An Arrow's Flight

The three-thousand-year-old story of the Trojan War and the adventures of Phyrrus, the gay son of Achilles, is set against a modern backdrop in a novel that explores the complexities of gay history and identity. 20,000 first printing. Tour.

In a boldly conceived narrative of uncommon artistry, the author of American Studies succeeds in making the implausible not only plausible but probable as he wryly juxtaposes contemporary icons and lingo with long-familiar schoolbook characters. Bringing to vivid life in the late 20th century figures from Greek mythology, Merlis tells the story of Achilles' gay 21-year-old son, Pyrrhus, and how he comes to embrace a destiny that takes him far beyond the urban gay ghetto?and the half-hearted "job" of dancing nude and hustling?that he's resigned himself to. One-quarter divine, Pyrrhus not only possesses extraordinary beauty and the world's most lustrous red hair, but his sense of himself is unflappable in the face of mere mortals whose truncated imaginations can't fathom gay love. Themes of destiny, the quest for personal truth, the nature of love and desire, even the very contemporary issue of gays in the military are explored in spectacularly imaginative style. In addition to his deft use of language and narrative technique, Merlis's insight into human nature?the nature of gay men in particular?and his ability to find and articulate grace in the ordinary process of human exchange is remarkable. Among the many books written about AIDS and the gay experience, Merlis's novel is a stunning standout.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A second novel from the author of American Studies (1994) retells the legend of Neoptolemus and Philocetes as a tale of contemporary gay life. Merlis transforms Neoptolemus into an eager 21-year-old ``hemidemigod'' who goes by the name of Phyrrus in the unnamed city where hes living when the story begins, its hero waiting tables and then drifting into the life of a hustler before ending up as a much sought-after stripper. Eventually, the young man is discovered by the eunuch who has been the family retainer for three generations and is encouraged to join Odysseus in one last assault on Troy: the oracles, it seems, have decreed that Troy cant fall to the Greeks except with Achilles' son at their head. What Phyrrus doesn't yet know is that in order for the Greeks to win they also need the magic bow of Philoctetes. Once on the gay island resort of Lemnos, Phyrrus begins the work of seducing the older man into giving up his famed weapon, only to find himself unable to carry through on the betrayal. Inspired perhaps by Christopher Logue's reimagined Homer, Merlis tells his story in modern dress, with bars and air-conditioning, battleships and airplanes, and, most tellingly, with Philoctetes dreadful wound now a surprisingly effective AIDS metaphor. This is a strange book, at once ingeniously worked out (sometimes almost too ingeniously) and yet oddly rambling, cleverly written (to a fault), and a bit chilly (until its denouement). Merlis is caustic, ruminative, sardonic; at times his characters seem to be auditioning for a sophisticated off-Broadway revue. In its last fifty pages, though, the story builds to a genuinely moving climax. One of a kind, for sure, and more rewarding than not in its wit and thoughtfulness. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Picture Achilles disguised as a auto mechanic, who "could get into polishing armor and stuff" but who thinks "rotating strangers' tires [gets] old pretty quickly." In this audacious retelling of the fall of Troy, Merlis (American Studies, LJ 8/94) constantly plays with the combination of ancient and modern, referring to television and the Vietnam War in the same sentences that mention sacrifices to the gods. The sharp and slyly witty narration consistently offers surprises. The thoroughly modern hero, Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles and a "hemidemigod," dreams of life in the "City," a gay mecca that could just as easily be 20th-century San Francisco as ancient Athens. He first appears dancing naked on a bar, making his living as a hustler and go-go boy. The story of his transformation as he is recruited to go to war and redefine himself is compelling and original, offering insights into modern gay life and identity. Highly recommended for all collections.?Daniel Starr, Museum of Modern Art Lib., New York
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Merlis' American Studies (1994) won a couple of awards, and its successor is another winning work, an updated, alternative revision of the Iliad. Achilles' son, bar-dancing Phyrrus, is a restless young gay stud, hustling, waiting tables, and sitting around in his briefs watching TV in between, much to the discomfort of his roommate, the conservative Leucon. Phoenix, a eunuch retainer who has served the warriors in his family for years, comes to fetch the young man off to war and fulfill his prophesied destiny as the one who will claim victory. Not surprisingly, our hero is less than thrilled about giving up his soft lifestyle and urban depravity. But the dance job's coming to an end, and destiny is, after all, destiny in this smoothly written novel that so seamlessly merges the ancient and the contemporary that we never give a thought to anachronism. Merlis' craft and imagination will have readers gay and straight panting for more. Whitney Scott