Review: Dance Only for Me (Dance with the Devil #6) by Megan Derr

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Jackie Black, sorcerer and gunslinger, has a surprise for Roman, his lover of two years. Jackie has decided to move to the city to be closer to his boyfriend and makes a surprise trip to tell Roman the good news. But the surprise is on Jackie when he intrudes on a romantic evening Roman has planned with another man, a much younger man. Heartbroken and lacking a place to stay, Jackie heads out of Roman’s building and straight into trouble. In a bar in the poorer section of the city, Jackie is befriended by a man who claims to be a supernatural detective who needs help on a case. That case involves retrieving a magical object from someone who just might also be a killer.

Needing something to take his mind off his pain, Jackie agrees to help the detective and changes the course of his life forever. For nothing in Jackie’s life is as he wants it to be. His father is off somewhere in Asia, mourning the loss of his wife and Jackie’s mother, Jackie feels he is not made for love as his last three boyfriends have cheated on him, and his new found friend is dead, dying in his arms moments upon his return. What is Jackie to do but what a Black always does. Holster his guns and go get the person who done the crime, or crimes. He can only hope it won’t cost him his life as well.

If asked, I would be hard pressed to say which of Megan Derr’s fantasy universes is my favorite. but certainly her Dance with the Devil series would be in the top two. So you can imagine my delight upon hearing that her latest release was a return to that amazing universe and wondrous group of supernatural beings that inhabit it. Jackie Black and his father Jebadiah Black have appeared briefly in other stories but now Jackie is getting a central role in his own novel, Dance Only for Me (Dance with the Devil #6). And I have to say I loved it. It had everything I have come to expect from Megan Derr and this terrific series.

Jackie Black is an oddity in his world, an amazing thing to say given the creatures that roam the streets and bars of the City. He is over 70 years old, a sorcerer who wears a Stetson, cowboy boots, duster and uses magical revolvers of the old West to take down miscreants, human and non human alike. Thin as a whippet, “whipcord” thin as his mother would say, Jackie is a bit of an anachronism, just like his father. He speaks in the dulcet well mannered tones of a Sheriff in the old West, polite even when aiming his six shooters to kill, This is our first introduction to him and his story:

Jackie caught the goblin right square between its crazy ass eyes and sighed as the fool thing dropped like a sack of flour to the warehouse floor. He holstered his revolver in a single, smooth move and touched the brim of his hat to the cluster of goblins huddled in the corner. “Ma’am,” he said to the one at the head of the pack, who had hired him to do something about a goblin that had tipped from average goblin crazy to crazier than a pack of elves gone drunk and frisky.

He walked over to the body to make certain it was dead and wrinkled his nose at the smell wafting off it. He’d caught whiffs of it before, but now the thing was holding still it was a sight easier to catch. “Poor thing’s mind done been scrambled like eggs at Sunday brunch.” He tipped his hat back to look up at the head goblin as she approached him. “Ain’t got a clue how he was poisoned, but I were you, ma’am, I’d be checking right careful for a traitor in your midst. This sort of thing is near always personal.”

I loved the dialog that Derr has written for Jackie. It is so easy to picture him, a spare man of honor, like Gary Cooper in High Noon (google it). In fact, I loved everything about Jackie, from his background and family life to his current painful predicament as a discarded lover who thinks he will never find the person/being right for him. His singular code of honor drives his actions as well as his relationships. And people are drawn to him whether he likes it or not. The many layers to Jackie will draw in the reader as well, we just can’t help it!

Typical of Derr, it’s not just Jackie who is beautifully characterized but all the beings/people created for the story as well. Whether it be friend or foe, everyone you will meet between these pages feel real. They have hidden agendas driven by greed, pain, or a need to set things right. They want love or friends or a family or all three. From a demon called Ned whose pain will make you cry to a young boy, Wyatt, whose dark past has made him older than his years, each and every one will cry out for your affection and attention. And they will deserve it. Especially Ned, Wyatt Thorne and a vampire necromancer, Phoenix Fairchild, each so memorable in their own way. I loved them too.

One of the charms of this series is that couples, people from previous books make appearances throughout the series. Sable Brennus and Christian are here, as is Ontoniel Desrosiers, Johnny and Grim, and even a dragon or three. Seeing them here just made me want to go back and start reading each of their books all over again. Megan Derr has such a wonderful imagination and her creativity just flows through this series like a river of magic. Every type of magic or wondrous being is included here. Angels, sorcerers, witches, goblins and alchemists, that’s just a start. There are werewolves, vampires, ghosts and golems too. They are all present and involved in Jackie’s life and story and we are so much the richer for it.

