Across the Threshold

by Habu

This anthology provides a treasure trove of thirty-five short stories of separate, varied "first time" gay male experiences, from the stalked to long anticipated, from the romantic to the brutal, for the young or not so young. The one central theme of all of these stories, however, is the experiences depicted all result in the beginning of a new lifestyle, not the ending of a world.

Genres: M M Romance, Anthologies

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

habu, a bisexual former supersonic spy jet pilot, intelligence agent, academic, mainstream book editor, and diplomat, is a published mainstream novelist, short story writer, and essayist under other names and in another dimension of his life. He has lived extensively in East and Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe as an embassy-based intelligence agent, which influences the settings and plots of many of his stories. He now lives in a picturesque and historical Midatlantic/Upper South state university town, with an accommodating spouse, where he writes, edits, teaches, and indulges himself.

Under the habu name he writes a full spectrum—and heat level—of M/M and bisexual works for the publishing houses of Excessica and BarbarianSpy. He also writes M/M historicals under the pen name Dirk Hessian, and M/M romance with coauthor Sabb under the pen name Shabbu.

For a loosely constructed travel through habu's professional life, read his Flying High

For background information on his works, visit his blog at https://barbarianpromo.wordpress.com/...

Reviews

[Carole · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminds me of a box of chocolates. When you choose a piece, you never know quite what you are going to get when you bite into it ~ and some you like better than others. Some are bittersweet, some have nuts (well, maybe all of them, in this case, in the less-than-metaphorical sense!), some are smooth and creamy, some have a surprise filling, and sometimes we get the special candied cherry.

Usually upon reviewing an anthology, I'd talk a little bit about each story, but here we aren't dealing with fully realized stories, so much as 'incidents' or 'scenes', each with the topic of one man's first sexual encounter. We are driven by author habu almost breathlessly from one story to the next. The metaphor of 'across the threshold' is used many times in the sense of acceptance of gay male sexuality.

In some cases, I loved the characters and wanted to know more of their story, while in some cases, I was repulsed. Most of the stories were somewhere in between, and I suspect that this is the way it is in real life. It was oddly compelling. It was dark. But above all, it was liberating. No matter how dark the scenario, you have a feeling of new understanding, new possibilities, new acceptance on the part of the protagonist. Sometimes the end of the story is predictable, more often it is not.

Reading Across the Threshold was an experience I found oddly addictive. Even though it is a relatively long book at 379 pages, like chocolate, it was never boring, and I was sorry to get to the end.