Channeling the magical love of storytelling of early American writers like Kate Chopin and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Reasons for the Fall follows a trio of aimless, romantic and wealthy friends on a summer vacation to Saugatuck, an enchanted and bohemian town snuggled alongside the dunes of Lake Michigan. This volume also includes three short stories which travel from the sandy Great Lakes coast to the mind of an enchanted old woman, to a personal narrative by the author and, across the solar system, to the cold surface of one of Jupiter’s mysterious moons.
Reasons for the Fall was a delight to read. I found myself smiling at the generous sprinkles of subtle humor. An entertaining fast read. The additional bonus stories (Dinner for Buddha, Decaffeinated and Jupiter) were enjoyable, but not as much fun as Reasons for the Fall.
Two beings have been created one was called man and the other woman and the two shall be united. But Charles Dietrich was different, he’s been imprisoned by his own identity. Being the only son of a rich family, money did not help him find his true happiness even freedom was out of reach. Living would be his last resort and dying would be his first. Is it going to be too late for everyone in Charles’ life in accepting the painful truth?
Skeleton in the Closet could have easily been a depressing read, however Mental King wrote the story in an upbeat voice with the inevitable conclusion as the undertone.
Charles is a likable gay character and I felt his emotions during the 12 hours that the story took place. The author puts the reader inside Charles’ head and weaves a remarkable short story and not a lightweight read of fluff.
Two Navy Marines, Daniel and Jacob, met on-board a naval ship during WWII , both were very young – still in their teens – but they were old enough to serve their country. And against all odds, and the many risks involved, they fell in love and
managed to stay together for the last 60 years. Now, as their time together inevitably gets shorter and shorter, Daniel can’t wait any longer for the right to finally marry the only man he has loved all these years.
Into Deep Waters is an amazingly beautiful and emotionally driven story that reads like a fast paced novel. Kaje Harper has packed a lifetime of history between Danial & Jacob into a very believable and emotional story. I can’t count the many times I wiped mist from my eyes. A fabulous mood-lifting read.
Carrick Francis has spent most of his life jumping into trouble with both feet. The only thing saving him from prison or worse is his absolute devotion to Deacon Winters. Deacon was Crick’s sanity and salvation during a miserable, abusive childhood, and Crick would do anything to stay with him forever. So when Deacon’s father dies, Crick puts his college plans on hold to help Deacon as Deacon has helped him. Deacon’s greatest wish is to see Crick escape his memories and the town they grew up in so Crick can enjoy a shining future. But after two years of growing feelings and temptation, the painfully shy Deacon finally succumbs to Crick’s determined advances and admits he sees himself as part of Crick’s life. It nearly destroys Deacon when he discovers Crick has been waiting for him to push him away, just like Crick’s family did in the past. When Crick’s knack for volatile decisions lands him far away from home, Deacon is left, shell-shocked and alone, struggling to reforge his heart in a world where love with Crick is a promise, but by no means a certainty.
In spite of the cover art which made me think: “Hetro Romance Novel”, I’d bypassed reading Keeping Promise Rock. What a mistake! Amy Lane has orchestrated an amazing story around circumstances and characters with real depth and humanity. The story moves from one emotion-filled situation into another, which made for a fast paced read. Lane’s style of story telling is down-to-earth, just like her characters. Countless times I had to focus my blurred vision to read as tears welled in my eyes.
With just a tad more tweaking and some editing, I would have given Keeping Promise Rock a 5 star rating. There were a couple of moments where the POV changed unexpectedly which caused momentary confusion and a few dropped words. However, the storyline is a solid Five-Star.
Earlier in the week I posted a poll on my Facebook Fan Page asking personal preference in regard to reading sexual scenes in literature. I admit the question was open ended and I provided only two options to select, either YES or NO. I was surprised that after only a couple of days, the poll had received 25 votes along with a good variety of comments.
The poll question: When reading, do YOU prefer to read a story that has sexual scenes?
