Fiction

Front Runner Series
Landmark series following an evolving family through twenty years of gay life.

1. The Front Runner (1974)
   The first novel about gay love to become popular with mainstream America and make the New York Times best seller list, The Front Runner raced to international acclaim.
   
   In 1975, coach Harlan Brown is hiding from his past at an obscure New York college, after he was fired from Penn State University on suspicion of being gay. A tough, lonely ex-Marine of 39, Harlan has never allowed himself to love another man.
   
   Then Billy Sive, a brilliant young runner, shows up on his doorstep. He and his two comrades, Vince Matti and Jacques LaFont, were just thrown off a major team for admitting they are gay. Harlan knows that, with proper training, Billy could go to the '76 Olympics in Montreal. He agrees to coach the three boys under strict conditions that thwart Billy's growing attraction for his mature but compelling mentor. The lean, graceful frontrunner with gold-rim glasses sees directly into Harlan's heart. Billy's gentle and open acceptance of his sexuality makes Harlan afraid to confront either the pain of his past, or the challenges which lay in wait if their intimacy is exposed.

   But when Coach Brown finds himself falling in love with his most gifted athlete, he must combat his true feelings for Billy or risk the outrage of the entire sports world - and their only chance at Olympic gold.
   
   See http://www.thefrontrunner.com/thefilm.html and http://www.echelonmagazine.com/warren.htm for information about the Front Runner movie project.

2. Harlan's Race (1994)
   After his young athlete lover is assassinated on the Olympic track in Montreal, coach Harlan Brown is forced to enter the race of his life. To survive the hate and violence which threaten his chosen family - Betsy, valiant lesbian mother, Vince, angry activist seeking revenge, Chino, Vietnam vet with a wounded heart, and the secret child of Billy Sive, The Front Runner.
   
   In time, a second chance at love comes. Vince Matti, 25, a runner who was Billy's best friend, has harbored an unrequited passion for his ex-Marine coach. Handsome, volatile, and passionate, Vince challenges Harlan's stoic and lonely heart in unimagined ways. Harlan must race with the shadow of the past - that memory of the brief idyll with Billy - and reach a present where love is enduring and real.
   
   Meanwhile, Harlan's ordeal with bias and bloodshed is not over. Snipers often work in pairs, and the Montreal shooter evidently had a cohort who escaped arrest. This mysterious stalker moves implacably into Harlan's world. And yet another stalker is moving into gay life - a disease that has no name. As events move to the climax, Harlan runs the most desperate race of his life - risking everything to win the victory torn from his hands at Montreal.

3. Billy's Boy (1997) -- Winner, 1997 Lambda Literary Award's Editor's Choice Award
   Billy's Boy is a first person story, about a teen's passionate search to know more about his dead gay father, his lesbian mother's past...and his own sexual destiny.
   
   John William, 14, describes himself as "the science geek from hell." He loves astronomy, dreams of exploring the universe as a NASA astronaut. But lately his attention is focused on Earth, his best friend Shawn, and his own awakening body. New in L.A., he hangs out with his straight girl buddy Ana and two Latino club kids, Teak and Elena, that he just met. William is sure he's straight, and he is irritated by Teak's effeminate attitude.

Stand-Alone

Non-fiction

• Patricia has a menu of help articles, "Secrets of Writing and Publishing," available here.
   

• The Lavender Locker Room: 3,000 Years of Great Athletes Whose Orientation Was Different (2006)
  Some are legendary – such as pilot Amelia Earhart and golf champion Babe Didrikson. Others are less familiar – balloonist Alberto Santos-Dumont and javelin thrower Ana Maria Sagi.

  Some went public—NFL running back David Kopay and downhill skier Erik Schinegger. Others, such as Wilhelm von Homburg, were known only to sport insiders.

  Some, like jockey John Damien, figured in milestone court cases.

  Some, like jouster Joan of Arc and racehorse breeder George Villiers, were historical figures. Others, like tennis player Martina Navratilova and figure skater John Curry, competed in modern Olympics.

  But they have something in common: they were gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered. And they stood out extraordinarily in their chosen sport.

  Their stories, carefully researched and movingly written by landmark author Patricia Nell Warren for Outsports.com, create a sweeping panorama and a heart-pounding literary experience.

Poetry