Last Gasp by assorted authors

TITLE: Last Gasp
AUTHORS: Charlie Cochrane, Erastes, Chris Smith, Jordan Taylor
PUBLISHER: Noble Romance
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 82k)
GENRE: Historical gay romance
COST: $5.95

A collection of four historical novellas, each about a gay romance in an era on the cusp of change…

NOTE: In the matter of full disclosure, I was offered a copy of this book for the purpose of a review.

The common thread binding together the stories in this anthology is an intriguing one. All are written in a time and place that is about to undergo some monumental change, hence the appropriate title. It gives the authors a lot of leeway to be creative, though ultimately, some are more successful than others.

The anthology starts out with “Tributary” by Erastes (who also selected the stories for inclusion), the story of Englishman Guy Mason and his retreat to a reclusive hotel in the mountains of Italy. Guy is wandering, in life as well as in locations, flitting from one place to another in search of a nameless something he feels is missing, until he settles at the Hotel Vista, along with a number of other people trying to hide away from the world. There, he meets James, a scientist studying local crayfish who seems exactly the sort of person who might be interesting enough to get to know. His attraction to James’ secretary, Louis, however, is an even bigger draw, especially when he is forced to spend time alone with Louis after James falls ill. Like the rest of the stories in the anthology, its single greatest strength rests in its attention to detail, the careful construction of 1936 Europe and the people struggling to find a place in it. It’s also one of the most readable of the collection, paced well and flowing smoothly. That being said, I found myself distanced from it emotionally. Both Guy and Louis left me cold, Guy especially. For me, his insouciance, the lack of focus that personifies both the time period and how he’s drifting along, translated into a sense of stagnation that sucked away any kinesis he might have had as a character. It kept feeling like, “Well, if he doesn’t care about anything, why should I?” It kept me from investing in his relationships, as well as caring too much about their outcome, though from an outside perspective, it’s certainly a fair read.

Following that is “The White Empire” by Chris Smith. Missionary Edgar Vaughan escapes his life to travel to 1838 Hong Kong, where he works amongst opium addicts, though his motivations are never completely altruistic. He’s also very much a snob, never willing to consider dalliances with men of lesser station than him. While in Hong Kong, he decides it’s his specific mission to break the people from their opium addiction, only to learn that the British government has other plans for both the region and the opium. Through this, he meets Archie Runfold, a Lord who fascinates him from the start. From the very first words, I found myself sucked into this novella, far more than any of the rest in the anthology. The prologue starts out with Vaughan in a Chinese brothel, about to engage with an older boy, when another client catches his eye, one who interests him far more than the whore. It’s titillating, intriguing, and sets an almost breathless tone that holds throughout the entire story. Almost all of the characters in this, though superficially superior, are so morally ambiguous that it’s a delight to get lost in their world for the duration. It’s both dingy and decadent, and if the prose veers into the purple more often than not, I certainly didn’t mind since I enjoyed the ride so very, very much. It’s the longest and easily most complex of the anthology, providing more layers than the historical premise upon which most are based.

Coming after this is Charlie Cochrane’s “Sand.” Writer Charles Cusiter has been tasked by his benefactress to get her son out of England and away from all the women he keeps pursuing. They end up in Syria, playing archaeologists on a dig that entertains people as a fundraising effort. Charles meets the leader Andrew, Charles likes Andrew, and so on. By far the shortest and most romantic story of the bunch, I found myself very underwhelmed by it after having been engaged on so many levels by the previous story. It’s a good change of pace, but the story itself is so simplistic and short that it never really has a chance to work for me. Just as I was starting to get into the romance and characters, the humor shifted me out of it (I’m sure the line, “I’ll resist saying it’s ironic you should hate camels when you’re built like one.” is meant to be playful, but honestly, it stopped me dead in my tracks as being very unfunny and with thoughts like, Is she [the author] really calling him humpbacked?.), and then it was all over. They went from friends to sex to let’s have a future together in the space of six pages. It was way too fast for me, and highly unbelievable, even within the context of this particular setting.

