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Any Means Necessary
'Men of Mystery' (Haworth Press)'Living outside
society's boundaries gives a man the freedom
to do whatever—and whomever—he
pleases.'
Queer
sex has always been dangerous—the
physical act shared between men has been
punishable by humiliation, imprisonment,
violence, and death. But as gays move into
the mainstream, is queer sex losing its edge?
Has the gritty glamour of being a sexual
outlaw faded? Men of Mystery presents 16
stories that abandon the sanitized version of
homosexuality to drive down darker alleys
searching for crimes of passion and hard sex
that still carries a threat. You'll meet
dirty cops who harass their suspects, shifty
criminals who'll leave you aching for more,
Mob types who live with the constant threat
of death…even ghosts from beyond the
grave who demand a whole new definition of
pleasure. Hard guys, tough guys, rough guys
who live in a down-and-dirty world where a
real man takes what he wants whenever he
wants it.
The
anthology includes Fiona's story Any
Means Necessary, a gritty but wry tale
of bent cops - in every sense of the word.
When Hughes and Mackay take the wrong guy in
for their special brand of questioning,
there's an unexpected outcome for both
themselves and their suspect.
"...blends
the tropes of noir and erotica very
skilfully, evoking a world of shadows,
betrayal and unpredictable desire."
Joel
Lane, author
"A
top notch collection of erotic fiction that
is highly original from beginning to end.
Within these stories you'll find surreal
description, imaginative experiences, and
dangerous attractions between men..."
Paul J Willis, Founder, Saints and Sinners
Literary Festival
"Surpassing
the predictable nature of the modern,
homoerotic collection, Men of Mystery blurs
the boundaries between the dark corridors of
the queer mind and the appetite for lust that
dominates a culture without remorse."
Andrew Wolter, Author
"Sammy?
Nah, not Sammy, Mr Hughes. Ancient history,
Sammy is - has been since Christmas."
The old man rambled on, words muffled round
the permanent half-mast cigarette spilling
tubes of ash down his grubby mac. Words that
included 'Colman' and 'new kid' and 'pretty
boy', but Hughes had already stopped
listening to the flood.
"You
sure, Paddy? It's important." Important
wasn't the word. More like vital, or
desperate, or devastating. More like his
bloody career on the line, and Mackay's too
if the old guy was right. If only they'd
checked their facts first, instead of
storming in mob-handed. If only they'd played
the good guys for a change.
"Course
I'm bleedin' sure. Aren't I telling you? You
only got to go round the clubs come Friday
night - soon see for yerself." He
removed the fag-end long enough for a noisy
swig from his beer and wiped his mouth on his
sleeve. "Surprised you didn't already
know, Mr Hughes. Been common knowledge on the
streets for months. Colman never keeps the
same boy more than six months. Thought you
knew that."
And
we should have known, Hughes thought. Should
have known, should have checked, should have
bloody thought for a change. They'd been
tracking Colman for months, convinced he had
a finger in virtually every dirty pie in the
city, from fraud to racketeering to
full-blown organised crime. But the wily
bastard was too smart for them, moving on,
never leaving a trail, laundering every last
tuppence through a maze of offshore accounts
convoluted enough to baffle a homing pigeon
with GPS. But he did have one weakness, did
Colman - he liked boys. Rent-boys, usually,
in any shape or size as long as they were
clean and pleasing to the eye, and legal, if
only just. And young Sammy had been the
latest in a long unsavoury line and they'd
been so intent on using him to trap his
powerful friend that they hadn't stopped to
check the facts. He kicked savagely at the
leg of Paddy's bar stool, slopping the old
man's pint half way to his mouth.
"Oi!
What d'you go and do that for? Said I'd help
and I'm helping, aren't I?
© 2004
Fiona Glass
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