17
Sep
Full Disclosure: I read this book as a judge for the 2008 EPPIE Awards. As such this won’t be a traditional review. However, even a year later I haven’t been able to get this book out of my mind. It’s because of a recent flare up of the GLBTQ inclusion debate that I feel the need to “go public”, as it were, and recommend this book.
Body Parts by Adrianna Dane is an erotic, gender-fluid re-telling of Frankenstein. It is paranormal horror and it features explicit sex between male and female and male and male.
Body Parts is about Athan, a creature created from a marriage of science and magic. After the tragic death of his creators Athan has to live alone with his secrets, taking lovers for the energy they bring to him that keeps him alive.
Body Parts is a love story, but with the exact same strength it is a story of corruption and human failure as well as being a re-telling of Frankenstein. On the romance side it deals with attraction and raw sexuality that doesn’t have a clear target. Athan is bisexual, seeking out the best providers of energy, and furthermore he truly enjoys the act of sex no matter which gender he is with. He has the same passion for men as he does for women.
I think it’s important to note here that out of all the GLBTQ books I read for the EPPIES (which was not many, so please do not assume this is an accurate representation of the available fiction out there) Body Parts is the ONLY one that did not involve 1) A borderline or completely abusive m/m relationship or 2) a straight man falling for a gay/bisexual man (which almost always feels stodgy and forced to me as a reader). Dane’s handling of Athan’s sexuality and sex itself is masterful, never forced, and completely organic.
Likewise the horror aspects are just as well handled, making the erotic portions no more important than the themes of human jealous and self-sabotage.
As Athan develops feelings for Korrie, the scientist studying the research materials and journals of the scientists who created Athan, and Korrie becomes enamored of him as well, Korrie’s selfish, jealous coworker plots to tear everything of value from both of them with no idea what exactly that entails.
Subtle and manipulating, the story comes together beautifully at the end, making an even bigger point than the themes of sex, sexuality, sexual identity, human nature and science threaded before it. I can’t say too much without ruining a very good execution, but I strongly feel that this book has great value as part of GLBTQ fiction and horror fiction.
Dane can write the pants off quite a few horror writers I’ve read, despite that Body Parts and Dane likely aren’t even known by the horror community. Body Parts is in my top three GLBTQ works that I feel interested readers should read and is available in ebook form from Loose ID.
The Queer Wolf collection kicks off with “Wolf Strap” by Naomi Clark. Ayla gave up a lot to be a lesbian, like her entire family, who raised her to believe her role was to get married and pop out a lot more werewolves for the good of the species. But when a child, a member of her family pack, is killed she and her partner Shannon head back to her childhood home. Its clear that things have changed since she left, but how much have they changed in this city where the human and wolves used to live in peace? The only flaw in “Wolf Strap” is that it’s too short. The plot and setting could have held a full novel and while the pacing doesn’t feel rushed it’s hard not to want more of everything Clark has to offer.
“Moon Sing” by Laramie Dean is a beautiful love story between a wolf and a witch. Acting as a metaphor for being queer in a straight world, even Drew’s pack can’t accept him falling for someone not of the Breed. It doesn’t have much plot outside the romance, but that alone is taken to a haunting, yearning level that’s purely magnificent.
“Wolf Lover” by Michael Itig is a cruder, more raw, sex-centered tale of fetishism and, of course, werewolves. Nige is an impatient, sex-charged gay man with a passion, shall we say, for werewolves. So much so that he lures them to his home and tricks them into shape shifting during sex. But the man he meets at a club for those trolling for werewolf hook ups turns out to be something else altogether. “Wolf Lover”gives readers a more raw look at the psyche of a gay man, but doesn’t feel cliché, preachy or stereotypical in the end.
“Shy Hunter” by Ginn Hale centers on David, scent dog and queer man, and not sure how to balance the two. Until he falls for a man who is being stalked by the monster who attacked David and turned him into a werewolf. This is another excellent tale, with equal parts action, emotion and mystery.
