THE SECOND ACOLYTE READER
The Second Acolyte Reader, was published in June 1987 by The Acolyte Press, a publisher in Amsterdam recently founded by the American writer Frank Torey (1928-96) and dedicated exclusively to pederastic publications. It was the second of twelve volumes published over a decade when hopes for acceptance of Greek love had recently evaporated and it was coming under rapidly intensified persecution, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The stories in all the Acolyte Readers are by various authors, but they were all edited by Torey.
This article serves as both a synopsis and a review of the second volume’s content. The original list of contents is represented in brown.
Contents [list, synopsis and review]
A longer volume than any of its Panthology or Acolyte Reader predecessors, the trend of the series towards becoming mostly American is continued here, only two or three writers being otherwise. Of these, de Rast, has come up with one of the most appealing stories, though those wanting realism will much prefer the other, Australian Henderson’s autobiographical-sounding account of successful flirtation with a Greek boy artist. Bunda’s exquisite Toy Soldiers falls between these. However, I would probably award first prize to a newcomer, Louis Walter Woods. It is stated that he was a gifted writer turning his hand for the first time to the topic of pederasty, and, it is sad to report, it was apparently also for the last time. I wonder who he really was? The other stories (including that by the other newcomer, Frank Turner) are rather dull.
5 Dangerous Boys / Kevin Esser
14-year-old Mexican American Tino, secretly attracted to other boys, contemplates suicide until one day chance leads him unexpectedly into sex play with his best friend Steven, 12. PDF.
19 Timber Thieves / Peter de Rast
Melodramatic but enjoyable story with erotic interludes and with the same main characters as the author’s The King of Calcutta about an Anglo-Indian ashram-owner in Bengal who, along with his voluptuous boys, takes on the gangsters deforesting the area. Though over-the-top, the implied knowledge of local mores appears genuine. PDF.
47 The Great Kuddly Klub Plan / Louis Walter Woods
Keith, 29, is hopelessly enamoured of Kenny, a beautiful boy of 12 encountered in a supermarket in a neighbouring little town in New York State, and devises a cunning plan to get to know him, innocent until the end of the ability of Kenny and his cousin Tim to make their own devious plans. This is by far the longest story in the whole Panthology/Acolyte Reader series, so it is lucky that it is gripping and amusing. Though an escapist fantasy, the first half captures well the wild hopes and agonies anyone might experience trying to introduce himself into the life of a stranger he has fallen in love with. PDF.
89 The Boy Who Cried ‘Wolf!’ / Casimir Dukahz
A highly improbably story about a brief and purely sexual liaison between the author and a nasty boy of 13 in New York, redeemed by an amusing twist near the end. PDF.
99 Tres Flores / Hakim Bey
Three texts expounding the author’s “chaos” theory” (self- and sexual expression as a counterpoise to evil Authority), the first two of which capture beautifully boys’ longings for freedom and adventure, including sexual mystery. PDF.
107 Blackmail / Frank Turner
Apparently set in a British provincial town, an experienced 13-year-old met in a swimming-pool turns out to have ulterior motives. PDF.
121 Angelos / Bob Henderson
Like his story Pericles in the preceding volume and his novel Attic Adolescent, this tells of one of the loves of an Australian David in Greece who sounds like the author, the boy in this case being a beauty of 14 encountered on a bus going to a beach near Athens. PDF.
141 Scruples / Robert Campbell
A little sex and much banter about biblical doctrine on homosex between two boys of 15 in a Catholic boarding-school, one of whom alludes to sex he has had with men. Dull. PDF.
149 Toy Soldiers / Jared Bunda
A beautifully written and sensual account of a young man’s burgeoning love affair with Gabriel, a stunning boy of 14 he sights and steadily befriends at a seaside town in Maine. PDF.
175 Prelude to a Kiss / Louis A. Colantuono
Biff, a moody and stocky 15-year-old, and his best friend T.C., a sunny and tall 13-year-old, unexpectedly end up kissing on beach one night. Hardly Greek love.
Contributed by Edmund Marlowe, 6 October 2021.
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