Where He Belongs by Rachel Haimowitz

Where He Belongs by Rachel Haimowitz
Publisher: Storm Moon Press
Genre: Fantasy, GLBT
Length: 31 pages



Summary: The hottest name in network news is Daniel Halstrom. He is a sensation, a rising star. He is also a slave, owned wholly and completely by NewWorld Media.

But before he was a star, he was a frightened child from a bad place with a promising, if limited, future ahead of him. In The New Kid, young Daniel begins his schooling. Then, for a slave, the simple pleasure of a Bathroom Break is sometimes the only pleasure to be had. Later, Daniel doesn't know it, but A Chance Encounter might be the most important of his life. Next, in Camera Obscura, one of Daniel's colleagues reflects on the fact that as much as the camera may show, it can hide even more. Finally, when you're a slave, Independence Day is just another day.

Exclusive Bonus Content!

Excerpt from Anchored by Rachel Haimowitz, the debut novel in the Belonging series
The never-before-published prequel to Anchored
A sneak peek at Counterpunch, the upcoming Belonging novel by Aleksandr Voinov
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In a series of very short, flash-length stories, Rachel Haimowitz outlines an entire world, giving hints and glimpses, and somehow managing to build a rather complete society in Where He Belongs. Meant as companion stories to the already published novel Anchored, they still stand alone and completely sucked me in.

Each story is a small gem – Daniel is revealed through others' eyes in three stories and two are in his POV. He's beautiful, bright, and not so beaten down with the pain of being a commodity that he can't dream of more. The alternate universe that contains him isn't explained to death, instead, major societal differences are laid out tidbit by tidbit. With each story, I ached for Daniel and his limited horizons, wishing his world contained more. From the simple skills Daniel came to late, to the crashing importance of someone named Victor, seen only in glimpses and memories, there is a sense of striving, and sometimes of desolation and resignation.

These are vignettes more than stories in a "completed arc" sense, and they are excellent teasers for the larger work, which I am now thoroughly anxious to read. 5 marbles

Treasure of Love by Scotty Cade

Treasure of Love by Scotty Cade
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: GLBT
Length: 214 pages



Summary: Hunky Alaskan dive master and charter boat captain Jackson Cameron is absolutely sure he’s straight until openly gay treasure hunter Dax Powers calls him and offers him the adventure of a lifetime: Dax and his sister Donatella have found the Anna Wyoming, a ship that went down during the 1889 gold rush on return from Skagway Island—very possibly carrying a fortune in gold.

But real treasure is never free, and this one comes with some heavily armed strings attached. Jack and Dax struggle to keep their small crew safe from a powerful threat while they fight against the attraction they feel for each other. Between the danger of the hunt, the risks in the dive, and the thrill of being lost in passion, Dax and Jack are going to have a hard time holding on to their treasure... and to each other!
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Treasure hunters need good maps, good hunches, and a lot of determination to find their booty, and Dax Powers has both when he charters Jack Cameron's dive boat. In Treasure of Love by Scotty Cade, Dax starts by looking for gold but finds a great deal more.



Both Dax and Jack are alpha kinds of guys, who start out with friction. The back and forth over the treasure diving trip makes for some great reading; they growl at each other to cover up the attraction, which is mutual, to Jack's great surprise. Poor Jack gets a lot of flak from his crew/friends Mac and Brad about this – paybacks are hell, but such fun for the reader. The relationship unfolds more gently than it starts out, and kudos to Dax for not pushing too hard. He pushes just hard enough:

"―If all I need to do is go on a tirade to get you to kiss me, look out, Jack. Your life is about to become very confrontational."

They do find their treasure ship, too, using seriously unsafe diving practices – twice they nearly run out of air, no one thinks to leave spare tanks below, and the words "safety line" or similar do not appear anywhere -- and salvaging the valuables is suddenly the least of their dangers. The shadowy danger materializes with explanations – a LOT of them, that seem reasonable for modern day and really weird for 120 years ago. The day is saved though, through an outside agency that had not previously appeared in the story and seemed tacked on.

