Plan B

S.J.D. Peterson
Dreamspinner Press
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Danny Marshal has always lived his life out loud, but his androgynous appearance is only a small part of who he is. One night at a frat party, Danny meets Lance Lenard, football jock and apparent straight guy. Lance is shocked when he's immediately attracted to Danny's feminine side. Danny is happy to be the subject of Lance's first man-on-man experiment—until Lance begins to struggle with the fact that despite his appearance, Danny is indeed a man.

Lance's whole life has been focused on his goal of playing in the NFL, and he knows those dreams will be smashed if anyone finds out about his little secret. Although Lance has come to hunger for Danny's touch, he's not willing to give Danny what he's grown to crave: a boyfriend who's proud to love him for every flamboyant and snarky cell in his body.

Life sends Danny and Lance in different directions, each of them focused on his respective Plan A. But the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

My Review

Danny is such a girl:

“I grabbed my new white, waist-length coat with black fur trim around the hood and slipped it on. Yes, I’d bought it in the junior girls’ section and I fucking loved it. All soft and snuggly. Loved the way the fur felt around my face when I put up the hood. I’m a very tactile, as well as visual, guy.”

But there’s no question he’s all man:

“Sure, I took some ribbing for it, a few nasty insults tossed my way here and there when I walked by, even had some old guy ask me if I was a boy or girl. I answered by cupping the bulge in my pink skinny jeans and asking, “Would you like me to show you?””

After my disappointing experience with The Girl For Me, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this story. There were lots of similarities in the plot, even in the main character’s name. It turns out my worries were unfounded. This story was told beautifully, with lots of humor and heart. Right from the beginning, I fell in love with Danny.

Danny is a busy theater major who doesn’t do relationships. He has big plans for the future, and no time for anything more than casual encounters. That all changes when he attends a frat party with his best friend, Bo, and is captivated by the rugged and muscular Lance, whose goal is to be a big football star.

Though Lance is very attracted to Danny, he sure has a funny way of showing it. He behaved terribly at the party and I’ll admit I didn’t like the way he treated Danny in the beginning. But Danny’s no pushover and he gave as good as he got. I love their relationship buildup and Lance’s conflicting feelings. He’s deep in the closet and not yet ready to take the next step in their relationship. It’s too late for Danny, as his heart is now involved.

Both men are young, selfish, and wildly immature at times. They make decisions hastily which creates a lot of unnecessary turmoil in their relationship, but what can you expect from 21-year-old college students? Since this story was told from Danny’s perspective, I could feel his emotions keenly, reminding me of the confusion and chaos of my own young life. I loved Danny and Lance, Bo and his girlfriend, Katie, and all the fully developed colorful supporting characters. The tense, heartbreaking and sad moments made the ending so sweet and satisfying. This story was a joy to read.

Seven Forges

Seven Forges by James A. Moore
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Merros Dulver has embarked on an expedition that promises riches beyond his imagination should he return. He has led a group to the Seven Forges, a land believed to be uninhabitable, only to find a man there. This man wasn't simply lost near the forges, he was looking for Merros specifically. Merros meets with the man's people and heads for home with an escort of people from this desolate land. Merros isn't sure what to think of his escort except that they're incredibly dangerous individuals.

Seven Forges felt very much like a book that's only purpose is setting the groundwork for a series. The characters found themselves mostly involved in traveling and diplomacy. The people from the forges are incredibly devoted to their gods who were said to have saved them. Each of the forges is believed to be a different god and each of the people followed one of the gods primarily. They are a warring people that are all heavily scarred and battle hardened.

The story was interesting without having much happen. It didn't have the kind of massive conclusion I was expecting. There are still unanswered questions at the end and decisions were made that simply didn't make a lot of sense. It all felt like the vague and ominous prophecy given to Merros early in the book,

You will lose your hand, find your fist and gain an ally. You will meet your enemy face-to-face.

Seven Forges has peeked my interest and left me curious to see where the story heads next.

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NO BEAST SO FIERCE BY EDWARD BUNKER

No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”I was going to war with society, or perhaps I would only be renewing it. Now there were no misgivings. I declared myself free from all rules except those I wanted to accept--and I’d change those as I felt the whim. I would take whatever I wanted. I’d be what I was with a vengeance: a criminal.

Society had made me what I was (and ostracized me through fear of what it had created) and I gloried in what I was.”


