Posted on March 13, 2010 by Leslie
This time, one touch could destroy everything…
The suspected murder of the king’s ex-mistress is Cambridge dons Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart’s most prestigious case yet. And the most challenging, since clues are as hard to come by as the killer’s possible motive.
At the hotel where the body was found, Orlando goes [...]
Filed under: 1900's, 4 stars, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, England, Leslie H Nicoll, Murder Mystery | Tagged: 4 stars, Charlie Cochrane, England | 3 Comments »
Posted on March 11, 2010 by Leslie
Jack Cavendish needs to get to his station at Fort Charlotte, a fur-trading outpost in Grand Portage, Upper Canada. The fort is only accessible by canoe, and there’s just one man willing to take him on the perilous, thousand-mile journey from Montreal this late in the summer. Young Christian Smith, the son of an Ojibwe [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 4 stars, Leslie H Nicoll, Reviews | Tagged: Canada, Kiera Andrews | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 21, 2010 by Erastes
What does a jaded earl see in a studious, shy man? Everything he never knew he was missing. Their first, scorching hot sessions were about passion, not love, but now Peter is desperate to win back the young man he spurned.
Review by Erastes
This book sort of took me by surprise. First of all, the [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Bonnie Dee, England, Fiction, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian, ebook | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, Fiction, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | 6 Comments »
Posted on February 5, 2010 by Hayden
Brendan Townsend is a young man who is very loyal to his friends. So when Tony—his best friend, occasional lover, and a complete screw-up—comes to him in trouble, Brendan is determined to help. Tony is being blackmailed by the owner of a “molly house”, the private club that Tony—and other like-minded gentlemen—frequent in order to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 26, 2010 by Hayden
Josef Jaeger turns thirteen when Adolf Hitler is appointed Germany’s new Chancellor. When his mother dies, Josef is sent to Munich to live with his uncle, Ernst Roehm, the openly-homosexual chief of the Nazi brown shirts. Josef thinks he’s found a father-figure in his uncle and a mentor in his uncle’s lover, streetwise Rudy, and [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 4 stars, Fiction, Jere' M. Fishback, Reviews, YA | Tagged: 1930’s, 4 stars, Fiction, Jere' M. Fishback, Reviews, YA | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 13, 2010 by Leslie
When Loel Woodbine, Duke of Marche, receives news that his great aunt has engaged him to a young lady he has never met, he’s a little nonplussed. His lifestyle doesn’t exactly lead itself to entertaining the fair sex; in fact, he prefers to devote his attentions to men rather than women. However, Marche owes his [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Penelope Roth, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Penelope Roth, Regency, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Posted on January 12, 2010 by Erastes
Jack saves Nehemiah from drowning, or worse, on the Cornish coast, surprised to find he has an American in his midst. He’s also afraid that his fellow villagers will kill Nehemiah rather than look at him, all for the peridot ring on his finger. He takes Nehemiah in, sharing his home, and eventually his secrets.
Pressed [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Reviews, Syd McGinley, ebook, novella | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Syd McGinley | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 7, 2010 by Erastes
A colorful novel of the circus world of the 1940s and 1950s, rich in detail, bursting with power and emotion. Mario Santelli, a member of the famous flying Santelli family, is a great trapeze artist. Tommy Zane is his protege.
As naturally and gracefully as they soar through the air, the two flyers find themselves falling [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 1950's, 4 stars, America, Essential Reads, Fiction, Marion Zimmer-Bradley, Reviews | 10 Comments »
Posted on January 6, 2010 by Alex Beecroft
The history books tell us that Piers Gaveston was many things: arrogant, ambitious, avaricious, flamboyant, extravagant, reckless, brave, and daring, indiscreet, handsome, witty, vivacious, vain, and peacock-proud, a soldier and champion jouster, the son of a condemned witch, who used witchcraft, his own wicked wiles, and forbidden sex to entice and enslave King Edward II, [...]
