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Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories
Fiction. Gay and Lesbian Studies. African American Studies. G. Winston James's stories examine the individual, familial, and societal complexities of desire. Candidly rendered, they unabashedly consider the formation of personal and sexual identity in a world in which the carnal is highly policed, variously dangerous and all too often denied. SHAMING THE DEVIL is an erotic, brutal, emotional and thoroughly thought-provoking debut collection that is likely to arouse, inspire and disturb readers, even as they continue, inexorably, to turn its astonishing pages.
176 pages, Paperback
First published March 2, 2009
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April 10, 2009
SHAMING THE DEVIL
G. Winston James
'Minutes and men'
G. Winston James explodes on the literary scene with a collection of short stories SHAMING THE DEVIL that introduces him as not only a writer of some of the most erotically charged fiction in the manner of Jean Genet, but also a writer so skilled in his craft that no matter the topic he is able to suffuse his stories with intelligence, challenging concepts, sophisticated imagery, and a way with idiomatic dialogue that is as fine as any being written today. Born in Jamaica and schooled in Brooklyn, James has the courage to take the African American experience into challenging territories - the particular milieu of the gay black male - and succeeds in not only sculpting very fine short stories that cover many aspect of his chosen subject but also in maintaining a high quality of craftsmanship in his in his mastery of the English language.
SHAMING THE DEVIL surveys the many dynamics of the African American male in the 'forbidden zone' of male sexual preference from childhood to adulthood. He skillfully opens his collection with 'Uncle', a subtle tale of awakening desires in a young child who focuses his safety of nebulous choice on a loving uncle: avoiding anything approaching inappropriate behavior between curious young Jake and his kind Uncle Paul, James allows us to feel the isolation of a child with different proclivities responding to a family unaccepting of anything but the established norm of behavior. It is a very tender and very intuitive examination of the sexual awakening of a small child. And from this beginning James moves us through the stages of growth that include abuse by peers, experimentation, arrests for seeking gratification in public areas and the humiliation associated with dropping the daytime successful role type to joining the lowlife in a jail and in addiction therapy ('Paraphilic behavior. ...what you do in here is tell the truth and shame the devil. Victimization starts and ends with abusing someone's trust. You want to build trust again. This is as good a place as any to start if you want to avoid recidivism. That's the only way you'll get your lives back on track.'), desire for dangerous liaisons that clouds the judgment of even the most stalwart men, and even the spectre of AIDS and the associated need to return to the family in the days before dying.
In one of the many exceptional stories, 'Church', James takes a character into a return to home situation that is planned to include a calling of the Church atmosphere for the irresponsible handling and castigation of young black men who have 'strayed' into same sex lifestyles. The manner in which he paints the atmosphere of this church together with the decisions he makes in communicating his emerging end of life loathing of a world that has not supported him, altered by the presence of the congregation and the spirit of the sanctuary is one of the finer portraits of the importance of the Church in the African American life. 'The Church was a venue where you could witness the Black family defining itself: the faithful wife, the obedient young children, the disappearing older children and the often-absent husband.'
SHAMING THE DEVIL, then, introduces a very powerful writer who is capable of creating all of the aspects of same sex eroticism with equal amounts of desire and danger while using his rich vocabulary and polished skills as a writer to make his subject go far beyond simply sensationalized tales. G. Winston James is a multitalented artist, a man how understands raw visceral grit as well as he defines elegant prose. He is a writer who will become better known in time. This is a very fine introduction publication. Highly recommended.
Grady Harp
G. Winston James
'Minutes and men'
G. Winston James explodes on the literary scene with a collection of short stories SHAMING THE DEVIL that introduces him as not only a writer of some of the most erotically charged fiction in the manner of Jean Genet, but also a writer so skilled in his craft that no matter the topic he is able to suffuse his stories with intelligence, challenging concepts, sophisticated imagery, and a way with idiomatic dialogue that is as fine as any being written today. Born in Jamaica and schooled in Brooklyn, James has the courage to take the African American experience into challenging territories - the particular milieu of the gay black male - and succeeds in not only sculpting very fine short stories that cover many aspect of his chosen subject but also in maintaining a high quality of craftsmanship in his in his mastery of the English language.
