An epic gay American (Images via SeaHorse Press, Delacorte & Viking)

Another loss to report: Author Felice Picano died March 11 at 81.

Poet Bryan Borland reported his death on his blog, writing:

Ian Young called me this afternoon to tell me Felice died “peacefully and not alone.”

I'm proud to have called him a friend. When last I saw him, in April of 2024, he still had mischief in those beautiful, life-electric eyes of his. There's a poem in my chapbook Crow in the Desert, coming out in the next few weeks, that he's a big part of, and the fact that he won't get to read it makes me ache in that homesick kind of way. That feeling of my friend is gone.

Condolences to Mr. Borland and all if Picano's friends and fans.

Picano was a prolific member of the Violet Quill, a gay male literary circle (good primer HERE) co-founded with Andrew Holleran, Robert Ferro, Michael Grumley, Edmund White, Christopher Cox and George Whitmore. Only Holleran and White are still with us.

He was a publisher (founding SeaHorse Press and the Gay Presses), wrote for every prominent LGBTQ+ publication of the '70s and '80s, and published several popular, dishy memoirs.

Among his most successful novels: The Lure (1979) and Like People in History: A Gay American Epic (1995).