Book Review: Dirty Words by M. Christian

'Lo People,
Time to give M. Christian some more Hairy Eyeball for his Dirty Words.

Does the idea that there is a hardened penis available to be inserted into a variety of holes give you a reason to pay attention? Her Tangh-i-ness sure likes it when males aren't afraid to kneel, bend over, or stand so that this reader can get primo viewing of the "act." I read Skin Effect and The Bachelor Machine first, but I think that those books were all literary hors d'ouevres before Dirty Words spread its pages and showed off its tight sentences, wet imaginary plunges, and provoked climaxes. And if you like your stories veering towards the dark and twisted, there's more than one nugget of guilty pleasure here. This is an unashamedly M/M Action collection with twinges of loving feelings here and there but Dirty Words ain't real Romantic. Nope. These stories are mostly about scoring.


To make it easy for potential readers of this collection, Her Tangh-i-ness will return to the following rating system.

TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* This means the sexiness might have to grow on you.

WT *Wet* Self-explanatory. No?

H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Requires immediate action after the story climax.

FAPP *Find a Partner Pronto* Try this one at home, Folks.


*Spoiler Alert*

Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further, and eyeball elsewhere.


*Spoiler Alert End*


DIRTY DEEDS FOR DIRTY BOYS (AND MEN) PATRICK CALIFIA
If you like LGBTQI Erotica, you've read Mister Califa's work. So when he has something to say about what M. Christian does on a page, there are those Readers who will listen a little harder.

INTRODUCTION M. CHRISTIAN
Mind you, this is now Her Tangh-i-ness's third romp with a M. Christian book. I don't know about you but I am in awe of someone who can say the following about the act of writing: Hell, it even kinda follows the Sexual Response Cycle: Excitement (an idea comes to mind), Plateau (putting it together), Orgasm (riding the high), and Resolution (typing "The End"). Excuse me, I have to go and type something to get my own jollies.

SPIKE
H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Fiction. Two, identical twin, blond brothers cum to decide one must follow and the other must lead. But not before some mutual oral service and a fistfight. Her Tangh-i-ness keeps one of those studded belts featured in the story so she can vouch for its effectiveness.

HOW COYOTE STOLE THE SUN
WT *Wet* Fiction. A man called Dog meets with a man called Roc. Two naked kids playing outside tell Dog, this habitual thief, of a man with "Stuff" who lives in the areas. Dog decides this "Stuff" is worth the challenge. There follows a titanic suck, a colossal f*ck, succeeded by a theft. Dog learns that all his efforts have been for naught. The two naked kids end up with a new toy.

THE HARLEY
WT *Wet* Fiction. Mammoth and Monster, two bikers, settle on a contest to win the wheels of a deceased rival. The true joy in this story can be found in the precision of the descriptions. He was Pup, and the one thing that was an absolute proven fact about the kid was that he could pull gas out of a bike without a hose. Mammoth makes off with the bike while Monster opts for Mammoth's former bedwarmer.

ECHOES
TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. Care to examine intimacy issues? A murderer cycles through other men hoping to escape the corpse of his lover. He even has sex with a Black guy and freaks out halfway through. For Chev, sex transforms into dread. Guilt seems to drive his need for punishment. Like an addict, Chev keeps seeking intimacy and the horror of it all lies in Chev's being his very own monster.

BLUE BOY
TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. When one needs a liberal helping of homicide, a Reader could turn to this story. Who are these blue people and why is it suddenly the socially acceptable thing to go around murdering them? Prosper and Oleander indulge in the very latest trend: disposable people. But Prosper can't seem to make an end of a Blue called Troy. And when Prosper kills another human, he just ends up another Blue. Wait. Perhaps Prosper had been Blue all along.

