As Meat Loves Salt

[erastes]

I haven't finished it yet, so it's not a review just some thoughts. Pretty damned good. But then I'm not the only person to think THAT and my little opinion doesn't mean much, but yes, I'm impressed. I think I enjoy it more because I've been reading a lot of erotica recently, almost exclusively, and more and more the plot in erotica seems to be no more than a device to get the protagonists naked and fucking in more imaginative ways or with more and more people. It's ok for an occaisional titillation, but I don't really want every homoerotic historical to be this way. This is almost exactly the opposite, in as much that it's "mainstream literature" so the plot is overarching and the sex (although there) is subtle and short.

I admit that I'd like a book that was more equally balanced, I mean why can't a so-called "literary" book have more description of the sexual act in it? It's the sex that's important in this book, particularly at the stage where I am at the moment, Ferris is thinking that Cullen only wants him for his body, so I'd like to see a little more of why he thinks that.

However, it's a very good book, not an "easy" read, but not "heavy going" either, just enough to make me appreciate reading it. The language is perfect for the time, far better than Transgressions. I put off reading this book for a long time, because - as far as I know - this is the only other homoerotic book that deals with the English Civil War - but I'm not intimidated by it, it's a completely different book from Transgressions which I'm happy to report. It's a "romance" after all, and I fear that AMLS is going to end badly.

She does a very good job of managing to made me completely dislike Cullen almost completely from the first and I still haven't warmed to him - it's a clever way of writing, and one I'd like to tackle one day, to see if I can manage it.

I feel very sorry for Cullen, but I think I feel sorrier for Ferris, because I can actually feel his sorrow more - he KNOWS his Bad Angel is bad news but he seems to be addicted to him, for all his controlling ways and jealousy and secrets. But - I do dread the ending.I'd be interested in others' opinions of Cullen.

And I'd like to link to stewardess's very succinct round up and thoughts on the on-going LJ debacle. I didn't doubt for one minute that it was money oriented. I should have bolted when Six Apart took over. We all should. But hey - they were very reassuring, weren't they? But I'd like to reiterate here what I've just said over there - LJ isn't just all about fandom - and I am getting a bit annoyed that fandomers are claiming this as some kind of victory. Hello!? There are other people complaining too, you know!!

Comments

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

one was a support group for survivors of bloody incest

Not to diminish the stupidity of what LJ did, but I think this particular claim has been debunked. Assiduous efforts to find such suspended communities ended in failure:
http://catrinella.livejournal.com/151812.html

If you know otherwise, then you should let that LJ owner know.

And while a lot of innocent LJs got caught up in this, some truly despicable ones were also cleaned out. This is the resurrection of one, childlove:
http://community.livejournal.com/childlovelives/

Which would like you to believe:
"What I want to Save The Children from most is the Save The Children madness that LiveJournal has caved in to, the kind that has resulted in a blind panic about things that more and more people are standing up to and saying is not only not evil, but is something they have had in their lives. Yes, LiveJournal, many of the people here are people who are not only childlovers, but people who were childloved. These are people who had relationships with an elder when they were a child, and have come out to state that they suffered no ill effects from it. Or even in some cases, children who are talking about their current experiences: by what absurd logic does shutting down their ability to speak Save them? There is absolutely no rational basis for ignoring these testimonies or downplaying their importance."

This is a pedophilic group hanging on the shirttails of fandom indignation and trying to make people think 'childlove' is the same as 'boylove'. Now I wish I could see more fandomers get righteous about *that*.

[zoepaleologa.livejournal.com]

Thanks for putting me right, though I've avoided the sort of posts metafandomed like the plague as the relentless cheerleading is becoming increasingly tedious. It also appears to have shamefully muddied the pond. Frankly, I'd happily see every fandom com (oh, and they can have my lj as a bond, too) go as worthwhile collateral damage to see the sort of thing you quoted excised from the face of the earth.

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

There doesn't seem to be any issue that fandom can't flog to death and consider to be worth hurling themselves against the barricades for. I would just once love to see that energy turned to some real world use - without all the nauseating self-congratulating.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that was a hoax either, but then, what can you believe. I know that an individual who has rape in her interests because she was a rape victim was banned, but who can believe anyone?

*sigh*

[logophilos.livejournal.com]

There's no doubt that individual accounts of survivors etc were suspended - what isn't true is that communities for survivors were affected.

This is all down to LJ's idiotic insistence on the meanings of its own administrative labels. 'Interests' should be be 'Keywords' and hold no greater signficance than any other index. They've come out of this looking like fools. And the worst thing is that the real abusers and groomers are still operating, apparently quite openly.