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Liar's Waltz (Travelers #1)

by Becky Black (Goodreads Author)

3.21 of 5 stars 3.21 · rating details · 39 ratings · 9 reviews

Firmly-closeted Lieutenant Greg Matthews takes a transfer to space station Saira to make a fresh start. But a rogue military intelligence officer has discovered Greg’s secret and forces him to spy on Karl Webster, the owner of the last gay bar on Saira. The disapproving military authorities want Karl’s bar closed, too, and he’s feeling the heat. He thinks his gorgeous new...more

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Published January 4th 2011 by Loose Id

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Best Gay Science Fiction Romance

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Jul 03, 2012 Carycleo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbtq, sci-fi

Sci-fi noir exploration of a space-faring military man, Greg, who is blackmailed by a superior officer into helping shut down the last gay bar on this station. As sci fi, it's really just space opera. It could be a contemporary novel about shutting down the last gay bar in a town or a state just as easily. Greg comes across as foolish, weak, and a slave to his family expectations, especially his father's. It's obvious from the get-go that giving in to this blackmail cannot lead him anywhere good...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Kassa rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a familiar story with a few good twists. The writing didn’t always work for me and often that more than anything else ruined my enjoyment but the characters, setting, and plot are engaging. As a debut novel, I think the author shows a lot of potential and readers will find the themes used familiar and comforting with good tension.

Greg Matthews is an officer in a new assignment and determined to do things right this time. He’s not going to get distracted by yearnings for another man and...more This is a familiar story with a few good twists. The writing didn’t always work for me and often that more than anything else ruined my enjoyment but the characters, setting, and plot are engaging. As a debut novel, I think the author shows a lot of potential and readers will find the themes used familiar and comforting with good tension.

Greg Matthews is an officer in a new assignment and determined to do things right this time. He’s not going to get distracted by yearnings for another man and instead plans to work hard and advance his military career. Greg’s plans are thwarted however when a scheming upper officer blackmails Greg into spying on gay bar owner Karl. Greg is supposed to seduce Karl and find a way to shut down the last gay bar in the area. Yet complications predictably arise when Greg’s emotions are involved.

The plot is very conventional and one readers will instantly recognize. Greg is the officer caught between his family and career and trying not to hurt an innocent man, Karl. The confusion and dichotomy is well crafted and Greg truly struggles with this conflict for the majority of the story. Greg’s personality develops and shows his angst and turmoil between his duty and his heart. This is a common theme but it’s well used and offers a good source of constant tension and drama.

Both Karl and Greg are sympathetic characters with their own struggles and flaws. Karl is surprisingly likable, considering he has casual sex with a hustler named Ryan several times in the book but yet none of these take away from the connection between Karl and Greg. If anything they cement Karl’s feelings towards Greg and that’s a real credit to the story to be able to pull that off in a positive way. Greg’s struggles highlight his weaknesses and flaws as well, often dithering and taking the easy way out most of the time instead of facing his fears and problems. Yet this doesn’t make him a bad character or unlikable, instead he comes across as relatable and human. He makes the bad choices an average person would make, perhaps not the popular strong choices but the honest ones.

Some of the problems for me though are in the world building, which is non-existent. The story is supposedly science fiction and set in a futuristic world but really the setting is contemporary with a few word changes. There is no real context and breadth that convey a new world and new attitudes. In fact these various characters and especially the military feel very contemporary. The “don’t ask don’t tell” policy is the backbone of the story as Greg must hide his sexuality to have a military career. So It’s unfortunate the science fiction aspect is even included since this would probably appeal to more readers as a contemporary military romance.

Furthermore not all of the plot twists make sense. The courtroom scene towards the end is melodramatic and slightly ridiculous; it of course wouldn’t happen like that. The resulting resolution feels too easy and too pat, considering all the legitimate tension and angst the story has built up between the two men. Their forgiveness and love, while nice and romantic, feels too fast and complacent. The biggest problem for me though is the writing style of using rhetorical questions to offer information. Greg, as the main third person narrator, questions every single thing. He can’t do any action it seems like without questioning all the alternatives first. I realize this is to offer more information to the reader and give insight into Greg’s thought process but it became incredibly annoying.

Some readers may not mind the question technique and the fact that this tends to tell rather than show action. Likewise some readers are likely to really enjoy the fact that this is more of a contemporary military romance than a science fiction/fantasy story. If so, then I’d easily recommend Liar’s Waltz as a fast, absorbing read with a lot of hot sex and nicely crafted main characters. I’m interested to see what the author does next and just hope the characters don’t question everything first.
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Feb 04, 2011 Josephine Myles rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, romance, science-fiction

*4.5 stars*

A tense tale of blackmail, spying and homophobia set on a space station, Liar’s Waltz hooked me in with a high tension premise and didn’t let go! It tells the story of closeted military officer Greg, reassigned to Saira station in an effort to try and avoid the sexual temptation that would destroy not only his career, but also those of his family members. Unfortunately Greg finds himself targeted by a rogue military intelligence officer who knows of Greg’s sexual orientation, and blac...more *4.5 stars*

A tense tale of blackmail, spying and homophobia set on a space station, Liar’s Waltz hooked me in with a high tension premise and didn’t let go! It tells the story of closeted military officer Greg, reassigned to Saira station in an effort to try and avoid the sexual temptation that would destroy not only his career, but also those of his family members. Unfortunately Greg finds himself targeted by a rogue military intelligence officer who knows of Greg’s sexual orientation, and blackmails him to seduce the owner of the last gay bar on the station in an effort to gather intelligence that would help get Eternity closed. Of course, Greg is insanely attracted to Eternity’s owner, Karl, and his angst about the situation escalates as he starts to fall for the man.

