Second Thoughts
by Steve Berman
Reviewed by Liam Tullberg
Steve Berman’s second collection of short stories, ‘Second Thoughts: More Queer and Weird Stories’ more than delivers on its title’s promise.
Following 2001’s ‘Trysts: A Triskaidecollection of Queer and Weird Stories’, in this selection, Berman introduces readers to an original take on the fairytale of the gingerbread man in ‘Bittersweet’, talking (and tempting) boxer shorts in ‘Always Listen to a Good Pair of Underwear’, and a man whose thoughts appear as words on his flesh in ‘Tearjerker’.
The range of subject matter is diverse, but perhaps the most apposite and ambitious of Berman’s thirteen tales is ‘Secrets of the Gwangi’. With tongue firmly in cheek, Berman explores the creation of a film featuring gay cowboys and ferocious pterodactyls from which the gay cowboys are later axed at the fictional studio producer’s request. ‘More dinosaurs and less fagelehs,’ the studio exec tells the writer. ‘That’s what makes a movie.’ The ending to this fragmented fiction is touching and believable, and one to a story that, in the following Author’s Note, Berman asks the reader to decide is utterly true or utterly false.
Each of the stories that make up this book is accompanied by such an Author’s Note in which Berman discusses the background and purpose of the piece. The tone is informal and the device effective, giving the reader a greater insight to the writer while enhancing the impact of the tale.
Though Berman’s style varies greatly throughout the 200 plus pages of this selection of stories, it is consistent in its quick pace, punchy dialogue and confident originality. No two stories are the same, but are linked in their fine marriage of reality and surrealism.
This collection is excellent for readers of the lesser-found gay supernatural fiction, or anyone appreciative of twisted tales in their many forms.
Liam Tullberg is a Bristol-based author currently working on his novel, From the Darkness, and can be contacted through www.liamtullberg.com
Review: "Whistling In The Dark" by Tamara Allen
Posted by: "BigBearPhx" bigbearphx@yahoo.com
Sat Apr 25, 2009 6:10 pm (PDT
WHISTLING IN THE DARK
by Tamara Allen
(Lethe Press, January 2009, $18
softcover)
It's 1919, and an overseas war
injury ended Sutton Albrecht's promising
future as a concert pianist. He returns to college, only to be expelled
after the discovery of his affair with a male teacher, disgracing his
socially-prominent family he leaves behind, and ends up alone in New
York City, a city desperate to party in those final months before
nationwide prohibition, hoping for a fresh start. He loses one dead-end
job, seemingly to find another one, playing the piano and helping out
at a failing novelty shop run by Jack Bailey, about his age and also a
war veteran, who inherited the shop from his parents. Taking care of
the daily business of the shop is Harry, his parents' longtime
employee, who takes Jack under his wing and tries to deter him from his
seeming compulsion to spend too many nights partying and getting into
trouble. Despite their obviously different backgrounds, Jack and Sutton
are drawn to each other, recognizing each other as soulmates damaged in
body and soul by a war and a world that doesn't understand them, and a
loving relationship develops among the chaos in their daily lives.
There are threats from small time hoods to whom Jack owes money, a
dream to take an impromptu radio broadcast of Sutton's piano playing
into the big time, lack of faith from neighbors who have seen Jack fail
before, and even occasional appearances by Woody, an elderly but feisty
crocodile kept by one of Jack's employees in the shop's backyard. The
relationship is something they both want and need, but are they doomed
to failure to keep it going when either or both of them manage to rise
above the barebones existence that caused them to meet?
"Whistling In The Dark" is an
outstandingly original, well-written and
engrossing love story, set in a time when such stories rarely came out
with happy endings. It perfectly captures the personalities of the
numerous and diverse, realistic characters, the atmosphere of New York
City before it began to "roar" into the 1920's, and serves as proof to
younger readers that gay pride didn't really start with Stonewall. I
absolutely loved this book, and look forward to others from this
talented storyteller. Definitely in my top 3 for the year, thus far,
this is absolutely nothing less than a full five tuneful stars out of
five!
Reviewed by BigBearPhx
"A Report From Winter" by Wayne Courtois
(Lethe Press, August 2009, $15 softcover)
COMING AUGUST 1st FROM LETHE PRESS!
After a ten year absence from his family home in Maine, Wayne flies home one frigid January day, in order to be with his widowed mother, who is in the last stages of cancer.
But don't expect a nurturing or supportive Walton's-like family reunion. The reality is that Wayne and his mother never really liked each other very much, nor did he care for his overbearing aunt (her caretaker). His only other family, an older brother who - like him - is gay, has always been an emotional "black hole" to Wayne and the rest of the family. To have some level of morale support, Wayne convinces his longtime partner, Ralph, to travel from their Kansas City home to be with him. Never having experienced a New England winter, Ralph is stunned by the cold and ice, not just the weather but the seemingly frosty attitudes of Wayne's dysfunctional family as well.
The author presents a glaringly unsentimental but realistic memoir, one that will resonate best with anyone who has been, at some point, at odds with most of his family. Ultimately, it reassures and serves as a lesson, to make the best out of whatever relationships you have, to avoid regrets later. I give it four snowcapped stars out of five.