Cool Thing: The Best New Gay Fiction from Young American Writers

by Blair Mastbaum, L.A. Fields, Stephen Boyer

Lambda Award-winning novelist Blair Mastbaum and writer Will Fabro have put together a fun and edgy anthology of hot new fiction by young gay writers. With works by Mastbaum, Fabro, Mark Edmund Doten, Michael Tyrell, Sam J. Miller, and more, Cool Thing has something for everyone.

Genres: Fiction, Queer

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Blair is the author of Clay's Way and Us Ones In Between, and the co-editor of Cool Thing: Best Gay Fiction from Young American Writers. He's currently living in Portland, Oregon and working on a novel called Hommeboys about his time spent as a model.

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This inspired collection of 18 stories portrays the wide array of perspectives of young gay people - a generation exempt from the pain and hassle of 'coming out' and more open with their desires and fears than generations past. There are tales of abusing drugs, of living with a ghost in New York city, of searching for sexual encounters on Craigslist, of imagining a beach holiday with Brad Pitt, of planning an eco-terrorist action (and its consequences), of visiting an ex-boyfriend and finding him dead and more. There's a youthful punk rock spirit to many of the stories, and a John Waters-esque jokey weirdness in others. Some are typically 'gay' while others are somewhat dark and arty - but then all defy the common stereotypes." From the back cover of the 2008 paperback edition from Running Press.

(At one stage I thought the above quote dated this collection, now I think it may do so but it is less dated and possibly more relevant - it is amazing how really good story telling lives beyond fashion and its immediate circumstances. If a story is worth telling it will live. - added September 2023)

My five stars may be a little generous but I really enjoyed this anthology when I read it the first time and on subsequent reading I was still highly impressed but saddened by how few of the contributors had gone on to careers in writing or have written, or rather had anything else published. That of course is a reflection of changing times - it is a more difficult time in the publishing world for new writers - the 'gay publishing' boom was truly at an end - even anthologies like this - once so common in the 1980's and 90's are a vanished species. It is both fortunate, and a pity, that these imaginative and interesting writers came to attention just as the opportunities for publication were about to disappear. It was a last call not only for the first time contributors but for the editors, Blair Mastbaum and Will Fabro as well. Mastbaum had published a number of novels by this stage and Fabro some well respected short fiction but since then virtually nothing.

One of my great sadness is the number of fine writers who emerged in the late 20th and early 20th century in the 'gay' field who disappeared after producing really first rate, and often highly acclaimed, novels. This anthology is a monument to the writers who never got a chance to fulfil their promise. I still think these stories are good and repay rereading. I am happy to have the book on my shelf and I am sure I will return to it again.

[Anthony]

There are some anthologies I buy because of the inclusion of one or two authors, and I know I'm probably going to only read those one or two stories and then set the anthology aside for a while, or forever. That's never a disappointment to me, although I do sometimes feel bad that I'm not giving the rest of the authors a fair shake. Then there are the anthologies I buy intending to read the whole thing, no matter how long it takes. I really intended to read all of COOL THING. From the Editor's Statements at the beginning, I expected that there might be a few stories I didn't connect with, but I expected there to be a few I did. 6 stories in, and I can't say I've enjoyed any of them. Maybe this shows that I'm an old fart at the age of 44, that I don't appreciate the Young Gay Experience. But I refuse to believe that the entire gay teen and 20-something culture is composed of drugged-out, violence-addicted, porn-performing young men. There are young gay men out there who don't do drugs, don't have the urge to kill people, and don't do porn for a living. I don't think it would have hurt the editors to include at least one story in the first 6 that featured a main character struggling with something other than some combination of drugs, violence and porn. Now, to be fair -- three of the six pieces are read are excerpts from novels, and perhaps those books take the characters and story far beyond this triangle of concerns. I hope they do.

For right now though, despite my original intentions, this anthology has to go on the "Could Not Finish" pile. I can't force myself to read a book I'm so thoroughly not enjoying.

[Maicie · Rating 1 out of 5]

It wasn't so much that I didn't like the book as I didn't 'get' the book. The stories didn't make sense. I've never been a fan of the short story and this one reminded me why. It's like taking 2 or 3 random pages of a novel and stapling them together and calling it a story.

[Tom · Rating 1 out of 5]

If this collection is the "best new gay fiction" from young American writers, we're better off sticking to the novels produced decades ago by the older gay crowd -- White, Holleran, Hollinghurst, Preston, to name a few. These 18 tales are written by men in their 20s and 30s, but they read like scraps of diaries dusted off from their teenage years. The dialogue is not much better than that found in porn magazines, and plot is mostly absent. These are not coming-out stories -- the protagonists in most cases have been precociously gay-aware since puberty. But they are still in the stage of pursuing their first meaningful relationship while also dealing with family rejection and experimenting with drugs. In its entirety, the anthology is just a tad better than dreadful, but three stories do rise above the rest -- "New Year's Eve 2000" by co-editor Blair Mastbaum depicts a blue-collar kid and his Native American friend encountering a drug scene arranged by a rich, obnoxious neighbor kid; "Muy Simpatico" by Paul Kwiatowski and John Reposa tells of a youth who falls into porn acting by accident; and "Legend" by Bennett Madison describe a guy who ekes out a living as a phone psychic. One other story worth noting purely for its outrageous humor is Wilfred Brandt's "Brad Pitt," in which a female insurance clerk talks about her disappointing weekend sharing a resort villa with the movie star. (Note: Some editions of this book list Stephen Boyer as co-editor. My paperback copy listed Will Fabro collaborating with Mastbaum.)

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shameless self-promotion. But I found this amazing little gem at Unabridged Bookstore in Chicago this weekend, one of my favorite bookstores, and I just had one of those moments.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh