Q&A with Josh Lanyon discussion
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What Are you Reading?
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Bitter Pill is really great, it brings some characters back that we had not seen in some time. I liked it a little more than Murder Ho..."
I'm reading Bitter Pill now. I'm happy to finally get to it. I love this series.
Books from a number of favorite authors seemed to arrive around the same time and I'm still moving through them. There was Josh's series finale, Blind Side, and books from other series I follow. I had to catch up on a couple of shorter works in L.J. Hayward's Death and the Devil series to get to Book 3, When Death Frees the Devil. I quickly read Gregory Ashe's The Rational Faculty, just before Police Brutality came out.
After Bitter Pill I'm on to The Hanged Man.
Not m/m: I've also been listening to some stories from the The Witcher books, The Last Wish, and read two post-apocalyptic fantasy books by Rebecca Roanhorse, Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts. The 'big water" comes and Dinétah/Navajo land is one of the few surviving and protected (by gods and a magical wall) areas.
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I wonder if Bentley is still alive. It would be fun to talk to him about that gem of a book.
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Seen thanks to Ginn Hale, 14 sci-fi and fantasy books with black heroines:14 Books To Read In Honor Of 'Doctor Who's First Black Doctor
Karen wrote: "Johanna wrote: "KC wrote: "Finally read Robert Bentley's Here There Be Dragons. I've had the book for several years, ever since Josh recommended it. I'm beyond impressed with it, and ..."Thank you! I didn't find anything else except this book either...
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Excellent Golden Age mystery -- Burnham's only foray into mystery fiction.
https://www.yesterdaysgallery.com/pag...
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Karen wrote: "Just finished The Hanged Man yesterday. Wow! Complex, intelligent, occasionally snarky, often nail-biting, urban fantasy/alt-reality series. A treat."Ooh. I've been waiting for that one to come out; thanks for letting me know!
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Excellent Golden Age mystery -- Burnham's only foray into mystery fiction.
https://www.yesterdaysgallery.com/pag......"
Is that your copy? ;)
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One of the things that’s different about these books from many others that I enjoy (PsyCop, etc.) is that Rain doesn’t have an organization of psychics, mediums, or other paranormals to explain or guide him in the use of his abilities, so managing those is something he learns through experience and the support of his partner/lover and the law enforcement officers they work with. A funny thread along side of an otherwise serious (and sad) mystery investigation is how his hippie mother and his lover Danny try to find a guru to help him gain some control over his ghostly petitioners.
Also, Rain and Danny’s relationship arch is one of the best. :)
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Karen wrote: "Just finished The Hanged Man yesterday. Wow! Complex, intelligent, occasionally snarky, often nail-biting, urban fantasy/alt-reality series. A treat."Glad you loved it! I'm approaching the end! It's so exciting!
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Excellent Golden Age mystery -- Burnham's only foray into mystery fiction.
https://www.yesterdaysgallery.com/pag......"
That is in fact my copy. The only damned copy I could find on the entire freaking internet!
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Glad you loved ..."
I've heard wonderful things about this. In fact, I think I bought it a few weeks ago. I have been buying books from Bookbub like there's no tomorrow. And I ALREADY had more books than I could read in a lifetime. I'm kind of obsessive right now.
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Read a few good books lately:- Amy Rae Durreson's novella - A Distant Drum - excellent in every way. The paranormal part was deliciously creepy and the romance part was heart-squeezy in the best way.
- Simon James Green's Alex in Wonderland. YA, which i don't usually like, but when it's well written, of course, it makes all the difference.
- Donna Leon's Death at La Fenice. Mainstream mystery, and very good. Loved the writing, the atmosphere, the plot and resolution. For being written in 1992, i was also impressed with the open-mindedness of the detective.
- Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin. It's been years since i read any Margaret Atwood, but i've been listening to her on MasterClass - where she's fantastic; the class is really well done, organized and with examples and practical advice, and she's funny! - and when she discussed structure, she mentioned "The Blind Assassin," and it sounded intriguing. So anyway, the book is excellent.
KC wrote: "Read a few good books lately:- Amy Rae Durreson's novella - A Distant Drum - excellent in every way. The paranormal part was deliciously creepy and the romance part was heart-sque..."
