Hammer and Air by Amy Lane

Hammer and Air
by Amy Lane
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 194
Characters: Hammer (Graeme), Air (Eirn)
POV: 1st person
Setting: An Enchanted Forest
Genre: Erotic Fairy Tale/Fantasy
Cover Rating: 4

4.5 KISSES

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Blurb:

Graeme and Eirn have no words for what they are to each other. Children clinging together in a crowded orphanage; friends battling back to back in a school yard; and bedmates finally bridging the gap between sleeping next to a body and allowing it to touch you in the night—all of these roles are summed up by just their names: Hammer and Air.

The innocent exploration of their newest roles is brutally marred when a violent, ill-tempered master threatens Eirn, and Eirn’s “Hammer” kills the man in a fair fight. The two run off into the wide world with only each other for safety. It’s difficult to forge a good life with only a blacksmith’s hammer and a printer’s cleverness, but together, Hammer and Eirn will learn to negotiate the dangers of magic and motion, of sex, obsession, and tenderness, and of the word that can make sense of it all—one word they must earn for themselves

Review:

Graeme and Eirn have been bedmates at their orphanage for twelve years—nearly all of their lives spent sleeping next to each other, yet never bridging the small gap of personal space afforded them in their narrow bed. It is, Eirn says, a skill perfected to grant Graeme the “dignity of those inches.”

Graeme has long been Eirn’s Hammer: his protector, his strength, the one steady presence in his life. Their relationship is one that has ever gone undefined, as neither boy possesses the ability to put his feelings into words. As orphans they don’t belong to anyone, save for to each other; the language that defines how they feel and who they are is not a part of their lexicon; they are alone but together against the dangers of the world. It is as they come of age and begin to explore the boundaries of their bond that evil destroys what little security they can claim, sending them out into the world in search of a place to call their own.

After Eirn is threatened by his new master at the print shop where he apprentices, his Hammer defends his honor, killing the man who would dare to touch what Hammer has claimed as “Mine”. It begins the journey that will transform the boys to men, the paupers to princes. An enchanted cabin in an enchanted forest becomes the sanctuary where dreams are dreamt, where needs and desires are fulfilled, where an enchanted creature learns that simply because he covets does not mean he is entitled and puts to the test the strength of faith and of an unnamed bond. The creature will ultimately help Hammer and Eirn to discover the single word that encompasses what it means to willingly sacrifice life, body, soul, and dreams all for the happiness of another. They will eventually discover a single word that is its own enchantment, filled with infinite possibilities.

Hammer and Air is an erotic fantasy: part coming-of-age story, part fairy tale romance. Vengeance sets the boys over the threshold toward the unknown; magic guides and sustains them, and true love reveals its mysterious power, proving it has the strength to overcome all. The tale’s descriptive and expressive language is romantic and sensual; it draws the reader into a realm where desires are limited only by one’s ability to imagine. It is a passionate, poignant, and mythical world where happy-ever-after thrives.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Life In Fusion by Ethan Day

Life in Fusion
by Ethan Day
Publisher: MLR Press
Characters: Boone Daniels, Wade Walker
POV: 1st person
Setting: Summit City, CO. and Albuquerque, NM
Genre: Contemporary Romantic Comedy

4.5 KISSES

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Blurb:

Aspiring author, Boone Daniels, always figured love would be as easy as he was. Fresh off the whirlwind winter-vacation romance with ski-god and would-be boyfriend, Wade Walker — Boone was certain that saying goodbye would be the hardest part.

He’d survived the unconventional way in which they came together, proven himself somewhat worthy to Wade’s hometown of Summit City, and felt certain the self-imposed, six month boy-buffer would prove one thing – their fate was to be forever entwined.

Once real life settles in, Boone suffers the realization that no one ever actually said love was easy and that even after you fall, you can still break. As their two worlds collide, he begins to understand that if he can navigate the landscape of life in fusion, he just might get that happily-ever-after — after all.

Review:

In Sno Ho, Boone Daniels quickly discovered he was going to have to contend with the bulk of the population of Summit City, CO. if he was going to have a relationship with local Olympic skiing hero Wade Walker. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it apparently also takes a city to engineer a love affair, as nearly everyone in the tiny ski town seems to consider Wade’s business as their own.

Life in Fusion picks up where that story left off, with Boone attempting to make his way back to Albuquerque and his self-imposed exile (getting hilariously sidetracked along the way), with the hope that he can decipher exactly what his week with Wade meant—was it merely a case of vacation lust, or could it possibly evolve into something more? When you’re Boone Daniels, one never knows, but one thing is certain: the journey of discovery is going to be a wild and wickedly comical one.

