THE ELEVENTH ACOLYTE READER

The Eleventh Acolyte Reader was published by the Acolyte Press, a publisher in Amsterdam dedicated to “boy-love” publications, in July 1995. It is the fifteenth in a series of sixteen anthologies. The stories are by various authors, but all the volumes were edited by the American writer Frank Torey (1928-96). This article serves as both a synopsis and a review of the volume’s content. The original list of contents is represented in brown.

Unlike some earlier volumes in the series, there is no introduction to these stories, either general or individual, or information on the authors.

Contents [review and list with synopses]
by Edmund Marlowe, June 2024

The Eleventh Acolyte Reader is average for the series: thirteen stories by nine authors, three of the authors new, four of the stories rubbish, the rest varying from OK to good. Here follows a brief assessment of each of them.

Having witnessed half a century in which at least some individuals have been expressing optimism for a better future for Greek love despite things consistently turning out as badly as the direst pessimists predicted, I would be fascinated to know whether anybody who read this book when it was published thought it remotely conceivable that the position of boy-love in the USA ten years in the future might be as rosy as portrayed by Freedman in The News, 2005. As a satire, it is decidedly amusing. Otherwise, I’m divided between being charmed by what is at least imaginable and saddened by its being so extremely far removed from reality. At any rate, it is more entertaining than most of his writing and riveting once compared to the rubbish of his other offering in this volume, Brian’s Dick, which lives up to its dismal name.

Of Ingles’s two stories in this volume, Qualifying Rounds is better than most of his, being a quite amusing and compelling story of a boy of thirteen being sexual awakened by catching sight of another attractive thirteen-year-old fondling his younger brother, and then plotting his coeval’s seduction. His Special Offer is an altogether sillier fantasy.

James Medley, a new writer for the Acolyte series, is good at evoking places. Brooklyn Kid may be appreciated by those who find rough lower-class American culture appealing. I much prefer the exoticism of his short The White Hotel, set in Morocco.

Lotring’s Rocky is a simple tale that sounds likely to be sordid when one says it’s about a pretty boy letting a rather old man fellate him for pocket money, but is actually rather sweet when all the human detail is added, and it is beautifully and convincingly told.

The Year I Gave up Boys is an amusing and erotic fantasy of the too-good-to-be-true type about a man of nearly thirty and an extremely forward boy of twelve with an entirely accepting mother.

For anybody at all drawn to the prolific writings on Greek love of Kevin Esser and his protégé Luis Miguel Fuentes, Esser’s presumably autobiographical Santo Domingo is a must, being both well-written and offering a wealth of information about them not to be found elsewhere. Esser’s other story here, In Darkness, is short and dull.

Bangor’s Nanny Knows Best about a boy of 13’s experiences with brothers three years older and younger than him is in a similar, but much less fantastic, vein.

As so often, Alan Edwards’s story, Keeping Pets, about a classic “special friendship” between a younger and an older boy, is the best. The story has the characteristic excellent twists and the same wit, but it is more moving and less whimsical than most of his short stories.

Wilke’s Huff, in which a horny boy of fifteen sees opportunity when he notices an agreeable man lusting for him, is readable without being thought-provoking.

4  The News, 2005 / B. J. Freedman

Six satirical news articles from 2005 implying that in the decade following publication of this Acolyte Reader, American society had moved fast in the opposite direction to that in which it was really going, with boy-love proclaimed good for the health, the age of consent going down from 14 to 12 or less, and celebrities marrying boys as part of a new fashion. PDF.

11  Qualifying Rounds / I. L. Ingles

One 13-year-old English schoolboy finds himself lusting for another as sexually inexperienced as himself and successfully plots his seduction. Qualifies weakly as Greek love due to one of the boys having made a habit of giving lustful squeezes to the bottom of his sexy nine-year-old brother. PDF.

25  Brooklyn Kid / James Medley

A glimpse into the life of a 14-year-old, perhaps typical for a New Yorker from a rough background except that he’s learning to appreciate being pedicated by men.

33  Rocky / Jotham Lotring

Set in Arizona, a retired teacher of 67 who has always repressed his feelings for boys feels himself in heaven when an exceptionally pretty boy neighbour of fifteen in need of pocket money offers to let him fellate him.

46  The Year I Gave up Boys / Lee Savage

Set in Massachusetts, a youngish man who, having just finished a very long and idyllic love affair with one boy, has sworn off boys to please his wife, meets a stunning beauty of twelve who seems mysteriously knowledgeable about him.

59  Santo Domingo / Kevin Esser

An apparently true story in which the author tells of his deep five-year love for the New York boy prostitute Miguel Fuentes, and mostly set in the city of the title in which Fuentes was born.

68  Nanny Knows Best / Edward Bangor

Set in England, Ryan Quinn, 13 has long had a crush on schoolfellow David, 16, so responds to a request to babysit David’s sexually precocious brother of ten, leading to unexpected developments with both brothers.

84  The White Hotel / James Medley

A sailor on a week’s shore leave in Marrakech in 1951 gives a short account of having sex there with two hustlers aged fourteen and fifteen.

88  Keeping Pets / Alan Edward

Thirteen-year-old Toby becomes the “pet” of his hero, the school cricket captain, though it is only when their affair appears to have gone wrong that the strength of their feelings becomes apparent.

103  Huff / R. Wilke

Set in Illinois in 1987. Kurt visits a county fair on the look-out for boys. Beautiful Huff, 15 but looking younger, guesses his feelings and asks for a blow-job and gradually a friendship arises.

123  Special Offer / I. L. Ingles

Thirteen-year-old British Billy recounts what ensued in a fantasy where a boysexual store detective caught him shoplifting.

138  In Darkness / Kevin Esser

Eros gradually overcomes the distance between Danny, 15, and another boy who comes to stay in his Illinois home: his blind orphaned cousin Jordan, 14.

152  Brian's Dick / B. J. Freedman

Crudely-expressed very American musings by a boy of eleven about other boys his age or slightly younger.