Gay Fairy and Folk Tales: More Traditional Stories Retold for Gay Men

Los Angeles author and performer Cashorali follows up his Fairy Tales with this collection of 13 fables adapted to speak to contemporary gay men. If the book's premise seems odd (do we really need a ""Jack and the Penis""?), Cashorali makes us take a second look. Here are the Princes Charming and Fairy ""Godmothers"" kept so vigilantly out of the nursery--ready to flesh out, in a ""normal"" vocabulary, childhood fantasies usually treated as abnormal. Cashorali's tales assume the naturalness of men loving other men, and he treats even the most painful difficulties of gay life with delicacy, tact, humor and empathy. Not everyone will be convinced, however. Like the subjects of an enchanted photographer in ""The Beauty in the Mountain of Ice,"" gay readers may ask, ""What's so compassionate about someone finally taking a picture that really looks like me?"" But the key word here is ""finally,"" and it can be applied without reservation to Cashorali's sequel collection. (Dec.)