The Wages of Sin (Unquiet Spirits, Volume #1) in Q&A with Alex Beecroft

May 22, 2010 Erastes rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gay-historical

Anyone familiar with Beecroft’s writing will know that she has turned her hand successfully to Georgian Age of Sail and also fantasy. To blend the Georgian era–about which she is superbly knowledgeable–with a phantasmagorical element seems a very logical next step.

The story is included in The Mysterious a trio of stories including others by Josh Lanyon and Laura Baumbach. However, The Wages of Sin (which, incidentally, if you are interested, seem to be more sin, happily) is available as a standa Anyone familiar with Beecroft’s writing will know that she has turned her hand successfully to Georgian Age of Sail and also fantasy. To blend the Georgian era–about which she is superbly knowledgeable–with a phantasmagorical element seems a very logical next step.

The story is included in The Mysterious a trio of stories including others by Josh Lanyon and Laura Baumbach. However, The Wages of Sin (which, incidentally, if you are interested, seem to be more sin, happily) is available as a standalone title. As the title suggests it’s a mystery, and right from the first chapter it had me guessing, and in no time at all I was thoroughly spooked out, baffled, and enjoying myself hugely.

If you love the deeply Gothic, then this will certainly be your cup of horror, as the book positively drips with it. The protagonist, Charles–the rather dissolute second son of the Earl of Clitheroe appears in the first chapter, slightly worse for wear from a drunken night out and proceeds with the thoroughly mundane task of putting his horse in the stables. However, a head full of drink, the eerie dark, his conversation about vampires with his friends, and what he thinks is his imagination (at first) takes over and before long he’s encountering something that I’m sure many of us have encountered, a sudden dread of the real unknown. Shades of Udolpho shudder out from the hidden places: from the echo of the horse’s hooves on the cobbles, to terrifying shadows on the ivy, to an unease that can’t be explained and then something happens both horrible and inexplicable–which is passed off as being very explicable in no time at all, lulling us into a false sense of security.

If you are looking for a formula romance then this certainly isn’t it. If you looking for a light and frothy read, then this probably isn’t for you. Beecroft’s prose–always lavish and descriptive–is given full rein here: no fabric is undescribed, no ornamentation or wig left unnoticed. Any lover of antiques will positively wallow in the furniture and the trinkets. Historical purists will revel in the fact that the men are wearing as much–or more–make-up than the ladies and are dressed in just as much lace and peacock-bright finery. From a lesser writer, this layer upon layer of description might seem injudicious or heavy handed, but Beecroft’s skill merely brings this slightly more alien Georgian world than than the familiar Regency we know so well, to vivid, sensual life. You feel you are walking down those polished, creaking floors, that if you were to touch that lace, or brocade, you’d know just how it felt on your skin, you are left in no doubt that the clothes are unsuitable for just about every pursuit other than polite conversation, and that to be pilloried, or caught in the rain in a powdered wig are things you’re really glad you’ll never have to suffer.

The relationship–I hesitate to call it a romance, as the ending leaves Beecroft open to write more about these characters–ably shows why gay romance, and particularly gay historical romance baulks from being shoe-horned into a formula that readers of hetero romances have become used to. From what we can glean from the historical record homosexual men would often take their pleasure quickly on the slimmest of encouragements and so it is here; due to the length constraints of the novella it’s difficult to have a dignified wooing, so the pair tumble into a connection which is primarily sexual–it’s not until the end that Charles begins to wonder and hope if there’s any future for them both. This grabbing of touches and kisses where they can, and where they hope they are safe, adds to the tension of the book which is unremitting throughout.

I absolutely loved the protagonists: Charles, with his clever mind and impetuous youth, who gets to grow up fast and learn things about himself and his family which change him for the better, and the delicious mysterious, conflicted Jasper with his own inner demons, his filial loyalty and his fingers in the butter. :) The minor characters are rarely short-changed; the sister Elizabeth is quite masterly, the Admiral–I really loved the description of him–made me laugh with his silly feud with Charles’ father, and even the one-line servants are vibrant and believable. The only character that I didn’t really get a real line on, was Charles’ brother, George–he’s a little two-dimensional and his motives muddied – but that’s possibly because Charles is a lot younger than him, and they are not close. Plus I feel there’s more of this story yet to be told.

