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erastes ([personal profile] erastes) wrote2007-06-12 08:35 pm
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Book Review: Smokescreen by Stevie Woods

Smokescreen by Stevie Woods

 

Torquere Press $1.95

Period: Regency England 1801

Lord Richard Douglas (known as Chard to his best friend Julian) has just returned from the continent with a new wife. Sir Julian – seeing them together realises he loves his friend in a way that would not be acceptable to law or society.

Short Version : Meh: C 

This is a very simplistic story which way overstayed its 12,000 words by at least half.   Quite readable, but no more than a PWP and very little porn to reward you for wading through the previous 11,500 words.  It's reminiscent of one of those Harry Potter fics where Sirius and Remus struggle with the realisation that they are gay and then end up boinking at the end.

 

And I couldn't find anyone called after a type of spinach arousing… I'm not Popeye.

 

There's far far too much angst.  Six thousand words of repetitive angst where both men wankst on internally about how much they love each other and how the other one must never know and how it can never be when this could be dealt with quite swiftly, and have the story move along to some substance.

 

Another problem for me was that the author sets "Chekov's gun" up in the first couple of paragraphs with a reference that Lord Douglas' new wife is no better than she should be, but the gun never really goes off – so there was a promise that the plot could have been – well, a plot – but I was left feeling let down that there wasn't any to speak of.

 

As to historical accuracy, I lost my eyebrows to my fringe a couple of times; there's no mention at all of the fact that Europe is plunged in a bloody war for a start.  Then there's this quote which nearly had me ripping the thing in half

Softly interrupting, Richard asked, "Are you afraid?"

Julian frowned, puzzled. "Afraid?"

"The sentence is still death. I know it hasn't been carried out in decades, but still, it would mean prison…Is that what's worrying you?"

"No, they have to prove penetration now." Julian was concerned, though. "Conviction is very difficult, but just an accusation…I just don't want to ruin your life."

Um – No. Sorry, Stevie Woods, but During the first thirty-five years of the nineteenth century more than fifty men were hanged for sodomy in England.  The law had to prove BOTH penetration and ejaculation to make it a hanging offence – but a lot of accusations were reduced to assault with a sodomitical intent, which meant at least six months in prison, sometimes with the pillory and a very hefty fine.

 

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/history/crime/crimes.html#sodomy

 

I suppose part of the reason that I do point this kind of inaccuracy out is that I don't want gay regency to follow the leader in the way that some heterosexual regencies do – where Heyer is considered canon.   It was illegal, it was a death sentence, to say nothing of queer bashing, and a complete loss of reputation.

 

Talking of penetration… When we get to the sex I found it more textbook than arousing, and found it a little bit strange that Julian, who had never done anything with men was (from what he'd learned in books – and I'd have liked to know which books?) more knowledgeable about what to do than Richard who admitted that he had had sex with men at least a couple of times before, and really, the men were a little too girly for my taste.

 

So all in all, I was disappointed. I'm always excited to find a gay Regency, but this just didn't do it for me.  But if you are a fan of angsty feminine men, and don't give a stuff about period feel, then you'll probably like it more than I did.

[identity profile] anderyn.livejournal.com 2007-06-12 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Innnteresting. Don't think I'll be getting this one.

Hey, was going to ask you (non-sequitur time!) -- how do you feel about gay sf? (The boys in the current wip are going to be angsting about it, but with good reason-- they serve in a very puritanical theocratical government's military, and they have to balance their gay vs. their duty. It's a subplot, yes, given that the big story is about first contact with aliens who aren't very nice to our heroes, either, but...)

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-12 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey I love gay sci-fi! I've got a short story coming out soon with space opera gay traders! Yours sounds very interesting and I'm so glad you are working on it!

