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Paperback
Publisher: Alyson Books
Jack Hart
ISBN13: 9781555834753
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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This collection features more than 50 true accounts of unlikely sexual encounters between men.
Beneath its jovial, insouciant, sexy attitude, Jack Hart's Straight, a collection of frisky first-person tales in which straight-identified men end up having sex with other men, embodies a curious political and cultural collision. One of the mandates of the gay liberation movement, which emerged after the Stonewall riots of June, 1969, was that every gay person had the responsibility to "come out" and be openly gay. Yet postmodern theory informs us that the very categories of "gay" and "straight" may be, well, easily constructed identities that conceal far more complicated realities. On the surface, Straight conforms to the erotic "letters" genre pioneered by magazines like First Hand and brought into book form by Hart's own My First Time and My Biggest O, but reading through the book you are struck, again and again, by the naturalness and innocence of the situations. While an initial glance at the anthology may remind you of the old joke, "Q: What is the difference between a gay man and a straight man? A: A six-pack," few of the stories involve deception to get the "heterosexual" participants interested in sexual activity. For the most part, sex play here is eagerly sought after and thoroughly enjoyed. Straight delivers on its softcore fantasy promise, but the underlying theme--that the words we use to classify ourselves are, at best, inexact and often misleading--is quite serious. --Michael Bronski
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| Very Bad Porn |
| Customer Rating: 1 out of 5 |
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I bought this book thinking that it was going to be a collection of well written, thought provoking, true stories of encounters between gay and straight men. What a mistake! It is pure porn and, in my opinion, most of the stories are fantasies rather than reality. On top of that, the stories are poorly written. It took me 10 minutes to read this book because I've read it all before. Total junk and a total waste of money. If I could've given this book 0 stars I would have.
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| When good they're Excellent, when bad they're very bad. |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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This book is awesome, and would be worthwhile just for the beautiful and hopeful story, "Christmas". That and some of the others show apparently real, deep and highly arousing narrative of straight men and their real feelings and discovery of them for each other and fearful, tentative to blindingly passionate masculine sex. The stories seem authentic, unlike it's awful sequel, even perhaps the most despicable ones. Most are flawed like the real humans we are but moving as well as truly arousing and that's how it should be. Real stories, real emotion, real sex. I recommend it. Hopefully Mr. Hart reads this and any future attempts puts together not porn, but this, and hopefully even better, I want to read more of loving, almost holy stories that are out there. In fact, I have a real life straight and gay guy story with it's turmoil but comes out righteous and hopeful and loving, tho not quite how you'd expect, they exist. Thank you for "Christmas". Enjoy!
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| Don't believe everything you read |
| Customer Rating: 2 out of 5 |
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This book, while it comes across as quite erotic, reads like a collection of letters to Penthouse. None of the stories ring true. None of the stories have that uncomfortable fumbling of first encounters, the nervousness of being caught. It reads like straight out porn. Fine. This "gets the job done" if you are looking for a literary Viagra but in no way are any of these stories any more than out and out fiction. Not a single word jumps off the page with any ounce of authenticity. They all seem plausible, but the manner in which they are written (and in some cases exagerated) made me feel completely manipulated. No one I know has ever had a first encounter with a "straight guy" that ever sounded like these.
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| From the Publisher |
| Customer Rating: 5 out of 5 |
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"Jack Hart, best known for his collections of real-life sexual adventures between men My First Time, My Biggest O, and Heat, has compiled a new anthology in which gay men describe in their own words the couplings they've had with men who did not seem on first appearance to be open to having gay sex. Among the surprising seductions detailed in this collection: A man initiates into gay sex his small town's biggest womanizer; a man drafted to entertain the groom-to-be during a bridal shower discovers just how open the upcoming marriage will be; a reporter interviewing a straight TV star (no names!) comes back with a titillating story; a military man tells of the one time in his career he let down his sexual guard--for the husband of his best friend; and an inexperienced college freshman finds that a straight-acting frat boy is both open-minded and openmouthed. Straight? is Jack Harts freshest collection and points out that indeed truth can be stranger--and hotter--than fiction. Review courtesy of Alyson Publications"--© zebraz
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| The mind games some guys play! |
| Customer Rating: 4 out of 5 |
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"Straight?" serves up some 50 true accounts of sexually straight-identified men who explore their "curiosity" about same-sex encounters and, in the process, challenges the validity of labels like "straight" and "gay." In most of these true narratives, the common thread is less the sexual labels we and others apply to us individually and more man's basic need (carnal or otherwise) for the touch of someone of the same gender. As someone myself identified as "straight" with some sexual experiences with other "straight" men, the turn-on is less sexual and more the feeling of simply being wanted. The stories in this compilation do more than offer some sizzling hot descriptions of man-to-man sex. They also ask the fundamental question if labels ("straight," "gay," "bi") are even relevant, why it seems (on both a private and societal level) that anything related to homosexuality prompts serious questions of one's sexual preferences and why anything related to same-gender interaction has anything to do with sex at all. In the end, does it really matter? For anyone not interested in such a debate, however, and is looking for nothing more than steamy literature, this book has just about anything that caters to any taste.
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