Now spanning eight volumes and two decades, the Men on Men series continues to showcase the remarkable talent of gay literary writers. These venerable collections of short stories have become a gay literary institution, launching the careers of several, now luminary, writers--including Joe Keenan, Christopher Bram, Dale Peck, and David Leavitt. True to its tradition, Men on Men 2000 brings bright new literary talent together with established writers--such as Edmund White and Brian Bouldrey--to offer a poignant collection of gay fiction that is provocative and illuminating at every turn. This diverse group of voices etches an indelible portrait of gay life at the dawn of the twenty-first century, addressing issues such as identity and gender stereotypes, the power of love, the lingering shadow of AIDS, and the new adventure of fatherhood.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
The eighth installment of the popular Men on Men anthology series offers the usual fine mix of fiction from well-established and up-and-coming gay writers. Among the best-known names in Men on Men 2000 are Jim Grimsley and Edmund White--White is represented by an excerpt from his forthcoming novel, The Married Man. Other authors take on subjects ranging from fatherhood to the impact of AIDS. Despite the suggestive title, the emphasis in these stories is not on sex--oh, sure, it's there, but Men on Men is a lot closer in tone to Best American Gay Fiction than to Best Gay Erotica. --Regina Marler
From Publishers Weekly
Last year's Men on Men anthology, the seventh in the series, was a model of the form. Editor David Bergman chose some truly good and different--rather than truly safe or affirming--short fiction. This year, with first-time co-editor and fellow Baltimorean Karl Woelz, the collection seems to be aiming for social rather than literary significance. Many of the tales are quite enjoyable. But none, with one exception--Boston writer J.G. Hayes's contribution, "Regular Flattop," the moving story of three teenage friends, part of an Irish neighborhood gang--is exciting. Stories of common pain, common loss, common love and common death fulfill a social function (a number of stories about HIV-positive characters, in particular, remind readers that the threat of AIDS is still very real), but few of the entries achieve literary excellence. Nevertheless, contributions by Edmund White, Jim Grimsley, Brian Bouldrey and Jim Provenzano stand out, as do stories by five less established writers. A schoolteacher loses custody of his daughter to his boyfriend in Craig McWhorter's "Silent Protest"; another dispossessed but nonbiological father realizes that "whatever happened would happen between the parents and the grandparents" in William Lane Clark's "Quiet Game." Teenage boys discover love is a bitter business in stories by Kelly McQuain and Bill Gordon; a tragic accident haunts a man on vacation in Marseilles with his lover in "Second Island" by Patrick Ryan. Last year's anthology proved that GayLit could still pack a wallop. This year's proves it can also disappear into the mainstream. And for some, there's comfort in that. QPB selection. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
(Walt) Whitman's Sampler,
By Gremulak (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Men on Men 2000: Best New Gay Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)
What a diverse collection! Like a candy box, some of them you savor, others you pry open with a finger and nibble, a few others you spit out with a "mleah!"Bruce Morrow, Michael Villane, and especially JG Hayes' "Regular Flattop" win the hip awards. Craig McWhorter's "Silent Protest" is the most touching of all. Patrick Ryan wins the Dennis Cooper/Edmund White Wannabe Award for his pretentious French corpse tale. Edmund White's contribution is almost a parody of his own travel-weary snobbery. Oddly, the AIDS stories seem dated. The parenting stories are very touching, including Dave Tuller's, Provenzano's "Quality Time" and William Clark's "Quiet Game." What I don't understand is how some other authors can claim to be short story writers when they're actually only sharing excerpts of their unfinished novels. What's amazing is how with few exceptions (those mentioned), some of these stories are well-crafted but passionless, as if cold reserve was the priority. Maybe it reflects how shell-shocked we are as a culture.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Strong Queer Dialog--or Strange Quirky Demi-monde--or Both?,
By
This review is from: Men on Men 2000: Best New Gay Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)
Of the 20 stories, I recall exactly three as truly fulfilling (IMHO) the editors' stated goals of offering fiction which is "finely crafted, forcefully expressed, and sharply imagined." Two are coming-out stories, but good ones, because they (1) show the process as slow and subtle with setbacks also, and also they (2) realistically set personal liberation in the context of confining family and social networks from which the person has to escape--a happy ending, but earned, not romanticized. "Erasing Sonny" shgows a teenager subtly realizing his own sexual stripe amid the slam-bang chaos of a semi-dysfunctional family. The motif is a tattoo he gets, and then gets erased, his own skin and self clear at last. But we readers are right inside his perspiring skin as he speaks--"sharply imagined" indeed. Then, "Regular Flattop" is even better. Immersed in the trap of lower-class semi-slum living, the kid fights his way clear toward his own self with his friend Tommy. Encouragingly, he gets his impetus toward escape from his own dying father's admonition to him to fly, get out, to "go somewhere you've never been before, somewhere beautiful." Out of the slums, out of heterosexism. But again we hear it in his great slangy idiom, "forcefully expressed" indeed. For dessert, "Quality Time" is a five-page "wickedly-sinful" confection of a gay divorced father in his thirties and his reveries concerning his 15-year-old son Donnie, who is a high-school wrestler indeed. To discuss this semi-taboo (psychic incest?) with such "fine craft" indeed, is no mean task. Thus, three gems. I cannot recall the other 17 stories enough to make any comments on them (which is itself a comment). My "fellow reader-buddy" also told me he felt this year's volume fell short of the previous ones. But beware: our ages may be showing, because the comment of a 19-year-old (in another review here) says the stories present the "strange quirky demi-monde of gay life today" and gosh, many of them really do do that. I only wish with more fine craft, forceful expression, sharp imagination--and intensified emotion. Well, so take a look for yourself. And, here's to 2001 in this usually-great series.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Demented and Daring,
By Wayne (Dublin) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Men on Men 2000: Best New Gay Fiction (Mass Market Paperback)
My brother lent me this book on my last trip home from college. I am a 19 year old straight grrl and let me tell you, this book about gay dudes was the best thing I had read all term. Truly demented stuff, but I loved it. The stories were funny and sexy and sometimes enough to make me squirm inside my skin. I liked the one about Madonna's evil drag queen posse, the one about the kid Sonny getting the tattoo from hell, and all the other wilde exposes of the strange quirkly demi-monde of gay life today. Having read this book, I feel like I've not only walked a mile in my brother's shoes, but I've treaded over the tricky territory of a whole world previously unfamiliar to me. This book is a Valentine in prose form.
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