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Meet Jacob Campbell

2/3/2016

Jacob Campbell is author of five male gay books. His novels range from near-documentary treatments of sex and promiscuity in FRENCH QUARTER KNGHTS, to the unveiling of a sensitive boy’s abuse by a secret cabal of Roman Catholic priests in AMEN’S BOY. He has published an annotated bibliography for the gay reader, and a historical outline of Zen. He lives with his husband in New Orleans, Louisiana, and recently released TWO LOVES, a sequel to AMEN’S BOY which in many ways models itself upon the writing of Jean Genet.)

Amen's Boy: A Fictionalized Autobiography by Jacob Campbell
and William Maltese

Ripped from today's headlines, and based on the scandalously true story, Amen's Boy tells the tale of a young man who decides to become a Catholic priest. But before he can graduate from the seminary, he must preserve his youthful innocence from the physical, mental, and sexual abuse of...a sadistic father, a violent brother, a molesting classmate, and a secret cabal of priests hiding within the very framework of Mother Church herself. In the end, Jacob Campbell can only maintain his core self through what may be an actual epiphany, including visitations by angels and heavenly hosts--or possibly drug-induced self-delusions conjured up by exposure to hallucinogens and prescription pills. A riveting, terrifying, moving, and ultimately redeeming visit to seminary hell--and back again!

Amen’s Boy
by Jacob Campbell and William Maltese
Borgo Press
978-1434445681
206 pp., paperback, $14.99

Amen’s Boy By Jacob Campbell And William Maltese
Review by Edward Dutton

The reviewer Amos Lassen recently introduced me--via Facebook--to a writer called Jacob Campbell, who lives in Louisiana and writes confessional “fiction” about his time as a minor seminarian, and later, as an out-gay resident of the French Quarter.

The relationship between Campbell and myself has been rewarding from an artistic perspective (we both write about similar themes) and it’s also exposed me to incredible works of queer fiction: Campbell’s own. First among these has to be his novel Amen’s Boy, which is similar in many ways to Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, only queer and just as powerful.

Despite being labeled as a “fictionalized memoir” about sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church, Amen’s Boy isn’t simply a book about abuse. If it were merely a novelization of current events, it could hardly deserve to be called “literature”; and Amen’s Boy is a highly “literary” novel, as I’ll explain.
The abuse described in the novel--mainly perpetrated by priests against boys or by teenagers against younger boys--plays a major role in the adolescent narrator’s psycho-sexual and spiritual evolution. But it never comes to define the novel as simply a “text about abuse.”

Rather than understanding Amen’s Boy through the lens of current events--which many of its readers, on Amazon and elsewhere, seem to want to do--encouraged by the publisher and, perhaps, their own experiences--I think it’s important to respect the book’s integrity and read it for what it is: a literary narrative that draws on elements of mysticism, modernism, and coming-of-age, gay literature.

One aspect of the book’s “literariness” that transcends the documentary genre is the powerful voice of the boy-narrator, Thaddeus Merton (“Tad,” or “Tadpole,” for short), who experiences everything through the lens of a kind of transcendent, Joycean aestheticism. Thaddeus’ abuse is explored, at first, from a child’s point of view–not capable of deep reflection–and in a way that focuses on rich, sensory and instinctual experiences. It’s only later in the novel that a series of epiphanies and self-revelations reveals the true nature of what has happened to him.

Whereas Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man seems conditioned in his Catholicism--and Joyce’s rejection of his church is conclusive at the end of the novel--Thaddeus seems to live his faith profoundly and Campbell never opts for black or white answers. This is reflected in the ending of the novel, which could represent a spiritual redemption for Thaddeus--the rejuvenation of his vocation–or a psychotic breakdown.

By allowing spirituality to remain a possibility for Thaddeus, and by refusing to “overcome” religiosity in favor of pure aestheticism, as Joyce does for Stephen, Campbell creates a novel that lends itself just as much to spiritual autobiography as it does to modernism.

At times, Thaddeus’ first-person narrative transforms into a highly-wrought, mystical text--akin to the writings of Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross rather than a gay novel. And perhaps this is the most post-modern thing about the novel: the difficulty one experiences trying to explain it in terms of generic conventions and its refusal to give up exactly what its ending means.
The author shows us how an adolescent can find a damaging comfort in the “secret closeness” of an abusive priest–in this case, a sad, balding character called Fr. Terry. The insidious, soothing intimacy Thaddeus shares with Fr. Terry is experienced as a grateful escape from the brutality he suffers at home–at the hands of his sadistic brother and his weak parents.

This is true not only of the abusive relationship with the priest but of Thaddeus’ entire relationship with his church, which includes his duties as an altar server, and his conversations with Fr. Terry in the Sacrament of Reconciliation–which the priest uses, shamefully, to groom the boy for both sex and the priesthood.

This paradoxical blending of heavenly and hellish themes culminates in the author’s haunting portrayal of “Mettray,” a minor seminary where Thaddeus pursues his vocation to the priesthood.

