Customer Reviews

Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City

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I think all of us who have read this book have read many other LGBT-specific books, so we know that the quality is not always the best, to say the least. I admit, I was a tiny bit skeptical when purchasing this collection of short stories, but was very pleasantly surprised at the amazing quality. Each one held my interest in some way, whether it was written by a male or female. While the title suggests a niche market that may be interesting to only those familiar with Portland, that is definitely not the case. I've never even been to Portland, but I am considering it now! Bravo to all the contributers of this book. Well done!

"Portland Queer" is a collection of about two-dozen short narratives, arranged thematically into four sections. The book is the creation of Ariel Gore, who has done a wonderful job of collecting and editing the various articles, and who wrote the Introduction, which got me hooked on the book from the first page. The stories themselves are absolute gems, celebrating and often joking about our city, its people, and our culture.

This book is a page-turner, and I love that this book is a compilation and not just one person's point of view. I laughed out loud so many times with the stories, which are as eclectic and captivating as the writers themselves. Other stories are serious and sometimes sad, and my emotions rose and fell along with the authors' as they shared their experiences and observations.

My favorite story? I couldn't pick just one, but I loved the one the book opens with, David Ciminello's "PDXOX." Crista Orth's well-written contribution, "Not Following The Rules," recounts some history in our progressive city and state (including 1992's infamous Ballot Measure 9), and serves as a reminder not only of how far we have come, but also of how far we still have to go. Michael Sage Ricci's "The Strange and Highly Selective Mating Patterns of the Human Male Animal" begins with online video games, which was a little difficult for me to get into not being a gamer, but the story turned out to be awesome. These are only a few of the selections included in the book. It ends with Stevie Anntonym's "Lesbian Lexicon," a contemporary dictionary that is at once informative and hilarious.

I believe that queer history has reached a new milestone with the publishing of this book, proudly printed right here in P-Town. I would think that "Portland Queer" could easily become a standard reading book for years to come, not only for Gay & Lesbian courses, but also as a general literature title - the quality is that good. I hope there will be a follow-up volume out someday soon. Anyone anywhere will enjoy this book, regardless of orientation.

If you enjoy cutting-edge queer fiction mixed with a healthy dose of Portland's progressive politics, be sure to check out this captivating anthology of multi-sexual, multi-gender short stories. Alternately heart-warming and heart-breaking, these wonderful stories are full of passion, humor, love, and humanity. While I enjoyed all the contributions to this anthology, a few of the short stories stand out as exceptionally good, such as: Kathleen Bryson's moving story about the AIDS crisis in Portland called "Ghost Bikes" and Jacob Anderson-Minshall's story, "Chinook", about a pregnant transgender man living with breast cancer. I really love how he used the chinook salmon which lives in both freshwater and saltwater as a metaphor for his experience as a transgendered person. What a beautiful way to express his profound relationship to the ecology of the Pacific Northwest! If you like your LGBT literature a little crunchy (or even crusty!) and you don't mind some rain, then this fabulous anthology might just be for you!