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| 1933720662
| 9781933720661
| 1933720662
| 3.94
| 867
| 2009
| Aug 06, 2009
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it was amazing
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None
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Oct 15, 2016
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| 9781458173294
| 3.90
| 31
| Jan 01, 2003
| Jan 09, 2011
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it was amazing
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Toe Tag: A Mini Macabre is back! Exclusively at Amazon and trough the Kindle Unlimited program. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M6ZK0ZU Toe Tag: A Mini Macabre is back! Exclusively at Amazon and trough the Kindle Unlimited program. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M6ZK0ZU ...more |
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Jan 09, 2011
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| 9781452455853
| unknown
| 4.47
| 19
| Apr 13, 2010
| Apr 13, 2010
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it was amazing
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After a 5 year absence, Talk Story: Three Tales of Hawai'i is back, exclusively on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5E2EMK After a 5 year absence, Talk Story: Three Tales of Hawai'i is back, exclusively on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5E2EMK ...more |
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Apr 19, 2010
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| 159021062X
| 9781590210628
| 159021062X
| 3.68
| 28
| 2009
| Sep 25, 2011
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it was amazing
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For years, Sean Meriwether has served as editor of two of the most cutting-edge web magazines out there: Outsider Ink (now shuttered) and Velvet Mafia
For years, Sean Meriwether has served as editor of two of the most cutting-edge web magazines out there: Outsider Ink (now shuttered) and Velvet Mafia: Dangerous Queer Fiction. During his time with both markets, Meriwether has found exceptional literature by some of the best writers working. Occasionally he's also thrown one of his own works into the mix and that is how I first discovered Meriwether as an author in his own right. Over the years, Meriwether has been amassing an enviable body of work and that, my friends, is a very good thing for us. I've always enjoyed Meriwether's stories and I've always known that he is a damn good writer, but until I read his collected works in The Silent Hustler, I didn't fully realize just how exceptional a writer he is. When you read one of Meriwether's works as a stand-alone, you always come away satisfied, perhaps a little (and sometimes a lot) aroused, and definitely emotionally affected, though on the latter you might never quite be able to put your finger on the emotions you are feeling or how Meriwether pulled them out of you. His prose is clean and evocative, creating place and time with the simplest turns of a phrase, and his dialog is impeccable, sounding like real men in very real situations. There are no contrivances here. Not of character. Not of story. No manipulation. Just straight out stories about real people. And when read together as a whole, these works blend seamlessly together to take us on a really interesting and varied journey of growing, becoming and living as a gay man. The journey starts off with the "literary" (although, honestly, all of it is literary) "Things I Can't Tell My Father." It's part tribute, part indictment, and an always honest look at a father and his son. It's alternately melancholic and funny, touching and bitter, joyful and sad. It also serves as a cautionary tale of how one's actions make your children who they become even if you don't realize it. It packs an emotional wallop, but it isn't heavy handed. And that's the key to this collection. It's understated. There's no manufactured drama here, it's all very real and quietly, almost subversively, effective. Many of the pieces in this collection would be classified as "erotica," and let me tell you it is erotica in the very best sense of the word. The majority of the stories are sizzling hot, but what I appreciate about each one is that Meriwether never loses the men behind the acts. Unlike much erotica these days these days, Meriwether keeps his characters firmly rooted in their realities. Character never suffers for the sex and, most importantly, Meriwether imbues every single story with the emotional impetus for the sex. Whether it's melancholia, insecurity or unbridled lust that drives the characters towards the sex, it is never superfluous. Take for example "www.menschangingroom.com." Man, this is a hot, erotic piece, but as we draw to a close, Meriwether reveals the emotion that leads out narrator to that site. "Sneaker Queen" is another one that—pun completely intended—sneaks up on you. I don't want to say much more than that. Needless to say, even with the most erotic pieces in this collection, you are going to get a wonderful depth of character and emotion to go along with all the steamy bits. And that makes the sex all that more fulfilling doesn't it? Now, when one reads a single author anthology it is inevitable that you hit a story that just doesn't speak to you, one that you might secretly skim to the end. I've done it with some of my favorite authors. Well, I can honestly say that there is not a single story in this collection that doesn't work. Each is so incredibly nuanced that you want to savor every word. That's the brilliance of Meriwether's writing…he gives a lot in it and keeps you right there with the characters. Perhaps—for me, anyway—the story that best represents the complexity of Meriwether's work and this collection is "So Long Anita Bryant And Thanks For Everything." Boy this story packs a lot in. It is incredibly touching, instantly recreating the time of the "Save our Children" campaign Bryant waged against us, and incredibly sexy all at once. Meriwether manages to capture how Bryant demoralized and vilified us, yet also unintentionally empowered us to fight for what should be ours. We also get to experience (or, in the case of us older folks, relive), the wide-eyed innocence of realizing there are others like us out there, that we aren't freaks, and the headiness of realizing—on an sexual level--that there are so many of us out there. And when the narrator announces, "I'm here to fight Anita Bryant," your heart swells with the young man's newfound pride. It's a story of innocence lost, pride discovered and adulthood born. A brilliant piece. In the end, all the pieces work together—not something that can be aid of every single-author collection—blending seamlessly together to take us on an interesting, erotic, emotional and most importantly a literary journey of growing, becoming and living as a gay man. A tour de force that is not to be missed. 10 out of 10 stars. ...more |
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Dec 12, 2009
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Nov 06, 2009
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Paperback
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| 9781603702799
| 3.71
| 14
| Feb 18, 2008
| Feb 18, 2008
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it was amazing
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For those interest, after being long out of print "Mahape a ale Wala'au" is available as part of the collection Talk Story Three Tales of Hawaii.
For those interest, after being long out of print "Mahape a ale Wala'au" is available as part of the collection Talk Story Three Tales of Hawaii.
...more
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Jul 19, 2009
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| 1599989212
| 9781599989211
| B001CN45GE
| 3.16
| 89
| Apr 22, 2008
| Apr 22, 2008
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it was ok
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Coming primarily from a horror background, I can tell you one thing: vampires are a hard sell to any market. The thinking behind that is that the subj
Coming primarily from a horror background, I can tell you one thing: vampires are a hard sell to any market. The thinking behind that is that the subject has been done to death, pardon the expression, and unless there is some new take, publishers are pre-disposed not to like it before they’ve even read word one. I, on the other hand, have never really subscribed to that concept. I’ve seen authors take really interesting spins and breathe new life into an old, old literary staple, and so I tend to seek out vampire stories. So, when “All the Glitters” became available for review, I wasn’t hesitant in the least to read it and was actually looking forward to it. Well, it turns out, it isn’t a vampire story at all. It is a gwrach-y-rhibyn story, the gwrach not really being a vampire, but rather a monstrous Welsh spirit more in the Banshee family. Not knowing much about this particular piece of folklore, I was even more intrigued and dove in. We meet Kynan as he sits in a seedy Paris pub and is stabbed by those ruffians who have even less than he and who are more than willing to take what little he has left. Coming to his aid is an enigmatic stranger in the form of Aneirin, strong and apparently fearless as he tosses the roughs about as if they were rage dolls. Kynan is awed by him, and when he awakens later he find himself in Aneirin’s bed, his wounds having been dressed, he is not displeased at the thought of sharing the company of such an alluring man. The two become lovers, though they hardly know one another, and over the weeks a bond grows between them. But Kynan’s nightmares of a past horror haunt him, ultimately leading to confessions from Anerin and an encounter with the gwrach that threatens to destroy everything. “All that Glitters” starts out on a promising note, with a distinctive, appealing rhythm, an easy, fluid style, and an atmospheric setting in the dark underbelly of the Parisian world. The author has a good eye for the details of the surroundings in which she has placed her protagonists and has created two distinctly different characters with a lot of appeal. Throw in an over-abundance of sex and you would think you have all the ingredients for as sure fire, darkly erotic romp. For me, however, after the initial introduction of the character and the brief action scene, the Author’s choice of first-person point-of-view and the use of the present tense to tell the story began to unravel the intriguing set-up. Very quickly into the piece, we become embroiled in Kynan’s inner monologue and, unfortunately, the story and Kynan’s character suffer for it. Now, I actually am a fan of inner monologue in literature as it can often serve to draw the reader more fully into the story. In the case of this novella, so much of the story becomes Kynan pondering on how he feels and how Aneirin makes him feel and how he thinks Aneirin feels, the story becomes more tell than show, and a down-on-his-luck character quickly begins to overstay his welcome. The present tense doesn’t help this problem, keeping us embroiled in his inner turmoil to such a degree that instead of drawing us closer to empathy, we are pushed away as his initially appealing character becomes terribly effete. A large portion of the story also relies on the non-communication of characters. Non-communication is a very tricky thing to pull off for any author. Do it right and it can build suspense and passion and an emotional connection, not only with the reader, but between the characters, as well. Let it go on just a little too long, and the readers will find themselves drawn out of the story. Initially, the author handles it well, but in time, the non-communication starts to wear thin and we wonder what it is – other than sex – that keeps these two people together. By the time I got to the revelations of what has brought both of these characters to their respective points in their lives, I found myself no longer able to sympathize with either of them. I do think this author – and this piece – have great potential, and there are a number of turns of the word I found appealing and intriguing. Unfortunately, the basic premise of the piece is undercut by a structure and POV that actively works against the story. Kerry’s passion for these characters is clear, and I have no doubt that she has created a full world and background for each of them. I just wish I had seen more of it on the page. ...more |
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Jul 05, 2009
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ebook
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| 9781596226941
| 3.60
| 25
| May 2008
| May 2008
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it was ok
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When this book was pitched for review, I jumped at the chance to read it, given that the subject matter is one of my favorites. However, as I prepared