I came close to giving this story a 5 star rating but there was just a few too many errors here. Spelling errors, repetition problems and sentences like this one. “Hope your right, Sheriff.” Instead of “Hope you’re right, Sheriff”. An editor should have caught these common problems and didn’t. That brought the rating down which was a shame. Tighter editing and better proofreading would have made this story a perfect read.

Those issues aside, I absolutely recommend this story to every person who is a fantasy fan, who love mythical beings come to life and men who hunger after love even though their past has told them it only brings heartbreak. If you are new to the series, you can read this as a stand alone. But reading the other stories first make this a much richer and fulfilling adventure. I really hope that Megan Derr brings back Jackie, Ned and the rest for a followup adventure. They are all so deserving of it.

The Dance with the Devil series:

Dance with the Devil (Dance with the Devil, #1)

The Glass Coffin

Dance in the Dark (Dance with the Devil, #2)

Midnight (Dance with the Devil, #3)

Ruffskin (Dance with the Devil, #4)

Sword of the King (Dance with the Devil, #5)

Dance Only for Me (Dance with the Devil, #6)

Cover Art by London Burden. Great job in branding the series by cover but I wish it was a little lighter in tone so we can see the guns.

Book Details:

ebook, 236 pages

Published July 24th 2013 by Less Than Three Press LLC

original title Dance Only for Me

ISBN13 9781620040850

edition language English

url http://www.lessthanthreepress.com/books/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=94&products_id=490

series Dance with the Devil #6

Review: Night of Ceremony (Notice #4) by M. Raiya

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Just days after their wedding, high school teacher and dragonshifter Adrian Kendall and his human husband Josh have new trials to face before the two of them and their newly adopted dragon shifter daughter, Jenny, could settle down to a normal family life. Well, as normal as any family that is made up of a dragon shifter, a human with special gifts and a half dragon shifter adopted baby girl. Also included in their family is Huntington, Adrian’s brother, Justin and Wells (an ancient dragon and his knight partner) and many others.

The ceremonies Adrian and Josh must face are those of dragonkind. One to see if Adrian’s clan will accept Jenny as their daughter and the other to see if the clan will accept Josh as his mate No little stress there. But unknown to all, a much larger event is on the horizon, one that will change the future for the young family and all around them, if any survive the night of ceremony.

I love this series by M. Raiya and this book is an excellent example of why it deserves not only your attention but affection as well. We have just been witness to a remarkable wedding of Adrian and Josh, their adoption of a half dragon child and the entrance of a ancient black dragon and knight with unknown connections to Adrian and his clan. Night of Ceremony picks up shortly thereafter, with the celebrants still basking in their happiness. But Adrian and Josh are also facing many new potential obstacles to their happiness and union, and that would be Adrian’s Dragon Clan.

M. Raiya has been developing a complex wonderful dragon society that exists along side the human one and each book delivers new aspects of the ancient society’s culture and laws. Like our present world, the society of dragons is slowly being modernized, from their evolving views on remaining hidden to their complex relationships with their knights. Within every story, the author offers up some new aspect of the changing dragon viewpoint along with a human problem of equal complexity, mostly revolving around Josh and Adrian’s relationship.

I find the author’s characters just amazing, from M. Raiya’s ability to get us into the mind of a nonhuman dragon like Adrian and Justin to one of the more interesting and complicated characters around, that of Josh the increasingly gender fluid husband of Adrian. In Adrian’s inner circle, there are both humans and dragons which gives the author plenty of subjects when addressing the differences between cultures, their views on equality and sexuality. All of the characters are just so well done here. Huntington the brother has changed greatly from the first introduction in Notice (Notice #1) when he tried to kill Adrian, the brother he didn’t know he had to the full acceptance of his role as beloved brother and confidant, gifted in his own right with special talents unknown in other dragons. Even the new baby Jenny has enough interesting aspects to her personality that I look forward to new stories involving her development. But there is one that is so special, so remarkable, that I find him hard to describe, a fact he would surely applaud.

