A Few Changes Around Here

Now that I am affiliated with Dark Divas, some things are a little different. The reviewing silence of the last month should be a thing of the past -- I didn't think it was right to post elsewhere before reviews appeared there. Now my work is coming out consistently, so the posting here (there will be a lag of hopefully not more than a day and perhaps not that much) will follow.

I have an avatar there:

Ain't I cute? Wish my RL waistline looked like that.

The slideshow has been updated; the book covers for upcoming reviews have replaced random cute guys. Don't read anything into the order of appearance.

Reviewing at Dark Divas in addition to here requires a policy change -- where before I could exercise some latitude in posting if an author requested review was low, now, once I agree to a review, it has to go up unless the spork is actually in my eye. So while I still respond to requests, once I say yes, we're all committed to whatever I find once I read, and I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

There was an unfortunate hiatus of a week on Thousand Word Thursday posts, and even sadder, we have three pictures that don't have ficlets. Authors, that offer is open! One hundred to one thousand words  post with covers, news, and links. We should be back to our regularly scheduled pics this week.

In really good news, one Thousand Word Thursday ficlet grew into a complete short story; JM Cartwright has a TWTh-inspired Sip coming from Torquere on July 30th! The complete news is here; be on the lookout for A Gentleman and His Jockey.

Cowboy Rubies by Azura Ice and Maria Moonstar

Cowboy Rubies by Azura Ice and Maria Moonstar
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: GLBT, M/M, Fantasy, Paranormal, Western, Steampunk
Length: 203 pages

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After years of fighting, a tenuous treaty has been established between the Moon Wolves and the Life Drinkers. Kyle Vanderbelt’s job is to keep the peace—a job that gets much more difficult when Kyle’s fellow agent and former lover is accused of stealing the ancient Moon Rubies that are said to sustain the balance of power between the two peoples.

Kyle sets out to find the thief but is sidetracked by a brutal enemy... and a newfound ally. Shades Hallowvale, a Moon Wolf, is mostly dead from a Life Drinker’s attack when Kyle finds him, but nursing him back to health is a career move Kyle can’t walk away from because Shades has information on the rubies, the theft, and an insidious plot deeper than one man’s greed.

Shades soon becomes more to Kyle than a means to an end, but even as the two men track down the thief, Kyle fears their tenuous connection may not survive and the rubies really will destroy everything they love.

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There's a lot going on in Cowboy Rubies by Azura Ice and Maria Moonstar: there's Old West, vampires, werewolves, steampunk, ancient prophecies and a quest. There's so much going on that the story struggles to contain all the chunks, and gives a distinct feeling that had it been divided in two and published separately, the results would have been much stronger. The prophesies and quest parts sit very uneasily with the rest.

The world building is fun – why shouldn't the American West be populated with werewolves and vampires along with the humans? The three races seem to get along reasonably well, mixing in the saloons without fighting and choosing a werewolf for sheriff. No one tries to hide what they are, and no one seems terribly afraid of a group with the fearsome name of "Life Drinkers." In such a world, I know who I'd hire to herd my cattle. The steampunk elements are interesting – jaunting cars don't seem to need roads to get about in the desert and airgraphs transmit both code and sound.

Unfortunately, the fun stops there, because of the lack of internal consistency. The quest to find the stolen Moon Rubies has the very short time limit of three days and the stakes are extremely high – without them, we are told, there will be total war between Moon Wolf and Life Drinkers and the entire world is at risk, but the main characters have time for leisurely dinners, hookups with strangers to deny the attraction in each other's direction, and crude banter with a so called spy who really does not blend in. Anastasia the spy is actually the most interesting  character; she's unabashedly rude, crude, and socially unacceptable, as well as the deepest thinker of the lot.

The main characters are so distractible that they lose any sympathy their difficulties might have gained them. Resolution Agent Kyle tells himself to keep a clear head and a watchful eye, but thirty words later he's downed a tumbler of whiskey and followed a sexy stranger to a bedroom. Sheriff Shades can actually hold his sister's severed head and still think about sex. While Kyle occasionally recalls his main mission, though without actually doing anything about it, Shades is more completely led by his cock. Disaster looms from several directions, but he's ready to have wild sex. Without lube—Kyle never once uses it.

Both characters have heightened senses of smell – Kyle can identify the animal by the scent of its old spilled blood, but since neither wolf nor vampire applies this ability to a major problem, discord and violence increase. Other elements are set up and then either disregarded or contradicted, and Life Drinker Kyle is at one point described as being a Moon Wolf. A major character is brought to death's door but is in perfect health a paragraph later with no explanation at all.

The ending does wrap up a number of these issues, but unfortunately the resolution gives the same satisfaction as "and then he woke up."

