{WHAT'S ON YOUR KINDLE?} NICHOLAS GARNETT ON IN THE PINK
Washed out of another corporate job, scraping by playing drums in a wedding band, delivering roses in a tuxedo. This was Nicholas Garnett’s version of the go-go 90s. Then, beautiful, worldly, Rachael turns his world upside down, introducing him to her gay friends who occupy the upper crust of the burgeoning gay circuit party scene. Nick and Rachael marry. They become known as the hot straight couple that party hardy with the boys in all he right places—until their friends self-destruct, Rachael burrows into addiction, the marriage implodes, and Nick is out on the street again. Follow his harrowing journey as he struggles to find his way in a life that’s been buried beneath a lifestyle.
Nicholas Garnett received his MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. He has taught creative writing at FIU, the Miami Book Fair, and Writing Class Radio. Garnett is also a freelance editor and co-producer of the Miami-based live storytelling series, Lip Service: True Stories Out Loud. He is a recipient of residencies from the Vermont Studio Center and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and fellowships to the Norman Mailer Art Colony and Writers in Paradise. His writing has appeared, among other places, in Salon.com, Truehumor.com, Sundress Publication’s “Best of the Net” and Cleis Press’s Best Sex Writing.
His memoir, In the Pink, is published at MidTown Publishing in January 2022.
If you want more about Nicholas Garnett, don’t forget to check out his website and Twitter, and Facebook pages!
What was the inspiration behind writing your memoir, In the Pink? What sparked the initial idea?
Nicholas: I began writing the story many years ago as a chronicle of what I always knew was an unusual situation, a straight, married guy immersed in a gay world. How did that happen? Many of my mother’s closest friends were gay men, so I was used to being in their company. But there was more to it than that. I suppose the answer is that I suffered from a serious case of what I call g’envy—gay envy. Our gay friends were so successful and confident, I admired them, wanted what they had. Of course, being married to Rachael was a big part of it. People got it—I was the married straight guy that fit in with the boys. And the lifestyle—so seductive. Partying around the world like rock stars. And then it all fell apart. I knew I had a story to tell. But it took years for me to be able to tell it, to depict not just what happened, by why, and what it all meant.
I would love to hear one outrageous thing that happened inside the pages of your book?
Nicholas: One thing? More like ten! How about when my wife, her ex-boyfriend, and I attend an event on the gay circuit party scene in New York called The Black Party, a sado-masochistic-themed soiree at Roseland Ballroom, comprised of several thousand people, all dressed up like your worst Halloween nightmare, during which we witnessed in-person demonstrations of activities I won’t go into here (so to speak).
Which part of your book definitely has the wow factor?
Nicholas: At it’s peak in the late 90s, the circuit-party scene was a global phenomenon. I think the book captures the allure of, and puts the reader smack inside of, a world that was created and designed to make its participants feel one way: fabulous. It sure worked—until it didn’t.
How do you want your readers to come away after reading your book?
Nicholas: One thing I’ve learned is that this story doesn’t lend itself to an elevator pitch. Tell someone that you’ve written a story about a straight guy immersed in the gay party scene, and they’ll assume that In the Pink is a coming-out story, or an addiction/recovery tale. The fact that it’s neither probably has something to do with how long it took to get published. I hope that readers will look past the spectacle and excess to see that, at its heart, In the Pink is a story about a guy trying to find out his place in the world, of seeking love and acceptance in a relationship, and a lifestyle. In that sense, the story is universal.
Do you have other books?
Nicholas: After I finished In the Pink, I wrote what I think is a very compelling crime thriller set in Miami Beach, entitled All My Tomorrows. I was shopping that project when I learned that In the Pink would be published. I’ll be turning my attention back to that effort as soon as I can!
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