Best Gay Erotica 2011 (26 page)

“Who the fuck are you, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing? You just can't let it go, can you? I don't want your ass. I
never
wanted your ass. And why
would
I want your ass? But if a Negro
doesn't
want your ass, something's
got
to be wrong with him, right? And you don't think you're suffering from post-traumatic slave/ master syndrome?”

EJ poked at BuTay's chest. “I expect you to fulfill your contractual obligations.”

“I already have.”

“I don't know what makes you think you're so special. We all have to do things in this life we may not want to.”

“I do not like my face being used as a toilet. But then, you already knew that.”

“Either you get back up there, or I will haul your ass into court.”

“For what? Refusing to be assaulted by sperm?”

“And I'll let the IRS know about your under-the-table gigs.”

“Let's not go there. You forget, I managed this bitch for a year. Who do you think I learned the shit from? They'll be making a deal with
me
to get to
you
.”

EJ was stung but not stuck. He grinned. “
And
, I'll make sure your secret is revealed. I'm sure your mother and father would
love
to get a collection of your greatest hits on DVD.”

Blackmail? How appropriate. But BuTay couldn't be worried about it, and he wasn't. He was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of feeling helpless. Tired of feeling alone. Tired of feeling lonely. He was disgusted with the whole thing and disgusted with himself. He wanted his man back. He wanted his body back; it hadn't belonged to him in years, and he'd lost a piece of himself every time he gave someone a piece. He wanted to be able to tell his parents what he did for a living (“public relations” had been the usual line—and it wasn't altogether untrue). He wanted to work on that Great American Novel, which he hadn't written a single line of since becoming an actor. He wanted his life back. And if freedom meant that being a video ho' would come to light, bring it.

Of course, he couldn't let EJ think that would scare him. So he hit him
way
below the belt. “Secret? You mean, like having
a four-inch dick and drugging others so you can get your pebble off?”

EJ
fumed
; the red was really showing on his neck now.
“You stupid nigger
!”

There was a unified, audible gasp from the gallery upstairs. BuTay thought:
Was this lily-white crew genuinely shocked that he had called me such a vulgar name—or were they genuinely shocked that he had called me such a vulgar name to my face?
BuTay knew the epithet—or something like it—would spew from his mouth sooner or later. It may no longer be fashionable or acceptable for white folks to just come right out and call a Black person a nigger, but that didn't mean they've stopped. Some forget that it is the twenty-first century and let it rip (like Michael Richards and Dog the Bounty Hunter). But most dance around it—and it always comes down to you not knowing your place. It wasn't until he had the gall to reject a white man's advances or challenge his paternalistic colonial attitude—that buying his time meant that they were buying
him
—that BuTay went from being lovely, gorgeous, alluring, a dream/fantasy come true and all that to porch monkey, darkie, mud boy, jigaboo, Magilla Gorilla and the Big N.

BuTay knew where it came from, that it demonstrated just how much contempt they had for Black men (if not all Black people), and that he was and would have to be the bigger person and ignore their ignorance. EJ was no different.
He
may have thought he was a different kind of white man (don't they all think that?), but he was still white. Once again, BuTay would have to rise above it and rise above him. But this time, because he
knew
the white man…BuTay really wanted to haul off and punch the shit out of him.

But Big beat him to it.

Wrapped in a white towel, Big happened to be standing
just a few feet behind EJ. He snatched EJ up by the back of his collar, swung him around and bopped him in the left cheek (the crunch made everyone flinch, including BuTay). EJ soared into the air and flew over what used to be Evan's desk and into the file cabinet.

Paralyzed with fascination (or was it fear?), the crew stood in silence, mouths agape.

“Who you callin' nigger, cracker?”
Big bellowed at EJ, who was knocked the fuck out. He turned to BuTay. “Man, ya shoulda told me that ain't yo' thang. This mo'-fo' said you liked gettin' shot in the face. No foul. You cool?”

BuTay smiled at Big. “Yeah. Now I am.”

SHANE ALLISON
is the editor of
Hot Cops
,
Backdraft
,
College Boys
,
Homo Thugs
,
Hard Working Men
and
Black Fire
. His stories have graced the pages of several Cleis Press anthologies, including four lustful editions of
Best Gay Erotica
. His first book of poems,
Slut Machine,
is out from Rebel Satori Press.

 

ERIC KARL ANDERSON
is author of the novel
Enough
and has published work in various publications, among them
The Ontario Review
, Blithe House Quarterly
,
Ganymede
, Velvet Mafia, and the anthologies
From Boys to Men
and
Between Men 2.

 

JONATHAN ASCHE's
work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including
Rough Trade
and
Muscle Men
. He is also the author of the erotic novels
Mindjacker
and
Moneyshots
and the short-story collection
Kept Men
. He lives in Atlanta with his husband, Tomé.

 

DANIEL ALLEN COX
(
danielallencox.com
) is the author of the novel
Shuck
, shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award and a ReLit Award, as well as the novel
Krakow Melt
. Daniel writes the column “Fingerprinted” for
Xtra
and lives in Montreal.

