Great Saturday, Marvelous Sunday, Fall is Here! The Week Ahead in Reviews

I had a great day yesterday. Friends came over, a fellow blogger, and an author, both wonderful. We had a time of it, discussing books, movies, Spartacus, you name it while drinking wine, gobbling up bread, cheese and crackers while the sun shown down! Does it get any better than that? I don’t think so. Kirby loves visitors and was so excited to see them both, going from one to the other before roaming around looking for squirrels and bugs and things. Winston and Willow are just happy to sit in the chair with me and chill. And today? Just beautiful, cool, sunny, the perfect football weather as they say. Daughter and SIL off to the Redskins game and RGIII’s first home game. I know, I know. I swore off the Redskins but habits are hard to break! So consider this a work in progress.

Three more bushes to go into the garden, Firelight Spirea. The foliage changes color three times during the year. In the spring, the leaves are a orange green changing to greenish yellow in the summer and then turning a lovely deep red in the fall, all that and beautiful pink blossoms that beacon to bees and butterflies for weeks while they are in bloom. Sigh! I love gardening and the discovery of new plants. The windows are open, letting in the cool breezes to refresh the house air. A ruby throated hummer just buzzed the window letting me know the feeders still need filling as there are still migrants making their way south and they shouldn’t be forgotten.

I am just finishing up the first in the Wolf’s Own series by Carole Cummings and loving it. Look for the review at the end of the week. I am starting the week off with a bang and a great book by Amy Lane. Don’t miss out on this one. As always so many books, so little time, but I am working on it. Just a reminder, the first week in October is JL Langley week and I will be giving away a copy of My Regelence Rake to a lucky person who comments on the week which will include a interview with JL and recaps of all the SciFi Regency books to date. So let’s get to it:

Monday: Sidecar by Amy Lane

Tuesday: Magic’s Muse by Anne Barwell

Wednesday: Gilbert by Bailey Bradford

Thursday: Wolf’s Own: Ghost by Carole Cummings

Friday: Inferno by Scarlett Blackwell

Saturday: Second Hand by Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton

Have a wonderful week. Get out and enjoy this weather! Happy Fall All!

Review of Making Contact Anthology

Rating: 4.25 – 4.5 stars

Space, the final frontier, as a certain well known Federation Captain would say on his 5-year mission into space, has always consumed our thoughts and dreams. We have always wanted to know what is out there, its vastness and mystery ever present. All we need to do is look up to be faced with the unknown. How will we get there and what or whom will we meet once we do are questions innumerable authors have tried to answer in poems, movies, stories and graphic novels. Making Contact is a new science fiction anthology from Dreamspinner Press that examines some of those questions along with what type of love will be found among the stars?

Making Contact gives us ten stories by eight authors. The stories range from aliens attempting to “fit it=n” among the human inhabitants when they arrive on Earth, humans trying to live in isolation on a lonely outpost, intergalactic conflicts among the races, an alien drunk tank and pirates in space. There is humor, mystery, heartbreak, and a swashbuckling yarn of space pirates and derring do.

I found this to be a really strong anthology and the variety of stories and themes keep me glued to the Kindle one after another. Don’t expect cohesion other than the fact that they fall under the science fiction m/m banner. Just a look at the authors represented should tell you that their visions of space are as unique as they are. Their narratives explore space from so many different perspectives. The first story, Better Than Cola by JL Merrow is the only one to feature an alien so far removed from the humanoid mold that the author had to come up with an equally alien method of sexual exchange. I loved this story as it left me with more questions running around my head than was answered. Some of the aliens are recognizable in form that the authors have put their own twist to, aliens with fur, aliens with different skins tones and facial markings, and even a new take on vampires in space that will break your heart as it did mine.

Normally when I review anthologies, I only mention the stories I loved. In Making Contact, that includes them all in varying degrees. Here they are in the order they appear in the book.

Better Than Cola By JL Merrow

Newly arrived on Earth to work in the Melliti embassy, Summer Storms meets Nathan Chambers, who is tasked with teaching the alien visitor how to deal with human social interaction. The thrill of casual touch exposes an immediate attraction between them, but how far can intimacy go between two totally different life forms?

JL Merrow has done a fantastic job of giving us an alien so far removed from us but still one whose thoughts and emotions can stir attraction in another. Summer Storms is a plurality of beings contained inside a “human shaped envelope”. They have to adjust themselves to casual human touch and the way in which their “envelope” reacts to the human sent to help them deal with interspecies interaction. This story has so much charm while still being sexy and alien. Merrow left me wanting to know more about their physiology and culture while giving me a satisfactory glimpse into the unknown.

Revolving Realities By Cari Z.

Dr. Eliot Hollister is desperate to locate the Ulysses and her crew before tragedy strikes… again. The lone survivor of a hostile attack compounded by human error, Eliot is using an alien artifact to search through alternate realities, trying to change the outcome in a parallel dimension. Eliot’s challenge once he finds the ship? Convince Captain Paul Alvarez he’s for real before the Ulysses falls prey to the same trap.

Cari Z brings alternate universes into play with her story of a lone survivor grabbing as a last chance to save his lover from death, even if it is not his actual lover, but the man he is in another universe. Wonderful characterizations play off against time as Eliot tries to stop the scenario from playing out again in the new universe but runs up against the same scientist hell bent on exploring the world beneath them. His frustrations become ours because we know what will happen if he can’t stop the mission. My only quibble is that it ended too soon.

The Sacrifice By Sue Brown

After twelve years, the leaders of the Free Worlds have finally found a man willing to sacrifice his life to the gods of Segelian to ensure an alliance with the mineral-rich planet. But when Stane raises the dagger to perform the rite, he looks into the human Steven’s eyes and is horrified to discover he is destined to kill his life partner. If Stane doesn’t complete the ritual, it will destroy any chance for a treaty… and it might also change the world of Segelian forever.

