Best Gay Sci-Fic / Futuristic (3° place): An Uncommon Whore by Belinda McBride
I have already had in the past the chance to appreciate Belinda McBride as author, and An Uncommon Whore makes no exception; and considering it’s a Futuristic romance, a genre that it’s not my cup of tea, it says a lot that I had no problem at all to enjoy the story, in every little detail. Maybe it helped that, even if the setting was some alien planet, basically the main focus was the love story between Griffin and Pasha/Helios.
Pasha is a whore; he is at his third owner and he is unable to remember his past, even his recent past; probably this is a damnation but also his salvation, since Pasha more or less forgets almost immediately all the ugliness he is forced to see and do, and concentrates instead on what he likes. Pasha is not even a good whore, or, don’t get me wrong, he is good at sex, but he is rebellious, he is always thinking, trying, a way to escape his destiny, but when he is almost ready to bolt, tiredness takes him and it’s another day and another day and another day.
It’s also interesting the intake Belinda McBride has on the sexuality of Pasha; as it’s right for a whore, Pasha splits sex for sexual preferences: in the planet where he is enslaved, whores are almost all male, and so Pasha is often sold for sex to men, but his sexual preferences lie on women, or at least he thinks so. Then one night he meets the eyes, better one eye and one patched one, of a space pirate, Griffin. Pasha is immediately attracted to this man, not only in a sexual way. And when they have the chance to be alone, Pasha makes a stunning discovery: his real name is Helios, he is the rightful king of a destitute kingdom, and his people need him; Griffin, the pirate, is for real the Captain of the Royal Guard, and Helios’s former lover.
Truth be told, at the beginning, Helios seems more interested in this last piece of information, being Griffin’s lover, than of being heir to the throne. Helios’s behaviour is like subdued, there are sparks of initiative, and even a streak of selfishness, but then he like deflates, loosing all energy. Helios was “trained”, not only physically, but also mentally and genetically modified to being a submissive, and inside him his true self, the former prince, the warrior, is fighting to come out. When I said that he is a bit selfish, it’s not something really drastic; I think it’s the legacy of his previous education, when he was a prince. The former Helios was used to obtain what he wanted, and I had the feeling that Griffin was putty in his hands, even if he was stronger in body. First time they have sex again, Helios almost “forces” Griffin to submit, true, Griffin doesn’t do anything to stop Helios, but Helios knows that Griffin is uncomfortable, and despite this he continues in his forced seduction. There, in that moment, I saw for the first time who Helios was before, and who he will probably be again; in that moment it was clear who was the king and who the servant, who was the real master.
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Amazon Kindle: An Uncommon Whore
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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn