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Dudes Rock: A Celebration of Queer Masculinity in Speculative Fiction
What does masculinity mean to you?
Whether the answer is "toxic" or something more aspirational, speculative fiction can help you find the language to talk about it. The stories in this anthology visualize all the different ways masculinity might look in a world different than our own, for better or worse.
Imagine living in a universe where you'd feel safe telling your best friend you've always loved him, or where smoking hot demons exist to indulge all your worst impulses. From buff aliens to gender-affirming werewolf bites, Dudes Rock is about celebrating everything that queer masculinity can become beyond the confines of a single world, and we want you to rock with us.
Featuring stories by Chase Anderson, Johannes T. Evans, Oliver Fosten, Jonathan Freeman, Rick Hollon, Sam Inverts, S. C. Mills, Franklyn S. Newton, Jay Kang Romanus, Aubrey Shaw, Simo Srinivas, Candy Tan, and Scott Vaughn.
Whether the answer is "toxic" or something more aspirational, speculative fiction can help you find the language to talk about it. The stories in this anthology visualize all the different ways masculinity might look in a world different than our own, for better or worse.
Imagine living in a universe where you'd feel safe telling your best friend you've always loved him, or where smoking hot demons exist to indulge all your worst impulses. From buff aliens to gender-affirming werewolf bites, Dudes Rock is about celebrating everything that queer masculinity can become beyond the confines of a single world, and we want you to rock with us.
Featuring stories by Chase Anderson, Johannes T. Evans, Oliver Fosten, Jonathan Freeman, Rick Hollon, Sam Inverts, S. C. Mills, Franklyn S. Newton, Jay Kang Romanus, Aubrey Shaw, Simo Srinivas, Candy Tan, and Scott Vaughn.
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Published January 10, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 21, 2025
This was such a good collection of science fiction and fantasy short stories—I really enjoyed the majority of them. I really liked the variety in themes and settings, as well as the various explorations of queer masculinity. My favorite stories were "Rosa Cocdestin" by Aubrey Shaw, "Guiding Light" by Johannes T. Evans, and "The Depths of Friendship" by Candy Tan.
January 11, 2025
What a book! If ever there were a book that everyone in Earth should buy fifteen copies of, it would be this one.
That said, it might be worth mentioning here that I am one of the contributing authors. So everyone on Earth buying fifteen copies of this book would really behoove me, financially speaking.
Honestly, though, I've loved getting to read the other authors' contributions! We went in such different directions with the theme, and I deeply appreciate how those diverse directions resemble our diverse experiences of queerness, and the creative gamut of what masculinity itself can be and become. The more stories we tell each other about the chaotic and miraculous varieties of life that there are to be had -- and, indeed, celebrated -- in this world, the freer and fuller we grow.
To everyone who reads this book: Thank you! I'm so grateful to be a small part of it!
That said, it might be worth mentioning here that I am one of the contributing authors. So everyone on Earth buying fifteen copies of this book would really behoove me, financially speaking.
Honestly, though, I've loved getting to read the other authors' contributions! We went in such different directions with the theme, and I deeply appreciate how those diverse directions resemble our diverse experiences of queerness, and the creative gamut of what masculinity itself can be and become. The more stories we tell each other about the chaotic and miraculous varieties of life that there are to be had -- and, indeed, celebrated -- in this world, the freer and fuller we grow.
To everyone who reads this book: Thank you! I'm so grateful to be a small part of it!
January 25, 2025
I really enjoyed this book! It was a mixed collection, but with more good than average and more average than meh, so really solid overall.
There's sort of something for everyone in this collection - there's sexy paranormal horror and contemplative familial sci fi and comedic fantasy job applications. It's all very very queer and a LOT of it was very trans, so it was super up my alley a lot of the time. And sometimes, when it wasn't, it just wasn't my kind of genre/story!
I highly recommend this collection if you want some speculative short stories with queer men, especially if you're an existing fan of any of these authors! When I was done with the stories I followed a bunch of them on social media and I'm excited to see what they do next 👀
There's sort of something for everyone in this collection - there's sexy paranormal horror and contemplative familial sci fi and comedic fantasy job applications. It's all very very queer and a LOT of it was very trans, so it was super up my alley a lot of the time. And sometimes, when it wasn't, it just wasn't my kind of genre/story!
