Being Transgender Is Perfectly Natural | Medium

Being Transgender Is Perfectly Natural | Medium

Windsor Star Books Columnist Favorably Reviews Richard Grayson's I Brake for Delmore Schwartz

Today, Saturday, May 21, 1983, The Windsor Star's Books columnist Marty Gervais published a column, "My Lovely Enemy is a real stinker," reviewing several books, including Richard Grayson's I Brake for Delmore Schwartz, of which he said, "This slim, nicely designed book, written with unique wit, humor and stylized innocence, was an utter relief after those other two books."

In Toronto last week, I popped into This Ain't The Rosedale Library bookstore (one of the very best bookstores in North America for avant-garde, small press and underground literature) and picked up I Brake For Delmore Schwartz (Zephyr Press, 95 pages, $6.50), a book of stories by Richard Grayson. This slim, nicely designed book, written with unique wit, humor and stylized innocence, was an 1 utter relief after those other two books.

For one thing, it was interesting, and each of the 15 stories sustained my interest. The other thing is that although the writing is straightforward and simple, it is experimental, drawing upon different approaches and forms.

FOR EXAMPLE, in "Only Time Will Tell", Grayson employs the interview form to profile a fictional character and, curiously enough, one gleans a lot more of the frustration and truth of a character's life.

And another, "Different Places", uses a series of short vignettes. Grayson introduces us to his own America in a unique way. He headlines each segment by the name of a different community, and by including the U.S. postal code, somehow your focus is narrowed to the neighborhood level and you feel privy to the private lives and feelings of new characters. In essence, Grayson is showing us how he can rewrite Sinclair Lewis's vision of America.

IN ANOTHER, "Nice Weather, Aren't We?" - one of my favorites - Grayson uses word play and deliberately befuddles the reader. Midstream into the story, he starts introducing new characters or details that seem almost contradictory. It makes you suspect the typesetter or printer juggled the pages. But then Grayson saves the day, interjecting a comment like, "Come on, admit it, how many of you really thought the last part was true?"*

In this story, Grayson may actually say something about his whole approach to literature when he writes, "All I do really is manipulate reality."

Most novelists would agree with that, I'm sure. But the trick is to do it successfully and to find new ways of saying things.

In I Brake For Delmore Schwartz, Grayson achieves that. He not only makes you laugh but he makes you appreciate good writing.

Louisville Courier-Journal reviews Richard Grayson's "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog and Other Stories"

Today, Sunday, June 20, 1982, The Louisville Courier-Journal published a review of Richard Grayson's "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog" alongside a review of Brian Swann's "Unreal Estate" in the newspaper's Small Press portion of the Book pages. The review is written by David G. Mudd, a student at the University of Kentucky.

LINCOLN'S DOCTOR'S DOG & OTHER STORIES By Richard Grayson White Ewe Press. $11.95 

UNREAL ESTATE By Brian Swann Toothpaste Press. $8.50 paperback  

A review by David G. Mudd  

These two collections of short stories have many likable characteristics. They offer a refreshing alternative to a hungry reader who may balk at the diet of more traditional stories offered by the popular magazines. 

Both collections are published by small presses, a good indication that the contents will be challenging. Both books are handsomely bound, the editing is meticulous, and Swann's book features four exquisite line drawings. At one point in "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog," Grayson pauses to explain the invention of its strange name. It seems that a quick study of the print market indicated that best-selling books often concern either Abraham Lincoln, doctors and medicine, or dogs. So, Grayson thought, Why not combine the three areas and capitalize? Pretty clever, eh? Grayson places cleverness above all else a little too often. 

However, he proves that he knows how to write a short story with "What Guillain-Barre Syndrome Means to Me," funny, bitter tale about a visit paid by a young woman, her son and her foreign lover to the lonely home of the boy's father. Too many of the other stories are sacrificed to cleverness and tedious one-liners. In the title story, Grayson is constantly teasing the reader. "Are you reading story to escape from your problems?" he chides. "Why aren't you out (or in) having sex?" This is funny stuff, but the whimsy continues in this and other stories until it becomes stale.

An English professor once told that the only true definition of a short story was this: "It has a beginning, a middle and an end. ... Think about it." Brian Swann doesn't want think about it. Swann's stories, all very short, seem to swoop down and catch either the initiation or the tail-end of happening, or they fall into the middle of an event, look around a then keep falling. Swann is an Englishman and it is tempting to explain away his seemingly cursory stories about landed gentry, travel and magic by saying they are veddy British. 

I think more highly of them than that. Swann's stories strike me as experiments with time and place, and with what a story can do with those two elements. Swann seems to believe that a thread of a story is more intriguing, more satisfying and ultimately closto reality than the traditional beginning-middle end formula. He be right. His stories are provacative and haunting. 

David G. Mudd is a student at the University of Kentucky.

Minneapolis Tribune reviews First Person Intense, an anthology with a contribution by Richard Grayson

Today, Sunday, April 29, 1979, the Minneapolis Tribune published on page 12G a review of First Person Intense, edited by Sasha Newborn. The reviewer, Barry Silesky, mentioned Richard Grayson's contribution to the anthology:

As might be expected from a collection of journal excerpts, there is a good deal of self-indulgence, occasionally smacking of that late '60s, post-hippie sensibility which seeks to startle, but is more often merely tiresome. Still, however, the sheer variety of styles makes for an entertaining tour of some of the frontiers of contemporary prose. The book is given some structure through division into six sections, which correspond loosely to different points of view, or aspects of the writers' experience. The first is aptly titled "The Writer." and Richard Grayson's musing is an eloquent and ironic slice of the difficult and seldom rewarding realities of that life