MATCHES
WT *Wet* Fiction. This ironic tale suggests that beauty remains the final arbiter even for the dead. Unglamorous R. Ruge has a near death experience and learns that sex is still very much part of the afterlife. He balls the guy of his dreams but gets yanked back into Life. Ever so grateful for the interruption, he dispatches the unwary paramedic. His still dead paramour wings off with the slain paramedic for an eternal ever-after.

CASEY, THE BAT
FAPP *Find a Partner Pronto* Fiction. Can an opposing team dick a star batter good enough the batter blows his game? 'Ballin' comes natural to batters, pitchers, and catchers—doesn't it? Any reader familiar with the inspiration for Casey, the Bat, might have a chuckle at what a word-f*ck M. Christian has given it. Only the locker room knows what really happened.

CHICKENHAWK
TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. What if there was a kid that looked like a kid, talked like a kid, but wasn't a kid? A grown man with the kind of build that makes it easy for child predators to notice him gets into a car with one. Figured out where this is going? Creep bait 1000. Creep zippo. Throw in some arson and identity theft for extra spice.

WHAT AILS YOU
H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Fiction. This is one of Her Tangh-i-ness's favorites in this collection. M. Christian seems to have an obsession with players being played stories. Her Tangh-i-ness has an obsession with treating People of Color with respect in literature. The Black man, Leon the Lion, is a righteous pimp. Leon thinks he's teaching a male-hustler-beating trick some Louisiana manners. He never suspects that he's become just what Dr. Darrin ordered for room 414. By story's end, Darrin's the only one making any dollars hand-over-fist.

WET
TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. And now M. Christian tells a story about the cruel things men will do to one another for a semblance of control or for companionship. Take Vampirism and strip away everything but the need to drain. Doud paints with the blood of dead cattle. Jona points his camera at his subjects and f*cks with his bedfellows. Savor the sentence: Sunlight doesn't hurt, crosses don't do anything, stakes will – but then they'll probably kill anything. Think this story will end bloodily? You're right.

PUPPY
FAPP *Find a Partner Pronto* Fiction. Ok. This is one of those works where it's all about the hot sex and and there's no deeper thought to the events of the story than that. Pet play anyone? Frisky blond manipulates the big bear to give him a newspaper-fueled beat-down. What some owners have to put up with just to occupy their animals.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO?
H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Fiction. Needlephobes may choose skip this particular kink. Her Tangh-i-ness just grinned and dreamed up an imaginary black and white teleplay of this hardcore deviance. Two aging queens, a paraplegic and an able-bodied person, channel baby brat and bitch goddess. Any Reader wondering if Deep Kink can't have a tender aspect should take note of the final line. "What?" She gave a small laugh. "And give up show business?"

COYOTE & THE LESS THAN PERFECT COUGAR
H/OA *Hand/Object Assisted* Newcomer to Albuquerque, New Mexico, John aims to do business with Wily of the Rafael Dumont La Cruz Rehabilitated Motor Works. Nice try, Dude. Just take the corn-holing, yank your pants up and hope you didn't catch any fleas.

COUNTING
TAMTT *Take A Minute to Think* Fiction. Scrabbling for survival, amongst his fellow Dystopians, the electronics-scavenger narrator sleeps with Tubal who turns out to have been a secret Robin Hood with a murderous twist. How close can one get to a super-predator and stay breathing or unchanged?


Note: This copy of Dirty Words was an electronic edition provided by the author. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Danny by Steven Harper McClary Piziks

Her Tangh-i-ness has identified yet another juicy book for all those fellow Bisexual-approving, Mythophilic, Science Fantasy, Ancient History addicts out there.

YA Librarians please take note: other than the use of standard Anglo-Saxon-derived cuss words, this work is devoid of Any reason to hesitate to include it on bookshelves. For prurient content, look elsewhere.

And I talking about this book called Danny.

I read it. Really.

*Spoiler Alert*

Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further, and eyeball elsewhere.

*Spoiler Alert End*


Ok. Onto the good stuff. So Readers meet Danny Marina a sixteen-year-old who discovers...gasp...he likes boys just as much as he likes girls and guess what? He doesn't have to give up either of them! Hows that for starters?

What do you do when you run away from one creepy situation with the son of the guy that your mother's sleeping with? Where do you go if you think you can make it on your own? Who said someplace warm?

All right, Genius.

So what if you're in the Sunshine state and you meet a girl who has no problem bedding you at the same time along with the other boy you ran away with? Hmnnn. Hmmmn.

What do you do if you were once immortal and the most recent "plaything" of that infamous Olympian Seducer, Zeus, that guy with the thunderbolts? Would you stick around and take being trapped in a divine equivalent to a suburban gated community? Do you really want to keep getting poked occasionally and pour ambrosia on command?

Her Tangh-i-ness thinks not.

Let's keep reading shall we? How do three hairs and a mug become power objects? Why was an Egyptian God seen shaking hands with Zeus? And most important of all, why did the island of Thera undergo that eruption that spread ash to the corners of the known ancient world? Think you can stand up to a mother who puts you at-risk, a pistol, and a category 4 hurricane?

See? Aren't you itching to find out?

PS. At the end of Danny, there is a teaser for another Steven Harper book called Nightmare. Always did wonder what would happen to Aboriginal people in Space. I found the teaser quite compelling.



Note: This copy of Danny was an electronic edition acquired from an author upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales

Book Review: Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales
Edited by Michael M. Jones
© 2012
Circlet Press

*Spoiler Alert*
A description of Adult material follows. Her Tangh-i-ness greatly appreciates pithy plot summaries. However, for those who must have a virgin reading experience, read no further and eyeball elsewhere.

*Spoiler Alert*
Introduction • Michael M. Jones
Deftly introduces the all female writers, the stories, and the editor’s personal experience with a certain Native American Trickster who shall remain unnamed. Read the rest of the review and the actual Introduction of the anthology to find out which one.

Winter Spirit • Nica Berry
Loved it. Talk about tortured journeys. The first story in Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales proves worthy of its place. It prickles the emotions of the reader like a bamboo splinter beneath skin. Those who believe in the power of love might secretly wish there was someone who loved them enough to risk pursuing them even at the cost of their own soul. A teahouse, a kagema (male prostitute) and a kitsune (fox spirit) blend into a steamy, fictional beverage.

Good Bad Habits • N. Violett
Instead of being all about the bark, this tale is all about the bite. Mess with Coyote and get messed with and lose near every stitch of clothing you own. First person female protagonist and a dense, sensory-laden exchange between the protagonist and her tall, dark, and be-ringed quarry Lopez. Howl, people until you can’t howl no more. This is a blow-by-blow encounter of why some people show up in public buck-naked.

The Fox Hunt • Nadine Wilmot
One of her Tangh-i-ness’s other faves. Beware. Erectile tissue of both genders could become aroused. During a holy festival, animal masks worn by mutual predators serve as a thematic counterpoint to a tryst. A dove seduces a fox. A nobleman becomes relieved of much coin after he dares to take the virginity of another noblewoman. Loved the repetition of, “Are you well my Lady?”

Fools Rush In • Elizabeth Schechter
First person story again. A famous Master Thief promises to steal from a god in his own temple. Reminds me of a tale Robert E. Howard would have approved of. What the Master Thief didn’t count on was that the god wanted to steal him. Gave a big awwwww-that’s-so-quirky-Romantic sigh at the confessional-type ending.

Come the Revolution • Gayle C. Straun
Back to Classical Greece to witness the bondage and ravishment of the Lightning-Thrower and Thunderer by a fearless, female redhead. Consider this story payback for Io, Europa, Danäe, and Ganymede amongst others. This forms a fitting thematic bookend to the preceding story Fools Rush In.

