In this authoritative collection of short stories on male homosexuality by gay and non-gay writers, Alberto Manguel, "an editor with a brilliant strong natural taste" (London Gazette) and Craig Stephenson present a rich diversity of visions and voices, creating an anthology that makes gay fiction accessible to a mainstream audience. Line drawings.

In the mid-1990s there was a plethora of gay and lesbian literary anthologies and this one was by far one of the best gay-themed ones in terms of literary quality, gathering fiction by gay and non-gay writers that might have otherwise been forgotten or overlooked. I note, for example, the superb Isaac Bashevis Singer story, "Two," which is not included in Singer's "Collected Stories," Graham Greene's "May We Borrow Your Husband?" which deserves a wider exposure, and Daphne DuMaurier's "Ganymede," which essentially covers the same ground as Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice," -- about an elderly gentleman and a young man in Venice -- albeit here with a different outcome. While this anthology can't and doesn't reveal the breadth and diversity and originality of modern gay fiction -- what anthology can? -- it is nonetheless chock full of other classic short stories that deserve to be read and re-read, including Sherwood Anderson's "Hands," John Cheever's "Clancy in the Tower of Babel," Tennessee Williams's "The Mysteries of the Joy Rio," Truman Capote's "A Diamond Guitar," and Allan Gurganus's "Minor Heroism. Among my favorites in this anthology are Alice Munro's "The Turkey Season," about a young girl working as a turkey gutter, and William Trevor's "Torridge," about a school boy's revenge.