 = James Robert Baker = 
 
 James Robert Baker ( October 18 , 1946 – November 5 , 1997 ) was an American author of sharply satirical , predominantly gay @-@ themed <unk> fiction . A native Californian , his work is set almost entirely in Southern California . After graduating from UCLA , he began his career as a screenwriter , but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead . Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder , after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel , Tim and Pete , he faced increasing difficulty having his work published . According to his life partner , this was a contributing factor in his suicide . 
 Baker 's work has achieved cult status in the years since his death , and two additional novels have been posthumously published . First @-@ edition copies of his earlier works have become collector 's items . His novel Testosterone was adapted to a film of the same name , though it was not a financial success . Two other books have been optioned for films , but they have not been produced . 
 
 = = Early life = = 
 
 Baker was born in Long Beach , California and raised in what he considered a " <unk> , Republican Southern Californian household " . <unk> against his parents , he became attracted to the fringe elements of society , including <unk> ( anyone living as a <unk> , acting <unk> , or appearing to advocate a revolution in manners ) , artists and gays . In high school during the 1960s he explored his sexuality at underground gay teen nightclubs , while living in fear that his abusive father would find out . At one point , his father hired a private detective to follow him , when he suspected Baker was having an affair with a male neighbor . This family dynamic would be used in many of his novels , most extensively in Boy Wonder . 
 Baker began taking drugs , and became , in his own words , " an out of control , teenage speed freak " . He also began drinking heavily , attributing it to the fact that he was <unk> . However , even after coming out , his substance abuse remained excessive and " still had a life of its own " . After sobering up , he attended UCLA film school , where he was one of the winners of the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Awards , and directed two films : Mouse <unk> <unk> and Blonde Death . Mouse <unk> <unk> , a film about a Mickey Mouse Club <unk> who becomes a gay bondage <unk> , was a controversial entry in the 1976 San Francisco 's <unk> Film Festival , as some thought Baker was actually advocating Nazism . It is also credited with having caused Michael <unk> to abandon his dream of film making and instead become a film critic . 
 
 = = Writer = = 
 
 Baker 's lifelong ambition was to write . Upon graduating from UCLA , he spent approximately five years writing Hollywood screenplays in the early 1980s , a process he hated . While financially successful , he was frustrated that his work was not being produced . " I felt like a door @-@ to @-@ door salesman going to all these [ story ] pitch meetings ... [ filled with ] <unk> , hideous <unk> " . He became discouraged and disillusioned , and turned his attention to novels . 
 His first book , Adrenaline , was published under the pseudonym James <unk> . A story of two gay fugitive lovers on the run , it <unk> the satire and drug fueled violence so prominent in his later books . Here Baker began developing the themes that dominated his following works : anarchy ; angry and somewhat paranoid gay men ; the dark underside of Los Angeles , juxtaposed with its sunny outward image ; the hypocrisy of organized religion ; anonymous sex and its implications in the age of AIDS ; and homophobia and the oppression of gays in a Republican dominated America . Its plot device of underdog characters forced into flight due to circumstances beyond their control was one Baker explored in all of his subsequent work . The modest success of this novel encouraged him to devote himself to what have become his best known works , Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams ( a novel revolving around a character loosely based on record producer Phil Spector ) and the 1986 release Boy Wonder . After the novel was published , he stopped screenwriting in order to solely concentrate on books . He spent the bulk of each day writing and researching , and acted out characters and scenes of his novels on videotape to perfect the dialogue . 
 His primary focus was gay @-@ themed writing , though he also wrote about the entertainment industry . <unk> satirical , his writing was filled with increasingly clear anger and disdain for the Republican neo @-@ con agenda , especially after the AIDS pandemic began to take a large toll on the gay community . A very strong voice in gay literature , Baker had admirers and detractors for his gay radical stance , both in the mainstream literary community as well as the gay community itself . 
 A self @-@ described <unk> , Baker has been categorized as a writer of <unk> fiction , in that his novels are frequently populated by <unk> , <unk> characters who engage in taboo behaviors such as heavy drug use , <unk> , necrophilia and other practices ; and often commit acts of extreme , <unk> violence . A man of eclectic tastes , Baker cited as literary influences writers and film directors ranging from <unk> to Jim Thompson and Sam Peckinpah . He also admired the punk writer Dennis Cooper . 
 His work is filled with pop cultural references to both film and music , as well as politics . Orson Welles ' Touch of Evil and John Ford 's The <unk> are mentioned prominently in more than one of his books , and Roxy Music is referenced in virtually every novel he wrote . The imagery in his novels is largely cinematic , with expressions such as " fade in / fade out " , " quick cut " and " <unk> " ; and sentences such as " a montage traces the next fifteen years " and " If the last reel of <unk> 's life had been a <unk> <unk> movie ... " . With driven narratives , his books have the feel of a movie set down on paper . 
 
