Running in Bed

Josh Silver is an ambitious young college grad who’s just landed his first job at a prestigious Madison Avenue advertising agency. He’s given his own office, his own secretary, and a decent salary. Everything in his life is working out just fine—except for one nagging problem: although he assumed that once he got out in the real world his feelings would change, he finds he still can’t stop dreaming about men.

Josh seeks professional help to reprogram his sexual desire but in 1977 New York is the glimmering Emerald City at the end of the Yellow Brick Road and Josh finally succumbs to its lure.  He moves quickly to make up for lost time in the post-Stonewall years when sex is quick and easy.  But that’s not enough; Josh wants to be in love.  He finds it unexpectedly just as the new decade begins but the growing spread of disease brings the free spirit of the 70s to a crushing end and Josh is forced to navigate the turmoil of an era where beauty, youth, wealth and life itself seem unimaginably fragile. 

Author Jeffrey Sharlach paints a brilliant picture of life in New York for a gay man at that moment in history. Running in Bed encapsulates the highs and lows of being true to oneself at a time when homosexuality was often considered a disease from which one could be cured.  From the New York club scene to summers on Fire Island to the dawn of AIDS, Sharlach writes with humor, poignancy, and charm, and presents characters who are universal in their appeal. Running in Bed’s incomparable, evocative images will resonate with readers, regardless of their personal persuasion.

Jeffrey Sharlach was born in Connecticut in 1953. He’s trained as a journalist and an attorney, runs a communications consulting firm, teaches at the NYU Stern School of Business, and lives in New York City. Running in Bed is his first novel.