Sue Brown uses two worlds, one homophobic (human), one a male/male warrior culture and the extended war between them that will end with a human sacrifice. She does a nice job of world building including a world divided by religious caste and the warrior caste and makes us believe it. I loved Stane and Steven however implausible the final intervention.

Alone By Andrea Speed

Scientist Logan Murakami doesn’t have much to keep him company during his lonely vigil at Outpost Proserpina. But he knew that going in, and it’s the perfect place to focus solely on his work: a neuro-optical interface that would be the perfect engine for artificial intelligence… an intelligence that Logan hopes is taking on a life of its own.

What I loved most about this story is that it plays out internally in the mind of Logan Murakami. Solitude and remoteness are definitely two of the factors to be considered when talking about space travel. How to achieve it, do we need a base of operations to extend our exploration? And what type of person will be able to handle those conditions? All compelling questions that need viable answers and Speed attempts to provide some of them in the person of Logan Murakami. Raised in isolation in Alaska and solitary by nature, he unexpectedly ends up alone at the outpost and uses this time to perfect his neuro-optical interface with the goal of having it attain intelligence. What happens exceeds his expectations and gives him something so much more. Just outstanding.

Losing Sight of the Shore By Emily Moreton

Secondary communications officer Jay is assigned to a boarding crew when the Hydra discovers a seemingly abandoned, powerless ship floating in space. While exploring the derelict ship, Jay finds a barely conscious man with purple skin and silver eyes. After surviving a raider attack, Felix is understandably afraid to let Jay go—even when cultural differences threaten to stop any contact between them.

Moreton gives us romance in space that emerges from survivors of an attack upon their ship. I liked the romance even if I wanted a little more of the alien culture and history of the purple skinned people living in ships among the stars. I got some lovely bits of characterization from Jay and the other members of the crew, I just wish I felt I got the same result from the aliens. A really sweet story that could have been fleshed out a little more to make it absolutely terrific.

Gifted in Tongues By JL Merrow

After inadvertently outraging local sensibilities, space pilot Torvald “Spitz” Spitzbergen faces a five-year stretch in a Lacertilian jail. His only consolation is trading insults with his cellmate, Tao, a six-foot libidinous Felid. But Tao seems to have a distinctly fuzzy understanding of the difference between fighting and foreplay…

Merrow gives us an alien drunk tank! How could you not love this? Spitz seems like the very type to get his drunk on, outrage the locals, and be very surprised to find himself with the remains of a hangover, two very different cell mates and the worst morning after he has had in a while. I chuckled throughout this story, Merrow’s descriptions painting the scene so perfectly that I had no problems picturing it all as it happens. Cracked me up, made me blush, and left me wanting more. Now if only I can talk the author into bringing Spitz and Tao back for further adventures. Pretty please?

Analytic Geometry By Andi Deacon

Kevin Ikoro has an incredible opportunity: his boss at Helix Multicorp wants an analyst’s view of how the corporation’s Exploration division works, and Kevin is now a member of explorer team Alpha 3IG. His teammates, a set of brilliant twins named Cameron and Theo Banark, are fascinating, and Kevin finds himself harboring a serious case of lust for Cameron. But exploration is unpredictable, and his teammates may not be what they seem. The shortest distance between two bodies isn’t always a straight line.

Another neat story full of twists that added dimension and depth to this little space gem. I don’t want to go into this except that I loved the characters where the attraction of the mind trumps attraction of the body. Sexy, humorous and with a little bit of mystery thrown in. Again the characters that Deacon creates here are so terrific, so unique that as the end I wanted so much more. The surprise alone is worth the story but it is the family that is forming that captures my interest, imagination and heart. Just a great job.

The Monsters Below By Lyn Gala

Brai’s never dreamed of fighting the monstrous sub-humans who infest Kestia, but when his lover joins the service, Brai does what he always does… he follows. Then Rick is lost on his first mission, and Brai is left alone in a murderous rage. Now on his own first mission gone terribly wrong, Brai has his chance to get back at the monsters for killing Rick—only the government hasn’t been honest about the nature of the enemy, and Brai might find that the caves hide a secret that could change his life.

I was not prepared for the heartbreak that is this story. Lyn Gala gives us an intense, knuckle biter of an update of vampires in space and makes it hurt even as the characters bleed out and die. Again for me to go into detail would ruin it but Gala’s characters are beautifully realized and the situation they find themselves in so dire that our hearts and minds are caught up in their plight immediately. This story kept me up and thinking into the wee hours of the morning.

Feral By K.R. Foster

Desperate to end a war, the king of the Lunar Pryde agrees to submit one of his offspring to mate with a member of the Sol Pryde royal line. Cynfael, prince of the Lunar Pryde, fled the planet six months ago searching for freedom, and nothing could convince him to return… except his father’s threat to marry off Cynfael’s twelve-year-old sister Adara. After fighting for freedom his entire life, Cynfael must return to Starion to face his unknown mate and an equally unknown future.

What is it about felids or specifically felids that walk upright with many of the same emotions and thoughts of humans that captures our imagination so? I kept running across so many of them from author after author and genre after genre. Still, I end of loving them all. Feral is Foster’s newest addition to felids in space. Cynfael is another prince being forced to wed the son of warring royal line and bring peace to the planet they inhabit. There are so many nice touches here from Cynfael’s ability to communicate with the planet to a comb made of filed down teeth that I wanted an extended version to fill in the gaps left by the story. We are left in the dark about the loss of Cynfael’s mother, the war ongoing, the purity of his genes (does it relate to his color?) and so much more. A little more volume was needed to add layers to an intriguing tale.

Ganymede’s Honor By Cornelia Grey

Colonel Ardeth Connor has been rescued from death, but he’s not sure his new life is any better: he’s effectively trapped aboard a rebel ship that defies the Federation to collect ice meteors, stealing life-sustaining water for the poorest of planets and asteroids. As an anonymous part of Captain Gabriel’s crew, Ardeth is biding his time until he can escape… and learning there’s more to space than just the Federation.

This story reminded me so much of an interview I just saw with an astrophysicist. She was talking about space travel, space ships and the Tardis. Ok, yes, I am a geek. I make no bones about it. She was talking about the fact that our modes of transportation in space didn’t need to be those sleek versions that populate the page and movie screen, that we could travel about in something as funky as a phone booth or a Rubic’s Cube. On in this case, a space galleon similar to those that rode the waves way back when. I loved this story. It left me smiling for hours just picturing the Ganymede under her solar sails in search of meteorites to capture. Cornelia Grey’s story gives us pirates in space or should that be rebels in space and turns it into a swashbuckling story of love, sexy rebel captains who shouts to his crew ‘Unwind those cables, bunch of useless yobs!” as they prepare to harpoon a ice meteoroid out of a swarm, and his crew man the sails and chains as the ship rockets under them. What a scene, what a crew! It got the blood boiling, the eyes wild, the heart pounding…..oh how I wanted to be on the ship with them and maybe snuggled up against Ardeth and Gabriel, just saying. I do have a thing for his tats.

And just the idea of a galleon sailing through space, the stars all around her…that’s magic right there. Grey’s story hit a lot of my buttons and left me cheering the crew on to great glory and many more stories. I feel much the same about every author here with their diverse take on space and making contact. I loved their stories, I wanted more of their aliens and human interaction. I hope this spawns even more novels featuring the being that made me laugh, made me cry and made me exult that space means no boundaries of any sort. No boundaries to the imagination and no boundaries as to who we can love and be loved by in return. More please. Much, much more. Engage.

Cover art by Analise Dubner, cover design by Mara McKennen. Love the cover, great colors and a catchy design.

Autumn Comes to Maryland, Vote 6 for Equality and the Week Ahead in Reviews

Good morning to all and what a spectacular day it is here in Maryland. The sky is that crystalline crisp blue that I only see in Fall, the clouds fluffy white and a huge flock of Canada geese just flew overhead, their cries trumpeting the arrival of Fall. How I love this time of year, my pulse quickens, my step is a tad more brisk (such as it is these days), and I feel like rejuvenated after the sweltering heat of summer. The Monarch butterflies are flitting through the garden on their way to Mexico, and what a journey they have in front of them, over 3, 000 miles of ingrained need to fly to a place they have never been. Amazing when you consider they are fragility on wings.

Autumn is a time of movement, a time of activity, both measured and frantic. Beaver and muskrats are busy with caches of food and antlers, so too are the squirrels and white footed mice. All have plenty to do to make sure the food stores are full for the winter. Bees zoom around the garden, gathering pollen and nectar from the spectacular profusion of gold, white and purple flowers of the season. The New England asters, goldenrod, the Black-eyed Susans, and the Joe Pye weed that linger on. Most people think of Autumn colors as red, yellow and orange, but the fall gardener knows that the harbinger of Fall also carries the colors of white, gold and purple to all the gardens and fields around us.

Fall brings change. Leaves swirl to the ground as the sap returns to their roots in preparation for Winter, seeds are scattered by wind and animal alike, and the animals start their migration to the winter feeding grounds. The songbirds seek the safety of the night for their travels while the raptors, secure as top predators of the air, wing their way south during the daylight hours, soaring above as they follow the coasts and mountains. I watch the squirrels stuffing leaves into the neighbors chimney with all the energy and enthusiasm of teenagers on energy drinks. I have never seen those neighbors use their chimney and hope that for the squirrels sake that this continues. My old bird feeder finally fell apart from the relentless onslaught from the non flighted visitors and a new one should arrive any day, carrying with it the hope of a squirrel proof feeder. Hah, I say from experience. My money is on the squirrels.

I am hoping for another change in Maryland this fall. It is 51 days until the election and I am hoping that this fall brings Marriage Equality for all in the state of Maryland. If you live here, please vote for Question 6 and make it legal for all GLBTQ to marry here. It is long past time for this to happen, equal marriage rights are long overdue. Let’s be a voice for progress and become a partner in movement for equal rights for all. Vote yes for Question 6 and let’s make the promise a reality! I will be there on voting day and hope you will join me.

Finally, October will see several special events on my blog. First up, actually the very first week is Regency Sci-Fi week with JL Langley in preparation for My Regelence Rake release October 1st. I have an interview with JL, recap of the series to date, a discussion about Regency novels, and a contest to give away a copy of My Regelence Rake to someone who comments during the week! Whew! I am also participating in the Howloween Blog Hope at the end of October where I will be giving away a Amazon gift card during the blog hop! So stay tuned, my pretties, we have a great time planned this fall. Change is in the air, I can feel it. Can you?

Here are the books to be reviewed this week:

Monday: Life As A Fairy Thrall by Katey Hawthorne

Tuesday: Making Contact (Sci Fi Anthology)

Wednesday: Nate’s Deputy by Lavinia Lewis

Thursday: Gregory’s Rebellion by Lavinia Lewis

Friday: The Melody Thief by Shira Anthony

Saturday: Wolf’s Own Book One Ghost by Carole Cummings

Review of Unconventional at Best Anthology

Rating: 3.5 stars

Unconventional at Best is an anthology from six authors of stories featuring romance in and around conventions. GayRomLit convention last year provided the inspiration for this selection of stories by Carol Lynne, TA Chase, Amber Kell, Jambrea Jo Jones, Stephani Hecht, and Devon Rhodes. The stories run the gamut of lovers reunited, best friends to lovers, alien love, geek love, confectionary love and love among tops and it all occurs at a convention.

