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Finger’s Breadth by M. Christian
Dec. 31st, 2011 12:31 am
M. Christian started with a mystery and ended with a psychological thriller. There is a mad man out there picking gay men, drugging them and cutting their pinkie finger. Nothing else. It doesn’t seem a great crime, but it’s still a crime, and the police had to investigate. Problem is that the only main trait of all victims is to be gay, aside from that they are black and white, young and old, poor and rich. People is scared, private clubs close down every day and in the meantime, day after day, a new victim joins the club… since now, being a victim of the Cutter is trendy, if you are not one, then probably you have something wrong. Now it’s not only the police that is searching for the Cutter, they are the same victims who WANT to be found. In a kind of ironic twist, the villain becomes the hero, and the reader starts to understand that everyone can be the villain, as everyone could have been the victim.There are various life intertwining their destinies, Fanning, the freelance cop who wants to find the Cutter, but maybe he is not searching for justice; Varney, the first victim, a newspaper reporter who is now following the case and who apparently is the only one who can see that being a victim is not a great thing; Taylor, the only victim who escaped with all his intact fingers, but who is not more scared than before; Trancherman0191, who trolls the gay chats in search of “victims”… but in the end, all of them can be a victim and all of them can be the Cutter, and truth be told, you will realize it’s no more important to know who is the Cutter, because he realized what seemed impossible to achieve, he levelled all men to the same point, he allowed the shy to be bold, the bold to be scared, the victim to be aggressor and the aggressor to be victim. Removing that "finger's breadth" that separate men from madness, he also removed the reason why they were different.
Not all the men in this story will find their balance, but I think some of them did. I have high hope for Varney and Taylor, that they will be able to understand what is really important in life and that maybe they will give a chance to love, a chance that till now they were too scared to see.
http://www.zumayapublications.com/title.php?id=262
Amazon: Finger's Breadth
Amazon Kindle: Finger's Breadth
Paperback: 284 pages
Publisher: Zumaya Boundless (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1934841463
ISBN-13: 978-1934841464
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bott
A Change of Tune is pretty much a story of good feelings and happily ever after, there is no drama, no angst, only love, passion and plenty of fun.
I’m not sure I liked Bryn, the Magick Club owner, as I’m not sure I like Detective Rutland, the police officer who has the task to investigate on a murder happened behind the club. Both of them have an attitude towards life and people that I found a little disturbing, since it seemed detached. But then you start to pick some details, like how Bryn is almost a protector for the ones working with him (he is more than ready to defend them when Detective Rutland starts questioning around), or like the same Detective Rutland (gay) talks about Nick, the young man hanging around Magick Club, clearly turning tricks to live, and no, he is not talking about him in a sexual way (or maybe a little) but more like someone who is regretting to see a young life like that one going waste. And in the end I think I loved them, with all their very bad side and nasty comments and even sometime offensive behaviour.
First of all, I have probably to warn who usually reads my blog that this is not a romance and neither a gay novel. If someone wants to probably label it in the LGBT field, than maybe it could be a bisexual mystery/thriller. That is probably not a surprise for who is used to John F. Rooney’s novels, they know he is not actually a writer of gay novels, aside for a novel, The Rice Queen Spy, about a retired gay spy for Her Majesty’s secret service, who was cruelly outed and tortured 
Usually I don't like anthologies. The simple reason is that I can't be satisfy by too short stories, and when I like the characters is even worst, since I always felt like they are gone too soon. So it's always with a bit of prejudice that I start an anthology, and the reason why I choose to read it is always different, but usually since there is at least an author in the anthology that I like.
"Lions and Tigers and Snares" & "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" : Byron is an agent who has to discover an illicit traffic with dying big felines. So he works undercover in a shelter, playing the role of volunteer and looking around. But more than looking to illicit traffic, he is looking at Kendall, the man who leads the shelter and that probably is head to foot involved. But Byron sees how Kendall loves the big cats and he is sure the man can't be the ones who sells them to certain death.
"A Cold Night's Sleep" & "Fire": Sandy is a retired cop. He had a very bad experience during a fire and he still blames himself for the death of a little child. Plus he is scarred by the fire, inside and outside. He prefers to live alone in a cabin with a cat and no one to care who can leave him like his former lover did. Tanner is an ex con who arrives to the cabin during a storm and Sandy offers him a shelter to the bad weather. Also Tanner has his scars, they are only inside, but they are not less painful. And from a scarred man to another, Tanner can see beyond Sandy claims to want to be alone. But probably Tanner needs to set something in his life and it's not time for him to stop with Sandy. And Sandy is not yet ready to forget and move one. Maybe not now, maybe not ever.
