“A ravishing collection, remarkably wide-ranging in subject, mood and tone, each story exquisitely crafted. A complicated young man embarked on a romantic adventure and diving into deeper water than he can safely navigate. A clergyman shedding his faith as he retraces the footsteps of St. Paul. Several linked tales chronicling lovely Arnold’s wondrous, ultimately bittersweet wet dream of a life. A boldly imagined “missing” scene from Melville’s Billy Budd. These stories explore the cadences and crises of gay men’s lives with fine, empathetic insight. Goodman’s attention to detail often combines with verbal felicity to memorialize even the most ordinary moments. Powerful and affecting work.”
– Paul Russell, author of Immaculate Blue
“Martin Goodman’s wild, irreverent and fetching stories pulled me in. I was especially taken by his Melvillian outake on Billy Budd, the fine last story in this collection, which is moving and weirdly plausible.”
– Jay Parini, author of The Passages of Herman Melville and Borges and Me
