Rodi, Robert 1956-

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Rodi, Robert 1956-

PERSONAL: Born 1956, in Chicago, IL; partner of Jeffrey Smith. Education: Earned bachelor’s degree in philosophy.

ADDRESSES: Home—Chicago, IL. E-mail—rbtrodi@aol.com.

CAREER: Author. Has worked as an advertising copywriter.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Fag Hag, Dutton (New York, NY), 1992.

Closet Case, Dutton (New York, NY), 1993.

What They Did to Princess Paragon, Dutton (New York, NY), 1994.

Drag Queen, Dutton (New York, NY), 1995.

Kept Boy, Dutton (New York, NY), 1996.

The Birdcage (based on the screenplay by Elaine May), Plume (New York, NY), 1996.

Bitch Goddess, Plume (New York, NY), 2002.

When You Were Me, Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2007.

OTHER

Crossovers (graphic novel), CrossGeneration (Tampa, FL), 2003.

(With Dario Castagno) Too Much Tuscan Sun: Confessions of a Chianti Tour Guide, Globe Pequot Press (Guilford, CT), 2004.

Author of the comic Codename: Knockout and the miniseries Four Horsemen, both published by Vertigo. Critic for Comics Journal and reviewer for periodicals, including the Los Angeles Times. Author of foreword to The Mirror of Love, by Alan Moore, Top Shelf Productions (Marietta, GA), 2003. Contributor to anthologies, including Flinch, Strange Adventures, and Weird War Tales, and to the miniseries Heart Throbs 1, all published by Vertigo.

SIDELIGHTS: Robert Rodi has written fiction and nonfiction, as well as texts for comic books and graphic novels, all of which showcase his unique gay characters. His first novel, Fag Hag, concerns friends Natalie and Peter, who enjoy Chicago’s nightlife while looking for romance. Natalie wants hers to be with Peter, but Peter, who is gay, uses their outings to seek out male partners. Natalie sabotages Peter’s relationships but is unable to break up the real love he shares with Lloyd Hood, a gun dealer and survivalist. A Publishers Weekly contributor praised characters that include Natalie’s mother and Luigi Gianelli, a gay cop with a fetish, and concluded by stating that “Rodi’s vision of old-fashioned ideals of love reinventing themselves amid a milieu of weirdness and even dangerous excess makes for fresh and stimulating comedy.”

Booklist critic Charles Harmon called Rodi’s Closet Case “an absolutely riot of a novel, flaming with good, campy, gay humor.” Lionel Frank is a closeted gay man who works in a homophobic Chicago advertising agency; Frank is out only to his hairdresser and his Latina neighbor, Yolanda. Other characters include Lionel’s father, a retired military man who raises minks; his sister, a Christian punk-rocker who sings anti-gay tunes; Yolanda’s boyfriend; and Emil, a Transylvanian nationalist. When a client of Frank’s firm hosts a weeklong retreat in the wilds of Wisconsin, Yolanda agrees to go along as Frank’s partner. A Publishers Weekly contributor commented that the final pages, “wherein I Love Lucy meets The Dating Game, will gladden the hearts of closeted homosexuals and hopeless romantics.” Library Journal reviewer Michael A. Lutes concluded simply that “this book is fun to read.”

Reviewing the author’s third work, What They Did to Princess Paragon, Harmon stated that Rodi “gives us another off-the-wall comic novel that works perfectly because he develops his characters perfectly.” To boost sales for Bang Comics, Princess Paragon, a wildly popular character, is about to be turned into a lesbian superhero by gay comic artist Brian Parrish. Jerome T. Kornacker, an overweight security guard who lives with his mother and who fantasizes about his heroine, travels to a comic book convention to confront Brian after he learns of the plot twist. A Publishers Weekly writer called the novel “another campy, breezy read” from Rodi, while Library Journal reviewer Robert H. Donahugh described What They Did to Princess Paragon as “a rowdy and witty comedy.”

In Drag Queen, “Rodi’s wry humor carries the story along at a fast clip,” according to Library Journal reviewer Howard E. Miller. In this tale, gay lawyer Mitchell Sayer’s mother tells him that she is giving away all of her money and joining a Buddhist convent. She also tells Mitchell, who is adopted, that he has a twin brother. Mitchell finds his also-gay brother Donald at the Tam Tam Club, where Donald performs in drag as Miss Kitten Kaboodle. Shocked, the uptight Mitchell flees from the club, but as he and Donald spend more time together he loosens up enough to dress in drag and ride in a gay pride parade. A Publishers Weekly writer felt that “readers who can appreciate such drag names as Tequila Mockingbird, May Oui, and Barbarella Fitzgerald will be tickled lavender by these escapades.”

