Best Gay Stories 2009 - Softcover

Steve Berman's anthologies have been fi nalists for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award, Lambda Literary Award, and Golden Crown Literary Award. He has sold over 80 articles, essays and short stories, and his young adult novel was named to the GLBT-Round Table of the American Library Association's Rainbow List, a recommendation of positive queer-themed titles for children and teens. He resides in southern New Jersey.

Think of this annual series, now in year two, as a starter kit for readers of gay writing, fiction and otherwise, who might not otherwise have access to the sources from which Berman culled 18 stories. Some are erotic, some are literary, some are romantic, some dabble with fantasy, some tackle coming out a perennial of queer storytelling. There aren't any duds, but highlights include Sam J. Miller's on-target tale about racial insensitivity, ''Haunting Your House''; Trebor Healey's elegiac account of a young man memorializing his lover's death; Christopher Schmidt's trilogy of short-shorts observing queer life, ''Three Scenes''; Craig Laurance Gidney's recasting of French poet and libertine Arthur Rimbaud, ''Strange Alphabets''; and David Levithan's charming account of a teen's babysitting adventure and his encounter with ''Starbucks Boy.'' Anthologies promising the ''Best'' are entirely subjective; for every story included there are certainly three or four just as good that don t make the cut. But Berman founder and publisher of Lethe Press has a good eye for queer prose, as this quality compilation attests. --Richard Labonte, BookMarks

Berman's introduction makes it clear that by ''gay'' he means gay men; all the stories are about gay boys and men. A few of the stories are by well-known authors, but most are by lesser known writers. One interesting feature of the volume is the ordering of the stories, which for the most part is chronological by the age of the main characters, from school boys through retired elderly men, including an elderly couple (together since 1956) one of whose members suffers from Alzheimer's.

Style and themes are varied. The first story is rather stream of consciousness. A couple of the stories are autobiographical essays. But most are more conventional narratives. Themes run the gamut of gay life. The younger boys suffer bullying and rejection and even rape, but some also advance toward coming out and enjoying gay life. Young and older men suffer but also enjoy the ups and downs of gay relationships. AIDS is important in at least one story. Some stories are sad; some are violent; a few are comical. And others are fun and joyful.

A nice feature of this collection is that, unlike most anthologies, the reader doesn't have to skip to the end to learn about each author. Instead, very short bios precede each story. Additionally, the stories are very well written and edited. Not a single typo was encountered. Even if these aren't the ''best'' gay stories, they are very good and I recommend this anthology for any library and any reader interested in contemporary gay fiction of the shorter variety. --James D. Anderson for the GLBT Roundtable of the American Library Association