Editing John Preston (American author)

{{Short description|American writer (1945–1994)}}
'''John Preston''' (December 11, 1945 in [[Medfield, Massachusetts]] – April 28, 1994 in [[Portland, Maine]]) was an American author of gay erotica and an [[editing|editor]] of gay [[nonfiction]] [[anthologies]].

==Life and works==
He grew up in [[Medfield, Massachusetts]], later living in a number of major American cities before settling in [[Portland, Maine]] in 1979. A writer of [[fiction]] and nonfiction, dealing mostly with issues in gay life, he was a pioneer in the early [[gay rights]] movement in [[Minneapolis]]. He helped found one of the earliest gay community centers in the United States, edited two newsletters devoted to sexual health, and served as editor of ''[[The Advocate (LGBT magazine)|The Advocate]]'' in 1975.<ref>[[Philip Gambone]], ''Something Inside: Conversations with Gay Fiction Writers'' (University of Wisconsin Press, 1999), p. 155<!-- ISBN needed --></ref>

He was the author or editor of nearly fifty books, including such erotic landmarks as ''Mr. Benson''<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lnfBEfne484C|title=Mr. Benson|last=Preston|first=John|date=2004|publisher=Cleis Press|isbn=9781573441940|language=en}}</ref> and ''I Once Had a Master and Other Tales of Erotic Love''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ioncehadmastero00pres|title=I once had a master and other tales of erotic love|last=Preston|first=John|date=1984|publisher=Alyson Publications|isbn=9780932870513|edition=1st|location=Boston|url-access=registration}}</ref> Other works include ''Franny, the Queen of Provincetown'' (first a novel, then adapted for stage),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/frannyqueenofpro00john|url-access=registration|title=Franny, the Queen of Provincetown|last=Preston|first=John|date=2005|publisher=Arsenal Pulp Press|isbn=9781551521909|language=en}}</ref> ''The Big Gay Book: A Man's Survival Guide for the Nineties'',<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/biggaybookman00pres|title=The big gay book : a man's survival guide for the 90's|last=Preston, John, 1945-1994.|date=1991|publisher=Plume|isbn=0452266211|location=New York, N.Y., U.S.A.|oclc=23215040|url-access=registration}}</ref> ''Personal Dispatches: Writers Confront AIDS'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=Personal dispatches : writers confront AIDS|url=https://archive.org/details/personaldispatch00john|url-access=registration|date=1989|publisher=St. Martin's Press|others=Preston, John, 1945-1994.|isbn=0312034121|edition= 1st|location=New York|oclc=19975837}}</ref> and ''Hometowns: Gay Men Write About Where They Belong''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hometownsgaymenw00presrich|url-access=registration|title=Hometowns: gay men write about where they belong|last=Preston|first=John|date=1991-10-15|publisher=Dutton|isbn=9780525933533|language=en}}</ref>

Preston's writing (which he described as [[pornography]]) was part of a movement in the 1970s and 1980s toward higher [[literary]] quality in gay erotic fiction. Preston was an outspoken [[advocate]] of the artistic and social worth of erotic writings, delivering a [[lecture]] at [[Harvard University]] entitled ''My Life as a Pornographer''. The lecture was later published in an [[essay]] [[Anthology|collection]] with the same name.<ref>{{Cite book|title=My life as a pornographer & other indecent acts|last=Preston, John, 1945-1994.|date=1993|publisher=Masquerade Books|isbn=1563331357|location=New York, N.Y.|oclc=30416606}}</ref> The collection includes Preston's thoughts about the gay [[leather subculture|leather]] community, to which he belonged. His writings caused controversy when he was one of several gay and lesbian authors to have their books confiscated at the border by [[Canada Customs]]. Testimony regarding the literary merit of his novel ''I Once Had a Master'' helped a [[Vancouver]] [[LGBT]] bookstore, [[Little Sister's Book and Art Emporium]], to partially win a case against Canada Customs in the [[Canadian Supreme Court]] in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bcla.bc.ca/ifc/censorshipbc/1990.html|title=Book Censorship in British Columbia: A History. 1990-1999.|date=2003-06-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030620200656/http://www.bcla.bc.ca/ifc/censorshipbc/1990.html|access-date=2019-08-15|archive-date=2003-06-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/toshiya.k.ncl/banned/list.htm|title=The Newsletter on Civil Liberties|website=www3.sympatico.ca|access-date=2019-08-15|archive-date=2019-11-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103020051/http://www3.sympatico.ca/toshiya.k.ncl/banned/list.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Preston also brought gay erotic fiction to mainstream readers by editing the ''Flesh and the Word'' anthologies for a major [[publisher|press]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/fleshword00vari|title=Flesh and the word : an anthology of erotic writing|date=1992|publisher=Plume|others=Preston, John, 1945-1994.|isbn=0452267757|location=New York|oclc=24377513|url-access=registration}}</ref>

