This is the first volume in the queer legends series, a trilogy of gay-related paranormal anthologies from QueeredFiction.

A look at the history of lycanthropy suggests that werewolves have always had an erotic – indeed a specifically homoerotic – association. So the scholarly foreword to this interesting anthology asserts. Homoerotic relations within outsider and outlaw societies (particularly in Celtic mythology) were not uncommon and even encouraged. The foreword alone is worth reading for all those interested in the magical boundary between this world and the others which may lie around and underneath it.

Some readers dislike anthologies in principle, because the quality of the stories varies, and that’s true of this collection too. But various authors also means that one gets very different perspectives and insights, and stands the chance of finding something fresh and intriguing. For example, A Wolf’s Moon by Quinn Smythwood is a fascinating look at a city reminiscent of Lawrence Durrell’s Alexandria, filled with mysterious and exotic creatures from magical realms. In In The Seeonee Hills by Erica Hildebrand, love develops against a background of werewolf clan rivalry, betrayal and violence. Both these stories are complex enough to be worth expanding to novels. Ginn Hale’s beautiful story, Shy Hunter, crosses a couple of magical and metaphysical boundaries, but in the end is a moving love story, just as one would expect from the author of Wicked Gentlemen. (You can see a short review of that novel here) Where The Sled Dogs Run, by Jerome Stueart is a touching and warming tale about acceptance and change. Anel Viz’s The Stray is an unusually light-hearted look at urban werewolves from this normally somewhat darker author. Flip City by Lucas Johnson reads like the word version of a dark comic book. Nicely noir.

In a couple of stories one gets the feeling that the author has raced towards the finish, and that the ending – always so important – could have been longer as well as more polished. And some excellent stories were spoiled by obvious errors and mistakes which would have been picked up by more thorough editing and proofing. Nevertheless, Queer Wolf is a pleasing collection of erotic and romantic stories with a queer bent. I’m looking  to the next volumes in the series.

Nigel Puerasch has written 4 novels and is working on another 4 in a number of genres.  His short novella, Redhead, was published by Aspen Mountain Press in March as part of an anthology.  In between writing romantic gay and bisexual fiction, he is a partner in a funds management and financial advice business, plays the clarinet and sax, spends far too much time reading, and spoils four little dogs who share his home with his wife, and when they're home, his three grown-up children.  You can read an interview with him here.

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