Named after the penal colony in which Jean Genet was incarcerated for 3 years in the 1920s, the Mettray of Amen’s Boy becomes Thaddeus’ home for an equivalent 3 years. Its name evokes the irony that a child can experience “home” as both a heaven and a hell.

Similar to Proust’s “Combray,” Mettray is Campbell’s greatest achievement, if only because the descriptions of the seminary ground Amen’s Boy with such a vivid sense of place one often feels transported while reading, returning with a sense of sadness about the horrors that occur there and, confusingly, with a longing for the joys.

When Amen’s Boy is over, the aura of Mettray remains. You may even wish to return there–despite the fact that horrible things occurred. For nothing is black and white at Mettray: the soul-crushing brutality one experiences there exists side by side with the possibility of redemption.
__________
Edward Dutton is the author of Norceuil's Garden: Queer Fiction and Erotica. His work has been published in Chroma, Best Gay Romance 2009, and Best Gay Bondage Erotica.

Purchase link >>> http://amzn.to/1SXNbDh

French Quarter Knights

After winning millions in a settlement from the church, Thaddeus "Tadpole" Merton has learned to hide things from others -- his money, his epilepsy, and his feelings. Now, he searches for love, acceptance, and sexual liberation in 1983 New Orleans.
Leaving behind a reluctant master in Linden and exploring a new lover in Sandy, Tadpole has adventures into a sensual drug- and alcohol-rich world of gay bars, drag clubs, baths, porno theatres, arcades, and hidden sex venues. Yet he also works with a yoga teacher and Zen guide, and questions himself in light of a world beyond the merely physical.
Tadpole seeks friendship and love, a home, and independence. But exploring steamy sensuality seems to counter his romantic need for true love, and he struggles with himself and his desires.
Will he be able to transcend the empty promises of easy sex and sick relationships to find true love? Tadpole knows he needs to settle for nothing less than complete freedom and independence. But can he overcome his own emotions and move on to a better life as a gay man?

Review

5.0 out of 5 starsDeep, dark, and delicious
ByJ. Onealon August 20, 2013
Format: Kindle Edition
NOTE: this novel contains explicit same-gender sexual scenes. So if you are offended by that, this book is not for you.

Thaddeus (a.k.a. Tadpole a.k.a. Tad) runs a fine line between being lovers with several men while figuring out he likes being single. The story is set in the French Quarter of New Orleans in the early 1980s. Tadpole is in his mid-20's and has adopted a flexible approach to life: one man at a time or several all at once, but all of them always in sincerity.

Tad's story is a tale of discovery. He discovers that sometimes hiding in the offers of sex and intimacy is a need on the part of others to control and own him. He dislikes the part of himself that's vulnerable to those efforts to dominate him. Fortunately he also finds a few people who offer real love--along with the sex of course.

The book is like a sexual travel log: from one-on-one encounters to three-ways and from group sex to the wild Full Moon Night Orgy at one of the most famous (or notorious depending on your point of view) of the gay sex bars on the lower part of Decatur St.

The orgy scene alone is worth the price of the book because it reveals something I'm sure many have experienced about group sex but few talk about. Something happens to ego boundaries and egotistical needs. Concerns about who is good-looking or desirable and who is not dissolve. Very interesting and very surprising. Makes you wonder if the so-called "pagan" religions that incorporated sexual rites in religious practices knew something that's been lost in our (historically) repressive culture.

This is a book that's upbeat, fast moving, plenty of sexual and romantic action, and a plot that twists and turns surprisingly and happily. There are some very serious scenes too, of course, since the book is a realistic depiction of a certain stratum of gay life in the French Quarter during the early 1980s. But ultimately, it's a book about hope--hope for a healthy identity as a gay person, hope for real friendship, and hope that somewhere in all the sex one will find true love.

Remember this is gay metropolitan society before the advent of AIDS changed everything. The bath houses, the sex bars, the orgy rooms--it's all quite authentic. If you ever wondered what went on in the pre-HIV era, wonder no more. You can experience it like it was with Tadpole as your guide in this book.

I became interested in the book because I read and enjoyed the first novel of the series entitled AMEN'S BOY (search Amazon for books by Jacob Campbell). Tadpole was an abused young man in a Catholic seminary in that book. This book--FRENCH QUARTER KNIGHTS--is a continuation of his story. I hope to see further installments in the near future.

Purchase Link >>> http://amzn.to/1PzsECK

Two Loves

Two Loves by Jacob Campbell.
Gay Erotic Romance about the two loves in the life of the 19 year old protagonist. Steamy. Explicit sex and drug use. Not for easily offended. Some scenes are three-ways. Joey’s first love flourishes albeit in the closet together, and with some sexual kinks, and yields another deeper love, mature, and hot.

Growing up, Joey has no gay role models. In the dim light of the early 1960s, Joey only knew what he picked up on the streets, at magazine stands, and in public restrooms. In his senior year in high school, he falls in love with Ross, a beautiful athletic “straight guy.” But once in college, his love life takes a turn.