Tricksters Are Made, Not Born • Kaysee Renee Robichaud
The Norse god Loki approaches his latest mortal quarry with a destiny-ridden suitcase. The unluckiest guy meets the son of Loki and after several sex acts later, learns that he’s also the spawn of a Norse god too. BTW, this is the second story in the antho where handcuffs figure at the post-coital climax.

The Kitsune’s Laughter • Sunny Moraine
Her Tangh-i-ness agreed with the editor’s choice to include two stories dealing with the same trickster figure. Finally, readers get to enjoy some sizzling woman upon transwoman action. A childless Japanese wife calls upon a fertility spirit, the Great Kami Inari to help her and a fox spirit comes to her aid with the necessary baby-making equipment. Hopefully, readers will be left with a vague desire to find someone of their own to share a tatami mat with in a favorite position….


Note: This copy of Like a Cunning Plan: Erotic Trickster Tales was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Levade Sequel to Capriole

Book Review: Levade
Evey Brett
© 2012
Loose ID LLC


Levade is a book for those unafraid to feel. In terms of raw emotion and execution, it surpassed the first book Capriole.

*Spoiler Alert* It’s all about the Lipizzans. Well, no, but there’s major horse flesh capering about in the fields of the reader’s mind. Her Tangh-i-ness got her wish to spend more time with the four-legged cast members. And the significance of the title Levade proves to be no accident.

Think about the mystery of Rosebud in the movie Citizen Kane. No, there aren’t any sleds or newspaper tycoons in Levade, just two wounded men in love and their mutual decision to make Now matter more than their pasts. By the way, oodles of sex ooze from the pages for the uninhibited. These homosexual and heterosexual couplings take place not only between the major characters: Lukas von Rainer and Felipe Camarena but outside that primary relationship. Do remember this is a Loose Id title. Titillation and arousal will be par for the course. Many climaxes to follow.

Writing a sequel is hard work. There’s the original journey of returning characters established, new characters to introduce, and there’s effort required to take the reader to a satisfying space that they haven’t been before and yet make the ending grow out of all that has come before. Frankly, at times, Her Tangh-i-ness wanted to throttle either Lukas or Felipe for making a muddle of things but she trusted the author.

It’s an excellent sign when a reader is having conflicts with imaginary people. It means a reader cares about what’s happening. A reader who cares enough to get to The End, feels triumphant and likely to remember that fictional journey for a long time. And if the reader especially appreciates the journey, others get to hear about it.


Note:This copy of Levade was an electronic edition acquired from an author upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Capriole

Book Review: Capriole
Evey Brett
© 2012
Loose ID LLC

What happens when an Austrian, bisexual demon-keeper meets a bisexual Spaniard recovering from a demon attack? Make no mistake. This is an erotic, dark fantasy for grownups who adore Male/Male Romance and pretty horses. Be aware, several nonconsensual encounters populate the pages. For those who like their tops blond and their dark-haired bottoms equally sensitive, Capriole hits the sweet spot. The author sets the two lovers upon plot cliff and starts tossing complications at them. Her Tangh-i-ness had no questions regarding would the lovers get together. Her preoccupation pretty much revolved about exactly when it would happen and how would they stay together given all the obstacles?

The novel opens with a death and a telegram and establishes the young Spaniard as one of the main protagonists. Felipe Camarena has been using a false name Ramon Esquivel. The first few scenes set up his challenge: how to stay sane after having multiple horrific experiences and doubting the very existence of the incubus pursuing him? Imagine being ravished by a shape-shifting, sexually ravenous being whose touch felt like being scalded?

About twelve pages into Capriole, the first sex scene occurs between a female cambion (a half-demon) and her warden the above-mentioned, bi demon-keeper Lukas von Rainer. Her Tangh-i-ness appreciated observing a female aggressor with a male object of her desire. Lukas is trapped in a twisted relationship fueled by his need to help the cambion who continues to leech off him sexually, psychically, and emotionally. By the time, Felipe enters the picture, Lukas decides Felipe’s plight gives him the impetus to pursue what Lukas has wanted all along: a balanced relationship with an equal who gives as well as takes. Can you blame him?

