Wilde Stories 2011: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction

by Steve Berman (Editor)

Overview

This expanded volume from Lethe Press collects the finest gay speculative fiction of the prior year--stories of undead lovers, stranded astronauts, ghosts and phantom reflections, men lost in an inhospitable wilderness, and fiends who hide under handsome veneers, all written by award-winning authors (Laird Barron, Richard Bowes and Joel Lane) and fresh voices in the field (Nick Poniatowski and Jeffrey Ricker) No other anthology provides readers the widest variety of gay men facing the weird, the fantastic, and the horrific.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781590213025
Publisher:	Lethe Press
Publication date:	08/13/2011
Series:	Wilde Stories , #2011
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

Table of Contents

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Alaya Dawn Johnson
"Map of Seventeen" by Christopher Barzak
"How to Make Friends in Seventh Grade" by Nick Poniatowski
"Mortis Persona" by Barbara A. Barnett
"Mysterium Tremendum" by Laird Barron
"Oneirica" by Hal Duncan
"Lifeblood" by Jeffrey A. Ricker
"Waiting for the Phone to Ring" by Richard Bowes
"Blazon" by Peter Dubé
"All the Shadows" by Joel Lane
"The Noise" by Richard Larson
"How to Make a Clown" by Jeremy C. Shipp
"Beach Blanket Spaceship" by Sandra McDonald
"Hothouse Flowers" by Chaz Brenchley

Editorial Reviews

Berman's fourth reprint anthology of gay speculative fiction frequently leans toward the creepy and discomfiting, but even horror fans will find few of the 14 stories satisfying. In Alaya Dawn Johnson's macabre, darkly humorous "Love Will Tear Us Apart," a young man is gleefully driven to murder and cannibalism. Sandra McDonald's "Beach Blanket Spaceship" recalls Star Trek: The Next Generation's holodeck-gone-awry episodes, trapping a NASA colonel in a 1960s summer beach movie. In Jeffrey A. Ricker's "Lifeblood," a doomed love is so strong it causes a vampire's heart to beat, while Peter Dubé's "Blazon" manifests fire from a young man's fear of his sexuality. More typical of the included stories, unfortunately, are Laird Barron's interminable "Mysterium Tremendum" and Nick Poniatowski's depressing "How to Make Friends in Seventh Grade." (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

This is the fourth volume in a series by editor and publisher Berman that pulls together speculative fiction about gay men from the past year in a variety of sf, horror, and fantasy settings. While not all of the authors are gay, and several are women, the focus is on gay men, not queer lit, so there are no lesbian, bi, or transgendered stories. Like many such collections, it is a mixed bag. Standouts include the zombie-in-love story "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Alaya Dawn Johnson, the genre-colliding "Beach Blanket Spaceship" by Sandra McDonald, and the near-novella-length "Mysterium Tremendum" by Laird Barron. Style and tone vary as well, with romantic, scary, humorous, historical, elliptical, and mournful tales. All of the stories have been previously published, but in so many scattered publications that it is a boon have them collected together. Berman has selected a mix of established authors and new hands; readers will be able to find new writers to follow. VERDICT A little something for everyone interested in the world of speculative and gay fiction.—Devon Thomas, DevIndexing, Chelsea, MI

Library Journal