he identifies. Despised by his father for not being manly enough, and distrusted by other Chicanos because of his education, his profession, and what they perceive as his collaboration with the Anglo society at large, he is constantly aware of his difference, and of his failure to fit in.Â

Nava has explained his attraction to the mystery in terms of its function as a vehicle to explore his own “sense of ‘otherness’ and estrangement from mainstream culture — as a gay man in a straight world and a brown man in a white world.”

“In classic noir novels — by Chandler and Ross Macdonald, for example — you had an outsider hero who embodied the virtues the mainstream pretended to honor — loyalty, courage, ingenuity — but rarely demonstrated,” Nava has said. “This was the perfect setting for a queer Latino lawyer struggling to do the right thing in a hostile world. That’s why I wrote mysteries, not because I set out to be a mystery writer.”

A man who is obsessed with his work, often at the expense of his personal relationships, Rios is a relentless defender of outsiders who are otherwise defenseless, most of them young gay men who are victims of a homophobic or exploitative society. In the process of defending them, he proves himself a tenacious and insightful detective.

The seven novels are more than puzzles to be unraveled. Indeed, the novels are less plot-driven than character-driven. What sets them — especially the last five — apart from much detective fiction, in addition to their highly textured and allusive prose, is the depth with which Nava probes character and motivation.

In the series, Rios is gradually revealed to be more complex and more introspective than most fictional detectives, and his internal struggles and his often tortured relationships with others provide the major interest of the books and lift them above their formulaic genre. As Christopher Bram has observed, the series develops into “a large-scale moral portrait of one man’s life over fifteen years.”

In the course of the series, Nava grew from a competent mystery novelist to a writer of unusual insight.

And over the course of the series, Rios develops in convincing yet unpredictable ways. In Pebworth’s summary, he “moves from the Bay Area to Los Angeles; suffers from occupational burnout; succumbs to and eventually overcomes alcoholism; falls in love with a young man who is HIV-positive and subsequently loses him to AIDS; suffers a heart attack; slowly comes to terms with his homosexuality, his abusive father, his neglectful mother, and his emotionally distant lesbian sister; is nominated to a judgeship; and finally establishes an unusual but potentially nurturing family within his Chicano culture.”

As Garth Greenwell has noted, what comes to the fore in the later novels “are Rios’s relationships with his family and the queer and Latino communities, and with the horror wrought by AIDS and by the hatred of gay people that prevented an effective response to the epidemic.”Â

Nava’s decision to abandon the Rios series in 2001 was deeply disappointing to many. Hence, his return to the series with Lay Your Sleeping Head is a cause for celebration.

The Little Death, the first novel in the series, was initially envisioned as a “one-off” experiment rather than as the beginning of a series. It is an accomplished first-novel that tells an interesting story and introduces intriguing characters; but it lacks the complexity and depth that becomes apparent in the third volume of the series, How Town, and which also distinguish the final four.

In a recent interview, Nava explained that he undertook the revision of The Little Death for two reasons: “One, I’m a much better writer now than I was at 25 when I started writing that book and two, having written a series of books — which I hadn’t planned to do at the beginning — I now had a better idea of Rios’s character and motivations and what would become of him. So I treated the published book as a first draft of the first chapter of a single novel in seven parts.”

He added: “The revised work was so different, I thought it deserved a new title to signal that it is a very different version of the story.”

The new title is the first line of W.H. Auden’s “Lullaby,” one of the greatest love poems of the twentieth century. Naming the novel with a literary allusion brings it into conformity with Nava’s practice in other novels of the Rios series, whose titles allude to poems by cummings, Dante, Auden, Cavafy, and Homer. The allusions enrich the texts and place them in significant literary contexts. Nava’s allusions, both in the titles and within the novels, though subtle and unobtrusive, are nearly always meaningful, and they add to the moral seriousness of the works.

