Boys in the Band: Opening Act by B.A. Tortuga

TITLE: Boys in the Band: Opening Act
AUTHOR: B.A. Tortuga
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH: Short story (roughly 10k)
GENRE: Gay erotic romance
COST: $2.49

As the new lead singer of the band, Caidon only has eyes for the too-energetic Spud, the guitar player who sees to everybody’s needs. All of them. Including hand jobs to relieve the stress. Spud welcomes the attention, but Caidon isn’t so sure about sharing anymore…

There was an urgency in the excerpt I read on this short story that made me stop and think, “Huh. That might be fun.” It was actually Caidon’s perspective, and turns out it was the opening of the story. Not very much, especially considering this is only 10k. That energy multiplied by ten as soon as it switched to Spud’s POV. It’s very easy to get swept along with Spud’s adrenaline, and for once, I’m glad the story is this short. Something tells me I’d be exhausted if I had to read a longer work from this character’s perspective. At the very least, I’d probably have a headache.

Spud is charming enough in his own Eager Beaver way. But the more I read about him, the more I wondered about underlying issues. The band treats him like a pet, using him as their gopher, their sex toy, their comic relief whenever the fancy takes them. They even use his bunk as storage, forcing the guy to crash on whoever will let him. Not healthy, no doubt about it, but Spud never questions it. In fact, he seems grateful for the attention, enough so that I start getting uncomfortable by the end of the story. Caidon mitigates that to a small degree, but not nearly enough. And not nearly enough to give me a sigh of relief when the story is over.

It’s very obvious by the end that this is merely a first chapter in an ongoing saga. At least, it seems obvious to me. I sincerely hope that there’s better resolution to Spud and Caidon’s relationship with additional stories, and that the author isn’t using this as a springboard for exploring the other characters instead. Spud deserves better.

Readability	7/10 – The frenetic pacing of Spud’s voice is very addictive, though not so much with Caidon.
Hero #1	5/10 – I don’t know much about him, except he’s a big guy with big appetites.
Hero #2	7/10 – Entertaining, though so needy that I wonder about underlying issues.
Entertainment value	6/10 – Mildly diverting, but not anything I think I’ll follow through with reading subsequent books.
World building	4/10 – Other than knowing these guys are musicians playing in the Midwest, I know nothing, I see nothing…
TOTAL:	29/50

The Call by Jourdan Lane, BA Tortuga, & Emily Veinglory

TITLE: The Call
AUTHOR: Jourdan Lane, BA Tortuga, & Emily Veinglory
PUBLISHER: Torquere Press
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 65k)
GENRE: Gay paranormal erotic romance
COST: $5.95

A trio of novellas, featuring gay romances where at least one of the partners is a werewolf.

The first story in this anthology is “Instinct,” by Jourdan Lane. In it, construction firm owner Ethan is a reluctant werewolf, scarred by the whole experience by the man who turned him, Jake. He meets Noah, another wolf, who’s interested in some work done at his pack’s home, and surprise surprise, the two fall in love. Like…right away. Seriously. Within minutes of meeting, they’re having sex on the floor of Ethan’s office. There is very little time to actually get to know Noah before they’re supposedly mated, which completely disengaged me from getting emotionally involved in the story. Worse, 24 hours after reading it, I couldn’t even remember what this story was about without going back and skimming it. That’s never a good sign. Pass.

The second story is called “Son of a Bitch,” by Emily Veinglory. Small town werewolf Nate works midnight shifts at the gas station, supplements his income with various online activities, and is hiding out from the pack he ran away from, trying to make his own place. Human Steven breaks down outside the station one night, and Nate falls in lust. Veinglory is the one author of the bunch with an original voice; she has characters that leap off the page with their eccentricities, and her turns of phrase are some of the most vivid I’ve seen in recent months. Unfortunately, she’s also the author with the most mistakes riddled throughout the story. There was at least one on every page, and often, more than that. It gets very distracting, and pulls me out of a story faster than headhopping when it’s that prevalent. Which is a shame, because hers was the story I actually wanted to like, simply because I enjoyed her main characters so much. How can you read a story that doesn’t even look like it’s been proofread? The answer is with a lot of difficulty.

The final story in the anthology is “Home Fires,” by BA Tortuga. Werewolf Houston stumbles into his mate Jackson’s home after having been held prisoner and tortured for the past two years. Together, they have to try and get over the pain of their past, as well as heal Houston’s physical and mental wellbeing. By the time I got to this story, I didn’t have high hopes. The first two had been disappointing at best, so when this story grabbed me by the shirt collar with the opening page, I was delighted. I got sucked into the hurt between these two men, enthralled by the rather vicious sex that happened as they came back together. There weren’t nearly the same number of typos or errors in this story that afflicted the others, which made it easier to enjoy it. Unfortunately, that enjoyment didn’t last. What started out with a sucker punch – easy prose, heartwrenching emotion – turned into more of the same, over and over again, as the story progressed. Sex, lots of mate talk, angst from Houston. Sex, lots of mate talk, angst from Jackson. Sex, lots of mate talk…well, you get the idea.

While a good idea in theory, the execution of this anthology of gay werewolf romance falters under its own weight. There are too many technical problems with the editing to believe it a professional presentation, and at least one of the stories has zero believability in regards to romance. I’m all for werewolf mates, gay or straight, but there’s a balance to be struck that none of these authors found. Unless you’re a fan of one of these authors, or don’t care about spelling errors, wrong word choices, or missing words in prose, don’t bother with this one.

Readability	5/10 – Riddled with typos that make even the most engaging voice difficult to read
Romance	5/10 – I was invested in only 1 of the 3 romances, and 1 not at all
Characterization	6/10 – This gets saved by Veinglory’s story; hers is the only one with full-fleshed, interesting characters
Entertainment value	5/10 – This would have been higher if I didn’t have such a headache trying to work my way through all the technical errors
World building	5/10 – Each tries to build its own unique werewolf world; each only marginally succeeds
TOTAL:	26/50