Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square

A series of discrete episodes among friends provide snapshots of one gay man's life. There are parties, concerts, dinners with everyday life – and death – interwoven in the rich story-telling. An actress, a painter, a set designer, a writer – all sweating and surviving in Manhattan, all scoring their first successes. Part autobiography and part documentary, artfully written, it details the lives of these creative people. Young and professional, they know there is more to life than money. There is trust and the sort of love that trades in deeds of kindness.

Leventhal's debut novel was welcomed warmly as a Lambda Literary Awards Finalist in 1988. This new edition features a foreword by Christopher Bram (Gods and Monsters).

"This is a finely crafted romp – I kept hollering to my lover from the reading room, "Hey, honey, let me read you this piece – it's a scream." We chuckled our way through the narrator's trials and triumphs. We both found him to be a likeable and endearing chap and are anxious to learn more of his adventures. – Kimberly Moore Webster, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

"An actress, a painter, a set designer, a writer – all sweating and surviving in Manhattan, all scoring their first successes – these are the real-life figures of Leventhal's book. Part autobiography and part documentary, artfully written, it details the lives of these creative people, some of whom are gay. Young and professional, yet hardly 'yuppies', they know there is more to life than money. There is, for example, trust, and the sort of love that trades in deeds of kindness." – Robert  Boucheron, Epitaphs for the Plague Dead

"It's a privilege to know this narrator. He's aware that he doesn't know all the answers, and he's willing to continue discovering the questions. He's willing to do the work to see whether his dreams will hold up as his realities. He doesn't complain – just describes the absurdities he encounters. He doesn't hate women or straights, and he loves kids. He's just folks, and more peaceful and purposeful than most." – Meg Umans, Humanspace Books