The allusion to “Lullaby” is particularly important because Auden’s poem places the relationship it celebrates in a context of mutability and decay that poignantly underlines the fragility of a love endangered from within by shame, promiscuity, and betrayal, and from without by the disapproval of homophobes — the “pedantic boring cry” of “fashionable madmen.” The speaker of the poem, as he cradles his lover’s head “Human on my faithless arm,” describes him as “Mortal, guilty, but to me / The entirely beautiful,” words that Henry Rios could also apply to Hugh Paris, the man whose murder propels the plot of Lay Your Sleeping Head.

Among the most significant re-imaginations of the original novel is the fuller development of Rios’s relationship with Paris and, after his death, with another young man, Grant Hancock. In the new work, the relationships are more convincing and more layered than in the original, where they functioned primarily as plot devices.

This development involves a greater introspectiveness on the part of Rios, and also includes the addition of explicit sex scenes. Although the explicitness of these scenes may be disconcerting to aficionados of the mystery, a genre that generally avoids sex scenes altogether,  they are justified by their illumination of characters and relationships.

The re-imagination of the original novel also includes a fuller sense of its setting in the early 1980s, especially a more acute awareness of the events of the era that threatened LGBT people. There is, for example, a recounting of the White Night Riots of 1979, the riots that occurred when Dan White, the murderer of gay City Supervisor Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, was sentenced to less than eight years of prison. There is also an allusion to the first reports of the “gay cancer” that was subsequently named AIDS.

The gay characters in the re-imagined novel feel deeply the precariousness of their careers and lives in a society in which they have few legal protections.

Since the publication of the original novel, LGBT people and Hispanics have made significant progress toward acceptance in mainstream American society. Hence, it is important to be reminded of the difficulties both groups faced in the 1980s. Lay Your Sleeping Head is, after all, a historical novel as well as a mystery.

Nava’s re-imagining of The Little Death also entails some clarification of various plot points, tying up some loose ends,  and expanding the scope of inquiry from solving a mystery to probing philosophical questions as well as personal relationships.

The major thematic difference between The Little Death and the new work is the latter’s emphasis on inequality in all its forms. All great fortunes are built on the backs of others, Rios realizes, as he explores the source of the great railroad fortune at the heart of the mystery, which was built in part upon the exploitation and sacrifices of Chinese workers.

As with other explorations in Lay Your Sleeping Head, the issue of inequality is more complex and multi-faceted than it might at first appear.

Lay Your Sleeping Head is published by Kórima Press, an independent publisher committed to Queer Ch/Xicana and Ch/Xicano literary art. The volume, which may be purchased here contains, in addition to the novel, a fascinating Afterword entitled “The Making of Henry Rios.” In the Afterword, Nava discusses the origins of the Rios novels and their autobiographical elements, and, among other topics, his relationships with Joseph Hansen and the publisher Sasha Alyson.

Michael Nava is author not only of the Rios novels, six of which won Lambda Literary Awards, but also of the acclaimed historical novel, City of Palaces (2014), which is set in the years before and during the Mexican Revolution of 1910.Â

City of Palaces is published by the University of Wisconsin Press. It was a finalist for the 2014 Lambda Literary Award for best gay novel and won the 2014 International Latino Literary Award for best novel.

In the video below, Nava reads from and discusses City of Palaces at UCLA.

 

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‘Repercussions’: Democrats and Republicans Stand Against ‘Pro-Putin’ House GOP Faction

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April 18, 2024

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Some House Democrats and House Republicans are coming together toward a common opponent: far-right “pro-Putin” hardliners in the House Republican conference, who appear to be led by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

Congresswoman Greene has been threatening to oust the Republican Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Last month she filed a “motion to vacate the chair.” If she chooses to call it up she could force a vote on the House floor to try to remove Speaker Johnson.

House Democrats say they are willing to vote against ousting Johnson, as long as the Speaker puts on the floor desperately needed and long-awaited legislation to fund aid to Ukraine and Israel. Johnson has refused to put the Ukraine aid bill on the floor for months, but after Iran attacked Israel Johnson switched gears. Almost all Democrats and a seemingly large number of Republicans want to pass the Ukraine and Israel aid packages.

