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Any Kind of Luck by William Jack Sibley; Kensington Books, 274 pages; $23.00.
As the comic story of an urban clone's return to the Lone Star State and his dysfunctional family, Any Kind of Luck will remind some readers of Sordid Lives, a film that is currently making the art-house circuit. But any similarity between the book and the movie is strictly coincidental. Like his protagonist, "hand model" Clu Latimore, the Texas-born Sibley recently returned to his home town - in Sibley's case Christine, Texas (population 368) -- after living the gay life in New York for eight years. In Any Kind of Luck the catalyst that propels Clu back to Grit, Texas is the impending death of Clu's mother, Bettie Jean. No sooner does Clu and his lover Chris move in with Mom and her award-winning Chihuahuas than Sibley introduces us to a cast of eccentric characters that make Any Kind of Luck a reader's delight: redneck brother Jaston, pregnant sister Laine, the reverend Brother Ramirez - whom Bettie Jean plans to marry - and local muscle hunk Preston, who naturally threatens the relationship between Clu and Chris. "Can two Chelsea boys survive life in rural Texas?," asks the blurb, and Any Kind of Luck takes its time giving us the answer. We are also treated to such "typical" aspects of Texas country life as tent revival meetings, fire ants, nude hot tub parties, and a country-western, musical production of Agamemnon, which Clu directs at the request of Miss Oveta Canfield, "Grit's answer to Brooke Astor".
On the other hand, it would be unfair to let reality get in the way of our enjoyment of Any Kind of Luck. In addition to populating his book with delightful characters, Sibley has given it a captivating plot and sparkling dialogue. This is not a serious novel, nor is it a great one: the Publishing Triangle and the Lambda Literary Foundation are sure to pass it by. On the other hand, if you want some good escapist fiction - and we sure can use some these days - you can't do any better than Any Kind of Luck. Finally, as we laugh along with the misadventures of Clu and his friends, this book teaches us some valuable lessons about family, friendship, our hometown and ourselves. Any Kind of Luck is the kind of book that proves Thomas Wolfe wrong. San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets, edited by David Meltzer; City Lights; 379 pages; $19.95.
Though many consider the Renaissance to be a mere adjunct of the Beat Generation, in fact the San Francisco poets had been publishing books and making waves since the 1930's; long before William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac ever wrote a single word. In San Francisco Beat - published by Ferlinghetti's City Lights Publisher - Meltzer reprised his five original interviews, updated them, and added "new" interviews with other San Francisco poets: Diane Di Prima, Jack Hirschman, Joanne Kyger, Philip Lamantia, Jack Micheline, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Meltzer himself. The end result is an oral history of the San Francisco Renaissance that is as readable as it is informative. That San Francisco is one of the most fascinating cities in the world is partly due to the great artists and writers who made it their home. San Francisco Beat is a reminder of some of that city's enduring contributions to our literary heritage.
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Kensington Books seems to have cornered the market on light, gay comic novels. Kensington's latest offering - also William Jack Sibley's first novel - is one gay man's tale of friendship and family values in small-town Texas, a "heartland of Bubbas, Baptists and bluebonnets".
In 1971 writer David Meltzer published The San Francisco Poets, a collection of interviews with, and poetry by, some of the leading authors of the San Francisco Renaissance: Kenneth Rexroth, Michael McClure, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, William Everson and Lew Welch.
Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer who lives in South Florida with
his domestic partner. He can be reached at