Yellow Fever
Yellow Fever is a story written by shukyou. It ran in Issue 9 and can be found at s2b2.livejournal.com/40199.html and shousetsubangbang.com/mirror/yellow-fever/.
Summary
An amputee Vietnam vet gets himself picked up by a middle-aged Chinese-American attorney.
The glass in his hand held a pale imitation of the drug that burned through his system — vodka, straight, the way his father had taught him to drink it, a cold fire in his belly that still couldn't hold a candle to the flame in his veins. Neither the alcohol nor the heroin was strictly legal, but the former was acquired by flashing a fake ID and the latter by having a talented mouth. His missing left arm ached, but it was a far concern from where he was now, the room where the music and noise pounded loud enough to drown out the throb that thrummed his pulse through his skin.
This story contains sensitive themes, including: rape, rough sex, drug use, racism, war, ableism, bodily injury, and murder.
Connections
Yellow Fever is unconnected to other stories and universes.
Related Links
Yellow Fever is followed by a short-short story, White Lies.
Author's Notes
This story is deeply and gratefully indebted to: coloredink, for being my racism and Chinese culture coordinator; jesus_h_biscuit, for knowing everything about gay sex and heroin addiction; peripheralsight, for patient, loving encouragement; and drmoonpants, who wrote all of Bill's good lines. Also, everything I know about the Vietnam War comes from Wikipedia, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis — especially since Mr. King appears to have made up entirely the second half of the cadence I used.
Yeah. Amen.
(from the story page)
Reviews
Drew is in a bad place: After Vietnam, he's addicted to drugs and sex, the two tools he uses to drive out the memories and try to redeem himself—although he's not reaching for redemption. When he meets William Ma, he's not looking for more than a quick screw, but Bill has other things in mind. Eventually it becomes clear that it's not a matter of whether Bill can stand living with Drew, but if Drew can stand living with himself.
This story covers a lot of sensitive topics, and it deals with them well. Both characters are straight forward, blunt and strangely easy going. While this isn't by any means a “hot piece,” it is very moving emotionally and psychologically, and definitely worth a read!
(from http://creative-whimsy.blogspot.com/2011/07/review-stories-by-shukyou.html)
