Posts labeled Book Reviews
Review - Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet
With this post, I’m taking a little break from talking about what I’m reading to talk about what I’m reading on. If you want to skip the background, just down a few paragraphs. I’ve been reading books in electronic form — mostly Kindle — for about 10 years now. I was still living in Bangkok at the time, and while the city did boast a big English language book store by that time; one that surprisingly even had a small ‘alt‘ section, the selection of gay fiction was quite limited.
Review - The Misadventures of Doc and Dirk, Volume III by Dan Skinner
My rating: 
Dan ‘Doc’ Skinner is back with another — possibly final — collection of short stories about his curious relationship with his apprentice-cum-muse Dirk. As with previous volumes in the series, there are a couple of longer stories highlighting some aspect of Dirk the author has to understand, interspersed with a few snippets of conversations and other “Dirk-isms”. As with the previous installment, this book starts with a repeat of the introduction from the first book, which takes up about a quarter of this volume.
Review - Playing With Fire by Dirk Greyson
My rating:
Someone is killing people in the affluent suburb where Jim Crawford is the lead detective. At a loss for clues in the seemingly random shootings, Jim enlists the aid of psychologist Dr Barty Halloran to try and get inside the head of the killer. Barty does more than get inside the killer’s head and uncover clues to who he might be, he gets under Jim’s skin as well. The nerdy professor is just Jim’s type, although he is still smarting from his last relationship with a college teacher.
Tags: Mystery
Review - Counterbalance by Aidan Wayne
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John leads a settled life as the head rigger for an acrobatic troupe based in Canada. Disfigured in a hate crime when he was a teenager, he is used to being avoided and left to get on with his work of figuring out how to stage the troupe’s daring performances safely. But things change when a new group of acrobats from China arrives for the up-coming season. One of them, Bao, seems fascinated rather than repulsed by John’s looks, and seeks him out at every opportunity.
Tags: Novelette
Review - Override by SJD Peterson
My rating:
Tall and muscular Donavan isn’t your typical submissive, and for that matter the older and shorter Seth doesn’t exactly fit the stereotype of a Dom, but the two men sense a connection almost from the beginning, and despite different backgrounds and conflicting work schedules they try to figure out where that connection will take them. “Override” obviously isn’t your typical Dominant/submissive story. It’s hard to describe how different it is without spoiling some of the surprises, so read on at your own risk.
Review - Inversion Point by Jenn Burke and Kelly Jensen
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Zander, Felix and the crew of the Chaos are back for another adventure in the fourth installment of the “Chaos Station” series. At the very end of the previous book, humanity had just found out about the immanent arrival of a new species at the galactic hub, and “Inversion Point” follows the crew as they meet and try to communicate with the new race, with Zander as Emissary of the Guardians.
Tags: Science Fiction
The Misadventures of Doc and Dirk, Volume II by Dan Skinner
My rating:
The author, known only as ‘Doc’ in this series, is back with more tales of his life with his muse/apprentice Dirk. Like the first book, this second volume offers up a series of vignettes depicting Doc’s growing relationship with the rather maddening, yet still fascinating Dirk. The main thrust of this set of stories seems to be demonstrating why, despite his many eccentricities, Doc continues to find his muse in Dirk.
Review - Two Natures by Jendi Reiter
My rating:
Julian is an aspiring young fashion photographer in the early 90’s New York. While he may have an eye for beautiful women, Julian has very little interest in the opposite sex. He seems comfortable with his sexuality despite a religious upbringing in Georgia, although he hasn’t done much about acting on his attractions as the book opens. “Two Natures” reads like an autobiography, although it’s definitely fiction. The use of real people and events makes it seem very true-to-life.
Review - The Pill Bugs of Time by Angel Martinez
My rating:
In this sequel to Lime Gelatin and Other Monsters, the budding relationship between paranormal police detective Kyle and his partner Vakesh is facing a few stumbling blocks, mainly in the form of Vakesh’s inability to be open about it. However, it’s hard for Vakesh to focus on fixing his relationship with Kyle when they, and the rest of their squad, are dealing with an infestation of little bugs whose sting seems to send their victim backwards or forwards in time.
Tags: Fantasy
Review - A Book of Revelations by A.C. Burch
My rating:
This collection of short stories offers a variety of tales about different people, places and eras. About the only thing they have in common is that the lead characters in these stories are almost never who they appear to be. The story-telling style is decidedly narrative. This will niggle at those who object to a writing style that “tells” rather than “shows” but it suits the stories very well. All of the stories have an element of slightly dark humor to them.
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