When this book was pitched for review, I jumped at the chance to read it, given that the subject matter is one of my favorites. However, as I prepared to write this review, I re-visited that publisher’s website and realized that what drew me to the book is not revealed in the publisher’s blurb. As revealing this aspect of the book would amount to a huge spoiler, I’ll dance around it as best as I can. Let’s start with the positive. Despite a few cases of missing words and some formatting markings that managed to remain un-caught in the final PDF of the manuscript I received, Barrack’s prose is simple, clean, easy to read, and initially engaging. Likewise, the premise is intriguing. Brandon Keats is a gay man, an investigator of paranormal phenomena who hears the tale of Civil War soldier Matthew Hardesty’s grave being haunted every 20 years. After some extremely limited research, he comes to believe that Hardesty was gay and that the grave is being haunted by his former lover Aaron deMonde, one of France’s most promising young baritones who disappeared at the height of his career in 1856. Keats, believing he is on the right trail, stakes out Hardesty’s grave one night and, after setting up all the accoutrements of paranormal investigators, manages to fall asleep at the gravesite. When a ferocious storm wakes him, he is rescued by the enigmatic Ron Tayvail, an attractive man who is very clearly of French descent. Ron takes Keats back to his apartment and gets him cleaned up, revealing his attraction to the drenched investigator. He entices Keats to stay by revealing that he knows a lot about soldier Hardesty and his lover deMonde. But how exactly does he know it, and what exactly does Ron want with Keats? There are a lot of elements here that have potential. A gay historical, paranormal romance that features not one but two love stories, that of Hardesty and deMonde and, taking place 152 years later, that of Keats and Ron. The problem is, this 100 page novella (double spaced) never spends any sufficient time with any of those elements to pull it together into the fascinating piece it could have been. Initially, I was very intrigued. The Prologue, especially, made me think were in for a great ride, one that broke the conventions of traditional storytelling. Barrack sets up the Prologue as Keats tells how he stumbled onto this story and the results of his early investigations. This section, while not losing the personal voice of Keats, gives the piece a very non-fiction tone. Barrack even goes so far at to have Keats footnote his research (though, the formatting is not traditional footnoting). I was fascinated, waiting to see how Barrack would blend this intriguing story-telling conceit into a smooth story of two loves. I’ve seldom seen this device employed and thought it was a unique way to wrap a piece of fiction in the guise of academia. Unfortunately, Barrack jettisons this device immediately following the Prologue and resorts to a traditional (sort-of) story-telling format. Though a bit disappointed that this convention wasn’t followed through the whole book, I still found Barrack’s prose engaging and professional. When Barrack brings investigator Keats and enigmatic Ron together, another aspect of the set up gets completely lost. I’ve been reading a lot of books lately where one of the protagonists (usually the first person narrator) is a “detective” or an “investigator” who, in actuality, seems to do very little detecting or investigating. Invariably, someone shows up and basically tells them everything they need to know and the result is that the “profession” of the narrator becomes nothing more that a plot device. It doesn’t serve to define them, drive them, create any depth of character. It is simply what the author needed to be to get the story rolling. And so it is here. Once Ron and Keats come together, any sense of Keats being a professional journalist specializing in paranormal activity is completely lost. Keats occasionally throws in some paranormal techno-babble just to remind us what he is, but mostly he is reduced to asking “What happened next?” as Ron relates the tragic story of Hardesty and deMonde. And herein lies the basic problem that moves The Sweet Flag from initially intriguing to uniquely frustrating. The entire story becomes Ron telling Hardesty and deMonde’s story to Keats. So, the first person narration of Keats, becomes the first person narration of Ron, who is telling a story he has ostensibly learned second hand. The novella quickly becomes trying when you realize this isn’t going to change and that you have 70 more pages to go. In short, there is no “show” here, but there is a ton of “tell,” that is complicated by the telephone-game aspect of the structure. Occasionally we do get breaks within the storytelling so that Ron and Keats can have sex, and even then Barrack resorts to characters telling us information about themselves rather than showing us by their actions. As an example, Ron says to Keats at one point, “No way. I’m the alpha. Take off your pants.” The result is that the sex is yet another structure/plot point that quickly becomes bland. Story. Sex scene. Story. Sex Scene. Story. Sex Scene. The entire novella progresses this way. This might have worked (or at least been less obvious) had Barrack chosen another way to convey the Civil war era story of Hardesty and deMonde. It might have worked if Ron didn’t convey the love story in the broadest possible strokes. We never really get to know Hardesty and deMonde and therefore we end up not caring. Likewise, there is little to differentiate Ron from Keats, other than Ron is French and occasionally uses French phrases, a trick that really doesn’t give us anything except an air of pretension (that drops away for the occasional “fuck me”). The two storytellers essentially become plot devices to tell another story. The result is that, although we are told through Keat’s narration of a developing connection/love between him and Ron, we never really feel it because the characters never develop into anything more than sketches. Barrack does occasionally veer into areas that could have been fascinating had she followed the paths. Hardesty’s possible connection to Walt Whitman (from whom the title of the novella is derived) and his “Calamus” poems was a nice addition that, in and of itself, could probably been an interesting novella. If the story of Hardesty and DeMonde been told on its own, without the involvement of Ron or Keats, the piece could have been engaging. There’s even a hint of civil war era mixed parentage that could have been mined and refined to add depth, and the fact that both Keats and Ron are of Jewish descent could have been a fascinating story, especially given the “twist” ending. Alas, any time I thought the piece might go off in an interesting direction, it got dropped. As for the “twist” ending that I won’t reveal, I think most readers will see it coming a mile away, if not within the fist 10 pages. Again, the “twist” serves simply as a structure device to bookend the story and really has little to do with the characters or the focus of the story. In short, reading this novella, I was reminded of when a friend just has to tell you the funniest/cutest/most hilarious story they’ve ever heard. They spend 10 minutes telling you what so-and-so did and what so-and-so said and what so-and-so must have thought, and then they reach the end of the story. And you stand there shrugging, only to have your friend say “I guess you had to be there.” Well, I guess you had to. ...more |
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1
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Jul 05, 2009
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ebook
| ||||||||||||||||
| B001974D0Q
| 4.00
| 5
| 2008
| unknown
|
liked it
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Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. Hmmmm….this collection 13 gay erotica stories and two chapters from the author’s separately available boo Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. Hmmmm….this collection 13 gay erotica stories and two chapters from the author’s separately available book is an odd little duck and one that is a smidge difficult to review in that I had two distinct reactions to it. On the one hand, I had a lot of problems with the writing, the prose style and the lack of characterization. On the other hand, I walked away with a warm, nostalgic feeling and an intense interest in seeing how this writer develops. With very few exceptions, the stories are told from the first-person point of view in an almost stream-of-consciousness style. The result is that the prose in most of the pieces is a bit clunky, a smidge herky-jerky, as the narrator sometimes goes off on details that seem almost to be non-sequiturs or employs phrases that are just off somehow. “One of my favorite things about being an athlete was the smell of male bodies, the flood of testosterone hitting my senses! It was amazing I’d never done anything like that in a locker room, but even I had never thought I’d suddenly act out this way in the great outdoors.” On the other hand, Lee will occasionally come up with the perfect phrase that encapsulates a lot in a very few words, that manages to capture the excitement of youth or the hopefulness of old age. “I don’t know if he slept any, but I didn’t.” On the wider view of the collection, the stream-of-consciousness does lend an air of intimacy, as if the reader is being told these stories by a close friend. The awkwardness of the words and the dialog gives it that feel of two friends just chatting. I’m not sure how much of this was a deliberate choice by the author or how much occurs simply by happenstance. Regardless, the realism and intimacy projected make me wonder what this author could do with prose that was just more fluid. Luckily, we get hints of where this author could go in some of the later, shorter pieces. Like much gay erotica, characterization often suffers at the desire to get to the hot and sweaty deeds that are the heart of each story. So is the case here. There isn’t much to differentiate the characters within individual stories from each other (other than brief physical descriptions), and the voice of each character sounds largely like the other. On a story level I, as a reader, never found distinct personalities in the characters. They were, by and large, completely interchangeable, and as a result, the erotic elements didn’t really work for me as character and personality are always the key to me when I’m “watching” two men get it on. On a collection level, however, the lack of characterization gives a universal feel, as if you are seeing one man looking back on his entire life and remembering only the good bits. This gives the collection a sweet, nostalgic feel that is really appealing. I think the fact that many of the stories begin with something akin to “When I was eighteen” or “I was in college when…”really adds to this feel. Deliberate? Again, I’m not so sure, but given the title is “As Hot as You Remember,” it ends up working when the collection is said and done. Despite the lack of full characters, what is appealing on a story level is the number of stories which end not with a HEA in the traditional sense, but with the very reveal that the characters ended up together or had been together since or had remained good friends. Sure, there are plenty of one night stands in these stories, but what lingers with you are those moments when the author throws in at the end “And we’ve been together the last 20 years,” almost as an afterthought. Yes, it’s slim and a bit old fashioned as a story-telling device, but it leaves you with an easy feeling that serves the collection well. One aspect that I don’t think works for the stories or the collection is that there isn’t much descriptive about the locales in which the stories are set. Most seem to take place in the New Orleans area or nearby surrounds, but we never get a sense of the sights or sounds or smells of these places in Lee’s prose. Like the men in the stories, the settings are nondescript, interchangeable. With New Orleans being a place of such richness and diversity, I expected to have a strong sense of place. As it is, the locales don’t have any distinctive character themselves. A fatal flaw? Not by any stretch. So, below I’ll give some brief thoughts on each story, but overall I feel that this collection, when all is said and done, succeeds as a collection. It somehow manages to overcome the major flaws within its component stories to work as a nice, nostalgic trip down memory lane. I don’t know that I would ever remember any of the individual stories in a few days, but I will remember the warm feeling I walked away with. And that ain’t bad. More so than anything, I’ve very curious to see where Lee goes as a writer. There is something here that I really like, that feels relatively exciting, and I think if he hooked up with an excellent editor, there could be fireworks. There’s an interesting talent here and I for one will be watching to see where Lee goes with it. The Stories (Summaries by author): Tied Even Closer. A college dorm room takes friendship and fantasy to unexpected levels. Some really nice resonant moments about “first times.” Well not true first times, but first times with someone who means something. A Night Out of Time. A ghostly encounter in the Big Easy. Like the stories I grew up with, strange things happen in this ghost story, all of which are explained in the end. The story harkens back to the days when horror was more than gore or splatterpunk, giving a nice tone. A good entry, though I though the relationship between the protagonist and his somewhat eccentric aunt was potentially far more interesting than any of the erotic elements. However, this story does have some nice character background, which gives the characters more depth than in most of the stories. When Derek Gets Back. Lonely, Jason fantasizes about his lover. A piece that I thought would have been far more interesting had we never met Derek. Regardless, a nice story about a couple of gay men who’ve been together for 20 years. Expected Visit, With Surprises. A friend stops by for a drink and a swim, but the visit turns erotic. An OK story with particularly clunky dialog. There isn’t anything here to make it stand out from the crowd for me, but it is certainly acceptable. Finding Sandy. Mr. Right is out there; I know, because I keep seeing him. A nice little story with a sweet ending. In Line and Out of Hand. Three strangers cross paths during a moment that almost goes in different directions. This is one of the few stories in the collection that veers somewhat from the traditional first-person narration. In this story, a brief interaction in line at a gay bar restroom is retold from three different perspectives. An interesting piece that really shows the potential of where Lee could go. However, the final scene resorts to third person narration when some of the characters get together. I would have preferred if the eroticism was restricted to those moments in line and the final scene dropped out completely. Out in the Open (Zing’s Campground Adventure). A runner’s encounter with a young man who is ready to come out in a big way! A cute, porny story with an ending that will make you smile, regardless of how unlikely it is.. Sorting. Work at a New Orleans gym turns into foreplay. Wants to become a statement about the evolution of the gaycommunity/gay acceptance. Unfortunately, lack of characterization keeps it from reaching its potential. Two Kinds of Action. A man cruises for sex but also finds danger! Another cute story, albeit relatively unrealistic. But it’s a fantasy, so hey. Waves of Heat. Quickie about an erotic walk on the beach. The shortest piece, coming in (I’m guessing) at less than 1,000 words, and easily the most intriguing. It is told in 2nd person and, frankly, I’m glad the author didn’t make it any longer as 2nd person is tricky and, more often than not, ends up cloying. But what is special about this piece is we get to see what Lee could do with description if he worked it into the other stories. Some of the images here I found far more erotic than most of the sex scenes in all the stories. This is where we see the potential that is exciting. Smoke Break. He wants me to go outside with him, but what does he really have in mind? A moment in time, this is another porny piece that certainly works as it is, but which remains fairly unremarkable. Younger. Two gay men want to be young again, but is younger always better? Again, we get to see Lee’s potential when he breaks away from the norm. There is some really good character detail in one of the two protagonists (the other much thinner) and it is an interesting concept that’s executed fairly well. It’s nice to see a story about senior citizens finding some love in a world obsessed with youth. The single misstep for me is the device used to bring them together. I would simply have liked to see them get together, as they were, a meeting of minds. The twist is tried and true, but we dodge the more interesting subject of life for the significantly older gay male. I Will. A gay man’s erotic plans for the object of his obsession. Another short piece that diverts from the traditional story telling method of the author. Here we see again the potential as Lee allows himself to play a bit with form. Interesting. Getting Past Almost. The first two chapters from Donovan Lee’s novel, available separately, about a gay man’s search for satisfaction and true love. The first of the two chapters works extremely well, with some really rich character building (a drag queen taxidermist….it’s not as silly as you might think) and some really tempting back stories for the characters. I want to know more about these people and I would love to see Lee bring more of the richness of character from this story into the others. Alas, this chapter was far too short for my taste, but reading this is what convinced me that Lee is someone I want to keep an eye on. The second chapter, unfortunately, gives up some of the depth of character of the first in favor of a ton of steamy blow and hand jobs. But the characters are far fuller than in most of the other shorts in the collection, which makes this recounting of high-school experimentation one of the better entries in the collection. ...more |
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Jul 05, 2009
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Kindle Edition
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| 1605041998
| 9781605041995
| B0089LOERW
| 3.54
| 327
| Sep 23, 2008
| Sep 23, 2008
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liked it
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Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. One of the potential problems with will-they-or-won’t-they in m/m erotica is that -– in a genre where a h Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. One of the potential problems with will-they-or-won’t-they in m/m erotica is that -– in a genre where a happily-ever-after endings are nearly mandatory — nine times out of ten, the reader already knows that they will. The result is that any tension between the characters vis-à-vis the future of their relationship is lost, and the author must make that journey to that HEA intriguing, different and utterly enjoyable in order to keep the reader hooked until the very last words fall from the characters’ lips. In If All the Sand Were Pearl, author Pepper Espinoza attempts valiantly to create some tension by introducing a plot device that may or may not bring our heroes together. I say valiantly because, while an interesting idea, the plot device has an inherent flaw which keeps the tension from mounting and we know from early on what the end result will be. So, what we are left with is the question of whether the characters and their journey make up for this lack of tension? Jag Martin is a poor but educated young man whose life was all mapped out in a course of devotion to the Goddess as a priest in the local temple. But his life is thrown a twist when his poor parents betroth him to a slightly older man whom he has never even met. But even that may not be as firm as Jag first believes. A package arrives one day and inside is a gift from his future spouse, Brace Rivers. It is a priceless pearl ring which, as Jag is told, is his to keep even if he were to break off the marriage to Brace, a choice he did not know that he had. This ring could solve all of the financial problems of his family, but Jag is a thoughtful young man and he realizes the choices are not so easy. If he breaks off the engagement and sells the pearl, is that fair to Brace? And if he does this, is he damaging the honor of his family. But, if he accepts the marriage, he would be giving up the life he believed he would lead. Is that far to him? Jag has only 24 hours to get to know Brace in a private setting before he must render his decision. Will the two have enough in common to stay together? Let’s start with the good points. Espinoza has created some likeable—if thinly drawn—characters and the novella is a quick, light read that goes down easily enough. The suitor, Brace, is a strong man, someone born to be a warrior, who has known all his life that his future was to be with another man, although like-minded men are not easy to come by in this village. He wants and needs a life of companionship. Alternately, Jag is a slight youth who honestly wants to do the right thing, even though he’s not sure if the right thing is to benefit himself or others. In making Brace somewhat “desperate” (for lack of a better word) for a spouse, the author has set up an interesting dynamic once the two meet. In this relationship, who exactly is the more powerful, the older, more masculine man or the younger, more docile man? Espinoza flirts with this power-shift dynamic (the shaving scene in particular is rather charming), but never seems to fully commit to it. What could have resulted was an intellectual and sexual tête-à-tête, but because we hover just around the edges of it, it never blossoms into a really fascinating dynamic that can overcome the lack of tension in the piece. Speaking of that…the flaw in the plot device was one that was fairly obvious to me. If the pearl is Jag’s to do with as he pleases, he can certainly sell it to benefit his family regardless of whether he marries Brace or not. Now, had the device been reversed so that Jag could only sell it if he agreed to the marriage, it might have worked better. So, the end result is that the dilemma must become one of Jag’s conscience, his innate desire to do the right thing. Unfortunately, because we see the ending coming a mile away (due more to the predilections of genre than the author’s writing), that moral dilemma just doesn’t pack any punch. Now, there is plenty of sex crammed into this 56 page story and it is all handled fairly well, albeit a slight bit on the clinical side for my taste, and the dialog does have some nice moments. But the piece also falls into some little traps that it didn’t need to, and those things kept the work from really capturing me. The author employs the convention of male-female designation in designing the relationship between the two men by the use of certain vernacular. Brace is referred to as the “husband” and Jag is referred to as the “wife.” Brace is big and muscular, whereas Jag is slight. Brace is the top; Jag is the bottom. Jag becomes the “woman” of the relationship and the feminization of him makes the story fall a little bit into the “chick-with-a-dick” formula. Now, this might have worked had the author committed to the potential power play I mentioned earlier, but we never quite get there. Two other minor problems niggled at me throughout the reading. Firstly, the author has a tendency to use interior monologue to explore each character’s feelings (a device I enjoy), but then she has the characters utter the same things that they were just thinking. Also, there are contradictions in the text with respect to Jag who, in one chapter, describes himself as not muscled or rough. [I:] was protected and soft. However, in a later chapter, Brace is captivated by Jag’s defined muscles and his muscled thighs and calves. Now beauty is, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but even so, I think there is such a distinction drawn that the variation of the description can’t be chalked up to starry-eyed love. None of the foregoing are fatal flaws to the story. The prose is easy and clean, the story simple and straightforward, and the sex more than plentiful. If you have an afternoon where you want a quick, breezy read, this might be the story for you. For me, there wasn’t anything in particular that made me think “I am so glad I read this.” ...more |
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Jul 05, 2009
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| unknown
| 3.50
| 14
| Oct 31, 2008
| Nov 2008
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did not like it
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Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable Before you read any further, I must advise that this review contains a significant amount of spoilers. Thi Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable Before you read any further, I must advise that this review contains a significant amount of spoilers. This is normally something I try to avoid, but in reviewing this piece it is not possible to avoid spoilers. That having been said… Have you ever watched a low-budget speculative television show–you know, some of the cheesier made-for-TV movies SciFi Network comes up with–and you just know they don’t have the budget to deliver the special effects spectacular the previews promise? But you watch anyway, figuring this might just turn into one of those guilty pleasures…like Mommie Dearest but with bad green-screen? You grin knowingly when, right before the commercial break, they build up to the exciting battle you know they can’t afford. Sure enough, when they come back from the break, the battle is over, the landscape littered with fake bodies and blood too red to be believable. You sit there, mouth agape as the characters talk about how brutal the battle was. Of course, you didn’t see it, because they couldn’t afford it. Well, in ‘Til it Bleeds, author Stephanie Burke manages to create the literary equivalent of those movies, but without the self-effacing humor or wit of some of the better offerings in the cinematic genre. In the end, this short novella (56 pages, approximately 16,000 words), doesn’t amount to a guilty pleasure…it’s just guilty…and in all the wrong ways. Now, whenever I review something, I always try to find at least one thing I like about the work even if the piece ultimately is not my cup of tea. However this novella makes it very difficult to find any silk in this sow’s ear. This should have been right up my alley. While many reviewers run screaming from vampire/demon works, I must admit I love them! I always start each one with a mind that is not just open, but wide open toward liking a piece, and this case was no different. And, given the publisher’s blurb, I thought, this will be great fun…evil threatens the land…in Ohio. The author was going to be winking at us along the way. Unfortunately, it wasn’t any of those things. We open our piece at the site of a recent massacre, as our heroes Faith and Vice–covered in blood and gore–stand over the remains of their victims, a bunch of society ladies who were trying to raise demons. We’re never sure why they’ve killed these ladies and it won’t be revealed until later in the novella that they had something to do with the plot. Vice is the more maniacal of the two–the author tells us he’s not in his right mind–and Faith is the more stable. They smoke cigarettes and revel in their power. In short they are bad-asses…and apparently engineered to be that way. How do we know they’re engineered? The author tells us, but never really explains it beyond that. They are the primo extermination unit for an organization called The Guild, similarly not explained beyond they have something to do with the control of demons. But, Faith and Vice, it seems, are more than that…they are also some sort of vampire/demon hybrid and they are lovers to boot, their banter peppered with sex talk that never even attempts to be innuendo. They are in-you-face with their sexuality. Not necessarily a bad thing, although the banter tends to be banal rather than revealing of the characters or their dynamic: “You’ll spank me.” Vice smiled, licking his lips and tossing a wink at Faith’s back. “…I’ll not only spank you, I won’t fuck you afterwards.” They are bonded for life, each has branded the other, Vice’s brand being above the eye while Faith’s is carved into his back. All in all this premise seems promising despite the apparent flaws, but as you work your way into the piece, it is really difficult to tell Faith and Vice apart, a fact not helped by the point-of-view shifting from one to the other at the beginning of nearly every paragraph. I myself love “head-hopping” in point of view, but it needs to be done sparingly, otherwise it simply becomes difficult to tell whose eyes we happen to be seeing thing through. In the end, both characters become little more than stock characters, more cardboard than flesh and blood, and the lead up tends to be rather confusing. It is very clear the author loves these characters. She tries nobly to give their dialog some wry humor and the banter of two men who have known each and loved each other a very long time. But the dialog becomes so stilted that that the effect is comical. I found myself laughing at their exchanges rather than with them. After 3 and 1/2 pages of prologue, we’re served up 5 pages of sex. There is rimming and fisting and talk of inner beasts being let loose. The characters indulge in sex dialog I think I’ve only ever heard in straight porno films and the author seems to have a penchant for having them gasp each other’s names out in alternating paragraphs as their passion becomes quicker. Throw in the use of the phrase anal walls and anal muscles repeatedly, and the expected feeding on one another’s blood, and you get sex that is supposed to be hot and sweaty and animalistic, but ends up being pedestrian and pedantic and, I’m sad to say, rather humorous in a completely unintentional way. Chapter 2 gives us a post-coital pillow-talk–an info dump as to their search for The Hands of Fate and the legend behind them–and we learn that Faith is the alpha-male because the author tells us so through the eyes of Vice. We then get another 5 pages of sex with possibly the worst dialog (You taste divine.) and strangest euphemisms (Faith soon was making low growls and moans as Vice enthusiastically began to toss his salad.) I think I have ever read. I think the author meant to imbue a comic tone, but it never works that way, becoming laughable. The story moves on to a religious tent-revival meeting somewhere in Ohio where Faith and Vice confront the men who are somehow involved in the missing the Hands of Fate (though to be honest, I’m really not clear how). These men are pretty much interchangeable, lacking any distinct personalities, and while our heroes do battle with their fanatical religious followers, one of these men uses an incantation to summon up a Master Demon to take on Faith and Vice. Not to be undone, Faith and Vice conjure up “organic” weapons from their own blood (an homage to the video game God of War?) to fight the beast. And as we brace ourselves for the battle, we cut away to a chapter break only to find when we return that the demon (who is now a Minor demon as opposed to a Master) has already been slain by our heroes. We don’t get to see the battle. At all. We move into more sex as the duo discusses the plot and tell us that one of the three revival men must be found. As they get down and dirty with the sex, Faith reminds us that he is the alpha male (“I am your dominant!”) and three paragraphs later Vice reminds us that Faith is the dominant. The sex is rather mechanical, the duo sex talking each other and reminding each other that they complete one another. Had the dialog been better or more inventive, this might have come off sexy and arousing, but again their interaction becomes almost laughable. The plot moves along fast then, with Faith and Vice teleporting themselves to the home of the man they are seeking. There are hints in this exchange of the slightly comic tone the author wanted the piece to take on, but by this time it is too late and that humor is never played out in the final five pages. In the end the entire chapter serves only as an info dump for the thin plot as they transport that man to The Guild and get ready to search out the true evil, the lead revival man, Vitelli, who conveniently appears. We have some banter with Vice telling Vitelli how annoying he is and to shut up. Vitelli continues to prattle on how he refuses to be subservient to The Guild when his speech is interrupted “Prattle? You call the truth…omph!” Faith hauls off and hits him, but just as it is about to get good and deliver the climactic battle we’ve been waiting for and expecting, Faith and Vice are transported from the site and the piece comes to an abrupt end. Again, we never see the promised Action in this action adventure piece. I so very much wanted to like this piece. I was ready to be taken along on a great comic adventure people with some of my favorite genre staples. But the stilted dialog, the sex which is laughable rather than titillating, characters which are terribly one-dimensional and the constant avoidance of the plot frustrated me to no end. But what bothered me most was that everything (except the sex) was told to us. The author never shows us the epic battles the blurb promises and the plot is reduced to exposition and info dumps between the sex scenes. And there was no reason for this. The author wasn’t confined by budgets. There were no special effects to be paid for. It is all in the words and the imagination and in the first rule of fiction: show, don’t tell. The author could have written those battles, showed our heroes as the witty masters they could have been. Instead, whenever action threatened to rear its head and deliver us a romp, she cuts away and all the action happens off-screen. And that did more than frustrate me, it made me angry. So, if you are looking for unending sex, this might be the story for you. If you’re looking for what the blurb promises or any type of depth of character, I’m guessing you will be disappointed. And if you are looking for an indulgence, something that rises above its considerable flaws to be entertaining in a penny-dreadful kind of way, I fear you will find this lacking the pulp and witty repartee that make up truly guilty pleasures. In the end, a rerun of “Frogs” on SciFi might be a better choice. ...more |
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Jul 05, 2009
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ebook
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| 9781602725171
| 3.94
| 17
| May 10, 2009
| May 10, 2009
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liked it
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Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable EDITED TO ADD: I would actually bump up this rating to 3 and 1/2 if I could. I’m always wary when a novel o Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable EDITED TO ADD: I would actually bump up this rating to 3 and 1/2 if I could. I’m always wary when a novel or novella’s first chapter is a sex scene. Generally, I find this to be a very bad idea because the reader doesn’t know who these characters are; therefore has no emotional investment in their lovemaking. For me as a reader, I need to learn about the characters — who they are, together and apart — before I care about their passion. Without knowing the characters, I generally just don’t care about the sex. Another reason I find it a less than wise choice is that it runs the risk of alienating some readers by implying “porn.” Now, for those who really looking for something more on the porny side, this is fine. But for those looking for more romance and character arcs, starting off with a sex scene can discourage them for purchasing the piece in question. And with this piece, if readers bypass it because of the porny introduction, they’d be missing a novella that is so much more than porn, an engaging and entertaining journey with believable and interesting characters. Now, this is not to say that I didn’t have some issues with this novella. I actually had numerous problems with it, but it is a testament to Katz’ mature and fluid prose and her dynamic characters that the piece overcomes most of these flaws. So, what were the problems I had with the piece? Well, if it weren’t for the publisher’s summary, I, for one, would not have known that this piece was set in Hungary of the 1700s. Perhaps those more familiar with the historical setting would have picked it up, but nothing jumped out at me to place it in that fascinating country. But, the setting isn’t really relevant to the enjoyment of the story. Katz sets the historical tone believably and well, with a style that evokes the period without resorting to a recitation of the politic of the place and time, stilted language or corny dialog. The result is an atmospheric piece that at times feels a little bit like of Robin Hood and a little bit like The Scarlet Pimpernel, and while that doesn’t tell me Hungary, 1740, it was enough to lull me into the historical setting. The plot also provided some significant issues for me. Katz references multiple characters in the work that are never introduced into the story at all. In fact, at times I began to think that this work was a sequel in that character names and events are referenced in passing–the details remaining muddled–with such regularity that it felt as if we should already know who these people were. I kept expecting to meet some of these characters, but I never did and I found that to be initially confusing. I kept wondering who these characters were and what they had to do with the story. This frustration wasn’t helped by the constant referencing of these unseen characters by their first names. Katz clearly created an in-depth background for her primary characters and alludes to that background often. This generally serves the piece well by creating rich characters, but for me, if the characters are never seen and the specific of events not important, then I don’t need to know names. The characters in this story are fascinating as well, both lead males engaging and refreshingly masculine without being relegated to top and bottom stereotypes. The angst of Janos Vesh is utterly believable and kept in realistic control by Katz. It never goes over the top as angst sometimes can, and the events of Vesh’s past lends a gravitas to his situation and character that resonates well. Likewise, while the specifics of the romantic relationship between Vesh and Stefan are also quite muddled and rather obtuse at times (another problem I had with the piece), the charm and attraction plays well, their dynamic believable and well-rounded. For those wondering about the sexual play in the piece, it is all handled rather well and while it does take up a significant amount of the story’s 22,000 word count, it never feels overwhelming. Could I have done with one sex scene less? Sure. Did it bother me? Not really as Katz avoids many of the cliches and bad dialog that permeates sex scenes in much of erotica today. One misstep that particularly bothered me in the novella, however, was the revelation of what it was in Vesh’s past that motivates his character today. The details are never fully revealed to the reader — which, in actuallity, is a nice thing as we’re given enough to understand — but the details are imparted to his lover Stefan “off-screen” by a third character, and his and Vesh’s reactions are really swept over much too quickly. Stefan’s reaction tends toward the trivilization and eroticism of Stockholm Syndrome, a disturbing reaction which could have been handled much better simply by a slight adjustment to Stefan’s reaction. In the end, Stefan suffered in my eyes for his reaction. This was the first work I’ve read by Katz and I was impressed with her very mature style and the quaity of her prose, which reads wonderfully. It is Katz’ skill with the words, the flow of sentences, evocation of tone and her characters that made me want to follow along on this journey. Despite the flaws, The Highwayman works well, not only as a romance piece, but also as a believable action-adventure. It is charming and believable and I was very entertained as I read it. And that is always a nice thing to feel when you put down a book. ...more |
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Jun 02, 2009
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Jun 08, 2009
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ebook
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| 0978753119
| 9780978753115
| 0978753119
| 3.84
| 1,059
| Oct 16, 2006
| Oct 16, 2006
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liked it
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It is clear from reading this book that author R.W. Day can write. Her prose is neat and concise and, despite the pace dragging a bit in the first 75
It is clear from reading this book that author R.W. Day can write. Her prose is neat and concise and, despite the pace dragging a bit in the first 75 pages, the characters she creates are well rounded and full and the setting is well told. The story is told from the first person perspective of David, one of our heroes, and David is a likeable fellow who, at the age of 16 (albeit, he tends for me to read more 13 or 14), is beginning to realize that he is a bit different from other men, that a life with a woman is somehow not in the cards. When he meet the immensely appealing Healer Landers, things become a little clearer for David, and through a series of events, the two become entangled, both emotionally and romantically. Day captures these two men well and as the novel progresses, we see a nice, clear character arc for each of them, both having changed and grown by the time the reach the end of the novel. But there's something about this novel that did not sit right with me from about the halfway point. There's something very Victor/Victoria about it in that it is one thing masquerading as another, and I found myself with torn feelings about this novel. You know how when you see a preview for a movie and you're excited because it seems to be one thing, but when you actually get into the movie theatre, it is another thing entirely and you're disappointed verging on angry That is exactly how I feel with this novel and in that respect, I think it deserves two reviews: one for the novel it is and one for the novel it is masquerading as. So let's tackle first, the novel that it isn't. A Strong and Sudden Thaw is billed as a speculative fiction work and as such, for me, it fails completely on just about every level. There is a great trend in spec fiction these days to regress. That is, the world is post-apocalyptic, but is post-apocalyptic to the point that the setting has reverted to, essentially, a period setting. Many talented authors have gone this route and produced amazing pieces of speculative fiction. However, with this novel, it doesn't work. It is very clearly a period piece, despite the New Ice Age element. While this speculative Ice Age does allow the author to wax nostalgic about things from The Before (like Disneyland and Almond Joy candy bars, hot cocoa), that hardly makes it speculative. You also get a few author-peeking-behind-the curtain moments--such as with the reference to Bennett Cerf--that are meant to place us very far into the future, but instead play out as a clever writer showing herself instead of the world. Throw in some dragons and some government conspiracy (neither of which are fully explored or committed to), and you get a hint of spec fiction without the intense world building spec fic requires. Don't get me wrong…there is good world building here. But the word being built is late 1800s North America through and through, not post-apocalyptic America. Likewise, all good spec fiction has an element of subtle social commentary woven into it and A Strong and Sudden Thaw certainly has social commentary. However, it is delivered with a sledgehammer and not a velvet glove. Allegory and metaphor are thrown away here. We really, really get that homophobia and discrimination are bad, bad, bad, because Day hammers us over the head with it. Weave in elements such as Healer Landers gifting an old copy of "Crime and Punishment" to David, and any chance of subtlety is gone. Instead of a clever, infiltrating commentary that is one of the hallmarks of excellent spec fic, we get a civics lesson, sans the blackboard and required reading. Now let's look at the novel as it really is. If you ignore the cross-genre labeling of speculative fiction and the very weak peppering of "speculative" elements, what you have is a really respectable gay romance--part coming-of-age, part historical novel-- that stands out as one of the better examples of the m/m romance genre. And it is this perspective from which one must really approach the novel in order to appreciate its nuances. As an historical gay romance, the preachiness the author practices fits. It becomes less the author's personal point of view and more the central core of the story, the primary antagonist, if you will, that stands between these two men and their developing relationship. From this perspective, the burgeoning relationship between David and Healer Landers becomes more effective emotionally, and the story plays out exceptionally well. The characters are given distinctive and appealing personalities, right down to the "bit players." The narrative voice of David is appealing and, despite his age, we see a young man who is not frightened by things that are foreign to him, but engaged by them. Curiosity and intelligence go hand in hand with David and it makes him a dynamic hero. Healer Landers is likewise a well-crafted character, his personality distinctly different than David's and multi-dimensional. In a genre where often the two male protagonists tend to sound nearly identical in character voice, it is refreshing to read two characters who may have things in common, but who have their own unique personalities. The relationship between the two of them is also very dynamic, the author sidestepping many of the clichés of the m/m romance genre. As a reader, I felt a bit cheated by this novel because of the mask it was wearing. If you sell something to me as a speculative fiction, I expect the speculative elements to take center stage in some way and to be well developed and intriguing. And, in speculative works, I expect social commentary to be a subtle bonus, something almost unnoticed. And without a doubt, as I read this, expecting a speculative fantasy, I found myself becoming less interested and more angry at the wool trying to be pulled over my eyes. But once I stopped and realized what this actually was, I began enjoying the novel and seeing it for what it is: a very, very good example of gay romance. So, if you are looking for a great gay speculative piece of fiction, I think A Strong and Sudden Thaw is more than likely to disappoint. If you are looking for a well-written and engaging piece of gay romance with an historical bent, I think you will hit the mark with this one because that is the book that shines. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Apr 24, 2009
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Paperback
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| 1935192140
| 9781935192145
| B001F79OJK
| 3.85
| 218
| Sep 01, 2008
| Sep 01, 2008
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did not like it
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I'd seen this novel by Andrew Grey on various e-commerce sites for the past month or so and I'd always avoided it due to the horrendous cover artwork,
I'd seen this novel by Andrew Grey on various e-commerce sites for the past month or so and I'd always avoided it due to the horrendous cover artwork, possibly one of the worst covers I've ever seen. But when I was asked to review this Dreamspinner Press release, I tried to put the cover out of my mind. After all, there have been many truly excellent novels adorned with horrible covers, and sometimes a gem can shine through such bad packaging. But I am sorry to say that the cover foretells the quality of the story in more ways than one. First, let's get the main issue out of the way. Is this speculative fiction? Well, if you factor in that the many of the lead characters are Satyrs, then yes this can loosely be placed in the speculative or fantasy genres. Is the speculative element explored, developed and in some way essential to the story? No. There is no grand world building, no exploration of issues of race or culture, no lyrical or magical feel that creates a sense of whimsy or romance. In the end, this is a story about a bunch of horny guys--and not because they're Satyrs--and anyone who picks this up for the speculative/fantasy elements will be hugely disappointed. The next thing we have to get clear is that while technically marketed as novel, this work is actually two 150-page novellas stuck together by virtue of common characters and the Satyr setting. The "plot" (as minimal as it was) of the first half of the book is radically different than the second half of the book. And we also get a prologue that, interestingly, is the most engaging part of the entire work. So let's take a look at the two novellas. JOURNEY TO CHILDHOOD: This novella is the story of Travis and Cembran, a human and a Satyr who meet when Travis inherits the land on which Cembran has lived for over 300 years. Of course, the two lay eyes on one another and love blossoms instantly, leaving Travis to consider leaving his real life behind to live with his new love. It seems that Cembran has been haunting Travis' dreams (explored briefly) since Travis was a teen, and it was their destiny to meet. But Cembran's father, King of the Satyr and a direct descendent of Bacchus himself, has been haunting Travis' dreams as well, threatening Travis to the point that the new lovers decide to confront this powerful creature and bring his reign to an end. Journey to Childhood starts off quickly enough, with extremely sparse prose (almost skeletal) that sets a nice pace, at least initially. The problem is that there is nothing remarkable about the prose, and it is almost so abbreviated that just as you seem to be headed to an interesting scene, it ends. It felt a bit like literary coitus interruptus. But the main problems with this first novella are the things that typically plague lesser works in the m/m romance/erotica genre. The characters lack depth of any kind, remaining as flat and as cardboard at the end of the novella as they are at the beginning. Likewise, other than Travis' penchant for calling Cembran "Lamb" every few lines or so, there is nothing that differentiates these characters from one another. Likewise the human/Satyr inter-species love is never, ever explored, emotionally, socially or sexually. Add in the fact that these two men read largely as women with penises, it's difficult to stay interested. Plot wise, there isn't much here. An attack on Cebran that could have lent the novella some tension is used only as a plot device and quickly vanishes, and the crux of the novella is the impending battle with Cembran's father. In between the two events you get an average of two sex scenes per chapter, with about 3 pages of the chapters dedicated to "loving" dialog. The sex scenes are not erotic, nor especially well crafted, and the constant barrage of them shatters any chance of developing dramatic tension within the piece. By the time we get to the battle with Cembran's father, we have come to be bored with the sexual life of our two heroes, and we are longing for the great, epic battle promised us. Unfortunately, the novella comes up short there as well, encapsulating the battle in two and one-half pages. After the obligatory sex scenes and professions of eternal love, we move on to the next novella. COMMUNITY OF CHILDREN: This second novella contains all the problems of the first -- cardboard characters, the lack of distinctive characters, mundane (and by this point, annoying) sex scenes, weepy men -- and even adds to those problems by not knowing exactly what it wants to be. We have Travis and Cembran wanting to turn their farm into a community of Satyrs; Gathod (a minor, plot-device character from the first novella) struggling with how to tell his human lover Doug that he is a Satyr; Brock (another first novella plot device) falling in love with his human lover, Steven (which love happens instantly); Steven discovering that his is a Satyr; Doug deciding to run for Sheriff of the local town; and a sub-plot about the adoption by Brock's parents of a young orphaned boy who doesn't know yet that he is a Satyr. Any one of these could have been an interesting plot, but not a single one is explored with any depth. The "community" being built has no idyllic feel to it. The conflict in the relationship between Gathod and his human lover is resolved in about 10 paragraphs. And the adoption subplot has none of the nuances that could have made it fascinating. Throw in dialog such as “Oh god, Brock.” It sounded like Steven was crying, “You make me feel special.” and you have a story that really has no appeal because it has no direction. This novella tries to be a jack-of-all-trades and ends up being master of none. But most of, this novella suffers from an overdose of sweetness. In this world, every boss, every lover, every social worker is pro-gay (or pro-Satyr), understanding, loving. The lack of any dramatic tension in this piece along with the interminable saccharine and the aimless rambling from unexplored plot to unexplored plot ultimately makes this novella cloying. I tried very hard to find something I enjoyed about the novel, but in the end I found it so riddled with clichés and lacking any tension, that I couldn't see beyond its insurmountable faults. It fails as speculative fiction. It is a cloying romance. It lacks any magical feeling that could have endeared it to me. Even as porn it fails to leave any erotic impression. Given the abundance of exceptional gay spec fiction and m/m romance/erotica out there to be had, one is best served by looking for other tales that deliver rather than visiting with the Children of Bacchus. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Apr 24, 2009
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Apr 24, 2009
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ebook
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| 3.57
| 375
| Dec 16, 2008
| Dec 16, 2008
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it was ok
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The beautiful cover art by Anne Cain hints that this story has a Yaoi-inspired genesis and, after reading it, I have no doubt that the author Katrina
The beautiful cover art by Anne Cain hints that this story has a Yaoi-inspired genesis and, after reading it, I have no doubt that the author Katrina Strauss was at the very least intrigued by that genre. For once, I feel that the publisher’s blurb accurately represents the plot, with only one addition needed for the purposes of this review: It is important to note that our hero, Edwin, is traveling along with his mother and sister, the latter having agreed to marry a significantly older man — a bit of a lecher, honestly — to better the station of their family. Intriguing, yes. It is. But does it work? Well, yes. And no. Author Katrina Strauss’ prose is competently written, the period setting made clear by the heightened manner of speech of the characters, and she clearly knows the time period in which she is writing. It all moves at a decent pace, and yet I found myself becoming a bit annoyed early on in the story. What derailed (pardon the pun) the piece for me initially is that while Strauss has a very good eye for detail, she sometimes didn’t know when to stop with the observations. We get incredibly detailed descriptions of the train and its compartments, but in the end it does little to create an atmosphere. Yes, I know how each of the characters are dressed — down to excruciating detail — and I even know where there privy is in relation to each of the passenger compartments. But it all felt rather like a recitation of historical facts rather than a tool to create atmosphere or tension. There are times when I actually found myself mumbling “enough” with the details. It was beginning to feel a bit Ann Rice in verbosity and “info dump,” though woven into the story better than most info dumps. We are also, during the early parts of the story, so completely engulfed in Edwin’s malaise and internal homophobia that–after a while–he becomes a bit unlikable. It’s nearly unbearable as a reader, his moroseness and becomes the totality of his character traits. Yes, he is there with his sister and mother, but neither becomes more than a prop until later in the story when the sister becomes the plot device. We are — despite the story being told in third person — stuck in his head and, frankly, his thoughts are rather self-involved, especially when we learn more about his sister’s plight, and the result is he turns too whiny and unappealing for my tastes. When Edwin finally meets the mysterious Satori, we get to see a little passion as he becomes intrigued and then bedded by the magician. Now Satori is a shady character, rather slimly drawn and never really rising to the title of irresistible and charming. He wears a waistcoat and a cravat and speaks in a particularly affected way, but he never evolves into a full character. Now part of that is the appeal…mysterious stranger on a train, so in that respect Satori serves exactly the function he needs to in the story. The sex between Edwin and Satori is fairly well drawn, a cut above many depictions in the genre, but both characters are so terribly feminine that it it didn’t really feel hot or erotic to me. The characters, both before and during the sex scenes, play much more on the female side of androgyny and miles away from the male. And there was one moment when Edwin is being penetrated by Satori (in a manner of speaking) where, unfortunately, Strauss fell into one of the biggest cliches ever: as Edwin is penetrated the train is going through a tunnel. Have we never seen the incredible spoofs of such imagery? It is, unfortunately, a laugh inducing moment for me and completely shattered any eroticism I was finding. After the initial encounter, Edwin is hypnotized into forgetting the encounter (but scheduled to return), except that Edwin hasn’t forgotten. Strauss was clearly trying to depict Edwin being haunted by slivers of memory, but it was almost as if he remembered the whole thing. So, the light D/s the author teases us with ends up not quite working for me. Where the story does start to take off is in the twist in the end with Edwin’s sister. Now this fascinated me and it was a good idea, but right when we get to it, the story ends, rather abruptly. And that is where I got extremely frustrated. This twist was a wonderful, wonderful idea. Where it failed is lack of foreshadowing during the early part of the story, and the fact that Edwin’s sister had been a near non-character until she was needed to bring the story to an end. Had Strauss concentrated a bit more on the sister and mother early on (and thereby got us out of Edwin’s annoying melancholy), the twist would have worked instead of feeling like an afterthought, a way to simply wrap up the story. And Strauss could have ended up with a bit of a treatise of gender roles, both in that time period and now, as a bonus. But the great idea came too late and was over too soon. Or was it simply that there was nothing built into the beginning of the story to make us go “WOW! What a great solution.” In the end, this short story didn’t really work for me as a romance, a character study, or a piece of dark erotica. But what did work is that hint of where Strauss could go as a writer with a bit more polish and focus. The turns she took with the story I found intriguing, albeit never fully committed to, but in that one brief glimmer I saw enough to make me wonder where this writer could go. It could be exciting places. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Jan 2009
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Feb 08, 2009
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ebook
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| 3.28
| 18
| 2008
| Jul 2008
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really liked it
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Ah, a world hyper-vigilant of potential terrorism has wrought a lot of unpleasant things these day, one of them (and the least unpleasant by far) is t
Ah, a world hyper-vigilant of potential terrorism has wrought a lot of unpleasant things these day, one of them (and the least unpleasant by far) is the long security lines at airports and the surly TSA agents one has to face when something goes awry. And those lines are even worse when all you want to do is leave the unpleasant past–and an ex-lover who publicly humiliated you–behind. What more could possibly go wrong? Well…did you remember to take your Prince Albert and frenulum ladder out before you got in that line? It’s a little to late when Evren Ertegun realizes exactly what set off that metal detector and why Officer Regan is ready to wave his big wand at him. The more I read author Kit Zheng’s work the more I find little nuances, and this charming story is no exception. It’s a very short story–coming in at under 9 pages–but it is one that is done exceptionally well. While there is little time in so few pages to build hugely dynamic characters, Zheng spends her time wisely, putting enough detail into her protagonist’s past life to give him some depth and some resonance and a personality that makes him appealing. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t some long drawn-out history with a little action thrown in. This is a nice, slice-of-life story that benefits immensely from the economical use of back story. Zheng slips in the little details that make up a life, a person. For example, when the alarms first go off, Zheng weaves in that Evren is perhaps a bit past his prime, a very simple addition that lets the reader know how big a change Evren has just undertaken, how he might just be a little lost starting over again. Or when Officer Regan takes him in the back room for a closer security screening, how Evren nervously offers up, My parents were from Turkey. It’s a Muslim country but it’s really…I grew up here, I haven’t even been back. Just that little bit of stammered information adds another layer to the character. I was very, very impressed with how expertly and subtly Zheng was able to mix in so much detail with so few words…it’s all just light touches peppered here and there throughout the story. Now you can’t accomplish everything in so short a story, and Officer Regan (spelled differently, I know, but I couldn’t help but get a chuckle out of the choice of name) is definitely more thinly drawn. Still, there’s enough there to differentiate him from Evren and to make him likable and appealing. As a result, the brief encounter is surprisingly erotic…because the characters have depth. Frankly, I wish my experiences with TSA had been so interesting. Another trait I’m seeing now that I have read more of Zheng’s work is the humor that tends to run through her stories. The humor is definitely more in the background here (as opposed to her Roy LeRoy stories) and it gives the piece a slightly romantic, lightly comic feeling that is appreciated. In the end, Zheng created an engaging, simple story and, wisely, she kept it simple. In a span of about seven minutes, I got some nicely drawn characters, a tiny bit of social commentary, some smiles, some arousing sex and a story that might just be about never being afraid of starting over. If Zheng can blend all of that into nine pages, shouldn’t we expect the same from longer works? Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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not set
not set
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not set
not set
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Dec 26, 2008
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ebook
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| 1603703373
| 9781603703376
| B001A1PT40
| 3.30
| 10
| Apr 12, 2008
| Apr 12, 2008
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really liked it
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Of late, I’ve been reading a lot of m/m romance and m/m erotica, enough so that I’ve found that most of the offerings out there seem not to be terribl
Of late, I’ve been reading a lot of m/m romance and m/m erotica, enough so that I’ve found that most of the offerings out there seem not to be terribly bad, but neither are they particularly good. Most seem more than happy to merely languish in that hazy middle-ground between the two poles. But every once in a while the exceptional comes along and gives the reader breath of fresh air. Lee Benoit’s Master of None: The Eight of Pentacles, I am happy to say, falls into the exceptional category. Our story centers around Aidún who, even as he mourns the death of his child and his hearth-mate Melle, sets upon a journey to find Devi, his childhood friend and the one person who truly held his heart. Like his sister Melle, Devi was a storyteller – one of those who kept the history and legends of his people alive — and although he left the village with a caravan the previous autumn of his own accord, the death of Melle leaves a hole in the fabric of the village, not to mention Aidún’s soul. So, being neither a first-son, nor anyone’s father, Aidún packs his meager belongings, taking with him all the skills he had learned over his lifetime, and he leaves the only home he has ever known, determined to find his love and return him and his stories to their village. Aidún’s journey takes him to Dina, a a town very unlike his own, which is surrounded by soldiers and bustling with commerce. Here, people do not survive by the generosity of their neighbors; they do not give their bodies freely for love or sex. Everything in Dinas comes at a price and from the markets to the pleasure houses, every need, want or urge is satisfied by the exchange of coin. Having heard that in Dinas, many young men are reduced to earning their coin by working in the pleasure houses, Aidún searches several with the help of his caravan drover, but to no avail. No one has seen Devi. Lost and hopeless, Aidún stumbles upon a rag-tag troupe of performers who are working the towns in the area, hoping to make enough money so that they can return to their own homes, now so very far away Together with his new family of performers, Aidún is more determined than ever to find his one true love. Benoit crafts her story with a fluid, easy prose that matches the protagonist’s long journey down an unknown path. It’s languorous and thoughtful, with simple but evocative language; yet Benoit never meanders or gets lost in the brambles along the way as can be the risk in a tale of the road. The story is tightly told, the pace just exactly right, and the focus never wanders very far from the task at hand: find Devi. Benoit’s economic choice of just the right word at just the right time also serves the atmosphere and tone of the piece. It’s understated, at times evoking the Shakespearean era and other times making us wonder if this story is happening in a fantasy realm. One would think this would create confusion in the piece, but it is exactly the opposite. The result is a universality, a sense of timelessness, and a story that refuses to be boxed into any genre, yet never fights against any of them. The characters of the piece are exceptional as well, each of them starting off as sketches that grow into wonderful emotional depth, though the author never makes us delve too far into their pasts. Our protagonist Aidún is immensely likable from the beginning and without giving us detailed summaries of his past, we feel the fullness of the relationship he had with Melle, with the story-father and the others in his village. We sense his respect for the ways of his people, his duty to them and yet, as a character, he never loses himself in the others to whom he is devoted. As he ventures out into the world beyond his home, we see his naiveté and, wisely, Benoit let’s Aidún see it in himself. He sees the new world about him with almost a childlike wonder, but Benoit pulls it back, never allowing it to become cloying. The supporting cast is equally well-rounded. From the performers – evoking the Commedia del Arte – to the whores of the pleasure houses, each of the characters become full, although we never really know the particulars of their history. We are given just enough about the powerful presence of Gydha, the leader of the performers, to see the mother that lies side by side with the fighter within her soul. The enigmatic Matti, a nod to the castrati, we know has a history of horrible abuse, but we are never forced to view his past, we are never made privy as to how he came to this place in his life; still we walk away mesmerized by his strength and gentleness. Jurn, a juggler who finds himself with our hero, is wonderfully likeable and a bit of a McGuffin for those looking for the erotic tumble in the hay. While were on the subject of rolls in the hay, as a gay man I greatly appreciated Benoit’s restraint in this area. With so much homoerotic literature focusing on the sexual, I often find myself turned off by stories that seem to define the relationships of the characters by their sexual proclivities and prowess. The result is that in many stories, it seems as if the only thing that holds the men together is their desire to fuck, to rut like pigs. In some ways, homoerotic fiction walks a very tight line. The sexuality of the characters is part and parcel with who they are, but it is not the entirety of who they are. A lack of connection other than sex can lend itself to being – albeit unintentionally – a perpetuation of the stereotype that gay men are all about nothing but sex. Benoit, in her story, dodges this well, first by giving us deep, multi-layered characters and then by avoiding what could have been scenes about nothing more than sex. Benoit takes the high road here without ever losing the sensuality of the piece, and ultimately, the choices to not take an event in a sexual direction, helps to define the strength of Aidún’s character. As an example, Benoit chooses not to have Aidún and Jurn become lovers, instead developing a nice little friendship which may be tinged with unrequited love, but is never burdened by it. Another scene has Aidún bathing with two member of the group, Joh and Kino, and Aidún becomes fascinated with their circumcised cocks. Some writers would have taken this as an opportunity for some hot-steamy man-sex. Instead, Benoit gives us a wonderful male-bonding scene and we know in that instant that these men never reduce their sexual partners to mere objects. It is beautifully handled, resulting in a richness of romantic tones to the piece. And then there is Devi, the long lost love. There is an inherent risk of having a protagonist so enamored with someone we have never met: Readers often are treated to the “missing protagonist” through only the rose-colored glasses of the hero. In these cases the love can become one note, repetitive, almost annoying, because the reader doesn’t really know this person. It can become empty pining, and when the “missing protagonist” is revealed, it is almost always a let down. Here, however, Benoit’s tightness of story works to her advantage. Again, we never know much about Devi and Aidún’s past life together. All we know is that they were important to one another, that Devi is still important to Aidún. And herein lies the soul of the piece. Ultimately, who Devi was isn’t important to Aidún. Yes, it drives him to find his love, but deep down Aidún knows that life has continued for both of them, that we all grow and change and move on. He doesn’t know who Devi will be when he finds him. He only knows that he must find him. And when he does, Benoit takes an unexpected – though completely realistic turn – as we discover who Devi has become. The love is not taken for granted. There will be no slow motion jaunt across a flowery field into the arms of your lover (well, there is, but Benoit spins that in a wonderful – and slightly comic – way.) The lack of detail as to Devi and Aidún’s boyhood relationship plays wonderfully here, because the story isn’t about who they were; it never was. It is who they have become that matters, where they are now All we need to know is that they love one another; the excitement is in whether that love can survive the men that they have become as they have walked their independent journeys. In that respect, though we are not privy to the events that have made up their past relationship, we discover Devi right along with Aidún, and we learn the fullness of who he is in those moments; not in what has come before. Perhaps it is summed up in the words of Matti: Past and done, and cannot be repaired. And that brings me to the end of my long review. This is a story about two men who have meant something to one another and may again. It’s a devotional, though hardly religious. It’s about love and respect; about finding your home, whether it be a person or a place or a time. It’s about growing up and growing wiser, and hopefully better. It’s a story rooted in and respectful of the past, beautifully propelled by the present, and mindful that the future cannot be lived in the past. It’s romantic and sexy and I can not recommend it strongly enough. Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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not set
