Wilde Stories 2010: The Year's Best Gay Speculative Fiction

A newcomer to San Francisco falls in love too fast despite the warnings of a cadre of ghosts haunting his uncle; a businessman comes to regret his ennui when faced with the machinations of an outsider artist; on a train traveling through a dangerous Russian winter, a passenger encounters a wolf on two legs; a mining colony where love has become dangerous but no less passionate; a young man, mourning those loss of his ballet career, may yet get his chance to fly. These are some of the stories included in this anthology, stories chosen from magazines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best gay male speculative fiction of the past year.

From Booklist

Resisting pressure to select only LGBT authors' work, Berman compiles a state-of-the-art anthology of sf and fantasy with LGBT protagonists that scores few political points but pretty consistently entertains. Oh, the shortest entries wear out their welcomes (paradoxically), the one ghost story is a sentimental dud, and while Rhys Hughes' “Where the Sun Doesn't Shine” shows that the spirit of Douglas Adams is alive, whether it's well is another matter. The longer, more horrific pieces are sturdy enough. Then again, they're by top-drawer talents. Laird Barron's “Strappado” is enough to put anyone permanently off sexual tourism. Richard Bowes' “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said” is another of his curiously powerful stories merging baleful fantasy and autobiography. Joel Lane's “Some of Them Fell” reveals further horrors in Thatcherite England, which seems to have been a place and time that encouraged them. Jameson Currier's “Death in Amsterdam” becomes a chilling realization of Bruce Bawer's dire foresights about western Europe (While Europe Slept, 2005). Finally, Elizabeth Hand's “The Far Shore” hopefully and beautifully adapts the stuff of folktale. --Ray Olson

From the Publisher

A finalist for the 23rd Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror!

About the Author

When he was seventeen, editor Steve Berman sold his first story to a small, Midwestern magazine. A year later, when he received the issue, he discovered that the editor had censored Steve's work, removing any mention of magic, without telling him first. Since then, he's been an outspoken proponent for as much wonder and enchantment in life as possible. His editorial efforts have earned him finalist nods for the Gaylactic Spectrum, Golden Crown Literary, and Lambda Literary Awards. He resides in southern New Jersey, the only state in America with an official devil.

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