The Silicon Valley Diet and Other Stories

by Richard Grayson, Richard Graysons

The bassist in a gay punk band reflects on his troubled relationship with the band's guitarist/singer. In the wake of the Matthew Shepard murder, a Wyoming ranch manager conceals his affair with another man. A young African American breaks up with his white boyfriend at a series of dinners at Cuban-Chinese restaurants. The attempt to repeal a gay rights ordinance divides a Southern college town. And in the title story, a downsized computer engineer tutors a gay Vietnamese immigrant in pop culture, cyberspace, and weight loss―only to learn a vital lesson about American life circa Y2K. Welcome to the world of Richard Grayson, the writer Newsday called "convulsively inventive" and Kirkus Reviews found "oddly charming." In The Silicon Valley Diet , his ninth collection of short stories, Grayson zeroes in on gay baby boomers and Gen Xers making their way in a wired world.

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Y2K pop culture references I’m way too young for, surprising references to my florida hometown, several paragraphs about the Russo-Turkish war that I’m too dumb for, complex queer relationships tainted by eating disorders and very awkward microaggresisons

I’m surprised that I enjoyed it so much considering this has like 5 reviews and I just found it in my random local book store

[Michelle Hannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

These incredibly creative short stories are witty, complex, and inventively told. Many use cleverly named micro chapters or intertwine factual data on an apparently unrelated subject, somehow making it mesh. These stories are largely about gay relationships, but they have universal appeal and you’ve never read anything quite like them. By my definition, this is literary art.