Hard Men

by Patrick Califia

“Califia writes from the place where Doors frontman Jim Morrison wrote from—a strange, erotic new wild, wild West.”— Chicago Free Press Bikers, hustlers, cops, leathermen, bears, and even a vampire are just a few of the hard men you’ll meet in this mind-blowing collection of searing, balls-to-the-wall, bad-to-the-bone erotic writing by the legendary Patrick Califia. All we can say is, damn, that’s hot! Patrick Califia is a noted pornographer and cultural critic whose writing and activism have revolutionized queer sex. Among his most noted books are Coming to Power , Macho Sluts , Melting Point , No Mercy , and Speaking Sex to Power .

258 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Patrick Califia, who formerly wrote under the names Pat Califia and Patrick Califia-Rice, is a writer of nonfiction (on men, gender, transgender identity, and sexuality) and fiction (erotica, poetry, and short stories).

Reviews

[Pamela Langhorne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Until now I had not read anything written by Patrick Califia, anything other than an introduction to another author's book. In that introduction I was charmed and spun. Like the person sitting at a bar with another, who speaks way over her head, even when trying not to. The little girl in me that wanted to hate that boy in the next desk because his eyelashes were longer than mine and because he could pee standing up, that immature child wanted to not like this book.

How fortunate I am that my punishment and reward are the same. He has won me over, absolutely! Even before making my way through the introduction I was struck all at once with not just the wisdom and goodness of the thing, but also by the sinfully premeditated way he makes me wish that it were me in all of these scenarios. Scenarios that are a hard kick to the cock of what we call taboo.

I want to tell you what you'll find between the cover photos of two naked men touching under the white, bold text of Hard Men. A cover that I had to tape up with white copy paper so that I wouldn't draw attention to myself at lunch hour as I growled at everyone that approached my quiet shaded seat under the spitting tree. I want to tell you what you'll find, but how fair is that, especially to me, who at this moment is having a difficult time, at best, explaining it all in words that don't sound like total crap.

Now, I could break each story down for you, do a little critical review but it would take forever to read and longer than that for me to write. What I will give you is this: Hard Men is a book full to overflowing of everything that draws a blush or cringe. I cringed mostly. Yes, my nipples were hard and my forehead had a luster of post coital sweat, but I cringed just the same. Yes, Pat Califia is that good. There are mermen and leather men, pussy boys and leather dykes, vampires and cops, tricks and a Cajun bar owner named Alain. Not every cock is enormous and every tale, no matter how unbelievable, in the end is as true as the tree that spat on me and my book for the two weeks it took me to read the thing twice.

Hard Men isn't Lolita and Califia isn't Vladimir Nabokov, but holy shit if I can think of many authors today, erotic or mainstream, with his word warrior literary sense and the stones to lay it all out there, like he has with this book. This is a book for the masses, or at least, a book for the portion of the masses that I can tolerate acquaintance with.