Grab Bag 25 is a fifteen-story collection in habu’s eclectic anthology series of active gay male life and tribulations short stories. These stories, presented in the order in which they were written, were composed during the winter of 2021–22. Most of the stories in the collection are from contemporary time, but four of them dip into history. Habu is wide-ranging in his own wanderings, which is reflected in his story settings. Three-quarters of these stories are set in the United States, from New York, down to Delaware and Maryland, and even to Florida and on to the U.S. Virgin Islands and then heading west to Missouri, Indiana, Idaho, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. Five have international settings, including scenes in England, Germany, Eastern Europe, Italy, Cyprus, Morocco, and India.All of the stories are set in a hedonist world where being actively gay and on the make is the norm and rough sex is sometimes the goal and the fulfillment. Three stories include bisexuality. Habu came from the world of intelligence research and operations. Only one story in this collection has an espionage theme, but it’s from his CIA Candy Store Unit series, featuring master spy Sam Winterberry. Several of the stories include rough/BDSM gay sex. Habu dabbles in the arts, and, as usual, a few of the stories have various arts—writing, painting, music, and movies—in their themes. Habu writes with variety and about gay sexual hedonism, and we hope readers enjoy these stories with this in mind.
