After Anna by Theda Black

Will has just lost his lover Anna: she was a drug addicted and died for an overdose. Will, being a cop, is eaten alive by guilty.

The book makes a count of the days after Anna's death and we see Will's journey out of depression, in a state of almost euphoria and step by step in an apparent normality. Along with him, for all his journey, there is Tyler, Will's cop partner. Will knows and understands that Tyler has feeling for him, and also Will has some indefinite feelings for Tyler.

But this is not our typical romance where two friends finally admitt they are in love and walking together to a roses and flowers happily ever after ending...

After Anna is not an erotic romance: sex is only a way to prove something in the story, but not the main aspect and sex is not written for pleasure. Sometimes sex in this book is all than pleasure: is guiltiness, is forbidden desires, is unspeakable words. Will accuses Tyler to not "speak" the words, and Tyler says "I proves them to you"... through sex.

In this book there isn't a dominant character. Even if Tyler is the man in love, he is not the weaker of the two. And told be truth, I don't think that neither Tyler or Will are gay. I think they are in love with each other, but it's more a thing of heart than body; maybe it's a very strong friendship that shapes in love when Will needs more a lover than a friend beside him.

After Anna is not an usual romance, and I think not all the romance's readers could understand it. And I think it's also a book that could appeal to a not romance's reader. It's not very long, less than 80 pages, and maybe I'd like to be longer, so maybe I'd be able to understand better both Will and Tyler and their reasons. But kudos to Theda Black to have chosen a not easy way to deal and end this one.

http://www.extasybooks.net/ebjmsite/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=ebook_flypage&product_id=3065&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=103&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=44

Amazon Kindle: After Anna

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Would you like a bit of stats?

Elisa Rolle This Year's Visits by Month

Elisa Rolle Country Share

 
So let's count... I have 100 people who visit me directly (and not through the friend's page of someone else, cause I track the visit to elisa-rolle.livejournal.com).

In the last year I have fifth-plicate my visits, and in November for an error, I haven't the track of the visits.

One of three of my visitors is from United States.

But what let me puzzled is that a 14% of my visitors are from Spain... Honestly I only know one of my friends that is from Spain, and I don't think she visit me 14 times a day... So I have an audience in Spain and I didn't know it! 

ETA: I'm not mad! I just notice that the chart are interactive and they update automatically... so now, for example, readers from Spain are 10%...

Would you like a bit of stats?

Elisa Rolle This Year's Visits by Month

Elisa Rolle Country Share

 
So let's count... I have 100 people who visit me directly (and not through the friend's page of someone else, cause I track the visit to elisa-rolle.livejournal.com).

In the last year I have fifth-plicate my visits, and in November for an error, I haven't the track of the visits.

One of three of my visitors is from United States.

But what let me puzzled is that a 14% of my visitors are from Spain... Honestly I only know one of my friends that is from Spain, and I don't think she visit me 14 times a day... So I have an audience in Spain and I didn't know it! 

ETA: I'm not mad! I just notice that the chart are interactive and they update automatically... so now, for example, readers from Spain are 10%...

Slight Details & Random Events by Eric Arvin

Maybe I'm late, but I discover a new author, for me at least, that I for sure will add to my must-read author. Eric Arvin. Slight Details & Random Events is a collection of short stories, but, even if usually I'm not very fond of anthology of short stories, this time I like it very much cause most of the stories are intertwined and so we have the chance to read almost a full novel inside the anthology.

Prometheus: this is a fairy tale, very short. A man finds a very handsome and sculptured man chained to a tree in a forest. At first he wants to free the other man from the chains but then he is bewitched and he spends all the night making love to the chained man. And probably he will not free the man the morning after, cause it cannot free his hidden desires..

Tater ‘n Purgatory: this is a very sad story about a man who is mourning the death of his suicidal lover. Tate lives alone in the forest and his only companionship his a wild dog he calls Purgatory. But what it's apparently a story of loneliness, it will became almost an horror when Tate's grief will push him to a desperate act.

Camera Phone: a short story about a man who, during a strip tease, caughts with his camera phone, not the beatiful strippers but... a ghost!

Dismagic Planet: a very sad tale, maybe too much sad... a young boy accidentally kills his baby brother during a game. The accident will ignite a fall to hell for him and for his mother.

The Painting, The Things We Want, Italian for Beginners, Electronic Love, Australia, The Art of Balance, An Ordinary Evening, An Ordinary Couple, A Massacre of Lions, As Told by Lamarr Robert Irving, A Hat on the Bed & A Jog in the Rain are all stories about Gael and Cat, pictures of their life together, from the first time they meet at college since Cal's departure for the Army. In the mid they will pass from the discovery of love amid their friendship, to sharing the first travel abroad, to living apart when Gael will go abroad to study, to supporting each other during Gael's fight against cancer, to the death of Cat's mother. All this will test their love and their chance to be together forever.

Late Bloomer in the Water: a short story about a man who learn how to swim when he will learn how to love another man...

Butterfly Tattoo: the passionate love of a man who is enthralled by the butterfly tattoo of his lover.

Books by Covers: this one is a short story but a very interesting plot; a man is jogging and while jogging he is thinking to his life and his lover. And meanwhile he jogs, all the people who see him have difference reactions to his sight: from admiration for his body, to lust, to passion, to love, to revelation!

The Ice Tree: another sad story about a young man who has to face his father's death without being prepared.

Raspberry Boy: two lovers fight the illness of one of the two. But the thought that he is not alone, and that he can rely to another one, will help. And also to have a different perspective toward life.