Rounding out the anthology, and straying from the British heroes, is “The Ninth Language” by Jordan Taylor. Set in Canada of 1898, it tells the story of two unlikely comrades, Mitsrii, a member of the dying Hän, and Troy, a linguist who’s been sent to study the natives. Troy saved Mitsrii from execution, and Mitsrii returns the favor by saving his life when two other natives rob and leave him to save himself in the wilderness. They slowly build a friendship that leads to more. While the setting and characters were a welcome change, this was the story that slowed me down the most. I read the first three in one sitting apiece, but I kept putting this one down, time and time again, because it failed almost from the start to pull me into the story. Description is evocative, but Mitsrii never felt like an individual for the first half, instead an extension of the world surrounding him. I know this is intentional. That’s who he is. But I couldn’t connect emotionally with him, and until he started interacting with Troy, I couldn’t connect to the story, either. Because of this inability, I never understood why Mitsrii would fall for Troy. The converse was easy. But Troy couldn’t compensate enough for the other shortcomings the story had for me, and I finished this – eventually – relieved to finally be done with it.

Does this mean I wouldn’t recommend this anthology? Absolutely not. It’s consistently well-written, and there’s more than a measure of base entertainment to be taken from each. I also think that readers who are devoted to this particular genre will be more satisfied with it than I was. The greatest strength of the collection is the loving detail that is bestowed upon the settings. Historical lovers are likely to fall in love with the authors’ attention to detail, where that is not the first – nor really the second – aspect I look at. I tend to view settings in historicals as vehicles to allow the characters to flourish and shine, while it often feels in this, it’s the other way around. For the stories I didn’t fall in love with, it was usually because of a character. And just because I didn’t connect with a story, doesn’t mean other readers won’t.

Readability	8/10 – Mostly clean, heavily detailed, the first two stories were much easier for me to read than the latter two
Romance	7/10 – Not the strong point of any of the stories
Characterization	8/10 – Even when I might not like the characters, most of them are well-rounded and written
Entertainment value	7/10 – On a purely engaging level, the second story surpassed the other three by a large margin
World building	9/10 – Considering the genre and authors involved, it’s unsurprising that the eras and places were so richly developed
TOTAL:	39/50

Frost Fair by Erastes

TITLE: Frost Fair
AUTHOR: Erastes
PUBLISHER: Linden Bay Romance
LENGTH: Novella (roughly 36k)
GENRE: Gay historical romance
COST: $5.99

When the printing community turned its back on his dying father, Gideon Frost decided never to have to rely upon another again. He does what he must to try and make the printing business he inherited survive, and if that means he must occasionally sell himself in order to pay a bill, so be it. But he does so on his terms. The only man who even tempts him to bend those personal rules is his client, the richer, older, attractive Joshua Redfern. When the Thames freezes over, circumstances bring them even closer together. Gideon has to decide whether the opportunity Redfern offers is charity, or something more…

The heart of this long novella is Gideon Frost, a young man beset by troubles yet determined to prevail without having to accept charity. There is a dignity to his strength, a pride and gentility that creates an aura superior to those of the supposedly upper class. He conducts himself professionally, providing strict boundaries for himself even when he is forced to seek out other means to pay creditors. There is never any doubt he will do what he must, and do so with his respect intact, which makes him a pillar amidst the chaos rampaging around him.

Therein lies my difficulty. In his attempts to protect himself, Gideon has thrown up walls that hold other characters at bay, including Redfern, a man he’s mad for. Those walls do a lot to shield the reader as well. While I certainly felt for Gideon in regards to his personal situation – both financially and professionally – I found it much more difficult to engage with his feelings regarding Redfern, much because as a general protective measure for himself, he tries not to dwell on them too much. He opens up very, very gradually after his circumstances change halfway through the story, but it’s just not quite enough to fully invest me in the romance aspect of the story.

The romance isn’t aided by Redfern’s characterization, either. His initial attraction to Gideon is well done and utterly believable, and I had high hopes once the river started to thaw. That promise isn’t quite followed through, as Redfern proves to suffer from the same sort of rigidity Gideon does. It’s apropos for the period, don’t get me wrong. But Redfern’s swiftness to take things on faith without proof is much harder to empathize with than Gideon’s drive to be self-sufficient. His quick reversal is even more so, and I was left with the feeling that I had missed something somewhere along the line. It just felt a little easy, when throughout the first half, a strong part of the story’s charm was that it wasn’t easy, that sometimes life meant hard choices.

In spite of my distance from the romance, this is solid storytelling. Period detail is vivid and puts the reader completely in the moment. At first glance, the parallelism of the frigid weather with Gideon’s walls isn’t exactly subtle, but it works anyway, primarily because of the author’s clear sympathy for her lead and her love of the environment. It contributes to the melancholy air pervasive of the entire story that serves both Gideon and his professional dilemmas very well. Above all else, this is an engrossing character study, with solid writing and detail that should please any fan of the genre.

