The Sword’s Exclusive Interview With The Former Editor Of The Sword, Paul Bookstaber

Awwwkwarrrrrd…

Remember back in 2010 and 2009 when you read The Sword, and it was someone else’s words you were reading? Those were from former editor Paul Bookstaber. You remember Paul. He was writing (often better) about the things I write about long before I was writing about them here. He was also fighting with bloggers and porn stars well before I was, too. Anyway, Paul is back! Since leaving The Sword in June 2010, Paul has spent his time having sex, getting drunk, and publishing a magazine, Das Einhorn, which you need to get a copy of here, because it’s great.

I caught up with Paul recently to talk about his new magazine and the first issue (which, again, is here), what’s in store for the next issue, and the differences between editing a blog and editing a magazine. Also, we talk about porn stars and gay culture, and we sort of disagree about AIDS. The first issue of Das Einhorn, featuring Drew Culter on the cover, is here.

The Sword: I remember you talking about putting a magazine together a couple of years ago. How did it finally all come together?
Paul Bookstaber: I’ve had the idea since I was a little kid, but starting a magazine is pretty stupid and difficult, right? But I decided to do it.

Wait, why do you say “stupid and difficult”?
Well anyone who has ever worked in print will tell you that. As the cliché in media goes, print is dead. But as I saw gay rag after gay rag fold or go defunct, including BUTT, which is probably the closest model to Das Einhorn, I saw an opportunity, because I believe there is room for one good, gay magazine. I don’t think print died. I think it was murdered.

And was there “one moment” or one turning point when all the pieces sort of came together for this, for Das Einhorn?
Yeah. I was visiting my grandparents in Omaha, and I had broken my collarbone riding my bike, and my cat had run away — he’d come back, but I didn’t know that yet — and I was holed up in bed, and then I found out The Sword won a GayVN, so I was feeling pretty tart.

Did you know that I thanked you during the ceremony?
Yes, and I appreciate it.

OK, just making sure.
So, I was not supposed to be moving my broken shoulder, but I decided to write anyway. I wrote an essay on pity sex. Then I came back to San Francisco to look for a job, but I realized that I didn’t want any job except to be the editor of a magazine. So I decided to do it. That decision came first. The matter of how I was going to do it came second. But the essay I wrote on pity sex was a good start I figured.

I read it, and I loved it.
Thanks, but I’ve always considered myself an editor more than a writer. Writing is so solitary. I like coming up with a good collection of topics and collaborating with other people. I asked all of the most talented people I know to help me make a magazine, and to my surprise, all my first choices said yes. That’s how I was able to make it work. It took months, because it’s difficult to get that sort of material from people when the product doesn’t exist yet and you don’t have any money to pay them. But, I eventually got enough material to make a pretty good first issue. So, I got it laid out, and then I found a printer in South Korea.

What?
I found a printer in South Korea who said she would lay it out cheap, because I wanted to sell it as cheaply as possible.

Were you nervous about sending money overseas for something this important?
If I were scared of taking leaps of faith, I wouldn’t have started this project to begin with. But I had to take things one step at a time. Once I had the whole file (the 52-page magazine), I sat on Google for an hour, then I talked to a nice Korean lady, and then I sent her the file and some money. The issues arrived the day after King Jong-Il died.

Having blogged as long as you blogged and now working in print, can you talk about the differences? Whether you’re able to achieve more in one medium over another.
It is a constraint, print, in that there’s limited space, and what you put on a page of a magazine is etched on there forever. On a blog, it’s in chalk. I’ve always felt that a certain amount of constraint liberates creativity. When Pink Floyd recorded an album to the timing of Wizard Of Oz, the result I think was more genius than it would have been had they allowed themselves infinite space. I appreciate the limitations because they force you to prioritize and edit heavily. Anything that goes in a magazine, it can’t go in causally like it does in a blog. There has to be a thematic through-line and a rhythm and a balance that you don’t need to have with a blog.

There is a rhythm to blogging, though.
There is, there is. With blogging, the rhythm is frequency over time and it goes much faster. But you’re allowed to make mistakes, and then react to commenters and other bloggers, and if you fuck up, you can redeem yourself almost instantly by doing an edit and then republishing. But with a magazine, the rhythm is self-contained in the balance of every final product, and you need to wait until the next issue to redeem any mistakes. Both are hard.

Do you miss anything about blogging?
I miss the gossip and snark. I miss the interaction with news on a daily level. I miss my commenters. I miss flame wars and fame whores. I miss stupid anonymous shitshows. The nebulous characters in basements.

What don’t you miss?
The self-promotion. I’m not very good at self-promotion, which is a big part of blogging.

And yet you’re doing this interview!
True. I guess it’s a big part of magazining too.