Dustin Hoffman is Max Dembo in the movie Straight Time(1978)

Max Dembo has a lot of reasons to hate society. The deck is stacked against him from the very beginning. He is just finishing an eight year hitch, and the outside world has moved on without him. ”A sense of unreality, so intense as to make me dizzy, swelled up. Everything was weird. The tinkling resonance of women’s voices, which I hadn’t heard in eight years was as alien as Chinese to my ears.”

Max is probably more scared than relieved to be finally back out in society. He is pissed off that he has been judged and found unworthy. He is pissed off that he has been locked away from women and forced to expend his desires on soft mouthed, pretty boys and feminine homosexuals. That isn’t who he is, but that is who he had to become.

Now that he is out on parole with $65 in his pocket, his primary concern is supposed to be to find a job, but of course, before he can even think about that, he has to find himself a woman. A soft, good looking woman will be great, but any woman will do. He tries to play the game as it has been dictated to him, but his ball busting parole officer doesn’t make it easy for him to even want to stay straight. Max may have paid his debt to society, but the striped suit of his incarceration is still itching in his skin like a tattoo that never heals.

Max may have been guilty, but he never felt the punishment fit the crime. We keep hearing these stories about people thrown in jail for long sentences who turn out to be innocent. We hear about nonviolent offenders who somehow end up in jail for decades. The whole system needs to be overhauled and reexamined. Why does the United States have more people incarcerated than the whole rest of the world combined?

Fortunately, I was not a hip cat back in 1973.

”A jazz musician I knew had served ten years for possessing a speck of marijuana so small that it had to be placed in a jar of clear oil and floated so the jury could see it.”

Seriously?

We create career criminals out of people who have struggled to find and keep gainful employment. We make criminals out of people suffering from addictions. We need to intercede in young men and women’s lives when they first start to get in trouble. We need to deviate their path, instead of becoming resigned to thinking that they are already lifetime members of the system.

It’s WAY too late for Max.

Max is going to take down a big score and ride the wave for as long as he can. He knows he will be gunned down or caught and thrown back into the hole his life has been in for most of his life. He doesn’t care. He doesn’t see any other alternative. Before he goes down though, he is going to tell you his story.

”So I began this memoir, which became grinding labor, especially when it fell short of absolute truth. The lack is not through deceit, but because truth is difficult. Fools think truth is a simple thing, but I”ve found that it is hard. The facts I’ve written are real, but facts and truth are cousins, not brothers. I’ve imposed a rationality rather than exposed truth.”

Edward Bunker wrote this book as a novel, but it feels more like the genuine confessions of a career criminal.

For those struggling novelists who need a glimmer of hope, this is the sixth novel that Bunker has finished, but the first to be published. The style of this book, written in the first person, is as sharp as curled barbed wire and so compellingly authentic that I feel like I was caught up in a moment by moment docudrama of the life of an active criminal. Bunker makes sure every punch he throws hits the reader in the jaw or in the stomach, making his breath whistle out through his gritted teeth. You will wince. You will cringe. You will shudder. Bunker KNOWS what he is writing about; he spent a good part of his life in jail. He suffered through several bullshit convictions that put him behind bars for way longer than what sanity would dictate. The punishment should fit the crime! The anger that the fictional Max Dembo feels and expresses is mainlined right out of the veins of the writer.


Edward Bunker as Mr. Blue.

I was reminded that I needed to read Edward Bunker’s work when I rewatched Reservoir Dogs. I actually smiled with secret joy when I saw Bunker cast as Mr. Blue. Quentin Tarantino was a big fan of his novels and his screenplays, so it was a true Tarantino homage to have a real criminal/writer cast in his famous heist film.

”Edward Bunker was dealt a rotten hand at the beginning of his life, and his days thereafter were largely those of a victim in society’s brutalizing institutions. That he emerged from these dungeons not a brute but an artist with a unique and compelling voice is a tribute to his own invincible will, besides being a sweet victory by the artist himself over society and its contempt for the outcast.”---William Styron

To prepare yourself for reading this novel, you need to practice saying MOTHERfucker and motherFUCKER. ”The all-purpose word is ‘motherfucker’, serving as noun, verb, adverb, and adjective--it’s meaning depending on context and intonation. Remove this word from the convict vocabulary and prisons would fall silent.”

