Frank Tuttle ~ The Broken Bell
From: Samhain Publishing

Frank Tuttle is just one of those quiet authors from Samhain on my auto-buy list and if you are not reading The Markhat Files you ought to be. Frank is also one of the few really good writers out there I never see over exposing themselves on the internet with promotion. What ever is done is always top notch and well thought out much like Frank’s covers.

REFRESHING!

Otherwise Frank seems to be all about keeping the pen to the grindstone and putting out good book after good book.

I wish more authors did that.

Josh Lanyon ~ Lone Star
From: Carina Press

Review of: Josh Lanyon ~ Death Of A Pirate King

Marquesate ~ Basic Training
From: MLR Press

Review of: Marquesate ~ Her Majesty’s Men

K.A. Mitchell ~ Bad Boyfriend
From: Samhain Publishing

Sarah over at Rain On The Roof is doing her best of 2011. I am impressed because frankly I cannot even begin to do one. I think the closest I got was adding Marquesate ~ Her Majesty’s Men to my Christmas must have eBook list.

So of course I am going to have to buy that other Marquesate book that Sarah mentioned in her list along with this K.A. Mitchell number. There you go Sarah and I both like Marquesate. That’s two whole Military Gay Romance books by the same author, buy now, go!

The facts are too many Gay Romances this year even from some of the top epublishers blew the fuck up over content editing. Lots of lazy drawn out highly noticeable instances of telling the reader instead of showing. The authors in many cases had written top heavy (Too many setup chapters) or bottom heavy (Too many closing chapters to get to their idea of an HEA) stories with parts in need of trimming and/or fleshing out and the Editors were obviously absent to tell them to fix the content issues. Then in the “candy wrapper” crew you have Gay Romance epubs like Dreamspinner getting away with what seems to be absolutely no editing or direction at all. I simply refuse to buy from them anymore because they are tragic and from their lame excuses you know, they know, they are selling rough drafts.

When an epub “Editor” (I use that term loosely… Because when did pushing a button in a Spell Checker and maybe one of those new Grammar Checkers qualify you as an Editor?) has no clue what the basic “no brainer” difference is between a Gay Romance and your typical everyday Gay Fiction and that slapping on a few chapters at the end for a quick sex scene and maybe a kiss does not make up for having no focus on any developing relationship arc the rest of the book well I just have no time for pathetic excuses or people who promote themselves as selling “Gay Romance” trying to tell me their books suddenly do not have to follow “Romance rules” because they are now “Dark” or “M/M” or whatever newly made up definition they want to use mid-conversation…

Yeah, whatever you freaking prima donna. If you cannot prove you know what something is in the first place and sell it to readers properly labeled and edited how can we trust you to know how to get anything else right?

Sure it’s my opinion, and a few others mind you, but I am first and foremost a Romance reader of both traditional Straight and the newer Gay type of books for years now and I have a great deal more experience than these clowns even reading Gay Fiction growing up back in the good old days when we had Gay Fiction or as they like to call it now Gay Lit writers worth reading so get the hell out of my face with the whole “I don’t understand”. I might be a dinosaur but you are a fucking putz so fuck you!

Anyway, 2011 for me was frankly a disappointment when it came to discovering new writers to talk about because unfortunately in most cases the authors I thought had something going for them chose to be published by crappy “candy wrapper” epubs with no real Editors in sight to say the least. The few authors I talked to honestly about this issue knew they were choosing this and made some off the wall excuse for it. How do you even begin to recommend that mess? I can’t, that’s how. I won’t. If you want to stay amateur in thinly veiled fan fiction land with the pretty covers and nothing else to offer. I’ll let someone else shower charity upon you precious. Oh, she’s such a nice person even though she knows she is ripping off her readers with unedited rough drafts and bare outlines of stories. Isn’t that special?

Pretty pictures might make the sale but your unedited story was a big old fail.

Catch me I’m bustin a rhyme! Don’t worry Pookie there is always the idiot zombies on Goodreads that will tell you how great you are and slather you with endless five star reviews and make excuses for every failure. You won’t learn anything and your writing will still be packaged like so much fan fiction but hey the fanbois are there for your little “self pubbing” ego boo when in reality none of that makes up for a professional Editor that tells you “no” often and never let’s you off the hook and a couple of really honest critique groups that know where you live and will hound you till you get it right.

From what I have seen and been involved in just the few years of blogging about Gay Romance if you are trying to do this all by yourself with no professional help and without any honest interactions or confrontations to your vanity you are so fucked. Shallow back patting and social niceties are for dinner parties not books. Smart bitches expect an honest answer even if it means they might have to go back to the drawing board.

So no big 2011 lists from me. It would be too short to matter.

Samantha Kane ~ Love’s Surrender (Brothers In Arms 9)
From: Ellora’s Cave

Review of: Samantha Kane ~ The Courage To Love (Brothers In Arms 1)

Heidi Cullinan ~ Nowhere Ranch
From: Loose Id

Rainbow Awards

Full Review: Heidi Cullinan ~ Nowhere Ranch

K.Z. Snow ~ Visible Friend
From: Dreamspinner Press

From: Rainbow Awards

Go Anne Cain!

Ensan Case ~ Wingmen
1979 Avon
From: Cheyenne Publishing

Speak It’s Name Review

Early World War 2 Gay Romance
Reprint announced February 2012

MIMA ~ Wild Within (Bonded Fantasy 1)
From: Liquid Silver Books

Yet it had been two days now and she had not been able to get a coherent word out of Rylan since. She was terrified, furious, that it was too late. Now she sat in this winter cold room that was Rylan’s latest shak, a poor one as he struggled between sicknesses.Her eyes drifted over the cracked walls, the gaps and the chips, the rough clay floor. It is empty of more than the belongings I’ve sold for fresh water and food, she thought. This life of ours is dead, and this key is going to pick the lock of the Beast caves.

She wrestled Rylan into a pair of thick pants, a tunic, and a sweater she’d been using as his pillow. She was rough, glad when she shook him awake. She was panting as she finished wrapping his belt on and tying his warclub to it. She stuffed his feet into boots and stood glaring down at him.

“I’m leaving. If you want to live, get up and follow me.”

Her words fell hard and cold, but she knew he would heed them. He could not delay any longer. The final chance to decide in favor of life over death was here, and she was confident of his choice, despite how his fear for her had made him wait until his body was at its weakest.

She turned and walked out into the harsh white sun.

She waited outside, leaning against the house. The sun was bright, but not warm enough to heat the adobe. As she waited for him to summon the will to follow her, her mind raced. Free of the burden to convince him to go, she thought again of her weak plan on how she was going to get there. Her only supplies were an oilskin wrapped around her waist with a coil of rope, and sharp throwing stones currently tied around a smaller rope’s ends like a bolo. She had no food, as her stomach growled around the dry heels she’d forced down. But she wouldn’t have gotten this far in life without being able to think on an empty stomach. When Rylan staggered, wheezing, into the doorway, she ducked under his arm to drape it around her shoulders, and they were off, heading due south. South out of the City, and south to find the Beasts.

KarRa and Rylan have been friends since they were children living and thieving together in the slums of a great city. Rylan you see is not human though, he is a Trux, and when he starts getting sick KarRa in desperation decides they must journey to the caves of the beasts where he might be taken in and cured. This will mean that KarRa must go with him and face the dangers of the unknown.

I got this eBook from All Romance eBooks last April in one of their giveaways and fell in love with MIMA’s writing. Here is a fantasy world lush with detail and the deadly Trux warriors with their rituals and culture are strange and mysterious. This is mainly a Straight Romance series but there are several gay scenes that you come across and it looks like the latest book is a flat out Ménage Romance… anyway I really liked this first book so much I went and bought a few more and I just noticed this week there are like 8 books in the series now and I really need to catch up on my reading. In other words MIMA slow down please.

The great thing is that MIMA is a smart writer and has kept each of the books in the series a stand alone story and let’s face the fact that out of nine books it is pretty much a sure thing that you will run into some that will not work for you. So with this series you can start from the beginning and work your way forward or you can just pick and choose the ones that look like something you might enjoy reading and just go for it.

Thank you MIMA for being not only a talented writer but an intelligent one. I wish more writers made more of an effort to write series books as stand alone so the reader does not get bogged down having to slog through a book they would rather not read just to get to one they do.

This first book gets a Grade A for getting me hooked on the series. The whole series in fact is an auto buy for me presently and I will wait till it is through before grading it but so far things are pretty damn awesome.

Treva Harte ~ Home (Alpha3)
From: Loose Id

Cause you’re hot then you’re cold
You’re yes then you’re no
You’re in and you’re out
You’re up and you’re down
You’re wrong when it’s right
It’s black and it’s white
We fight, we break up
We kiss, we make up
Katy Perry ~ Hot N Cold

Sometimes telling a good story is not so much about what you write about but what you choose not to write about. Especially when it comes to Ménage Romance and issues concerning sexuality and who is doing whom and why. Treva Harte just seems to me to stand out from the pack. I love her Alpha series but as many people have pointed out to me again and again Home is the best of the bunch and I have to agree.

None of Treva’s characters in this series strike me as necessarily in control but they are not all innocent victims either. In fact I would say they seem, both the men and the women, more likely to be in a barroom brawl than a romance at any given moment. They are raw and they are who they are with no excuses. I like that.

