Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction

by Edmund White (Editor), Don Weise (Editor)

Certain to become a literary touchstone, Fresh Men collects the best new writing by emerging gay authors from around the nation. The critically acclaimed author Edmund White, chair of the Creative Writing program at Princeton and the author of more than 17 gay works, selects 20 original stories from the new crop of extraordinary writers. With equal parts sensitivity and irreverence, Fresh Men speaks to the broad range of gay experiences. From stories of coming out, coming of age, self-representation and family to sex and love in the time of AIDS, from living in the closet to loving in a post-gay world, this book highlights the complexities of gay life. This groundbreaking collection also embodies a wide spectrum of literary tastes, from works rich in experimental, transgressive elements to more conventional, traditionally crafted stories.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, LGBT, Gay, Queer

350 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2004

About the author

Edmund Valentine White III was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. He was the recipient of Lambda Literary's Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. France made him Chevalier (and later Officier) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993.
White was known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."

Reviews

[Louis Muñoz · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5, rounding down to 2.
I think I have to admit, at least to myself, that I'm not that a big a fan of anthologies and short-story collections. Nothing surprising in saying that in such books, there'll often be stories one thinks are stronger than others, and so I say the same thing here. Unfortunately, I don't have the book in front of me to say which struck me as better, which struck me as less great; sorry!

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently found this anthology at a used bookstore and am happy I got it. Several compelling stories and some fairly interesting ones, add to the canon of gay men telling compelling stories through short fiction or novel excerpts. Since its publication in 2004, several of its contributors have continued to publish good novels and other stories.

What makes this different from earlier or similar anthologies are the various sometimes unhappy ways the characters find a kind of resolution or realization. A few involve violence, drugs and homophobia. Others move into the risky and almost creepy sexual arena. A few are downright wacky ("TV Dinner" among them). Each voice rings true in unique ways.

[_inbetween_]

0) Inspired by Gambodian's Men on Men (which I never received), selection of mainly young US writers, intro by White.
1) Verity ... - "ONJ.com": ultimately lacking a point like most short stories these days, it's a fag-hag tale with humour and excellent observations.
2)W S W - "Desire": the little twist at the end was meant to give this meaning, but it was unbearably boring for me. A night bar-hopping in New Orleans, another city I don't find intrinsically fascinating, "then we went there then he said that then I drank that then we went elsewhere".
3) . . - "American Widow": even more sparse and shopping-list like in style than Desire, it has no gay characters (unless you count the heroine as a Mary Sue). Two good observations, but I seem have no patience with this non-style anymore and regret that Ed White selected the stories, doubt I'll like any by now.
4) .. - ..: according to White the only black author in this collection; steeped in (gangster-y?) lingo, I might not have gotten a few details, but overall this was the only story so far where I felt for/with the protagonist, and the unsettling unresolved question is something most critics would value in a short story; (not so much the open end, as the tragedy is mapped out, but the reader might suspect something nobody in the story does). I think I'm not biased because of the cat bed ... if anything, it was the few words describing intimacy that did it. Not the cat bed.


7) Aqua calda - I liked. AIDS in the young American and Sicilian morals in the big Italian, and a small "stupid, hopeful" look in the last paragraph.

8) 5 year ... - also ok due to bits of kleptomania, but lopsided and too little, unlike

9) by Seth Silberman - which is written in a more challenging style but gives one the sense that there is all the information, a number of dots that can be connected upon rereading to reveal more information. While I don't write like that, the difficult syntax and jumpy narration felt like my own thinking. I still want to know more, though I fear then Robey would be completely unappealing.



Ground - an upcoming academic thinks about his divorced lover while starting something with a steward, then the get into heavy turbulences.

Abracadabra - Dublin, a student "rescued" from a cult depends on sexual encounters to keep him from succumbing again, and backslides.

[Maryjane Coons · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am amazed at some of the begrudging reviews this anthology has received - some people don't like anthologies but for me they are a window onto authors and books to look out for. Aside from some other very fine writing this anthology contains excerpts from three extraordinary first novels - Aqua Calda by Keith McDermott, The First Verse by Barry McCrea and Send Me by Patrick Ryan - which I possibly would have missed but for this anthology.

For me anthologies like this are windows onto gay life in other countries and the eyes of other people. Of course complaints can be made about who is, or is not, included but the writing in this, and other literary anthologies, is always eye opening. Sometimes I think that we forget how recent the openness and variety that we take for granted in gay writing is. Go back before the late 1970s and look at how restricted the presentation of gay life in literature was. It is not that there were not good books or stories but gay life as a whole was so circumscribed you couldn't have a full or expansive literature. It was only with freedom to 'be' that gay writers could begin catching up with creating a literature such as had been the right and ability of others for millenniums.

I think those who take all this for granted need to step back and look and not dismiss or ignore what anthologies like Fresh Men are doing. The fact is you should enjoy because I don't think we will be seeing as many literary anthologies in the years to come.

[uninspired · Rating 3 out of 5]

The following quote by Edmund White from this book's Introduction, best describes this anthology: "If this anthology is thought of as a house, it's a big rooming house inhabited by every kind of client, of every age and color and background....It's a very full house."

So, I haven't read much LGBT fiction, but the graphic design of this cover with that photo and that fun-looking type made me think that I was gonna be reading a light anthology that had stories about relationship-type stuff, but the content was really more varied than that which in some ways was a disappointment and in others turned out to be a positive thing.


The content vary from stories about old unattractive men's relationships with much younger men, sexual abuse, infedility, breaking up, there's a couple stories about men who are feelance graphic designers, there's a guy who used to be in a cult and is struggling to not go back, a guy who has his first sexual experiences. The settings also vary with most stories set in America, in places like New Orleans and New York, and another in Ireland, another in Sicily.

My favorites were:

1. ONJ.com by Vestal McIntyre
14. Abracadabra by Barry McCrea
15. Teamwork by Kevin W. Reardon
20. Ground Control by Patrick Ryan


I really recommend this book if you wanna expand your LGBT fiction horizons as far as getting away from the whole LGBT erotica thing.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ended up reading and enjoying all of Acqua Calda: A Novel after catching the except here.

[Michael Pennington]

It took me six years to get around to reading this and I didn't expect it to be any good. I was surprised. A lot of moving and intriguing stories in here.