Preston served as a [[journalist]] and [[essayist]] throughout his life. He wrote [[news]] articles for ''[[Drummer (magazine)|Drummer]]'' and other gay [[magazines]], produced a [[print syndication|syndicated]] column on gay life in [[Maine]], and penned a column for ''Lambda Book Report'' called "Preston on Publishing."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.duskpeterson.com/preston/timeline/index.htm|title=Topman {{!}} Topman's Timeline: A Documentary Biography of John Preston|website=www.duskpeterson.com|access-date=2019-08-15}}</ref> His nonfiction anthologies, which collected essays by himself and others on everyday aspects of gay and lesbian life, won him the [[Lambda Literary Award]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/14/lambda-literary-awards-1994/|title=7th Annual Lambda Literary Awards|last=Cerna|first=Antonio Gonzalez|date=1995-07-15|website=Lambda Literary|access-date=2019-08-15}}</ref> and the American Library Association's [[Stonewall Book Award]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt/award/stonewall/honored|title=Stonewall Book Awards List|date=2009-09-09|website=Round Tables|language=en|access-date=2019-08-15 |author1=Admin }}</ref> He was especially noted for his writings on [[New England]].

Although primarily known as a gay fiction writer, Preston was also hired by a local newspaper, ''The Portland Chronicle'', to write news articles and features about his adopted hometown of Portland.  He wrote a long feature about the local monopoly newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, as well as many food articles, movie reviews, and other writing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.duskpeterson.com/preston/timeline/index.htm|title=Topman {{!}} Topman's Timeline: A Documentary Biography of John Preston|website=www.duskpeterson.com|access-date=2019-08-15}}</ref>

In addition, Preston wrote [[men's adventure]] novels under the [[pseudonyms]] of Mike McCray, Preston MacAdam, and Jack Hild ([[pen names]] that he shared with other authors). Taking what he had learned from authoring those books, he wrote the "Alex Kane" adventure novels about gay characters. These books, which included "Sweet Dreams," "Golden Years," and "Deadly Lies," combined action-story plots with an exploration of issues such as the problems facing gay youth.<ref>Preston, John. "Sweet Dreams", Alyson Publications, Boston, 1984.</ref>

Preston was among the first writers to popularize the genre of [[safe sex]] stories, editing a safe sex anthology entitled ''Hot Living'' in 1985. He helped to found the [[AIDS]] Project of Southern Maine. In the late 1980s, he discovered that he himself was [[HIV positive people|HIV positive]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ronnisanlo.com/today-in-lgbt-history-december-11/|title=Today in LGBT History – December 11 {{!}} Ronni Sanlo|date=11 December 2017|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-15|archive-date=2019-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190815131833/https://ronnisanlo.com/today-in-lgbt-history-december-11/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Some of his last essays, found in his nonfiction anthologies and in his posthumous collection ''Winter's Light'', describe his struggle to come emotionally to terms with a disease that had already killed many of his friends and fellow writers.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/winterslightrefl00presrich|title=Winter's light : reflections of a Yankee queer|last=Preston, John, 1945-1994.|date=1995|publisher=University Press of New England|others=Lowenthal, Michael.|isbn=0874516749|location=Hanover, NH|oclc=31776952|url-access=registration}}</ref>

He died of AIDS [[Complication (medicine)|complications]] on April 28, 1994, aged 48, at his home in Portland.

==Legacy==
His papers are held in the Preston Archive at [[Brown University]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/29/obituaries/john-preston-48-author-editor-and-advocate-in-aids-causes.html|title=John Preston, 48, Author, Editor And Advocate in AIDS Causes|last=Saxon|first=Wolfgang|date=1994-04-29|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-15|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 1994, Preston received the Steve Maidhof Award for National or International Work from the [[National Leather Association International]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |title=List of winners |publisher=NLA International |date=2019-03-14 |access-date=2020-05-08 |archive-date=2020-01-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103035305/http://nla-international.com/list-of-winners-2.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2007 the [[National Leather Association International]] inaugurated awards for excellence in SM/fetish/leather writing. The categories include the John Preston  award for short fiction.<ref name="nla2">{{cite web|title=NLA-I Accepting Nominations for Writing Awards|url=http://www.chicagoden.net/2012/12/13/nla-i-accepting-nominations-for-writing-awards/|publisher=Chicago Den - The Midwest's Fetish Newspaper|access-date=1 April 2018|archive-date=13 April 2013|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130413163844/http://www.chicagoden.net/2012/12/13/nla-i-accepting-nominations-for-writing-awards/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* the John Preston project : http://www.duskpeterson.com/preston/
* [http://dl.lib.brown.edu/riamco/render.php?eadid=US-RPB-ms2011.032&view=title John Preston papers, circa 1973-1995] at [[Brown University]]
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.queertheory.com/histories/p/preston_john.htm|title=John Preston (1945 - 1994)|website=QueerTheory.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927153003/http://www.queertheory.com/histories/p/preston_john.htm|archive-date=September 27, 2012|access-date=March 8, 2016}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, John}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:1994 deaths]]
[[Category:AIDS-related deaths in Maine]]
[[Category:American book editors]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American gay writers]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ rights activists]]
[[Category:American LGBTQ novelists]]
[[Category:BDSM writers]]
[[Category:Lambda Literary Award winners]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:LGBTQ people from Maine]]
[[Category:Gay novelists]]
[[Category:People from Medfield, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Writers from Portland, Maine]]
[[Category:Leather subculture]]
[[Category:Novelists from Maine]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American LGBTQ people]]