edited by Steve Berman
What happens when we go looking for trouble? Delights or dismay? Many horror stories and films, as do plenty of hook-ups, begin with this premise. When you can't sleep and begin browsing Grindr or Scruff, why not invite the guy without a face pic who has been taunting you to come over? Dancing at the club? The fierce-looking man gesturing with a shake of his head to the back alley door seems promising. How about picking up a hitchhiker late at night on a lonely road? The allure of trouble is the forbidden fruit at the finale and the pleasure of abandoning good judgment for this win. And one of the more enticing pursuits for us sodomites is rough trade, those men, young and old, who could answer one wrong move on your part with violence. The stories in Brute are a collection of some things old, some things new, somethings scary, and somethings to leave you black and blue.
Brute: Stories of Dark Desire, Masculinity, and Rough Trade
Paperback, 254 pages
Cover by Ryan Vance