Book Reviews: Three for the Twelfth Day of Christmas (a little late)

Growing up, January 6th (the twelfth day of Christmas; Three Kings Day; Epiphany; Theophany) was the day we took down our Christmas decorations (which went up, unfailingly, the day after Thanksgiving). For me, that includes putting away all the Christmas books (and I have a LOT of Christmas and winter holiday-related books!) So I figured, why not use today to talk about a few of my favorite Christmas reads from the past month? Maybe you’ll want to seek them out now to have in hand for next year. Or maybe you’re one of those folks who enjoy reading Christmas stories all year long, which is totally cool.

EDIT TO ADD: Somehow, this didn’t post on January 6th like it was supposed to, so here it is on January 8th. I’ll figure this scheduling posts thing out eventually.

cover by Inspiral Design

TITLE: Upon the Midnight Queer

AUTHOR: ‘Nathan Burgoine

202 pages, Dominant Trident Press, ISBN 9781777352363 (paperback, e-book, audiobook)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

For several years now, ‘Nathan Burgoine has been writing a new queer retelling or reinterpretation of a classic Christmas tale and posting it for free on his website. This year, he’s collected them into book form (print, e-book, and audio, narrated by Giancarlo Herrera and Hannah Schooner), and added a new “Little Village novella” not available on his website. He started this project at a time when there was far less representation for the LGBTQIA+ community in televised Christmas movies (and especially, televised Christmas romances). That centered representation (as opposed to stories that just include a seemingly celibate gay best friend or neighbor) still has a long way to go. But the landscape is much more diverse in print, and Burgoine is one of the reasons why. Not just because of the short stories collected here, but also because of his Little Village holiday romance novellas (three of which, to date, take place on or near Christmas).

The previously available stories include twists on the well-known classics (Rudolph, Frosty and Jack Frost, Jingle Bells, the Little Matchstick Girl), expand upon supporting characters from other classics (Peter Cratchit from A Christmas Carol) classic Christmas tales from the well-known (Rudolph, Frosty, A Christmas Carol, Jingle Bells), and bring back to light some less well known Christmas stories from the past (including The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, a novella I'd never heard of before reading Burgoine's story but have come to really love; and The Romance of a Christmas Card by Kate Douglas Wiggin). There's also one story brand new to the collection (that is, not available for free on the author’s website), “Folly,” that is set in Burgoine's Little Village novella series and is an excellent addition to that world, introducing us to characters I do hope will show up in future Little Village novellas.

These are stories that show that no matter the time and place, LGBTQIA people exist and deserve love and to celebrate as much as straight people do. These are stories of hope, love, redemption, and making a place for yourself, during the holidays and all year long.

cover design by Olga Grlic, cover illustration by Nina Hunter

TITLE: The Merriest Misters

AUTHOR: Timothy Janovsky

305 pages, St. Martins Griffin, ISBN 9781250338938 (paperback, e-book, audiobook)

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

I’ll be honest: I was sold on this book when I heard it described as “a queer The Santa Clause.” Take one of my favorite Christmas movies and make it less heteronormative? And then tweak the world-building and magic system so that the only real connection to The Santa Clause is the concept of the main characters discovering, through an accident, that “Santa” identity/mantle is passed down (sometimes in a planned way, sometimes not-so-planned)? I’m definitely in.

This is the first Timothy Janovsky book I’ve read (although You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince has been sitting on my shelf since last Christmas…. Sorry, previously purchased book!), and it won’t be the last because I mostly had a blast reading this. The main characters, Patrick and Quinn, are lovable and relatable (if, near the start, a bit infuriating). Through flashbacks we see how they met, how their romance developed, how they got married and rushed into buying a home (because heteronormative expectations of wedded life…), and how they perceived their families’ reactions to all of it. This is important because, as I mentioned … they’re a bit infuriating at the start. I am not usually a fan of books where everything that happens hinges on a total lack of communication between people who should be communicating. There were several times early on where I stopped reading to shout “Oh, for Kringle’s sake, JUST TALK TO HIM!” But just as I was hitting my limit, the characters did start to talk it out – haltingly, yes, but just enough to keep me invested. And I’m glad I stuck with it, because the second half of the book was even more worth sticking around for. I laughed a lot, and I got teary-eyed as well. And may have cheered once or twice. (Without spoilers, let me hit you with this phrase: Non-Binary Young Elf Poet.)

The world-building is also fun, including looks into the elf society and the existence of a Council of Priors whose guidance isn’t always perfect but at least is heartfelt (including changing the title of Mrs. Claus to the titular Merriest Mister). I would welcome a repeat visit with Patrick, Quinn, their human families and friends, and their new extended family at the North Pole.

Cover art by lilithsour

TITLE: The Nightmare Before Kissmas (A Royals and Romance novel)

AUTHOR: Sara Raasch

356 pages, Bramble/Tor Publishing, ISBN 9781250333193 (paperback, e-book, audiobook)

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

I’ve always loved the idea of the personifications of different holidays meeting (perhaps clashing and then teaming up, perhaps getting right to the teaming up part). Through in a little gay romance to move the plot along and all the better. The Nightmare Before Kissmas, the first entry in Sara Raasch’s “Royals and Romance” series (the sequel, Go Luck Yourself, comes out in March) is silly, giddy fun from start to stop. This does not mean that the emotional stakes aren’t real – they are, and range from living up to your parents’ expectations to realizing your parents are not as infallible as child-you thought, to making amends to people you didn’t realize you were hurting – but those stakes are surrounded by a comedy of errors. And all the main characters, male and female, are hot and very human. This is less Nightmare Before Christmas and more Red, White & Royal Blue for the soon-to-be monarchs of the holidays. I liked that we meet Nicholas “Coal” Claus, prince of Christmas, at essentially rock-bottom and slowly get to see why his brother Kris and best friend Iris (the princess of Easter) support him and love him despite all the ways he self-sabotages himself under the weight of the family legacy (and a decent helping of generational trauma). I enjoyed meeting Hex, the prince of Halloween, before we really know who he is, and learning about his own family pressures. These four main characters are the core of the book, although it is narrated in the first person by Coal so most of our views of the other holidays are from his (sometimes skewed) perspective. I also like that most of the drama stems from Christmas’ ongoing, ever-quickening, encroachment of the other holiday. Raasch is not afraid to make that a clear point of contention in this fictional world, as it is for many people in the real world. (If you know me, you know how much I love Christmas – but not to the point that we’re putting Christmas trees up in October and taking them down in March.) While very few are mentioned by name, the author acknowledges that there are a lot of holidays observed and celebrated during the winter months.

