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Archive for the tag “Small Gems”

In Which There’s A Difference Between Magic And Illusion – The Magician’s Apprentice by J.M. Snyder

Magic is the only honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you and he does. – Karl Germain

Ah, what a tangled knot we twist when magic practiced does exist, when illusion is not a simple guise, and to mock its existence proves most unwise…

Sorry. I’m pretty sure I’d make the absolute worst poet ever. Or rapper. ::word::

At any rate, what I’m trying to get at is that Damon Taylor is a man who takes magic very seriously. He is, after all, a practitioner of the arcane art, so who better to recognize a fellow aficionado than he? Who better to discover the man, Harry Marvel, a rather run down street performer who trades sleight of hand for loose change? Who better to feel that spark of energy, that current of lust that flows between them? And who better than Damon to transform Harry Marvel into Harry Marvelous, a man of extraordinary magical talent and showmanship?

And who better to turn back the hands of time and to manipulate reality than a man who is himself the living, breathing difference between what is true magic and what is mere illusion?

Damon borrows a little bit of trouble and brings a whole lot of the wrong sort of attention to Harry’s show when he decides to take it upon himself to teach a young and very verbal skeptic in the audience a lesson, a lesson I’m sure the boy won’t soon forget.

The Magician’s Apprentice is one of those short stories that did nothing but whet my appetite for a little something more, and it left me arguing with myself (I always win, BTW) over whether I’d have liked the story even better if J.M. Snyder had offered a little more backstory for Harry and Damon. Possibly. Probably? But then again, a good magician never reveals his secrets, so maybe this is the way I’m supposed to feel—fascinated by what I could see and left mildly off balance by what I couldn’t.

You can see what I mean for yourself if you buy The Magician’s Apprentice here:

In Which I’m Pretty Sure My Brain Checked Out Somewhere Around The Lap Dance – Take It Off by L.A. Witt & Aleksandr Voinov

Dancing is a perpendicular expression of a horizontal desire. – George Bernard Shaw

Oooh. My. Bwaaah… Yes, that’s me being rather speechless in a very complimentary way, because there’s just not much room for words in my head at the moment. Why? Because I can’t seem to erase the mental picture that L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov left there with this sexy-heavy little episode of the life and times of Tristan and Jared, two of the Market Garden rentboys who are professionals at more than simply pleasing their clients—as well as each other. It would seem they’re also fairly talented at making me want more of them. They’re really good that way.

Some people like to watch other people get down to the business of sex, while some people would rather read about it, then let their imaginations drift to all sorts of places that reality can neither attend nor compare to. If you’re one of the latter, believe me when I tell you to go have a look at Jared getting his sexy on for Tristan and Rolex this time around, then come back and tell me I’m lying about the sex and seduction business. Yes, that’s a triple dog dare. I’m forgoing etiquette and going right for the throat.

Take It Off brings two of my now favorite rentboys together with their wealthy American client again, who seems to love to watch these guys work for it, if the large sums of money he’s willing to lay down for the pleasure of their company is any indication.

I can also say that Take It Off brings together a now favorite writing duo with these two authors, who have penned these two short stories so synchronously that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to detect the seams of each one’s distinct influence. To me, that’s a pretty good indicator that the remainder of the books in the series, even though the next book won’t be focused on Tristan and Jared, will be on my list of absolute must-reads.

You can buy Take It Off here:

In Which One Reading Just Wasn’t Enough – Asylum by Piper Vaughn

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself. – Oscar Wilde

Johnny Cairo knows a thing or two about temptation. He’s been attracted to his best friend’s little brother for a while now, after all, though he’s resisted the urge to do anything about it because risking a years’ long friendship on what’s at best an unsure thing, and at worst, a resounding disaster waiting to happen, isn’t a chance Johnny’s been willing to take.

Too bad Brennan didn’t get the memo about his brother’s best friend being off limits, because Bren damn sure isn’t going to let a little thing like that stand in the way of him getting what, or rather, who he wants. And once Brennan sets his sights on Johnny, well, there’s nowhere the man can try and hide but behind his own fears. But Brennan isn’t known as one of Fear Asylum’s best Infiltrators for nothing.

Asylum is Johnny’s story, the story of his family legacy—a traveling haunted house called Fear Asylum, though this isn’t your average, small-time, one man sideshow operation. No, they don’t call Johnny the Scaremaster for nothing. This is a full-on production, and it showcases the man’s reputation and talent for putting the fear of the things that go bump in the night into its patrons. It’s also, in a lovely turn of the tables, a story that shows how sometimes those nighttime bumps can put a fear like no other into the heart of a man with a reputation for being the master of fright.

Asylum is a full-on erotic and romantic—it’s sexmantic, even—short story that illustrates how a man learns very quickly that just because his head says there are no-strings-attached it doesn’t mean his heart is bound to listen, especially when he’s faced with the possibility of losing the one to whom he realizes he wants nothing more than to be tied.

