Delicate Men
In this beautifully written collection of interconnected stories, Dean Johnson touches on the theme of “manhood,” and all the narratives, trials and tribulations that the word entails.
Johnson’s tales of contemporary male rituals and relationship politics never fail to dazzle with their clarity, nuance, and peril, coiled and waiting to strike.
Wilton Barnhardt, New York Times bestselling author of Lookaway, Lookaway.
Delicate Men takes a hard look at men caught in that land between here and there, men on the move, men on the verge of what comes next. The writing is sure, and the stories ring true with hard-earned wisdom.
Lee Martin, Pulitzer Prize Finalist author of The Bright Forever
What’s so compelling about R Dean Johnson’s Delicate Men is the startling revelation that the anxieties and insecurities of our youth—the ones we are certain we will outgrow—actually haunt us into maturity. Johnson seeks out the pressure points in a range of masculine narratives and shapes a complex portrait of male identity, in which vulnerability begets strength, where desire never gets less awkward, and adults still stand foolishly by playground rules: ‘It’s a boy’s game, but you have to be a man to play it.’ Sensitively rendered, Delicate Men is honest and poignant storytelling.
Rigoberto González, author of Autobiography of My Hungers
These delicate men with their still-soft hearts make their way through machismo and disillusionment, armed with maps of Brugge or nightly tips from valet jobs or white-collar plans for the future, but their delicacy threatens to spoil the fun. R Dean Johnson has given us this sweet gift of good men on the verge of indelicacy. What you’ll remember most—besides the storytelling finesse—is how Johnson renders the delicate or fragile space between innocence and culpability.
Jennifer Spiegel, author of Love Slave and The Freak Chronicles
The men in Delicate Men are delicate men, yes, in the now-fashionable crisis-of-masculinity sense, but they are also vagabonds and romantics and at times profoundly indelicate men, their indelicateness exposed for all the world to see, and we (the world) are better for having seen them through the tender prism of these mischievous stories by R Dean Johnson.
Jeff Parker, author of Ovenman and Where Bears Roam the Streets
R Dean Johnson’s tales of contemporary male rituals and relationship politics never fail to dazzle with their clarity, nuance, and peril, coiled and waiting to strike. It’s a minefield out there, where love and career await, and Johnson’s heroes try to walk safely through it all, armed only with their hard-won insights and good but fallible hearts. A splendid collection by any measure.
Wilton Barnhardt, New York Times bestselling author of Lookaway, Lookaway.