The style of the book, unfortunately, doesn't flow very well: there are huge chunks of exposition, some unnatural sounding dialog, and a lot of explanations of the "as you know, Jack" variety to convey information that could have been worked in more naturally. The POV is not stable – it can go for pages in one person's POV, only to flip for a sentence or two and then back. The occasional forays into a true omniscient POV worked to convey menace, and I don't consider those a problem, but really didn't like the dizzy-making quick trips through other heads. The heads all had similar names: Jackson/Daxton/Dax/Jack/Mac/Brad.

The love story was the best part here; Cade writes good relationships, not only between lovers, but with friends. I wish the adventure had matched. 3 Marbles

Aisling Book Two: Dream by Carole Cummings

Aisling Book Two: Dream by Carole Cummings
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Fantasy, GLBT
Length: 408 pages


Summary: What begins as Constable Dallin Brayden escorting the prisoner Wilfred Calder back to Putnam quickly turns into a flight for both their lives. Political betrayal and malicious magic lurk behind every bush and boulder in their flight across the countryside, resulting in Dallin becoming more protector than gaoler, and fostering a growing connection between him and his charge. Haunted by dreams not his own and pursued by just about everyone, Dallin begins to understand that he’s not just protecting Wil out of duty anymore.

As the shadow of Wil’s previous life as a captive and tool continues to loom, the shadow of the man who kept him prisoner looms larger. Forced into a terrifying battle of both will and magic for not only his life, but his soul, Wil discovers that the Aisling is sought by more powerful enemies than the Guild and the Brethren: ancient gods and soul-eating spirits seek what lives inside him as well. And it seems his only salvation may well be Dallin and his goddess, the Mother, against whom Wil has been warned all his life.

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It's been worth the wait – the second installment of Carole Cummings' Aisling trilogy is out, at last. I've been going nuts waiting to find out what's happened to Wil and Dallin since I finished Part 1: Guardian. That was a 5 marble read here. Part Two: Dream is every bit as good.



This is definitely a continuation of the story – the narrative picks up where it left off, and you'll be confused for a while without the advantage (pleasure) of reading Guardian. Wil and Dallin have reached a place of tenuous safety and have a breath or two to assess what they have been through, but hardly more than that, and then dangers start again. Since Wil and Dallin are coming only slowly to an understanding of one another, small things could escalate to grave danger with no trouble at all. A few secondary characters come to add to this, and the sick edge of distrust taints every small advance to truth.

Dream is a book of reversals – what was a flight and pursuit becomes a pilgrimage of sorts, what were enemies become something both more and less than friends and lovers, fear becomes trust, and yes, trust does become doubt. By the end of the book, very little is as it started, and the changes are perfectly plotted and in character.

Dallin and Wil themselves come to a better accord and a somewhat better understanding – this is an evolving relationship. They do come together sexually in a scene that is a brilliant "fuzz to dark gray" that manages to be one of the all time sexiest scenes I've ever read. Of course, after that, Wil needs a good sharp slap, but rethinks things before I can give it to him. Love Wil, poor scarred man/boy who holds keys he doesn't understand. Love Dallin, too, and want Wil to find the wholeness to love him as much as I do, and yet... this adventure is not over.

The language is at turns poignant and pointed – we yearn for Wil to see a river as much as Dallin yearns to show it to him, and somehow a river becomes a wider world much safer than any they've lived in so far. Simple actions and wishes become astonishing in her descriptions – the words are the words of English but the stringing together is – magic.

This segment climaxes in a moment that brought me to tears; Wil extracts a promise so heartbreaking in its trust, love, and horror that I'm fogging up again just typing. I want Part Three so bad I can taste it, and the publisher is making me wait for months yet. December, I am told; that's so far away. 5 Marbles

Artie the Good Witch by Scarlet Hyacinth

Artie, the Good Witch by Scarlet Hyacinth
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Genre: Fantasy, GLBT,
Length: 239 pages



Summary: My name is Artie and I have a problem. My dear grandfather Brew died, succumbing to his love for pastries and leaving me all of his possessions. I now officially own a crumbling tower and two black cats. Unfortunately, this means I also have to take on his responsibilities as a wizard, an impossible thing for me, since I am not one. I am a witch, a good witch, and terribly poor at it. My cats are no help, and they only mock me. My parents are off gallivanting Goddess knows where. I suck at casting spells, yet I am supposed to participate in the very important ritual of the Beckoning in Brew's stead.