I enjoyed this enough that I’m intrigued to see where the sequel, focused on younger brother Kris, will go in exploring holidays other than Halloween, Christmas, and Easter.

I received electronic advance reading copies of these books for free (one from the publisher, two via NetGalley) in exchange for honest reviews. This does not affect my opinion of the books nor the content of my reviews.

Series Saturday: Nathan Burgoine's TRIAD

This is a blog series about … well, series. I love stories that continue across volumes, in whatever form: linked short stories, novels, novellas, television, movies, comics.

Triad Trilogy

Written by ‘Nathan Burgoine

Novels published by Bold Stroke Books

Novels:

·       Triad Blood (2015)

·       Triad Soul (2017)

·       Triad Magic (2019)

In the supernatural underworld of ‘Nathan Burgoine’s Ottawa, “three” is the magic number. It takes three wizards to start a coven, three vampires to start a coterie, three demons to start a pack. Loners are looked down upon at best and more often hounded to an early grave. Until Curtis (a wizard), Luc (a vampire), and Anders (a demon) form a Triad of their own. Their action is unprecedented, upsetting Ottawa’s supernatural powers-that-be. Their union makes them stronger but also makes them targets.

Luc, Anders, and Curtis debuted in a short story in an anthology and proved popular enough to get their own novel trilogy. You do not have to read any of the short stories to follow the flow or to understand the world-building or character backgrounds of the trilogy. The short stories enhance the novels, but the novels stand completely on their own.

The relationship between Curtis, Anders, and Luc starts out as an act of necessity. They renew the bond that makes them a triad every month because they need it to survive; separating would put them again at the mercy of the covens/coteries/packs. But the relationship grows as the trilogy progresses, becoming more emotionally intimate (physical intimacy … okay, sex … is what brought them together in the first place). What we see is a nuanced portrayal of consensual polyamory, each partner bringing strengths and vulnerabilities to the triad. Burgoine doesn’t shy away from the very realistic potential for jealousy and misunderstanding that any open relationship, polyamorous or not, faces but he also doesn’t make these tensions the sole focus of the books nor does he drag them out longer than necessary the way some polyamorous romance novels would just to maintain “tension.”

              The real focal point of the novels is the effect the Triad’s existence has on the political landscape of Ottawa’s supernatural community. The wizards have traditionally been in control, in a strained détente with the vampires, demons, and other supernatural entities (werewolves, spirit-talkers, and others). There is bitterness over the accords that formed this power structure and keep it in place. I loved how Burgoine teases out the strains and uneasiness throughout the books, eventually revealing how things got to where they are and just why the Triad’s existence is a threat to that structure. While each book does a wonderful job of standing complete on its own, there’s a definite through-line and build up of subplots that lead to a big finale at the end of the third book, a very satisfying conclusion. So if you’re looking for a complete-in-three urban fantasy that still leaves the door open for the main characters to have more adventures, this is the series for you.

I also love these books because I’ve come to love the three main characters. Burgoine takes what could be standard, flat tropes (young nerdy wizard; vampire with a mysterious past; horny lust-demon) and imbues them with depth and complexity. The transformation from three guys bound together by common need who also enjoy having sex with each other into a relationship of mutual respect is so well done. Anders and Luc warily put up with each other at the start; they have a history of competition that is hard to work past even while they acknowledge just how much they both care for Curtis. Curtis’ physical attraction to both men, despite how different they are, leads to strong feelings for both that the trio have a tough time reconciling. And their banter is snarky and often self-effacing, with quips perfectly timed – just my kind of humor.

There is also a diverse supporting cast of friends and grudging allies who also grow and change over the course of the trilogy. And something else I appreciate: Burgoine does not give his bad-guys redemption arcs or tragic back-stories to make them relatable. The bad guys are bad; they may be different levels of bad, but they’re bad just the same.

I am heavily skirting around anything that might be considered a major spoiler, intentionally not naming some of the supporting cast or villains. I highly recommend this trilogy, and the associated short stories.

Speaking of which…

Related Short Stories:

·       “Three” (in the anthology Blood Sacraments)

·       “Intercession” (in the anthology Wings: Subversive Gay Angel Erotica)

·       “Possession” (in the anthology Erotica Exotica: Tales of Sex and Magic)

·       “Necessary Evils” (in the anthology Raising Hell: Demonic Gay Erotica)

·       “Bound” (in the anthology Not Just Another Pretty Face)

As you can tell by the titles of the anthologies, our three heroes made their debut, and several subsequent appearances, in erotica anthologies. I enjoyed all five of these stories, only one of which I think I read before the first novel came out. But I know explicit, or even close-to-explicit, sex scenes are not for everyone, which is why I mentioned near the start of this that you can read the novels without reading the associated short stories. But if you don’t mind a bit of sex in your fiction, these stories absolutely enhance the action of the main novels and add depth to a few of the supporting characters.

Highly recommended if you enjoy urban fantasy with gay male leads, interesting world-building, and strong representation of polyamorous relationships.

