Entering Autumn — Wayne Mansfield

As Clayton stares mournfully into the full-length mirror, he sees a 48-year-old stranger reflected back, an aging man whose paunch and saggy skin make him hard to recognize as the toned, athletic man he once was. In the youth-obsessed gay world, the older, more unattractive, and more overweight you are, the more difficult it is to find love and companionship. The prospect of having to endure his twilight years alone terrifies Clayton.

Then two events occur, both of which impact on his life.

The first is the arrival of a new neighbor. Dean is a hot young man in his early thirties -- more than fifteen years Clayton's junior. That doesn't stop Clayton from fantasizing about something intimate, and even romantic, happening between them. But in his haste to make his fantasies real, he commits a terrible faux pas.

The second, and infinitely more devastating, event is the bombshell dropped by his oldest and best friend, Emmett. Neither he nor Emmett has any way of knowing the end result. But even in their wildest imaginations, they couldn't come close to guessing the eventual, and wholly surprising, outcome.