I cannot wait to show off my new cover. Anne Cain has done a stupendous job with Feral. Any day now, I’m sure, it will be official and I can post it here.
Feral will be out May 5 and, well, I can’t wait for that too. Patience is a virtue, I guess.
Archive for February, 2009
Well, these aren’t so recently read now, to be honest. I’ve been remiss about writing up books I read. Which is a shame since I enjoy it, even if they’re more reader reaction than review. One of the best things about writing m/m is reading m/m. Of course you can just do one or the other, but I like to see what others are writing. And despite popular trends, the genre is very flexible
(Right now I’m actually reading a fantasy with m/m romantic elements and loving it. Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett. Will have to write about that too.)
Anyway, in late 2008 I read two excellent books, The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks and Collision Course. There are a number of contrasts that I can note with these two books. Ghost is by Josh Lanyon, one of my favorite authors, and I try to read pretty much everything he writes. Collision Course was by a new-to-me author KA Mitchell.
Collision Course is marked Red Hot by Samhain. For good reason, as there’s a lot of sex in the book, right from the beginning. I’ll admit it, there have been times in the past when my eyes begin to glaze over during sex scenes of certain books, and I wish the author would return to the story. Or I think, not another sex scene. But not here.
Mitchell’s story is told through the sex scenes and they’re hot, relevant, moving and develop the relationship. I loved the two heroes, and I found it a gripping read. Not only that, Aaron and Joey have jobs that are very important to them (paramedic and social worker), and these jobs are also important in the development of the story. I’m not the only one who loved it, as Dear Author’s Joan gave it an A- and jessewave gave it 5 stars.
I used to say that I didn’t really read mystery. But that’s not quite true, I realize. It’s more that I’m picky, or inflexible, when it comes to mystery. I’m actually a fan of quite a few mystery authors: PD James, Ariana Franklin, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Kate Ross. But there’ve been a number of popular mystery writers who really don’t do it for me. Either the final explanation falls flat, which kinda wrecks the story for me, or the characterization doesn’t engage me. Anyway, all this to say that I thoroughly enjoy Josh Lanyon’s mysteries, including The Ghost Wore Yellow Socks.
Ghost has this cool atmosphere with a boarding-house mystery and a missing dead body. Perry is physically frail but tenacious and determined to find out what happened to that dead body only he saw. Nick, meanwhile, gets involved, both with Perry and the mystery, despite himself. Lots of excellent secondary characters. A very nice, slow build-up to Perry and Nick’s relationship. It, too, got 5 stars from jessewave.
Hey, there’s been some great discussion about m/m romance over at the Romance Novel TV blog. It starts here, and continues for five more posts.
The question and answer sessions are with Josh Lanyon, JL Langley, Ally Blue, Jet Myckles, Chris Owen, KA Mitchell, LB Gregg and Jamie Craig. (I think I got them all.)
I’ve just recently discovered this blog. They also have a cool video interview with executive editor Angela James, on the front page.
Because of this:
I can go cross-country skiing tomorrow! 
Hey, I have a new review up, from Joyfully Reviewed. Some nice words and much appreciated.
Poison is a multifaceted Sci-Fi story. It’s very involving and one that I couldn’t put down until I completed it. …with an interesting romance of two men who need each other for survival…
Thank you, Ley!
Or, relatively recent reads. I haven’t been posting about books I’ve enjoyed for quite some time. But I’d like to get back to that. One of them was Claire Thompson’s Handyman. It came out in September and I read it a while after that.
I liked the premise, of a cynical younger man and an older, shyer, if not skittish man. I like when one guy has to be wooed. It’s a very sweet romance, lots of emotion, and I’m not the only one who liked it because I believe it got on the list of Samhain Reader’s Choice books. Claire Thompson has a m/m/m, Polar Reaction, coming out soon.
In November I also read the classic The Charioteer by Mary Renault. This was just a gorgeous book. There’s sadness and joy in it. Set during World War I, it’s hard to see these young men having been sent off to war and the aftermath of it. The slowly developing relationships are fantastically done, and I found it very moving. I consider The Charioteer a romance, but it is so much more. I need to read more of Mary Renault.
Free ebooks can be had in the Samhellion Valentine Swag Hunt.
Lots of authors involved and lots of hunts. Check it out!
