A Twist of Grimm: Erotic Fairy Tales for Gay Men
When I picked up the short story collectionA Twist of Grimm: Erotic Fairy Tales for Gay Men(Lethe Press), by William Holden, and read, ''Once upon a time…'' I thought what followed would be some tired porno story for men who fantasize about blond Disney characters. What followed was William Holden's story of Mr. Knightboots based on the Grimm Brothers' ''The Boots of Buffalo Leather.'' He kept my attention and I read it through without stopping. Holden has taken a form that delighted us as children to remind us our sexual fantasies are childlike. I'd love to see more gay erotica exploring those childlike desires because we are more likely to have a Teddy bear on our bed than a shotgun in the gun rack of our pickup. In real life, few of us are stereotypical hard tops or passive bottoms, and some of us grew up wanting to be Peter Pan.Holden uses the language of another generation's fairy tales to write modern tales..... Erotica, like all literature, is written to entertain and educate and because as gay men we tend to think with our d*cks, erotica is an ideal medium for transferring one generation's knowledge and tales to the next. Holden does that by using a form we loved as children and populating it with sexy men. And like all fairy tales, there is a lesson to be learned in each one about honesty and kindness. I felt a special affection for Holden's characters because they reinforced my feelings that my sexuality is positive, not negative. --Chuck Forester for Lambda Literary