SHAMING THE DEVIL surveys the many dynamics of the African American male in the 'forbidden zone' of male sexual preference from childhood to adulthood. He skillfully opens his collection with 'Uncle', a subtle tale of awakening desires in a young child who focuses his safety of nebulous choice on a loving uncle: avoiding anything approaching inappropriate behavior between curious young Jake and his kind Uncle Paul, James allows us to feel the isolation of a child with different proclivities responding to a family unaccepting of anything but the established norm of behavior. It is a very tender and very intuitive examination of the sexual awakening of a small child. And from this beginning James moves us through the stages of growth that include abuse by peers, experimentation, arrests for seeking gratification in public areas and the humiliation associated with dropping the daytime successful role type to joining the lowlife in a jail and in addiction therapy ('Paraphilic behavior. ...what you do in here is tell the truth and shame the devil. Victimization starts and ends with abusing someone's trust. You want to build trust again. This is as good a place as any to start if you want to avoid recidivism. That's the only way you'll get your lives back on track.'), desire for dangerous liaisons that clouds the judgment of even the most stalwart men, and even the spectre of AIDS and the associated need to return to the family in the days before dying.
In one of the many exceptional stories, 'Church', James takes a character into a return to home situation that is planned to include a calling of the Church atmosphere for the irresponsible handling and castigation of young black men who have 'strayed' into same sex lifestyles. The manner in which he paints the atmosphere of this church together with the decisions he makes in communicating his emerging end of life loathing of a world that has not supported him, altered by the presence of the congregation and the spirit of the sanctuary is one of the finer portraits of the importance of the Church in the African American life. 'The Church was a venue where you could witness the Black family defining itself: the faithful wife, the obedient young children, the disappearing older children and the often-absent husband.'
SHAMING THE DEVIL, then, introduces a very powerful writer who is capable of creating all of the aspects of same sex eroticism with equal amounts of desire and danger while using his rich vocabulary and polished skills as a writer to make his subject go far beyond simply sensationalized tales. G. Winston James is a multitalented artist, a man how understands raw visceral grit as well as he defines elegant prose. He is a writer who will become better known in time. This is a very fine introduction publication. Highly recommended.
Grady Harp
July 8, 2009
G. Winston James courageously tackles in his debut collection a whole host of taboo subjects: Black homosexual desire, sexual abuse, HIV/AIDS, poverty, prostitution, and violence to name a few. He brings the reality of black gay life to the page with a lyric intensity and unflinching eye. His control over narrative voice is spectacular; whether the narrator is a six year old boy, a Jamaican man, a love struck teenage girl, or a high powered executive, James creates for them a completely distinctive and compelling voice. Dialog is likewise realistic, performing musically on the page. Some of the voices are heart breaking, some of them are funny—and some both.
Here is the voice of a man who had cruised a park to pick up a potential lover, only to discover that his man is actually a woman: “The park is more silent now than cruising. The other men must have disappeared. They probably all felt her. Like titties of some kind of catastrophe coming. The clitoris that will vanish this park like Atlantis. The labia marking the end of an era. The space feels empty as a Mayan tomb circa 2012. As eerie and menacing. Suddenly, I’m sure my phone at home is ringing. I want to ask her to excuse me. My hands are dirty. I want to sweep up the leaves.”
Here is another example of G. Winston James’ lyricism in the voice of a Jamacian man, describing his mother and brother in the midst of a raging storm: “Mummy holds on. Whisper-praying consolation. I can barely hear her for the feral dogs of wind that are yowling through our house…Mummy may be speaking in tongues. She is rocking him in skeleton clothes. My brother is a rake.”
