Prolific and passionate Michael Luongo was nominated for a Pulitzer for his investigative journalism on the killings of gay men in Iraq. He’s spent time exploring the gay culture of Afghanistan, and has written about contemporary Afghan life for the New York Times and other publications. He has co-written an academic treatise on gay tourism, and authored Frommer’s Buenos Aires. Luongo’s intimate knowledge of gay life around the world makes him an ideal editor for the new anthology, Sensual Travels (Bruno Gmunder. $17.99. www.michaelluongo.com) that collects 20 elegantly written short stories of erotic encounters abroad. Well-known contributors include Felice Picano, who maps out Tokyo’s gay nightlife with an anthropologist’s eye; Trebor Healey, who takes readers to the small city of Guanajuato, Mexico in a story rich with local traditions and symbols; and Jeff Man, who gets things nice and sticky with his “Bondage Tape in Budapest.” Though presented as fiction, many of these pieces incorporate real locations where travelers may choose to follow in the authors’ footsteps.
