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.

http://reviewsbyjessewave.blogspot.com/

As usual, I had fun doing it. I talk about horseback riding, kissing Steven Tyler(!), and, oh yeah, writing.

http://reviewsbyjessewave.blogspot.com/2008/06/rough-cut-vincent-diamond-collected.html

Her review was most kind and focused on the emotional context of the stories along with the smutty, juicy, you know- the sex part .

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.

“Irish Cream” appears in Horse Tales and Rough Cut: Vincent Diamond Collected.

Most mornings I’m here with Jerry Sputmeir and Steve the Sleeve. Steve did some time back in the day, and well, we just like using the names from the old days. Makes it kinda homey. None of us were made guys but we worked the game. Jerry was into the numbers up in Brooklyn, and Steve did some loan sharking in addition to his regular burglary gigs. Me? I’m not spillin’. Suffice to say that the horses and me, we go way back.

Anyway, this one morning, I’m on the rail. It’s mid-January, cold for Florida, about forty, and misty. The horses come onto the track at the west end, skittering around like hockey pucks, cantering sideways, all antsy. These days, exercise riders wear vests and helmets. Some wear gloves to grip the reins. A spooked thoroughbred can take off and hit forty miles an hour, so if one starts to run away with you, you’d better have gloves to help you haul his ass in.

Exercise riders still ride butt up though, just like the old days. Nice.

This gray jogs by, tossing his head, kicking up dirt, being feisty, ya know? And when I see the kid on him, it arrows right through me.

Liam.

The strawberry blonde of his hair. The cool green eyes. The muscular chest.

It wasn’t just that this kid looked like Liam, it was the way he sat the horse. Some exercise riders use brute strength that’s where they get those fabulous arms but some use finesse and sweet talk with their charges. That’s what this kid was doing. I saw him leaning over the gray’s withers, stroking the horse’s neck, even its chest. That took some doing with the way this horse antsed around.

What it took was great legs.

I closed my eyes and remembered Liam’s legs. Their strength tight around me, so tight I couldn’t move or breathe or think. And didn’t want to.

Liam’s legs

Back in the fifties, things was different, and not just at the track. Men wore hats and suits everyday, and the only guys wearing jeans were the boys mucking out stalls. You tipped your hat to women, you were polite, you took care of business without a lot of drama.

That also meant if you walked the other way around the track, you didn’t advertise it. Sure, there were queer guys back in the fifties; we just didn’t make a big deal about it. I never saw guys living together like they do nowadays, least not in the tri-state area. Not in my crowd. My guys learned not to make jokes about women with me, and by the time I was in my thirties and running my own crew, it wasn’t a matter of discussion. Not in my earshot.

I wasn’t even at the track when I met Liam. It was at Leprechaun Farms down to Ocala. I was visiting the trainer””on certain uh, collections business, let’s just say””and he was giving me the tour of the barns. Horses never really did much for me, beyond what they could earn for me at the betting windows, but even I knew these were special animals. They gleamed. They had the look of conditioned athletes: the bulging muscle, the thick veins just beneath their smooth pelts. Healthy as, well, horses. It was May and the barn had fans running in all four corners. It was still warm, though, and I sweated beneath my pinstriped suit. I fanned myself with my hat.

Jimmy, the trainer guy, was talking my ear off about bloodlines and race cards and numbers. After ten minutes of this, I kinda tuned him out. Some splashing and whinnying came from the north side of the barn so I edged over, just to see what I can see, ya know? And hoping to catch a breeze.

What I caught was an eyeful.

There was a stallion on the padded area with the hose set-up. Tied on both sides of his head but he tried to rear up, front legs pawing at the air. He bellowed and I’ve never heard a sound like that “deeper than a regular whinny” more of a groaning. The way people might groan in bed.

Well, technically it IS here on Amazon and from the gay media site TLA here:

http://www.tlavideo.com/product/2-1120-265451_rough-cut-vincent-diamond-collected.html?sn=1

TLA is gay owned and operated so you might consider spending your dollars there.

The Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/159021109X/?tag=vincentdiamon-20

Rough Cut is showing as “in stock” both places. Woo hoo! I’m just dazzled that it looks so official and real.

I’m declaring Friday, May 2nd as Diamond Day around here, and I’ll be posting excerpts and having a contest or two for chapbooks and other goodies. Start thinking about the diamonds in your life–the people or pets or places that you treasure, the things that are truly gems for you. I want to hear about them on Friday!

And just indulge me in yet another silly woo hoo!