Book REVIEW: GWEN & ART ARE NOT IN LOVE

TITLE: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love

AUTHOR: Lex Croucher

410 pages, Wednesday Books, ISBN 9781250847218 (hardcover, also e-book and audio)

MY RATING:  4 stars out of 5

I am sucker for anything Arthurian, and especially these days for anything that tweaks the Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot triangle, so a title like Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, with appropriate medieval dress characters on the cover, was bound to attract my attention. Especially so if the book posits queer relationships for the titular king and queen. I somehow missed the part of the book description that says this novel takes place “hundreds of years after King Arthur’s reign.” And you know what? I’m not disappointed at all.

In college, as part of a course on science fiction, I created my version of a world in which Camelot never fell. It was very different from the world Lex Croucher created for Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, but that didn’t stop me from really enjoying the world Croucher did create, and the characters they populated that world with.

In the present day of the novel, Arthur’s descendant line no longer rules Britain, and the city of Camelot is a shadow of its former self even though it is still the capital. King Arthur’s descendant Arthur is well known as a womanizer and gadabout. He’s also engaged to the current Princess of England, Gwendolyn, and neither of them is happy about it. Especially not when they’re forced to spend the summer together as a lead-up to their nuptials, where they quickly discover that Arthur likes men, and Gwen has a crush on the only female knight of the realm, Lady Bridget. Add in Bridget’s bookish brother Gabriel, next in line for the throne, Arthur’s man-at-arms and confidante, Sidney, and Gwen’s lady-in-waiting Agnes, and you have a fine group of main characters with sometimes-competing agendas and interests who find they have to work together to survive not just the summer tournaments but bigger problems.

Because there is also political upheaval across the land. A group of cultists who want a return to the “pure” ways of King Arthur are making increasingly bold moves against Gwen’s father, the current King. This starts as background world-building but slowly builds to being a major part of the book’s climax. Croucher seeds this development well. Near the end, I found myself thinking back and going “Oh, that’s what that was about...” a couple of times.

All the main characters are well-developed. The book is not in alternating first-person (as so many queer romances seem to be), but the primary points-of-view are Gwen and Art’s, allowing us to see events through both their eyes (sometimes, the same event). Even with chapters focused on the two of them, I felt like we got to also see complexities in the personalities of Bridget, Gabriel, Sidney, and Agnes that fleshed them out as real people rather than love interests and sidekicks. I can’t say the same is true for the older adults of the book – Gwen and Gabriel’s parents, Arthur’s father, and the other members of the King’s Court that we see are for the most part one-note. But that’s okay. They perform the function tertiary characters are supposed to perform and don’t necessarily need to have deeper inner lives in an alternate-historical romance like this. (I hesitate to call the book a fantasy romance (or “romantasy”) because other than the difference in history, I don’t recall any truly “fantasy” elements in the world-building.)

In addition to characters I cared about, the book was paced well. There are just enough sub-plots and side-encounters to keep the ultimate outcome of the romances and the political intrigue delayed without feeling like they are just delaying tactics. The book is just the right length for the story Croucher wants to tell, neither too short nor too long.

If you’re looking for an Arthurian romance that takes place outside of, and builds on, the known Arthurian lore, with queer protagonists and plenty of swordfights and happy endings all around (well, except for the bad guys), then Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is for you. Check it out.

I received an electronic advance reading copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. I received the e-ARC well before publication date but never posted the review. Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is available now wherever books are sold.

SUNDAY SHORTS: Mercedes General

TITLE: Mercedes General

AUTHOR: Jerry L. Wheeler

196 pages, Queer Mojo/Rebel Satori, ISBN 9781608642991 (Paperback, e-book)

MY RATING: 5 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS: Nominally a short story collection, Jerry L. Wheeler’s Mercedes General might better be described as a “mosaic novel” – the stories are all linked, presenting in chronological order the events of the lives of two extraordinarily ordinary gay men from 1966 to 2006. But whatever you call it, this is a book everyone needs to read. It is a history of the gay rights movement, the advances and the setbacks, the acceptances and the discrimination, the love and the hate. It is also an intimate story of lifelong love, the kind of love that roots early and permanently and never looks back.

Kent Mortensen meets Spencer Michalek when they are ten years old. Kent is firmly under the control of his bully of a big sister, who sees the “new kid” in town at the bus stop and absolutely must try to torment him. It doesn’t work, and a bond forms between Kent and Spencer that will stand the test of time. Per the back cover copy, “Defying anyone who steps between them, they take on the challenges of growing up a couple – including battles with their families, pedophiles, protestors at their senior prom, and unwanted attention for starting an AIDS hospice during the early part of the epidemic.” And through almost all of it, they have the love and support of Kent’s grandmother, Miss Lee, who owns the big house at the top of the mountain and who is a force to be reckoned with in her own right.

While Kent is the first-person narrator of each story (for reasons that become clear at the end of the book and which I will not spoil), we get to know Spencer, Miss Lee, and the found family they build around themselves as well as we get to know Kent. And what I love about all three is – they are none of them “perfect.” They make mistakes. They make bad decisions that affect their loved ones in ways they don’t anticipate. But they also more often than not make good choices, often tough choices, that echo just as much, if not more, into the lives of those around them. They are all three secure in who they are, even when the world wants them to be different.

Found family is a core tenet of LGBTQIA+ culture, and especially so for men of Kent and Spencer’s generation, dismissed, ignored or downright disowned by their biological families (this is not to say such things don’t happen to today’s LGBTQIA+ youth – of course it does, I’ve seen it; but I’ve also seen a lot more supportive parents than Kent and Spencer’s generation would have, or even my own generation). While we get to watch Kent and Spencer’s romance bloom and deepen, we also get to watch them build a family that fills the voids left by biological parents and siblings who are unwilling or unable to understand and love them, a family that adds new generations to the mix. And these supporting characters are as well-drawn and interesting as the three lead characters.

