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randalm's review against another edition
5.0
Just delightful. It's often hard to review a collection of stories by a variety of authors. But in this case, diversity truly is its strength. A couple made me laugh out loud and at least one made me shudder with horror. I'm going to check out the previous years' collections.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I'm used to short story anthologies being more uneven than this—the quality of this collection is overall very high, and the variety of stories is remarkable as well. Well worth the read.
tregina's review against another edition
4.0
I'm used to short story anthologies being more uneven than this—the quality of this collection is overall very high, and the variety of stories is remarkable as well. Well worth the read.
gerhard's review against another edition
4.0
This is the first Wilde Stories collection I have read, sub-titled ‘The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction’. There are only two ‘kind of’ SF stories here, both are about AI, with the bulk being fantasy and/or horror. Same have more gay content than others. No spaceships, astronauts or even aliens. Unless you count the weird bloke on the block as an alien.
Editor Steve Berman definitely needs to include a brief boilerplate explanation in each year’s edition to remind regular readers, and inform new ones like me, of the connection between Oscar Wilde and speculative fiction – which SF readers will know was Robert Heinlein’s preferred term for science fiction.
Speculative fiction here obviously runs the gamut of the fantastic. While I enjoyed this collection, I would have liked to have read more explicitly SF stories (gay ‘hard’ SF!), as there is already an abundance of gay fantasy and horror.
Having said that, this is a wonderful collection, with uniformly excellent writing and varied content. I love collections like this, as they are often a treasure trove of new writers.
The Arab’s Prayer by Alex Jeffers: Evocative account of the daily minutiae of a cross-cultural relationship between Yaffe (Jewish) and Mus’ad (Muslim) in a future Jerusalem still wracked with dissent and religious turmoil. An impressive amount of detail layers this story, making for an intense, lived-in reading experience.
Fairy Tale by Justin Torres: Deliciously grimy and shockingly sexy little fairy story by the author of ‘We, The Animals’.
Thou Earth, Thou by K.M. Ferebee: Gay couple Dunbar and Mason move to the countryside, where Dunbar discovers his green thumbs. This is a slow-building and intense horror story that packs a shocking ending.
Hoffmann, Godzilla and Me by Richard Bowes: Elegiac tale about a gay writer confronting his own mortality, wrapped up in considerations of Japanese horror movies, New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and Hoffmann’s Copelia, about a man who falls in love with a doll (or a robot, in this SF version).
Color Zap! by Sam Sommer: Disappointingly didactic, by-the-numbers story about a planetary colony founded by gay people where genetic manipulation occasionally burps out a child with coloured hair, leading to ridicule and discrimination. Spencer, he of the periwinkle locks, soon finds he is not alone, and joins a revolutionary movement called the Community of Recessives whose acts of civil disobedience are called ‘color zaps’.
All Smiles by Steve Berman: From the frying pan into the fire ... Saul escapes from a youth detention / rehabilitation centre and hitches a ride with an enigmatic pair of teenagers, who turn out to be vampires on the prowl. This is far more a horror story, with no discernible SF element and borderline gay content.
The Peacock by Ted Infinity and Nabil Hijazi: This delightful story about an AI’s romantic awakening ticks all the boxes of SF and gay (and then some). Wonderfully evocative and laugh-out-loud funny. Definitely one of the strongest stories in the anthology.
Ashes in the Water by Joel Lane and Mat Joiner: Moody, borderline fantasy piece. Josh visits the houseboat of his friend Anthony, after his partner Warren passes away, and discovers that the houseboat is either a doorway to a darker realm, or a funeral barge carrying him away from normality.
A Razor in an Apple by Kristopher Reisz: Beautiful story about loss and the power of memory. No overt SF elements in this fantasy story, which borders on horror. Philip visits a strange apothecary shop where it is rumoured one can buy memories … at a price.
The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons by Tom Cardamone: Like the Justin Torres story, this one is only a handful of pages ... but, wow, how the writing sizzles. I suppose this wishful fantasy is about the power of belief and desire. Beguiling and whimsical.
Filling up the Void by Richard E. Gropp: One of the few hard SF stories in this anthology, about AI and full body modification ... with the irony being that the gay porn industry pioneers both technologies (reminiscent of The Peacock).
The House by the Park by Lee Thomas: The most sexually explicit story in this anthology, the most overt horror story ... and also the most romantic. Denis and Fred, two older men who survive difficult relationships, find solace and compatibility in each other. Unbeknown to them, a man in the house by the park has committed suicide and cursed the world in the process, opening the gates to hell. Intense and unsettling.
