Queer Fear II: Gay Horror Fiction

Juliet Nielsen is an academic librarian in the Science and Technology
Library, University of Alberta.

Queer Fear received critical acclaim when it was published in 2000. This
second volume of 23 tales of terror—largely by and about gay
men—includes contributions by Gemma Files, Robert J. Sawyer, Edo van
Belkom, Michael Marano, David Nickle, Ron Oliver, Steve Duffy, Poppy Z.
Brite, Brett Savory, Sephera Giron, Douglas Clegg, Caitlin R. Kiernan,
Brian Hodge, and Nalo Hopkinson. Many of the contributors are
award-winning authors who are internationally known for their horror and
science-fiction writing.

While there are supernatural elements in these stories (zombies, etc.),
the emphasis is on crimes of passion and real-life fears such as rape
and homophobia. Some of the stories delve into the fear of being
“found out” and the downward spiral that envelops people who try to
hide their true selves. In Scott Treleaven’s deliciously gruesome
“Bugcrush,” an adolescent becomes the victim of his infatuation.
While not all of the tales in this anthology live up to the potential of
the gay-horror genre, most are suitably gory and fear-inducing, not to
mention sexually adventurous.