What are you looking at motherfucker? Go buy this frilling book!

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Hopper

Rolf Günter Renner
Taschen Books
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

Edward Hopper (1882-1967) is considered the first significant American painter in 20th-century art. After decades of patient work, Hopper enjoyed a success and popularity that since the 1950s has continually grown. In canvas after canvas he painted the loneliness of big-city people. Many of Hopper's pictures represent views of streets and roads, rooftops, and abandoned houses, depicted in a brilliant light that strangely belies the melancholy mood of the scenes. Hopper's paintings are marked by striking juxtapositions of colour, and by the clear contours with which the figures are demarcated from their surroundings. His extremely precise focus on the theme of modern men and women in the natural and man-made environment sometimes lends his pictures a mood of eerie disquiet. On the other hand, Hopper's renderings of rocky landscapes in warm brown hues, or his depictions of the seacoast, exude an unusual tranquillity that reveals another, more optimistic side of his character.

My Review

“His framing crops in ways that stimulate and frustrate attention, sometimes suggesting movement and change while fixing the subject so firmly that his best works appear like freezed frames from a lifelong movie. Hopper’s viewpoints, framing, and lighting frequently appropriate movie and theater conventions.”― Brian O'Doherty

I was thrilled to be taking an Art History class at the same time there was an Edward Hopper exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. The museum was extremely crowded that day and I was with my classmates and instructor on a field trip that was not focused on any one artist, so it was difficult for me to truly contemplate his work. Unfortunately, the exhibit was over the same by the time I was able to make a solitary trip there.

So I was happy to find this book at the library to revisit the works I saw in Boston and discover his lesser known paintings and etchings.

I love the vivid and unsentimental portrayals of American urban and rural life, the serious and melancholy mood of his characters, and their environment.

“Maybe I am not very human. What I wanted to do was to paint sunlight on the side of a house.”
– Edward Hopper

Renner thoughtfully analyzed the artist’s style, techniques and influences. At the end is a brief biography of the artist.

I wish the book was a little larger, so I could fully appreciate Hopper’s magnificent works, but I also liked the smaller size that made it easy to carry around and snatch reading time throughout the day.

A Flight of Broken Wings

A Flight of Broken Wings by Nupur Chowdhury
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Angel like Aeriels ruled earth until humanity revolted against them. Hundreds of years later Aeriels still present a threat to humanity. When a new Aeriel threat is revealed by a foreign dignitary, hunter Ruban Kinoh will do anything to end the threat.

A Flight of Broken Wings was truly an enjoyable story. It started slowly and I did wonder what I was getting myself into, but I came to like Ruban, Ashwin, and the world building.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the Aeriels themselves. Aeriels are immortal creatures that physically resemble angels. They also pack an extra punch as they can blast energy. They are far more physically power than humans and with the ability of flight it's amazing humanity ever overthrew them. They are only vulnerable to a substance known as sif which humanity formed into blades called sifblades. The story revolves around the fact that the ancient Queen of the Aeriels wants to steal a new formula to reinforce sifblades.

I appreciate an author who can poke fun at her character. "How was it that he never had more than one sifblade on him whenever he was being attacked by some of the most powerful Aeriels in creation? What use was a whole arsenal full of top-of-the-line ammunition when all he ever actually had to work with was an old standard-issue sifblade..." I've repeatedly wondered why Ruban isn't armed to teeth with sifblades especially since he throws his sifblade in seemingly every fight.

I was a little disappointed in the mystery aspect of the story. I figured out the biggest mystery in the story the first moment it was introduced. There was just a significant lack of potential suspects so the guilty party felt obvious to me.

A Flight of Broken Wings was a good story and a pleasant surprise.

3.5 out of 5 stars

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

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GILGAMESH BY JOHN GARDNER AND JOHN MAIER

Gilgamesh by Anonymous
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”The one who saw the abyss I will make the land know;
Of him who knew all, let me tell the whole story
...in the same way...

Is there a king like him anywhere?
Who like Gilgamesh can boast, ‘I am the king!’

From the day of his birth Gilgamesh was called by name.”



An exorcist priest named Sin-Leqi-Unninni is famous for being the scribe who recorded the best preserved version of the Epic of Gilgamesh. He lived in Mesopotamia between 1300-11oo BC. His name translates roughly as The Moon God is One Who Accepts my Prayers. The poem is thought to have existed as much as a 1000 years before Sin-Leqi-Unninni transcribed this version, which would make this story over 4000 years old.

