My Review of Out: Five Erotic Stories of Gay Self-Discovery

Phenomenal Storytelling

I was offered the opportunity to review this before its official release, and let me tell you, I jumped on it. It's not that I'm a particular a fan of gay male erotica ... like most guys of my generation, I was unfairly socialized to be creeped out by homosexuality. And while I'm enlightened enough now that I'd definitely do 1993 Jason Scott Lee if he came looking for me in a time machine, my boat is generally not floated by depictions of gay sex.

But Patient Lee has such a masterful grasp of character and such finesse at writing human sensuality that I knew I would enjoy a collection of her stories, gay or straight, and that the subject matter of this one would probably deal yet another blow to the idiotic but stubborn uneasiness I've been saddled with by my youth in the 20th century South with respect to thoughts of gay sex.

I'm glad to say I was correct on all counts.

First and foremost, the stories in this book are about people, not about gay guys. Sure, all the people happen to turn out to either be gay or have an affinity for gay sex, but the point is to carry us on a series of human journeys into self-discovery, to take us places most of us have never been - and yet, places most of us will find familiar and compelling and identifiable at the same time.

(Mild spoilers in this paragraph) Each of these stories features some element of tremendous discomfort - a teenage boy wrestling with the demons of having watched his mother killed by his father; a divorced parent tempted into gay experimentation in circumstances we know will lead to public exposure; a man forced to admit to his girlfriend that he's had a lifelong secret desire to have sex with another man; a pair of fishermen falling in love on a crab boat where the close quarters might get them beaten to a pulp, fired, or maybe thrown overboard if they're found out; and a mentally impaired young man bullied into invading a gay couple's home for the purpose of committing a hate crime.

By immersing us deeply and sympathetically into these situations, Lee gives even the straight, sheltered hetero reader some sense of the fear or shame or self-loathing that might come with a life spent hiding one's sexuality from the world, or even from one's self. And yet in each case, there's a suffusion of hope and potential happiness undergirding the inner and external conflicts that task the characters. Story after story, Lee nurtures and tends to that potential until it blooms into full beauty - sometimes through passionate encounters, but sometimes through the simple sense of liberty or understanding that she gifts upon her protagonists and readers alike.

Finishing up the last of the volume today, I found myself emotionally overwhelmed, blinking back tears, and very much in awe of this author's brilliance.

As for the sex, Lee shows an unending capacity to produce heartfelt word-sculptures of such pure allure and arousal that at one point, I even found myself attracted to my number-one "no way, never" sex act and thinking, "Well ... maybe ..." (Not sure I care to name it here, but if you want a hint, it involves no genitalia.)

If you have any appreciation of gay male erotica, you should snap this book up immediately. On the other hand, if the genre makes you uncomfortable, you should still snap it up.

One way or another, it will speak to you.