Review: A Demon Inside by Rick R Reed (MLR Press)

It's no secret that I admire author Rick R Reed.  I've been a fan of his work for over a decade now and his writing, like the man himself, keeps getting better.

A DEMON INSIDE continues Rick's foray into combining horror/thriller with m/m romance and it does it well.  Rick slowly but surely builds the suspence while also creating a budding romance that causes great internal conflict for the protagonist.

We meet Hunter Beaumont just before the death of his grandmother.  She has been the loving, protective center of his young life and her passing sets him adrift in a world he's ill equiped to deal with.  Since the age of 5 when his parents were brutally killed, he'd lived with his grandmother and to protect her grandson from such a terrible world, she had seen to it that he'd led a very sheltered life.  He'd never went to a public school nor had any friends; she was all he had.  With her dying breath she makes Hunter promise to destroy Beaumont House, a place Hunter has never heard of.

The mystery is solved when Hunter learns of the old, decrepit house his family hadn't visited in generations.  To try to make some sense of his life and to get away from the city where he is feeling increasingly alone, Hunter finally moves up to Wisconsin to Beaumont House and comes to realize just why his grandmother wanted him to destroy it.

In THE BLUE MOON CAFE, Rick ratcheted up the tension by giving the reader glimpses into the killer's mind and it really drove the action.  Here, the build up is slower and he uses Hunter's self imposed exile to great effect; all the incidents that start to occur in the house we only get to see  from Hunter's perspective. Hunter distrusts everyone so much and keeps himself so isolated that soon he's unable to tell reality from nightmare-and so are we.  Has someone been in his house?  Is his neighbor, also living alone in this remote area, watching him from afar?  Or can Beaumont House really be haunted?

Rick makes Hunter's descent into hysteria gripping and very chilling; there are passages here that literally made me stop to catch my breath.  He keeps us guessing until the end about whether or not everything is in Hunter's mind and when the climax comes, it is both terrifying and explosive. 

Rick R Reed is on a roll, turning out some excellent work lately and A DEMON INSIDE is the latest triumph by a prolific writer and a worthy addition to the haunted house canon of horror as well.

A DEMON INSIDE is available now from Amazon here or as an eBook from MLR Press

Contest: Win a FREE, Signed Copy Of Rick R Reed's Gay Erotic Collection ON THE EDGE

From Rick R Reed's blog (http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/) comes an exciting contest for a free, SIGNED copy of his new gay erotica collection, ON THE EDGE:

I'm proud to announce the release of my collection, ON THE EDGE from Amber Allure (the LGBT imprint of Amber Quill Press). This book is especially for you if you're one of those people who just doesn't cotton to the idea of an e-book and prefers the look, smell, and experience of a real print book. ON THE EDGE collects eight of my stories that were previously only available in electronic format before. Check out the descriptions of each story below.


To win a FREE, autographed copy of ON THE EDGE, all you need to do is the following:


1. Leave a comment below.

2. Be sure to leave an e-mail address so I can get in touch if you're a winner.

3. Bonus points for reposting news of this contest/release on your Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace. Even more bonus points if you click on the link at the right to subscribe by e-mail to this blog.


That's it. Good luck!

Synopsis

In Rick R. Reed’s haunting, mesmerizing, suspenseful, and romantic world, his gay male characters live on the edge, often literally as well as figuratively. In this new collection, you’ll take a wild ride with some of literature’s most unforgettable characters. Along the way, you’ll be moved—to tears, to laughter, to uneasiness, and sometimes, to arousal. As Bette Davis once said, “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

Previously available only in electronic format, these eight stories of Gay Erotica and Romance have now been combined for a paperback edition! Included are the tales...

Superstar 
A story about promises made, promises broken, and dreams unfulfilled. Yet ultimately, it’s about realizing that love can come along when one least expects it—and in the unlikeliest of places.