Her Tangh-i-ness has some quibbles with Capriole. The POV wobbles a bit. It’s not always clear whose head the reader is supposed to stay in. The horses don’t appear until halfway through the book. Yeah, Her Tangh-i-ness admits it. She’s been into Lipizzans since her reading Marguerite Henry days. However, there’s a whole other sequel to Capriole called Levade that will hopefully indulge her horse fetish.

What Her-Tangh-i-ness also valued about Capriole was a convincing exploration of the confusion between psychic awareness with the symptoms of mental illness. Most people won’t admit to having conversations with horses nevermind hearing from demons. The psychic storms Felipe and Lukas weather close the gap between “real-world” trauma and the physical, mental, and social manifestations of that trauma. It is their very “woundedness” that makes Felipe and Lukas compelling characters worthy of resolution. Only a read-through of Capriole will prove if their outcomes satisfied.

Note: This copy of Capriole was an electronic edition acquired from an author upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: The Cliff Road Chronicles: Tales of the Brotherhood of Darkness

The Cliff Road Chronicles: Tales of the Brotherhood of Darkness
Anne Fraser
© 2011
By Light Unseen Media



‘Lo Peoples,

Her Tangh-i-ness has returned with more substantial, decidedly non-Twillight vampire fare.

Between the time the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie came out in 1992, and when the Buffy the Vampire TV series launched in 1997 to address the movie’s oversights in characterization, Anne Fraser came up with her own take on friendship amongst the supernatural. 17 short stories later, she celebrated the lives and loves of a gay vampire couple and their vampiric, magical, immortal, and lycanthropic friends located somewhere in Fletcherville, Maine. I bring up mention of Buffy purely because Anne Fraser also masters the delicate balancing act of handling an ensemble cast that could easily be overshadowed by its principals.

I’ve been told I started backwards. I first read All Places That Are Not Heaven by Anne Fraser the same authoress as in The Cliff Road Chronicles. That was the previous review. For my own twisted reasons, I remain enamored of All Places That Are Not Heaven and its antihero. So I allowed life to intrude when reading The Cliff Road Chronicles. I simply felt loath to establish a new bond with Fraser’s intended vampire hero: Gideon Redoak.

However, I eventually found that I regretted my procrastination. As one reads deeper into the short story collection there is meat here. (Yes, Her Tangh-i-ness is aware of the clunk of that particular metaphor when discussing vampires.) But I mean that the stories in The Cliff Road Chronicles ponder not only what true love is but how does one act when love requires action? How does a vampire in love reconcile the specter of human death while remaining involved with that human? Does a brutally abused Dark magician remain one forever? Can vampires grow and change with the times? What do the broken-hearted or aimless undead do with themselves? And most importantly, when did Fairy Godmothers start blowing clove smoke and sporting PVC skirts?

Ahhh. Another writer who enjoys the inclusion of wicked humor along with the darker moments, inclusion of LGBTQ/People of Color characters and a grounded romantic approach. My must-reads in The Cliff Road Chronicles include: Return to Red Oak Hall, A Gay Old Time, Reprise, To Burn in Hell, Lost Boy, Fairy Godmother, Mistress Estrella and Follow that Falcon! Mind you, these stories are primarily non-erotic but feature occasional, brief, tasteful adult passages involving references to gay and straight love-making. Her Tangh-i-ness is a supporter of the Erotic in literature.

Note: This copy of All Places That Are Not Heaven was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: All Places That Are Not Heaven

All Places That Are Not Heaven
Anne Fraser
By Light Unseen Media
© 2011


‘Lo Peoples,


Her Tangh-i-ness always enjoys reading Speculative Fiction that includes LGBTQ characters. Being a member of The Outer Alliance makes it easier to find noteworthy reading to share with others who delight in the same.

