April Books: Sexy Murder Mysteries Plus Johnnie Ray Rousseau is Back!

Short story collections are as good as their authors, as is the case with these three books. Lambda Award-winning author Thomas Glave followed his first collection (Whose Song? and Other Stories) with an even better set in The Torturer’s Wife (City Lights Publishers; $15.95), a group of violent and disturbing but nonetheless compelling tales.

Author Thomas Glave (right)

Author photo credit: caribbeanfreephoto

Jameson Currier, who has been writing about the impact of AIDS on gay men since the 1980s, is back with Still Dancing: New and Selected Stories (Lethe Press; $18.00). This collection combines ten stories from Currier’s best-selling Dancing on the Moon along with ten new selections. Reading Jameson Currier, we are reminded that AIDS continues to have a devastating impact on the lives of all gay men.

Finally, Craig Laurance Gidney combines ancient folklore and modern myth in Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories (Lethe Press; $13.00), a fascinating collection of tales by a promising young author. Lethe Press, always doing the right thing, will donate 10% of its profit from the sales of Sea, Swallow Me to the Carl Brandon Society, which supports speculative fiction by people of color.