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Earthly Concerns
Between love and loss, there is obligation…
It was a peaceful night when Barrett and his daughter were driving home… then something happened. Something sinister.
Between shadow and light, there is uncertainty…
Now the only person Barrett can turn to for help is Anson, a man gifted with psychic abilities beyond reason. But Anson is also his ex-boyfriend, a man whose heart he’d already broken.
If you can see, you have to help.
As Anson delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding Barrett’s accident, he begins to realize that he’s not only in a race against time, but in a battle against his own broken heart and the terrifying understanding that whatever has taken Barrett’s child is a force of evil beyond anything either man has ever encountered.
And between decision and consequences, there are… Earthly Concerns
It was a peaceful night when Barrett and his daughter were driving home… then something happened. Something sinister.
Between shadow and light, there is uncertainty…
Now the only person Barrett can turn to for help is Anson, a man gifted with psychic abilities beyond reason. But Anson is also his ex-boyfriend, a man whose heart he’d already broken.
If you can see, you have to help.
As Anson delves deeper into the circumstances surrounding Barrett’s accident, he begins to realize that he’s not only in a race against time, but in a battle against his own broken heart and the terrifying understanding that whatever has taken Barrett’s child is a force of evil beyond anything either man has ever encountered.
And between decision and consequences, there are… Earthly Concerns
- GenresM M RomanceRomance
ebook
First published January 1, 2012
60 people want to read
About the author
Xavier Axelson
15 books127 followersAbout Xavier Axelson: Xavier Axelson is a writer and columnist living in Los Angeles.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 27, 2012
After attending the Rainbow Book Fair in NYC, I decided to stretch myself as a reader and step outside of my usual reading box. I will occasionally pick up a M/M book, but never one that was mixed with a paranormal story line. In Earthly Concerns, Xavier Axelson has taken what I love of Dean Koontz & my former addiction to The X Files (added enough erotica to make it titillating) and had me flipping chapters quickly as I wanted to see how Anson would help his ex boyfriend and where this quest would take him. The story unfolds in a way where we get both a jilted romance with a hint of reconciliation spliced with the excitement of unearthing the mystery at hand in a very short and fast-paced read. Axelson really knows how to pull his readers into his world and now I'm sure I'll be reaching for another book of his. Glad I found him and it's all thanks to Seventh Window involvement at the book fair.
April 24, 2012
Reviewed for and posted first at Joyfully Jay:
Rating: 4.25 stars
It was supposed to be a simple drive home for Barrett and his young daughter, Hilary. But she was restless. Kept saying there was something, a large black bird, on the roof of the car. Then they crashed and when he came to his daughter was missing. Not dead, not run away, gone. In desperation and half out of his mind, Barrett turns to the man he rejected, whose heart he had broken because he could not accept his own sexuality, Anson.
Anson hears and sees things not of this earth. Like his Aunt Cyn, those that dwell in the in between or beyond are visible, are tangible, and oh so very real. When he answers Barrett's call for help, he is plunged into emotional turmoil. Anson is still reeling from Barrett's rejection. A Barrett that scoffed when Anson told him of his special abilities. Now Barrett wants him to use that very same gift to help him find his daughter and bring her back. Anson wants to hang up on Barrett. But the heart wants what the heart wants and he wants Barrett. Beyond all logic, beyond all reason and in face of known heartache and despair, he still wants and desires him. So Anson agrees because as his Aunt Cyn says "If you can see, then you must help…" Even if the cost is beyond all earthly concerns.
Earthly Concerns has so many levels at which to appreciate it. I love how Xavier Axelson builds our knowledge of Anson without resorting to physical descriptions of his person. Anson uses ice trays and sleeps with his windows open, letting the night air and sounds reach him. Bookshelves sit next to his bed along with crystal from his Aunt Cyn. With each descriptive paintstroke, slowly a picture of Anson appears, that of a man living simply and in tune with his surroundings with all their layers. For Anson, those layers go beyond our realities and into the darkness beyond.
Insects play a major role here, from the mundane to harbingers of the supernatural. It is to the sound of a beetle banging against the screen that first awakens Anson, and then the featherly brushing of antennae, real or imagined, against his shin. You know the feeling. We have all had them. We feel the hair on our skin move ever so slightly. And we react violently running our hands over the offending section of skin, to no avail, not sure if anything was there to begin with. The pages are full of such imagery. Broken carapaces and the fluttering of moths wings, all portend the darkness that is coming.
