Lucien L. Agosta, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English Literature at California State University, Sacramento, has published numerous articles in his field, as well as two books: HOWARD PYLE (G. K. Hall, 1987) and E. B. WHITE: THE CHILDREN'S BOOKS (Simon & Schuster, 1995). He is married to Bud Sydenstricker and now resides in Palm Springs, CA.
"I was hooked from the first sentence. Your prose style is brilliant, witty, charming....You have a powerful story to tell, and you write so beautifully." - Lillian Federman, author of THE GAY REVOLUTION; ODD GIRLS AND TWILIGHT LOVERS; GAY L. A.; THE STONEWALL RIOTS; GAY LIFE AND CULTURE; and other works."When I picked up LOSING TIME: AIDS LESSONS IN LOVE AND LOSS, the reader in me prepared to savor a gay love story, but the judge in me wondered how this topic could be made fresh. Though Agosta's account covers well-trodden ground in that it centers on a white middle-class couple in the 1990s, its power and uniqueness reside in how vividly the author reconstructs day-to-day life with a terminally ill lover. Poetically written and rich with physical detail, the story was well-structured, with a wide emotional range that included humor and aesthetic pleasure as well as the indignities of illness. A colorful cast of family, friends, and caregivers accompanied the author through his lover's final years. At times I felt the poetic writing became too flowery, layering on too many similes when a simple description would have sufficed. One might think it incongruous to call this tragic story "a pleasure to read," but the talent for finding beauty in fleeting and even painful moments is a gift from the gay culture of Agosta's generation, which he has shared with us in LOSING TIME." - Critique by Jendi Reiter, Creative Nonfiction judge for one of the North Street Book Prizes awarded Losing Time in 2022
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