Anel Viz’s “The Stray” is the lightest tale of the book so far, making nearly every canine joke and pun, without being completely cheesy as it tells the story of a couple making a major commitment to each other.
“New Beginnings” by Cari Z focuses on the only pack that accepts gay wolves in this paranormal world and a bitter curmudgeon of a wolf, Michael, who finds himself attracted to and depended on by their newest rescue. But exile wasn’t enough for Tori’s family. They want him dead and Michael must keep him safe in this action-adventure-romance.
Jerome Stueart’s “Where the Sled Dogs Run” is another lighter tale, focusing less on the romance angle and more on creating a sweet sense of wonder. In this story the werewolves are a group of shamans, immortal, reluctant and shy, who want to reconnect with the world around them rather than hide from it, but they don’t know how. It fits the anthology, but it could have been found in a number of other fantasy-themed magazines just as easily.
“Pavlov’s Dog” by Andi Lee shifts straight back to hardcore erotica, and is nothing but. This tale is all set up, Josh and Caleb have just been approved to start their own pack and decide to celebrate. It’s not bad, there just isn’t much story to it.
Charlie Cochrane’s “Wolves of the West” is the most civilized story of the book, a tale of a pack that meets in an English museum for what is far from a mess of drooling, carnivorous monsters. Here Rory and George, who put the pack together and have run it for quite some time, work to create a haven for both their fellow queers and werewolves and must work to keep certain indiscretions from public light. It’s an amusing, but meaningful addition to the collection’s theme.
“Family Matters” by Moondancer Drake is another example of a solid piece, featuring a lynx and wolf lesbian family and pack, that feels less like a short story and more like an opening to a book. This piece could easily be stretched and expanded, in fact there are fight scenes that are glanced over and while werebadgers, lynxes, Fae and witches are all mentioned they aren’t very fleshed out. Drake is a good writer though, so one can only hope more than this story comes from her world.
In “Wrong Turn” by Stephen Osborne a young gay man finds more than he bargained for when he stops at a bar for directions and a drink and ends up smack in the middle of a werewolf tift. This falling in love story is simple and sweet, with a wrap up that seems to come too soon.
“Leader of the Pack” by Robert Saldarini is a historical werewolf tale, told by flashback, about a pair of men who survived World War II. Being steeped in the time period adds a weight of interest and credibility, but again, the tale’s flaw is its brevity.
“War of the Wolves” by Charles Long is the first to include (by a brief mention) an intersexual character. This tale also takes a more fantasy-angled approach, embedding a strong sense of the surreal into a story of people coming together, not just trying to find their place in the world, but willing to fight for it.
Lucas Johnson’s “Flip City”is a more traditional horror take on werewolves, a cliched take, unfortunately. The first real hiccup in the book the lead is not gay, so much as a borderline rapist and killer. Luckily the speed of this one is stuck on fast forward, burning through the story with little depth.
In “Night Swimming” by RJ Bradshaw, Joseph is indulging in a secret night swim when a wild-living werewolf finds him. They catch scents and Todd, the wild-wolf insists that he can smell that they are meant to be lifemates, and also proposes that they begin their life together by spending half the year in the city and winter helping Todd’s pack in the woods. After some thought Joseph agrees, they hash out the details, and unfortunately that’s all there is to this tale.
“In the Seeonee Hills” by Erica Hildebrand leads with a lesbian who contracted lycanthopy from a lover who got a bit too rough in bed. Claire is new to the paranormal world and caught between two packs who want to use her for ill means. It’s part Romeo & Juliet and part something all it’s own. Like some of the other tales there is room for more expansion, but it doesn’t feel unfinished or sped up for the sake of the short story form.
“A Wolf’s Moon” by Quinn Smythwood is certainly different. But three pages in I had no real clue what was going on or what the characters were hinting at, which left me feeling completely disconnected from the story and the characters. A depressingly weak end to this collection of tales.
