Elin Gregory

The holidays! I hope you all had a grand time, didn’t get too hungover and Santa brought you exactly what you wanted. Especially if he brought you books!

By my count it’s a month since I last signed up to the Seductive Studs ‘n’ Sirens Blog Hop, a weekly event where writers of LGBT fiction display excerpts of their work. Most of the authors are very competent and successful writers of erotica, particularly of fiction with an element of kink to it so click the link in the little graphic over to the left there and knock yourself out. I don’t write erotica, and my guys are pretty unseductive, so instead of posting excerpts I post book recommendations.

I have read a LOT over the past month and have several highlights, all of which really deserve a separate post of their own but I’ll conflate them here and try to get back into routine for next week.

First up – Tinsel Fish by Harper Fox, a sequel to Once Upon a Haunted Moor that expands upon the relationship between village police constable Gideon Frayne and psychic Lee Tyack. Lee picks up a strong message at a public demonstration of his psychic abilities – “Tinsel Fish” – a message that damages him both physically and emotionally. Faced with rumours of strange disappearances, the erratic behaviour of his new lover, and the re-entry into his life of a family member who may be more of a help than a hindrance, Gideon’s patience and integrity is stretched to the limits. If you haven’t read Once Upon A Haunted Moor you really should. Both books are fabulous, filled with a terrific sense of place, quirky and memorable characters, pin sharp descriptions of the Cornish countryside and a brooding sense of menace. Fox seems to be setting up this series as individual episodes with an over-arching plot and I can’t wait for the next instalment.

Next – Irregulars by Nicole Kimberling, Josh Lanyon, Astrid Amara and Ginn  Hale is a collection of 4 separate short stories some of which feature the same characters, set in a world where all the odd things in stories exist and NATO has set up a division, the Irregulars, to deal with the interspecies conflicts. I have to admit to being drawn to the book by Josh Lanyon but all 4 authors deliver the goods as far as I’m concerned. Romance readers take note – while each story concerns a M/M pairing there’s a lot of focus on crime fighting, politics, magic, action and some fairly gruesome stuff. If you need a lot of gazing into each others eyes, talking about feelings and pages of boinking I’d really try reading something else. But if you like romp along plot in an exciting and scary world plus some very poignant and loving relationships then I think you’ll love this one. What’s not to love about a character called Half-Dead Henry?

Another series here – Separate Ways by Laura Harner, the first of which, Continental Divide, was co-written with Lisa Worrall. I really enjoy Lisa’s work so bought the first in the series and was blown away by aristocratic DI Jamie Mainwaring and his collaboration with boorish American detective Remington as they investigate an international ring of paedophiles. Another warning for romance readers – it’s a 4 book series and the HEA will be a long time coming! But the tension between Jamie and Remington and their other lovers just makes the desperate situations all the more intense. I suspect that the police procedural elements are about as accurate as the FBI stuff in the Cut and Run series but the stories have such pace that I willingly suspend my disbelief. Also the bonkage is quite explicit but doesn’t go on for so long that I start yawning and is generally plot, or relationship arc, relevant. There are some excellent secondary characters and actions actually have consequences that last. I’m not sure how long we have to wait for the 4th novel but I found them very satisfying stories even without the almost obligatory HEA.

And finally, episode three of The Pride has just been issued. This is a comic about a team of LBGT superheroes, written by Joe Glass from Treorchy about 30 miles away from where I live, and drawn and coloured by a team of very talented artists. Yes it has a message – ie that you don’t have to be straight to be a hero – but it’s good fun as well and Glass is setting it up for plenty of conflict in future episodes. You can buy it on paper or digitally here.

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Happy Saturday!! If you click on the picture to the left it will take you to the SSnS blog hop page where you can read snippets from LGBTQ fiction authors. Since I am a rebel – bwahahahaha – I recommend other people’s work instead.

I’ve tried to read a bit less this week, because I’d got to the stage where seeing was getting to be an issue, but what I have read has been OH SO GOOD.

Mahu by Neil Plakcy has been on my TBR list for ages but this week I just happened to have casually dropped into MLR Press and there it was so … What a read! What a wild ride!