Long Before Sookie Stackhouse dallied with vampires and werefolk in Bon Temps, Louisiana; and just after Anita Blake started flirting with similar company in Saint Louis, Missouri; a Bi-sexual male vampire professor and former actor prowled Toronto and New York. At the same time in Europe, a hetero female vampire lived as a Prince. The stories in the anthology All Places That Are Not Heaven feature two of the dazzling undead: Adrian Talbot and Genevieve de Monet.

The Rosedale Vampires, Vampire Blues, Vampire Conventions, Acting’s in the Blood and Speak Easy are the stories about Adrian Talbot. These third-person stories progress chronologically by when they were written.

Watch and Ward and A Babe in Arms present Genevieve de Monet also in the third person. Fans of strong female protagonists may appreciate her as a literary digestif compared to the plat principal Adrian Talbot provides.

Honestly, it took a bit before this reviewer became entranced with Anne Fraser’s world. But once settled in, I no longer regretted the journey. I, too, snickered at the inclusion of some real-life personages such as the library technician from “Fort Book” and the law offices named for other vampire writers: Huff, Baker, Charnas, and O’Brien. Anne Fraser frequently inserts humorous dialogue exchanges between characters such as Sweat Sock à la Fowler with a request for a side of Grilled Jockstrap.

Adrian Talbot’s straight, unrequited love interest, Jake Fowler, inhabits the first four stories. Nothing titillating (in this reviewer’s opinion) happens between them although they develop a strong if unexpected friendship. Acting’s in the Blood the last of the Adrian Talbot-Jake Fowler tales is my second favorite story. The late Anne Fraser herself thought highly of her novella Speak Easy and Her Tangh-i-ness agrees. This story near outshone the whole collection. Jake Fowler doesn’t make an appearance. Speak Easy is tinged with explicit homoeroticism, tragic romance, but it also addresses the need to be loved unconditionally. and demonstrates what happens when one’s sexual preference and expression are judged more harshly than just being part of the Prohibition-Era underworld. Read it and try not to weep.

A Babe in Arms has to be my third favorite of the collection. Anne Fraser explores the difficulty of a relationship with a “traditional” male with a wandering eye and a resolute female who adores her scamp of a lover despite his frequent betrayals. These two just happen to be vampires rather than mortals. By the story’s end, Genevieve can finally abandon her Ice Queen image and entertain a polyamorous arrangement. Go Genevieve!

Note: This copy of All Places That Are Not Heaven was an electronic edition acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness usually reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: Pumpkin Teeth

Pumpkin Teeth
Tom Cardamone
©2009
Lethe Press

'Lo Peoples,


For me, a stimulating short story anthology makes me want to start writing. I dunno. I guess imagination is catching. I should probably add absurdity and a penchant for pushing the barriers of reader comfort to my extremely communicable fiction list. The only item that left me perplexed about some of the stories were some endings in medias res. I found myself scanning the page for more words that simply didn't appear. Take this as evidence of Cardamone's ability to create immersive story worlds rather than a slight. Thirteen different times, I floated down the rabbit hole. I don't think one can fall into a Pumpkin Teeth story.

These were the journeys that I found most delightful in a wicked sort of way. I'm sure you'll choose your own.

Bottom Feeder presents a first person narrator who has evolved or devolved into the kind of "retirement community" that could be best described as a human version of Flipper or Namu engaged in proctophilic activities and singing.

In Suitcase Sam the first person narrator allows the reader a view into an oddly logical development of the ultimate in sexual submission and objectification. Paraphilia anyone?

Some mythical time ago, in the Far East, the first person narrator in Royal Catamite undergoes a transformation due to the imbibing of too much divine seminal fluid. Now there's a thought.

River Rat features a multi-person POV. IMHO, this is the sweetest of the stories. For those of us who adore outlandish comic book type characters, zaftig women, and free love between humans and former humans are in for a distinctly cupcake-with-sprinkles-shaped treat. I read, I chuckled and cooed in delight, and then I raided the refrigerator.