Overall, there is a lot of good in Queer Wolf. It manages to represent the scope of urban fantasy, from a queer angle, though it leans heavily toward m/m paranormal romance. I really would have liked to see more f/f or even a transgender or bisexual story or two. From a genre point of view I’d have liked to see more mystery, traditional fantasy and even horror-based tales. But that’s what second volumes are for.
Reviewed for MonsterLibrarian.com’s Werewolf Month 2009
Damnation Books, September 2009
Trade Paper Back: 978-1-61572-032-3 $8.29
Ebook: 978-1-61572-033-0 $4.50
While Symptoms of a Broken Heart is a solid fit into the shape shifter category, the “change” in this book is a metaphor for many of the characters’ innermost desires, rather than a power or curse. It’s an interesting application that is almost a throwback to older werewolf tales where the monster represented the fear of giving into such desires.
Lisa and her soon-to-be-married sister attend a Full Moon party, meant to be one last hurrah before they settle down, but they get more than they expect when it turns out to be an actual full moon party thrown by actual shape shifters. Tragedy strikes, and one sister is left alive and seeking the power of the attendees in order to save her own rear and cover up the other sister’s death.
This is a fast, hard read with two strong female leads, neither of which are flat stereotypical female characters or stereotypical horror-fiction lesbians. Erotic, dark and spiked with a creepy aftertaste that will stick with readers, this is a novelette worth snatching up.
Contains: graphic sex
Trade Paperback: 9780982253014, $17.95- A patchwork collection of genre standbys, Blood Bar by Norm Applegate features an S&M loving Madame-with-a-heart-of-gold/detective/vampire called to aid her friend Rose Nichols (or possibly Nicholls), whose boyfriend Drach, a role-playing vampire, is killed in Chapter One by a cute, but psycho woman named Erin who is on the warpath against real vampires who killed her dad. Despite being busy living a life of booze and “night games” (and running an incredibly successful brothel) Kim Bennett drops everything to help Rose prove her innocence and find Drach’s killer.
- But the pair are in deeper than they thought since the killer, working for a vampire herself, is after the legendary Black Testament, a sacred vampire document written by Jack the Ripper (who supposedly lived in Manhattan and founded the wickedest blood bar in town).
- Spiked with crazy sex addicted women, a confusing array of vampires, random scenes of Truth or Dare between the two female leads and a need for tighter editing Blood Bar is a tale for hardcore vampire fans or horror fans. Readers beware though, the women in this book know the facial expressions of the people they are on the phone with, believe intelligence is an ugly trait and are very willing to throw plot and everything else aside for random sexual thoughts and acts.
Click to Buy
Delightfully cross genre, Like a Thief in the Night is a dark fairy tale love story set in a distant future. Arden is one of the top assassin in Darkriver’s stable, stolen as a child and reprogrammed through manipulation, memory wipes and neural reconfiguring. When she walks into a flat in Shanghai and strangles the handsome man sleeping on the silk sheets her life changes forever.
Because Aniketos is a creature myth, and he cannot die. The contract on Aniketos was a trap for Arden. Now she’s a captive in a mysterious flat that has combined the magical remains of a fallen heaven and the technology of the modern world. No matter how lust-filled she tries to make their interactions she can’t hide the fact that she’s as much tempted by his offers of freedom from Darkriver as she’s tempted by the man himself. Which only leaves the reason she was trapped in the first place to deal with.
Like a Thief in the Night is a fast read filled with hot sex and spy action. The futuristic and fairy tale feels are blended beautifully and the fierce, indomitable spirit of the characters bleed off the page leaving the reader dazzled and wanting more. This is a highly recommended read from a talented author.
*My review of Dance with Deception is here.
-Of all the periods of the past, why did the Victorian era call to you?
Both the Victorian and Regency eras are among my favorites. The reasons that I chose the Victorian era as the setting for Dance With Deception were quite simple, really … plot and research.
