regshoe

The moment I read "Sylvester", I immediately got earwormed! XD I love his queer vibe! <3

And speaking of queer vibes... Edward Prime-Stevenson greatly enjoys self-reccing and mischievous references is him in a nutshell, haha! XD You're totally right about this collection--having such a good story close to the start kind of affects everything else. "Acquae Multae Non" is one of my favourites too, and so is "A Prisoner Passes"--I immensely respect EPS for his commitment to queer readings of the Bible. I think his father and one of his uncles were clergymen, but he was not very religious himself (although, according to some accounts, he became more so later in his life) and yet, a lot of his writing has a rather spiritual mood, if that makes sense? I find it interesting, especially coming from a queer perspective.

(I also like some of the animal stories in the collection--especially when he compares himself to Kipling, while basically saying "But I did it first" XD)

Haha, and that last story is possibly the most EPS way to end a book ever, isn't it? XD I remember also being disappointed by it... what a way to troll his readers (yet again!) And that's such a good point about the female characters--his representation of them is not *that* bad overall, but this collection is not the best example of it...