Bar Stories

Rating:
Summary: Synopsis
Review: "Bar Stories Scott Brassart, editor Cigarette smoke swirls in the dim light; laughter and loud voices mingle with the pounding beat of the music. Welcome to the local gay bar Anywhere, USA, and if these walls could talk, what stories would they tell? True, stylishly literary stories of lust, betrayal, sex, revenge, and romance from every perspective and walk of life begin or end in that place around the corner and down the stairs." - From the Publisher

Rating:
Summary: Here's Looking at Him
Review: Variations on "And then I looked across the bar and saw HIM" in an easy, satisfying read. The collection amply explores the bar theme with selections of diverse style and tone, and these stories generally surpass the quality of gay fiction found in glossy mags (but aren't quite Edmund White, either). Some attempts at Southern dialect come across awkwardly, but most voices sound true. Especially memorable and enjoyable: Michael A. White's "Roosters at the Seashore", itself worth the price of the collection -- an excellent tale told with sardonic wit. Editor Scott Brassart should coax a novel out of him.

Rating:
Summary: Here's Looking at Him
Review: Variations on "And then I looked across the bar and saw HIM" in an easy, satisfying read. The collection amply explores the bar theme with selections of diverse style and tone, and these stories generally surpass the quality of gay fiction found in glossy mags (but aren't quite Edmund White, either). Some attempts at Southern dialect come across awkwardly, but most voices sound true. Especially memorable and enjoyable: Michael A. White's "Roosters at the Seashore", itself worth the price of the collection -- an excellent tale told with sardonic wit. Editor Scott Brassart should coax a novel out of him.