Honeysuckle Sycamore: a fairy tyle about sprites and monsters and a love which last forever.

Absurdity on Jasper Lane: this one is almost a pic on another book by Eric Arvin, SubSurdity, that I have bought soon after reading this one. Rick is an handsome gay guy who seems to be not able to find true love. David and Terrence are his loudy and very queer neighboors. And James is the new guy on the block, beautiful guy just out of the army who jogs every day at the same hour. And one day he stops in front of Rick's house with a startling request: a date with Rick!

Gordy Helps Out, Gordy Squats Down Low & Gordy Takes a Shower are three stories, almost a comic sketch. Gordy is a new guy in the gym. He has a beautiful body, like a body builder, and he is also very sweet and friendly. But he is also not too bright. He doesn't realize that, everytime he is near a man, or woman, he ignites a passion which leads the man to an almost sudden climax. Even if the man is not gay!

Eric Arvin is a very original voice in the gay fiction. He has a fantasy that for me is almost unthinkable. And he is able to span from the total sadness to the most joyous tale (like in Gordy's series). And for a romance lover like me, he is also able to make me feel for his characters, like Cat and Gael, and to smile like an idiot (like in Absurdity on Jasper Lane).

Inside the book beautiful illustrations by HvH who is the artist also of the cover.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/slightdetails/slightdetailsbuynow.htm

Amazon: Slight Details & Random Events
Amazon Kindle: Slight Details & Random Events
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (November 8, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0980101808
ISBN-13: 978-0980101805

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by HvH

Slight Details & Random Events by Eric Arvin

Maybe I'm late, but I discover a new author, for me at least, that I for sure will add to my must-read author. Eric Arvin. Slight Details & Random Events is a collection of short stories, but, even if usually I'm not very fond of anthology of short stories, this time I like it very much cause most of the stories are intertwined and so we have the chance to read almost a full novel inside the anthology.

Prometheus: this is a fairy tale, very short. A man finds a very handsome and sculptured man chained to a tree in a forest. At first he wants to free the other man from the chains but then he is bewitched and he spends all the night making love to the chained man. And probably he will not free the man the morning after, cause it cannot free his hidden desires..

Tater ‘n Purgatory: this is a very sad story about a man who is mourning the death of his suicidal lover. Tate lives alone in the forest and his only companionship his a wild dog he calls Purgatory. But what it's apparently a story of loneliness, it will became almost an horror when Tate's grief will push him to a desperate act.

Camera Phone: a short story about a man who, during a strip tease, caughts with his camera phone, not the beatiful strippers but... a ghost!

Dismagic Planet: a very sad tale, maybe too much sad... a young boy accidentally kills his baby brother during a game. The accident will ignite a fall to hell for him and for his mother.

The Painting, The Things We Want, Italian for Beginners, Electronic Love, Australia, The Art of Balance, An Ordinary Evening, An Ordinary Couple, A Massacre of Lions, As Told by Lamarr Robert Irving, A Hat on the Bed & A Jog in the Rain are all stories about Gael and Cat, pictures of their life together, from the first time they meet at college since Cal's departure for the Army. In the mid they will pass from the discovery of love amid their friendship, to sharing the first travel abroad, to living apart when Gael will go abroad to study, to supporting each other during Gael's fight against cancer, to the death of Cat's mother. All this will test their love and their chance to be together forever.

Late Bloomer in the Water: a short story about a man who learn how to swim when he will learn how to love another man...

Butterfly Tattoo: the passionate love of a man who is enthralled by the butterfly tattoo of his lover.

Books by Covers: this one is a short story but a very interesting plot; a man is jogging and while jogging he is thinking to his life and his lover. And meanwhile he jogs, all the people who see him have difference reactions to his sight: from admiration for his body, to lust, to passion, to love, to revelation!

The Ice Tree: another sad story about a young man who has to face his father's death without being prepared.

Raspberry Boy: two lovers fight the illness of one of the two. But the thought that he is not alone, and that he can rely to another one, will help. And also to have a different perspective toward life.

Honeysuckle Sycamore: a fairy tyle about sprites and monsters and a love which last forever.

Absurdity on Jasper Lane: this one is almost a pic on another book by Eric Arvin, SubSurdity, that I have bought soon after reading this one. Rick is an handsome gay guy who seems to be not able to find true love. David and Terrence are his loudy and very queer neighboors. And James is the new guy on the block, beautiful guy just out of the army who jogs every day at the same hour. And one day he stops in front of Rick's house with a startling request: a date with Rick!

Gordy Helps Out, Gordy Squats Down Low & Gordy Takes a Shower are three stories, almost a comic sketch. Gordy is a new guy in the gym. He has a beautiful body, like a body builder, and he is also very sweet and friendly. But he is also not too bright. He doesn't realize that, everytime he is near a man, or woman, he ignites a passion which leads the man to an almost sudden climax. Even if the man is not gay!

Eric Arvin is a very original voice in the gay fiction. He has a fantasy that for me is almost unthinkable. And he is able to span from the total sadness to the most joyous tale (like in Gordy's series). And for a romance lover like me, he is also able to make me feel for his characters, like Cat and Gael, and to smile like an idiot (like in Absurdity on Jasper Lane).

Inside the book beautiful illustrations by HvH who is the artist also of the cover.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/currenttitles/slightdetails/slightdetailsbuynow.htm

Amazon Kindle: Slight Details & Random Events

Amazon: Slight Details & Random Events

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by HvH