dreaded ned's gay bookshop

I have been fairly busy recently, and have resorted to short stories again as a way to fit in some good reading without losing track of the plot when only reading a few pages a day!

Best American Gay Fiction 3
edited by Brian Bouldrey
Back Bay Books, 1998
ISBN: 0316102369 (Paperback)

I was at first attracted to this collection because of the amusingly simple yet appropriate cover - the four queens from a pack of playing cards, then discovered that the previous volumes in the series had similarly clever covers - a packet of pansy seeds for the first and a bundle of faggots (as in the wooden fire-starting kind) for the second. After that I discovered that the collection included a few of my favourite authors, but also many new authors that I had not read before.

The collection did not disappoint, because as Jim Grimsley points out in the introduction, it's got it all - the confessions, the coming of age, the erotica, the camp bitchery, the sorrow of AIDS, the sex, the drugs and the rock and roll ... but I could have done with a bit more excitement and a bit less contemplation of collective gay navels as we try to define the new gay fiction!

As usual, my favourite was one of the more bizarre ones - an extract from a journal published by a group who restore historic homes! The founder and powerhouse of the group has just died of AIDS and the extracts are his last article on a restoration project - a classic piece of high camp writing, and a poignant memorial written by one of the rich widows who make up the group - a group of fag hags who would never need to use the term, or indeed even understand it if someone applied it to them, because they are all just working together for the cause, dearie!

All in all a good collection to dip into on a busy day for a quick fiction fix!

Best American Gay Fiction 3 edited by Brian Bouldrey
Back Bay Books, 1998
ISBN: 0316102369 Paperback
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