Despite these strengths, I give the book 3 stars because I felt many of the stories were over-explained. You may have heard of the dictum in writing, “show don’t tell.” The author does a lot of telling, of feeding or explaining to the reader, when the stories would be more powerful without the author’s continual interpretation—which feels less like clarity and more like interruption. It diluted my reading experience personally. For example, the story Sick Days is a great story, a story of a man who is caught having sex in public with another man so gets sent to therapy for sexual offenders. The deviants in this group include a man who molested a six year old child and another who raped a one year old infant. Obviously, the gay man did not belong in this group! A male and female having sex in public would get a slap on the wrist and would never be stuck in therapy with pedophiles. The unjustness of the situation that the narrator must face makes a powerful statement in and of itself. I felt that early in the story all on my own; therefore, when the narrator lists for 2 pages how unfair it is, I couldn’t help but feel a bit impatient, like I was getting hit over the head.
Here is the voice of a man who had cruised a park to pick up a potential lover, only to discover that his man is actually a woman: “The park is more silent now than cruising. The other men must have disappeared. They probably all felt her. Like titties of some kind of catastrophe coming. The clitoris that will vanish this park like Atlantis. The labia marking the end of an era. The space feels empty as a Mayan tomb circa 2012. As eerie and menacing. Suddenly, I’m sure my phone at home is ringing. I want to ask her to excuse me. My hands are dirty. I want to sweep up the leaves.”
Here is another example of G. Winston James’ lyricism in the voice of a Jamacian man, describing his mother and brother in the midst of a raging storm: “Mummy holds on. Whisper-praying consolation. I can barely hear her for the feral dogs of wind that are yowling through our house…Mummy may be speaking in tongues. She is rocking him in skeleton clothes. My brother is a rake.”
Despite these strengths, I give the book 3 stars because I felt many of the stories were over-explained. You may have heard of the dictum in writing, “show don’t tell.” The author does a lot of telling, of feeding or explaining to the reader, when the stories would be more powerful without the author’s continual interpretation—which feels less like clarity and more like interruption. It diluted my reading experience personally. For example, the story Sick Days is a great story, a story of a man who is caught having sex in public with another man so gets sent to therapy for sexual offenders. The deviants in this group include a man who molested a six year old child and another who raped a one year old infant. Obviously, the gay man did not belong in this group! A male and female having sex in public would get a slap on the wrist and would never be stuck in therapy with pedophiles. The unjustness of the situation that the narrator must face makes a powerful statement in and of itself. I felt that early in the story all on my own; therefore, when the narrator lists for 2 pages how unfair it is, I couldn’t help but feel a bit impatient, like I was getting hit over the head.
January 11, 2012
Poet G. Winston James makes a remarkable fiction debut with SHAMING THE DEVIL, a collection of short stories that examine black, predominantly homoerotic experiences with beauty, passion and a boldness that renders it both transcendental and deeply personal. One need not be gay or black to enjoy these well-honed nuggets of literary art that twist, turn, enthrall, and provoke in ways that only a poet can. Mr. James is not merely a fantastic storyteller and thinker but a wordsmith Michelangelo whose nearly every sentence is painstakingly crafted into well-cut diamonds. Forgive the hyperbole, but I am simply overwhelmed.
The collection opens with UNCLE, innocently, even sweetly, narrated by a little boy celebrating his sixth birthday while his body celebrates feelings for his uncle that he does not understand. An empathy-inducing reminiscence of new and uninformed sensations, desires and longings, it will take many a reader back to those first frightening and fantastic pre-pubescent shivers engendered by the very presence of a hero-worshipped same sex relative.
While RAHEN (my personal favorite) boldly tackles gay bashing and rivets until the heartbreaking end, CONFINING ROOM flips the script on ‘homie’-sexuality. And take note of this beautifully written phrase from THE SPACE BETWEEN: “He opens her with four fingers. He speaks rivers inside her. She does not know what to do with her hands. The rest of her body. Or the thoughts, like famine and harvest, roiling in her head.”
UNDER AN EARLY AUTUMN MOON is the tale of a late night tryst with a surprising twist set in the fuckable landscape of a public park. PATH and SICK DAYS are thematically linked both in tone and content; tracking the light hearted—-in fact downright hysterical—escapades of a metrosexual homosexual’s quest for transient trade and the attended consequences of infidelity.
