Wonderlands: Good Gay Travel Writing

by Raphael Kadushin (Editor)

    Living up to its title, Wonderlands comes fueled by wanderlust and features every kind of wonderland. In fact, the collection’s contributors—a mix of established gay writers and the best of the new generation—don’t settle for the obvious. Focusing on the sheer visceral thrill of travel, the adventure of it, they set out all over the world and always find something love, passion, history, themselves.
    The result is an anthology of dynamic writing that will motivate readers to book their next flight, or at least get them dreaming of other places. And the places are legion. Mack Friedman sets off into the deceptively butch wilds of Alaska. Robert Tewdwr Moss tracks through the back roads of Syria and his own version of Arabian nights. Colm Tobin discovers a Spanish Brigadoon and Edward Field drinks tea with Paul Bowles. For Wayne Koestenbaum Vienna is both a city of high low culture, and for Philip Gambone Asia becomes a place of second chances. Raphael Kadushin settles into the ethereal sun of a Dutch spring. Michael Lowenthal remembers a jarring encounter in the Scottish Highlands, and Tim Miller tallies the 1001 beds he has slept in all over the world. And Edmund White, in a classic of elegiac travel writing, recounts his harrowing drive through the Sahara with a man he loved.


    Brian Bouldrey
    Mitch Cullin
    Edward Field
    Mack Friedman
    Philip Gambone
    Rigoberto González
    Raphael Kadushin
    Wayne Koestenbaum
    Matthew Link
    Michael Lowenthal
    Alistair McCartney
    J. S. Marcus
    David Masello
    Tim Miller
    Robert Tewdwr Moss
    Boyer Rickel
    Bruce Shenitz
    Colm Tóibín
    Edmund White

Genres: LGBT, Gay, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2004

Reviews

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great anthology of gay authors or gay subjects relating to travel. Kadushin is the editor, there are 18 others including Emund White, Brian Bouldrey, and Mitch Cullin. Stories range from a young 20-something struggling with his sexulaity in the Alaskan canneries to the poignant last journey of an aging couple. The writing is fresh and the anthology format allows the reader to pick and choose. Great for commuting. I read this on my train tripss in to the city.

[David Jedeikin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating collection of stories from a wide range of gay writers and places; as with any anthology, some pieces are more compelling than others, but all in all a well-curated blend.