Table Of Content

PRAISE FOR BEST AMERICAN GAY FICTION 1 Edited by Brian Bouldrey "An annual series that promises to take gay belles lettres out of its literary ghetto .... The fiction gathered here is united more by its quality than its queerness .... The word best is entirely accurate." -Out magazine "This collection is filled with wonderful surprises that totally break up the stereotypes. The writing is always richly, provocatively, inspiringly indi vidual, and on such a high level I want to cry out to the world: Watch out, writing by gay writers is a force to be contended with!" -David Plante "The high quality of the prose in this anthology comes as no surprise; for the last decade (and well before) gay men have been consistently producing some of the best writing in America. The greatest pleasure comes from reading the wealth of stories by new names. Best American Gay Fiction 1 offers the opportunity to re-encounter well-known favorites and discover superlative work by new voices." -Fenton johnson "Proof of another very good year for gay writers is in this anthology, with its mix of subtle voices, its hints of varying proclivities, and its musculature formed of so much palpable and poetic language. I felt younger, happier, and more dangerous after reading it." -Brad Gooch BEST AMERICAN GAY FICTION 2 Edited by Brian Bouldrey Foreword by Bernard Cooper "A highly readable collection .... From the elations of first love to the emptiness of a pannerless old age, Best American Gay Fiction 2 explores the full range of human emotion." -Swing "A savvy, lively overview of current gay fiction." -Kirkus Reviews Edited by Brian Bouldrey Best American Gay Fiction 2 Best American Gay Fiction I Wrestling with the Angel: Faith and Religion in the Lives of Gay Men By Brian Bouldrey Genius of Desire B E S T AMERICAN GAY FICTION Edited by Brian Bouldrey Foreword by Jim Grimsley LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY Boston New York Toronto London Copyright © 1998 by Little, Brown and Company (Inc.) Introduction copyright © 1998 by Brian Bouldrey Foreword copyright© 1998 by Jim Grimsley All rights reserved. No pan of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review. First Edition The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the authors. Copyright acknowledgments appear on pp. 274-76 ISBN 0-316-10236-9 ISSN 1088-5501 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 MY-NY Book design by Julia Sedykh Published simultaneously in Canada by Little, Brown & Company (Canada) Limited Printed in the United States of America This book is for Brad Craft, the Queen of Hearts. CONTENTS xi Foreword by jim Grimsley XV Introduction j Eigo 3 NOMADS from Whispering Campaign Tom House 16 PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH THE WORKS OF ART from Puerto del Sol Robert Gluck 46 ON THE BOARDWALK from Three Forced Stories Keith Banner 54 LILY OF THE VALLEY from The james White Review yjjj Matt Bernstein Sycamore 69 SHITPOIERS from Qu«r Vtew Mimn 2 Alfted Corn 73 SEXUAL POLITICS from PliTt ofH is Story Dennis Cooper 80 THE FREED WEED from GKUk Eric Gabriel Lehman 99 PASSING THROUGH from 'f1IOI.inn words jameson Currier 115 GUIDES from B/itlx Houst ~ly Peter Weltner 129 BUDDY LOVES JO ANN from Tht /Osk ofH is Music Thomas Glave 156 ·WHOSE SONG? from His2 ix Andrew Sean Greer 171 THE FUTURE OF THE FLYNNS from £squirt William Haywood Henderson 180 WALKER from Tht Rest oft ht Earth Scott Heim 195 DEEP GREEN, PALE PURPLE from Mirage #4/Period(ica/) justin Chin 208 CHINESE RESTAURANT from Bite Hard Allan Gurganus 211 PRESERVATION NEWS from Prtstrvation 266 Editor's Note 268 Contributors 272 Also Recommended 274 Copyright Acknowledgments FOREWORD by Jim Grimsley Sitting here, keyboard poised, computer spinning and humming, I am ready to begin work for the day. I want to write, but what shall I write? Shall I make some gay fiction? Or should I make some Southern fiction? Or maybe mix it up, just for variety's sake, and write some Southern gay fiction. Or, for a real change of pace, maybe I'll write some science fiction (although some would say this is more fantasy than science fiction-what I'm working on, I mean). Or maybe I'll simply shuck all the categories and write for the sake of literature itself, embracing that most refined of all the genres, literary fiction. Heavy with the need for this decision, changing my thinking this way and that, I wonder what to do, what to do, until at last it is sunset and clearly too late to do anything. I have spent so much time wondering what kind of writing to do that I have written nothing at all. The practice of attaching a label to types of literature serves the