BEST AMERICAN GAY FICTION

Editor Bouldrey (The Genius of Desire, 1993) notes that his goals in this second installment of an annual collection were to ``highlight new talent. . . showcase established writers'' and to ``bring attention to published work that might have had limited distribution.'' He accomplishes all three, producing an anthology strong on less well-known writers (including Russell Leong, Mitchell Cullin, and Karl Woelz) and venues but also featuring some effective work by such well-established figures as Andrew Holleran, Stephen Beachy, Michael Nava, and Dale Peck. Several of the most moving tales (like John R. Keene's ``My Son, My Heart, My Life'' and Scott Thomas's ``The Main Frame'') deal in fresh, powerful ways with the struggles of young men to come to grips with the nature and implications of their desires. A savvy, lively overview of current gay fiction.