It is remarkable that we have these clay tablets at all. We have pieces of the story in other forms, and any translator who takes on the task of looking with fresh eyes at these cuneiform shapes relies heavily on the other scattered pieces to fill in the gaps of the missing sections of clay or the parts that have been rubbed into obscurity.



Here is an example of what is readable out of the severely damaged tablet V column VI:

”...
...road…
...a second time…
...threw down…
...Enkidu
They cut off the head of Humbaba.”

It makes me think of when I was a kid watching a show, and the TV signal would start going on the fritz. The picture would start flipping and turning to static (probably a passing low flying UFO). I would be banging on the set (because that always helps) and frantically wiggling the ears until the rabbit is squawking. I’d get pieces of sound with distorted dialogue. Finally, the signal would be reacquired just in time for me to hear,

“That was amazing, Magnum.”

Fortunately, John Gardner and John Maier were able to resurrect the missing pieces from other sources, and they share that with us so we can see what we probably missed. It would have been wonderful to read how Sin-Leqi-Unninni would have interpreted that particular dynamic scene of Gilgamesh and Enkidu subduing Humbaba. One can only hope that more Gilgamesh pieces are still out there to be discovered and maybe, even possibly, another copy of this particular translation.

When I think of Gilgamesh, I also think of Beowulf. Both are epic, larger than life heroes whom I frequently, in my youth, mixed up. It wasn’t until I was at college, taking literature courses, that I managed to pry the two apart into two separate beings.

Gilgamesh VS Beowulf

Who would win? Well, Gilgamesh is two thirds celestial being and only one third human. When Enkidu is created as a counter balance to him by the Gods, it really isn’t a contest. Despite Enkidu being a powerful and great warrior, he is no match for Gilgamesh, so I’d have to say my head proclaims Gilgamesh would win against Beowulf, but my heart is always going to be with Beowulf.

Enkidu is raised by wolves, well basically the whole wildlife kingdom, and when it is time for him to give Gilgamesh his comeuppance, they decide the best way to bring Enkidu into the arms of civilization is to tempt him with the charms of a woman.

Here he is, courtesan; get ready to embrace him.
Open your legs, show him your beauty.
Do not hold back, take his wind away.
Seeing you, he will come near.
Strip off your clothes so he can mount you.
Make him know, this-man-as-he-was, what a woman is.
His beasts who grew up in his wilderness will turn from him.
He will press his body over your wildness.”

And man, did it ever work. It is like mainlining the poor bastard with some pure China White. He is hooked. ”Six days and seven nights Enkidu attacked, fucked the priestess.” Though this might resemble a honeymoon, never leave the hotel type situation, I doubt it was quite the same.

Enkido and Gilgamesh, after their property destroying epic battle, became best friends. Inseparable until death parts them. They kill the Bull of Heaven after the beast is sent for by the scorned goddess Ishtar.

You see, Gilgamesh turns her down.

”Which of your lovers have you loved forever?
Which of your little shepherds has continued to please you?
Come, let me name your lovers for you,”

which is actually very astute of Gilgamesh, who is really better known as a love them and leave them type. There is, in fact, a lot of grumbling about his Middle Ages type insistence that he has firsties with any new bride in the kingdom. I guess the rat bastard aristocracy of the Medieval period had read a copy of Gilgamesh, or maybe we can assume that men with absolute power have always been the same.


Enkidu and Gilgamesh

There must be a price paid for killing the Bull of Heaven, and the Gods are not going to strike down their golden boy, Gilgamesh, so that leaves his best friend, Enkido, to be the fall guy. When you are on an away mission with Gilgamesh, you always wear the red shirt.

The grief that Gilgamesh feels is actually poignant.

”Six days and seven nights I wept over him.
until a worm fell out of his nose.
Then I was afraid.”

I really think that maybe Gilgamesh hopes the gods will take pity on him and listen to his lamentations and restore life to Enkidu, but my rule has always been, when a worm falls out of a loved one’s nose, it is time to bury him or run like hell because Uncle Ted has just joined the Walking Dead.

Gilgamesh travels to the underworld looking for his friend. I love this line: ”His face was like that of one who travels a long road.” I can see his mental and physical pain etched into the lines of his face.