That character would be Josh. I love Josh so much and of all of the characters, his is the one to experience the most growth and change of them all. When we first met Adrian and Josh, they were dating and Adrian was unsure of his feelings for the very “femme”, very flamboyant Josh. Adrian had always been attracted to masculine gay men and Josh was the very anthesis of that. Over the series, we have watched Josh wear women’s clothes, apply makeup in a manner that demonstrated a perfected skill and reveal that he is troubled and unsure about his gender identity. And while we are learning so much about Josh, including his horrific backstory, Adrian is learning about acceptance not only of his own homosexuality and of Josh’s but to come out of the closet in his communities (human and dragon). M. Raiya’s treatment of Josh, Adrian and their relationship is one of this series shining features. Here is one of my favorite excerpts. Huntington, Adrian’s brother, has just realized that Josh prefers to use the womens bathrooms instead of using the mens facilities and wonders aloud to Adrian as to what it means:

“Damn! I mean, I’ve gotten used to having a gay brother.”

I paused and then said levelly, “You still have a gay brother.”

“Yeah, but if Josh is in a dress walking down the street, and God knows he can pull off female, then everybody’s going to think you’re straight!”

“And why do we care what everybody thinks?”

Huntington started to say something, but then Josh walked out of the women’s room, a diaper bag over one shoulder, Jenny on his other, and he tossed his hair back from his face and gave us a dazzling smile.

I smiled back.

After a moment, Huntington did, too. ***

Perfection and nothing more needed to be said. So many joys to be found in this small gem of a series. All of the stories that makeup the Notice series are short in length for the most part. Notice has the most pages at 176 pages. But most are under 75 pages in length. I have listed them all at the bottom of the review in the order they were written and should be read.

Are there issues with the stories? To be sure as none really exist as stand alone fiction and some are lacking in backstories and world building if not read as part of the series. But the positive points of the series far outweigh any qualms you might have with other stories in the same universe. This really is a lovely story. A terrific little tale in a gem of a series by an author whose works I continue to look forward to. Start with Notice and work your way forward. I think you will find yourself just as affected by Adrian and his Josh as I am.

Here are the stories in the series in the order they were written and should be read:

Notice (Notice #1)

Nice: The Dragon and The Mistletoe (Notice #2) (review included with Notice)

A Sky Full of Wings (Notice #3)

Night of Ceremony (Notice #4)

Stories in the same universe:

A Dragon and His Knight

Origin in the Shifting Steam Anthology.

Book Details:

ebook
Published March 10th 2013 by Torquere Press
ISBN 1610404572 (ISBN13: 9781610404570)
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_85&products_id=3861
seriesNotice #4

Review: Brute by Kim Fielding

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Orphaned at an early age when his father was hanged and his mother committed suicide, Brute is further isolated by those around him by his unusual size. A giant by any standards, Brute knows that others look at him as though he were little more than a dumb animal, good for nothing more than moving large rocks and trees. But inside of his monstrous frame, the real Brute is gentle and kind with a heart equal to his size. Then one day Brute’s world changes. Brute’s job is to move rocks on a bridge project being built outside of his village and one day the palace sends the youngest prince to check on the progress. When the prince falls off the edge of the cliff, Brute rescues him but at the cost of his arm. Now maimed, Brute wonders how he will live when the prince sends for him and gives him a job. His new job is caretaker to a imprisoned traitor, one with a special gift.

The prisoner, Gray Leynham, hates his gift, he can see the deaths of others in his dreams. Gray Laynham is blind, chained, and nearly mute from his misery. Where others see a wretched traitor, Brute sees a person in need of kindness and a friend. Palace life gives Brute a new perspective on life and his own self worth. As his friendship with Gray progresses into that of lovers, Brute is faced with several life changing decisions. Brute has always believed in doing the right thing, no matter the cost. But this time, Brute must decide what is the right thing to do and it might cost him everything he has finally achieved, friends, home, lover and even his own life.

Brute is a lovely story, a tale of a gentle giant with magical overtones. Kim Fielding does a nice job of creating a universe where magic or to be more exact, certain gifts like the ability to heal or prescience, the ability to foresee the future, are acknowledged and valued amongst a society existing at a medieval level. When we meet up with Brute (not his real name), he is grown and working as a day laborer. Brute exists at the bottom rung of his villages social strata, earning a pittance wage, taken advantage of, abused and generally treated as an idiot. And it is all mostly due to his extreme size, well over 7 feet tall and 300 pounds in weight. But the author also gives us a glimpse of a happy childhood that came to an abrupt end and we feel for the poor little boy left all alone to fend for himself. Brute is such a gentle, sweet soul that it is easy to empathize with his physically and emotionally barren life he is living. And all the changes that happen to him during the course of his arrival at the palace are revealed in such a way that we get to experience it first hand as Brute does, marveling at everything from his new boots to the food he gets to eat.