It staggers the imagination, the assembly of characters who reside within the confines of Ethan Day’s imagination, only to be trotted out, page by page, to become someone with whom, were they real, I would love to spend time—with the probable exception of Sandy, the crazy bird lady. Oh, and Phillip, the dastardly ex-boyfriend. But everyone else is fair game, especially Jackie, Wade’s put-upon sister, who I share a complete affinity with. She is, quite possibly, one of my favorite of Ethan’s many and varied characters and would win the “If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Avoid ‘Em” award for mother of the year; although Dixie Daniels makes it a tight race with her “Oh No She Di-in’t!” entry. It is a talent that, with nothing more than a sentence or two, Ethan is able to reveal who his characters are and enables the reader to imagine precisely what makes them tick, perhaps because a few of them are people we’ve known at some point in our lives, and that is what makes them so endearing.

As Boone navigates his way through the maze of interlopers in his romance with Wade—from Gabe, his less than supportive best friend, to his aggressively supportive parents, to a town that is way over-invested in the outcome of their affair—he learns a few things about himself, about leaps of faith and about love itself. Perhaps the timing of love doesn’t always make sense, but it almost always leaves you senseless.

Reviewed By: Lisa

>Clare London Interview

>

Clare London

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Clare. We are very excited and can’t wait to learn more about you. Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
Hi and many thanks for welcoming me here. I’ve been writing m/m romance and adventure fiction for many years, but I’m also in full-time work, with a husband and two lively almost-grown up sons to look after.

What was your first book and how long did it take to get it published?
I’d tried getting an agent for a historical romance novel I wrote back in 2000, but didn’t have any luck. Then in 2004 I joined the NaNoWriMo challenge and wrote a fantasy m/m book called The Gold Warrior. Over the next couple of years, on and off, I honed it to something I was proud of. Then in 2008, I nervously contacted an author friend who’d just been accepted at Dreamspinner Press, to ask her what the new e-presses were like. She encouraged me, I took about 3 weeks before I plucked up courage to press the ‘send’ button – but they came back to me within a couple of months, and I’d been accepted. What’s more, they wanted me to write the sequel as well! I’m very excited that it’s still in print and still selling well – in fact, in October it was re-launched as a single volume called “Branded”. And many, many thanks to the thoughtful and enthusiastic review your site gave it.

How many books have you written thus far?
Published, I have five novels, an anthology of shorts, four novellas and over twenty individual shorts. And a few more shorts in publisher anthologies. And in the yet-to-be-published category, I have…many more lurking LOL.

When did you start writing m/m romance fiction? What about this genre interested you the most?
I didn’t even know it existed until around 2000 when I started reading fanfiction and discovered there was a healthy world of m/m fiction. I loved the dynamics and excitement there could be in fiction between two men, rather than the more traditional male/female relationship. It didn’t take me long to realize I wanted to try writing it myself. And the rest, as they say…

Do you write full time?
No, I work full-time for a media company as an accountant. I also have those three menfolk to look after. And *then* I’m allowed the time to write!

Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer? Did you choose it or did the profession choose you?
It most definitely chose me. I’m sure a lot of authors say this, but I’ve been writing since I was at school and I love it. When ideas strike me, I want to write them myself, even more than reading someone else’s words, or watching a movie.

On a typical writing day, how would you spend your time?
If I have a whole day to myself, I make sure I have fresh coffee and a quiet room, and hopefully a large vase of flowers beside the laptop. Then I’ll immerse myself in the story or the characters and let things happen. If I only have a small amount of time, and although I find it difficult to start writing from a standing start, I’ll try to add a scene to an existing WIP, or edit something I’ve already written. Or just jot down some ideas of a scene for a future book, to motivate myself.

When it comes to plotting, do you write freely or plan everything in advance?
Hmm…I’ve always been a pantser – I’ve let my characters tell the story for me most of the time. But since I’ve had less time to write, I find it useful to spend more time planning in advance.

What kind of research do you do before and during a new book?
Many of my books are romance and character-led, and are often concentrated in just one or a couple of settings. I also mainly write contemporary. So a lot of my research comes from the existing knowledge and language I have in my head. But if one of my heroes has a particular job I don’t know much about, or there’s a scene in a place I don’t know so well myself, I’ll research it. And that happens all the way through writing the book.

How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? How do you approach development of your characters? Where do you draw the line?
I don’t put myself physically into the books – as I’m female! – and my nearest and dearest menfolk wouldn’t necessarily like to appear in a book either. But sometimes I draw on my attitude and beliefs and possibly even the way I talk. However, the characters are fictional, and also they have to be plausible and unique so I try to keep their scenes and dialogue true to the way *they* would act, not me. I often speak the dialogue aloud, to make sure there’s enough differentiation in the characters.

How long does it take for you to complete a book you would allow someone to read?
When I had some concentrated free time, I finished a 90k novel in four months. And to be honest, I work best under deadline pressure. But depending on how long and complex the book is, I’d rather have around 6 months.

If you weren’t sitting there right this very moment answering our book of questions, what else would you be doing?
Eating supper LOL. Or reading. Or snatching a quiet moment on my own in front of the TV!

Do you write straight through, or do you revise as you go along?
I revise all the time. Sometimes I have to boot myself quite hard to move forward, or I just keep going over the same sections again and again.

