So they were both crushing on each other, and yet, both were afraid of venturing into dangerous territory. – Andrea Speed
Luke Diaz has his friend Marc and an herbal drug laced health shake to blame for his sudden, and now soberly inexplicable, urge to sign up for an adult dodgeball league. He’s baffled, sure, but now that he’s done it, it’s more curiosity than anything that draws him to the high school gymnasium to check out what kind of people actually take the sport, if that’s even the right word for it, seriously enough to try out for a chance at one of the four vacant spots on the Seattle Thunderballs’ team roster.
It’s all a bit of a weird experience for Luke, and he’s sort of tempted to write it off as a momentary lapse of sanity…until the team’s captain saunters his way across the gym floor, blowing his whistle and clutching that red rubber ball. Oh yeah, Shane Kinrade catches Luke’s attention and suddenly dodgeball doesn’t seem so weird after all. In fact, Shane makes Luke want to try really hard to earn one of those coveted spots on the team, and now it’s not a matter of blaming Marc and that herbal shake for the urge to dodge some balls as much as it is thanking them both for the eyeful of pretty that is the sexy captain. The problem is, Luke has no idea if Shane is gay.
Thunderballs is Andrea Speed’s contribution to Dreamspinner Press’ Daily Dose collection, and if you’ve ever seen the movie Dodgeball, you can probably imagine what was going through my head when I snatched this one up to read. But let me assure you, Thunderballs is much less goofy than the movie (nary a wrench to the face to be found), and Luke and Shane and their winks and smiles were fun to watch as they finally got about the business of getting their flirt on.
If you’re reading this… Congratulations, you’re alive. If that’s not something to smile about, then I don’t know what is. ― Chad Sugg, “Monsters Under Your Head”
There are so many things that scare me about the “Infected” series. Not the beasties that could eat my face off. No, that’d be too simple. What I’m really terrified of is that Andrea Speed doesn’t fear me enough not to do things that have the potential to make me weep openly. Hey, she’s done it before and could very well do it again, considering that my love for this bizarre little corner of her world is only mildly insane and entirely obsessive.
Roan’s morphing. Again. But you all knew that already if you’ve been following along on this bizarre Rorschach test of a journey that I look at head-on and think, I should really know what that is, but the image is just this side of, “huh?” And I can’t grasp it. Maybe if I squinted and tilted my head a little to the right I’d understand what the lion is doing to Roan. Or, maybe it’s a matter of what Roan’s doing to the lion. I don’t know, but one thing I do know for sure is this is getting good. I also know another thing: the general public, the extremists, and even some of Roan’s own are still bent on punishing him, or deifying him, for his nature.
And then there’s Holden. You remember him; the guy who never met a social more he wasn’t willing to break, or annihilate, until it weeps under the heel of his derision. Holden, the unflappable man-whore who isn’t above a little lying and cheating and doing whatever he has to do to get results…isn’t quite so unflappable anymore now, is he? Because he’s finally met someone, someone who isn’t Roan, who’s willing to take Holden at face value and doesn’t ask anything more of him than to just be himself, which isn’t always easy for Holden, because who he is morphs according to the circumstances and situation. When Holden let’s anyone see the real him, the him behind all the external trappings and affectations, you can believe that person is someone Holden trusts, regardless of whether he’s willing to admit what it could potentially mean. And he’s morphing again, it would seem. Maybe that’s why he and Roan get along so well; they’re both in a state of constant evolution and are just cynical enough of the world and all who inhabit it that it doesn’t matter whether they go out with a bang or a whimper as long as they’re going out on their own terms and are flipping off the bulk of humanity as they go.
Roan, Holden, Dylan, Scott, Grey, and most of the other usual suspects are back in Infected: Undertow, and you know Roan and Holden are throwing around loads of the general wiseassery they’re so good at. But they’ve got a few cases to solve too, which isn’t unexpected considering how good they are at what they do, even when there are seemingly no clues to follow, and the stench of failure clings like a miasma that almost foils even Roan’s super-senses.
There are so many downfalls inherent in loving a man like Roan, but Dylan appears up to the challenge of nurturing his husband along until he finally believes he’s got something, or someone, a lot of someones, actually, to live for. Let’s hope the lion agrees and deigns to allow him a little more life in his years and a lot more years in his life. Roan is not allowed to simply go gentle into that good night. Why? Because even if Roan ever gets only a small slice of normal in this world, at least it’s a slice worth living and fighting for.
I’d say Andrea Speed dialed Infected: Undertow up to eleven, but that’s so passé these days. So, I’ll give it a twelve. Well, it’s one louder, isn’t it? It is. Honestly, I can’t decide what I’d base my recommendation of this book on, because there are layers to it that keep peeling away as we get closer and closer to the end. The mysteries; the transmogrification of our badass virus child; the pain and conflict he endures not necessarily for being who and what he is but for who he loves and for all that they suffer on his behalf; maybe I’d recommend it for nothing more than the obscure cultural references and witty banter. I’d even recommend this book for Holden’s story alone, so let’s just say, all of the above.
