Best Gay Erotica 2009
Page 19
Knives whisper promises across skin. Knives rush heat in waves. Knives slide liquid into your mind. Knives open you. Just for me.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
SHANE ALLISON is the proud editor of Hot Cops: Gay Erotic Stories and Backdraft: Fireman Erotica. His stories have graced the pages of Best Gay Erotica 2007 and 2008; Bears: Gay Erotic Fiction; Best Gay Bondage Erotica; Best Gay Black Erotica; and Ultimate Gay Erotica. When he’s not sucking dick through the glory holes of public bathrooms, he’s writing stories about sucking dick through the glory holes of public bathrooms.
TULSA BROWN’s erotic short fiction has appeared in about twenty anthologies, including Sex by the Book; Wet Nightmares, Wet Dreams; Best S/M Erotica; and Skin and Ink. Her gay romance, Achilles’ Other Heel, is available at www.torquerepress.com. Her stories have been runners-up for the Rauxa Prize for Erotic Literature twice—always a bridesmaid, never a bride.
VINCENT DIAMOND’s short-story collection, Rough Cut: Vincent Diamond Collected, was published by Lethe Press in June 2008; more work appears in Screaming Orgasms and Sex on the Beach. Diamond’s stories have appeared in Best Gay Love Stories, Country Boys, Men of Mystery, Best Gay Romance 2007, Hot Cops, in the e-books Under Arrest and Play Ball from Torquere Press, and online at Fishnet, Clean Sheets, and Ruthie’s Club. Diamond is at work editing Animal Attraction 2 for Torquere Press and School Days for Lethe Press. More info is at: www.vincentdiamond.com.
LANDON DIXON’s writing credits include Options, Beau, In Touch, Indulge, Men, Freshmen, [2], Mandate, Torso, Honcho, and stories in the anthologies Straight? Volume 2, Friction 7, Working Stiff, Hard Hats, Sex by the Book, and Ultimate Gay Erotica 2005, 2007, and 2008.
RYAN FIELD is a thirty-five-year-old freelance writer who lives and works in both Los Angeles, California, and New Hope, Pennsylvania. His fiction has appeared in many anthologies and collections in the past fifteen years, and most of it is based on personal experience. He is currently working on a novel.
JAMIE FREEMAN lives in North Florida. He divides his time between a day job as a corporate communicator and nighttime flirtations with the muse. Whatever time remains, he devotes to reading, running, and watching old movies on late-night television. He has previously published a children’s book and has a completed novel manuscript waiting patiently on the edge of his desk. He can be reached by email at JamieFreeman2@gmail.com.
BRADLEY HARRIS is the pseudonym of a journalist who lives in Brooklyn. This is his first published story. You can reach him at dannyboy143@hotmail.com.
LEE HOUCK was born in Chattanooga, TN and now lives in Queens, NY. His writing appears in several queer anthologies in the US and Australia, and his other work includes poetry, pieces for theater, and art installations. Additionally, he has worked with Jennifer Miller’s Circus AMOK! for many, many seasons. You can reach him at www.LeeHouck.com.
DANIEL W. KELLY is author of the erotic horror collection Closet Monsters: Zombied Out and Tales of Gothrotica. His short stories have appeared in the anthologies Manhandled, Dorm Porn, Just the Sex, and Bears. His story “Woof!,” featured in Closet Monsters, won first place in the erotic writing competition at bookpuppy.co.uk in January 2006. He is also a staff writer for Sexherald.com.
JEFF MANN’s poetry, fiction, and essays have appeared in many publications, including Rebel Yell, Prairie Schooner, Shenandoah, The Big Book of Erotic Ghost Stories, Best S/M Erotica Vol. 2, The Gay and Lesbian Review, Bear Lust, Best Gay Erotica 2003 and 2004, and Appalachian Heritage. He has published three award-winning poetry chapbooks—Bliss, Mountain Fireflies, and Flint Shards from Sussex—as well as two full-length books of poetry, Bones Washed with Wine and On the Tongue; a collection of personal essays, Edge; a novella, Devoured, included in Masters of Midnight: Erotic Tales of the Vampire; a book of poetry and memoir, Loving Mountains, Loving Men; and a book of short fiction, A History of Barbed Wire. He teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.
JAY NEAL did break his leg a few years ago, but the only real benefit is the appearance of this sixth adventure in the Best Gay Erotica series. The experience was much as narrated; however, art imitates life only to a point and that point was physical therapist Marc (with a c). He was an invention, a mere contrivance to fill too many quiet, motionless, early morning hours spent healing. Fortunately, Neal’s bear was also there to kiss away the pain. It’s now been sixteen years of domestic contentment they’ve shared in suburban Washington, D.C. They’re not married yet but it comes closer.
ROBERT PATRICK has written mostly plays, especially Kennedy’s Children, and a novel, Temple Slave. He maintains a website featuring more than fifty pages of photographs from or relating to the Caffe Cino, the first Off-Off-Broadway theater and first gay theatre, starting at http://hometown.aol.com/rbrtptrck/CINOCONTENTS.html.
