BOOK REVIEW: Best Gay Romance 2009
Review By Bob Hodges
Here is a collection of irresistible stories about man-to-man romance. Some stories follow the pattern of porn: A guy meets another guy. The second one is handsome but seems unavailable, too butch. But then things happen and, hey, the sex is hot and detailed.
As in porn we have the hot detail, but our writers give more attention to the psychology and the setting. In one tale, an artist moves to Santa Fe, loves the desert, which he describes at length, and meets Mr. Right (or is he?). Finally things work out after some unexpected information.
Another romance has an unusual setting. Two guys finally get together because both are concerned about hospice care for dogs. The subtext, of course, is all the gay community knows about hospice care and AIDS.
Another is a prose poem telling about a man who has sex on a beach as an adolescent and then as the years pass, more sex on boats, ships and beaches — even the beach resorts in Thailand. As you read it, you go with the flow. Nothing bad could happen in this lyrical prose. Walt Whitman might have liked this story. – Robert Hodges