Filed under: 13th Century, 14th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged: book review, Brandy Purdy | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 3, 2010 by Erastes
Reynard is the impoverished son of a cavalier, driven to highway robbery to support his sister, Emilia. But a puritan he robs proves to be his new neighbor–and Emilia [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, 4 stars, Emily Veinglory, England, Fiction, Reviews, ebook | Tagged: 17th Century, Emily Veinglory | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 26, 2009 by Erastes
The weight of the past could tear them apart…
In his first mission as a shinobi, Sora Sanada has more than its success riding on his shoulders. Every move he makes is a reflection on his clan’s honor. So when an unexpected scuffle leaves him injured and the mission in jeopardy, he’d rather be left behind—but [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Anna O'Neill, Japan, Reviews, ebook, short stories | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 19, 2009 by Erastes
Some Gave All – Four stories in honor of those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Review by Vashtan
Calling this anthology a “mixed bag” is the best I can say for the whole anthology. It brings together stories of four authors: “Memorial Meeting” by Aline de Chevigny, “Flyover” by Jefferson Dane, Thanet Blake’s Memorial” by Wayne Greenough [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 4 stars, Anthology, J M Snyder, Korean War, ebook | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 8, 2009 by Leslie
Rafael Hurt comes from Mississippi to play Blues guitar, and he’s hiding a dangerous secret. When a young girl is found murdered during Rafe’s first gig at The Blues Angel, Rafe and Deke Davis, a veteran reporter, have to find the killer before the secrets of the past explode into racial violence and destroy any [...]
Filed under: 1960's, 4 stars, America, Leslie H Nicoll, Sarah Black | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 31, 2009 by Erastes
When Ben gets a chance to leave his New Mexico home to visit his childhood friend in Hollywood, he jumps at it. 1930s Beverly Hills is full of bait and switch tricks that Ben just isn’t used to, especially when he meets up with Johnny, someone he knew a long time ago, better than he’s [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 4 stars, America, Fiction, Parhelion, Reviews, ebook | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 30, 2009 by Erastes
An erotic adventure story for men who love men, set at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion in war-torn Scotland. Charles Gordon is sold into near-slavery as the plaything of corrupt military officials, but his talents-both in and out of bed-win him powerful friends as well as dangerous foes.
Review by Jean Roberta.
“You’ll take the high [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, Jacobite, James Lear, Reviews | Tagged: 4 stars, Jacobite, James Lear, review | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 29, 2009 by Erastes
Injured crusader Falk du Plessis survives the Battle of Hattin only to be sold at the slave market in Acre. He’s bought by Sinan, a mysterious Saracen who takes care to hide his true identity. Falk has the feeling they’ve met before. Their attraction is instant and mutual and their destinies are inextricably entwined, but [...]
Filed under: 12th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, Kate Cotoner, Reviews, ebook | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 28, 2009 by Erastes
Two outlaws and one widow turn to each other for comfort, but nobody expects lust to become a love affair…
Amy Northe hasn’t known a man’s company in the six years since her husband died. That all changes the night her son comes in from chores with two strangers in tow. Kenneth and Leon are [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, America, Jamie Craig, Reviews, Western, ebook, novella | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 24, 2009 by Erastes
Mr. Leopold Thornton missed his chance ten years ago. He isn’t about to let this one pass him by.
Given Leopold’s reputation for vice and debauchery, Mr. Arthur Barrington has a fair idea why the sinfully beautiful man invites him to his country estate. A shooting excursion? Unlikely. Especially considering Arthur is the only guest invited [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, ebook | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 19, 2009 by Alex Beecroft
Third Lieutenant Andrew Clayton wanted senior officer Daniel Barrett from the moment they first met. Something about the charismatic man with the scarred knuckles and street-tough voice heats Andrew’s blood and makes his body ache. He’d give up everything for just one taste of the forbidden—his position in Society, his commission…even his life.
