An Older Man
An Older Man, published by Bear Bones Books, is a sequel to Wayne Hoffman's debut novel, Hard. One reviewer said this novella is "as much a touching examination of aging and loneliness as it is a witty tale of sexual shenanigans." Publishers Weekly selected An Older Man as a staff pick, noting: "the simple honesty and openness of its sexuality felt like the first blast of spring after a long, cold winter."
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Synopsis
Moe Pearlman — once the 20-something protagonist of Hard — is now over 40, overweight, and going gray. For someone used to being the adorable younger guy chasing after older men, that’s not particularly easy. But Moe’s whole conception of himself is challenged when he spends Bear Week in Provincetown, an event that brings thousands of men to the tip of Cape Cod the week after Independence Day.
Still singular in his focus and sexual appetites, Moe hopes he’ll find a hot older guy — at tea dance, walking down Commercial Street, or cruising the Dick Dock — and have an intense summer fling. But things aren't going exactly as planned. Joining him on vacation is Moe’s ex-lover Gene and Gene’s new boyfriend Carlos, so Moe has no reason to feel lonely, but when the older objects of Moe’s affection start looking right past him in favor of younger rivals, Moe is shaken to the core.
One thing is certain: When Moe gets on the ferry to go home after a week in Provincetown, he won't be the same man he was when he arrived.
Reviews
“The simple honesty and openness of its sexuality felt like the first blast of spring after a long, cold winter...Hoffman knows how to keep the pages turning but also how to take us deep, deftly connecting the explicit to the profound. A quick, fun read that packed plenty of insight.”
– Publishers Weekly (Staff Pick)
“Smart...engrossing...both a breezy story about a horny vacationing bear and a contemporary examination of the difficulties gay men encounter when addressing issues of self-acceptance, body image, aging, loneliness, and their own sexual culture as it evolves in the digitized 21st century.”
– Bay Area Reporter
“An Older Man is a charming, genuine love letter to Provincetown...With great skill, Hoffman’s prose beautifully captures the spirit of this truly unique destination.”
– Chelsea Station Magazine
“As much a touching examination of aging and loneliness as it is a witty tale of sexual shenanigans during Provincetown’s Bear Week, Wayne Hoffman’s new novella, An Older Man, is a real delight.”
– Jeff Mann, author of Cub and Salvation
“An Older Man is about the aging of the first generation of gay men spending adulthood free of the closet and mostly free of the epidemic that took our older brothers. That makes it an important book. What makes it a really good book, is, it's funny, moving, and makes you want to turn its pages to learn what happens next. You'll root for its hero, Moe Pearlman, despite his failings, and you'll regret having to part ways with him and his friends when you reach the story's surprising end.”
– Eric Orner, author of The Completely Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green
“An Older Man is a bear-hug of a book that is equal parts burly bouquet of bear culture, a love letter to Provincetown, and a sexy story about our hirsute hero Moe’s quest to find ‘the one.’”
– Gregg Shapiro, author of Lincoln Avenue
News
Wayne talks about sex, literature, and becoming an older man in the Lambda Literary Review.
Wayne talks about navigating life in his 40s, and the importance of a taking a vacation, in the Philadelphia Gay News.
Wayne talks about gay marriage, gay fiction, and making a living as a writer on the Catskill Review of Books on WJFF-FM in the Catskills.
Listen to Wayne reading about a walk across Provincetown, from the first chapter of An Older Man, on Towleroad.
Read an excerpt from An Older Man, where Moe Pearlman gets advice from a wise pilgrim, in Next magazine.
"For those of Moe’s generation, and many of us from the generation just preceding his, the themes of aging and of time’s passing will have particular resonance." An Older Man is the featured book on lgbtSr.
Wayne talks about bears, the AIDS epidemic, and gay activism, on Tablet's Unorthodox podcast.
Wayne talks about sequels, and the possibility of future sequels, in a video interview on Bear Podcast at the Bear Market in Provincetown during Bear Week.
On the Cubs Out Loud podcast, Wayne talks about getting older, taking his shirt off, and what really happens in Provincetown.
Wayne talks about bears, Provincetown, and sex after 40 in a Strobing Limelight interview.
"This is the first time I'll be reading in Provincetown about Provincetown." Wayne talks to Bear World Magazine about Hard and An Older Man.