Sam D'Allesandro (1956–1988)

This is a collection of all his short stories put together after his work went out of print sometime after his death in 1988. I don't mind short stories, but I prefer immersing myself in a novel to the start-stop of a writing collection. But with this work all the pieces shared a voice, were more like different tales from the same life, so there was a more seamless flow. The writing was some of the best, at least the best male writing, I've read recently. The only thing I question is the whole "gay fiction" tag. The only gay aspect of the work was the author's personal sexual preference, which if the biographical tone of the pieces is anything to go by, was not set in stone. The stories themselves deal with family & friend relationships as well as sexual or romantic ones, of which some were not homosexual & even the stories relating to those which were dealt with issues & feelings not unique to gay relationships. I can see that the tag of "gay fiction" could be relevant in some contexts, but to categorise this & no doubt other work without true reason could exclude or deter people from enjoying what was, in my opinion, a beautiful literary voice.… (more)