Tag: Torquere Press

Review of The Night Shift by Missouri Dalton

Revised Rating: 4.25 stars on 6/10/2013

So, here it is Mea Culpa time.  I just finished reading, out of order again, the other two books in this series and now have to revise my rating upward.  I think what irritated me so much about this book was that it showed so much promise, that the characters were able to hit home even as they dangled in the atmosphere so to speak, that I took it to heart that it felt incomplete.   I get emotional about  stories and authors that resonate with me for some reason, and this author and book did.

After finishing The Hellfire Legacy, I knew that I had made a mistake.  The author had a sensational series on her hand and I blew it by reading them  out of order.  Taken together and read, 1-2-3, they are spectacular and one of my favorite series of the year.  But they must be read in sequence as only the first book could be considered a stand alone.

If you read this book as I did (out of sequence), then the review holds up.  It really does seem to be floating around, cut loose from it’s mooring and adrift without a map.  But the characters I fell in love with in The Hanged Man’s Ghost (Night Wars #1) and were firmly addicted to by The Hellfire Legacy (Night Wars #3)  are all here, but just as cut loose from their foundations as was the book.  It is my opinion that each and every book should contain the same elements, regardless of whether they are a part of a series or to be read by itself.  Considering how necessary the first book is to ground the characters with their history and relationship circumstances, I still believe it  even more important that some of that narrative needs to be included in the next book in the series. This helps readers remember particular plot points and connections between events and characters, especially if there is a long time between publication dates.

So with the first and third books fully in mind, I found myself nodding in appreciation over aspects of character development here and how certain events further along the overall series objectives.  I really liked this story while agreeing with my original assessment that it needed further  exposition and background support.

I love this series and think you will too.  But again, read them as the author intended, starting with The Hanged Man’s Ghost and continuing on. This series will delight you even while sending chills down your spine and whiten your knuckles.  Continue through to The Hellfire Legacy.  I hope the author has much more ahead for us.  I, for one, am looking forward to it.

Rating: 2.75 stars

Flynn Adder, husband to Jack, father to Tara, former addict, has been assigned a new partner, Simon, to train.  Simon is young, troubled and the son of a mob boss in the city.  Flynn, in trouble with his  boss, has a large case load at their Agency which handles cases dealing with the supernatural elements in town, the werewolves, the vampires, necromancers, trolls and more. It’s his daughter’s birthday. So just as Flynn is coordinating her party, he and Simon get thrown a gruesome case.  A young boy is found dead and all the evidence points to a new necromancer in town.  As Flynn, Simon and the rest of the investigators of the Unit work to gather clues, another boy is killed and it looks as though the necromancer is also working with a vampire but to what end?  The race is on to find out who the necromancer is and stop them before more children die.  If that wasn’t enough, someone is stealing mystical objects from the evidence vault to sell on the black market.  It has to be a inside job and suspicion is falling on Simon.  It’s enough to shake Flynn loose from his sobriety if things aren’t solved soon on The Night Shift.

This will be a short review.  When learning the basics of writing, one things we are all taught is that whether it is a short story or novel, there is a structure to be followed, there is a beginning, a middle and an end.  And each part has a distinct purpose.  The beginning is where the author introduces the main characters, the setting, the goals, and any conflict.  The middle is where a series of events happen. This is also where the characters grow as they deal with the conflicts within the story.  While some elements of the story are resolved the story “continues in the direction of a major crisis, or climax.”* And finally, the end where the storyline is resolved, any conflicts or loose ends tied up, and the reader is left satisfied by a well told tale.  Up until now, all the stories I have reviewed or read have followed those rules.

Missouri Dalton in The Night Shift totally disregards the basic tenants of writing in my opinion.  Here, the novel starts in the middle.  I have no backstory on any of the main characters, only able to glean what I could a little at a time.  Flynn is an addict, his husband Jack used to be his partner, they have a daughter.  Supernatural creatures are a common element in society.  Flynn has some background with Simon that we are supposed to know about but don’t.  Simon has a backstory we are supposed to be familiar with but aren’t.  And we are left totally in the dark about the Agency they all work for.   Flynn has a twin brother, Michael, who is dead but alive (living corpse? who knows?).  Michael tried to commit suicide which left him brain damaged but he is also schizophrenic and possessive of his brother.  I think he was dead and then tried to kill himself again and was hospitalized but  I really am not sure of anything here.  It is all middle ground.  There are some nice elements buried in the reader’s confusion and shear bafflement over the storyline and characterizations.  It all could have been resolved with a beginning that is desperately needed.