Through The Closet Door 
A tale that brings to painful life the consequences of coming out of the closet when you’re married. Gregory’s mask is slipping, pulled down by the allure of a handsome neighbor and the demands of a desire that only gets louder the more he tries to quiet it.

Riding The El At Midnight 
When the gorgeous and twisted Mark boards a northbound el train, he is looking for love in all the wrong places. Finding Julio aboard that same train, Mark thinks, is the answer to his dreams. But are his dreams nightmares?

Fugue 
Slip into the dungeon playroom of a master and his boy. But in the boy’s mind, a dream state takes him places the master could not imagine...places where the established order turns upside down.

Incubus 
Two men, one predator, and a violent crime equal a journey into hellish nightmare territory. This tale merges horror with a tragic love story and the result is...chilling.

Man-Amorphosis 
I awoke one morning from uneasy dreams to find my penis had transformed itself into a vagina... Thus begins the story of a very unusual day...

No Place Like Home 
Trannies and Psychos and Bears...oh my! Burl discovers—in a hilariously bizarre quest—that there really is no place like home.

Pottery Peter 
One long hot summer. Three gorgeous men. And a burning triangle set down in the middle of a factory filled with sweaty men with bulging biceps.

Review: The Blue Moon Cafe by Rick R. Reed (Amber Allure)

I am loving that werewolves are making a comeback in horror fiction!  So it was with huge excitement that I plunged into Rick R. Reed's new book, THE BLUE MOON CAFE.

Terror has struck the gay community of Seattle.  Someone (or something) is killing gay men right in the heart of the gay district of the city and the murders are so violent that the authorites have no clue as to who is committing the crimes...or if the killer is even human.

Thad is unemployeed and single and is becoming dissatisfied with the recent downturn his life is taking.  Then one day, he wanders into The Blue Moon Cafe, a new Italian bistro that's just opened.  Here he meets Sam Lupino, the restaurant's owner, who is everything that Thad wants in a man-handsome, dark and passionate.  The attraction is mutual and after a dinner that satisfies one appetite and whets another, Thad takes Sam home.  The sex is rough and incredible and Thad  finds himself falling for Sam...but Sam is full of secrets.

Thad also meets Jared who is blond and sexy, and while Thad finds Jared attractive, he is too hung up on Sam and getting to the bottom of where Sam disappears to during the full moon to give in to that attraction...and the violent killings are continuing, and striking closer to home.

This was a great read and that is due in large part to Rick's expert handling and blending of the two storylines he has going here; the romance building between Thad and Sam is fraught with passion but also mystery since Thad feels Sam has secrets he's not telling him.  Then there's also the snapshots we get into the killer's mind as it continues it's bloody attacks on the gay men of Seattle.  Rick early on creates a creepy suspense and builds on it throughout the tale; he also captures Thad's confusion and insecurity about Sam equally well and as the book races to it's conclusion, secrets are revealed and more lives are put in danger when  the two storylines converge in a bloody yet satisfying climax.

I believe there is more to the story then what Rick's revealed to us so far.  There is definitely room for a sequel and then there's the question of a certain character that comes to the rescue just in the nick of time.  Let's hope Rick doesn't leave us hanging for too long and we hear more from Thad, Sam and Jared very soon. 

I highly recommend this book for you horror and werewolf lovers out there.  It will be a great addition to your library.  You can buy THE BLUE MOON CAFE here http://amberquill.com/AmberAllure/BlueMoonCafe.html .

And I also remind you to keep a lookout for ON THE EDGE, Rick's forthcoming collection due out this summer!

Review: Tales From The Sexual Underground by Rick R. Reed (MLR Press)

This was the first collection of short pieces from Rick that I've had the pleasure to review; I dove into it immediately, eager to see to which dirty corners of the backrooms of his mind he would lead me.  And I wasn't disappointed.

I knew that Rick would excite and titallate me with this collection.  What I didn't expect was how uncomfortable some of the subject matter would make me.