Writers often go on about writer’s block. Do you ever suffer from it, and what measures do you take to get past it?
LOL of course I do. In my case, it tends to be tiredness and burn-out that defeat me, as I still have ideas to write about – just not the energy! And we all suffer from lower self-esteem sometimes. I try to take a break if that happens, I like to read a lot to refresh my love of fiction. I also revisit any project I have that I’m really looking forward to working on again, even if it isn’t in my immediate schedule.

When someone reads one of your books for the first time, what do you hope they gain, feel, or experience?
I just want them to enjoy it! I’d love the reader to feel sympathy with the characters, to find them sexy and fascinating and fun – and maybe fall in love with them a little. And then, my greatest hope is that the story and the enjoyment stay in their mind for times to come.

Does the title of a book you’re writing come to you as you’re writing it, or does it come before you even begin the first sentence?
Oh no, it often follows on quite late. My book “Freeman” was named after a working title, because I kept meaning to find something more apt – and then couldn’t imagine it called anything different!

How would you describe your sense of humor? Who and what makes you laugh?
I like verbal wit, I like gentle but dry jokes, sometimes just silly things. I love comedians who can pick up on any impromptu conversation – especially about general, real life – and make a sympathetic joke. I love humour about books and movies that we all know, as well – like the 5-minute movie bunnies!

What is the most frequently asked Clare question?
How do you manage to juggle everything – work, family, writing? (don’t ask me to answer that, I don’t know and often don’t make it LOL).

What are you working on now?
I’m (hopefully) finishing a novel that charts a slow-burning romance between two guys working on an undercover police job. One is quietly contained, the other a lively wild card. They tease each other for a long time, taking each other to their favourite place for a date despite it apparently being the opposite of what the other would like – but gradually they find more agreement than conflict. And then, of course, the romance is barely started before it’s hijacked by sudden danger. Cruel of me, eh?

I’ve also just submitted a humorous short story about two very different young men who are pushed into flat-sitting each other’s home. One is obsessively tidy, the other’s a slob – you can see where the fun will start!

What was the best piece of advice you’ve received with respect to the art of writing? How did you implement it into your work?
Make the first chapter grab the reader’s attention. I can’t say I always manage it, but I made a conscious effort to put my best into the opening scene of “Blinded by Our Eyes”, when a murdered body is found in a pool of blood in my hero’s art gallery – and I’ve had feedback from readers telling me it’s a powerful opening.

What is a typical day like for you?
Work, work and work. I’m in the office by 8am, work until 6 then drive home through London traffic. Then I do my ‘Mum’ job and try to get meals and chores sorted (though I’m a rubbish cook, don’t think I’m some kind of apple-pie Mom LOL). Then maybe work on catching up with email or preparing promo or – god forbid, the final thing on the list! – writing.

When it comes to promotion, what lengths have you gone to in order to increase reader-awareness of your work?
I’m a Brit, we’re not marvellous at self-promotion you know LOL. However, I attended Yaoi Con in San Francisco this year (a large anime m/m convention) and helped out on the Dreamspinner Press table. I wore a T-shirt that one of my best friends told me I *had* to buy for the Con – it had a scene from London on it, with LONDON in huge black sequined letters across my chest! And she was right, it drew attention *blush*.

Writing is obviously not just how you make your living, but your life-style as well. What do you do to keep the creative “spark” alive – both in your work and out of it?
That’s a lovely way to describe it – it *is* a lifestyle, or at the very least, what I love to do with my leisure time. I think it’s important to keep my eyes and ears open, watching life and people around me, being open to new experiences, absorbing lots of inspiration for future work. And I read a lot, and watch TV and movies when I have time. It all keeps me alert and stimulated.

What kind of books do you like to read?
I read a lot of m/m but I love non-m/m crime and mystery too. I like humour and well-observed satire. I also like to mix up, with drama one day, then a YA book, then some erotic m/m. Keeps me interested.

When it comes to the covers of your books, what do you like or dislike about them?
I love the freedom that the e-publishing industry has in creating covers, though I think we can all still spot the skill in a really good one. The immediate effect is most important to me – the colour scheme, a unique and eye-catching design. I like torsos, I like a sexy, half-dressed man, and I have deep admiration for the cover artists who can also draw their covers and create original work. I *don’t* like the covers where it looks like two people from different worlds have been snipped out with scissors and stuck together to represent a couple LOL.

Aside from writing, what else do you enjoy doing?
I enjoy the cinema and theatre, and I collect Japanese anime art work. Doesn’t my life sound exciting?

Any special projects coming out soon we should watch for?
I’m excited about a paranormal erotic mystery novella coming out at Carina in Feb 2011 called “The Tourist”. It’s cheeky and sexy and I’d love to do more with the central character Ace, an uninhibited Victorian street boy turned … ghost!

Here’s the blurb and a lovely new cover:

“Visiting isn’t a science, at least not for me. It’s just what I do. Not that I mind, though. It’s not a bad thing, you understand, to find yourself in someone else’s body, stepping into a hot shower stark-naked and sporting a decent-sized morning wood.