To top it off, instead of trying to figure things out, I keep drooling over weird men and finding love in all the wrong places. Wizards and necromancers? What's next, a dragon? In my defense, choosing a boyfriend is really difficult when you're trying to resurrect the land and save its ungrateful people. It doesn't help that I have to avoid being seriously hurt by evil geniuses and cackling witches. Help me out here. I pay in hugs and black kittens. For an inquiry, call 0-900-ARTIE-THE-GOOD-WITCH.

Content advisory: This title contains references to near rape.



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Artie, the Good Witch opens in classic fairy tale fashion, with a knight doing valiant deeds and the story proceeds along those lines, lightly and with humor, told by the self-admitted poor excuse for a hero, Artie. Scarlet Hyacinth mixes some modern references in, keeping the story from lapsing too self-consciously into Brothers Grimm territory.

There are some cute touches here – Artie reads books titled Witchcraft for Dummies and Clinical Occultism, and the author really goes to town with a lot of the standard wicked villain tropes. The baddies make all the classic villain mistakes, like over-explaining, done with a wink so we know she meant to do that. It's fun.

Artie, for all he's lived with his familiars for more than five decades, has very little understanding of what he is or what he's meant to do. He's actually childlike to the point of it being squicky that he'd take off his pants for anyone, and his first foray into sex left me with an acute need to punch the other man square in the nose, for both the reasons the author intended and because Artie is innocent bordering on simple-minded. In fairness, the blurb does warn for this, and it was a tense time in the story. His second attempt seems only a little better, leaving me mistrusting the reasons for the insta-lust and not really warning up to his new and truer lover, who spends much of the rest of the story either carrying Artie from place to place, or off fighting, or managing wild monkey sex at unlikely times. Another trope that the author's having some sly fun with, the inappropriate sex is an important plot point, but does manage to evoke that "No, please not right now," reaction in the reader, and the promises it makes don't quite carry through.

The scene stealers are the familiars: they have the best lines and the most sense. The other supporting characters either don't have a very good set of clues politically or emotionally, or are busy posturing. The baddies do get nicely subtle punishments in the end – this is a fairy tale, of course evil is punished – but the unfolding is so heavy handed that it's hard to appreciate the nuances of the punishment itself.

The story doesn't quite manage to carry off its knee-slapper promises—repeating a joke a dozen times does not make it funnier—but does succeed as light entertainment with a satisfying ending. 3 marbles

Winterlude by Tam Ames

Winterlude by Tam Ames
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: GBLT
Length: 22 pages
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Summary: Eric hates the cold weather and his broken-down car, which means venturing out on foot into the sub-zero temperatures. Navigating the icy sidewalks, he runs into Omar, literally. An impromptu hot coffee on the cold day findsthat tattooed and pierced Eric and government IT guy Omar might have more in common than they expected. When Omar is called away before Eric can get the guy's number, Eric believes it may only have been a pleasant winterlude to temporarily distract him from the cold. Or is there a possibility his winter will get a lot warmer?

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Tam Ames makes the rugged Canadian winter a character in this story. The weather dictates everything: how Omar and Eric meet, how much ogling they can do, where it makes sense to go, and how much effort it's going to be to get undressed. Winterlude is a skirmish against the elements.

The story is sweetly humorous – within a few paragraphs we get a feel for Eric's witty if grumpy personality. Omar can sling the humor right back. His ethnic background is more a getting to know you talking point than a plot point, but it's good to see a character with a different cultural viewpoint.

The men are in easy accord; their trajectory from snowy street to bed is pretty straight. The story's charm lies in the banter, the sex, and the struggle with the winter more than any struggle with each other. It's a nice pick-me-up on a day you need a smile. 3.5 marbles

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

A picture is worth a thousand words, but as few as 100 will get an author posted with links, news, and covers. Who has something to say about a man with a dragon?All the previous pictures are fair game, too.

In breaking news, I've heard that another TWTh story grew right out of the word count and had to find another home. And she didn't let me read it yet. *pouts at PD Singer* Our first TWTh-inspired full length story will be out on Saturday -- watch for A Gentleman and His Jockey from JM Cartwright on the Torquere shelves.

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