Daniel’s sure [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 4 stars, Age of Sail, Fiction, Reviews, ebook | 4 Comments »
Posted on October 15, 2009 by Leslie
Looking at The Lord Won’t Mind from a historical perspective
Title: The Lord Won’t Mind
Author: Gordon Merrick
Published: 1970; republished in 1995
Length: 255 pages
Charlie Mills and Peter Martin are both young, handsome and well-endowed. They meet and fall madly in love. The book follows Charlie’s path from a closeted gay man to a person who accepts himself. [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 4 stars, America, Leslie H Nicoll, Reviews, history | 9 Comments »
Posted on September 30, 2009 by Erastes
In 1910, Charles Smythe inherits a ranch from his late uncle. With some misgivings about leaving his life in England, he finally arrives in Arizona Territory only to meet one of his employees, an experienced hired hand named Sombra. In Sombra, Charles finds not only the perfect man to teach him all he needs to [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 4 stars, America, BDSM, Fiction, Western, ebook | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 25, 2009 by Erastes
Confederate Lieutenant Anderson Blanks has grown weary of the War between the States. When a wounded soldier is heard, dying in the darkness, Andy takes a lantern and canteen in the hopes of easing the soldier’s pain. Andy is shocked to discover none other than Samuel Talley, his first love and a young [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, American Civil War, Fiction, Reviews, ebook, novella | 1 Comment »
Posted on August 29, 2009 by Erastes
Grieving over the death of his lover, British flying ace Bat Bryant accidentally kills the man threatening him with exposure. Unfortunately there’s a witness: the big, rough American they call “Cowboy” – and Cowboy has his own price for silence.
“Out of the Blue” will be a standalone e-book published by Liquid Silver Books, and [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Mark R Probst, Reviews, World War I, ebook, novella | 5 Comments »
Posted on August 6, 2009 by Erastes
John Hilliard, a young subaltern returning to the Western Front after a brief period of sick leave back in England, finds his battalion tragically altered. His commanding officer finds escape in alcohol, there is a new adjutant and even Hilliard’s batman has been killed. But there is David Barton. As yet untouched and unsullied by [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews, World War I | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 15, 2009 by Erastes
In seventeenth century Japan, during the golden age of samurai and of the Kabuki theater, young actors known as “flying fish” traveled the countryside, performing for audiences by day and giving their bodies to their samurai patrons at night.
Genji Sakura is one such flying fish, yet he dreams of the day he’ll find the man [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Japan, Reviews, ebook | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 17, 2009 by speakitsname
London, 1918. Billy Prior is working for Intelligence in the Ministry of Munitions. But his private encounters with women and men – pacifists, objectors, homosexuals – conflict with his duties as a soldier, and it is not long before his sense of himself fragments and breaks down. Forced to consult the man who helped him [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews, World War I | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 3, 2009 by Erastes
During one week in 1916, 16-year-old Vincent de l’Etoile befriends the greatest writer in France and experiences the first great love of his life. Fortunately, he keeps a journal and writes letters, is an exquisitely limpid stylist (kudos to Wynne’s translation), and considers himself too young to have morals. His new friend is Marcel Proust, [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews, World War I, novella | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 31, 2009 by Erastes
In the shadow of the 1954 nuclear bomb tests on the Bikini atoll, two sailors begin a tender, passionate affair that will carry them all around the USA: to San Francisco, Manhattan, Fire Island and Washington DC. The lovers learn, with fumbling hands and lips, how to satisfy one another, but the erotic heat of [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 4 stars, America, Fiction, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 27, 2009 by Erastes
A year after serial killer John Whittaker’s reign of terror was brought to a swift and righteous conclusion, London finds her streets darkened with the blood of innocents once again. Disfigured bodies with vile, ritualistic markings are turning up at an alarming rate, and the police are at a loss to apprehend the killer, who [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Reviews, detective | 1 Comment »
Posted on April 19, 2009 by Erastes
When cousins Sean and Patrick McConaghy set sail from Ireland in 1820 to settle in the wilderness of Upper Canada, they have no idea what obstacles and opportunities await them in this new land. Sean and Patrick know little about clearing land, building a shelter and farming. But with hard work [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Alex Beecroft, Fiction, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 25, 2009 by girluknow
A young Scotsman and a Cavalry Officer embark on a forbidden love affair as the winds of war threaten to tear them apart. When Robert Alexander Macdonald locks eyes with Captain Charles Wentworth at a social gathering in London, it’s not long before they are also locking lips and engaging in a covert love affair. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, J P Bowie, Reviews, ebook | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 11, 2009 by Erastes
It’s the last night of a week-long house party in remote northern England. Every sensual delight imaginable is right at Henry Shaw’s fingertips. Yet all he wants is to be with his host, the deliciously handsome and enigmatic Arsen Grey. Henry’s certain it’s love, not mere infatuation. He’s also sure it’s hopeless.
