Grab Bag 29: A Gay Erotica Anthology

Grab Bag 29 is a nineteen-story collection in habu’s “published-in-the-order-written” anthology series of active gay male life and tribulations short stories. These stories were composed during the fall and winter of 2022–23. Most of the stories in the collection are from contemporary time, but eight are set in historical times, from two set in the American South during the mid-nineteenth century, to two set in the American West near the end of that century, to Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, Kenya in 1935, and England and New York City in the 1980s.
Three of the stories are set in Europe—in England, Iceland, and on a train running from Paris to Munich. One each is set in Thailand, Kenya, Russia, and Canada. Most are set in the United States, from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, and Louisiana in the East to Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and California in the West.
With this anthology, habu has sought to depict protagonists of more diverse ethnicities and situations than solely manly, hunky, and young white. There are young men and old men, rich men and poor men, handsome men and thuggish brutes in these stories. Blacks, Native Americans, and Asians are included, as are transvestites and, in two cases, men in wheelchairs (who, yes, perform just fine under that condition). Several of the stories were written for themed story site competitions.
All of the stories are set in a hedonist world where being actively gay and on the make is the norm and rough sex is sometimes the goal and the fulfillment.