Murder on Camac By Joseph R.G. DeMarco

Reviewed by Victor J. Banis
Lethe Press, 2009

This is a terrific read, and a bit of a departure from your typical gay mystery novel, in that while the story is set in the present, at its heart is another, decades old, mystery – did dark elements within the church assassinate Pope John Paul the first? So, then, consider this the kind of book Dan Brown might write, if Mr. Brown were just a little more gifted as a writer – and of course, supposing Mr. Brown wrote gay mysteries.

Therein, however, lies a problem for me. Because like Dan Brown's novels, this one is primarily plot driven rather than character driven, and anyone familiar with my writing history is surely aware of my bias in favor of character driven. How then do I write the unbiased and glowing review this book deserves, without turning what is meant to be about this individual work into a dissertation on the differences between the two?

Hmm. Well, for starters, I have to make clear that I refer only to my own personal bias, and that in reality, neither approach is necessarily and inherently better than the other. Yes, literary fiction will almost inevitably be character driven. Macbeth, as a prime example, is entirely about the fatal flaws in the characters of Mister and Missus Macbeth. Only have him say to her early on, "You know, hon, I don't think I'm all that keen on being king," and the story's over.

So, character driven is superior, right? No, not so fast there, Bucky. It's a rare and probably misguided author who doesn't give at least passing attention to the marketplace, and to a very great extent, plot driven fiction rules in the commercial arena. Not just Dan Brown's books, either, though it's kind of hard not to notice them. I would venture to say that at any given time, many – probably most – of the novels on the best seller lists are plot driven. This is in part because there are a great many readers who don't care a fig for enlightenment or coming to terms with themselves when they read, they want a story that keeps them turning the pages to see what happens next – and here, in general, is where plot driven fiction excels. Plot driven writers more often than not tell terrific stories. That is, after all, what they are focused on.
And before I leave this subject, about which entire books could be written, I should certainly say that the two often merge, as they do here, to some extent. In writing, as in life, things are not often altogether black and white.

Which brings me back to Murder on Camac (and none too soon, some of you are thinking). I said at the beginning, this is a terrific read, not the least for the pleasure of its intricate and solidly constructed plot (okay, I am surely entitled to just the slightest nip of sour grapes, since I could never do this.) The author has done a masterful job of weaving together two separate mysteries, that possible papal murder years earlier and the shooting death of a writer (the police think a mugging gone awry) said to be writing a book which will prove that past murder. Detective Marco Fontana is asked by the dead writer's partner to investigate the shooting and in no time he finds himself ensnared in a web of deceit and violence that threatens to add him to the bodies accumulating.

There's plenty of fast paced action, the tempo picking up nicely as the pages turn. I give high marks for pacing, a gift which seems to elude a great many writers, some of whose names often grace the best seller lists. And, let it be said, an essential element in plot driven fiction if you're going to keep those readers turning the pages. Too often, alas, in character driven fiction, there simply is no pacing. You can grow old waiting for anything to happen in a Barbara Vine novel, as one example.

There's a generous sprinkling of humor here to lighten things up just when the tension becomes horrific. The author has a gift for the pithy phrase and while some of the secondary characters remain insubstantial, the principles are all deftly brought to life (the fact that a book is not character driven does not mean it can't have viable characters.) The protagonist, Marco Fontana, is particularly engaging.

The author has an especially keen eye for his settings. If you've ever been to Philadelphia, you'll recognize it in an instant. If you haven't, you'll feel as if you've been there, smack dab on the cobblestone streets, by the time you finish reading.

Oh, there's a secondary thread running through the story: our detective also manages a line of male strippers. Yes, this business does sometimes get in the way, but not so as a lot of folks are going to mind.

The burning truth of the novel, though, is the inseparability of past and present, and the inevitability of your sins catching up with you. Time erases neither our mistakes nor our misdeeds. We may think we have put them aside, have left them safely behind, but they are always just outside the door of present consciousness, the sleeping demons, and who can ever know when they will awaken once again to bring us grief? For evil, there must ultimately be atonement. Our lapsed Catholic detective Marco Fontana retains far more of his childhood's faith than he cares to realize, and he's a far better character for it. And this reaching for the higher truth, not always a feature of plot driven fiction, elevates Murder on Camac to a higher level as well.

