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His 3: Brilliant New Fiction by Gay Writers
Short stories reflecting gay life and culture showcase the work of Gary Bowen, Philip Gambone, Declan Meade, David Pratt, Reginald Sheperd, Henri Tran, and David Watmough.
280 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 6, 2022
Found this collection of short stories in a used book store and took it with me. Some of the stories are better than others, but they were all a fascinating window into the mind of gay writers in the 80s and 90s. I can't say I loved every story, but I learned a lot about what makes a story succeed or fall short.
November 3, 2018
Dry good collections of short stories about or by gay men.
April 13, 2024
"A singing boy in a remote Chinese village teaches two men the meaning of courage. A one night-stand gets serious when it happens in the middle of an earthquake. A rodeo cowboy questions his own sexuality when his new lover forces him to reconsider the meaning of sex and gender. A gay man's mother bonds with the closeted star of a popular TV show. Longtime lovers and those who have just met, sea-turtles and immigrant subway riders, stories by established writers like Philip Gambone, Drew Limsky, Reginald Shepherd and David Watmough nestle up against stories by new talent including, Alex Chee, Reginald M. Harris, Declan Meade and Robert Ordona, to produce an anthology that provokes the state of the gay imagination at the turn of the millennium." (From the back cover of the 1999 Faber & Faber UK paperback edition).
I have a deep lack of appreciation for this anthology and I might as well get my first grip out of the way, what does "an anthology that provokes the state of gay imagination at the turn of the millennium" mean? Does it mean anything? I am just hopelessly addicted to clarity in prose, or too over educated and used to UK prose style to see something meaningless here? Answers appreciated.
I have given this anthology three stars though the temptation was to give it one star but that wouldn't be fair to Alexander Chee (I am glad he dropped the Alex - that sort of chumminess would have fatal for the author of 'Edinburgh') but most particularly because I discovered Declan Meade whose wonderful work promoting new writers with his is Irish anthologies is truly inspiring; but otherwise this is an anthology of the mediocre and forgettable, the earthquake and rodeo stories that the above blurb highlights are probably some of the worst.
I am deeply pained to give this anthology such a negative review and mediocre rating - I usually adore all those late twentieth century anthologies of gay literary fiction (which anyone can confirm by looking up my reviews shelved under anthologies), I though 'His' and 'His 2' fantastic with brilliant stories and packed full of writers I wanted to read more by. That just didn't happen with this final anthology in the series (almost all the established literary anthology series Men on Men, Freshmen, etc all more or less ended at the same time) is perhaps symptomatic that the era of these anthologies was over and maybe its demise shouldn't be a cause of regret. I am just surprised at the poor choices Robert Drake made (despite what goodreads says this anthology was mainly edited by him).
As a stand alone volume or as a swan song this is not a great anthology, I would not say that it is a waste of time, but it is a disappointment, which may be worse.
I have a deep lack of appreciation for this anthology and I might as well get my first grip out of the way, what does "an anthology that provokes the state of gay imagination at the turn of the millennium" mean? Does it mean anything? I am just hopelessly addicted to clarity in prose, or too over educated and used to UK prose style to see something meaningless here? Answers appreciated.
I have given this anthology three stars though the temptation was to give it one star but that wouldn't be fair to Alexander Chee (I am glad he dropped the Alex - that sort of chumminess would have fatal for the author of 'Edinburgh') but most particularly because I discovered Declan Meade whose wonderful work promoting new writers with his is Irish anthologies is truly inspiring; but otherwise this is an anthology of the mediocre and forgettable, the earthquake and rodeo stories that the above blurb highlights are probably some of the worst.
I am deeply pained to give this anthology such a negative review and mediocre rating - I usually adore all those late twentieth century anthologies of gay literary fiction (which anyone can confirm by looking up my reviews shelved under anthologies), I though 'His' and 'His 2' fantastic with brilliant stories and packed full of writers I wanted to read more by. That just didn't happen with this final anthology in the series (almost all the established literary anthology series Men on Men, Freshmen, etc all more or less ended at the same time) is perhaps symptomatic that the era of these anthologies was over and maybe its demise shouldn't be a cause of regret. I am just surprised at the poor choices Robert Drake made (despite what goodreads says this anthology was mainly edited by him).
As a stand alone volume or as a swan song this is not a great anthology, I would not say that it is a waste of time, but it is a disappointment, which may be worse.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews