Best American Gay Fiction #3

by Brian Bouldrey (Editor)

A third anthology in a series collects seventeen short fiction writings, which range from historical fiction and comedy to suspense and erotica--each exploring gay themes. Original. 15,000 first printing.

Genres: LGBT, Gay Fiction

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Brian Bouldrey, is the author of the nonfiction books Honorable Bandit: A Walk Across Corsica (University of Wisconsin Press, September, 2007), Monster: Adventures in American Machismo (Council Oak Books), and T he Autobiography Box (Chronicle Books); three novels, The Genius of Desire (Ballantine), Love, the Magician (Harrington Park), and The Boom Economy (University of Wisconsin Press ; and editor of several anthologies. He is recipient of Fellowships from Yaddo and Eastern Frontier Society, and the Joseph Henry Jackson Award from the San Francisco Foundation, a Lambda Literary Award, and the Western Regional Magazine Award. Teaches fiction and creative nonfiction at Northwestern University and Lesley College MFA Program for Writers.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann]

This is the final anthology edited by Mr. Bouldrey and the final Best American Gay Fiction anthology published. I think it is an exceptionally fine collection of fiction and, like the previous two volumes it is a resource I am using to discover writers and novels that I have missed. But what I find more extraordinary is that the year covered by this anthology, 1997, saw the publication of the following:

The Farewell Symphony by Edmund White
Execution Texas: 1987 by D. Travers Scott
In Awe by Scott Heim
Arctic Summer by Kevin Killian
Plays Well With Others by Allan Gurganus
Gossip by Christopher Bram
Bruiser by Richard House
The Far Euphrates by Arey Lev Stollman

Yet Mr. Bouldrey has not quoted from any of these works and still produced a wonderful anthology. Under the circumstances I can't but be amazed at the quality and breadth of gay writing in the USA in 1997, particularly when you remember that not much more than twenty years before I doubt if many above would have found publishers.

I would hope that some of the above writers and those in this and the other Best American Gay Fiction anthologies are discovered by new readers. Maybe some of the above writers will find their way back into print - try getting hold of most of Kevin Killian's prose works, including Arctic Summer for less then $800 to $1,000!