I couldn’t have done justice to Angel Land, or Lola Dances when I was younger, for instance. There are exceptions, of course, but I think my writing the last 6 or 7 years is the best I’ve done. And when I came back to the arena, as I inevitably did, I made myself a promise that I would write only what I wanted to write, when and how I wanted to write it, and happily I’ve pretty much been able to do that.
I went from loving what I was doing to actually hating it, so it seemed a good thing to turn away. I had reached a certain level of success with the big New York publishing industry, and I wasn’t happy there, it began to seem to me that the publishers I was working with weren’t just buying my manuscripts, they were buying me. I think by now everyone knows I took a long break, 20 years - not from writing, per se, but from publishing. Some of it was frankly awful, but I think some of it is very good. I’ve done, as you noted, a lot of writing. I’m glad to have been a part of it, but I was only a part, a small part, as it happens. Banis was only one little man in a very big cause. But I don’t want to make that sound too heroic. It’s gratifying at my stage in life to look back and see that you did make a difference. I take some pride in having opened doors for writers, particularly glbt writers. So, whatever I am, for better or for worse, it’s all self made. I also think I started out with no great talent, just a lot of determination. Plus I should probably say I started out with no real training, other than the basic grammar and literature stuff from high school. First off, I first published in 1963, so it’s just 3 years shy of 50 years - a lot of water under numerous bridges, and several of them pretty shaky. How do you feel about your career as a writer over the last 40 years?
You started back in the sixties when gay publishing was practically done by samizdat. WO: Victor, you’re the doyen of gay publishing, with, what is it now? over 160 books published. Here the editors of Wilde Oats interview this prolific and gifted writer about his long career. Victor Banis has long been associated with Wilde Oats and its predecessor e-zine.
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