One thing leads to another.they have sex, even though Bob doesn't think it is a 'normal' thing to do. Jim Willard, a handsome young tennis player from Virginia in the late 1930s, takes a camping trip in the woods with his friend Bob Ford. Well, this one is iconic! Why? Because it is considered to be the first post-World War II novel to be sympathetic to its gay protagonist! Fellow writer, Anthony Slide considered it to be one of only four familiar gay novels of the first half of the 20th Century and it was ranked number 17 on a list of the best 100 gay and lesbian novels compiled by the Publishing Triangle in 1999. Another gay classic to add to any queer bookshelf. It is phenomenal how such a scarce writing style can still conjure up the strength of feeling that Lee feels as he falls deeper for Allerton. Not a read to hang wistfully on each sentence, but to be hit by the hard facts. Burrough's prose is not beautiful or flowing, but is very real, often colloquial, and honest in its bareness and frankness. They even journey through South America together in search of a famed drug, Yage. From here, he pursues a recently discharged American Navy serviceman called Allerton, who becomes the object of his affection. The semi-autobiographical story, said to represent Burrough's off heroin (unlike his other major work, Naked Lunch, where his narrator is very much using), follows American, Lee, who is living in an expatriate community in Mexico.

Nonetheless, it has been said that 'Burroughs helped make homosexuality seem cool and highbrow, providing gay liberation with a delicious edge'. Queer is a short novel by an author who isn't always recognised as a queer writer, despite the queer themes throughout his work.

Le Berceau by Julius Eks