Thursday Update

Isn't it Friday yet? Sigh. What a long week. Someone asked me when the next holiday for us was today and I said "May 24". She's like "Seriously? That long? Really?" Ummm. Yeah, sorry. A month. Ugh. Oh well, spring has arrived back in Canada and I have to say it looks really beautiful out, as I am in. *shrug* I haven't been reading all that much, a few things here and there but here's the last couple.

Jude in Chains by KZ Snow (125 pages)

Misha has decided to go undercover at one of the gay reprogramming camps to do a magazine article. When he arrives he runs into Jude with whom he’d had a close encounter a couple of years ago. He’s determined that Jude won’t get sucked into the program and lose himself. It’s an exposé of his time at the centre, the kind of things they do and a few of the people he meets. It’s also him spending a fair bit of time with Jude both getting to know him and trying to convince him that being gay is not a horrible thing. Okay, people who know me are aware that I have serious issues with religious intolerance in my books (a couple of DNF in there) and I was worried about this. I luvs me some KZ Snow, but I know that not all themes are for all people. Now comes the big BUT, whew, I really enjoyed this and while the owners/leaders of this retreat are intolerant, they aren’t as bad as some stories I’ve heard *shudder* and it’s not page after page of spewed hatred. I smiled often, there are some genuinely humerous moments and I felt a bit sad sometimes too for the men who so desperately wanted to be "normal". Misha’s statement to Jude "I just wish you loved who you are as much as I do." pretty much says it all. If only everyone could feel that kind of self-acceptance the world would be a kinder place. So for others like me who are thinking "Ewwww religious fundies, run, run fast!" the focus is not so much on that but on inner acceptance and exploration. I’m glad I took a chance.

Man Down by Stephani Hecht (76 pages)

Jessie is a young twinky paramedic student who meets Randal, an older more experienced paramedic who has just started working for their city again. Randal is immediately attracted (as is Jessie) but Jessie is so not his type. Randal likes em bigger and bulkier and more fly by night. Jessie is an incorrigible flirt though and is up for a good time with no strings, he’s focused on getting his life on track and it’s obvious something bad happened to him in the past but he won’t discuss it with Randal. During a training session Jessie freaks and finally has to tell Randal about his past and he’s sure that Randal will reject him once he knows. This has a bit of the characters from Running Hot which was nice to see and there is a fair bit of humour (I really like Matt, too bad he’s straight. GFY Stephani?). It’s a nice story of an older guy/younger guy getting over a bad past.

BDSFerret by Celia Kyle (16 pages)

Okay, Chris found this and I got so intrigued I had to read it. It's billed as comedy/parody and it has a pretty cute cover for Changeling Press. Mika is a were-ferret who decides on Christmas Eve he needs to get laid and he needs someone dominant to do it. Even though he lives in a town of prairie dogs and he's a ferret, which is a predator, he's much more of a sub. So he goes to the local gay bar where he hooks up with very dominant prairie dog and bar owner Owen. It's just the one night covered in the book. Was it comedy/parody? Well there were some cute moments, I liked Mika, he's kind of your usual flighty nervous sub type and yes, were-ferrets and were-prairie dogs are kind of funny. It's not rolling on the floor funny but it's cute and all in all an okay read for something different. However $3 for 16 pages ain't cheap, luckily I had a credit sitting at Changeling so it didn't really hurt that much.