Kimo is a cop working in Waikiki in Hawaii, a place with which I am utterly unfamiliar. He’s in the closet, gay cops have a horrible time of it, but He’s peeping through a crack in the door. Circumstances conspire to throw the door open when he witnesses the aftermath to a murder outside a gay bar. The rest of the story is part a very well done and exciting murder mystery and part Kimo, his friends, family and colleagues coming to terms with his newly acknowledged status and the fall out that affects everyone around him.

It is all handled so well. The descriptions of the streets through which Kimo moves are intense and detailed making it easy to visualise each scene. Plakcy doesn’t pull any punches about the bigotry Kimo faces, but it’s not overdone either and I liked that there was development in the attitudes of some of the people around him, very believable. Kimo’s first attempts at finding partners were very nicely written too, dating, fast hookups but no detailed raunchy scenes.

Reading back over what I’ve written, I’m not doing a very good job of expressing just how much I enjoyed this book. So lets just say that it was great and that, as soon as I get paid, I plan to get the next in the series. OMG so many good books, so little time!

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Happy Saturday, folks. Here we go with another recommendation and it’s been very difficult to choose this week. I read fast, I read pretty much all the time, and am VERY choosy with what I buy so most of my picks are multiple five stars. Out of what I have read this week there have been FOUR books that I would have loved to recommend, three by authors new to me, each of which has been very different in tone and style to the others but each of which has pleased me mightily. Since the familiar author is someone I have recommended before, I did a three way coin toss for the others and made my selection. I sort of hope that next weeks reading is a bit duff so I can chat about one of the others next Saturday.

And it’s on special offer at the moment!

What can I say about this? I saw someone, can’t remember who but THANK YOU, say what an unusual story it was so thought I’d give it a go. Science Fiction, military, married-to-the-mob, cowboys [sort of, personally I think it takes more than a big hat and a pick-up truck to make a cowboy] OMG the most loveable gang of Russian hitmen EVER, a tightly controlled roving POV that gives depth and background to superb secondary characters… it’s got it all.

Alien artificial intelligence needs a host so occupies Riley, a young man on the run from his Russian assassin boyfriend, and they both go on the run from the vengeful military and the Russians, who are also fleeing a higher power who is lethally annoyed. Cue car chases, helicopter attacks, survivalists, innocent bystanders, nachos, fist fights, beer and great big guns. As I said, it’s got is all – or almost all.

What it hasn’t got is that clearly defined line between right and wrong that one usually finds in romances. System Six, the alien, has some serious flaws. Misha is a well trained killer and BOY does he kill. The military types view civilian deaths as bad PR while doing a dirty job that they truly believe needs doing. The only ‘good’ character is Riley and he’s the MacGuffin – the thing that everyone wants. The danger to Riley and his passenger is very real. The danger to everyone else once Misha and friends arrive is heartstopping. There’s one section I read with my jaw on my chest thinking “I’m a very bad person because I have a feeling I’m cheering the wrong guys”. There were also a couple of sex scenes between Riley an his alien passenger that I actually found sexy, unusual for me since I frequently skip them once they get to insert Tab A into Slot B, as well as augmenting the plot.

So sweetly romantic with just – um – four, I think, short sex scenes that were well done and to the point and masses of other good stuff. I read until I dropped off to sleep and my Kindle was in my hand before I’d got my eyes open this morning, it was that good! Also, I’m not sure if I’m right or it’s just wishful thinking but I think it has been left so there could be a sequel. If so – Oy Fally, get scribing!

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Another week, another recommendation 🙂

November/December is when all the publishers trot out their Christmas stories. I don’t normally make much effort to keep my reading seasonal – a good story should be a good story no matter what time of year you read it – but I had been keeping my eye open for this particular story, but a favourite author, and I’m glad to say that it was well worth the wait.

Merry Gentlemen by Josephine Myles has her trademark of plot plus no nonsense smut with a heaping helping of humour. Riley, career civil servant and dedicated city dweller, has taken on the responsibility for Bath’s Christmas Market. The last person he expected to see as a stall holder is his ex, Stan, six foot plus of Balkan gorgeousness who abandoned Riley and Bath for a patch of muddy woodland in Somerset. Riley would very much like Stan back please. Stan seems to want Riley but doesn’t want the city. Their will they, won’t they relationship plays out against a backdrop of squabbling stall holders, a vengeful herring gull, a boss on the make and a very unusual impromptu cabaret act.

