Melting Wax and Burning Feathers

Title: Melting Wax and Burning Feathers
Author: Jennifer Cierra
Cover Artist: Dmytro Konstantynov
Publisher: JMS Books
Buy Link:Melting Wax and Burning Feathers
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 10,200 words

Gregory Daniels is a man who has given up. Once he dreamed of going to L.A. and “making it big,” but those dreams exploded, leaving his lover dead and Gregory disillusioned. Now he works 9-to-5 as a tax attorney in Long Beach, California, trying to convince himself a weekly paycheck is enough to make up for a job he hates and dinner alone every night.

Then Gregory notices a talented, beautiful young guitarist playing on the museum steps on his way to work, and he begins to wonder whether he hasn’t sacrificed more than he’s gained in favor of predictability and routine. An opportunity beckons; the only question is whether Gregory trusts himself enough to reach out and take it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This short piece packs a wallop, mixing as it does broken dreams and dreams yet to be realized. Gregory, who has put aside aspirations of stardom for safety and dullness, encounters a musician playing for tips who stirs up many longings. Gregory is a tax attorney with broken dreams. Paul has come to California to find his own stardom, he’s ready to fly up and touch the sun. Gregory flew at the sun once, with Carl, his lover, who had his own dreams of flight that died in an overdose.


Gregory’s not ready for a relationship, he will never be until he reconnects with the part of himself that can hope and plan and even fasten on the wings that might take him on a level journey, or let him soar to the clouds. Paul’s great gift to him is knowing that feathers and wax are there if he’ll reach out to take them, and the journey after that is up to him. He might fall, and it might be a long way down, but he would have soared to get there.

The author has mixed these two with the legend of Icarus and Daedelus of Greek myth, who made wings to escape their prison; one flew to safety, the other to the sun and his death. It’s nicely done, with the men being together casually as a couple, and what is nurtured most is Gregory’s sense of possibility. And then the author gives us a wonderful epilog, where we can see that the two men might fly together.

The style is quite lyrical and very enjoyable, getting a lot of hints of backstory into a few words, like this:

The free ocean breeze reminded Gregory of concerts on the beach, of expensive cheese and cheap wine and Carl’s honey-smoke voice in his ear, but it was better not to reminisce about what he couldn’t have.

I enjoyed the flow of story very well, but where I ran into problems was with the timeline—Gregory is pushing thirty and is a tax attorney—one doesn’t become a tax attorney by accident or without years of preparation and tuition money, so this was some unpleasant overkill that made me think too much about logistics and timeline and not enough about Gregory’s mental evolution, which is where the meat of the story lies.

But when Gregory manages to find his spirit and his wings, and put aside some of his worst baggage, there is the glorious prospect of what he and Paul could be together. The author hasn’t pushed for too much here, and it’s lovely. 4.5 marbles

A picture is worth...

Wherever there is a channel for water, there is a road for the canoe. -Thoreau

Anyone with 100-1000 words about his journey, send it on, directions here.

Nothing Better Than Leather by Katherine Halle

Title: Nothing Better Than Leather
Author: Katherine Halle
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: contemporary
Length: 6300 words


Zeke is a writer, who spends his evenings working as a valet at The Palm Restaurant, and lusting after a particular silver BMW 3 Series and its owner. Josh is the owner of that BMW and the only thing he enjoys about his routine evenings at The Palm is the red-haired valet who parks his car. When Josh is injured in an accident at the restaurant and Zeke is volunteered to drive him home, will their time spent together result in something more - or will Zeke forever remain the nameless valet who parks Josh's car?

Take one feisty valet, one straight-laced banker, mix in a fancy car and a long drive out to Malibu, and see what pulls up.

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

In keeping with the Leather theme for this year’s Torquere Charity Sips, a BMW’s soft leather seats get the characters together. Zeke, a writer yet to hit it big, parks cars outside a posh restaurant. One of his regulars has the most luscious seat, and oh yeah, the driver’s pretty hot too.