Ike, a flamboyant college freshman, turns Joey on to gay sex and the newly formed gay lib movement. But things don’t go well for Joey, and he fumbles through a few one-night stands and semi-relationships. After nearly losing Ike to a gay bashing, Joey gives up on love and turns his motorcycle toward New Orleans and the French Quarter, where he moves in with his bohemian cousin, Judy.

Joey likes the gay scene in the Quarter but he is lonely, missing intimacy, and flails through life. The sexual nights in the French Quarter aren’t enough to satisfy his real needs -- but his resourceful cousin magically opens the door for him to have the best of both worlds.

A Review by Amos Lassen.
Campbell, Jacob.
“Two Loves”, JMS Books, 2014.

Back to the ’60s

Amos Lassen

Jacob Campbell (Amen’s Boy and French Quarter Knights) takes us to New Orleans in the 1960s, a time before gay liberation when being gay was secret. The same beautiful language that we loved in his earlier books, still characterizes Campbell’s writing and character creation.

Joey grew up in a world without gay role models and all he knew about being gay was based on man/man sex—what he picked up on the streets, at magazine stands, and in public restrooms. When he was a senior in high school, he fell in love with Ross, a beautiful athletic “straight guy.” But then there was college where everything changed. There Joey met flamboyant Ike who not only turned him on to gay sex but also to the newly formed gay liberation movement.

Joey, however, has a difficult time and he has a few unsuccessful one-nighters and a couple of semi-relationships. To make things even worse, Ike is gay bashed and was nearly gone. Joey decides to give up on looking for love and turns his motorcycle toward New Orleans and the French Quarter, where he moves in with his bohemian cousin, Judy.

Even though he likes the scene in the French Quarter, Joey is lonely and there is no intimacy in his life. The sexuality of the New Orleans nights in the French Quarter isn’t enough to satisfy his real needs. Judy is able to help him by opening the doors that will provide him with the best of both worlds.

Thanks to Joey, we are taken on a sensual exploration of a young gay man’s love of a straight classmate, with all the complexities of sex with “a straight guy” and the ultimate frustration of trying to develop a rewarding emotional relationship. The eighteen year old “boyfriends” go through many of the traditional rights of passage but ultimately, Joey, the protagonist, has to face the facts about loving a straight guy. Joey then meets Ike and romance ensues with the two guys discovering their homosexuality with each other.

The prose is gorgeous and at times poetic. Joey is a wonderfully drawn character who is torn between the sex trade and love for another man. We must remember that at the time this novel is set, homosexuality was taboo in many places in the world but especially here in America. Joey and Ike had not turned 20 years old when they began to act on their sexualities.

Jacob Campbell, with poetic prose, and many vibrant images shows how Joey struggles to discover a way of life as a homosexual man in a world that is not open. As they learn who they are, they find themselves on a journey of life— from dancing in musicals on the college summer stage together in a chorus line, to riding Joey’s motorcycle to redneck bars in the hillbilly countryside of 1960’s Little Rock, to actually working as a team hustling guys they pick up in dark so-called “gay bars”—these young men discover that violence, misunderstanding, and lack of family or social support plot against them and their desire to be a lasting couple.

It was only when Joey’s bohemian, “beat” or “beatnik” cousin, Judy, takes him in to live in her French Quarter home that Joey finds there is a larger world of openly homosexual men from whom he can expect to gain support. It was only through her loving support that he could find supportive means to set out on a mission to be both a faithful lover to young Ike. Joey also fulfills his life’s dream of becoming a writer working in the gay movement. This was where he discovered himself the early gay underground of New Orleans in the 60s.

I have watched Campbell’s writing mature with each book and he has hit a peak with “Two Loves” yet I am certain that there is still more to come. He has the ability to combine our history with his fiction thus allowing us to enjoy a read and learn something at the same time. There are not many authors I can say that about.

Purchase Link >>> http://amzn.to/1SXNiir

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Charles Raines talks to Warren Collen (Gay Guy Reader Reviews)

1/11/2015

0 Comments

An Interview by Warren:

Hi Charles! Welcome to Gay Guy Reader Reviews, and thank you for agreeing to do this interview with me. I know that you are a very private person, but tell us a little bit about yourself. I am interested in such things as pets, your education, your hobbies or special talents.

I have a European background. My mother was German and my father came from Cornwall, a beautiful county in the south-west of England. I grew up in both countries and attended an English Grammar School from the age of 11 before going on to study Modern Languages at university. I’ve also lived in Paris and continue to spend as much time as I can in the south of France. Montpellier is my favourite place.

My husband, Steve, and I met as youngsters. We have been married for five years. He’s a very practical guy and can do anything from cooking a cordon bleu meal to building a house. The only thing he hasn’t done is read any of my books…yet! I know I’m preaching to the converted here, but I do wish more gay men would take up reading!

We both love animals. At the moment, we have two dogs which keep us pretty busy. But at one time we also had five cats. Our families have always been totally supportive. We are very fortunate. Being gay has never been an issue. Our wedding is still described by some guests as the best one they’ve ever been to. It was a blast! My 86 year old aunt was dancing on the tables!