As the author of the Vasquez and James books, I called a number of the characters together for a meeting because readers had been asking questions—questions I couldn’t answer—and I thought it was time to put their concerns to rest, once and for all. When I called to make arrangements, it seemed at first as if the plan would come off without a hitch. Sonny answered the phone.
“Sure, we’d love to,” Sonny said, after I explained about wanting to do a group interview. “Where did you want to meet?”
“Well, I was hoping you might be willing to come down to my place,” I said. “I’m just down here off Budd Inlet, near the Capitol.”
“Oh, yeah. Love that area! It’s a nice drive down the canal, too, and Kaholo’s never been that way…. I guess I’ll have to take the Merc, since it’s a little bigger. What with two extra men and Bear.”
“Perfect,” I said. “I have a couple of questions for Brian, too, and I’ve got a pretty good sized yard for Bear to investigate.”
Sonny laughed, that sweet, deep, rolling chuckle that always lightened my heart. “Okay, it’s all set, then. And if Bear digs holes I’ll make Luki go out and fill them in.”
But then, a distant, deep, scratchy, grouchy-sounding voice in the background. “Give me the phone, Sonny.”
Sonny must have put a hand over the mouthpiece, because his reply was muffled. “Luki, it’s just Lou. She wants us to meet at her place for an interview.”
“I am quite well aware that Ms. Sylvre is trying once again to manipulate our lives. Just give me the phone, please.”
“Fine. But we’ll talk about this later.” Then, into the receiver again, “Lou, Luki wants to talk to you.”
Next thing I know Luki was on the phone and growling at me. “No, we’re not coming to your house, Ms. Sylvre, and that’s final. We’re finally here at Sonny’s home—”
“Your home, Luki.”
“Right, my home, but that’s between Sonny and me. The point is in the entire plot of Finding Jackie you never let us be home for even a day. We’re here now, trying to recover, and we’re staying here. I mean, who the hell knows where you’ll send us next—could be fucking France or something.”
“Um.”
“Oh, don’t tell me! France? Really?”
I decided it might be wise to try to placate him. “Anyway, that’s fine, Luki. I’ll just come to your place again.”
***
And so here we were, once again on Sonny’s beautiful land by the Straits of Juan de Fuca, surrounded by forest. This time, though, we’re driven inside by a steady summer rain. It’s just cool enough, off the water in the shadow of the Olympics, to warrant a small fire in the wood stove in the living room, and we’ve gathered round the kitchen table with very good coffee steaming in our cups—except for Brian who has a glass of milk. Luki, to my surprise, is busy finishing up appetizer offerings. Already, we each have fluted, pedestaled, shallow carnival glass dish set before us with something he calls Aloha crisp—pineapple, bacon, nuts, coconut, and only Luki knows what else in there. He sets down a tray of mini-kebobs with pork, peppers, onion, and pineapple, and a mountain of rice-prickly glazed meatballs, each with its own toothpick handle, and finally he sits down in the seat next to me.
Everyone else is digging in and licking lips. Luki is watching me. I’m overwhelmed.
“Is everything all right, Ms. Sylvre? You need something?”
Yes, Luki, I think, I need to figure out how not to cry. “No, everything’s beautiful. I just didn’t expect it, that’s all. Perhaps you should have been a chef?”
An odd look crossed his face, and I wasn’t sure if he was wondering if I could get any stupider, or if he was touched by what I said. Sonny caught his eye, and that’s where Luki was looking when he answered. “My uncle taught me to cook. I enjoy it.”
“Thank you,” I said, remembering my manners.
“You’re welcome, Ms. Sylvre. Can we eat and get this questioning business over with at the same time?”
***
LS: Okay, guys. I was going to interview you each one at a time, but I’ve decided that we’re all gathered around Luki’s beautiful pu-pu—
Luki: Watch it, Sylvre.
LS: Uh… Anyway we’ll just ask questions of the appropriate person as we come to them. First, a couple of questions from Traci.
Q: Sonny, what is something that you do on purpose to drive Luki nuts? Is it funny to see your favorite bad ass lose his shit over something?
Sonny: (Note that to his credit, Sonny did not look toward Luki to see if it was okay to speak.) Well, Lou and Traci, I hate to start off with a boring answer, but I really can’t think of much I do on purpose, although I do tease him about the bucket loads of sugar he puts in his coffee. And well, when he was in the hospital under the influence of pain medication, he was pretty easy to string along. That was kind of fun. He does kind of get all wound up about things when I change my mind suddenly, stuff like that, and its really cute. (Here, Luki inserted a silent eye roll.) But I don’t do that on purpose, I’m just being me. But, the thing is, I’d never drive him to seriously lose his shit on purpose. He needs to be in control, and it’s really hard on him when he’s not. The only times he’s ever totally lost his cool around me were not good memories. They were painful for both of us.
Q: Luki, Traci’s question for you is this: what is your favorite part of everyday life that you share with Sonny? Something that is small & simple that you never would have thought as being enjoyable.