All in all, this is a stellar effort that will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next book in what should prove to be a popular series.

http://www.josephdemarco.com/

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M4M by Rick R. Reed

Reviewed by Jerry Wheeler
(Published by Amber Quill Press)

I’m always on the side of an artist who steps out and tries something different. That kind of experimentation refreshes both the artist and his audence, whether or not the attempt is totally successful. But in his first go at erotic romance, M4M, horror author Rick R. Reed doesn’t have to worry about his success rate.

M4M is comprised of two novellas previously published in electronic form – “VGL Male Seeks Same” and “NEG UB2” – both featuring Dorito-chomping theatre publicist Ethan Schwartz and his newly-found boyfriend Brian. In the first installment, Ethan snags Brian after a bumpy Internet interlude where he uses a much handsomer pic to sell himself. Craigslist anyone? I wouldn’t be spoiling the read to say it all comes out fine in the end.

It’s the second piece that stands the book on its head. Ethan, not exactly a sexual adventurer, finds himself diagnosed HIV-positive with only one possible way he could have caught the disease – new boyfriend Brian. Or is it? Can Ethan and Brian overcome this breach of trust to continue their relationship or will their new love go out with Monday’s trash? If I told you, that would be the spoiler.

I particularly liked the parallelism between the two novellas, plot-wise (both plots turn on Internet twists) and stylistically. They even start out with the same sentence pattern – “Ethan White was alone.” and “Ethan White was stunned.” with both plots serving to remedy those conditions. And Reed is a powerful writer, creating two multi-faceted characters you’ll be happy to meet.

The tone, however, is different in the second novella. The first is light and breezy, but the second is much darker as befits the subject. Ethan is still the same 1940’s-movie-loving romantic, but his sense of romance has been injured by Brian’s perceived betrayal. This shift in tone is what lifts M4M from standard – albeit well-done – romance fare into a realm where the characters are allowed to grow and change.

M4M isn’t the roller-coaster ride Rick R. Reed fans are used to, but instead turns out to be a refreshing change of pace that shows his versatility and his talent for making us cry as well as scream.

Find out more at http://www.rickrreed.com/

Island Song by Alan Chin

Island Song

By Alan Chin
Zumaya Boundless, 2008

Reviewed by Victor J. Banis

When it was first suggested to me that I write something for a blog site on forgotten or neglected works (http://patti-fridaysforgottenbooks.blogspot.com ), my mind went quite awhirl. Crime, she suggested? Oh, the choices available. Who, today, other than the occasional scholar, has read James M. Cain's Serenade, though in many ways it is his best work? But the very field of crime novels (perhaps the most American of all literary genres) conjures up so many delicious possibilities, so many reads permeated by Chandler's "scent of fear." Hammet's The Glass Key, perhaps? Is that really his "least interesting work," as some have suggested, or, as others have described it, "his most accessible?"

But wait. Not necessarily a crime story, I was told, which opens a still wider door. What of Maugham's The Summing Up, surely an elegant (if, as it turned out, several years premature) coda to the remarkable life of a man who still today remains an enigma. Or Forster's Maurice, whose essence is the mystery of one's own nature, and truly remarkable for having been written in 1914, so far ahead of its day that it dared not be published until 1971?

In the end, though, and not without great mulling about, I chose what might be considered, length notwithstanding, a "small" book, one which has not been around long enough to be described as forgotten, though I do think it has been unjustly neglected. Nor is it quite a crime story, though there are crimes in it. Violent crimes, yes, but more significantly, in my opinion, crimes against love, which surely ought to be heinous enough for any reader.

Alan Chin's Island Song is, for want of a better description, a love story, but it is so outside the boundaries usually pertinent to that genre that I fear I am starting off on the wrong foot by labeling it so. It could also be described as a "gay novel," but I don't think that label is any more appropriate, either. It is a novel about love, but of many sorts and of many aspects, and some of that love occurs between two men, but this is truly not the thrust of the story, only one element of it.

The novel begins on an eerie metaphysical note. An ancient Hawaiian shaman, known to everyone only as "Grandfather," and his grandson, Songoree, come to a small island in the middle of the night to perform a mystical ceremony, summoning the ancient island Gods, Kane and Pele. "Bring forth the Speaker," the old man chants. "Bring forth the Speaker."
The story's focus shifts to Garret Davidson. Two years after the AIDS related death of his lover in San Francisco, Davidson comes to Hawaii to write a book about his lost love. He wants only to be alone in the beach shack he has rented, to stare out at the endless ocean and heal his wounded spirit.