I found this anthology to be a fifty fifty proposition. Out of 6 stories,only three kept me completely entertained, staying with me once I was done with the anthology. The others remained just nice stories, forgotten as soon as I put them down.

Here are the ones that stayed with me. I think they are just wonderful stories.

‘Ninja Cupcakes’ by T.A. Chase

Ethan Gallagher is a baker of very special talents. His cupcakes are not only delicious confections but when certain ingredients are added, downright magical. When Ethan and his business partner agree to supply the desserts for his brother’s sci-fi convention, it presents the perfect opportunity for Ethan’s floury confections to work their particular magic on certain participants, including an astrophysicist Ethan has been corresponding with for four years. With just the right timing and the special ingredients, Ethan bakes cupcakes that insure that love is in the air or desserts. Or perhaps we should say Ethan insures that everyone gets their just desserts!

This is a delicious little story. I have always found that cooking, or in this case baking, and magic were natural combinations. T.A. Chase does a terrific job of doing just that in Ninja Cupcakes. From that great title to Chase’s wonderful characters, I just loved this story and wished to see them all again once I was done. This is fun, frothy and still is grounded in realistic characters that capture your hearts. Ethan and Callum were an especially endearing couple. I wish I had their story, complete with how they first met, and what happening to each of them during their four year correspondence.T.A Chase, this would make a wonderful story. Just saying.

‘Operation: Get Spencer’ by Jambrea Jo Jones:

“Even if superpowers were real, Benjamin still might not get his man.” Good friends Benjamin and Spencer are spending the day at Comic-Con, something Spencer has always wanted to do. Benjamin has a surprise for Spencer to go with their day at Comic-Con. Benjamin intends to tell his friend that he is in love with him and decides the convention is the perfect time to reveal it. The problem? Spencer believes Benjamin is straight and with good reason as Benjamin has told everyone he is straight over and over again. But Ben hopes that a convention where everything is possible is the perfect place to make Spencer believe in his love.

Friends to lovers and gay for you, both happen here in this story about sexuality, perceptions and fear of change. Jones takes two completely recognizable characters and brings them together at Comic-Con for her story of friends and lovers. Ben has been so busy denying that he is gay that everyone believes Ben is straight even if Ben no longer believes it himself. His best friend Spencer is gay and they have always done everything together. But recently Ben has discovered that his feelings for Spencer go beyond friendship and into romantic love, but how to tell his best friend?

Jambrea Jo Jones makes us laugh and sympathize with Ben and Spencer throughout it all. From Ben’s mishaps, missteps and outright screwing up his announcement, we are still on his side and hope he gets his man. Spencer is authentically confused about Ben’s change of heart regarding his sexuality, we understand his point of view as well. He doesn’t want to mess up his relationship with his best friend, his confidant, and we get that too. Somehow it all comes together in a satisfying end back where they started it all – Comic-con.

‘Fan-Tastic’ by Stephani Hecht

“Everybody knows the best lovers are geeks.” The setting this time is the annual Comic Book and Horror Convention. Here Deke Masters, a well-known actor in a zombie TV show is ordered to appear on a panel for his show. Also in attendance is Blake Tallision. Blake is trying to sell his comic book Star Cats and other items that he has been working on so hard. Blake also has a crush on Deke going back to their school days. Even then Deke was a star and Blake the nerd hiding in the shadows of the stage. To Blake’s amazement, Deke is a fan of Star Cats. The convention turns out to be the perfect stage for a romance neither saw coming.

This was my favorite story of the anthology. In Deke Masters and Blake Tallision author Hecht gives us characters worth cheering for. Blake is an especially memorable one. In pursuit of his art, he has starved himself, living in the basement of his abusive mother’s home, almost despairing of making it. Blake was so real I could see his skeletal frame and intense features. His vulnerability drew me in and kept me there. Deke also came across a fully realized human being, a guy who has worked to get where he is now but misses being wanted for just himself. While Blake wants nothing more than to be noticed by Deke, when that happens, Blake is believably wary and insecure, not seeing himself as others do. Deke is perfect for him, the normal guy who just happens to be a tv star, he understands Blake’s struggle because he was once at that stage himself. Everything about this story from the dialog to the characters just cried out for a larger version, especially to delve further into the relationship between Blake and his mother who had a secret she was hiding from him. Great job.

VGB Looks at When Talking Dirty Makes You Giggle or Spank Me Harder, Bunny Poo!

Note: Let’s just agree that this column is for mature audiences only shall we? If you continue reading, you are clearly over the age of 18 and don’t need your parents approval. We are serious, people! Words used in the most despicable manner is no laughing matter!!! Ok, well it is a laughing matter or we wouldn’t be here. Getting off course again. Sigh.

It’s been a while since our last get together and you can chalk that up to the quality of the books I have been reading lately. While they have run the gamut from middling fair to absolutely splendid, very few have fallen into the rainbow skittle of passionate prose that gets me going in eye blinking disbelief. That choice of words worthy of a double take or three, the “oh no she/he didn’t” selection that begs the question “why, oh why did he say that?” It’s the mesmerizing moment you realize that someone actually put those words in a sentence in a paragraph on a page in a story that halts you in your tracks. But this particular topic has been running around my head like a gerbil on a squeaky wheel for a while now just waiting for something or some word to prod it into action. And a recent novella did just that. It shocked that gerbil into an all out sprint and here we are examining what makes some dirty talk sexy and others hysterical.

