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Serendipity: The Gay Times Book of New Stories
"the lucky tendency to find interesting or valuable things by chance". This latest collection from a three-times Lambda-nominated editor has all the hallmarks of a classic Burton quality gay fiction, by top gay writers, and with a truly fascinating slant. And befitting its title, this time Burton has chosen the finest new stories for his unthemed anthology, and looks set to continue in the fine tradition of his best-selling previous anthologies ( Bend Sinister , 2001 Lambda Finalist, and Death Comes The Gay Times Book of Murder Stories ). Contributors Tim Ashley, David Patrick Beavers, Jeffrey Buchanan, Richard Cawley, Hugh Fleetwood, Francis King, Joseph Mills, Ian Young and Richard Zimmler. Praise for Burton's previous "Deliciously demented."- Frontiers Newsmagazine (US) "By turns disturbing, hilarious, unsettling and satirical . . . a satisfying anthology of nonformulaic mayhem."- Q Syndicate USA / Book Marks "An old-fashioned collection of murder stories served up with a cool, modern bend."- Time Out "Something for every reader with a taste for blood."- QX International "Unputdownable!"- ReFRESH "Breathtakingly different."- Our World "Superb. ...."- OUT in Greater Manchester "A chillingly good read."- The Big Issue Peter Burton lives in Brighton, England. He is a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist. His books include Rod A Life on the Town , Talking To . . . , Parallel Lives and Amongst the Aliens . He has edited (and received great praise for) The Black Tent and Other Stories , The Boy from Beirut and Other Stories , The Mammoth Book of Gay Short Stories , Bend Sinister and Death Comes Eas y.
- GenresLGBTAnthologies
400 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2004
13 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 26, 2024
(revised for infelicitous expressions in September 2024)
Although I love anthologies I was astounded to realise when I saw this one on the shelf in my local library that, despite rereading many anthologies of gay 'literary' writing, I had never reread this anthology since I first read it many, many years ago. I can report that rereading brought as much if not more pleasure then the first time and overall my admiration for this anthology has only grown with the intervening years. I liked all the stories immensely, I was surprised by their richness and variety and how little any of them had dated (unless you are only interested in reading something that only reflects what you know and like. If it is you are probably not reading this review but watching reality tv). I will admit my bias - I was reminded that it was in this volume that I encountered one of my favorite authors, Drew Gummerson, with an excerpt from his, at that time uncompleted, wonderful novel 'Me and Mickey James' (it has now long been in print and I highly recommend it).
Rereading this anthology now I was struck again and again of the enormous variety and strength of the gay 'literary' scene at the beginning of the millennium and while many of these authors were only published by 'gay' presses there was not a trace of the generic or 'ghetto' in their writing. It is a scandal that they were not published by mainstream publishers and what is even sadder is that so many fine authors David Patrick Beavers, Scott Brown, Alan James, Simon Lane, Graeme Woolaston, Stuart Thorogood and Ruben Lane almost never published again once specificalyy gay publishers disappeared with the great consolidation and retrenchment in publishing in the years ahead. And while they are not all English authors, whatever happened to Randall Kent Ivey? He appears separately on Goodreads as Randall Ivey, Randall Kent Ivey, Randall K Ivey, and none of his books have received, like this anthology and the novels of many of the other authors mentioned, any reviews, except mine! (as of April 2023). I keep hearing about the many new ways authors can be published and about print on demand but it never seems to make any difference to the availability of the authors I admire. Thankfully many of the works by authors I have mentioned and others in this anthology like Francis King, Hugh Fleetwood and John Haylock, can be found for ridiculously small cost second hand (in the UK at least).
I would strongly recommend this and the other Gay Times anthologies for anyone interested in really good writing. They should provide you with a guide to a large number of authors you will want to read more by.
Although I love anthologies I was astounded to realise when I saw this one on the shelf in my local library that, despite rereading many anthologies of gay 'literary' writing, I had never reread this anthology since I first read it many, many years ago. I can report that rereading brought as much if not more pleasure then the first time and overall my admiration for this anthology has only grown with the intervening years. I liked all the stories immensely, I was surprised by their richness and variety and how little any of them had dated (unless you are only interested in reading something that only reflects what you know and like. If it is you are probably not reading this review but watching reality tv). I will admit my bias - I was reminded that it was in this volume that I encountered one of my favorite authors, Drew Gummerson, with an excerpt from his, at that time uncompleted, wonderful novel 'Me and Mickey James' (it has now long been in print and I highly recommend it).
Rereading this anthology now I was struck again and again of the enormous variety and strength of the gay 'literary' scene at the beginning of the millennium and while many of these authors were only published by 'gay' presses there was not a trace of the generic or 'ghetto' in their writing. It is a scandal that they were not published by mainstream publishers and what is even sadder is that so many fine authors David Patrick Beavers, Scott Brown, Alan James, Simon Lane, Graeme Woolaston, Stuart Thorogood and Ruben Lane almost never published again once specificalyy gay publishers disappeared with the great consolidation and retrenchment in publishing in the years ahead. And while they are not all English authors, whatever happened to Randall Kent Ivey? He appears separately on Goodreads as Randall Ivey, Randall Kent Ivey, Randall K Ivey, and none of his books have received, like this anthology and the novels of many of the other authors mentioned, any reviews, except mine! (as of April 2023). I keep hearing about the many new ways authors can be published and about print on demand but it never seems to make any difference to the availability of the authors I admire. Thankfully many of the works by authors I have mentioned and others in this anthology like Francis King, Hugh Fleetwood and John Haylock, can be found for ridiculously small cost second hand (in the UK at least).
I would strongly recommend this and the other Gay Times anthologies for anyone interested in really good writing. They should provide you with a guide to a large number of authors you will want to read more by.
Displaying 1 of 1 review