| Paul Reed | |
|---|---|
| Born | Paul Richard Hustoft May 28, 1956 San Diego, California |
| Died | January 28, 2002 (aged 45) San Francisco, California |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Genre | fiction, memoir |
| Notable works | Facing It, Longing |
Paul Reed (May 28, 1956 – January 28, 2002) was an American writer, best known as one of the first major writers of HIV/AIDS-themed literature in the United States.
Early life
Born Paul Hustoft in San Diego, California, his father died when he was a child and he later adopted his stepfather's surname Reed after his mother remarried. He was educated at California State University, Chico and the University of California, Davis.
Career
He worked for Ten Speed Press in the 1980s, eventually becoming editor-in-chief of its Celestial Arts subsidiary. Diagnosed with ARC in 1987, he left the company in 1991.
Reed's 1984 novel Facing It was credited as the first major AIDS-themed novel. He also later published the novels Longing (1988) and Vertical Intercourse (2000), and the memoirs The Q Journal (1991), The Savage Garden (1994) and The Redwood Diary (2001). He cowrote the HIV treatment and prevention guide How to Persuade Your Lover to Use a Condom and Why You Should (1987), and published a collection of spiritual self-help essays for people with HIV, Serenity: Challenging the Fear of AIDS, from Despair to Hope (1987). He also wrote several works of safer sex erotica under the pen name Max Evander, including Safestud: The Safesex Chronicles of Max Evander (1985), Lovesex: The Horny Relationship Chronicles of Max Evander (1986), Leathersex: Cruel Affections (1994) and Deeds of the Night (1995).
Death and legacy
Reed died on January 28, 2002, of AIDS-related complications. His final work, a compilation of his Max Evander writings titled Swollen, was published later the same year.
Longing was the subject of an essay by Bill Brent in the 2010 book The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered.
References
- ^ Emmanuel S. Nelson, Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2009. ISBN 978-0-313-34859-4. pp. 525-526.
- ^ "Paul Reed Papers". San Francisco Public Library.
- "The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered Edited by Tom Cardamone". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, May 4, 2013.
- 1956 births
- 2002 deaths
- 20th-century American novelists
- American male novelists
- American male short story writers
- American erotica writers
- American LGBTQ novelists
- American gay writers
- Writers from San Diego
- Writers from San Francisco
- California State University, Chico alumni
- University of California, Davis alumni
- AIDS-related deaths in California
- 20th-century American memoirists
- Gay memoirists
- 20th-century American short story writers
- 20th-century American male writers
- American male non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American LGBTQ people