I realize that bed talk can be subjective. What turns one person into a puddle of goo sends another into paroxysms of hilarity or worse delivers a veritable cold shower to any sexy thoughts or actions that up until then had been looking pretty darn promising. I get that, really I do! We have the school of “Harder, faster, deeper, there, fuck meeeeee ” dirty talk. Short bursts of words that spit forth from a participant’s mouth in the midst of a flurry of physical activity often imagining the verbal directions being given. I find this can be really sexy if done right. Say the author has written this vividly described sex scenes and the men are having at it in all ways sweaty and real. Throw those words in to make the men frantic in their need for each other. I get it (and so do they if they are lucky). Done well, I find it to be very effective *waves a fan*. But add a word or too, and hilarity replaces sexy in a heartbeat. Example: ” Yeah, do it, do it harder. Fuck me with your big, hairy sausage, boo boo Daddy!” *cough, cough, cough* Sexy turns into spew event and the ambience is gone.

You can also find the “Give it to me now, I want it all, I can take it, make me want it, pound me into the mattress” format. I call this type the Drill Master of Smut Talk. The person, could be a bossy bottom or someone topping from the bottom, is letting the other person know exactly what is expected here and woe to that person if they don’t deliver. Again, in the right hands *snort*, this can turn up the heat and be informative, all at the same time. You get the how, when and where and a lesson on how to communicate better in bed. What’s not to love? Everyone’s a winner!

Some people despise the lack of pronouns from a partner in passion. For these lovers of all things proper and sentence structure, it ‘s all about syntax and semantics. Doesn’t that sentence just make you quiver? They shudder (and not in a good way) at “need you, want you, touch me, fuck me”, for those persons complete grammar is required. Who exactly “needs” what? And where do they “need” it? I can see some frenzied folk getting confused. Throw out that “fill me, fuck me”, and replace it with “Oh, I need you now, Alphonse. Please take me to bed post haste, and have your wanton way with my beauteous form, you magnificent bastard.” That just might be all some need to pole vault into the four poster, all sweaty and raring to have at it.

Others find certain proper nouns a complete turn off. “Take it slut! You like a big thing up your hole.” Yep, the word causing a heap of “bleck” would be slut, although I do have problems with that entire sentence. Whore, Daddy, boy, slut are terms that either delight or disgust when used in bed. Papi was another. It’s almost fifty fifty with people coming (hah) down on one side or the other. Personally? Not big on the slut thing, but I won’t mark a book down for it when it comes to the review. If it works for the character, then it works for me.

Then we get to the sounds. You know what I mean. Two or more men are having a splendid time writhing about in as many positions possible. And instead of words, it’s animalistic sounds urging them on to greater highs of sexual heat and prowess. They moan, they groan, they growl and roar, purr and whimper. Whew! *waves the fan madly* I am all about the animal sounds, love them in fact. Except when the mewl turns into a mew, and I start to wonder where the kitties are hidden. Some men apparently even “chirp” in bed. Huh. Hard to picture that one. Bird fetish perhaps to go along with the whinny?

What doesn’t work? Stilted comments or comments so fatuous that just reading them makes me laugh out loud, never a good thing when the author is going for hot and heavy. Take this sentence. “Mmm, can’t wait”—Randy lay sprawled on the bed—“to feel that dick of yours stretching my channel.” Again “Stretch my channel, stretch my channel.” Umm, does that strike anyone as sexy? How about two idiots and a gun? Here they are covered with lube,“The safety is on, babe! We’ll play a little more with that later. Right now, I wanna pump your ass full of my lead.” Or perhaps it’s the would-be astronauts, where Rick wants Lance to “ride my pocket rocket into the stars”. And then for me the giggles start. I always want the author to take the time to say those phrases out loud, to take them around the verbal block so to speak. If it sounds funny when saying it, the chances are pretty good it is going to read that way too. I’m trying to be helpful here, folks!

Who knew talking dirty could be so funny? Well Jade Buchanen for one. Thank you, Tam, for this one:

From Jade Buchanan’s Del Fantasma: Duck Fart

“Drake let Bailey go just far enough to look at the other man. He wanted to hear more spilling from Bailey’s lips. “Come on, talk dirty to me, baby.”

A look of panic crossed Bailey’s face. Drake hid his grin. This should be fun.

“Uh…I want you to put your alligator in my love tunnel?”

Eyes wide, Drake started to choke. He could barely breathe, bent over the steering wheel now, laughing so hard his belly hurt.”

From hot to hurl, from sexy to snigger, dirty talk provides us with memorable moments in stories, from wonderfully realistic sexy scenes to the WTF smut verbalizations of a hominid in heat. Authors, before you write it, say it, try it out! Ask around, find out what real people are really saying or yelling as it were. It might amaze you to find out what you think works in bed is far more suitable to Barnum and Bailey’s Circus or Cirque de Soleil than to two or more people getting their lust on.

If not, then your characters might just end up saying something like ” “I want you to stuff your massive demon cock in my tight, waiting hole.” Thank you, Julia, for that little gem. And if they do, the chances are they might just end up being featured in a Vocabulary Gone Bad. I’m reading away, people, gobbling up page after page. You’ve been forewarned and now it’s up to you. If your characters “want it, need it, hurts so bad, Bunny Poo”, make sure its as sexy as you think it sounds, or the giggling you hear might be mine.

