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Quarantine by Lisabet Sarai
Jun. 10th, 2013 10:14 pm
The story is a frighteningly possible apocalypse now future; or at least it was considering the devastation the AIDS plague brought to this world. In a future society, people tested positive to the homogene, mind you that doesn’t mean they are homosexual, but that they have a specific gene believing to determine homosexuality; consequence is that even men who are not homosexual, but married (and in love with their wives) and fathers are confined in isolated camps. For the last 7 years they are captives of machines, since prison officers are now substituted by robots and only one or two men, tested negative to the homogene, can control an entire prison.This is the situation where we find camp guard Rafe and prisoner Dylan; Dylan understood the only weak point of that situation are the human guards and he plans to seduce Rafe. Of course nothing is simple as appears and our men will find themselves in a very uneasy situation.
The setting was perfect, since it was oppressive; as usual in these stories, even if not specifically said, the mood and the writing style convey a perennial shadow, even in broad light the sun seemed not able to warm this inhuman world.
Even the characters, Rafe and Dylan, were perfect, right for the reason they were not: Rafe didn’t struck me as particularly clever, and Dylan was ready to use everyone to his purposes. There is to be considered that Dylan was 17 years old when he was imprisoned, and now, 7 years later, he is a man of 24 who hasn’t had really any chance to live. A bit of selfishness is probably amendable.
I’m not sure the author intended this as to be a standalone book; she introduces different elements that are not totally wrapped up at the end, and even for the main characters there isn’t a 100% closure; in a way, I’m not even sure Rafe and Dylan are destined to be together, or maybe they are, but in this uncertain future, where nothing is sure, they have the only possible relationship, a relationship to be lived day by day.
http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P
Amazon: Quarantine
Amazon Kindle: Quarantine
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Total-E-Bound Publishing (September 10, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1781845271
ISBN-13: 978-1781845271
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
Short novella, a mix of sci-fi and futuristic romance, with a touch of steampunk, I had the feeling this was part of a bigger plot, but knowing Willa Okati, I’m not entirely sure, she is not new in building an almost complete universe, just for one short story (and that is major bonus to her).
I’m not usually a big fan of sci-fi, but I have a kink for the Sci-fi Regency sub-theme, probably a legacy of my past as Regency Romance reader. So as soon as I started this novel, I knew it was up my alley. Actually there is very little interaction between the main characters and the outside world, so the Sci-fi setting is not so overwhelming. This is basically the story of the slow seduction of pirate Valero towards captain Tristan, and Valero behaves like a real gentleman. A former military man himself, Valero is intrigued by young Tristan, who displays courage in a moment when, really, only a fool would have fought back.
A story about an 18 years old boy and his appointed guardian, 5 years older, it could have been way more sexy, but the author decided/managed to make it almost innocent; don’t get me wrong, the two boys will enjoy their sexual relationship but the only think the reader will read is “And then I had no idea how we'd slept together so many nights and kept this from happening.” What “this” is, an adult reader will know, a Young Adult reader can imagine.
A futuristic approach to the old fashioned Cinderfella story, Redemption is the story of Jason, a young man who has an immediate need for money and the fastest way to find it is to sold himself into a bondmate contract for 20 years. Even if the term “bondmate” can suggest something more romantic, the bondmate contract is basically the modern way to be a slave: accepting the contract Jason accepts to become a property of someone else, man or woman is the same, if they have the money to buy his contract.
I knew Kari Gregg as an author before reading this book and I knew she likes her submissive to be VERY submissive and her Dominant to have a protective streak. In a near future, a genetic mutation whose purpose was to inhibit aggression had instead highlighted the Dominant side of most, men and women alike. But among them there are some anomalies, 1 out of 1000, who instead have become more submissive, wanting the touch of a Dominant lover, better craving it. Connor is one of them, and IT director who already before the mutation was a kind and nice guy, but now he is like honey for the bears. When the change happened, Connor was in a relationship, but his partner became aggressive, so aggressive that he had to me forcedly removed from Connor and not the poor guy is without a Master, i.e. prey to everyone who is daring enough to claim him. David, Connor’s CEO on the firm, understands that he is in danger and decides to temporarily claim him, until he will be able to find a suitable Master. David is straight, soon to be married to Hannah, and even if he is attracted to Connor, he cannot be what Connor’s need. Problem is that, to David’s eyes, Emmett, the right Master, is not good enough for his precious Connor, not until the time Emmett will not prove to David to be worth of Connor, and to do that he has to court Connor, to cherish and protect him like David is doing. Between them Connor is not able to think straight (no pun intended), David is a safe shelter, warm and comfort, but Emmett is like a volcano, hot and sexy. If only he could have both their qualities in one package…
Aislinn Kerry builds a future possible world where clones are common occurrences, arriving to have women “bear” their own clone instead of risking to have a child with a stranger. Adrien and Cristian’s case is not the same, being Cristian only few years younger than Adrien, but they grew completely apart from each other, Adrien in the US, the son of show business people and becoming himself an actor, and Cristian in rural Spain where he is now the owner of a B&B. I don’t know if the author wanted to make a statement about human genetics and homosexuality, since she really didn’t highlight it too much, but both Adrien than Cristian are gay, even if their upbringing was completely different.
Dark Sun is a little too sexy to be considered a Young Adult story, but if not for that, the feeling was really “young” and with a Romeo and Jules’s theme (after all, Romeo and Juliet were teenagers…).
In Spinning Jaime Samms introduced her two heroes, Mikko and Kenny. The world in which they are living is 100 years in the future, and it’s a dark and new gothic environment, the waste of energy today world did caused for our descendants to live in almost total obscurity, especially when natural light is down. The obscurity is reflected also in their approach to life, news and research tools are hard to find, and people is slowly going back to a way of life that is mostly conduct to real connections more than through the online net.
When I was a little girl, one of my favourite movies was Starman; what I liked of that movie is that the sci-fi elements were blended in the ordinary/contemporary setting, and in the end, it was not so different from a today love story. Starfall is pretty much the same: Ash, the alien, is apparently like a man from earth; apparently since the difference are easily hidden (eyes wearing glasses, hair faking a trendy coloring, 6 digits wearing gloves, and well, genitalia, not having sex).
