Customer Reviews

Best Gay Erotica 2000

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Being only a casual reader of gay erotica over the years, I was surprised to be taken in by such a strong anthology. I commend Scott and Labonte for highlighting indie literature, particularly the excerpt taken from Henry Flesh's "Massage." This excerpt provoked me to read the novel, which I haven't put down since. It's nice to see Scott and Labonte provide a breath of fresh air to an increasingly stale genre by providing a platform for new writers and smaller presses. I look forward with renewed interest to the next Best Gay Erotica.

Labonte and Scott have brought together an impressive range of voices by including writers from beyond the mainstream gay press. Most notably, from the alternative press, Henry FLesh's selection from his novel "Massage" is strong stuff. Since this was my favorite novel of the year, I was very glad to see it included here. Labonte's and Scott's adventurous and risky selection is the most interesting anthology of its kind I have seen.

I'd gotten pretty burned out on gay anthologies, erotic orotherwise, but this one really renewed my faith. Scott and Labontehave put together a diverse collection of top-notch writers, both familiar and new. The book has many fresh voices and unusal narratives, something I can't say for many gay anthologies. High quality and consistently surprising.

If elegant can be used to describe erotica, then it can fit more than well, in describing this latest selection of passionate writing from the more than skillful editorship of Richard Labonte. From reclaiming homoeroticism during the frontier life of America in Michael Jensen's first novel excerpt, to the Ferd Eggan's durge "About Rapture" and Lawrence Ytzhak Braithwaite's written grievous angel like drawl in "Bonehead", we have not only slow, careful and attentive seductions and yearnings but a glimpse of the future of homosexualism in literature. The stories often center themselves in the place of the working-class and empower the voices and desires of a class of masculinity often ignored or exploited for fetish sake. Along with these patient recollections are crisp and metred tales from Ishmael Houston-Jones and Andy Quan. Not only is the word elegant more than appropriate for this collection but the title has never been more fitting. It truly is the Best Gay Erotica 2000 (Cleis Press). It is an anthology which contains stories that go beyond gay or queer and take brave steps forward to capture the subtly of masculine gestures of pleasure, if not masculinity itself, for a new millennium.

"The year's steamiest most thought-provoking gay sex writing...¶ The best-selling gay erotica series in America! ¶ 'In sex, I can communicate dreams, fears, and parts of myself that I cannot fully express any other way. Sex is the closest experience we have to sharing consciousness, becoming united, and experiencing the essence of someone else. Much like writing.'--D. Travers Scott"--© zebraz