The New York Years: Stories

Rating:
Summary: Gay writing at its best
Review: An engaging collection that belong's in everyone's library.

Rating:
Summary: A marvelous collection
Review: Bringing together two previous books, "An Asian Minor" (1981) and "Slashed to Ribbons in Defense of Love" (1983), "The New York Years" is a marvelous collection of stories not only showcasing Picano's deft style, but also gay lives in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "A Stroke" is about a gay man and his family as they deal with their ailing father. "Hunter" is a potent and erotic story about a young writer dealing with the ghost of a writer he admired. "And Baby Makes Three" explores the love in a gay male couple whose age difference could make or break their future. And his remarkable "An Asian Minor" is a retelling of the Ganymede myth as he meets and romances Hermes, Apollo, and finally Zeus. The dozen tales in this slim volume still resonate truth decades later.

Rating:
Summary: Looking at old photographs in the company of strangers
Review: Felice Picano has demonstrated almost yearly that he can spin tales about memorable characters and convince us that even the most bizarre of these are people he actually has encountered. This collection of early short stories, while not up to his current polish as a writer, suggest writing traits that indeed have blossomed into a now mature man of letters. There is much to be scanned in some of these tales, but there is equally much to savour. His intimate gossip (or is it reportage?) is evident here and for those who keep up with Picano's prodigious output, there are suggestions of characters we are only now encountering in fully fleshed out detail. These stories remind me of the feelings of insecurity we have when we pull off the shelf old photo albums of how we were trying to become ourselves in the trying times of youth. Well, this time the Picano in the photos is a success story....and these stories might well be food for future biographers.

Rating:
Summary: Looking at old photographs in the company of strangers
Review: Felice Picano has demonstrated almost yearly that he can spin tales about memorable characters and convince us that even the most bizarre of these are people he actually has encountered. This collection of early short stories, while not up to his current polish as a writer, suggest writing traits that indeed have blossomed into a now mature man of letters. There is much to be scanned in some of these tales, but there is equally much to savour. His intimate gossip (or is it reportage?) is evident here and for those who keep up with Picano's prodigious output, there are suggestions of characters we are only now encountering in fully fleshed out detail. These stories remind me of the feelings of insecurity we have when we pull off the shelf old photo albums of how we were trying to become ourselves in the trying times of youth. Well, this time the Picano in the photos is a success story....and these stories might well be food for future biographers.