Reviewed Books from 2016

In a 2016 which was mostly horrible, I could lose myself in a book. For a few minutes or a few hours I could be somewhere else, maybe being someone else, and know there was an HEA coming. HEA and HFN or even OFN haven't been a big part of my life lately. Reviewing regularly was beyond me there for a while. But reading, always. Every spare moment. For those who worry, please don't. Things are better already. 2017 is going to be a better year.

So for all the authors who told the stories, here's to you. You made the world a better place.

This is part one of three parts of 2016.

The Empty Hourglass by Cornelia Grey

Title: The Empty Hourglass
Author: Cornelia Grey
Purchase at Amazon
Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Jay Aheer
Genre: steampunk
Length: 69K, 201 pages
Formats: Mobi, epub, pdf, print

Thomas Escott has always wanted to be a toymaker, yet just as he achieves his dream, an accident claims his right hand. He’s certain his life is over—until he hears about groundbreaking prosthetics being made by a reclusive inventor.

Jethro Hastings is perfectly content to live alone up in the mountains working on a secret masterpiece: a humanoid automaton that will change the scientific community forever. He’s behind schedule, and the date of the unveiling is fast approaching, so when Thomas shows up on his doorstep offering help in exchange for a mechanical hand, Jethro agrees. Time, after all, is running out on another deal he’s made: one with the devil.

The devil gives Jethro’s inventions life, but he can just as quickly take life away—Jethro’s, to be exact. As the sand in the devil’s hourglass falls, marking the time until the end of the deal, inventions go haywire, people get hurt, and Thomas realizes he needs Jethro just as much as his prosthetic. Now he must find a way to save Jethro’s soul, but negotiating with a devil is just as difficult as it sounds.

Farfarello’s back, that sly devil. It’s nearly time for him to collect on Jethro’s Faustian bargain. Jethro’s got one eye on the hourglass ticking down the moments, and Thomas is gradually figuring out what's going on. Farfarello’s got a little more sympathy for the humans he deals with than his boss might approve of.

We’re in Thomas’s head, and of course, he doesn’t have a clue about all the background. He’s come to Jethro’s workshop to beg for a prosthetic hand to replace the one he lost in a workshop accident. Even with time ticking away, Jethro manages to outfit one last person in need, and now Thomas can help him with his exacting engineering. Theirs could be a real partnership on all levels, if Farfarello wasn’t hanging about in the background.

The story is pretty straightforward, without all the side plots built into Circus of the Damned, also in this series, but that’s okay, we get a sense of desperation and confusion here. The setting is steampunky in that it’s a low tech society in the main, with the spectacular gears and whistles getting brought out, but where I ran into issues is with the style.

I open Cornelia Grey’s books expecting to be drenched in her atmospheric prose, the word equivalent of chocolate. And here, while the style is readable, it doesn’t seem to be Cornelia Grey. Plus lots of anachronisms like “okay”, “the guy”, “warm and fuzzy”, and an unusual amount of swearing for genteel people, which sit strangely next to hansom cabs and automatons. It’s a mishmash I’d expect from someone who handles language much less skillfully that she does.

While I’m glad I read this book, it isn’t on the level I've come to expect from this author. 3.5 marbles

Favorites of 2014

Please join me for a recap of my favorite reads from 2014. Some are from long time favorite authors, others from new to me writers, and all of them made me very, very happy.

Thanks to everyone who came by this year, and thanks to guest reviewers Feliz Faber and Eden Winters, who might be coaxed into more reviews. Thanks to the publishers and authors who offered books, and thanks to the readers who thought I might have something useful to say.

Here's to a fabulous 2015! And keep reading!

Circus of the Damned by Cornelia Grey

Title: Circus of the Damned
Author: Cornelia Grey
Purchase at Riptide

Purchase at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Genre: steampunk, fantasy
Length: 91500 words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, print

Magician Gilbert Blake has spent his entire life conning drunkards in the seediest pubs in the darkest towns, careful to hide the true depths of his power. But when he spends a little too much time in Shadowsea and the infamous slumlord Count Reuben gets wind of his abilities, hiding within the Circus of the Damned may be Gilbert’s only chance at survival.

But there’s more to the Circus than meets the eye. Every time a performer dies, a new one must take his place, or the entire circus suffers the consequences. And while the handsome ringmaster Jesse isn’t one to coerce unwilling performers into giving up their souls to the devil, a recent death in their ranks makes Gilbert exactly what they need.