As far as hobbies and special talents go, I’m more the academic type, and I suppose everything revolves around using languages. I love soul music and really envy guys who can dance. And though I can manage a passable Lambada, I’d love to be able to tango properly. I never miss an episode of Strictly Come Dancing on UK television. And I’m even thinking of getting Sky tv just to watch the American version, Dancing With The Stars.

I think everyone knows I am a lover of your writing. Your imagination fascinates me. Can you tell me where you get your inspiration for your wonderful stories?

I’d like to know the answer to that myself! Most of the time, I don’t know what is going to happen until I write it. I usually start with a vague idea for a plot, throw in some characters, add an exotic or erotic location, and take it from there. I have notes everywhere, even on the fridge. And I’m not very popular when I switch on the light in the middle of the night to use my Dictaphone (!) or jot down ideas which have just popped into my head.

I do have a lurid imagination and love nothing more than to sit on the terraces of coffee shops, especially abroad, have an Espresso or two and people-watch. I suppose every writer uses his or her experience of life for inspiration, subconsciously or otherwise. I’m no different. And now I expect you are all wondering which scenes in my stories are born from reality….But that would be telling!

My latest novel, ‘The Man With The Mandolin’, (available in kindle and paperback etc…) was shaped entirely around the book cover. A friend at an Art class painted the scene and gave me the canvas when I said how much I liked it. (I am rather biased. I know the model!) I have two more paintings by other artists in the group. Both will be covers for future books.

What do you listen to, where do you write, what gets your creative juices flowing?

I need peace and quiet when I write. If I am distracted, I sometimes lose the flow. I’m not an author who writes every day. There’s no regular pattern or schedule. I’ve got to be in the mood and have the time. We live in an old Victorian house and the back lounge which looks out onto the garden doubles as my ‘office’. I work best in the mornings and tend to edit what I’ve written in the afternoons.

I am a visual writer. I have to be able to see the scene I’m writing. It’s rather like narrating a silent movie going on in my head and fleshing it out it with dialogue, emotion, and atmosphere. If I can’t see it, I can’t write it.

Your stories are not easy fluff, but extremely intelligent, filled with a lot of nuance and undertones. What is it about you that has made this so successful?

Being a linguist, I place huge importance on the use, value, and power of words. Reviewers have said I have a unique literary style. I like my prose to flow, to be almost lyrical, even poetic if I can manage it. I have been known to spend over two hours on a five line paragraph until I was satisfied the right words had been used in the right way to bring what was going on in my imagination to life.

Mystery, suspense, mood and atmosphere are key features in my novels, whether they are erotic or romantic. I like to create an ambiance, build up anticipation, offer readers the opportunity to involve themselves and share emotions as they picture and interpret, embellish and unravel what is happening. The best compliment a writer can have is a reader who lives the story.

Nuance and undertone create personal pathways when reading. A guilty glance, a whispered insinuation, a hovering shadow or an ambiguous reference can often shift emphasis in a plot and express more than an entire section of dialogue or paragraph of description. Taking part in the story is fun. It’s individual and intimate. We all see things from different perspectives, like, dislike, or identify with different characters. So, everybody’s experience will be different, rather like looking at a painting or watching a film.

Your new book, The Man with the Mandolin, is completely different than the other three. Tell us a bit about it. The darkness of the story pulls me in and sort of ties me up.

I like to vary what I write. Each novel is different. I don’t stick to rules or recipes. The Man With The Mandolin is about a naïve young chap with physical flaws and emotional scars. He has inherited responsibility within the family ballet business, but has no real interest in it. His purpose and direction in life revolve around duty and the expectations of others. Who can blame him for escaping the daily drudge by becoming infatuated with an enigmatic street musician and drifting into hopeless dreams of love and romance?

Unfortunately, innocence invites exploitation and soon he’s embroiled in a web of intrigue, secrets, and blackmail. The reputation of his family falls into jeopardy, and pieces of a thorny jigsaw need to slot into place if he is to save their status and find personal happiness. Maybe he’s an unlikely hero. Maybe he’s not. The story is dark in part, but it also offers hope. Humour, pathos, courage and tenderness filter through the darkness. Not everyone is born beautiful. But there is beauty in everyone.

Finally, would you talk a little about the process of writing for you? I have wondered if this is something that comes easily, or are you one of those authors who has hard times with the writing of a story?

My ability to write depends on my mood. Style is important to me. I’d like to think anything I write could hold its own as a piece of literature, not just a story. I love to make sentences sing if I can, and that’s not always easy if I’m not in the right frame of mind.

I do get writer’s block if my muse deserts me, the characters won’t play, or the words won’t come. And I also get times when the juices flow and I’m obsessed with writing. The first five thousand of words of ‘Stranger In Translation’ were reeled off in one session. And they needed very little editing. I suppose I was ‘in the zone’. But that doesn’t always happen. Every writer struggles at times. I’m no exception.

Thank you so much for agreeing to do this. And please, for me, keep writing! I will continue reading and talking about your books as long as you keep putting them out! LOL!

Thanks for inviting me to do this interview. I don’t do many, but ‘gay guys reading’ is literally something I’m passionate about and wish to support and inspire.

