Help, My Boyfriend's an Alien!

Mad About the Brit Boys #3

by J.L. Merrow, Josephine Myles

Love—and desire—that’s out of this world...

It’s time to suit up, take those protein pills, and boldly come where no man has come before. Take a trip to the future, or do your bit for inter-planetary relations with some close encounters of a very unusual kind.

In this erotic science fiction triple feature you’ll meet a cat that’s anything but cute and cuddly, take a pill that’ll make you fall in love—for a night—and discover desire that transcends the limitations of a human body. It’s a brave new world as you explore the unknown in three short stories that push the boundaries of love in ways both thoughtful and tongue-in-cheek.

These stories have all been previously published, but are now available exclusively in this anthology.


Better Than Cola

Human social etiquette. Physical contact. Pronouns. They’re not easy to handle, when you’re a swarm creature with a composite mind, newly fitted into a male human body. Especially when you find your body reacting to the human man assigned to help you acclimatise…

Insta-Love™

Skip likes to party, and he likes loving men. What he doesn’t like is the morning after, when the effects of the Insta-Love™ mood patch have worn off and he’s left with an awkward social encounter. So when he wakes up next to a naked bear of a man, his first instinct is to kick the stranger out. But Wildman has other ideas, and Skip may have to learn how to snuggle.

Gifted in Tongues

Space pilot Torvald “Spitz” Spitzbergen wakes up in an alien jail with a hangover, no clear memory of the night before – and a six foot ginger Felid as a cell mate. How is he going to get out of this one? And more importantly, will he get a chance to check out the Felid’s legendary talents first?

Genres: M M Romance, Anthologies, Science Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, British Literature

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 12, 2016

About the author

JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne.

She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. Her novel Relief Valve is a finalist in the 2015 EPIC Awards.

JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Find JL Merrow online at: www.jlmerrow.com, on Twitter as @jlmerrow, and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/jl.merrow

Reviews

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

BR with Kristan and I have to say these were three fun, light short stories that were an absolute pleasure to read. Overall 4 hearts!

Better than cola - 3.5 hearts

Well that was a pretty interesting read! I really don't want to give anything away, but this alien is certainly not humanoid which is rather uncharted territory in romance novels.


JL Merrow definitely introduced the characters in a way that made the strange appearance of Summer Storms more acceptable. Once again I don't want to give anything away, but I was pretty intrigued when I started reading to see how everything would pan out.


The world building was short sweet and simple, much like the story, we knew what we had to without too much detail being given.


This story is very short, so there was never going to be huge amounts of character development, but even so I found the connection between Summer Storms and Nick not very well developed. Nothing in their conversations made me feel they had made the connection they claimed to have had. However the characters were sweet and I loved Summer's observations on humans and his attempts to learn our ways, I was definitely chuckling throughout the story.

Insta-Love - 4.5 hearts

This was my favourite of the anthology!

Such an interesting and creative take on a cyberpunk world, where people depend on drugs for their emotional needs and human connections. Insta-love is a favourite drug of Skips, which gives the illusion of love which he needs to help him find a connection with his lovers.

Salty fluid against his tongue as he swallows down all the way, straining his jaw but it’s worth it. Worth it for this man he loves. This man whose body he worships. This man...

What was his name?

When Skip meets Wildman (who is a 'natural') he is shown there is more to him than his 'fake' exterior and he can still feel emotions and have a human connection without the need of drugs.

I loved the world and the connection these two had felt real, I even got a little emotional which is pretty impressive for a twenty page story.

The direction their relationship was heading was perfect for the length of the story and the ending was a SUPER sweet HFN.


Gifted in Tongues - 4 hearts

Once again loved that JL Merrow went for an alien that wasn't quite typical, Tao is a half cat, half human type alien, and let me just say... It was pretty darn hot!

Tao yowled again and nuzzled at Spitz’s neck as he thrust in and out, each time taking him farther and farther inside a channel that was just aching to be filled. One of his fangs snagged on an earlobe, and Spitz shuddered...

This was a fun, light and very funny short story. The banter between Tao and Spitz definitely had an 'enemies to lovers' feel and was very entertaining to read.

“What, did you hack up a hairball in some Lacertilian dignitary’s dinner? Mark your territory on his soft furnishings?” Tao half-rose from his bunk.
“At least I can remember my offense, ape-boy!”

More of a lust story than a love story, but it ended with the promise of more for these two.

I had a lot of fun reading this one!

[Kristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yup. It’s official. I have a thing for these two authors.

Though, honestly, I’m an easy sell. Put a book in front of me with the words aliens and gay and I’m nose first into it.

This anthology was a wonderful mix of sci-fi, naughty, and outright fun. From aliens that look like cats, to emotions in a patch, there’s a little something for everyone.

Better than Cola (4.5 stars) was hands down my favorite read of the three. Like all good porn, it has a hot guy in an authority position “showing the ropes” to the newbie. In this case, Nathan Chambers is a human, assigned to Summer Storms; an interesting alien who is wearing a human body, and adapting to life on earth amongst humans. Nathan’s job is to assist Summer Storms in their acclamation.

And boy, does he ever.



But it’s more than just a hot read. There’s an innocence and vulnerability about Summer that just draws you in, and a depth to this story that will surprise you.

The author did a great job at creating a complete story packed with feelings in such a short amount of pages.

If you’re going to try any of the three stories in this anthology, I highly recommend this one.

Insta-Love (3 stars) reminded me of a Doctor Who episode. In a future where we experience our feelings through a patch rather than the good old fashioned way, it’s easy to confuse synthetic emotions for the real deal.

Skip wakes up from a one night stand and wants nothing more than for the hot guy in his bed to go home. But hot guy Wildman is not having it. He thinks their night together was fantastic, and if Skip would allow himself to experience his own emotions and vulnerability, than he’d be opening himself to a real relationship and genuine connections.

It was a short, sweet, happy for now read.

Gifted in Tongues (4 stars) started out with our MC waking up in a jail cell, naked from the waist down, and ended with a budding kitty on man, sexual relationship. It’s a short, fun, crazy little story, that you’ll at least find humorous, if not a little hot. What else can you expect from a day in the life of a pilot, known for getting into trouble, who has an acidic blob for a jail cell neighbor, a Felid for a cell mate, and a bit of a kink for a very talented tongue?



All in all, three entertaining stories from two great authors.

Recommended for anyone who is looking for something a little out of this world.

Read this review and others at

[Sandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars overall This is an enjoyable anthology by two stellar authors. All the stories are extremely short, which is both a positive and a negative. We're left wanting, yet they pack more bang for your buck, getting right down to the nitty gritty. I love sic-fi so this anthology was a sure thing for me, but I liked the wide range we got. Unusual beings from another planet growing accustom to Earth. Futuristic humans so far gone on new tech that they've forgotten how to interact with each other. And space traveling cats with talented tongues. There's a little something for everyone.

Better Than Cola by J.L. Merrow - 4 stars This was my favorite of the bunch. I loved the slow reveal of figuring out what and who exactly Summer Storms was. I loved their tentativeness and curiosity. Merrow was able to convey a complex world with entirely different social, sexual, and moral codes, through just a few conversations. The ending was perfect. All three of these stories are extremely short, so all of them felt like they could have continued and been full books. But this one felt the most complete. I felt a strong connection between Nathan and Summer Storms, and knew that they had genuine affection for each other and would continue on from this point. That, and the big reveal and subsequent sex scene was Freaken.Awesome! We were given hints with the plural pronouns and with Summer's reference to being afraid of being perceived by the humans as repulsive in their natural form, since wouldn't you feel that way if mammals were exterminated like vermin on their planet? but the subsequent 'swarm' was still... Unexpected and oh so erotic.

Insta-Love™ by Josephine Myles - 3.25 stars I love dystopian stories so this was a nice twist on a futuristic "perfect" world where everyone modifies their bodies to exact standards and uses emoti-chem patches to chose their mood on a whim. It was sweet to see Wildman start to show Skip that there is more to life, and not to be afraid to experience the world with his own fragile emotions. But Wildman did get a bit preachy at times and a couple of his speeches felt like they were trying too hard, with the 'soul' business in particular. Getting pretty heavy for such a short short. But it was uplifting to think about Wildman bringing color into Skip's grey world and to hope that maybe Skip will go back to Gaian with Wildman after his Rumspringa is over, ending on a nice happy-in-the-moment.

Gifted in Tongues by J.L. Merrow - 3 stars The fact that our MC's cell-mate is a 'Felid' and their cell-neighbor is a 'Blob' is what gives this story a unique twist, otherwise it's just a couple guys sitting in a jail cell on a foreign planet with no idea when or how they'll get out. I liked it well enough. Spitz and his Felid have an antagonistic relationship, which usually works for me, but I would have liked a little more connection besides the one sex scene to justify the possibility of a future together. It's never really explained why the Felid wants to join Spitz instead of staying with his own crew.

