The 1970s Peter and Charlie trilogy by Gordon Merrick was the first gay romance with a happy ending. In 1982, their Victor Gadino clinch became the first to grace the cover of a gay romance novel.
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Gordon Merrick, Victor Gadino, and Peter and Charlie
Author Gordon Merrick’s Peter and Charlie trilogy, published by Avon Books in the 1970s, depicted a gay romance that concluded with a happy ending, making it the first mainstream novel of its kind.
The series began in 1970 with The Lord Won’t Mind. However, it wasn’t until 1974, with the trilogy’s final book, Forth Into Light, that Peter and Charlie had their gay HEA. Their love story also spawned the first gay clinch cover in 1982, as illustrated by Victor Gadino.
Never before had a male couple been pictured so intimately on the front of a romance novel as they had for The Lord Won’t Mind. The blond pair gaze deeply into each other’s eyes and reach out to hold hands.
Gordon Merrick, Writer of Gay Melodramas and Romances
Gordon Merrick was born in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, in 1916. The new 20th century was moving on a more socially liberal trajectory. Merrick would be part of that cultural momentum.
The son of a stockbroker, Merrick studied French literature at Princeton. He then got into acting, performing in several Broadway productions. Later, Merrick became a television screenwriter and journalist.
Merrick made history as one of the first novelists to depict graphic homosexual fiction for a mass audience. His tawdry novels were full of melodrama, sex, and beautiful men. Usually, they conclude with heartache for the main characters. Merrick’s books were tantalizing reads akin to those of Harold Robbins, Judith Krantz, or Jackie Collins, only much gayer.
Modern readers might chuckle at the almost innocent vulgarity and campy nature of his works. On the other hand, some might cluck their tongues at the “outdated” themes and unapologetic preference for ultra-glamorous, gorgeous, continent-hopping, wealthy protagonists. Merrick essentially wrote man-on-man bodice rippers, after all.
All in all, Merrick wrote fourteen books over 40 years. He would die in Sri Lanka in 1988.
His final novel, The Good Life, was co-authored with his partner, Charles Hulse, and published after his death. Like most of Merrick’s books, it was a bestseller.
Merrick’s Peter and Charlie Trilogy
The Lord Won’t Mind, the First Mainstream Gay Romance (Sort of)
Merrick’s piece de résistance, The Lord Won’t Mind, came out in hardcover in 1970. The book tells the turbulent and forbidden love story of two beautiful, blond Ivy Leaguers, Peter and Charlie.
It was a graphic page-turner and sold like pancakes at the old World’s Fair. The Lord Won’t Mind spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list.
The mass-market paperback edition was then released by the publishing house Avon in 1971. This was a year before they gambled on Kathleen Woodiwiss’ slush-pile manuscript for The Flame and the Flower.
The Lord Won’t Mind (from left to right): Bernard Geis Publisher, 1970, first edition hardcover; Avon, 1971, paperback edition; Alyson Publications, October 1995 paperback edition
A Genuine Romance Novel About a Same-Sex Couple
Due to societal changes, there was a hungry audience out there for explicit fiction. Merrick’s work was just that: raunchy and schlocky.
“For the love of God, have mercy on my aching cock. I want you in bed.”
“That, sure lord, is where I want to be.”
The Lord Won’t MinD
Even so, The Lord Won’t Mind was also sweetly romantic. The forbidden lovers vowed to be together forever.
Readers anxiously hoped for the pair to end happily but were left hanging. It would take two more books detailing the erotic, taboo relationship for fans to find out what would happen. The sequel came out in 1972; the final book followed in 1974.
“I say, if it’s love, the Lord won’t mind. There’s enough hate in the world.”
The Lord Won’t MinD
Enter Artist Victor Gadino, Another Gay Icon
The success of the series led Avon to give Merrick the star treatment. His books would now receive extra attention to detail—especially the cover art, an area where Avon excelled.