Amy Rae Durreson writes such good ghost story romances. That one was so creepy!
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Added it into my to-read list.
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I'm also listening to the audiobook for The Hanged Man, and this is turning out to be a hard book to get through because of the subject matter. But, it's still just as good as the first book!
Johanna wrote: "I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I don't think I've ever read it completely before—only partly. I'm glad the book club with my colleagues picked this ..."I listened to it a few years ago and it is such a beautifully written book.
Johanna wrote: "I'm reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez. I don't think I've ever read it completely before—only partly..."One of my cult books as I was in my early twenties.
Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Excellent! Thank you, Johanna, for the rec. :-)I started the book a few months ago, actually, read about a third, and then for one reason or another (not to do with the book), I didn't get back to it until two days ago. I'm so glad I did!
I think what I loved most from the very beginning is how uplifting the book is, despite the difficult parts. And it's so funny and moving.
Alison wrote: "...Amy Rae Durreson's novella - A Distant Drum...Amy Rae Durreson writes such good ghost story romances. That one was so creepy!"
She does! One minute i'm creeped out, the next i'm all teary over the romance, lol. This one had such a lovely romance. Perfect in every way.
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Oh! I thought The Hanged Man was the first!
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Also I put a moratorium on buying any more books (other than vintage titles which you've got to grab when you see them coz they won't be there long).
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Maybe grab the audiobooks for your flight? They’ve been really great to commute with for the past two weeks. I’m actually kind of upset that I’m almost done, you know? I’m gonna miss them. I feel like nothing else will compare. I hope it’s not too long until book three comes out!
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Dal Maclean coming out with a new one 3/24.I enjoyed recently rereading TA Moore's series, Digging up Bones. Moving it onto my favorites shelf (next time I am e-organizing). Grumpy heroes feeling the love reluctantly. k9 cop and fbi. TA Moore still uncovering their separate histories and mysteries.
Also, enjoyed very much Alexis Hall's third book to the Kate Kane series, Bitter Pill by Jordan Castillo Price, Principles of Spookology (book2) by S.E. Harmon; and The God's Eye by Anna Butler (from the excellent Lancaster Luck series).
Also was fully engaged with: Prodigal by T.A. Moore...about a man suspected of once being an 8 year old, kidnapped years ago. Dark and good, mm romance smalltown mystery. First in a series. Let's face it: small towns are creepy.
Liked slightly less but still recommend Jordan Castillo Price's Last not Lease (Spellcraft series). These are small tasty snacks. I can recommend the similar snacks of K.L. Noone's short mm stories/ novellas. Mostly fantasy.
Z.A. Maxfield's Brothers in Grime series were straightforward mm romance; likable characters, not mysteries..the final one pulled that infamous romantic twist: the "amnesia card".
Jordan wrote: "Oh, no! Don’t start with The Hanged Man! Honestly, I’m almost done with the audio for THM, and gosh, that book should come with some warnings... [spoilers removed] but, honestly, this series is SOO..."I loved that book, but yeah, there's some horrific stuff. It's so good, though. I expect it will be a while until the third book.
Seen thanks to Nicole Kimberling:5 Underrated Queer Romantic Thrillers you MUST read!
To say 5 is a bit cheating though, because one is an excellent series in 8 books, More Heat Than the Sun, which I even own on paper, but I never finished because I should reread everything. Here is the first book: Love is a Stranger.
And I had never heard of Where Death Meets the Devil.
More Heat Than The Sun is a very big favorite with me, I have reread many times. A bit slow in the middle of the first one: but better and better from then on out And each ine is at least two novels in one, he really likes to give an action twist, and it can go from romantic angsty, to small conspiracies, to disaster megadrama really quickly. I also highly recommend Wiltshire's completely different historical mm two-book series, A Royal Affair and Aleksey's Kingdom. Aleksey's Kingdom being a dark thriller in the wilderness type.Where Death Meets The Devil was a high recommend for me too, spies and super spies and assassin James Bond and conspiracies...a touch of sci fi....messy plotwise perhps, but I loved the ride.
