Synopsis

“On Todd Salazar’s first day of college, while his belongings were still in neatly labeled boxes on the dorm room floor, he had sex with his new roommate Darin.”

From the first line of the first page of Semesters, a loopy, original novel about gay life at a large New England state university during the early ‘90s, it's clear that the people populating this novel certainly are more interesting that those saintly, asexual members of the class of 10 percent portrayed in heterosexual college novels. Set against an era when gay marriage is a pipe dream and being “out” is still a precarious choice, the students of Semesters feel safe enough in their campus microcosm to be Here and Queer—so get used to it! They have sex, do drugs, have sex again, make all the wrong decisions, wage war against their conservative enemies, bum cigarettes, have more sex, all the while struggling with questions universal to young Americans. The writing is breezy and the drama generous. You'll encounter scandalous revelations, parties out of bounds, back stabbing, and an unforgettable, topsy-turvy final confrontation. Has it been mentioned that there is sex? Lots of it!

The protagonists are three gay men: BEN BRISTOL, the transfer student looking for sex or love, whichever comes first, TODD SALAZAR, the freshman who already has quite the track record but is looking for new conquests, and DARIN BURKETT, Todd’s whiny and underhanded first semester roommate, the self-appointed perpetual victim.

Ben Bristol is the heart of the novel. After two years of living closeted at home and attending a local community college to save money, Ben has high expectations for his junior year. But despite having a hot, straight British roommate who has a habit of walking around in his underwear, Ben’s only affections are from a fedora-wearing Trekker named EDGAR whom he met during orientation. Undeterred, Ben joins the University Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Alliance (UGLBA), writes a column for a newsletter, and falls hard for a guy who barely knows he exists—and that’s only in the first month of school. We follow the uninitiated Ben as he discovers the thrill of off-campus parties, drinks bad sangria and goes to the UGLBA-sponsored dances. Finally an active member of a gay community is Ben happy? And what if his quest for love ends with Ben in the arms of somebody he’d never expected?

Among Ben’s new college friends are: JULIA, a fellow member of the UGLBA whose claims of bisexuality are suspect; JEREMY and ARTURO, who are at a crisis point in their relationship, which Arturo relieves by hitting on other men in front of Jeremy, oblivious to Jeremy’s growing attraction to a sexy TA; TOBE, the self-appointed DJ who plays music nobody requests and refuses to wear weight-appropriate clothing; and TERRI, the beleaguered leader of the UGLBA who discovers her ex-girlfriend is in an abusive relationship and finds herself thrust into a brutal life or death situation.

Countering Ben’s cautious and naive romantic tendencies, Todd Salazar is all magnetic sexual appeal. Todd can’t help but oblige the men who line up the moment he steps on campus in September. In addition to sleeping with his roommate, Darin, Todd seduces super-senior RICHARD, who already has a boyfriend. No matter. After Richard, there’s KIRK, a golden boy from California, who has his own apartment. But Todd is carrying a dark secret about a taboo relationship he had over the summer. There’s a problem with secrets, though ... they have a funny way of being exposed at just the wrong times.

And then there’s Darin Burkett, a weaselly freshman from the suburbs of Boston not thrilled to be stuck in a provincial western Massachusetts state school. The relationship between roommates Darin and Todd, at first full of passion, quickly dissolves as Darin’s inconsiderate habits drive anal retentive Todd crazy; Darin doesn’t make his bed, breaks Todd’s lamp [gasp!], smokes in the dorm room, and has people in at all hours, notably MARIA, the cynical fellow UGLBA member who lives down the hall. Together, Darin and Maria bring their own half-baked brand of stoner politics to a campus that Darin feels is too complacent. Eventually Darin takes up with the mysterious revolutionary and begins a prank campaign against the Young Conservatives Club. Darin also manages to acquire a boyfriend, the sexy LARS, a former swim team member with a great tan line who doesn’t seem to know why he's dating Darin. Tensions between Darin and Todd explode into a nasty fist fight which ends the first semester with a bang and sets the tone for an even larger confrontation just before Spring Break, the ramifications of which send shock waves through the campus.

So take a study break, wring out your wet Speedo and grab a cup of coffee and peanut butter chocolate chip cookie at the Blue Book Café. Semesters demonstrates how much fun college can be when you’re not attending class.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Chapter 6: Floor Meeting

Floor Meeting
Darin and Todd attended their first floor meeting in the common lounge their first morning.  The meeting for new students had originally been scheduled the evening before, which made more sense but Min, the resident assistant had canceled due to “personal reasons.”  The returning students were noisily moving back into their rooms.
 “Where are the designated smoking areas this year?” a girl asked.  She’d joined late, and had been frowning at Min the entire time. She obviously wasn’t a freshman.
“First, third, fifth and seventh floor lounges,” Min said.
“Bullshit,” she said. Her hair was in a short, dark bob and she looked like somebody Todd knew but he couldn’t place it. “So we have to travel down to those floors if we want to smoke?”
“I’m afraid so,” Min said. “That’s the decision of housing.”
“Bullshit,” she said again. “This is worse than Hillel.” 
“You can’t punish everybody just because you want to smoke, Maria,” a small, mousy woman with big hair said. “Some of us deserve smoke-free areas.”
 “Whatever, Krista,” Maria said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting up. “I can smoke now, can’t I? Or will I get written up?”
Darin nudged Todd and grinned.
From the cool way Darin had acted last night when Todd came back after dinner with his folks, Todd figured that sex with Darin had been a one-time thing. But when Todd had been getting ready for bed, Darin walked over and started kissing his neck. It went on from there.  Todd fell asleep with Darin lying on top of him.  When Todd woke up around four a.m. to pee, Darin had moved over to his own bed. 
Todd looked at his watch.  His parents would be back at the room soon to take him to breakfast before they left. 
The gathered students were zoning out.  Min was trying to build up the area they were living in: Hillside, was built in the late 60s, and in Min’s opinion, it was the best place to live on campus.  The dorms weren’t as big as the high rises across campus, but were better equipped than most. 
But, Todd thought, they’re still ugly.  Todd and his parents had gone driving through the area last night and had passed the Alden College campus across town.  Todd was envious of the Alden Campus.   The buildings were nicer, the students better dressed and the Alden town green was at the foot of the campus.  It would have been nice to attend a prettier college, even if there were probably fewer gay guys. 
Todd was fascinated by Min’s biceps, which bulged out of his t-shirt.  After the meeting, Todd mentioned Min’s body but Darin shrugged and said, “I’m not into Asian guys.”
“More for me then.”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Darin said. “I’m heading out.”
“Are you ever going to unpack?”  Todd had put all his things away last night, but Darin had shoved his own boxes into a corner.
“Maybe later,” Darin said.  “See ya.”  He left his bed unmade as well.
If Darin didn’t make his bed tomorrow, then Todd would. He’d leave it unmade for the present.  There was no point in coming across as anal the first full day.
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