apri 20.2001 -
ingenious look at the whole top/bottom,
slave/master thing I’ve ever read. And if you
know acting, it’ll double your pleasure.
By far, the funniest story in the group is
“Hunters and Gatherers,” in which a Mormon
couple invite all the gay men and women
they know to a party at their home, so the
husband may satisfy certain new curiosities.
Two stories, “Bit-o-Honey”
and “Old Birds,” are
superb, no-holds-barred
visions of the complex
relationship between a gay
man and his aging father.
Cooper’s writing style is
easy and colloquial, and his
plots have little problem
pulling you into them.
Guess Again should be on
your bookshelf. Even if I
weren’t queer, I’d say so.
— Glenn Williams
B e s t B is e x u a l E r o t ic a
edited by Bill Brent
arid Carol Queen.
Black Books and Circlet
Press, 2000; $16 softcover.
* hose
of us who find sex-
uality more interesting
when it’s multigendered will be thrilled
with the new compilation Best Bisexual Erotica.
And it’s about bloody time!
This hook contains stories of bisexual and
polyamorous passion in all its glorious, compli
cated forms. Here you will read of gay men
having sex with straight women, lesbians with
straight men, lesbians with gay men, transgen-
dered people with straight and gay men and
women— twosomes, threesomes and oh-so-
many-moresomes.
One of the best aspects of this collection is
a complete lack of guilt or trauma about being
attracted to more than one gender. O f course,
there are moments of awakening to fresh
desires and moments of closed minds opening
up to new possibilities, hut this is not the book
for a discussion about the social and political
ramifications of fluid sexuality. This is a hook
for getting an erection, getting moist and get
ting it on.
Readers with dreams of
Fleet Week will enjoy
Robert Vickery’s “Hunting
for Sailors,” in which a
couple seduce a sailor who
dries things he never knew
he would. Many stories
deal with fetish, particular
ly domination. Two in par
ticular— “Boy Bashing” by
Raven Gildea and “Cruis
ing the Conference” by
Dominic Santi— are twist
ed enough to keep you
dreaming for months.
There are sweet romantic
tales as well; check out the
warmhearted and erotic
“First, Hello” by Madeleine
Schulman.
Raven Kaldera’s “Triple
Dance” explores the pas
sions between a man and two transgendered
people. Here categories of sexuality become as
meaningless and sex becomes the enjoyment of
bodies regardless of their specific parts:
“Ian sat up, grinning at me. ‘You want to
pitch or catch?” he asked. I thought about it,
visions of Shelly bent over her desk at work
while 1 rammed her from behind dancing in
my head. I wondered if she’d had a vagioplas-
ty, or still had a cock. 1 wondered what she’d
Q O r e g o n d r iv e s G IP ITO L
SUBARU.
think about my ball-less, almost dickless
crotch; wondered if she’d been a gay man
before and was still in love with dick on her
lovers. ‘Catch, I guess,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll pitch
afterwards, if you’re still up to it.’“
Diverse, perverse, delicious and extraordinari
ly ballsy, this collection is for all of us who think
sex is a wonderful, blessed act and particularly for
those who think sex doesn’t
need to be defined, just
acted upon.
— GW
The Beauty of All-Wheel Drive
ALL 2001 OUTBACK
Limited, LL Bean & VDC Models In Stock!
R o u g h M u s ic
by Patrick Gale.
Ballantine Books, 2001;
$25 hardcover.
atrick G ale’s Rough
Music is a reminder
that our families often
wreak more havoc on us
than the rest of the world
in total. T h e novel easily
proves the adage that the
sins of the father— or, in
this case, both parents—
often are visited upon
their children.
Rough Music gives an
unsettling glimpse o f the
Pagett family as it revisits
the English resort town of Cornwall. Our
semisingle hero, Julian, invites both parents
along on holiday to Blue House for a well-
deserved break. His father, John, has his
hands full caring for his increasingly unfo
cused wife, Frances, in the early stages of
Alzheimer’s disease.
T his is the very rental house where the
Pagetts had something of a meltdown 30
years before. This is not immediately appar
ent to the family, which stretches credulity,
hut the tragedy that unfolds, both in the past
and in the present, is engulfing regardless.
Expertly shifting between what occurred
in those fateful weeks 30 years ago and the
present, G ale weaves the story of Frances’
past affair with her recently widowed brother-
in-law with the unfolding drama of the cur
rent holiday. Julian also is carrying on a clan
destine relationship with his brother-in-law
Sandy, who loves his wife and kids hut enjoys
their obligation-free sex.
In what seem like parallel
universes, we watch, winc
ing, as Frances is caught with
Bill and Julian is caught, by
Frances, having a hit too
much of a holiday with
Sandy. This all might sound
like tiresome soap opera, hut
Gale pulls off the onionskin
layers of family secrets with
acute observation.
Never trite, Rough
Music is an expertly writ-
ten, occasionally heart-
* •
breaking story of one fami-
ly’s walk-in closet, where
there is more than enough
rtxim for everyone. And he
reminds us that no matter
what size that closet might
he, room always should he
made for forgiveness.
— Rich Bray jH
—
$3.077EP
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H ours M on- Fri 8 -9 Sat 9 -7 Sun 1 0 -5
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©GflPdOL SUBARU
Subject to prior sale. In-stock units only. Prices do not include license, title or doc. fees. Art is for illustration only-.
Prices expire Apiil 20, 2001. All financing on approved credit
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Now on
and her sidekick Gabrielle battle warlords,
Titans and any other men silly enough to
rentes poetry, prose, plays,
periodica and pom in Portland.
illiam s
Portland free-lance writer.
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In Other Words.
R ich B ray is a former bookstore owner and a
lili I TUI III O f t » «
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E ls D e bb a u t is a free-lance reviewer on staff at
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