Another Monday, another batch of reviews. Most were ok, not terrible but not fabulous either. The two that stood out were Hemovore and Look Away Silence. Check them out.
Convincing Arthur by Ava March
Hemovore by Jordan Castillo Price
Look Away Silence by Edward C. Patterson
The Vampire Fred: Wicked Game by Vaughn R. Demont
Come Back to Me by Lisa Marie Davis
Blurb:
Mikel Maxwell gets the two biggest shocks of his life at once: he’s attacked by an inhuman monster, and he’s saved… by his dead lover. Nineteen months ago, Mikel was told Slate died during his final mission for a mysterious government group. While not dead yet, Slate will be soon—he’s been exposed to a terrible virus, and as much as he wants to live to be with Mikel, there’s no guarantee the cure is any better.
Review:
This is another twist on the vampire legend with a highly emotional and dramatic relationship between the lead characters. Unfortunately, the emotion fell flat and the story didn’t achieve the tension it was reaching for. Adding in the technical mistakes and although this is a decent story, I didn’t connect to the characters and the obvious emotional ploy. Those readers who enjoy more angst in their men will perhaps like this take but overall I’ve read better from this author.
The premise is that Mikel’s dead lover comes back but he can only stay a few days before the virus in his blood will turn him into a deadly monster vampire. While the lovers reconnect, the race is on for the cure that will save Slate from the monster within and allow the couple to have a happy ending. There is not much action that actually happens and the actual process of finding a cure is all off page. The story is mostly composed of emotional scenes between the two lovers as they struggle with grief and loss while savoring the time they have together.
Although I’m a fan of angst driven stories, this particular offering is clunky and obvious without the subtle passion and fervor that elicits a true connection to the story. The characters are decent but two dimensional at best as Mikel’s entire characterization hinges on his undying love for Slate and willingness never to move on without him. Slate declares his love for Mikel numerous times and supposedly has Mikel’s best interests in mind but does deceive the love of his life frequently. Also for all the tension and dramatic angst, the characters are all incredibly accepting and demonstrate little range of emotion. Mikel gets angry that Slate has been hiding away from him for almost two years but gets over his anger almost immediately. The same is done for almost every possible problem and situation, up to and including the outrageous explanation of the vampire virus that no one questions.
This left the main thrust of the story focusing on the incredible and overwhelming love of Mikel and Slate and how they will survive if the cure doesn’t materialize. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say there is a happy ending and the storyline felt so obvious and contrived there was no chance of any other possibility. This left the overwrought emotion flat and punctuated by exaggerated prose. The reader is told enthusiastically and frequently how much these two men love each other and can’t live without each other, how their very lives are meaningless without the other. All of this does give the impression Mikel and Slate are deeply in love but once again the story tells each time instead of showing the deep connection, stirring sentiment, or overwhelming passion. The only actual action besides the brief sex scenes are exaggerated yelling or crying fits while the same refrain of “I can’t live without him” runs through their mind. Not to mention Slate is infected with some weird, horrific virus and has unprotected sex with Mikel. Perhaps it’s me but I found that odd.
There are a few secondary characters that add nothing to the story unfortunately. Mikel’s best friend Mallory is a non-entity and seems only in scenes to take up space, most of their interaction takes place off page as the story glosses over any focus except on Mikel’s zealous emotions. The additional character of Drake is also unnecessary as Mikel gets over his long standing dislike of the man instantly. Although Drake is essential in allowing Mikel and Slate time together, his actions add little depth or context to the story.
Overall this is a decent story for those that want a quick, angst filled read. The emotion is rather thin and obvious without a great connection and depth, but this might appeal to some fans. It’s not a horrible story but it didn’t execute a suspenseful and poignant relationship. The writing lacks the subtly, nuance, and texture that are the hallmarks of great impassioned stories. There is some potential for sure and hopefully future works will focus more on showing the depth of the relationship than just telling readers. There are also numerous minor mistakes that show a lack of close editing such as misspelled words, words and phrases meant to be deleted, punctuation mistakes, and so on. Although this lack of close editing from the author/editor seems to be a trend of eBooks it’s not one that should be overlooked and hopefully will get better in future offerings from the author.
Get it HERE!
Str8te Boys by Evangeline Anderson
Blurb:
How far would you dare to go…to win it all?
Maverick Holms and Duke Warren share almost everything—a college soccer team, an apartment and the same extremely competitive nature. Thanks to that never-back-down spirit, they’re about to share more than they bargained for.
The game is “gay chicken”. The rule: get as close as possible without kissing, and the one that pulls away first is the loser. The problem: neither of them likes to lose. It isn’t long before the game becomes an excuse to touch and kiss in every possible forbidden way. And after they pose for a gay website to earn extra money, things really heat up.
Suddenly Duke is talking lifetime commitment, and Mav is backpedaling as hard as he can, not sure if he’s ready to accept all his best friend is offering him. Or the truth about what he is.
