Some people following the serialized submissions of my novel “Becoming” have negatively commented on the futile efforts of the main character, Mitchell, to have completed sexual intercourse.

“Becoming” is a coming of age novel opening in 1939 Chicago, Illinois and climaxing (literally) in 1955 Brighton Beach, New York when Mitchell is twenty-one and a man... or, as it takes more than age and size to “become” one... the semblance of a man.

The first paragraphs of  the back cover copy read:

                  Do you remember your radio and

                Captain Midnight, The Lone Ranger,

                     Junior Miss and Let’s Pretend?

     The first time you inhaled a cigarette? Your first swallow of hard liquor? The thrill of the first exploration of the body of your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife... your own body? Your first orgasm?

    Remember when as a people we loved America, and showed it!

    Then you might be ready for a nostalgic, funny, romantic, sexually frustrating novel...

     A novel that may remind many of us of ourselves, "way back then," when God's most mysterious creation was the opposite sex. A novel about life and the often funny, sometimes sad, day-to-day things that stir the memories of our lives.                                                  

Becoming takes place in a completely different world than that of our children, or, depending on your age, a completely different world than you were brought up in.

Becoming takes place in a period of time when people showed respect for one another, when words, or one special word that is now commonly used in mixed company was never purposely spoken if girls or women were near. When doors were opened for women, when a man's seat was offered to a standing woman.

Becoming takes place in a period of time when the words “vagina” and “penis” were unknown to nine year old children.

Becoming takes place in a time before Playboy  magazine and sexual education.

Simply stated, the years of Becoming were years of comparative innocence so, yes, “Becoming” is most definitely a sexually frustrating novel.

For those of you that are following  and, hopefully, enjoying my serialized submissions,  I do sincerely thank you.

                                    Mark