So no beginning, a promising but confusing middle and here is the real problem.  Absolutely no ending, just a cliffhanger.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It leaves an already confused reader hanging with a cliffhanger and does not resolve the story.  I just find that so unprofessional. Now I know of several authors who write these wonderful serial free stories on their blogs and websites.  And that is great and I have enjoyed them immensely.  But The Night Shift is a novel that you are expected to buy at $6.99!  If I had purchased this book at that price, I would be clamoring for my money back.

I will leave you all with this final thought.  If you like Missouri Dalton’s fiction and want to read this book, wait!  Make sure there is a sequel, although given the way this was handled, I don’t know that I would trust that book to be resolved at the end either. Or if you like cliffhangers and don’t care if you never find out what happens to the main character, then go ahead and read this.  I promise you the frustration you seek.  As for me, I am totally done here.

Cover:  Nice cover by Alessio Brio, the 2nd cover by the artist that I have seen.

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

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Night of Ceremony coverJust 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: The Hellfire Legacy (The Night Wars #3) by Missouri Dalton

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Hellfire Legacy coverWith one horrific explosion, psychic Investigator Flynn Adder’s world turns to rubble and the lives of everyone Flynn loves is put in the greatest peril he has ever known.  And that is saying a lot, considering that Flynn Adder works for The Night Shift, a secret paranormal agency that keeps the lid on the activities of the weird, supernatural and Fae. From werewolves to ghouls to trolls as well as all magical objects,  they all fall under the jurisdiction of The Night Shift, a world wide organization created to keep humans safe and oblivious to the magical and mythical beings all around them.

But the Chicago Night Shift headquarters has just exploded, killing most of the psych corps, witches, and other beings that made up the Chicago squad.  Only a few escaped, including Flynn, his husband Jack and a few of their colleagues.  With the supernatural side of Chicago now left to their own devices and impulses,the City is helpless and defenseless. Added to the conflagration,  the murderous culprit is on the loose and soon strikes again. Flynn, Jack, and the rest need help in order to survive and hunt down the person responsible for killing so many of their friends and colleagues.   When the investigation start to lead back to Flynn and his family history,  Flynn starts to realize that this case might cost him everything he has worked so hard to achieve, his sobriety, his lover, and their family.

Well, this was a surprise.  I loved this book and the entire Night Shift crew.  The Hellfire Legacy is the third (and possibly last) book in The Night Wars series by Missouri Dalton.  I had reviewed book #2, The Night Shift and found it wanting, primarily due to the last of back history and its cliffhanger ending.  This book displays none of the issues I had with The Night Shift, and while it is part of a series, I found that this book could be read as a standalone and totally enjoyed as such.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  Let’s go back and look at the exposition of histories and backstories of the characters and events as related in The Hellfire Legacy.

Missouri Dalton has done a remarkable job of folding the back stories of the characters with the history of The Night Shift agency into the current storyline in such a way that the reader will feel absolutely up to date on all prior events that occurred in the previous books without actually having to go read them.  I missed this element in The Night Shift and was thrilled to see a much more substantial world building here.  In fact the entire book is more complete, more layered in every aspect.  The storytelling is taut, the action suspenseful and fast moving, and the emotional content will keep the reader on a constant level of high expectations and excitement.

Even the characters seem more fully alive and have more depth than I remember from the previous story.  Flynn, Jack, Simon, Howl, and the rest are all put to the test are they become not only the hunters but the hunted as well.  Flynn’s personality and character is under such duress that his sobriety is threatened as is his stability to act as an investigator.  He is operating on no sleep, pain medication and shear desperation and the author makes us feel every bit of his anxiety and exhaustion as Flynn stretches his physical and emotional resources to their limits. Really, the vivid descriptions of each character and their actions not only help to engage the reader but to bring the story home to a deeply emotional level because we have come to care for them all.  In addition, we are given new characters to connect with that hopefully we will see again in future stories because they are that interesting and quirky.  I loved Lu and the vulpe Remy and Granda Adder, a ghost.  In fact we get more of everyone’s history, the Adders, Jack’s, and more.  It’s wonderful, it’s fascinating and it makes the reader want to learn even more.