Review:
This is a book where the readers have to suspend disbelief in a lot of areas to get sucked into the story. No doubt some will enjoy the theme and two hot, muscular men having sweaty sex but the underlying theme that the gay lifestyle is derogatory still prevails. The premise itself is frankly unbelievable, but getting beyond that and the insulting, stereotypical commentary the story is about a man coming to terms with his sexuality. However, he’s not really gay, he’s simply gay for his best friend. There’s a very thin line and really this no doubt works best as a story read for its erotica than for the content itself. Fans of the author will devour this story and love it intensely.
The premise is that best friends Mav and Duke are fellow athletes on a star soccer team and have lived together for four years. In that time, they’ve become so comfortable around each other they frequently touch, cuddle, and even sleep in the same bed. No one questions their orientation however since they are both known to have sex with various women so their secret is safe – even from each other. Duke, secretly gay and in love with Mav, invents a game of “gay chicken” where he pushes Mav’s boundaries to get him to admit he wants to have sex with Duke. The game hinges on their competitiveness and comfort with each other while giving a reason to explain and ignore their actions.
These reasons are pretty thin and don’t get much more in depth throughout the story. Instead the two men dare each other to do more and more intimate acts, such as rubbing, blowjobs, kissing, and eventually sex. Since the story is told from Mav’s perspective, he consistently ignores the deeper meanings behind the actions, unwilling to accept or believe he may be gay. He never really accepts that sexual orientation either; instead willing to accept what Duke wants him to in order to keep his best friend and lover close to him. The implication that Mav is not gay nor would ever be comfortable in a traditional gay lifestyle is very clear throughout the book, his love and desire for Duke notwithstanding. Duke’s motivations are kept a mystery and only explained through a third party who admits that Duke “acted straight” for years due to his secret love for Mav.
The story is decent enough and the sex pretty hot but I had a lot of problems with the insulting and derogatory dialogue and characters. The few openly gay characters are all depicted as flamingly gay and several comments I found uncomfortable. Such as the conversation between Mav, Duke, and the openly gay Evan about posing for the Str8te Boys website.
“Str8te Boys? Why the hell would anybody want to see two straight guys, uh, getting it on?” Duke demanded.
Ethan shrugged. “For the same reason you breeders like to look at lipstick lesbians having gay sex. I know you wouldn’t want to watch two diesel dykes rug munching each other, would you?”
Mav shivered. “Uh, that’d be a no.”
“There you go, then,” Ethan said. “You want to see pretty girls getting together instead. The same way some people—and not all of them are gay men, mind you, a lot of them are kinky little straight girls—like to see straight boys together.” He sighed. “And besides, there’s just something so hot about the idea of two pretty straight boys having their first time…touching each other…feeling their way…not really sure what they’re doing but willing to try just about anything…”
Perhaps it’s a preference and other readers won’t be bothered by the comments. The story is only 60 pages long and filled with several sex scenes as well as most every other scene revolves around unfulfilled tension and desire. I didn’t hate it but Mav never felt as though he accepted his feelings for Duke and really was confident and comfortable expressing those desires. Instead the resolution felt forced and awkward, especially with the final scene among the team who barely blink at the changed status of their captains. For a fantasy piece, this ranks high if you enjoy the classic “gay for you” trope and the man in question never really comes around to accepting his sexuality. If you’re not bothered by some insulting comments, then pick this up for entertainment.
Get it HERE!
ePistols at Dawn by ZA Maxfield
Blurb:
Choose your weapons.
Jae-sun Fields is pissed. Someone has taken the seminal coming-out, coming-of-age novel Doorways and satirized it. He’s determined to use his Internet skills and his job as a tabloid reporter to out the author as the fraud and no-talent hack he’s sure she is.
Kelly Kendall likes his anonymity and, except for his houseboy, factotum and all-around slut, Will, he craves solitude. There’s also that crippling case of OCD that makes it virtually impossible for him to leave the house. He’s hidden his authorship of Doorways behind layers of secrets and several years’ worth of lies—until he loses a bet.
Satirizing his own work, as far as he can see, is his own damned prerogative. Except now he has an online stalker, one who always seems several steps ahead of him in their online duel for information.
A chance meeting reveals more than hidden identities—it exposes a mutual magnetic attraction that can’t be denied. And pushes the stakes that much higher, into a zone that could get way too personal..
Finn by Angel Martinez
Blurb:
Sanity is relative and the world has room for more than one truth.
When Diego rescues a naked man from the rail of the Brooklyn Bridge, he just wants to get the poor man out of traffic and over to social services. He gets more than he bargained for when Finn turns out to be an ailing pooka, poisoned by the pollution of the city. To help him recover, Diego takes him north to New Brunswick where Finn inadvertently wakes an ancient, evil spirit, the wendigo.
