Telling Lies About the Wolves is a collection of fourteen short stories by Mason Powell, some of them previously unpublished, most previously uncollected.
Those who know the work of Mason Powell primarily from his intense and often frightening novel The Brig may be surprised at this collection of his early, literary, tales. While they primarily deal with Gay characters, their insights about the human condition reach across the boundaries by which humanity too frequently catagorizes itself into us and them, and reveal eternal truths (some of them not very pretty, but nonetheless true) such as are at the heart of all good fiction.
There are homoerotic moments, to be sure, but they are handled with a restraint and delicacy which one might not expect from this author. The great surprise of this collection is the variety of the stories. Next to cynicism there is sentiment. Next to the grimly realistic, there is the heroic, which usually emerges in us ordinary mortals only in the most extraordianry circumstances. In some places the author achieves a kind of mystical bond with the reader which can be downright alarming. And there is humor, sometimes subtle, sometimes slapstick; never a thing one associates with a writer most famed for erotica.
The short story, as a form, has been out of favor for a while. With the shortened attention span of the average person these days, and art of all kinds coming in bytes rather than banquets, it might very well be that the time for a revival of short reading has come. If so, Mr. Powell¹s collection comes at a most welcome juncture. If you have never read any fiction about Gay people, this might be a good place to start. If you have, and your tastes are sharpened, you may find this a feast of many courses.
--Olin T. Fredegar
