"Michael's Secrets" by Milton Stern is a beautifully written story with well-drawn, vivid characters. The protagonist, Michael Bern, is a delightfully sympathetic character. I enjoyed journeying with him into his world of  romantic heartaches and self-discovery, always facing whatever darkness his life presented with humor and the desire to retain his personal integrity and goodness no matter how much he's been mistreated. The fact that Michael also stands firm and faces deep pains from his childhood and teenage years at the hands of his truly awful mother and her husbands only adds to his likeability.

The supporting cast of characters, too, is wonderfully drawn, especially of course, the elderly Jewish women who'd cared for Michael since he was born. Their humor was so hysterical I was laughing out loud and there is one line in particular that is one of the funniest lines I've ever read in a book. (You'll have to read it to find out which one I mean.) And even though these characters and others are introduced in Stern's other novel, "On Tuesdays They Played Mah Jong," Stern does such a good job of constructing this story and the emotional situations, that Michael's Secrets can be read completely stand alone. Although, the humor is so engaging, you'll probably want to read the first one as well if you already haven't.

That said, I really only had one complaint about the book. The ending was, I felt, disappointing. I reflected for a long time on exactly what was bothering me about an otherwise funny, sweet and engaging story and came to understand it was this: A story like this needs to end on a note that uplifts the reader, that makes him or her feel a certain hope about the possibilities of the human heart and spirit. The body of the novel does just this. However, in spite of the fact that Michael does grow and learn and change to some degree througout the course of the story, the very last scene felt like a watered down conclusion to everything Michael had endured in his life, the romantic heartbreaks, the abuse, the betrayals as well as the joys, love and humor (all rich and touching to say the least). Not that an ending has to be happily ever after in order to be fulfilling. I don't mean this. I just felt that Stern fell short of bringing the depth of Michael's rich experience into the very end. He seemed to draw a fatalistic conclusion about relationship that said, "oh well," instead of showing that he was going to continue forth in his life, drawing on the wellspring of self-love he'd gained during the course of the story. I felt let down in this regard.  If the rest of the book hadn't been so wonderful, I'd just say, "oh well," myself and chalk it down to the fact that it was a poorly written book. But Stern is clearly a talented writer with a sensitive approach to life. I just felt that with a little tweaking at the end, this work could have touched upon that depth.

In spite of this, I would recommend "Michael's Secrets" to anyone who enjoys a read filled with humor and the journey of a person who cares about people and who wants a better life for himself and those he loves.

Review of MICHAEL'S SECRETS by David C. Muller

Review of ON TUESDAYS, THEY PLAYED MAH JONGG by David C. Muller

Here’s what I liked about this book: Michael, the main character, is forty plus years old, (usually in gay fiction men stop aging at thirty), and he’s not addicted to sex or substances, (Michael never drinks and it’s not until the sequel that he starts smoking cigarettes). I also liked that Michael was Jewish, from Virginia, and surrounded by middle-aged Jewish women. The parallels to my own personal life are striking, but I digress. Main character Michael has, in the story, just returned to Los Angeles  where he’s worked for many years as a television comedy writer after a trip to his native Virginia to attend the funeral of one of these Jewish women. This trip back to Newport News comes after many years of absence, thus triggering issues from his childhood, which in turn has thwarted the completion of a screenplay he’s been writing for nearly two decades. He starts therapy with a Jewish doctor called Mikowsky and unloads the tales of woe and wonder, hopes and desires, of these five Jewish women and their stories from his childhood form the story basis of a screenplay he’s been unable to finish for nineteen years.

This is one of the few “gay books” that I’ve read that does three major things not known in gay publishing: first of all, comparatively this is not so much of a “gay story; “ yes Michael, the narrator is gay, as is the therapist in the story, but the –ahem- meat of the story is not particularly gay at all, (if an adjective had to be used “Jewish” or “Southern” might be more appropriate than “gay”). Second of all, the story is decidedly about the lives of five Jewish Southern living through trials and tribulations, loveless marriages and occasional divorces, births and deaths and trips to the hair salon, in Newport News, Virginia in the eighties. Third of all, the main character, Michael, who is telling the stories of the women to his therapist through a series of somewhat non-linear flashbacks, is not a late teen early twenty-something. He is forty plus years old and stable with a career as a television writer in Los Angeles. The book is not a ruse to take the dear reader from one trite sex scene to another equally-as-contrived coital conquest, not at all; instead the story is largely about resolving issues stemming from one’s past as they negatively affect their present.

