Nicholas Garnett received his MFA in Creative Writing from Florida International University. He has taught creative writing at FIU, the Miami Book Fair, and Writing Class Radio. Garnett is also a freelance editor and co-producer of the Miami-based live storytelling series, Lip Service: True Stories Out Loud. He is a recipient of residencies from the Vermont Studio Center and the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, and fellowships to the Norman Mailer Art Colony and Writers in Paradise. His writing has appeared, among other places, in Salon.com, Truehumor.com, Sundress Publication’s “Best of the Net” and Cleis Press’s Best Sex Writing.
His memoir, In the Pink, is forthcoming from MidTown Publishing in January 2022.
You can visit his website at www.nicholasgarnett.com or connect with him on Twitter and Facebook.
Washed out of another corporate job, scraping by playing drums in a wedding band, delivering roses in a tuxedo. This was Nicholas Garnett’s version of the go-go 90s. Then, beautiful, worldly, Rachael turns his
world upside down, introducing him to her gay friends who occupy the upper crust of the burgeoning gay circuit party scene. Nick and Rachael marry. They become known as the hot straight couple that party hardy with the boys in all he right places—until their friends self-destruct, Rachael burrows into addiction, the marriage implodes, and Nick is out on the street again. Follow his harrowing journey as he struggles to find his way in a life that’s been buried beneath a lifestyle.
“In the Pink is a the story of a singular life, told coolly and cleanly, with admirable introspection. If I felt, at times, that Nicholas Garnett occupied an alternative universe — well, he did and I am glad that he decided to chronicle it with a refreshing lack of judgment for his fellow travelers — and himself.“—Laura Lippman, author of DREAM GIRL, LADY IN THE LAKE, and the Tess Monaghan series.
“By turns outrageous, hilarious, and truly moving, this unflinching chronicle of a profoundly mismatched straight couple’s foray into the gay party and power circuit sets a new standard for the tale of wretched excess, and provides much-needed perspective along the way. Nicholas Garnett has–no lie–produced a book like none other.”—Les Standiford, New York Times bestselling author of LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE and BRINGING ADAM HOME.
“I’ve just finished reading Nicholas Garnett’s electrifying memoir In the Pink, and now I need to catch my breath and recover. And then I’m going to read it again. Here is a gritty and lyrical portrait of what it’s like living life way out there on the edge, spinning out of control, and staring into the abyss. Astonishing and slightly terrifying.”—John Dufresne, author of LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT and REQUIEM, MASS.
“Fasten your seat belts and take this ride through the A-list, drug-fueled, sex-centric circuit party scene of the 1990’s with Nicholas Garnett. Like Bill Clegg’s memoir PORTRAIT OF AN ADDICT AS A YOUNG MAN and David Carr’s NIGHT OF THE GUN, In the Pink will terrify, startle, and ultimately make you sigh with relief over Garnett’s unflinching look at this world and his place in it.”—Ann Hood, New York Times bestselling author of COMFORT: A JOURNEY THROUGH GRIEF and THE KNITTING CIRCLE.
“In the Pink might read like one man’s heady quest to become the gayest straight man in America. But look deeper and it’s your story, what you’ve done to hang on to love, to live beyond labels while searching for your own, to find yourself after decades of getting so lost. Do yourself a favor: buy this book. Read it now.”—Anjanette Delgado, author of THE CLAIRVOYANT OF CALLE OCHO.
Book Information
Release Date: October 18, 2021
Publisher: MidTown Publishing
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1626770331; 276 pages; $22.99
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3zxQhYb
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3q0YDV0
Q: What was it about the world of In the Pink that attracted you?