Honestly guys I smiled all the way through this and was surprised into shouts of laughter several times. Perhaps I should say that ‘will they, won’t they’ doesn’t refer to sex – they do lots of that so the book is safe to read for those people who MUST have explicit sex scenes to feel that a book is worth reading – but the sex scenes are to the point, good humoured and keep the plot romping along at a canter. Great stuff!

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I’ve missed a few weeks due to a combination of family stuff, work and insomnia. But I haven’t wasted my time – oh no! I’ve spent all those long wakeful nights reading – both paper and ebooks. I’ve re-read all my favourites, many of which I have recommended here and have bought new books as I could usually on the recommendation of friends, frequently written BY friends.

However, todays recommendation is one I found myself. Mark Wills of Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews had linked to his review of the sequel to The Butterfly Hunter by Julie Bozza on the LGBTTQ Fiction: Passionate About Plot group on Facebook. I wasn’t in the mood for romance so I had a look at what else Ms Bozza had written and was grabbed by the title of this one – The Definitive Albert G Sterne.

I have been very impressed by the quality of the titles produced by Manifold Press, so even though I wasn’t familiar with Julie Bozza’s work I thought it was worth a go.

Romance readers please note – this is not a M/M romance. It’s a hard hitting psychological thriller with multiple points of view, some truly disgusting and distressing scenes of torture and violence, and problematical behaviour from the main protagonist. This FBI based thriller abut the search for a vicious serial killer by an FBI agent assisted by the titular Albert, forensic genius and the most obnoxious man in the Bureau, is probably the most satisfying story I’ve read so far this year.

Give it a go and I promise that the charming fletcher Ash and the appalling Albert will stay in your mind and your heart for a long time.

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It’s the weekend – yay? – and time for more recommendations from my recently read pile.

Last week I was enthusing abut Mongrel by K Z Snow [and its sequel, Merman, which is just as good and follows some of the same characters]. This week I would like to recommend a historical novel set in a place I don’t think I’ve ever seen depicted in a LGBT themed romance unless there are vampires – Wallachia – with a cover that’s just to die for. I think it’s inspired by Ivan Bilibin, a favourite artist.

The Crimson Outlaw by Alex Beecroft, concerns a teenaged nobleman, Vali Florescu, who disrupts his sister’s arranged wedding in the hope that he’ll be able to help her to escape. Vali’s naive idealism doesn’t sit well with his hard headed father, Wadim, and he can see nothing to do but flee into the forest. He’s barely out of sight of the castle before he’s in trouble again, this time falling into the arms of the Crimson Outlaw, who ticks all the boxes on Vali’s fantasy list. The outlaw, red-headed Mihai Roscat,is delighted to get his hands on Vali because he has long had a hatred of the Florescu family and intends to hold him hostage and get his revenge on Vali’s father. However, very little in this story goes as planned.
This is a much sexier story than Ms Beecroft normally pens, but it works very well in the context of a horny and frustrated teenager finally getting off the leash. But the romance content complements the plot rather than overwhelming it, as happens so often in M/M romance. I really enjoyed that nobody was too good or too bad – lots of shades of grey – the action was exciting and the depiction of the period and location were cinematically satisfying.

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Welcome back for another recommendation from my fairly recently read pile. If you clink the S’n’S graphic you’ll be taken to the list of Seductive Studs and Sirens authors to read the samples of their fiction.

Last week we had a story very firmly rooted in reality – The General and the Horselord by Sarah Black – this week I’m going on an incredible flight of fantasy with Mongrel by K Z Snow. Just look at that cover!

