Rating: 
Summary: Weak and vague collection
Review: Soft, purient tales seeking to be odd and macabre but failing to generate any real friction or interest. The writing is lackluster with only a few shining moments amidst gallons of sludge. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic stories!
Review: These are just some great tales which are always exciting, sometimes sad, often thrilling, and always enrapting! He's done a great job putting them together and I'm glad to have this collection in my library!
Rating:
Summary: Cuddle up and shiver
Review: This collection of 13 wonderful stories introduces you to many wonderful characters from Corn Dolly, who's story of bittersweet love is foretold, to Caleb, who shows up mysteriously in several stories yet who's own story is shrouded in mystery, to Dave, who doesn't believe in saying goodbye to the one you love.It's filled with chilling tales of ghosts, resurrection, and just enough chills to keep you hooked. I highly recommend this book to anyone and can't wait for more stories from the talented author.
Rating:
Summary: Brief and eloquent
Review: This collection of fiction and dark fantasy exploring relationships and first encounters is just amazing. Each story is filled with passion and compelling characters, and yet the book is so tiny! Only a truly gifted writer could achieve what Steve Berman has done in this book. I truly hope he will explore more aspects of the Fallen (which is where several of the stories are placed) in a longer work. If you like Poppy Brite, Neil Gaiman, or Clive Barker, then you'll thoroughly enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Trysts
Review: Tryst. A lovely archaic word. when I got this book, and read "Gay fiction / dark fantasy" on the back, I will admit (sorry steve) I was thinking "Great" sarcastically. But then I opened it up, and read some of it. And I thought "Hell, this isn't so bad". To me, it seems, you start the book, and it's getting warmed up. It gets more "steamy", shall we say, near the middle, then it kinda irons out into not really erotic, and more of the dark fantasy. That doesnt mean theres no fantasy in tehre before, but it really stands out more once you get to the Fallen parts.
I'm proud to say Steve Berman is now a good friend of mine (his email was in the book so I sent my xongratulations on the book and we got talking). Stevie, I know you'll be reading this, lol, so I really love the book, and I hope to see you soon :) <hug>
Just get the book. lol. If you like Gay fiction (it has lesbians too, yknow. 3000 men just placed their order hahaha), or dark fantasy, almost disturbing (Saj cuts his arm, and the blood pours out, turns into a spider and scurries away), yet sometimes inspiriing.
This book is one contradiction after another, and that's why I love it. So this is highly recomended by me! :D Go get it, tiger! <transmission ends>
Rating:
Summary: straight, but not narrow
Review: Trysts may be marketed as Gay Fiction, but trust me, the writing is so wonderful it transcends gender and sexuality. I'm a straight female and I enjoyed it immensly, and furthermore, I loaned it to my straight male friend who devoured it. So, breeders, don't be scared away by the title, if you're looking for good horror, this is it.
Rating:
Summary: Tales to savor.
Review: Trysts was more like a tease... but in that achingly Good way - it left me longing for more. Steve Berman's writing style is varied and dramatic. Each story stands on its own and speaks with a unique voice and perspective imparting something wonderful, sacred, or profane to the reader. He speaks to our first loves, our crushes, our fantasies, and our darker desires all in a surprisingly small collection. And if there is one bad thing about this collection it is that it is ONLY 13 stories long... At the end of this book I wanted more. Steve Berman is the newest addition to the list of Authors that I will look out for and buy anything that he puts out... well worth purchasing!
Rating:
Summary: All I Can Say Is "WOW"
Review: Trysts was more like a tease... but in that achingly Good way - it left me longing for more. Steve Berman's writing style is varied and dramatic. Each story stands on its own and speaks with a unique voice and perspective imparting something wonderful, sacred, or profane to the reader. He speaks to our first loves, our crushes, our fantasies, and our darker desires all in a surprisingly small collection. And if there is one bad thing about this collection it is that it is ONLY 13 stories long... At the end of this book I wanted more. Steve Berman is the newest addition to the list of Authors that I will look out for and buy anything that he puts out... well worth purchasing!
Rating: 
Summary: Trysts is creepy, fun and queerly strange stuff,a great book
Review: Well, it's been a little bit since I've read any gay books, so I thought it was time. I had Trysts on the shelf for several months and pulled it down for a closer look. Once I started this book of short stories, I pretty much read them all thru. I like to read short stories and interject them into my novel and non-fiction reading, but these were too interesting, odd and funly strange. I especially liked the last set of stories that are all tied together and take place in small altered pockets of America. A strange event has caused certain areas to Fall, making them into twisted realms filled with magic, monsters and rag tag groups of people looking for something, be it love, drugs, sex, acceptance.
My favorite story in the bunch was Finn's Night, which really didn't have any fantasy to it at all. It is a spin on Huck Finn and takes a gay gambler into youngins and mixes him up with Huck and a lady conartist. Very interesting, funny and romantic in an oldstyle way. Very different from anything else you'll tend to read.
Cries Beneath the Plaster was one of the creepiest. A man turns tricks into a work of art...until the art comes to life. This one was very strange and creepy, but I won't say anymore as to spoil it.
Other stories in this book of 13, take on a prostitute ring that isn't quite what it seems and the john that gets taken into a dark circle. A youth makes a perfect man out of cuttings from magazines and then runs into him...kinda... and then there is the secret desires that only a ghost can reveal thru a Ouija board.
Some I liked better than others, of course, but all had twists on life, love and loneliness; drugs and sex; youth and desires. All had a queer tone or directly queer character and then put them in odd and bizarre situations. I recommend this as good queer reading. Girls, you should like it too as a few stories have lesbian characters as well.
So find Trysts by Steve Berman...and have a freaky night.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly Let down
Review: While it was nice to read a dark fantasy collection with a gay theme I was expecting a lot more from this book, based off of reviews I had read on amazon. Not terribly tawdry, which was a plus and very well conceptualized by the author. Some of the stories are exceptionally short and reminiscent to newsgroup or posting board fictions. Once the character of Caleb and the stories revolved around The Fallen begin, things start to get interesting. As the second part of the book progresses a continuity is desired but never achieved, which was a disappointment. So all in all the book was entertaining but not, in my opinion, a 5 star title. I would read another book by the author to see if his narrative has continuity and see what other interesting ideas come from him.
|
