Panthers in the Skins of Men

Rating:
Summary: A complete waste of time
Review: I enjoy gay fiction as well as gay erotica. However I have a hard time classifying this as either. The plot was boring, and the sex scenes were just plain stupid. By the time I was half way through, I realized I really did not care at all what happened to any of the characters. I forced myself to finish thinking that it might "pick up" in the last part. Now I wish I had just dupmed it in the trash at that point instead of wasting my time. If you are looking for a good read, look someplace else.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: I have never stopped reading a book half way through.....until now.
I kept thinking it would get better but just did not. Whether you are looking for a good story, erotica, or anything inbetween....you will not find any of it here. If I could have given it "0" stars, I would have

Rating:
Summary: Another time, a different frame of reference
Review: I have read other reviews of this book on this site and can only agree with the writer who praised it. For those who found it offensive, you should not be reading gay fiction of any kind, much less fiction of the caliber Mr. Nelson served up in both "The Boy Who Picked the Bullets Up" and here in "Panthers in the Skins of Men." In brief, our hero Kurt is now home from the Nam. He was never a saint and he never claimed to be one. He lost many friends in battles. He was wounded and became addicted to morphine. When he came home and was rehabilitated by the Navy, he was sent to New England to serve out his time. And WHAT a time it was. This was the early 70s....pre-disco, post-flower power, and most assuredly an anything-goes time. It was a time when you could approach a beautiful stranger on the street, state your interest and either get it on or move on along. Of course, that only applied to the people of Kurt's generation. We have now entered a more prurient age...the specter of AIDS, notwithstanding, all STDs are looked on a bit differently now. It is now longer outre to be a virgin. An entire generation has appeared with totally different values. In the 70s, penicillin could take care of everything internal. Usually, RID would take care of the creepy crawlers. I think you have to understand the time of the piece to suss out its brilliance. Here's Kurt seeking to conquer as many handsome guys as he can, any way he can. Along comes this straight cop and a whole new -- wilder -- opportunity to score and to get his "other" kicks arises. Kurt is not a child of the 90s. He's not looking to fall in love. He doesn't want a significant other or the right to get married. He doesn't want to join ACT UP or any other group. First of all, they don't yet exist. Second, he's a hedonist. He's always been a hedonist. The time and setting of this book is perfect for who he is (or was). I certainly don't mean to offend anyone's sensibilities, but I must say that Charles Nelson's brilliant work in this novel is as edgy and accurate a portrait of hyper-active gay life in the 70s as I've ever seen put on paper. His characters are vividly alive and true, and the scenarios within this book are inventive, fresh and totally original. You won't find anything like this elsewhere in gay literature.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: This is quite likely the worst piece of fiction--gay or otherwise--I've ever run across; at least, none worse jumps to mind. Even if it were meant to be mere erotica, I think there is some requirement that the material be mildly erotic. This book fails at every level. There is no plot; no character development; no interesting events; no mildly praiseworthy elements of prose; no good reason for reading this book.

Worse yet, this is an example of self-loathing gay fiction. The chief character (I refuse to use the word "protaganist" in describing anyone at all in this book) is at best a festishest. The only thing this book seems to try to convey is that all straight men can be had, a rather flimsy, not to say unlikely, premise.

Rating:
Summary: Too bad zero stars isn't an option
Review: This is quite likely the worst piece of fiction--gay or otherwise--I've ever run across; at least, none worse jumps to mind. Even if it were meant to be mere erotica, I think there is some requirement that the material be mildly erotic. This book fails at every level. There is no plot; no character development; no interesting events; no mildly praiseworthy elements of prose; no good reason for reading this book.

Worse yet, this is an example of self-loathing gay fiction. The chief character (I refuse to use the word "protaganist" in describing anyone at all in this book) is at best a festishest. The only thing this book seems to try to convey is that all straight men can be had, a rather flimsy, not to say unlikely, premise.

Rating:
Summary: Lighten Up, Guys-- It's Called FICTION
Review: When someone writes a book, it is assumed that they want people to like it.

Perhaps this was not the case with this.

Or perhaps I have standards.

There was graphic sex, every other page, with no redemption to the characters. There was no reason for them to do the things they did and had I known any of these people in real life, I would have reported them for the criminal acts they committed.

If you are looking for a good, quality read, then this is CERTAINLY not the book you want to read. I suggest anything else...a magazine, an advertisement for Jiffy Lube, the back of the toothpaste container...anything but the trash that is encompassed between the front and back covers of this book.

Rating:
Summary: Less a "story" and more sexcapades cross-country
Review: Writer Charles Nelson promises an erotic gay novel, but it's less a story and more a cross-country blitz of free and random sex in the days when that kind of thing was safer. So, okay, it's not Shakespeare, but it doesn't promise to be. It is what it is: gay eroticism, and it comes in heaps here, and the book's jacket is but a glimmer of what lies beneath. There are plenty of guys in (and out) of uniforms, from lead character Kurt Storm who is discharged from the Navy after a year of celebacy in Vietnam. Hitching on the New Jersey Turnpike, Nick is picked up (literally) by another man in unforum, a macho (and married)stud of a state trooper named Nick. From there, Kurt and Nick set off cross-country to conquer whatever temptation comes their way. There are a lot of them, too, from the Navy SEAL hustler, the two hitchhiking Tufts University students, a couple of seductive FBI agents who are packing more than the usual credential, a bachelor party where the seeds of gay sex are planted virtually everywhere and, believe it or not, a six-way guy-bang involving a father and son (talk about keeping it in the family!). Every homoerotic fantasy conceiveable is played out here, and the "story" line is really nothing more than a shot at mainstream literature. That one falls short here but, then again, this isn't Pulitzer Prize material. It's little more than a collection of gay sexual experiences with the goal of getting its reader off, and it certainly doesn't fall short on that count. If nothing else, the cover alone makes the book worth it!