Title: Franny - The Queen of Provincetown Author: John Preston Published by: St. Martin's Press, 1995 ISBN: 0-312-11792-2 [hardcover, 102 pages]
In Franny, John Preston created what is perhaps the most memorable character of his long writing career. Franny is all the heroes of the gay movement rolled into one. After losing his first love to the cruelty that this world shows those who are different, Franny vows to protect as many like him as he can. Through genuine caring and concern, he manages to profoundly touch the lives of many. Part teacher, part parent, but mostly friend, Franny helps the gay men of Provincetown fight their battles against self-hatred and ostracism. It is his goal to make a place in the world for those who don't belong, and, in the end, make the world better for us.A Note on the 1995 (this) edition of Franny - It had been John Preston's intention to write a second part to Franny, dealing with the AIDS epidemic, and his fervent wish to see it published together with a slightly revised version of the original text in a single volume, preferably in cloth. (The revisions to the original edition of Franny were quite minor -- mainly cleaning up some raucous street language that he had discovered, in his many public readings of the text, got in the way of people hearing the story). He had been working on the new part for several months, in between boughts of his own illness and had 37 pages of manuscript -- scenes and character sketches -- but fretted that he had yet to find a story line to give the material shape.
In the last week of his life, after he got out of the hospital for the last time, he had enough energy to make the publishing arrangements for this new edition and sign a new contract, but unfortunately he did not have enough energy, or time, to complete the new text before he died in the early morning hours of April 28, 1994.
His editors decided to include the new material in an appendix, under the title John had written on the manila folder containing the manuscript: "Franny, Isadora, and the Angels: A Working Draft."
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