One of the things I struggle with when it comes to reading historical fiction is the tendency for authors to place their fictional characters at the center of every single major cultural event that happens in that character’s lifetime. Wheeler neatly sidesteps this, and the book is all the better for it. Spencer and Kent have the kinds of experiences that made the news in the decades the book covers (waging a public fight  to go to prom as a couple in the 1970s; taking into their New York brownstone men whose families have disowned them, and whom the hospitals won’t treat, during the early days of the AIDS epidemic), but they are never at any of the cultural hot-spots of those periods (attending drug-filled nights at Studio 54 or encountering Bette Midler performing at the Continental Baths, or somehow making it to NYC at age 13 to be present during the Stonewall Riots). This adds a level of realism to the book, a level of “lived experience,” that a lot of historical novels lack in my opinion.

The book is as much a meditation on grief and loss as it is on love. Another place Wheeler excels is in teasing through the complicated web of emotions that accompany the passing of family members who were at best cold and distant and usually hateful/dismissive. These scenes spoke to me in a way I didn’t know I needed to see laid out on a page and invoked tears I didn’t know I needed to shed (some from sadness, some from anger).

Love, loss, family, friendship, grief, laughter – Mercedes General is a tour through a pair of very real lives, with recognizable moments regardless of your sexual orientation. It’s a book I will be thinking about for a long time. It’s a book I will certainly be rereading in the future and one I suspect will speak to me differently each time I do.

Sunday Shorts: Valentine's Dave

I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. I’ve considered promising to review a short story every day, but that’s a lot of pressure. And while no one will fault me if I miss days, I’ll feel guilty, which will lead to not posting at all. So better to stick to a weekly post highlighting a couple/three stories, as I’ve done in the past.

At the start of the month, editor Lee Blair published Candy Hearts: An LGBTQIA2S+ Charity Anthology, an e-book collection of 16 romance novellas featuring, as one might be able to guess from the title, LGBTQIA2S+ characters. The collection is available for only a limited time, and all proceeds go to the Transgender Law Center and the National Center for Transgender Equality – in my opinion a pair of organizations that absolutely deserve our support. So I’m urging anyone who loves romance to pick the anthology up while it’s available – and even if you don’t love romance, pick it up anyway! Then gift it to someone you know who does love the romance genre while supporting an excellent cause.

Upon opening my copy, I did something I almost never do with anthologies. Instead of reading the stories in order (which I prefer to do because I know how much effort anthology editors put into determining story order), I jumped straight to ‘Nathan Burgoine’s novella – because it is set in the Little Village, and thus connects to the novellas in Burgoine’s “BitterSweets Club” series, which I reviewed a few weeks ago. (A neat little bit of timing/serendipity/whatever you want to call it, that my first “Sunday Shorts” post of the year directly connects to my first “Series Saturday” post.)

Valentine’s Dave by ‘Nathan Burgoine

Dave has had a pretty disastrous streak of Valentine’s Day dates – from the married man to the barfer to the “coffee incident” – but he’s hopeful that this year he can break the streak through a “Secret Admirer” messaging program administered by the Village Business Council and with a little help from his roommate/best friend Asher. Asher is a recent cancer survivor, coming out the other side of chemo, and seems content to help his bestie find romance rather than seek it out himself. Dave has a crush on Victor, a “silver fox” of a veterinarian. Problem is: Dave is not at his most eloquent when it comes to sending secret messages to a cute guy. Luckily, Asher has a way with words. Of course, complications ensue on the path to happily ever after.

Burgoine is not the first author to run a gay spin on Cyrano de Bergerac, to be sure (although I can honestly say I’ve never read another such book, I’m sure they must be out there). But in standard Burgoine fashion, he tweaks the original story by merging it with another standard romance trope (which, if I made it explicit here, would spoil the ending, and I am loath to do that). This combination of tropes makes the story a little twistier, adding just enough inter-character angst to keep the story interesting without causing the reader undue anxiety.

I found Dave’s verbal and physical awkwardness endearing, and his obliviousness a bit too relatable (I tend to be, shall we say, a bit blind when it comes to whether other men are interested in me). Asher’s post-chemotherapy struggles with energy, and his declaring “Are you okay” a forbidden question, was also relatable as a colon cancer survivor myself. I remember the on-set of sudden, unexpected (even though I should have expected it) fatigue in the midst of an afternoon out with friends very well, and I think Burgoine captured it perfectly. I also enjoyed the view of Dave and Asher’s friend group; I think it’s always important to recognize that love doesn’t happen in a vacuum, that outside forces, including caring support from found family, have an effect (thankfully, in this case, positive) on the way romantic relationships form.

As a regular reader of Burgoine’s work, I was overjoyed to see references to members of the BitterSweets Club, and I loved how this novella gives us a tour of the various queer-friendly (and queer-owned) businesses in the Village. If you’ve never read anything by ‘Nathan Burgoine, this novella is a great introduction to the world his characters inhabit – but not in a way that detracts or distracts at all from the main story, which is a wonderful romance.

I’m hoping to post about other novellas in Candy Hearts between now and Valentine’s day. In the meantime, you can read my thoughts on ‘Nathan Burgoine’s other holiday-themed romance novellas featuring the BitterSweets Club in this Series Saturday post.

I’m not a total stranger to writing romance, either. My supernatural gay love story Paradise Fears can be read free here on my website.