Many of my mother’s closest friends were gay men, so I was used to being in their company. But there was more to it than that. The writer Robert Olen Butler, who’s been teaching creative writing at Florida State University for forever, claims that the fundamental element of good storytelling depends on what he calls the Unified Theory of Yearning. By yearning, he means the kind of desire that goes way beyond wanting. I can want money, sex, or a prestigious job, but yearning is what drives that desire. Butler claims, and I agree, that the most universal yearning is to find our place in the world, a place where we belong and feel accepted—where we can finally answer the question: WHO AM I? It’s what’s behind all kinds of “identity” movements of race, and gender, and religion. I think that yearning was what created and drove the circuit scene. I believe it was Butler’s kind of yearning, to find my place in the world, that attracted me to Rachael and her friends and her world.
Q: Did you ever question your sexuality?
If by question, you mean did I ever wonder if I was gay, the answer is no. I am what I call “hard-wired straight,” which is why I don’t buy the notion that homosexuality is a choice. If it were, I probably would have made it. I suffered from a serious case of what I call g’envy—gay envy. Our friends were so successful and confident, I admired them, wanted what they had. Oddly enough, if I had been conflicted about my sexual preference, I don’t think I could ever have become so immersed or accepted in that scene. Of course, being married to Rachael was a big part of it. People got it—I was the married straight guy that fit in with the boys. It was a totally different story after she and I split. The few times I tried going out with my gay friends I would get hit on by men who assumed I was gay, or wouldn’t believe I was straight, or thought I was in the process of coming out. It was messy and no fun at all.
Q: What was the most difficult part of writing In the Pink?
I began writing the story many years ago as a chronicle of what I always knew was an unusual situation, a straight guy immersed in a gay world. I was pretty good at writing vivid description. I could take a reader to the moment, the sights, and sounds. What I couldn’t do is convert an unusual situation into a story. What I mean by that is I didn’t know how to answer the question: so, what? What did that experience show me, teach me? There was only one way to answer that question. Give it time. Only with time and distance could I begin to make sense of the story, which I came to see as a search for acceptance and belonging. Gradually, I began to add more reflection to the writing as I whittled away at the parts of the story that, as entertaining as they were, didn’t contribute to what I was trying to convey. The story became my MFA thesis and had a couple of literary agents interested enough to shop it around. It turns out that what was unique about the story—straight guy/gay world—made it difficult to place in a niche. After many rejections, I moved on, wrote a novel, and came to terms with the fact that In the Pink was never going to see the light of day. Then, a faculty member at my alma mater took an interest, made some suggestions, and placed the manuscript in the hands of someone who got it and published it. I’ve just compressed more than 15 years of some ups and many downs into a paragraph. If there’s a message, I suppose it’s you just never know—which may be the stupidest message ever.
Q: What do you want people will take from In the Pink?
One thing I’ve learned is that this story doesn’t lend itself to an elevator pitch. Tell someone that you’ve written a story about a straight guy immersed in the gay party scene, and they’ll assume that In the Pink is a coming-out story, or an addiction/recovery tale. The fact that it’s neither probably has something to do with how long it took to get published. I hope that readers will look past the spectacle and excess to see that, at its heart, In the Pink is a story about a guy trying to find out where he belongs. Of course, the ironic revelation is that the place he’s found is one in which he can’t ever belong. And that’s not because he’s sexually attracted to women. It’s because he wants membership to a club without paying his dues. All I saw were these fabulous people having the times of their lives. What I missed was the shame and guilt and anguish many of them had endured to get where they were. And then, stack AIDS on top of that. Looking back, it’s remarkable to me that people were so accepting. If the situation were reversed, I’m not sure I would have been quite so welcoming.
Q: Do you miss being In the Pink? If so, what?
I suppose we
all get nostalgic about certain times in our lives, when we were younger--and
hotter! In the book, I point out that
it’s possible to mistake intensity for meaningfulness. Some of that life was
chasing after bliss, which can be pretty damn elusive and transitory. But there
is real meaning in friendship, and laughter, and celebration. There were times
I would prefer to forget, but many others I will cherish. The silly and the
sublime. Like the Sinatra songs says—"That’s Life.”
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