JOHN poignantly examines a self-loather’s confrontation with his demons via a therapist and a hustler, and although I’m not much of a fan of sadomasochism, I found SOMEWHERE NEARBY brilliant in its mix of cruel sex, brutal assault, intellectualism and the power of brooding self-examination at death’s door.
A seventeen-year-old boy weathers a violent physical and psychological storm in his native Jamaica as his older gay brother, banished years earlier by a now-absent father, lays dying of AIDS in the brief but powerful STORM. And CHURCH returns a prodigal world traveler to his hometown congregation where his moving revelation restores faith in a true and loving God.
This twelve-story collection ends with THE EMBRACE, a bright and buoyant story of three friends and their sexual fantasies that slowly turn erotically haunting when one of them introduces another to a mysterious lothario. THE EMBRACE is sure to leave you breathless.
As in any story collection, some are better than others. But there is not a weak one in this bunch, as the author gives each narrator a unique voice, each story its own fascinating twist, and writing as appealingly grandiose and artful as Morrison and Baldwin.
Indeed, Baldwin and Thomas Glave are the only BGM writers to win the prestigious O. Henry Prize for Short Fiction. Based on the better of these stories in SHAMING THE DEVIL, it would not surprise me one bit if G. Winston James was chosen to make this a literary trinity.
July 29, 2022
“TELL THE TRUTH AND SHAME THE DEVIL”
All but one of the twelve stories in Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories by G. Winston James are written in first person. It’s a tribute to James’s artistry that each of these narrators has his own unique voice. Most of the stories are set in Brooklyn and New York; one takes place on the island of Jamaica. It's hard to describe the stories in Shaming the Devil and not reveal too much about them so as not to spoil their impact on the reader. These stories unflinchingly describe the experiences of SGL (Same Gender Loving) African American males.
The sequence in which stories appear in a collection is vitally important. Serious thought was given to which story came first, which came second, and so forth in Shaming the Devil. The collection is well-nigh perfect in this regard.
The narrator in “Uncle,” the first story in the collection, is a six-year-old boy. The male narrators of the second and third stories, “Rahen” and “Confining Rooms,” respectively, are of high school age. The fourth story, “The Space Between,” is told in third person from the viewpoint of a teenage female. These four stories are compellingly written and contain disturbing subject matter. The next five stories concern public sex and its consequences: young men narrate “Under an Early Autumn Moon” and “Path,” more mature men narrate “Sick Days,” “John,” and “Somewhere Nearby.” “Storm,” “Church,” and “The Embrace” round off the collection with more affirmative and uplifting conclusions than the other stories in the collection.
All of the stories in Shaming the Devil are unforgettable, but “Storm” and “Church” will stay with me for a long time. “Storm” is a relentlessly paced story narrated by seventeen-year-old Delroy, whose older brother, Ian, has come home to Jamaica from New York to die of AIDS. The entirety of the story takes place during a hurricane. As pieces of their house fly away, Delroy describes how he resents the attention his mother gives to Ian.
The narrator of “Church,” which immediately follows “Storm” in the collection, has also come home to die of AIDS. Prior to attending services at the Calvary Baptist Church in his New Jersey town, Langston Ambrose tells the reader, “The stirring in my belly, the tickling in my throat told me that I was going to make some noise in the Church that day.” He wants to settle some scores, but things don’t go the way Langston had hoped that they would. An unexpected twist wonderfully concludes this beautifully written story,
G. Winston James’s writing is rich and poetic and teems with many quotable lines. I would like to present a line from each story, out of context, of course, in order to pique prospective readers’ interests.
“Uncle”: “Uncle Paul sure looks like a tree then with me down in the water and him standing up on the deck like that.”
“Rahen”: “TheY all hit Rahen at least one good, hard time.”
“Confining Rooms”: “Yeah, I on’t have no job, but I got a little bit uh money from when my moms died.”
“The Space Between”: “She adores her father.”
“Under an Early Autumn Moon”: “Why, I wonder, would a bisexual dyke revolutionary trans man come onto a homosexual in his closet?”
“Path”: “There was an energy, a revealing. A pulling.”
