$14.95
ISBN 1573442046
available through Amazon

Reviewed by William Dean
(03/23/05)

While some erotica publishing houses are drifting away, with others burying themselves deeper in what is loosely termed "erotic romances," Cleis Press continues steadily to issue books which are both physically attractive and cutting-edge sharp. A good case in point -- and which should be appearing on the erotica shelves of Barnes & Nobles and Borders near you -- is Best Black Gay Erotica, edited by Darieck Scott.

It wasn't so long ago that black gay writing was pretty much defined on one hand by literary giants such as James Baldwin, the inimitable Samuel R. Delany, and powerful be-bop paeans such as The Messenger by Charles Wright, and on the much less talked about hand by the sleazy-covered pulp porn found in the back corners of "adult bookstores." The latter were cheaply produced hack jobs, of course, which played up all the stereotypes of immensely-hung, degenerate lowlifes, and were probably bought more by gay whites fantasizing about "dark meat" than by black gay men.

But the post-post-Stonewall era continues to see both growing interest in and advancing public appearances of black gay erotica. Darieck Scott, a novelist in his own right, has assembled an impressive anthology. There are stories from the icons, such as Delany's "Sleepwalkers" and James Earl Hardy's segment from "B-Boy Blues;" hot passages from familiar names including Shane Allison, Giovanni, and Red Jordan Arobateau; and sizzling ass and cock tales from newcomers you may not have heard of yet.

Canaan Parker, author of The Color of Trees and Sky Daddy, gives readers "One for the Road:"

"You got a nice ass for twenty-three." He brushed his hand up and down between my cakes. Then he swiped lightly at my down, giving me a start.

"Do you want to get fucked?" he asked politely.

Of course I did. I wanted to get stitched into the mattress. But I answered with that tired, silly cliché:

"Only if you promise to take it easy and pull out when I say." Which was nonsense and a lie.

While most of the authors here live either on the West or East coasts of the United States, Jay Russell lives in London. His Booty Boys and Voodoo Man are published through Idol Books. Russell treats readers with a non-stop action selection from his novel Rude Boys (already sold out at Idol):

Behind Malcolm, and as yet unseen by him, Don had sprawled back on a pile of cushions, getting his ass up in the air. He moved a gold-ringed fist on his long dick as a succession of guys came over to rim him, licking and tonguing his immaculately hairless chocolate star. The cute would-be tough skinhead, who had been fucked by the afroed guy earlier, had licked Don's ass with hungry thoroughness, as had the mustachioed black muscleman who liked having dildos rammed up his ass. But the best rimmer was Camara, who had come down off stage after shooting his load into Prince Fela's greedy mouth.

As readers have seen in Zane's heterosexual erotica, black authors can command a powerful and passionate style, getting and keeping your attention at a feverish pitch. Editor Darieck Scott, who teaches African American literature at the University of California, puts this collection in a fascinating perspective. "The history of the different ways representations of black sexuality have been deployed," he writes in his Introduction: Black Gay Pornotopias or When We Were Sluts, "does...impart to collections such as these a frisson of the political, however modestly conceived with the goals of making money and making readers jack off they may be. It seems useful to briefly resurrect...the assertion of our late fathers/brothers Essex Hemphill, Marlon Riggs, and Joseph Beam that 'black men loving black men' is a revolutionary act."

Scott also cites "the fierceness of eros" which often presents conflicts in the day-to-day life of all gay men, especially those who put in "street time." The bars, sex clubs, cruising sites, and glory holes, however dramatic, are not the end-all, be-all of gay life, and Best Black Gay Erotica, includes softer sides where introspection is as important as getting off. As Scott says, "These pieces are sexy, they're often funny, and they're occasionally healing...not unlike the euphoric disorientation of the orgasmic moment."

Check It Out - More Black GLBT Resources:

The Black Gay and Lesbian Archive

Behind the Mask a Web site magazine on lesbian and gay affairs in Africa

The Gay and Lesbian Archives of South Africa

The Shango Project: National Archives for Black Lesbians and Gay Men, P.O. Box 2341 Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2341

The Shango Project is a newly conceived effort to collect, preserve and maintain materials of historical interest which document aspects of African-American Lesbian and Gay existence in contemporary and historical society.

BLARE . This e-zine brings you the latest news and information about the world of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Arts & Entertainment (including literature, film, television, theatre and performance art, music, visual art, and online media).

Homegrown History - An exploration of the Harlem Renaissance in 'Brother to Brother' reflects D.C.'s own gay black history by Will O'Bryan, from MetroWeekly

Black Gay Coalition Broadens 2005 Goals By Ross von Metzke. From GayWired.

Mabel Hampton, Black Lesbian Pioneer by by Kathy Belge, from About.com

African-American Lesbian Literature from GLBTQ, an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer culture

African-American gay male tradition in literature from GLBTQ, an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer culture

Documenting a black gay and lesbian literary canon from FindArticles.com

BLK publishing company targeting the black lesbian and gay market

The Blackstripe For Lesbians, Gay men, Bisexuals, and Transgendered People of African Descent, includes lists of films, books, organizations, resources, notable people, etc.

The Bookhouse CaféThe nations largest online bookseller of Black gay lesbian transgender literature

James Baldwin page from the African American Literature Book Club

"The Black homosexual is hard pressed to gain an audience among his heterosexual brothers; even if he is more talented, he is inhibited by his silence or his admissions. This is what the race has depended on in being able to erase homosexuality from our recorded history. The “chosen” history. But these sacred constructions of silence are futile exercises in denial. We will not go away with our issues of sexuality. We are coming home."

— From Loyalty, by Essex Hemphill