Zeke and Josh eye each other in twenty-second increments when they hand off the car outside the restaurant, and in an incident straight out of Pretty Woman, they convert a passing contact into an evening of sex and getting to know each other. The relationship development takes place mostly in Zeke’s fevered imagination.

I didn’t feel either character connect particularly deeply with anything except the car—this isn’t a romance as much as it’s interest becoming a hook-up with potential for more, but there are a couple of cute touches, like Josh discovering Zeke’s freckles. Josh comes across as a poor little rich boy and Zeke’s writing doesn’t do much besides explain why he’s parking cars to pay the bills.

The style works well enough, although the number of independently acting body parts was kind of high, and the sex was hot and plentiful. This is a quick hot read, and stands out from other quick hot reads mostly because it benefits a good cause. This year the authors are supporting NOH8, and I’m all for that. 3 marbles

A Thousand Word Thursday Giggle from Tam Ames

The Trouble with Tommy

“Tom! Tommy! Where the hell are you?” Danny’s voice hissed out the words, trying to be quiet, even though he knew there were no humans in the house at the moment.

“In the bathroom.” Tom’s voice seemed to boom down the empty hallway. 

Danny whizzed down the hall and turned the corner into the bathroom where he skidded to a halt, his wings leaving him hovering in the air, his mouth open, eyes blinking.

“Hey, big boy.” Tom waggled his eyebrows. 

Danny’s mouth snapped shut, and he glanced around quickly. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Relaxin’” 

“Relaxing? Are you freaking nuts? Oh my god! You’re naked!” His mouth was hanging open again.

“How else would I relax on the sea?” 

“You’re not on the fucking sea, it’s a sink, in a human bathroom. You’re not even supposed to be in here.” 

“Why not? No one’s here.”

“That’s not the point. You know the rules.”

Tom waved his hand dismissively in the air and flicked his pony tail. “Rules, schmules. This is more fun.” 

Danny gritted his teeth. “You’re not supposed to be having fun, you’re supposed to be looking for shineys. For Ezekiel.” 

“Ezie can find his own shineys.” He licked his lips and ran his gaze over Danny. “Sure you don’t want to join me?” He reached down and stroked his erect cock.

Danny couldn’t seem to take his eyes off that luscious treat, which he’s tasted more than once. He shook his head, but not in the bathroom of a human house, which was off limits. He was pretty sure it was off limits. “No, no way, not here.” 

“Aw, come on Danny-boy. The water is fine.” 

Danny scowled and finally pulled his gaze away from Tom’s crotch. “That’s the point. That freaky little boat – Where the hell did you get that? – couldn’t hold the two of us and I’ve no intention of drowning in a human sink.”

“I made it.” 

Danny blinked. “What?” 

“I made it. My boat.” 

“Get out. How did you know how to make that?” 

“I’m a man of many talents, Danny.” He waggled his eyebrows theatrically and Danny blushed. He knew exactly what talents Tommy was referring to. “Come on, live a little.”

“That’s the point. I want to live. Beyond today. If I don’t drown, then Ezekiel will kill me when he finds out I was in a human house pissing around and not looking for shineys.”

“No pissing around, Danny. Watersports aren’t my thing.” 

Danny could see Tommy was trying not to laugh. He snarled at the Sprite. “Don’t be disgusting.” 

Tommy pouted and batted his eye-lashes at him, continuing to stroke his hard-on. “Come on Danny. Just a little fun. We can look for shineys after. No one will know.” 

Danny licked his lips and swallowed. “I’ll know.” 

“Mmm. And it will be out little secret.” He blew Danny a kiss. “Get out of those clothes, fold up your wings and get over here.” The look he aimed at Danny’s groin promised great things. 

“This is stupid. You know we’re going to get in trouble.” He had started to move closer almost against his will. 

“No we won’t. And if we do, my dad will take care of it.” 

“Your dad!” Danny’s voice was strangled. Tommy’s dad was Ezekiel’s boss. He really didn’t need to piss off the man who controlled his life, well, most of it. It seemed Tommy controlled the part of his life that involved his dick.”