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Two Loves by Jacob Campbell.

11/21/2014

1 Comment

Gay Erotic Romance about the two loves in the life of the 19 year old protagonist. Steamy. Explicit sex and drug use. Not for easily offended. Some scenes are three-ways. Joey’s first love flourishes albeit in the closet together, and with some sexual kinks, and yields another deeper love, mature, and hot.

ISBN: 9781611526592 PRICE: $6.99 GENRE: Gay Erotic Romance LENGTH: 82,859 words RATING: flame rating 4

Growing up, Joey has no gay role models. In the dim light of the early 1960s, Joey only knew what he picked up on the streets, at magazine stands, and in public restrooms. In his senior year in high school, he falls in love with Ross, a beautiful athletic “straight guy.” But once in college, his love life takes a turn.

Ike, a flamboyant college freshman, turns Joey on to gay sex and the newly formed gay lib movement. But things don’t go well for Joey, and he fumbles through a few one-night stands and semi-relationships. After nearly losing Ike to a gay bashing, Joey gives up on love and turns his motorcycle toward New Orleans and the French Quarter, where he moves in with his bohemian cousin, Judy.

Joey likes the gay scene in the Quarter but he is lonely, missing intimacy, and flails through life. The sexual nights in the French Quarter aren’t enough to satisfy his real needs -- but his resourceful cousin magically opens the door for him to have the best of both worlds.

A Review by Amos Lassen.

Campbell, Jacob. “Two Loves”, JMS Books, 2014.

Back to the ’60s

Amos Lassen

Jacob Campbell (Amen’s Boy and French Quarter Knights) takes us to New Orleans in the 1960s, a time before gay liberation when being gay was secret. The same beautiful language that we loved in his earlier books, still characterizes Campbell’s writing and character creation.

Joey grew up in a world without gay role models and all he knew about being gay was based on man/man sex—what he picked up on the streets, at magazine stands, and in public restrooms. When he was a senior in high school, he fell in love with Ross, a beautiful athletic “straight guy.” But then there was college where everything changed. There Joey met flamboyant Ike who not only turned him on to gay sex but also to the newly formed gay liberation movement.

Joey, however, has a difficult time and he has a few unsuccessful one-nighters and a couple of semi-relationships. To make things even worse, Ike is gay bashed and was nearly gone. Joey decides to give up on looking for love and turns his motorcycle toward New Orleans and the French Quarter, where he moves in with his bohemian cousin, Judy.

Even though he likes the scene in the French Quarter, Joey is lonely and there is no intimacy in his life. The sexuality of the New Orleans nights in the French Quarter isn’t enough to satisfy his real needs. Judy is able to help him by opening the doors that will provide him with the best of both worlds.

Thanks to Joey, we are taken on a sensual exploration of a young gay man’s love of a straight classmate, with all the complexities of sex with “a straight guy” and the ultimate frustration of trying to develop a rewarding emotional relationship. The eighteen year old “boyfriends” go through many of the traditional rights of passage but ultimately, Joey, the protagonist, has to face the facts about loving a straight guy. Joey then meets Ike and romance ensues with the two guys discovering their homosexuality with each other.

The prose is gorgeous and at times poetic. Joey is a wonderfully drawn character who is torn between the sex trade and love for another man. We must remember that at the time this novel is set, homosexuality was taboo in many places in the world but especially here in America. Joey and Ike had not turned 20 years old when they began to act on their sexualities.

Jacob Campbell, with poetic prose, and many vibrant images shows how Joey struggles to discover a way of life as a homosexual man in a world that is not open. As they learn who they are, they find themselves on a journey of life— from dancing in musicals on the college summer stage together in a chorus line, to riding Joey’s motorcycle to redneck bars in the hillbilly countryside of 1960’s Little Rock, to actually working as a team hustling guys they pick up in dark so-called “gay bars”—these young men discover that violence, misunderstanding, and lack of family or social support plot against them and their desire to be a lasting couple.

It was only when Joey’s bohemian, “beat” or “beatnik” cousin, Judy, takes him in to live in her French Quarter home that Joey finds there is a larger world of openly homosexual men from whom he can expect to gain support. It was only through her loving support that he could find supportive means to set out on a mission to be both a faithful lover to young Ike. Joey also fulfills his life’s dream of becoming a writer working in the gay movement. This was where he discovered himself the early gay underground of New Orleans in the 60s.

I have watched Campbell’s writing mature with each book and he has hit a peak with “Two Loves” yet I am certain that there is still more to come. He has the ability to combine our history with his fiction thus allowing us to enjoy a read and learn something at the same time. There are not many authors I can say that about.

EXCERPT: Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

I was a goner from the first moment we met.

Ike was a kind and gentle man, a tender person. He was cheerful and talkative, and cared nothing for the fact that his gestures and speech mannerisms gave him away as a man who liked other men. In my earlier life, in high school, I’d fallen in love with a classmate who had similar atypical gestures and mannerisms for a boy. It wasn’t that Ike had girlish ways, but he lacked a macho stiltedness and his movements were spontaneous in all situations, with a sort of ballet-like gracefulness.

