Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction

First, this new anthology of gay writing, FRESH MEN, has a clever title with at least two meanings. Secondly, the writers are all for the most part unknown. Edmund White, who selected them says that not one writer has had a book published yet. Third, they come from all areas of the United States as well as the British Isles. And they are not all Caucasian. The stories are set in a variety of locales and are not all about gay men picking up other gay men in bars. We can finally read about gay men who interact with other people besides other gay men and live outside a gay ghetto in a large city, usually New York. As you would expect from most any collection of stories, some are better than others. Some of the stories are excellent. I would put "ONJ.com," "Acqua Calda," "TV Dinner" and "Teamwork" in that category. "ONJ.com" by Vestal McIntyre, the first story in the book, is about a young woman in the world of advertising who wishes to "make a gay friend," a silly wish on its face, and gets more than she bargains for. In Keith McDermott's "Acqua Calda" a young American wrestles with how and when or if he should tell an Italian whom he is attracted to that he is HIV positive. "TV Dinner" by Reed Hearne is a funny account of a minor TV personality's filming of a day in the life of a waiter in the California Bay Area. Kevin Reardon's "Teamwork," which according to the biographical data about the authors won the 2003 Richard Hall Memorial Short Story Contest, is a great little story about proofreaders at Healthco, "a pharmaceutical advertising agency. The narrator has a crush on Todd, a perfectly drawn character, who when he gets fired over an ampersand by Gregory, a gay art director who "played for the team," responds: "'You're a bastard, man. . . I am so out of here.'" He is just so "kwel." This is a very good collection and introduces the reader to writers he wants to read more of. Several of the selections are from novels in progress and should be available soon if not already.

These twenty stories seemed to me excellent, also okay, few deficient. I found a quarter of them to be good art. (1) Five stories seem artistically meritorious. Plus the gay-specific content seems to universalize to general human themes. "TV Dinner" is a romp. Set in a high-end status-snob restaurant, it serves up the real "menu" of human discomfort-food. Several "courses." The waiter's rage at being a "candy-ass bootlick," and his terrors too. The chef's self-deluded egotism. The society matron's gorging unhealthily on Status Cake. The smarmy politico mayor exposed as being a gross feeder. The cast of workers in the out-caste system, pretty petty frustrated in the all-too-subhuman jealousies and other deadly-sin ingredients. But the author is a master-wordchef who concocts up these raw materials gourmet-style with his buttercup-swirl of tall-food diction, aesthetically-nourishing word-candy, a just-desserts confection whose sauce-iness is perfectly balanced with sweet-sour imagery plus insight. This many-course tasting menu moves right along madcap but on point! Not so shabby either is "Teamwork," about a proofreader at an advertising agency. Poignant specifically about the "beautiful young man named Todd D'Onofrio," fetching but unobtainable, the protagonist's Harlow or shepherd boy... But pointed generally about the universal human tangle of miscommunications, pettiness about font-styles, power and status issues, insecurities, insensitivities. The miscast of characters in the office seem to carry these warts and blemishes like a virus re-infecting those whose Psychological Immune Systems are not mature enough. Solid and sprightly, madcap and satirical. Adult men with younger or teenage males is the subject of both "Some Speculations on the Bob Uncertainty" and also "Chicken." But the former, pondering why a young hunk continues to revisit an older man, seems to do so with much enjoyable grace, verve, bemused and appreciative non-needy distance aesthetic not emotional. "American Widow" portrays a woman inundated by giant waves of major depression. It energetically risks sentimentality in the depicting of her almost-melodramatic multiple missteps, but it does powerfully paint her pathos. (2) A second set of stories seems (to me) more simply to simply narrate events, almost diary style. In "Aqua Calda," an American on a film shoot in Italy, scores with an Italian. Okay... In "Taking Pictures," a highschooler sees that a teacher of his takes videotapes of the guys working out. Okay... (3) Minority perspective is represented by "Wave," His Five-Year Sentence," and "Rondo." New here is local color and representativeness I guess. (4) Psychological insight however Politically Non-Correct I saw in three stories. "ONJ.com" shows gay man and straight woman but can candidly ask whether this man at least is as he describes gay men generally, as being "damaged, dangerous people. They feel wronged and are looking for vengeance." Refreshing anyh

"Fresh Men" is a collection of twenty short stories selected by distinguished author Edmund White. All are interesting. There are stories with African-American, Hispanic, Filipino, and Asian characters, as well as the usual types. There are stories set at school, in the family, at work, at cruising, and around relationships. The variety is good, at least as it has been understood. The last two sentences of Edmund White's introduction read: "If this anthology is thought of as a house, it's a big rooming house inhabited by every kind of client, of every age and color and background, some on their way up and some in quick descent; some of the roomers are shacking up and others are breaking up. It's a very full house." When I look at the "About the Authors" section, the twenty stories' authors now live in or near the following places: New York City 7, Yale University 2, 1 each at Boston, San Francisco, Long Beach, Montreal, London, Austin, and 5 unknown. When I read the stories, the locations are New York City 6, coastal California 6, with additional locations in Montreal, Dublin, London, Sicily, Honolulu, New Orleans, Tucson, Florida (near the Space Center), rural Maine, and over the Atlantic {Some stories have multiple locations). There is a feel of gay cosmopolitans writing for other gay cosmopolitans. This has been a successful approach for previous anthologies. Still, after the November elections, I have heard endless commentary on the divide between 'blue' and 'red' states, on the need to counter 'religious' criticisms, on the fear of being transferred from a state with domestic partnerships and state permission to raise children to one without. These stories do not feature material anti-gay characters or people considering marital status-related issues. The stories are personal and relationship-oriented, not political. I do worry that writers from or directed at socially conservative areas are not part of the "new voices in gay fiction" that "Fresh Men" proclaims. One of the reasons for the setbacks in the recent elections was the inability of a large part of the Midwestern and Southern electorate to imagine a different, improved world. Having local voices is a large part of moving ahead. This is a fine collection. I can relate to the stories. I do recommend the book highly.

I recommend this book to anyone, gay or straight. The writing is top-notch, often hilarious, and always compelling. From beginning to end it will hold your interest and impress you. We'll be hearing from these authors in the future, I'm certain, and this is a wonderful opportunity to get in the "ground floor" of their careers. You won't be disappointed!