Danny was hovering over the boat now. Tommy reached up and ran his hand down Danny’s calf. “Come on. I’ll definitely make it worth your while.” He licked his lips in a totally rude manner. 

“I hate you.” Danny hissed out, even has he unbuckled his belt. 

“Sure you do, honey.” He was trying to hide a smile. 

“Dickhead.” 

“Oh, I have a dick but it’s not on my head.” 

Danny groaned as he shed his shirt and made sure it wasn’t near the water. Explaining why his clothes wet when he got back would take some fancy stretching of the truth. He gently lowered himself into the boat. “If you tip this thing and I fall in, I’ll kill you.” 

“Trust me, sweetheart.” Danny reached forward and carefully pulled Danny forward until he was half lying on top of Tommy and gave him a kiss, the naughty Sprite’s arms around his back. “I’ll make sure it’s good for you.” 

“You’re an ass.”

“Mmm.” Tommy’s hand drifted down to grip Danny’s ass and give it a squeeze. “Speaking of asses, yours is rather delightful.” 

That may have been the wrong thing to do. Tommy had hit Danny’s tickle spot. Danny jumped and squirmed, Tommy tried to balance the boat, but to no avail. Tommy’s eyes were wide and as they went over the side, Danny’s voice rang out in the bathroom. “I’m going to kill you, you little bastard.” 

Tommy’s laughter turned into splutters as his head went under. When they surfaced Tommy was still laughing. He pulled the plug in the sink and the water started to drain until they could stand on the bottom. “Damn, that was fun.” 

“Fun! Are you freaking nuts? That was not fun.” 

Tommy pulled the prickly Sprite into his arms and silenced him with a kiss. When he pulled back he looked into Danny’s eyes. “You need some more excitement in your life, Danny-boy. I think I succeeded.” 

Danny pouted. “I hate you. Still.” 

“Love you too. Let’s get out of here and I’ll show you just how much.”

For a second Danny thought about it, but what the hell, they’d already gone this far. In for a penny, in for a pound, as his grandfather used to say. “Fine. But I’m on top.” 

Tommy laughed. “Whatever you want, sweetheart, whatever you want.”

**************************************************

I have been informed in very firm tones that my pictures are bad for Tam's productivity, but I beg to differ: she created this story for us, didn't she?

Tam's been writing other things too: I have her Summer School in my TBR pile, and  she's got a wicked little short coming soon from Torquere, links to be added when it's available.

 Earth Boys are Easy

Aran loves Halloween. It’s the one time of year when he gets to reveal his true form without fear of the mythical government agents coming after him. When he meets shy sexy Booker at a Halloween party, he breaks his rule of never taking someone home when he’s in his alien form. Now he’ll find out if having an alien lover is something Booker can handle, or if Area 51 will become Aran’s new address.

 Summer School

Jeremy Decker is preparing for the worst summer of his life, teaching summer school and healing from his recent breakup. But maybe his sexy young teaching assistant will be able to put an end to Jeremy's summer doldrums.

English teacher Jeremy Decker's split with his boyfriend has left him with no plans for the summer and credit card debt. One solution is to teach summer history classes. College history major Lucas Van Sloan is brought in to assist Jeremy, and is thrilled to have a summer job that doesn't include supervising kids at the hometown swimming pool.

A summer heat wave has Jeremy snarlier than even upbeat Lucas can handle. Lucas drags the teacher back to his place and out of the heat, determined to pull Jeremy into his bed while he has him there. However, Jeremy's ex isn't quite ready to let go, and a college student may be no competition for a high-powered attorney.