In the privacy of Ike’s room, we began kissing and his lanky frame seemed to wrap around mine. We kissed a long time before we moved our hands around exploring. We just hugged, kissed, and stared into one another’s eyes. The sensation of a fast fall into love was unmistakable. I was totally enchanted.

Hours into our private time in Ike’s bedroom, we took each other’s shirts off, and rubbed and kissed each other’s chest, stomach, and explored everything -- nipples, armpits, the long muscles of Ike’s neck and our hugging was wonderful.

We talked between kisses.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered in my ear. His golden red stubble rasped on my cheek and our naked bodies folded into one another, soft accepting hard, hard pressing soft. “You smell so wonderful.”

It was so good to hear what he said. I felt so ugly lately, beyond ugly, and here he was telling me the opposite.

I spoke to him in whispers, “You are so elegant, so sleek, so strong and tight ... like a gymnast. What do you do?”

His dancer’s physique was a rush to touch, and we seemed to reach some sort of excitation crescendo mid-afternoon. We withheld actual sex all this time. We accumulated desire. We built anticipation. Our pants were tossed aside with wet spots in the fronts, and new heightened arousal as our skin in private parts of our bodies began to meet for the first time.

“Slow.” Ike whispered. “Go slow, make this last.”

“This is bliss.” Our voices so soft as to be almost inaudible, but we agreed to pause and savor this blissful threshold.

We were glowing and all I can say is that I fell in love with Ike again every instant as if this capitulating to his charm held new surrender each and every new moment.

He fell in love with me, too. It was impossibly fast in a sense, but what delays we experienced seemed to deepen our love. The emotions were unmistakable as love; but there wasn’t anything in my life’s experience that would have prepared me accept or to resist such a force of attraction. I was full, overflowing, joyful, and a roaring underground river flowed with warmth and majesty deeply within me carrying with it new love. New love flowed tangibly through us both.

Love at first sight unfolded like a lotus flower unfolds. Waves of excited blissful affection washed over us.

The sound of Ike’s voice whispering in my ear, the breath gently flowing past my ear and gently moving my hair…the clenching of our arms around one another -- everything was exquisite.

Somehow in my mind I remembered a past time when once I meditated at a botanical garden early one morning, and saw a lotus bud closed, but poised for opening at daybreak. I sat beside the pond, assumed the full lotus posture, and gazed unblinkingly at the purple and lime colored bud. It seem not to move from moment to moment but after a short while the petals expanded into a flower, and in a short time the lotus was fully opened. I felt the magic of natural unfolding from bud to flower as a parallel to this time in Ike’s room, in Ike’s arms.

PRODUCT LINK: http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info...

1 Comment

The Man With The Mandolin.

10/2/2014

1 Comment

US Paperback - http://www.amazon.com/The-Man-With-Mandolin/dp/1502991659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414835103&sr=8-1&keywords=The+man+with+the+mandolin+-+charles+raines

US Kindle - http://www.amazon.com/Man-Mandolin-Charles-Raines-ebook/dp/B00P6KBXXM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415030460&sr=8-1&keywords=the+man+with+the+mandolin+-+kindle

UK Paperback - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Man-With-Mandolin/dp/1502991659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414835810&sr=8-1&keywords=the+man+with+the+mandolin+charles+raines

UK Kindle - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Mandolin-Charles-Raines-ebook/dp/B00P6KBXXM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1415028935&sr=1-1&keywords=the+man+with+the+mandolin

REVIEW

***** A great addition to Charles Raines' repertoire.
AMAZON - November 8, 2014
By Tom B
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase.

Charles Raines has developed, in his inimitable style, a totally lovable, bumbling character in Charles Riche. Unwilling ballet impresario, Charles ineptly looks for love in all the wrong places. The story is humorous, and keeps you rooting for the protagonist through all of his travails with family, position, and hoped-for romantic entanglements.

Like his earlier books, The Man with the Mandolin is well written, with a great balance of humor and pathos, believable character development, and excellent plot.

1 Comment

August 29th, 2014

8/28/2014

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RED CURRY SUMMER by Jacob Campbell.

ISBN: 9781611526462
PRICE: $3.99 GENRE: Gay Erotic Romance
LENGTH: 13,128 words
RATING:

Joey Melancon is a young social worker at a mental health center. His days are clinical routine and his weekends are monotonous -- a bottle of scotch and boring sex with a dumpy co-worker. He’s desperately lonely and wants real love in his life.

Curry Deigrepont is a hot redhead doing a summer internship at the mental health center where Joey works. Curry kicks things off by leaving a note for Joey which invites lots of sexual curiosity. When they hook up, Joey begins to hope for a future together, but Curry has other plans.

Can what they have found together turn into lasting love? Or will their red hot summer fizzle out when Curry’s internship ends?

REVIEW

‘Red Curry Summer’ is a bitter-sweet story that covers a lifetime of love that never died. Jacob Campbell immerses the reader in young love, poignant love, love where stolen moments under a clear sunny sky in a pine forest leave indelible memories. Love in a time when men were lonely, sex was everywhere, but romance was rationed.

