Category: Contemporary fiction

Review of Abstract Realism by Edward Kendricks

86 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Tonio, a renown painter of abstract realism, made the mistake of accepting an invitation for a movie date from a man he just met at a gallery opening.  The man’s jealous lover made sure Tonio never made that mistake again by savagely attacking him with a knife.  Now scarred and traumatized, Tonio rarely leaves his studio.  His only contact with the outside world consists of his sister, Jessie who is also his agent.  With a gallery opening a new show of his paintings, his sister finally talks him into attending the opening and go to the gallery party afterwards.

Jonam is also attending the gallery show.  He owns a close protection agency and had met Tonio by accident in a nearby park.  Tonio had been sketching people in the part and rejected Jonan’s efforts to talk to him. When Jonam attends the gallery show, Tonio does his best to avoid him. But Tonio’s attacker calls and threatens him just before the party. When her brother doesn’t show up for the party,  Jessie and Jonam show up at Tonio’s apartment and the find the man cowering in fear.  Jonam offers to protect Tonio and find out whose behind the threats.  Can Jonam find the attacker and free Tonio from the threats and fears?

The author packs a lot into 86 pages.  There is contemporary romance, mystery, the art world, a scarred artist, and lethal stalker.  Edward Kendricks did a great job with Tonio. Tonio is a believable character, traumatized by a brutal attack on him by unseen thugs.  The scars left behind are both physical and emotional.  I can believe that this character retreats into a shell and that his art changes direction with the brutality inflicted upon him.  That the attack was unexpected and undeserved only deepened the trauma left behind.  I did find it unrealistic that the police were not brought into this case especially given he was a well-known artist but PTS can make victims act illogically. Jonam was a tad less defined as a character.  Jonam was tall, good looking and efficient at his job. It wasn’t until the end of the story that I found out he was Swedish and that accounted for his name.  More of a backstory on Jonam early on would have helped. It was hard to get a feel for a connection between the two men when I could only get a handle on one of them.  The story seemed rushed at the end and the denouement resolved far too quickly for the buildup that preceded it.

Still Abstract Realism is a neat little short story that I enjoyed reading.  I look forward to more from Edward. Kendricks.

Cover: Cover Artist Reese Dante.  Cover is gorgeous.  Both models work for the characters inside the story.  Fonts are great.  Good job.

Review of Absent-Minded Astrophysicist by TN Tarrant

Rating: 4 stars

136 pages

Dr. Liam McGregor, child prodigy, astrophysicist, and all around brilliant mind is absent minded when it comes to everything outside of his lab except for his cat. He is constantly walking into doorknobs, desks and even people because his attention is so firmly tuned to space above.    Awkward around people and socially inept, Liam’s lonely and feels unattractive when he stops to think about it, which isn’t often.  Isolation has been his companion for far too long.  But a change may be coming in the very attractive form of the new head of security.

Jareth Manning is emerging from his own dark period.  His partner recently died, and his former employers tried to discredit him when they found out Jareth was gay.  Now he is starting over as the new head of security at Northwestern Institute for Interstellar Research.  It didn’t take him long to notice Dr. McGregor if only for the amount of ambulances called to the campus to attend to astrophysicist’s many accidents.  Jareth finds the astrophysicist cute, shy and very kind hearted.  When Liam is attacked by a colleague, it gives him the chance to get to know Liam better.  As both men grow closer, can Jareth get Liam to focus on what is before him…..a chance at love on earth.

This was such a cute story.  Liam McGregor was a lovely character.  I know we have seen the absent minded scientist before but Liam is a special edition to that category.  A little pudgy, with a heartbreaking background, I just fell in love with him.  TN Tarrant did a nice job with Jareth Manning as well.   Tall, gorgeous and a widower. Combine two lovely characters with two heartbreaking backstories and you get a short story with lots of heart. That’s Absent-minded Astrophysicist in a nutshell.

My only quibble here is that perhaps the author tried to fit too much into limited space.  I think she had material here for a much larger book and wish she had gone in that direction.  Her secondary characters include Dr. Forrester (head of the Institute) and his two partners.  They clearly deserve a story of their own.  Liam’s backstory left me with more questions than answers by the end of the book as did Jareth’s family who appeared out of nowhere.  As I said, I love the main characters and story.  I just think they got a little overwhelmed by too much information.

