SWANSON, Eric

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Attended Yale University and Juilliard School.

ADDRESSES: Home—Brooklyn, NY. Agent—c/o Author Mail, St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.

CAREER: Novelist. Formerly worked as an actor.

WRITINGS:

The Greenhouse Effect (novel), Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

The Boy in the Lake (novel), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1999.

What the Lotus Said: A Journey to Tibet and Back (travel memoir), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to Karmapa the Sacred Prophecy, edited by Willa Baker and others, Kagyu Thubten Chöling Publication Committee (Wappingers Falls, NY), 1999.

SIDELIGHTS: Actor-turned-author Eric Swanson started his writing career with two fiction books featuring homosexual characters, which he then followed with his own personal story of his spiritual journey to Tibet in What the Lotus Said: A Journey to Tibet and Back. Like this nonfiction book, some reviewers saw Swanson's first novel, The Greenhouse Effect, as a very personal work. The story features a young, gay, unnamed actor living in Manhattan and trying to decide how he should live his life. Along the way he hopes to discover whether he has it within himself to be honest about who he truly is. Critics noted that the novel contains very little action or forward momentum, Sybil Steinberg commenting in Publishers Weekly that "the narrator's angst is too unfocused and intangible to command much sympathy." Although Ray Olson agreed that this story "may not amount to all that much," the critic commented in his Booklist review that The Greenhouse Effect is a "very credible" tale.

Swanson's second novel, The Boy in the Lake, offers a much more dramatic tale. Returning to his home town after thirty years in order to take care of his deceased grandmother's estate, therapist Christian Fowler must also confront a dark event from his boyhood. He is wracked with guilt by what happened when he was twelve years old, a time when he was first exploring his homosexual feelings with another boy named Reis Paley. When Reis was beaten by a group of homophobic boys, Fowler felt outnumbered and ran away instead of doing more to help his friend. Worse, he knows that he actually led the other boys to Reis and that his cowardly act allowed him to conceal his own homosexual identity. The novel shifts between past and present; Fowler's problems include fears that his current boyfriend is unfaithful and his struggles with treating one of his patients, a homosexual high-school dropout who has become a prostitute. The Boy in the Lake was described by a Publishers Weekly critic as an "accomplished, beautifully paced tale of self-discovery and forgiveness," while Library Journal contributor Ellen R. Cohen asserted that "the disturbing conclusion . . . will leave readers with food for thought."

When given the opportunity to travel to eastern Tibet on an aid mission, Swanson, who has studied Buddhism since 1995, gladly accepted because, among other reasons, he wished to visit the cave that was the home of Padmasambhava, author of the eighth-century classic Tibetan Book of the Dead. Detailing the spiritual and personal journey of the author, What the Lotus Said describes Swanson's experiences with his doctor and Tibetan lama companions as they encounter poverty, disease, and starvation, as well as the intense beauty of the rugged landscape. Reviewers noted that the book offers little insight into Buddhism, and does not reveal whether Swanson makes any spiritual breakthroughs. However, a Publishers Weekly critic felt that "Swanson writes beautifully of the Buddhist saints," and a Lambda Book Report contributor called What the Lotus Said a "fluid, amusing, and thoughtful memoir."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Swanson, Eric, What the Lotus Said: A Journey toTibet and Back (travel memoir), St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, May 15, 1990, Ray Olson, review of TheGreenhouse Effect, pp. 1780, 1782; June 1, 1999, Margaret Flanagan, review of The Boy in the Lake, p. 1787.

Christian Century, December 13, 2003, review of What the Lotus Said: A Journey to Tibet and Back, p. 24.

Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2002, review of What theLotus Said, p. 170.

Lambda Book Report, June-July, 2002, review of What the Lotus Said, p. 30.

Library Journal, May 15, 1999, Ellen R. Cohen, review of The Boy in the Lake, p. 128; May 1, 2002, Harold M. Otness, review of What the Lotus Said, p. 124.

New York Times Book Review, July 18, 1999, review of The Boy in the Lake, p. 19.

Publishers Weekly, April 20, 1990, Sybil Steinberg, review of The Greenhouse Effect, p. 58; April 19, 1999, review of The Boy in the Lake, p. 58; March 18, 2002, review of What the Lotus Said, p. 90.*