Review by Erastes
As the [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, England, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, ebook, novella | Leave a Comment »
Posted on January 12, 2009 by Erastes
Lord Oliver Marsden has a secret. He’s been in love with his childhood friend for years, to have one night with Lord Vincent he masquerades as a whore at Vincent’s favoured brothel. When Oliver arrives at the bedchamber, he’s in for another surprise. Restraints and a leather bullwhip? Apparently Vincent isn’t as conservative as he [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, short stories | 5 Comments »
Posted on December 29, 2008 by Erastes
Ray’s a former mob enforcer who heads west to live off his comfortable retirement, provided graciously by his ex-employers. He’s got it all. A new place, a new business, and he’s making a [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 4 stars, America, Fiction, Reviews, ebook, novella | Leave a Comment »
Posted on December 20, 2008 by Erastes
Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 1
St. Bride’s College, Cambridge, England, 1905.
When Jonty Stewart takes up a teaching post at the college where he studied, the handsome and outgoing young man acts as a catalyst for change within the archaic institution. He also has a catalytic effect on Orlando Coppersmith.Orlando is a brilliant, introverted mathematician with [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 4 stars, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, England, Fiction, Reviews, novella | 1 Comment »
Posted on November 10, 2008 by Erastes
Adam Jackson feels frustrated that he isn’t doing more for the war effort; a liaison job with the War cabinet is hardly as glamorous as being in the forces. Nor is London, in the grip of the Blitz, the sort of place where a young man expects to find love, especially when your ideal partner [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 4 stars, Reviews, World War II | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 11, 2008 by Erastes
Ariston is an athlete who dreams of fame and fortune and the chance to open his own Palaestra someday. Iason is an aliptes (masseuse) who dreams of winning the heart of Ariston. Can they overcome the competition of rival athletes and the caprice of fickle gods and attain their hearts’ desires?
This [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Alex Beecroft, Ancient Greece, Fiction, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Posted on September 14, 2008 by Erastes
On Saturday, January 14, 1950, at 6:18PM, Cadet Richard Cox left his room at theU.S. Military Academy at West Point to goto dinner with an unidentified visitor. The man was supposedly someone Cox knew when he served in Germany. Cox never returned from that meeting.
Thirty five years later, a retired history teacher named [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 4 stars, Erastes, Reviews, True Life, detective, history | 6 Comments »
Posted on September 13, 2008 by Alex Beecroft
Raised in the city of Capua, renowned for its gladiator training grounds—Lucius, a young patrician, is unprepared for the obsessive desire that almost overwhelms him when he first sees Callistus, a captive Gaul condemned to a life, and probable death, in the arena. Unsuccessful in his attempt to buy Callistus and save him from a [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Alex Beecroft, Ancient Rome, Fiction, J P Bowie, Reviews | Tagged: gay historical fiction, m/m | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 26, 2008 by Erastes
With its sweet tale of inter-racial romance between a young Civil War survivor from Virginia and a Navajo berdache/two-spirit healer of the Old West, this novel demonstrates gender variance as a source of spiritual power and documents “same-sex marriage” as indigenous to the American continent.
Reviewed by Ruth Sims
Two Spirits combines a moving love story [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, American Civil War, Fiction, Reviews, Ruth Sims, Western | Tagged: 4 stars, American Civil War, review, Ruth Sims | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 7, 2008 by Erastes
Review by Erastes
I don’t often comment on a book’s layout but this one deserves it. It’s beautifully done – a tasteful cover to complement the mention of Sodomy and a restrained, classical theme inside. Books aren’t often this pretty. Well done, Dreamspinner Press.
