Book rec! Raised by Wolves! Pirate slash! Yay!
So, back in March, I posted that I had made the startling discovery that I had stopped reading books. I seem to only read fanfic anymore and I wasn't sure why that was.
After having just finished what may have to go down in the record books as my new favorite book, several things have just now become clear to me...
1. I am a compulsive reader, and once I start, I can't seem to stop
2. At home, I can't read books when I am constantly distracted (i.e. when other people are here).
3. I only seem to be able to read for sustained amounts of time in public transport (especially airplanes and trains).
4. The internet is shiny and draws me in like a drug...
5. I hate that disapproving look my Mother gives me when I admit I stayed up half the (or the whole) night to finish a book...
6. Fanfic is usually shorter and I can force myself to turn off the computer between stories (but rarely in the middle of one...)
7. I am addicted to slash (yes, the first step is admitting you have a problem ), and this is harder to find in published fiction.
There are probably more, but that will do for the moment.
So, on my trip to the US I read a book in the airplanes and airports ("Destroyer" by C.J. Cherryh), and I read
shadowhelm's book "Prophesy of Swords" while staying with my brother in Denver, both fine books that I enjoyed. But, once home, I fell back into my fanfic pattern. I have not even managed to read the other books that
shadowhelm got for me! I am so weak.
But, the other thing she did do for me, was take me to MileHiCon, which is a literary sci-fi convention in Denver every year. I got to meet and talk to several authors, I even got an personally autographed copy of Gary Jonas' "One Way Ticket to Midnight" (which I have not read yet, but there is hope!).
One of the authors I met and talked with was Wynette Hoffman. She was there promoting her book "Raised By Wolves, Volume One - Brethren" (written as W. A. Hoffman). I was intrigued. She had bookmarks as advertisements, and I picked one up and read the following :
Wherein,
Will, a libertine Viscount,
travels to Jamaica, joins
the buccaneers of Port
Royal, and falls in love
with Gaston, an exiled
French madman.
Together,
they explore an end to
loneliness and seek to
exorcise the demons of
their past.
This hit several of my fangirl buttons : Slash, pirates, emotionally (and occasionally physically) wounded heros...I had to have it. BUT, I was flying home the next day and my suitcase was already way too full, and it was a huge book. I was strong, and didn't but it. When I got home, I looked at the bookmark several times, thought about how expensive shipping from the US is, thought about having it sent to my brother who is coming in January so he could bring it, then thought, maybe Amazon France? (out of stock!) or Amazon UK? Bingo! success! It arrived Monday, and as luck would have it, I had just shipped my parents off for a 2 week vacation! Home alone! A shiny book with slashy pirates...but responsible Mems remembered she has a real job, and could not stay up until all hours...but I did get some reading done during the week, and a blessed weekend, home alone! It is everything I could have hoped for and more! I love it! And there will be 2 sequels! Yes 2! Wheee! More Will and Gaston! (but yet unpublished...drats!)
There is even a website with 2 sample chapters (the first chapter, and the chapter where Will and Gaston meet) and merchandise! See nifty link with cover art!
This got a bit longer than I expedted, so I'm putting some under a cut, but I just had to squee!!!
It is sooooooo good,
and UST,
and plot!
and pirates!
and Gaston wears kohl, a bit like Jack in PotC, but more!
and even a few strong intelligent female characters (though they are not central to the story...yet anyway).
and of course... SLASH! Whee!
This is what is written on the back cover for those who are curious :
1667
Romance in the West Indies
Wherein,
the Viscount of Marsdale, duelist, libertine,
dilettante, and haphazard phianthropist, travels to
the colony of Jamaica to establish a sugar plantation
for his estranged father.
Once There,
he finds he has much in common with the buccaneers
of Port Royal. Thus he joins them and learns of the
strange traditions, tactics, and customs of the
Brethren of the Coast
Falling in Love,
he partners with Gaston, the mysterious French
madman known as the Ghoul, and discovers
another as noble, disenfranchised,
and scarred as himself.
Together,
they explore an end to loneliness,
and seek to exorcise the demons
of their pasts, in a wilderness
torn by war and
ambition.
