Tag: m/m novel

Review: One Breath One Bullet (The Borders War #1) by S.A. McAuley

Rating: 5 stars out of  5

One Breathe One BulletThree hundred years of the Borders War has seen the world reduced to five nations.  In the year 2548, a treaty was signed ending the war, and ensuring a peace between countries, at least on the surface.  Now in the year 2558, all nationalities have gathered for the first Olympic games since the war started.  Attention from the world media and citizens are focused on two men and one competition, the Rifle competition which pits soldiers from each army against the other, this time in tournament rather than battle.   And one duel has been raised above them all, that between the Dark Ops officer from the People’s Republic of Singapore, Armise Darcan and  the Continental States Peacemaker Merq Grayson.

Both men were trained from the very youngest of age to be the most highly skilled and dedicated soldier possible, and the most accurate sniper each side produced.  On mission after mission throughout the Borders War Merq and  Armise battled each other as they pursued the goals of their own countries, neither coming out ahead of the other.  And now they face each other once more, only this time on the field of competition.  But while their relationship has always been one of violence and physical brutality, they have also hidden another aspect to their relationship, one neither truly understands but is compelled to continue.

Against the backdrop of peace and the Olympic Games, another conflict is playing out, one that will have consequences not just for Merq and Armise but for the world they live in.  Only their skills and maybe something more will keep both men alive to survive another day.

One Breath One Bullet is only 80 pages long but within its small frame it packs a much larger punch and more powerful story than I could have imagined.  S.A. McAuley has created a world where war has raged for over three hundred years, with devastating results, wiping out half the world populations, reducing the planet’s air to a toxic cloud and numerous environs to desert unfit for human habitation.  McAuley’s descriptions paint a grim and despairing picture of the cost of prolonged warfare on both the planet and it citizens.  It’s a gritty, noxious universe and the author makes it horribly real in every aspect.

This is an intense story and at its heart are the two soldiers from opposing countries and ideologies. Despite being on opposing sides, Merq Grayson and Armise Darcan have much in common.  They are close in age and physique, even closer in their mentalities and emotional makeup.  These are brutal, dangerous predators masquerading as highly skilled soldiers at the top of their professions and yet, they are also something far more. Merq and Armise are also highly complicated personalities with more layers than can be described.  They will dishearten you with their characters and then turn around and astonish you with surprises.  McAuley has created, in Merq and Armise, two characters so real and memorable, that you will be insatiable in your need for more than just these 80 pages and luckily we will get them.

The story is told from Merq’s pov and jumps time periods from mission to mission.  Through Merq’s perspective, we see the world as it has become and watch the past as the two men compete to complete a search for an object both countries desperately want to acquire.  The real measure of each man slowly seeps out like a small blood trail the reader must follow to get to the truth behind the facades erected by man and nation.  Those expecting a romantic love story will be disappointed as the relationship between these men is not for the faint hearted but authentic to the characters we are slowly coming to know.  I don’t think I can adequately describe how compelling these brutal, war hardened men become or how thrilling and suspenseful the plot turns involved.  There are some beautiful twists and turns involved that just make this story and its characters all the more amazing considering the length of the book.

McAuley has created a three page Index at the end of the book detailing time lines, characters, glossary etc.  I am not a fan of this element as readers of my reviews already know.  Happily, I can report it is not necessary to refer to the Index to understand the basics of the world the author has created or some of the war weaponry used in the conflict.  McAuley folds that necessary information into the story just as it should be, making those pages interesting but optional.

One Breath, One Bullet is the opening salvo to a new series, The Borders War and I, for one, can’t wait for more.  The men, their world, and the events to come are deserving of a grand scale series to equal their measure.  I am confident in S.A. McAuley’s ability to deliver it.  Consider this a must have, must read and look for it on the Best of lists at the end of the year.

This is how the sage begins:

I hated the heat of the desert.

The mask on my face was confining, filling with the condensation of each breath I dragged into my lungs and forced back out in shallow gasps. The goggles over my eyes should have protected me from the yellow and grey cloud of Chemsense the Dark Continental Republic Army had unleashed on our battalion, but I could feel my eyes watering, the liquid gathering in pools that threatened to make my skin too damp to maintain the protective seal.

