Gould, Terry 1949-

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GOULD, Terry 1949-

PERSONAL: Born 1949, in Brooklyn, NY; married, wife's name, Leslie; children: one daughter. Education: Attended City College of New York.

ADDRESSES: Home—Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Thunder's Mouth Press, 245 West 17th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10011-5300.

CAREER: Journalist and speaker. Saturday Night magazine, contributing editor, 1983—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Awards and honors from various groups, including Canadian Association of Journalist, National Magazine Awards Foundation, Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, Jack Webster Foundation, Western Magazine Awards Foundation, and Canada Council for the Arts.

WRITINGS:

The Lifestyle: A Look at the Erotic Rites of Swingers, Firefly Books (Buffalo, NY), 2000.

Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong, Thunder's Mouth Press (New York, NY), 2004.

Contributor to numerous publications.

SIDELIGHTS: Terry Gould is a freelance investigative journalist who has written books about swingers aas well as a profile of a notorious gangster. In The Lifestyle: A Look at the Erotic Rites of Swingers Gould delves into the "swinging" scene populated primarily by middle-class couples. In an interview with Rick Dawson on Indianapolis-based WISHTV.com, Gould explained the phenomenon this way: "They call it the lifestyle because they believe they live in a certain style that combines their North American hard work, raising children safely, and paying taxes with North American fantasies of dressing like the stars and going to sexy parties." Gould went on to note that most "are living a normal middle class life six days a week and on Saturday evening attending a Mardi Gras like atmosphere and replicating the lifestyles of the rich and famous that they see on the magazine covers when they check out food at the supermarket."

In the book, Gould goes back in time thousands of years to discuss the roots of swinging and its dual biological underpinnings: the need for a long-term partner as well as the drive for genetic and sexual variety. He also examines such issues as whether partners can easily share their sexual lives with others and maintain a long-term relationship and how much of the modern swinging scene is due to an overly permissive modern culture. The book includes numerous interviews with people in the lifestyle, societal reactions to swingers, and a discussion of swinger ethics, which include maintaining consideration for one's spouse and politeness.

A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "Gould generally avoids graphic descriptions" and that the lifestyle "comes off as more goofy than anything" despite the fact that Gould turned from a skeptic to a defender of the lifestyle in the process of writing the book. In a review in Library Journal, Martha Cornog commented, "Many general readers will be riveted." Tom Snyders wrote in Quill and Quire that the book offers "a year's worth of investigation and open minded examination of [the author's] . . . own prejudices, mainstream society's beliefs, historical precedents, and current thought in the fields of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and sexology." Journal of Sex Research contributor Richard Jenks felt that Gould's book had "scholarly weaknesses" but stated that the author has "drawn our attention to a form of sexuality that has escaped social scientific notice for the past several years, and he does so in a way that neither belittles or glorifies. For that he is to be congratulated."

In his second book, Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong, Gould writes about a Hong Kong-born mobster who grew up in New York's Chinatown. Wong went on to establish and lead a notoriously violent gang in the late 1980s, becoming a full member of the 14K Triad Group, one of the largest Chinese mafia groups in the world. When he was arrested and about to be tried for heroin trafficking, Wong fled to Asia, took out a $1 million life insurance policy, and then faked his own death in a traffic accident in a remote part of the Philippines. Gould, himself the grandson of a New York mobster, first learned of Wong in 1987 when he did his teacher training in a school called Britannia. "Steven was the big gangster in town," Gould said in an interview with Lianne George in Maclean's. "He walked down Chinatown like he was the emperor of the north." Gould has admitted that Wong became his "life's obsession," telling George, "This is a very exciting pursuit, but it's a meaningful pursuit."

In Paper Fan, Gould examines the life and criminal career of Wong, known as the Paper Fan, and the history of Asian organized crime. He devotes a large part of the book to his personal fourteen-year investigation of Wong, which led at one point to his being put under police protection, and to the pursuit of Wong through organized crime groups in six countries. Writing in the Library Journal, Sarah Jent noted that "Gould takes the reader on a remarkable journey." According to a Publishers Weekly contributor, the "narrative suffers . . . from occasional lapses into purple prose . . . but U.S. audiences who enjoy the chase will also learn about the brutal power and scope of the Triads."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Journal of Sex Research, May, 2001, Richard Jenks, review of The Lifestyle: A Look at the Erotic Rites of Swingers, p. 171.

Library Journal, March 15, 2000, Martha Cornog, review of The Lifestyle, p. 114; October 15, 2004, Sarah Jent, review of Paper Fan: The Hunt for Triad Gangster Steven Wong, p. 75.

MacLean's, March 29, 2004, review of Paper Fan, p. 54; May 3, 2004, Lianne George "The Big Gangster in Town" (interview), p. 40.

Publishers Weekly, March 13, 2000, review of The Lifestyle, p. 68; September 20, 2004, review of Paper Fan, p. 54.

Quill and Quire, February, 1999, Tom Snyders, review of The Lifestyle, p. 37.