Review of Solid As Stone (The Brotherhood #1) by Amylea Lyn

Rating: 4 stars

Dr. Wesley Folcomb is on a plant finding expedition in the Amazon when he is given a message. He must return home as his mother has died. Although Wes knew it was coming, she had MS, he is still devastated. His father was killed in a laboratory accident when he was 6 and his mother was all he had. At home, he is cleaning out his mother’s things when he comes across a box containing his father’s research papers and notebook and makes a shattering discovery. His father , Dr. Steven Folcomb had been pursuing a cure for MS and inadvertently created a serum whose sideeffects enhances a human beings natural abilities. Given doses of his serum, mice became stronger, healed faster, became in fact super mice. A government agency started funding his scientific work,and he accepted hoping he had found a cure for his wife’s MS. The last journal entries told Wes that his father had found out that the government was using his research on human subjects to his utter horror. Steven Folcomb took pictures of the children used as test subjects and vowed to end the project the only way he knew how. Wes’ father destroyed all his notes and samples and then blew up his laboratory with himself in it. Now Wes finds himself in possession of the only copies of his father’s work. What is he going to do about it?

Wesley Folcomb is targeted for assassination but instead finds himself kidnapped and in the company of the men used for experimentation by the secret agency. The six men, banded together as brothers by their common experience, have been searching for a way to reverse what the drug did to them and Wes is their only hope. Six men. Stone, Fury, Blade, Trigger, Ghost, and Locke. All bearing the scars, physical and emotional, as Agency lab subjects. Now they have escaped. Their new mission is to take down the Agency and everything it stands for. So when Stone starts falling for Wesley, he is shocked to find that Wes returns his feelings. But the Agency is hot on their trail and when Wes is abducted, Stone and his brothers risk it all to get him back.

The first book in the new Brotherhood series by Amylea Lyn lays down the backstory for all the characters involved in the series. We understand Wesley’s history, given a peak into his father’s thoughts through his journal, and get to know a young man intent on solving world hunger. Naive, honorable and idealistic in the best way, he is also slight of stature and something of a nerd. It seems very realistic that he would switch his mission from searching for solutions for hunger to righting the wrong his father’s research instigated. He also offers a nice physical contrast with respect to the Brothers. For the most part, they have a muscular framework, tall and represent a number of racial types. One is Asian, one Hispanic, another Black, one Nordic and so on, as though the Agency wanted to see how each race would react to the drug.

Lyn gives us a great framework for the series to build on and each member of the Brotherhood is going to get their own storyline. From all indications, Fury is next. Fury is almost as important to the first book as Stone and Wes. He is the outside commentator to their relationship. Wes and Stone’s growing intimacy only serves to highlight his lack of one as well as his belief he is not deserving of happiness. I hope that the author will delve further into each man’s character and their relationship with each other. The bits she offers up here are really intriguing, making me want to know more.

My only real quibble here is the instant love between Stone and Wesley. If you are building a series, you have time to show a deepening of attraction and growth in their relationship. That would have been far more interesting and realistic than believing a man used only as an assassin, who has grown up regarded as a thing to be experimented on would instantly trust the son of the man who created the horror they have lived through. That is much harder to buy given the characteristics Lyn has presented us with. I hope their romantic relationships gain the authenticity that the Brotherhood demonstrates with each other. I am certainly looking forward to Fury’s story and the next step to take down the Agency.

Cover: cover art by Lee Tiffin. I think this is a terrific cover. I love the choice of models as well as color and fonts.

It’s Football Season and I’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling, the Week Ahead in Reviews and A Cocktail

It’s Labor Day weekend here in the States, a time to hunker down and celebrate the end of summer. For some families this means a last dash to the beach or the start of school. It is also the start of football season. It’s the start of tailgating parties, stadium crowds and team colors. Mine used to be red and yellow, the colors of the Washington Redskins, my family’s team. It all started with my Dad. He loves the Redskins. We have been fans through thick and thin as they say. I can even remember Dad taking me to a Redskin home game when they were coached by Vince Lombardi. That was 1969. My dad and his friend Tom Cox had a group of season tickets and when one of “the gang” couldn’t go, Dad brought me. What a thrill. Redskin fans are beyond fanatical, they are legendary. And every game, RFK shook from the ground to the rafters with their fervor. I will never forget it as long as I live. Screaming until I was hoarse, the people towering around me as all stood to watch a play on the field and then the ride home, Dad’s either thrilled because we won or furious with a loss. Later on, the ride home included Dad listening to Sonny and Sam (that’s Sonny Jurgenson and Sam Huff) dissect the day’s game. We had Redskin blankets, hats, and scarves. We went through the George Allen and Jack Pardee years before we arrived at the Golden Age. That would be owner Jack Kent Cooke, affectionately known as The Squire, Bobby Beathard the GM, and Joe Gibbs, the Winningest Coach of them all. From 1981 to 1992, we basked in the glory that was the Redskins and quite frankly made up for all the years it took to get there.

But 10 years ago, the Squire died and Dan Snyder bought the team. I hung in there as long as I could but the soul went out of them that day. Dan Snyder single handedly has ruined the Redskins for me (and many others). How can you back a team when the owner sues it’s fans? When die hard season ticket holders could no longer afford their season tickets because of the economy (some losing everything), the Redskins sued their fans to recover the costs of the passes, even a grandmother living on retirement! No other team did that. Made the headlines, they recanted, a bit. Still did it though. Then a small free newspaper takes Dan Snyder to task over his actions. He sues the newspaper! I guess free speech is not to be tolerated in Snyder territory. On and on it goes, one man’s arrogance and bad karma wiping out half a century of fans adoration and goodwill.