This could have been two very satisfying books of two very different types, but it's trying to be all things at once. Even with all the elements left in, it could have been a tongue in cheek romp. When someone uttered that classic line: "You'll never leave this tent alive!" I thought I might have been missing the joke, but there are too many bodies and too much gruesomeness for laughter along the way.

While I applaud the authors for the varied story elements they've created, the combination does not work as well as it needs to for an enjoyable read, and I cannot recommend this book. 1.5 marbles

Fanning the Flames by Eden Winters

Fanning the Flames by Eden Winters
Publisher: Torquere Press, Single Shot
Genre: Erotic Romance, M/M, Contemporary
Length: 58 pages
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Summary: The man of Barry's dreams has gone from a sugarplum fantasy to sweet reality, thanks to the GLBT dating site GetaDate.com. Introducing a new boyfriend to the family and settling into coupledom isn't the easiest thing in the world for a man with little dating experience, but the romantic demands of Valentine's Day are beyond Barry's imagination. His piteous cry for help brings all kinds of suggestions from family and friends.

Fully believing he's found the perfect ways to charm his sweetheart, Barry isn't prepared to hear "Achoo!" at every turn. Adam's allergic to what? And will sneezes and welts wreck Barry's painstaking plans for fanning the flames?

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Barry's back for another round of misadventures in love – we first met this adorable but romantically inept man in Eden Winters' The Match Before Christmas, where he found his delectable Adam. It's Valentine's Day, Barry's wild to make Adam feel loved and appreciated, but without a clue of his own, every suggestion he takes has the possibility to go wrong, and in Fanning the Flames, it does.

It's not for lack of trying – there's so much trying that Adam would feel overwhelmed if Barry's planning all came off. We don't see a lot of Adam in this story, aside from his descent into misery, poor thing, but you just know he's a great person if someone as good-hearted as Barry wants to please him so badly. Comic writing is hard to pull off, but Ms Winters does it well, with her characters at cross-purposes until all of a sudden they're on the same page. It's Adam's philosophy that guides Barry at last, and gives us the great big Aw! moment.

There are a lot of secondary characters, most of them introduced in the first story, but they all have their parts to play here. They appear with enough detail to know who they are without having read the first book, though I wouldn't recommend passing up that treat. One or two seem like they should have their own story – we can hope.

Some holiday-themed stories are best enjoyed in their season, but the humor and sweetness of this story make it welcome all year round. 5 marbles

The Legend of the Mountain Ash by Ruth Sims

The Legend of the Mountain Ash by Ruth Sims
Publisher: Untreed Reads
Genre: Romance, GLBT, M/M, Gay
Length: 14 pages



Summary:

Ethan is a Doughboy wounded in the battle for Belleau Wood. Davy is a reviled British conscientious objector serving in a military hospital. Two young men drawn to each other in the midst of the horrors of the Great War. Neither has a family, for the soldier's has all died and the CO's has cast him off in disgust for refusing to take up arms.

The bond of love that grows between Ethan and Davy takes them to Ethan's beautiful Appalachian hills, where they build a home and make a life. It is there they find that their love is strong enough to conquer everything, even time and death.

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The opening lines of Ruth Sims' short story puts the reader at the feet of a storyteller swaying in a rocking chair on the porch of a log cabin such as Ethan and Davy live in. The Legend of the Mountain Ash mixes the eeriness of myth with a story set in a time we can recognize.

In a few brief words, Ms. Sims captures a hideous time for the young men in World War 1, the fighters and non-combatants both. Ethan and Davy, the wounded and the medic, find love in the horror and a refuge in the Appalachian Mountains where Ethan was born.

The outer world intrudes on them again, when the drought of the early thirties brings destitute, thirsty strangers through. Davy lives his beliefs with every breath, and will not turn anyone away, though they have barely enough for themselves. Ethan, a good man but more pragmatic, stops arguing about it, but looks at the empty sky, saying he'd give anything for rain.

Sometimes, someone or something will take you up on that kind of offer, particularly in the Appalachians. Ethan got his rain.

The story goes in waves of disaster followed by quiet happiness, described in language simple and poetic. There's years of background covered in a few pages at the beginning, with no dialog. It's a common structure in a folk tale though frowned on in modern romance, so let the opening set the right sort of expectations. Ethan and Davy are almost archetypes of good men and devoted lovers, but the setting and situation make them unique, and keeps the story anchored in time. Stating dates created a weak point; it pulls the reader out of the flow of legend. I think we could have been well enough anchored from knowing the events of the Great War and the Dust Bowl. The ending explains almost a little too much, but it's still mystical. And happy.

The love between Ethan and Davy comes through wonderfully clearly, not needing any explicit descriptions of their lovemaking, and I don't want that kind of detail from the storyteller in the rocker. This is a love story with a folk tale feel, and I will sit at Ruth Sims' feet any day. 4 marbles

Good manners with an odd cost

I was asked recently what I thought of authors contacting me to respond to a review. An author who is one of the most gracious correspondents I've ever had the pleasure to meet wanted to know: do it? Don't do it? Do it but privately? The right answer is – it's complicated.

