Danika reviews Queer View Mirror

Queer View Mirror is an anthology of 99 gay and lesbian short stories (short short stories, no more than a couple pages each) collected by James C. Johnstone and Karen X. Tulchinsky, and published by my very favourite publishing company (I am desperately wishing to one day work there), Arsenal Pulp Press.

Queer View Mirror attempts to include as much variety in its portrayal of gay/lesbian lives as possible. There are love stories, rape scenes (so, possibly triggering), and stories with no romance or sex at all. They mainly take place in North America, but there are a few that don’t. As with all anthologies, some I liked better than others, but overall I thought this was a great collection, mostly because of all the variety.

I was using a small sheet of paper to keep track of the authors of the lesbian/queer women stories that I enjoyed out of this collection, and I ended up with the paper crammed full of names. Unfortunately, few of them have books of their own, but that gives more credit to the editors for finding these awesome little-known authors.

Have you read Queer View Mirror or another queer anthology? What did you think of it?

The only lesbian anthology I’ve read and own is Daughters of Darkness: Lesbian Vampire Tales by Pam Keesey, which I quite liked, especially since I’m not usually very into vampire stories (other than Buffy, of course). Other anthologies I own are: Girls Next Door: Lesbian Feminist Stories edited by Jan Bradshaw & Mary Hemming, The Things That Divide Us edited by Faith Conlon, Lesbian Fiction: An Anthology edited by Elly Bulkin, Dykewords edited by The Lesbian Writing and Publishing Collective, Dykeversions: Lesbian Short Fiction edited by The Lesbian Writing and Publishing Collective, The Original Coming Out Stories edited by Julia Penelope & Susan J. Wolfe, Lesbian Bedtime Stories edited by Terry Woodrow, and Love Shook My Heart: New Lesbian Love Stories edited by Irene Zahava.

The anthologies I can get from the library: Queer View Mirror 2, Women of Mystery edited by Katherine V. Forrest, Two Friends: and Other Nineteenth-Century Lesbian Stories by American Women Writers edited by Susan Koppelman, Women On Women and Women on Women 2 edited by Nestle, and Baby Remember My Name edited by Michelle Tea.

Also, I just finished a great book that’s only slightly related to this blog: Nobody’s Mother. It’s a collection of essays about women who don’t have children and don’t plan to. Only one (I think) was written by a lesbian, but they’re definitely a great read if you don’t think motherhood is for you, or if you can’t have kids.