 = = Critical reception = = 
 
 Baker 's work received mixed reviews . His only two books not specifically gay themed ( though containing gay characters and a somewhat gay sensibility ) , Boy Wonder and Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams , were better received by critics , and more popular with readers , though he was never a bestselling novelist . Baker himself estimated that his books sold approximately 25 @,@ 000 copies each . His following book , however , Tim and Pete , met with hostile reviews , primarily for its advocacy of political assassination and terror tactics in combating AIDS discrimination . Baker himself was ambivalent on the subject . " I think assassination does change things ... But I 'm not really calling for violence , " he said . " It 's a novel , not a position paper . " 
 In a 1993 interview , however , Baker stated : 
 I think a strong case can be made that political assassination actually does change things . If you look at the <unk> in this country in the 1960s you can certainly see how it affected history in a very profound way . So if you killed right wing figures , you 'd also be altering the course of history , and eliminating people who might very well be president in 1996 and those who are making bashing gays their number one issue right now . On the one hand , I 'm not advocating <unk> 's turn themselves into human bombs , but on the other hand I have to admit that if I <unk> on CNN and heard somebody had blown Patrick Buchanan 's head clean off , I 'd be <unk> , and to say otherwise would be a lie . 
 There were also charges of racism , due to his portrayals of blacks and <unk> . Baker denied those charges , and pointed out that the protagonist later realized that the blacks were also gay and the <unk> " was just a sweet old woman putting up with a lot of ( stuff ) that I couldn 't even imagine . " He went on to say , " I just wanted to explore the conflicts between gays and <unk> and gays and blacks ... the real feelings [ and the ] <unk> of each other . I realized it wouldn 't all be nice and politically correct . If blacks ( and <unk> ) want my respect , they have to deal with their own homophobia . I 'm not playing guilty liberal anymore " . 
 The book caused a great deal of controversy among critics , with some calling it " irresponsible " , and saying it was " determined to give offense " and " appears to endorse violence " . One critic of the book wrote , " The work rapidly becomes an apology for political terrorism and effectively advocates the assassination of the entire American New Right . While the reasons for such a vengeance motif are perhaps evident , can it really be <unk> ? Are we still justified in referring to this as art ? And even if we are , is there a point at which such <unk> ( and such suggestions ) become simply counterproductive ? " Another critic , however , called it " a <unk> creation " and wrote : " In coming years Baker will be seen as having understood the implications of this period in our history while the rest of us were simply living it " . It polarized the reading public as well , with letters to the editor of major newspapers both supporting and opposing Baker 's ideology . Baker himself was aware that the book would be controversial , and deliberately provoked much of the reaction he received . He said : " Tim and Pete tries to convey in print what people really think rather than what they should think or what 's <unk> My fantasy was to leave readers so infuriated they 'd throw down the book and march right out to a gun store because they wanted to see the finale so bad they realize the only way it 'd happen is if they make it happen in real life ! " 
 
 = = Death = = 
 
 After the reception of Tim and Pete , with several critics calling him " The Last Angry Gay Man " , Baker faced increasing difficulty finding a publisher for his work and his financial position became precarious . He was only able to publish one novella , Right Wing , and that was self @-@ published on the Internet . 
 Baker 's life partner , Ron Robertson , believes that this difficulty led Baker on a quick , downwards emotional spiral . Baker killed himself at his home on November 5 , 1997 , by <unk> in his garage . His death was noted in literary circles and mainstream press ; the Gay Times in the United Kingdom wrote , " Baker 's suicide is particularly tragic because it <unk> American gay writing of a refreshingly distinctive voice quite unlike the po @-@ faced prose of so many of his contemporaries . " 
 
 = = Legacy = = 
 
 Since his death , Baker 's reputation has steadily increased among critics and the reading public ; and his works now have cult status in the literary community . By 2006 , first editions of Adrenaline , Boy Wonder , Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams and Tim and Pete had become collector 's items and commanded high prices at rare book stores . 
 Robertson , now Baker 's literary <unk> , was successful in having two additional novels published after Baker 's death . One of those , Testosterone , was filmed in 2003 . Directed by David <unk> and starring Antonio <unk> Jr . , the plot was significantly altered and the film was a critical and financial failure . Both Boy Wonder and Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams have been optioned for the movies several times , most recently in 2004 , though they were never produced . Baker 's work has also been published in Germany , Sweden , Italy , Great Britain , Australia , Japan and Russia . 
 Though Tim and Pete was his most controversial work , Boy Wonder is generally considered his magnum opus , and remains his most popular book . A black satire of the film industry , it is also a parody of the " oral biographies " popularized by George <unk> with his books about Edie <unk> and <unk> <unk> , in that the protagonist 's life is revealed in the form of interviews between the writer and the characters . Though it has been praised as " one of the few novels from the last couple of decades that could <unk> be called a classic " , reviewers have also pointed out that it is probably <unk> due to its bitter cynicism regarding the movie industry . 
 Baker 's last published work , Right Wing , as well as his posthumous novels Testosterone and Anarchy , represent a stylistic departure in that he <unk> himself into the plot as either a secondary character or the protagonist . The latter two were edited , and in the case of Anarchy , partially rewritten by his editor , Scott <unk> . Testosterone needed only minor changes , while Anarchy underwent an entire rewrite , with <unk> restructuring the plot and <unk> over 500 pages of prose and notes into a fast @-@ paced , 250 page novel . For the reader , however , it is only Baker 's voice as writer that is heard . 
 Three of Baker 's books have thus far not been published : White Devils , Proto Punk , and <unk> Todd . Additionally , he wrote two screenplays which have not as yet been filmed : Inez and Desert Women . 
 
 = = Published works = = 
 
 Adrenaline ( 1985 ) Signet Books / New American Library ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 451 @-@ <unk> @-@ 6 
 Fuel @-@ Injected Dreams ( 1986 ) E. P. <unk> ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 525 @-@ <unk> @-@ 2 
 Boy Wonder ( 1988 ) New American Library ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ 453 @-@ <unk> @-@ 5 
 Tim and Pete ( 1993 ) Simon & Schuster ISBN 978 @-@ 0 @-@ <unk> @-@ <unk> @-@ 1 
 Right Wing ( 1996 , only published on the Internet ) 
 Testosterone ( published posthumously 2000 ) <unk> Publications ISBN 978 @-@ 1 @-@ <unk> @-@ <unk> @-@ 5 
 Anarchy ( published posthumously 2002 ) <unk> Publications ISBN 978 @-@ 1 @-@ <unk> @-@ 743 @-@ 3 
 
 