Dance With Deception is the first of a trilogy and, when choosing the time period, I had to keep all three novels in mind. I knew where I wanted to take the plot and what politics/inventions/modes of transportation/battles were necessary so I set the plot in early Victorian times.
-Gwen is obviously an intelligent woman, and split between defiance and duty. Did you model her after anyone in particular?
From the beginning, I always saw Gwen as an intelligent, compassionate woman whose opinions were cast aside for no other reason than the fact that she was born a woman. When writing about Gwen’s plight, I didn’t model her after anyone in particular but, rather, tried to put myself in her shoes. I imagined being in a situation where women had no rights and were beholden to their guardians. I tried to delve into Gwen’s emotions and wanted to portray not only her helplessness but her anger at being placed in such a position where she must chose between her heart’s desire and her duty to her father.
-What about Sebastian? Yum! Can you tell us a bit about the difficulties of making these two characters so passionate about each other?
The love and passion that Sebastian and Gwen felt for each other was truly easy to write – perhaps because I’m a romantic at heart? What I had to work extremely hard on was goal, motivation, conflict – what every Romance Author learns about when studying craft. I had two characters who truly loved each other and then had to make their actions, their journey believable.
-Dance with Deception is a very texture-oriented story. How did you manage to pack such sensory details into your book?
With a great deal of effort! I want readers to feel transported to the world I write about so the necessity of the characters and, therefore, the readers to experience the tale through all senses is something I concentrate on from that first draft straight through to the final draft.
-How much research did you have to do for Dance with Deception?
Every Historical Author does a great deal of research. My office book shelves are overflowing with research books on topics spanning everything from the Victorian era and British history to costumes, etiquette, and even the complete guide to horses and riding. I also have research books on Greek mythology, astronomy, a dictionary of plagues and pestilences, Latin quips, castles, and royal palaces. It never ceases to amaze me where inspiration originates or, for that matter, how much of it flourishes from research.
-Have you thought about tackling any other periods?
I have considered other time periods and currently have several stories outlined (in the Regency and Contemporary periods) but, for now, I continue to write about the Victorian era.
-What are some challenges you feel romance writers have that other genre writers might not?
Romance writers tackle the stigma that comes from writing Romance – the same stigma that comes from reading it, for that matter. Despite the fact that Romance fiction is a billion dollar a year industry (per Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine), there are still people who shun Romantic fiction. How many times has someone frowned when seeing that you’re reading a romance novel? The same holds true when some discovers that you’ve written one. But, regardless, the fact remains that people both write and read romance for the same reason – because we enjoy it. I hope that my love of the Romance genre is evident through every page of my novels.
-Do you think as a romance writer you have any advantages over writers of other genres?
I can’t speak of other genres, but I can say that the Romance community is the most wonderful and encouraging that I can imagine, thanks in part to organizations such as The Romance Writers of America. In what other genre can a debut Author receive Author quotes from New York Times Bestselling Authors Barbara Dawson Smith and Hannah Howell, and from Bestselling Author and RITA winner Gayle Wilson? I count myself blessed to be part of such a genre.
-I love hearing about the origins of stories. Where did Dance with Deception come from?
Dance With Deception began as a story in my imagination, one that I’d wanted to tell for some time. I honestly don’t know where or when it originated but perhaps it was born from every novel I’d ever read such as my favorite classics by the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen?
After imagining my characters and this story for so long, it was my husband who encouraged me to finally write Dance With Deception. Honestly, so much of Authoring a novel stems from love – love and encouragement from your loved ones, love of your story, your characters, the genre and the craft. Many of us don’t know if anyone will like the story we’re writing or if anyone will publish it but we write it anyway – because we love doing so. For anyone currently experiencing this, I want to add that dreams do come true … I’m proof of it. Dare to dream!
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-What do you have planned next?
I am currently completing my next two in the trilogy, Enticing Eve and The Skilled Seduction. My hope is that, like with Dance With Deception, people enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.
