The Winter of Our Discotheque

Tony Alexamenos's life is forever changed when wealthy Dallas Eden, determined to mold Tony into a perfect addition to his ever-growing "harem," sends Tony to college, where he falls for his drama teacher--an infatuation that leads Tony to New York City where he becomes an overnight sensation and learns some valuable lessons in life and love. 10,000 first printing.

Rainbow beach bags will open wide to receive this campy first novel about an aging gay actor who takes a young man under his wing in the pre-AIDS 1970s. In South Beach Gulf, Florida, overweight movie and TV star Dallas Eden becomes so captivated by a beautiful boy working at a gas station that he kicks out Alessandro, his current live-in "inamorata," and takes the new boy in. An aimless surfer with a rocky childhood, Tony Alexamenos accepts the invitation to relocate to the exquisite mansion Dallas shares with his mother. Tony enjoys Dallas's distanced Svengali role and enrolls at Sanctuary College as a theater major, where he meets Connecticut, a closeted teacher. Their whirlwind romance moves them to Manhattan, where Tony gets cast in a production of Hair, but his relationship with Connecticut soon ends, and Dallas steps into the picture again, molding Tony into the hottest fashion model in town. Drugs and alcohol are predictably destructive influences and a bevy of princely characters orbit Tony's glitzy new world. Meanwhile, histrionic hijinks threaten Tony's career, Dallas suffers a heart attack and arsonists strike a gay bar, leaving Tony and fellow model Val seriously injured. But even that's not enough to disrupt the playful verve of this bouncy story, which is long on drama and short on significance but enthusiastically executed. National advertising. (Apr. 9)Forecast: The market for this type of book tends to be small and finicky, with sales driven by word of mouth. With its sexy yellow cover and clever title, it should succeed as a high-spirited, rousing addition to the genre.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.