Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors (Gay Men's Fiction) [Paperback]

Jay Quinn (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1560231610 | ISBN-13: 978-1560231615 | Publication Date: April 11, 2001 | Edition: 1st

Fiction. Gay/Lesbian Studies. New to SPD. REBEL YELL continues the tradition of Southern literature with the work of contemporary gay men. Includes work by such contemporary Southern gay authors as Robin Lippincott, Jameson Currier, Walter Holland, John Trumbo, Andrew Beirele, George Singer, Jeff Mann, and editor Jay Quinn, whose own story, 465 Acres, examines one man's rebellion against the long-held expectations of farm and family. The rotting plantations of Faulkner and Williams have long been bulldozed to accommodate the spread of tract housing and shopping malls, but the tales of the South, now told by a current generation, still spring from the hearts, groins, and minds of its sons. REBEL YELL is a singular collection of those stories, told in the soft accents of the gay men who know both the horror and tenderness that is their heritage.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Quinn, author of the memoir The Mentor, presents a superb collection of stories relating the Southern gay experience. While the stories are somewhat limited (all are from a rural, white, male perspective; most deal with the initial explorations of sexuality; and only a few could be considered to have a present-day setting), the authors do have something meaningful to share about growing up, falling in love, and accepting oneself. Quinn has done a nice job not only of gathering these fine stories but of choosing how one flows into the next. It's rare to find a collection that doesn't contain at least a few weak selections, and this one proves to be one of those exceptions. The book is recommended for several reasons. First, it is an excellent selection of stories. Second, voices from the South and from rural areas are absent in most gay literature collections. And third, these authors have something important to say. How often does that happen?DT.R. Salvadori, Margaret E. Heggan Free P.L., Hurffville, NJ
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Poignant, witty, and proud. This collection is expertly crafted...savours the heritage of what it means to be gay and Southern." -Foreword Magazine; "A superb collection of stories...These authors have something important to say. How often does that happen?" -Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1st edition (April 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1560231610
• ISBN-13: 978-1560231615
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,815,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "The Southern Gay Experience", July 7, 2001

By 

Joseph J. Hanssen "Joe" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors (Gay Men's Fiction) (Library Binding)

Jay Quinn, who authored that wonderful book, "The Mentor", has given us a wonderful new collection of 14 stories by different southern gay writers. It's not too often (if this is not a first) that we get to hear about the southern rural experience in gay literature. I'm a northern boy so it's interesting to learn how southern boys live and learn & experience the world from their gay perspective. Fascinating stories here, some very unusual in there depictions of horror as well as tenderness. This is the southern heritage at its' finest.

I especially enjoyed "Pump Jockey" & "465 Acres." These are not erotic stories, although some come close. They are heartfelt confessions of what it is to be gay and from the south. I enjoyed everyone of these stories, and hope Jay puts out another collection soon. I look forward to his new unusual coming-of-age novel, "Metes and Bound." This book gets my recommendation, of course.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Good Stories Here, July 3, 2004

By 

H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors (Gay Men's Fiction) (Paperback)

Jay Quinn publishes here 14 stories by, in his words, "contemporary Southern gay authors." He doesn't clarify whether or not the writers, in order to be included in this anthology, had to be born in the South or just live there. It is impossible to tell from the brief bios of the writers if some of them meet either of these requirements, if indeed, those are the requirements for inclusion. Some of these stories are not very good, some of them are so-so-- since being polite is an innate Southern characteristic-- I won't name the stories I didn't care for-- and two or three of them are first class. Almost all the writers-- regardless of their abilities-- discuss what makes Southerners different and point out the uniqueness of Southern gays. For example, there is an emphasis on family, a greater amount of prejudice against anyone different, an identification with masculine men; and Southern gays-- at least until very recently-- were probably more prone to remain in the closet and lead double lives, at least in small Southern towns. Of course fundamentalist Christianity is the dominant religion in much of the South as well.

The best story here is "465 Acres" by the editor of this volume, Jay Quinn. In this story Steve, who has recently lost his wife Janet to cancer, is living with his domineering mother whom of course he calls "Mama" and his two children. He is about to meet for the first time in 22 years or so a man named Robin whom he once loved. Mr. Quinn has perfect pitch when it comes to portraying Southern rural families in the North Carolina-East Tennessee-Virginia area. Janet's death was "the Lord's will." Steve's mother will always call friends her son's age "boy". His children are young'uns. Steve's mother, a perfectly awful human being, doesn't like Mexicans and opines that girls shouldn't go to college since they'll just get married anyway. It's worth buying this collection for this story alone. Additionally "The Preacher's Son" is a sad commentary on how far a "religious" family will go to protect their reputation even if it means letting a murderer of their gay son go practically free. Finally Walter Holland's "Hometown" is a bittersweet love story and reminds us, as Thomas Wolfe would say, that it really is difficult to go home again.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good but not great, March 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors (Gay Men's Fiction) (Paperback)

The title of this book is misleading in a couple of ways. First, most of these "stories" read less like works of fiction than memoirs or reminiscences, and in a couple of cases, essays. Second, although these writers are contemporary, most of the stories are set in the past, the 60s, 70s or 80s when these men were teenagers still living in the South. The result is a certain sameness in the entries as they tend to deal with teenage crushes; several of the stories begin with descriptions of the boys who fascinated these adolescent writers-to-be and continue on to the outcome of these first love affairs, which usually ended badly or sadly. That said, the book is strongly evocative of time and place and also treats the universal theme of the gay outsider. My favorite was Dan Stone's beautifully written "My South" in which he describes how he didn't learn what it meant to be a southerner until his family moved to the mid-west. Except for a couple of disappointments, all these entries were well written; all the books lacks is variety in the subject matter.