A Nice Guy Like Me: A Memoir

by Spencer Keasey

Overview

A no-holds-barred look at the last golden age of gay studio porn before the DIY OnlyFans revolution, A Nice Guy Like Me is one man's tale of finding industry stardom almost overnight—and how his demons caught up to him at the height of his success. As a child and a young adult, Spencer was raised on adventure. From moving to and living in South Africa at six years-old to becoming a 'boy toy' in London at the age of 19, he was exposed to feelings of wonder and excitement and to the rewards and lessons of taking chances. When his 17 year relationship ended at the age of 36, with a single email and attached photos, his life changed forever. Within two weeks he became an exclusive for Titan Media, the premier gay adult film company, and then spent the next 30 months as Spencer Quest finding himself at the pinnacle of the industry, on DVD and magazine covers, winning industry awards, and headlining a show off-Broadway. But his childhood was also filled with feelings of fear, abandonment and an understanding that, even at the age of seven and against his will, his body held power over men. During his short career in the adult industry, his past began to emerge, traumas remembered, and he began a descent back into a world of addiction, mental health challenges including severe episodes of self-hatred and self-harm that had haunted him all this life. More than just a porn memoir, A Nice Guy Like Me is a journey of life, a "heroic journey" to the author, one he believes is similar to everyone else's. Filled with pain and joy, desperation and hope, and, of course, sex, the memoir offers deep vulnerability and a ruthless self-examination of the choices made in life, their subsequent consequences, and the lessons that emerge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798350987119
Publisher:	BookBaby
Publication date:	12/25/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Spencer Keasey received his Master's of Arts in Teaching at the University of Pittsburgh in 1992. Since then he's worked several jobs including as a high school English teacher, mediator, fitness instructor, athletic director, educational grant coordinator, Vermont Department of Education consultant, and HIV outreach and testing counselor. He currently serves as the director of an art gallery and auction house specializing in historic Provincetown art. He has called Provincetown home for nearly 2 decades and continues to explore his creative side as a musician, artist, actor, and now, writer. This is his first book. He lives a charmed life with his husband and cats.

Editorial Reviews

"A gritty, revealing look at the troubled, eventful life of an adult film star." "Get it" says Kirkus Reviews

"An unputdownable account of what it was like to become an instant star at the very end of the studio era of gay porn in the early 2000's—but more than that, a deeply searching account of going through the stages of hell to find one's authentic self."—Tim Murphy, author of Christodora

"[A] remarkably, unflinchingly candid and beautifully wrought book..(an) achingly beautiful exposé of how the wounds we carry in life can bring us radical adventures .....and immeasurable heart-break. A compulsive and moving read." Doug Wright, Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright

From the Publisher

2025-04-16
Keasey presents a memoir about addiction, pornography, and facing life’s challenges.

The author moved around a lot as a child; he recounts how his family lived in locales as diverse as South Africa and Lititz, Pennsylvania. These places were not always easy to navigate, but by the time he reached high school, Keasey had established his identity as a gay kid who was into theater and got along with most people. The author met his future long-time partner Henry while in college in Pittsburgh; the two would have a relationship for 17 years. They bought a cabin together in northern Vermont. All seemed to be going well for the couple on the outside, but on the inside, the author was restless. He had some flings with other men, and when his relationship with Henry ended, he made a somewhat surprising career change from education to pornography. Keasey began a stint in adult films as a star for a production company called Titan. Under the moniker Spencer Quest, he was featured in films like110° in TucsonandCirque Noir. People began to recognize him, and he even got a part in an off-Broadway production ofNaked Boys Singing. Still, his day-to-day existence was often difficult: He got hooked on crystal meth and suffered through money problems (pornography didn’t pay a whole lot), and he had to resort to escort work to help make ends meet. The author eventually tested positive for HIV. His struggles with addiction and mental illness have been longstanding, but he has, on the evidence of this book, survived it all with a story to tell.

Keasey provides quite a lot of insider information about the pornography industry—or at least what the industry was like prior to, as the author phrases it, the modern era of “DIY and OnlyFans porn.” The text does not skirt the details, no matter how explicit—for instance, the author writes of how, early in his career, he didn’t appreciate the act of “rimming.” He describes the simple nuts and bolts of how the business works, such as how “an actor is typically paid for two cum shots—one oral, one anal.” Even his forays into escort work are discussed in a matter-of-fact way; many clients “wanted to talk as much as they wanted to fuck.” The memoir attempts to cover a lot of ground, ranging from the author’s alleged trauma as a child to his penchant for knitting to his ongoing relationship with his parents. While the varied material keeps things lively, some sections are drier than others. When the author mentions how he started a blog at one point, it is not precisely a spellbinding moment—the blog may have been part of his mission to connect with the world, but statements like “the blog I wanted to start would not just be about porn but also my struggles along the way” do not pack a whole lot of punch. Admittedly, the disclosure that the start of the blog came after having “fucked ferociously for days” certainly lends a certain edge to the narrative; it is an edge that is palpable throughout the book.

A gritty, revealing look at the troubled, eventful life of an adult film star.

Kirkus Reviews