Book Review: HOWL

TITLE: Howl

AUTHOR: Shaun David Hutchison

429 pages, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, ISBN 9781534470934 (softcover, e-book, audiobook)

MY RATING:  5 stars out of 5

Virgil Knox, unwillingly transplanted from big city Seattle to the small southern town of Merritt after his parents’ messy divorce, is already dealing with the trauma of being the new kid – and more, the new openly-gay kid – in town when he’s attacked by … something … in “the sprawl,” a wooded area apparently everyone knows to avoid. Virgil has no memory of how he got there, and no idea exactly what attacked him, except that it was a monster. Nobody in town believes him, of course, not even his overworked father and judgmental grandparents, despite his noticeably clear wounds and post-trauma coping mechanisms (like sleeping in his closet). Well, almost nobody does – but among the few who say they do, which are really friends, and which are setting him up for another fall? This is the set-up for Shaun David Hutchinson’s brilliant and moving novel Howl.

I admit I approached the book expecting a standard story about small town bigotry and the need to develop found family when your blood family lets you down. The book includes all of that, with some nice twists to the tropes, which I won’t spoil. The supporting cast of local students and adults are well-developed, and their relationships to Virgil are developed in a way that kept me guessing as to who might have been behind his attack, who might be setting him up for further bullying, and who might actually care about him.

But what Hutchison delivers is so much more than the tropes mentioned above. I am ashamed to admit it took me almost half of the book to realize what should have been obvious from the start (and was, in retrospect): Howl is about surviving assault, about finding ways to heal from trauma in the face of disbelief and victim-blaming. Virgil’s struggle to overcome this trauma, to find some way back to “normalcy” when his normal has been upended, is the heart of the book much more than solving the mystery of his attack. And this is what might make the book a difficult read for some – while not graphic in description, Hutchinson doesn’t stint on Virgil’s flashbacks to the event or on his nightmares. Readers who have been the victims of sexual assault will undoubtedly recognize Virgil’s choices, which may not be healthy but are utterly, heartbreakingly, realistic.

Victim-blaming is a huge part of those choices: Virgil is constantly told that he shouldn’t have been in the sprawl alone, that he shouldn’t have been drinking, that he shouldn’t be making up stories that are too fantastic to believe. The police investigating the case mock him. The first week of school, he is bullied and harassed, with “monster porn” pictures on his locker. Yes, he finds sympathetic ears – but even those don’t necessarily listen to what Virgil is telling them. Especially not the sympathetic adults. One adult in particular, who we find at the end of the book clearly knew more than they were saying, really frustrated me because of how realistic their actions felt.

While parts of the book were difficult to read, this story is so well told, so well-paced, and has so much to say about surviving and moving on from trauma, that I must highly recommend it. Howl was my first exposure to the work of Shaun David Hutchinson, but it won’t be the last.

SERIES SATURDAY: THE BITTERSWEETS CLUB

This is a blog series about … well, series. I love stories that continue across volumes, in whatever form: linked short stories, novels, novellas, television, movies, comics.

Series cover art by Inkspiral Designs

It’s a little past the season, but I thought I’d relaunch regular Series Saturday posts with a look at what has become one of my annual re-reads: a set of holiday-themed novellas, three of which take place at Christmas (and the other on April Fool’s Day).

The Little Village novellas (4 volumes)

Written by ‘Nathan Burgoine

published by Bold Stroke Books (2019 – 2022)

Titles:

·       Handmade Holidays

·       Faux Ho Ho

·       Village Fool

·       Felix Navidad

A substantial number, if not all, of ‘Nathan Burgoine’s novels and short stories interconnect, with his fictionalized version of Ottawa’s Gay Village as a shared setting. Main characters in one story will play supporting roles or make cameo appearances in others, local businesses with names like Body Positive, NiceTeas, and Bittersweets recur, incidents are mentioned in passing, lending all the stories a shared history and timeline. Part of the fun of reading any Burgoine work is figuring out how it connects to all his other work. Some are more obviously connected than others, such as those identified as “Little Village novellas” on the cover – and in particular, the quartet of romance novellas featuring a group of friends called “the Bittersweets Club.”

The Bittersweets Club are four friends who meet regularly at the titular coffee shop: graphic designer Ru, the quippiest member of the group; software designer Silas, the most socially awkward; I.T. Specialist Owen, who still bears the mental and physical scars of a bad car accident; and home health aide nurse Felix, who never met a practical joke he didn’t love and never met a man he did. Each man’s road to romance gets its own novella focused, as mentioned above, on a particular holiday,

What I love about this series as a whole is how sweet and straightforward each book is. These are books about gay men finding love, yes, but also about friends nurturing each other and the strength of “found family.” They have just the right amount of “will they get together or won’t they” angst, are playful with the tropes of the romance genre, and all have HEA (Happily Ever After) or at least HFN (Happy For Now) endings. Which is not to say the stories are completely light or frivolous. Burgoine’s romances are always grounded in our very real current culture, where queer people still have to check their surroundings before holding hands or kissing in public, where birth families still disown gay children, where transphobia is very real even within the LGBTQ+ community. I always appreciate Burgoine’s refusal to paint his stories into some rosy world where homophobia is a thing of the past. Because it isn’t.

Though they share characters and a timeline, each of the four novellas stands alone and thus can be read in any order. References are made to events in the other books, but always in a way that does not make the reader feel like they’re missing vital information for the story at hand and I think in a way that intrigues the reader enough to seek out the other books regardless of which one you start with.

That said, I’ll discuss the books in publication order since that’s the order in which I read them.

Handmade Holidays

Handmade Holidays is Ru’s story, even though he is not the focal character. That would be bookstore manager and budding author Nick. Disowned at nineteen but his family for the “sin” of being gay, Nick begins to build his own traditions with a found family that includes his best friend Ru. The only novella in the series told in strict chronological order, each chapter covers an important Christmas in Nick’s life, and therefore Ru’s, as the friends navigate unsuccessful relationships, changes in employment, parental illnesses, and the growth of their found family. This is also the novella with the longest timespan, stretching over 15 years of Nick and Ru’s lives. I love the pacing of this book. Burgoine packs so many major life events in and manages to make it feel neither rushed nor lacking in detail. It’s also a wonderful take on the “friends to lovers” trope, as Nick and Ru bounce off of each other and second-guess their feelings, the timing never feeling quite right – until one of them takes a risk. It all feels totally authentic. And as with all the Little Village romances, both leads are men I’d like to know in real life.