Luki: (Luki looks at Sonny, eyes perceptibly wide with surprise, and when Sonny smiles at him, kebob juice dripping from his chin, Luki actually, clearly smiles back. It’s beautiful. Then Luki turns to me, ready to answer.) Ms. Sylvre, Traci has asked a very good question. Problem is it’s so hard to choose just one. I love seeing him next to me if by some miracle I wake up before he does; I love hearing the rattle of his looms when he’s working; I love seeing him go for his quick dip in the cold straits in the morning; I even love his off key singing as long as he’s in another room. But I guess if I have t choose a favorite, it would be our walks on the beach in the late afternoon, just the two of us and Bear. I can’t say why. It just makes me feel… maybe happy.
Q: Bluesimplicity has a a question for both of you, Luki and Sonny. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve each learned about yourself now that your married?
Sonny: This might sound silly, but I’ve been surprised to find out that I was lonely out here, before.
Luki: This is maybe cheating a bit, because I think I learned it before we were actually married, but it shocked the hell out of me to find out I like sleeping—I mean actually sleeping—with the man I love. I never had anybody sleep in my bed before Sonny.
Q: Jackie M. has questions for everybody. First, Sonny, she’d like to know how long you’re going to… um, now these are her words, okay? Not mine. How long are you going to let Luki make you wait for kids.
Sonny: Um… I never thought about kids, Jackie. I mean, I enjoy them. I just can’t see me… Well, I had Delsyn with me, of course, but I don’t think I did that great of a job. I had help, thank heaven, but… I never asked Luki about this either. Oh my god. How could I have married the man and never even thought about asking him…
Luki: Hey, baby. It’s okay. The nice reader didn’t mean any harm. Listen we’ll talk about it later, if you want, but there’s no problem here. ‘Kay?
Sonny: ‘Kay. I love you, Luki.
Q: Well, I’m sorry that turned out to be a much tougher question than I expected. Um, but while we’re on the subject—”
Luki: We’re not.
Q: Amy wants to know whether there are children in your future, Luki?
Luki: After you just made Sonny so miserable, you’re going to ask that? (Luki’s eyes are really quite disturbing when he’s glaring right at you. I almost peed.)
LS: Don’t shoot the messenger? (I meant that literally)
Kaholo: Now, Luki.
Luki: Alright, fine. I’m sure Amy meant no harm either. And just to shut up the subject, I’ll try to answer, for my part anyway. Here’s the thing. I have no idea how to be a father. Where would I ever have learned? If Sonny decides he wants kids, I’ll try to make myself into a parent, but although one part of me would love to raise a child, the greater share of my intelligence tells me that wouldn’t be kind. My mother—I know she was wonderful, especially before she got sick, but I barely remember that. And my father, well, I would never want to do that to a child. (I glance at Sonny and see he is nearly in tears. He reaches over and lays a hand on Luki’s shoulder. Luki doesn’t answer the look, but he does put his hand over Sonny’s and give it a squeeze.)
Brian: You had Kaholo.
Luki: (To my surprise, Luki doesn’t scold Brian or give him a fear-inspiring look, and Kaholo doesn’t respond. When Luki speaks, it’s to Brian.) Brian, Kaholo is the most wonderful uncle anyone can hope for, but he’s not my father. My dad loved me, but you know, that isn’t enough.
Q: Okay, Luki, on a lighter note, I hope, Jackie also wants to know if you might ever learn grass dancing to surprise Sonny?
Luki: (Bursts out in actual laughter.)
Kaholo: You know Luki did dance, when he was young, before…things happened. He was still learning but he was pretty good at it. If the readers want to go this You Tube video, it’s the kind of dancing he was learning:
Q: Kaholo that actually brings me to Jackie’s question for you. She’s wondering when you are going to find a nice woman and settle down.
Kaholo: Well, I am pretty settled down, and (He laughs his deep, bass laugh, and bobs his bushy eyebrows.) I do know some ‘nice’ women.
Q: Listen, Kaholo, I have a question here for Josh. Can we get him on the phone, do you think? (There’s a little fussing, Josh is in Nebraska with Jackie, who is still, understandably hospitalized, getting some intensive therapy. When he comes on the line, on speaker, I ask him Jackie’s question.) Josh, a reader named Jackie M. wants to know what you see yourself doing in the future, careerwise. Do you think you will follow in Luki’s footsteps?
Josh: No. Not in Luki’s footsteps. I don’t have whatever it is that takes. Right now I just want to get me and Jackie through high school—I’m almost done. Then I want to get a job, something physical. I like tools and things, and working outside.
LS: Thanks, Josh. You remind me of my brother. And speaking of brothers, Jackie M. also wants to get a message to your brother Jackie. She says, “I hope you work it all out, sweets.”
Josh: Tell her thank you, okay. I gotta get back. I’ll tell him.
Q: Carol wants you two, Sonny and Luki, to sum each other up in one word.
Luki: What the fu…?
Sonny: Honey that’s probably true but it’s more than one word.
LS: Stop it, you two. Carol is serious and it’s a very god question. But I don’t want you to influence each others answers. So I’m passing each of you a sticky note to write your answers. (It took them no time at all, they both scribbled their answers quickly and passed them back. Sonny’s said, “everything.” Luki’s, surprisingly said, ”sanctuary.”)
Q: Okay, moving along. (It had grown pin-drop quiet.) Amy also asked why you trim your toenails before sex, Sonny. She thinks it’s weird.
