Max Markham is the author of Indigo Bird – An Erotic Novel. For more information on the author and his work, please visit Max Markham’s Section on this website.

This article is part of a series of posts about my favorite top ten gay Englishmen.

I am continuing to write about the Top Ten Gay Englishmen. I have arguably dealt with four so far, since previous posts on “Mad Mike” Calvert and T E Lawrence certainly deserve inclusion.

Mike Calvert, a brilliant special forces soldier, was only thirty-nine when his army career was shattered in 1952 by allegations of homosexual misconduct. Although he lived until 1998, neither he nor his reputation ever recovered. He died in poverty, an alcoholic. His story is as tragic as that of Alan Turing, who died, probably by suicide, two years after Calvert’s disgrace, in 1954. There may be a link between the two events.

James Michael Calvert, DSO (Distinguished Service Order) and Bar (1913 – 1998) was a British soldier involved in special operations in Burma during the Second World War. He took part in Chindit operations and was instrumental in popularizing the unorthodox ideas of Orde Wingate. Calvert often led risky attacks from the front, which earned him the nickname “Mad Mike.” “Mad” is the British army slang term for “very brave”. He had “a good war” between 1939 and 1945 and seemed destined for high military command. He was however also homosexual, although the extent to which he was practicing is uncertain; and he had made enemies, some of them in very senior positions. They conspired to stage an alleged indecent incident: Calvert was disgraced and dismissed from the army. He tried to re-start his career as an engineer both in the UK and Australia. He also held an academic position for a time. But he never succeeded. He ended as an impoverished alcoholic, dying in 1998. Apart from the injustice of this, the army was deprived of one of its most brilliant, albeit unconventional, officers. [Read the full post on Mike Calvert...]

I have mentioned Lawrence of Arabia in passing in this blog because he was a boyhood hero of Robert Nairac GC. This emerges clearly in Luke Jennings’ memoir Blood Knots, when the eighteen year old Nairac asks the younger Jennings about his favourite books. Nairac’s regard for Lawrence stood the test of time. He evidently spoke of Lawrence while he was on his last, fatal undercover assignment in Northern Ireland in 1977; one of his former colleagues recalls hearing another soldier saying “he thinks he’s Lawrence of bloody Arabia!” There were similarities. There was also a tenuous Irish connection in both cases:  Lawrence’s father, Sir Thomas Robert Chapman, Baronet, of Westmeath, had been part of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy though he had little or no native Irish blood. T E Lawrence, his second son, never set foot in Ireland but was conscious of his Irish heritage. One of his unrealised literary projects was a biography of the executed Irish revolutionary, Sir Roger Casement, in whom he developed a serious interest.  Casement was fairly clearly gay, although some of his defenders are still in denial over this. [Read the full post on T. E. Lawrence...]

The Indigo Bird

An Erotic Novel by Max Markham

James Graveney, a young Major in a respectable regiment, is outwardly conventional. In private James is bisexual, with a strong urge for his own sex. Gay sex, however, is illegal in the Army, so he is discreet about this.

James’ world is turned upside-down when he meets Lieutenant Richard Finch. Richard is intelligent, charismatic and exceptionally handsome.  He doesn’t mess around. He gets what he wants, and is completely unscrupulous about how he gets it. Richard will stop at nothing to achieve this, including Machiavellian deception and a cunning and brutal murder.  James starts responding to Richard, cautiously at first, then gets swept along on the great love affair of his life.

The Indigo Bird is a rollercoaster of surprises set against backdrops varying from the jungles of Belize to London, the English countryside, and Ireland, and the scene is set for more shocks and adventures. [Read more...]

The Indigo Bird is available through Amazon.Com, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords.com, Amazon Kindle US, Amazon Kindle UK, and any other good bookstore.