Reading Andrew Wolter’s Much of Madness, More of Sin is like reading a sexy and gruesome anthology of gay Twilight Zone stories. He opens the book with a cautionary warning about how the tales may fright, delight, offend, or send readers running to the bathroom to puke, which kind of got me thinking that maybe my own books should come with a warning label. Nah! I’ll just let ‘em be surprised.
So anyway, here’s the breakdown of the stories in Much of Madness, More of Sin.
— “The Feast of Bacchus”
A male prostitute decides to trick for one more night. A threesome, no less! Go out with a bang, right? Wrong. Biggest mistake he’ll ever make. Should have picked a night other then the Feast of Bacchus. Pass the salt.
— “Jailed”
Surely being in a jail cell overnight is scary enough as it is. But when a dude gets thrown behind bars for DWI, a strange cellmate scares him straight…straight out of the jail cell to face the truth about his two-timing man. But the truth comes at a cost. And I’m not just talking “Who gets to keep the dog?”
— “If Not For Death”
One of my favorite stories, this one is part psychotic killer story and part metaphorical, with zombie infections being equated with being HIV positive.
— “Everlong”
Tragic story paralleling the happiness of a married couple having sex with them being gay bashed.
— “Being Human”
A “beyond the grave” love story….
— “In the Shadows of Hades”
This one is actually a female possession story with hints of lesbianism. Eek! But seriously, this is a vengeance horror goodie.
— “The Baths at the End of the Road”
This is another favorite of mine. It looks at the more frightening aspects of bathhouses and positions the men within as monsters. It’s funny that Wolter makes it a point to explain what a bathhouse is. What is the gay community coming to when younger readers no longer know where Bette and Barry got their start???
— “Trick of Fate”
A killer of hustlers picks up the wrong guy….
— “Joseph’s Request”
This unique take on succubus/incubus horror is very hard-edged erotica.
— “A Cub’s Tail”
A dude has some serious daddy issues stemming from tragedy in his childhood.
— “Much of Madness, More of Sin”
Sex, drugs, sin and penance with Jesus…in a church. This is how you end a gay horror collection with the goal of offending the masses!