Ace is a tourist. A spirit who spends his time visiting the lives of others for entertainment and sexual satisfaction. He can’t make anyone do anything they aren’t willing to do—but he is able to push them to their personal limits.


He’s currently visiting Dan and his lover, Ricky—a couple struggling with jealousy and words left unsaid. Emboldened by Ace, Dan becomes more sexually aggressive, a pleasant surprise for Ricky. But when an abusive ex threatens their newfound happiness, how far will Ace want to get involved? Will his fascination with the couple’s sexual games tempt him to protect them from a very real physical danger?”

New writers are always trying to glean advice from those with more experience. What suggestions do you have for new writers?
Just keep writing. Enjoy it and your characters, it’s ok to be in love with them LOL. Let the words flow any old how. But if you then want to share it with others or seek publication, I’d add a couple more hints. Practise re-reading your work as if you were new to the characters, or find yourself a sympathetic but helpful critique partner or reading group. Then based on that feedback, work on crafting the story into an equally rewarding experience for the reader as well.

Can you please tell us where we can find you and your books on the Internet?

All the details are at my website, blog and other popular social network sites:

http://www.clarelondon.co.uk/

http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/

http://www.facebook.com/clarelondon

http://twitter.com/clare_london

http://www.myspace.com/clarelondon

http://bookworld.editme.com/clarelondonbooks

>Excerpt: Blinded by Our Eyes by Clare London

>

BLINDED BY OUR EYES
at Carina Press

BLURB:

London art dealer Charles Garrett has devoted his life to appreciating and acquiring beauty, both in art and in his companions. His fashionable life is rocked to the core when he discovers the body of a young artist, Paolo Valero, in a pool of blood in his gallery.

As Paolo’s mentor, Charles is haunted by the horror of his violent death. Seeking closure, he investigates Paolo’s past and soon discovers a tangled web of motives and potential suspects, some closer to home than he ever imagined. He’s drawn to Antony Walker, an aggressive, handsome sculptor with unsavory ties to Paolo. Charles is unsettled by Antony’s forceful nature but irresistibly attracted to his passion and his art.

When the evidence points toward Antony’s guilt, Charles is thrown into emotional turmoil. Has he lost his heart to a killer?

EXCERPT (PG):

The sound of a man crying was the first shock. Deep, racking sobs echoing off the smooth walls of my showroom. The whole gallery was usually deserted and cool at this late hour, despite the urban truth that London never slept. Yet tonight something in the air resonated with tension. And huddled in the far corner was a slender, pale young man. Arms clenched around his drawn-up knees, his eyes hot and wet, staring at me through a fringe of bedraggled dark curls. He looked angry and scared, and for the first few seconds it was all directed at me.

Without thinking, I dropped my bag. I heard the thump as it hit the floor.

I’d never seen anyone who wasn’t a woman cry like this. The sound was strange, astonishingly loud and ugly, his breath rasping with each hiccup of anguish. His shoulders rose and fell awkwardly, the bones a shadowy silhouette under the thin fabric of his shirt, his knuckles white against the black fabric of his jeans.

How beautiful he still looked, how miserable yet how utterly fascinating. My thoughts disgusted me, yet at the same time I couldn’t deny them. As I stared back at him, the aggression in his eyes started to fade. Hope glinted there in its place.

Then I registered the blood on the floor around him. How the hell could I miss it? So much blood. It ran along the base of the far wall and pooled out over the floor, a shocking, plum-red stain on the pale wood. It was thick and unnaturally still, an occasional patch of it glistening under the dimmed overhead lights. Coagulated; no longer flowing. I had no idea how long ago it’d been fresh. The residue puddled around his bare feet and under his legs and arse, then slithered along the edge of the wall again, diverting around the base of a display case. I barely glanced at the case. It stood upright, but crooked as if broken, and the objects inside had been knocked over.

I just stared at the blood. Funny how these things strike you when you’re in shock; it was only after I noticed the mess that the smell hit me. Thick and putrid, seeping into my throat, daring me to gag. Why didn’t blood smell like this domestically? When I cut my hand, when I sliced meat? This was human blood in quantity, human life as it spilled. It had its own unique horror. Some of it had oozed between the young man’s toes—the dark crimson colour stark against the pale skin of his feet, a gruesome parody of piano keys. He sat like an island amongst a grisly sea, a pale shadow within the dark, viscous surround. When he put a hand out to the wall and started to ease himself up, I wanted to cry out, to tell him to stay still. I wanted to stop him spoiling the perfect, limpid surface around him, breaking the seal.

It was the shock made me think that way. Of course it was.

“Charles?” His voice was hoarse, as if he’d been shouting. “God, I’ve never been so glad to see anyone in my life.” He took a couple of shaky steps toward me. His shoes and socks lay in a discarded pile against the wall, soaked red with the blood. I couldn’t take my eyes off the print left by his foot, a dark smudge on the area of clean floor behind him.

