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Coming To: A Collection of Erotic and Other Epiphanies
What gay man hasn't had that encounter with another man that turned his world upside down? When he was left sweating and out of breath, heart pounding, perspective askew because the sensuality of warm flesh and breath is as intoxicating as any drug? Author Lukas Hand has collected stories of just these brief trysts, the ones we've all had--or wished we'd had--that meet at the crossroads of guilt and passion, repression and ardor. Previous engagements that end in surprising ways, drunken groomsmen at weddings, even a famous reporter named Clark with a penchant for dashing off...these are the assignations Hand offers readers in Coming To. All are memorable. All are arousing.
190 pages, Paperback
First published March 21, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 11, 2013
The Finalists of the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards have been announced, so I thought I'd visit some of the anthologies among the finalists. Some of these collections I already own, and some of them have been sitting untouched beside my bed or on my bookshelves for way too long. Some I didn't have, but it's not impossible to rectify that.
I was having a chat with a co-worker the other night after a customer invited me to their church so I could be cured. This occurred because I mentioned my husband in passing when the customer mentioned their spouse. It's something I've been doing since the death of Jamie Hubley. I decided that from now on, unless it was an issue of safety, I wasn't going to censor myself in casual conversation with people in my daily life. If there was a moment - a natural moment, not a forced one - to mention my husband I was going to mention my husband. To strangers. It sounds like a small thing - and in some ways, it is a small thing - but I thought about how when I was a kid there seemed to be no representation of anyone like myself (ie: gay) out there in the world, so I couldn't fathom a future. Or normalcy (not that this is exactly a shining goal). I figure if I mention that my husband really liked a particular book when the topic comes up naturally, it was an opportunity to show something that should be visible to someone I might not even know is watching: it's no big deal that I have a husband.
Except, of course, it is. Case in point said invitation to church for the good of my soul.
"The Boy Next Door," by Lukas Hand
In the category of Gay Erotica, Lukas Hand is a finalist for his collection Coming To, and in the introduction I was reminded of that moment at work, and the discussion that followed with a co-worker. Queer people have to figure so much out from a position of solitude and confusion with no directions, no support, and no road-map of examples in the world around them. This collection builds on that notion - and more - and from the opening introduction, you know that this is the foundation.
The first tale in the collection, "The Boy Next Door," mixes this sense of isolation and longing with its erotic potential in the form of a friend next door and the dawning awareness of the main character that he is gay. An accidental encounter with his friend's father, however, sets things on a fulfilling - if potentially dangerous - path. The tale that unfolds is one of teen hormones colliding with a man who has denied himself. As the first tale in the collection, it sets the tone you'll find throughout the rest of the stories.
I was having a chat with a co-worker the other night after a customer invited me to their church so I could be cured. This occurred because I mentioned my husband in passing when the customer mentioned their spouse. It's something I've been doing since the death of Jamie Hubley. I decided that from now on, unless it was an issue of safety, I wasn't going to censor myself in casual conversation with people in my daily life. If there was a moment - a natural moment, not a forced one - to mention my husband I was going to mention my husband. To strangers. It sounds like a small thing - and in some ways, it is a small thing - but I thought about how when I was a kid there seemed to be no representation of anyone like myself (ie: gay) out there in the world, so I couldn't fathom a future. Or normalcy (not that this is exactly a shining goal). I figure if I mention that my husband really liked a particular book when the topic comes up naturally, it was an opportunity to show something that should be visible to someone I might not even know is watching: it's no big deal that I have a husband.
Except, of course, it is. Case in point said invitation to church for the good of my soul.
"The Boy Next Door," by Lukas Hand
In the category of Gay Erotica, Lukas Hand is a finalist for his collection Coming To, and in the introduction I was reminded of that moment at work, and the discussion that followed with a co-worker. Queer people have to figure so much out from a position of solitude and confusion with no directions, no support, and no road-map of examples in the world around them. This collection builds on that notion - and more - and from the opening introduction, you know that this is the foundation.
The first tale in the collection, "The Boy Next Door," mixes this sense of isolation and longing with its erotic potential in the form of a friend next door and the dawning awareness of the main character that he is gay. An accidental encounter with his friend's father, however, sets things on a fulfilling - if potentially dangerous - path. The tale that unfolds is one of teen hormones colliding with a man who has denied himself. As the first tale in the collection, it sets the tone you'll find throughout the rest of the stories.
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June 13, 2012I myself found this book to be a rare glimpse into a world of homoerotic entertainment. I enjoyed it immensely & found it very exciting.However this is not for the faint of heart. If you are homophobic this is probably not the book for you. Then again maybe you should read it. It may help you to learn we are all the same. I for one think it's a wonderful compilation of erotic stories. This one will be in my personal library. But,I'm sure I have a few friends who will want to borrow it & then procure their own copy.
September 24, 2020
good book
Read
August 1, 2012This collection caught me unaware and unprepared; I don’t know, probably the cover, nice but really sexy, probably that “erotic” on the title, made me believing this was a “simply” erotica collection, those nice anthologies you can read and, well, forget soon after. I was completely wrong: Coming to had me on a rollercoast of feelings, happy, sad, bitter, laughing, all in the span of less than 200 pages I had to read all in one night.
It’s enough to open the book and read the Introduction, to realize you are not starting a light collection of erotic tales; Coming to is about an author, Lukas Hand, who is rethinking and reinventing his own life. Some of the stories are true, some are fantasies, but all of them are the author’s personal epiphanies, little moment in his life when he realized something important. Not always the protagonists of these stories are the author, for sure he cannot be a superhero, and maybe he is not even the son of a pastor, but maybe he had a boy next door he was in love with, or maybe he had a friend he was never able to openly talk to until it was too late. Maybe he had a lover he lost, and who is now protecting him, or maybe he is able to reinvent his relationship with his partner adding some spicy. I have the strong feeling Lukas Hand loved and lost someone, since the pain of this loss is still strong in many of these stories, even when it was not a lover. I really appreciated the sweet little story about a fellow college student who wanted to push the narrator beyond his own limit, for no apparent reason if not that he believed in him. I hope for Lukas Hand that he has found the happiness in a relationship like some of his narrating voices, even if, sadly, they are not many; most of those voices are regretting a lost chance, a “could be” they didn’t have the courage to fully embrace.
I highly recommend Coming to, especially to those readers who are maybe mislead by the sexy cover (that don’t get me wrong, I like), this collection has a deepness that is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590212436/?...
It’s enough to open the book and read the Introduction, to realize you are not starting a light collection of erotic tales; Coming to is about an author, Lukas Hand, who is rethinking and reinventing his own life. Some of the stories are true, some are fantasies, but all of them are the author’s personal epiphanies, little moment in his life when he realized something important. Not always the protagonists of these stories are the author, for sure he cannot be a superhero, and maybe he is not even the son of a pastor, but maybe he had a boy next door he was in love with, or maybe he had a friend he was never able to openly talk to until it was too late. Maybe he had a lover he lost, and who is now protecting him, or maybe he is able to reinvent his relationship with his partner adding some spicy. I have the strong feeling Lukas Hand loved and lost someone, since the pain of this loss is still strong in many of these stories, even when it was not a lover. I really appreciated the sweet little story about a fellow college student who wanted to push the narrator beyond his own limit, for no apparent reason if not that he believed in him. I hope for Lukas Hand that he has found the happiness in a relationship like some of his narrating voices, even if, sadly, they are not many; most of those voices are regretting a lost chance, a “could be” they didn’t have the courage to fully embrace.
I highly recommend Coming to, especially to those readers who are maybe mislead by the sexy cover (that don’t get me wrong, I like), this collection has a deepness that is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590212436/?...
May 30, 2012
Speculating on those blinding moments of passion, the ones that come out of left field and take a man completely by surprise, Mr. Hand has crafted a bunch of literary gems that dazzle with their passion, both jarringly rough and achingly sweet. If you adore m/m fiction, there’s a little something for everyone in these stories of guy-on-guy sexual encounters. Whether you’re a cruiser, bruiser or just in search of tender loving, just leaf through this collection and learn what can happen when someone gives in to a momentary passion and finds what he’s been looking for all his life.
July 18, 2012
This book was won as a part of a goodreads give away.
This is a book filled with short stories and poems about the erotic encounters between men. The later half of the book had short stories that were a little bit more unrealistic as compared to ones closer to real life.
Though this book took a while to read, it was just because the stories were so good that it took time to cool down in between reading sessions.
This is a book filled with short stories and poems about the erotic encounters between men. The later half of the book had short stories that were a little bit more unrealistic as compared to ones closer to real life.
Though this book took a while to read, it was just because the stories were so good that it took time to cool down in between reading sessions.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews