Lethe Press

Review: Bear Like Me

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Bear Like Me
Bear Like Me by Jonathan Cohen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bear Like Me is a satirical look at the gay bear community. It’s a little dated as a contemporary piece but the humor translates for the most part if you’re looking for something very light and heavy on the obvious puns. The ending is ridiculous and completely over the top but that’s mostly the point. It’s meant to be outrageous and unbelievable with one gag after the next. The characters are decent and likable to a point but none stand out very much. In the end this is a fun, easy book to read but not one I’ll especially remember. Continue reading →

Review: Blame It on the Raging Hormones

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Blame It on the Raging HormonesBlame It on the Raging Hormones by Nathan Goh
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Blame it on the Raging Hormones is a fun to read, engaging coming of age tale. The format is epistolary and blogs are used entirely. This can be both good and bad for a novel as the narrator is inherently biased and the story is always told to you versus shown. There are a couple of technical mistakes such as tense changing and the language used is conversational with numerous emotes rather than a more polished, sophisticated style. However for those that enjoy reading blogs and like a casual style may find this particular story endearing.

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Review: Mere Mortals

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Mere MortalsMere Mortals by Erastes
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Mere Mortals is an excellent Gothic story filled with drama, intensity, romance, and a vivid setting that stands out in almost every scene. The mystery is somewhat surprising in that the clues are slowly laid out along the way and the reader is left to interpret them. You can either see through the disguise as Myles does, remain innocently clueless like Crispin, or indulge in the fantasy like Jude. The characters all represent vitally important but different personalities that together form a complex yet fascinating story. Historical drama is not always a favorite genre among readers but you won’t want to miss this one.

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Review: Icarus volume 6: The Magazine of Gay Speculative Fiction

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Icarus volume 6: The Magazine of Gay Speculative FictionIcarus volume 6: The Magazine of Gay Speculative Fiction by Steve Berman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fall 2010: Halloween is coming. Store shelves are filled with objets d’autumn and jack o’lanterns. The air is cooling and mornings are darker. Trees are stripping bare. There’s the rushing sound of fallen leaves swirling through deserted streets. Don’t be afraid to turn the pages that follow. We have a naughty infamous bogeyman, trips gone awry, Norse poems and boys that haunt in this issue of Icarus. So turn down all the lights but one.

Stories by Thomas Fuchs, Jeff Mann, Viet Dinh, Troy Carlyle, Kelly McQuain; interview with Robert Duncan.

To review is posted over at Three Dollar Bill Reviews HERE!

 

The Mariposa Club by Rigoberto Gonzalez

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Title: The Mariposa Club
Author: Rigoberto Gonzalez
Publisher: Lethe Press
Length: Novel /250 pages
Buy the book: Paperback, Ebook
Rating: 3.5 stars

Review:
Mariposa Club is a decent coming of age story that has engaging characters and a youthful appeal. The situations and especially the cast are all exaggerations. They’re extreme depictions of tropes and themes surrounding gay teens. There is the flaming overweight queen, the fierce cross dresser, token white boy with a big dick, and the very sensitive, thoughtful Mexican narrator. None of the characters particularly grow or mature over the course of the story even though the plot is heavily character driven. Instead the story is more an anthem for young gay teens of any type, involving characters and situations that they can emphasize and sympathize with.

The whole review is available at Three Dollar Bill Reviews HERE or on Goodreads HERE!

Out of the Ashes by R.W. Day

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Out of the Ashes (A Strong and Sudden Thaw, #2)Out of the Ashes by R.W. Day

Blurb:
In this sequel to A Strong & Sudden Thaw, the world after the Ice remains a dangerous place. Callum and David have survived the dragons but rebuilding lives is no easy task. The army comes to enforce an evacuation with claims of tainted groundwater and radiation. The Brethren, a crazed religious order, seeks to control the new world through preaching intolerance and forced conversion.

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

review contains spoilers – warning!

If The Spirit Moves You by Dale Chase

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Title: If The Spirit Moves You
Author: Dale Chase
Publisher: Lethe Press
Length: 180 pages
Buy the Book: Amazon

Blurb: They say ‘Love never dies’… and neither does the passion between men when written by erotic storyteller Dale Chase. If the Spirit Moves You offers readers a collection of stories featuring spirits who cannot deny their attraction to mortals; these ghosts […]

http://threedollarbillreviews.com/2010/09/07/if-the-spirit-moves-you-by-dale-chase/

ALLEYS & DOORWAYS: STORIES OF QUEER URBAN FANTASY

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ALLEYS & DOORWAYS: STORIES OF QUEER URBAN FANTASY

Blurb:

In Alleys & Doorways, editor Meredith Schwartz has brought together stories of the odd and mysterious ways that queer life happens in the city. Covering a wide range of styles, moods and emotions, from the poignant and erotic to the whimsical, these tales from a roster of acclaimed authors strive to create new legends for gay urbanites. Featuring several stories that were finalists for the Gaylactic Spectrum Award, this anthology promises to enchant you. Be wary where you read these stories… that train ride, that bus, that sidewalk may lead you to someplace Else… but be assured that your destination in these new alleys, these new doorways, will be an exciting one!

print re-released version and still some great stories…

A Report from Winter by Wayne Courtois

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A Report from Winter by Wayne Courtois

Blurb:
A Report from Winter is a death-in-the-family story, a love story, and a meditation on the meaning of ”winter” ~ as a season and as a metaphor for family relationships.

It’s January 1998, and southern Maine is recovering from one of the worst ice storms in history. Into this unforgiving environment comes the author, flying home from Kansas City after a ten-year absence. His mother, Jennie, is dying of cancer. Though receiving excellent care in a nursing home, she has lost the ability to communicate. Needing support, Wayne makes an SOS call to Ralph, his longtime partner. Ralph boards a plane to Portland for his first exposure to a Maine winter, and to Wayne’s family as well, including a feisty aunt and an emotionally distant brother. The contrast between a nurturing gay relationship and dysfunctional family bonds is as sharp as the wind sweeping in from the sea.

Stubbornly unsentimental, A Report from Winter weaves childhood memories of winter with the harsh realities of living in a family where there’s not enough love to go around. The memoir is a tribute to hard-won relationships built on mutual trust and understanding, defying an uncaring world.

Beautiful and touching..

A Strong & Sudden Thaw by RW Day

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A Strong & Sudden Thaw by RW Day

Blurb:
The Ice fell upon the world nearly a hundred years ago, and if civilization didn’t rightly collapse, it surely staggered and fell ill a while. In the small town of Moline, Virginia, folks struggle to survive, relying on hybrid seed sent by the faraway Dept. of Reintroduction and Agriculture and their own faith in God and hard work. But when a mated pair of dragons starts hunting the countryside, stealing sheep, and attacking children, the townsfolk quickly learn that they don’t have the weapons or the skills to fight off such predators.

David Anderson is a farmer’s son who has explored the world through books. When he meets the new healer in town, Callan Landers, he doesn’t quite know what to make of the strange warmth stealing over him. It’s not until he surprises Callan with another man—and both men are promptly arrested for sodomy—that David finally realizes the truth about his own feelings.

When David and Callan stumble over a secret in a nearby abandoned town, their personal problems fade before government politics and corruption that threaten lives. It seems the dragons aren’t the worst dangers facing Moline.

Cross-posted to TDB