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I just finished The Hanged Man, the sequel to The Last Sun. It's excellent: quite the page-turner!Now I'm reading The Sidhe by Charlotte Ashe (too soon to tell).
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5 Underrated Queer Romantic Thrillers you MUST read! ..."
Nice list. The only one I haven't read is Powder Burns. I'll add it to my list.
I loved Love is a Stranger and intended (intend) to complete the series. It's one of those that I need to binge-read right through (now 8 books long).
I'm now doing a binge listen/re-read of Gregory Ashe's first six Hazard and Somerset books, starting with Pretty Pretty Boys. I'm on book 4 and it's a challenge listening to all that angst. ;)
L.J. Hayward's Death and the Devil (3 books + 5 codas/novellas) is a great black ops/spies/assassins series. Messy, yes, as WMD says, but a favorite "winding road" series. https://www.goodreads.com/series/2295...
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Thank you for the heads-up, dear!
John Wiltshire has written some great books. I loved the first two from the More Heat Than the Sun series. A Royal Affair and Ollie Always were both terrific.
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I, too, liked Ollie Always a lot. I think one of the reasons why I read it in the first place must have been because you recommended it at some point, Alison. :-)
I have to take a look at the More Heat Than the Sun series...
Johanna wrote: "Alison wrote: "John Wiltshire has written some great books. I loved the first two from the More Heat Than the Sun series. A Royal Affair and Ollie Always were both t..."I remember discussing it after I read it. I was so pleased that a queer romance author who lives in New Zealand had actually written a book set in New Zealand.
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Lol. So many anniversaries going on, though not all of them happy ones.
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It's a weird book, and not for me. I stopped short of page 20. But did find the transphobia when I was flipping through it and it just opened up to it. It's character-on-character, not author-on-character, far as I could tell. But yeah, I just didn't like the writing style and the sex in the beginning.
So, I've swapped that out in favor of The Affair of the Mysterious Letter. Maybe the third time's the charm and I'll actually like this one by Alexis Hall. I really like the premise! Sherlock retellings are great when done well, and this one is some weird fantasy thing. So I'm seriously looking forward to it and will be reviewing it for my library blog!
I'm also now reading The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women for my library book group, and so far, it's really good, and cring-worthy knowing what we know about it and what the girls are doing with the radium. *shivers*
Jordan wrote: "So, I've swapped that out in favor of The Affair of the Mysterious Letter. Maybe the third time's the charm and I'll actually like this one by Alexis Hall. I really like the premise! Sherlock retellings are great when done well, and this one is some weird fantasy thing. So I'm seriously looking forward to it and will be reviewing it for my library blog!"I hope you enjoy it! Fingers crossed. It's definitely very weird and I hope it works for you. I absolutely loved it. It's very funny and totally bizarre. Quite different from his other books.
Jordan wrote: "I started reading Frankissstein: A Love Story, with the intent on finding the transphobia in it and figuring out what was up with it, since so many reviewers didn't like it for that..."Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this book. I also had a look to some other reviews: I'll keep away from it!
I finished The Sidhe for another Goodreads group. It was OK; not great; maybe three stars.I started The Handsome Girl & Her Beautiful Boy but I was just not in the mood for YA, no matter how good. I read A Distant Drum instead (excellent, although very short) and now I'm reading Blind Space for the hell of it.
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Q&A with Josh Lanyon
Books mentioned in this topic
Subtle Bodies (other topics)Husband Material (other topics)
Sing for the Coming of the Longest Night (other topics)
A Shattered Silver Crown (other topics)
A Shattered Silver Crown (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jordan Castillo Price (other topics)Alexis Hall (other topics)
Katherine Fabian (other topics)
Iona Datt Sharma (other topics)
Cynthia Zhang (other topics)
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So glad you enjoyed it, KC. I thought you would. :)
KC and others in this thread, enter "Bentley" in the "search discussion posts" window on this page. It brings up our discussion on trying to find copies of the book and any other Bentley works from a few years ago. OK, librarians (Jordan and Alison), any other approaches to researching this? ;)
I noticed that there are a few more ratings on GR than there were from when we first talked about this back in 2016-2017, but it's still an almost-lost gem.