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: Skin Deep Magic by Craig Laurance Gidney

I adore short stories, especially fantastical ones. My acquaintance with Craig Laurence Gidney's work actually begins with the YA novel, Bereft, but that's another book to mention in its own review.

I knew I needed to read Skin Deep Magic when I saw the cover.

There's a dark-skinned Black woman's face with eyes closed framed by gold leaves and blossoms. I'm old enough to remember when it wasn't common to see a Black woman on a cover. Even the great departed Octavia Butler was not safe from a Marketing department that believed no one would buy a book with a picture of a Black person on the cover. I must be an anomaly then, because I am one of those Readers who is often enticed by the cover first to sample what's inside the book. And I wanted to buy books with characters who resembled me.

And sure 'nuf' here is Brotha Gidney writing 'bout some most powerful Sistahs in these stories. (Ebonics totally intentional.) I felt like I wanted to be or had been some of these women. And it IS a magical thing when a male writer hangs up his own gender like a coat and dons another dreaming herself into the Reader's reality. (Pronoun Gender switch is totally intentional.) I believed in these women and the gents who graced these pages. Mighty fine writing if you ask me. The African Descended have long utilized the power of the word.

For those of us who identify as Black, our being ignored or belittled subject matter is in escapable as gravity or the call of mortality. I simply wanted to provide the context of why this short story collection so moved me. At some point, a well-meaning person decided that the trope of the Magical Negro was to be scorned. In the context of the Black character who serves no other purpose than to illuminate a white character that person is absolutely correct, however, magic and Blackness are often inseparable and it is to that truth that the tales in Skin Deep Magic speak to.

*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*

Psychometry, or Gone with the Dust

A mountain of Black memorabilia in a dead woman's home yields some disturbing clues about each piece's origin when touched. As someone who has had real-life experiences with Psychometry, I wouldn't even call this piece fiction. Gidney is simply telling how these things be.

Sapling

Maybe this is the story that inspired the book cover. A young woman learns she is the daughter of a tree spirit and that joining her absent father in the local greenspace is the highpoint of her existence. This story also features a theme that often crops up in Gidney's work: a conflict due the stranglehold Christian belief on the Old ways of knowing/being.

Mauve's Quilt

Two lonely people on either side of a quilt exchange worlds. Eventually, Mauve returns to the known world after a motherless Quentin is drawn into hers. Ahh, the power to be found in stitches.

Lyes

I had to giggle at this story. Graduate Students under pressure. No one expects trademark imagery to take life and start haunting them. Sheri never suspected her strongest ally would be the one person who could have called the country bumpkin. I need one of those Caution: Educated Black Woman T-shirts.

Conjuring Shadowa

This is one of my favorite pieces. Back in the day where men loving men gathered, a guardian stood with them. Even when the boys in blue come to bust up the party, they too find themselves pressed man to man and mouth to mouth in 1926.

Zora's Destiny

Here Gidney pays homage to one of his literary forebears. Zora calls upon an Elder to ease her mother's suffering and by story end learns her own path lies in tale-telling and root-working. This is the second of the Christian Vs. Old World Belief themed stories.

Death and Two Maidens

One dead female house servant meets with a living one and both are pestered by the same top-hatted, skull-faced gent. Only a fellow goddess can bring them any defense. Follow the machinations of the Loa whose territories range far outside not only Africa but also the human heart and head.

Sugardaddy

The highlight of this story is the unflinching look at some of the uglier aspects of Urban Life. The daughter of an abusive addict takes matters into her own hands once she becomes a huntress herself. Who knew toxins and additives could taste so good? One might say the moral of they story is to be kind to those big, fat girls. You never know what they might be capable of.

Inscribed

A deceased, gay, white father and a dead black mother join forces to protect their adult child from an ancient patron of thieves whose modern-day vehicle is a pc game. The question I pondered the longest as I read was did the child even want to be saved?

Coalrose

This is one of my other favorite stories from the collection. Let's deconstruct. What is Negritude? What is a stage performance? What is the performer? What happens when the sensuality of Josephine Baker combines with the rawness and blackness of a Nina Simone? Raise your hand if you thought of Coalrose.


Note: This copy of SkinDeep Magic was a hard copy edition purchased by the reviewer. 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.

Jarla Tangh is in the House!

Her Tangh-i-ness is here on Blogger to show love for those who think outside the box, y'all.

This means she's here to make friends and build up her fanbase only.

She read constantly as a youngster and was misunderstood because she spoke the King's English near always and used SAT words in normal conversation. For your information, her verbal was 780, but alas, her Math sucked the big one at 540. Poor little dread-locked girl.

Her Tangh-i-ness is a Clarion West 2001 Graduate. She owes her pseudonym to a vocalist friend who gave her the first name, a faery godmother of an editor, who told her using just one name is pretentious, and the surname from the Turkey City Lexicon. She considers herself African Descended rather than African American, but will still answer to Black and Colored. She is one of those people who thinks Disney should release Song of the South. Forget that damn The Princess and the Frog! Likewise, Huckleberry Finn needs to stay on bookshelves, so kids can remember what life used to be like. Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, performed a service to humanity given the prevailing anti-Negro sentiment in his day.

Her Tangh-i-ness is a writer of homoerotic male-male romance, science fiction, fantasy, and horror featuring people of color as the protagonists.

Publications:

Afro-Future Females: Black Writers Chart Science Fiction's Newest New-Wave Trajectory, 2008

Essay "A Close Encounter with my Pseudonym" Publisher Ohio State University Press

Editor Marleen S. Barr

Mojo Conjure Stories, 2003

Short Story "The Skinned" Publisher Warner Aspect

Editor Nalo Hopkinson

Current Projects:

The Nether Concern- a dark urban fantasy series set in 1915 Boston with a gay Black hero

World Jumping- a multi-world urban fantasy series set in Boston with a straight Black heroine

The Society for the Protection of Engineered Creatures- an alternate-world sci-fi series with an African descended, intersexed, albino hero.

The Caldlond Demon series- a multi-generational fantasy set in an alternate Ancient Britain.

Thank you all for reading, buying, and recommending the above-mentioned. Now for some thanks in Yoruba.

Modupe Pupa Pupa.

Ashe.