Animal Attraction 2 edited by Vincent Diamond
Elusive Blue by Kiernan Kelly
This short story was a nice surprise for me, since I though I was reading a paranormal tale and instead found a nice historical one. Actually maybe "historical" is stretching a bit the genre, since it's setting in the '50 of the twenty century, but it is important to underlight the time in which the story is set since it gave a different taste to all. Paul is the sheriff of a small town USA; he has not a bad life, he is well-good by his town folks, and probably everything would be perfect if not for the fact that Paul is gay and he has no way to be gay in the small town where he lives; even if there is no law against him, probably the town folks that now like him will hung him if they know. And so Paul lives in hiding, till the day a moving carnival arrives in town; among the performers there is Max, a very handsome man who arises forbidden desires in Paul. He can't help to go day after day to see the man performing with his big cats, but he has no courage to make a move; and probably Max would have been only a nice memory if not for an accident that forced the carnival to stop in the town. This event allows Paul to understand two things: that his apparently perfect life is all a lie, and that the town folks are not accepting of diversity, both physical than sexual; and that he can have a different life with Max, if he only has the courage to reach for it.
The Case of the Missing Boa by Aaron Michaels
This short story winks to the tv fiction of the '80 like Magnum P.J. Jack is a private investigator, but he works mainly for insurance fraud and by phone, so he has not many changes to meet a beautiful damsel in distress; add then that he is not at all interested in damsel, but more on the Chippendales dancer, and Jack has very few possibility to see his daydreams come true. At least since the day Leo enters his office: Leo is the manager of a wild animals shelter and one of his protegee is missing, Marty the boa. Marty himself is quite a character in the story, he has more background than Jack and Leo; a retired stage performance snake, he was enjoying his life in Leo's shelter, and Leo now is really preoccupied for him. Jack has a veiled personal interest for accepting the case, since he is really more interested in Leo than in Marty; helping Leo to find Marty he hopes to have a chance to enter in Leo's graces. The story is more funny than mystery, in this respecting the feeling of those old television fiction I was referring. It's a bit sexy, but not so much, it's more a play that takes act all in Jack's mind, without Leo having any idea of Jack's true reasons.
Driven by Destiny by Jane Davitt
When the Hollywood movie industry was still Black and White, probably in the '30, Kerr and Tony are both working for a Gloria Swanson's type of actress. Kerr is her agent and Tony her bodyguard; they had the chance to test each other behavior and maybe they are ready to move their working relationship to a different level, but they are still testing the water: it's not easy for them to come out in a time when being gay is still something to hide; more, Tony, with his profession, has to maintain a public image of strength and tought, where instead in his private life he prefers to be the under the control of his lover, so he has to be even more picky in his choice of bed partners. But then an unexpected even involving a panther, allow them to spend some time alone and... For Kerr and Tony maybe it's easy, both living under the shadow of the actress, the attention of public is diverted toward their employer, and they are not really someone of interested; they can discreetly live how they want. There is a nice feeling in this story, of class and old fashioned memories.
Slow and Steady by C.B. Potts
In this contemporary short story, C.B. Potts winks to the adventure movie Indiana Jones's style. The Professor (without name, since this is a first person point of view narration) is travelling in the Amazonian forest with a cameraman and an anchorman to film the disappearing wild life of the place. Rafe, the typical adventure man, is guiding them and he has a personal interest in the Professor; it's not clear if Rafe understood that the Professor is the only man in the group that can help him in his fight to preserve the wild nature, or since he is the only man interested in having a more than professional relationship with him, in a way or the other, Rafe involves the Professor in a "torrid" affair, complete of sex in the open, danger in the forest and a new species of cute snakes. It's not true love, it's more the passion of the moment, a real adventure hero never stops to a place and a lover, he is always in motion. Mixing sex with adventure, this is a light enjoyable romp.
Rodeo Mafia by Julia Talbot
Lanny is a city boy with some mistaken idea on rodeo and cowboys. He goes to a rodeo to take some pictures as a proof that the animals are mistreated and instead finds himself with an offer to spend a weekend on Harley's ranch. Harley is a modern cowboy who manages an "eco" ranch, but who is also the image of the classical Marlboro Man: big and tough at work, but tender and homey as a lover. Lanny can't help for fall for the man, but the problem is still there: Lanny is a city boy, he is not even able to ride an horse, but he is quite able to ride a cowboy. On the other hand, Harley appreciates the challenge to tame the little brat; and maybe Lanny will discover that the ranch life is not so "prehistoric" and "cruel" as he believed. This is a real funny romp, sexy and easy; no drama, no angst, a nice look to a old fashioned world that was able to reinvent itself to be still alive in the modern time.
Hiding in the Snow by Sean Michael
Boston is a freelance photographer and movie operator sent in Uzbekistan to film a wild pack of snow leopard. On the place he meets Mickey, nickname Mouse, a young college professor who is an expert in wild cat; Mouse is not exactly the adventure type, he is more a library mouse sent out in the wilderness; and Boston is not exactly the adventure type either, he is an easy going man, who likes to be the owner of his life and time. Boston and Mouse immediately click together and when they go in search of the wild pack, they find more then expected, also an avalanche that trapped them alone in the snow, and the only way to survive is the exchange body warm... a task that is not hard on them. But sex is not the only thing they exchange, they also have the chance to discover that they have a lot of things in common and maybe this will be the start of a partnership for life.
All the stories in the anthology are totally different but perfect together. There is a class and style in everyone of them, short stories that have the feeling of longer books, all of them masterfully written so that, with few strokes of the brush / pen, you have a detailed background for the main characters to shine in full light.
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