Rick is very upfront in his introduction and tells us that he "wanted to write about people that were not just out, but out there, people who lived their sexual lives in ways most of us could only imagine...and for whom the flavor vanilla had absolutely no appeal."  And he covers this ground quite well, delving into topics like different sexual fetishes, the lure of the internet and thought provoking pieces that examine love,sex and monogomy in relationships.  Then there are the stories where he looks at gay men and drugs and bad judgement and HIV and it is here with these tales that I felt myself start to squirm a little.

To be sure, Rick isn't saying here that all gay men act as some of his characters have.  But the reality is those who haven't are in the minority.  Who among us hasn't seen a "sex god" and wanted to do whatever we had to to get into his pants?  Or been too high from a night of partying that we didn't think of the possible consequences of our actions?  Those consequences can be devastating as seen in "Negative. UB2", "Stranger Danger" and "Getting a Workout At The Health Club".  These stories made me shiver as I read them because the danger in them is very real.  The sexual underground indeed because we know the risks but ignore them for the more immediate gratification.

Equally chilling are "Meat Mallet" and "Craigslist", which had a cliff hanging ending that made me scream and then scream in frustration for wondering what happened next.  And there are the funny, laugh out loud tales as well: "The Truth-And The Myths-About Being A Slut", "Sick Day" and I am now waiting for Rick to collect all of the adventures of his friend Pete Thickwhistle ("Big And Sexy: A Late
Night Tale", "Glory Hole Grabber") into one volume, they are that hilarious.

Yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this collection and the ride Rick took me on in its pages and would absolutely recommend it to readers of horror and gay lit.  It definitely isn't for everyone but if you proceed with caution, you will be titillated, amused, thrilled and chilled.  Open your mind (or your legs) and you will enjoy the ride, too.

The Blue Moon Cafe/Tales From The Sexual Underground by Rick R Reed

Yay for me!  I've recently received review copies of Rick's two new books, THE BLUE MOON CAFE and TALES FROM THE SEXUAL UNDERGROUND!  He was generous enough to make sure I got them and I will be posting their reviews here shortly.

Thanks Rick!

Review: Superstar by Rick R.Reed

I have been a fan of Rick R. Reed's work since his Dell/Abyss releases PENANCE and OBSESSED and have followed his career ever since; yes, because he is a gay author but first and foremost because he's just a damn good writer!  Recently, thanks to social networking, I became a "friend" of his, first on Myspace and now on Facebook and Twitter.  And it was through Twitter that I really started a correspondence with him and,much to my excitement,  got the opprotunity to review his story "Superstar".

As I said, I've always loved Rick's work and this story was no different.  It's a beautifully written and beautifully sad love story.  Or maybe unrequited love story would be a better way to describe it.  It starts with the narrator, Leon, getting ready to jump from a "suicide bridge" in Seattle, Washington.  But before he jumps, he wants to relive what has brought him to this point of no return.

Told in flashbacks, he tells us the story of how one October night he met and made love with the lead singer of an up and coming band.  The sex was amazing and the unnamed singer,as he leaves in the morning,  tells Leon he loves him and that he will return.  Three years pass through which Leon has never been able to get over their one night stand and soon he finally comes to realize that for the singer it ended the night it began, "more a haiku than an epic." 

I really felt for Leon, especially as the story got closer to its climax; his memories of that night and what had  happened since are very emotional.  Who hasn't had that one lover that didn't return their affections, or phenomenal sex that didn't flower into a relationship?  Rick's writing made Leon's despair very real to me and made me want to be there for Leon as he stood there on the bridge, to hold out a hand and save him. 

If you get a chance to read this story, I can't recommend it enough; and I was excited to find out it's going to be included in a collection of Rick's due out Summer 2010 called ON THE EDGE.  This collection includes several of Rick's stories that have only been available in an electronic format, so don't miss out on this book, either; I know I will be hot on it's tail!