Received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, reviewed for Hearts On Fire

[J.L. Merrow]

This is another mini-anthology by me and Josephine Myles in the Mad About the Brit Boys series where we play around with different sub-genres of (mainly) MM - this one's our sci-fi collection. Although the stories (2 by me; 1 by Jo) were first published a long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away (okay, not that last bit!) they're now exclusively available on Kindle in this little collection.

I had huge fun in very different ways with my 2 stories: Gifted in Tongues I like to think of as capers in space, whereas Better than Cola is a more serious exploration of how a human could have a relationship with a truly alien creature. Jo's story Insta-Love, on the other hand, is a brilliant, sly take on how hook-ups might evolve in the future. Enjoy! :D

[Josephine Myles]

Out next week, and up for pre-order on Amazon!

This book contains two stories by JL Merrow and one by me, all of which have been previously published but which have been out of print for a while now. I hope you enjoy our foray into sf!

[Janeylou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[The Novel Approach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Help, My Boyfriend’s an Alien! is an anthology composed of three short stories in a brief eighty pages. Once again, authors JL Merrow and Josephine Myles have dusted off their archives and come up with a fun collection of flash fiction stories, all previously published; though of the three stories, Myles’ Insta-Love™ is the only one I’d read before, and, in fact, is the first Josephine Myles story I’d ever read back to January of 2011, beginning my long-held love of and appreciation for her writing.

Bookending Insta-Love™ are JL Merrow’s Better Than Cola and Gifted in Tongues, and, given the title of the antho, you can clearly guess that all three stories have a sci-fi theme, but each are unique and wonderful in their own right. Better Than Cola truly has a beauty all its own, though, as it not only takes on the obsession with outward appearance but gender assignments, as well, all wrapped up in an alien species that are more light than substance but can wear the shell of a human and, for all intents and purposes, appear human but must be trained in the art of doing so. I loved the twist of something so banal as a handshake taking on a rather interesting connotation to Summer Storms, and I loved that the species themselves took on a collective identity outside of gender norms. With a sweet humor and unbridled warmth, Merrow brings Nathan and Summer Storms together, and I loved everything about this story’s message, as well as the beauty of its ending.

Insta-Love™ is Josephine Myles’ tongue-in-cheek take on, what else, the insta-love trope, set it a futuristic world where the chemically and cosmetically enhanced Skip meets his match in Wildman, a Gaian “natural” who’s on his Fallow year, which is something like the Amish Rumspringa, just to give you a frame of reference.

In a morning after setting, one in which Skip has woken up without the benefit of the “right emoti-chems,” and to what was supposed to be a one-night-stand with Wildman, the story becomes Skip’s education in sex and love, about confusing sex with love (and the natural chemical high they both inspire), and about taking the time to let a relationship grow from the seed of connection. Of the three stories in the collection, this one offers the most food-for-thought.

Closing things out is Merrow’s wild and crazy and a little bit kinky Gifted in Tongues, in which Torvald “Spitz” Spitzbergen wakes up in a prison cell with a Felid named Tao, and I would say the fur flies, but mostly it’s the sparks between Spitz and Tao that are out of this world. There’s a little prison sex, and, of course, trying to figure out how to get themselves out of the predicament they’ve found themselves in. And, somewhere along the way, the discovery that maybe they aren’t quite done exploring each other a little more. This story is full of imagination and clever dialogue, and is a sexy and imaginative way to close out the anthology, for sure.

It’s kind of hard to go wrong with either of these authors, individually. Put them together in one place, with the right combination of stories, and you’re bound for an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours with a book.

Reviewed by Lisa for The Novel Approach
http://www.thenovelapproachreviews.co...

[Lois - Who Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

These are very short and very odd stories. Each one was basically a chapter long with just minimal story and the second story wasn’t about aliens. I normally enjoy both these authors, but there just wasn't enough here.

[Sarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review written for Love Bytes Reviews.

ANTHOLOGY REVIEW:

I usually enjoy science fiction stories a lot so I was more than willing to give this one a try. The concepts were all great and while the stories were, on the whole, enjoyable, they didn’t seem as well developed as others I’ve read by these same authors which was a little disappointing. If you’re looking for a quick sci-fi read with a side dose of romance, this may be something you want to check out but if you want some short stories with more depth to them, I’d probably look at something else.