And come it does, riding on vague shadows, crawling under the loose skin of wallpaper, flying on the wings of black crows, crawling from the broken cavity of a tree. Xavier leaves you to fill in the dark spaces with your own imagination as Anson and Barrett seek to uncover the truth behind the accident and Hilary's fate.
I love the way Xavier plays with words as he builds his story. With lyrical sentences and imagery both beautiful and foreboding, we are alternately filled with anticipation and dread as the end draws near. I find the sexual interludes, past and present, less successful as they break up the mood he has so carefully built. They seem jarring, and out of character but perhaps that is his point. I also found Barrett something of an enigma. I could not get a handle on him, other than as a bereft father and emotionally unavailable man. That inability made it hard for me to care what happens to him even as his daughter, Hilary, commands our empathy. By the end of the story, that impression had not changed for me.
I think it is the ending that most readers will have issues with. Xavier Axelson leaves us with a glimpse into second chances without telling us exactly how all the characters arrived at that path and what their final destination is. I find that it is in keeping with the story. Fulfilling or terribly frustrating? That will depend upon the reader. If you must actually see a bird to know it there, then you will go away dissatisfied. But if you can accept the existence of a bird by seeing a shadow or hearing its wings beat against the air, then you will love this. I think I hear the cawing of a crow and the skittering of a beetle nearby.
Cover: Artist Richard Arthur. The simplicity of the cover works perfectly with the story. I would wish for a little more darkness in the clouds but love the image of the tree, a major player in the story.
Publisher: Seventh Window Publications
Previously Reviewed Books By This Xavier Axelson. Lily 5 stars, review posted here (click on Lily) and on Joyfully Jay
Rating: 4.25 stars
It was supposed to be a simple drive home for Barrett and his young daughter, Hilary. But she was restless. Kept saying there was something, a large black bird, on the roof of the car. Then they crashed and when he came to his daughter was missing. Not dead, not run away, gone. In desperation and half out of his mind, Barrett turns to the man he rejected, whose heart he had broken because he could not accept his own sexuality, Anson.
Anson hears and sees things not of this earth. Like his Aunt Cyn, those that dwell in the in between or beyond are visible, are tangible, and oh so very real. When he answers Barrett's call for help, he is plunged into emotional turmoil. Anson is still reeling from Barrett's rejection. A Barrett that scoffed when Anson told him of his special abilities. Now Barrett wants him to use that very same gift to help him find his daughter and bring her back. Anson wants to hang up on Barrett. But the heart wants what the heart wants and he wants Barrett. Beyond all logic, beyond all reason and in face of known heartache and despair, he still wants and desires him. So Anson agrees because as his Aunt Cyn says "If you can see, then you must help…" Even if the cost is beyond all earthly concerns.
Earthly Concerns has so many levels at which to appreciate it. I love how Xavier Axelson builds our knowledge of Anson without resorting to physical descriptions of his person. Anson uses ice trays and sleeps with his windows open, letting the night air and sounds reach him. Bookshelves sit next to his bed along with crystal from his Aunt Cyn. With each descriptive paintstroke, slowly a picture of Anson appears, that of a man living simply and in tune with his surroundings with all their layers. For Anson, those layers go beyond our realities and into the darkness beyond.
Insects play a major role here, from the mundane to harbingers of the supernatural. It is to the sound of a beetle banging against the screen that first awakens Anson, and then the featherly brushing of antennae, real or imagined, against his shin. You know the feeling. We have all had them. We feel the hair on our skin move ever so slightly. And we react violently running our hands over the offending section of skin, to no avail, not sure if anything was there to begin with. The pages are full of such imagery. Broken carapaces and the fluttering of moths wings, all portend the darkness that is coming.
And come it does, riding on vague shadows, crawling under the loose skin of wallpaper, flying on the wings of black crows, crawling from the broken cavity of a tree. Xavier leaves you to fill in the dark spaces with your own imagination as Anson and Barrett seek to uncover the truth behind the accident and Hilary's fate.