The book made some valid social comment, too–after a tragedy with a servant there’s an exasperated rant from Elizabeth about the inconvenience it will cause this close to Christmas which made me laugh. (Although it really wasn’t funny.)

The language overall is rich, and gives a real sense of being there, rather than simply reading about it. The mystery is beautifully paced, if you are anything like me you’ll have to read it at least twice to work out how you’ve been gulled, how you didn’t notice the clues being laid out there for all to see, and I happily went charging off in the wrong direction, which for me is the mark of a good mystery.

I did notice a couple of minor typos, and although the language was English English (colour etc) I did notice the dreaded whiskey sneak in. Once or twice I had to re-read sections to fully comprehend who the “he” was – an all too easy trap with gay romance, but it really only was once or twice. Sometimes the dialogue was a bit too modern, and clashed with the prose. The cover is horrible too, imho–for some reason known only to itself, MLR seems to favour covers with headless torsos and a jumble of out of focus images. but I’m being uber-picky–like a judge in the final of Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars who criticises the angle of the shoulders in a 10 point performance.

I’m not sure if it’s called “The Wages of Sin” or just “Wages of Sin” as I’ve seen covers with both titles. No matter – whatever it is, it’s an utterly spellbinding and spooky read, a cracking mystery and a really lush piece of Gothic literature. ...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Elisa Rolle added it

This is a classical ghost story, both for the style, that reminds me of some old gothic novel, than for the setting, so dark and oppressive even when it’s full daylight; the author doesn’t exactly say that, but I had always the feeling that it was raining outside, or at least it was foggy. Not that in the English country you can expect something else.

Anyway, at the beginning of the story, Charles, second son to an earl, is coming home; he is probably like most of the second son of his time, no This is a classical ghost story, both for the style, that reminds me of some old gothic novel, than for the setting, so dark and oppressive even when it’s full daylight; the author doesn’t exactly say that, but I had always the feeling that it was raining outside, or at least it was foggy. Not that in the English country you can expect something else.

Anyway, at the beginning of the story, Charles, second son to an earl, is coming home; he is probably like most of the second son of his time, no heir to the title, no built to be a soldier, without enough faith to be a clergyman, and so he was sent away to study and maybe make a career in politics. But he probably didn’t have either that skills, or he was not like his father wanted, and so, in the end, Charles was no one, he felt like no one.

The gothic feeling of the story is clear from paragraph one, with Charles arriving to his father’s mansion by night and passing through the family’s cemetery, among white marble tombs that seem almost alive in the night. Charles is trying to convince himself that he is overacting, but as soon as he enters the house he finds his father dead, his brother George already ensconced in his place, his pregnant sister Elizabeth almost in a hysterical status, and his dying sister-in-law Emma secluded in the above bedroom. Plus Jasper, George’s youth best friend, visiting; probably this last would be the most usual of the event, if not for the fact that Jasper’s guardian (a gentle way to call his natural father, he is a bastard son) was also Charles’ father worst enemy, and Jasper is also a catholic priest, in a family where is old tradition to hate all Catholics.

But it’s not hate that draws Charles to Jasper, even if all dressed in black and with strange tales of ghosts and otherworldly vengeances, Jasper is a very handsome man and he stirs odd emotions in Charles, feelings that, if I understood well, he was already having for one of his London friends, but he had never had the chance to explore.

Maybe the feeling of darkness and oppression is also due to the fact that, for the majority, the novel is set inside the house, with its whispers and cracking sound, wooden stairs and unused upper floors. Even the characters where not so much, in the end, like in an old mystery, if indeed someone killed Charles’ father, that someone is still in the house and they are someone they know well, a relative or a friend or one of the three servants.

In comparison to other stories I read by Alex Beecroft, probably the sexual side of this story was a little more evident, and even Charles and Jared, when indeed arrived to share their bodies, were more generous with the reader, letting him stay in the room with them. Now don’t get me wrong, this is for sure not an erotic romance, there are sex scenes but for sure weight less than the plot and the characters development, but even if in minority, they are nevertheless nice and good.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0032OUHQI/?... ...more

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