In 1974, William Morrow & Company published a love story written in just two months by a young woman who worked as a book editor for The Reader’s Digest. She had also, as an open long-distance runner, become personally familiar with the fierce politics of a conservative sports world reacting to civil-rights challenges, and wrote from personal experience. The result: a gripping story about track coaches and athletes in their quest for gold and personal truth at the Olympics.

Patricia Nell Warren's novel was lauded by literary critics and readers alike as a landmark. It was the first contemporary gay novel to make the New York Times bestseller list, and quickly crossed over into mainstream readership. Many literary historians consider it to be, as one said, "the most influential novel of the post-Stonewall era."

Equally important has been this book’s amazing crossover appeal. The Front Runner has managed to attract countless thousands of heterosexual readers over the years as well. It has been taught in university literature courses, and used by therapists and ministers.

Today, The Front Runner remains in print in both hardcover and paperback. While those who first read The Front Runner in college are now in their forties and fifties, succeeding generations have continued to buy and read this classic love story. The growing number of teen readers don't find the book dated in the least, since the anti-gay hostilities portrayed in the book mirror the anti-gay hostilities they face at school today. The problems have hardly diminished since the 1970s.

Even abroad, The Front Runner has become increasingly popular. In Japan, it went through three editions with three different publishers, including a serial in the popular youth publication, Imaju-Club.

The book has also been translated into German, French, Danish, Swedish, Dutch. Published recently in Spain by Editorial Egales, The Front Runner has outsold every other gay novel in that country. In Latvia, The Front Runner became the first gay novel ever to see print. Inquiries are in on the publishing rightgs for Belarus, Brazil, China, India, Italy, Russia, and Ukraine.

In 1994, Wildcat Press published Harlan's Race, the sequel to The Front Runner. The continuing saga of Coach Harlan Brown was heralded by the media as "the longest-awaited gay novel ever." Harlan’s Race became an instant bestseller. According to Lambda Book Report, it was the top-selling gay novel in America that year.

Billy’s Boy, the second sequel, was published in 1997, and also became an immediate bestseller. It was honored as Editors’ Choice for the Lambda Literary Awards.

Warren is now working on the fourth and final sequel of The Front Runner.

The Front Runner has affected the lives of millions of people in profound and transforming ways. Over the years, the author has received thousands of letters from readers around the world. They write that her novels inspire them towards self-acceptance and the courage to face a hostile world with pride, dignity, and honesty.

Perhaps one of the most evident legacies of The Front Runner is the establishment of over 100 running clubs under the auspices of the International Front Runners. (www.frontrunners.org). Inspired by Warren’s novel, the first Front Runner club was founded in San Francisco in 1974; today there are chapters in most states as well as ten other countries around the world.