Readability	9/10 – Mostly uncomplicated and quite readable, a much swifter read than I expected.
Hero	7/10 – Multi-layered, but the distance he holds other characters at works against him with the reader
Hero	6/10 – A nice enough man, though many of his various transitions of mindset seemed overly simplistic
Entertainment value	7/10 – Though I liked Gideon, I didn’t really trust the romance aspect of the story.
World building	9/10 – Vivid, very much puts the reader in the moment
TOTAL:	38/50

Trilogy No. 111: Speak Its Name by Charlie Cochrane, Lee Rowan, & Erastes

TITLE: Trilogy No. 111: Speak Its Name
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochrane, Lee Rowan, and Erastes
PUBLISHER: Linden Bay Romance
LENGTH: Anthology (roughly 72k)
GENRE: Gay historical romance
COST: $6.99

A trio of gay historical romances, each offering love amongst Englishmen.

The anthology starts out with “Aftermath” by Charlie Cochrane. The story of two young men attending Cranmer College in England in 1920, it describes how two men of supposedly opposite demeanors and upbringings can come together and find love, in spite of the societal and cultural pressures. Edward Easterby is a chemistry student, awkward and antisocial, while Hugo Lamont is revered by all on campus as the man to be. Discovering they share a secret is both the best and worst thing to happen to them. As sweet as the potential of this romance is, however, it’s characterized by a device that very rarely works for me. Sections of the story are told in third person omniscient POV, which, while it’s reminiscent of other classic historical works, is always something I’ve struggled enjoying. For me, the intrusive narrator that both describes backstory as well as makes blatant connections for the reader distances me from getting involved. I’ve always found the need to draw lines within the text mildly patronizing, like I can’t do it myself. In this story’s case, since it happens as early as the third page, I’m shoved out of experiencing the story almost right away. I never find that footing with it. Dialogue that makes me cringe, even for the setting (I've fallen in love with you, Edward; I knew it from the moment you laid your precious head on my manly chest, that day by this same river.), doesn’t help that.

I moved on to the second story, Lee Rowan’s “Gentleman’s Gentleman,” with mild trepidation, then. If all three stories employed this device, I very likely would have set the entire thing aside. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Rowan tells the tale of Lord Robert Scoville and his valet, Jack Darling, as they undergo a diplomatic assignment for the Crown. Darling served under Scoville in the armed forces, and took the post of valet afterward because he’s in love with the man. For his part, Scoville is very aware of his own proclivities, and though he’s always held a desire for Darling, he hasn't, and never would, acted upon it. Because they’re of different stations, the last thing he would ever want is to force a man to accept his advances, so they live comfortably in this stasis for over a decade. There’s an elegant charm to this entire tale, as the plot thread about their assignment wends along, that sucked me in. I delighted in both characters, chuckled along at their camaraderie, and was more than pleased with how they eventually found the truth of their feelings.

The final story is “Hard and Fast” by Erastes. Major Geoffrey Chaloner, the third son in a family of means but not title, has returned from the Napoleonic Wars to find his father determined to marry him off. The most recent candidate is Lady Pelham, but first, Chaloner must get through her cousin, Adam Heyward. Heyward is a very mystery of vexation, driving Chaloner to distraction more than once, and when their odd relationship explodes in an entirely unexpected direction, Chaloner is left adrift at what to do. Where the first story left me cold, this final offering thoroughly and utterly enchanted me. Told in 1^st person from Chaloner’s perspective, I found myself tumbling along with his confusion, charmed by his responses, and just as eager to find a resolution to all the madness of his feelings as he was. Adam is suitably enigmatic, and provides an interesting foil for Chaloner. Ultimately, it was the romance I got swept up by the most. This story is different in tone and focus than Rowan’s, reflective of the various environments they chose for their heroes. Where Rowan’s story focused on the escapade as a means of breaking down the walls between them, this one utilized more internal monologue in order to accomplish the same feat. Both succeed, just in different ways.

Readability	7/10 – My difficulties with the first story are the only thing holding this back.
Romance	8/10 – I invested in varying degrees with the romances, though all have something to offer.
Characterization	8/10 – The best overall aspect of the anthology.
Entertainment value	7/10 – It’s hard for a multi-author anthology to be perfect, and my difficulty with the first story illustrates that.
World building	8/10 – A reverse here, I actually had the best sense of place and time with the first story.
TOTAL:	38/50