In Briefly Told Lives, C. Bard Cole presents a wild panorama that sweeps from the urban gay ghetto to working class suburbia to the counter culture of punks and sex workers -- a shockingly original view of lives lived on the edge of both straight society and the gay "mainstream". A broad tapestry in which conventional dividing lines begin to loose their fixed meaning, these characters spin their own master narratives, revealing lives rich in meaning and bought dearly through pain and compromise. Intense and rewarding, Cole's debut collection exposes the complexities and contradictions of personal identity in a world devoid of grand truths and shared values. Briefly Told Lives is brash and insightful, bringing a very different, hidden world into the literary limelight.
"Slackers, shy sinners, and solipsists populate this new bohemia -- all minutely observed by the deadpan Mr. Cole."
BRUCE BENDERSON, AUTHOR OF USER "C.Bard Cole's Briefly Told Lives is a fresh, sweet, lucid, raucous and amazingly free of the corner-cutting, soft-pedaling, pseudo-literary tropes that constitute most of contemporary fiction. The way these stories face the fucked-up music of love, sex, loss, and social injustice, and maintain their curiosity and style, is a really new, rare pleasure."
DENNIS COOPER, AUTHOR OF FRISK AND PERIOD
"Bard Cole's provocative and entertaining prose makes Briefly Told Lives an exhilarating collection. Gritty and genuine -- a terrific debut."
KATHARINE WEBER, AUTHOR OF THE MUSIC LESSON
"One of the most exciting debuts I've had the pleasure of reading, by a young author whose eye for squalor and tenderness are equally authentic. The characters and voice were so compelling that I literally didn't want Briefly Told Lives to end.
POPPY Z. BRITE, AUTHOR OF EXQUISITE CORP
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