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Wishbone, by Lauren P. Burka
$5.95 ebook
Torquere Press
BDSM m/m science fiction romance

Reviewed by Kelly Kinkaid

To describe the relationships in Lauren P. Burka’s Wishbone as intense is certainly an understatement. Wishbone, our charming titular character, is uprooted from his life of prostitution by a shih-aan. The shih-aan, an alien race who bloodily warred with and defeated humans a decade prior, are looked upon as “demons” by Wishbone’s fellow men, yet he finds himself enthralled and exhilarated by his newest client—and soon-to-be master.

The relationship between Wishbone and “Sir” delights in the intimacies wrought by the struggles of dominance and submission, with a decidedly delicious shade of sadomasochism. The power play here is more than just a cheeky nudge and wink; the heavy erotic edge to all the interactions between the two men reveals shifts in trust and intimacy, each scene unfolding a new facet to and between the characters. The pace is believable as the chemistry is scorching.
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Tags: book reviews, lauren p. burka, wishbone

“Kelly pressed his tongue into Simon’s mouth, exploring the depths. Simon’s hands skimmed down Kelly’s back, tracing his spine, coming to rest cupped against his ass, fingers kneading. Kelly could feel himself getting hard, blood racing south. He nipped cautiously at Simon’s lower lip, then his chin, as a low growl rumbled his chest a little. Simon’s state of arousal wasn’t very far behind his own. He could feel the hard bulge of Simon’s cock against his hipbone…”

Prise de Fer by A. R. Moler brings a new heat to shapeshifter lore, providing readers with a story that’s both erotic and romantic. Action-filled and suspense driven, this novella takes the reader on a journey that keeps the reader questioning to the end whether this will be a happily ever after or tragic demise.
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The mystery and misconceptions of the supernatural world are given a unique twist in Meg Leigh’s book: Hunter’s Dawn: Laying the Ghosts. (Click here to purchase) Set in a small, quiet town in the middle of Minnesota, one troubled ghost is desperately trying to communicate with the living. Enter Professor Jack Stephens, teacher of parapsychology, and the typical skeptic out to prove that the presence of the ghost is no more than a con. He gets more than he bargains for when he finds himself paired up with the local medium, Casey Lambeth. (more…)

Tags: Hunter's Dawn: Laying the Ghosts, Meg Leigh

Book Review: The Vampire’s Bride by Gena Showalter
Reviewed by Sarah

The Vampire’s Bride by Gena Showalter is the first romance novel I’ve ever read—and I’m coming from a background of hearing nothing but how excruciating and cheesy the genre is. But Showalter has pleasantly surprised me. Was The Vampire’s Bride cheesy? Well…yes. But excruciating? On the contrary.

The rundown: the gods of Atlantis get bored and decide to pit the best warriors of each mythical race in Atlantis against each other, gods placing bets on which race will beat out the others. These warriors–including protagonists Layel, the vampire king, and Delilah, the Amazon warrioress–are magically transported to an island where they are pitted against each other in a series of challenges as well as racial and relational tension during their downtime. The challenges take up a minimum of page time, some mentioned only in passing, some even canceled when the gods get impatient. Much more time is dedicated to character interactions.

The characters are good, if a mite clichéd: the protagonist is a brooding vampire king tormented by his lost love, loathing himself for moving on (after 200 years…) He’s paired with the self-sufficient Amazon caught between her tribe’s prerequisite misandry and her desire for monogamous love. He longs to rip her bodice (well, clingy leather bra), and she longs for her leather bra to be ripped—but their histories hold them back until their love conquers all.

Noticeably similar is the dynamic between another Amazon and vampire, as well as the nymph who shuns a besotted demon/vampire hybrid before realizing she is his mate. In (nearly) all three relationships, capable woman struggles and fails to stifle her flame for brooding male, who only stops repressing his own feelings by the time capable woman has given up. Then, in a creative show of passion, he wins his lady love and they join in a loving union to last for all eternity.

Not, of course, that this makes The Vampire’s Bride unpleasant to read. On the contrary, what the characters lack in diversity they compensate in intensity and charisma that keeps the reader rooting for a happy ending. The characters spend considerable time grappling with their emotions and sexually-charged encounters, but the payoff comes in the delicious foreplay and sex scenes that tantalize right up until the end.

If your idea of a perfect love is intense, uncontrollable, eternal, monogamous, somewhat predetermined, death-defying (really!), undeniable (though how they try!), and irrational (featuring a self-mutilation scene in the depths of Layel’s romantic repression), then this book will satisfy all your deep, dark, cheesy, and oh-so-satisfying hunger for a dessert of a paranormal romance.

News tidbit for today, assistant editor at Circlet Press Lauren P. Burka, has an erotic sf/f novella that was just release by Torquere Press! It’s an ebook and is garnering praise already.

