Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Fall is the perfect time of year for a love story, and Taste Test: Shades of Autumn offers up three clever stories.

In A Walk in the Woods by Jessica Freely, George has given up finding anyone and is even thinking of changing colleges after he is the subject of a cruel practical joke by the senior on whom he has a crush. When George trips into a pile of autumn leaves in the woods, he is surprised (and suspicious of another trick) when it is already occupied.

In The Big Bang by G.S. Wiley, it's October 1962, and Jim is a college senior, more worried about his lack of a love life than impending nuclear war. When the Cuban missile crisis comes down to the wire, though, Jim's roommate David surprises them both by showing Jim exactly what he means to him.

Finally, in The Straggler by Addison Albright, Blake and Frank work for the same company. When they meet on a golf course where Blake is a "straggler", looking to hook up as a fourth player for a round of golf, he ends up joining Frank and his two friends. Do Blake and Frank have more in common than golf?

BOOK REVIEW:
A Walk in the Woods by Jessica Freely
This tale begins with lonely gay freshman George being the butt of a practical joke by ‘in-crowd’ seniors. Hideously embarrassed, he slinks off to the park, only to trip into a pile of leaves occupied by ~ of all things ~ a dragon. And the dragon needs a favor ... Could it be another practical joke? And if it’s real, can he help?

“I’m not a magician. If I were, there are three drama students who would be newts right now.”

In this modern adaptation of Aesop’s fable about the lion and the mouse, Jessica Freely takes an unbelievable premise and draws us right in. Once George realizes that he is not having a hallucination and that the dragon is not another cruel joke, he discovers that this particular dragon is hot in more than one way!

The Big Bang by G.S. Wiley
For those of you who are not old enough to remember the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, the backdrop of G.S. Wiley’s story may seem a bit far-fetched, but those of us who were there remember that ‘the world is coming to an end in a nuclear holocaust’ feeling. (Think: 9/11.)

The story begins with a bang:

“It was a Monday in October when David told me we were all going to die.”

Jim and David have been roommates since freshman year, and have reached as close a friendship as is possible between a gay physics major and a straight English major:

“I was a senior physics student and like all physics students, I spent most of my life in the lab. David was an English major. He spent his days at the campus bar looking at girls.”

College students tend to think there’s plenty of time in life. With the pressure of the missile crisis, however, David suddenly realizes that life is short. He doesn’t feel he can wait any longer to show a very surprised (and pleased!) Jim how he really feels.

The Straggler by Addison Albright
Blake Renner loves to golf, but doesn’t have a regular foursome. On one crisp autumn day, he signs up as a ‘straggler’, hoping to join in with another threesome for a round. To his shock, he’s matched up with a group including Frank Miller, the CFO of his company, a man he has not met, but who is rumored to be cutthroat when dealing with underlings. Since Blake is wearing his Gay Pride earring, he knows he’s been ‘outed’ at work.

As it turns out, there’s more to Frank than Blake realizes since it becomes apparent right away that the other two men in the group are not only a couple, but are actively encouraging Blake to make moves on Frank, who may be aggressive at work, but is very reserved socially. Since Blake would not normally approach Frank because of his position at the company (even though Frank is not Blake’s boss), he has to overcome his hesitation if they are to establish a relationship. They both have too much to lose if they can’t establish a basis of trust from the very start.

These stories are well written by the authors and deftly edited by Mychael Black. Autumn is, of course, a recurring theme, but my favorite part of all three stories is the humor. They all have tongue-in-cheek funny moments, which are a great leavening for the hot sex! Sometimes in an anthology, the stories are not all of equal weight, but in this case, the stories are all quite good. I’d be hard pressed to pick my favorite ~ so I won’t! I’ll just tell you that you should read them all.

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