He has rented the shack, however, from Grandfather, who sends Songoree to serve as Davidson's housekeeper and man-of-all trades. At first, a bitter Davidson resists Song's ministrations, but the old Kahuna has his own plans for these two and in time they become entwined in an extraordinary relationship, a relationship increasingly resented by Song's surfer friends. Violence follows, vicious and sudden, like the bite of a great white shark.

Island Song is not only about the love that gradually grows between Song and Davidson, however. There is as well a profound love between grandfather and grandson; the love that both of them have for their island traditions; the love of friends. Even the all-sacrificing love of a dog for his human partner. Most especially there is a love of nature, and of the mystical.
Wafting through it all, like the tropical breeze rustling the leaves of the palm trees, is the author's love for his idyllic island setting and for the interconnectedness that he sees lying beneath the surface of all existence: "All things begin within the density of silence."

Alan Chin has penned an uplifting read that transports one not only to Hawaii, but ultimately and far more importantly to the island that lies within, the island of the heart. What the author would have us understand is that it is on this island where the wounded and the unhappy—and isn't that at one time or another each of us—will find the healing, the peace, they seek. This is its song.

A beautiful book. The real crime here would be in not reading it.

Victor J. Banis is the author of more than 160 published works in a career spanning nearly half a century. He has been called the "godfather of modern popular gay fiction" (Thomas Long, PhD). Learn more at http://www.vjbanis.com

Learn more about Island Song and Alan Chin at: http://alanchin.net

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Pull By Bryl Tyne

Reviewed by Victor Banis
Pubished by Dreamspinner Press 2009

The late Carole Lombard is alleged to have said, pertinent to Clark Gable's sexual equipment, "Pappy ain't got much, but what's down there is cherse."

The same could be said of this admittedly slim bit of erotica. Not a lot of words, but what's here is choice. For whatever reason (and you'd think it would be otherwise) most writers don't do maverick all that well. More often than not, it comes out all poses and bluff, like little boys playing at pirates. On the other hand, from what I've seen, this author's chosen are almost inevitably the misfits, the square pegs in the round holes, the lost lambs. Indeed, Bryl Tyne could well be the poet laureate of the outsider.

The protagonist here is Chaz, a classic square peg—outside the family who booted him, outside the school that dropped him and, after getting arrested in a raid on a sex hangout, inside jail, which is way outside the borders of polite society. So when he gets an offer for rehab…but, I really can't tell you much more of the plot without giving it all away.

Don't expect a lot of subtleties here. This is wham-bam man on man action, with just enough story to hold it all together, though I'm willing to bet you'll be rooting from the beginning for outsider Chaz to find his way in from the cold.

If this is your cup of tea, you'll find it well-brewed. But, be forewarned, Reverend, it's definitely not for the prim and prissy.

http://bryltyne.com/

The Jade Owl Legacy Book I By Edward C. Patterson

Reviewed by Victor Banis

Let me start right at the top by going straight to the bottom line: this is a helluva good yarn, the sort of read we're all hoping for every time we pick up a book, and all too rarely find.

Rowden Gray comes to San Francisco to accept, he thinks, a curatorship at the Museum of East Asian Arts and Culture, only to find when he gets there that the position has evaporated. Instead, he runs into (literally) a fey young man who leads him on a series of adventures involving an ancient relic, the jade owl, taking them at a rapidly accelerating pace from the city's gay bars to Yosemite, to Hong Kong and finally to mainland China. An odyssey that proves to be, in fact, a quest not unlike the Lord of the Rings. If that kind of adventure is your cup of tea, you are certain to savor this one.

I couldn't begin here to detail all the turns and twists of the plot, and why should I? Once you get started, you'll have all you can do to keep up with them yourself. Suffice to say the bird in question is possessed of magic (and not altogether happy) powers and is cursed, and must be returned to the tomb of the Empress Wu Tze-t'ien if major catastrophe is to be averted. "It brings the comets back to earth," to put it succinctly.

The cast of characters is extensive, too: Rowden, of course, and that handsome and gay youngster, Nick Battle, and his drag queen other half, Simone aka Simon, and a one-eyed Cherokee and Chinatown gangsters and…well, plenty of others, and surprisingly the author manages to keep them all well sorted out, without reducing any of them to caricatures or, worse, mere shadows. Indeed, even the most minor of these many people is well drawn and believable.

Locations are vivid, too—if you've ever been to San Francisco, this will take you there again in a twinkling, and whether you've been or not you'll feel like you, too, have made that arduous journey with The China Hands across The People's Republic.

