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Book Reviews

Review: Lore & Logos, by Matthew P. Buscemi

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Lore and Logos

I came to this book in kind of a round-about way. Matt is one of our newer folks in the Queer Sci Fi group, and he posted this one a few weeks ago on a Me Me Monday. The cover is soooo NOT sci fi – but there’s a reason for that – you’ll just have to read the Acknowledgement. We ended up talking a bit online, and he offered to send me a copy. Great, I thought, another eBook to throw on the stack. But Matt surprised me – he’s kind of old school, and really likes printed books … Read more

“Charmed and Dangerous” by Ford, Hale, Charles, Kimberling, Price, Hawk, Cochet, Harper, Speed, and Amara

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Genre: MM Paranormal Mystery/Thriller Length: Anthology   THIS ANTHOLOGY was superb, and a must-read for any MM Fantasy or Paranormal lover. The writing was crisp, the characters were authentic, and the plots were compelling. The stories featured detectives, or other arcane crime fighters, and usually had a mystery component to them. They also had just enough of the sexy to keep you hungering for more, which was cool, because that’s my bag in a nutshell, baby.       Dim Sum Asylum by Rhys Ford A story about a fey-human hybrid, Roku, who works in arcane law enforcement, and has … Read more

Review: Off World, by Jonah Bergan

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Off World

I had the pleasure to receive an advance copy of Jonah Bergan’s new MM sci fi book Off World. The cover of the book is gorgeous – it immediately made me interested in reading the story. The image of the main character is mysterious and gorgeous, and the planetary background promises a lush sci fi adventure. The story doesn’t disappoint. Let me say up front that the book does include some semi graphic sex with a dominance theme. But one of the things I loved about it was that the sex was both secondary and integral to the science fiction … Read more

Review: “Chaos Station” by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen

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Chaos Station

Genre: MM Sci Fi Romance Length: Novel   THE WAR leaves Felix Ingesson physically scarred and emotionally damaged. However, just when he’s made a place for himself on a ship under an understanding captain, out of the blue a man he thought was permanently out of his life comes looking for his crew’s help. An old friend from the academy… and an ex boyfriend. Zander Anatolius was a prodigy, but the war has changed him too, namely leaving him with alien chemical technology in his body—technology that’s probably going to kill him sooner than later. He gets quite a shock … Read more

“Obsidian Sun” by Jon Keys

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Obsidian Sun

Genre: MM Romantic Fantasy Length: Novella   WEAVERS AND spinners are two peoples of the Talac—phenotypically different, and the way they use the ancient magic of their peoples is different. Out of tradition they keep to their own social clusters, but Anan, a spellweaver, and Terja, a spellspinner, are about to discover through hardship that the two peoples are meant to be as one. When their village is attacked, Anan and Terja ban together in blood vengeance against the tribe that enslaved and killed their people. Their trust is fleeting, but as they fight and care for one another, it … Read more

“The Homecoming” by J. Scott Coatsworth

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The Homecoming

Genre: Gay Science Fiction Length: Novella   ALDISS AND his crew crash land on a forgotten Earth, expecting it to be abandoned after hundreds of years. Their own world is destroyed, and now Earth is their only chance for a new start. But it’s winter, the climate is harsh, and Earth is not as forgotten as they thought. The inhabitants also may not be as open to new arrivals as Adliss’s crew hopes. I loved this book. The setup was interesting, and the characters were engaging. I loved how spacemen and werewolves collided: technology meets primal Earth. First contact between … Read more

“The Lightning-Struck Heart” by T. J. Klune

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Genre: Gay Fantasy Length: Novel   SAM HAVERSFORD is a great and powerful wizard! Okay, not really. He’s just a wizard’s apprentice. But he is powerful! And one day he’ll be King’s Wizard to the heir apparent, Prince Justin. The only problem? Prince Justin is kind of a dick, and is marrying the super dreamy Ryan Foxheart… the same super dreamy Ryan Foxheart that Sam’s had a crush on since forever. Too bad Justin’s a dick. Too bad Ryan swore an oath to serve him. Under normal circumstances, Sam wouldn’t be too upset that Justin then gets kidnapped by a … Read more

“The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde

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Genre: Gay Paranormal Historical Length: Novel   As is well known, this is a story about a man, Dorian Gray, whose soul is housed in a painting, keeping his body from showing the stains of his immorality. The novel is told in third person omniscient, mostly using these three viewpoints: Dorian Gray, Basil Hallward, and Lord Henry Wotton. Dorian Gray is an impressionable youth, beautiful beyond measure. Basil Hallward is a painter, and inspired by Dorian, he paints his portrait week after week, until one day he creates his magnum opus. Lord Henry is a good friend of Basil’s, and … Read more

Discussion: “Your Writing is Worse Than Fanfic”

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bad reviews

It happens to all of us. We read the Goodreads reviews. Or the Amazon reviews. Or any other crowdsourced review site. At first, it’s fine. OK, someone liked my book – they REALLY liked my book. Oh, here’s someone else that enjoyed it, but wished it was longer – hey, even that’s kind of a compliment, right? Then you see it. The dreaded one star review. The reader who couldn’t find a single nice thing to say about your labor of love, the thing you worked on for months and months (or even years and years) and gave your heart … Read more

“Between the Lines” by J. Scott Coatsworth

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Genre: Gay Urban Fantasy Romance Length: Novella   Brad Weston is the chief of staff for a Republican California state senator, and it seems like he has everything going for him. Sam Fuller, fresh out of college, is also working for the GOP as Weston’s aid. They work hard for their party, even when they face constant homophobia, but neither really knows how bad they’re discriminated against until Weston enters an antique shop, looking for a present for his boyfriend for their anniversary. The enchanted trinket he finds exposes Weston to all the hate in the world, and the revelations … Read more