Best Gay Romance

This is a great collection of stories--will keep you interested from beginning to end. Well worth the purchase. Lots of good authors.

In Richard Labonté's introduction to BEST GAY ROMANCE 2009, he makes mention that of all the romantic stories included in the tome, none involve marriage, even now that it is legal in Canada and some of the States. Instead, to me, the theme that popped out among all the tales was instead the notion of the wounded. From physical wounds (T Hitman's "One," Simon Sheppard's "Coming Back to Me," and Shanna Germain's beautiful "What We Leave Behind") to emotional scarring and losses (J.M. Snyder's painful "Afflicted," and Jay Mandal's lovely "Chiaroscuro"), it seems that romance is a tale best told by those who've had loss and suffering. This doesn't blunt the delivery, and indeed, there's a fair mix of erotic to the romantic, and there's some sweet and happy tales mixed in as well ("The Baker," by Neil Plakcy, is charmingly cute) for those who enjoy their romance with a dash of sugar. For me, the two tales that stole the show were Jay Mandal's "Chiaroscuro" and Mark G. Harris's "As Sweet by Any Other Name." Mandal's beautiful progression through a relationship born, bloomed, and fallen, and the connection to a younger generation, was a delight to read. Harris' doughty ability to spin prose with a sly humor turns even the wounded and love-shy hero of his tale into someone you admire, and his witty plot leaves you grinning.

This is now among my favorite books! I cannot tell you how many times that I have read it now! Nothing quite like that warm, fuzzy feeling, especially when you and your sweetheart are reading it together. What is more, there is not excessive, explicit, meaningless sex thrown in your face; the sex is present, but as a vehicle for the intimacy and romance, which I find wonderfully refreshing. Some of these stories will make you cry: Coming Back to Me: Two boys fall in love in San Francisco in 1967, but one desires to seek success in New York qhile the other opts to stay. Twenty years pass, the one who sought New York has returned to California and is in a wheelchair when the pair is suddenly reunited. What We Leave Behind: A couple who has volunteered to take dying, neglected dogs into their home to let them die in comfort. As the first dog dies, one of the pair dies of cancer. The owner of the current dog and the surviving partner suddenly find themselves falling in love with each other. Chiaroscuro: A young British couple, Michael and Peter, come to an Italian village in the 1960s to teach and become much-loved by the local people. When an aged Peter dies from cancer, a despondent Michael finds healing in the friendship of a young American artist, Daniel, and that of the village who have long-seen him as part of the family. Kindred Souls: A recently-divorced, fifty-something father living in New York finds a kindred spirit in Will, a twenty-five-year-old from Belfast, Northern Ireland. Despite their age difference, they are as attracted to each other physically as emotionally. It made me sad in that Will may very much find himself alone when his love (the narrator) dies. Afflicted: Two college boys are in love, but the depression and self-cutting of the meeker one alarms his boyfriend, who keeps urging that his sweetheart tell him what's troubling him. No, nobody dies and they stay together. Starting Over: Taylor, smarting from a thankless career in New York and a bad breakup, moves to New Mexico to persue his dreams of painting and decides to keep his sexual life unattached... until he meets Mark, a handsome but close-mouthed man who is just as enamored of Taylor as Taylor is of him. Sail Away: An elderly man, living in his hometown of Key West, reflects on his first love, Jimmy, of the untimely loss of his soulmate, Dag, and of the wandering, carefree life that he has lived. Others will perk you up, even make you shriek with delight as the characters find love: One: Lyle, a young bear working a blue-collar job, faces subtle (but obvious) harassment from his coworkers and struggles with a seemingly unreciprocated attraction to a coworker, Mike, who has recently had a testicle removed from cancer. But Lyle finds that his crush might not be one-sided... and gains an ally. The Calimus Emotion: Love Among the Ruins: A young man in San Francisco relates his experience in San Francisco to his sweetheart in St. Louis in the aftermath of th

Labonte, Richard (editor). "Best Gay Romance 2009", Cleis Press, 2009. Love in All of its Forms Amos Lassen Cleis Press once again brings us an anthology of best gay romance stories and once again it is edited by Richard LaBonte. What a perfect collection for anyone is a romantic! This is not a collection of erotica but it is a collection of romance in all of its forms. There is something for everyone here--sweetness and sadness and everything in between. Comprised of 18 short stories, you will laugh and you will cry but above all else you will get that "warm, fuzzy feeling" that love stories give. The authors run the gamut from old voices to some brand new ones. Simon Sheppard tells us about a wish come true while Jack Fritscher writes about love during an earthquake. Lee Houck writes of a brief passionate fling whose memory is still with him and writes about starting over. There is a lot of love between the covers of the book and each and every story is a gem. This is a great book to give to someone you love or to keep for yourself. It is just a feel good read that gives you insight into the concept of love.