A hundred days from now

by Steven Corbin

**KIRKUS REVIEW** Corbin (No Easy Place to Be, 1989) offers a fierce exploration of love, race, and sexuality as a black screenwriter loses the man of his dreams in a terrifying maze of homophobia, self-hatred, abuse, and AIDS. Dexter, a hot new African-American writer, meets Sergio, a rich Mexican-American bilingual book publisher, on a lonely Thanksgiving when he wants nothing more than a "quick drink, an even quicker fuck.'' But Sergio doesn't let him go so easily, and Dexter enjoys being "wined and dined'' all over Los Angeles. Sergio further impresses Dexter when he has the guts to reveal he's HIV-positive and symptomatic. Even though Dexter casually replies, ``Oh, that?... Who isn't?'' he doesn't reveal his own positive, although asymptomatic, status yet. But soon after, Mr. Perfect begins to show flaws. He coerces Dexter into a *menage a trois*, he remains closeted to everyone in his family except his heterosexual twin brother, he has no gay friends, and then his health deterio