This is definitely one of those no-win situations for the unfortunate Greg, when anything he does will harm someone he cares about – and will probably end up harming all of them, including himself. Angst fans will enjoy it, and there’s a great chemistry between the two men. Karl himself, who shares the narrative point of view, is a fascinating figure: ex-military himself - but a man of principles who would not turn anyone else in when given his dishonourable discharge - he wants to help Greg adjust to civilian life (Greg is posing as ex-military), and at the same time finds himself reluctantly becoming a community leader for the station’s GLBT population. The sex scenes are steamy, but also full of poignant emotion from Greg, who begins to unlearn the habits formed by years of furtive encounters.

The only thing that really struck me as odd about this story, was the lack of worldbuilding. Most sci-fi has almost too much of it, but here there is such a close focus on the romantic relationship that there is very little background worldbuilding. I had many unanswered questions about the fictional world, such as the date, whether humankind had encountered aliens yet, who they were at war with, what society as a whole was like, and so on. I know that Becky Black has more stories set in this universe coming out soon, so hopefully some of these questions will be answered in those. I also found some of the technology to be peculiarly anachronistic for a futuristic story – it was as if, bar the spaceships, technology hadn’t advanced beyond our own. The characters still use condoms, have glass windows and carry ID cards rather than have biometric scans. Okay, they have pocket “link” computers and video phones, but we have those in the real world already! It was almost like a sci-fi that had been written in a previous decade, when these things would have been futuristic.

I don’t necessarily think this aspect will be a problem to many readers – indeed, the fact that it reads just like a contemporary story, but set in space, should give it a wider appeal to those who aren’t sci-fi fans. You won’t need to wrap your head around any bizarre concepts or different social orders – it’s all surprisingly familiar. In short, Liar’s Waltz is a well-written and gripping tale that should appeal regardless of whether you normally enjoy sci-fi.(less)

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Jan 14, 2011 Jenre rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, m-m, sci-fi, romance

Greg is newly posted to the space station Saira after requesting a transfer. He’s had enough of the small confines of a space-ship where he seems to constantly develop forbidden feelings for his superior officers, and is looking forward to proving that he’s more than just a prominent family name in his new job as a military computer programmer. When he’s called in to the office of military intelligence and blackmailed into spying on a local owner of a gay bar, Greg never dreamed that he would be...more Greg is newly posted to the space station Saira after requesting a transfer. He’s had enough of the small confines of a space-ship where he seems to constantly develop forbidden feelings for his superior officers, and is looking forward to proving that he’s more than just a prominent family name in his new job as a military computer programmer. When he’s called in to the office of military intelligence and blackmailed into spying on a local owner of a gay bar, Greg never dreamed that he would be faced with the difficult decision of choosing between honour, duty or love.

Whilst I enjoyed this book, it did hit some of the things that I normally find difficult to read. For a start Greg, who is an honourable man hoping for a fresh start, is put in an almost impossible situation. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden in the military, and this is used against Greg to force him to do what he feels is morally wrong. I find storylines such as this rather stressful and frustrating in general and this was no exception. However, given the limitations of Greg’s situation, I though the author did a good job in showing how conflicted Greg is, how the situation is almost intolerable for him. I liked Greg a great deal. I particularly liked that he has accepted his sexual orientation and only seeks to try have a successful military career. There’s no self-hatred, just resignation that if he is to reach the heights of his father and brothers he must hide who he is, which I suppose is a little sad, but understandable non-the-less. The way that Greg changes through the story was sensitively done, as he goes from being edgy around Karl and always looking over his shoulder, to more accepting and, towards the end, unapologetic in his feelings for Karl.

Karl too is a character who is forced to make difficult decisions. His club is constantly being targeted in an effort to close it down and he could take the easy option. His determination to stand his ground could be read as stupidity, or could be seen as noble and heroic. I chose to see it as the latter and respected him for not wanting to be bullied out of his career. So it is that both characters are manipulated and used by a higher power for its own gain, something I thought was quite cleverly done.

The relationship between the couple progresses quite quickly and I thought at times that the commitment they make was a little rushed. Having said that, they work well as a couple and the obvious attraction between them leant itself well to a speedy emotional bond. Because we see both men’s point of view it was easy to sympathise with both of them, even as you know that there will be an eventual reckoning regarding Greg’s true purpose in initially seducing Karl.