“Charles…?”

There were other footprints—messy, scattered marks on the floor beyond the display case. They weren’t all his. A large huddled object lay against the right-hand wall, half hidden behind the furniture. That area, too, was covered in blood. It wasn’t an object, of course it wasn’t. I was ashamed to have thought of it like one of my exhibits.

It was a body. The body of another young man, even paler, even more disturbed. Even more still.

>Blinded by Our Eyes

>

Blinded by Our Eyes
by Clare London
Publisher: Carina Press
Pages: 171
Characters: Charles Garrett, Antony Walker
POV: 1st person
Setting: London
Genre: Contemporary romance/Mystery
Cover Rating: 4

4 KISSES

Buy Here

Blurb:

London art dealer Charles Garrett has devoted his life to appreciating and acquiring beauty, both in art and in his companions. His fashionable life is rocked to the core when he discovers the body of a young artist, Paolo Valero, in a pool of blood in his gallery.

As Paolo’s mentor, Charles is haunted by the horror of his violent death. Seeking closure, he investigates Paolo’s past and soon discovers a tangled web of motives and potential suspects, some closer to home than he ever imagined. He’s drawn to Antony Walker, an aggressive, handsome sculptor with unsavory ties to Paolo. Charles is unsettled by Antony’s forceful nature but irresistibly attracted to his passion and his art.

When the evidence points toward Antony’s guilt, Charles is thrown into emotional turmoil. Has he lost his heart to a killer?

Review:

Confession is good for the soul and the truth will set you free—unless, of course, confessing the truth implicates you in a murder. There are times when the truth is so heinous it imprisons the soul and fractures the mind. There are times when a purging of the ugly secrets hidden behind the illusion of beauty are simply too shattering to do anything more than to destroy.

Charles Garrett is a man who doesn’t create beauty, but he is a man who does sense and appreciate it in its many forms. His small but burgeoning art gallery is his sanctuary, the place where he thrives, until the night he enters to find his ex-lover Joseph sitting in a pool of blood.

The victim is the artist Paolo Valero, a sculptor who Charles had come to sponsor and support after recognizing the raw talent and alluring qualities expressed within his creations. Paolo is given to temperamental behaviors, but behind those anti-social behaviors live dark secrets, secrets that paint him as an accused thief, an alleged plagiarist, and an emotionless monster. It is those secrets that will ultimately lead to his murder.

Scarred by the memories of the gruesome discovery in his gallery, Charles begins playing amateur sleuth, uncovering information that suddenly makes everyone’s behaviors and motives seem suspect, especially those of the fiercely passionate and handsome artist Antony Walker. As Charles begins to look at the evidence with his critical eye, the awful truth takes form, revealing the layers of ugliness under the surface.

As a crime drama set against sophisticated backdrop of the London art scene, Blinded by Our Eyes offers a satisfying plot, parsing out just enough information for the reader to navigate with Charles as he stumbles upon the identity of the killer. The motive for the crime is entirely plausible and provides for an emotional angle to the story, juxtaposing a gruesome crime with a sense of empathy for the murderer, which effectively blurs the notion of who the true victim is.

The romance between Charles and Antony, while it was undeniably impassioned, wasn’t the focus of the plot, and therefore, it wasn’t as developed as it might have been. There was certainly chemistry between the two men; however, the relationship was not explored much beyond that physical connection. Whether that detracts from or enhances the story will depend entirely upon the expectations and preferences of the reader.

Reviewed By: Lisa

>Kenn Dahll

>

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Kenn. We are very excited and can’t wait to learn more about you. Can you tell us a little bit about your background? A dirty old man to the core I masquerade as a bureaucrat to earn my daily bread. I live in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area because it’s abundantly stocked with the kind of males that appeal to me: twinks who are very cute but almost brain dead; young men with a hint of menace about them – pierced lips and tongues, punk hairdos, and loads of tats; gym bunnies with six-pack abs and firm asses; straight male strippers; and surfer dudes. My stories are replete with such characters inspired by actual individuals I’ve encountered.

What was your first book and how long did it take to get it published? Many years ago I wrote a story for a “one-handed” magazine. It was based on a cleaning person in the office building where I worked. In a stream of consciousness fashion I imagined having sex with the young man and wrote it down. I received a free year’s subscription to the magazine. Only three years ago did I consider publishing for profit and submitted a story to Alyson Books for inclusion in an anthology Island Boys, published August 2008. Since then I was also published by Alyson in Best Gay Love Stories 2009 and 2010. In 2009 I discovered eXcessica Publishing and released Getting Wet in the Mall. Since then I have published exclusively with eXcessica.

How many books have you written thus far? My current eXcessica catalog lists 13 titles although two of them are compilations of shorter individual books. I also have stories in two eXcessica anthologies.

When did you start writing gay male erotica? All I have ever written is in that general category although I have experimented with historical settings and ventured into BDSM. What about this genre interested you the most? It’s what I know or fantasize about.

