|
Welcome to the official site of
J Francis Griceauthor of
Aaron's Year of '77A Story in Twelve Parts |
|
About the author
J Francis Grice (left above) pictured with his late husband, Stephen D..
|
Aaron’s Year of ’77 is somewhat based on the author’s own life at this point in the 1970s. J Francis Grice grew up in Brockville, Ontario and left there for college at nineteen. Adam is a composite of several men he knew during this time. The novel’s descriptions of College and Ottawa are exactly as he remembers them.
Today, Grice is retired and lives in Kingston, Ontario, but he spent most of his life and career in Canada’s Capital city working as a professional Interior Designer. He was an active member of The Interior Designers of Canada (I.D.C.), the Association of Registered Interior Designers of Ontario (A.R.I.D.O.) and of the National Council for Interior Design Qualification (N.C.I.D.Q.) while he was actively practicing. This novel is dedicated to his late husband, Stephen D. |
About the book
|
Aaron’s Year of ’77 is a gay male erotic romance novel that tells of the year that Aaron, a young gay man from Brockville, Ontario, comes of age. This is a fun and touching story set in two primary locales, Brockville, Ontario and Ottawa, Ontario, beginning in the year 1977 and continuing into 1978. It is written from the naïve perspective of an inexperienced nineteen year old young man coming-out and navigating gay life as he enters College and has his first serious relationship with a handsome, spirited and complex older man. It is a unique narrative exhibiting passionate love, rare tolerance and acceptance during a time of rampant political and social anti-gay sentiment. |
|
|
In the late seventies, Ottawa was a mecca for many young men frustrated and stifled in small towns and cities across Canada as they sought to find acceptance and a confident sense of self in which to thrive and hopefully, find purpose, value, fulfillment and ultimate happiness.
|
Gay life in the seventies was strikingly different from what todays’ youth experience in their respective journeys to discover themselves and find their place in today’s world. The gay bar scene and culture of unprotected sex, drugs and one-night-stands was a sober harbinger of what was to come when AIDs first started to reveal it’s ugly face in the early-eighties.
So many failed to foresee the tragic and horrific events yet to come. But for a brief, glittery, shiny tinsel moment in time, the music, the drugs, the dancing, the sex and the hook-ups were the pulse and driving force of what it was like to come of age as a young gay man in the late-seventies.
So many failed to foresee the tragic and horrific events yet to come. But for a brief, glittery, shiny tinsel moment in time, the music, the drugs, the dancing, the sex and the hook-ups were the pulse and driving force of what it was like to come of age as a young gay man in the late-seventies.
|
|
Against all odds, the two primary characters, Aaron and Adam evolve and mature, learning to face their many challenges with courage and humor, both individually and as a committed, passionate, loving couple during this compelling, fast-paced twelve month romp.
|
'Sasq' Adam Richard Blanchard
|
'Cookie' Aaron Richard Christie
|