...Goes off the start it again, because I do that as well, read over and over and over...
After having just finished what may have to go down in the record books as my new favorite book, several things have just now become clear to me...
1. I am a compulsive reader, and once I start, I can't seem to stop
2. At home, I can't read books when I am constantly distracted (i.e. when other people are here).
3. I only seem to be able to read for sustained amounts of time in public transport (especially airplanes and trains).
4. The internet is shiny and draws me in like a drug...
5. I hate that disapproving look my Mother gives me when I admit I stayed up half the (or the whole) night to finish a book...
6. Fanfic is usually shorter and I can force myself to turn off the computer between stories (but rarely in the middle of one...)
7. I am addicted to slash (yes, the first step is admitting you have a problem ), and this is harder to find in published fiction.
There are probably more, but that will do for the moment.
So, on my trip to the US I read a book in the airplanes and airports ("Destroyer" by C.J. Cherryh), and I read
shadowhelm's book "Prophesy of Swords" while staying with my brother in Denver, both fine books that I enjoyed. But, once home, I fell back into my fanfic pattern. I have not even managed to read the other books that
shadowhelm got for me! I am so weak.
But, the other thing she did do for me, was take me to MileHiCon, which is a literary sci-fi convention in Denver every year. I got to meet and talk to several authors, I even got an personally autographed copy of Gary Jonas' "One Way Ticket to Midnight" (which I have not read yet, but there is hope!).
One of the authors I met and talked with was Wynette Hoffman. She was there promoting her book "Raised By Wolves, Volume One - Brethren" (written as W. A. Hoffman). I was intrigued. She had bookmarks as advertisements, and I picked one up and read the following :
Wherein,
Will, a libertine Viscount,
travels to Jamaica, joins
the buccaneers of Port
Royal, and falls in love
with Gaston, an exiled
French madman.
Together,
they explore an end to
loneliness and seek to
exorcise the demons of
their past.
This hit several of my fangirl buttons : Slash, pirates, emotionally (and occasionally physically) wounded heros...I had to have it. BUT, I was flying home the next day and my suitcase was already way too full, and it was a huge book. I was strong, and didn't but it. When I got home, I looked at the bookmark several times, thought about how expensive shipping from the US is, thought about having it sent to my brother who is coming in January so he could bring it, then thought, maybe Amazon France? (out of stock!) or Amazon UK? Bingo! success! It arrived Monday, and as luck would have it, I had just shipped my parents off for a 2 week vacation! Home alone! A shiny book with slashy pirates...but responsible Mems remembered she has a real job, and could not stay up until all hours...but I did get some reading done during the week, and a blessed weekend, home alone! It is everything I could have hoped for and more! I love it! And there will be 2 sequels! Yes 2! Wheee! More Will and Gaston! (but yet unpublished...drats!)
There is even a website with 2 sample chapters (the first chapter, and the chapter where Will and Gaston meet) and merchandise! See nifty link with cover art!
This got a bit longer than I expedted, so I'm putting some under a cut, but I just had to squee!!!
It is sooooooo good,
and UST,
and plot!
and pirates!
and Gaston wears kohl, a bit like Jack in PotC, but more!
and even a few strong intelligent female characters (though they are not central to the story...yet anyway).
and of course... SLASH! Whee!
This is what is written on the back cover for those who are curious :
1667
Romance in the West Indies
Wherein,
the Viscount of Marsdale, duelist, libertine,
dilettante, and haphazard phianthropist, travels to
the colony of Jamaica to establish a sugar plantation
for his estranged father.
Once There,
he finds he has much in common with the buccaneers
of Port Royal. Thus he joins them and learns of the
strange traditions, tactics, and customs of the
Brethren of the Coast
Falling in Love,
he partners with Gaston, the mysterious French
madman known as the Ghoul, and discovers
another as noble, disenfranchised,
and scarred as himself.
Together,
they explore an end to loneliness,
and seek to exorcise the demons
of their pasts, in a wilderness
torn by war and
ambition.
...Goes off the start it again, because I do that as well, read over and over and over...