Tag Archives: Poppy Z Brite

Linkity linkity link, Reading

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Congrats to Juliana, who won Chase in Shadow by Amy Lane! Chase in Shadow is being released today by Dreamspinner Press.

Contests

Bookity

Ebookity

  • You’ll notice I read a lot of free online fiction this week. I actually read the stories as ebooks. Sometimes I create my own ebooks from the online stories, using Word (rtf) and Calibre. Sometimes, if the story has a lot of sections, it’s just easier to have Story Master do the compilation and conversion for me. (Thanks to the GRs friends who told me about Story Master!)

Think, Do, Make, Learn

Cookity

Crafty

Cool

Wha…?

LOL

Teh Cute

Reading Update
Protection by SA Reid. ebook. Excellent historical m/m romance set in a British prison in the late 1930s. This isn’t going to be for everyone – it’s gritty and violent, as befits the setting… and that violence includes rape. But if you can get past that, you’ll find a powerful story that had me in tears at the end.
WMSmoker Seeks Seclusion by PirateGrrl. free online. Very good m/m romance about Clyde, an incredibly defensive and intentionally unpleasant guy who’s really only nice to his dog. He’s knocked for a loop when a guy who works in the same building persists in talking to him and asking him out… and finally wears him down. Being inside Clyde’s head felt like living inside of a non-stop anxiety attack!
The Pirate’s Gamble (2nd ed) by Eden Winters. ebook short. Very good short time travel m/m romance about an archeologist who travels back in time and rescues artifacts that are about to be lost forever, then returns home to the man he loves… but who keeps him a secret.
Drunk Text by seventhswan. free online. Very good m/m romance about a straight college student who wakes up hungover one morning covered in finger paint with a text on his phone that suggests he had sex with a guy the night before…
The Morning After by Magalina. free online. Good m/m romance about a guy who wakes up hungover (hmm, this is starting to look like a reading theme this week) next to one of his friends – the friend he’s been in love with for years. This one had a twist to it. 🙂
The Side Effects of Forgetting by seventhswan. free online. Good m/m romance about a college student who wakes up in the hospital with amnesia – everything that makes him himself is missing). He basically has to rediscover himself, including his sexual orientation. This is a story that actually needed an epilogue or an additional chapter.
Plastic Jesus by Poppy Z. Brite. ebook. Good short story about a band modeled on the Beatles, only the two main singer/songwriters are gay and together.
Accidental Love by Shae Connor. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about two college roommates, one who’s sworn off sex and the other who spends his weekends having anonymous sex with guys he picks up at clubs… and then he realizes how attractive his roommate is.
A Rare Thing by Alex Douglas. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a guy who’s gone back to college and needs to sell some of his grandmother’s old jewelry to make ends meet. It doesn’t hurt that the guy at the counter of the antique store is so attractive…
First Time, Forever by KC Burn. ebook arc. Good m/m romance about a couple in a long-term relationship who, after seeing their son off to college, hope to reconnect with each other, but… they don’t talk to each other about it, both too afraid that they’re losing the other. Sometimes I’m frustrated by stories in which the major conflict could be solved by a simple conversation, but with this one, I could see myself behaving exactly as did the main characters, so it felt realistic to me.
Safe Harbor by Derek Adams. ebook. Good m/m romance about a single dad who works at a marina, where he runs into the only guy he’d ever been attracted to. This would’ve been rated higher, but between the characters using each other’s names in conversation way more than was realistic and some rather silly euphemisms…
The Principal Cause of Death (Tom & Scott #4) by Mark Richard Zubro. Good gay mystery in which Tom has an altercation with a student and accused of murder.
An Echo of Death (Tom & Scott #5) by Mark Richard Zubro. Good gay mystery in which an old friend of Scott’s shows up, bringing trouble along with him.
Rust on the Razor (Tom & Scott #6) by Mark Richard Zubro. Good gay mystery in which Tom and Scott go to rural Georgia after Scott’s dad has a heart attack. They are not at all prepared for the bigotry and hatred they encounter.
Are You Nuts? (Tom & Scott #7) by Mark Richard Zubro. Good gay mystery in which a conservative running for union rep is found bludgeoned in the school library and one of Tom’s friends is the top suspect.
Lone Wolf by Shelley Munro. ebook. Ok paranormal m/m romance about a rebellious young artist who attends a getting in touch with your werewolf camp in Yellowstone and falls for one of the instructors. When he has to return to LA at the end of the course, his father tries to force him to become an architect. This had a number of loose ends, which will perhaps be tied up in the obviously planned sequel… Or perhaps not. I don’t plan to read it.
Starting Over (1 Night Stand #27) by Starla Kaye. ebook short. So-so short m/m romance about a divorced guy who knows he’s gay, but isn’t exactly sure how to hook up with another man so decides to go through the 1 Night Stand dating service. Apparently unclear pronoun references are a constant with this publisher.

“Just loafin’ around…” -Chaos

Festing, Reading, Reviewettes, See the Sights

This is not the linkity you’re looking for (featuring travel photos & book reviewettes instead of “proper” linkity)

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Congrats to Ella Jane, who won Bound for the Forest by Kay Berrisford!

While this post has plenty of links, they’re primarily related to my vacation in New Orleans for GayRomLit. Plus a reading update at the end. And a cat picture. Of course. 🙂

Devon Rhodes and me, both very drunk at Lafitte’s in Exile.

Me, again, although I’m not exactly sure where this was taken. Jackie??

Purple house!

Our neighborhood bar.

Wonderfully overgrown balcony in the French Quarter.

Hitching post in the French Quarter.

Jackson Square.