The locales from Chicago to Ireland are given the same attention to detail and depth that the characters display. Moving the setting from their home base of Chicago to various locations serves to keep not only the characters off center and uncertain but the reader as well.  Each new city brings an uncertainty and anxiety to the plot while heightening our interest in each area.  I loved this aspect of the novel too.  Dalton’s research and knowledge of each location shows.  Clearly, the author knows Columbus, Ohio and the Columbus College of Art and Design.  Here is an excerpt from Flynn’s travels to Ohio:

“Fynn, that’s the third time we’ve passed that giant red A.” “It’s says art,” Simon corrected Jack. “Why is there so much construction around here anyway?”

“Who knows?” Jack said. I gritted my teeth and pulled over into the road the giant letter A straddled. Oh, it did say art. Huh. “Okay. Simon, Lu, you look young and college-ish, go get directions.” We appeared to be on a college campus — an art school given the giant sign and random pieces of modern sculpture. The two gave me a look. “Sure thing, boss,” Simon replied. “Come on, Lu.” They got out of the van and started for the largest, closest building. It was concrete, modern, and possibly the ugliest piece of construction I’d ever seen. I looked away before it burned into my memory. There were two churches within sight, and a few more ugly concrete and glass buildings.

Simon and Lu quickly returned with a very short-haired, svelte girl in tow. She reminded me a bit of a pixie. I rolled down my window. “Well?”

“Fynn, this is Liz. Liz, Fynn. She’s got directions for you.”

“Awesome.”

Liz smiled. “So you’ll want to get back on Broad Street and go West to 315 North, that’ll take you right to the Kinnear road exit. That should get you out of the construction.”

“Sweet, simple and easy to remember, thanks, Liz. You’ve been a big help.”

“No problem, happy to help.” Lu and Simon got back in the car, we bid goodbye to Liz and took her directions — and finally ended up in the right place.

In case you were wondering, here the giant A they were talking about   The author is spot on and accurate in every detail.  I loved this aspect of Columbus, Ohio artinspringThe Hellfire Legacy and appreciated the richness of detail the authors adds to each scenery change.

The story is told from Flynn’s point of view and I like his dry, sarcastic voice.  Here is a example:

I noticed immediately that we might have a slight problem. The language I overheard most frequently was Gaelic, something I had only passing familiarity with. I mean, I once knit Connor an illusion scarf that read Pog Ma Thon, but beyond telling people to kiss my ass, I really didn’t know any useful Gaelic.

Very telling. You get a sense of Flynn’s dry humor, and the fact that he knits gifts for people he cares about (and that he is a constant knitter). All of this just adds that wonderful creative, caring layer to his personality.  It’s a lovely surprise and one among many.

And finally, the thing that really puts me over the edge (not in a good way), a cliffhanger, is missing here.  The ending is fulfilling and yet leaves open the possibility of more fun and  quixotic adventures to come.  I mean, he made a deal with a leprechaun for God’s sake.  Who does that?  Hopefully we will find out how that whopper of a mistake gets resolved in a future story.

What does this all mean?  Well for me, it means that I will go back to the beginning of the series and read The Hangman’s Ghost, the book that started it all and then revisit The Night Shift (and perhaps offer up a mea culpa or two).  For you, it means you should head out and buy this book.  If you want, get all three and read them right through for a Flynn Adder and The Night Shift triple feature.  Either way, it works.  Live on the wild side!  But no matter how you approach it, buy the book.  You won’t be sorry and might even leave addicted.  Just as I did.

Here are the books in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the events:

The Hangman’s Ghost (The Night Wars #1)

The Night Shift (The Night Wars #2)

The Hellfire Legacy (The Night Wars #3)

Cover Illustrations by BS Clay work well for the series and this book.

Book Details:

ebook, 171 pages
Published April 3rd 2013 by Torquere Books (first published April 1st 2013)
ISBN 9781610404
edition languageEnglish
urlhttp://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=78_85&products_id=3854
seriesThe Night Wars #03

Review: Masked Riders by Lucius Parhelion

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Masked RidersWhen ex union cavalryman and now California rancher Jesse Putnam is summoned by his wealthy aunt and boss to come to San Francisco for a meeting.  he uses the night before to visit a bawdy hotel where he  could satiate his illegal desires for men.  But  nothing prepared Jesse to seeing his sexual companion of the previous night standing in his aunt’s office, apparently an employee of hers as well.

Wardley Bridger, now his colleague, is there to help Jesse investigate the peculiar goings on at the ranch in California  where the profits are less than they should be and rumors are rife over bad management as well as potential illegalities.  Previous investigators have come up empty handed so the men are going in undercover as ranch hands to see if they can ferret out the truth.