Against the backdrop of an internship at the mental health centre, we meet two young professionals in their twenties. Falling for one another, they experience a summer which is hot in every respect. Attraction leads to desire, but the all-too-common scenario of outside forces pulling against love itself is ever present. Expectations of deeper love linger in an era before cell phones and social media; a time when feedback was never instant. A lover had to endure the agony of waiting, hoping, wondering. Were his feelings reciprocated? Was the bond he felt real or imagined? Maybe their ‘last’ encounter could mean just that.

Campbell relieves the tension of apprehension with the healing symbolism of the gay baths and anonymous encounters which remove the sting of loss in love. The contrast between aspiration and reality is ably drawn to show how misplaced hope or desperate longing can cause distortion in one's perceptions.

In itself, the story highlights the short, sharp fragility of some gay relationships, conveying what can happen when two men are socially pushed together then quickly torn apart by the demands of everyday life.

In an unexpected twist, an epilogue brings the story into focus a lifetime later. This is where the truth in the story makes a difference and its full impact.

Campbell's writing is real. It deserves to be read. 'Red Curry Summer' is a novella, ideal for those who enjoy the intensity of reading a short story in one sitting.

EXCERPT

Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29_94&products_id=1215&zenid=DyBQr2lw8rB,RqzSIJRS73

Available Formats
E-Book EPUB (Open eBook / Nook)
HTML (Firefox / IE / Web)
MOBI (Amazon Kindle)
PDF (Adobe Reader)
PRC (Mobipocket)

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June 23rd, 2014

6/22/2014

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'Stranger In Translation'
by Charles Raines: A French Perspective.

click here to buy from amazon france

Format Kindle - AMAZON.FR: http://www.amazon.fr/Stranger-In-Translation-Charles-Raines-ebook/dp/B0080UPHH8/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1403254998&sr=1-2-fkmr1

U.S & UK PRODUCT LINKS:
U.S. http://www.mimorr.com/ClickToView
U.K. http://www.mimorr.com/CheckItOut

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'Swimmer' by Louis J Harris.

6/18/2014

2 Comments

Four years ago, Bazil's lover left him without so much as a note. Just like that. Never came home from work.

From that fateful day, Bazil becomes a recluse, until he meets the Swimmer, a young Olympian who will change his life forever.

This is a beautiful love story of loss, tragic circumstance, and hope.
It will leave you applauding for more.

free download at goodreads - click here

BIO.

Louis J Harris lives in Germiston, South Africa with his hubby and stepson and two damned naughty Yorkshire terriers. His first book, called Revival, was published in 2006 and introduced South Africa to her first gay literary detective. He writes thrillers and romance, lots of short stories, and heads up the editing program for gayauthors.org. He is also a member of the Professional Editor's Group of South Africa.

Excerpt

It’s a feeling like none other. An addiction. Exhilarating. Motivating. You’ve had it ever since you first said hi to him. It’s everything about him; his smell, his erotic passion, his romantic passion and his flaws. There is a strong, bold attachment to him and you cannot imagine him going home to Catherine although he must.

Rubbing his fine, lithe body with suntan lotion, you recall that he’s just twenty, not a loser. When he’s thirty, you’ll be forty and so on. A lifetime is a short time to spend together. He’ll most likely dump you later. They all do. One cock isn’t enough for them. But, for now, you’re content with what you’ve heard. He loves you. That’s big.

‘Mom, you’re keeping time today,’ Will says. ‘Don’t forget to reset the watch after every swim. When we are done we’ll check the times against yesterday’s attempts.’

‘Fine with me. Take your time and don’t overdo it.’ Her finger is on the start button.

Ruan helps you bring the canoe forward to place it in the ocean and within a few moments you’re seated and waiting for Catherine’s go.

‘Okay, let’s do this….GO!’

The canoe thrashes and bounces through the waves trying to catch up with Will. He’s like a fish at one with the water. You’re breathless, rowing as fast as you can as he reaches the buoy and makes his turn. He’s dead on yesterday’s time. He’s going to break that record set yesterday. And then suddenly you’re flying through the air.

The moment you hit the surface your eyes are closed and you’re thrashing about. Heart pounding. You can’t scream because you’re in a lucid dream with fear all around you, but your eyes scream. Your body contracts.

Screams coming from the beach. The water is red. You know and understand it’s a shark and when you look back you see a torn, exposed tendon on your right heel. You try and swim away as quickly as you can but you’re too weak to get to shore. Too weak…and then there’s a vice clamp on your right hand and you’re staring into the jaws of the one creature most feared on this earth.

Shark.

And you remember suddenly that the birds aren’t migrating. They’re feeding off the sardines, and so are whales and sharks and Gannets and gulls.

William turns immediately and rushes towards you, arms flailing, struggling to free you from those unforgiving jaws with little thought for his own life. He hits out at the giant fishes body and misses once or twice but finally manages to punch it on the nose. It releases.

But takes your hand with it.