“Sick Days”: “Guys, . . . what you want to do in here is tell the truth and shame the devil.”
“John”: “Some penchants, I’d grasped long ago—like seediness and my sporadic low rent behavior—are inborn, not made.”
“Somewhere Nearby”: “I will haunt him if it is the last thing that I do before being born again as an ostrich.”
“Storm”: “I am furious mostly because I am afraid too, and it is a chichiman who is getting all the attention.”
“Church”: “I’d come back carrying my lived dreams folded into small compartments in my mind.”
“The Embrace”: “I was well aware that I hadn’t yet grown into my own masculine power.”
Shaming the Devil was first published in 2009, thirteen years ago. Someone should bring this classic collection of powerful short stories back into print. I wish G. Winston James would give us more stories.
All but one of the twelve stories in Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories by G. Winston James are written in first person. It’s a tribute to James’s artistry that each of these narrators has his own unique voice. Most of the stories are set in Brooklyn and New York; one takes place on the island of Jamaica. It's hard to describe the stories in Shaming the Devil and not reveal too much about them so as not to spoil their impact on the reader. These stories unflinchingly describe the experiences of SGL (Same Gender Loving) African American males.
The sequence in which stories appear in a collection is vitally important. Serious thought was given to which story came first, which came second, and so forth in Shaming the Devil. The collection is well-nigh perfect in this regard.
The narrator in “Uncle,” the first story in the collection, is a six-year-old boy. The male narrators of the second and third stories, “Rahen” and “Confining Rooms,” respectively, are of high school age. The fourth story, “The Space Between,” is told in third person from the viewpoint of a teenage female. These four stories are compellingly written and contain disturbing subject matter. The next five stories concern public sex and its consequences: young men narrate “Under an Early Autumn Moon” and “Path,” more mature men narrate “Sick Days,” “John,” and “Somewhere Nearby.” “Storm,” “Church,” and “The Embrace” round off the collection with more affirmative and uplifting conclusions than the other stories in the collection.
All of the stories in Shaming the Devil are unforgettable, but “Storm” and “Church” will stay with me for a long time. “Storm” is a relentlessly paced story narrated by seventeen-year-old Delroy, whose older brother, Ian, has come home to Jamaica from New York to die of AIDS. The entirety of the story takes place during a hurricane. As pieces of their house fly away, Delroy describes how he resents the attention his mother gives to Ian.
The narrator of “Church,” which immediately follows “Storm” in the collection, has also come home to die of AIDS. Prior to attending services at the Calvary Baptist Church in his New Jersey town, Langston Ambrose tells the reader, “The stirring in my belly, the tickling in my throat told me that I was going to make some noise in the Church that day.” He wants to settle some scores, but things don’t go the way Langston had hoped that they would. An unexpected twist wonderfully concludes this beautifully written story,
G. Winston James’s writing is rich and poetic and teems with many quotable lines. I would like to present a line from each story, out of context, of course, in order to pique prospective readers’ interests.
“Uncle”: “Uncle Paul sure looks like a tree then with me down in the water and him standing up on the deck like that.”
“Rahen”: “TheY all hit Rahen at least one good, hard time.”
“Confining Rooms”: “Yeah, I on’t have no job, but I got a little bit uh money from when my moms died.”
“The Space Between”: “She adores her father.”
“Under an Early Autumn Moon”: “Why, I wonder, would a bisexual dyke revolutionary trans man come onto a homosexual in his closet?”
“Path”: “There was an energy, a revealing. A pulling.”
“Sick Days”: “Guys, . . . what you want to do in here is tell the truth and shame the devil.”
“John”: “Some penchants, I’d grasped long ago—like seediness and my sporadic low rent behavior—are inborn, not made.”
“Somewhere Nearby”: “I will haunt him if it is the last thing that I do before being born again as an ostrich.”
“Storm”: “I am furious mostly because I am afraid too, and it is a chichiman who is getting all the attention.”
“Church”: “I’d come back carrying my lived dreams folded into small compartments in my mind.”
