My Gay Dream book cover

My Gay Dream by Alex Ikke-Tuppel

Published in 2011, My Gay Dream by Alex Ikke-Tuppel is one of the first [*] novels featuring a gay main character by an author who is a native of Yerevan, Armenia.

Ikke-Tuppel is in sales for a manufacturer of semiconductors. He has a Ph.D. in Engineering. My Gay Dream is his first novel.

I absolutely adored these fashion events and tried to be present at each of them. The fact that I will be there with my friends instead of being alone, people with whom I could share the feelings of exhilaration of the moment, or deepest sadness regarding skillfulness or complete absence of it in a designer was thrilling up to the point it gave me a shiver. Of course, the fact that my “mysterious stranger” could aslo be there modeling for the swimsuits or the underwear, reinforced the shivers.

My Gay Dream by Alex Ikke-Tuppel

Versace storefront
Photo by Marek Ślusarczyk

The novel is about Mark and is written in a first-person narrative with a strong affectation. This affectation is byzantine, entrapping a deep pain, internalized stigma and negative stereotypes.

Ikke-Tuppel tries to steer Mark out of the maze through the use of a dream. If you read the novel through the lens of how people understand and navigate the traumas that can be associated with living in a queer body, you can see the wrenching affectations that some take on just to make it through.

Ikke-Tuppel writes in his introduction, “This short romantic story is dedicated to all who have incredible strength inside and a flock of demons following them throughout their entire lives, haunting their souls and making every minute and second of their existence unbearable and unforgettably painful, only to see the moment of truth in other’s lives, never believe in their own happiness and never realizing that they deserve it the most.”

Please consider buying a copy at Abril Books. Otherwise, please use Indiebound’s bookstore finder to find a copy at your closest independent bookstore.

ISBN: 978-1434909633. Published by Dorrance Publishing Co. Inc.