Cameron D. James's Blog, page 45
July 25, 2013
Blog Tour Stop 13: Ever After Romance
The blog tour train pulls in to another stop! Today, the Autumn Fire Virtual Book Tour is over at Ever After Romance, where I guest post about my favourite books of all time!
So, what, exactly, does a smutty author read in his spare time?
Short answer: a lot.
My top ten list of favourite books spans erotica, erotic romance, science fiction, the classics, comic strips, non-fiction, and YA. Admittedly, there is a science-fiction bias to it as I love the stuff. I wish I could expand the list to my top twenty… but I know if I did that, I’d want to then expand it to my top thirty!
Anyway, click here to check out the post! (There’s also an excerpt of Autumn Fire, if you still haven’t given it a read-through.)
July 24, 2013
Book Review: Bloodline
Bloodline
James Rollins
Galilee, 1025: A Templar knight uncovers a holy treasure in an ancient citadel — a priceless icon that holds a mysterious and terrifying power.
A millennium later, Commander Gray Pierce of Sigma Force is dispatched to the African jungle, teaming up with former Army Ranger Captain Tucker Wayne and his military war dog, Kane, on a covert mission to rescue the US President’s pregnant daughter from Somali pirates. But Pierce fears the kidnapping masks a far more terrible terrorist agenda — a suspicion proven true in a fiery ambush and a deadly act of betrayal… and by the firebombing of a South Carolina fertility clinic half a world away.
Suddenly Gray Pierce and Sigma Force are in a frantic race to save an innocent unborn baby whose very existence raises questions about the nature of humanity. And behind it all is a deadly cabal that has been manipulating events from the shadows throughout history… and a devastating conspiracy rooted in human genetic code that Pierce must expose before it alters humanity forever.
It’s difficult to not get caught up in the high intensity thrill ride that Rollins always takes his readers on. Bloodline was no different in that respect. The plot had its usual twists and turns and science was expertly integrated with fiction to make for an intelligent read (that often leaves the reader feeling even more intelligent). Wayne and Kane make great additions to the cast of characters and I hope that we see more of them in the future.
I had to think this one through a bit. I had some hesitations over Bloodline and here’s what I think it boils down to — Bloodline is damn good, as a Rollins book always is. But for a Rollins book, I felt it wasn’t quite his regular superb quality. So, this is definitely an excellent read, but I think I was expecting just a little bit more from him.
One thing that I know is starting to get to me is all the symbols the team comes across. We’ve got a secret society that has been around for millennia, it seems, yet they integrate their logos into all that they do. A tent in the middle of nowhere has the bloodline logo emblazoned on it. The Guild has an island in Dubai, that fantastic place with all those man made islands, shaped like their logo of a star and moon. And the family that runs The Guild has bought up specific buildings on the island so that from an aerial view, their property makes a perfect Templar Cross. It seemed a bit far-fetched.
Rollins always does a great job of seamlessly integrating his research into his fiction. To give an opposite example, Michael Crichton was terrible at it — he’d do some research and basically copy and paste it as a page into his novel. Rollins integrates it into the narrative so the reader picks it up without a Crichton-style infodump. The only area where I found he veered away from that was when talking about child soldiers. In the notes at the back, he says he read A Long Way Gone and met its author, Ishmael Beah. I’ve also read that book and met the author and, I can tell you, it’s hard not to get caught up in that and want to share that terrifying reality with people. In Bloodline, the passages about child soldiers, usually told as character flashback pieces, felt a little infodump-like… but that might just be me nitpicking.
Kane brought an interesting perspective to the book. He was a viewpoint character a few times, and Rollins does an interesting job of writing from a nonhuman perspective. I think it took me a while to appreciate the work that went into Kane’s passages — they are solid, but I think I was originally caught off guard by the sudden shift.
As for the Sigma Force novels’ overarching plot about The Guild, this volume brings some really good resolution to the saga. In the last novel, The Devil Colony, we learned that President Gant’s family is involved with The Guild. Bloodline picks up that thread and takes it to a very satisfying conclusion.
So, overall, Bloodline was a superb book. Rollins never fails in enthralling me — so even though I didn’t think it was as amazing as some of his others, it was still damn good
Blog Tour Stop 12: Zipper Rippers
As the Autumn Fire book blog tour slowly makes its way to the end, with just a week and a half left, we stop by Zipper Rippers for a guest post and a wonderful review!
A snippet from the review:
I think the author has done a good job of exploring how difficult it is to come out, even in this day and age. Some of the language is a bit coarser than what I’ve read before in M/M romances (but most of those were written by women, not gay men), but I don’t think the author does it to shock, it is believable that this is how Dustin thinks of things.
And I also guest post, speaking about my journey to seeing Autumn Fire published. I don’t think it’s a typical “How I got published” story, if there is even such a thing as a typical story.
Click here to visit Zipper Rippers to read the review and my guest post!