I was on my knees and I couldn’t remember when I’d stopped walking. I wasn’t far enough away yet. The shouts of the DCR soldiers—and the sonicpops of their weapons as they picked off States soldiers—were muffled but still too close. My body tilted, and I planted my hands into the sand without thought. I collapsed into the dune when my right shoulder ground together, bone against bone, tendons ripping. I thought those DCR goons had only managed to dislocate it, but this pain was worse than that—a grinding impact of racking, vision-blackening pain that didn’t ebb even when I flopped onto my back and let my arm lie unmoving in the scorching sand.

My mantra, pounded into me through years of training, repeated in my head as I consciously stilled my body.

One breath.

Inhale.

Hesitation is my enemy.

Solitude my ally.

Death the only real victory.

Exhale.

Cover art by Posh Gosh is disappointing.  Who is that cover model supposed to be?  And that modern shirt?  So many missed opportunities to do justice for such an incredible book.

Book Details:

ebook, 88 pages (includes excerpt from another Total E-Bound book)
Published June 3rd 2013 by Total-E-Bound
ISBN 1781843317 (ISBN13: 9781781843314)
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?strParents=&CAT_ID=&P_ID=2133
seriesThe Borders War #1

Review: Fragile Bond by Rhi Etzweiler

Rating: 5 stars

Fragile BondSniper Sergeant Marc Staille and his trusty rifle, Mat are on duty, taking down the tawnies, the native dirt-colored predators that live on the on the desert planet of Horace Deuce-Niner targeted for mining by his employer.  His job is to go in and take out any non sentient indigenous creatures that might threaten their mining operation.  Everything seems normal until his group of snipers is ambushed by the same tawnies they have been hunting, and Marc is taken captive. To Marc’s anguish and surprise, the so called “tawnies” are sentient natives, not mere “fauna” as had been determined, and he is now seen as a murderer as well as invader.

Commander Hamm Orsonna, leader of the fefa clan, had a desperate mission.  Take one of the invaders alive so it could be interrogated and that mission had to succeed at all costs.  Hamm found it hard to believe that such hairless, frail creatures could be the cause of so much death and destruction, mostly from those little metal sticks they carried.  At the high cost of the death of most of his squad, Hamm captured an invader, and found a surprise for both of them.  The furrs as Hamm’s species are called use pheromones (along with fang and claws) to control and dominate others, and when Hamm uses it on Marc, the results are quick and effective submission.  But there is surprise on Hamm’s side as well.   Marc smells different from the other invaders, a smell that compels Hamm to protect him even from other members of the fefa clan.

It soon becomes clear to Marc and Hamm, that the future of both their species might lie in their hands. it will depend on their communication skills and the fragile bond they have established with each other if they are to find a way for them to find a lasting peace and perhaps even love.

What a stunning book!  Fragile Bond is a science fiction tour de force from author Rhi Etzweiler, an amazing example of world building and character development.  Usually I start by breaking out the components of the book that I liked best but that won’t work here.  I found every aspect of Fragile Bond to be just superior, from the tight, suspenseful narrative to the superlative “alien” voice and mind set created for Hamm and his race.  I save my 5 star rating for books I want to gush over and reread often.  I want to do both for Fragile Bond.

Since we have to start somewhere, let’s start with Etzweiler’s world building.  So many things can go wrong when an author starts to create an alien world that will seem both familiar and alien at the same time.  The world must pull in the reader by its believable aspects yet still make us feel as though we are on an alien planet.  And we totally get that here.  When we first meet Sniper Marc Staille, he is on on the desert planet of Horace Deuce-Niner killing tawnies with amazing accuracy, watching them explode in a pink mist one after the other.  He is dispassionate, a soldier doing his duty, pleased with his marksmanship and his weapon, Mat.   We see the planet and its flora and fauna through his eyes, an important viewpoint because he gives the reader the story’s “human” voice.  He is, at first, our most identifiable connection and his horror at finding out that the “beasts” he has been killing so unmercifully are sentient beings becomes our horror too.  It is also his first step away from the soldier/mercenary life and mindset he has been living.  The more that Marc (and the reader) learns about the race that has captured him and its culture, the more growth he shows as an individual. This journey adds such depth and soul to the story that it alone would make the story memorable.  But Etzweiler goes further, taking us into the minds and culture of the fefa clan.

