Paul Reed (May 28, 1956 – January 28, 2002) was an American writer, best known as one of the first major writers of

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-themed literature in the United States.Emmanuel S. Nelson, ''Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States''.

Greenwood Publishing Group Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. (GPG) was an educational and academic publisher (middle school through university level) which was part of ABC-Clio. Since 2021, ABC-Clio and its suite of imprints, including GPG, are collectively imprints of ...

, 2009. . pp. 525-526.

Early life

Born Paul Hustoft in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California, his father died when he was a child and he later adopted his stepfather's surname Reed after his mother remarried."Paul Reed Papers"

San Francisco Public Library The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco in United States. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Libr ...

. He was educated at

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico (Chico State) is a public university in Chico, California. It was founded in 1887 as one of about 180 "normal schools" founded by state governments in the 19th century to train teachers for the rapidly growing ...

and the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

Career

He worked for

Ten Speed Press Ten Speed Press is a publishing house founded in Berkeley, California, in 1971 by Phil Wood. It was bought by Random House in February 2009 and became part of their Crown Publishing Group division. History Wood worked with Barnes & Noble in 196 ...

in the 1980s, eventually becoming editor-in-chief of its Celestial Arts subsidiary. Diagnosed with ARC in 1987, he left the company in 1991. Reed's 1984 novel ''Facing It'' was credited as the first major AIDS-themed novel. He also later published the novels ''Longing'' (1988) and ''Vertical Intercourse'' (2000), and the memoirs ''The Q Journal'' (1991), ''The Savage Garden'' (1994) and ''The Redwood Diary'' (2001). He cowrote the HIV treatment and prevention guide ''How to Persuade Your Lover to Use a Condom and Why You Should'' (1987), and published a collection of spiritual self-help essays for people with HIV, ''Serenity: Challenging the Fear of AIDS, from Despair to Hope'' (1987). He also wrote several works of safer sex erotica under the pen name Max Exander, including ''Safestud: The Safesex Chronicles of Max Exander'' (1985), ''Lovesex: The Horny Relationship Chronicles of Max Exander'' (1986), ''Leathersex: Cruel Affections'' (1994) and ''Deeds of the Night'' (1995).

Death and legacy

Reed died on January 28, 2002, of AIDS-related complications. His final work, a compilation of his Max Evander writings titled ''Swollen'', was published later the same year. ''Longing'' was the subject of an essay by Bill Brent in the 2010 book '' The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered''."The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered Edited by Tom Cardamone". '' The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide'', May 4, 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Paul 1956 births 2002 deaths 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers American erotica writers American LGBTQ novelists American gay writers Writers from San Diego Writers from San Francisco California State University, Chico alumni University of California, Davis alumni AIDS-related deaths in California 20th-century American memoirists Gay memoirists 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American LGBTQ people