Men on Men 7: Best New Gay Fiction

In the early 80's, after Stonewall and before the holocaust of the AIDS epidemic, a group of gay writers formed a literary club in New York called the Violet Quill and changed forever gay literature in the U. S. Sadly only three of them are still alive, Edmund White, Andrew Holleran and Felice Picano. In this first rate anthology edited by David Bergman, Holleran and Picano are included. Holleran's "The Married Man" may be the best story here and is as good as anything he has written. His view of the world is not rose-colored as his characters rarely find much happiness in long term relationships. What is one to expect, however, from a writer who almost 25 years after the publication of his fine first novel DANCER FROM THE DANCE-- by anyone's standards a gay classic-- and almost as many years since the first reported AIDS cases in New York still refuses to use his real name in his writings. Mr. Bergman is to be commended for including new authors from many places outside New York who write about topics important to those of us in the red states. He has selected authors from Boston, Baltimore, San Francisco, Atlanta, Portland, Oregon, Florida and Maine. They truly are sons of the original Violet Quill writers. There aren't many Polo-clad Log Cabin Republicans here. Latinos, African Americans, blue collar workers, drag queens, teenagers and one white trash eighteen year who murders his mildly retarded sister are included. I particularly liked "Marriage" by Michael Bendzela who lives on a "farm in Maine." Here an ordinary, not terribly attractive man leaves his wife and child for another guy. His wife teaches their child to hate her father who calls him "Barry, the Fairy." The story is told from the viewpoints of Lydia, the mother of the wife, and Vic, the new male friend. The narrative rings true on every page. It's a story that the late John Preston who lived in Maine would have relished. There's not a single dog in the manger to be found in any of these stories.

This collection of gay-themed short stories is, as it's 6 predecessors, a very good sample of what's going on in the gay literary world. Men on Men offers a delicious buffet of varied styles, stories and characters. Some of them are excellent and leave you hungry for more, some are forgettable but not one is simply bad !