STAND BY YOUR MAN
by
JACK FRITSCHER

Montgomery West, Inches Vol 14, No. 10, June 2000

Victor Terry, Checkmate #30 February 2000

Larry Townsend Newsletter, November 1999

Richard Labonte, In Touch, Undated

Thor Stockman, GMSA, Summer/Fall 1987

John F. Karr, Super MR., #2 2000

IN TOUCH, Undated
Los Angeles, California
Richard Labonte

HEADLINE: GAY READING

There are no qualms about sex in Jack Fritscher's literate and liberally erotic short-story collection, Stand By Your Man (Leland Publications, soft-cover, $10) -- a collection that is many, many cuts above the average friction fiction in any of the gay glossy magazines, this one included. Fritscher writes with a blessed combination of erotic ingenuity and poetic intelligence, depicting the most wonderfully suggestive sex scenes in a delightfully wry, ironic, sweaty, urgent and dirty voice. The tales range from straightforward S/M to lyrical surfer-blond fantasy, from no-holds-barred sex to no-turning-back love. There's more range in this one book of 22 stories than in many anthologies with 22 different authors.

©Richard Labonte

GMSA, Summer/Fall 1987
New York, NY, United States
By Thor Stockman

HEADLINE: HOT TYPE

Jack Fritscher fans will be glad to see his new collection, Stand By Your Man (and Other One-Handed, Two-Fisted Stories) just published and in the stores, containing more of his short pieces from Honcho, Inches, Drummer, and other magazines.

Those who grew up with Drummerknow the many fetish pieces he wrote for its early issues, and some of his best, "Firebomber: Cigar Sarge" and "Horsemaster," are included here along with "Foreskin Fever" and "The Daddy Mystique," written for other magazines. Also included is the story he wrote for Drummer's 100th issues, "The Lords of Leather," a heavy-duty kidnap-and-molest piece (kids -- do not try this at home!).

Also of interest are two previously unpublished works, "Daddy's Big Shave," which goes from a break-your-heart reminiscence of a father/son relationship to a voyeuristic auto-erotic shaving scene and back again, and "How Buddy Left Me," a tale of love and innocence lost in the streets of San Francisco and life wasted from the horror that was Vietnam.

There may be fewer strictly S/M pieces than in his previous collection, but Fritscher's writing is so vivid, strong, and sensuous that you'll enjoy reading his stories even if you're not heavily into, say, uncircumcised blonde surfers. From the author's bio we learn that Fritscher holds a Ph.D. in American literature and taught creative writing for many years, which may account for the high literary quality of his erotica. Fritscher truly is our Pynchon of porn.

©Thor Stockman

INCHES Vol 14, No. 10, June 2000
By Montgomery West

(Reviewed with Chasing Danny Boy from Palm Drive Publishing)

Being Irish sucks. It's all about being poor, dirt-poor really—and being Roman Catholic to the point of being ashamed of even thinking about masturbating, let alone sucking cock. Although there is an underlying thread of artistic greatness that pops up every once in a while when talking generally about the Irish; James Joyce, the My-Left-Foot-guy, Oscar Wilde, I think. Even Frank McCourt, who wrote "Angela?' Ashes." He lived the worst life imaginable, poorer than poor and several of his brothers and sisters died very young, yet his book is downright amazing.

Anyway, you get the point: Being Irish is twisted. Which made a certain book that landed on my desk all the more noteworthy — Chasing Danny Boy: Powerful Stories of Celtic Eros, edited by Mark Hemry. What the hell? I thought. What is Celtic Eros? Trolls and giants and warlocks and shit?

Not really — and thank god.

Chasing Danny Boy is a compilation of new gay fiction, mostly erotic, about Irish guys or being gay and Irish. Sounds iffy. I know. But it?s not. There are some great stories by some good writers here.

Take P-P Hartnett, a raging queer from the Emerald Isle who contributed a cyber-tinged piece call "E-mail: Remember When We Weren't Queens"? A contemporary piece structured around messages relaying a trip to England and a potential new boyfriend who is Irish. It?s rough and edgy and sexy too. Judging by the photograph of Mr. Hartnett in the back of the book, he's a stud himself. (In fact, the pictures in the back of the book are one of the bonuses of Chasing Danny Boy. Short-fiction anthologies don't usually include them, but for me, after reading a story by someone, seeing their face is crucial.)

The title story, about the boy named Danny, is by drummer veteran Jack Fritscher. He seems to be everywhere this month. A new book of Fritscher's sexiest short pieces landed on my desk as well, Stand by Your Man. Thank somebody that it has nothing to do with Tammy Wynette. Or maybe it does, I was awfully distracted while reading the book and might have missed the allusion.

You're probably wondering how I got distracted, and I'll tell you. This book is rather erotic, in the get-my-dick-hard-while-I'm-readin'-it category. So I kept having to run and get some Kleenex to wipe up my drippings.

The nice thing about Fritscher is that his stories are tight, like a young asshole. In a few pages, he can weave a story about two brothers whacking their 10-inch cocks for a voyeur in "The Adams Boys and Me!" In "Foreskin Fever," Fritscher fills the reader in on all kinds of trivial fetish info about the sacred bits of skin.

For those who like their meat prematurely cooked, so to speak, check out Fritscher's story "The Cabbage Patch Boys." It's actually about adults, real San Francisco men. But they play together in such sexy, jovial and jocular ways they might as well be underage.

Both books are available from Palm Drive Publishing, (www.PalmDrivePublishing.com)

©Montgomery West

Checkmate #30 February 2000
by Victor Terry

Illustrated with photos by Fritscher; the cover photo is of a scrumptious young Donnie Russo. Originally published in Bear, Drummer, Honcho, Uncut, and other magazines, most of these 23 tales by and SM/raunch pioneer were first collected in book form in 1987. The stories include “Daddy’s Big Shave,” “Firebomber: Cigar Sarge,” “Foreskin Fever,” “The Horsemaster,” “The Lords of Leather,” “Uncut Prison Blues.” This is vintage Fritscher with a wide range of effects from lyricism to raunch to SM.

Larry Townsend Newsletter
November 1999

23 literate, human, funny, diverse and sexy stories–all reader-tested in leading male mags. Subjects include foreskin, shaving, daddies and sons, cigars, fuckabilly butts, SM in prison and leather kidnapping. Illustrated with 14 photos. A very hot production. Features Donnie Russo on full color cover.

Super MR. No. 2, 2000
No by line

SO YOU WANT TO STOP LOOKING at pictures and acually read a book? We've got a new anthology of short fiction by Jack Fritscher that's right up your alley. It seems Fritscher's well never runs dry and I'm glad for it, since he knows his way around stinky, no-holds-barred leather sex better than most anybody else. There are 23 hot stories in this new book, called Stand by Your Man, and you can tell from the titles how you may be affected: "Cigar Sarge," "The Lords of Leather" and "Foreskin Prison Blues" are just a sampling of the territory Fritscher wallows in. The stories have been collected from long-gone mid '80s magazines, and illustrated with a handful of choice photographs that seem to have inspired this master's prose. Unlike the writers in those uncountable anthologies who try to be both erotic and literary, Fritscher's attitude of abandon seems to say, "Fuck the Art of writing!" And in the process, he comes up with an artful style of sexwrite uniquely his own. Fritscher is beyond worrying whether his smut is literature, as he makes your eyes suck the page dry. Pardon me while I eat aonther copy.