Random Thoughts

  • The swampy edges of Lake Pontchartrain looked like they were egret paradise.
  • I’m good at the roadtrip driving thing… if I have audiobooks. Even bad audiobooks.
  • Was it a New Orleans thing or a Southern thing that posted hours and actual open hours didn’t necessarily coincide?
  • I had a delightful gluten-free “Dine with an Author” lunch at Muriel’s, courtesy of Julia Talbot and BA Tortuga. We didn’t talk books at all – we shared gluten-free tips and stories.
  • Jimmy at Lafitte’s in Exile is an awesomely entertaining bartender.
  • I wandered by a yard sale being run by a man and his cockatoo.
  • The readers and writers I hung out with were pretty amazing people – smart and savvy. Why do they all live so far away?!
  • It was kind of traumatizing to leave sunny mid-80s weather and return to chilly grey Minneapolis. (Although we’ve had chilly sunshine for the past day or so…)
  • I returned home with a souvenir cold and hacking cough. Blech.
  • After I got home, I didn’t unpack the copy paper box that had some unopened snacks and other stuff in it. When I got up yesterday morning, Chaos had gotten the lid off the box and had been eating pretzels, sweet potato chips, and cashews. Hopefully more chips and fewer cashews… What a mess!
  • Don’t worry if I haven’t replied to your contest entry comment! I’m so far behind from being on vacation that I’ll probably just delete a bunch of emails and start fresh. If you can see your comment on the contest post, you’re entered.

GayRomLit Posts (these are varying degrees of NSFW, so beware)

Reading Update
Bound for the Forest by Kay Berrisford. ebook. Excellent kinky gay dark historical fantasy romance about a former soldier who returns to the family manor in the Greenwood (the manor which he just sold to cover debts) to retrieve some hidden valuables before the new owner takes possession. When he finds another, very captivating thief already there, he has no idea how the course of his life has just shifted.
Into the Woods by Anna Mayle. free ebook short. Fun short m/m paranormal about two guys who live in a town for retired circus performers (and their families) and who have a very unusual experience trying to walk through the woods…
Vessel (Cutting Cords #2) by Mickie B. Ashling. Excellent kinky m/m story set five years after Cutting Cords. This is not a romance per se – it’s a story about Sloan’s ongoing personal growth. Personal growth that, as is usually the case, is frequently painful and messy. But Sloan perseveres, learning more about himself as he goes, and the end of this story is hopeful. I hope we’ll get to read one more book – a book in which Sloan comes into his own. (Mickie reports that the third book should be out in May!)
Happily Neverafter (Petit Morts #11) by Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance about a Greek cop and an American tourist who collide. We also find out a bit more about Chance, although he’s really no less mysterious for that!
London Eye (Petit Morts #12) by Clare London & Jordan Castillo Price. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance about a banker whose boyfriend dumps him in a London backstreets restaurant. Drunk, disoriented, and stranded, he awkwardly accepts his kindhearted waiter’s assistance.
Spirits and Second Chances (Petit Morts #13) by Sean Kennedy. ebook short. Very good short paranormal m/m romance about a guy who leads ghost tours in Western Australia. He’s happy with his life, but it just seems as if there’s something missing…
Liquor by Poppy Z. Brite. Very good gay fiction about a couple who are line cooks in New Orleans and are approached by a financier interested in helping them open a restaurant. I especially enjoyed reading this while in New Orleans.
Life Over Limb (EMS Heat #11) by Stephani Hecht. ebook. Sweet m/m romance about a diabetic radiology tech who hasn’t been taking good care of himself and a former flight nurse, now ER nurse, who hasn’t really dealt with a patient dying under his care.
Dead Run (Dangerous Ground #4) by Josh Lanyon. ebook. Pretty good m/m romantic suspense in which Tyler’s flying to Paris to see Will for the first time in 11 months and things are awkward between them. This one just didn’t really work for me – it felt contrived and I thought the amnesia bit was weak.
Velvet Memories (Club Velvet Ice #4) by Violet Summers. ebook. Good kinky m/m romance about a jock who was in denial in high school. Ten years later, he’s a Dom and no longer in denial when he runs into the guy whose trust he abused in high school – the guy who now works as a submissive at Club Velvet Ice.
RSVP (Pushing the Envelope #2) by Kim Dare. ebook short. Good short kinky m/m that, like the first installment, consists of a scene between Scott and Joe.
Devotedly His (His #4) by Shawn Lane. ebook short. Good short m/m romance about a guy who goes to clubs and hooks up with anyone who reminds him of the best friend he’s been crushing on since college… the best friend who’s never been interested in him. Things seemed to happen much too quickly at the ending, and not in a way that would help build trust about the friend’s concern.
Murder in the Rue Dauphine (Chanse MacLeod #1) by Greg Herren. Good gay mystery about a New Orleans cop turned PI who shows up to meet a potential new client, only to find the client dead. Even without an actual client, he can’t seem to avoid working on the case… I read this whilst staying about 50 feet from Dauphine!
Kindred in Death (In Death #29) by JD Robb. audiobook. Really, what’s to say about these? They’re pretty solid, although a bit repetitive by this point in the series. And this was interesting enough to keep me alert as I was driving, which was what I really cared about.
Bad Moon Rising (Dark-Hunter #18, Were-Hunter #5) by Sherrilyn Kenyon. audiobook. So-so paranormal romance that suffered from too many points of view (possibly because the book was written as occurring during a whole bunch of previous books about other characters) and from being too long. Sheesh. It just went on and on and on and… I started to zone out as I was listening to it – not what I want to listen to while I’m driving!
Sizzling Sixteen (Stephanie Plum #16) by Janet Evanovich. audiobook. Ok mystery in a series that really needs to end. But since I didn’t fall asleep listening to it as I was driving, it served its purpose.

“Told you I’d get you back for being gone. Do we have any more of those tasty sweet potato chips?” -Chaos