On s their journey south on a trail that  stretches out from the dusty Pueblo of Angles into the brush-covered hills of Ranchero Los Robles, Jesse and Wardley find they have much in common, from a love of fine literature to beautiful horses and finally a illegal sexuality that they don’t have to hide from each other.  When a ghost rider appears at the ranch, threatening their investigation, Wardley and Jesse find that the truth jeopardizes evverything, including their burgeoning love affair.

Lucius Parhelion is one of the first names that pop into my head when someone asks for a recommendation for m/m historical fiction about the American West.  Parhelion’s stories are told with an authentic, dry tone that seems to come up  from the very soil and arid climate of the land the characters ride over and exist on.  The author’s stories are factual, full of information and dates that locate the story in a specific time and place.  But these details always serve to enhance rather than obfuscate or weigh down the discourse.  Here is a sample:

Jesse shut the ledger hard enough to stir the smoky air. Above them, the nine years of accumulated spider webs that gave the Cobweb Palace its name, swayed gently. The proprietor felt that spiders were lucky. The patron confronted by a spider might or might not agree.

“I assume that our leaving the steamer before San Pedro would have something to do with obtaining mounts.”

“Well, there are horses a-plenty at the Playa Negra, but given what Mrs. Gifford said to me about due speed, I can’t see her being happy with our taking the time to ride all the way down from north of Santa Barbara to Los Robles.” Bridger shook his head while smiling, a rather mild reaction to Ada.”

Parhelion easily inserts the name of The Cobweb  Palace, an establishment that opened up in 1856  at the foot of Meigg’s Wharf , in a lovely blend of fact and fiction, a trademark of this author I have come to expect from all of Parhelion’s stories.

Masked Riders is composed of 11 chapters, each with an amusing and old sounding title, such as Chapter VIII   — You May Lead a Man Towards Aiming, but You Cannot Make Him Hit.  The opening paragraph is perfectly suited to title and content:

If there was one lesson Jesse had been grateful to learn during the late rebellion, it was the difficulty of actually hitting a man with a bullet. He’d never expected to feel that particular gratitude again. He’d been wrong.

There are many issues discussed within the story, plight of the Celestials as the Chinese were called as well as the freed slaves who came west after the war was over.  Parhelion gives the reader a real feel for the state of western society and the many layers it was comprised of through descriptions that paint such a vivid portrait of the people and land that I could almost feel like I was walking the streets or riding along the trails. The author’s characters are as strong as the historical setting they find themselves in.  From Jesse and Wardley to Aunt Ada, a tower of strength and intellect in a diminutive body, all are fully fleshed out and totally human.

At  90 pages, I always end up wishing for more of a drawn out resolution to issues the men find at the ranch, although the ending was perfect in its realism and tone.  If you love westerns, this is for you.  If you love beautifully done historical novels, this is for you.  If you love a realistically portrayed growing affection that turns into something more, than this is for you.  Masked Riders is a wonderful introduction to the works of Lucius Parhelion.  Don’t pass it or the author’s other works up.

Cover illustration by BS Clay.  Beautiful cover, luscious, and perfect  for the trail to the ranch and a relationship.

Review: Adding to the Collection (A Roughstock story) by B.A. Tortuga

Rating: 4.25 stars

Adding To The Collection coverCloseted rancher Derrick Stahlman has always had a thing for professional bull riders.  Once a year he treats himself to a small vacation to watch the PBR Finals in Reno and get himself laid in the process.  This year Derrick has a chance to watch a young bull rider he has been following on the circuit, Stone Haverty.  Everything about that small firecracker of a man turns Derrick on like nothing in recent memory.  And a specific kind of memory to take back to the ranch and keep him warm is just what Derrick is pursuing.

Stone has been doing well this year and his rides have put him in the money and top 20 rankings.  Stone also happens to be gay, although quiet about it because of the PBR sponsors.  When he spots that handsome rancher cheering him on from the fan seats in the stadium, he recognizes a kindred spirit, and a big sexy one at that.  The men come together for a couple of days of white hot sex and major snuggling before parting ways with a quiet “come see me if you are in the area” from Derrick.  And then at Christmas time, Stone appears at Derrick’s ranch and Derrick has some big decisions to make and maybe make his dream come true in the process.