Commander Hamm Orsanna is another outstanding creation.  A race of felines or furrs, their culture is both advanced enough to have implanted linguistic translators and primal still to use pheromones to control and dominate other members of the clan, and claws and fang when pheromones aren’t sufficient.  They are a race trying to move beyond their animalistic behaviors and this first “meeting” will place untold stress and loss on beings already under duress.  Added to the anguish of the fefa clan, is the huge loss of life that Marc and his group have inflicted with their weaponry, picking them off with the ease shooting tin cans off a fence.  Etzweiler does a fantastic job of giving Hamm and his clan an alien voice and a language not always translatable, even by their own devices.  The author flips the point of view back and forth between Hamm and Marc in a necessary interplay of cultures, mission goals and racial outlook.  We are given an event or situation and then see it from both points of view, a neat balancing act that works to connect us intimately with the characters, all of the characters, and invest us emotionally in the precarious outcome on planet Horace Deuce-Niner.

And thanks to a tightly woven narrative, the suspense and anxiety levels continue to build throughout the story, the outcome is never assured of a happy ending.    Marc has a huge human contingent behind him, and although he says that the fact that an indigenous culture exists on the planet will halt things, the reader also has a vast store of knowledge of situations where that fact has rarely stopped humans at all.  Etzweiler uses this human history to ramp up the tension, as misunderstandings and events start to escalate things out of control.  I love that Etzweiler consistently uses our own knowledge of human history to increase our anxiety over the outcome of the clash of cultures and material needs while bringing us into the side of the race being invaded and exploited.

There are some wonderful secondary characters on both sides who enriched the story by their  presence and made me want to know their  history too. The author gives us at least one more indigenous races while hinting of others, that live on the planet that I wanted to know more of as well. And finally,we had a glimpse of a fascinating backstory of Marc’s employers, the trace supplied had me craving more and speculating wildly on their origin.  But did I feel that I needed any of that to fill out Fragile Bond? No, it wasn’t needed, and might have distracted us from the focus of the story.

Should this story be classified as a m/m romance?  Perhaps. There is a m/m romance here but as part of a larger story and with little sexuality attached to it.  It doesn’t need it.  This is powerful storytelling.  We have two races and two male beings meeting under the worst of circumstances.  That most primal of influences,pheromones,  will bring them together and start them on a path to mutual understanding and perhaps even love.  The story is told concisely, beautifully, and in such a way that this world and everyone you will meet on it will linger in your minds and hearts for some time to come.  Does something this great really need a category?  I don’t think so.  But it does need readers, lots of them to pass the word along.  Pick it up, immerse yourself in this world, and become a fan yourself.  I remain one and hope that someday the author will return to this planet for another walk on the alien wild side.

Cover art Petite-Madame VonApple is gorgeous and subtle.

Book Details:

ebook, 175 pages
Published February 18th 2013 by Riptide Publishing
ISBN 1937551911 (ISBN13: 9781937551919)
edition languageEnglish
url:http://www.rhianonetzweiler.com/fragile-bond.html

Riptide Publishing buy link

Review: Collusion (Diversion #2) by Eden Winters

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

Collusion coverRichmond “Lucky” Lucklighter, former drug dealer, is dead.  In his place, Simon “Lucky” Harrison lives on and continues to work for the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, along with his romantic/agency  partner,  former Marine Bo Schollenberger.  As Lucky recovered from his injuries, Bo has been working on finishing up the case without him and their schedules have left them with little time to spend with each other.  And Lucky wrestles with the idea of having an actual relationship with a man he sees as so much better than himself.

Bo Schollenberger is still fighting his own demons, that of an abusive father, PTSD from his tour in Afghanistan, and continuing his recovery from prescription drug addiction.  That addiction landed him working for  the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau, same as Lucky and as a pharmacist, it is one Bo has to confront daily in his job as an undercover narcotics agent.  Bo realizes that having Lucky as his partner in love as well as work complicates his life and makes it better at the same time. Now if only Lucky will realize that.

Then on their next case together, a situation arises that may jeopardize everything they have worked so hard to achieve. A prescription drug shortage places the patients at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center in danger, not just from the unavailability of life saving drugs but from the substitution of medications produced at less than legal companies.  And Bo’s need to protect and assist those children places his job in trouble and pits him against his lover and his company.  Lucky sees Bo getting in too deep to see who the villains really are, maybe even the doctors themselves.  In a situation where the young victims get to even the hardest agent of them all, Lucky himself, what won’t Lucky do to save them all?

I thought that Diversion was going to be a hard story to beat but Collusion (Diversion #2) handles the job of sequel with astounding power and depth.  I just loved it.  Collusion takes up where Diversion left off.  Simon “Lucky” Harrison has left the hospital, his former self, Richmond “Lucky”  Lucklighter now safely dead and buried.  While he has recuperated at his desk at the Southeastern Natcotics Bureau, his on and off again romantic/agent partner, Bo has been dealing with the aftermath of their original investigation.  Then a heartbreaking case of extreme urgency, that of a drug shortage at Rosario Children’s Cancer Center, gives them an investigation that will see them both undercover once more.

I cannot complement Eden Winters enough for the outstanding job she accomplished with Collusion.  First, there is the heartbreaking story line, that of children with cancer desperately in need of the drugs that may either save them or at least delay the progress of the disease that’s killing them.  Their plight is brought home by one patient, Stephanie Owens, a small child who manages to capture Lucky’s heart the moment they meet.  Winters gives us a portrait of a child with cancer without any saccharine overload.  Then the author proceeds with a steely outlook to demonstrate just how little the patients actually matter to those that use the life-giving drugs the children need as just another commodity to manipulate for the greatest monetary gain.  Without lecturing or creating an information dump, Winters brings us into the gray world of pharmaceutical companies, the intermediaries that handle the transactions, through the shipment and warehousing to those that distribute the needed drugs through avenues as diverse as drugstores and Craigslist.  Never boring, this information and insight into this industry will make you cry out for even more regulation to stop the abuse that is recounted within Diversion and Collusion.  Contemptible is far too soft a word for the events that occur daily in this industry where some people put monetary gain above those in need of life saving medication and Eden Winters brings that home with an emotional blow to the heart.

And then we have Lucky and Bo, two such remarkable characters that they have been stuck in my head talking to me over the past couple of days.  Complicated people, with all their human flaws and strengths revealing themselves over the course of these two stories, I loved watching them and their relationship grow as once more an undercover operation brings out the best and worst in them both.  Told once again from Lucky’s pov, we get to watch as Lucky struggles to acknowledge just how much Bo has come to mean to him, and equally how much it would hurt to lose him.  Given Lucky’s past history, to bring himself to trust another with his love (if he can bring himself to call it that) is a huge step forward, not one he is sure he can make.  Bo’s character is as equally alive and a perfect match for the hard-nosed, former criminal. Bo’s background is one of parental abuse, PTSD and prescription addiction and yet Bo is still able to see the best in those around him. A wonderful contrast to Lucky’s belief that all are guilty until proven innocent.  And as I said before, watching these two dance around each other, the word “relationship” never touching their lips, is a true joy. The author clearly demonstrates her understanding of the intricacies of relationships in her portraits of Bo and Lucky’s slow climb to love and romance.  Eden Winters gives her creations such perfect crisp, snappy dialog that it enhances their personalities and gives the reader better understanding into Bo and Lucky’s characters.  Do I love these two?  Why yes, I do, in every way possible.

And then there is the resolution to the undercover investigation that is so satisfying and beautifully resolved that I had to read it twice.  It made sense in that it seemed to be accurately feasible in the manner in which it was accomplished.  I think you will find yourself grinning just as I did.  I don’t know if Eden Winters has more planned for Lucky and Bo, but I hope so.  There is still plenty of growth to be had within their relationship and I would think that the Southeastern Narcotics Bureau will never lack for cases to investigate and solve.  Here’s hopeing that there is a Diversion #3 on the horizon for all of us to enjoy.

Cover Art by Trace Edward Zaber is full of elements pertinent to the story but lacking somehow, due in part to the blue toned cover.

Book Details:

Collusion (Diversion #2)

Novel, 275 pages, Amber Allure Press, LLC

Buy Link at Amber Allure Press: Collusion by Eden Winters

Books in the series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the situations:

Diversion (Diversion #1)

Collusion (Diversion #2)