Slight Details & Random Events by Eric Arvin

[reviews_and_ramblings]

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

Comments

Ooh, I'm so tempted...

[zamaxfield.livejournal.com]

But they seem so sad... I cry when firetrucks pass the house. I'm not sure I could handle this.

Maybe it's best if I wait for a while... Perhaps when I'm giddily happy about something I'll sneak a story or two onto my reading list...

I love the info you give, I can always make an informed decision and even if I'm on the fence, if you liked it that means a lot to me...

Abstractrx.