A Time Before Me Michael Holloway Perronne iUniverse Star ISBN: 978-1-58348-463-0 Fiction, Gay Romance Reviewed by Eugen M. Bacon

Michael Holloway Perronne has a sensitive style, and writes with an open, simplistic innocence that tugs the heart. From city twilight in a gloss cover, the story begins with protagonist Mace holding a bouquet of wilting flowers for unfindable Joey. Back in time, we learn about Billy Harris, a dashing sea-eyed blond who spikes Mace's passable life with prospect (following a beer-soaked kiss). Mace is undecided if the tête-à-tête is a one-off triggered by tipple froth and its devious persuasion, or whether there is more to it. Hard to tell, really, given that Billy falls asleep in drunken stupor and remembers none of it the next day. But Mace remembers. Everything. Indecision and choices: all is not surreal. Billy wants out of Mississippi before Mace can explore his new feelings. Before anything can settle, in comes Daniel, soooo gay, who drives like a 'whore escaping Easter service'. Mace needs the quiet and indulgence of Aunt Savannah's New Orleans retreat, where he might tackle head-on his 'coming out'. Chiefly thanks to Miss Althea, a black-assed drag queen with a blond church wig of curls, the position becomes more rational. As normality slips into Mace's awareness, so does Joey.

While dialogue could have been sharper, the writing tighter, A Time Before Me is an undemanding read that grasps potential dangers and obscurities of being “different”, of confronting society 'norm', and the novel astonished me with an ending on a high at a gratifying peak.

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