Sonny: (Sonny happened to be standing pouring more coffee, and his free hand went straight to his hip in indignation.) Not weird at all. I don’t want to scratch Luki with my toenails. You would do well to be considerate in that fashion as well, Amy!
Q: And that sort of leads us right into the next question, which Lisa couldn’t resist asking, she says. Luki, how long did it take for you to realize that when Sonny’s hand goes to his hip, you’re in big trouble?
Luki: (A surprised laugh bubbles out, even though Luki isn’t smiling.) Well, just look at him. It didn’t take me any time at all. I mean, formidable, right?
Q: Well this one, too, then, Luki, from Lisa. What’s the one thing Sonny does without even realizing he’s doing it that takes your breath away?
Luki: That’s hard to answer! There’s something during sex, but I’m pretty sure he knows. And then, well, there’s… oh, wait. He calls me ‘husband’. (Sonny turns purple and Luki’s chewing his lip.) I hope now that he knows he won’t stop, or become self-conscious. I love him so much.
Q: (I clear my throat and surreptitiously wipe my eyes.) Brian, this one is from Lisa for you, okay?
Brian: (Looks surprised.) Oh, okay.
LS: If you could wish for one thing and have that wish come true, what would it be?
Brian: (Smiling.) That’s easy. I would wish for Jackie Vasquez to be whole, healthy, and happy.
Q: Kaholo, the question for you is, what about Luki are you most proud of?
Kaholo: The question is difficult because I can think of nothing about him that doesn’t make me feel proud. But I guess we’re usually proud of those we love for doing things that are both good and difficult for them. The hardest thing, and also probably the best thing, that Luki has ever done, to my knowledge is learn to let Sonny love him. That wouldn’t be hard for everyone, but for him, monumental. And, proud? God yes I’m proud of Luki everyday. (Luki scratches head, clears his throat, chews his lip, and looks everywhere but at somebody. So suddenly he almost knocks his chair over, he gets up and says Bear needs a walk. As soon as he and Bear stepped out, Kaholo nodded and spoke up again.) Mission accomplished, eh?
Q: Sonny, Lisa wants to know what’s the most challenging thing about loving Luki?
Sonny: I have to name two things, sorry. I can’t pick one. First, he has a hard time accepting help no matter how badly he needs it. Second… well, sometimes I know he’s hurting, usually because of some memory or whatever, but he usually won’t share it. I just have to be there with him and trust that he knows that if he wants to tell, I’ll listen. Those are hard times.
Q: Sonny, one more, much easier, I hope. (Just then the screen door banged lightly and a damp Bear trotted past on his way to the fireside. Luki poured coffee for anyone who needed it before sitting down—even got Brian another glass of milk. He seemed completely recovered and made it a point to run a hand along Sonny’s shoulder on his way to his chair. He said nothing, so I went on with the question.) Lasha wants to know, Sonny, if you had it to do over again, big Hawaiian wedding, or Vegas.
Sonny: Oh, definitely Hawaii. I would do it again, and again, and again. It was wonderful.
Q: Sonny, I have two more questions for you. For this first one I’m going to have use my time turner and then wipe everyone’s memories, afterward.
Kaholo: What’s a time turner?
Brian: You have a time turner?
Luki: Where in the hell did you get a time turner?
Sonny: Wipe our memories?
(I put the time turner on the table, holding onto it with one hand to stop inquisitive or bratty grabbing, and told everyone to hold on to me. They grumbled and bitched, but they did it and that was a weird feeling in itself. Then I turned the turner, a lot, so that we ended up roughly 5.333 years in the future, after Luki’s cancer.)
Q: Sonny, Lisa asks, if you could weave a tapestry of Luki’s illness, chemo, and recovery, what colors would you use, and what would the image be?
Sonny: It would be so hard to crunch that whole experience down into one tapestry. Probably, I wouldn’t. But if I did, the colors would be, I think the ordinary colors of life. I weave pictorial tapestries, and this one would be no exception. The primary image would be a road, or a path, I think. In the foreground it would be dark, muted, winter. The dimension would be wide rather than tall. There would be obstacles, there might be comfortable resting places. But at some point the road would fork and one side would lead back into desolation, while the other would lead back into life. Not glory, but the colors of sunrise on the straits, out here. I suppose.
(I brought us back with the time turner, and wiped memories succinctly.)
Luki: Why are we all sad and don’t know why? And I asked you before, where did you get a time turner?
LS: Dumbledore of course.
Luki: Dumble…!
Q: Now if you don’t mind I have one more question Sonny. Anne wants to know something about your weaving.
Sonny: (Scrunches his eyebrows.) Seems familiar.
LS: (I clear my throat.) Anyway, Anne says, “I love the description of colors in your weaving and how you see colors. Now that you and Luki are married, what colors would you use to weave a piece that represents both of you together?
Sonny: Oh, what a sweet question. I think Anne and I would get along well. Hard to answer though. There would be a certain amount of simple comfort to it—maybe the deep blue of the sky around here in autumn, maybe for the refreshing and always surprising wakefulness, awareness that there is between us, that bright, light gold of morning on the water. But there would be fire too! I don’t weave with red anymore, but deep to bright oranges and yellows and the blue that you sometimes see at the base of a flame. Finally, the cool moonlight meadow where one comes to rest. The colors are “almost colors.” Silver light.