Just in case a blurb at the front of the book from Ron Jeremy saying “If I directed some of these fantasies, I’d either be the world’s greatest adult-film director… or I’d be in jail.” isn’t enough to get you to check out this book of ten supernatural erotica stories let’s move on to a proper review.
It’s amusing that Frost starts this collection out with a virgin sacrifice/Catholic school girl combo, “The Threshold”. Frost doesn’t just pop main character Cameron’s cherry, she takes the reader out of their normal world and over her own threshold into another world. In this tale Cammie must chose between the weird, magical promises of a girl who might just want to do her harm and promises of a special, extraordinary life over the fate of becoming just as ordinary as her mother. Best of all is the unanswered question Frost leaves behind, making the reader wonder whether the real story was a girl’s voyage into womanhood or whether a greater story was lost to teenage passion.
“The Orifice” is a wild, startlingly sexy tale of fetishes. It’s more than that, because the characters are more than just their piercing/pain fetishes. Frost manages to take something considered “weird” and “freaky” and not just explain it to readers but to make it sound incredibly appealing, amplified by creating a world where the wildest sex dreams can come true.
“The Dominatrix Has a Career Crisis” is about a horribly self absorbed woman who suddenly learns that coasting by on artificially inflated self esteem and glorying at other peoples’ misfortunes will only take her so far. The transition from the previous story, an incredible erotic piece, to this one is a bit jarring. This is almost a social science fiction piece in the speculative commentary vein of Jennifer Pelland and Paolo Bacigulpa. Despite it’s obnoxious main character it’s amusing, and a complex tale with an erotic BDSM flavor.
Addressing sex addiction to the point of making it a squiggly, wet, separate creature “The Pleasure Invaders” follows a desperate cop, addicted to the erotic touch of seemingly unintelligent aliens and yet charged with stopping the important of this contraband. Frost nails the addict mentality, threading even the non-sexual parts with a heightened sense of eroticism that puts the readers directly into a mind obsessed.
With “Viagra Babies” Frost keeps to the science fiction flavor and continues from sex addict to what happens to those naturally resulting from sex addiction. After a pandemic of Viagra street use humanity gave birth to urban legend quality monsters. Children born from the hypersex unions are medicated and isolated lest their supernatural sexual powers drive the Normals mad. Viagra Babies also die shortly after turning eighteen, a hallmark that both the main characters are quickly approaching. A dark science fiction spin that pits sexual heroes against a twisted evil, it’s also the only story with a male main character.
From there Frost delves into the speculative realm of horror with “Imagine It” a disturbing, dark tale amplified by its fierce eroticism. Here Frost journeys into a mental mystery, the female rape fantasy. Traveling on a dagger’s edge between the powerlessness of the act itself and the perception that all the power is with the female if she or her gender can make a male so out of control that he seeks to take it back, Becca, a best selling sex writer, has been objectified by her readers, herself and even her therapist. She finds confronting and conquering her feeling most liberating, in terribly unsettling ways.
Following it up with a softer take on horror is “Playing Karen Devere”, a tale of a Hollywood lesbian couple who play more than screen parts after they have several close encounters (in the name of research) with a sexy, empowered female serial killer on death row.
“Test Drive” thrusts us back into the future, where the trend of the porn industry pushing technology to new heights (like it did with VHS and camcorders) continues. By this point humanity has completely lost its gender identity in its seeking of pleasure and perfection. Blake is a sex toy maker looking for something new and different in a very satisfied world. Her business partner’s latest sex video unleashes a monster that’s been long forgotten–The Male Libido. This tale is touched with humor and an amusing dose of irony.
“Visions of Ecstasy” takes us back to horror with a paranormal tale of a psychic who tries to save a woman destined to die in her search of a sexual thrill. But neither the man she thinks is a killer, nor the woman she thinks is the victim are quite what they seem. This another hot little fetish tale that’s perfect for the asphyxiation crowd.