Okay, yes, there are some complaints, so let's get them out of the way and be done with them. And, frankly, when I said above, "Once you get started," I touched upon one of those problems—the beginning is slow. I had to persevere. You probably will as well. You'll have to take my word for it: it's worth the effort.

What else? There's the length. That's just a personal hang up of mine. Please don't tell me about War and Peace. I read that—when I was much younger. But I'm along in years now and when I pick up a book of 600 pages, it is with serious trepidation. (On the other hand, I have to confess, my interest never flagged. Okay, points to the author. But I'll still bet he could have told his story in, say, 500 pages. Without sacrificing anything.)

More serious problem? There's hardly a page or three that doesn't cry out, scream, for more careful editing. Example (and this one pops up all too often): The word "past" is a time reference. The past tense of "pass" is "passed," not "past." As in, "The present days passed, one upon the other, and became the past." It's a tribute to the author's storytelling skills that all those mistakes and misspelling and, well, simply wrong words, don't break the span of the reader's attention. But they can be serious distracting, for some readers certainly more than others. As a writer, your objective, always, is to keep the reader "in the dream." With every distraction, you risk losing him. He might come back into the story—or he might just close the book and put it aside. Not what you want to happen, not at all.

So, grumble, grumble, grumble. Still, this is a remarkable accomplishment. I finished The Jade Owl with a happy smile and closed it with a sigh of great satisfaction. I recommend the book heartily, with but one reservation: serious grammarians will probably have less hair when they finished than they did at the beginning.

On the other hand, you'll find the journey so thrilling, you won't realize till you're done that you're bald. In which case, you simply follow the example of the lady Simone: invest in a good wig and a lovely sun hat. Hopefully you can always grow new hair. You may never read another adventure tale this good. Honest, possums.
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http://www.dancaster.com/

Dreaming Of You by Ethan Day

Reviewed by Aunt Lynn at Reviewsbyjessewave

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

THE BLURB
Restaurateur Aden Ingle has been in love with the perfect man since his fourteenth birthday. Unfortunately, his perfect boyfriend only exists in his dreams. But Aden’s always believed it was his destiny to meet his dream man, and he’s perfectly content to wait around for him to walk into his real life.
When he meets Logan Price at a Hotel/Restaurant Trade Show, he finds himself drawn to this man who shakes him out of his dream world. Pretty soon, the flesh and blood reality is becoming more appealing than the fantasy. The only problem is Logan lives half way across the country in California.
Aden’s going to have to choose whether to give up everything he’s built for himself professionally and uproot his whole life for Logan, or wait for the man from his dreams to become a reality.

THE REVIEW
Dreaming of You is Ethan Day’s second published work, and the second I’ve read (Self Preservation, reviewed here, sparked quite a bit of lively comment a few months ago). At the time I reviewed SP, I said that I’d be more than happy to read and review his next offering as I thought that he’s a good writer, and, well, here I am. I’m so glad I committed myself to that because this was a great book! I’m not usually a gusher, but this book is gush-worthy. DOY is light and humorous — with some seriously funny laugh out loud moments — and sexy. Well-written and plotted with smart, snappy, witty dialog, it reminded me in some ways of a romantic screwball comedy from the 30s and 40s, and I could easily see this made into a film. I read it earlier in the week when I was having a bad time in RL, and it lifted my spirits and successfully took my mind off things.

I am mad about Aden! Narrated by him in first person, we are privy to his discussions/arguments/negotiations with his inner voice, or what he thinks as opposed to what he says out loud, and it’s hilarious. I loved his odd personality quirks — he’s accident prone, he tends to let his mouth get away from him when he’s nervous, he has a karma point system, he has a need to be liked, he’s a horrible driver, and he has a dream man. Here’s a perfect example of Aden:
I never could stand the thought of intentionally being mean or selfish. It had always been my thing. I couldn’t help myself. When people had described my personality to others, I heard one of two things: “He is the nicest person you will ever meet,” or “He is so nice it’s disgusting.” I’m terrified one day I’ll crack and release the serial killer that’s been lurking inside me somewhere.

