Something's. . . Different
Why, yes, thank you for noticing. The site does have a new look and feel. It’s been well over the last update, so it was time for a refresh. But the changes are more than cosmetic. I’ve unleashed my geek and completely replaced the ’engine’ that runs the site. Out went WordPress and in came a new framework called October. Now, I’ve got nothing against WordPress, but c’mon, everybody uses it, and I’ve never been fond of doing what everyone else does.
Review - Event Horizon by Mel Keegan
My rating: 
The Hellgate saga comes to a rousing if bittersweet conclusion in this sixth and final installment. If you’ve made it this far in the series, you’ll almost certainly find this book hard to put down. The team of soldiers and scientists, both human and Resalq are in the final stages of preparing for their first trip into transpace aboard the semi-sentient Lai’a, to track down the Zunshu who have been destroying the human settlements of the Deep Sky in the same way they almost wiped out the Resalq.
Tags: novel Science Fiction
Review - Jefferson Blythe, Esquire by Josh Lanyon
My rating:
Can you ever truly make up for hurting someone you love? That’s what Jefferson Blythe is about to find out, although he doesn’t know it when he lands in London for a modern version of the grand tour. The trip is ostensibly to help Jefferson get over being dumped by his girlfriend, and the plan is to retrace the steps of his grandfather, right down to using an outdated copy of Esquire’s Europe in Style as a guide.
Review - The Front Runner by Patricia Neal Warren
My rating:
This 40 year-old classic deserves to be read, to see how much as changed, and how much hasn’t. While gay men in the USA no longer have to fear being arrested for simply being gay, the sports world is still full of homophobia and discrimination. The story of “The Front Runner” is told by Harlan Brown, a ‘late bloomer’ who served in the marines, got married and had children before finally admitting his attraction to men.
Review - If I Were Fire by Heloise West
My rating:
Kindly note: a proof copy of this book was supplied by the author in exchange for a review. A world-weary adventuring count trying to salvage his family estate, a bad boy who wants to be good, a local gangster, and a search for hidden treasure. All this is packed into this very short novelette, running less than 60 pages. Salvesto is the rather down-on-his-luck count. He has returned to Siena upon the death of his father, hoping that the acts which forced him into exile have been forgotten.
Tags: Historical Novelette
Review - Flashpoint by Mel Keegan
My rating:
With open warfare between the Earth-centered home-worlds and the colonies inevitable after the events of Probe, the team focuses on making the time and place of the next battle one of their choosing. There isn’t any time to waste on a protracted war with Earth, not with the Zunshu automatons destroying more and more human colonies on the edge of Hellgate. The rebels have delved the depths of data recovered from the ill-fated Orpheus and are completing construction of Lai’a, a ship built on the wreck of the Intrepid specifically to navigate the strange currents of time and gravity that make exist on the other side of Hellgate.
Tags: Science Fiction
Review - Naked Mailman by Dawn Flemington
My rating:
This review originally appeared at BDSM Book Reviews. Ken is rather bored with his life as a mailman but he isn’t quite prepared for the turns his life takes when he is assaulted and left bound naked in his mail truck one day on his delivery rounds. Not only does he have to deal with the public notoriety of being the “naked mailman”, he also finds himself unable to rid himself of the image of his assailant, and the submissive feelings the man has awakened in him.
Tags: Shifters
Review - Santuario by G.B. Gordon
My rating:
In the distant future, on a far-away planet, there are two human colonies with distinctly different cultures. The Skanians were the original colonists, apparently descended from Scandinavian stock. The later arrivals crash-landed more than 200 years before this story begins. For reasons nobody seems quite sure of, the newcomers were isolated on an island they call Santuario in the sweltering tropics, where they’ve had little contact with the Skanians. Alex is a police lieutenant in a small coastal village on Santuario.
Tags: Mystery Science Fiction
Review - The Best Little Boy in the World by Andrew Tobias
My rating:
As a very young child, the author’s parents praise him as “the best little boy in the world” (BLBITW). Such parental praise may be relatively common, but our hero truly takes it to heart and spends many years trying to live up to the perceived expectations of his parents and others. When he realizes that he prefers boys to girls he sublimates those feelings, since the BLBITW most certainly can’t have such feelings.
Tags: Autobiography non-fiction
Review - Without a Net by Lyn Gala
My rating:
In the not-too-distant future, even traditionally heterosexually dominated places like the police force don’t tolerate even the appearance of discrimination based on sexual identity, and the BDSM community is almost as open and accepted as the LGBT community. However, the kink world has a dark side. “Shade” dominants and submissives don’t like to play by the rules. In their underground shade clubs, limits aren’t negotiated and there are no safewords.