I love the way Xavier plays with words as he builds his story. With lyrical sentences and imagery both beautiful and foreboding, we are alternately filled with anticipation and dread as the end draws near. I find the sexual interludes, past and present, less successful as they break up the mood he has so carefully built. They seem jarring, and out of character but perhaps that is his point. I also found Barrett something of an enigma. I could not get a handle on him, other than as a bereft father and emotionally unavailable man. That inability made it hard for me to care what happens to him even as his daughter, Hilary, commands our empathy. By the end of the story, that impression had not changed for me.
I think it is the ending that most readers will have issues with. Xavier Axelson leaves us with a glimpse into second chances without telling us exactly how all the characters arrived at that path and what their final destination is. I find that it is in keeping with the story. Fulfilling or terribly frustrating? That will depend upon the reader. If you must actually see a bird to know it there, then you will go away dissatisfied. But if you can accept the existence of a bird by seeing a shadow or hearing its wings beat against the air, then you will love this. I think I hear the cawing of a crow and the skittering of a beetle nearby.
Cover: Artist Richard Arthur. The simplicity of the cover works perfectly with the story. I would wish for a little more darkness in the clouds but love the image of the tree, a major player in the story.
Publisher: Seventh Window Publications
Previously Reviewed Books By This Xavier Axelson. Lily 5 stars, review posted here (click on Lily) and on Joyfully Jay
April 18, 2012
Anson has a very special talent. He doesn’t share about it, but since he and Barrett were seeing each other, he thought it safe to tell him. He really didn’t think he would remember not care that Anson was…sensitive…to things on the other side. Especially since Barrett backed away, didn’t want to see him any more.
But when Barrett is in a car accident and his daughter mysteriously disappears, he calls and asks for Anson’s help. The police have investigated and can’t find her. And Barrett is slowly going crazy.
Will Anson be able to help? Will what he discovers draw him in too? Or will he be able to make sure all three of them are safe?
Xavier Axelson has produced another eerie and wonderful tale of the supernatural, loss and wonderfully damaged men looking for solace. He does what he does so well – sets up a premise that can go one of two ways, draws us in and slams the door behind us and shuts off the lights.
His set-ups are plausible and commonplace. A car accident. A missing child. A pair of lovers who cannot make a go of it. But somewhere, somehow, it all takes a left turn and events veer off center. And the men, they bend, sometimes break.
Anson and Bennett are central to the story, and we learn just enough about them in drips and drabs to be fascinated. Enchanted. Worried. Then we find out what really happened, and we realize exactly how broken Bennett is.
What I love about Mr. Axelson’s works is his redemption of his men. He brings them to us is pieces, then lets us watch as they slowly rejoin and become whole again. He makes us care, and that is now small feat.
This story is wonderfully creepy and leaves me wanting more. I want to know more about these men. And isn’t that the sign of a great writer? Leaving the reader wanting more?
Terrific.
Tom
But when Barrett is in a car accident and his daughter mysteriously disappears, he calls and asks for Anson’s help. The police have investigated and can’t find her. And Barrett is slowly going crazy.
Will Anson be able to help? Will what he discovers draw him in too? Or will he be able to make sure all three of them are safe?
Xavier Axelson has produced another eerie and wonderful tale of the supernatural, loss and wonderfully damaged men looking for solace. He does what he does so well – sets up a premise that can go one of two ways, draws us in and slams the door behind us and shuts off the lights.
His set-ups are plausible and commonplace. A car accident. A missing child. A pair of lovers who cannot make a go of it. But somewhere, somehow, it all takes a left turn and events veer off center. And the men, they bend, sometimes break.
Anson and Bennett are central to the story, and we learn just enough about them in drips and drabs to be fascinated. Enchanted. Worried. Then we find out what really happened, and we realize exactly how broken Bennett is.
What I love about Mr. Axelson’s works is his redemption of his men. He brings them to us is pieces, then lets us watch as they slowly rejoin and become whole again. He makes us care, and that is now small feat.
This story is wonderfully creepy and leaves me wanting more. I want to know more about these men. And isn’t that the sign of a great writer? Leaving the reader wanting more?
Terrific.
Tom
March 16, 2012
This was a rather quick and easy read but I did find it enjoyable none the less, I do love a good man love read. The imagery was very well described throughout; it really helped you get entranced in the story and gave the read a spooky edge. This was very much a paranormal read, with a sprinkling of steam. I found myself wanting to read more about Anson and Barrett’s past, more about how Barrett came to be a father, what they will do now that they have rediscovered each other. I really liked the psychic element to the story, sometimes in books that just isn’t done very well or done in a very cliché way, but I found it came across very well in this read. I also liked the choice of character names, character names can really make a book less inviting for me or make me not want to read it and reading the same names over and over in so many books just gets boring.
