$13.95
ISBN 1603702466
available through
Amazon
Reviewed by Jean Roberta
(04/30/08)
This collection of m/m erotic romances by four veteran writers for Torquere Press is based on a theme of body modification, to use an unsexy description. More specifically, the central characters in these stories get tattooed or pierced to mark turning points in their lives. In most cases, the tattoo or piercing is an expression of commitment, a sign that the person being marked has changed in some fundamental way as a result of belonging to or being joined with a Significant Other. Alessia Brio's cover design (a black, Goth-looking head in profile with piercings against a red background) sets the tone.
The mood of these stories ranges from sweet and innocent to desperate and gritty. In every case, getting a tattoo, piercing, or high-tech sexual enhancement (in Laney Cairo's Australia -- more on that later) is a rite of passage like a loss of virginity. It is also parallel to "coming out" (identifying oneself in public) as a gay man in a culture where homosexuality still isn't completely mainstream.
"Tattoo You" by Willa Okati is probably the gentlest story in the batch, despite the sassiness of the title. Two very different but compatible guys, Jacob Lee the construction worker (also the narrator) and young pretty-boy Donathan, are each afraid of something. Jacob is afraid of needles and Donathan is afraid of becoming a professional tattoo artist, despite his interest and talent.
The narrator's first visit to a tattoo parlor brought up memories for this reviewer. (How is this supposed to work? How safe is it? How much will it cost? How much will it hurt?) As well as needing reassurance (which he gets), Jacob needs a design. He finds it when he discovers an old notebook that records a tragic love-story between two men in the American Civil War era. Eventually, difficulties are overcome and everyone ends up living happily ever after.
"Possession: A Soul Mates Story" by Jourdan Lane has the most complicated relationships. The subtitle suggests that this story is part of a series, and the term "soul mates" describes the relationships between and among four men who are all sexually drawn to each other.
To add to the confusion and the emotional tension, each belongs to a different supernatural species. Sabaan, the narrator, is a fiery incubus or sex-demon who is sometimes tormented by his own desire. Lucien is a "master" vampire looking for a servant, really a second-in-command. Peter, formerly human and recently Lucien's main squeeze, has been spending most of his time with Nikolas, a werewolf and the being that Sabaan wants most. Confused yet? There's more. In his darkest hour, Sabaan is comforted by Simon, a friend who is literally an angel.
The tattoo in this story marks Sabaan as the property of the man to whom he gives a vow, but as Simon reminds him, a sense of connection can exist among more than two men, and a permanent mark cannot drive away feelings. In an over-the-top seduction scene, one of the other men tries to destroy Sabaan's tattoo by ripping up his skin.
This novella is not for the faint of heart or for those who like neat conclusions in which two lovers agree to forsake all others. The author convincingly shows love and jealousy among those who are superhuman in every way, and the result is a kind of grand opera of the underworld. There is a lot of material here, and I would have preferred a more leisurely pace which would give a reader more time to become acquainted with each character.
"Marginalia" by Laney Cairo is an outstanding fantasy about a dystopian society. She describes an Australia of the near future, in which the city of Sydney (like parallel cities in other countries) is a last refuge for those who are under the radar of a government run by huge corporations and the armed forces. Walls and gates figure prominently in a city where the "haves" (such as Bailey, a skilled cosmetic surgeon) rarely have contact with the "have-nots" (such as Quint, an illegal worker in a dive bar).
"Spiked," the title of the whole collection, takes on layers of meaning in this story about a culture in which designer drugs, including "spike" (an "upper") and "pearl" (a "downer") are available to those who can pay. Parallel to mood-enhancing drugs are the "mods" (body modification) which can enable fashionable women to change the colors in their skins, like chameleons, and enable privileged pleasure-seekers to experience mind-blowing sex by means of permanent beads under the skin and devices which produce anal lubrication when desired.
As "everyone knows" in this world, "cutters" like Bailey, and his friend and colleague Dr. Flynn, experiment on themselves as well as on human volunteers in order to discover and refine new procedures to market to their clients. And thereby hangs a racy plot about how a victim of the system is rescued by the man who loves him. This story works like a charm, and it is my favorite in the collection.
"Beneath the Mask" by Mychael Black introduces Triarius, a vampire in a silver demi-mask who was "turned" in the year 7 AD and who has been meddling in human affairs ever since. In a take-off of Anne Rice's pioneer 1976 novel, Interview with the Vampire, Triarius has agreed to be interviewed by a persistent journalist, Lance Shaw. Lance wants to know the secrets of the Inferi Brotherhood which Triarius founded in 1232 (shades of The DaVinci Code).
Part of the appeal of this story is in the way that the author blends elements of well-known thrillers (including The Phantom of the Opera) into an intense story of male-on-male kidnap and seduction. The rivalry in this story is different from that in "Possession," and a love-triangle in the underground world of Mychael Black's vampires must result in the elimination of one.
The sex, of course, is intense in each of these stories. In two of them, the characters are capable of more lust and endurance than mere mortals could handle, and in "Marginalia," characters can be altered to fit their desires. Even in "Tattoo You," the most realistic of the bunch, mutual attraction makes the sex memorable. Like a needle that pierces the skin, each story makes a lasting impression.