[identity profile] anderyn.livejournal.com 2007-06-12 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Very cool -- you are going to have to tell me where the short story appears so I can get a copy. I do so love your stuff! :-)

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
I will! It's due out in the Autumn, and has no porn in it, but it's in the "Distant Horizons" antho by Howarth - never fear - you know me - I'll be bellowing when it comes out!!!

https://www.haworthpress.com/store/product.asp?sku=5330

[identity profile] lovefromgirl.livejournal.com 2007-06-12 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, "Chard?!" was pretty much my first reaction when I started reading your review. :-)

Also: 12,000 words = a book, now? *pokes 840-page behemoth and sighs*

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 11:42 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I suppose it's styled as an ebook - but I wish that the sellers would say how LONG - they only seem to give an indication of reading time, and although this was very cheap, I still felt a bit cheated.

840 pages? wow!! What's it about?

[identity profile] lovefromgirl.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 03:14 pm (UTC)(link)
It's an already-abridged collection of journal entries from my time at That Community College. Typical how-she-grew sort of thing -- except a hell of a lot happened between Then and Now, so I do kind of want to get it out there, in case anyone else has the same problems.

[identity profile] lee-rowan.livejournal.com 2007-06-12 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Chard? *blink.* Is that an actual English nickname for Richard? Never heard it here. (I'd never heard "Xander" for Alexander until Buffy, either, so i suppose it's possible.) But it does make me want to ask whether he was Swiss.

I'll bet he would've found books, though. From what I've read (g), Gutenberg was famous for printing bibles, but he made more money printing porn.

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 11:44 am (UTC)(link)
But it does make me want to ask whether he was Swiss.

*loses tea*

I suppose it's better than calling the object of your affection, Dick.

[identity profile] lee-rowan.livejournal.com 2007-06-14 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose it's better than calling the object of your affection, Dick.

I've never been able to use 'dick' to indicate wedding tackle... probably because I share my birthday with a cousin named Richard. And 'prick' reminds me of childhood vaccinations--as in, "you'll feel a little prick." Pity I didn't have the vocabulary to tell the medical person, "Not on your life, lady!"

[identity profile] logophilos.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
The excerpt on the Torquere site struck me as extremely 'meh' too. And not researching such an important element of your story is inexcusable in a historical story. Not one I would seek out, but that's true for almost everything Torquere puts out

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 11:46 am (UTC)(link)
There was dancing in couples too, which struck me as a little off - I know the waltz was around at this time, but I was fairly sure it didn't take off till later, but I didn't feel inspired to go and research it.

This glut of ebook buying I've done in the last few days has been my first experience with the medium and I have to say I'm unimpressed.

[identity profile] logophilos.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
There was dancing in couples too, which struck me as a little off

Arm in arm type couples, or just pairs? Because paired dancing was definitely around by then - Jane Austen even mentions a character measuring a room by the number of couples it will hold.

Yeah - the ebooks I've seen have not impressed me either. This is why I read relatively little in the gnre I write in. I'm picky.

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
In Austen I always took that to mean lines of couples, because most dancing was still in lines - quadrilles etc, you would have been limited as to how many couples you would have been able to have in lines. I mean in each other arms type dancing which I don't think really took off till later.

I do try and read every gay historical I can find - goodness knows there just aren't enough of them, and I think that knowing the competition is a good thing. I'm slowly slowly working my way through that Big List, but I might stay away from ebooks in future - all I seem to think when reading them (mostly) is "OMG can't these people do anything else but have sex????"

[identity profile] katjak.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 08:00 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm. Well. That sounds a bit like a disappointment. I have nothing against angst, but it has to be combined with a hefty dose of porn and conflict to make it interesting. And girly men really aren't my thing. Thanks for the review, yours are always a pleasure to read.

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 11:50 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

Talking of porn... *peers hopefully over Katjak's shoulder....*

[identity profile] katjak.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
:-) I've been slacking really bad for many weeks. But I'm making an effort to kick myself in the butt about this.

[identity profile] erastes.livejournal.com 2007-06-13 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll volunteer for butt kicking duty!