Dirk Vanden (born ''Richard Fullmer''; May 7, 1933 – October 21, 2014), was an American author and illustrator. He is considered the first

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

writer and has been called a "pioneer of

gay literature Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior. Overview and history Because the social acceptance of homosexuali ...

" by the ''Lambda Literary Review''. A graduate of the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

, his work appeared in ''ONE Magazine'', ''Vector'', and ''California Scene'', as well as in ''Latter-Gay Saints: An Anthology of Gay Mormon Fiction''. His novel ''I Want It All'' was the first book to explore

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

leather subculture Leather subculture denotes practices and styles of dress organized around Human sexual activity, sexual activities that involve leather garments, such as leather jackets, vests, boots, chaps, Bondage harness, harnesses, or other items. Wearing le ...

. His greatest success was his ''All'' trilogy: ''I Want It All,'' ''All or Nothing,'' and ''All Is Well.''Gunn, Drewey Wayne (2013), "The Heroic Quest: Dirk Vanden's ''All'' Trilogy," ''1960s Gay Pulp Fiction: The Misplaced Heritage,'' ed. Gunn and Jaime Harker, 268-91. Vanden received a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

for Gay

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in 2012 for the revision of this trilogy, ''All Together.'' In spite of his success, Vanden, together with Richard Amory, was highly critical of the way editor Earl Kemp and publisher

Greenleaf Classics William Lawrence Hamling (June 14, 1921 – June 29, 2017) was an American writer, science fiction fan, and publisher of both science fiction digests, and adult magazines and books, active from the late 1930s until 1975. He was a lifelong me ...

treated his work, citing Greenleaf's non-payment of

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

, employment of editors not familiar with gay literature, and insistence on inserting graphic sex into his books as examples of their heavy-handed approach to

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

publishing. He died of cancer at his home in

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in October 2014.

Bibliography

*''To Themselves Unknown'' *''Tom, Tom, the Piper’s Son'' (published as ''Who Killed Queen Tom?'', 1969) *''Hatters and Hares'' (published as ''The Leather Queens'', 1969; re-released as ''Down the Rabbit Hole'') *''The Stag in the Tree'' (published as ''Leather'', 1969) *''Exile in Paradise'' (published as ''Twin Orbs'', 1969) *''I Want It All'' (1969) *''All Or Nothing'' (1970) *''All Is Well'' (1971) *''All of Me: A Gay Mystery'' (2010) *''It Was Too Soon Before…: The Unlikely Life, Untimely Death, and Unexpected Rebirth of Gay Pioneer, Dirk Vanden'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanden, Dirk 20th-century American novelists American male novelists 2014 deaths University of Utah alumni 1933 births American illustrators 21st-century American novelists Lambda Literary Award winners American gay writers Place of birth missing 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people