"Haunted", "Slide into Desire", "Walking the Blue Line", "Deep Trouble Undercover", "A Question of Taste", "Dangerous Days" & "Tropical Daze": all these stories are about Steven and Conrad. Steven is a undercover cop, he is searching proofs of a drug dealing during the rave parties. Conrad is the man who organizes the raves. It should be a simple mission, not a very dangerous one, they are dealing mostly with young kids, college animals... But Steven cares too much, since he falls in love with Conrad. Conrad is an half spanish half cuban guy, sexy and smooth talking; he lures Steven inside his world and in his bed. Steven is new to all this, he can't even imagine to fall in love with a man, but here he is and in love. But Conrad? it's only sex? and then there is the little problem that Steven should do his work and his work probably will lead Conrad in prison.
Sheperd: Felipe is a good guy who ends in prison. He is not gay, but two years in captivity could change a man. This is not a love story, maybe it's more a life journey, the surviving tale of a man who sees his world collapse and needs to refocuses his priority and beliefs.
"Bruised", "Back in the Saddle" & "Horsing Around": another pretty long and so very satisfying story. Marcus is a man who has loved and lost. He is still mourning but maybe he is ready to be back in the saddle. David is a vet student who helps Marcus in his horse farm during summer. He is young and innocent and so tempting. He sees and wants Marcus and with his joy of life forces Marcus to live again, to want again, to want David. But David is soo young, and new to real love, plus Marcus is his first man, before him David never thought possible for him to love a man. Family and future seem big handicaps in their ride to life.
Irish Cream: an old man remembers a lost lover, a love born and died when they can't even think for it to last, but if death didn't call, what could be? Now he has only memories, sad and cold, but cherished.
I have to admit that cop novels are not usually my cup of tea, even if I can sympathize with the imaginary seeing a cop like a perfect lover. But this cop in particular, Cristian Flesh, or simply Flesh, is at the opposite of your common idea of a police detective: unapologetically gay, and that is the point I liked the most, he is also pretty open on what he likes and doesn’t like; he likes sex and more is good, and so, probably for the first time in a novel, I found a detective that slept at least once with co-workers, victims, suspects, defensive lawyers… in a way the reader could guess who was involved in the plot by the fact that Flesh has slept with him. 
From the dedica of this novella (To taking a chance, even after you’ve been hurt) to the following development, I think the author wanted to launch a message to someone, in a nice and direct way: Detective Sergeant Alasdair Grant is a good cop, he is gay, out and proud, but he was burned in the past and so now he doesn’t trust so much domineering man and that is an issue when you are a sub, 
Maintaining the light BDSM tone of all the series, and maybe exaggerating a bit in having gay cops all in the same family and working for the same department (but that is also the nice side of this novellas series, you start to have a lot of familiar faces around), Kim Dare adds a little bit of introspective plot with the story of Ed Rawlings, who is so good in doing his undercover job that he is losing his same self in that. 
I was taken a bit aback from this novel since at the beginning it seemed so much similar to the previous book I read by Rob Rosen, Diva Las Vegas, that I had to go back to that book to check if maybe I hadn’t forgotten some supporting characters there who were having here their own story. Like in the previous book, a young and pretty gay man who suddenly is without a steady job; thank to a lucky cash availability he decides to spend a good share of that sum in a classy holiday with his best gay friend. In the previous book the two partners in crime are Em and Justin, here are Chase and Brandon, like in the previous book they become unwillingly involved in a thriller subplot while at the same time trying to get laid as much as possible, even if one of them has indeed a crush on a fascinating, but a bit mysterious man. And of course when the things go barrelling into danger, our two gay heroes decide to take out their drag costume and impersonating the perfect femme fatale. 
In the recent polemic of who is writing for whom, most of Stormy Glenn’s books are probably aimed more to a female target (and I think that you all know that for me this is not a negative point). 
A Promise Given is not only the sequel of A Promise Kept, following the story of Cooper, the friend with benefits of Mason and Jack, but it has also a common theme: a love that is lasting for years even if the lovers didn’t have the chance to enjoy it. 
Chasing Smoke is about how you never forget your first love and about a little spoiled teenager. 
