The Silicon Valley Diet and Other Stories

By Richard Graysons and Richard Grayson

The bassist in a gay punk band reflects on his troubled relationship with the band's guitarist/singer. In the wake of the Matthew Shepard murder, a Wyoming ranch manager conceals his affair with another man. A young African American breaks up with his white boyfriend at a series of dinners at Cuban-Chinese restaurants. The attempt to repeal a gay rights ordinance divides a Southern college town. And in the title story, a downsized computer engineer tutors a gay Vietnamese immigrant in pop culture, cyberspace, and weight loss--only to learn a vital lesson about American life circa Y2K. Welcome to the world of Richard Grayson, the writer Newsday called "convulsively inventive" and Kirkus Reviews found "oddly charming." In The Silicon Valley Diet, his ninth collection of short stories, Grayson zeroes in on gay baby boomers and Gen Xers making their way in a wired world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1888996234
• ISBN13: 9781888996234
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Red Hen Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.43 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

sharp dialogue & warmth

The conversations between the characters here range from hilarious to absurd. Lovers, ex-lovers and friends all seem extremely sharp, knowing and a bit too smart for their own goods. A lot of the characters here seem isolated from the gay mainstream and while the critique of gay life is low-key, it's also pointed. Some of the reveries about friends and acquaintances who've died of AIDS verge on the sentimental. What I like most is how Grayson ties together all kinds of things you ordinarily wouldn't expect, just as his unlikely lovers manage to stay together, at least temporarily. I'm surprised the tone of the book remained consistent throughout the stories, and I wonder how many of them are autobiographical (I bet a lot!)

insightful look at our culture

The dozen or so stories in this book add up to more than just their sum. It's a look at American society, not just gay culture, but also the technological changes and how they effect people. The author seems to understand how computers have both made some aspects of life easier -- i.e., gay teens can meet others online, the web can help you find people (lovers) you lost touch with == and some things just more wierd and confushing. Plus the characters comment in a witty way and there aren't any stereotypes of people, only individual characters who seem real.

Engaging Literary Tales

Gay readers will enjoy the tender, jokey and affectionately messed-up relationships in these stories. Not much plot here, more slices of life dealing with stuff like gay cowboys in Wyoming post-Matthew Sheppard, dot-com geniuses searching for romance as well as big money, gay immigrants struggling to deal with the freedom America gives them, and a terrific series of stories about an interracial couple who keep breaking up in hilarious (and ridiculous) arguments about TV shows, politics, and Catholic dogma (a fight about what the Immaculate Conception is leads them to a wrestling match and a bondage scene). Here's the narrator of the title story in a typical commentary on hunting for love: "I'd long ago given up going to slaughterhouses and trying to approach aspiring Abercrombie & Fitch catalog models emitting radiation from isotopes of unobtanium. After enough 'access denied' messages, you don't want to do anything but log off." Berserk but true.

Not Your Uncle's Gay Short Stories

The author's weird sense of humor and roundabout way of tellinga story, with lots of asides and non sequiturs, reminded me of DaveEggers or David Forster Wallace. The characters here have no boring coming-out problems (except maybe the cowboy in Wyoming, but who can blame him) or typical gay situations. You get the feeling they care more about witty conversation than sex, but the humor doesn't seem very gay. It's kind of a bizarre take on gay relationships, often online ones, and the book drags in spots. But then you get these incredible riffs that really sparkle, particularly in the title story. "The Silicon Valley Diet" knocked me out when I first read it ... and it holds up great on the second reading.

Funny, poignant, and profound stories

Although some of the stories are kind of experimental and use techniques I think they don't really need, I think this is a wonderful collection of stories about gay relationships and cultural identity. Grayson's couples are usually interracial or intercultural -- black/white, white/Asian, Asian/Hispanic, Jewish/Indian, punk/cowboy -- and their conflicts are played for witty comedy and clever dialogue. There's also a very poignant strain in memories of experiences of loss, including those friends who've died of AIDS. The author seems to be trying to use gay relationships as a way of dealing with our current obsessions: the Internet, wealth, ethnic identity, and pop culture -- not to mention dieting (a lot about food in this book, including ethnic stuff). The best story is "Boys Club," a hilarious look at the gay punk subculture.