Better Than Cola by J.L Merrow: 3*

I found the idea of this story intriguing but was just left wanting so much more. There wasn’t a great deal of information about Summer’s people, which was a bit disappointing, but with a short story I still found that acceptable. The interactions between the two main characters were fine but again, I wanted more. I’ve read short stories that read as complete tales and the length was never a detriment before but here it just really was; things just happened way too fast to get much enjoyment out of it but the concept was still really good. If it was expanded this could be a great story.

Insta-Love™ by Josephine Myles: 3*

This one was just kind of okay for me. Skip doesn’t really know how to feel anything without the help of some sort of drug to help him get there and while I found the idea of the upgrades and various products kind of interesting, it was also fairly sad as well. I like that Wildman was more than willing to help Skip feel and do things without something in his system messing with his emotions but regardless of the connection he said he felt between them, I wasn’t really feeling it. The connection just wasn’t there for me and the short length was a real detriment to the enjoyablility of this story as well.


Gifted in Tongues by J.L Merrow: 3.5*

The best story in the anthology, this one also felt the most complete to me. I really liked how you got to see so many different aliens and the entire setting really brought home the sci-fi aspect for me. While I still didn’t feel as much of a connection between the main characters as I would’ve liked, I do think they paired well together. The ending was great and made me smirk a little but I still wanted more. It would be easy to write a sequel with these characters if the author were ever so inclined, and I would totally read it if that ever were to happen, but the story ended well and while I would like more, I wasn’t as disappointed with this story as I was with the previous two.

http://lovebytesreviews.com/2016/08/1...

[Mari Cardenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for a fair and honest review.***

Better Than Cola
Summer Storms is a composite creature that has been assigned to Nathan Chambers, so Nathan can help him acclimatize to dealing with humans. They’re more than a little overwhelmed by all they’ve been experiencing, but can’t stop themselves from being drawn to Nathan and surprisingly it seems Nathan is equally drawn to them.
This was an interesting story. Short and sweet, I loved Summer’s reactions to all they were experiencing and well, how could you not love Nathan? He’s just awesome. Really enjoyable!
Rating: 4.5 Stars!!!

Insta-Love™
Skip wakes up the morning after partying with a naked bear of a man, who doesn’t seem as inclined to leave as Skip would have liked. Wildman is set on showing Skip that he doesn’t need an Insta-Love™ mood patch to relate to him.
I adore Josephine Myles writing and this short story was not the exception. It was sweet and kind of awkward, just like Skip and both Skip and Wildman were great and very hot together. Very recommendable!
Rating: 4.5 Stars!!!

Gifted in Tongues
Spitz wakes up in an alien jail with a hangover, no clue as to how or why he is in jail and a six foot ginger Felid as a cellmate. How is he ever going to get out of his plight?
This story was my favorite of the three. There’s just something about a sarcastic fun character like Spitz that draws me in like nothing else. Even in the worst of circumstances he just couldn’t or wouldn’t shut up, pushing and pushing and pushing some more. Never mind that I just loved Spitz and Tao together, they were definitely hot! A definite must-read!
Rating: 5 Stars!!!

[Anwen Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are 3 gay scifi romance stories, and if that's your thing you should definitely get it!

The first story, Better Than Cola, I think is absolutely brilliant. There is a real SF genius at work here and the concept/world could have been made into a book or even a whole series by itself. I'd buy it!

The second story is Insta Love which I had read before. That was OK, I knew it wasn't going to be new to me, and I enjoyed reading it again.

The last one seemed more like a shifter story than aliens, but I guess it wasn't because the character was permanently a cat. All the same it seemed like shifter without the human element. I enjoyed it but the first story was still my favorite.

[Erebia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hmm.. the first story was clearly five stars, original and hot and cute. The second one I already knew. About four stars, maybe more. The third I am not so sure about. Very interesting in the beginning, but then kind of abrupt. So if you haven't read Insta-Love by Josephine Myles before, you NEED to buy this and read at least the first two stories. If you have, buy it anyway and reread it :)

[Sierra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fabulously inventive trilogy of short stories that show great range! My favorite is the first one but all three are original and sexy. This series of short story anthologies have been resoundingly good. I love the way each story contains a preface that give insights into the motivations and influences for its creation. I can't wait for the next collection!

[Jenn (not Lily) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three lovely stories. Especially loved "Better Than Cola" by J. L. Merrow.

[Sara]

Kindle edition.
Two stories I have read before, one new to me.