Cowboy Junkie, who also hangs out at The Phade forums (http://z3.invisionfree.com/The_Phade/index.php?s=e7497dd982e0d735b3f5983a44737697&act=idx), a M/M dessert place oozing with juicy recs, discussion, and author threads, posted a very thorough and complimentary review of Rough Cut here:
http://cboy-junkie.livejournal.com/6807.html
It always surprises and pleases me when folks do a granular reading of my stories. Readers who take the time to notice the details, the ones who appreciate the little turns of phrase that I worked so hard to get *just right*, the readers who come to care about the characters.
It’s a challenge when writing romance and erotica. As a writer, you could just assume that people are skipping around, rushing through to get to the “good parts”, but there are some readers who read for nuance, for romance, and for that emotional connection between characters and *with* the characters that’s incredibly gratifying.
It makes all the hard work and worry and revising and tweaking worth it.
Really, really worth it.
I can’t really tell if he liked it or not, but I kinda think so:
http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=entertainment&sc=books&sc2=reviews&sc3=fiction&id=77620
I dunno; whaddya think? When a writer sees adjectives like tepid and stale in a review, isn’t that a bad thing? And yet, the romance-ness of the stories is a selling point for this reviewer. Heh.
It’s really my first “cold” review, meaning I really don’t know this guy at all, nor does he know me. But it gives readers a feel for the book, and an accurate one: Rough Cut is pretty romantic even if few of the stories really have a happily ever after. And many of the stories are linked so that seems to work for people.
It’s always interesting to hear/read readers’ interpretations of things. Keeps the writing life interesting. 
The talented Steve Berman (http://mroctober.livejournal.com/) was kind enough to let me know about a review of Men of Mystery in the Lambda Book Report, which paid a nice compliment to moi. And it reads:
“Two stories stand out as particularly effective. In Vincent Diamond’s, “Lions and Tigers and Snares” the hero is a game commission officer working undercover on a north Florida private wildlife refuge. The two men heading the park are suspected of illegally importing and selling big game cats. Officer Byron Reese’s work becomes complicated when he falls in love with the chief animal handler. Unlike so many erotic writers, Diamond does not rush the sex; he causes us first to care about his characters and thus makes the inevitable coupling all the more sizzling. Along the way Diamond also teaches us about a criminal world we probably seldom think about.”
Wow. I’m so tickled; is that not cool? And the LBR? Double wow. And it’s like, quotable. What a great way to end the month.
Progress report for July:
# of submissions: 3 (I know, I know; woefully inadequate if I am to meet my goal for the year)
# of rejections: 1
# of sales: 0
# of proofreading/copy edit projects completed: 12
# of proofreading/copy edit projects in queue: 4 (with 2 ongoing lines at one press)
# of edit projects assigned: 2
# of Developmental Edits: 3 in progress
# of Book Doctor projects: 1 in progress, 1 work order rec’d today
# of checks owed for writing: 2
# of checks received for writing: 3
And in other good news, the tech guy made it here and I have a bleeping color printer! Huzzah! Everyone, stand up and do the wave with me, wouldja? So now I *can* make my own chapbooks and have them available for giveaways and cons and whatnot. Whew. And it took the tech guy 2+ hours to figure it out so it really wasn’t that I was being a Total Dumbass.
All in all, a damn good day.