I highly recommend this collection if you want some speculative short stories with queer men, especially if you're an existing fan of any of these authors! When I was done with the stories I followed a bunch of them on social media and I'm excited to see what they do next 👀
June 8, 2025
I try to read a few anthologies each year, but it had been a while since I read one that wasn’t the collected works of a single author. Dudes Rock seemed promising, and I think the short story format has plenty of space to explore masculinity in bite sized chunks. I’d say that this was a pretty mixed bag in terms of anthologies. Some real bangers, but also a decent amount that I had little to no response to. But the stories that hit got me very interested in those authors’ other works.
Read if Looking For: short story collection featuring oblivious academy students, haunted houses, fairytale princes, and stories in the form of badly written job application essays
I’ll review each story in a bite sized chunk below (in publication order), but I want to flat my standout favorites of this collection were Rosa Cocdesin by Aubrey Shaw (gothic), The Depths of Friendship by Candy Tan (cheeky and fun) and Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell by Jay Kang Romanus (intense characterization). In general, I thought the middle portion was stronger than the start or end of the collection.
Tom and Andy do Magic at Midnight by Simo Srinivas
A story of an ex climber whose best friend (and not quite boyfriend) went missing while climbing a magic route in Yosemite National Park. It floated around in time to various points in the characters’ relationship, and did a fantastic job of showing two men who were soulmates, but who never actually ended up together for a variety of reasons. Solid character work and plotting, and a great start to the anthology. It didn’t blow me away, but I’d happily recommend it in the right circumstances. 3/5
The Application of Lycanthropy as a Novel Treatment for Gender Dysphoria by Chase Anderson
Absolute banger of a title, but unfortunately this piece of flash fiction didn’t live up to the excellent name. It ended up being a very straightforward story of a trans man bitten by a werewolf, and his discovery of how it helped a lot with his gender dysphoria. The whole piece was a single evening, and didn’t have the space to go too deep. Would have been much more interested to see this written as an academic research paper than something so traditional. In the end, I don’t feel like there’s much to recommend here other than a cool premise. 1/5
The Forester by Scott Vaughn
A grandfather and grandaughter share an evening in the woods as bomb testing lights up the nght sky. This is a quiet and ultimately hopeful story, about remembering lost loved ones, navigating romantic relationships, and robotic companionship. It was supposed to be heartwarming (I think), but it didn’t move me in the way I think the author intended it to. 2/5
Rosa Cocdesin by Aubrey Shaw
A widower wizard (lots of dead husbands/loved ones in the first few stories) is sorting bones unearthed by a hurricane in his very haunted house. One particular skeleton presents a mystery, and a new haunting to ail his beleagured body. Somber, gothic(ish) and contemplative, this story reminded me a lot of Witness for the Dead, in the best way possible. Very interested to see if there will be anything more written about this character or in this world, as there were at least three malevolent spirits lingering in the home, a mystery of a dead husband, and a college of necromancers, all of which are ripe for storytelling. 5/5
Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell by Jay Kang Romanus
A young man addicted to barfighting gets in a fistfight with the devil. The author did a phenomenal job taking a fairly traditional tragic backstory (mom dead, dad walked out) and making it feel novel and fresh. Characterization was a big plus, and think it’s one of the strongest narrative voices in the collection. Cigarette smoke was a consistent motif throughout the story, consistently used well. I enjoyed the ambiguity in this story. It was messy, and that’s a good thing. 4/5
Roses are for Maidens by Oliver Fosten
Another piece of flash fiction, this one about a young man who wishes he could give knights a token of affection. It was a fun play on a classic trope, and was solidly written. It also felt very situated in the overly romantic depictions of medievalism, and I really appreciated that. At its length, it is hard not to recommend. 4/5
Guiding Light by Johannes T. Evans
A new recruit in a massive spaceship’s navigational unit ends up sucked into the orbit of the ship’s Enviornmental Engineering department. Mentor/Student relationship that turns sexual, with a fun little static electricity alien species & planet. Intersex protagonist. After reading Evans’ first novel this year, my conclusion is that his stories are fantastic at developing romantic and sexual tension, but could use an editing pass to catch sloppy errors. 4/5
Erdmann Application by Jonathan Freeman
An essay applying for a job, written about the young man’s experience as a member of a himbo cult of destruction. This story was tongue and cheek, with some humor and a deliberately amaeturer writing style. Freeman did a good job walking the line between using the voice of someone who isn’t a good writer (it’s an application from a guy who spent a few years running the wilderness getting eggs for his cult leader’s bulk phase) while still making the story enjoyable. Ending was a high point. 4/5
