Posts labeled Book Reviews
Review - Slave in Training
My rating: 
This review originally appeared in slightly different form at BDSM Book Reviews. This is a case where the title of a book is probably more illuminating than the blurb. The style of the story is in the form of a memoir recounting the main character’s youth and early training as a slave in the 1970s. Max knows he is different from an early age, and it isn’t just his bisexuality, but it isn’t until he meets his gym teacher, James Teka, that he begins to understand that he was born with a deep seated need to serve others.
Review - Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure
My rating:
The planet of Valchondria was once great. They sent people out among the stars to colonize other worlds, but then they turned inward and forgot about their former glory. An engineered virus has eliminated most diseases, but there’s nothing much to live fore. An ever more oppressive regime seeks to remove every perceived source of differences between people, attempting to turn the population into docile sheep. However, some of these sheep are not so docile, such as the scientist Taldra, who wants to bring back the glory days of Valchondria by returning to space.
Review - Virgin Territory
My rating:
The blurb for this short novelette sets it up rather nicely: Danny may be a virgin, but that’s not all he is… When a fellow dom points Aaron in the direction of the new guy visiting in their local leather bar, there are a lot of things that draw him to Danny. One of those things is the rumor that Danny is a virgin in terms of leather, guy-on-guy action, and even in so far as his experience with girls.
Review - Sub Zero
My rating:
Major Aren Dalsgaard died on the planet Drass more than a hundred years ago. Or at least that’s what everyone thought. The military had other ideas. They retrieved his body and put him in cryogenic suspension. Now, for reasons never made clear to him, they’ve thawed him out, reversed the poison that killed him, and are sending him back to Drass to investigate a series of settler murders apparently carried out by the ‘goblins’, a race of genetically engineered humans adapted to live on the icy planet.
Tags: Science Fiction ESTO Universe
Review - First You Fall
My rating:
Kevin Conner is a high priced call boy who enjoys his work. The petite blond twink has a steady base of undemanding clients, and a drag queen pimp who carefully screens new customers. Kevin’s ‘job’ is ostensibly in aid of furthering his education in psychology, but with his attention deficit disorder it’s easy for Kevin to stay in the moment. Everything changes when Kevin’s friend and mentor falls to his death.
Review - Not Just Friends
My rating:
This review originally appeared in slightly different form at New Adult Book Reviews. As Lewis moves into his university housing to start his first year of college, he meets his new roommates. There’s the loud jock Dean, Andreas, Rob, and then there’s Max. Openly gay Max confuses Lewis, awakening feelings that he has never acknowledged before. He and Max become good friends, and Lewis is prepared to come out, as well as tell Max how he feels, but then Max gets into a relationship of his own, so Lewis resolves not to interfere.
Tags: Contemporary
Review - The Silvers
My rating:
‘B’ is the captain of the first human mission to the Silver planet, in search of water for an earth that is running dry. The Silvers themselves are a bit of a surprise, as the unmanned explorers that were sent to the planet didn’t record them. Although humanoid, the Silvers don’t seem to feel greed, anger, lust, or any other ‘human’ emotions. This allows B and his crew, as well as their commanders back on earth, to view the Silvers as less-than-human, and thus perform downright criminal experiments on them.
Review - The Dark Farewell
My rating:
Reporter David Flynn is on his way to Little Egypt. He wants to see how feelings run a year after the Herrin massacre, and it’s a good opportunity to pay his respects to Amy, the widow of his old mentor. Amy’s boarding house, where Flynn will stay, is full of eccentric characters, from the matronly Mrs Hoyt and her daughter Joan to the local doctor, Pearson. And then there’s Julian and his grandfather, who travel the small towns putting on shows where Julian pretends to talk to spirits.
Tags: Mystery Historical
Review - Ask the Oracle
My rating:
This review originally appeared in another form on BDSM Book Reviews. Grayson Muir knows things. In fact, he knows just about everything. He is one of a handful of “oracles” in the world, and probably one of the best. Gray makes a good living off corporate clients, and helps out the police when he can. In fact, Gray likes helping people. Emphasis on people. When a demon from the underworld comes asking for Gray’s help to sort out a sticky situation, his first instinct is to refuse.
Tags: Fantasy Slightly Kinky
Review - Gaysia Adventures in the Queer East
My rating:
“Gaysia” offers an interesting, if highly selective, portrait of gay life across the vast stretch of Asia, home to 60% of the world’s population. This was clearly a personal journey for Chinese-Australian Law, but he manages to maintain a very journalistic approach throughout, allowing the people he meets to tell their own stories, with minimal editorializing. Sometimes what comes out is surprising, sometimes funny, and often poignant. While the book covers a lot of ground and offers a lot of insight into the lives of some gay men and lesbians, it is by no means an exhaustive study of LGBT issues in Asia.
Tags: Non-fiction
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