Works by
Jeff Mann
(Writer)

JeffMann@vt.edu
http://www.english.vt.edu/~jmann/
Profile created 2003

Jeff Mann grew up in Covington, Virginia, and Hinton, West Virginia, receiving degrees in English and forestry from West Virginia University. His fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in many publications, including Kestrel, The Spoon River Poetry Review, Wild Sweet Notes: Fifty Years of West Virginia Poetry 1950-1999, Prairie Schooner, Journal of Appalachian Studies, Poet Lore, The Harrington Gay Men’s Fiction Quarterly, Callaloo, Rebel Yell: Stories by Contemporary Southern Gay Authors, Rebel Yell 2, and Appalachian Heritage. At present he lives in Pulaski, Virginia and commutes to Blacksburg, Virginia where he teaches Appalachian Studies, creative writing, and literature at Virginia Tech.

Essays

Edge (2003)
With complete candor, celebrated poet and teacher Jeff Mann illustrates the struggles and joys of his life in Edge. In elegant prose that is a much a pleasure to read as the story he tells, Mann's fascinating memoir introduces the people and places that inspire him. His physical journeys -- to gay meccas such as Key West and Provincetown and overseas to Germany, Ireland, and Scotland -- lead to examinations of gay history, family legacy, and the journey from youth's unrequited passions to mature adult relationships. Add Mann's steamy forays into Leather and Bear cultures into the mix, and his story takes on an incandescent erotic life.

Fiction

A History of Barbed Wire (2006) -- Winner 2006 Lambda Literary Award for Erotica (Gay Male)
In intense, lyrical language, Jeff Mann’s erotic short stories give us an array of tormented characters: adulterous lovers, a kidnapper and his handsome victim, the sadistic ghost of a Confederate soldier, a yearning forestry student, an eager masochist, and a hairy biker. These tales explore the sex and psychology of BDSM and of bear culture, and most are set in Mann’s native Appalachia, an area often mythologized as a place where the wilderness within converges with the wilderness without. Mann’s background in literature and mythology gives these stories a richness of allusion unusual in contemporary erotic fiction.
In "Daddy Dave," "Captive," and "Everett’s Boy," masochists find manhood and redemption in physical intensity, endurance, and powerlessness. The title story, "A History of Barbed Wire," deals with the way in which fetishes develop and the world becomes erotically and spiritually charged. "Not for Long" depicts the agonies of an adulterous gay relationship. Two forestry students struggle to make sense of their attraction to one another in "Balsam Poplar Buds." In "Raspberry Moonshine," two young researchers find themselves facing death in the basement of an Appalachian cabin. "Dionysus Redux" depicts the difficult desire of a frustrated academic for his student, a rough biker. The sadistic ghost of a Confederate soldier haunts and obsesses a history scholar in "Fireflies." Through metafiction, "Snowed in with Sam" examines the power and purpose of sexual fantasy. Finally, The Quality of Mercy, a novella, explores the complex relationship an ex-convict shares with the man he has abducted, a handsome country-music singer.

Poetry

Bliss (1998) Winner Stonewall Chapbook Competition

Flint Shards from Sussex (2000)

Mountain Fireflies (2000)

Bones Washed with Wine (2003)
A special collection of lyric intensity, including the 1999 Gival Press Poetry Award winning collection.

Loving Mountains, Loving Men (2005)
The first book-length treatment of a topic rarely discussed or examined: gay life in Appalachia. Appalachians are known for their love of place, yet many gays and lesbians from the mountains flee to urban areas. Jeff Mann tells the story of one who left and then returned, who insists on claiming and celebrating both regional and erotic identities.
In memoir and poetry, Mann describes his life as an openly gay man who has remained true to his mountain roots. Mann recounts his upbringing in Hinton, a small town in southern West Virginia, as well as his realization of his homosexuality, his early encounters with homophobia, his coterie of supportive lesbian friends, and his initial attempts to escape his native region in hopes of finding a freer life in urban gay communities. Mann depicts his difficult search for a romantic relationship, the family members who have given him the strength to defy convention, his anger against religious intolerance and the violence of homophobia, and his love for the rich folk culture of the Highland South.

His character and values shaped by the mountains, Mann has reconciled his homosexuality with both traditional definitions of Appalachian manhood and his own attachment to home and kin. Loving Mountains, Loving Men is a compelling, universal story of making peace with oneself and the wider world.
On the Tongue (2006)
Collects many of the love poems that Jeff has published in literary journals over the last few years.

Works by Jeff Mann (Writer)

Essays

Fiction

Poetry

See also:

Works by
Jeff Mann
(Writer)