First a little bull rider history.  If you aren’t familiar with PBR (here that doesn’t stand for Pabst Blue Ribbon but Professional Bull Riders, Inc.) then you are missing out on a wonderful group of athletes often overlooked outside certain sections of this country.  A professional bull rider is someone who has to remain on the back of a bucking bull for 8 seconds.  Within that 8 seconds, the rider will be judged on control and rhythm in matching the movements of the bull,  and at the same time, the bull is equally being judged for their performance. their athletic ability to buck off the rider with high jumps and unexpected  twists.  It is athlete versus athlete, rider versus bull but here the riders average around 5’6″ and a hundred and more pounds versus these amazing bulls weighing in at  close to a ton or over.  Needless to say, it is the bull rider who often comes off the worst in this contest of skill, will, and might, hopefully walking away with no more than a bruised ego and behind to show for a ride lasting less than 8 seconds, sometimes much worse happens.  Not surprisingly, this is a young man’s sport with the average age being in their twenties.  Countries like Canada, Brazil, Australia, and Mexico each have their own PBR tours and bull riders from all over the world come to participate in the World PBR Tour.

B.A. Tortuga knows her bull riding.  B.A. Tortuga also writes some of the best regional voices in the business.  Her characters conversations are flavored with  colloquialisms that never fall over the edge into parody.   It certainly helps that she knows her roughstock and bull riders like the back of her hand too.   Here is her description of Stone Haverty:

“Short, lean, but not bird-like, Stone was a little nut-brown dynamo with a pair of blue eyes that looked like lasers, glinting from under the brim of that straw hat. That callused, scarred hand worked resin into glove and rope, up and down, mimicking an action that made Derrick’s mouth dry.”

Two sentences that so fully describe this man you could pick him out of a crowd.  Here is Stone’s first impression of Derrick:

“Solid and broad, with hands that would be rough and hard on a man’s skin…This one looked like he didn’t get to town much. Oh, the boots were clean, and the hat was obviously expensive, but the guy scanned the crowd like he was starving, like he had a powerful itch.”

Derrick is a lonely, closeted rancher from California who collects bull riding memorabilia on his annual trip to the PBR Finals in Reno.  He accepts that his lot will be that of a man lacking a real romantic relationship in order to live the life he has on his ranch, although he dreams of much more.  I loved solid, grounded Derrick and wanted much more of his backstory.  Stone too only gives us hints as to what drives him.  He comes from a huge family and is the baby of a family of eight brothers but you get the feeling that there is much more to his story than is revealed here.  We get realistic glimpses of the hardships that come with competing on the circuit too, the lack of insurance and rootless existence can mean in the long run.

The sex scenes are hot, desperate in their need,  funny and totally realistic.  I mean you are laughing along with the men as pants get stuck on boots and clothes refuse to fly off the way they do in the movies. And you will hurt with them too as the injuries arrive.  These men breath and bleed, laugh and hump so authentically that you expect them to climb out of the pages.

My only quibble with this story is the length.  It just cries out for a much longer version so all the requisite back history of these men and their journey to this point in their lives is layered into this story to finish it out.   At 60 pages, it is just enough to “wet our whistle” as it were but not enough to fully satisfy.  I hope B.A. Tortuga revisits this couple and lets us in on how they are faring.  I loved my short visit with them and am ready for the rest to follow.

Cover: Cover illustration by BS Clay is lovely and pertinent to the story

BA Tortuga. Adding to the Collection (Kindle Locations 83-87). Torquere Press.

The Week Ahead in Reviews

Well, I hate to throw this out there but this coming week is full of things I don’t like to talk about, mostly doctors appointments.  I would much rather dwell on things like the arrival of Spring, plants I want to establish in the gardens, the latest antics of my terrors three, and what knitting projects are in the pipeline. But sometimes I just have to face up to the fact my health takes priority, even over the Caps and the Nats. So if things don’t exactly arrive as scheduled, this is the reason.  Just saying.

I want to finish out Charlie Cochrane’s Cambridge Fellows series over this week and the next, so grab onto that box of tissues and be prepared. I also have the latest Josh Lanyon book he self published after his year off.  This week I am also posting books from favorite authors like B.A. Tortuga and K. A. Mitchell that were reviewed for Joyfully Jay’s Jock Week.  I know you will enjoy them as well. So here is the schedule as planned.

