The Author of Beltraffio Book

I found "Boys, Lost and Found" completely engrossing. Charles Casillo has written a really engaging collection of short stories, interspersed with some factual first-person narratives. His writing is crisp, entertaining, and a quick read. Casillo's portraiture is always astute, whether describing a horny number in a bar, a true love object, or a group of queens at a Starbucks -- hot young guys who are growing older by the minute. The protagonists are young men. The antagonists are their older well-heeled lovers whom they crave. And, the result? Well, no spoilers here! Themes in the stories include loneliness, sex, love, self-love, self-esteem, kindness, decency, humiliation, aging, and the effect of glam lifestyles on gay relationships. At heart, though, "Boys, Lost and Found" is really about longing, in the sense of irrepressible, uncontrollable desire.

Some favorite lines:

"This was only sex, I tried to reason. Only another man and his body. But I couldn't help myself. I had been dead. Now I was alive."

"I have a tendency to think too much. This is something that, after much thought, I've concluded is wrong."

"The one you love first always makes an imprint. All the others that come after will have to, in some ways, match up to the first one."