was a fun collection of gay themed Christmas stories, The cover is misleading in that it brings to mind a collection of erotic stories, but these are not erotica, It is a typical short story collection in that some stories are far better than others, Overall, I enjoyed everything and am glad to have spent time with the stories, Upon A Midnight Clear shatters the traditional view of Christmas and instead portrays what it's like to be gay during the most inescapable holiday season, In this stirring anthology of tales filled with holiday cheer and chaos, acclaimed authors, including Greg Herren, Felice Picano and Jim Grimsley bring to life the heartache, struggles, breakthroughs and bonds of love that are never more apparent that during Christmas.
This collection provides what Christmas has always been missing for gay men the comforts of tradition, Stories in Upon A Midnight Clear include: Our Family's Things an abandoned lover and father is left to fend for himself Comfort and Joy a man who has met the man of his dreams finally comes out to his family and himself Secret Family Recipe a mother plots to poison her son's livein lover at Christmas lunch Skating an exboyfriend tries to help his old lover move on In the City of Warm Red Light a gay holiday party ignites a straight woman's insecurities This collection of short stories and essays was edited by Greg Herren with the hopes of providing an idea of what it is like to experience the holiday season as a gay man.
The book starts off with a series of stories related to men who have not completely come out of the closet or are in the process, These stories generally deal with handling the family either with rough reactions or continuing to hide their homosexuality because it falls outside of parental situations,
There is one very funny story that centers around two college friends that participate in a "Christmas orphans," those with no where else to go for the holidays, celebration that goes terribly wrong when a coworker of one of the attendees takes
over the conversation with some very personal and lessthanappropriate questions.
There are also some romantic and touching stories, such as the last one, which tells the tale of middleaged man who is recovering from breaking up with his partner of many years and learning to live with their now broken family with three adult children and an elderly dog.
In the process of dealing with his dog's illness, he meets a really friend and nice vet,
Another piece is an essay about how the media has shifted the view of Christmas from the Peanuts and Rudolph to PeeWee Herman and the Star Wars Holiday Special.
He is a bit harsh, I think, but his points are interesting all the same,
This was a quick read, As with most collections, there are some great ones, and others I found myself skimming through, Contrary to what you would think from looking at the title, this book would not be called porn, soft or otherwise, That is not to say that romance doesn't sometimes take front stage, but it is all part of the story, I was glad to read this one, I actually ran across it in my library and figured it might be an interesting holiday read, At the opening of the collection Upon a Midnight Clear, edited by Greg Herren, there is an introduction that made me smile, It said things that I've always felt that Christmas is one of the few times of the year that being queer was something I felt so damn strongly.
I was outside, looking in, and when I was alone, it freaking sucked, And everywhere I looked especially once I started retail it was all about the perfect family, with perfect children all white, by the way, which I'm sure adds an extra level of awesome for the intersectional folks out there, and the perfect presents, and that perfect morning and oh, God, it sucked.
But, by the time I got some good friends together, and I started throwing "Christmas for Losers" for all of us who'd been uninvited, and the Christmas tree ornaments thing started, I had my own ways of making merry.
And it was a good thing,
The introduction also mentions the joy that is the frustrating and endless parade of holiday movies, Just as sickening, just as devoid of anything queer, and always the same message: Christmas will fix everything!
I call bullshit,
Some of the major highlights for me were:
"It's a Life," by M, Christian
Oh I love this freaking story,
Basically it's a retelling of "It's a Wonderful Life," but from such a fresh and unique angle that I didn't see it coming, It's a perfect example, I have to say, of capturing that feeling I always felt from all those holiday movies that the queer folk are just uninvited from that particular season.
The joy in this story is in the slow realization that when you ask that you not have been born and an angel sorry, fairy shows you what it would have been like without you, that your realization of how much better life is had you had your original course is absolutely dripping with hubris.
Because even if that world is better for everyone, what about the world you leave behind
As soon as I read this story, I knew I was going to wholly enjoy this collection, and it's a gift to return to it again this year.
"Comfort and Joy," by Jim Grimsley
I adore this story, First off, it has these grand characters who manage to live up to their role without descending into stereotypes, It's a rich uppercrust family that Ford is visiting for the holidays, and yet Mother and Father are smothering him despite his age and trying to hoist him toward marriage.
Given the reality of his being gay, there's little chance of him falling for the woman they keep trying to pass his way, but it's Ford's gentle nature and his worrisome doubting inner voice that win the reader over.
Planned, careful, and tentative, Ford is a lovely character that you root for from the first step,
I've always enjoyed Grimsley's work, and this was no exception,
"Skating," by Stephen Soucy
At first I was worried about someone reworking 'A Christmas Carol, ' It's one of my favourite stories, after all, It turns out I shouldn't have worried, This story does play on the Marley's ghost idea, but goes in a fresh and interesting direction, A young man who has buried someone he loved has a visit from this man's ghost and they travel through the Christmas days of their life together, and a chance at a future is offered.
But letting go of that kind of love can be a hard thing to do, and sometimes the chance at something new is a hard thing to risk against the potential for finding it lacking.
This is a gentle story, and right up my alley, Second chances, a dash of magic, and just enough to make you sniffle once or twice,
"Rainbows," by Jameson Currier
Now, I know I mean know when I pick up a piece by Jameson Currier that I'm in for a fantastic read.
And I also know that holiday stories are not my cup of tea though this entire collection of queer holiday stories, Upon a Midnight Clear, is wonderful.
So I was hoping that combining the two things would even out to something I'd like, and how dumb am I not to realize it was going to be a wonderful, wonderful piece
Lots dumb.
That's how dumb.
What's brilliant here is the relationship between the narrator and Nathan and, oh, for the record, does anyone else find it really weird when you see your own name in a story, or is that just me and the way that a surprise gift plays out over the story, along with a denouement that brings things back from a somewhat shaky place with a simple and beautiful reminder of love.
I don't want to give away specifics about this story, since the premise of the story is a surprise itself being presented to the narrator and then other less welcome surprises thereafter but I will say this: the way Jameson Currier can take a single theme and spin multiple threads around it is just brilliant.
I should remind myself of that every time I pick up one of his pieces,
.