Taylor, Robert 1940-

views updated

TAYLOR, Robert 1940-

(Robert Larry Taylor)

PERSONAL: Born July 22, 1940, in Abilene, TX; son of Larry and Virginia (Kerby) Taylor; partner of Theodore Thomas Nowick. Education: Texas Tech University, B.A., 1962 (journalism). Politics: Democrat. Hobbies and other interests: Singing, making homemade books.

ADDRESSES: Home—Morgan Bay Rd., Blue Hill, ME 04614. E-mail—kailuum@downeast.net.

CAREER: National Home Study Council, Washington, DC, editor of "NHSC Newsletter," 1968–72; Music Educators National Conference, Washington, DC, assistant editor of Music Editors Journal, 1972–76; U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC, editor of Transportation USA magazine, 1976–80; U.S. Information Agency, Washington, DC, deputy text editor of American Illustrated magazine, 1980–86; freelance writer, Blue Hill, ME, 1986–. Pierre Monteux Memorial Foundation, treasurer, 1994–97. Military service: U.S. Army, 1962–67, served in Vietnam; became captain; received Bronze Star.

AWARDS, HONORS: Blue Pencil Award for best magazine, National Association of Government Communicators, 1980; outstanding alumnus award, Texas Tech University, 1986.

WRITINGS:

The Innocent, Fithian Press (Santa Barbara, CA), 1997.

All We Have Is Now, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: A captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, Robert Taylor had to deal with the stresses of being a closeted gay man on top of the other burdens war puts on any soldier. In his first novel, The Innocent, he tells the story of a similarly situated gay man, Captain Matthew Fairchild, an intelligence officer stationed in Saigon.

Despite the effort it takes to hide his sexuality from a homophobic supervisor, and a secret affair with a Vietnamese busboy named Nham, Fairchild has been doing good work and receiving the commendations of his superiors. Then he stumbles across information about a massacre and a possible military cover-up, information that soon puts him at odds with the military hierarchy. Fairchild must decide whether to press the issue, risking exposure of his homosexuality and his affair with Nham. "Despite some weighty passages … the author moves the story at a brisk pace and is exceptionally good at dialogue," wrote Library Journal reviewer Phillip Oliver of The Innocent. According to Booklist contributor Whitney Scott, "despite long, boggy flashbacks explaining Fairchild's moral character, The Innocent is very good when it sticks to the heart of the matter." Also noting such digressions, a Publishers Weekly contributor wrote: "Despite the novel's too many sophomoric ruminations … readers will root for Fairchild in the midst of his moral dilemma."

In his next novel, All We Have Is Now, Taylor "shadows the Matthew Shepard atrocity of 1998 in a sentimental, soap opera-styled tale of love, hate and redemption," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. In the novel, actor Ian McBride has been through twelve years of loneliness following the death of his lover, Trevor, from AIDS. While appearing in a production of The Tempest, he finds love again with young Jimmy Davidson, who plays Ariel. When Jimmy returns to his native Texas for his mother's fiftieth birthday, he is murdered by homophobic thugs. Traveling to Texas, first for Jimmy's funeral and then for the trial of his attackers, Ian gets to know Jimmy's family, befriends Jimmy's grandmother Livie, and sees up close the homophobia that pervades Jimmy's hometown.

For a Kirkus Reviews contributor, in All We Have Is Now Taylor "comes up with little in style, character, or subject to refresh what have become Gay Lit 101 tropes and types." As Booklist reviewer Brad Hooper wrote, "the romantic framework of this very contemporary novel is readily apparent despite the tragedy…. But that's fine because the romantic and tragic aspects work so well together." For Lambda Book Review contributor Amanda Laughtland, the novel "moves along with little difficulty and reads as a bittersweet literary romance with the added weight of Ian's struggle to process both the immediate loss of Jimmy, coupled with the prior loss of Trevor."