Even so, Rome smelled like sex and — beer. Mia’s nose wrinkled.
“Are you drunk, Rome?”
“Not enough, baby.”
She would have left then, although it was her room and she was naked, but she realized there was something else Rome smelled like. Sex and alcohol and tears.
Oh no. It couldn’t be. Rome was tough and macho. She might be tempted — had always been a little tempted — by the virile Rome. She’d always been able to resist that Rome. But this Rome? She’d always been a sucker for the injured.
Mia put her hand on Rome’s shoulder, and he flinched, just slightly.
Definitely there had been tears.
“Who hurt you, Rome? What’s wrong?”
“No one. Nothing.”
“Stop being so manly for a minute. You came here for a reason. If you aren’t going to talk, why bother?”
“What makes you think I came here to talk? And fuck it if I’m too manly for you.” He looked down at the floor. “Maybe that was Grey’s problem. I’m too manly. Or not enough.”
His laugh sounded like a sob and, as if he realized it, Rome cut it off in the middle and took a deep breath instead.
“Grey?”
“I don’t want to talk about Grey. I don’t give a damn about Grey right now.”
“I don’t think that’s true, Rome. I’ve always known how much you worshipped him.” Mia could never figure out what anyone saw in that silent, rather menacing beta, but then he probably saw even less in her. He never even talked to her. Everyone knew he didn’t give a damn about women.
Rome went back to staring at her, as intensely as before. “That’s bull. I never worshiped anyone. Except — well — look at you, all stripped down and built like a goddess. I could worship you.”
He might be avoiding the issue but it worked. Mia knew she was blushing. She liked to ignore her looks since they meant nothing. Omegas didn’t mate. Omegas only had sex if the higher ups in the pack demanded it of them, but that wasn’t an issue in this pack. Her looks didn’t matter to anyone. In fact, lately she’d almost forgotten what she looked like — which might be why she was here, defenseless in front of a hungry were who was definitely noticing her appearance.
“I look like a woman. What of it?”
Sex. The smell of sex strengthened. Mia licked her lips and tried to ease the dryness in her throat.
“What of it? Jesus, Mia, you’ve got breasts like a porno star’s, except they’re real.” Rome came closer and Mia stiffened. He didn’t touch. But the way he looked made her as itchy as if he had. “And your ass. That is one fine ass.” He stopped and whispered, “I even like those big, big eyes of yours, staring at me like I’m going to gobble you up.”
The big, bad wolf had definitely arrived tonight. Mia took a step backward and tried to rally. “You have the hots for Grey. I’m sorry if you two had a fight, but why run to me?” ~ Page 18

Treva refuses to label anyone one thing or the other sexually throughout the whole series and it really shows in Home. Sure you as the reader can figure out who they love. It is not that the characters are unsure of their sexuality just that they do not waste time worrying about it. It comes across to me at least as feeling somewhat raw and abrupt but also organic in the way it gets presented. No pages and pages of characters angsting over whom they are attracted to or why. No “Gay for you”, no “Straight for you”, no mitigating circumstances in sight. I find this refreshing.

Now in regards to this being a Ménage Romance I do find similarities with Samantha Kane’s The Courage To Love.

There is a charismatic focus amongst the three lovers. In The Courage To Love it was Jason who had the title, money, and the need to wed and have kids along with a best buddy who he had deeper feelings for. Here in Home the main focus is Rome who is the lone wolf, the outcast Alpha, the wild card, and someone who both Grey and Mia are sexually interested in. Treva twists the Alpha role here by making Rome younger and more unsure of himself and his role in the ménage thus giving Grey a chance even as a Beta of contributing age and experience and stability to the threesome.

We also see the similarity where even though Rome has in the past made a move to seduce Grey he was rebuffed and he in turn rebuffed Mia ultimately making the romance story told here about discovering their mutual desires and forming some type of trust in order to be a “balanced” ménage. So there is no real pre-existing relationship in the way of us enjoying what does happen in the process of building a relationship that involves all three of them.

So “clarity” is in the rather blunt acceptance they have of their sexuality. “Balance” comes from Rome being a young charismatic yet inexperienced Alpha which allows them all to contribute something to the ménage.

What is left is “benefit” and that mostly comes from outside the threesome. Both of their packs benefit from these three mating and having children. Treva again twists the reasons here to give a “making it work” for the good of everyone else feel to the story. This also provides the internal problems each member has to forming a relationship that will involve kids and why they are participating.

Grade A example Treva on how writing any type of romance even a ménage does not mean having to provide full explanations for every character’s motivations. Some people may be turned off on how raw this comes across as since there is no couching “emo” moments but I say mapping it all out for pages upon pages of boring pointless emotionally reasoned drivel will kick me out of a story quicker than adding a glossary or footnotes. Treva did far more to convince me this whole thing could work by carefully orchestrating around providing obvious compensating benefits that did not need such explanation to begin with.

Even when bisexuality shows up in a romance the story does not have to suddenly stop and bore me to death with pop psychology gimmicks or half-assed teary eyed excuses. If I wanted a fucking “after school special” I would be reading dead tree publishers not ePublishers.

When in doubt just throw it out and tell me the damn story you want to tell. Thanks Treva, the queen of show, not tell!