The Gilda Stories
Review by Mina, submitted on 18-Jun-1991

_The Gilda Stories_ by Jewel Gomez for Firebrand Books

In my ever grasping search for Lesbian Literature I have found Gilda. I am happy to say that I will keep her with me, in that special place with Dracula and a few others, a long time.

_The Gilda Stories_ is a biographical work covering 1850-2050. Gilda was a runaway slave who finds refuge in the home of a vampire ready to find true death. She takes over the woman's name and property. From there the Life becomes her own.

Two things stand out for me in this book. First is that Gilda is never quite comfortable with the non-humanness of her condition. The ideas of family and roots are considered quite a bit. Second is the issue of race relations.

I would not say that the author went out of her way to talk about Black/White issues. What ends up happening, though is that everything is considered through Gilda's memories of slavery. These are not the reactions of a modern Black knowing the concept of slavery and equating it to his/her experience or a young Jew knowing that the Holocaust can happen again. This woman-watching the Sixties-knew slavery first hand. Most of the vampires who are her family are white, but they are linked by their vampirism. Still, she is aware of how the outside looks at all of them being together.