Greeks Bearing Gifts by D.G. Parker
Young Antenor of fallen Troy faces violation and [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Ancient Greece, Anthology, Erastes, Fiction, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Posted on August 7, 2008 by Erastes
Here SAPPHO SINGS in her own words. Ancient phrases become the warp and weave of an intricate tapestry so delicately woven it becomes impossible to distinguish the imported threads from the weaver’s own.
Readers familiar with the myriad translations of the few fragmented lines of Sappho’s work left available to us [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, 600 AD, Fiction, Reviews, history | Leave a Comment »
Posted on August 2, 2008 by Erastes
Richard is worn out, used up, and just plain cynical. Son of a wealthy Bostonian banker, he came west to gamble and carouse when his life fell apart. Though a sensitive and moral man, he finds a reckless life easier to bear—since he has no one to care about and no real hopes for his [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews, Western, novella | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 9, 2008 by emmacollingwood
NAPOLEON’S PRIVATES
2,500 Years of History Unzipped
by Tony Perrottet
Harper Entertainment, ISBN 978-0-06-125728-5
From the blurb on the author’s website:
What were Casanova’s best pick-up lines?
(They got better as he got older).
Which Italian Renaissance genius “discovered” the clitoris?
(He could have just [...]
Filed under: 13th Century, 14th Century, 15th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 1900's, 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 19th Century, 4 stars, Age of Sail, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Early Middle Ages, Reviews, Victorian, history | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 27, 2008 by Erastes
Robert Schumann, the Romantic composer, was a vibrant and complex man. Schumann’s public biography was carefully cleansed by his wife, his survivors, and his friends, but his own letters and diaries give indication of a series of passionate affairs with both sexes that sparked the creative outpouring of music that defined his artistic life. It [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Erastes, Fiction, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 31, 2008 by Erastes
Set in occupied Poland during World War II, this novel is based on the true story of Stefan K., a Polish boy who, at 16, fell in love with a German soldier. When their liaison was discovered by the Gestapo, the teen was tortured and sentenced to a labour camp, eventually escaping during the chaotic [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 4 stars, Erastes, Reviews, True Life, World War II | Leave a Comment »
Posted on May 14, 2008 by Erastes
Pantarkes’ goal is to enter the Olympics and win the laurel crown. But at the age of 16, after accidentally killing the son of a high official, Pantarkes is forced to flee from his native home in Sparta. For two years his Olympic dreams are postponed as he becomes embroiled in the wars [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Ancient Greece, Erastes, Fiction | 5 Comments »
Posted on March 22, 2008 by Erastes
This work is set in London, 1889. Oscar Wilde, celebrated poet, wit, playwright and raconteur is the literary sensation of his age. All Europe lies at his feet. Yet when he chances across the naked corpse of sixteen-year-old Billy Wood, posed by candlelight in a dark stifling attic room, he cannot ignore the brutal murder. [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, Erastes, Fiction, Reviews, Victorian | 6 Comments »
Posted on March 4, 2008 by Hayden
A lyrical gay coming-of-age story first published in 1951, acclaimed by many including Gore Vidal and The New York Times, about Matthew, a young American who moves to France with his mother following his parents’ divorce. In boarding school and on trips with his mother into the countryside, Matthew investigates his budding sexuality and [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 4 stars, Fiction, Reviews | 11 Comments »
Posted on February 20, 2008 by Lee Benoit
Ardennian Boy from coauthors William Maltese and Drewey Wayne Gunn, is historical romance and literary erotica blended into one masterful novel. Maltese’s sensuous prose retells the tumultuous love affair between poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, while Gunn’s lyrical translations of their bawdy gay poems, woven naturally into the fabric of the story, enlighten even [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Reviews | Tagged: France, MLR Press, Wayne Gunn, William Maltese | 2 Comments »
