San Francisco was once a city of music and laughter, of parties and bathhouses, when days held promise and nights, romance. But now something sinister haunts the streets and alleyways of San Francisco, something that crept in with the fog to seek a cruel revenge ... Flint, owner of a once thriving bathhouse, now ravaged by a disease that has no cure, gives himself over to the evil lurking in the steam. Dying men get tickets that say Admit One, hoping for release, only to be dragged into the maelstrom. David, a writer of gay porn, finds himself writing another kind of story. His friend Eddie disappears from his hospital bed, leaving slime and mold, then returns for David. Meanwhile, Bobby is searching for his lover, lost in the same horror.
In this new edition, Jay's brother Gary D. Laws provides context, reminiscence and extensive quotes revealing what the author had in mind as he created this mini-masterpiece. Set at the height of the AIDS crisis, it is an allegory which chronicles the early days of the epidemic including the glittery discos of the seventies and an ominous abandoned gay bathhouse. Noted author Hal Bodner adds further context into a 1980s that suddenly turned dark and dangerous but one in which contemporary readers may know only through movies and urban legends.
This classic gay horror suspense tale was first published in 1991. It was a Lambda Literary Awards Finalist for Best Men's Science Fiction/Fantasy.
"Steam is the perfect horror tale: too scary to pick up, too gripping to put down. Jay Laws has taken the genre of psychological chiller and twisted it into a truly queer adventure." - Richard Labonté
"With its mix of sex and supernatural, psychological chills and horror movie thrills, Steam is a potboiler." - Bay Area Reporter
"Stephen King would blush with appreciation." - Lambda Book Report
"One of the finest works of fiction and suspense by a gay author ever to be penned at any time or any place." - This Week in Texas
"This horrific, stomach-turning and sometimes very sexy book is impossible to put down." - London Gay Times
