Book Review: Desire: Tales of New Orleans by William Sterling Walker

Reviewer: Alan Chin

Publisher: Chelsea Station Editions

Pages: 169

This collection of short fiction delves into the gay demimonde in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina. A variety of interesting characters—lawyers, supermarket clerks, drifters, painters and musicians, cabaret singers and writers—alternately dominate the pages and then fade into the background to let the main character, New Orleans, take center stage.

A litany of the city’s bars and restaurants and hangouts have a visceral hold on these men; even when they are far away from this magical city, the memory of it haunts them.

William Sterling Walker writes with wisdom and compassion. His vividly imagined characters seem to embody the ravenous spirit of the city they inhabit. These stories are intelligent and real. They are vibrant and written with carefully chosen words to evoke a mood, and also to touch something deep in the soul of the reader.