Paul Burston’s third novel, Lovers and Losers, is a wise, humorous and evocative new novel about the decade of excess and its many legacies – New Romantics, gender benders, electro-pop and AIDS.

As pop duo A Boy and His Diva, Tony and Katrina shot to fame with their synth-pop classic ‘Lovers and Losers’. Their style was imitated by hoards of Top of the Pops fans and their guest-list read like a ‘Who’s Who’ of 80s pop royalty. Katrina fell head over heels for their publicist Steve and Tony developed a legendary coke habit. Now, twenty years on, the Krazy Colour hair dye and elaborate eye make-up are gone. And so is Katrina.

Tony is intent on becoming a ‘somebody’ again and signs up for a reality TV show desperate to find fame behind the cameras and catfights. He’ll do anything to revive his career and land a new record contract for A Boy and His Diva. Katrina, meanwhile, is dealing with the death of a close friend and his estranged mother when Tony knocks at her door.

We caught up with Paul to find out more about his new book, his obsession with Bowie, gay divas, dumping our fag hag friends when something better comes along and the shenanigans that would happen at an old friends’ reunion.

Spill the beans. How biographical is your new novel?
It's pretty autobiographical in parts. Like Tony, I grew up a total Bowie freak in Bridgend, South Wales and like him, I went to St Mary's College in Twickenham. But I'm a few years younger than Tony, so I missed the whole London New Romantic scene. We had a tiny wine bar in Bridgend called Trumps where the local freaks and posers would go for a pint of snakebite.

My friend Caroline Bryant and I would hang out there smoking Sobranies and sucking our cheeks in. But of course I became a writer, not a pop star. I don't think I'd have made a very good pop star. I'm not a natural performer. And being a pop star is bloody hard work. It's no wonder so many of them end up on drugs.

So are you a lover or loser?!
I'm a lover, definitely. Though of course the word 'loser' means many different things in the novel. I'm certainly a loser in the sense that I've experienced a certain amount of loss. Like a lot of gay men my age.

What about that bit when Tony gives the drug dealer a blow job?! Are you talking from experience?!
Not directly, though I do know of a drug dealer who keeps polaroids of clients with their mouths full.

So, did you really want to be a pop sensation?
No, I just wanted to be David Bowie. I had the hair and the pretensions, but sadly I didn't have the musical talent. I finally met him a few years ago after a show at the Royal Festival Hall. I was drunk and told him, 'when I was 15 you saved my life'. He was very gracious about it. He's a real gentleman, much warmer than you'd expect.

If you could have been a part of one of the great 80s bands, who would you have shared lip gloss and eye-liner with?
Well I adored Marc Almond - still do. But I don't think there would have been room for me in Soft Cell. Maybe I could have been a backing dancer / singer with Human League. They don't really dance or sing much do they?

I love the name for the fictional band, A Boy and His Diva. Where did that come from?
A Boy and His Diva was the name of Sandra Bernhard's production company in the 80s. And then by naming the diva Katrina I was paying homage to the cabaret duo Katrina and The Boy, who used to be very big on the gay scene. I adored them.

So are you a boy at heart or a real diva?
I'm very much a boy, though I do have certain diva tendencies. Not in a Mariah Scary way. I'm not that demanding. But I do like to be looked after. A few drinks tickets and I'm happy.

What about Tony's haircut that every Top of the Pops fan copied. Can you describe it   - and would you want it!?
Want it? I had it! Well almost. I'd describe it as Limahl crossed with David Sylvian. I had a friend called Erica Coles who was training to be a hairdresser and used to practice on me. Blond hair, black hair, orange hair, pink hair - you name it, I had it.

The book moves between the 80s and today. Was it really as wonderful as we all like to remember back then?
I think the 80s as a whole were pretty horrible actually - Margaret Thatcher, Section 28, Stock Aitkin Waterman. But there was a brief moment at the start of the decade - 80-84 say - where Top of the Pops was the best it's ever been. There was lots of post-punk posturing, followed by people like Adam Ant, Steve Strange, Marc Almond and Boy George. It was a very queer time.
 
The 80s was also the decade of AIDS and there's a moving scene in the book when Katrina watches a close friend die of AIDS alongside his estranged mother. Was it a hard episode to write?
It was hard to write. All the scenes with Katrina and Rose were hard to write. Some days I literally sat there with tears streaming down my face. But I knew I couldn't write a book about the 80s without addressing AIDS. It was something I'd avoided until now. It was too close, and too painful.

Where did the inspiration come from?
Very much from my own experience. Like Tony, I watched a lot of people die. And like Katrina, I met some estranged parents at friends' bedsides. I had a lot of older gay friends in the 80s and early 90s. Most of them are gone now.

Do you think today's younger gay community is less educated about AIDS?
Definitely. How else do we account for the recent rise in infection rates? Sex education isn't working. And unlike many of my generation, a lot of younger gay men haven't witnessed the full horrors of AIDS, so they aren't as scared.

People with HIV don't develop AIDS and die the way they used to, so people kid themselves that it's not such a big deal. HIV may not be an automatic death sentence now, but it's still a chronic condition - however manageable. I have friends who are on combination therapy and it's no picnic.

Lovers and Losers also explores the relationship between a straight women and a gay man. What's the appeal of the fag hag?
I think straight women play an important role in our lives and all too often we take them for granted. You take your best gal pal to a gay club for company, then dump her when you meet some hunk on the dancefloor. I've certainly been guilty of that in the past. But straight women have always been a great support to me.

I grew up with two sisters and many of my closest friends are women. I wanted to pay tribute to that relationship.

Was it intentional to make Katrina a bit of a symbolic character for the divas that gay men love to listen to?
Absolutely. There's a bit in the book where Tony gets her to sing for the first time and he realises that his words sound better when she sings them. For a long time, female singers provided that voice for gay men.

Before Jimmy Somerville came along it was rare to hear a man singing about loving another man. So divas were very important to us, whether it was Judy Garland or Barbra Streisand or Donna Summer. Now of course we have plenty of gay male divas - Elton and Rufus to name just two.

So, is Katrina based on anyone you know?
She's a composite of various people, but my first ever female friend Caroline Bryant was the person I had in mind for the earlier chapters.

Tony and Katrina are reunited after twenty years. Is there anyone for your own past you'd like to meet up with again for a beer?
Well Caroline and I are back in touch again now, which is wonderful. There are a few former schoolboys I'd like to meet again - one I was in love with, and one made my life hell by bullying me for about three years.

How do you think the meeting would go?
I'd screw the first and beat the second to a pulp. Just kidding. I'd just slap him about a bit.

Rumour has it you're already writing your next book. Can you tell us anything about it?
It's called The Gay Divorcee and it's about a gay man who's about to get hitched to his boyfriend when his heterosexual past comes back to haunt him. It's a comedy of sexual manners, closer in spirit to Shameless than anything I've done since.

Find out more at www.paulburston.com and www.myspace.com/paulburston and read our review of Lovers and Losers.

Lovers and Losers, by Paul Burston
Publisher: Sphere
Released: 5 April 2007
ISBN: 0751538647

Buy Lovers and Losers online and save some money to put towards his earlier novels Star People and the hilarious Shameless.