[Fiction]

[Some Men Are Lookers cover]

The Cast of Some Men Are Lookers

By Ethan Mordden

The action begins in 1988.

The setting is mainly New York City, in and around the apartments of Dennis Savage and Bud, in a high-rise on East Fifty-third Street.

The players include:

Dennis Savage, a schoolteacher in his late thirties

Virgil, his live-in, in his late-twenties. Creative, whimsical, increasingly restless. Formerly known as Little Kiwi.

Bauhaus, Virgil's crafty, sinister, demented dog.

Carlo, nee Smith, given name Ripley, a constant visitor to East Fifty-third. Ageless and all-conquering, the hottest cowboy in town.

Peter Keene, an editor in book publishing, just coming out and a little cock crazy. More than a little.

Vic Astarchos,a porn model and hustler, big-time.

Cash Westman, a vile seducer with S&M interests.

Miss Faye, a drag queen. Style: thuggish pixie. Life's Hope: to win Oscar for her fabulous Teacup Scene, thereby ranking out that meddling Dominique Sanda, with her incessant Lesbian Dance Sequence. Age: advanced, though a tidy exercise program makes her feel like a twenty-year-old. Unfortunately, the twenty-year-old usually isn't interested.

Konstantin, a Russian emigre construction worker, married and a father; also, to his bewilderment, Peter Keene's lover.

Tom Driggers, a mostly offstage character. Once a champion party boy, now dying in the hospital.

Zulian, nicknamed Zuleto, an episode in Bud's past, today the operator of a motorboat fleet catering to tourists in Venice.

Candio, Zuleto's son. Devastating, with -- as they put it in Venice -- occhi assassini: killer eyes.

Billy, a street kid given a second chance. Wiry, trashy, appealing.

Bert Hicks, a good guy gone lurid on Stonewall heat. But is he telling the fatal truth?

Roy and Nicky, a typical best-friend couple: One is content with the contract as reads, while the other wants to amend it with an all-the-way love clause.

Fatty de Pinero, a shadowy character.

Baby Frumkin, an imaginary character.

Cosgrove, a changeling with dreams of revenge and an arsenal of whoopee cushions, Virgil's inseparable buddy and the live-in of:

Bud: who narrates.

Contents:

Exorcis

The Music of the Night

The Hunt for Red October

What a Difference Miss Faye Made

Jeopardy!

Could You Pass in Love?

For the Love of Mike

Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Che Sara, Sara

Everybody Leaves You

Look Who's Talking

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