Title: I Imagine the Quay
Author: Maggie Veness
Publisher: MLR Press
Amazon: Buy Link I Imagine the Quay
Genre: M/M Recent Historical (80s), HIV
Length: Short Story (<5k words)
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Cole
Review Summary: This very short story by new author Maggie Veness was well written in some places and could use some more work in others, but overall shows a promising new author.
BLURB
Follow Karl and Anthony as they enter an exhilarating but complicated relationship.
Guaranteed to tug at your heart, this erotic tale, set in 1980, explores the hurdles the two must overcome to find simple love and commitment at a time when the entire community is under attack from HIV.
REVIEW
Anthony is in love with his flat-mate, Karl. It is 1980 and their friends are dropping around them. They are scared, but they show it in different ways. Anthony, who tells this tale of new love half through epistolary journal entries and half through narration, withdraws into himself and his journal, where his varying emotions can become melodrama in secret. Karl shows nothing — at least through Anthony’s perceptions of him — but the continued love of partying and friends and his hipster lifestyle. Yet both have secrets that they are afraid to share with the other.
I was actually quite impressed with this story from new author Maggie Veness (I could only find one previous anthology story by her from 2008). There are some things that she has done very well with this story (the narration and the subtle clues of the larger picture) and some that needed a bit of work, namely the dialogue, which at times felt forced and stilted. Yet, for a new author this short format suits her, as narration works quite well in short stories. Here we see the narration through Anthony’s voice, his love for Karl and the excitement and fear of Karl finding out. That type of situation practically breeds melodrama, but here it was confined to the short journal entries where private melodrama is allowed. What little we learn about Karl and Anthony is delivered through the fear of the time of HIV outbreak, and is delivered by Karl’s spoken fears about meeting someone new, about falling in love and fearing what wanting that so badly means.
Though it is a snippet of their time together, it shows the beginning of a relationship that is steeped in secrets that beget more questions than answers. Honestly, I would have thought this story would work well for the Bittersweet Dreams titles at DSP, however, that does not mean that this story has an unhappy ending, simply unresolved and hinting at a troublesome future. In fact, I thought the subtle hints at the larger picture were done quite well, and certainly didn’t fall prey to the sometimes heavy-handed writing trap that new authors can fall into.
Maggie Veness is an author that I’d certainly look forward to reading again, just to see what she might be able to do with a longer story.
Hi Cole, good to “see” again. I haven’t read this one yet, but just wanted to point out that I’ve seen that same cover on several books lately. Have you noticed? One as early as yesterday with a Cameron Dane new release. Is that normal to do?
You’re right, Hope! It’s on Quick to the Hunt. I didn’t even notice it because it’s so dark. I wonder what else it’s on… I know it’s on all of the MLR Got 5 Minutes? stories, but not sure about individual books. It’s pretty normal though since most of these cover models and pics come from stock photo packages. The true artistry comes in how the cover artist can manipulate it to look like a new and unique picture. That’s what Reese Dante and Anne Cain do really well.
Thanks for the review Cole, I’m always interested in new writers and this shorter story sounds like a good read.
It’s VERY VERY short. Like, when MLR says Got 5 MInutes? They mean 5 minutes! So as long as you don’t expect too much then you’re golden. Still, for the small amount that it is and for being a new (relatively) author, it was done pretty well.