Rating: 
Summary: a walk on the different side
Review: I enjoyed these short stories with their very real and interesting charictors as well as their haunting overtones. Varied, fasinating and gripping I read it from cover to cover without wanting to put it down!
The short story form is a hard one to write in and to write well in its confines harder yet. Mr Berman has a mastery of the form that is rare in an early work by any author!
I would definatly recomend the book!
Rating:
Summary: An afternoon or perfect escapism
Review: I felt that I waited forever to get this book and when it came, I was not disappointed. Every story pleases your senses. Time no longer has meaning, as you become lost in the land of The Fallen. Using well rounded characters and eloquent prose, Berman has succeeded in crossing the line from good fiction to supurb storytelling. I do hope to see more from this man soon.
Rating: 
Summary: Found it, bought it, read it, liked it!
Review: I found this book when I happened to meet Steve Berman at DragonCon back in 2002 and during a chat he skillfully talked me into buying it :) Trysts is a cool little book. Steve has labeled it "a triskaidecollection of queer and weird stories" (yes, that's 13 stories) and I think that description fits pretty well. Some of the stories reminded me of Twilight Zone plotlines gone horribly, horribly wrong (and that's saying something!), while others were almost traditional horror stories like I grew up reading in those big Alfred Hitchcock anthologies. Sure, they were "queer and weird" (and I don't think Twilight Zone would have gay men and lust in the middle of most stories) but Steve certainly has a handle on the basics of horror! One of the main themes, maybe even the theme of the story collection seems to be that of a character or a group of them stepping away from normal life (either willingly or by accident) and getting sucked into situations or whole worlds which are just scary -- painful, corrupt, wrong, immoral, or just not part of the normal world, instead belonging to a dark side of life, from which the characters can't escape. One story, "Cries Beneath the Plaster," has an artist seeing his own creations (and past misdeeds) coming after him in revenge. Several of the stories take place in a nameless city where large sections have somehow changed, so they are now "Fallen" areas where people live in madness, magic, corruption, and are just generally no longer living the safe, happy lives they were before. My favorite story in the book is "Path of Corruption." Reminding very much of Storm Constantine's stories, "Path" tells the story of a young gay college student in New Orleans who step by step abandons his safety and propriety to join up with a male prostitute. And it's not just that he ends up basically living in a whorehouse, but that the man he's with, the men in the house, aren't just ordinary whores but more like a cult. The story ends with a shattering scene of whores carrying out a ritual half-way between an H.P. Lovecraft story and something in Storm's Grigori series! This is a great short story collection and one I'd strongly recommend to people looking for horror and dark fantasy with some queer content and/or sex mixed in. Go out and hook up with Trysts!
Rating:
Summary: Queer in every sense of the word!
Review: I had heard of Steve Berman's fiction collection, Trysts, at Amazon.com, and it sounded interesting. Matt Bauer's striking artwork on the cover caught my interest even more. As the words he chose for his title and subtitle suggest, Berman can find something obscure or archaic, then turn it into something wondrous and unpredictable. While Berman will certainly appeal to fans of modern horror writers like Clive Barker, his writing seems more like a reshaped, updated, and gay-themed version of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Like those 19th century authors, both of whom helped shape fantastic fiction, Berman can use a few suggestive words, emotions, or images to spawn entire worlds of fear, dread, and awe. But also like those writers, he makes us want to keep exploring the dark forests of the human mind, to see how the experience will affect us. Of course, in Berman's case, we mostly find modern landscapes, such as run-down apartment buildings that house demons, spiders, ghosts, and seductive hustlers. Or we find familiar situations that many gays can relate to, such as a young gay man who worries that he might not be as attractive as his gay buddy or the men in one of their favorite magazines. These stories aren't always dark. They can be hopeful or erotic, and they're sometimes even funny, though Berman often adds to the intensity by mixing the fearful with those more positive elements. I loved these thirteen stories by Steve Berman, and I hope he won't stop with the 'Triskaidecollection' that introduced me to his work. We can now find many writers that bring the 'gay fiction' genre into the sub-genres of science fiction, fantasy, and/or horror. I've barely started exploring the works of such writers, but I consider Trysts a great place to start!
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: I have ADD so reading is hard for me. Most books I can't or won't finish. I could not stop reading this book. The writing is brilliant!!
Rating:
Summary: Darkly delicious,but some stories aren't elaborated enough
Review: I've loved these stories, some of them are very exquisitely chilling and sensual at the same time. But the author,in my opinion,should've elaborated more some stories,like the first,Beach 2. I was disappointed by the almost cryptic shortness of the story.
But,on the whole,it's an original collection, not your average erotica x meet y, they discover in two minutes they like each other, they make love there and then. This is good writing, albeit sometime the story runs too short.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read...
Review: If one buys this book, expecting it to be like another science fantasy or... fiction novel... they will be surprised to find it creates a new world of its own. With thirteen short,but amazing, stories it flips from historical, to futuristic, to surreal. Some explore sexual need (Stormed and Taken in Prague)while others show that horrible happenings are made bareable with a loving companion (Path of Corruption). The book ends with four tales set in "the fallen", a place where what you think you know has nothing to do with reality. The last section of the book hints at a subplot with a reccuring charcter Caleb. As the book is closed, the reader is left stunned and amazed, lovely unfufilled yet satistfied...because more can always come.
Definatly a must read.
Rating:
Summary: Disturbingly Wonderful
Review: In Trysts, Steve Berman creates thirteen new and fascinating worlds for the reader to explore. No lame creations these, instead, they are filled with creatures, people, and ideas which ignite the imagination and make the reader think. Original and eeriley macabre, the tales never disappoint but sometimes leave the reader wanting the story to be longer. All of the stories have a subtext which is fraught with desire and possibilities. Some of them lead the reader in unexpected directions. Travelling in "the fallen" a creation straight out of Berman's fertile imagination, is an experience that leaves one with questions and a lingering sense that this could be a frightening future for the world. The characters and the creatures of "the fallen" stay with the reader long after the last page is read. Some of them stop before the story goes as far as the reader would like but none is unsatisfying or incomplete. Rather they are structured so that the reader will have to make up her or his own mind. Not all loose ends are tied up and that is how life itself is. The writing is at times poetic and at times graphic. Characters and creatures are realized in words such that the reader has a complete and often disturbing vision of the denizens of the worlds Berman has created. The stories are dark, and achingly fantastic. I would highly reccomend this book to readers who enjoy going to fantastic places and meeting wonderfully intricate and interesting people.
Rating:
Summary: This multifaceted collection is superb
Review: Like most people that happened upon this great book, I didn't quite know what to expect. But unlike most short story collections, this one was definatly a page turner. I couldn't put the book down! I think the greatest thing about it was that throughout the entire collection, each story started and ended at a completely different place. No two stories (excepting the last few stories) are about the same theme or have the same atmosphere, I was constantly suprised and never let down. I really love how some stories are soaked in creepy magic and horror and then others just have only a tinge of mystery making us feel that these stories aren't too far away from our every day life. It is comparible to one of my other favorite authors Charles De Lint.
I can't wait to see what Mr Berman will come up with next!
Rating:
Summary: A Straight Guy's Review
Review: Mr. Berman's eloquent prose allowed me to take a look into a whole new world with a fantasy twist. I couldn't put the book down. It was quite entertaining and I can't wait to read the next 13 Trysts or whatever the talented Mr. Berman can dream up.
| 
