A History of Barbed Wire [Paperback]

Jeff Mann (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2006

In intense, lyrical language, Jeff Mann's short stories give us an array of tormented characters: adulterous lovers, a kidnapper and his handsome victim, the sadistic ghost of a Confederate soldier, a yearning forestry student, an eager masochist, and a hairy biker. These tales explore the sex and psychology of BDSM and of bear culture, and most are set in Mann's native Appalachia, an area often mythologized as a place where the wilderness within converges with the wilderness without.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A heady combination of literary introspection and sweat-drenched lust, they celebrate the achingly beautiful power of domination and submission." -- Michael Thomas Ford, author of Tangled Sheets

"An unfettered beast stalks through these stories--shameless, irresistible, alive." -- Paul Lisicky, author of Lawnboy

"Highly recommended for those who like their men bearish and genuine, and occasionally bound and gagged." -- Ron Suresha, author of Bears on Bears

"Jeff Mann's writing is fiercely intelligent, thoroughly nasty, and eminently masturbation-worthy. It's state-of-the-art smut." -- Simon Sheppard. author of In Deep

Highly recommended for those who like their men bearish and genuine, and occasionally bound and gagged. --Ron Suresha, author of Bears on Bears

Jeff Mann's stories are snapshots of dark desire caught at the blurry intersection of fantasy and reality. A heady combination of literary introspection and sweat-drenched lust, they celebrate the achingly beautiful power of domination and submission. --Michael Thomas Ford, author of Tangled Sheets

Jeff Mann's writing is fiercely intelligent, thoroughly nasty, and eminently masturbation-worthy. It's state-of-the-art smut. --Simon Sheppard. author of In Deep

Jeff Mann's stories are snapshots of dark desire caught at the blurry intersection of fantasy and reality. A heady combination of literary introspection and sweat-drenched lust, they celebrate the achingly beautiful power of domination and submission. --Michael Thomas Ford, author of Tangled Sheets

Highly recommended for those who like their men bearish and genuine, and occasionally bound and gagged. --Ron Suresha, author of Bears on Bears

About the Author

Jeff Mann has published two full-length collections of poetry, Bones Washed with Wine and On the Tongue; a memoir, Edge; a novella, Devoured, in Masters of Midnight; and a book of memoir and poetry, Loving Mountains, Loving Men. He teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Suspect Thoughts Press (December 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977158233
• ISBN-13: 978-0977158232
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,281,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeff Mann grew up in Covington, Virginia, and Hinton, West Virginia, receiving degrees in English and forestry from West Virginia University. His poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in many publications, including The Spoon River Poetry Review, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, Laurel Review, The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, Crab Orchard Review, Appalachian Heritage, Best Gay Poetry, Best Gay Erotica, and Best Gay Stories. He has published three award-winning poetry chapbooks, Bliss, Mountain Fireflies, and Flint Shards from Sussex; three full-length books of poetry, Bones Washed with Wine, On the Tongue, and Ash: Poems from Norse Mythology; two collections of personal essays, Edge: Travels of an Appalachian Leather Bear and Binding the God: Ursine Essays from the Mountain South; a novel, Fog: A Novel of Desire and Reprisal; two novellas, Devoured, included in Masters of Midnight: Erotic Tales of the Vampire, and Camp Allegheny, included in History's Passion: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall; a book of poetry and memoir, Loving Mountains, Loving Men; and a volume of short fiction, A History of Barbed Wire, which won a Lambda Literary Award. He teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First-rate Gay Erotica, March 9, 2009

By 

Donovan Brown - See all my reviews

This review is from: A History of Barbed Wire (Paperback)

Jeff Mann's A History of Barbed Wire can be read in two ways. Firstly, as a stunningly executed collection of short stories (and one novella) that take the reader on a compellingly erotic journey through a world of men who hunger for each other. The men in question are pinnacles of masculinity - muscled, bearded, dressing in flannel, boots and dirty jeans - they work hard and play even harder.

But as Alan Ball's American Beauty invited us to do back in 1999, if we look closer we might see a slightly different picture. All the iconography of masculinity is there, but it is celebrated and subverted at the same time, being both self-fulfilling and self-perpetuating: these guys are mountain men, the same kind of men they grew up lusting after, the same kind they grew up to become, the same kind they now want to take in their arms, to bind and gag and make beg for mercy.

Mann's native Appalachia is so arrestingly evoked in this book that it becomes a living breathing landscape, every bit as real to the reader as King's Maine or Tolkien's Middle-Earth. The author's love for his homeland is achingly clear in the sheer density of sharply-observed detail and lovingly-described seasonal changes. The men of Barbed Wire are not just men, they are of the earth, elemental in that way. The author conjures connections between the odor of a plant's sap with the aroma of a man's secretions, the forms and contours of a man's body with those of trees; even worshipping the very soil as our source and our eventual destination.

The second way you can read the book is by seeing the stories and novella as a single narrative, the central character consistent all the way through. Certain names are used often enough to suggest the author may have intended this all along.

Among my favorite stories are:

The title piece, "A History of Barbed Wire", a slice of poignant autobiography about getting a tattoo.

"Dionysus Redux" and "Captive," brilliant explorations into the glory of submission to men who know exactly how to dominate us.

"Balsam Poplar Buds" and "Raspberry Moonshine,"

tales of the right men -- meeting in the wrong place and the wrong time -- and their time together thusly being that much more precious.

And of course, the devastating "Fireflies", in which the vengeful spirit of a slain Confederate soldier, whose bravery and gallantry in the war was ignored in the face of his homosexuality, returns to our time to seek absolution...and revenge?

Jeff Mann's A History of Barbed Wire is first-rate gay erotica. Highly recommended.