Do you write full time? No, unfortunately I have to work to pay the bills and put food on the table.

Looking back was there something in particular that helped you to decide to become a writer? All the way back in high school I did well in writing essays, book reviews, and term papers. In college I wrote for the campus newsletter.

Did you choose it or did the profession choose you? In my current writing spree it chose me. I had a boring job and started writing character sketches which became so real in my imagination that I had to develop situations for them to act out, which became books.

On a typical writing day, how would you spend your time? Mostly at work until I steal a couple of hours in the evening. On weekends I try to get several hours squeezed in between errands and going out to meet inspirations.

When it comes to plotting, do you write freely or plan everything in advance? My style is a combination of free association and limited plot outlines. Shorter works are almost entirely written on the spur of the moment based on a fortuitous encounter. My longer works are broadly outlined with details left to fill in as I write. Often that derails my outline so I adjust it accordingly. My characters sometimes take over and refuse to go where I had initially envisioned requiring further adjustments.

What kind of research do you do before and during a new book? I research settings for my historical stories using the Internet. The rest of my stories are based on what’s around me and require no research.


How much of yourself and the people you know manifest into your characters? Much more than I care to admit!

How do you approach development of your characters? I do a lot of stream of consciousness thinking about my major characters before I enter word one on paper or into the computer. I ask myself lots of “what if” questions. “What if he were to run into the blond buff idol he’s been admiring from afar?” “What if he was caught masturbating by his best friend?”

Where do you draw the line? What line? I don’t do snuff stories if that’s what you mean – or underage sex.

How long does it take for you to complete a book you would allow someone to read? That depends on the length of the book. I always read it several times after it’s completed to make sure it conveys my intent and reflects well on my skills.

If you weren’t sitting there right this very moment answering our book of questions, what else would you be doing? Walking, during which I formulate most of my ideas or writing.

Do you write straight through, or do you revise as you go along? I usually write straight through then read and revise several times. Sometimes I feel a frantic need to get the main thrust down on paper or in the computer before the inspiration fizzles out.

Writers often go on about writer’s block. Do you ever suffer from it, and what measures do you take to get past it? Often external pressures block my creative juices and I am unable to write for a while. I get through in one of two ways: forcing myself to write something, anything, then setting it aside to get back to my blocked project; or going for a long walk on the beach – I find that puts outside pressures into perspective and I can write again. I usually get an inspiration and take the pending story in an unexpected direction which provides a stimulus to writing.

When someone reads one of your books for the first time, what do you hope they gain, feel, or experience? I want my readers to appreciate the variety of gay sexual possibilities and get past the frequent ‘grittiness’ – my reviewers’ favorite word – to see the individuals and their motivations and feelings.

Does the title of a book you’re writing come to you as you’re writing it, or does it come before you even begin the first sentence? I have a problem with titles. I envy authors who get catchy titles which grab attention. I seem to lack creativity in that area and come up with very literal titles that describe the story without any verve or punch.

How would you describe your sense of humor? Who and what makes you laugh?I have a dry sense of humor – so dry it seems not to exist.  Verbal antics with puns are my favs. Lately Tosh.O really gets to me. I also like Jon Stewart.

What is the most frequently asked question? What are you working on now? I’m currently writing a book set on a yacht owned by a rich, middle-aged businessman with a sadistic streak and populated by a pair of twinks, two handsome former Navy officers and a young Asian chef. I’m about halfway through the first draft.

When it comes to promotion, what lengths have you gone to in order to increase reader-awareness of your work? I’ve done two other interviews – one not yet published, started a website [http://www.kenndahll-erotica.com/], participated in author blogs, and purchased advertising space in a couple of places.


Writing is obviously not just how you make your living, but your life-style as well. What do you do to keep the creative “spark” alive – both in your work and out of it? I seek out new experiences and incorporate them into my stories. Something as simple as a serious conversation with a male stripper can revitalize my muse.

What kind of books do you like to read? Mysteries and adventure stories are my choices for casual reading. On the more serious side I like travel and art books.

What is your favorite TV show? Dexter wins by a mile!

What is your favorite fast food restaurant? Just thought we’d throw that in for fun… I don’t do fast food except for the Wendy’s salad with grilled chicken when I’m desperate for lunch.

If you weren’t a writer what would you be? I don’t know, maybe an actor or a male escort!

When it comes to the covers of your books, what do you like or dislike about them? I’m lucky that eXcessica has an excellent cover designer in Willsin Rowe. I give him my concept for a cover and he sends back something completely different and far better. I particularly like his cover for Irish Punk. I would never have come up with the plank wall and ‘crude’ lettering to convey the story’s rawness. He read the blurb and excerpt I provided and looked at the sample photos I found then produced what I feel is an eye-catching cover. I only regret that some of my other covers are too cute for the grittiness of the story.

Aside from writing, what else do you enjoy doing? I love to travel and experience new people and places. I also like nature hikes and walking on the beach. I’ve dabbles with kayaking and wish I were younger so I could kite surf. The practitioners of that sport on a nearby beach are choice examples of buff young dudes.

