Month: July 2008

Review of “A Spirit of Vengeance”

I got a wonderful four-flute review of “A Spirit of Vengeance” from Singapore Sling over on Cocktail Reviews!

Josh, an artist, comes home from an exhibition and learns that his lover, Kevin – also an artist – has been murdered in the home they share with Josh’s actress sister, Kat. The killing appears to have been done by a homophobic gang, but the police can’t find anything to go on.

While he’s coming to terms with his grief, Josh hears Kevin’s voice and feels a wind blowing around him indoors. Kevin urges Josh to catch his killers and get revenge. At first Josh thinks he’s gone crazy, but soon Kevin is coming to him in dreams that feel very real. Kevin reveals that Oscar, his agent, murdered him when Kevin started to suspect Oscar of defrauding him.

Can Josh find a way to unmask Oscar as the killer – or will listening to the advice of a ghost lead him and Kat into danger?

This novelette had a most interesting premise. The opening was powerful, full of raw emotion as Josh struggles to deal with Kevin’s death. The ghost story begins tentatively, with Kevin’s spirit at first so full of rage that he scares Josh. Kevin’s frustration with his new spirit form and his desperation to make Josh believe what’s happening is both sad and touching.

Josh is a likeable hero, numb with grief yet still able to reach out to his sister, Kat, and share in her small triumphs. His longing for Kevin is one of the driving emotions in this story, and his fear of letting go and losing Kevin forever is very moving.

Ms Benedetti gives the reader a different yet satisfying story. My only complaint is that I wish there’d have been more of it – this could easily have been a novella!

This is so awesome, I’m going to be beaming for days!

Angie

New RTB Column

RTB

I just posted a new column on Romancing the Blog. This time around I’m talking about an issue brought up during a discussion on Torquere’s Yahoo group regarding the reasons why the editor-in-chief of Ace and Roc thinks there’s no print market for m/m romances. She’s just repeating the party line which is passed around the New York publishers, but it seems to me that the basic premise behind that party line — that women won’t buy m/m romances because they want to insert themselves into the story in the heroine’s place, and since m/m books don’t have a heroine there’s no part for the reader to “play” — is deeply flawed. If it’s impossible for the (presumably female) het romance reader to enjoy an m/m romance because there’s no female protag, that implies that it’s impossible for anyone to enjoy reading a book where there’s no same-gender protag. Am I the only one whose eyes cross at that particular piece of logic…? [squint]

Aside from the fact that most of the m/m romances being sold right now — in print as well as e-pub — are purchased by women. [cough]

Anyway, I’m collecting data from readers — come give me your two cents’ worth. 🙂

Angie

[ETA: Comments turned off because of spam]