The year we initially connected was 1994, and Sears, a professor at the University of South Carolina, had planned a fact-gathering trip through Florida. He called ahead, and on the appointed day rang my doorbell, hoping to come across material he could fit into a score of years between the 40s and the 60s, the time-frame he first needed to cover for the introductory volume of his contracted 5-volume history-series of the gay/ lesbian south, one that will eventually encompass events in the present day.

He'd heard about my early work as a southern activist and was waxing enthusiastic, examining every bit of material I could find him that might add to his growing stash.

I offered "Jim" my guest room on the ocean where he slept for four days in-between his long bouts of scholarly investigations. While I went about my daily routines, he thumbed through stacks of old newspaper clippings, gay press articles, personal letters, photographs, and out-of-print books. He looked to be having a good time, like a happy baby ringing a new rattler.

He read chapters from John Francis Hunter's The Gay Insider USA, (1972) from Kay Tobin & Randy Wicker's The Gay Crusaders, (197 from Richmond & Noguera's The New Gay Liberation Book (1979), and from Derek Miles' The Dirtiest Dozen, the first authoritative book about the most controversial newspapers, including the original GAY, ever to hit the newsstands.

I took time out with James Sears to fine-dine at a local Lebanese restaurant. Chatting as we drove there, trying to better understand as we talked how we each stood on various critical issues, I began to realize that this soft-spoken philosophical man, later to be named a Fulbright Scholar (1995), was, indeed, better than well-acquainted with sexual/ gender politics, racial politics, and, not surprisingly, Southern politics.

Although I'd purchased an earlier book he'd written, Growing Up Gay in the South, it had nowhere prepared me for what I suddenly began to see: that James T. Sears--modest almost to the point of humility--is, in fact, a scholar armed with the kind of prerequisite awareness one desperately hopes to encounter when the subject-matter for history is none other than one's self.

Initially, I had no inkling how he intended to handle my personal history. How much would my mountain of sifted material find its way finally into his new book? What I did sense at the beginning of Sears' research was that this history of mine, nevertheless, was going into the hands of a very insightful person. It seemed wise to trust him fully, and so that's what I did.

The result, I'm able to say, is now available in Lonely Hunters to anyone who cares about the early contributions of Southerners to lesbian/ gay culture. The fascinating stories that precede mine in this engaging tome only make me feel that much more greatful to be included.

The inner richness Sears brings to this monumental work extends far beyond his ability to get "just the facts, maam" in proper order. This latest history of his demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sears isn't just a random scholar, but is also a keen social artist whose writing style, described by the pretigeous Kirkus reviewers as "compelling" is also--as Kirkus says-- "presented with great emotional range...consistently engaging yet never historically simplistic."

Perhaps the most telling comment that Kirkus makes is that Sears has managed "a fine contribution to both southern history and gay history that shouldn't be overlooked by enthusiasts in either field."

David Mixner, a well-known political activist, author and gay newspaper publisher, christened Lonely Hunters "an important historical record that is long overdue." Mixner appreciates how Sears "captures not only the graceful and enriching stories of..the South," but, "the enormous courage of gays and lesbians who live daily in the face of adversity."

Other reviewers compare the offerings of Lonely Hunters--as story material--to the southern bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Evil. While both books are based on fact, Sears' book aims specifically at capturing the true-life growth of the South's amazing gay/lesbian experience.

The Hudson Review's brilliant art critic, John Loughery, believes that "what George Chauncey did for pre-war New York, James Sears has done for the postwar gay South," and he adds: "Lonely Hunters is hard to put down, and it's individual stories--both sad and heroic--are impossible to forget."

Jim Kepner, whose soon to be published, Rough News, Daring Views, establishes him as the living godfather of gay newsgathering, and the founder of ONE Institute's International Gay and Lesbian Archives, calls Lonely Hunters "invaluable," and offers his own reflections in a foreward to Sears' book.

Thus, it should be no surprise that Sears has recently been appointed acquisitions director for ONE's Southern Studies collection in the world's largest archives of gay and lesbian materials. This international archives, which will include Kepner's collection, is housed on the grounds of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

John O'Brien, executive director of ONE Institute says that Sears "is playing a major part in documenting" the South's gay history, and that he is the "Stud's Turkel of gay southern life."

The afterword in Lonely Hunters is an interview with the East Coast's Grand Mother of Lesbian and Gay Liberation, Barbara Gittings, who was (with Rep. Barney Frank) Co-Grand Marshall at this year's New York City Pride Parade. Having worked closely with the amazing Ms. Gittings in the 1960s, I now find myself mesmerized by everything she says.

Badpuppy.com, happily, and its Southern founder, Bill Pinyon, are also mentioned in Sears' introduction to Lonely Hunters. Thus does this history book promise its readers future up-to-date accounts, intending in later volumes to fly into cyberspace.

In this very same introduction I'm described as "a wide-eyed poet-anarchist,"a label Sears originated but with which, after careful reflection, I ultimately feel suits me to a tee. Fortunately, a friend noted, he doesn't call me a "wild-eyed " anarchist.

Though I'd previously known of only two books historian Sears had written or edited, I was to discover he's been responsible for a total of seven books. He also serves on the editorial boards of a vareity of journals, including The Journal of Homosexuality, the Journal of Sexual Identity, and the Journal of Qualitative Research in Education and the Journal of Educational Research.

The dust jacket on Dr. Sears' Lonely Hunters tells what his new book's about:

The history book contains, says the flap, "the real stories of gay men and lesbians who were raised in the social hiearchy of the South and who recall their coming of age when the status quo of American society as a whole was on the cusp of a great upheaval.

Sears boasts happily that Pat Roberston, the evil emperor of TV's 700 Club, and the power behind the so-called Christian Coalition, dubbed him "Satan in the university." This, because Sears taught a course on Christian fundamentalism that attracted national attention. It must have been a hoot.

James Sears lives near Charleston, South Carolina with his longtime companion, and his web page in cyberspace will provide information about his national speaking schedule which starts late this month in the Washington,D.C. area: http://www.jtsears.com