While Diego and Finn struggle to find a way to destroy the wendigo before it can possess Diego or kill nearby innocents, Diego wrestles with his growing passion for Finn. Can they succeed in destroying the monster and in navigating a relationship between a modern man and a centuries-old fairy?
Another Monday, more rainbow reviews. I think most everything scored well, except the all porn sip but I’d read those stories in their original anthology. Anyone else notice Torquere putting out a ton of stories that recently appeared elsewhere? Mostly re-publishing anthology stories. Not to mention recent mistakes. I accepted a sip for review because there was no mention of a chick in it only to find one later on. Should sort of state that clearly up front, so be careful readers of what you’re buying over there. Let’s hope it’s a just a phase, otherwise sloppy handling is never good.
Anyway, onto the reviews! Good week and I was lucky to review Icarus, the sci-fi magazine. The fabulous Val of Obsidian Bookshelf has a great review in the issue so be sure to check it out.
Dreaming in Color by Cameron Dane
Icarus: Issue 1 by Steve Berman (editor)
The Bones of Summer by Anne Brooke
Two Games by C.B. Potts (editor)
Screen Shots: Seduced by Willa Okati
Blurb:
What’s a guy supposed to do when his best friend since freshman year decides he wants to go get his freak on and get paid for it by an amateur gay porn studio? Confused by the changes in his absentminded buddy Cody, Aaron decides to check the place out for himself.
Twentysomethingtwinks.com is nothing like Aaron thought it’d be. Professionally run and staffed by friendly, personable — and hot — talent, it’s a heck of a temptation even for someone who’s never thought about getting down with a guy before. Trouble is, Aaron finds he likes the action more than he thought he would — and he’s starting to see Cody in an entirely different light. What’s a guy supposed to do now?
Troubles by GS Wiley
Blurb:
At the beginning of 1992, the world is gripped by an economic recession. Donal Cassidy is feeling the pinch at the London club where he works, and is in the midst of planning a truly memorable Valentine’s Day to try and drum up business. He’s distracted from his goal when his mother’s next-door neighbor dies unexpectedly, and her handsome nephew Diarmit Tierney moves in.
Diarmit is an Irish Catholic, which is less a problem for Donal than it is for his Protestant mother, who lost her husband to an IRA bomb. Donal’s convinced he and Diarmit can make their relationship work, until Diarmit reveals a secret which makes Donal rethink everything.
Bring the Heat by ML Rhodes
Blurb:
Police Detective Riley Ellison has a new habit … stopping by a coffeehouse called the Java Pit on his way to work. The coffee’s good, but it’s not the rich flavor that lures him to drive blocks out of his way each morning, and it’s not an addiction to caffeine either. He’s half-embarrassed to admit it, but it’s the man who keeps him coming back. The long-legged, painted-on-jeans-wearing, dark-haired, edgy sex god with the teasing eyes. He’s everything Riley ~ who has a history of geekdom and being flustered around hot men ~ is not. Riley knows he should put a stop to the daily forays because nothing can ever come of it. Guys like that aren’t interested in men like him. Yet every time the hunk meets his gaze across the crowded shop and aims a sizzling grin at him, Riley gives in and comes back to participate in the silent, sexy flirtation another day. Needless to say, the last thing he’s expecting when he goes to question a witness about a murder at a local gay strip joint is to discover the witness is his coffeehouse hottie.
Dane Scott works as a stripper strictly for fun. He doesn’t need the money ~ he’s got plenty in the bank from his other career. He just likes to have something to keep him busy a few nights a week. When one of his fellow dancers turns up murdered outside the strip club, the police detective who shows up on Dane’s doorstep asking questions is none other than the sexy, blond cutie he’s been flirting with at the coffeehouse for weeks. Riley Ellison’s a fascinating contradiction ~ rugged, strong, serious-eyed hero and bashful boy next door. A combination Dane finds all too appealing and a refreshing change from the selfish, shallow men he’s known and dated in the past. From the moment Riley flashes his badge, Dane’s determined to show the skittish cop they can make magic together.
The heat between them quickly soars to the boiling point and not even a murder investigation can cool the passion they share. That is, until new information on Riley’s case implies Dane may not be all he seems.
Trysts: A Triskaide collection Of Queer And Weird Stories by Steve Berman
Blurb:
Steve Berman has assembled his most compelling stories of trysts that range from the eerie to the horrifying to the wondrous. Cut and paste a voodoo doll made of magazine clippings: watch as a ouija board spells out your deepest secret…mourn the loss of your boyfriend while awaiting his ghost… listen to the ancient whisperings of a threadbare flapper dress…gamble for more than money on a Southern riverboat…renounce your citizenship to walk through a restricted area, rife with magic. Experience passion and loss, all within the pages of this triskaide collection – thirteen stories where the supernatural is as likely to doom as to save those that are drawn to its power. Trysts offers readers dark and quirky tales from a distinctive new voice in gay fiction.
three am 