Yet the longer Gilbert stays with the Circus, the more danger he seems to bring them. Being with Jesse is more than Gilbert could have hoped for, but as Count Reuben’s men continue to search for Gilbert and the Circus loses another performer, they all face running out of time long before the Devil claims his due

~*~*~*~*

Last time we saw Farfarello, he had his hands full with a dissipated blues guitarist. He’s back, again not as the POV character, but as a mover and shaker offscreen. You don’t need to read Devil at the Crossroads to understand this book, but your enjoyment at Gilbert’s consternation will be that much greater.


Gilbert, who’s fended for himself on the streets since he was a youngster, has a heart full of ache and a head full of bravado. He reads younger and far less world-wise than his situation would indicate, since he hasn’t mastered keeping his head down very well. He’s confident enough to make his bets and win them, and foolhardy enough to show off at the wrong moment and before the wrong audience. But hey, Saturday night is livelier if you’re running for your life, right?

His magical abilities make him a perfect fit for the circus, and if he doesn’t understand what he’s agreed to nor how tightly it would bind him, he’s not alone. All of the other performers were there once, and their amusement and eyerolling at the newbie is funny.

Gilbert has little experience in caring about others or acting for anyone’s good save his own, aside from his constant companion, a mouse named Emilia, who seemed underutilized as a character (and very well pocket-broken). We get to watch him learn to think outside of himself, a slow process, and while he’s hot for Jesse from the beginning, he has to expand his thinking to become a worthy sex partner and finally to be a worthy lover. We’re in Gilbert’s head the whole time, and have to follow Jesse’s arc from outside. Jesse’s tired, and he has a history, and maybe it’s time to put this cup down. Farfarello has his own reasons for keeping the circus going, and has little tolerance for sudden changes of mind.

The intensity of the story takes some of the sting out of the enormous size of the piece, but it could have been tighter in sections and occasionally did make me mutter, “Get the hint already!” Still, we come to care about the denizens of the circus and their fate, and if Emilia never gets her moment to shine, a lot of other folks do. Gilbert’s love affair is almost more with the circus and a place to belong than it is with Jesse.

It’s a lovely, if longish, journey for young and impulsive Gilbert and the more jaded Jesse to come together and then more effort to stay together, but since it’s in Cornelia Grey’s trademarked atmospheric prose, the gambling dens’ fug and tattered tents’ flapping are thick on the page. Be prepared to get sucked completely into this magical, Edwardian world. 4.25 marbles

Devil at the Crossroads by Cornelia Grey

Title: Devil at the Crossroads
Author: Cornelia Grey
Buy at Riptide
Buy at All Romance eBooks
Cover Artist: Jared Rackler
Genre: paranormal
Length: 72 pages, 19k words
Formats: epub, mobi, pdf, html

The devil covets more than his soul ...

Six years ago, Logan Hart sold his soul to the devil to become the greatest bluesman of all time—and now the devil has come to collect.

The irony is that Logan squandered his gift. High on fame, money, and drugs, he ignored his muse and neglected his music. And despite escaping showbiz in a moment of clarity, it’s too late to redeem himself. All that’s left is to try to go out with some dignity. Alas, the prospect of an eternity in Hell isn’t helping much with that goal.

But Farfarello, the devil who bought Logan’s soul, isn’t ready to drag him down to Hell quite yet. He’s just spent six years working his ass off to whip a bluesman into shape, and he refuses to let that—or the opportunity for more sinful pleasures with Logan—go to waste.

Review:

Ah, another taste of Cornelia Grey’s lovely, atmospheric prose: she can create such a scene with words you can practically reach in and pick things up. Here she’s using the language of despair, because Logan’s at the moment of reckoning.


Logan, desperate to escape his grimy coal town, makes a Faustian bargain with the devil he summons. Starting with nothing but a guitar and otherworldly help, he’s bought six years of what he wants most, or what he thinks he wants most. Staring down into red, red eyes at the moment of collection can make a man rethink his priorities.

The story is well contained in the blurb, so it’s the execution that makes the tale. Ms. Grey’s writing might as well be chocolate, sinfully rich and very smooth, so this story is all about how she drapes detail on that framework and brings Logan into some sort of redemption in his own eyes. Farfarello, of course, knows more than he’s saying.

This isn’t a romance, nor are the players equals, but there is understanding, there is hot sex, and there is the whiff of hope. The initial grimness has both a purpose and beauty, and the end has all the promise of sunrise.

Let’s just say that Dan’l Webster wouldn’t have come to this sort of resolution with Old Scratch, nor would Mephistopheles have said or done what Farfarello accomplishes here, but then, neither of those old devils ever heard Logan play the blues. 5 marbles

The Tea Demon by Cornelia Grey

The Tea Demon by Cornelia Grey
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Steampunk/fantasy
Length: 52 pages



Thief Eric Devon wishes one thing: for people to leave him bloody well alone. And maybe for more whiskey. Until a mysterious stranger offers him a job so dangerous that no one has ever attempted it and survived to tell the tale: recover a priceless object from the Turtle Merchants’ impregnable palace. Intrigued by the man and the challenge, Eric accepts—but the stranger is none other than the legendary airship captain known as the Tea Demon, terror of the Sea of Clouds. Eric must come up with the best plan in history if he wants to complete his job... and survive it too.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cornelia Grey layers a fantastical world with steampunk details in this entertaining romp of a story. The Tea Demon mixed whimsy with sexiness and adventure to create a lively story well worth the read.

Never one to shy away from the gritty details, Ms Grey starts us in a seedy bar, where a thief can be found for a fearsome job. A mysterious stranger approaches Eric Devon for a caper, but first has to challenge him into taking the job. The forfeit? A kiss that curls Eric's toes, and the caper? Steal the ultimate treasure from the impregnable fortress. The penalty for failure? Horrible, and it's a long way down.

Captain Jonathan Tea, that sexy beast, is the most fearsome sky pirate in this cloud based world, where airships tie up to bronze sky ports miles above ground and larger installations ride on the backs of turtles. Readers of Discworld will feel right at home, with the unquestioned oddities and strange characters who communicate in snappy one-liners. The Captain, prone to flying into rages that make his crew fear for the ship, has a whim of steel and can only be calmed with fine tea, or steamy sex.

Ms. Grey paints wonderful pictures with her words: she's becoming an autobuy for me, and here she's taking sly pokes at a lot of the fantasy/adventure tropes, making me snicker. She gives Eric a plan that's perfectly ridiculous and its execution outlandish -- between laughing and groaning I attracted a considerable amount of attention to myself at the coffee shop, but who cares, it was worth it.

The story ends in a big OH NO and a bigger AW, and was pure over the top fun. 5 marbles

Wild Passions (anthology) edited by SL Armstrong

Wild Passions by S.L. Armstrong
Publisher: Storm Moon Press
Genre: M/M, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Length: 188 pages


Summary: Authors: S.L. Armstrong, Cornelia Grey, Elizabeth Hyder, Wayne Mansfield, K. Piet, Angelia Sparrow, & Cari Z

Editor: S.L. Armstrong

Other worlds, other planes of existence, other places where humans are not the only type of creature to walk and talk. Human-like animals populate the pages of Wild Passions! These are not shifters, but humanoid animals that experience love and lust in their sometimes wild, sometimes civilized worlds.

Meet Liam, a half-fox in a world where 'urban jungle' isn't a metaphor. When trouble comes in the form of an organized militia looking to experiment, Liam must put his trust where he never expected -- in the hands of a human.

Koit is a Shterpi, a reptilian alien with a reputation for womanizing. A dare from a friend has Koit changing his target to other men, and he finds that variety really is the spice of life.

Alec and Nahale are feral-Maith, genetic offshoots from a fantastic race. Under pressure, Alec challenges Nahale for leadership of their clan, threatening to destroy the relationship they'd been building for years.

Panos only wants to live a normal life, free from the secret that's kept him isolated from others. However, he still needs a roommate, and his attraction to the other man has him wondering if opening up might not be so bad after all.

Ferran is making his last trip away from his home planet of Perelan before duty calls him back. But a rakish spaceship captain tosses a wrench into his finely crafted plans, and his world may never be the same.

Gordon and Leo work in the freak-show at a traveling carnival, wowing audiences with their half-animal physiques. But when animal constructs are second-class citizens and legal property of others, falling in love is the most dangerous act of all.
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Wild Passions provides several fine takes on what love and sex might be like for other beings, alien or animal. The worlds vary from Earth to Earth-like, to not-Earth, and humans figure as everything from enemy to owner to non-existent, which means the variety editor S.L Armstrong put into these pages is really wide.