Since I already believe in the veil between the worlds of the Living and those who have passed on, Cardamone did not have to sell me. The Next Bardo brings its first person narrator "back" to another era filled with regret. What's so wonderful about this piece is the details of travel writing, gay marketing, the isolating effects of being closeted, all set against the loss inflicted by the appearance of AIDS.

Dare I say I look forward to reading the next Cardamone collection?


Peace,


Her Tangh-i-ness

Note: This copy of Pumpkin Teeth was an electronic ARC acquired from an editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: A Handful of Pearls

A Handful of Pearls
Beth Bernobich
©2010
Lethe Press




'Lo Peoples,


I am rather fond of short story collections. So it was no struggle at all to read Beth Bernobich's A Handful of Pearls. I finished it in two sittings which is one of the wondrous things about short stories. For a reader with plenty of time, there is the fun of plunging into a fully-formed world, and then coaxing oneself onwards for a few pages more until one has missed one's bus stop, or the phone rings, or one can't keep one's eyes open any longer.

First, as a writer I must appreciate James Patrick's Kelly's Preface. He makes some observations about the themes Bernobich deals with in her work, namely, secrecy. He has "called it" as some Black people say in urban circles, so I almost have nothing to add there.

I will turn my attention to what I felt were the strongest of the nine stories. Five times, I found myself swept past my critical purview and delivered straight to the land of emotion. And that is simply what memorable stories do. They drop you somewhere and the rest of the world vanishes save for what comes next upon the page. Poison, Remembrance, Marsdog, the title story,A Handful of Pearls, and Jump to Zion paraded characters struggling with the weight of their desires. Daksa, a true hermaphrodite, and Kate, a soon-to-be grieving lover, could have been crushed by theirs but find new beginnings. Jimmy AKA Danu-vil-fa (the Talëdi spiderchild) starts with one desire and ends with another desire he had not given much thought to. Yan Dei moves from desire to desire to desire in his relentlessly self-absorbed manner. The herbalist Adjua desires to save her child, meet the demands of a former lover and a secret benefactor and to pay the price that the god of La Trinète requires from her.

I am delighted when a writer whom I do not know to be a lesbian, a devotee of the Orisha, nor a child molester, nor an alien from Jafal can write a character who is lesbian, or a child-molester, or an Orisha devotee, or an alien, and none of the characters can be stacked upon another the way one might do with Russian nesting dolls. I am as testy as one can get about the portrayals of People of Color and the LGBTQ communities. As ambivalent as I am about someone who is not from the Orisha tradition writing about my religious beliefs, I bristled and prepared to find something in Bernobich's work to grate on my nerves. I found only the word Orisha itself used in a milleu where the word Loa would have served more specifically. It is with great relief that I report this.

On an ending note, I am very much for inclusion of the erotic amongst the experiences characters and readers might share in the course of any fiction. I am grateful that Bernobich carries on the fine tradition of including sex (however delicately) in her work.


Note: This copy of A Handful of Pearls was an electronic ARC acquired from the editor upon the reviewer's request. Her Tangh-i-ness reviews on a for-the-love basis. No lucre has been involved.

Book Review: 12 Burning Wheels Review

12 Burning Wheels
Cesar Torres
MBrane SF
© 2010

Microfiction. Read it. It's easy. Highly consumable. It's like chewing on gummy bears or a Hershey's kiss (you can't eat just one) except that this kind of literary candy can make one as tense as a rollercoaster drop, and just as queasy, but then, as you wobble away, you realize that you could do the whole damned thing over again. Don't believe me? Try 12 Burning Wheels. Nibble from the middle if you like, wolf down the last story, or begin at the start and you'll find yourself scrolling onwards. Wonder to yourself—so then—what happened next?