Responses were 22 votes for YES and 3 for NO. Majority of those voting were authors, authors read just like anyone else.
What surprised me most were not so much the actual votes, but the comments made by those who visited the poll. Some comments were from individuals who did not feel comfortable answering either Yes or No, but added a comment instead.
A general theme ran through the comments, no matter how they voted: as long as the scene(s) related to the story and were realistic.
Some who voted YES commented that sexual scenes were not required. As readers, they were more focused on the story than the sexual scenes (if there were any).
Myself, I prefer reading releases from one particular publisher. Of the 15 or so books I’ve read from this publisher, the books contained no sexual scenes. Sex is implied but the element of the sexual act itself is assumed and not an actual part of the text. Again, this is my personal preference. I’ve read erotica and a number of books which contained from one to (in my mind) way too many sexual scenes and I often times felt that some stories were constructed around the sex scenes.
Each reader has his or her own preferences in the stories they read. Among a myriad of books available, readers can find plenty to suit their taste. There are no set rules as to what is to be included or excluded in a story, the poll was simply an exercise to obtain readers opinions. From the comments received, there were a variety of opinions expressed. I thank everyone who participated in the poll and for taking the time to share opinions and comments.
OK, so I just finished MASKED IDENTITES, well almost, it’s in the hands of Beta Readers now (or rather in the jaws of ruthless blood-thirsty wolves shredding my story into scrap paper).
Nearly four months in the making, I spent three of those months doing research alone. I collected enough 1890 Victorian history notes to write volumes on the subject. Yet only a very small portion of that research actually appears in the story. No, it’s not a “period” story, but rather an exterior contemporary story wrapped around an interior “period” tale. The plots of the two stories parallel each other. The contemporary story deals with a heterosexual college couple (high school sweethearts) in a US setting. The interior tale is of two young gay men in 1890 Victorian London. Now, exactly how weird is that?
Masked Identities came to me as a dream, as all of my story ideas do (if I only had the time to write all the back logged stories I have outlined). Guess I have an over active brain, I can’t shut the darn thing off at night. It’s like as soon as the lights go off, my brain kicks in creating all kinds of strange stories. Which leads to my purpose for writing today’s blog dribble in the first place. (Thank gawd no one reads this shit). I finally complete MI, after contemplating for weeks over several endings, none of which I really liked, then the ending came to me in another dream (I did not like the original dream ending when my night-time brain projected the story on a movie screen inside my warped head).
The new ending worked and I had a finished manuscript which I feel so-so about. However, I still can not figure out the genre, sub-genre or sub-sub-genre (if there’s such a thing). The story isn’t an M/M Romance, it’s not Hetro Romance, it’s got a little of BOTH. No gratuitous sex (now I have lost 99.9% of anyone reading this blog entry with that statement). And to now eliminate the 0.1% that are still reading, the manuscript has a double-whammy not-so-happy-ending. Geez! Now I have no one to finish reading my blog entry… maybe I’ll just close the entry here.
Maybe not, dag-nabit! I spent nearly five months on this short story and I’m not giving up on it. Maybe it doesn’t fit into the comfort niche of most readers, maybe it’s a story that will make some readers ponder relationship issues, maybe it’s more than just a quick, simple, brainless read. Then of course, I could put the manuscript under the sofa leg to level the dang couch.
An unusual, coming of age story. Shane, a teen, in 1970′s Oklahoma, is outed by a small town political machine, the very powers-that-be who want to keep him in the closet. Eventually, Shane comes to terms with the fact that he is the first openly gay high school student in his hometown. Bursting out of the closet, he literally blows the doors off of small-town politics, setting into motion a series of events that could cost him more than just his desire to graduate. Unaware that his uphill battle for self preservation is paving the way to even greater challenges that lie ahead.
Along Shane’s turbulent journey of self-discovery, an ambiguous Kable, the high school football quarterback, unexpectedly shows up during Shane’s most trying times. Is this coincidental? Unable to discern if Kable is a friend, a lover, or an adversary, is there something about Kable he is unaware?