I can see reasons for each of those ways, and I’ve had all three sorts of responses. None that’s led to an author meltdown, thank God. On one hand, when the review was positive, it was very pleasant and I enjoyed the exchanges with the author and was left thinking what a very nice person, and if it wasn’t a totally glowing review, I was thinking gee I wish I’d been more positive about her book. Or I wish I could have been more positive about her book.

That’s multiplied by about a zillion times when the review wasn’t very enthusiastic. Sometimes really nice people produce less than fabulous stories. I had the horrible experience recently of writing a very low-ranked review on a book by someone I know through social media. That's all the closer the contact is but still it's kind of hard because I’m pretty sure she’ll read it. It's not like I enjoy hurting anyone, but sometimes there just isn't a lot of positive.

So, yes, responding is polite, and I’ve seen it done very graciously but in a weird way, it gets in the way of the next review, because honesty and politeness get all mixed up. The practical aspect is that if someone's kind to me, I'd like to return it, and at the same time, I am reviewing books, not personalities. What happens when I read the next one and can't be enthusiastic? Do I hurt someone's feelings? There are people on the other end of this reviewing thing who can be hurt or happy because of what I write. This happened once, the author was charming, and I couldn't give her next story a glowing review and still be honest. So it ended up costing her a review.

My understanding with Dark Divas is that you can hand a book back without finishing it only if the spork is already stuck in your eye. I could be wrong on this, but "you chose it, you complete the review" isn't unreasonable. It does mess with the "back away slowly" option. This is where I have to grow a thicker skin.

I have reviewed stories where the authors have contacted me privately, which seems like the best response, because they weren’t having to put on their public face. They could be just honest. We could talk a little about the points I didn’t care for and no one else had a reason to chime in, which is where it seems like trouble starts in the big internet messes. If I've made an error of fact, I'd like to know it, I have great respect for facts. I have learned things from authors' comments, and I am always glad to do that. Some of the most charming people I've met on the internet have come to me just this way.

I've also had authors mix some scoldings in with the thank yous, because I "didn't get it." Thank you very much, I got it just fine, and calling a leg a tail doesn't make it so. I read what's on the page, not what's in the author's head. While not planning to commit the 'nincompoopery' (I have been reliably informed that this is the correct term) of attempting lit-crit when not qualified, I can and do notice logic fail out loud. A discussion is welcome, a brow-beating is not.

There’s a review on Smart Bitches Trashy books that was middle of the road, and the author showed up in the middle of the discussion, maybe 30 posts in, and said something really witty and gracious and all of a sudden the comments went from 'I’ll pass' to 'I have to read this just because she had such a nice attitude.' The author had everyone eating out of her hand before the thread ended. That was something I really don’t think everyone can manage. We've all seen when responses go wrong.

So I don’t mind if authors comment, either publicly or privately, but it does affect the detachment between the reviewer, the author and the book. But I really think I’d rather get an email.

A Picture is Worth...

Swimming (The Swimming Hole), 1885

Sorry darlings, RL is cleaning my clock and Dark Divas and I aren't quite meshed yet, so posting has been sparse. Just for apologies, I offer you a whole lotta naked guys to look at here!

In some related news to our Thousand Word Thursday posts -- I just heard from an author that she got inspired by the jockey picture and wrote. And wrote. And kept writing. The piece ran way over 1000 words for here -- she sent it into her publisher, who said Yes! Oh Yes, like publishers should do when offered a fine story. So keep an eye out for JM Cartright's A Gentleman and His Jockey to come out later this summer! More news as it comes available. Gee I'm excited that JM got so inspired.

So, anyone inspired by our swimmers? A hundred to a thousand words about it (for some reason, no one writes drabbles, why is that?) will get your news, covers, and links up here.

A Picture is Worth...

It was Thursday, and somehow I managed to not hit "publish". Better late than never, so here is our prompt pic for the week.

Our last picture (of Mr. Rumpled and Confused) inspired a darling fic from Tam Ames, well worth the read. I am just so boggled by the talent that wanders by here.

This week's picture comes from the very talented Carole Cummings, who writes amazing epic stories and draws wonderful pictures. She also may possibly juggle flaming batons, a skill hard to translate to the internet, so we'll read and admire.

Dream, Carole's second installment of Aisling, is out from Prizm Press (also available at Amazon and All Romance eBooks), and it is a most worthy followup to part one, Guardian. I'm still writing the review, but let me just say, it was a "read straight through" read for me, and phoo on RL for interrupting.

Carole also has a short coming out from Dreamspinner in the not too distant future, and they used some of her artwork for the cover. Is this woman fabulous or what?

An author who has a story to tell on these two handsome gentlemen will have it posted here with news, covers, and links. Who's inspired?