MAS-Zine
#4
Pirates!
Autumn
2003
|
MAS-Zine
#4 |
|
|
|
|
Teaser
for THE NEW BOY THE NEW BOY Historical Note: [This note contains minor spoilers for "The New Boy."] The setting for Michael's House is loosely based upon the first decade of the twentieth century, known in England as the Edwardian Era and in the United States as the Progressive Era. Because this is a fantasy world, I have not adhered slavishly to the details of life in that era; rather, I've used them as inspiration, much as Edwardian painters used ancient imagery as inspiration for paintings about worlds that existed only in their own imaginations. One of the major changes I have made was determined by the plot requirements of another of my fantasy series, The Eternal Dungeon, which is loosely based upon the Victorian Era. In the West, up until the twentieth century (including in classical times), sex between two grown men was considered more problematic than sex between a man and a youth. Accordingly, in The Eternal Dungeon, I created a society that tolerated man/youth sex but condemned any grown men who acted as "wives" for other men. In Michael's House, I have further suggested that the fear of adult homosexuality was so great in this society that the authorities went to the length of legalizing boy brothels in order to offer what they considered to be a less harmful form of male/male sex. As in our world throughout most of history, it is the boys who are condemned for the subsequent flourishing of prostitution, not the men who buy them. In this respect, the two series are united. Bringing the society into the Edwardian Era, though, caused there to be a strikingly different atmosphere in Michael's House. In our own world, the first decade of the twentieth century had a deceptive stability about it: despite the concern common to every era – that society's moral structure was about to come crashing down – it seemed, for a while, that society had become fixed in the form known during the Victorian Era. The faint whispers of psychologists were not yet loud enough to make most people realize that their views on sexuality – and on many other subjects, such as culture, religion, and class status - were about to be turned topsy-turvy. Michael's House echoes this deceptive stability, showing a world where the commoners already realize that the society is highly unstable, but the richer classes continue to stroll in their old places of pleasure and recreation, oblivious to the changes that are taking place around them. These changes will extend far beyond sexuality, and the question faced by the characters in this series – particularly Michael – is to what extent change is to be embraced or even considered possible. No simple answer can be found to this question, and I have not tried to present simple answers in this series. Rather, I have tried to show a variety of individuals – with radically different backgrounds, philosophies, and goals – each struggling, in his own way, to confront the demands of a changing world, which is mirrored within each individual by the pressures of his conscience. Read
more in MAS-Zine issue #4 |
MAS-Zine is published by kanallje press | kanallje@gmail.com | Copyright 2003 kanallje press | www.kanallje.com | All rights reserved.