The Depths of Friendship by Candy Tan
A mage at the academy for magic begins to experiment with dildos (and turning them to vibrators with magic), but one gets … stuck. He goes to his best friend for help, and also begins to wonder if maybe he might not be straight after all. This story was a riot. Funny, heartwarming, and consistently enjoyable to read from beginning to end. There isn’t a ton of thematic depth here, but if the premise was excecuted to perfection, and our lead is oblivious in a charming, not annoying, way. 5/5
Neptune’s Bounty by Franklyn S. Newton
An homage to older science fiction tropes: a pilot takes a shady crew of researchers to some ancient ruins unearthed on mars. It was fun, but I didn’t find that it tread any particular new ground in this style of sci fi other than having a trans protagonist. 3/5
Prince Theo’s Bad Week by Sam Inverts
This was a lovely little meta-fairy tale with som light humorous elements. It follows a prince having a very bad week; he got caught making out with a squire, his parents are tyrannical assholes, and he’s been captured by a dragon. Inverts nailed the prose style invoking kids stories while making it clear the story was playing around in the space in a tongue and cheek way. 4/5
The Least of the Lumberjacks
A gay lumberjack who doesn’t fit the stereotype is scared a troll is going to eat him, and that the other lumberjacks all hate him. I didn’t love the direction this story headed at the end, and think the story was a bit too on-the-nose for a sacchirine take on queer masculinity. 2/5
Winter in Jasiso by Rick Hollon
A man is exiled to the deep south (which is cold and filled with mammoths). This story follows the first winter he is there, and invokes epic fantasy worldbuilding and vibes. It didn’t resonate with me, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe something about the pacing? 3/5, but I feel bad about giving it this score. It just didn’t stick much with me.
Overall, very happy I read this anthology, and I have more than a few others to get to!
Want More Reviews Like This? Try my blog CosmicReads
Read if Looking For: short story collection featuring oblivious academy students, haunted houses, fairytale princes, and stories in the form of badly written job application essays
I’ll review each story in a bite sized chunk below (in publication order), but I want to flat my standout favorites of this collection were Rosa Cocdesin by Aubrey Shaw (gothic), The Depths of Friendship by Candy Tan (cheeky and fun) and Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell by Jay Kang Romanus (intense characterization). In general, I thought the middle portion was stronger than the start or end of the collection.
Tom and Andy do Magic at Midnight by Simo Srinivas
A story of an ex climber whose best friend (and not quite boyfriend) went missing while climbing a magic route in Yosemite National Park. It floated around in time to various points in the characters’ relationship, and did a fantastic job of showing two men who were soulmates, but who never actually ended up together for a variety of reasons. Solid character work and plotting, and a great start to the anthology. It didn’t blow me away, but I’d happily recommend it in the right circumstances. 3/5
The Application of Lycanthropy as a Novel Treatment for Gender Dysphoria by Chase Anderson
Absolute banger of a title, but unfortunately this piece of flash fiction didn’t live up to the excellent name. It ended up being a very straightforward story of a trans man bitten by a werewolf, and his discovery of how it helped a lot with his gender dysphoria. The whole piece was a single evening, and didn’t have the space to go too deep. Would have been much more interested to see this written as an academic research paper than something so traditional. In the end, I don’t feel like there’s much to recommend here other than a cool premise. 1/5
The Forester by Scott Vaughn
A grandfather and grandaughter share an evening in the woods as bomb testing lights up the nght sky. This is a quiet and ultimately hopeful story, about remembering lost loved ones, navigating romantic relationships, and robotic companionship. It was supposed to be heartwarming (I think), but it didn’t move me in the way I think the author intended it to. 2/5
Rosa Cocdesin by Aubrey Shaw
A widower wizard (lots of dead husbands/loved ones in the first few stories) is sorting bones unearthed by a hurricane in his very haunted house. One particular skeleton presents a mystery, and a new haunting to ail his beleagured body. Somber, gothic(ish) and contemplative, this story reminded me a lot of Witness for the Dead, in the best way possible. Very interested to see if there will be anything more written about this character or in this world, as there were at least three malevolent spirits lingering in the home, a mystery of a dead husband, and a college of necromancers, all of which are ripe for storytelling. 5/5
Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell by Jay Kang Romanus
