The Harvest: A Novel - Softcover

Brass, Perry

Softcover

ISBN 10: 096271237X ISBN 13: 9780962712371

Publisher: Belhue Pr, 1997

Synopsis

In the not-so-distant future, one Corporation, combining government and business, will rule America. Food, shelter, and above all, health, will be prioritized as an old elite Corporate class rises again, behind a mask of "universal health and happiness". Much of the "Corp's" wealth will be invested in the production of vaccos, living human analogues, "Corporate cadavers", raised on isolated ranches as sources for organ and tissue transplants. Drugged on "euphorics", the vaccos will be regularly euthanized, or "harvested", for organs scheduled for a waiting list of patients.

One such vacco, the valuable "Corporate property" Hart256043, will escape. At an underground bar specializing in illicit sex and drugs, he meets Edgar Devereaux, a successful designer and adopted son of Joshua Morgan Devereaux, a member of the Corporate board. But Edgar has a secret: he was born Chris Turner, a lower-class renegade -- and can never shake his origins or a desire to retaste his wild youth. Chris and Hart bond. They discover within each other compassion, fulfillment, and a completeness outside the boundaries of "Corp" life. Edgar will reject his stepfather's lifestyle, and join with Hart to do anything -- including kill -- to ensure the vacco's survival. And Hart, one of the most appealing characters to appear in contemporary fiction, will find in the reborn Chris Turner the humanity he needs to survive.

About this title

From the Publisher:

He was born dirt-poor Chris Turner; he became Edgar Morgan Devereaux, the adopted son of Joshua Morgan Devereaux, one of the most powerful men in America. He has two lives, two identities, plus an alias: in the gutter gay bars he secretly frequents he's known as the charming "Mr. Stevens." Once he was a compulsive thief; now he's a sexual compulsive. He's only thirty-two years old, but he's already been in the "hole," the dead-end prison juvenile offenders are thown into. He's also planned cities, and heads an impressive Corporate design firm. Cruising the bars one night, away from the suburban estate he lives on, he meets the one person he's risked everything to find: only to find out that he's a "vacco," an escaped laboratory-cloned "corporate cadaver," raised on an isolated vacco ranch where he was scheduled to be harvested as a living source for organ and tissue transplants. The vacco's name is a number: Hart256043. The first thing Chris must do is save Hart's life. Then to escape the bind Chris has found himself in, he'll try to murder him. Then Chris will try to save his life again, while at the same time appearing to go through the charade of life in an American future run by one giant Corporation, where the government and business have completely merged-and taken everything along with them: religion, education, science, medicine, and what passes as "ethics." Chris, in other words, has become a knight in the age of Corporate feudalism, while Hart is only a pawn-whose fate was to be harvested on schedule. The Harvest is the story of two men who must save each other, while at the same time establish what they are meant to be. There is constant romantic tension as well as suspense in the book. It could be described as a nonstop action story that just happens to be a gay novel. Or a gay novel, brimming with sex, politics, and gothic Frankenstein elements in a not-so-distant future. Either way, its the same book: one that good fiction-starved gay men and their friendly often female followers who've been reading Perry Brass all alone, should be lining up to buy, joined hopefully by hords of other readers who are tired of cutesy gay books about well-behaved guys who want to grow up to be the Church Lady.

From the Author:

I think in this book I have created one of my best characters, the earthy, very honest Chris Turner, whose looks and wits have landed him into the powerful, wealthy Devereaux family. Chris manages to be glamorous and funky at the same time. He is always aware of there being at least two sides to him and he is always ready to push the limits of what's possible. He has an amazing range of sexualities and tastes-at one time he was engaged to marry a gorgeous male-to-female transexual who had retained a large surprise between her legs. The other main character, Hart, is compelling and poignant. Like the Scarecrow running after a brain in The Wizard of Oz, he is constantly discovering how smart he really is-considering that he's considered a non-human who has been raised only to be killed. Although this book is written in a science fiction setting, it is really more of a gothic thriller, as in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith's "Strangers on a Train" or her riveting "Tom Ripley" novels, which were adapted for the movies as "Purple Noon." Following Chris Turner's narrative, the reader wants to find out what sort of activities Chris will do next to help the strange man he's crazy about, as well keep his hold on the always slippery, wealthy lifestyle that openly attracts him. Although gay mysteries have become a staple in many bookstores, the gay thriller is new material for many readers-and one of the questions I keep hearing over and over again is why aren't there more sexy, action books for gay men? I think that The Harvest will pave some new road in that respect.

About this edition

• Publisher: Belhue Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 096271237X
• ISBN 13: 9780962712371
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216