Cornelia Grey's 'City of Foxes' features a dystopian future where animal-people live in the cracks of society. Life is harsh, trust is rare, and when it does happen, it can bring everything down. This is my second sample of Grey's fine atmospheric writing; I could taste the grit of the city and feel the shards of betrayal. The love story plays against an exploration of man-as-animal and man-worse-than-animal: we humans need our shining individuals to have any claim to worth as a species.

'Trust Me' from Elizabeth Hyder takes us into space; several races co-exist in sufficient harmony to have joint ventures such as space stations and higher education, in a very easy-going society. A meddling friend of the half-Shterpi Koit prods him in the direction of same sex encounters – his blundering along is humorous because it has the feel of an elective class in a subject that has to grow on the student. His eventual partner is a really delightful pain-in-the-butt. Much is made of a Shterpi attribute that ended up feeling tacked on rather than integral to the story, but perhaps there will be other stories in this setting that utilize it better.

Co-authors S.L. Armstrong and K. Piet bring us 'Alpha's Pride,' which looks at authority and complacency as well as the relationship between two strong males. The power struggles between Alec and Nahele come from their different views of what is good for the tribe and branch into the personal; I bled with them because neither is entirely right or entirely wrong. The "other" here is not well defined, leaving them feeling more like aliens than part animal, but it's still a fine story.

Panos, from "I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside" is more closeted by what he is than by his sexuality, so trust is his huge issue. He fears, rightly, what could come from trusting Jason, because he could easily become the center of much horrible attention. Fortunately Jason's a good man with some useful skills, if not enough empathy early on. Given his situation, Panos had to either be inexperienced or have trusted before, but author Wayne Mansfield doesn't address either option, leaving me wondering.

Cari Z has drawn a love affair between the human captain of a passenger freighter and a scion of a great family from another planet. 'Opening Worlds' unfolds the relationship between Captain Jason Kim and Ferran, an empathic, be-quilled Perel, who doesn't have as many options in his life as he comes to wish for. Why this should be is doled out in small tragic bits, giving their love a special piquancy. The story is very tender and the resolution is cause to rejoice.

A bit of Depression-era steampunk closes the anthology. Angelia Sparrow's constructs, part animal, part human, are property, and as such their lives can be so awful they have to look up to see down. Arthur, the bear-boy, and his bear-mother are fortunate to be loved by Daddy Frank, who goes along with the charade of ownership only to keep them safe. Gordon, the lion-boy, is not so fortunate – his owners are abusive and predatory. 'Songs for Guitar and French Harp' has by far the darkest themes but is one of my favorites in this anthology. Arthur is both teen-aged boy and bear; his view of society is the outsider's view for both reasons, and he may be the only one in the world who can really be there for Gordon.

The stories here vary from good to very good, and are more imaginative than the inaccurate blurb-writing would suggest. The theme wobbles a little, in that several stories feature out and out aliens, but it's worth sampling their animal magnetism. 4 marbles

Apples and Regret and Wasted Time by Cornelia Grey

He lives in the shadows of the law. Now, wounded and stranded in the city after a job only he could do, he has no qualms about climbing through the window his old lover left open—or stealing his shampoo, at that. He has, however, not taken into account the possibility of being surprised in the shower.

Three years is a long time to go between visits, especially if you've left so much anger and hurt and desire unresolved. They try to negotiate a truce for one night—over Chinese takeaway leftovers and apples, and between the sheets.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We never hear the name of our narrator nor of the man whose home he's come to in order to lick his wounds. We don't need to -- there is "he" and "I" and a vast gulf between them. This story is a blend of hope and history, of regret, longing and the brief happiness that can be found.

The author doles out the backstory in  small details, letting us fill in for ourselves how things must have gone -- this had to have been an epic love then, and then three years of nothing, for these two are on opposite sides. They cannot be together, yet they come together as if the time had never separated them except for the echoes of pain at how it must have been.

The writing is beautifully atmospheric, both very immediate in the first person present tense and evocative of their past. Things as small as a red apple and an open window shout of how deeply these two love each other, have hurt each other just for being what each one is. They know each other well and still crash against the reality, because they are something wondrous together.

There is no HEA here, but it's a romance -- there is deep love that isn't going away, even if one of the men does.  5 Marbles



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