Don't Explain: Short Fiction

Seven traditional short stories, a fantasy novella and a new story about the black lesbian vampire Gilda (introduced in Gomez's Lambda Award-winning novel The Gilda Stories) make up this sexy, eclectic collection. Often set in the Boston area, the more traditional stories feature women (usually of color, usually lesbian) brought together by friendship or desire. In the title story, a Boston waitress in the 1950s gets to serve her idol, Billie Holiday, then later bonds with a potential new lover over their mutual admiration for the singer. In ""Water With the Wine,"" a 50-year-old African American academic confides in her ""high femme, straight girl"" best friend when a tryst with a younger, white student turns into love. The SF novella ""Lynx and Strand"" depicts a future government that ""monitors every nuance of public social interaction"" and the lengths to which a bisexual ad-woman and her ""empath"" lover must go to escape it. In ""Houston,"" a Gilda story, the vampire meets the witch Archelina and acquires a male companion. Fluidly written and briskly paced, even when they seem little more than erotic sketches, these stories demonstrate an impressive, wide-ranging imagination. (July)