RELATED: Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

Forgoing the possibility of installing Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker, which is conceivable given Johnson’s now one-vote majority, Democrats say if Johnson does the right thing, they will throw him their support.

“I think he’ll be in good shape,” to get Democrats to support him, if he puts the Ukraine aid bill on the floor, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) told CNN Thursday. “I would say that there’s a lot of support for the underlying bills. I think those are vital.”

“If these bills were delivered favorably, and the aid was favorably voted upon, and Marjorie Taylor Greene went up there with a motion to remove him, for instance, I think there’s gonna be a lot of Democrats that move to kill that motion,” Congressman Krishnamoorthi said. “They don’t want to see him getting punished for doing the right thing.”

“I think it is a very bad policy of the House to allow one individual such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, who is an arsonist to this House of Representatives,” U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) told CBS News’ Scott MacFarlane, when asked about intervening to save Johnson. He added he doesn’t want her “to have so much influence.”

U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, one of several Republicans who won their New York districts in 2022, districts that were previously held by Democrats, opposes Greene’s motion to vacate – although he praised the Georgia GOP congresswoman.

CNN’s Manu Raju reports Republicans “say it’s time to marginalize hardliners blocking [their] agenda.”

D’Esposito, speaking to Raju, called for “repercussions for those who completely alienate the will of the conference. The people gave us the majority because they wanted Republicans to govern.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, like D’Esposito is another New York Republican who won a previously Democratic seat in 2022. Lawler spoke out against the co-sponsor of Greene’s motion to vacate, U.S. Rep. Tim Massie (R-KY), along with two other House Republicans who are working to block the Ukraine aid bill via their powerful seats on the Rules Committee.

U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a former Navy pilot, blasted Congresswoman Greene.

RELATED: ‘They Want Russia to Win So Badly’: GOP Congressman Blasts Far-Right House Republicans

“Time is of the essence” for Ukraine, Rep. Sherrill told CNN Wednesday night. “The least we can do is support our Democratic allies, especially given what we know Putin to do. To watch a report and to think there are people like Marjorie Taylor Greene on the right that are pro-Putin? That are pro-Russia? It is really shocking.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), as NCRM reported Thursday, had denounced Greene.

“I guess their reasoning is they want Russia to win so badly that they want to oust the Speaker over it,” he said, referring to the Ukraine aid bill Greene and her cohorts want to tank. “I mean that’s a strange position to take.”

The far-right hardliners are also causing chaos in the House.

“Things just got very heated on the House floor,” NBC News’ Julie Tsirkin reported earlier Thursday. “Group of hardliners were trying to pressure Johnson to only put Israel aid on the floor and hold Ukraine aid until the Senate passed HR2.”

HR2 is the House Republicans’ extremist anti-immigrant legislation that has n o chance of passage in the Senate nor would it be signed into law by President Biden.

“Johnson said he couldn’t do it, and [U.S. Rep. Derrick] Van Orden,” a far-right Republican from Wisconsin “called him ‘tubby’ and vowed to bring on the MTV [Motion to Vacate.]”

“No one in the group (Gaetz, Boebert, Burchett, Higgins, Donalds et al.) were threatening Johnson with an MTV,” Tsirkin added. “Van Orden seemed to escalate things dramatically…”

Despite Greene’s pro-Putin and anti-Ukraine positions, her falsehoods about “Ukrainian Nazis,” and Russians not slaughtering Ukrainian clergy, reporters continue to “swarm”:

Watch the videos above or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

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‘They Want Russia to Win So Badly’: GOP Congressman Blasts Far-Right House Republicans

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15 hours ago

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April 18, 2024

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A sitting Republican Congressman is harshly criticizing far-right House Republicans over their apparent support of Russia.

“I guess their reasoning is they want Russia to win so badly that they want to oust the Speaker over it. I mean that’s a strange position to take,” U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a three-term Texas Republican rated a hard-core conservative told CNN’s Manu Raju, in video posted Thursday. “I think they want to be in the minority too. I think that’s an obvious reality.”