I want to be friends with this man! Based on some interviews I found and reading his site and blog, I suspect that there’s a lot of Ethan in Aden. *g*
I thought fellow restaurateur Logan was a wonderful compliment to Aden, a sensitive alpha who is willing to unconditionally accept “the sexiest, sweetest oddball [he’s] ever met,” even finding the quirks adorable. He gets Aden when perhaps others may not have.
I adored how fun Logan and Aden are together, even in bed, and how easy their relationship is. I rooted for these two, especially toward the end when Aden needed to make some choices.
Ethan has not only given us two great protags, but also a large, colorful secondary cast, all of whom are well-drawn and three-dimensional: Nathan and Finn, Aden’s best friends; Logan’s group of friends in LA; Rufus, the pseudo-dream man; even Logan’s mother, who makes an appearance early in the story. I loved how Aden is with his friends, especially Finn (who is a total hoot!), and how just about everyone accepts him, oddness and all.
Ethan is a gifted writer who has a way with prose that sucks you in and makes you see what Aden is seeing. I really liked the depth of description of much of the environment, especially when he is in a restaurant. As a pretty serious foodie who has considered opening a restaurant, I could see the décor, how the room is arranged, what the bar looks like, hear the ambient music, cough on the cigarette smoke. It all felt real to me.

OVERALL
Dreaming of You is one of those feel-good, fun, romantic books that you can immerse yourself in, one I’ll be reading over and over. I highly recommend it, and I am eager to see what Ethan has next for us.

www.ethandayonline.com
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False Colors By Alex Beecroft

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Reviewed by Alan Chin

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In 1762, John Cavendish is given his first command, the HMS Meteor. Along with a motley crew and a handsome second in command (Lt. Alfie Donwell), Cavendish receives orders for a suicide mission to attack a fleet of pirates off the coast of North Africa. The captain’s stern moral attitude keeps a distance between himself and Donwell, but before HMS Meteor can engage the enemy, Donwell is captured and beaten to within an inch of his life. Cavendish leads a daring rescue mission and recovers his lieutenant, then unleashes a bold attack and manages to inflict his revenge, complete his mission, and flee the enemy relatively unscathed.

But before they reach the safety of port Gibraltar, Cavendish is wounded during another sea battle, and it’s Lt. Donwell’s turn to play nursemaid. During Cavendish’s recuperation, he and Donwell slowly become close friends – born from each other’s brush with death – so close that Donwell misinterpret the captain’s familiarity and makes an improper advance, professing his love for Cavendish. The captain immediately rejects him, and fearing recrimination which could lead to hanging, he takes a berth on another ship, HMS Britannia where he comes under the protection of Captain Farrant, a gay man whom Donwell has a history. They quickly become lovers, and Farrant tells Donwell, "Stop chasing love. Love is not for men like us. We share a deviancy we must pay for with lives of exemplary duty...You will get yourself hanged if you think otherwise.” Although that seems to be a theme in the story, it’s impossible for the hot blooded Lieutenant to follow such advice.

By the time Cavendish recovers and goes back to sea – not as captain, but as second in command – he has realized why his insides feel like a black hole after Donwell abandoned him. He had unwittingly fallen in love with the handsome Lieutenant. And as horrible as that thought is for this morally prudish man, the only thing worse is not having his love near him. The two men have a series of adventures before destiny brings them together again. And when they come together, with the full knowledge that they love each other, will duty and the threat of hanging keep them from becoming lovers? I won’t give it away, but suffice to say, their woeful adventures are far from over.

Narrated in the manner of a 19th century novel – primarily told, not shown – the characters are kept at a slight distance from the reader. There was not only this slight detachment, but I never really warmed up to either main character. I didn’t dislike them, they simply failed to win my sympathy, so I was not fully invested in their story. These protagonists are complex, flawed and for the most part believable. There were one or two scenes when Cavendish did something so completely out of character that he was not credible. There were several secondary characters that I would have like to have seen expanded, and even with the two lovers there were episodes that could have benefited by drilling to a deeper understanding.

Beecroft is superb at providing believable detail of 18th century life, especially nautical detail. This is where the author truly shines brightest. She puts you on deck of a tall ship and on the smelly wharfs. You feel the wind in your face, the fear of battle, the agony of wounds. At times I felt the story line sagging from the weight of too much description, but those times were infrequent. Although I am, admittedly, not a huge fan of historical fiction, I found myself fascinated by the world Beecroft creates. What I do love are good sea yarns, and False Colors is exactly that.

Beyond the normal romance plot twists, is the convincing story of two men in turmoil, and their only chance for survival is to cling to each other, which of course is seldom the case. The many varied plot twists kept me turning pages. There were times when I felt the storyline was too predictable, and there were certain elements about the ending that I found disturbing, but that did not detract from my enjoyment of this story. I have no reservation in recommending this book to anyone.

http://alexbeecroft.com

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