And now I give up. I won’t root for them any longer. Some will say the very name “Redskins” is cursed. Perhaps they are right. It’s long past the time to retire a name offensive to so many. Maybe I will look around for another team to root for. The Ravens don’t do it for me. I like the Packers and the Saints. So who knows? In the meantime, I have the Capitals and Ted Leonsis to cheer for. And The Washington Nationals have risen above their “Natinals” days to become an inspiration and a team worthy of cheering for and not just because they are winning, but winning in the right way! Go, Nats! Without football, perhaps I will have more time to knit, certainly to read. And reflect on the past.

This coming week’s reviews are:

Monday: Solid As A Stone by Amylea Lyn

Tuesday: Gambling Men, The Novel by Amy Lane

Wednesday: Jewel Bonds series by Megan Derr

Thursday: One Day At A Time by Dawn Douglas

Friday: Summer Sizzle by Berengaria Brown

Saturday: Vocabulary Gone Bad Looks at Sexy(Not) Dirty Talk or Spank Me Harder, Bunny Poo!

Our last summer cocktail to finish out the summer this Labor Day weekend for those of you in the States is the Sidecar!

The Sidecar.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons superfine sugar
1 lemon wedge
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) Cognac
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) Cointreau or other Triple Sec orange liqueur
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) fresh lemon juice
1 cup ice

Directions:

Spread superfine sugar on small plate. Rub lemon wedge halfway around rim of chilled martini or coupe glass. Dip moistened side of glass in sugar to lightly coat outside rim of glass. Set aside.
In cocktail shaker, combine Cognac, Cointreau, and lemon juice. Add ice and shake vigorously until well chilled, about 30 seconds. Strain into prepared martini or coupe glass and serve.

A New Addition to the Garden, the Week Ahead in Reviews and the Sazerac, an American classic cocktail

So, here we are again. It’s a rainy Sunday in Maryland, perfect day for reading and snoozing with the pooches. I was out earlier in the week, gallivanting around and made a quick stop into one of our local nurseries to check out their perennial sale (50 percent off woo hoo!) and what did I behold? A zen froggy waiting for someone to take him home. Really how could I pass him up? Here’s are 2 pictures. He is now perched in all his zen-like concentration behind the fish pond to Kirby’s everlasting confusion. I watch Kirby looking at him every time he goes out and can just see the slow wheel turning in our third smartest dog’s mind. Like “hmmmm, didn’t see that before, wonder if it is edible” “will he play with me?”. Cracks me up everytime. So I believe our zen froggy deserves a name. Any suggestions?

Now on to the Week in Reviews. There were just some lovely books this week. Lashings of Sauce was a standout based on just the shear number of great authors who contributed to this anthology. We run the gamut from contemporary romance to supernatural lovers this week:

Monday: (Un)Masked by Anyta Sunday & Andrew Q.Gordon

Tuesday: Shelton’s Homecoming by Dianne Hartsock

Wednesday: Wick by Megan Derr

Thursday: Lashings of Sauce-a British Anthology

Friday: Weekends by Edward Kendrick

Saturday: The Cool Part of His Pillow by Rodney Ross

Cocktail of the Week: The Sazerac

The Sazerac, created in New Orleans in the 1800’s, an American Classic Cocktail

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoons (1/4 ounce) club soda
1 sugar cube (preferably rough-cut and unbleached*) or 1/2 teaspoon raw sugar, such as turbinado or Demerara
4 to 5 dashes Peychaud Bitters
5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) VSOP Cognac
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) absinthe
1 cup ice
1 lemon
Directions:

In chilled cocktail shaker or pint glass, pour club soda over sugar cube. Using muddler or back of large spoon, gently crush sugar cube. Swirl glass until sugar dissolves, 20 to 30 seconds, then add bitters and Cognac and set aside.
Pour absinthe into chilled double old-fashioned glass or stemless wineglass. Holding glass horizontally, roll between your thumb and forefinger so absinthe completely coats the interior, then discard excess.
Add ice to cocktail and stir until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain cocktail into chilled glass rinsed with absinthe. Using channel knife, cut thin 4-inch strip of peel from lemon directly over glass, then place peel in glass and serve.

Review of Bedazzled by Pelaam

Rating: 3.75 stars

Jem’s life has been hard since his father died. His stepmother has control of the family business, his step brother and sister have all her affection, and his health, both physically and mentally, was shattered by his loss. Only his good friend, Byron, makes it possible for Jem to get through his day of cleaning and restocking the shelves in Diamond, the bar where they both work. Then in an instant, Jem’s life changes when he rescues a stranger being attacked on his way home.

The stranger is none other than Prinz, the only son of the Space Station’s galactic billionaire businessman. He is immediately attracted to Jem, and when the gorgeous young man disappears after rescuing him, he vows to find him. Jem can’t get the man he saved out of his mind, and the stranger occupies his dreams nightly. Byron is mystified and more than a little protective when Herne appears in the bar asking for Jem. Herne is Prinz’s best friend and bodyguard, sent to look for Jem and reunit him with Prinz. He doesn’t count on his reaction to Byron or Bryon’s to him. It seems like love is all around the space station. But there is more to all 4 men then they are telling. Secrets mount up until the night of the Station ball when one is revealed to Jem’s devastation and he runs away. How will this fairy tale end when the futures of not one but two couples rest in the balance.

This is a very cute retelling of the Cinderella story, ala Cinderfella times two. It has been relocated to space with a mixture of alien shapeshifters thrown in for good measure. It’s light and frothy and the slight danger to our hero is never more than that. The main issue here is that the secondary pairing is much more interesting than our Cinderfella and Prinz. All the characterization details and depth is given over to Byron, a shapeshifting being with a slutty reputation he neither earned or deserved and Herne, Prinz’ best friend and associate, who finds himself falling for the alien despite the rumors around the station. Not making these two the main characters was a missed step in my opinion. I got the feeling that even the author had to remind themselves to return to Prinz and Jem’s storyline after getting carried away with Byron’s backstory. Alas, the names Prinz and Jem (get it, he is a priceless gem) says look at me, fairy tale here while the other duo asks for more serious respect. And they get it.