There is a long digression in the story while Sin-Leqi-Unninni relates THE FLOOD story, starring Utnapishtim as Noah. The rest of the starring characters, that would be us sinners, are drowned. We are merely bobbing nuisances in the water, as a backdrop to Utnapishtim’s celebratory high 5s with the giraffes, gorillas, and gazelles.

Though nonsensical for Sin-Leqi-Unninni to shove Gilgamesh off center stage, it is actually very interesting to read.

”When he orders bread at night, he (Shamash) will rain down wheat,
enter the boat and close the gate.”

My family raises a lot of wheat, so the whole image of raining down wheat to feed Utnapishtim and his family is something I have never heard of in connection with the Noah version, but I really like the visual of wheat cascading from heaven to fill up the deck of the boat.

On his journey, Gilgamesh finds a weed that will restore his vigor and youthfulness. He wants to take it back to Uruk and share it with others. I’m already thinking to myself, gobble it down man, save some for others, but gobble yours now.

Well, then a snake shows up, and …

This is a blast to read. The notes that Gardner and Maier provide are invaluable to help me better understand the story, so don’t just read Gilgamesh, allow yourself to be immersed in the whole experience. I would read the text from the tablet and then read the notes to find some, not so subtle, changes occurring to my own interpretation of the meaning. Use these experts to heighten not only your knowledge but also your overall enjoyment of reading one of the oldest known stories in existence.


John Gardner

I keep pondering the unexpected death of John Gardner in 1982. He died in a tragic motorcycle accident at the tender age of 49, before this book was published. I couldn’t help thinking of him because the notes are infused with his charismatic personality and his boyish enthusiasm. He had been drinking but was below the legal limit at the time. John Maier feels that he was overworked from too many projects and too little sleep. I first encountered Gardner when I read his wonderful, slender volume Grendel (1971), which I really need to reread so I can write a review for it. I didn’t know that he was already dead at the time that I read Grendel, but when I did find it out later, I felt that temporary displacement of learning bad news as if it had just happened. RIP John Gardner. May you be able to complete your tasks in the next life.

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Black Leopard, Red Wolf (The Dark Star Trilogy, #1) By: Marlon James

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a hard read, probably the first epic fantasy in my knowledge that treats epic as everyday. Marlon James has written a beautiful, raw, physical book that to take another reviews words doesn't really care if you understand it or not. You will want to understand, you will want to gnaw the meat from the bone. The layers upon layers built in this world with language, storytelling and the mysticism of the world will draw you in.

This book will make you work for it, and if you cut through it all, you will be glad you did.

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Jim Hines space opera "Terminal Uprising" keeps the action fun and humerous

In “Terminal Alliance”https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N0232CC/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1, Jim Hines sensational space opera, a motley crew of bio-engineered janitors is forced to step up and save the universe. After a bio-weapon decimates the alien Krakau command crew on the space cruiser EMCS Pufferfish, Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos, the senior, and very smart, janitor, and her small crew of cleanup specialists thwarts the savage alien Prodryan’s plan for universal conquest, while learning the truth about what caused humanity's descent into feral cannibalistic behavior on Earth (hint it was not because of something humans did, there was an outside agency involved) and simultaneously having to figure out how to pilot and defend the ship in space battles. While Hines milks the entire janitor motif to the hilt, he combines a sharp wit and sly humor as he skewers a lot of sf tropes in this super fun read.   We need more books like Terminal Alliance in science fiction.

“Terminal Uprising”, Hines humorous follow-up to the terrific “Terminal Alliance” continues Mops and her crew’s adventures. Now free from Krakuan dominance, Mops and her crew are piloting their stolen space cruiser, the Pufferfish, but running into issues with supplies.  Admiral Pachelbel, a Krakuan, who wants to do the right thing has provided information to Mops, which requires them to  pick up Cate, a Prodryan lawyer, with all the nasty lawyer tricks, with a secret agenda (and everyone has a secret agenda).  Pachelbel wants Mops to go back to Earth, which is guarded by the Krakua space force, because there have been sightings on Earth of non-feral humans. During her trip to get Cate, Mops slyly defeats an Krakua armada trying to capture her ship with another awesome display of alien anatomy and janitorial knowledge.

