Best American Gay Fiction - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316103179 ISBN 13: 9780316103176

Publisher: Little, Brown Paperbacks, 1996

Synopsis

Following the success of last year's debut volume, this Best American Gay Fiction collection broadens the range of contributors, styles, and genres. Here is outstanding new work by such well-known writers as Andrew Holleran, Dale Peck, Michael Nava, and David Wojnarowicz alongside fresh talents who capture the full spectrum of gay life today -- African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. The impressive writing presented here -- all drawn from works published in 1996 -- reflects this diversity as well, and ranges from coming-of-age narratives to reflections on growing older, from edgy 'zine fiction to elegant tales wrought with lapidary precision.

Unified only by their excellence, these twenty-one selections are resounding proof of yet another banner year for gay fiction.

About this title

Reviews

Over the last decade production of gay fiction collections, both one-shots and annuals, has accelerated. This latest entry sets itself apart through a titular claim to contain only the highest-quality short stories and novel excerpts from the previous year. More specifically, of the 21 pieces just under half are drawn from periodicals and just over half are excised from books, either novels or other anthologies. Several credible choices stand out, including Adam Klein's "The Medicine Burns" and Bernard Cooper's "Arson." Though others are less to this reviewer's liking, most anthology readers expect variation, and because editor Bouldrey has based his selections purely on his personal taste such criticism seems pointless. Bouldrey (Genius of Desire, Ballantine, 1993) begins his introduction with a conversational riff on the pleasures of reading and putting together an anthology. But his later attempts to analyze individual stories and gay writing generally are superficial and strained. While there is nothing especially wrong with this book, neither is there anything especially right, and its claim to contain the "best" is not particularly credible. Libraries will be better served with the outstanding new His (LJ 9/1/95) and the venerable Men on Men 5 (LJ 8/94), both of which are parts of ongoing series.?Eric Bryant, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0316103179
• ISBN 13: 9780316103176
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Brian Bouldrey