Scruffians! Stories of Better Sodomites

The Arthurian legend of the Fisher King, the myth of Orpheus, Shakespeare’s Tempest, comic book superheroes, and Twilight are just a few of the tales that Duncan (Ink) deconstructs through a prism of queer sexuality, youthful rebellion, and rage against authority, in this thrilling, funny, and moving collection. Several of these stories of “rascals, scallywags, ruffians, scamps” are loosely framed with Duncan’s mythos of the Scruffians—young boys and girls who have been “Fixed” and made immortal with a piece of dark magic known as the Stamp—while others are close relatives in theme, if not in exact mythology. There are tantalizing hints of a larger tale of disappearing Scruffians and a dark “Institute” conspiring against them; this untold story and Duncan’s versatile, electric writing only leave the reader wanting more. (Apr.)