I only found a couple of negatives, mainly with the ending; I just found it ended quite abruptly and left me asking a lot of questions to myself and really thinking about what had happened to try and decipher some answers. I think this would be a good start for someone who likes a little bit of romance in their paranormal reads and is looking to try something with a same-sex based couple. I hope to read more from this author in the future.
*Submitted for review by author*
I only found a couple of negatives, mainly with the ending; I just found it ended quite abruptly and left me asking a lot of questions to myself and really thinking about what had happened to try and decipher some answers. I think this would be a good start for someone who likes a little bit of romance in their paranormal reads and is looking to try something with a same-sex based couple. I hope to read more from this author in the future.
*Submitted for review by author*
July 6, 2012
This was my first but certainly not last novel by Xavier Axelson. There’s something disjointed about reading an eerie, shadow-filled paranormal under the bright Hawaiian sun, but Axelson did a great job of pulling me in and making me forget that I was reading at the beach.
Anson struggles with the classic gift-is-a-curse trope in a very realistic and understated way. Although his talent and the help he can render are integral to the story, it’s a paranormal after all, it’s his struggle to come to terms with his feelings for Barrett, the ex, that drive the story forward. Barrett needs help, but is beyond saving. Emotionally unavailable, he’s toxic to Anson. Their relationship seems as doomed as the child Barrett lost.
It is loss that finally helps Anson to reconcile his feelings with what he knows about Barrett in a climax that I thought would have worked far better if not written in first-person. My personal preference to generally skip first-person writing notwithstanding, I do think the drama would have been heightened if viewed through the eyes of the man Anson was trying to save.
If you’re looking for a quiet, eerie paranormal with excellent writing, look no further than Xavier Axelson. He does first-person exceptionally well, flawlessly showing us life through the eyes of his character (whose first name I totally fell in love with).
October 28, 2015
I received a copy of this eBook in exchange for an honest review. This is in no way reflected in my opinion of this novella.
Earthly Concerns is a story about second chances when all hope seems lost. This was an odd story for me. I liked the character of Anson, a psychic who must help the man who broke his heart get his daughter back from the evil that has taken her. I could sympathize with him most of the time because we all know what it feels like to be in love with someone who is bad for and to us. Which brings me to Barrett. He is a selfish, self-centered jerk. I understood why Anson was helping him but I kept hoping that he would realize just how toxic Barrett was for him. The evil that took Barrett's daughter was frightening but not really explained. The ending left me wondering what the heck Anson was thinking. An odd 3 star read.
Earthly Concerns is a story about second chances when all hope seems lost. This was an odd story for me. I liked the character of Anson, a psychic who must help the man who broke his heart get his daughter back from the evil that has taken her. I could sympathize with him most of the time because we all know what it feels like to be in love with someone who is bad for and to us. Which brings me to Barrett. He is a selfish, self-centered jerk. I understood why Anson was helping him but I kept hoping that he would realize just how toxic Barrett was for him. The evil that took Barrett's daughter was frightening but not really explained. The ending left me wondering what the heck Anson was thinking. An odd 3 star read.
January 21, 2014
If I were smarter I'd probably have enjoyed this story much more than I did when I read it. I just am not knowledgeable of the symbolism. I don't understand what the beetles represent, or the tree, or the crystal. I don't know who this demon was or why it had targeted Barrett. Am I supposed to sit and contemplate each of these details and draw my own conclusions, or did I miss something that was obvious to other readers?
Still, I do enjoy creepy stories, and I like that this one was so thought-provoking. After finishing one like this, I really just want to have a chat with the author and have him spoon feed me the symbolism...or maybe another reader could explain it to me.
Still, I do enjoy creepy stories, and I like that this one was so thought-provoking. After finishing one like this, I really just want to have a chat with the author and have him spoon feed me the symbolism...or maybe another reader could explain it to me.