>Irish Punk by Kenn Dahll

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Irish Punk
by Kenn Dahll
Excessica Publishing
56 Pages
Genre: Erotica
Setting: Fort Lauderdale, FL, modern day
POV: First Person Narrative
Characters: Robert, Tim, Brian

3 KISSES

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Blurb:

Robert’s penchant for collecting characters from real life to populate his fictional world gets him into trouble–big time! He stares a little too long and too intently at Timothy as the young bank teller orders lunch at the sub shop. Robert envisions Tim as the archetypical young New York City Irish Five Points gang member. His thorough inventory of Tim’s physical attributes, including his raw sexuality, is noted by the nineteen year old.

Outside in the parking lot Tim accosts Robert in a threatening manner; but relents when Robert agrees to service the punk at a nearby video arcade. The demands from Tim increase to include his older brother Brian, a Deputy Sheriff, and some of his colleagues. Each encounter with the Irish brothers is more intense that the prior one, the sex escalating to rape, bondage and whippings. All the while Robert expects Brian to cross the final line–to incest with Tim.

Robert’s feelings for Tim grow as the kid’s plight becomes more intolerable. Robert’s concern inspires him to discover Brian’s deeply buried secret which could hold the solution to Tim’s desperate situation.

Review:

Robert is the narrator and central character of this fifty-six page short story. He lives in Fort Lauderdale, FL, where the story opens. While at a cafeteria style sub restaurant, Robert observes a young man who appears to be still a teenager. The kid catches him staring, and a confrontation ensues. The boy actually is nineteen, and his name is Tim. He threatens Robert, telling him that he has an older brother who is a cop, and he informs Robert that he must service him (Tim) sexually or his older brother will make Robert the target of a traffic ticketing sting.

Reluctantly Robert follows Tim to an adult bookstore where they have oral and anal sex in one of the video porn booths.

A few days pass, and Robert gets a call from Tim, informing him that he is to rendezvous with Brian, Tim’s older brother. Robert meets Brian and follows him home where Tim is waiting. Robert is then used sexually by the brothers, and while this is occurring, it becomes apparent to Robert that the relationship of the two brothers is quite unusual. Brian dominates his younger brother, and more-or-less treats him as a personal slave.

The entire story is a series of sexual encounters, each one a bit more exaggerated than the previous. The sex scenes incorporate forced oral sex, anal sex, bondage, menage’, intensely graphic homophobic verbalization, rape, incest, scat, smegla, whipping, and humiliation.

Clearly the intent of this story is to provide a one-handed read. The fantastical and unrealistic presentation of these hyperbolic sex scenes would be laughable were they not to be so patently offensive. Initially Tim is presented as a dominator and aggressor, but his character evolves and is ultimately presented sympathetically as a victim. I’m not sure if this metamorphism is intentional or if it is the result of the author’s expansion of his initial sexual fantasy.

The climactic sex scene involves Brian and three of his buddies from work. The four men get together to watch a football game and order young Tim and Robert to be their personal slaves. During the scene they degrade their slave boys verbally and force them to be domestic servants. Then they make the boys masturbate, place them in bondage, and rape them orally and anally. Each of these aggressors supposedly is heterosexual, and they all openly hate homosexuals. They call the boys names such as “bitch, faggot, pansy, and queer”, all the while they are having sex with them.

If this story is approached as pure erotica and the reader is fully aware that the sexual fantasy is written to titillate and provide purely erotic entertainment, the story may be quite successful. The reader would need to be one who has tolerance for humiliation and degradation, and perhaps a fetish for objectification. If, on the other hand, the reader is looking for a story which contains romance and a multi-layered plot, this may not be the best choice.

In my opinion, the author demonstrates an undeniable talent for writing man-on-man action. His writing style is likely to be most appealing to gay men who are looking for literary porn. I’m fairly certain that the intent of this story is not to send any kind of meaningful message other than that it is fun to fantasize about having sex with domineering, cocky, and abusive straight men.

I’d suggest that if you obtain this book, save it for when you’re in the mood for some over-the-top sexual fantasy, and be prepared for some eye-popping, graphic fetish.

Review by Jeff

>The Reason for the Season by Chrissy Munder

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The Reason for the Season
Author: Chrissy Munder
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 52
Characters: Adam and Michael
POV: 3rd person
Scene Setting: Michigan road side motel
Sub Genre: Holiday

4 KISSES

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Blurb:

All college student Adam Everett is trying to do is get to his sister’s house for holiday break. First his car breaks down, then his ride takes off to Vegas with his gas money, forcing Adam to come up with a Plan C. His last hope is a campus ride exchange, where he ends up with the reluctant Michael Brennan. When a “snowpocalypse” forces them to share a motel room, they soon find out there’s more than one reason for the chance happenings of the season.

