Wilde Stories 2010 is the third annual edition in Lethe Press’s series showcasing gay speculative fiction (fantasy, horror, and science-fiction) published in the previous year. The protagonists of the stories are exclusively gay males. However, the authors of the 12 short stories included in this edition include nine men and three women. Editor Steve Berman states, “I neither know nor care what their orientations might be. . . . The story’s identity matters to me, not the writer’s.”
There are eight fantasy stories, three horror stories, and one science fiction story. The quality of the stories is uneven, but several are gems. “Barbaric Splendor,” by Simon Sheppard is an interesting tale of a shipwrecked Dutch East Indies Company crew that finds its way to fabled Xanadu. “I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said,” by Richard Bowes, which was nominated for the 2009 Nebula Award for Best Novelette, explores how unconscious patients in hospitals are in the intersection of the real world and a world populated by ghosts. Jameson Currier’s “Death in Amsterdam” investigates cultural tensions between gays and Muslims in the Netherlands. The final story, “The Far Sore” by Elizabeth Hand, is a delightful fantasy about a former ballet dancer spending the winter at a deserted summer camp, and the enchanted woods on the other side of the lake.
A sly humor is present in several of the stories, including “Where the Sun Doesn’t Shine,” by Rhys Hughes, and “The Sphinx Next Door,” by Tom Cardamone. Two of the stories, however, were incoherent, including, unfortunately, the only science fiction story in the anthology.
The 2008 edition of Wilde Stories was a nominee for the 2008 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror.
Wilde Stories 2010: The Year’s Best Gay Speculative Fiction is recommended for academic and public libraries serving GLBT populations, and those libraries with an interest in fantasy and horror fiction.
Reviewed by, Paul Hubbard
Retired Public Reference Librarian