LS: Oh that’s beautiful, Sonny. Thanks. I have just—”
Luki: No. Absolutely not. (He’s actually holding his hand up right in my face.) It just so happens, Ms. La-di-dah Sylvre, that I too have been in touch with Jackie M. and Lisa. So we’re going to get some straight answers from you! First, when is there going to be another book in the series?
LS: Hopefully this year. I’m waiting to hear from the publisher. And let me tell you, Mr. La-di-dah Vasquez, you are not having much fun in that book.
Luki: Why you little—
Kaholo and Sonny: Luki!
Luki: Fine. Well listen to what else Jackie wants to know. If you could learn a skill from Sonny or me, would you want to be the… hm hm, hardass… Luki Vasquez, or would you be the artistic Sonny Bly.
LS: It’s a difficult choice. Sonny is, I’m sure you’ll agree, so extraordinary. And I’ve done some art things and enjoyed them. But I could never live up to that beauty and grace. No, I’d like to play with guns for a living and know how to knock someone over with a finger or a mean look. I’d like to be a Luki Vasquez.
Luki: Of course you would. Well, one more. Lisa wants to know what is the one thing that happened as you’ve been writing the series that completely shocked you when you wrote it because you didn’t see it coming.
LS: I cannot pick one thing, sorry Lisa and Luki. The characters have surprised me at every turn. There is one thing that was most surprising to me, but it hasn’t yet been published, so I’m going to keep mum on that one. In the meantime, I’ll name something about Sonny, and something about Luki. In regard to Sonny, when he revealed his history, including but not limited to the stint in prison, it left me completely confounded. For Luki, I think I’d have to say the bit that is revealed about his youthful forays into the world of man-sex in Finding Jackie. In both those cases, I spent some time arguing before I agreed they needed to be in the story.
Luki: I knew I shouldn’t have told you that shit. You just ran with it didn’t you?
LS: Luki, it made the story make more sense. And it made me love you more. So shut up. I have one more question from Lisa for both you and Sonny. Where do you go from here?
(They answer at the same time)
Sonny: Bed.
Luki: To get a hamburger.
(Sonny’s mouth opens, and his hand rests on his hip.)
Luki: After bed, I mean. Or before if you prefer. Or hell, we can get the hamburger and have hamburgers in bed… Or no hamburger… Or… Whatever you want sweetie, really….
When baseball is no longer fun, it’s no longer a game. – Joe DiMaggio
Jonathan Young did a very bad thing. Something so bad that he was turned into a pariah by an entire city. You might not think it such a bad thing. I certainly don’t. The very bad thing that Jonathan Young did? He caught a baseball. Not just any baseball, though. The baseball that Jonathan Young caught could have been the ball that landed the Boston Red Sox in the World Series for the first time since 1918.
Baseball fans in Boston take their Sox very seriously. Jonathan was harassed from every angle. The photographers wouldn’t leave him alone, so he lost his job. He changed his phone number five times. His boyfriend of five years couldn’t take the pressure, so he left. Even his own brother wouldn’t speak to him. All over a baseball. Jonathan refused to talk to any reporters regarding the incident, no matter how much money they threw at him. All this over a baseball. He earned the nickname The Bane of Boston.
Jonathan changed his name to Jack and moved to Chicago. Jack thought he could easily get lost in such a big city. For three years, this proved to be true. Then Jack me Ryan in a bar near Wrigley Field. Ryan was the first man Jack had met since moving. Unfortunately, Ryan recognized Jack. Even more unfortunately, Ryan is a sports reporter for the Chicago Tribune.
Ryan sees in Jack the possibility to have the career he always wanted. He had the chance at an exclusive interview with the Bane of Boston! He would take Jack home, and after spending the night with him, get him to open up about the very bad thing.
After spending some time together in and out of bed, Ryan confesses to Jack who he is and that he took Jack home in hopes of writing an article about him. He also tells Jack that now that he knows him, he can’t write the story, because he wants Jack more than he wants an exclusive. He wants to spend every day proving it.
Jack leaves, but not before Ryan writes down and gives him his phone number. That piece of paper seems to burn a hole in Jack’s pocket. He avoids the bar where he met Ryan. Ryan searches for and eventually finds Jack in a new bar and repeats his desire to have Jack in his life.
My favorite thing about this book was Jack and Ryan’s ability to forgive and forget. Ryan was willing to forget that his Jack was Jonathan Young, the Bane of Boston and was willing to sacrifice his career goals for Jack’s love. Jack was able to forgive Ryan for starting their relationship on a lie and he finally found someone to love him in spite of being the most hated man in baseball.
Bane of Boston was a short, but sweet read. I highly recommend it to the romantic in all of you!
If you dare nothing, then when the day is over, nothing is all you will have gained. ― Neil Gaiman
August Ferrell and his high school basketball team are playing in the North Dakota Class A basketball tournament, and this one’s for all the marbles because August is a senior, so there are not more do-overs if his team doesn’t pull out a win this time around.
