Moore, Patrick 1962-

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Moore, Patrick 1962-

PERSONAL:

Born 1962.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, 1 Union Sq. W., Ste. 904, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER:

Writer, activist. Estate Project for Artists with AIDS in New York City, founder.

WRITINGS:

This Every Night (novel), Amethyst Press (New York, NY), 1990.

The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS: Report, Alliance for the Arts (New York, NY), 1992.

Iowa (novel), Hard Candy Books (New York, NY), 1996.

Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality, Beacon Press (Boston, MA), 2004.

Tweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir, Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Patrick Moore is a writer and activist for gay causes. His debut work, the 1990 novel This Every Night, was described by Publishers Weekly contributor Peggy Kaganoff as an "expose of the life and times of a sex-obsessed gay man." The book's protagonist, a performance artist, takes to the clubs and streets of New York in search of anonymous sex, recording his adventures in his diary, chronicling both the highs and the many lows of humiliation and violence he endures. Kaganoff further noted of this novel that "though the self-destructive lifestyle is credible, its graceless portrayal is overkill."

Moore turned to narrative nonfiction with his 2004 Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality, a look at the unbridled sexuality of 1970s gay culture. Moore, in fact, sees that sexual revolution as a crucible. As Library Journal reviewer David Azzolina noted: "Moore looks at the aesthetic aspects of the gay culture of the time and how it created art and built community through sexuality." Advocate reviewer Austin Bunn also commended the work, terming it a "bold new book" that reconnects gays to their creative and liberating past before promiscuous sexual behavior was looked upon as a precursor to AIDS. Still higher praise came from a Publishers Weekly contributor who concluded: "As a detailed examination of the ways in which rage gives depth to art, Moore's book has no peer in recent memory."

In his autobiographical Tweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir, Moore "recounts his struggles [with addiction], taking the reader from legendary nightclub The Saint to a recovery house in California," as Trenton Straube noted in the New York Blade. Moore stated to Straube: "I've always had a reluctance to make the discussion about addiction just about crystal. My addiction started 15-20 years ago. It was a continuum from alcohol to coke to crystal. It's all part of the same thing." In the memoir, Moore traces his life from his youth growing up in Iowa and his early realization that he was gay, to his first love affair in college with a long-time partner, Dino, who was later diagnosed with AIDS. While nursing his partner, Moore also became involved in gay rights causes. Along the way, he became addicted to both alcohol and crystal meth, which he finally controlled by entering a twelve-step program in Los Angeles. A critic for Kirkus Reviews found this work characterized by "bland prose and few original insights." However, Mark Lindquist, reviewing Tweaked for the Seattle Times, had a much more positive assessment, lauding the "honesty and clarity" with which the memoir was written.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Moore, Patrick, Tweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir, Kensington Books (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Advocate, January 1, 1991, Bo Huston, review of This Every Night, p. 69; February 17, 2004, Austin Bunn, "Good Lovin': Recasting the '70s Gay Sexual Revolution, Beyond Shame Captures the Yearning of Young Gay Men for Those Good Bad Old Days," p. 64.

Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2006, review of Tweaked, p. 394.

Library Journal, November 15, 2003, David Azzolina, review of Beyond Shame: Reclaiming the Abandoned History of Radical Gay Sexuality, p. 88.

Publishers Weekly, September 14, 1990, Penny Kaganoff, review of This Every Night, p. 120; October 27, 2003, review of Beyond Shame, p. 51.

Seattle Times, August 11, 2006, Mark Lindquist, review of Tweaked.