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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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