August has never been what you’d call a risk taker. He’s always played his cards pretty close to the chest, and there are only a couple of people in his life who know he’s gay. He’s never learned the finer art of flirting, or even how to tell if another guy’s gay without getting his behind kicked for coming on to the wrong one. Keeping his secret has conditioned him not to take chances when there’s a safer alternative, but that all begins to change the moment he meets Luca Knutson, point guard on a rival team that August’s own team needs to defeat to make it to the final round of the playoffs.
Posy Roberts’ Risking It is a lovely coming-out and coming-of-age story, in which somewhere amidst the smiles and the eye contact and the adrenaline of the competition, August discovers that taking risks is often the only way in life to win. It’s the story of two young men who are about to take the monumental step from high school to college, and is a story of the freedom simply to be. It’s the promise of a relationship that began with secret stolen kisses but will grow in the pride of living and loving out loud.
I’d love to see August and Luca, Part Two: The College Years someday. That’s how much their new beginning drew me in and made me sorry to see their story end.
Risking It is part of Dreamspinner Press’s 2013 Daily Dose: Make a Play project, so this book’s individual release date is a super top-secret-reveal-it-on-pain-of-death surprise, but if you’re interested in pre-ordering it, you can do that here:
Love is blind and thinks that others don’t see either. – Danish Proverb
Flexibility is Maja Rose’s second contribution so far this year to Dreamspinner Press’s Daily Dose Anthologies. Her previous story Made Good Under Pressure was featured in DSP’s “Closet Capers” anthology.
In Flexibility, we meet a pair of Olympic Men’s Gymnastics hopefuls. Jared Glass and Andrew Blackwell have been best friends since grade school and roommates for almost two years. Andrew is gay and, unbeknownst to Jared, Andy is in love with him.
The story opens with Jared’s teammate Sam breaking a leg (literally!) and being replaced on the team by Andrew. Jared reacts badly to this information. He doesn’t want to have to spend more time than necessary with Andrew, but doesn’t understand why. His twin sister, Anna, has a pretty good idea of why, though. She thinks that Jared has been in love with Andy since they were in third grade and held a mock wedding. Where they married each other!
The more Jared thinks about spending much more time with Andy at home and at the gym, the more he gets a warm fuzzy feeling. He refuses to admit to himself that it may be something deeper than friendship until Andrew is involved in a minor car accident.
Suddenly, Jared realizes that he wants to be the one at the hospital comforting Andy, taking care of him. He realizes that his sister just may have been right all along.
Ms. Rose is a young woman of only twenty-one, and I believe she has a long future ahead of her as a gay romance writer.
One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life: that word is love. ― Sophocles
Goose bumps and tears. That’s what this book gave me, goose bumps and tears. Pretty nifty, that, I think, because it means an author has not only written a story that has provoked an emotional response but a physical one as well, and to do that, to keep me so invested in the lives of her characters that a single name causes me to shiver and tear up at the same time, I’m thinking that’s what’s called…voodoo witchcraft. No, not that, but it’s something really, really good.
If you fell in love with Cole Fenton and Jonathan Kechter in Strawberries for Dessert and couldn’t get enough of them in Paris A-Z, then fear not, because Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding will likely send you into fits of the giddies for the sheer love of these two men and the turn their lives are taking. There is pain and promise and expectation tempered by fear but founded in hope in this installment of the lives and love of these two men, who are setting out on a journey from which there is no turning back, one in which each step forward will be marked with a discord of emotions and a revisiting of the past that holds promise for the future.
Jon and his father, George, tell this story, but there is never a moment’s doubt that this chapter in their lives belongs entirely to Cole, as he alternately advances and retreats, both emotionally and physically, as is his way. But there comes a point in a man’s life when forward is the only direction left to travel, regardless of how terrifying that may be, and sometimes that means exhuming the things you’ve buried because dredging them up and examining them and admitting aloud that they hurt you is the only way to exorcise them, and to put paid to that hurt, and to give someone a second chance to be a part of your life rather than living with the regret of never having tried at all.
Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding is both an opening and a closure, a beginning of the most humbling and terrifying journey a person can set out on, and a closure of the most painful and bitter journey a person may travel. Marie Sexton doesn’t pull any punches in this book. This one was meant to go straight for the emotional jugular and her aim is true. There is so much joy to be found at the end of this story, though, that it was almost easy to forget my heart was in a vice grip the entire way through. And it was so worth it.
Fear, Hope, and Bread Pudding can be purchased here:
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Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power. ― Oscar Wilde
WARNING!Raining Men is not your typical romance novel. Hot sex abounds! Love does conquer all! It is raining men! Amen! However, don’t expect gooey romance with this book.
I was interested in how Reed was going to follow up his novel Chaser, and was I ever surprised; first of all, to find out that it was a meaty 400 plus pages, and secondly, that the main character was Bobby, the despicable slut, who in Chaser nearly breaks up the two main characters. I thought to myself, “this is going to be interesting.”
I have to admit that at first Bobby put me off. Because of that, I think the book started out a little slow for me. Though as despised as Bobby was from Chaser, Reed did a remarkable feat in making him likeable. Reed did a remarkable job, in fact, of fleshing out all the characters and making them come alive.