Finally is “Deep Inside” a legend-inspired tale of a “voodoo penis” and the drive of males and females to find the perfect substitute for each other. This one is a more ordinary tale, the characters and history glanced upon in favor of a plot with a dark end.
These tales are surprisingly good, but more than that, they’re humorous and insightful as well, not just about what people do, but exploring through sex why they do it. Titillating and erotic, sure, but Frost also makes sex one more aspect of the human mind, not merely about the body and instincts.
Though it starts with an immediate problem Danse Macabre in a matter of paragraphs seems to let all the tension leech out of the possibility of Anita Blake being pregnant. First Anita and her friend Ronnie have a fight about abortions (Anita is pro-life and pro-choice, Ronnie is downright evil in her suggestions that Anita shouldn’t carry the child to term), then Anita gives feeble excuse after excuse not to take a test and be done with the problem, and by the next page Ronnie has started another fight which ends with her admitting that she’s just arguing with Anita in the first place because she’s jealous of Anita’s ever expanding harem of men.
Feeling like the whole scene is the author’s intrusive message to non-fans and the tension flat from Anita’s unbelievable excuses not to take a damn pregnancy test and move on to other things I nearly gave up a mere nine pages in.
At some point in this series action has become stagnant drama and once strong, interesting characters who brought conflict and passion to the stories have become nothing more than outside voices meant only to support, agree with, or have sex with Anita. Case and point: at the beginning of the third chapter Anita and her two live ins can’t even get through a door without a battle of the wills, dominance challenges and a wasteful show of magic. Hamilton also shatters her own world rules willy-nilly leaving the reader feeling less like some great challenge has occurred and been overcome and more like Hamilton has just kept many things from the reader only to reveal them when there’s a dark corner or back alley in which she hasn’t thought of a logical way out. Directly from the prose:
“You can’t carry more than one (form of shape shifting) disease at a time, but I did. A medical impossibility, but blood tests don’t lie. I carried wolf, leopard, lion, and one mystery strain that the doctors couldn’t identify running through my veins.”
So even though she spent six plus books swearing up and down that it was impossible, somehow for Anita is is possible and all without the mess and rules of shape shifting too. By the way Anita is also already a necromancer, magically joined to a werewolf, magical joined to a vampire (and she has powers that only old master vampires can have too), magical joined to several leopards and who knows what else.
Most irritating of all not only is there not a clear end after 560 pages, but Anita is wrathful and eager to punish the whole of the werelions because their king refuses to break his marriage vows and have sex (to save the vampires of course) with her. This, combined with the overwhelming diatribes of how much Anita loves her men, and how people who disagree with her are just jealous( not just Ronnie, but all detractors are portrayed as “jealous” and “petty”), is a massive smack in the face to readers and fans who value monogamy and loyalty. I can’t help but feel that Hamilton’s authorial intrudes are all an attempt to genuinely attack her readers, a feeling I’ve never before had when reading a fiction novel.
In short the actual plot is so buried beneath back story, explanations of the rules and why they don’t apply to Anita, pointless shows of magic and silly dominance challenges and sex scenes that I cannot tell you exactly what it was supposed to be anymore. There’s no longer any passion or connection with these hollow characters, all of who sound more and more like extensions of Anita by the book. The tension is momentary and fleeting, giving the whole book a stodgy, weighed down feeling. And the author intrusions are rampant, eliminating any real flow or meaning to the tale, making it read instead like a vehicle for the author’s defensiveness.
I found myself skipping sections of sex and proto-violence in an effort to just enjoy the story, forcing myself to continue long after I wanted to give up and move on to something I might actually enjoy. The book very nearly got flung into the walls a few times and was closed a put aside often so I could let my temper cool down. I do not intend to try to battle my way through another Anita Blake book, and I am forced to officially give Danse Macabre BookLove’s first “Do Not Finish” tag.