This is such a lovely little book.  Don’t let it pass you by.  I would love to see more of the characters she brought to life here.

Cover:  Same cover used for others in this series.  Cover artist is Reese Dante

I’m Not Sexy And I Know It by Vic Winter

Rating: 4.25 stars

When a new song starts up, it finds Winston standing at the edge of the dance floor, his usual spot at the night club.  But its infectious beat has Winston moving his body to the rhythm of the music, something he never does.  A sexy voice whispers in his ear, anonymous hands are placed on his hips and an unseen dancer behind him moves him onto the dance floor and into an evening of sexy music, dancing and joy.  The evening ends and Winston still doesn’t know who his dance partner was, only the for the first time in ages he felt sexy and alive.

At brunch, his friends don’t get what made that night so special when he describes it to them as there was no date, no sex, no hooking up.   Only his friend, Clark, seems to understand how it made him feel.  And why is he is going back, hoping to find that person who finds him sexy and have one more dance.

This is a wonderfully endearing short story about a man who looks at himself in the mirror and finds the picture woefully inadequate, especially when judged against the looks of those around him, including his best friend.  Vic Winter has done a great job of capturing a person’s insecurities about their looks in his character of Winston.  Who among us has not had that moment where we have felt  fat or ugly or just plain when we take a look at the people we work or live with, even though we know we are good people inside.  Winston stands for all of us and that has us rooting for a good and  decent person to see himself as others see him.  And to a HFN, with the possibility of a HEA in the future.

My only quibble in a terrific short story is that I wish the ending had felt a little less rushed at the end as the author had struck a beautiful balance up until then.  Great job, Vic Winter.  I need to read more of your stories if I’m Not SexyAnd I Know It speaks for the rest of your stories.

Cover:  Just the same Torquere Sip cover that they use for all short stories in this category.

Review of Scrap Metal by Harper Fox

Rating: 5 stars

When a bus crash kills his mother and brother, Nichol Seacliff’s dreams of completing his linguistic degree and becoming a translator ends.  Needed on the family hold on Arran Isle, Nichol returns to stone rooms full of memories and his stern grandfather, Harry.  Now he spends his days with sheep, mired in mud and watching his family’s farm fall deeper into financial ruin and neglect. Patriarch Harry Seacliff, always a man of few words, speaks harshly to his less favored grandson when he speaks to him at all. This leaves Nichol grieving and alone, far from the university, his friends, and  any gay relationships.

One night he hears the window break in an outbuilding and finds a young man hiding behind the hay, wet and blue from the cold.   The trespasser introduces himself as Cameron, Cam for short and tells Nichol he is on the run from a gang in Glasgow.  Nichol’s sympathetic nature triumphs over caution, and he finds himself bringing Cam inside the house to get warm, have something to eat and put on dry clothes.  One nights stay lengthens into more as Cam endears himself first to Nichol and then, in a remarkable turn of events, to Harry as well,   As winter turns into spring on Seacliff Farm,  Nichol watches amazed as Cam forms a bridge between Harry and himself.  He finds he is falling in love with Cam more each day and the idea of remaining on the farm becomes less painful with someone to share it with.

And then Cam’s past comes back to threaten their love and the safety of all who live on Seacliff Farm.  When Cameron’s secret is known,who will pay the price of actions long past?

What an incredible story.  From the opening sentence, the reader finds themselves immersed deep in Scottish culture, roaming over the hills of Arran, listening to the murmurs of the Gaelic language and watching for splashes of mermaids just off shore.  Harper Fox has done such a excellent job of describing the island of Arran that I felt I had traveled there by the Calmac Ferry. Her love for the people, their culture and the land that gave birth to both flows like a wild river through the story. Indeed,  her vivid portraits of the populace,and their abodes will make you feel as though you know them. The passages on life in the old farmhouse have a way of plonking me down next to the Aga in the kitchen, listening to Nichol’s grumblings on the miserly candle left burning to light the cold room, so real does Harper Fox make it.  The rhythm of the Gaelic tongue is the rhythm of life itself on those rocky shores and cliffs.  A ancient language whose written form bears little resemblance to the spoken word, Gaelic weaves itself through the heart of the story, overflowing the pages until one yearns to speak those words, to understand their meaning.  I cannot begin to do justice here to its importance and beauty.  Here is a small sampling:

After Harry had told Nichol that he lost the language. “But I haven’t. That was what I wanted to say to Harry. I remember every word you taught me, in here with the book and out on the moors and the shore where you pointed to dobhar, the otter, iasg-dearg, the salmon, the eagle iolair whose name you pronounced like the upward yearning of wings—oh-lia, oh-lia.”

And another:

“Beauty. Music. I still couldn’t look at Harry, but from the corner of my eye I saw that his grip on the chair had relaxed. I couldn’t forget the poems, not when I was taught them so young. Did you hear me, old man? It’s the nearest I can come to saying sorry. I turned the page. The summer poem was long, a great cadenced paean to life such as only a man who’d lived through West Isles winters could sing. Softly I began the next verse. Harry stood listening for a few moments longer then quietly walked out of the kitchen, pulling the door shut behind him.”

(Harper Fox. Scrap Metal,  Samhain Publishing, Ltd.)

Time and again, Harper Fox brings us to tears and laughter through her use of the Gaelic tongue.  Wait til you get to the paragraph where Harry asks Nichol if their new farmhand is gay, in Gaelic of course.  Sheer perfection in every way.

Her characters are just as genuine and elemental as the land they are so much a part of.  Nichol is such a complicated soul, gay but not out to his Granda, kind and stubborn, wanting so much more than his brother and recognizing the irony of being back on the farm he thought he had escaped for good.  His anguish in the night over not being good enough to save the farm, not being good enough yet again for his Granda who he loved spoke so eloquently to his loss, and strength of character that it brought me to tears.  And if Nichol is a wondrous creation, than Harry Seacliff is even more remarkable.  As primal as the rocks of the cairn, and as deep as the lochs, Harry seems both as ancient as the land he loves and yet touched here and there with life in the present as with his use of the quads. Harry has a true Gaelic soul that sings beneath an exterior hardened by life on the island and life’s losses.  I can still see Harry and his sheep dogs leaning against the dry stacked stonewall, contemplating the land of his ancestors.  I felt like I knew him while I did not dare approach him. And Cameron, the city boy interloper, who unexpectedly finds home and a family, is so heartbreaking at points in this story that you just want to hold him as close as Nichol does.  Character after character, living, breathing people come to the fore, giving this story unbelievable depth and grace.

I have read and loved other books by Harper Fox and I was still unprepared for Scrap Metal.  Her gifts and skill as an author amazes me with it’s ability to transport the reader into another world, enchant them with the people and their stories, and leave us a little heartbroken by our exit.  I love Scrap Metal.  The story and people will stay with them for a long time to come.

Chan eil aon chànan gu leòr. Tapadh leibh, Harper Fox.  Tha mo bhàta-foluaimein loma-làn easgannan.  The translation? Clearly one language is never enough. Thank you, Harper Fox.  My hovercraft is full of eels.  OK, I just couldn’t resist the last one.  I could see the islanders having their bit of fun with a tourist and had to throw that in.  No quibbles here, just a bounty of love for the story and author.  Please pick this book up, you won’t be sorry.

Cover: Art by Angela Waters.  I liked this cover, with the dark background on top and landscape on the bottom.  Did I wish for a little more of the craggy landscape? Yes, but it still has a great feel to it.

Available through Samhain Publishing, Ltd., Amazon, and ARe.

Find out more about the author and her books at www.harperfox.net.

My other  recommendations include Driftwood and The Salisbury Key.

Review of Hope by William Neale

Rating 5 stars

Spencer Hawkins feels like a failure.  His best friend and closeted lover has unexpectedly left him and he’s finished his degree with no job prospects, no money in the bank, and unwilling to ask his family for any support as they are stretched as thin as they come.  A surprise phone call presents Spencer with the prospect of a new job and  future in a new city, Cleveland, Ohio.