January 16, 2024
1.5 stars rounded down
The story was scary. The horror part of it was good. The prose was also good—it was well written—but the content was disjointed and interrupted by too much thinking and talking about sex and Anson’s feelings about Barrett. His cock gets hard at the slightest provocation, even when talking on the phone with a hysterical Barrett about the man’s missing daughter!
Barrett drives me nuts. He is so bad at communicating. Anson even mentions that Barrett’s answers to questions don’t actually answer anything. He doesn’t answer phone calls even when his daughter is missing. He rarely returns them even from his boyfriend when they were together. He’s really self-centered and puts himself first. He’s a dick. I can’t stand him.
Anson isn’t a whole lot better. All he thinks about is sex and how much he was hurt by Barrett and how he still wants him. Even as he is helping the guy with daughter (and in no rush to do so because of his anger towards Barrett, not thinking about there being a little girl missing) he tries to have sex with him. Everything is about him. I don’t like him either.
It wasn’t until halfway into the book that Anson started to take the whole thing seriously. But still, he wasted a lot of time. Only at the end did either of them do anything not selfish.
The ending was weird. I’m not even positive what happened. Nothing between them was resolved either.
I didn’t like this at all.
The story was scary. The horror part of it was good. The prose was also good—it was well written—but the content was disjointed and interrupted by too much thinking and talking about sex and Anson’s feelings about Barrett. His cock gets hard at the slightest provocation, even when talking on the phone with a hysterical Barrett about the man’s missing daughter!
Barrett drives me nuts. He is so bad at communicating. Anson even mentions that Barrett’s answers to questions don’t actually answer anything. He doesn’t answer phone calls even when his daughter is missing. He rarely returns them even from his boyfriend when they were together. He’s really self-centered and puts himself first. He’s a dick. I can’t stand him.
Anson isn’t a whole lot better. All he thinks about is sex and how much he was hurt by Barrett and how he still wants him. Even as he is helping the guy with daughter (and in no rush to do so because of his anger towards Barrett, not thinking about there being a little girl missing) he tries to have sex with him. Everything is about him. I don’t like him either.
It wasn’t until halfway into the book that Anson started to take the whole thing seriously. But still, he wasted a lot of time. Only at the end did either of them do anything not selfish.
The ending was weird. I’m not even positive what happened. Nothing between them was resolved either.
I didn’t like this at all.
March 22, 2023
4 stars for a good mystery romance.
Anson receives a phone call from Barrett in the dead of night a lover he’d hadn’t heard for awhile.
Barrett’s daughter went missing and he asks Anson for help. You see Anson had a psychic gift. I love psychic stories and had read this author before.
This story is told from Anson’s pov and in first person, I would have loved for Barrett’s pov to been included.
A brief telling on how they’d meet which Anson had feelings of love for Barrett. Now he tries not to fall again and concentrate in finding the girl. The mystery, yeah Id advise not to read this at night especially if you have a bug phobia. Hot sexy scenes with rough play between them.
A good quick ending to the story with an HEA, I wouldve loved this to be a touch longer especially for the ending scenes.
Anson receives a phone call from Barrett in the dead of night a lover he’d hadn’t heard for awhile.
Barrett’s daughter went missing and he asks Anson for help. You see Anson had a psychic gift. I love psychic stories and had read this author before.
This story is told from Anson’s pov and in first person, I would have loved for Barrett’s pov to been included.
A brief telling on how they’d meet which Anson had feelings of love for Barrett. Now he tries not to fall again and concentrate in finding the girl. The mystery, yeah Id advise not to read this at night especially if you have a bug phobia. Hot sexy scenes with rough play between them.
A good quick ending to the story with an HEA, I wouldve loved this to be a touch longer especially for the ending scenes.
July 10, 2025
I didn't understand!
July 24, 2013
4.5 stars
"There is no love for you with this man. He is heartache, shadow on top of shadow."
Anson hears voices...sees images...feels things that, to the naked eye, seem not to exist. He lives with the knowledge that most people do not believe in his "abilities". In fact, apart from his Aunt Cyn, who also has the "gift" we are given the impression that his is a solitary existence, often bereft of any companionship or love.
It is with this knowledge then, that Xavier Axelson thrusts us into his novella, Earthly Concerns, and straight into the nightmare of Anson's ex-boyfriend, Barrett. WIth one late night phone call, we follow Anson through his painful meeting with an obviously tortured and nearly broken Barrett, who confesses right away that his daughter is gone. Not missing. Not kidnapped. Not lost. Just gone.