 

MARTIN DELACROIX
(
martindelacroix.wordpress.com
) writes novels, novellas and short fiction. His stories have appeared in more than a dozen erotic anthologies. He has published two novellas,
Maui
and
Love Quest
. He lives with his partner, Greg, on a barrier island on Florida's Gulf Coast.

 

RAWLEY GRAU
, originally from Baltimore, has lived in Slovenia since 2001. Translations from Slovenian include Boris Pintar's short-prose collection
Family Parables
and Vlado Zabot's novel
The Succubus
(translated with Nikolai Jeffs). He is preparing a translation from Russian of Evgeny Baratynsky's poems.

 

JAMES EARL HARDY
is the author of the best-selling
B-Boy Blues
series. His novella, “Is It Still Jood to Ya?” is featured in
Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn Harris
. His one-man show about Tiger Tyson, “Confessions of a Homo Thug Porn Star,” won the Downtown Urban Theater Festival's 2010 Best Short Prize. He lives in New York.

 

SHAUN LEVIN
(
shaunlevin.com
) is the author, most recently, of
Snapshots of The Boy
. His other books include
Seven Sweet Things
and
A Year of Two Summers
. He is the founding editor of
Chroma
, a queer literary and arts journal.

 

JEFF MANN
has published two books of poetry,
Bones Washed with Wine
and
On the Tongue
; a collection of memoir and poetry,
Loving Mountains, Loving Men
; a book of essays,
Edge
and a volume of short fiction,
A History of Barbed Wire
, winner of a Lambda Literary Award.

 

JOHNNY MURDOC
(
johnnymurdoc.com
) lives in St. Louis with his partner of eight years. His interests include porn, comics and copyright law. Johnny's own erotic comic is
Crash Course
. He writes essays for
edenfantasys.com/sexis/
, self-publishes the zine
Blowjob
, and was previously published in
Skater Boys
.

 

TONY PIKE's
erotic fiction has previously appeared in
Zipper
and
Vulcan
magazines in the U.K. and in the anthologies
Dorm Porn II
and
Boy Crazy
. He is looking forward to the publication of his first erotic novel,
Summer Term Boys
.

 

BORIS PINTAR,
born in Slovenia in 1964, is the author of the novel
Don't Kill Anyone, I Love You
, published in English under the pseudonym Gojmir Polajnar; of two short-prose collections, including
Family Parables
and of a book of essays on the Slovene theater.

 

THOMAS REES
(
nightmaresextape.blogspot.com
), Ted to his friends, has had work published in
The Swan's Rag
and
TRY Magazine
, as well as a collaborative work with Brooklyn-based visual artist Camilla Padgitt-Coles in the inaugural issue of
Perfect Wave
. He is working on a collection of fiction and lives in Oakland.

 

DOMINIC SANTI
([email protected]) is a former technical editor turned rogue whose stories have appeared in dozens of publications, including several volumes of
Best Gay Erotica
. Santi's latest solo book is the German collection
Buddy Action
. Future plans include more dirty short stories and an even dirtier
historical novel.

 

SIMON SHEPPARD
(
simonsheppard.com
) is making his eighteenth appearance in the
Best Gay Erotica
series. He edited the Lambda Award-winning
Homosex: Sixty Years of Gay Erotica
and
Leathermen;
wrote
In Deep: Erotic Stories; Kinkorama; Sex Parties 101; Hotter Than Hell
and
Sodomy!
and has been published in more than three hundred anthologies.

 

NATTY SOLTESZ
(
nattysoltesz.com
) cowrote the 2009 porn film
Dad Takes a Fishing Trip
with director Joe Gage and is a faithful contributor to
Handjobs
and the Nifty Erotic Stories Archive. His first novel,
Backwoods
, is forthcoming. He lives in Pittsburgh with his boo.

 

ROB WOLFSHAM
(
wolfshammy.com
) is a twenty-four-year-old West Texas escapee. He has no idea where he'll be by the time you read this. His work appears in numerous anthologies, including
Beautiful Boys
,
Hard Working Men
,
Muscle Men
and
Best Gay Erotica 2010
.

KEVIN KILLIAN,
one of the original “New Narrative” writers of the 1980s, is the author of many books of prose and poetry, including three novels
(Shy, Arctic Summer, Spreadeagle)
and three collections of short stories, the most recent of which,
Impossible Princess
(City Lights Books, 2009), won the 2010 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Erotica. Killian's most recent book is
The Kenning Anthology of Poets Theater, 1945-1985
(Kenning Editions, 2010), coedited with David Brazil; next up, a second volume of his popular
Selected Amazon Reviews
is expected this winter. Born on Long Island, he lives in San Francisco.

 

RICHARD LABONTÉ
([email protected]) was a gay bookseller for twenty years, has written book reviews for more than thirty years, has edited about thirty (mostly erotic) gay anthologies for Cleis Press and Arsenal Pulp Press and spends his weekends as a kitchen assistant preparing lunches and dinners for as many as sixty people. He lives on beautiful Bowen Island, a
short ferry ride from Vancouver, with husband Asa Dean Liles and dog Zak. Several editions of the
Best Gay Erotica
series, which he has edited since 1996, have been Lambda Literary Award finalists, and two have won, as has
First Person Queer
(Arsenal Pulp), coedited with Lawrence Schimel.