[unread] The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories (1994) PB Queer Gay Genre Fiction Larry Kramer

This is a rare unread vintage and out of print copy of The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories by Various (Author), David Leavitt (Editor), Mark Mitchell (Editor) in 1994 and published and distributed by Penguin Books. 688 pages in length and measures 6 x 1.4 x 9 inches. See photos for condition.

These thirty-nine stories chronicle the gay experience over the course of the last century, beginning with the unarticulated longing of two boys swimming in D.H. Lawrence's "A Poem of Friendship" and ending with the explicit sexual interaction of two boys in a bathtub in A.M. Homes's "The Whiz Kids.”

“The fist novel I ever read about say men was called The Lord Want
Mind. I was sixteen at the time-1977-a high school junior growing up thirty miles south of San Francisco, in what was just becoming Silicon Valley. Palo Alto had a wonderful left-of-center bookstore in those days, which actually maintained a gay section just a few shelves, yet I knew their contents by heart. The Lord Won't Mind, by Gordon Merrick, caught my attention because its cover, on which two radiantly handsome blond men stared longingly into each other's eyes, suggested what seemed to me a promising combination of erotic heat and practical information. So I bought the book, slipping the copy I'd chosen between two innocuous magazines in case I ran into someone I knew on the trip from the gay section to the cash register. What I feared, peculiarly, was being obliged to confess an identity to which my libido had already made an unwavering commitment. No one saw me, however. Now I wish someone had.

Today, The Lord Won't Mind is out of print. Turning up a copy took me ages, but I finally found one. The story concerns Charlie, just out of Princeton, and Peter, just about to start Princeton, who are brought together by a wealthy woman of large gestures called C. B. Both are blond, rock-hard, stunningly handsome. In the first chapter Charlie seduces Peter by parading in front of him in only a towel, then suggesting that Peter undress so that they can compare their bodies in order to deduce whether they might share clothes. This titillating striptease leads, of course, to the…”

In between there is every imaginable kind of gay story written by every imaginable kind of writer—gay and straight, male and female—all illuminating the common ground of the gay male experience and its astonishing diversity.

Due to recent delivery issues with the USPS I now ship all magazines, digests and paperback books via Priority Mail. $100 of insurance is included in this price. I’m selling my collection of vintage 1950-1980s gay pulp paperback novels, pictorial & hardcore magazines, physique photography, magazines, artwork & other LGBTQ ephemera.