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His 2: Brilliant New Fiction by Gay Writers
Erotic, comic, comforting, enraging, and always entertaining, "His 2" continues in the acclaimed tradition of "His". This latest installment again collects new, previously unpublished work from some of today's best gay authors. Established authors such as Gil Cuadros, Jameson Currier, and David Watmough share their newest work.
294 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1997
31 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 18, 2025
I read this collection as many as twenty years ago but not since, so when I finally bought a copy I was looking forward to enjoying this collection again. Unfortunately it was not a total delight. First I am going to mention the good before going onto the bad.
First off this anthology contains a wonderful story, actually an excerpt from a novel, by Mark A. Shaw called 'The Loneliest Gentleman' about such person in New York City and what could have been an amusing send up of social pretensions quickly becomes a far more interesting skewering of the dominant established gay culture. It reminded me strongly of a story in the preceding volume His called 'Queerbait' and when I checked it was also by Mark A. Shaw. This was a five star story and if everything else had matched 'The Loneliest Gentleman' I would be singing the anthologies praises.
There were other excellent stories of which I must mention 'Ice Cream' by David A Newman. Aside from the excellence of his story and a middle initial David A. Newman shares something else with Mark A. Shaw except that if you search for further work from either author, including Mr. Shaw's novel, you will draw a blank. I can find out nothing further about either man.
But there are also excellent things from authors who have, or were already beginning, careers as authors including a great story from Richard C. Zimmler. There was an excerpt from 'The Men From the Boys' by William C. Mann and I am not sure it isn't better as a stand alone story. I was delighted to discover that Viet Dinh went on to publish a much praised novel 'After Disasters' in 2016. Even the erotic tale of pirate life by Alex Jeffers gave me great amusement even if wasn't 'great' literature, though very good in its way.
But there were disappointments and the worst, and only one I will mention was the truly execrable, indeed risible, story from the anthologies editor Robert Drake. That it was full of the passion of good intentions doesn't excuse how awful it is and confirms my belief that when the wheat is separated from the chaff in AIDS literature there is going to be little wheat and masses of chaff.
Writing the review has convinced me to give this flawed anthology five stars because while the bad is often junk the good is very good and the best truly wonderful.
First off this anthology contains a wonderful story, actually an excerpt from a novel, by Mark A. Shaw called 'The Loneliest Gentleman' about such person in New York City and what could have been an amusing send up of social pretensions quickly becomes a far more interesting skewering of the dominant established gay culture. It reminded me strongly of a story in the preceding volume His called 'Queerbait' and when I checked it was also by Mark A. Shaw. This was a five star story and if everything else had matched 'The Loneliest Gentleman' I would be singing the anthologies praises.
There were other excellent stories of which I must mention 'Ice Cream' by David A Newman. Aside from the excellence of his story and a middle initial David A. Newman shares something else with Mark A. Shaw except that if you search for further work from either author, including Mr. Shaw's novel, you will draw a blank. I can find out nothing further about either man.
But there are also excellent things from authors who have, or were already beginning, careers as authors including a great story from Richard C. Zimmler. There was an excerpt from 'The Men From the Boys' by William C. Mann and I am not sure it isn't better as a stand alone story. I was delighted to discover that Viet Dinh went on to publish a much praised novel 'After Disasters' in 2016. Even the erotic tale of pirate life by Alex Jeffers gave me great amusement even if wasn't 'great' literature, though very good in its way.
But there were disappointments and the worst, and only one I will mention was the truly execrable, indeed risible, story from the anthologies editor Robert Drake. That it was full of the passion of good intentions doesn't excuse how awful it is and confirms my belief that when the wheat is separated from the chaff in AIDS literature there is going to be little wheat and masses of chaff.
Writing the review has convinced me to give this flawed anthology five stars because while the bad is often junk the good is very good and the best truly wonderful.
Want to read
August 26, 2020As part of my Short Stories 366 project, any tales from this anthology I read will pop up on my blog under this tag.
November 12, 2011
Ice Cream was my all time favorite in the genre
December 27, 2020
An interesting collection, there were some really solid stories in here that I enjoyed, and some that were not so interesting. It was cool to have a little window into very different experiences and stories from people who share a common gay identity! I probably wouldn't recommend this book to most people though, as a majority of the stories were sexually graphic or dealt with heavy subject matter (rape, violence, racism, etc...) and not always with a delicate touch.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews