Who Will Cliff Date?

Funny, thought-provoking, historical novelette (short
novel) about one Clifford Ryan, his older brother
(Howard), and Cliff's college roommate (Ralph). At 14
in 1967, Cliff has difficulty deciding if he (Cliff) is gay,
straight, or bisexual. Howard's problem with women
is that Howard and thousands of other American men
are drafted (forced) to fight in Vietnam in 1968 but
American women are not. In college in 1970, Cliff
and Ralph see The Boys in the Band, a movie about
gay life that sways Cliff one way, Ralph the other
way. In adulthood Cliff consults a psychiatrist and
learns about another sexual orientation: sthenolagnia
(pronounced stheno-lon´-ya), a Greek word meaning
sexual excitement looking at or touching muscular
body parts. Some people say sexual orientation isn't
a "choice" but Cliff and Ralph each must make a
choice: date a male, or date a female. Their choice
is influenced not only by The Boys in the Band but
by people and events they see and hear from age
8 in 1961 to age 72 in 2025: JFK, RFK, LBJ, MLK
Jr., Richard Nixon, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, the
Vietnam War, The Graduate, The Godfather, Herman's
Hermits, women's liberation, and gay liberation, all
of whom or which are mentioned in this novelette.
At times hilarious and heartwarming, at other times
poignant and probing.