The Man Who Wouldn't Wear Leather by Aaron Michaels

Title: The Man Who Wouldn’t Wear Leather
Author: Aaron Michaels
Cover Artist: Alessia Brio
Publisher: Torquere
Genre: contemporary
Length: 3900 words

For their ninth anniversary, Chuck scrimped and saved to buy Milton a sexy leather bomber jacket which Milton not only refused to wear, but which very nearly caused the break-up of their relationship. Imagine Chuck’s surprise when he comes home early one afternoon to find the jacket he thought Milton gave away draped over the back of a kitchen chair and Milton nowhere to be found.

Has the jacket come back to haunt him like a bad penny, or is something else going on with Milton that Chuck knows nothing about?

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

This very short story manages to impart a lot of information about the protags, who have been together for ten years now. We get a really good idea of Milton and all his quirks, except the important one, natch, but that’s for Chuck to bump into for this story. Milton comes across as a secretive fussbudget, and he’s clearly the center of Chuck’s universe.


Chuck’s a socially inept but good-hearted man who doesn’t hold anything back, except when he’s afraid of  Milton’s enormous back-off-now signals. Chuck’s going berserk trying to figure out how he offended, and Milton hasn’t shared what’s bothering him even in the face of all this loving concern. So it’s probably a good thing that Milton is physically present for very little of this story.

If there’s a theme here, it’s probably about open spaces in relationships and the need for a signpost or two. Chuck and Milton find a resolution in a very unusual way, where the growth is all Chuck’s. It’s a good thing Chuck loves Milton, because I found him to be unsympathetic—he’s willing to bring his lover to the brink of despair rather than talk.

Anything that inspires me to stop reading and start counting is a big bounce out of the story, and warning to authors everywhere, ereaders make this very easy to do. An overused endearment had me poking the search function; the word was funny for being incongruous the first time and an  irritant by the twelfth, which was not the last.

This story would probably work better as a chapter of something larger—the character development is very one-sided and one protag doesn’t appear on screen until the 85% mark, though he’s the subject under discussion. The story’s chief charm is that the proceeds go to benefit NOH8. 2.5 marbles

A picture is worth...

Explain that, please, in 100-1000 words. (Full directions here.) And the rest of us might try to catch him in a washcloth.

Taking a Chance by A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder

Title: Taking a Chance
Authors: A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 28 pages



Doctor Jacob Davison has outgrown the hookups of his younger days and wants to settle down. When he’s abandoned by the side of the road, a leather-clad stranger stops and offers him a ride. Chance Renton is different from anyone Jay’s ever met. He’s caring and helpful, yet cynical and world-weary.

From the first moment of their shared motorcycle ride, an attraction begins to simmer between them. Between Jay’s ex-boyfriend showing up and the misconceptions they have about each other, does this relationship have a chance?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In keeping with the Leather theme for this year’s Torquere Charity Sips collection, with author and publisher proceeds benefitting NOH8, A. Catherine Noon and Rachel Wilder offer us a little fun in a motorcycle jacket and boots. Taking a Chance is a good thing for Dr. Jacob Davidson.


The story is basically a romp from an unsatisfactory new romance where Jay and his soon to be ex find that they aren’t at all on the same page about a lot of things, including basic human kindness. How else to explain getting left on the side of the road with a case of nausea? When ex drives out of Jay’s life, it’s “good riddance!”

There’s still a matter of getting home, so enter Chance, whose humanity isn’t so doubtful. In fact, the back of his motorcycle gives Jake a good perch for getting an armful and deciding that a better acquaintance, up to and including the sweaty, is a wonderful idea.

I found the speed of Jake and Chance hooking up to be dizzying; a pause for a toothpaste break would have been nice, and maybe Mexican food would have been better another night. They are quite sexy together, but it really doesn’t look like a relationship, given the less than 24 hours from needing a ride to “my man.” Chance is a much nicer guy in all ways than awful ex, and Jay is showing his best decision making of the whole story in making his preference clear.

The story is cute, but everything happens too fast to be really satisfying, and a few things seem thrown in for no apparent reason. Plot points mentioned in the blurb don’t feel present in the story. Still, if you want a short and sexy read, you could Take a Chance on this one, and help a worthy cause at the same time.  2.5 Marbles