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Peopled with sociopaths, circus performers, a cross-dressing teenager, a prostitute and her pimp, and God-fearing families, these stories have a hallucinatory edge, making the everyday seem like another world.
The Other World
Have you ever had a message from The Other World?
In this dark satire, a Christian right family is so concerned about sheltering their teenage son from homosexuality that they're oblivious to the fact he's the neighborhood rapist.
Nameless Thing
In this Texas circus, three into two don't go. A triangle involving a dwarf, a friendly costume designer, and her taciturn lover ends in tragedy above the banks of the Rio Grande.
Raphael
Raphael, a cross-dressing teenager, spends the Christmas holiday at the Plaza Hotel in New York with his high-strung mother -- but can only think of his romantic fantasies about the family chauffeur.
Lights of Broadway
A Times Square prostitute discounts the violent threats her john makes against a hit queer musical down the street from her apartment.
Halloween Card
A drug-fueled loft party for Manhattan hipsters ends up in a surprising location come the dawn.
Vulture
In the Deep South, an aimless drifter kills his girlfriend and tries to hide her body in a well -- but he's not alone. He's being watched by a young girl.
Praise for the City Lights classic The Other World by Lambda Literary Award nominee John Stewart Wynne (The Red Shoes):
"If there is a bright spot at all to this country's history of puritanical repression, it is in its tradition of 'outsider' art.
"Wynne's perspective is dark and terrifying, and is made all the more so by his stark, vivid descriptions of contorted states of mind and, strangely, by his beautiful, at times lyrical, use of language.
"Disturbing stuff, but lovely as well, haunting and powerful. The Other World is one of the best books of the decade." (The James White Review)
"With so much tepid and sentimental fiction coming out, John Wynne's stories in The Other World are like a plunge in cold water. With a near-Brechtian intensity of focus and an infallible ear for dialogue, Wynne casts a laser eye on the things we say, so different from what we mean. People on the edge, the margins of love. How exciting it is to experience the flowering of Wynne's early promise. A book to handle with asbestos gloves, but well worth the walk through fire." (Paul Monette, National Book Award winner)
"The other world is the dark underside of human lives and compulsions... This walk on the wild side of human nature can be startling, outrageous, frightening, and sometimes even funny, but Wynne's smooth, commanding style keeps the shocks in these stories from becoming mannered or numbing." (Booklist)
"In this short story collection, the other world is ours and John Wynne shows it to us through the pitiless eyes of characters tightroping over twisted personal histories... Wynne's prose is chiseled and precise. And in pages that tremble with beauty, Wynne gracefully reveals the darker side of human possibilities." (Details)
"The hidden, seamy underbelly of lives that appear civilized and rational is the obsession of these stories by an author known for his fascination with the dark side... Whether set in the Midwest, the Upper East Side, Times Square or the South, Wynne (Crime Wave) manages relentlessly to tap into people's unconscious urges." (Publishers Weekly)
"The other world John Wynne describes in these stories is terrifying. And it is breathlessly, horribly recognizable as ours. This is an incredibly powerful book." (Rebecca Brown, Lambda Literary Award THE GIFTS OF THE BODY)
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