Hunter Harrison is struggling in the face of increasing stress and constant heartache.  His partner has abandoned him and their adopted son, Ethan.  Ethan has a heart defect and needs a heart transplant if he is to live.  Faced with losing his son and his mounting medical bills, Hunter desperately needs the one thing missing from his life lately – hope.

Both men come together at a time in their lives when they need each other the most.  Spencer needs a man he can trust with his heart, someone he can build a future with.  Hunter needs someone who will love not only him but a very special boy as well.  For each man, the other represents love and hope for a future together if only they will reach out for it.

Hope is the final book in the Home series by William Neale, published after his unexpected death in March.  I am not sure that any review or reviewer will be able to separate the sadness felt by the passing of this wonderful author from the emotions engendered by his last work. I read in one of his interviews that William Neale said he wrote what he loved and didn’t feel that his characters were autobiographical.  While I can imagine he meant that, I can also see William Neales’ generous nature and loving heart reflected back from the characters here and in previous books.  If the eyes are the windows into the soul, surely one can discern the kindness and inherent goodness of the author through the characters he created and that the readers so cared so much about.

Spencer Hawkins and Hunter Harrison are just part of a family of main characters at the center of Hope. Spencer and Hunter are both men of character and proponents of old fashioned values.  They value the interior life above exterior perfections and raise love and family above all other concerns. Both are beautifully written and realistically constructed characters that are easy to fall in love with. So is 11 year old Ethan living with severe aortic stenosis, a disease I was not familiar with until now. Ethan leaps into your heart with each hard won breath as you root for him to pull through.  It is clear that William Neale did a great job researching this condition and the medical technology needed to deal with it.  Information about the Berlin Heart and heart transplants are seamlessly threaded through the story, gently educating the reader on the difficulties children with this disorder face on a daily basis.There is also Lucas Reed and Rogan James from Home #1, a book that remained one of the author’s favorites, as well as their son Rogie, his friend Ryan, and new characters of ambivalent morality, Thom Kilbane and Ashton Hale. Thom Kilbane is a complicated man, driven by his need for success and hiding his traumatic child abuse behind a hedonistic lifestyle. Ashton Hale is an unlikable bully until his background of parental neglect and isolation is revealed. One fully fleshed out character after another  comes forward in this story. This inner circle is surrounded by secondary characters just as authentic and beautifully realized as the main ones.  Chief Boleyn of Winton Academy security, Coach Perleman, Winton’s football coach, and even Stephen, Lucas and Rogan’s neighbor, all add depth and dimension to a story concerned with the nature of families, personal redemption, and hope.

William Neale lived with his partner of over a decade and their dogs in Cleveland, Ohio where the Home stories are located.  Cleveland is easily the 12th man (in football terminology) or main character in this story.  His love for his home town flows throughout the story, whether he is talking about the lakeside effect on the snowfall or the view from the high rises along the lake front.  I was laughing as Spencer, a southern transplant, tried to adjust to the cold, drive in the snow, and deal with the vagaries of snow blowers in winter.  I am sure Mr. Neale was laughing as he wrote it as well. In the space of a series, Cleveland goes from cold, unknown location to a beloved destination called home.  I am sure the city is missing one of its biggest champions as well.

From laughter to tears and back again, the reader remains deeply engaged in the relationships and families at the center of Hope. Once started, I couldn’t put the book down until I had finished it. Hours later I still continued to think about the author and his last story. What did I take away from Hope?  What did I feel was the essence of the book? The idea that goodness and kindness of spirit will win out, that personal redemption is a road to be taken instead of unattainable goal, and that love and hope is all around us if only we can recognize it.  I had come to love Spencer, Hunter, Ethan, Lucas, Rogen, and all the rest so very much that the knowledge of Hope being the last book was hard to face as is the loss of William Neale’s voice to the readers and m/m community that he cared so much about.  I was often in tears as I read this book and you will be too.

Make sure you read the editor’s note from Kris Jacen and above all the message from Marty, William Neale’s partner at the beginning of the novel.  Have tissues handy.  You will need them.  To read these letters to Mr. Neale’s fans and readers is to further understand the man behind the stories and how large the void his passing has left. The characters of Hope have so many dimensions to them, so much life in them that they will remain as unforgettable as the author behind them.   William Neale will continue to live on in the books and characters he has left behind and in the memories and hearts of all who knew and loved him. That is a wonderful legacy.  Mr. Neale, you are deeply missed.