Will fights for your life in a sea of blood and screams towards the beach that you’ve been injured. He takes you in his grip and swims towards the beach, terrified that the shark will return, but knowing that the creature is also filled with fear now. He won’t return. Not right away.

2 Comments

Time For A Quickie?

2/6/2014

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Ever wanted to dice with danger? Maybe my latest kindle release will give you a flavour of what it's like. Though this m/m mystery is set in 1947, and the characters are servicemen, the events that unravel could happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime.

So, what's it about? Here's the blurb:

As a tired train trundles through post-war Germany, a motley bunch of travellers huddle in a cramped third class compartment. Realising life will never be the same again, resentment breeds when a British soldier joins them for the ride. Flanked by a male civilian who urges caution, a German sailor takes it upon himself to show open hostility. Taking stock of each other throughout the journey, the three young men aggravate and intimidate. Soon there is a score to settle. But intuition tells them they all have something in common. And the only way to resolve their differences is to follow their instincts.

Snippets from Amazon Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious reveals! November 29, 2013 By Jacob Z. Campbell Amazon Verified Purchase

"The characters are unique in their function in this tale. The ambience of the varied environments or stages upon which the story is enacted are intricate, teasing, mysterious, dark and with a tinge of malevolence. This is certainly a new take, a new angle, a new perspective, on gay writing with a unique and fascinating twist."

"What a great piece of writing, Charles, you have accomplished. It was a privilege to read it!"

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW! What a ride!! January 9, 2014
By Gerry
Amazon Verified Purchase.

For a "short" story, this was better than some full-length novels I've read!! "Dicing with Danger" is packed full of action, excitement, and intrigue, and topped off with even more HEAT in the ultra-sexy characters than his last book!
As someone else mentioned, the ending completely blew me away! Icing on one incredible cake! I didn't want the story to end!!
I'm ready to buy another ticket on Mr. Raines' next hot ride. This is a writer who knows what he's doing and how to write a great and memorable story (that I have to confess I've read more than once!).
I can't wait for his next story or book -- I'd even buy a pamphlet by him!

FROM GLBT FILM AND BOOK REVIEWER,
AMOS LASSEN:

Raines, Charles. “Dicing with Danger”

Three Young Men

Amos Lassen

Every once in a while, I read a book that with the first sentence lets me know that I am in for a good read. Sometimes it just takes a sentence like Daphne DuMaurier’s “Rebecca” or a fascinating character or a beautiful description. I am not sure what it was in “Dicing with Danger” but I was immediately hooked.

As a train moves through Germany after the Second World War, we visit the third class section where passengers are cramped and uncomfortable. When a British soldier boards the train, the riders show the resentment they feel on the train. We immediately sense that something is going to happen here. One of the passengers also senses this and urges caution but a German sailor will have none of it and becomes hostile. As the ride continues the air remains thick with uneasiness and resentment. Underlying this is an atmosphere that the three share something although by outside appearances we are just not sure what that is or what is going to happen. This is where it becomes difficult to review without spoiling the read. Let it suffice to say that sex and erotica follow and the descriptions are quite bold. The characters play off of each other and soon a drama within a drama unfolds. Here one cannot guess what will happen next and there are surprises.

What Raines does here is grab our minds and then has them follow what he is saying. This is the kind of read that is best done in one sitting so as not to lose the tension that the author so tactfully sets up. This is writing in the most creative of all kinds and I realize that some of you might feel that I am being illusive, which I indeed am. I do not want to spoil one second of the read.

Raines throws a challenge to us and we dare not refuse it. If we do, we miss one of the best reading experiences that I have had this year. It is not only the characters who dice with danger, the reader does also.

5.0 out of 5 stars Charles Raines Does It Again!! December 18, 2013
By Chuck Willman
Amazon Verified Purchase.

This wonderfully written story against the backdrop at the end of WWII, has a remarkable, and clever plot packed with twists and turns and wildly suspenseful intrigue. And the ending is genius! If you're looking for a fantastic story you won't be able to put down once you start it (unless you must take a "relief" break, which this reader did -- twice), this is for you!!
Every character comes alive, making you wish you could reach out to touch, caress, or obey him. You can hear the squeal of the brakes on the train; smell the sweat on a soldier's uniform you can almost touch; and taste the salt on a body you swear has been offered to you.
Mr. Raines has become one of my favorite writers because he uses every tool in the box, and leaves you begging for more.
And I am: BEGGING FOR MORE!!

So, if YOU fancy a 'quickie', or you fancy 'Dicing With Danger', here are the product links. Why not check them out?

u.s Link: click for more

u.k link: click for details

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Amen's Boy: A Fictionalized Autobiography by Jacob Campbell ​and William Maltese

French Quarter Knights

Review

Two Loves

A Review by Amos Lassen.

REVIEW

REVIEW

EXCERPTNote: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

'Stranger In Translation' by Charles Raines: A French Perspective.

Excerpt

Archives

Amen's Boy: A Fictionalized Autobiography by Jacob Campbell
and William Maltese

EXCERPT

Note: may contain sexually explicit scenes of a homoerotic nature.

'Stranger In Translation'
by Charles Raines: A French Perspective.