july 20. 2001 ' j u s t a a r t 4
BOOKS
...............▼...............
Homo phobia
Q ueer F ea r :
G ay H orror
F iction
Edited by Michael
Rowe. Arsenal
Pulp Press, 2000;
$16.95 softcover.
nasty, taking-care-
of-the-ex-
boyfnends story
“Tabula Rosa” by
Robert Boyczuk. A
gay-bashing gone
ass over teakettle is
the subject of Edo Van Belkom’s twitchy, dark
ly sexual story “Hey, Fairy!” And two married
neighbors explore their hidden desires to
hideous results in the bone-chilling (pun
intended) “Piercing Men” by Douglas Clegg:
of aggression and
sexuality.
You could
take this book to
bed with you on
a dark and stormy
night. But I rec
ommend you wait till daylight.
— Glenn Williams
Horror anthology terrifies;
evil stepmother mortifies
I o you want to
I read some
thing queer
and scary? For all
of us fans of the
weird and quirky,
writer Michael
Rowe has collected a beautiful boneyard of
unnerving short stories in this new anthology
of gay horror fiction. A Lambda Literary Award
nominee for editing two vampire anthologies,
he couldn’t be more qualified to lead this con
sortium of terror.
Some of these stories are harmless— sweet
ghostly remembrances to bring a smile and a
shiver. Michael Thomas Ford (Alec Baldwin
Doesn’t Love M e) shows his sentimental side
with his ghost-of-grandma tale “Goodbye.”
After A ID S claims their partners, two men
consider selling their souls for peace in Brian
Hodges deliciously cynical, subtly metaphori
cal story “Little Holocausts.”
Some of these stories ride the undercurrents
of childhood fears. Becky N. Southwell’s
“Genius Loci” is the scariest boys camp ghost
story with a gay twist I ever have read (or expe
rienced, for that matter.) And for sheer spooky,
there’s the boy-sees-devil tale “T h e Spark” by
William J. Mann.
Some of these stories play off the seams
between terror and the erotic, such as the
“You will do this, Danny. For us."
"Get your hand o ff me."
"How’s Faith going to feel when she finds out
about us?” "You sad— ” Danny couldn't finish.
Somewhere in his mind, he had already begun
to accept this. Accept that Sam somehow dominat
ed him .... Only later, when Danny had gotten a
room over in San Bernardino, did Sam handcuff
him to the bed and begin to slap him too hard, all
the while telling him that if he was going to own
him, body and soul, Danny had better get used to
doing what he was told.
And some of these stories are nightmares of
the highest quality. Take, for instance, the sick
and brutal “The Nightguard” by C. Mark
Umland. A prisoner in an unworldly cell plots
his revenge and escape as he finds himself cru
elly beaten and abused by a nasty, inhuman
watchman. Umland blurs the lines of reality
and nightmare with expert precision; this is
guaranteed to make your skin crawl. Then try
the story that is sure to scare a subculture,
“Bear Shirt” by Toronto writer Gemma Files, in
which an ex-skinhead becomes sucked into a
frightening future through his ex-lover’s cloak
O nyx
by Felice Picano.
A lyson, 2001;
$24.95 hardcover.
or the gay novel
ist, A ID S pre
sents some of the
same problems as
the Holocaust: How
does one address the
awfulness, horror
and sadness without
making the subject
trite through repetition? If familiarity breeds
contempt, how can a writer put a fresh twist on
a story that, because of the enormity of the
subject, demands to be told over and over?
Felice Picano’s Onyx attempts to shine new
light on a story we already know, and it mostly
succeeds.
Jesse and Ray, a couple for almost 15 years,
are doing that awful dance we know so well.
Jesse is very sick, and Ray is very well.
Because the story is set in the early ’90s,
A ID S cocktails have not yet arrived. We all
know where Jesse’s story is going.
What makes this novel fresh is that Jesse and
Ray are still such sexual beings. Theirs seems to
F
be the perfect open relationship, one not threat
ened by the occasional tryst with outsiders.
Even as Jesse slowly is dying, Ray has a thing
going with a repairman on the side. How you
feel about these things personally determines
how viable and believable you find this scenario.
As the novel progresses we, unfortunately,
meet and grow to intensely dislike Jesse’s mom,
Adele. As little more than the evil stepmother
to Ray, her flaming homophobia gives the
readers somewhere to focus the anger and rage
we feel as we watch her son slip away.
Awful beyond description (and, occasionally,
belief). Adele is the quintessential Southern
socialite, concerned only with her reputation. She
provides the catalyst and momentum for one of
the book’s most unexpected and tragic surprises.
In contrast to Adele, Ray’s niece and
nephew represent the future: open-minded kids
being raised by multiple unlabeled parents.
Picano mixes predictable stereotypes (J.K.
the classic, vampy old movie queen) with occa
sional mention of topical issues such as power of
attorney and the right to die. Ray’s repairman
questions his sexuality, his marriage and his dou
ble life, trying all the while to have it both ways.
Onyx breaks little new ground but still pro
vides an engrossing story told with mostly lik
able and sympathetic characters. Most impor
tantly, it contains a warning: Should we ignore
the lessons we’ve learned about AIDS, we’ll be
doomed to live through it all over again.
— Richard Bray JH
writes poetry, prose, plays,
periodica and pom in Portland.
G lenn W
illiams
RICHARD B ray is a Portland free-lance writer and
form er bookstore owner.
presents
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