Congressman Crenshaw was referring to the movement led by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), now joined by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), over the Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s decision to finally put legislation on the floor to provide funding to Ukraine to support that sovereign nation in its fight against Russia.

“I’m still trying to process all the b*llsh*t,” Crenshaw added.

Crenshaw on Thursday also commented on Speaker Johnson’s remarks, stating he will hold the Ukraine funding vote regardless of attempts to oust him over it.

“To be clear, he’s being threatened for even allowing a vote to come to the floor. For allowing the constitutional process to play out as intended by our Founders. That’s a wild thing to consider, especially when his enemies consider themselves ‘conservative.’ Not conserving the painstaking constitutional process our Founders created, that’s for sure. Conserving Putin’s gains on the battlefield, more like it.”

Journalist Brian Beutler, a former editor-in-chief at Crooked Media, called it, “darkly funny to me that a pincer movement of MAGAns and leftists mock liberals for claiming the GOP works hand in glove with Russia, and then multiple conservative Republican dissenters are like ‘no it’s true, we’re lousy with Russian influence.'”

Watch Crenshaw’s remarks below or at this link.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene, ‘Putin’s Envoy’? Democrat’s Bills Mock Republican’s Actions

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‘Afraid and Intimidated’: Trump Trial Juror Targeted by Fox News Dismissed

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19 hours ago

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April 18, 2024

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One of seven jurors selected to serve on the New York criminal trial of Donald Trump has been dismissed after telling the judge she became concerned about her ability to remain impartial. That concern came after too many identifying details about potential jurors this week were reported by the press, leading the judge to admonish the media Thursday morning.

“Although the jurors’ names are being kept confidential, the woman, a nurse, ‘conveyed that after sleeping on it overnight she had concerns about her ability to be fair and impartial in this case,’ New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan said before calling her into the room for questioning,” the Associated Press reports. “The woman said her family members and friends were questioning her about being a juror.”

Judge Merchan, after he had questioned the juror, chastised the media, specifically directing reporters to “abide by common sense” and not report jurors’ identifying information, as some in the press had done as soon as jury selection began.

“As evidenced by what’s happened already, it’s become a problem,” Judge Merchan said.

“We just lost what probably would have been a very good juror,” he noted. “She said she was afraid and intimidated by the press, all the press.”

RELATED: ‘Big Journalism Fail’: Mainstream Media Blasted Over Coverage of Historic Trump Trial

Alexander Panetta of Canada’s CBC News adds, “Merchan wants changes in the juror info that gets out to the public. He says jurors’ employer name will be redacted from court records.”

But he also reports the now-excused juror “says family and friends [said] that she had been easy to identify, based on publicly available info about her from the court. She said she definitely has concerns now.”

Merchan also “lamented that media reported another juror has an Irish accent. He asked media in the room to be more careful.”

Responding to the loss of the juror, The Atlantic’s David Drum remarked, “[Trump] juror intimidation gets results.”

The dismissed juror had been targeted by Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Tuesday (video below).

“I’m not so sure about Juror No. 2,” Watters told Fox News views.

Trump on Wednesday, appearing to violate his gag order, had targeted the jurors.

READ MORE: ‘Stop Bringing Up Nazis and Hitler’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Smacked Down by Democrats

Former state and federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski, the editor-in-chief of MeidasTouch Network, commented, “Fox & Trump are coordinating to intimidate jurors.”

Mediate reported, “Donald Trump appeared to violate the gag order set forth by Judge Juan Merchan.”

“On Wednesday, Trump took to Truth Social and quoted comments made about potential jurors by Fox News host Jesse Watters on The Five Wednesday night.”

Trump quoted Watters, posting: “They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

“That post appears to be in direct violation of Merchan’s gag order, a reality highlighted by JustSecurity’s Ryan Goodman,” Mediate added.

On Wednesday Watters had gone even further and presented biographical and identifying details of all seven jurors. That video is currently at the top of a pinned post on the Fox News website.

READ MORE: Fox Personality’s Tweet Called ‘Jury Tampering’ by US Congressman

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