for Out of the Box

Jeff, Dec 1, 2012 4.0 out of 5 stars…I enjoyed reading this collection of short May-December gay love affairs. They came in different genres. The humorous ones are funny. The serious ones tear your heart apart, and the erotic drive your imagination wild. Most of the characters are sympathetic, real people whose struggle every one of us, gay or straight, feels. The book is a collection of stories of real people for real people.

Pat Gallant, 21 Sep 2012 …Kudos – your book is professionally executed, error-free, interesting — and sends some serious messages.  It has plot — it’s not just sex-on-sex.

Dan Durran (TX) – Volume 2 as good as Volume 1, October 11, 2009
Again, in his second volume, the author has written a great set of short stories. I read this book slower than I read Heights of Passion, looking for subtle hints of possible outcomes. I am new to the gay world so his books have been a valuable learning experience. SUBMISSION was an incredible [lesson]. I ate the chapters with insatiable curiosity as I was slowly and meticulously led into the depths of S&M, a subject I had totally misunderstood. HYPOCRITIC OATH and OUT OF THE BOX were highly enjoyable and thought provoking. Beautifully and sensitively written in the author’s smooth style, one a narrative and the other almost a screenplay, I found myself right in the middle of parties, arguments, pillow-talk, and doctor’s offices — invisible but totally involved in the drama of the characters lives. I can see how others view things, I can see myself, and I understand more clearly now. There’s a lot here. I’m going to re-read it.

Naqshi Khan (Pakistan), 15 July 2012 …Really enjoyed … Out of The Box. These are not cheap gay sex stories, so … shouldn’t be tagged as [such]. There is true love, romance, passion, care, truth and a touch of humor … clearly visible. And of course sex which is an integral part of love. …If you are a sophisticated reader and are in touch with the short story genre today and…familiar with its themes, you will like this book very much.
Doorways: A beautiful story that reflects the feelings of first love. Larry’s entrance in[to the] new world of love, the emotions and feelings of first love, which revolve around one person, are impressively described.
Tate’s Death: I have never read such a wonderful love story expressed in such a beautiful way before. While reading it, all the time I was at the edge of my seat and was flowing with the story like a part of it.
Some stories are light and have a touch of humor too. I enjoyed [the] cat and mouse game with Andy in The Roadrunner. Eye of the Hunter and … Submission are pure joys to read.

Jh Cove (Spain) January 7, 2010
5.0 out of 5 stars …very pleasing and much needed
With this second volume Out of the Box, Don Schecter once again shows his very clear and specific insight into gay relationships, yet one that’s very pleasing and much needed. We all know about the other gay sex stories that exist: cheap, rough, hot. His stories go so much further. Everyone reading his stories will think “yeah, that’s how it really goes.” His talent is to put it in writing, which … is far from easy. There is a certain quite pleasurable flow in his stories, comforting, hopeful, nostalgic, and very recognizable. And at the same time he makes gay sex feel so natural, it will please the straight reader as well.

Earl B, January 4, 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars
I read Volume 1 and really enjoyed it. His stories vary significantly from one to the next.
I enjoy his style very much and found Vol II equal to Vol I in all respects.
I am looking forward to reading Vol III – Discovery of Fire

A.B. Gayle (Australia), July 19, 2010
5.0 out of 5 stars The full gamut from coming out of the closet to BDSM
This is the second book in Don Schecter’s Stories for Younger Men and Older Lovers … there is sex in some of them, but more they are explorations about what it is to be gay and as such should be of immense interest to women who write m/m romances—who want to delve behind the stereotypes that are starting to populate the genre.

All styles of encounters are here, the large, the small, the vain, the dying: all star in their own little tale, showing the diversity of people and encounters. The title story Out of the Box deals with homophobia in [an] entertaining polemic about what the world would be like if all the gay people were instantaneously whisked away.