Faux Ho Ho

But lifelong friends finally admitting they’re in love with each other can have repercussions on their friend group. When Nick and Ru move in together, Ru’s roommate Silas is left in search of someone to share the rent with. The apartment is perfectly placed above Bittersweets, but Silas’ pay as a freelance IT consultant and software designer won’t cover the rent and he knows that asking his conservative and politically powerful parents (who tolerate Silas for the optics more than anything) for help will come with strings attached. Silas is skeptical when Ru suggests he consider personal trainer Dino as a new roommate. Big, burly bodybuilders do not really fit in the Silas Waite Venn Diagram of Life. But as they get to know each other, Dino causes Silas to readjust his outlook. Told in Burgoine’s signature style – that is, chapters that alternate between the present and the past to heighten the story’s tension (juxtaposing “what will happen next” with “how did the characters get to this point”), Faux Ho Ho plays with both the “opposites attract” and “fake relationship” tropes. To get Silas out of spending Thanksgiving with his very conservative family, Dino pretends to be Silas’ boyfriend … which inspires Silas’ sister to finally marry her boyfriend because now Silas can attend with a date, which she knows will piss off their parents and siblings. I love how Silas and Dino bring out the best in each other. I love the contrast between Dino’s family, who all instantly love Silas and go along with the “fake relationship” hoping it will turn real, and Silas’ family, who (other than his wonderfully supportive sister and her fiancée) are only okay with Silas being gay as long as he stays quiet and single. And I love the themes of found family what it really means to be an ally to the LGBTQIA+ community that Burgoine continues to thread through these books.

Village Fool

Village Fool is the only “Bittersweets Club” novella which does not take place on or around the Christmas holidays. While this is Owen’s story from start to finish, the main action is incited by Felix’s impulsiveness. He plays an April Fool’s joke on Owen, switching Owen’s phone contacts so when Owen thinks he’s texting Felix, he’s really texting his unrequited crush Toma. The fact that Toma is Owen’s physiotherapist complicates matters even more. Like Faux Ho Ho, the chapters in Village Fool alternate between the present, where we see the set-up of the practical joke, how it plays out, and the immediate aftermath, and the past, where we see how the Bittersweets Club formed, how Owen met Toma and how their mutual crushes (this is not really a spoiler) developed. One of the things I love about this book is the way Burgoine presents Owen’s anxiety and insecurity as compared to Silas’s in Faux Ho Ho; the author is very conscious of the fact that no two people’s anxiety, insecurity, or depression operate the same way and makes sure that Own and Silas are not cookie-cutter stereotypes. They have certain commonalities (just as Ru and Felix, the group extroverts, do) but their coping mechanisms, as well as their formative backgrounds, are quite different.

Felix Navidad

The final “Bittersweets Club” novella is all about Felix, but it also ties the series’ subplots together in a nice little bow. Ru and Nick are finally getting married, after Covid forced them to delay. Owen and Toma and Silas and Dino are of course going together, but Felix is going solo. He’s had a rough year but is also still feeling the sting of how his impulsive April Fool’s gag affected Owen, even though everything turned out okay. The story alternates between the present holiday, (where Felix and another wedding guest, Ru’s ex Kevin, end up stuck in a cabin that only has one bed, thanks to a massive blizzard), and the past year (with Ru getting to know a new patient, retiree Danya, who has a thing or two to say about Felix’s lack of a social or romantic life). In the “present holiday” chapters, Burgoine moves from one classic trope (the “blind date misunderstanding”) to another (forced proximity/one bed) so smoothly you almost don’t realize it’s happening … and manages to tweak both in very satisfactory ways. The flashback chapters focus on Felix’s growing friendship with sickly but still effervescent Danya, and they are an amazing look at how intergenerational friendships in the gay community should (but all too often don’t) work. Burgoine often comments on how hard it is for younger queer folk to learn our community’s history, because so many of those who should be our elders were taken away from us by the AIDS epidemic. But here, he reminds us that some of that history is still living, still vital – if only younger folks are willing to pay attention, learn, and develop actual connection with our elders. Danya’s illness (NOT AIDS, I feel like I must stress) is a major part of the flashback chapters but please don’t think this means the book is depressing. It is not. It’s as sweet and cute and romantic as the other books in the series – but it also doesn’t shy away from the reality that often joy and sorrow walk beside each other.

While books focused on the “Bittersweets Club” may be done for now, Burgoine isn’t done with gay romances set at the holidays in the Little Village. He recently teased plans for a series featuring a new group of Little Village residents taking place on holidays other than Christmas, and I don’t need to tell you I’m here for them all. He’s also got plans for non-holiday romances building out some of the characters and locations we’ve met along with the Bittersweets guys. In fact, A Little Village Blend is already out in the world.

So: what are your favorite holiday-set LGBTQIA+ romances? Let me know in the comments!

Book Review:THE NECTAR OF NIGHTMARES

TITLE: The Nectar of Nightmares

AUTHOR: Craig L. Gidney

166 pages, Underland Press, ISBN 9781630230630 (paperback, also available in e-book)

MY RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

SHORT REVIEW: The Nectar of Nightmares is an excellent introduction to the work of Craig L. Gidney. In stories that run from the erotic to the romantic, from the subtly horrific to the gorily terrifying, Gidney takes on the loneliness, yearning for connection, self-images issues, and homophobia that are almost endemic to queer lives and particularly queer Black lives. Along the way, he draws on classic fairy tales, historic settings, and a variety of horror sub-genres.