I’ve read this story more than once, and really, really would love a sequel. You can use that as an indicator of how much I loved it.

Buy Asylum here:

Small Gems – Light the Fire by JL Merrow

Happiness is a warm puppy. – Charles M. Schulz

Though for Kurt, that puppy is about as welcome as a raging case of jock itch when Matt, an overly enthusiastic guy at the gym—who can’t seem to take the hint that Kurt is intensely(!) uninterested in the attention—comes along and makes Kurt begin to think thoughts he hadn’t allowed himself to think in even his wildest thoughts in a very long time.

Light the Fire is the seamless combination of a touching struggle to survive the loss of a lover, and the charming story of a man whose unadulterated and infectious joy becomes a light that draws Kurt out of the darkness of his grief. It’s the story of a man who learns that strength isn’t always measured by the bulk of the physique but in the intent of the heart and the size of the will. It is a story that reawakens the love of home and hearth, and I smiled a smile of deep affection for it. I may have sighed a little too.

In the usual (for me) JL Merrow fashion, Light the Fire left me wishing for much, much more of the story. Matt was delightful, Kurt was in need, and Matt quickly became the sun Kurt needed to rekindle a love for life. This one is quite short but I thought well worth the read.

Buy Light the Fire here:

Small Gems – Be My Boy – A Free Story by Casey K. Cox

Those who unlock your compassion are those to whom you’ve been assigned.”
― Mike Murdock

Casey K. Cox’s FREE short story, Be My Boy, isn’t at all what I was expecting it would be. For one thing, with the Master/Slave dynamic as the entire premise of the book, I was expecting quite a lot of BDSM, which is most likely owed entirely to my misunderstanding of the context of that type of relationship. In fact, there was none whatsoever. And I guess, going hand-in-hand with the BDSM, I was also expecting some pretty heavy erotica, which, again, was not the case.

In the end, this is what Be My Boy boiled down to for me; this story has all the makings of a deeply romantic relationship and of an urgent bond that grows between a man who is emotionally crippled by the death of his Master, and the young man who comes along to redeem this broken soul. What I’d have loved is if there’d been just a bit more to it, but there was something so gentle and sentimental about the relationship between Owen and Mitchell that I’m eager to forgive that it left me with some questions I’ll just have to guess at myself. Honestly, they’re more a curiosity than they are relevant, anyway.

There was a bittersweet sense of yearning to Owen’s lost and tattered life, a life he’d spent in servitude to Cole for more than twenty years, a life that was cruelly snatched from him not only by Cole’s death but by the greed and spite of a woman who couldn’t bear to see Owen get what she believed herself to be entitled to. Owen was a man who was ripe to be taken advantage of, and he very much was until Mitchell took him home and made Owen his own.

I loved the twist on the Dom/sub relationship in this story, Owen being the older man and Mitchell being the “boy”, though only in the chronological sense. And although there’s a sense of tentativeness involved on Mitchell’s part, being rather new to his role as a Dom, there is no doubt at all which man is the Master and which is the Slave within this pact, and for lack of a more original conclusion, I can only say that I’d love to see more of these two, mostly to get a better feel for Mitchell and his family ties, but also to see more of the growth between him and Owen.

Though the story begins with Owen in a perfectly horrid situation, of which I don’t want to give too much away, I’d definitely say this story is worth reading.

You can download it here:

Small Gems – Quid Pro Quo by L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov

Please, God, don’t let me be reading too much into this. – L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov

I probably am. Reading too much into this, that is. How can I not, though, when there’s so very much there to want? Sometimes I wish there was a magicky button I could push to bend authors to my will, to make them write faster and not tease me with these little morsels of salacious goodness and then make me wait for interminable periods of time for more. But since there isn’t, I guess I’ll just have to take what I can get and shut up about it.

Quid Pro Quo is a lot of sex in a little package and it may well be some of the hottest erotica I’ve ever read. It’s definitely some of the hottest erotica I’ve read so far this year, hands down. This is the first short set in the Market Garden universe, where the rentboys cater to the moneyed clientele and the question arises, at least in this installment, of who really holds all the power in this provocative exchange: Tristan, the prostitute, or the nameless john who is an eager and willing pawn in this bid for control over Jared’s orgasm.

It’s not very often that I’ve considered recommending a book for a single sex scene alone, but for this one I might make an exception. L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov have created the perfect atmosphere of want and need, of dominance and submission, and of temptation and voyeurism and a hunger that may only ever be able to be satisfied within the framework of the job.

All I know is that I’m anxious for the next installment. I don’t know whether it will continue with more Tristan and Jared, or if there’ll be other Market Garden boys introduced. Whichever direction these authors decide to go with the series, though, I’ll definitely be along for the ride.