There is, of course, the evil stepmother. The bratty step siblings make a slight appearance as well. Sinister doings are happening aboard the station and it is never in doubt as to the villain behind it all. Alls well that ends well. Again, almost too well as a third pairing makes an appearance at the end and its a Gay for All, toasts, celebrations and well, you know, a Happily Ever After in caps. Come at this with low expectations and a small amount of time to spend reading it and you will find an enjoyable fairy tale read. But if you like our fairy tales done expertly in an adult manner, then perhaps this is not the story for you. But I will pick up the next book by Pelaam if only because of the promise shown by Byron and Herne.

cover: Cover art by Lee Tiffin. Great cover. I love the colors, the graphics and the font choices.

Review of Alien ‘n’ Outlaw by K. C. Burn

Rating: 4.25 stars

R’kos is the youngest child of the Emperor of Ankylos and the most different. Unlike his brothers and sisters, he has an adventurous nature and no desire to enter into the standard triad marriage of their species. As the time for his arranged marriage draws near, R’los commandeers a family shuttle and heads out into space, eventually landing on Elora Ki. R’kos is in search of human male companionship. Just their smell so intrigues R’kos that he ends up in a bar, sniffing each human who comes in. But the Ankylos sense of smell is so acute that he can smell hate, fear, corruption along with kindness, love, lust and happiness. So far, no one smell has agreed with him. Until Darien enters asking the barkeep for help.

Darien Lancaster is the son of a wealthy industrialist. His father shipped him off to become a miner when he found out that Darien was gay but he escaped, traveling the galaxy under assumed names and trading illegally to make a living. Darien hates what his father’s businesses have done to people, including inflicting an incurable disease on miners. To counteract his father’s actions, Darien has become something of a Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and buying goods for the poor and sick. Now he owes money to an infamous drug dealer who is hunting him down. Just when he thinks he is cornered a hooded stranger comes to his rescue. The stranger? R ‘kos whom Darien calls Ricky. It takes both their efforts to get off planet where Ricky accompanies Darien on his trade routes. Ricky is having the time of his life and Darien is coming to depend on Ricky for friendship and then so much more. It’s not just passion they feel for each other but love. Then Ricky is injured and Darien must contact the people who seek to lock him up. Darien will risk everything to save Ricky and he must convince Ricky’s father and the Alliance that Ricky was not kidnapped, a crime which could send Darien to prison for the rest of his life.

I will admit that R’kos and I got off to a shaky start. I mean really, a lavender Mr. Clean? With purple eyes and a nose in overdrive? And yes, there’s that misunderstood thief with a heart of gold, who just needs someone to love and believe in him. Cliche territory seemed to surround me. And then, none of that mattered. Both R’kos ne Ricky and Darien got to me, I fell in love with both of them, found some really nice plot details and ended up being swept away on the journey with them. *shakes head*. Usually I go on about great characterization, or personas flatter than a frozen pancake but here I am just going to say I loved these two, not really sure why they captured my heart. I only know they did. I cared for them despite his oddball coloring which was never completely explained or why a herbivore has a hive structure for their species. Interesting details though they didn’t make sense to my naturalist mind. Didn’t matter. See what I mean? I loved that big hairless Ricky who wanted more from life than any other Ankylos and went out to find it. And ended up meeting Darien who is trying to make up for the pain and suffering his father inflicted on his brother and others. Darien is so alone that he captures both our understanding as well as compassion. Loved him too.

I appreciated how Burn gave us an updated Robin Hood in space as well as a horrific reason that Darien chose to become an illegal trader. The creation of a disease that so alters the human minors that they become gnarled twisted mindless beings called Chimera is horrific. Black lung, asbestos, leprosy and more jumped immediately to mind. Burn took those and then added even more symptoms to give us an interplanetary disease of nightmares. And then made it personal to Darien and the reader. Great job. Some science fiction stories only tweak one or two things, put it on a spaceship and expect it to be real science fiction. No that does not make a story credible science fiction. Give us world building, new species and make it seem realistic or possible. And that definitely occurred here. So believable that I am with Darien about living on Ankylos. I felt his panic along with him. It was just too alien, the complete lack of privacy unnerving and Darien knew he would not be able to adjust. I found that credible too because I wouldn’t either.

To me, there is really only one substantial mistep. KC Burns tells us of the big rift between the speciies over a mineral called Wolframite, in fact, the very lack of the mineral caused a protracted war between the Alliance (humans) and Ankylos with huge losses on both sides. It is a major plot point in this story so imagine my astonishment upon finding out exactly what the wolframite was needed for. I won’t tell you but to me it showed an amazing disregard to prior story elements, especially considering the substantial impact on the characters and interspecies relations the war had and all for a throwaway bit of humor. Why that was not caught and pointed out to the author who hadn’t shown too many errors up until then I will never know. Getting past that plot pothole, than my one last quibble is one of backstory. Darien’s brother became a Chimera and Darien has been looking for him as he has travelled. I would have liked more of that history. Perhaps KC Burns will give us a sequel and another journey for Darien and Ricky. I would love a second visit to their universe. But no more overly “cutsey” elements, they aren’t needed. You have a good story, trust that to be enough. So I do recommend this but let me know what you think. Can you fall in love with characters just because? Either way, I hope to see these again.

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