This book is a departure from the gay-themed erotica that Starbooks is known for publishing. "On Tuesdays, They Played Mah Jongg" is, in short, about Jewish Southern women and their lives together as friends told from the reflective perspective of a narrator named Michael. Michael is telling their stories to his therapist Dr. Mikowsky thereby allowing the author to tell the story from the always-popular-in-modern-gay-fiction first person perspective. The author then shifts, as does the font, to a sort of third-person omniscient perspective as the stories of these five Jewish women- Florence, Hannah, Rona, Arlene and Doreen. The end result is a combination between two different styles of narrative delivery that is both traditional, (dare I say it), and innovative as well.

Milton Stern’s writing style is clean and simple, easy to read and compelling. For readers not endowed with a passing knowledge of Jewish terms and Yiddische-mama slang that peppers daily dialogue among Diaspora Jews, here and there they might be something slightly unclear for a moment, however the tale is a delightful one. Each woman, and even one or two of their husbands, have some really great one-liners that only a Jewish woman from the American South could say. Their use of the word “fuck,” for instance, is expertly written: when Michael hears one of them drop the word casually in conversation during their weekly Tuesday Mah Jongg game, he finds it unusual and he’s surprised at how easily the word becomes a mainstay as an adjective among them, as one might think they’d object to the word totally only to find out even they, as old Jewish women, can most definitely not find a better word to lament their frustrations. It’s a good read and I enjoyed it. Later on, after this book, Milton Stern revisits this Michael character he’s created in a sequel, "Michael’s Secrets," the follow-up to "On Tuesdays, They Played Mah Jongg," and that’s where things get a bit more steamy.

Review of MICHAEL'S SECRETS by Kiernan Kelly

In "On Tuesdays, They Played Mah-Jongg," Milton Stern introduced readers to a quiet, well-mannered young gay man named Michael, who claimed kinship with a quintet of chain-smoking, big-haired, menopausal Jewish women. In "Michael's Secrets," we learn much more about Michael, his life growing up among the women, and the reasons for the choices he makes.

Michael is a screenwriter, whose steady gig with Los Angeles Live ends when the show is cancelled after 18 seasons. As if losing his job wasn't bad enough, a dear octogenarian friend goes belly-up at her birthday party, and his dog dies. At a loss over what to do with himself while he waits for the premiere of the movie that may make or break him, he takes up another friend's offer to co-write a screenplay, and moves to Washington, D.C. for a year.

"Michael's Secrets" is a wonderful book of self-discovery, taking us along with Michael on his journey to understanding himself, and the choices (usually bad ones) that he makes, particularly in his love life. We see more of the fabulous women from Stern's first book, as Stern whips back the covers and exposes the flaws and secrets kept hidden from Michael and us until now.

The wonderful thing about this book is that one needn't have read the first one to enjoy it. From page one we are drawn into Michael's life, rooting for him to finally make the right decisions, holding his hand as he finds out the truth about himself and his family, and aching for him to find happiness.

There are sex scenes in this book, which were missing from its predecessor. Hot and sexy, they serve to add to the book's overall appeal, and give us additional insight to Michael's psyche.

All the lovely – and often hysterical – details and characters we grew to love in "On Tuesdays, They Played Mah-Jongg" are present here in "Michael's Secrets." I highly recommend this well-written, often funny, sometimes sad, and always entertaining book.

Review of ON TUESDAYS, THEY PLAYED MAH JONGG by Kiernan Kelly

I believe almost everyone would recognize the women in this book, regardless of their ethnicity. From hot flashes (appropriately nicknamed "personal summers"), to their dyed-and-teased hair, bright clothes, and heavy makeup, to their kibitzing and weekly Mah-Jongg games, the women of Milton Stern's "On Tuesdays, They Played Mah-Jongg" are our aunts, our mothers, our sisters, our friends, and our neighbors. In Stern's characters we find the quintessential 80s menopausal woman, from their big, teased hair to their complaints about their sex lives – or lack thereof – to the secrets they keep. Stern perfectly captures the post-retirement lifestyle in small towns particularly during the mid-eighties in the South, which serves as the setting for the story.

I found this book to be a fun, fast read, with a few twists that actually gave me pause because I never saw them coming. I liked Stern's style – the story is told in a series of flashbacks as Michael, the narrator, explores his past in therapy – which I found different from what a I normally expect to see in a novel. The device works for this one, and Stern's attention to detail is marvelous, adding depth to both the characters and the world they live in.

The only thing I found a bit disconcerting was the head hopping – the bouncing from one character's thoughts to the next within the same scene, sometimes from paragraph to paragraph. It still wasn’t anything that kept me from enjoying this novel from start to finish.

All in all, I fell in love with Stern's characters, his settings, and most all, his sense of humor, which truly shines in this novel.