July 23, 2013
Blog Tour Stop 11: Up All Night Reviews
It day 11 on the Autumn Fire Virtual Book Tour! Today’s stop is at Up All Night Reviews for an excerpt and a review!
Like I said, cute story – and two hot guys
Click here to visit Up All Night Reviews to read the whole thing!
July 22, 2013
Blog Tour Break
I’ve been blogging too much about the blog tour lately.
Here, enjoy this picture of a cute baby ring-tailed lemur.
I took this picture out at Assiniboine Park Zoo, in Winnipeg, Canada.
You can find a ton more travel pics over at my Global Scrapbook Tumblog. Half the pictures on that blog are mine, and half are from my co-blogger.
Blog Tour Stop 10: Buffy’s Ramblings
Another day, another blog tour stop. Today I’m over at Buffy’s Ramblings to tell you ten things you don’t know about me!
What fandom am I deep in to?
What do I share in common with Autumn Fire’s lead character Dustin?
What weird phobia do I have?
Click here to find out all this and more!
July 21, 2013
Blog Tour Stop 9: The Adventures Within
Today’s stop on the big ol’ blog tour is at The Adventures Within for a fantastic 5-star review!
Autumn Fire was a 5 star book I lenjoyed it from start to finish, it was such an intense read not just the steamy scenes but also because of the personal situations. Especially Dustin and his coming out of the closet. He was so scared and worried I mean who could blame him. He thought that if he told anyone they would immediately push him out of their lives.
Click here to visit The Adventures Within and read the full review.
July 20, 2013
Blog Tour Stop 8: Texas Book Nook
Good morning, gang!
My Autumn Fire blog tour stops by the Texas Book Nook today for a quick promo post! If you haven’t yet checked out the cover blurb, now’s as good a time as any! Click here to visit the Texas Book Nook.
And if you’re interested in purchasing a copy, I see Autumn Fire is on sale for only $3.71 at Coffee Time Romance! (I think that’s the cheapest price on the net!) Click here to visit CTR.
Book Review: Rarer Than Rubies
Rarer Than Rubies
EM Lynley
When Trent Copeland runs into Reed Acton at a Bangkok airport, he thinks the handsome American is too good to be true. Why would someone like Reed be interested in a quiet, introverted gay-romance writer? After all, even an obvious tourist like Trent can see that there is more to Reed’s constant unexplained appearances in his path than meets the eye.
Reed Acton has one mission and one mission only—he needs to get the map that was accidentally slipped into Trent’s bag and keep the mobsters who want the priceless artifact from taking deadly revenge. Trent Copeland is a delicious and damned near irresistible diversion, but Reed can’t afford distractions right now, especially if he wants to keep Trent safe.
From Bangkok’s seediest back alleys to the sacred north, the two men will fight to stay one step ahead of the bad guys and learn that the only treasure worth finding is… each other.
I found this to be a very enjoyable read. It was a mix of gay erotic romance and globe-trotting adventure — and as I’m a fan of adventure and thrillers that span the world, this was a nice treat. I found the plot and writing to be nicely complex — not as overly complex as these thriller/adventure books can sometimes be, but also not flat-out straight-forward. The mix of elements and plot style made for an entertaining read.
There were times where I felt the prose could have been tightened and cleaned a bit, but the pacing and story kept me going along. As well, I’m not usually one for details in writing, but Rarer Than Rubies could have benefitted from some more descriptive passages about Thailand and the streets of Bangkok.
Both Trent and Reed were well-crafted viewpoint characters. Trent starts as a naive romance writer who is in many ways the stereotypical gay guy (multiple types of body wash, fancy clothes, etc), but he grows and develops nicely through the story. That amount of character growth he undergoes could easily have come off as forced, as it is considerable, but Lynley carries it off ably. I have to say that I was quite hesitant when I saw that Trent is a romance writer — in the few books I’ve read where the author writes a character with a career the author personally has, I find it comes off as a bit lame. (I disliked the author main character in Stephen King’s The Dark Half, the minister main character in Prophet by Christian fiction author Frank E Peretti, or the semi-autobiographical Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card.) So, I did get off to a weak start with Trent as a character, but quickly warmed up to him, as Lynley crafted Trent well. Reed is an interesting character as we are never too sure if he is a good guy or a bad guy — but Lynley gets the reader to care about him before we find out his true motivations, so when we find out he’s good, it’s a nice payoff for the trust the reader invested.
Rarer Than Rubies is one of those rarer romance books that manages to deftly meld two genres — romance and, in this case, adventure — into a satisfying whole. It was definitely worth the read and I will be picking up its sequel, Italian Ice, soon.
July 19, 2013
Blog Tour Stop 7: A Life Through Books
Today was another great day on the book tour for Autumn Fire! A Life Through Books hosted and gave Autumn Fire a great review!
This was such a great example of how great M/M novels can be with a steady plot and well developed characters. The story was not so directed on the Erotic aspect of it, there was an actual storyline and it made this read even better!
Check out the whole review — click here to go to A Life Through Books!
