Floridian Nights

by Lance Ringel

Overview

August, 1988 – the hottest summer in more than a century in New York, a city shadowed by the AIDS epidemic. Gary Gaines is 35 years old and three years past losing, in the most sudden, unexpected, terrible way, the love of his life, Becker Barnes. And then again, he is not past it at all. One night, to forget their mutual pain, Gary and his best friend Julia Stern, an even more recent widow, venture out to a funky East Village restaurant. There Gary meets, in the most unlikely circumstances, Rick Fennell, a 22-year-old waiter freshly moved from the Midwest. Despite the generation gap between them, a relationship slowly begins to develop. But Gary cannot bring himself to take Rick seriously, and his tight circle of family and friends, all of whom adored Becker, share his skepticism. Abruptly, circumstances cause Gary to decamp from New York to his parents’ home in Florida. As the days and nights pass, he is forced to face the consequences of his paralyzing grief, and make decisions about the future.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165110696
Publisher:	Lance Ringel
Publication date:	12/05/2021
Sold by:	Smashwords
Format:	eBook
File size:	554 KB

About the Author

A journalist and writer for nearly five decades, Lance Ringel has penned five novels and four plays. At Vassar College, where he has worked for 20 years, he served as principal writer for Vassar Voices, a staged reading honoring the college’s sesquicentennial. It debuted at Lincoln Center, starring Meryl Streep, Lisa Kudrow and Frances Sternhagen and subsequently toured America and London. Ringel also wrote the narrative for At Home in the World, a music-and-words collaboration directed by John Caird that played in Japan, the U.S., and Uganda. Ringel has had an impressive career in politics as well, serving as Assistant Commissioner of Human Rights under New York Governor Mario Cuomo. A native of central Illinois, Ringel currently resides in Poughkeepsie, New York, with his spouse of 44 years, actor-composer Chuck Muckle.

Editorial Reviews

"A rich, character-driven foray into a harrowing time. ... it feels like a brilliant stage play, as the verbal sparring smartly highlights queer culture and generational differences."

- Kirkus Reviews

"Floridian Nights is a deeply pleasurable read. Ringel creates flawed, complex and sympathetic characters we care about, one of whom is grappling with grief after his lover's horrific death. Set in New York City and Florida during the AIDS crisis, the book overflows with atmosphere, terrific dialogue, tenderness, and insight into the human heart. ... A flat-out wonderful book."

- Sebastian Stuart, author of The Hour Between,

winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction

"In this moving portrayal of the ebb and flow of grief, pain is drawn with sharp clarity, combining passionate recollections with uglier rifts."

- Foreword Reviews

"Lance Ringel's Floridian Nights is the tale of Gary, 35 and still struggling to cope with the sudden loss of his partner three years earlier, and Rick, an idealistic 22-year-old. Set in 1980s New York and Florida and told in an engaging, chatty voice, it is pitch-perfect and hugely entertaining."

- James Lovejoy, author of Joseph Chapman: My Molly Life,

winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Romance

From the Publisher