A young man addicted to barfighting gets in a fistfight with the devil. The author did a phenomenal job taking a fairly traditional tragic backstory (mom dead, dad walked out) and making it feel novel and fresh. Characterization was a big plus, and think it’s one of the strongest narrative voices in the collection. Cigarette smoke was a consistent motif throughout the story, consistently used well. I enjoyed the ambiguity in this story. It was messy, and that’s a good thing. 4/5
Roses are for Maidens by Oliver Fosten
Another piece of flash fiction, this one about a young man who wishes he could give knights a token of affection. It was a fun play on a classic trope, and was solidly written. It also felt very situated in the overly romantic depictions of medievalism, and I really appreciated that. At its length, it is hard not to recommend. 4/5
Guiding Light by Johannes T. Evans
A new recruit in a massive spaceship’s navigational unit ends up sucked into the orbit of the ship’s Enviornmental Engineering department. Mentor/Student relationship that turns sexual, with a fun little static electricity alien species & planet. Intersex protagonist. After reading Evans’ first novel this year, my conclusion is that his stories are fantastic at developing romantic and sexual tension, but could use an editing pass to catch sloppy errors. 4/5
Erdmann Application by Jonathan Freeman
An essay applying for a job, written about the young man’s experience as a member of a himbo cult of destruction. This story was tongue and cheek, with some humor and a deliberately amaeturer writing style. Freeman did a good job walking the line between using the voice of someone who isn’t a good writer (it’s an application from a guy who spent a few years running the wilderness getting eggs for his cult leader’s bulk phase) while still making the story enjoyable. Ending was a high point. 4/5
The Depths of Friendship by Candy Tan
A mage at the academy for magic begins to experiment with dildos (and turning them to vibrators with magic), but one gets … stuck. He goes to his best friend for help, and also begins to wonder if maybe he might not be straight after all. This story was a riot. Funny, heartwarming, and consistently enjoyable to read from beginning to end. There isn’t a ton of thematic depth here, but if the premise was excecuted to perfection, and our lead is oblivious in a charming, not annoying, way. 5/5
Neptune’s Bounty by Franklyn S. Newton
An homage to older science fiction tropes: a pilot takes a shady crew of researchers to some ancient ruins unearthed on mars. It was fun, but I didn’t find that it tread any particular new ground in this style of sci fi other than having a trans protagonist. 3/5
Prince Theo’s Bad Week by Sam Inverts
This was a lovely little meta-fairy tale with som light humorous elements. It follows a prince having a very bad week; he got caught making out with a squire, his parents are tyrannical assholes, and he’s been captured by a dragon. Inverts nailed the prose style invoking kids stories while making it clear the story was playing around in the space in a tongue and cheek way. 4/5
The Least of the Lumberjacks
A gay lumberjack who doesn’t fit the stereotype is scared a troll is going to eat him, and that the other lumberjacks all hate him. I didn’t love the direction this story headed at the end, and think the story was a bit too on-the-nose for a sacchirine take on queer masculinity. 2/5
Winter in Jasiso by Rick Hollon
A man is exiled to the deep south (which is cold and filled with mammoths). This story follows the first winter he is there, and invokes epic fantasy worldbuilding and vibes. It didn’t resonate with me, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Maybe something about the pacing? 3/5, but I feel bad about giving it this score. It just didn’t stick much with me.
Overall, very happy I read this anthology, and I have more than a few others to get to!
Want More Reviews Like This? Try my blog CosmicReads
March 17, 2025
I had a great time with DUDES ROCK the past couple weeks! This rollicking anthology delights in wide-ranging genre exploration bound by pitch-perfect thematic unity. As joyful, fierce, energizing, and kaleidoscopic as queer masculinity itself!
Being a self and becoming a self, living in a world of disregard or finding new community, this collection of stories explores queer masculinity in the depths of space, down smoke stained roads, and from the heights of dragons' lairs, this was tremendously fun!
Personal highlights included “Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell” by editor Jay Kang Romanus, the raucously funny “The Depths of Friendship” by Candy Tan, and the closing story "Winter in Jasiso" by Rick Hollon (I do love my megafauna and magic).
Being a self and becoming a self, living in a world of disregard or finding new community, this collection of stories explores queer masculinity in the depths of space, down smoke stained roads, and from the heights of dragons' lairs, this was tremendously fun!
Personal highlights included “Cigarette Smoke from the Fires of Hell” by editor Jay Kang Romanus, the raucously funny “The Depths of Friendship” by Candy Tan, and the closing story "Winter in Jasiso" by Rick Hollon (I do love my megafauna and magic).
February 22, 2025
a lot of great stories by great writers :) dudes DO rock
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews