Brighton Darkness – John Roman Baker

Audacious, outrageous, astute and transgressive, Brighton Darkness is a collection of 17 stories inspired by that amorphous place: Brighton and Hove – a city of dreams that enfolds young and old and that must somehow always be returned to.

– Two youths in the 1950s experience a gay desire that begins in a city park and continues in the back row of the Astoria cinema.
– An ex-hustler meets a famous male movie star, long since thought to be dead.
– A birthday party doesn’t quite turn out as planned, but has its own unexpected present of truth.
– A woman looks back upon her past passions and faces an uncertain future.
– Two Russians try to come to terms with the tragic death of a young man they both loved…
… and snow falls in the city, hiding the unseen darkness beneath.

“These are short stories that linger in the mind long after they’ve been read… John Roman Baker always keeps the narrative tension taut.” – Gscene Magazine

John Roman Baker is a British poet, playwright and novelist who has lived and written in Paris, Amsterdam and Brighton.