| Title | : | Wilde Stories 2012: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1590214102 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781590214107 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | ebook |
| Number of Pages | : | 181 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2012 |
Wilde Stories 2012: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction Reviews
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This is the first Wilde Stories collection I have read, sub-titled ‘The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction’. There are only two ‘kind of’ SF stories here, both are about AI, with the bulk being fantasy and/or horror. Same have more gay content than others. No spaceships, astronauts or even aliens. Unless you count the weird bloke on the block as an alien.
Editor Steve Berman definitely needs to include a brief boilerplate explanation in each year’s edition to remind regular readers, and inform new ones like me, of the connection between Oscar Wilde and speculative fiction – which SF readers will know was Robert Heinlein’s preferred term for science fiction.
Speculative fiction here obviously runs the gamut of the fantastic. While I enjoyed this collection, I would have liked to have read more explicitly SF stories (gay ‘hard’ SF!), as there is already an abundance of gay fantasy and horror.
Having said that, this is a wonderful collection, with uniformly excellent writing and varied content. I love collections like this, as they are often a treasure trove of new writers.
The Arab’s Prayer by Alex Jeffers: Evocative account of the daily minutiae of a cross-cultural relationship between Yaffe (Jewish) and Mus’ad (Muslim) in a future Jerusalem still wracked with dissent and religious turmoil. An impressive amount of detail layers this story, making for an intense, lived-in reading experience.
Fairy Tale by Justin Torres: Deliciously grimy and shockingly sexy little fairy story by the author of ‘We, The Animals’.
Thou Earth, Thou by K.M. Ferebee: Gay couple Dunbar and Mason move to the countryside, where Dunbar discovers his green thumbs. This is a slow-building and intense horror story that packs a shocking ending.
Hoffmann, Godzilla and Me by Richard Bowes: Elegiac tale about a gay writer confronting his own mortality, wrapped up in considerations of Japanese horror movies, New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and Hoffmann’s Copelia, about a man who falls in love with a doll (or a robot, in this SF version).
Color Zap! by Sam Sommer: Disappointingly didactic, by-the-numbers story about a planetary colony founded by gay people where genetic manipulation occasionally burps out a child with coloured hair, leading to ridicule and discrimination. Spencer, he of the periwinkle locks, soon finds he is not alone, and joins a revolutionary movement called the Community of Recessives whose acts of civil disobedience are called ‘color zaps’.
All Smiles by Steve Berman: From the frying pan into the fire ... Saul escapes from a youth detention / rehabilitation centre and hitches a ride with an enigmatic pair of teenagers, who turn out to be vampires on the prowl. This is far more a horror story, with no discernible SF element and borderline gay content.
The Peacock by Ted Infinity and Nabil Hijazi: This delightful story about an AI’s romantic awakening ticks all the boxes of SF and gay (and then some). Wonderfully evocative and laugh-out-loud funny. Definitely one of the strongest stories in the anthology.
Ashes in the Water by Joel Lane and Mat Joiner: Moody, borderline fantasy piece. Josh visits the houseboat of his friend Anthony, after his partner Warren passes away, and discovers that the houseboat is either a doorway to a darker realm, or a funeral barge carrying him away from normality.
A Razor in an Apple by Kristopher Reisz: Beautiful story about loss and the power of memory. No overt SF elements in this fantasy story, which borders on horror. Philip visits a strange apothecary shop where it is rumoured one can buy memories … at a price.
The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons by Tom Cardamone: Like the Justin Torres story, this one is only a handful of pages ... but, wow, how the writing sizzles. I suppose this wishful fantasy is about the power of belief and desire. Beguiling and whimsical.
Filling up the Void by Richard E. Gropp: One of the few hard SF stories in this anthology, about AI and full body modification ... with the irony being that the gay porn industry pioneers both technologies (reminiscent of The Peacock).
The House by the Park by Lee Thomas: The most sexually explicit story in this anthology, the most overt horror story ... and also the most romantic. Denis and Fred, two older men who survive difficult relationships, find solace and compatibility in each other. Unbeknown to them, a man in the house by the park has committed suicide and cursed the world in the process, opening the gates to hell. Intense and unsettling.
Pinion by Stellan Thorne: Beautiful story about a hard-bitten cop who has to arrest an angel for a crime, and is haunted by the experience for his entire life.
We Do Not Come in Peace by Christopher Barzak: Infatuation and the passion of youth collide in a mysterious town on the Border, where revolution simmers.
The Duke of Riverside by Ellen Kushner: Standard sword-and-sorcery fare, with only a token nod to gay content. -
Last year I loved the Wilde Stories 2011 anthology, so picking up Wilde Stories 2012: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction edited by Steve Berman was a no brainer for me. In this year's edition, I again found excellent creative speculative fiction by favorite authors plus new-to-me authors whose works I'm going to explore in the future.
The anthology begins with an excellent introduction by Berman, followed by fifteen stories and showcasing the wide range and variety he discovered in gay speculative fiction. Personally, I think that variety is what I love and enjoy the most about reading speculative fiction. That and the fact that there's no placing most of these stories into a neat little box even when certain genres are used as a base in their construction.
I'll give you a few samples of the variety found in this anthology. There are two stories that really touched me, "Ashes in the Water by Joel Lane and Mat Joiner," and "Hoffman, Godzilla and Me by Richard Bowes." These tales are quite different in setting, mood, atmosphere and writing styles, yet pain and loss oozes out of the pages while that darkness and other worldliness that comes with a speculative fiction story is central to both. And while one story is edgier than the other, they both leave the reader in deep thought while chilled to the bone.