Dennis Racine is the protagonist of Kept Boy. For ten years, Dennis has been the companion of older theatrical producer Farleigh Nock, who has covered all of Dennis’s expenses since the age of twenty-one. When Farleigh suggests that Dennis might think about finding employment and shows an interest in Jasper the pool boy, Dennis starts working out and gets a body wax to try to keep his lover’s interest. Dennis and Jasper vie for Farleigh’s affections, with Dennis getting support from the mistress of a male congressman and the male lover of a female gossip columnist. Other characters include an actress with Tourette’s syndrome and a Greek houseboy who sings to Maria Callas recordings. Stephen Kyle wrote in the Lambda Book Report that “one might presume Dennis would eventually learn, like the rest of us, to simply pay his own way by getting a job. Since he eagerly and skillfully avoids learning even this basic life lesson, it’s impossible to empathize with or care about him.” A Publishers Weekly contributor enjoyed the humor, however, stating that “eccentric, wildly exaggerated characters add to this farce.”

In Rodi’s Bitch Goddess, failed novelist E. Manfred Harry takes a job ghostwriting the memoir of B-movie actress Viola Chute, who is making a comeback on the popular nighttime soap, The Winds of Wyndamville. When Viola demands one million dollars an episode, she is replaced with her arch rival, Georgia Kirby. Viola fires Harry, but Georgia hires him to research Viola’s past to find enough dirt to bury her. Of this novel, Bob Witeck wrote in the Lambda Book Report that Rodi “strings together an almost pitch-perfect mosaic of voice mails, mash notes, press clips, interview snippets, and articles about the much-maligned yet resilient Ms. Chute.” Booklist contributor Whitney Scott wrote: “Add to this a $10 million lawsuit from an injured paparazzo, dueling divas, and a set of nude shots from Viola’s past, and camp hilarity explodes off the page.”

In When You Were Me, Rodi touches on the paranormal. The work concerns Jack Ackerly, a wealthy, middle-aged gay man who, depressed over being dumped by a longtime lover, decides to recapture his youth by swapping bodies with a younger, fitter man. He finds Corey Szaslow, a beautiful young man in his twenties who, in Jack’s estimation, is not living a life worthy of his youth. Jack offers to pay Corey a large sum of money to pull off the exchange with the help of a witch named Francesca LaBrash. Once they make the switch, both men discover it is not all as they intended. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews remarked: “Rodi’s latest spoof… at times reads like a commentary on the youth-centric superficiality of gay culture, but it is careful to leave a sweet aftertaste.” Cecelia Martin, reviewing the work in the Lambda Book Report, noted that “the snappy dialogue, interesting premise, and well-developed characters make this a thrilling novel.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Advocate, January 28, 1992, Richard Laermer, “The Fag Hag Snag,” p. 72.

Booklist, May 1, 1993, Charles Harmon, review of Closet Case, p. 1572; March 15, 1994, Charles Harmon, review of What They Did to Princess Paragon, p. 1328; November 15, 1995, Charles Harmon, review of Drag Queen, p. 536; November 1, 1996, Charles Harmon, review of Kept Boy, p. 482; February 15, 2002, Whitney Scott, review of Bitch Goddess, p. 993; February 1, 2004, Cathy Buksar, review of Crossovers, p. 983.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2001, review of Bitch Goddess, p. 1714; April 15, 2007, review of When You Were Me.

Lambda Book Report, November, 1996, Stephen Kyle, review of Kept Boy, p. 20; May, 2002, Bob Witeck, review of Bitch Goddess, p. 29; spring, 2007, Cecelia Martin, review of When You Were Me, p. 21.

Library Journal, April 15, 1993, Michael A. Lutes, review of Closet Case, p. 127; April 15, 1994, Robert H. Donahugh, review of What They Did to Princess Paragon, p. 114; October 1, 1995, Howard E. Miller, review of Drag Queen, p. 121.

Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1995, Margo Kaufman, review of Drag Queen, p. 8.

Publishers Weekly, December 13, 1991, review of Fag Hag, p. 46; April 5, 1993, review of Closet Case, p. 67; March 7, 1994, review of What They Did to Princess Paragon, pp. 52-53; September 18, 1995, review of Drag Queen, p. 110; October 21, 1996, review of Kept Boy, p. 71; January 7, 2002, review of Bitch Goddess, p. 45.