Somewhere in the Night: Eight Gay Tales of the Supernatural

by Jeffrey N. McMahan

Book by McMahan, Jeffrey N.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, Supernatural, Anthologies

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1989

Reviews

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitled “Eight Gay Tales of the Supernatural”, this collection of short stories was very entertaining. Some stories were tense thrillers, some fun, and some hard on the soul. The writing was really good, not prosy, but tight, mostly first-person narratives. I think in every story, I quickly identified with the main characters, even stand-offish, cynical Andrew the vampire, who was the subject of two of the stories. It was a fast, enjoyable read. It won the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men’s Fantasy and Sci Fi in 1990, back before they combined it into the LGBT catergory for Fantasy, Sci Fi, and Horror.

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[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

written by a close family friend. great supernatural analogies to themes of alienation.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am going to start this review by making plain that I really didn't like this book and the fact that it was a Lambda winner only confirms my view that many winners of that award only received it because there was such a poor choice in the category they fall under and that the awards - perhaps more often in the past - are not any guide to quality in terms of whether a book is worth reading.

This book is a collection of gay horror/suspense stories - quite a challenge because you have to write not simply a good 'gay' story but also good horror/suspense story - well none of the stories in this collection can be said to be good stories under either definitions, mediocre is all they deserve to be called and, honestly, considering the book was first published in 1989 it is amazing when you look at so much from the 1980s and 1990s of quality that is out of print that this book was republished in 2000. It is a collection of mediocre horror/suspense stories which only got published because they got wrapped in a 'gay' covering to provide what was no doubt hoped would be a useful marketing device to guarantee sales.

I don't often say this but don't buy this book except if you find it in a charity shop and the money is going to a good cause because, honestly, otherwise you will not only be disappointed in the stories you read but will be angered by such a waste of money.