As soon as you hear a term like Hunzinger’s Mechanical Circus you know you’re straying into steampunk territory but this story has far more to it than interesting steam powered gizmos and a few sly digs at Victorian prudery. The circus is a shady place with scary rides and sideshows and a genuine snake oil salesman in fast-talking Will Marchman, purveyor of Dr Bolt’s Bloodroot Elixir, who finds himself caught up in dangerous doings after a conversation with Fanule Perfidor, the Dog King of Taintwell. Fanule is the titular mongrel, the leader of his kind, a 40:60 mixture of human and ‘something else’. A magnificent physical specimen, despite being branded and mutilated, Fanule has the ability to perform a type of very specific magic, but is sorely afflicted with violent moodswings. He only functions effectively thanks to medicine provided by one of the most interesting healers I’ve ever seen in fiction. The word building is impeccable and K Z Snow’s style just makes me happy. Fanule describes Will as the “tender cutlet with the wind-rouged cheeks and inviting, unstoppable mouth”. The names are amazing – Taintwell, Mayor Pushbin, Skipskin Mews – the plight of the mongrels is horrifying, the bigotry of [some of]the humans despicable. There’s action, violence, breathtaking escapes and enough sex to add a little spice but not so much that I got bored with it.
I absolutely LOVED this book [and pssst there’s a sequel to this one too!]

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It’s the weekend and what better way is there to relax than with a good book? Or with snippets of several plus one completely arbitrary but sincere recommendation. That’s what you get for following the Seductive Studs and Sirens weekly blog hop, where a small select group of authors get together to share elements of their latest work. And I tell you about something I’ve read.

Last week I was recommending a gay lit title – You are Here by Chris Delyani, this week I’m a bit closer to M/M romance territory, but still just skirting the edges.

The General and the Horselord by Sarah  Black is a book that I clicked on with a shriek of glee when I first saw the title, then hit the back button when I saw the cover and realised that it was a contemporary romance rather than, as I had assumed, about Attila the Hun and General Flavius Aetius of the later Roman Empire. Absolutely no reason why it should have been, of course, but that’s just the way my mind works and the relationship between Attila and Aetius is often on my mind! Anyway, I don’t usually choose to read romance, whether m/m, m/f, f/f whatever. But over time I heard good things about the title, very good things, so this month I got it and the book just blew me away.

For a start the heroes aren’t youths but veterans, 52 and 48, two men with successful careers in the military behind them, throughout which they conducted a very careful secret love affair. Now they have retired from the military and are making new lives for themselves, new careers, and trying to come to terms with the very different way things are done on civvie street.

For instance John, the General of the title, has Kim, his nephew, living with him who is very out, very proud and doesn’t care who knows it. The austere and undemonstrative relationship between Uncle John and Uncle Gabriel is a constant cause of amusement and affront to Kim and Kim’s flamboyance is a source of amusement, and bemusement, to John and Gabriel. Both amused me a lot.

But the story isn’t just about love and making new lives. There’s pain and danger and loss as well. Gabriel can no longer live a lie and decides to leave his wife. Kim is beaten up by a boyfriend. There are political shenanigans, academic infighting, art shows, scads of pretty young people scampering about and making the two military veterans feel very old, and some deeply unpleasant personalities as well. I was VERY pissed off when the story ended. Not because it was a rushed or unsatisfying ending but because I wanted to stay in that world a bit longer.

I’m delighted to see that there’s a sequel, The General and the Elephant Clock of Al-Jazari, that is being released on my birthday! I plan to indulge myself.

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Saturday so time for another recently read gem from my book heap – it used to be a pile but the dog knocked it over.

This week I’d like to recommend “You Are Here” by Chris Delyani. I interviewed Chris a few weeks ago and was very intrigued by the book so I bought and began to read an ecopy, then was delighted to be offered and sent a paperback. Thanks Chris 🙂 I mention this in the interest of full disclosure but I’d have been scheduling this post anyway.

I suppose I could describe it as a contemporary romance but it’s very much more than that. It tells the story of three very different men – Peter, a quiet young man who desperately wants to be an artist, Miles, searching for an ex-lover, and Nick, the best looking man anyone anywhere has ever seen. Over the course of the book the three impact on each other’s lives in different ways, aided and abetted by the most real cast of supporting characters I think I’ve ever seen in a romance, sometimes through affairs, sometimes through kindnesses or cruelties. Nobody is perfect. Every man jack of them has moments of selfishness or idiocy, moments where, reading, I growled at them and wanted to administer a short sharp slap, but I never at any point, and this is rare in romances, said “what the heck did you do that for?” Very highly recommended.

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