SIMON SHEPPARD is editor of the Lambda Award-winning Homosex: Sixty Years of Gay Erotica and of Leathermen, and the author of In Deep: Erotic Stories; Kinkorama: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Perversion; Sex Parties 101; and Hotter Than Hell and Other Stories. His work has also been published in nearly three hundred anthologies, including fourteen previous appearances in the Best Gay Erotica series. He writes the syndicated column “Sex Talk” and the online serial “The Dirty Boys Club,” and hangs out at www.simonsheppard.com.
NATTY SOLTESZ has had stories published in Ultimate Gay Erotica 2008 and Best Gay Romance 2008. He regularly publishes fiction in the magazines Freshmen, Mandate, and Handjobs and is a faithful contributor to the Nifty Erotic Stories Archive. He is currently at work on his first novel, Backwoods, from which “The Opera House” is an excerpt. He lives in Pittsburgh with his boo. Check out his website: http://www.bacteriaburger.com.
MATTILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE is an insomniac with dreams. You must check out her new novel, So Many Ways to Sleep Badly, from which “Love Potion #9” is excerpted. Mattilda is also the author of Pulling Taffy, and the editor of four nonfiction anthologies, including, most recently, Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity and an expanded second edition of That’s Revolting! Queer Strategies for Resisting Assimilation. Oh—and Mattilda was the judge for Best Erotica 2006; remember that one? Mattilda loves feedback—visit her homepage and blog via www.mattildabernsteinsycamore.com.
XAN WEST is the pseudonym of a New York BDSM and sex educator and writer. Xan’s work can be found in Best S/M Erotica 2, Got a Minute?, Love at First Sting, Leathermen, Men on the Edge, M Is for Master, and Backdraft: Fireman Erotica. Xan has a particular love for canes, biting, public sex, and good boys. Xan wants to hear from you and can be reached at xan_west@yahoo.com.
GERARD WOZEK is author of the short story collection, Post-cards from Heartthrob Town. His debut collection of poetry, Dervish, won the Gival Press Poetry Book Award. His short prose and poetry have appeared in various journals and anthologies, including Bend Don’t Shatter, Erotic Travel Tales, Rebel Yell 2, Queer Dog, The Road Within, Best Gay Erotica 1998, and White Crane Journal, and online at Velvet Mafia and Blithe House Quarterly. His short film, Dance of the Electric Moccasins, won first place at the 2005 Potenza Film Festival in Italy. He teaches creative writing at Robert Morris College in Chicago.
LOGAN ZACHARY is an occupational therapist and mystery author living in Minneapolis, MN, where he is an avid reader and book collector. He enjoys movies, concerts, plays, and all the other cultural events that the Twin Cities have to offer. His stories can be found in Hard Hats, Taken by Force, Boys Caught in the Act, Ride ’Em Cowboy, Service with a Smile, and Surfer Boys. He can be reached at LoganZachary2002@ yahoo.com.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
RICHARD LABONTÉ lives on a small island off the coast of British Columbia with his husband Asa Liles, and makes a living editing numerous anthologies, proofreading manuscripts, reviewing queer books for Q Syndicate, and contemporary literature and nonfiction about nature and the environment for Publishers Weekly, and transforming technical writing into readable prose. Contact: tattyhill@gma
il.com.
JAMES LEAR is the nom de plume of a prolific and acclaimed novelist. As James Lear, he is the author of The Back Passage, Hot Valley, and The Palace of Varieties. He lives in London.
Copyright © 2008 by Richard Labonté. Introduction copyright © 2008 by James Lear.
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or online reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Published in the United States.
Cleis Press Inc., P.O. Box 14697, San Francisco, California 94114.
eISBN : 978-1-573-44443-9
“A Roofer’s Work” © 2008 by Shane Allison. “Temporary” © 2007 by Tulsa Brown, first appeared online at www.desmonda.com, reprinted with the author’s permission from Crossdressing, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press). “Heated” © 2008 by Vincent Diamond. “Twice Dicked” © 2008 by Landon Dixon, reprinted and revised with the author’s permission from Men’s Magazine, June 2008. “Down the Basement” © 2007 by Ryan Field, reprinted with the author’s permission from Crossdressing, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Cleis Press). “Don’t Touch” © 2008 by Jamie Freeman, reprinted with the author’s permission from Flesh to Flesh, edited by Lee Hayes (Strebor Press). “The Changing Room” © 2008 by Bradley Harris, first appeared online in Velvet Mafia 21, reprinted with the author’s permission. “Mr. Laundry” © 2008 by Lee Houck. “The Doctor Is In” © 2008 by Daniel W. Kelly. “Abducting Frodo” © 2007 by Jeff Mann, reprinted with the author’s permission from Sex by the Book, edited by Kevin Bentley (Green Candy Press). “Physical Therapy” © 2008 by Jay Neal. “Mass Ass” © 2008 by Robert Patrick. “A Retired Writer in the Sun” © 2008 by Simon Sheppard. “The Opera House” © 2008 by Natty Soltesz. “Love Potion #9” © 2008 by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, excerpted with the author’s permission from So Many Ways to Sleep Badly (City Lights Press). “Knives” © 2008 by Xan West, reprinted with the author’s permission from Men on the Edge, edited by Christopher Pierce (StarBooks). “Where Steam Meets Flesh” © 2008 by Gerard Wozek. “Giovanni” © 2008 by Logan Zachary.