Do you know what can happen when you buy a book only thank to the trust you have on the author? That a nice surprise can wait you. I didn’t read Downtime’s blurb, I read Tamara Allen, the author of Whistling in the Dark, the book who came first in the Rainbow Awards, and a book I really liked, and I bought the book. I didn’t know what Downtime was about, but thank to the nice cover I was expecting a late nineteen century historical novel. So I was quite surprise from finding me reading about Morgan Nash, an FBI agent in special mission in today London. Well after the first puzzlement, I stubbornly continued to read, without again bothering to check the blurb, truth be told, Morgan seemed a nice character and I was already wandering what could be his story. That Leonard London police detective was not a bad character, could be him Morgan’s love interest? And then Reese, Morgan’s American boyfriend, even him was not a bad chance… I was already immersed in the story, and building in my mind Morgan’s possible story development, when the unexpected happened… Time-Travel! 
Reading this book it was like going back on the same place and time when Bogard and Bergman, as Rick and Ilsa, kissed in front of an airplane in Casablanca. 
Bill is an apparently rather boring San Francisco gay bookstore manager, and being gay in San Francisco is just enough to be ordinary, if then you add the bookstore related job, well, it seems that here of sparkling there should be only the wrapping card for the books. But Bill’s situation soon changes, with also his name, he prefers to go for Em, when the bookstore place is sold in block and the owner gives him 30 thousands dollars as good exit. No work and still too young to retire, every other man, gay or not, would have probably put a thoughts or two on what he wants to do with his life, and instead Em decides to spend most of the money to buy back an very ugly vase who was in his family for year, and sold on a front yard sale for a few dollars, and that now is valued almost 30.000 thanks to an appreciation from Antiques Roadshow. 
Murder on Camac was not an easy book to start reading since it’s almost 400 pages long, and I was there thinking, well, it’s a mystery, not exactly the genre of book I like, and it’s soo long… will I have the patience to finish it? So I waited and waited, till the moment I was at home, quiet and with a lot of time, and gathering all the patience I have, starting reading and… it was fast and easy and light… it was light, something that I have almost never found in a mystery. And there was also a romance, or maybe two, or three, or… I lost the count and all the romances have the same man, Marco Fontana. 
I’m not new to read a cop themed novel, and even if it’s not my preferred genre; some of them are very good. But there is a thing that usually let me a bit cold, when the cops are self-righteous perfect hero, maybe with a baggage of bad experiences in the past, but always so damned perfect. Truth be told, sometime, they are so perfect that they are also boring, sincerely I’m not for the big bang-come here baby type of men. In Personal Demons, James Buchanan managed to avoid all of above, without making the heroes losers. 
I remember with pleasure the first book in the Dangerous Ground series since it was probably the one by Josh Lanyon with the best romance in it. And it was not only a good romance, it was also quite sexy. Both these aspects I found again in this second book. 
The Deadly Mystery series by Victor J. Banis is probably the only gay mystery series out there where the romance part of the book is good as well as the mystery one. In the four books we saw the evolution of their relationship, from being casual lovers and probably having no chance to be nothing else, to tentative long term partners, to the almost apex of happiness in book 3. Then the abrupt end of that novel, with a Tom, the strong man in the couple, scarred and for the first time weak. And maybe also a bit castrated from the fact that this time, it was not him who saved Stanley. They have their roles in the relationship, Tom is the protector and Stanley the one in need of protection, you can't change that, otherwise Tom doesn't know what is his place. Tom is a simple person, he is a man who reasons and acts more with his gut (and heart) than his mind, he is not stupid, but he is not one to brainstorming too much. If you take away from him his role, what he is for Stanley, what is his added value to the relationship. But as simple as Tom is, it's also simple for him to realize that even if scarred, he is still the same man as before, and that Stanley need him. 
All right, I'm sincere, I don't know if I personally like how the series evolved in the last chapter. Please take a good look to that "personally" word, this is an opinion of mine, and it's totally based on my personal taste, it's not a judgment on the value of the writer or the story.
With the third chapter in the Moment of Truth series, the author almost made me think that I didn't understand anything of the story... the second book ended with Gary who confessed a betrayal to Dan, he said that there were someone else. Dan stomped out of their home to drawn his sorrow in the alcohol, but he receives the advice to not let it go. Meanwhile Gary was again thinking to suicide, but this time he is stronger and he is able to weight the good and bad side of life. When Dan comes back to him, Gary is also able to let Dan understand that it's not only his fault if their relationship is having trouble, and that Dan has to take upon himself his responsibility.