There are also fun tales such as "The Peacock by Ted Infinity and Nabil Hijazi," a science fiction based love story, between a spambot program and a man, that made me snort and laugh from beginning to wonderful over-the-top end, and Tom Cardamone's very short excellent Chinese mythology-based story, "The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons," which surprisingly left me with a smile at the end. These two stories while very different are both excellent, quite creative, and fun!
Of course a speculative fiction anthology would not be complete without the all popular horror-based tale, and this year Berman features great stories I enjoyed, his own creepy contribution "All Smiles," featuring young adults, is one of them. And while Steve Berman's story is full of dread and quick action followed by a hopeful ending, in "The House By The Park," Lee Thomas contrasts the bliss of a gay couple as they find love and lulls the reader with everyday life details while all along dark evil slowly hunts them.
Both horror tales are nightmare worthy, but compare that horror to the magic found in Justin Torres' creative fable "Fairy Tale," Ellen Kushner's fantasy-based tale of swordsmen "The Duke of Riverside," or another favorite, "We Do Not Come In Peace by Christopher Barsak" where Peter Pan-like young men in a familiar Neverland-like setting battle the Fair Ones, and you get the idea as to the variety of stories included.
I enjoyed reading this anthology slowly, savoring each tale on its own. It is interesting to note that even as personal taste led me to find favorite stories, it is also easy to say that the quality of the stories and writers, gay themes, plus the variety found in Berman's Wilde Stories 2012: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction make this anthology an overall well-balanced, rock solid read. -
Just delightful. It's often hard to review a collection of stories by a variety of authors. But in this case, diversity truly is its strength. A couple made me laugh out loud and at least one made me shudder with horror. I'm going to check out the previous years' collections.
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There were three very good stories: The House by the Park by Lee Thomas, We Do Not Come in Peace by Christopher Barzak and The Duke of Riverside by Ellen Kushner. I’ll be reading more of these author’s works. The rest of the stories just did not hold up.
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Solid anthology of gay speculative fiction. Mostly specifically gay male, not much for lesbian, trans, ace, etc. A good range of atmospheres - grounded, comic, mundane, fantastic, clear, obscure, sweet, cheerful, spooky, erotic, sad. Looking forward to reading the other editions!
Favorites: (Made me happy)
The Arab's Prayer- a sweet story of love between a muslim and a secular jew in future Tel Aviv.
Color Zap!- Pleasantville on Planet Gay
The Peacock- Love with a spambot
Filling up the Void- Murder mystery and love story between a gay for pay trans-werewolf and a linguist working on artificial intelligence
We Do Not Come in Peace- Modern urban immigrants to Fae find love and pride and their place in a new world
Decent: (Were interesting or clever)
The Duke of RIverside- A possible Duke slums it with a swordsman until his inheritance is decided
The House by the Park- Love story meets zombie curse
A Razor in an Apple- Apothecary offers a prize memory, for a steep price
Ashes in the Water- Living with loss and a spooky houseboat
All Smiles: A teen reform camp hides a secret agenda
Thou, Earth, Thou- spooky tale of a city boy who moves to the suburbs for his guy but finds himself in a creepy neighborhood with disturbing things buried in the garden
Hoffman, Gozilla, and Me- meta tale of a writing assignment that wanders into nostalgia for the NY scene
Confusing: (Didn't quite get them, though I liked aspects)
Pinion- Police detective arrests an angel. There's some kind of twist or reveal, but it went over my head.
Fairy Tale- Seems to be about an erotic attraction towards Uncles with wings growing out of their heads.
The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons- Literally about a hungry cloud dragon. I think it might be a metaphor for lust and missed opportunities, but I'm not sure. -
My review for this series:
This is an excellent anthology series. The stories are thought-provoking, imaginative, and affecting. These days it feels as though gay culture has been largely assimilated into the mainstream (at least, it feels this way up here in progressive-ish northern New England), and for those of who remember how liberating and exhilarating it felt to finally discover that there were others like us and a whole culture of novels, movies, and songs about our experience, this series feels like a homecoming.
By curating this series, Steve Berman scratches an itch I didn't know I had. If you're gay and if you like speculative fiction, you owe it to yourself to check this series out. -
The Hit to Miss ratio of this anthology continues to be unusually high.
Standouts here are 'The House by the Park' by Lee Thomas, which contrasts a cosy domesticity with a creeping suburban nightmare that should be of interest to anyone who enjoyed Thomas's Lambda winning novel, The German, and 'The Duke of Riverside' by Ellen Kushner, which gives some back story sure to please Riverside fans.
Special mention too to 'The Peacock', a love story between a man and a spambot that is is both laugh out loud funny and strangely heartwarming -
I'm used to short story anthologies being more uneven than this—the quality of this collection is overall very high, and the variety of stories is remarkable as well. Well worth the read.
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Some real gems in here... "The Arab's Prayer" and "Pinion" especially, but the surprise Riverside story from Ellen Kushner ("The Duke of Riverside") took the cake! I've so missed Alec and Richard :)
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I DNF'd about 30 pages through so I don't even feel like giving it a grade because that's not really fair.
I don't know if short stories just aren't my thing, I loved the first one! The two-pages second story had a whiff of pedophilia that made me very uneasy and did not have its place in a gay anthology. And I have little memory of the third before I gave up. Something about a haunted garden.
Overall I did not really get the "speculative" aspect. It was very present in the first one, the second was just weird and the third was more fantastic. I hoped there was more of a theme than "gay men in sfff"...