Pinion by Stellan Thorne: Beautiful story about a hard-bitten cop who has to arrest an angel for a crime, and is haunted by the experience for his entire life.
We Do Not Come in Peace by Christopher Barzak: Infatuation and the passion of youth collide in a mysterious town on the Border, where revolution simmers.
The Duke of Riverside by Ellen Kushner: Standard sword-and-sorcery fare, with only a token nod to gay content.
Editor Steve Berman definitely needs to include a brief boilerplate explanation in each year’s edition to remind regular readers, and inform new ones like me, of the connection between Oscar Wilde and speculative fiction – which SF readers will know was Robert Heinlein’s preferred term for science fiction.
Speculative fiction here obviously runs the gamut of the fantastic. While I enjoyed this collection, I would have liked to have read more explicitly SF stories (gay ‘hard’ SF!), as there is already an abundance of gay fantasy and horror.
Having said that, this is a wonderful collection, with uniformly excellent writing and varied content. I love collections like this, as they are often a treasure trove of new writers.
The Arab’s Prayer by Alex Jeffers: Evocative account of the daily minutiae of a cross-cultural relationship between Yaffe (Jewish) and Mus’ad (Muslim) in a future Jerusalem still wracked with dissent and religious turmoil. An impressive amount of detail layers this story, making for an intense, lived-in reading experience.
Fairy Tale by Justin Torres: Deliciously grimy and shockingly sexy little fairy story by the author of ‘We, The Animals’.
Thou Earth, Thou by K.M. Ferebee: Gay couple Dunbar and Mason move to the countryside, where Dunbar discovers his green thumbs. This is a slow-building and intense horror story that packs a shocking ending.
Hoffmann, Godzilla and Me by Richard Bowes: Elegiac tale about a gay writer confronting his own mortality, wrapped up in considerations of Japanese horror movies, New York at the height of the AIDS epidemic, and Hoffmann’s Copelia, about a man who falls in love with a doll (or a robot, in this SF version).
Color Zap! by Sam Sommer: Disappointingly didactic, by-the-numbers story about a planetary colony founded by gay people where genetic manipulation occasionally burps out a child with coloured hair, leading to ridicule and discrimination. Spencer, he of the periwinkle locks, soon finds he is not alone, and joins a revolutionary movement called the Community of Recessives whose acts of civil disobedience are called ‘color zaps’.
All Smiles by Steve Berman: From the frying pan into the fire ... Saul escapes from a youth detention / rehabilitation centre and hitches a ride with an enigmatic pair of teenagers, who turn out to be vampires on the prowl. This is far more a horror story, with no discernible SF element and borderline gay content.
The Peacock by Ted Infinity and Nabil Hijazi: This delightful story about an AI’s romantic awakening ticks all the boxes of SF and gay (and then some). Wonderfully evocative and laugh-out-loud funny. Definitely one of the strongest stories in the anthology.
Ashes in the Water by Joel Lane and Mat Joiner: Moody, borderline fantasy piece. Josh visits the houseboat of his friend Anthony, after his partner Warren passes away, and discovers that the houseboat is either a doorway to a darker realm, or a funeral barge carrying him away from normality.
A Razor in an Apple by Kristopher Reisz: Beautiful story about loss and the power of memory. No overt SF elements in this fantasy story, which borders on horror. Philip visits a strange apothecary shop where it is rumoured one can buy memories … at a price.
The Cloud Dragon Ate Red Balloons by Tom Cardamone: Like the Justin Torres story, this one is only a handful of pages ... but, wow, how the writing sizzles. I suppose this wishful fantasy is about the power of belief and desire. Beguiling and whimsical.
Filling up the Void by Richard E. Gropp: One of the few hard SF stories in this anthology, about AI and full body modification ... with the irony being that the gay porn industry pioneers both technologies (reminiscent of The Peacock).
The House by the Park by Lee Thomas: The most sexually explicit story in this anthology, the most overt horror story ... and also the most romantic. Denis and Fred, two older men who survive difficult relationships, find solace and compatibility in each other. Unbeknown to them, a man in the house by the park has committed suicide and cursed the world in the process, opening the gates to hell. Intense and unsettling.
Pinion by Stellan Thorne: Beautiful story about a hard-bitten cop who has to arrest an angel for a crime, and is haunted by the experience for his entire life.
We Do Not Come in Peace by Christopher Barzak: Infatuation and the passion of youth collide in a mysterious town on the Border, where revolution simmers.
The Duke of Riverside by Ellen Kushner: Standard sword-and-sorcery fare, with only a token nod to gay content.
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