RaveVol. 1 Brooklyn\"In prose that is unrivalled, stacked with a vocabulary that is to be envied, he takes on subjects and stories that might, in some areas of the literary and cultural world, still be considered Verboten; even a chapter intellectualizing BDSM gets down to the nitty-gritty of what makes lovers of pain (giving and receiving) tick. A kind of glee infuses this book. It’s as if White is getting a kick out of remembering and sharing his lifetime of sexcapades. Prudes are sure to pass out. Although among White’s legion of admirers, can there be even a single prude? ... Mr. White is simply being beautifully, unapologetically human in this book. And that, and he, are a delight. Revealing the intimacies of one’s sex life, so unabashedly, so joyously opens one up to vulnerability, in much the same way a customer eases himself down into a barber’s chair for a razor shave. One is left totally exposed. Each chapter here also presents the reader with sharp, psychological analyses of character, examining the motives behind why gay men pursue who and what they love. This book is also great fun; I finished it in two sittings, something I never do.\
Michael Carroll
RaveVol. 1 BrooklynMichael Carroll’s writing spine is as sturdy as mountains ... Stella Maris: and Other Key West Stories flips the bird at what has become a sterile, bloodless America. Sex (dirty, raunchy, unapologetic sex) jumps off every page of these tales. You smell its deliciousness the way you smell it the second your nose hits Key West. Stella Maris is sexual medicine for the infuriating return to Puritanism we are seeing these days. In brave, flavorful, no-bullshit prose, Carroll’s stories shock delightfully with their lack of concern for what you might think ... Carroll...has an owl’s ear for dialogue, and it is honest dialogue, uncontrived. You know or have known people who talk like this, or wish you did. Ditto the author’s skill with characterization. His characters are not cookie cutout fictions; they are recognizable, real ... In Stella Maris, Carroll swims way out past the buoys and comes back triumphant. With only two books under his belt, he is a burgeoning short story master and hero.