Well-known romance writer Rebecca York had this to say: “In MEMORIAL GARDEN, Lauren Burka, has created a world of decadence ruled by an empress who values her own pleasure far above the lives of her consorts. Full of erotic and ironic twists and turns, this story creates a tapestry of sensual surprises and forbidden pleasures.”

The marketing copy for the novella:

Sofian grew up to a privileged but empty life on a backward world until the Empress called him to serve her at the Celestial Court. When he arrived, he discovered that he would be serving her in bed, and that he would not long outlive the day she discarded him.

Then he meets Numair, a former consort of the Empress. They become increasingly entangled under the shadow of their shared fate, and their relationship blossoms. Will they learn the difference between need and love before time runs out for them?

You can buy it directly from Torquere.

I personally found it scorchingly hot and it hit several of my favorite erotic buttons. (I’m partial to these bisexual male characters who partake in hot scenes with both male and female partners. And I love a good interstellar empire.)

We’re pleased and excited to have made IO9’s Top-10 kinky book list!

If you’re looking for a Kindle version of The Velderet:
The Velderet

If you’d like an actual book, try here: The Velderet: A Cybersex S/M Serial

Tags: cecilia tan, ctan, io9 top10, Velderet

Reviewed by Bethany Zaiatz

As a first time reader of Anne Bishop’s work, I’ve heard a tremendous amount of praise for her acclaimed Black Jewels series and looked forward to beginning Sebastian: the first in a pair of novels chronicling the world of Ephemera. Right away, Bishop proves to be a master of setting and world-building, creating a dazzling array of vivid locations. The world of Ephemera is a place that has been broken apart to meet a magical threat known only as the Eater of the World. To manage the shattered universe, a large group of women are trained in magic as Landscapers to maintain the many lands and their connections to each other (aided by their less powerful male counterparts known as Bridges).

The Landscapers’ task of maintaining Ephemera is made even more difficult by the fact that Ephemera itself is affected by the emotions of its people and most especially the Landscapers. The novel includes many messages about the damaging effects negativity can have on any Landscape within Ephemera and reads as a powerful metaphor for conservation and the impact humanity can have on the real world. (Anger can create stones in the soil, corruption can poison waterways, etc.) Moreover, the Landscapers, themselves, most especially Belladona, the powerful “rogue” Landscaper who can create her own Landscapes as opposed to simply manipulating them as other Landscapers do, can be read as symbolic of Bishop’s own considerable world-building skill as an author.

The most vivid and engaging of these settings is the Den of Iniquity, a Landscape created by the incredibly powerful Belladonna when she was just a student at the Landscapers’ School—a feat that caused others to fear her. Creation of the Den for her had one purpose, to create a dark, but not “too” dark place where her cousin Sebastian could exist in peace and happiness. Doing so resulted in her expulsion from the school and rogue status, all because others do not understand the nature of the Den. Admittedly, the Den of Iniquity is a home for demons and a dark Landscape which many people fear, but to Sebastian the Den of Iniquity is home, and for most who visit the place, it is a place for a fun-loving “walk on the wild side,” a place for enjoying the carnal side of life sort of “bad” rather than any place truly dangerous.

More than just a master of metaphor and setting, Bishop also creates a tense and chilling conflict when the Eater of the World is released once more in the worlds of Ephemera. While much of the plot focuses on Belladonna’s efforts to save Ephemera, it mirrors Sebastian’s inner conflict between the darker and lighter sides of his nature as his love of Lynnea, a sweet-natured, mousy, serving girl, nurtures the goodness in him above all else.

Unfortunately, when viewed through Circlet-shaped glasses, Sebastian and Lynnea’s romance often reads as little more than a subplot instead of as an erotic journey for the central characters. While he is described frequently and quite skillfully by Bishop as an ideal male lover, Sebastian’s inherent sexuality is drastically muted once Lynnea’s pure, nurturing love begins to reform him. And although the narrative demands that Sebastian and Lynnea have sex, the scenes are all of a fade-to-black variety or described in musings after the fact. It reads almost as if, in highlighting the purity and depth of Sebastian and Lynnea’s true love, the novel must sacrifice the sexual dimensions of their relationship and character development. The Den of Iniquity and the character of Sebastian (and the other dream-lover incubi) are potentially rich soil on which to build erotic fantasy, but Bishop leaves that to the readers to do for themselves.

Ultimately, Sebastian is an engaging sensual (though not sexual) fantasy novel with intriguing, thought-provoking themes, and compelling conflict, making it an altogether worthwhile read.

[Circlet does not sell non-erotic books, but you can purchase this book from Amazon.com by clicking here: Sebastian (Ephemera, Book 1)]