Saturday Studs and Sirens and so forth | Elin Gregory

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Saturday Studs and Sirens and so forth

May 25, 2013 by Elin Gregory

Another Saturday so another bash at the Seductive Studs and Sirens blog hop. Six author/bloggers, all writing LGBT themed work, providing snippets of published work or WIPs, or commentary on other people’s work for the delight and entertainment of each other and, we hope, a few other people as well.

Last week I was talking about the Channelling Morpheus series by Jordan Castillo Price, a series of quite short erotically-charged, paranormal stories about vampires and revenge. Today I am going just about as far to the other end of the continuum as I can to talk about an equally beloved series of stories. They have not been published, I can’t provide buy links, press kits or book covers, they are free reads on a blog and I just ADORE them. They are amongst my ‘desert island’ list. I’m talking about Falls Chance Ranch by Rolf and Ranger.

The premise is that a working sheep ranch in Wyoming has been set up with a sideline, operated by trained professionals, to destress and re-educate burned out business-men. The treatment comprises complete distance from any form of business, fresh air, good food, appropriate amounts of sleep and exercise and the application of firm but fair discipline, reinforced by occasional physical punishment if deemed appropriate. Each case is treated differently according to his own particular needs and the period spent at the ranch varies as well. The story is told mostly from the point of view of Dale, a young Englishman working for a large American corporation who is so burned out that he is hallucinating fire alarms. Welcomed to the ranch, he is at first outraged, then accepting, then slowly discovers a way of life that brings out his very best qualities. He also slowly discovers that the men of the ranch are all gay and involved in a calm caring poly relationship. Potential readers may be shocked to hear that there are no sex scenes at all in the first full novel length story and in the rest of the series while sexual encounters occur they are either off screen or implied rather than described. And you know what – the stories don’t NEED them.

You know, I was going to put off a re-read until I’ve finished Eleventh Hour, but I think I might just indulge myself. 🙂

Posted in Saturday Recs | 30 Comments

30 Responses

on May 25, 2013 at 12:10 pm | Reply jessielansdel

Just popped over there to have a butchers. I’ve bookmarked the blog. Cheers, Elin. Nah, implied sex can be sexier IMO. 😉
- on May 25, 2013 at 3:05 pm | Reply Elin Gregory
  
  I don’t think the stories are about sex. Not even romance, really. Dale is damaged and needs to be healed and is shown how to heal himself with a combination of being looked after and being firmly told off if he crosses the bounds his carers impose. Some of the people who hate it say that it’s Stockholm Syndrome but I think it’s a case of a young man who needs safe boundaries against which he is encouraged to gently push knowing that they will be extended ONLY when he is ready for them. HUGE amounts of love, but it’s agape not eros.
on May 25, 2013 at 3:15 pm | Reply bentalice

I like the hint at punishment. But then, I’m a spanking kind of girl. I like what I’ve read, and I find myself looking forward to next Saturday, when I can see more.
- on May 26, 2013 at 6:28 am | Reply Elin Gregory
  
  There are spanking scenes – punishments for transgressions and not at all erotically charged unless one finds the description of discomfort erotic in itself. But they really work well in the context of the characters and the situation.
on May 25, 2013 at 5:36 pm | Reply Thianna D

Oooh! These stories sound intriguing! I am off to check them out!
- on May 26, 2013 at 6:32 am | Reply Elin Gregory
  
  They are incredibly gentle. I read them on the recommendation of a friend after saying that I didn’t like stories about contemporary cowboys [which I still don’t as a rule]. But I love these because there’s such a layered approach. Nobody is JUST a cowboy, everyone has sidelines, everyone has weaknesses. I’ll admit that Dale strays perilously close to Mary-Sue territory as the million or so words scroll by but I forgive him for it.
on May 25, 2013 at 9:54 pm | Reply Sue

Frankly it’s a sensible approach — too bad doesn’t exist in “real” life
- on May 26, 2013 at 6:24 am | Reply Elin Gregory
  
  If Falls Chance Ranch existed I would be SO there. But then calm and kindness and simple pleasures don’t excite most of the M/M reading public as much as they please me.
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