GAY BOOK PROMOTIONS would like to invite you to participate in the BLOG TOUR for Boy One (Coming of age inside the controversial world of the Spartacus Gay Guide) by Jaap Cové from May 14 - June 12.

Release Date: April 1, 2024

Genres: Gay, M/M Memoir, non-fiction

Tropes: Secret love

Themes: Coming out, shame, fear, intergenerational relationships

Heat Rating: 3 flames

Length: 55 000 words/ 203 pages

It is a standalone book.

Tagline 

Coming of age inside the controversial world of the Spartacus Gay Guide

 

Blurb 

It is 1981. Jaap, a Dutch teenager, is a boy taking his first steps towards becoming a man. He’s reclusive, a wallflower with a handsome face and curly blond hair. He loves playing tennis and plays drums for a student rock band.

He is attracted to men and afraid of desires that he has not acted upon. By fortuitous accident, the Dutch teen meets Briton John D. Stamford, and his life changes. Stamford is the eccentric middle-aged editor of Spartacus International Gay Guide, the crucial book for gay male travelers. It listed both welcoming destinations and countries that carried strict penalties for homosexuality.

Jaap likes mature men; John prefers youths. BOY ONE is the record of their relationship, the deluxe global travel they did for John’s work, the eye-opening experiences of a sheltered teen, and the obsessive sexual relationship that developed.

Amid the glamor of five-star hotels and restaurants, conflicts arise. Jaap still thinks about having a girlfriend and wonders if he is bisexual. John is trying to push his young lover into something he’s not ready for—being openly gay all the time. Moreover, Jaap notices the Spartacus Guide lists opportunities for sex with underaged youths in places like Thailand. He suspects this is wrong. So do the police, who begin investigating John.

Despite the excitement and eroticism of their relationship, the moral issues grow until the two are at odds.

 

In BOY ONE, Jaap Cové tells the honest and gripping story of a remarkable part of his life. Revealing and outspoken, it is a unique, colorful and compelling coming-of-age story. It captures the excitement of international gay life in the early 80s, but it is also a troubling saga about morality and intergenerational relationships.