The essay you have in this issue is personal, and anyone who’s read your work over the years knows that you don’t shy away from revealing personal information. But is there anything too personal or too private that you wouldn’t ever reveal?
The only thing I wouldn’t reveal about myself would be the anal wart, which is totally tiny but rather pesky. Or, my past of occasionally having let a guy suck my dick for money. I would never reveal either of those things. Is anyone still reading this?

Probably not.
Seriously, the only times I censor myself are when I think of my poor mom. Like, she knows she’s not allowed to read anything I write. But other than that, I’m an open book. I think you have to be in order to work in media. You have to be an open book to produce good content, because the best writing comes from what you know.

Well, and if you hold something back nowadays, there’s always someone willing to “expose” you.
I don’t know about that. I’d be flattered if someone went digging for dirt on me, but I can’t imagine anyone would think I’m worth the trouble.

What do you hope people get out of the new magazine?
My favorite thing I’ve heard from readers so far is that they identify with the content. I think the more personal, the more universal. This sort of writing and this sort of content is missing in gay culture.

I’ve talked about that a little here on the site. Is there even such a thing as gay culture anymore?
The only places we still find distinct gay culture are, coincidentally, in the themes that interest me the most — sex, alcohol, hot men, HIV and the pursuit of love. I’m interested in cruising, and those spaces where we congregate to abuse substances and try to fuck each other, from adam4adam to gayborhood alleys to bars and clubs. You’re right that gay culture has been thoroughly assimilated, but there are still issues that affect us specificially. Like the effect that AIDS has had on our collective consciousness.

And even AIDS isn’t “ours” anymore. It doesn’t belong to the gays since it’s not a gay disease anymore.
Yes, AIDS is still a gay disease! Unless you’re in Africa.

A lot of people would disagree.
It’s left its stamp on us more than anyone else. Gay men think and talk about it more than anyone else. Women worry about getting pregnant. Gay men worry about getting HIV.

OK, I don’t want to fight. Tell me about the specific theme of this issue of your magazine.
It’s about different types of guys we fuck, have fucked, and want to fuck. But the next issue will be even more major. So much more major.

It’s better than this issue?
Yeah. I mean, you’ll love the first issue, but I’m sick of it. The next issue will have anal bleaching, fashion—because I’m told there has to be fashion—and Gehno Sanchez on defecting from Treasure Island Media. And today I’m meeting with a lieutenant I fucked who’s in the SFPD, so hopefully he’ll let me interview some hot gay cops. And Mike Stabile, the founder of The Sword, will be contributing, too.

How much does it cost?
It’s $6.00, so fuck you, and your family.

Before I let you go, have you been following any of the new characters in porn?
No. Do people still sell their underwear on eBay?

No, now they have “Amazon Wish Lists.”
Oh! Those are amazing. They are the most inadvertant psychological self-profiles. I love them. There was one big-dicked top I recall asking for a neon LED showerhead on his wishlist. Delightful.

So you’re not keeping up on the gossip, I take it?
I don’t follow porn gossip anymore at all. I loved it when I was in the thick of it, but it’s not like riding a bike. You can’t just get back on and pick it back up again. I am also handicapped by my deep hated for twitter. And I hate jerking off to guys I know things about. I already know and have met too many porn stars. So in order to save my enjoyment of porn, it’s important to not know things about increasing numbers of porn stars. Right now I’m relegated to watching porn from the ’90s. It’s getting so bad that I’ve started watching straight porn where the guys’ dicks sometimes touch.

How did you adjust to not being a gay porn blogger after you left The Sword?
I loved being a gay porn blogger and I was good at it, but it was my job, not a hobby. I haven’t been to a gay porn news site or blog since I left The Sword. There was this sort of sadness, leaving that world.

Sad how?
I couldn’t go from being one of the instigators to being one of the spectators, you know? I had a great run, but I knew my time in that world was over. Porn was only about a quarter of what I wrote about, the rest was sex and culture. I cultivated those beats under The Sword and now I’m bringing them to the magazine.

And the voice and the subject matter is distinctly yours. I don’t see it anywhere else and I’m so glad it’s back. It’s this semi self-loathing character, but yet he’s very assured and confident.
Thanks. I do try to be as honest as possible when I’m producing content, and I am indeed as self-loathing as I am self-assured. And I owe a lot to my contributors, too. Everything, in fact. David Mason is my favorite blogger, for example, and he’s in there. It’s a pretty good magazine. You can put it on your coffee table. I’ll sell it to you in a bar, too. It’s $6.00.

I know, you already told me. What if someone reading this isn’t in a bar though, and they’re not in San Francisco.
Order it online. I’ll put it in the mail. I hand-write the mailing address and everything. If you want me to ejaculate all over the cover, I’ll do that, too!

Great.
Yup, that’s a special offer for all you Sword readers.

Thanks, Paul. It was really good to talk to you.
You’re welcome. You too.

[Das Einhorn]