Michael Foster

My mother said I kicked to get out of the womb and ran away from home at age nine months to be returned by a fireman. I was born in Coney Island, Brooklyn. My folks, a loving happy couple, ran a lunch counter with a Murder Incorporated gambling operation in the back room. The tough kid on the block, I read the Russian classics by age 10, and was awarded a full scholarship to Cornell at 16 and Harvard Law at 20. But I left Harvard to join Che in Cuba and write historical novels, biographies, and erotic history. I was destined to create new ideas and relationships. My books include the Revolutionary War novel Freedom's Thunder; two biographies of the French woman explorer of Tibet: Forbidden Journey and The Secret Lives of Alexandra David-Neel (called one of the best books ever written by NY Review of Books); and Three in Love: Menages a Trois from Ancient to Modern Times, named "racy and engaging" by Entertainment Weekly. Upcoming in February, 2011 is A Dangerous Woman: The Life, Loves and Scandals of Adah Isaacs Menken, America's original superstar, a woman of color, Jewish, and a cross-dresser. She could run for governor of NY on that ticket. Adah Menken's website is http://www.thegreatbare.com named for a famous quote about Menken made by her friend Mark Twain.