"In this sequel to "Sex, Drugs & Disco," Mark Abramson's diaries begin on January 1, 1980 with optimism for the new decade. San Francisco was a beacon of freedom for gay men from around the world, and he was there to write down the details of most of his tricks, love affairs, and all the fleeting encounters in between. Like the denizens of pre-war Berlin, we were scarcely aware of how special were the times we lived in, nor that our hedonistic joy in the celebration of gay liberation would soon be cut short by the terrible scourge of AIDS" -- back cover.