Reviews and Comments

ZodWallop

jseger9000@bookwyrm.social

Joined 4 months ago

A shadowy flight into the dangerous world of a man who does not exist.

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reviewed Whisper by Sean O'Shea (Softcover Library, #904)

Sean O'Shea: Whisper (Paperback, Softcover Library) 2 stars

Was it friendship - or Unnatural Attraction? These unexpurgated pages explore the shadow-line between "normal" …

A whisper not worth listening to...

2 stars

A newly established boys prep school is run by a hunky headmaster and his hunky partner, the athletics coach. Whisper was not at all what I was expecting.

It's not a porn book at all. In the end it was a poorly written melodrama with homosexual themes. At a time when such books were rare, you take what you can get. But the book isn't sexy enough to be enjoyable smut, nor is it well written enough to be interesting pulp. And the ending is an insulting cop out.

Ultimately, this book is a real piece of crap, not worth rediscovering.

reviewed The Secret Meeting by Sebastian Lamb (Blueboy Library, #BB-80003)

Sebastian Lamb: The Secret Meeting (Paperback, Blueboy Library) 3 stars

Don't leave me hanging on the telephone

3 stars

Eh, it's a gay porn novel, so manage your expectations.

While attempting to dial a friend, actor Chris misdials a hotel instead. Suddenly Randy, he decides to place an obscene call to a random room. This goes better than expected and he hits it off with the mystery man on the other end of the line, Kyle.

The rest of the novel is Chris falling head over heels for Kyle while contrivance after contrivance keeps them from meeting face to face.

The sex scenes are fun, though not as wild as the best porn paperbacks. Chris's obsession/overwrought emotional state became a core to Wade through. But it wasn't bad. I'll read more Sebastian Lamb.

finished reading The Secret Meeting by Sebastian Lamb (Blueboy Library, #BB-80003)

Sebastian Lamb: The Secret Meeting (Paperback, Blueboy Library) 3 stars

Eh, it's a gay porn novel, so manage your expectations.

While attempting to dial a friend, actor Chris misdials a hotel instead. Suddenly Randy, he decides to place an obscene call to a random room. This goes better than expected and he hits it off with the mystery man on the other end of the line, Kyle.

The rest of the novel is Chris falling head over heels for Kyle while contrivance after contrivance keeps them from meeting face to face.

The sex scenes are fun, though not as wild as the best porn paperbacks. Chris's obsession/overwrought emotional state became a core to Wade through. But it wasn't bad. I'll read more Sebastian Lamb.

James Taylor Johnston, Mike Sacks: Stinker Lets Loose! (2022, Sunshine Beam Publishing) 4 stars

The outrageous cinematic hit of 1977 is FINALLY back in book form (after 40 years!) …

Enjoyable send up of crappy seventies movies and movie novelizations

4 stars

I laughed throughout and enjoyed the extra touches, like the list of other novelizations available from the publisher, stills from the movie and the ad for book cases.

James Kendley: In the Red (EBook) 4 stars

On the road to Carcosa

4 stars

I'm truly surprised to be the first review here. In The Red was an excellent pastiche of the 1930's Weird Tales/Cosmic Horror stories, mixing elements of Lovecraft and The King in Yellow.

A chaplain in a 1930's Civilian Conservation Corps camp is approached by a local mountain man who wants to show him an ancient paved road on his property he claims was built by the Cherokee, though the chaplain (a history buff) knows that they never built such a thing.

In The Red has all the Weird Tales ingredients: a disreputable local, a standoffish scholarly type, mysterious artifacts and a sanity-shredding revelation. As a novella, it is long enough not to feel rushed, but short enough to not wear out its welcome. Recommended.