“The Embrace”: “I was well aware that I hadn’t yet grown into my own masculine power.”
Shaming the Devil was first published in 2009, thirteen years ago. Someone should bring this classic collection of powerful short stories back into print. I wish G. Winston James would give us more stories.
March 14, 2023
Provocative...
September 7, 2016
I recently read this book for the second time after several years and it still held my interest. It is raw and graphic yet the language is not smut but literary. G.Winston James paints vivid images of situations, characters, locations and emotions that most gay men can identify with; and if you don't, the strength of this writing will keep you engaged and take you on a learning curve about your own community.
My favorite story is called Path about two men who cruise each other on the Path train one morning in rush hour. I could identify with the subtle mannerisms that people make in a crowd unbeknownst to everyone. Having lived in New York and rode the trains everyday I observed it of others as well as myself on occasion. The author really conjured up those images for me in a masterful way. This is not an ordinary read. In many ways it is complex even having to pull out the dictionary on occasion. But it is a totally satisfying series of short stories that will want you begging for more.
My favorite story is called Path about two men who cruise each other on the Path train one morning in rush hour. I could identify with the subtle mannerisms that people make in a crowd unbeknownst to everyone. Having lived in New York and rode the trains everyday I observed it of others as well as myself on occasion. The author really conjured up those images for me in a masterful way. This is not an ordinary read. In many ways it is complex even having to pull out the dictionary on occasion. But it is a totally satisfying series of short stories that will want you begging for more.
June 15, 2009
James's stories are engrossing. He focuses well on absolutely critical moments in his characters' lives. It makes the stories really drive the reader along. I was concerned by some reviews of this book I had read classifying it as gay literature. I do not begrudge any group the ability to define themselves as a community or an individual in that group the chance to give a voice to that group. However, though James and the characters in the book speak from a gay/lesbian/bi/transgender perspective, I think labeling this book will reduce its audience. I mean, this book is a wonderful addition to literature. The author and characters may be gay/lesbian/bi/transgender and may speak from that identity, but the book is still literature in general. Segmenting it off from general literature may influence people away from it (due to their own prejudices) who most need to read it.
June 11, 2009
Oh my, not really my taste in reading material, but thats why I like this site, I'm broadening my horizons. This book is a collection of shorts highlighting another part of society (gay men in particular) that is often overlooked, ignored, and/or hated for their proclivities, their sexual habits. Each story pulls you in, tosses your emotions, values and beliefs about, and then abrupty kicks you out of the story. The book left me feeling unsettled but informed. Even though I didn't like the content of this book, I gave it 5 stars because the stories were very well written and completely held your attention, no matter how uncomfortable you felt.
August 24, 2009
This was a very complex and disturbing set of short stories from the black, gay male perspective in America and the stigma that is faced by them.
Some of the stories have a little humor but most are dark, disturbing and/or sad. A lot of the sex scenes depicted are tough to read as they are not necessarily pleasant experiences for the people involved (keep in mind that I am not adverse to gay sexual scenes in books). You get a real sense of darkness when reading them which I found hard to get through.
I would not recommend this book to most people because the nature of a majority of these stories is bleak, down trodden and left me feeling cold.
Some of the stories have a little humor but most are dark, disturbing and/or sad. A lot of the sex scenes depicted are tough to read as they are not necessarily pleasant experiences for the people involved (keep in mind that I am not adverse to gay sexual scenes in books). You get a real sense of darkness when reading them which I found hard to get through.
I would not recommend this book to most people because the nature of a majority of these stories is bleak, down trodden and left me feeling cold.
June 6, 2012
The content is different to me, but very insightful!
The stories allow you to see into the pains & triumphs of people in this society. I loved it. Each story was a page turner! Highly erotic!
This writer is a perfect story teller!
The stories allow you to see into the pains & triumphs of people in this society. I loved it. Each story was a page turner! Highly erotic!
This writer is a perfect story teller!
June 10, 2009
Not so much erotica. Yes to homosexual sex. Yes to deviant (sex w/ minors, uncles, strangers in bathrooms) sex. More disturbing than sexy.
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