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Dec 26, 2008
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1935013580
| 9781935013587
| 3.33
| 52
| Dec 23, 2008
| Dec 23, 2008
|
really liked it
|
Jaime Samms knows how to write men…masculine, flawed and terribly appealing men. There is no doubt about it. You won’t find pale stand-ins in any of S
Jaime Samms knows how to write men…masculine, flawed and terribly appealing men. There is no doubt about it. You won’t find pale stand-ins in any of Samms’ work (at least not that I’ve read so far), no overly feminized version of men. This is no chick with a penis lit. What you get in Samm’s work is an utterly realistic view of gay men at their very best and at their very worst. You not only get the men–in all their flawed beauty–but you also get what goes into making a man, the journey that has brought them to this particular place in their lives…and sometimes, it isn’t pretty. And so it is with Poor Boy, an excellent addition to Samms’ growing body of work. Often gritty and set in a seedy world of hookers and pimps and users, Poor Boy is not your typical gay romance and is not always the easiest read…and I mean that in the best way possible. The novella takes some dark turns as we travel through life with our protagonist, Roy, a young man who should have had everything in life, but doesn’t. He comes from disgustingly affluent parents, has had the best education, the right friends. Not only has he grown up on the right side of the track, but he’s lived on the hill overlooking those tracks and the town that surrounds it. Yet, Roy has always liked living on the edge, running with a dangerous crowd, throwing his decent boyfriend over for the rough edges he sees in Stryker Preston (another boy who could have had everything he ever wanted), embarrassing his family by having his shenanigans land on the front pages of every important newspaper. But as we learn, there’s a reason behind all of this. When the story opens, we meet Roy, returning to a family home he detests to face his father and the rapidly declining woman who had once been his mother. Having accidentally killed two young parents and leaving their children orphaned, Roy’s mother is on the mental and physical decline caused by too many years of alcohol abuse and too long a time mourning for her own son, the elder Paul, the incredibly handsome, favored son who died while attempting to help Roy. Father, it seems, has decided to force Roy to walk away from his wild lifestyle by carting him and his mother off to Virginia, where she can escape the memories the house drowns her in, and Roy can leave his partying days behind him and lead a respectable life, one fitting the family name. But when Roy refuses, his father cuts off his funds, and when Roy tells his “boyfriend,” the drug addict Stryker, the user kicks him to the curb, literally abandoning him in a seedy section of town with no money, nothing but the rich clothes on his back. It is here that Roy meets Scooby, a young, wonderfully attractive hooker and former drug addict, and his brother Clark. Roy is pulled into their world of living hand-to-mouth. Without money or friends or even a cell phone, can Roy find a way back into his posh, pampered world? If not, can he survive in Scooby and Clark’s? And what about Scooby and Clark…is there more there than meets the eye, a connection to Roy’s former life? But most of all, can Roy keep his desires and libido in check and stay away from the boy-like Scooby as Clark has warned him to do? One of the things that Samms always does well and repeats here is get down exactly how men talk (or in some case, don’t talk) to one another. There’s a distinct suspiciousness and caution in most men’s–and especially gay men’s–interaction with each other, a sizing up that happens almost silently. When we’re good at talking to one another, we’re very good, and when we’re not, we can be the biggest idiots on the planet. And each of the three primary character’s are full of this verbal and non-verbal interaction, Scooby being generally open, but cautious; Roy often not thinking of the impact of his words; and Clark being a reserved man, one of few words but many meanings. Samms also handles the non-communication well, a tricky thing to accomplish in any fiction. Many times non-communication tends to drag the pace of a story down, but here it reveals a lot about each of the characters. There is a lot going on in the silences. Wisely, Samms let’s us spend time with the characters before we get to the real romance and sex of the piece. We see Roy’s attraction to the achingly adorable Scooby from near the get go. At first it is a superficial lust, but when Roy controls himself (with the help of brotherly threats from Clark), he actually begins to discover Scooby’s personality, the quirks that make him the appealing man he is. The result is an air of tension that slowly builds and makes the reader ache for these two to get together. By the time Scooby and Roy do come together physically, it is both romantic and highly erotic, the time taken to build the relationship being time exceedingly well spent. Lest you think this piece is all about getting to know one another, let me mention that there is a plot and it is peopled with interesting character. The world Samms has built is palpable, gritty and grimy, but one that is completely realistic. That world is what propels the plot. We wonder how Roy will get himself out of the situation he is in and we wonder right along with him if he’ll be able to save Scooby and his brother from the life his family may have placed them in. In that respect, the story is one of Roy’s self-redemption, his saving of others to save himself. But what is really interesting is that the character Roy wants to save most is the man who hasn’t let his past haunt him or tear him down. Who is the man that needs protecting? Scooby or Roy? It is a beautiful dynamic. Now, as much as a fan as I am of Samms’ work, there are some nits to pick in here, though the relationships built overcome all of them. At times, the story veers slightly into melodrama, taking on a Douglas Sirk feel. Luckily, when Samms stands on the brink of going too far, she pulls back to the well-grounded reality that serves the story best. Writing wise, the prose matches exactly the tone of the piece. It is descriptive enough without ever turning purple, with just enough gritty detail to keep the piece from becoming overwhelming. I had a few problems simply with the layout of the text and paragraph breaks, however, and at times I had trouble knowing exactly who was speaking. I would have to go back and read again, keeping careful track of the back and forth. Luckily these times are rare. There are also a few misplaced modifying phrases that niggled the grammar side of my brain. But all in all, it’s all very clean and smooth. Whereas Samms’ lead characters are extremely well rounded, the secondary characters fare less well. Personally, I would like to have seen more of Clark and his personal feelings and reaction to the life he and his brother have found themselves in. He is the protective brother and while we see glimmers of the man who has been forced to be both brother and father to Scooby, we never really delve into what it has all cost him. Likewise, the “villains” of the piece tend to be the slimmest of the characters. We never really get to know Stryker beyond the definition of user; the pimp Pater doesn’t quite rise beyond his occupation. And the extremely minor (but important) character of Mr. White veers dangerously close to a modern-day Fu Manchu. Still, the secondary characters generally fare much better than usual in such a short work. Plot wise, the story moves along at a nice pace, but it does rely heavily on deus ex machina. Rather than the characters working themselves out of the situation they’ve found themselves in, the resolution hinges on a series of events that, while not coincidences, are definitely the results of others’ actions. The escape route is simply handed to them. Still, this doesn’t draw away from a completely engaging piece built on the strength of the lead characters and their developing relationship. In the end, Samms has created believably wounded characters that never feel oppressive in their angst. She masterfully maintains a subtly romantic tone in an utterly realistic world, and gives us characters who we just want to see get together. Along the way, without ever noticing it, we also get a nice story about how one’s past can make you weaker or stronger, depending on the choices we make. One has to wonder who is the titular Poor Boy, and Samms wisely leaves that up to us to decide. A very satisfying journey. Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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not set
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Dec 23, 2008
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Dec 26, 2008
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ebook
| |||||||||||||||
| 0440212812
| 9780440212812
| 0440212812
| 3.90
| 18,404
| Sep 1992
| Sep 10, 1993
|
it was amazing
|
Everywhere you go these days, you can’t help but hear all the kids talking about Twilight: about how the vampires are so groundbreaking, how they can
Everywhere you go these days, you can’t help but hear all the kids talking about Twilight: about how the vampires are so groundbreaking, how they can walk about during the day, about how their fangs don’t show until they need them, how the angst of these teen vampires just speaks to them. Now, I haven’t read Twilight, but I do have a few acquaintances (significantly younger than I) who can not get their fill of the brooding teen bloodsuckers, and I’ve heard more than my fill of the plots or the groundbreaking nature of the books. Except, you know what? None of it sounds particularly groundbreaking to me, and I have to point out to the fans of this newest vampiric incarnation that much of what they are describing has been done before and–from what excerpts I’ve read of Twilight and the various literary reviews–done better. Since Stoker first published Dracula in 1897, vampires have fascinated readers and writers alike, and vampire fiction has gone through every cycle of life and death imaginable ever since. The vampire literary genre has been declared dead more times than Elvis has been sighted in roadside diners. And just when you count (pun entirely intended) the bloodsuckers out, someone slips through and breathes new life into the old beast. George R.R. Martin wrote the fascinating Fevre Dream and in the process re-imagined what everyone thought of as vampires. And of course Anne Rice, in her overly verbose way, created one of the literary world’s most enduring vampires in Lestat from her wildly successful Vampire Chronicles series of novels. And then the genre once again lapsed into a coma, every vampire thereafter becoming a deeply affected, brooding, depressive, sexually ambiguous prettyboy who tended to whine over every little problem being undead brought along. Once again, the vampire became anemic in its portrayal, and the world again decried that there could be nothing new. And then, in 1992, up-and-coming short story horror writer Poppy Z. Brite surprised everyone by spinning the vampire lore on its head with her remarkable debut novel, Lost Souls. The plot of Lost Souls really is very simple. Zillah and his vampire cohorts Molochai and Twin, venture into an off-the-beaten path bar in New Orleans where Zillah becomes enamored with a young girl, brooding and dressed all in black, who has been waiting for the vampires–any vampires–to come for her. After a few nights of passion, Zillah and his pals disappear into the night, leaving the girl devastated that they hadn’t taken her with them, or better yet, turned her into one of them. She returns to the bar night after night, week after week and month after month, as Zillah’s baby grows in her stomach, and the bar’s kindly owner Christian–who knows a thing or two about vampires–looks after her. When the baby finally tears its way through her body, the girl’s life ends and Christian leaves the young baby on the doorstep of a family as far from New Orleans as he can manage. Flash forward 15 years, and that child has grown into a young man, someone who doesn’t know why he is different from everyone else, why his heart is filled with a longing to find where he truly belongs. His name is Jason, but he calls himself Nothing because that is what he feels like in his parent’s Wonder Bread world, and that was the name given him in the note left pinned to his blanket when he was left at his adoptive parents’ door: His name is Nothing. Care for him and he will bring you luck. It is when Nothing discovers the note and the fact that he was adopted that he decides to find who he truly is, where he truly belongs and he goes on a road trip headed…well, headed wherever the road takes him. As Nothing goes on his journey, we also catch up again with Zillah his crew as they drink chartreuse and eat Ho-Hos and revel in the joy of being young and eternal. In short, they relish being vampires. No regrets, no brooding angst here. We also get a third road trip as we meet Steve–a shit-kicker from South Carolina–and his best friend Ghost–a painfully thin young man with psychic abilities–as the two do a mini-tour as Lost Souls, a rock band that has developed a cult-like following amongst the disaffected and outcast goth youth. And one of those youths just happens to be Nothing. It is then that we realize that these three different road trips will all come crashing together, and we’re fascinated to see just how Brite manages it. What made Brite’s vampires so groundbreaking is the blend of the gothic scene, vampiric lore, and honest to god real people with real depth and emotion. Brite threw out most of the vampire clichés, however. Brite’s boys have no problem with sunlight, and their fangs have been bred out of them, forcing them to file their teeth into sharp points, and–in a really nice turn–the appealing bad boy Zillah is not some tall lanky creature and his cohorts are not ultra cunning. Zillah is short, but still enigmatic and charming, and Molochai and Twig…well, let’s just say that the vampiric chandelier has had brighter bulbs. The vampires here of course love blood, but they revel just as easily in the haze of alcohol and drugs and the taste of each others’ bodies. And Brite did something else that hadn’t been done before….she didn’t mince words one bit when it came to her character’s sexuality. Unlike Rice who cloaked her characters in a mist of homoeroticism, Brite went balls-out and made her vampires bi-sexual or gay, the body being one of the extreme pleasures in life that shouldn’t be discriminated against. Brite (who has admittedly never read Ann Rice, despite claims by many that she had to be influenced by her) also threw out the verbosity that had choked the genre, making her prose clean and crisp and evocative. She created not only the feelings of her characters in precise ways, but also used her words to capture the sights and smells and essence of her settings, each locale becoming a character in its own right. She veered into purple prose upon occasion, but the images she created were stunning and utterly true in every way. But the characters she created are the heart of the story. Nothing’s longing to learn who he is and where he comes from is palpable. It’s not so very different from the feelings most adopted children feel when they lean their parents are not who they believed them to be. The childlike joy in the vampires Molochai and Twig is infectious, as is the viciousness and pride Zillah takes in being omnipotent, or so he thinks. And while all the characters resonated with readers, none were quite as appealing as Steve and Ghost. There is so much love between these two men and so strong is the need for them to be there for, and to protect, one another, that their relationship transcend brotherhood and friendship. The dynamic is so utterly real that one even began to wonder if Steve and Ghost were ever more to one another than just friends. The relationship Brite created between these two men was erection inducing for a lot of us. We wanted to see these two together, but this was not some calculated trick of Brite’s. She simply wrote two men who would be lost souls without each other, and we the reader just wanted (and in some cases needed) it to go beyond that. It was masterful, and years later–because the topic was such a fervent one amongst Brite’s fans–she would answer the question as to whether Steve and Ghost’s relationship was ever more than just friends in a limited edition chapbook (no longer available). In the end, Brite re-wrote the book on vampires. She blended splatterpunk and the gothic scene and vampire mythology into an excellent character study about finding who you are and how you fit in. It’s a story of self-discovery and the building of families and for once it was a story that spoke to and included my kind, gay people, in an unabashed, unapologetic way. There was nothing wrong with being gay any more than there was anything wrong with being a vampire; it all comes down to each person and how they react and treat others. Unfortunately, many stood on Brite’s shoulder’s after Lost Souls, and the literary world was so glutted with vampire-meets-goth-rock novels, that those new to the novel often find it cliché. But, as I like to remind people, when Brite wrote the work, most of this was new and exciting. It has only become cliché because of the pale imitations that followed. So when your niece or nephew comes to you to rave about Twilight, tell them they don’t know Nothing…or his father…or his favorite band, Lost Souls, all of whom have been there and done that…likely before they were born. Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable. ...more |
Notes are private!
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5
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not set
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Jan 1993
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Dec 13, 2008
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 1934081086
| 9781934081082
| 1934081086
| 3.94
| 3,183
| Oct 29, 2007
| Oct 29, 2007
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it was amazing
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I've been told about this book by many, and I have to say that it lives up to all the praise. Fascinating characters and really wonderful world-buildi
I've been told about this book by many, and I have to say that it lives up to all the praise. Fascinating characters and really wonderful world-building. The dynamic between the characters is fascinating and realistic and the characters are wonderfully masculine, which is so nice to see.
...more
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1
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not set
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Oct 17, 2009
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Dec 13, 2008
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Paperback
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| 0595307566
| 9780595307562
| 0595307566
| 3.62
| 29
| Feb 2004
| Jan 01, 2004
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really liked it
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King of Cats: A Life in Five Novellas is a tough novel to review without giving away all the secrets that make it such a fascinating, challenging and
King of Cats: A Life in Five Novellas is a tough novel to review without giving away all the secrets that make it such a fascinating, challenging and engrossing trip through the world of rock `n' roll, a trip most of us can only dream about. What author Blake Fraina manages to do in 236 pages is to create a vivid world, to conjure up an almost fairytale mythology of a band on the rise. And then she does what any good writer would do: she shatters all of our fantasies, all our preconceptions about the rock and roll superstar we've just become smitten with, the impossibly beautiful star who, even though he's a bit of a bad boy, manages to make us weak in the knees. The author strips away all the intoxicating glamor and the pretty facades. Sometimes she does it gently. Sometime she just rips the band-aid off without any warning at all. But the tool that Fraina uses to do this is real life. She picks at her characters and shows you the real people behind the "stars." And then she even makes you question how real the "real" person is. As the publisher's summary states: What makes a person fascinating? Is it what they hide or what they reveal? It's a question that Fraina asks and then gives hints about, but she never quite answers it, waiting for the reader, ultimately, to make up their minds about the characters she has created. Now, I have to say, this novel is not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It can, at times, be a tough read. Let's just say that if you are looking for a typical romance -- boy-meets-boy, boy-gets-boy, boy-and-boy-move-to-California-to-get-married -- you will be sorely disappointed. If your tastes run more to the authentic version of life, perhaps something along the lines of messed-up-boy-meets-messed-up-boy, boy-gets-boy, boy-doesn't-want-boy-but-can't-break-away, then this may be the book for you. There is a strong sense of realism woven into this story and like real life, sometimes it just ain't pretty. For me, it was fascinating from beginning to end! Originally reviewed for Uniquely Pleasurable ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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May 2008
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Dec 07, 2008
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my rating |
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| 3.94
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it was amazing
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Oct 15, 2016
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| 3.90
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it was amazing
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not set
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Jan 09, 2011
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| 4.47
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it was amazing
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not set
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Apr 19, 2010
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| 3.68
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it was amazing
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Dec 12, 2009
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Nov 06, 2009
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| 3.71
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it was amazing
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not set
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Jul 19, 2009
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| 3.16
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it was ok
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not set
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Jul 05, 2009
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| 3.60
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it was ok
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not set
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Jul 05, 2009
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| 4.00
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liked it
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not set
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Jul 05, 2009
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| 3.54
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liked it
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not set
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Jul 05, 2009
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| 3.50
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did not like it
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not set
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Jul 05, 2009
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| 3.94
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liked it
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Jun 02, 2009
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Jun 08, 2009
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| 3.84
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liked it
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not set
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Apr 24, 2009
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| 3.85
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did not like it
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Apr 24, 2009
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Apr 24, 2009
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| 3.57
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it was ok
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Jan 2009
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Feb 08, 2009
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| 3.28
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really liked it
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not set
not set
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Dec 26, 2008
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| 3.30
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really liked it
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not set
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Dec 26, 2008
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| 3.33
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really liked it
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Dec 23, 2008
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Dec 26, 2008
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| 3.90
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it was amazing
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Jan 1993
not set
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not set
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Dec 13, 2008
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| 3.94
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it was amazing
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Oct 17, 2009
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Dec 13, 2008
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| 3.62
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really liked it
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May 2008
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Dec 07, 2008
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