The bassist in a gay punk band reflects on his troubled relationship with the band's guitarist/singer. In the wake of the Matthew Shepard murder, a Wyoming ranch manager conceals his affair with another man. A young African American breaks up with his white boyfriend at a series of dinners at Cuban-Chinese restaurants. The attempt to repeal a gay rights ordinance divides a Southern college town. And in the title story, a downsized computer engineer tutors a gay Vietnamese immigrant in pop culture, cyberspace, and weight loss--only to learn a vital lesson about American life circa Y2K. Welcome to the world of Richard Grayson, the writer "Newsday" called "convulsively inventive" and "Kirkus Reviews" found "oddly charming." In "The Silicon Valley Diet," his ninth collection of short stories, Grayson zeroes in on gay baby boomers and Gen Xers making their way in a wired world.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Funny, clever, tightly written...balances neurotic self-awareness with a genuine sense of empathy and humor." -- Joey Magazine, Fall 2000
"Funny, intelligently written and original...full of delicious nuggets...cool stories [that] capture snapshots of our culture" -- Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, May 28, 2000
"Grayson is shaking funny ingredients together like dice." -- Los Angeles Times
"Grayson's ninth collection of short stories achieves many goals, and he is clearly a master of the genre." -- Henry Grinberg, American Book Review, March-April 2001
"Humor as dry as the desert and an assortment of nerdy-but-likable Seinfeldian characters...will keep you turning the pages." -- Echo Magazine, August 17, 2000
"The writer's secret self makes his world entertaining and bizarre. The dialogue is consistently, even ingeniously funny." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Uses computer jargon to access the concerns of today's youth." -- Chicago Tribune, July 2, 2000
"Where avant-garde fiction goes when it turns into stand-up comedy." -- Rolling Stone
Compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive...snapshots of gay men battling it out in an online world. Lighter and funnier... -- Publishers Weekly, May 15, 2000
Grayson's characters here run the gamut of gay male life...Readers will enjoy his latest contribution to our literature. -- Jesse Monteagudo's Book Nook, Gay Today
"Funny, intelligently written and original...full of delicious nuggets...cool stories [that] capture snapshots of our culture" -- Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, May 28, 2000
"Grayson is shaking funny ingredients together like dice." -- Los Angeles Times
"Grayson's ninth collection of short stories achieves many goals, and he is clearly a master of the genre." -- Henry Grinberg, American Book Review, March-April 2001
"Humor as dry as the desert and an assortment of nerdy-but-likable Seinfeldian characters...will keep you turning the pages." -- Echo Magazine, August 17, 2000
"The writer's secret self makes his world entertaining and bizarre. The dialogue is consistently, even ingeniously funny." -- The New York Times Book Review
"Uses computer jargon to access the concerns of today's youth." -- Chicago Tribune, July 2, 2000
"Where avant-garde fiction goes when it turns into stand-up comedy." -- Rolling Stone
Compulsively talky and engagingly disjunctive...snapshots of gay men battling it out in an online world. Lighter and funnier... -- Publishers Weekly, May 15, 2000
Grayson's characters here run the gamut of gay male life...Readers will enjoy his latest contribution to our literature. -- Jesse Monteagudo's Book Nook, Gay Today
About the Author
Richard Grayson is the author of nine books of fiction. A lawyer, computer education consultant, nutritionist, and college professor, he has published articles in The New York Times, The San Jose Mercury News, The Miami Herald, and People. He wrote this book with an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Florida Arts Council.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
sharp dialogue & warmth,
By Chris Zuccarelli (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Silicon Valley Diet (Paperback)
The conversations between the characters here range from hilarious to absurd. Lovers, ex-lovers and friends all seem extremely sharp, knowing and a bit too smart for their own goods. A lot of the characters here seem isolated from the gay mainstream and while the critique of gay life is low-key, it's also pointed. Some of the reveries about friends and acquaintances who've died of AIDS verge on the sentimental. What I like most is how Grayson ties together all kinds of things you ordinarily wouldn't expect, just as his unlikely lovers manage to stay together, at least temporarily. I'm surprised the tone of the book remained consistent throughout the stories, and I wonder how many of them are autobiographical (I bet a lot!)
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
insightful look at our culture,
By Artie Chavez (NYC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Silicon Valley Diet (Paperback)
The dozen or so stories in this book add up to more than just their sum. It's a look at American society, not just gay culture, but also the technological changes and how they effect people. The author seems to understand how computers have both made some aspects of life easier -- i.e., gay teens can meet others online, the web can help you find people (lovers) you lost touch with == and some things just more wierd and confushing. Plus the characters comment in a witty way and there aren't any stereotypes of people, only individual characters who seem real.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Funny, poignant, and profound stories,
By Fletcher Yee (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Silicon Valley Diet (Paperback)
Although some of the stories are kind of experimental and use techniques I think they don't really need, I think this is a wonderful collection of stories about gay relationships and cultural identity. Grayson's couples are usually interracial or intercultural -- black/white, white/Asian, Asian/Hispanic, Jewish/Indian, punk/cowboy -- and their conflicts are played for witty comedy and clever dialogue. There's also a very poignant strain in memories of experiences of loss, including those friends who've died of AIDS. The author seems to be trying to use gay relationships as a way of dealing with our current obsessions: the Internet, wealth, ethnic identity, and pop culture -- not to mention dieting (a lot about food in this book, including ethnic stuff). The best story is "Boys Club," a hilarious look at the gay punk subculture.
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