LONG REVIEW:

The Nectar of Nightmares is an excellent introduction to the work of Craig L. Gidney. In stories that run from the erotic to the romantic, from the subtly horrific to the gorily terrifying, Gidney takes on the loneliness, yearning for connection, self-images issues, and homophobia that are almost endemic to queer lives and particularly queer Black lives. Along the way, he draws on classic fairy tales, historic settings, and a variety of horror sub-genres.

The collection opens strong with “Beneath the Briar Patch,” a riff on traditional Bre’r Rabbit/Bre’r Fox oral tales. Where the traditional tales (at least as far as I’m familiar with them) are light-hearted and usually impart moral lessons, Gidney’s tale takes a more supernatural turn as the Tar Baby Brother Rabbit gets stuck to pulls him into the otherworldly briar patch. The omniscient narrator of the story has a very relaxed, colloquial, storyteller’s voice and I can easily see this being told around a campfire. I loved the way Gidney employed the classic “rule of three’s” storytelling trick throughout the story: three reasons Fox plays the tar baby trick on Rabbit, three rumors about the creature that rules in the briar patch, three encounters with supernatural beings in the briar patch, and other groups of three (juggling three balls/6 knives; 6 animals present at the briar patch bar) throughout the story.

I don’t have space to comment on every story individually in this post, but here are thoughts on some of the stories that stood out for me. Your mileage may vary, of course.

“Myth and Moor” gives us Emily Brontë as a child, encountered the ghost of a boy who has recently died and trying to find out what the ghost wants from her. Emily is clearly lonely, yearning for a connection with someone who will understand and accept her ability to see – although not talk to – ghosts. She does find such a person in this story, but the person is not what she expected.

In “Fur and Gold,” Gidney gives us a gay riff on the tale of Beauty and the Beast that is closer kin to the original tales than to the Disney version. Gidney delves into the beast’s loss of sense of identity and decline into a creature of instinct and primal needs in a story that feels elegiac even while delivering a strong message about the importance of consent.

From fantasy France, Gidney moves us to the Harlem Renaissance in “Black-Winged Roses,” a tale of transgender folks discovering and taking pride in who they are and what they can do while under assault by a hateful and self-hating preacher. This story is full of strong women who will take no shit and is one of my favorites in the collection. I suspect I’ll be re-reading this one often.

“Spyder Threads,” which I’d previously listened to as part of Nightfire’s audio-only short story collection Come Join Us By The Fire, Volume 2, is an intriguing mix of body horror and fantasy, a commentary both on how society treats people whose bodies don’t fit into the current social media paradigm and on how far people with low self-esteem because of that treatment will go to feel special. The shorter, punchier “Mirror Bias” attacks that same body image issue from a slightly different angle.

In “Sacred She-Devil,” Gidney gives us a near-perfect urban fantasy noir, in which main character Opal has the power to summon the ghosts of murdered women who were victims of sexual violence. It’s not an easy story to read, but it is a vital one. Especially as it plays with, and neatly subverts, the over-used trope of subjecting female characters to sexual violence to motivate male characters to “do great things.” I would love to see more stories with Opal.

I would be remiss if I did not mention “Desiccant,” a story which made it into the inaugural edition of The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction (2021), which just days before I’m posting this won the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. “Desiccant” focuses on a trans woman forced to move into a very impoverished building, where she, like her neighbors, falls ill because of the environment they are forced to endure. The story touches on systemic lack of attention to how contaminated living environments disproportionately affect marginalized populations. The fact that there is a supernatural explanation for the ongoing health issue does not take away from the importance of the issue. Fair warning: there are also moments of transphobia in the story (as, sadly, there would be in real life).

The collection closes as strongly as it starts, with the title story “The Nectar of Nightmares,” in which three quite different individuals encounter a powerful dream being. I may have given too much away even saying that much – it’s a story about the way our nightmares feed off our anxiety, body dysmorphia, feelings of inadequacy, and more.

Book Review: SUMMER SONS

TITLE: Summer Sons

AUTHOR: Lee Mandelo

372 pages, TorDotCom Publishing, ISBN 9781250790286 (hardcover, also available in audiobook, e-book. Paperback due on August 16, 2022)

DESCRIPTION: (from inside front cover): Andrew and Eddie did everything together, best friends bonded more deeply than brothers, until Eddie left Andrew behind to start his graduate program at Vanderbilt. Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom that hungers for him.

As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble.

And there is something awful lurking, waiting for those walls to fall.

MY RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

MY THOUGHTS: Lee Mandelo’s Summer Sons is about as close to an ideal modern gay Southern Gothic novel as we’re likely to ever get. An intriguing set-up (the apparent suicide of a best friend uncovers secrets perhaps best left covered) allows Mandelo to explore not just the bonds between best friends but the way toxic masculinity fosters secrets and separation. All the men in this book have a tough time expressing what they’re really thinking and feeling; there’s a lot of deflection, denial, and just plain silence. There were several times I found myself shouting at the characters to “JUST TALK ALREADY.” It’s frustrating, but in an effective way, building tension for characters and reader alike.

It’s clear from the beginning that it’s not just Andrew’s long-unrequited love for Eddie that drives him to find out why Eddie so suddenly committed suicide. Exactly what else is driving Andrew, why even while in denial he always placed Eddie so much above every other relationship, is one of the slow-burn sub-plots of the novel. All is revealed eventually; the slow parceling-out of the details is paced perfectly for the reveal to hit with maximum “holy shit” effect. As Andrew struggles with accepting his own past, his love for Eddie, and the possibility that he might be falling in love again, his mental state swings from depressed to disturbed and back again. It’s a fantastic character study, a deep look into how depression and anxiety work, especially on someone as closeted as Andrew is.

