Books with author Barbara James

A MILESTONE IN GAY FICTIONPhillip Froelich is in trouble. The year is 1946, and he’s traveling to Seattle where he will face a court martial for acting insubordinate to a lazy officer in the closing days of World War II. On the way to Seattle he meets Tim Danelaw, and soon the court martial is among the least of Phillip’s concerns....So begins Quatrefoil, a novel originally published in 1950. It marked a milestone in gay writing, with two of the first non-stereotyped gay characters to appear in American fiction. For readers of the Fifties, it was a rare chance to counteract the negative imagery that surrounded them.Today, Quatrefoil ranks as a classic work of gay writing, a novel that is still as gripping and enjoyable as ever. It is of extra interest to the modern reader for the vivid picture it draws of what life was like for gay men in our recent but little-known past.

Our story begins with wave upon wave of an unusual but beautiful species of songbirds invading the hamlet of Paradise. Day after day, they arrive by the thousands…soon tens of thousands, as the blue sky darkens.The animals of Paradise no longer work spending their days and weeks looking up at this incredible phenomenon, enchanted by their song. They grow weak and lethargic as Paradise grinds to a halt. Something drastic must be done; things must return to normal!Mayor Owl calls for a town meeting where he tells his constituency of a witch he once met in a darkened cave. The witch was sick; Mayor Owl nurtured her back to health. Upon recovery, Ms. Witch was indebted, telling Owl that if ever he needs her assistance, she owes him a favor.Granting permission, Mayor Owl takes off on a three-day flight hoping to find the cave, worried that the Witch may no longer be there, or even worse, that she wouldn’t remember their encounter.The Birds of Paradise has thought-provoking characters who are faced with some tough decisions. The story forces its readers to reconsider previous stereotypes between good and evil!