 Continuing their journey to Earth, Mops continues her talent for milking all of the alien races fear of human warrior talents.  One of the story elements of Terminal Alliance is that the Krakuan's bio-engineered most humans into ferocious unstoppable space warriors, who they have been using to dominate the universe.  While they breach the Krakuan space barrier surrounding on Earth, Mops, Cate, Monroe and Wolf, one of her crewmates, and a woman who really wants to be a warrior, if she only could shoot straight, get to the surface, but lose their shuttle, while the rest of the crew hide in space.

On Earth, Mops and her cohort find the non-feral survivors living in fortified underground towns.  Its not that people have found a cure.  Some people were just immune from the bio- weapon that decimated Earth's populous.  But Mops and her crew and the earthlings come under attack from Krakuan forces illegally on Earth.  It seems like there is another secret plot afoot to keep the Krakuans in power.  Since Mops crew defeated the Procydans, the Krakuans think they need help to stop the surging Procydans from destroying the universe.  In the ensuing confrontation, the human survivors of Earth and Mops ragtag group of janitors will have to use all of their wits and strategically placed cleaning supplies to defeat the Krakuan traitors.There are some very good scenes here.  Confrontations between Mops and the evil Krakuans and between Wolf and the earthlings.  Wolf does a lot of growing up.


Besides Hines' witty prose and humor, what made Terminal Alliance such a fun read was three things - the juxtaposition of Mops lowly janitor position with the saving the universe plot, the likability of the characters and a fast moving adventure story set in different alien locations. In Terminal Uprising, Hines shifts the setting to Earth, and away from space battles, and the action involves a whole new group of characters. There is less journeying around the universe meeting new aliens and more stationary settings. I think this detracted a bit from the freshness of the first book.  Maybe it’s just hard to still milk the same jokes as is the first novel. But I think it’s also hard to strike lightning in a bottle. This is a really good novel, a fun read that will keep you fully engaged, and for a second book in a trilogy it more than holds its own against other books out there. Its just not as fun a read as Terminal Alliance.

But it’s definitely worth a read. I would follow Mops anywhere.

In the crowded field of fantasy, paranormal superheroes and fantasy mystery mashups, it’s good to pick up a fun witty sf space opera novel filled with likable characters and humorous situations. Snap up the pair.

Nick Petrie's "Tear it Down" is a A + thriller

Nick Petrie's fourth Peter Ash novel "Tear it Down" cements his "go to" status for that certain type of strong warrior action adventure thrillers—that is the a good guy fighting against the bad guys. His novels are non-stop action. Occupying some of the same territory as the oft compared, but little duplicated "Jack Reacher" novels, Peter Ash uses his unique skill set and friends to help people who are facing troubles and to right wrongs. There is an innate moral code underlying these novels.
Good people beating back bad. And in Peter Ash, Petrie is not afraid to break laws so that the "right" people – that is good people- win out against murderous thugs, racist killers or gangs who are threatening them. And in “Tear it Down”, the multi-racial setting is an ideal location because Petrie gets to show another part of our multi cultural country to good effect.

If you are new to the Peter Ash canon, he is an ex-soldier who returned from war overseas with some unique warrior skill set and a problem with enclosed places. When he spends too much time in buildings, the “White Noise” builds up and causes him problems. But he can also harness the White Noise to reveal the skills of a warrior. Hyper fit and blessed with some great fighting techniques, Ash likes to build and repair buildings and people's lives. Currently living with his girlfriend June Cassidy, he has gotten his bruised and battered body back in shape from his last escapade, and has rebuilt all of Cassidy's homestead. She easily recognizes that he needs a new cause. She sends him to multi-racial Memphis to help her friend Wanda, a black combat photographer, who has been getting threatening calls.

When Ash gets to Wanda's house, he finds that someone has escalated the threats and driven a stolen dump truck into her living room. But Wanda has escaped harm and is not ready to leave. Ash tells her he will help fix up her place and also help protect her from the outside threats. Wanda is also suffering some unknown war related problem and is consuming multiple drugs to combat it.

While gathering supplies, Ash is waylaid in his truck at a gas station by a Eli Bell, a guitar playing teenager. It seems the Bell, who has a talent for music and planning, was involved in a 4 person jewelry store robbery at a local mall that went south, and while he escaped with the loot, others were not so lucky. Although Ash could stop him, he feels for Bell and lets him take his truck, but regrets it immediately. On the way back from the hijacking, Ash is grabbed up by King Robbie, Memphis’s reining drug kingpin, who puts Ash in his fortified Mercedes and questions him about Bell. With King are Charlene Scott, King’s shooter and Adrien Brody, his man mountain muscle.