Cover: Design and artwork by Winterheart Designs. A beautiful cover that does justice to the author and the story  within.

Hop Against Homophobia May 17th – 20th

This weekend please stop by the various blogs and leave a comment about this worthy cause.  Just in the last few weeks, we have had a straight soldier killed because he dared to hug a gay friend outside a bar.  And thousands of our youth are under attack, bullied because they love someone of the same gender.  Homophobia and fear go hand in hand as people often hate what they fear and fear what they don’t understand.

Take the time this weekend and check out some sites.  Start with The Trevor Project and It Gets Better Project.  Help support GLBT youth in danger.  Take the pledge!  Make a difference.               Information about the blogs and the Hope Against Homophobia can be found here.

Review of How We Operate by A. R. Moler

Rating: 4.5 stars

Chris Kearney is a seasoned Trauma surgeon who still mourns the loss of a young patient whose life on the streets caught up with him.  He meets with the undercover officer who brought the kid in to brief him on the injuries he found on the young man’s body and notices how attractive the cop is before returning to his OR.  The attraction is mutual.  Det. Drew Hayden, Vice , takes notice of the tired, kind hearted surgeon who answers his  questions, and calls him days later to let him know the case was closed and the murderer found.  Both men are  tempted to ask the other out, but their job responsibilities and limited free time make them pause.  When a surprise encounter at the local grocery store brings them together again, Drew Hayden takes the initiative and asks the doctor out.

Each date leads to another as the doctor and the detective find they mesh, physically, mentally, in every way possible.  But each works such long hours, and Hayden disappears for days when working undercover. Can each man find what it takes to make their relationship work even while dealing with the stress and strains of their occupations?  Only time will tell.

How We Operate delivers a deft portrayal of a relationship between two men from the first stirrings of attraction, then first date to exclusivity and declarations of love.  Each chapter represents a milestone in Chris and Drew’s relationship, large and small, which is a great idea I had not come across before. And each milestone shows us in detail how each man deals with the event and its impact upon their relationship. I felt as though I was almost eavesdropping on their conversations on each occasion so beautifully is this handled.

Make no mistake, A. R. Moler has done an outstanding job in giving us two real, flawed human beings in Chris Kearney and Drew Hayden so their relationship growth is not smooth or fairytale in any respect.  And I loved that.  The stresses and strains from their jobs flow over into their personal lives just as it does in ours so it makes it so easy for us to understand and empathize with each character as they struggle for balance between their professional and their private lives. Again just as we do.  The author clearly understand the pressures most couples operate under these days and treats it with the compassion it deserves.

A. R. Moler keeps the story and characters firmly grounded in reality.  It is also clear that Moler has done the necessary homework with regard to the descriptions of each man professions which are treated realistically and with respect.  Not once do we drop our belief in these men because we can see them so clearly.  Drew Hayden, long haired, weary from long hours undercover who needs to wash the dirt of the job off his body and out of his head.  Chris Kearney, overworked, a perfectionist in the OR, far too controlled for his own good. If either man walked into a room, I would know them  immediately, so vividly is each character drawn.

There are some stunning developments here which you might expect given each man’s profession, still when it occurs, the impact upon the reader is huge because you now care greatly what happens to them.  Yes, some tissues will be needed.  But Chris, Drew, and the reader are in capable hands here and when at last I put my Kindle down, I was happy for the couple I had gotten to know so well over the year and half of their relationship and throughly satisfied how I left them. I loved How We Operate and look forward to new stories from A. R. Moler.  I know I will be in good hands.

Cover:  Cover illustration by Alessia Brio.  I am not sure about this cover.  I kept thinking what is he doing? Given the professions of vice cop and er surgeon, I think the artist could have done a better job.  It doesn’t give the reader a clear indication of the story or characters within. I did like the fonts and the color of the title, easy to read as is the name of the author.

Available from Torquere Press, Amazon, and ARe.