A story loosley based on the author’s own coming out.
Synopsis: In the woods of upstate New York, three friends gather on the anniversary of a man’s death who was related to them by blood or love. Their idyll is disturbed by the presence of two outsiders, an Italian dinner guest and a young gay man, now involved with the dead man’s lover. Thus each event is charged with the tension of trying to recapture something lost.
Review: Disappointed – enticed by an intriguing synopsis, but let down by disconnected and chopping dialogue. The dialogue almost made me forget my promise to always read whatever I had started, no matter how difficult of a read it may be. Everything about Cameron’s writing was really good until the characters would break out into a conversation. At that point, I would grit my teeth and hope the conversation was minimal. It was like super intelligent intellectuals trying to interact socially with each other, or like two robots communicating with each other. Cameron’s style of writing dialogue killed the story for me. I thought the story line was sweet, but the jerky, halt/stop dialogue and emotionally void communication was a major distraction. Sorry Mr. Cameron, but “The Weekend” was just as much of a bust for me as it was for Lyle and his friends.
Synopsis: Flanked by gorgeous brick row houses in the heart of Boston’s South End, the Club Café is a bar where everybody knows your name–and who you slept with last. Every night men like Tommy Perez, Rico DiMio, and Kyle Andrews take their place among the glistening crowd sporting chest-defining shirts and lots of smooth, tanned skin, sizing up the regulars and the new blood while TV monitors blare Beyoncé and Missy Elliott.
For Tommy, Thursdays at the Club Café in the company of his wingman Rico and a Skinny Black Bitch (vodka and Diet Coke) are unmissable. Recently relocated from Miami to Boston to take a reporting job at The Boston Daily, Tommy is finding it hard to break away from his tight-knit Cuban family, but his homesickness goes into rapid remission when he meets Mikey, a blue-eyed, boyish guidance counselor from Cape Cod. Smart, funny, and wicked cute, Mikey is perfect boyfriend material…until his drinking leads Tommy to suspect that he’s got some issues of his own. Rico–a tough-talking, Italian-American accountant with a gamma ray smile and mournful green eyes that hint at a past he’ll admit to no one–is sure Mikey is bad news, but to Rico any relationship that lasts longer than three hours sounds like bad news. Then there’s Kyle, the lean, preening model and former reality show star who makes a red-carpet entrance into the CC every Thursday as if a swarm of cameras still follows his every move, but whose real life is about to take a dramatic turn he never anticipated.
Over the course of one unforgettable year, Tommy is forced to rethink everything he’s ever believed about life, lust, and love. And in the Club Café, a place filled with endless possibilities–of stumbling upon the perfect partner, the perfect story idea, or just a play buddy for the night–Tommy might finally discover the person he was meant to be.
Review: Again Kensington Press has not disappointed me. Boston Boys Club was a delightful read. Each chapter depicted scenes from the lives of one of 3 friends, each told in first person. Diaz lets us into the heads and thoughts of these 3 guys over a span of a years time. The characters are as shallow and one-dimensional as many of my own real-world friends so I made an instant connection to the story. If you are looking for a deep and philosophically moving book this ain’t it. BBC is a fun, light & often times humorous frolic through the lives of 3 gay men. In a quiet and subtitle way it sends out some meaningful social thoughts and messages. I thought the book was charming, the story was well told and the characters reminded me of real people in my own reality. Fun! Fun! Fun!
Channeling the magical love of storytelling of early American writers like Kate Chopin and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Reasons for the Fall follows a trio of aimless, romantic and wealthy friends on a summer vacation to Saugatuck, an enchanted and bohemian town snuggled alongside the dunes of Lake Michigan. This volume also includes three short stories which travel from the sandy Great Lakes coast to the mind of an enchanted old woman, to a personal narrative by the author and, across the solar system, to the cold surface of one of Jupiter’s mysterious moons.