When I started this book I wasn't expecting to find romance in it, since it was presented as an old classic sleuthing novel, and so you can imagine my surprise when the hero, Elliott, not only has a romance, he has THREE romance, two of them at the same time, and he is not even a slut ;-)
At first Freeman comes out like one of those characters from an old noir movie, a man tired of life with nothing or noone of important in his life, who tries to drown his sorrow in a glass of spirit. And so at first Freeman comes out also older and disenchanted; when he meets Kit, it's like an old lion with a young kitty, Freeman is all low growls that never turn in real danger, and Kit is like a burst of energy, like a bouncing ball that Freeman has no more the energy to follow. And so at first I didn't like Freeman, since Kit was obviously in danger and Freeman seemed to care but really he didn't do nothing to real help him: Kit entered and exited Freeman's house, and when he was there he was safe, but when he went out, we knew that he was in danger. We even witnessed to a very sad scene, through Freeman's eyes, and we had to turn the shoulders to that scene since Freeman turned them. It was not exactly what I would like to see from an "hero", but Freeman is not an usual hero.
Love relationship between cops, more when they are partners, are always more intense, probably since to the bond of love it's added also the bond of being colleague and responsible for the well-being of your partner. The "gay for you" turn of one or both of them is usually also justified by that bond, since no one more than you partner can comprehend you and so the step between friendship and love is short. But usually the two men are strong characters, men who take everything inside, that never let it go, if not maybe at night, in front of a beer and in the relative safeness of their partner's company. Oh yes, maybe they have some hidden secrets in the past that are eating them alive, but to the outside world they are strong and invincible.
All right, this book is quite a challenge for various reasons, and so you are warned, don't continue to read if you don't like spoilers, since I probably am not able to explain all this book left to me without using a bit of them.
Joe is flying from Los Angeles to Chicago to help a friend he hasn't seen in 20 years and talked to more or less the same time. Back in their native small town, Joe and Israel got along at first as best friends and then as lovers. But it was always their secret, the small towm was too small to allow them something different, and then Israel was born on the wrong side of the street, he was a love-child of mixed origins, probably with African American blood, but his mother never told. Anyway with the courage that always have kids, Joe and Israel dared their parents and friends and tightened a bond that seemed impossible to break... and instead it was too simple to. Joe went to College, Israel didn't have the means, and after a year Joe stopped to write and then... life happens. This is probably the part I don't like very much, for sure it's not a good image what we have of Joe, a man who practically dumped his lover without a real reason if not that he grew old of his feelings. Or maybe Joe is in denial, even if he is living out of the closet in L.A., he is actually doing so far from his hometown, and far from who really knows him; in this way, he is still in the closet, since he shut out an important part of his life; he conveniently forgot of Israel's existence till the day he read about him on the news.
Usually I don't like to give up a story, but in this case I'm allowed... First time I heard of latino man Antonio and his blind lover Gabriel was perhaps two years ago. I read a short story by Laura Baumbach, South of Border, no more than a scene in an hot tube, but really hot (as most of Laura Baumbach's books). I don't know, probably it's a fetish, but I always am fascinated by love stories involving a blind partner... there must be a lot of trust on one side to allow someone near you when you are blind, but if you find the right partner, I believe the resulting feeling are much more intense. And so I was waiting for the longer novel the author was writing with the same pair.
Gym Dandy is a story that has many surprises, mostly good surprise. Victor is a personal trainer in a not so good gym; an old and decaying building, not so nice work colleague, it's not wonder that Victor seems not to like too much his work. I realized after finishing the book, that I haven't a clear physical perception of Victor, other than he should be fit, due to his work, but not so handsome: a man who arrives where he wants thanks more to his attitude than to his look. And even if Victor has an ex-wife, he is quite openly gay, even if it's not the first thing he says as presentation. And so when he meets for the first time Doug, new customer at the gym who paid for personal lessons, and Doug gives him some mixed signals, Victor is ready to jump in for an enjoyable adventure, since even if not so fit, Doug is really handsome and cute. But even if he is not disgusted by the kiss Victor gives him, Doug is firm in his claim that he is straight, and that he wants only friendship from Victor.
The story is set in London in the '80 of the last century. I wondered on the reason for choosing that period, and apart the fact that it was a period in which police stories were pretty famous (at least in television fiction...), it's also before the AIDS plague, when the danger on being gay arrives only from society and not also from the love act itself.
This one was a certain to-buy-book: first it's a may/december relationship and I love it, second it's a Loose Id LGBT book and with rare exception I buy all of them (but this doesn't mean that I read all of them...), third it has a young character, probably virgin, and I'm very naughty about it... Plus, and I'm sincere about that, after deciding that I would buy it, I discovered that it was the first book of one of my LJ friends (I recognized the cover) and so one more reason, since I followed all the gestation (how I missed that it would be out with Loose Id, I don't know, but my brain sometime lose a chip here and there).
