Gay & Lesbian Fiction

When You Were Me

Name: When You Were Me
Author: Robert Rodi
ISBN: 9780758215345

by Robert Rodi

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Overview

All work and no play have made Jack Ackerly a dull boy. It's also made him very rich. Now, at age 53, he regrets devoting his youth to capitalism over hedonism. Alas he can't turn back time;but according to a self-styled "fusion witch" named Francesca, he can trade places with a willing participant. He just has to find a hot young stud ready to make the switch.

Enter Corey Szaslo, 26, a jaded party boy whose life of sex, drugs, and barhopping has left him with no education, no career, no assets, and no prospects. Jumping into the skin of a retired millionaire seems a fair way out of this predicament, even if it means doubling his age and adding five inches to his waistline.

Faster than you can say, "Be careful what you wish for," Jack and Corey are living each other's lives to the fullest. But their successfully swapped lives soon begin to come apart at the seams. And when Jack's former lover comes back, begging "Jack" for another chance, all bets are off, driving both Jack and Corey into unsuspecting competition--and resulting in a climax that takes each of them farther beyond their essential selves than they ever dreamed they'd go.

"Rodi's quick-paced satire of the joys and sorrows of body swapping is one kind of perfect vacation and beach reading." --Booklist

"Another fabulous and funny book." --After Elton.com

Robert Rodi is the author of six novels, including Fag Hag, Closet Case, What They Did to Princess Paragon, Drag Queen, Kept Boy, and Bitch Goddess. He lives in Chicago with his partner, Jeffrey Smith, and a constantly shifting number of dogs.

About the Author, Robert Rodi

Robert Rodi was born in Chicago in the conformist 1950s, grew up in the insurrectionist 1960s, came of age in the hedonist 1970s, and went to work in the elitist 1980s. This roller-coaster ride has left him with a distinct aversion to isms of any kind; it also left him with an ear for hypocrisy, cant, and platitudes that allowed him, in the 1990s, to become a much-lauded social satirist.

His first novel, Fag Hag, was published in 1991 and was swiftly translated into Italian, French, German, and Japanese. It was followed by Closet Case (1992), What They Did to Princess Paragon (1994), Drag Queen (1995), Kept Boy (1997), Bitch Goddess (2002), and When You Were Me (2007). His first nonfiction book, Dogged Pursuit: My Year of Competing Dusty, the World's Least Likely Agility Dog was released by Hudson Street Press in 2009.

Robert's shorter fiction can be found in a number of anthologies, including Men On Men 5, His, and Sandman: Book of Dreams. His novella Glad, Gladder, Gladys was serialized online at USAToday.com. His literary criticism has appeared in the pages of The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, NewCity, and The Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review.

Robert is the creator of several comic-book series, including 4 Horsemen, Codename: Knockout, and The Crossovers. He was a founding member of the Chicago-based performance art troupe, The Pansy Kings, who were active throughout the 1990s, and he wrote sketches for the Live Bait Theater's revues Junk Food and Dear Jackie: The Queen of Camelot Remembered.

Robert still lives in Chicago, in a century-old Queen Anne house with his partner Jeffrey Smith and a constantly shifting number of dogs.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

In Rodi's tepid latest, Jack Ackerly, 53, has made a pile in public relations and earned himself a comfortable place among Chicago's gay A-crowd, but the recent decamping of his boyfriend, Wicker Park art dealer Harold "Harry" McGann, has left him aware of a hole in his life. At the other end of the social sphere, 26-year-old space cadet Corey Szaslow lives on the kindness of friends, getting by—just barely—on his looks. A crystal meth habit he's lately kicked has cost him most of his friends, and he's now wondering what it would be like to get a job, maybe some health insurance. They meet cute (Jack hits Corey's bicycle with his Porsche), the two quickly engage in an unholy plot to switch bodies via New Age witch Francesca LaBrash: Corey will be middle-aged and liver-spotted with a 36-inch waist and an uninspiring hard-on, but he'll be rich. Jack will be young once more and able to enjoy the promiscuous sex he denied himself while climbing the ladder of Mammon. Queer pulp favorite Rodi (Fag Hag, etc.) makes a rare misstep; Victorian satirist F. Anstey, who originated the body-switching genre with Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathersin 1882, has a lot to answer for. (June)

Kirkus Reviews

Wealthy middle-aged gay man depressed over his lost youth takes supernatural measures to swap bodies with a penniless young stud. Still smarting over the breakup with his longtime lover Harry, 53-year-old Jack Ackerly is ready for a change. A cultured man of leisure living very comfortably off the proceeds of the sale of his advertising agency, Jack yearns for the carefree carnal existence he denied himself by not coming out until he was 30. In his desire to turn back the clock he seeks out Francesca LaBrash, a chatty witch who agrees to help him transfer his consciousness-if he can find another body willing to trade identities with him. Enter Corey, a 26-year-old sometime-waiter who Jack accidentally hits with his car. Corey, while undeniably hot, leads a life of dissipation, masking his low self-esteem and fear for his future in an endless stream of anonymous hook-ups. About to be evicted from his squalid apartment, he is exactly what Jack is looking for. Offering Corey his millions in exchange for his body, Jack and the financially desperate younger man seal the deal and Francesca works her magic. Needless to say, both men get far more than they bargained for when assuming each other's lives. In Corey's hard body, Jack prowls Chicago's gay underworld making up for lost time with a wide array of one-night stands. Jack-as-Corey then sets his sites on seducing Harry, and bonds with Corey's close friend Frida, a self-destructive young woman who needs a little tough love to turn her life around. Meanwhile, after getting past his dismay over his new body's comparative decrepitude, Corey-as-Jack realizes that he has a chance-using Jack's money and connections-to actually help people. Jackthen starts to feel guilty for taking Corey's youth, and rushes to reverse the spell just as Corey is struck down by a dance-related emergency in a disco. Rodi's latest spoof (Bitch Goddess, 2001, etc.) at times reads like a commentary on the youth-centric superficiality of gay culture, but it is careful to leave a sweet aftertaste. Amiable diversion, more Freaky Friday than Dorian Gray.