And then there is Gray Leynham, rumored witch, traitor, and blind prisoner at the palace. Again Fielding lets us feel how Brute perceives the prisoner and then watch as the relationship is forged between Brute and Gray, stemming from Brute’s compassionate nature and sense of right and wrong. I liked that Gray is flawed and actually at fault for the position he is in, something I did not expect but should have considering the author behind the pen. Kim Fielding always puts her own twists on story elements we have seen before, turning them into her own creations and Brute does that again and again. Every time I thought the story might sail into fairylandia, Kim Fielding brings it back down to the ground with a brush or more of reality. Brute is not some overgrown child adult but someone who sees the consequences of his and everyone else’s actions, someone who accepts responsibilities and the painful truths that life delivers. Fielding consistently brings a grittiness to her stories that gives them an authenticity I appreciate.

Fielding does an excellent job with layering her characters, making them so accessible in their personalities and actions that we are engaged in the storyline and their futures immediately. You can count on realistically drawn characters, speaking dialog that matches their stations and personalities whose actions mesh perfectly within the parameters the author has set for them. Specifically, Fielding deals realistically with Brute’s disability. Brute had his hand amputated and in the story, Fielding addresses the fact that his clothes need to be altered so Brute can put them on easily with one hand. I find this type of authenticity one I have come to expect from Fielding’s writings, just another way she brings her story and characters fully to life. Do not be surprised to find yourself so emotionally connected to these people that the tears flow on their behalf.

My only quibble with Brute concerns the ending. I wished that the author had left us with a little more idea of what the future holds for Brute. Not to imply that I was unhappy with the ending, I was satisfied but just wanted that little bit more. There were several characters that I also connected with, including the cook Alys and her brother, Warin, especially Warin who I loved. And I wanted to know what happened to them as much as I did the main characters. But that qualm aside, I can recommend Brute as a wonderful fantasy story that will warm your heart and leave you smiling once the story is finished.

Cover: Paul Richmond is perfect for the story in tone and graphics.

Book Details: Brute by Kim Fielding,ebook, 270 pages

Published December 3rd 2012 by Dreamspinner Press

Buy Link

urlhttp://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3443

Review: Feeling His Steel by Brynn Paulin

Rating: 3.5 stars

Professor Tobias Woods leads a very quiet, closeted life as a professor in a conservative private college in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But behind his reserved demeanor lies a confused man tormented by dreams of a past life and little knowledge of his own history prior to his adoption as a teenager in England. Toby turns all his energies into his dissertation and helping catalog the medieval collection of a nearby museum. Then a knight appears before him and everything he knows about himself is shattered as his past comes back with the promise of an old love renewed.

It is the year 1340, England and Sir Alwyn is about to die having lost everything he loved. Cast out, disgraced and now hunted by knights like himself, Wyn is haunted by the fate of his love, Tobias at the hands of the town elders and knows he is next. Their crime? Loving each other, even the church calls out for his death. But an angel interferes and he is reunited with a man who he knows to be his own Tobias.

But Toby is consumed with fear. The man before him says they were lovers hundreds of years ago and old memories start to resurface. But Toby’s fear increases as do his nightmares. Is time travel possible? Have they been given another chance? It is up to Toby to conquer his fears or let their last chance for happiness slip away forever.

This was a first book I have read by Brynn Paulin and I found much to like about her plot and characters. Paulin gives us a tale of lovers lost and reunited centuries later and combines it with tantalizing, sometimes horrific visions of past tortures for the crimes of sodomy. Toby and Wyn are appearling characters, each with their own vulnerabilities and strengths. Toby is especially somewhat frail emotionally, his past a total mystery as the only thing he can remember is being found by farmers in a field when he was a teenager. We only get a small part of Sir Alwyn’s life in 1340 before he is transported to present day Michigan.