Bobby is struggling. His best friend, Caden, won’t talk to Bobby because he tried to break up Caden and his boyfriend. Bobby now finds himself in therapy and discovers that perhaps he is a sex addict. I have to be honest and say that this story is not about romance, but about Bobby’s sexual addiction. The story is about Bobby’s struggle to discover himself, his motivations, and why he is unable to establish lasting relationships. It is a remarkable journey that, once I was into the novel, I found it truly engrossing.
As a gay man for which sex plays a big part of my persona, I was fascinated by Bobby’s struggle. I enjoyed rolling around inside Bobby’s head and studying his motivations for sexual deviancy and sexual promiscuity. Bobby’s evolution as a person who is able to love and yearns for a loving relationship is a tour de force, because you start out hating him and in the end are in love with him. In Raining Men, there is a plot with plenty of substance about a main character that makes one examine themselves, and if not themselves, helps them to understand others. Not trying to give too much away, yes, there is romance in the end, but it is not the lead character in this fabulous novel. Instead, it is the struggle of a person discovering himself, healing, and becoming a whole person.
This novel is truly a remarkable work and deserves plenty of accolades. I am sure that it will receive many.
Recently, I read a review for my latest release, Tarnished Gold, in which the reviewer stated that the book didn’t have enough conflict. She liked the book, gave it a great rating, but the fact that the conflict wasn’t, in her estimation, present, bothered me, because I know better.
Of course, I accepted the review with a thank you and I meant it. I also stated this:
Just a note on conflict. My take on the subject was that they lived in a time of great change and conflict. Every day they were faced with situations that affected the way they lived and worked. There was a lot of conflict, but it was the way Jack and Wyatt chose to handle it that made them what they were.
As a reader, I tend to get worn out with stories that wring it out of you with one conflict after another, often contrived for the sake of the formula. By design, I chose to have Jack and Wyatt circle the wagons so to speak, and together, work through whatever life threw at them. Real people do that, that’s the way I live my life. No particular fanfare, just dig in and work through things, which makes you a stronger person and makes your relationship stronger as well. For these characters, the way they did that suited their personalities.
This review has stayed with me, because I know my book and I know that conflict did exist in it and what that conflict was. The major conflict is that the Hollywood that first doted on its gay residents then changed mid-stream, casting gay and lesbian actors as deviant. Amidst this atmosphere, what does one do about one of the most basic of human needs—to be themselves?
The choices were few if one was to keep their dignity and integrity intact. Should they be true to themselves, or play the game as set forth by others—the powers that be?
Studios forced many an actor to marry a beard in order to hide who they really were. In the years after those depicted in Tarnished Gold, Rock Hudson fell victim to this edict, as did Rudolph Valentino, Charles Laughton, Cole Porter, even Sir Laurence Olivier. There are rumors of current day actors in such marriages, while they can only be themselves in private.
Some actors, like William Haines, refused to knuckle under to studio demands, telling Louis B. Mayer that he was already married. He and his lover, Jimmie Shields, spent 42 years together, before Billy’s death in 1973. In 1934, actor Ramon Novarro refused as well, but instead of facing the world as boldly as Billy Haines did, Ramon chose a life of seclusion. For many years, he walled himself inside his Laurel Canyon home, where, in 1968, two brothers murdered him.
The conflict these men, and so many others, felt was the internal terror of never realizing the safety and security that straight actors took and take even today, for granted. Every day they lived with the pain others expecting them to live two lives. Their lives, professional and private, were, in many cases, a charade. Even their names, for some, weren’t their own.
In Tarnished Gold, I made a deliberate decision to not follow the formulaic theme of most romance novels, that being boy meets boy, they fall in love, all is well, boom, big major conflict, they break apart, then find their way back to each other, all is well, and they live happily ever after.
This is the same formula followed by writers of TV shows, movies, and books. Sometimes, conflict is used subtly, where the character fights the conflict within. These conflicts are often set in a character’s youth, some life-changing event, but always something major.
Then we have the silly conflicts, the lack of communication types, where you find yourself screaming, “Just tell him.” Those irritate and often cause me to put the book down or shut off the movie.
Reviewers have said that there is a biographical quality to Tarnished Gold, and when I think about it, there is, though I didn’t intend it that way. I have read biographies all my life, and still do. As a reader, I am very grounded in reality.
Yes, people have difficulties and problems to overcome, but not every day and usually in varying degrees. Sometimes problems (conflicts) strengthen a relationship, if handled properly. Conflicts don’t have to be bad, they don’t have to have a horrendous outcome, they don’t have to tear asunder all people have worked for.
In my own life, when the world comes knocking, we circle the wagons, pull out the bows and arrows, and take it on from within, together. We’ve had prior divorces, deaths, loss of jobs, money problems, meddling in-laws, even the birth of a daughter with a severe physical disability, and none of it even scratched the fabric of our relationship. Quite the contrary, they made us stronger, all of it, because we had each other and the faith that together, we could conquer anything.
This is what I tried to portray in Tarnished Gold, with Jack and Wyatt. While the world gave them its best shot, Jack and Wyatt battened down the hatches and fought back, quietly, without fanfare, without revealing their pain to the world. The triumph came in the fact that they won, because no one changed them or what they meant to each other.