A story a day straight for twelve days, now that requires an author certain of his powers. You try teasing twelve, consecutive stories from your gray matter sometime. Perhaps a sub-theme of 12 Burning Wheels is infection. Author infects reader with curiosity. Characters infect one another with desire, fear, and death. Fellow writers may be infected worst of all and compelled to try their hand at a similar challenge. In 12 Burning Wheels, Love often consorts with Death, the Erotic sometimes wears the face of a ghoul, and well...isn't casual violence absurd? Let me mention there is reccuring cannibalism. Yummy.

This reviewer delights in the following stories, but I'm sure you'll have your own favorites.
Machina appeals to my MacHead leanings. The customer reviews were hilarious! Made me wish the application was actually available. Can't argue the ninety-nine cent price either.

Mantis Love is the most upbeat tale for the quirky romantic in me. Two gay High School Seniors dare to go to their prom in style. Yaoi Nation are you reading? Even the pain of the brutal reception the lovers receive and the loss of a grand, old artifact: the Mantis vehicle itself, melt in the face of youthful passion. Love rules! I cheered at the end.

A Conversation With the Elephant reminds me of my own experiences with audiocidal music. Whoa, Dude, India is a serious reaper for the cause. I am ever sooooo grateful the Rhinoceros concert took place in my imagination. It reminds me of the "I Survived the Mok Concert T-Shirt" line from the animated, cult classic movie Rock and Rule.

Dig Your Own Hole I adored because Mr. Torres managed to defy my expectations and simultaneously preserve the marriage of myth, magic, and traditional people's contract with the world they inhabit. It is as darkly beautiful and compelling a tale as Shirley Jackson's The Lottery.

Victoria and her job made me grin. Protein JLTC-19-47 and Ambrosevia stands shoulder to shoulder with the other infamous human flesh-derived product: Soylent Green. Why am I not surprised at their exclusivity and their benefits?

Lastly, I'll mention Honey. I'm quite fond of Circe and always wondered what became of her after Odysseus dumped her. I see my girl has been hard at work extracting revenge in pounds of human flesh. I bow to her continued awesome wrathfulness.

The End.

Note: This copy of 12 Burning Wheels was an electronic ARC acquired from the author upon the reviewer's request.

Book Review: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

August 17, 2009
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
By N. K. Jemisin
©2010, Orbit Hachette Book Group



First off, once the Nahadoth Nightlord T-shirt and action figure line becomes available—I must be notified immediately! Can we say sizzling, long-haired, uber-Badboy? Shall we say this is the same kind of insane attraction that an legendary, fanged Transylvanian possesses? Yum.

Don't ask how I have come into possession of The Ten Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin. Suffice it to say, I won't betray my fellow pro-Enefadeh. The Itempan Arameri have their scriveners recording every word I say. I'll keep typing as fast as I can.

Yeine Darr Arameri, the protagonist, comes across as a solid everywoman despite her fantastical surroundings. The novel remains in her point of view. Her trouble is most of the novel's cast seeks her death for one reason or another. Yeine balances being a reader surrogate during charged exchanges with the afore-mentioned Nahadoth, being the kind of heroine who transforms from awkward barbarian to a force for justice in a vicious, amoral world, and being comfortably herself.

I fell in love with the book almost from the moment I saw the author photo on the back. People of color have an ancient tradition of fabulous story-telling. I, for one, demand more volumes to choose from and The Ten Thousand Kingdoms has earned a permanent spot on my bookshelf. The brooding cover art also promised a delicious, female-centered darkness. 398 pages later, I wasn't disappointed. Cross-pollination between genres is welcome. Romance readers and fans of Shonen-Ai may also find this book to their liking. I appreciated so much the inclusion of alternative sexualities. Think on this, an incestuous triangle between two gods and their deceased sister-goddess lies at the heart of the conflict. This is the kind of book that derives its intense eroticism, not from gratuituous prose, but from the understated image of its aftermath: a broken bed. Read into that whatever you will.

Peace,

Her Tangh-i-ness

Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.