The story zips along at a quick pace but it is the tone that I found myself having problems with. At some sections of her story, Paulin pulls up the drama and angst inherent in Wyn and Toby’s situation and makes us feel their uncertainty and pain over their current situation. But just as you are losing yourself in the story, Paulin changes gear and a measure of almost slapdash humor that breaks up the momentum of the story and breaks the connection between the reader and the characters. For example, the angel who continues to appear throughout the story is first seen as a glowing, figure of mercy. She has a serious countenance and manner which fits in which her actions and the events that are happening. Then halfway through the story, the angel reappears and she starts channeling Cyndi Lauper:

” She rubbed her nails on her sleeve then looked at them. “I’m just that good. Have fun, kids, but wait ’til I leave. I’m supposed to be pure and stuff.” She pointed up. “The big guy gets irritated when I play outside the corral.” She made a square with her fingers. “But He’s all-loving and believes in all love, if you know what I mean. So cut out the ‘it’s a test’ theories, kid. You don’t want to get struck by lightning.”

Now we have gone through many, many passages and now her character totally changes? That unevenness in narrative is displayed throughout the story. We get an awful but authentic scene ripped from the history pages and then Paulin presents us with a knight who has no problems with all the gadgets and societal changes of the modern era. What no pulling of swords when he first sees an automobile? Or plane? It’s as though the author can’t make up her mind whether this is a comedy with its tongue firmly in cheek or a fantastical tale of love through the ages so she gives us both to the detriment of the story.

There were just enough elements for me to give this story a 3.5 rating. Yes, there were parts where I sniffed, true. And the specific torture used at that time for those committing sodomy is in the news right now as the bones of Richard III were recently dug up in a parking lot in England. One of the facts revealed by his autopsy? He suffered the same fate as King Edward, although for Richard it was a knife and not a hot poker that was used. I also appreciated the emotional growth that Toby had to achieve in order for them to have their HEA, another lovely touch. But such nice facets of this story are weighed down by misplaced odd humor and just jarring bits of narrative that stop the flow of the story enough that it makes it hard to recapture the emotions the author just pulled out of you moments before.

So I will be on the lookout for more stories by this author because of the promise I see within this one. Should you read it? Sure, it’s flawed but entertaining. But don’t set the bar of your expectations too high, it will be easier to appreciate the fine points of the story and two lovely characters who I think deserved a better fate.

Cover design by Dar Albert.

Book released by Ellora’s Cave on February 13th.

Review: A Dragon and His Knight by M. Raiya

Rating: 3 stars

Dragon Justin and his Knight, Wells, have been together for over 1,000 years, never apart for a moment. A decision to reenter the human world once more sees them settled in a college town in New Hampshire. Wells enrolls them both as students in the local university to pass the time and gather knowledge, a seemingly innocent pastime that becomes fraught with danger. What will happen when their bond of a millennia is destroyed?

A Dragon and His Knight is a short story in the same universe as Notice and A Sky Full of Wings. The author doesn’t say specifically where it fits in but I would put it at the end after A Sky Full of Wings otherwise very little in this story will make sense to the reader. I am very fond of the dragon lore and dragons/knight relationships that Raiya has created for this series. A Dragon and His Knight adds some additional facts of dragon lore and part of the backstory of the ancient black dragon and knight that appear at the end of A Sky Full of Wings that was missing from that book. But in some circumstances it also muddies the very history that has been laid down before, including adding a somewhat abusive relationship between a secondary dragon/knight couple that was just confusing.

What the author does so well is to portray the loving master/servant relationship that does exist between Justin and Wells, one that has endured over 1,000 years. These two characters make the story. When they appeared out of nowhere in A Sky Full of Wings, I wanted to know more about these remarkable characters who had such a large impact on that story. I still feel that way. This story was so short that it truly was only a sip that whetted my appetite instead of a drink that satisfied my thirst. I still want more of Justin and Wells backstory as well as those other dragons and knights from their era. A Dragon and His Knight is truly just a glimpse into a very small section of an ongoing story. I hope that the author has a much longer book planned that will help fill in the many gaps left by A Dragon and His Knight. Until we get more exposition, I think I would skip this addition, and if you love dragons, read Notice and A Sky Full of Wings instead.

Books in the Notice series or universe are:

Notice, Notice #1

Nice: The Dragon and the Mistletoe, Notice #2

A Sky Full of Wings, Notice #3

Origin (in the Shifting Steam Anthology)

A Dragon and His Knight, 29 pages published previously in the Mine Anthology