Continuum by George Seaton is a beautifully written short story that is part of the Diversity Short Story Collection published by Untreed Reads focusing on minority voices. The overarching theme of this story is the continuity of time and love.
Diehl’s return to Wyoming from six years of service to his country – including combat in Iraq – is colored with a dark intent to even the score with his father. But before he can once again embrace his adopted family, including Tony, a ranch hand with a military history of his own, Diehl’s single-minded purpose of revenge against his father precipitates events that turn his life in a direction never envisioned. His comfort through it all, is Jack, a Border Collie who Diehl rescues from certain death; a dog who, perhaps, rescues Diehl from himself.
Given all the activity and travel over the months of July and August I’m quite surprised that I managed any reading at all. Not much actually, but certainly more than originally anticipated. Reviewing was another matter altogether as I found it extremely difficult to sit still long enough, especially on the many glorious sunny days, to actually write reviews for all the books read over the course of both months.
In all, I managed to read five books of which I reviewed three. Two books read were from new to me authors, Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy and Normal Miguel by Erik Orrantia, the latter of which I reviewed for Rainbow Reviews. I also read the first book in a new series by two of my favourite authors Reno MacLeod and Jaye Valentine entitled, Let Them Try, which I reviewed for Three Dollar Bill Reviews. All of the books read over these two months range within the good to very good categories and some are excellent.
With autumn just around the corner (although you wouldn’t know it with the 40° Celsius sweltering heat of this past week) and the cooler weather setting in soon I hope to fall back into my natural state of reading and reviewing more.
Love Means … Freedom by Andrew Grey (Dreamspinner Press) – Read Review
Tigers and Devils by Sean Kennedy (Dreamspinner Press)
Stuck On You by Selena Kitt (eXcessica Publishing)
Let Them Try by Reno MacLeod and Jaye Valentine (M&V Tailz) – Read Review
Normal Miguel by Erik Orrantia (Bristlecone Pine Press/Cheyenne Publishing) – Read Review
Miguel Hernández is a teacher who has left Mexico City to complete a one year student internship in the rural hills of Puebla. He came to the school intending to focus on his teaching and his students but quickly learns that it is impossible to keep his private and professional lives separate — particularly as his experience turns into a voyage of self-discovery.
His students, the Directora of the school, the baker, and other people from the town all contribute to his growing awareness. But most important is Ruben, the owner of the candy store who progresses from merchant to friend to lover. He will be the man who has the most effect on Miguel — who, in turn, is transformed by the impact of Miguel on his own life.
The business of real life continued to interfere with my reading and reviewing during April and May. Too much work and lack of free time prevented me from reading as many books as I normally would over a two-month period.
On the positive side, virtually all of the books I did read fall into the category of very good to excellent reads. So the theme for Spring 2010 is quality over quantity. I’m starting to get through the backlog of reviews and hope to fall into a more regular pace of reading and reviewing for the month of June.
The Boy Can’t Help It: Sensual Stories of Young Bottoms by Gavin Atlas (Lethe Press) – Read Review
The One That Stayed by TC Blue (Torquere Press) – Read Review
Safe As Houses by Alex Jeffers (Lethe Press) – Read Review
Still The One by Shawn Lane (Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure) – Read Review
Tales From The Sexual Underground: Fact, Fiction and Stranger Than Fiction by Rick R. Reed (MLR Press) – Read Review
Happily Ever Before by Jaye Valentine (Noble Romance Publishing) – Read Review
When Allen Pasztory discovered he was likely to die before his time, he realized that what he could pass down to the people he loved was stories. Stories of and for his families – the family he was born to and the family he stumbled upon and fiercely embraced.
The hearing child of parents raised in the inhumane surroundings of a state school for the deaf, all along Allen knew he and his family were different. His sister tried her best to become ordinary, as if it were possible, but Allen knew better. He would be ready to offer sanctuary when an ordinary family cast out his nephew Kit.
Allen fell for freelance artist Jeremy’s talent and looks, but it was Jeremy’s unanticipated bravery that supported them through the years while they nurtured their new family. Despite hostility from without and threat from within, they created a secure and loving home for Jeremy’s precocious son Toby and, later, Allen’s nephew.
But safety can’t be guaranteed. Allen must tell himself stories to survive, stories that may explain his life to the boys he’s raised, for “your life is never only your own story, and what you don’t know for sure you must invent, using all the clues you can gather.”
March was a relatively productive reading month with two exceptional stories, The Summer Between by Andrew Binks and The Decade of Blind Dates by Richard Alther. I also read and reviewed the latest installment of Andrew Grey’s Love Means Series, Love Means … No Boundaries and a sweet western/cowboy m/m romance by Leiland Dale entitled, When The Blue Bird Calls.
Love Means … No Boundaries by Andrew Grey (Dreamspinner Press) – Read Review
The Summer Between by Andrew Binks (Nightwood Editions/ Harbour Publishing) – Read Review
When The Blue Bird Calls by Leiland Dale (Silver Publishing) – Read Review
The Decade of Blind Dates by Richard Alther (Lethe Press) – Read Review
Peter Bauman, a forty-five-year-old divorced gay painter, plunges into the personal ads just prior to the Internet in his quest for the perfect partner.
He dates a colorful cast of characters from a Connecticut physician, a rabid Republican, to a Texas-two-stepping, tattooed punk. Next there’s the heavier-than-advertised geek who arrives with a bag of sex toys, but Peter is more serious with a handsome, stern Maine woodsman, followed by a British aristocrat patron who declines further intimacy because of his AIDS.
As Peter negotiates his new gay identity, his best friend, Barry, counsels and supports him at every step, especially as Peter deals with a health crisis. During a decade of sex and shenanigans, Peter, encouraged by his ex-wife, daughter, and son, examines his life and, at last, discovers his soul mate.
Like his attempts to swim over the dark water of the river that lies between him and the object of his affections, twelve-year-old Dougaldo Montmigny struggles against oppression, homophobia and racism to realise his love for Tomahawk Clark, a thirteen-year-old Métis boy, during a summer destined to become a painful lesson on love and desire.
Despite an extremely busy period at work I did manage to do a bit of reading over the months of January and February with a mix of books from some new and familiar authors and a reread of a beloved anthology.
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction by editors Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane (Cleis Press) – Read Review
The Best Gift by Shawn Lane (Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure) – Read Review
Fatal Shadows and A Dangerous Thing: Adrien English Mysteries (Books 1 and 2) by Josh Lanyon (Loose Id) – Read Review
The Hell You Say: Adrien English Mysteries (Book 3) by Josh Lanyon (Loose Id) – Read Review
Death of a Pirate King: Adrien English Mysteries (Book 4) by Josh Lanyon (Loose Id) – Read Review
The Dark Tide: Adrien English Mysteries (Book 5) by Josh Lanyon (Loose Id) – Read Review
Between Brothers by J.M. Snyder (JMS Books) – Read Review
Firecracker by Jaye Valentine (Noble Romance Publishing) – Read Review
Indie Reviews 