Monday, Feb. 25:              Lessons In Trust by Charlie Cochrane

Tuesday, Feb 26:                Blood Red Butterfly by Josh Lanyon

Wed, Feb. 27:                     Life, Over Easy by K. A. Mitchell

Thursday, Feb. 28:           Adding To The Collection by B. A Tortuga

Friday, Feb. 29:                 All Lessons Learned by Charlie Cochrane

Saturday, Feb. 30:             Scattered Thoughts On Authors, Conventions and Hurt Feelings

 

In the meantime I have become familiar with the music of Kaija Saariaho,  In “Lonh”, a work for soprano and electronics, Saariaho combined a medieval love poem with bells and bird song to arrive a composition both memorable and eerie.  What do you think?

Review: A Dragon and His Knight by M. Raiya

Rating: 3 stars

A Dragon and His Knight coverDragon 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

Inauguration Sunday and the Week Ahead in Reviews

So, we have a three day weekend with Martin Luther King Day and the Inauguration on Monday.  The sky is blue, Saturday saw me scrambling so here I am still in my bunny slippers and looking to stay that way for the immediate future.

With Lance Armstrong’s self serving, “woe is me, not quite getting the whole picture” sob fest still leaving a malodorous odor in the air, I am looking forward to an inspirational speech on two on Monday.  So Monday’s post will be a little different,  No book banter or book reviews,  just some musings on the Inauguration and MLK.

I have read some terrific books to be reviewed this week, starting with Tuesday’s selection of Charlie Cochrane’s lastest release from Carina Press. And if you missed it, go back for yesterday’s review of J.L. Merrow’s Trick of Time, loved that book.  The movie Somewhere in Time is a favorite of mine so you know Trick of Time hit all my buttons and then some.

So with a drumroll please in keeping with the flair of things this weekend, here are the books to be reviewed this week:

Monday, 1/21:                        Scattered Thoughts on MLK and the Inauguration.

Tuesday, 1/22:                        Promises Made Under Fire by Charlie Cochrane

Wed., 1/23:                              Dirty Laundry by Heidi Cullinan

Thursday, 1/24:                     A Troubled Range by Andrew Grey

Friday, 1/25:                          The Dragon and His Knight by M. Raiya

Saturday, 1/26:                      Too Stupid To Live by Anne Tenino

Review of Home Fires by BA Tortuga

Rating: 4.5 stars

Home FiresHouston, Jackson’s mate, left him several years ago, sure he was ready for city life and not one lived with Jackson in the desert with cactus for neighbors. So Jackson was stunned to see Houston, or what was left of Houston dragging himself to their front door.  His mate had escaped from a government agency doing experiments on shifters, and they are after him.   But Jackson hasn’t keep the home fires burning just to let the government capture his mate again.  He will fight for his mate and for their land because no one is taking Houston away from him again, not even Houston himself.

Home Fires is a raw, rough story that BA Tortuga does so well.  Here she gives us the bare bones of a horror story.  A shifter was kidnapped along with other shifters, and taken to a secret compound where they were  experimented on, tortured and killed.  Tortuga gives us only an outline of the torture and experiments and lets our minds fill in the rest, which ratchets the terror up considerably.  What we see is the effects of his capture  upon Houston’s mind and body, including a barcode tattooed on his body of skin and bones.  He has nightmares and is confused.  The vivid descriptions of his present appearance are contrasted with Jackson’s memory of his mate before he left him.   It works beautifully to let us know just how bad a shape Houston is in now.

Jackson too is a fierce, elemental man.  At home in the desert, he is tuned tightly as a man  can be who loves his isolation and his independence.  The only thing missing from his life has been his mate and now that he has him back, there is nothing he won’t do to bring Houston back into shape and let him become the wolf shifter he knew.  Jackson will also defend them both and keep Houston safe, not an easy thing when the government agents and others are looking for them.

Just as the men are pared down to their core beings, so are the wolves within,  Houston needs to be claimed again by his mate, and Jackson needs to possess his mate in the most primal of ways.  It’s raw, its sexy and at times heartbreaking,

My only quibble with this story is that there really isn’t an end.  Some soldiers chasing them are killed in the desert but by others looking for their kin.  We never find out what happens to the compound or really to  Jackson and Houston.  And that was frustrating because these are two memorable characters who make such a huge impact upon a reader, that they story just cries out for some closure for us and for them, otherwise this would be a 5 star story instead of 4.5 stars.

Cover illustration by BSClay.  Not sure what the helicopters have to do with anything, they don’t show up in the story. Just confusing.

Story was originally published in 2007, under the title The Call.