On the way back to Wanda’s, Ash sees some murderous thugs using a machine gun to shoot up her house. With nary a delay, he grabs a forcibly grabs a gun from Charlene, and runs out to stop the thugs. The thugs are Judah Lee, a white supremacist killer who just got out of jail and his hog killing brother Albert. The brothers are hell bent on getting the house from Wanda because there is an old family story of buried loot in the house.

The stage now set, the action picks up even more. There a confrontation with another drug dealer which ends with Ash with a gun. Ash almost catches Eli Bell. King Robbie is not done with Ash and Judah Lee, is a crazed homicidal killer. Ash has to call for reinforcements, and his friend, Lewis, comes south. Lewis is handy with a shotgun and is game for business. Locked and loaded, Ash and Lewis will have to protect Eli Bell and Wanda and put a stop to the killing.

There will be a confrontation with King Robbie’s crew who Lewis and Ash brace in their hideout and a highway battle with Albert and Judah Lee which culminates in a hand to hand battle.

It’s a tough world, but a good man and his friends can make all the difference.

The Other Man: 21 Writers Speak Candidly about Sex, Love, Infidelity, & Moving On

Edited by Paul Alan Fahey
JMS Books LLC
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Who is the other man?

He’s an accident waiting to happen: the skateboarder round the bend, the smiling barista with the extra hot mocha, the computer geek eager to retool your mate’s hard drive. He’s a relationship gatecrasher bound by no rules and with no sense of fair play. Like Caesar, he comes, he sees, he conquers. On the flip side, you or I can be the other man, charging in and breaking the bonds of a committed relationship without a thought to the pain and misery inflicted upon the injured parties. Face it: We’re not all innocent bystanders in other-man scenarios.

The Other Man is an artistic collaboration by and about gay men and their relationships. If you’ve ever been the other man, had him invade your life, or are just plain curious about this beguiling, unpredictable and dangerous creature, then this anthology of personal essays is for you. Twenty-one of our most acclaimed authors, many Lambda Award winners and finalists, write candidly about either being the other man, suffering the other man or having their relationships tested by infidelity. What they tell us is we must take heart, it does get better and one day our luck is bound to change. We’ll survive the bumps and detours in our relationships and weather the storms, or resolve to move on. Along the way, we’ll hope to meet someone new and simpatico, maybe even our long-awaited soul mate. Life will be good again. Or will it?

Contributors include: Perry Brass, Austin Bunn, Rob Byrnes, Mark Canavera, R.W. Clinger, Lewis DeSimone, Paul Alan Fahey, Wes Hartley, William Henderson, Allen Mack, Jeff Mann, Tom Mendicino, Erik Orrantia, Felice Picano, David Pratt, Glen Retief, Jeffrey Ricker, Rodney Ross, Jason Schneiderman, Philip Dean Walker, and Chuck Willman. Edited by: Paul Alan Fahey.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this anthology will go to the It Gets Better Project.

My Review

I was ecstatic to get the opportunity to read this collection of stories, especially since Rodney Ross, author of The Cool Part of His Pillow, is one of the contributors, and I really loved his first book.

Each of the stories in this collection is deeply personal and candid and offers different perspectives on infidelity. Human emotions are very complex and relationships are hard work, requiring commitment from both partners. Life is full of unexpected changes and I really enjoyed reading these struggles to adapt and grow in spite of relationship difficulties.

Even though this collection focuses on gay relationships, there is something in here for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

Jeffrey Ricker explores online dating after he had his heart broken in What If?. The relationships with men looking for something on the side were fun, but he wants more.

In The Rival With a Thousand Faces, Glen Retief is living with the love of his life in Spain, but learns that living with a deeply closeted man who is away from home a lot and has secrets of his own can be as difficult as coping with the difficulties of living in a foreign country. I loved the literature references and need to read Graham Greene.

Stung and humiliated by his last cheating boyfriend, Jason Schneiderman now plays hard to get in The Hat Prize. He learns his new date, Michael, has a boyfriend, but they enjoy each other’s company. Since Jason didn’t have to worry about falling in love, his relationship with Michael proceeded naturally without having to deal with all the pressure and awkwardness of a first date. Very sweet story.

