LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
Rehoboth the Scene of Murderous Mayhem in Wilma Loves Betty |
Sometimes the best summer reads are anthologies of short stories. Face it, most of us have tiny attention spans while reading on the beach, what with so many other distractions going on, so short stories are just the ticket. And one of the most recommended beach reads of this year will certainly be Wilma Loves Betty, a collection of hilarious parodies of some of the gay and lesbian community's icons and icon wanna-bes. Included among the stories, published by Alyson, is one by Rehoboth resident Barry Becker, formerly the manager of Lambda Rising and now the director of the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival. "For too many years gays and lesbians have been the subject of parody, so much so that the parodythe swishy faggot, the masculine dykehas become the reality," write the book's co-editors Scott Brassart and Julie Trevelyan, "(so we)....decided it was time for us queers to fight back, to skewer a few sacred cows of our own. The 43 pieces in this collection.... lambast television and the movies, literature both high and low, religion, people, events, style and culture." In these rich tales Chandler comes out, as does Xena, Princess Warrior, and Agents Mulder and Scully. Robin doesn't quite conquer Batman, but his uncontrollable and hysterical teen lust for the caped crusader will leave you howling. Becker's delicious take on prolific crime writer Patricia Cornwell is set right here in Rehoboth Beach, and features a higher than usual body count for Virginia's Chief State Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta. In this telling of her story, however, she has moved to Delaware as Gaye Scalpeletta and is in Rehoboth for a hopefully relaxing Memorial Day weekend. But between her lesbian niece Liz's romance and people dying all around her, the weekend getaway is anything but restful, ending in a blaze of gunfire on the Cape May-Lewes ferry. "I've read all of Cornwell's books, usually in one or two sittings," Becker says. "Her stories are so twisted, her characters so dark, her writing so compelling; of course, her much publicized affair with another woman is what put her over the edge as the perfect target for a parody." Parodies, of course, work best when the reader is familiar with the subject being parodied. "I think the story stands on its own and has its own sense of the absurd," says Becker, "but readers of Cornwell will find even more to laugh about at Scalpeletta's disastrous Rehoboth vacation as her character's usually unflappable sense of professionalism is cracked wide open." Becker also admits that Cornwell spooked him in her last book. "She perfectly described my old neighborhood in Washington, every block of it, so she was clearly there. She even had her niece living in an apartment building I used to frequent almost nightly (all on the up and up mind you) so I felt she was getting too close to home. I had to strike back." And that he did. You'll never see Kay Scarpetta quite the same way again. Wilma Loves Betty is available at all four locations of Lambda Rising Bookstore. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 10, No. 5, May 19, 2000. |