Title: Straight? True Stories of Unexpected Sexual Encounters between Men
Editor: Jack Hart
Publisher: Alyson Books
Genre: Gay Fiction
Length: Novel – Print 188 pages
Rating: 3.50 stars out of 5
THE BLURB
This collection features more than 50 true accounts of unlikely sexual encounters between men.
THE REVIEW
These supposed “true” stories in this book, if you want to call them stories, are very short, most of them between 3 – 5 pages long, challenge the premise of “straight” — no one knows if they are actually true but the publisher notes that the stories have all appeared in “MEN” magazine. They are first person accounts featuring adventures of the carnal kind between straight and gay men, ranging from college kids, army buddies, hockey and ball players, strangers who just want to have fun, married and engaged men who hook up with gay men to find out what it’s like. For those readers who love to read about a man’s first time with another man or just wondered what it’s like, especially if one of those men appears to be “straight,” this collection lifts the veil and let’s you take a peek into a lifestyle most of you probably will never experience.
Some of the stories are innocent and the men are naive; all they want is another man to light their fire or satisfy their curiosity and in the process they challenge the authenticity of straight or gay tags. Very few of the stories involve trickery to get someone to give it up and it’s clear from the 50 plus accounts that a good time was had by all. One editorial reviewer quoted the old joke that’s been around from time immemorial “Q: What’s the difference between a gay man and a straight man? A: A six pack.” I’m sure it’s not quite that simple, but a number of straight men seem only too willing to try it from the other side of the bed. Men who are bi-curious, as well as straight men and women may find the stories a refreshing change because there’s no plot or characterizations to think about, just sex between consenting adults.
This is not a book about romance; think HFN — it’s straight gay fiction. The collection of stories must be taken for what it is. If you’re looking for some light reading with hot men, this book is what’s commonly called by men “stroke material” and it probably lives up to its name. Quite a few of the accounts are funny and if you want to pass the time with something light but definitely sexual, this is the book for you.
This book was a 4 for me, just a little higher rating than you gave it. I liked Straight 2 much better.
I keep books like this in my nightstand because they make great bedtime stories, if you know what I mean. 😉
Hi Jen
The reason I gave it a 3.50 is because the stories were so short – not enough content. But they were great for the purpose (did I not say “stroke material?”) *g*
Stroke material indeed. LOL My husband loves it when I reach into the drawer for one of my pr0n anthologies.
I wonder if it freaks the boys out that we ladies love gay porn. ^_^
I doubt that it freaks them out – they just want to join in *g*
I read that book last year and would have given it pretty much the same rating. Perhaps lower; I found the stories remarquably unremarkable. Perhaps it’s because they were (supposedly) written by “real” people so there wasn’t much originality in the settings or finesse in the storytelling. All the stories were short, to the point, and didn’t give you much to think about. It was simply sex. Sex without emotions, and involving characters you don’t know anything about, isn’t very interesting to me.
As I said in the review – it’s straight “stroke” material – gay fiction. But what I tried to do in the review is look at the book from the perspective of someone who likes to read gay fiction – not someone who reads M/M – and it’s better than most.
I think I also said that there’s no pretense at romance or a plot. It is what it is.
Lol. You know, I realized I actually skipped your last paragraph :). Sorry. Anyway, just not my cup of tea, or not what I wanted at the moment :). But I give you credit for looking at it the way with the eye of the public it was aiming for.
Mary
You should learn to trust me more *g*
Now why would you think I don’t? :-p