Always a Good Read

Resisting pressure to select only LGBT authors' work, Berman compiles a state-of-the-art anthology of sf and fantasy with LGBT protagonists that scores few political points but pretty consistently entertains. Oh, the shortest entries wear out their welcomes (paradoxically), the one ghost story is a sentimental dud, and while Rhys Hughes' “Where the Sun Doesn't Shine” shows that the spirit of Douglas Adams is alive, whether it's well is another matter. The longer, more horrific pieces are sturdy enough. Then again, they're by top-drawer talents. Laird Barron's “Strappado” is enough to put anyone permanently off sexual tourism. Richard Bowes' “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said” is another of his curiously powerful stories merging baleful fantasy and autobiography. Joel Lane's “Some of Them Fell” reveals further horrors in Thatcherite England, which seems to have been a place and time that encouraged them. Jameson Currier's “Death in Amsterdam” becomes a chilling realization of Bruce Bawer's dire foresights about western Europe (While Europe Slept, 2005). Finally, Elizabeth Hand's “The Far Shore” hopefully and beautifully adapts the stuff of folktale. --Ray Olson

ISBN-10: 1590213017

ISBN-13: 978-1590213018

Author: Richard Bowes

Publisher: Lethe Press

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