Queer in Wiscasset

"Queer in Wiscasset" is written and profusely illustrated by Maine native Zephram de Colebi. Known as Michael Colby when he lived in Wicasset, this roman a clef tells the story of young Sammy and his siblings Darlene, Randy, and Sal as they try to survive brutal and brutish parents in the prettiest village in Maine, which hides its own form of violence and prejudice behind the grand facades of old mansions, with a picturesque harbor nearby. How Sammy survives is the theme of the novel, which depicts an earlier kind of farm life that is now almost completely gone. Sammy had to straddle the uneasy divide between rural living and town life, with each making its own demands that nearly suffocated the boy as he struggled into early manhood and came to grips with his same-sex attraction. He finds solace with his dogs, being in the woods, and the open freedom of the sea.

Along the way, Sammy is assaulted by student athletes after a prankster joke in the high school gym goes seriously awry; his father takes him to a girlie show at the Union fair; he and his older sister check out the abandoned and rotting ship Hester; the family's fishing boat strikes a submerged reef on the way to Vinalhaven while the boys try to catch a seal; and he has a night time sexual encounter on the grounds of the town's most famous mansion.

The book has already been accepted based on its artistic merit into the Special Collections of the Library of Congress.