In 1977, an up-and-coming artist named Victor Gadino took on the job of creating new covers for Merrick’s backlist. He started with An Idol for Others. This mass-market paperback showed two males—one in a suit, the other shirtless—in a positively seductive manner.
“Avon books decided to rerelease the Merrick novels as typical mass-market romance paperbacks. Up until then they had simple covers and were sold in specialty shops or from “under” the counter. The head art director was a strong female with vision and a great eye.
“It was the early days of gay liberation and she recognized the time was right. She saw my talent and gay sensibility and gave me the assignment for the first cover, the most conservative one, An Idol for Others. I never met Mr. Merrick, but I was told he was not happy with the mature model I used and thought he looked too old.
“He was, however, very pleased with the eight covers that followed, all using handsome young models.”
VICTOR GADINO, THE ADVOCATE
One For the Gods (Charlie and Peter Book #2): More Gay Romance, But No HEA Yet
The sequels to The Lord Won’t Mind documented Charlie and Peter’s glitzy lifestyle as the golden duo engaged in a thrilling, illicit, on-again, off-again relationship. The second book, One for the Gods, introduced a third person into the mix to form a crazy love triangle.
First there was Charlie and Peter.
Their love affair broke a lot of conventions… but it didn’t break them all. For Peter and Charlie are in love–with each other–and with Martha. And Martha is passionately in love with them both.
From St. Tropez to Athens to Mykonos, this powerful, moving novel follows their devastating triangle of romance and desire through a world of sun-drenched pleasure and Mediterranean adventure.
One For the Gods
The Gadino cover art is more intimate than the previous one, with the couple holding hands. However, the third wheel in this romance is prominently pictured, showing all is not well in paradise.
Forth Into Light (Charlie & Peter #3): A Gay Romance with a HEA
Finally, in 1974, Forth Into Light concluded the romantic series.
In the final chapter of the bestselling epic love story of Peter and Charlie, the two men are forced to fight for their relationship like never before
For two men with the looks of Adonis and Narcissus, it’s no surprise that Greece was the destination for a romantic getaway. Once there, however, the two men fall into the beds of others, with the duplicitous Martha striving to steal Charlie away from Peter after he has a moment of infidelity.
For the final installment of the Peter & Charlie Trilogy, Gordon Merrick widens his focus on the couple to include the village in which they’re staying, creating a web of deceit and lust that comes to a head in unexpected and satisfying ways, while the love between Peter and Charlie is tested repeatedly with the emergence of a passionate young man named Jeff.The bond between these two has spanned the years and the globe, but it could well meet its end here on the lush Greek shores.
FORTH INTO LIGHT
Below is the original cover for the conclusion to Charlie and Peter’s epic romance. The artwork is neither overt nor titillating. The two hands reaching out to touch each other appear to be reminiscent of Michelangelo’s work in the Sistine Chapel.
Gadino Masterpiece: A Gay Romance Clinch Cover
Gadino’s clinch cover for the monumental gay romance Forth Into Light is more emotional and evocative than the original. The two men have their arms around each other’s shoulders. Their backs face the viewer as they stare out at an ocean sunset.
Readers knew this was not just another sex adventure by looking at the cover. This was a true romance novel, one for gay men.
The Peter and Charlie trilogy by Gordon Merrick was monumental mainstream gay fiction. Unlike the slashy melodramas of the pulp era, the love story finished on a positive note, as the book ended with protagonists together, happy and in love.
Merrick’s audience-pleasing, optimistic conclusion and Gadino’s sensual clinch cover make the Peter and Charlie series and Forth Into Light pivotal in gay romance history.
Your Opinion
Have you ever read author Gordon Merrick? Did you know his Peter and Charlie trilogy had the first gay romance novel to end happily ever after? Were you aware of the historic Victor Gadino clinch covers for the 1980s reissue editions? What are your thoughts on these novels and their cover art?
As always, please drop a comment, and let’s talk romance.
Links
- The Advocate: Victor Gadino #1
- The Advocate: Victor Gadino #2
- Goodreads.com: Gordon Merrick
- Victor Gadino: Instagram