Review:

Poor Adam. That was the first thing to pop into my head when I started reading A Reason for the Season. The next was that he needed to find some new friends. But Adam’s misfortune leads him to Michael, and Michael is in need of someone to be close to. The way these two meet could have come from an old Christmas movie, and I wondered if there was something not quite right about it. Although these two start out a little on the rocky side it is clear that they have a connection. While I was not ready for the story to end, I loved that the author wrapped it up so wonderfully.

Reviewer: Lydia

>Thyme by K.R. Foster

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Thyme
Author: K.R. Foster
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 58
Characters: Julien Lafayette and Gregory Verne
POV: 3rd Person
Scene Setting: Germany, Louisiana
Sub Genre: Holiday

5 KISSES

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Blurb:

Julien Lafayette and Gregory Verne, best friends since they were children, could have been more… but Julien was too afraid of destroying their friendship to act on his feelings. By the time he built up his courage, Verne had joined the Marines. Luckily for Julien, his Nana—the witchdoctor of New Orleans—always looks out for him, and for this holiday season, she’ll give him a chance to reclaim what he so foolishly passed up the first time around.

Review:

I never expected to have a holiday short story bring me to tears, yet, that is just what Thyme by K.R. Foster did. This is a story of second chances, in more ways than one. Right from the start I was pulled into Julien’s and Verne’s story. You could feel the deep love the men have for each other, as well as, the regret Julien had for the choices he made, and his hope to fix them. I could not see how this could have a happy ending, nor could I believe this was supposed to be a holiday story. Yet, it quickly became my favorite in the group. Don’t miss this one, it is well worth the time and I will be reading it again.

Reviewer: Lydia

The Perfect Tree by J.P. Barnaby

The Perfect Tree
By J.P. Barnaby
Amazon Digital Services
Length: 21 Pages
Genre: BDSM Holiday Short Story
POV: First Person
Setting: Modern Day, inside a home
Cover Rating: 5

5 KISSES

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Blurb:

Master Ethan has decided that his boy Jayden should have a nice traditional Christmas for the first time in their relationship. What would Christmas be without the perfect tree?

This homoerotic short story contains BDSM, homosexual sex, and other adult content.

Review:

The Perfect Tree is a short story which takes place on Christmas Eve in the home of Ethan and Jayden. These central characters are a gay D/s couple, Ethan being the Master. The story is told in the voice of Jayden, the sub.

The story begins at the start of a BDSM scene where Jayden has been collared and has assumed his submissive role, standing at attention for his Master. The thoughts, feelings, temptations, and desires of the submissive are very effectively conveyed, and the actual love-making is described rather sensually.

As the couple begin their scene, Master Ethan binds his boy, using Christmas garland. The particular significance of this act is noteworthy, being that garland by no means would literally bind in a physically incapacitating manner. Essentially, the bondage is mental which is, in my opinion, the hottest form of entrapment. To be ordered to assume a position which is potentially uncomfortable, and to remain locked in that position by the mere strength of your will—that is true bondage.

The dialogue presented was quite realistic, and the manner in which the Dom spoke sternly yet lovingly to his boy was powerful and incredibly erotic. I love a BDSM story where the Dom is obviously turned on by his sub. It seemed to almost be as much of an act of willpower for the Dom to remain in his role to complete the scene as it was for the sub. It seemed what he really wanted more than anything was simply to make passionate love to his boy.

I also was impressed by the thought process of the sub. Their scene was interrupted briefly when carolers came to the door, and Jayden was ordered to wait, remaining locked in his bondage. Instantly Jayden began to feel embarrassed. I found it interesting and quite believable that during this brief period of mild humiliation he would feel the temptation to rebel. When his Master returned to him and was cavalier about the predicament of his boy, the sub felt resentment. Although he knew in his mind that it was hot the way his Master had control over him, he couldn’t help but feel a flush of embarrassment and annoyance. That ability to overcome these very human emotions is what defines submission, and it was very masterfully presented in this short piece.

The author also included a very brief spanking scene which was little more than a tease. I liked the way she conveyed the feelings of the sub during this scene as well. The paddling was delivered as a punishment when Jayden accidentally broke one of the garland bonds on his leg. The manner in which Jayden felt mortified at having (inadvertently) disobeyed his Master was heart wrenching. The boy actually contemplated invoking his safe word because he was so distraught by his punishment. Of course, I’m not sure a safe word can actually be used during punishment…but I guess each Master/sub couple would have their own set of rules to govern the implementation of this precaution.

The scene reaches its climactic moment when Master Ethan penetrates his boy and makes passionate love to him. I found it particularly hot that he did so while Jayden was still bound. This afforded Ethan maximum control during the situation, and it provided a nice segue to the gentle and tender aftermath of their passionate sex.

Although this story was quite short, I found it to be exceptionally well presented. The characters are drawn from the Forbidden Room series by the same author, and I’m now anxious to read more of this series. I think the author has a genuine understanding of the Dom/sub dynamic and writes sensually, erotically, and realistically.

The story is dynamite in a very small package. Take a few minutes to read it…you won’t be sorry.