Buy Quid Pro Quo here:

Small Gems – We’re Both Straight, Right? by Jamie Fessenden

Friendship is love minus sex and plus reason. Love is friendship plus sex and minus reason. – Mason Cooley

Money makes the world go around. Or at least that’s how the song goes. But as poor, struggling college students, money is something Zack and Larry aren’t intimately acquainted with, though Larry’s got a get-rich-quick scheme that’ll earn him some cold, hard cash. And all he has to do to rake it in is be gay-for-pay in front of a camera. And all Zack has to do is agree to be Larry’s partner-in-porn. But they’re both straight, right? Of course they are.

Until gay-for-pay turns into gay-for-you in this best-friend-turned-lovers story of two guys who’ve known each other since junior high but didn’t really know each other, or rather didn’t know they could know each other any better until they started rehearsing for their roles as straight guys having sex together in the porn biz. Well, Larry’s completely comfortable letting his freak flag fly. Zack, not so much because, seriously, how’s a guy supposed to reconcile his lifelong heterosexuality when he’s gobsmacked by his lust for the guy he’d never before seen as anything more than a friend? But then he truly sees Larry, not with his eyes—or not only with his eyes, at least—but with is heart and with his hands, and suddenly Larry is the only one Zack sees.

It wasn’t an easy-breezy change of course for this friendship, far from it with all the anxiety and all the questioning Zack does, but it was a sweet and erotic little romp that was a quick and sexy and fun read.

Buy We’re Both Straight, Right? here:

Small Gems – Dulce et Decorum Est – JL Merrow-thon Book Five

Healing is impossible in loneliness. – Wendell Berry

George Johnson is a man whose soul bears a heavy burden, weighted by the yoke of shame and self-recrimination, so deeply scarred by an event in his youth that even years later its aftermath leaves George running frightened from the man he once was, the man he was born as, a man who no longer exists. A man who was branded a coward.

Meeting Matthew Connaught was synchronicity and irony and destiny all rolled up into a single monumental turning-point for George. Matthew is a veteran of World War I, and a part of him was left behind on the battlefield as a permanent reminder of his sacrifice, but his scars don’t serve only as proof of how much Matthew gave. They serve as proof of how much he has survived.

Dulce et Decorum Est is indeed a terribly sweet and touching historical romance that first appeared in the 2010 Dreamspinner Advent Anthology Naughty or Nice. It is a story of a forbidden love and of a family’s affirmation, and is a story of courage, even when that courage is born in fear. It is a story of truth and of the wisdom in knowing when to run away and when to stand still and just be with the one who makes you feel whole again. Matthew was the light in George’s darkness, and I just couldn’t help but to embrace them.

Buy Dulce et Decorum Est here:

Small Gems – Permanently Legless – Book Two In My JL Merrow-thon

The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. – Meg Cabot

You know how sometimes you read a short story and the first thing you wish, when it ends, is that it’d been much, much longer? Yeah, me too. Odd, then, that finishing Permanently Legless didn’t leave me feeling that way, when, if there’s a story that ought to have made me feel that way, this one would be it. Not that I wouldn’t have taken more, but here’s the thing: there was so much there in so few words that it surely must mean the words JL Merrow used to tell the story couldn’t have been in a more perfect order.

It really doesn’t take much in the way of imagination for me to love who Chris and Josh are. Chris is a veteran who was disabled in the war in Afghanistan, and though the Taliban rearranged his life in ways he never would have asked for, Chris managed to make a new life around the miracle of his having survived at all. Josh is the young man Chris had a one-off with just before he’d shipped out on his tour of duty with little more than a name, phone number, and memories of a few hours spent together. Josh is the man who never forgot those hours that changed both of the men in profound ways, time that has remained a connection between them, the past, and the present.

Theirs is a story of throwing caution to the wind, of taking a leap of faith and finding that to love is the ultimate act of courage. In case you’re still wondering how much I loved this story… I’ve already read it three times. That’s how much.

Buy Permanently Legless here:

Small Gems – Adventures of Jake #1 by Jeff Adams

There is no certainty; there is only adventure. – Roberto Assagioli

There was only one thing I wanted to know when I finished reading about Jake’s adventure with Michael Hammond in this teasing little morsel of a story: when is the next adventure coming?

Jake is a bit of an adorable geek who works at a park and dresses as a Fire Force character in the E-Force attraction. He also works at a comic book store, but that’s not where he first met Michael. No, Michael has been an unattainable fantasy ever since they were in Freshman Lit together. Or at least he thought Michael was out of his league until Michael comes into the store looking for the perfect gift for his little brother’s birthday.

Sometimes serendipity works a little magic into life and gives you all the chances you need to make an adventure out of something entirely unexpected. Sometimes that adventure leads you to someone who thinks you’re pretty amazing just the way you are. That’s the way it worked for Jake and Michael, and it worked for me too.

Jake reminded me just a wee bit of Michael Novotny of Queer as Folk fame, which made me love him all the more, and just like Michael once said, ”The thing you need to know is it’s all about sex,” which this story is, so if that’s not your cup of tea, you might not enjoy this one as much as I did.

I thought it was some sexy fun fiction, and I’ll be watching for Jake’s continuing adventures.

Buy Adventures of Jake #1 here:

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