Whilst the characters and the initial situation worked for me, as did the romance, I was a little let down by the setting. One reason I like Science Fiction stories is for the settings, gadgets and gizmos that are usually contained within the story. In the case of Liar’s Waltz I was a little disappointed at how pedestrian the setting was. In fact, the whole story could have easily been transferred to a contemporary setting. Substitute the space station for a military base set in a small town, the comm link devices for iphones and the setting could be modern day. Even Greg’s initial job as a programmer could be done today. Perhaps this was the author’s intent, to show that the future isn’t so different to the world we know today, but I would have liked to see something a little more special about the setting than sliding doors and vid screens.

Despite my general disgruntlement with the setting, this was still a well written story of two men placed in a difficult situation. Those of you who love stories where the heroes are made to squirm under impossible circumstances, or love to see a hero facing a no-win situation will like this book. As for me, I liked Liar’s Waltz and think it’s a very commendable first novel for Becky Black. I shall look forward to reading more of her books in the future.(less)

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Feb 10, 2013 Ayanna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

The concept behind this book is interesting, but it's also a study in Becoming the Mask.

See link for more details. Pay especial attention to the paragraph beginning "Sometimes the friendship or relationship..."

I have no idea how to rate this. I think I'll go with 3 stars, which for me is a fairly neutral rating. To me, 3 stars is that "neither agree nor disagree" option you sometimes get in surveys, even though GR says 3 stars means you "liked it."

At the same time, I also really don't want to re...more

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Aug 24, 2011 MandyM rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-romance, kindle-lendables

I read this book after enjoying the author's second release Stowaway. This is a tense and emotional story about Greg, a deeply closeted lieutenant and Karl a gay bar owner on the Saira space station. Military authorities are trying to close down Karl's bar and blackmail Greg into spying on Karl. But Greg can't help falling for him and agonising over his deception.

This is an interesting story but I didn't really connect with Greg. I had problems with his actions although he does redeem himself to...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Mara Ismine rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, fantasy-sci-fi, male-male, romance

This story is set in a not-so-utopian future where the military influence the galaxy in a not-so-good way. The military disapproves of many things same-sex relationships is just one of them. A very detailed and well built ~~world~~ galaxy is a background to nicely rounded characters.

The struggle to conform and family pressure make life less than wonderful for Lieutenant Greg Matthews. Meeting Karl on his first day in a new base does not make things any easier. It is a long struggle to resolve Greg's...more

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Feb 07, 2011 Teresa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-read, romance, m-m-romance, sci-fi

Firstly, I'm not really a m/m romance reader - but Becky Black does know this - so I'm not sure if I'm the best person to review a m/m genre title.

But I do like a good romance, with plenty of conflicts, and this story gives us this.

I do agree with some of the reviews, there was a lack of the sci-fi world I know Becky can create. However, it has plenty of action in and out of the bedroom - and I'm not just taking about the sex!

It has great pace all the way through, and an ending that makes you...more

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Sep 16, 2012 jules0623 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: ex-or-current-navy-army-marine-etc, bartenders-and-bouncers, blackmail-and-bribery, asshat-friends-or-relatives, character-death, coming-out, cops-firemen-and-paramedics, defying-death, drag-queens-or-cross-dressing, genre-drama, fabulous-friends-or-relatives, falsely-accused, favorites, friends-to-lovers, kidnapped-hijacked-or-held-hostage, casual-sex-booty-call-drunk-sex, homophobia, in-the-closet, relationship-m-m, outed, prostitutes-or-pimps-or-escorts, criminals-or-jail-birds, undercover, violence-or-torture, genre-romance, genre-sci-fi, genre-suspense

Not gonna lie. I loved that this had very little 'space stuff' in it. I prefer contemporary fiction and this worked just fine for me (although I can see scifi fans being disappointed).

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May 23, 2013 alackofdignity marked it as to-read

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May 08, 2013 Mac Qu marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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Apr 21, 2013 Shannon marked it as maybe · review of another edition

Apr 18, 2013 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Apr 02, 2013 Kellie Dennis marked it as to-read

Shelves: my-books

Mar 31, 2013 Lana rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 20, 2013 rameau marked it as to-read-or-not-to-read

Mar 16, 2013 Teresa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: erotica-explicit, mm, romances

Feb 16, 2013 Sandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Feb 12, 2013 L-D marked it as not-yet

Shelves: m-m, sci-fi

Feb 16, 2013 Psycholark rated it 2 of 5 stars

Feb 06, 2013 Bluesimplicity rated it 4 of 5 stars

Feb 03, 2013 RayCal marked it as to-read-m-m-romance

Feb 03, 2013 Charley Descoteaux marked it as to-read

Shelves: mm-romance

Jan 30, 2013 May Ridge marked it as to-read

Jan 28, 2013 Megan marked it as need-to-buy

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About Becky Black

A longtime science fiction fan, Becky thinks there are few story ideas that can’t be improved by the addition of the words “in space.” If the story also includes two gorgeous men unable to keep their hands off each other then so much the better. She’d happily go into space herself, but being English, would insist on there being a reliable supply of tea available.

She likes nothing more than trappin...more

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Liar's Waltz (Travelers #1)

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