I don’t think a story, romance or otherwise, has to follow the formula. Often during the writing, a story takes on a life of its own, and to force elements into it for the sake of convention serves no one.
I vehemently disagree that Tarnished Gold has no conflict, and perhaps it doesn’t in the usual sense. It’s there, burbling under the surface, giving Jack and Wyatt reason to do the things they do. No big explosions, no inane misunderstandings. Just an honest relationship, built on love, set in a time when their love was considered a dirty little secret.
What do you think? Does every story have to have conflict? What about angst? Can romances survive without these two elements? What is too much? Just enough?
I’m interested in your opinions.
I’ll select someone to receive a copy of either Tarnished Gold or For Men Like Us, the winner’s choice.
All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on Monday, June 10, 2013, and you’ll automatically be entered to win! One winner will be selected by Random.org and notified on Tuesday, June 11, 2013, so be sure to leave your email address in your comment.
To help you decide, here are the blurbs:
Here’s the blurb for Tarnished Gold:
In 1917, starstruck Jack Abadie strikes out for the gilded streets of the most sinful town in the country—Hollywood. With him, he takes a secret that his country hometown would never understand.
After years of hard work and a chance invitation to a gay gentlemen’s club, Jack is discovered. Soon, his talent, matinee idol good looks, and affable personality propel him to the height of stardom. But fame breeds distrust.
Meeting Wyatt Maitland turns Jack’s life upside down. He wants to be worthy of his good fortune, but old demons haunt him. Only through Wyatt’s strength can Jack face that which keeps him from being the man he wants to be. Love without trust is empty.
As the 1920s roar, scandals rock the movie industry. Public tolerance of Hollywood’s decadence has reached its limit. Under pressure to clean up its act, Jack’s studio issues an ultimatum. Either forsake the man he loves and remain a box office darling, or follow his heart and let his shining star fade to tarnished gold.
Read an excerpt and purchase the Tarnished Gold ebook or print, signed by the author (if one of the first twenty sold.)
I also have For Men Like Us, which takes place during the Regency in England. You can find it at Dreamspinner Press. Just click the title to be magically transported.
Blurb for For Men Like Us:
After Preston Meacham’s lover dies trying to lend him aid at Salamanca, hopelessness becomes his only way of life. Despite his best efforts at starting again, he has no pride left, which leads him to sell himself for a pittance at a molly house. The mindless sex affords him his only respite from the horrors he witnessed.
The Napoleonic War left Benedict Wilmot haunted by the acts he was forced to commit and the torture he endured at the hands of a superior, a man who used the threat of a gruesome death to force Ben to do his bidding. Even sleep gives Ben no reprieve, for he can’t escape the destruction he caused.
When their paths cross, Ben feels an overwhelming need to protect Preston from his dangerous profession. As he explains, “The streets are dangerous for men like us.”
About Brita Addams:
Born in Upstate New York, Brita Addams has made her home in the sultry south for many years. Brita’s home is a happy place, where she lives with her real-life hero, her husband, and a fat cat named Stormee.
She writes, for the most part, erotic historical romance, both het and m/m, which is an ideal fit, given her love of British and American history. Setting the tone for each historical is important. Research plays an indispensible part in the writing of any historical work, romance or otherwise. A great deal of reading and study goes into each work, to give the story the authenticity it deserves.
As a reader, Brita prefers historical works, romances and otherwise. She believes herself born in the wrong century, though she says she would find it difficult to live without air conditioning.
Brita and her husband love to travel, particularly cruises and long road trips. They completed a Civil War battlefield tour a couple of years ago, and have visited many places involved in the American Revolutionary War.
A bit of trivia – Brita pronounces her name, Bree-ta, like the woman’s name, and oddly, not like the famous water filter.
Though we do review some Young Adult Romance on this site, the primary content is intended for mature audiences only, and is unsuitable for persons under the age of 18. Reader discretion is advised.
It was a Wilde day with @hanksbooks today & in just a matter of hours, we've got @NoveliEricArvin, TJ Klune, video shenanigans & a giveaway! 3 hours ago
Luke Diaz has his friend Marc and an herbal drug laced health shake to blame for his sudden, and now soberly inexplicable, urge to sign up for an adult dodgeball league. He’s baffled, sure, but now that he’s done it, it’s more curiosity than anything that draws him to the high school gymnasium to check out what kind of people actually take the sport, if that’s even the right word for it, seriously enough to try out for a chance at one of the four vacant spots on the Seattle Thunderballs’ team roster. 
In 1917, starstruck Jack Abadie strikes out for the gilded streets of the most sinful town in the country—Hollywood. With him, he takes a secret that his country hometown would never understand. 
After Preston Meacham’s lover dies trying to lend him aid at Salamanca, hopelessness becomes his only way of life. Despite his best efforts at starting again, he has no pride left, which leads him to sell himself for a pittance at a molly house. The mindless sex affords him his only respite from the horrors he witnessed. 
Born in Upstate New York, Brita Addams has made her home in the sultry south for many years. Brita’s home is a happy place, where she lives with her real-life hero, her husband, and a fat cat named Stormee. 