In Husbands, Austin Bunn left his boyfriend when their education and careers took them separate ways. He discusses his affairs with married men, the advantages and disadvantages, at the same time exploring their motives and discovering more about his inner self and his own needs.

R.W. Clinger's In the Brokenness of Summertime explores the effects of infidelity on a long-married couple. The anger, hurt and guilt pouring from the pages was just heartbreaking. This is an intense and unsettling story, but the ending made me giggle.

In Any Resemblance to Actual Persons, Living or Dead, Is Entirely Coincidental, Tom Mendicino describes his own experience with Hal, a married man looking for discreet sex with men on the side and how he was the inspiration for a character in his first novel.

Mark Canavera learns that his lover, Ousmane, is having a virtual relationship in Complicity. He remembers his own affair that occurred just a few months before and even though Mark’s transgression was worse, the impact is the same. Will they be able to forgive each other? I liked the glimpse of life and troubles in West Africa.

In Turbulence, Chuck Willman shows how lies and deception impact everyone involved.

Some people think that it’s perfectly acceptable to “fuck around” during periods of extended absence. Of course, for such relationships to work there has to be openness, honesty and a set of ground rules. Allen Mack’s Just Wally and Me was a lighthearted, warm and funny story that made me smile.

Rob believes he’s an actor, even though he hasn’t worked in many years. Infidelity can break hearts…so can unfulfilled dreams. David Pratt’s Way Off explores the challenges of professional acting and a relationship in turmoil. This was a very sad story.

Morris Hartman is a lawyer…and a huge fan of author Perry Brass. He’s also straight, married and in the process of coming out. Perry is intrigued by this man, even though he has had disappointing experiences with fans in the past. They meet and have an affair. It’s not so simple. A Pitiless Love uncovers the emotional pain that can be suffered by the one who cheats.

Paul Alan Fahey’s Where Are You Going To? shows how the music you listen to can define special moments in your life.

I loved Jeff Mann’s Thomas. This is a really sad and lovely story that explores a man’s overwhelming pain and emotions from loving someone who doesn’t love him back. Time does not always heal wounds.

In Erik Orrantia’s Ballad Echoes, Erik feels responsible for taking care of his HIV+ lover even though their love has died. He falls for another man who is not so perfect either, but he manages to learn from his mistakes and move on. Relationships can never be perfect, because people are not. I hope Erik is happy.

In Philip Dean Walker’s The Other Side of the Game, Phil has had his eyes on a buff dude at the gym for over two years. He has a vibrant online life and a boyfriend, but that doesn’t stop Phil from making a date with him. The two men have an affair while Drew’s boyfriend is studying abroad. The boyfriend returns, but Phil is unable to let go.

In the sexy Three’s A Charm, Wes Hartley talks about how he met his 16-year-old boyfriend, Riley, while he was in a relationship with the boy’s uncle, Ronny. Riley is not out yet, and is looking for a sexual mentor. This consists of no more than friendly head and sleepovers. Once Riley gains his confidence and skill, he comes out to his uncle and meets Tanner, a hot number close to his own age. The sleepovers continue…

Lewis DeSimone conveys the intense passion and overwhelming emotions of first love in Last Tango in Cambridge. This is a beautiful and heartfelt story.

William Henderson’s You Without Me is a very intriguing story told in the second-person point of view about an unhappily married man who does not reveal this fact to his new lover. His lover slips back into old ways. I liked the intimate feel of this story.

Rodney Ross and his partner have been together 30 years. In And Then There Was One, he tells amusing tales about the couples they know whose relationships failed. Wisely, they have chosen not to take sides.

Felice Picano’s The Child, is not about a child at all, but about a man who was the author’s partner’s “other man.” In the 70’s, gay relationships were open until HIV began to change things. This story deals with illness, death, grief and the messiness associated with it.

In A Brief History of the Divorce Party, the party was originally a holiday party until Rob Byrnes’ partner announced he was in love with someone else. It doesn’t have to end up badly. Time passes and life changes. Couples who have had history together can still be good friends and learn from their mistakes.

I enjoyed every single one of these personal stories and loved how they explored the complexities of relationships with humor, warmth and sensitivity.