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A review by gerhard
Scruffians! Stories of Better Sodomites by Hal Duncan
5.0
I remember trying Vellum many years ago, and it drove me to distraction. I must confess I never finished it. I was much younger then; you probably have to be ready to read certain books.
Suffice it to say I enjoyed Scruffians! so much that I will return to Duncan’s longer works again. It almost feels like a totally different writer: the dazzling word play and erudition are still there in abundance, especially in a few delectable Delanyesque pieces about semiotics and art theory (one of the best stories in the collection, ‘The Shoulder of Pelops’, is original to this collection).
But there is such feeling here, such love, brio and mischief, that the reader cannot help but fall in love. Of the 15 stories, only nine deal with the titular Scruffians, which is a reworking of the Peter Pan mythos. My favourite of this bunch is ‘The Disappearance of James H–’, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous and heart-rendingly sad Peter Pan origin story. I defy anyone to be dry-eyed at the exquisite ending of this luminous story of love and loss.
Then there are such delectable gems as a story about gay comic book heroes, and a bona fide Wild West gunslinger tale. And then there is ‘Sic Him, Hellhound! Kill! Kill!’, perhaps the ultimate werewolf/vampire (erotic) fantasia, that puts paid to the twinks of Twilight in the most transcendent and sexually visceral way possible.
Wow. What a magnificent compilation, bounteous testament to the imagination and humanity of Hal Duncan, scribe extraordinaire of the New Sodom. Long may he write and dream.
Suffice it to say I enjoyed Scruffians! so much that I will return to Duncan’s longer works again. It almost feels like a totally different writer: the dazzling word play and erudition are still there in abundance, especially in a few delectable Delanyesque pieces about semiotics and art theory (one of the best stories in the collection, ‘The Shoulder of Pelops’, is original to this collection).
But there is such feeling here, such love, brio and mischief, that the reader cannot help but fall in love. Of the 15 stories, only nine deal with the titular Scruffians, which is a reworking of the Peter Pan mythos. My favourite of this bunch is ‘The Disappearance of James H–’, a jaw-droppingly gorgeous and heart-rendingly sad Peter Pan origin story. I defy anyone to be dry-eyed at the exquisite ending of this luminous story of love and loss.
Then there are such delectable gems as a story about gay comic book heroes, and a bona fide Wild West gunslinger tale. And then there is ‘Sic Him, Hellhound! Kill! Kill!’, perhaps the ultimate werewolf/vampire (erotic) fantasia, that puts paid to the twinks of Twilight in the most transcendent and sexually visceral way possible.
Wow. What a magnificent compilation, bounteous testament to the imagination and humanity of Hal Duncan, scribe extraordinaire of the New Sodom. Long may he write and dream.