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The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica
Lawrence Schimel, editor
Carroll and Graf
How to order Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins
Emma Donoghue
HarperCollins
How to order

At the age of 28, Emma Donoghue is already a marvel. The author of two critically acclaimed novels, a fascinating work of lesbian history, and a series of successful stage plays, Donoghue can apparently do anything. Now, in Kissing the Witch (Harper Collins, cloth, 228 pages, $15)-- a collection of revisionist fairy tales-- she has proven herself once again as a great writer.

In these 13 interconnected tales, Donoghue finds new meanings in old stories: here Cinderella runs off with her Fairy Godmother, Snow White's awakening is more erotic than romantic, and Rapunzel discovers that her freedom, although not her salvation, is in her hair. Donoghue writes about women-- some lesbians and some not-- and makes them the center of her fantastical world. The bold, daring boys of the Grimm tales are nowhere to be found, but in their place are vibrant, knowing, and brave women and girls who are finding out what the world-- in all of its wonders-- holds for them.

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What amazes about these stories is that while we know the originals-- mostly from Grimm Fairy Tales-- and we think that we know the spin Donoghue is going to take, we are always surprised. It would have been easy for her to simply turn out what right-wing critics would call "politically correct" versions of classic tales, but Donoghue is too smart a writer and thinker to do simply that. These stories are informed by a world view that understands the foibles and pratfalls of being human, whether it be in a small village, an enchanted forest, or the world we live in today. The prose of Kissing the Witch is simple and direct-- like all traditional fairy tales-- and while it could be read by children as well as adults, there is nothing childish or young about it.

A steamy read

In the past seven years gay male erotic writing has entered the world of mainstream publishing. Fiction and nonfiction erotic anthologies have appeared and titillated millions of men who formally found these delights only between the covers of porno magazines. Lawrence Schimel's The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica (Carroll and Graf, paper, 528 pages, $10.95) is the newest addition to this growing genre and one of the best.

Any new anthology-- in a market that has becoming increasingly crowded-- has to be distinctive and Schimel has managed to do this very well. The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica reprints some old favorites by writers such as Aaron Travis and Bill Mann. Travis's "Do as the Romans Do" details a sweet sexual encounter, a refreshing change from Travis's more explicitly SM fictions like "Slaves of the Empire" and "The Hit." Mann's "By the Numbers" is a telling story about tricking that foreshadows the author's recent popular novel The Men From the Boys. Schimel also includes excerpts from novels by such notables as Christopher Bram, Neil Bartlett, and Alan Hollinghurst. The Bram piece-- an excerpt from Hold Tight-- his novel about sailors, male whores and spies in World War II-- is sexy, funny, and insightful.

One of the treats of The Mammoth Book of Gay Erotica are new stories by Paul Russell, Matthew Rettmund, Lars Eighner, and Andrew Holleran. The Russell and Holleran pieces-- as smart and incisive as you would expect-- are welcomed reading for everyone interested in contemporary gay fiction. Schimel has also rediscovered and printed older writings by Edmund White and Michael Denneny from the late 1970s. In an odd way these give the book historical context-- even though they are less then 20 years old. Sexy, sweaty, sweet, and often very moving this collection renews your faith in the sexual power-- and performance of the written word.

Author Profile:  Michael Bronski
	Michael Bronski is the author of Culture Clash: The Making of Gay Sensibility and The Pleasure Principle: Sex, Backlash, and the Struggle for Gay Freedom. He writes frequently on sex, books, movies, and culture, and lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
	Email:	mabronski@aol.com