The new circles Andrew finds himself thrust into are full of interesting characters with their own secrets and agendas that don’t overlap quite the way one might expect. There wasn’t a character introduced that didn’t pique my interest.

And Mandelo fills the book with mood: from the first scene to the denouement, the story fairly drips with claustrophobia. The three main locations (three very different houses) feel close and confining, but so do the outdoor scenes (especially a particular party scene), and even the racing scenes (these boys love their fast cars, and so do the ghosts) despite, or perhaps because of, how well Mandelo captures that sense of speeding down dark roads with the woods on either side barely visible on moonless nights.

There are plenty of twists and turns, and a healthy dollop of supernatural activity and dread, making this a great summer horror read.

I originally received an electronic Advanced Reading Copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. For assorted reasons, this review did not get posted at that time. With the paperback edition coming out in August 2022, I thought it was time to rectify that.

Book Review: THREE LEFT TURNS TO NOWHERE

TITLE: Three Left Turns to Nowhere

AUTHOR: Jeffrey Ricker, J. Marshall Freeman, and ‘Nathan Burgoine

235 pages, Bold Stroke Books, ISBN 9781636790503 (paperback; also in e-book)

DESCRIPTION: (from the back cover): Three strangers heading to a convention in Toronto are stranded in rural Ontario, where a small town with a subtle kind of magic leads each to discover what he’s been searching for.

Ed Sinclair and his friends get stuck in Hopewell after their car breaks down. It’s snark at first sight when he meets local mechanic Lyn, but while they’re getting under each other’s skin, the town might show them a way into one another's hearts.

Rome Epstein is out and proud and clueless about love. He’s hosting a giant scavenger hunt at the convention but ends up in Hopewell. When the town starts leaving him clues for its own scavenger hunt, he discovers a boy who could be the prize he’s been searching for.

Fielding Roy has a gift for seeing the past. His trip to reunite with friends hits an unexpected stop in Hopewell, but a long-lost love letter and two local boys give him a chance to do more than watch the past. This time, Fielding might be able to fix the present.

Authors Jeffrey Ricker, J. Marshall Freeman, and ‘Nathan Burgoine believe getting lost is a perfectly legitimate way to find yourself, but suggest you pack snacks.

MY RATING: 4 stars out of 5

MY THOUGHTS: The contents of “Shared World” short story or novella anthologies, with multiple authors working ostensibly in the same setting, can be notoriously hit/miss depending on factors as varied as the depth and breadth of the world-building before the authors start on their own stories, how all of that information is communicated from editors to authors, faithful to the shared setting the individual authors are. Typically, the more writers working in the setting the more likely it is to find “outlier” stories that don’t fit the setting or match the mood of the majority of the stories in the anthology. I’m happy to be able to say that Three Left Turns to Nowhere, a collection of novellas all set in the magical small town of Hopewell, is far more hit than miss despite, or perhaps because of, the quite different tones of the novellas. What all three stories have in common is the set-up of a slightly grumpy out-of-towner stranded in Hopewell meeting a local (or locals) who help lift the out-of-towner’s mood.

Jeffrey Ricker’s “Roadside Assistance” is a great lead-off: a sweet meet-cute of a romance between the grumpy out-of-towner (Ed) and a friendly local mechanic (Lyn) that doesn’t let the grumpy guy stay grumpy for too long. The attraction between the characters is clear from the start and nudged along by forces both human (Lyn’s BFF Josh) and not (a local ghost that only Lyn can see). I could try to count the number of times I found myself smiling at a geeky exchange or adorable moment, but there were too many. Ricker also does a wonderful job setting up the shared world in which these stories operate: by the end of the story I had a solid mental image of the “downtown” of Hopewell, a good sense of the character of the townspeople as a whole, and a total acceptance of the town’s subtle magic and how it works.

“The Scavenger Hunt” by J. Marshall Freeman is still a romance, but not as sweet meet-cute as Ricker’s. It’s a bit darker – homophobia rears its ugly head early in the story and stays a threat throughout in a way that doesn’t quite fit with the other two stories herein – but still centers a budding romance between an out-of-towner (activist Rome) and a local (artist Darcy). I liked the pacing of the story, I liked the way the town’s magic expresses itself (by sending Rome on the same type of scavenger hunt he’s designing for the Con all these out-of-towners are on their way to), and I loved Darcy’s found-object sculpture art. In fact, I loved Darcy – awkward, artistic, possibly neurodivergent Darcy – from the moment he’s introduced. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Rome, who I found self-centered beyond likeability even at the end of the story. (Your opinion, of course, may vary.)

The third novella, “Hope Echoes” by ‘Nathan Burgoine, doesn’t center romance for the lead character at all but still hinges the plot on one. The out-of-towner in the equation is Fielding, who can see echoes of the past, and the locals are adorable boyfriends who show him around town and help him resolve a mystery he’s stumbled into thanks to the echoes he can see. The romance is one that occurred well before any of the young men in the story were born, and I won’t spoil how the mystery of the love letter is resolved other than to say there’s a happy conclusion for all involved. The fun of this story is Fielding’s growing friendship with Josh and Logan, a nice interpretation of the way the town’s magic works. The town recognizes that what Fielding needs isn’t a boyfriend or romance – it’s supportive friends and a way out of his depression.

As one would expect, characters from one story pop up in the background or are mentioned in the other stories. But the authors also do an excellent job populating the story with interesting local characters: bed and breakfast owner Candace, used good store owner Mrs. Tremblay; Lyn’s mother; Josh’s father; Logan’s grandmother and her fellow residents at a nursing home; and auto shop owner Sloan and her wife the town Mayor. They make the shared setting of the stories consistent.

I do hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of the magical town of Hopewell. In fact, I’m putting in a request right now for a second anthology with perhaps a focus on lesbian characters – and please, Bold Stroke Books, let one of those be the story of how Sloan and Dina met!

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.