She has been taken. Taken by something so malevolently evil that the mere description of it makes you wary of shadows and forces you to leave on the night light, just in case the monster that Axelson describes in his novella turns out to be real.
While driving home from horseback riding lessons with his young daughter, Hilary, Barrett has a freak car accident. Unbeknownst to Barrett, something has followed them; in fact, is stalking he and his daughter and is determined to have one of them for it's very own. Out of the blue, his car swerves, suddenly out of control, and crashes into a tree. As Barrett lay inside, groggy and clinging to life, the thing, the monster asks him one question: "you or her?" In a brief, agonizing moment Barrett chooses life for himself and resign his daughter to hell.
As Anson uses every tool he has at his disposal from hypnotism to dream imagery, the race is on to somehow save not only Hilary but Barrett and himself as well. When Anson comes to the horrifying conclusion that it's Barrett who was responsible for his daughter being "chosen" he must decide whether he can help the very man whose cold and aloof manner has kept them from truly loving one another in the past.
Now the question becomes just how far is Anson willing to go in order to help a man who has previously confessed he could never be the lover Anson desires. It is here that Axelson show his true mastery over the written word. By making Anson a sort of "everyman," someone like you or I, he makes Anson's dilemma our very own. We find ourselves wondering how we would react; how we would have chosen. In that moment, when we fight for our lives, at what point do we finally give up and say, no more...the loss is not worth the gain? And if, in that moment, we choose wrongly to preserve ourselves at the cost of another, how much would we give to have the ability to take it back...to change our minds and sacrifice ourselves for those we love?
These are the questions that surface repeatedly in this tautly written horror novella. WIth relentless drive, Mr. Axelson takes us to the edge again and again and leaves us breathlessly clinging to the ereader in our hands. The terror and repulsion the creature evokes in the minds of both Barrett and Anson is so real that you yourself feel that little shiver down your spine; that tingle on your neck that causes you to occasionally take a furtive glance over your shoulder to make sure you are still alone.
Earthly Concerns is a wild ride that leaves you gasping at every turn and praying that everyone comes out alive when the horror subsides. Through it all, the author weaves into the characters of Anson and Barrett a love so beautifully self-sacrificing that you can't help but hope that somehow it and they will survive.
My only criticism of this intense novella was its abrupt ending. I needed just a bit more. I was left wondering where these two men would go on from here and I felt a little cheated when I discovered that I was not to find out in the end.
However, apart from that, this novella certainly has it all. Were I to describe it in terms of other authors in this genre I would say that it stacks right up there with a Dean Koontz or a Stephen King--yes--it's that good!
"There is no love for you with this man. He is heartache, shadow on top of shadow."
Anson hears voices...sees images...feels things that, to the naked eye, seem not to exist. He lives with the knowledge that most people do not believe in his "abilities". In fact, apart from his Aunt Cyn, who also has the "gift" we are given the impression that his is a solitary existence, often bereft of any companionship or love.
It is with this knowledge then, that Xavier Axelson thrusts us into his novella, Earthly Concerns, and straight into the nightmare of Anson's ex-boyfriend, Barrett. WIth one late night phone call, we follow Anson through his painful meeting with an obviously tortured and nearly broken Barrett, who confesses right away that his daughter is gone. Not missing. Not kidnapped. Not lost. Just gone.
She has been taken. Taken by something so malevolently evil that the mere description of it makes you wary of shadows and forces you to leave on the night light, just in case the monster that Axelson describes in his novella turns out to be real.
While driving home from horseback riding lessons with his young daughter, Hilary, Barrett has a freak car accident. Unbeknownst to Barrett, something has followed them; in fact, is stalking he and his daughter and is determined to have one of them for it's very own. Out of the blue, his car swerves, suddenly out of control, and crashes into a tree. As Barrett lay inside, groggy and clinging to life, the thing, the monster asks him one question: "you or her?" In a brief, agonizing moment Barrett chooses life for himself and resign his daughter to hell.
As Anson uses every tool he has at his disposal from hypnotism to dream imagery, the race is on to somehow save not only Hilary but Barrett and himself as well. When Anson comes to the horrifying conclusion that it's Barrett who was responsible for his daughter being "chosen" he must decide whether he can help the very man whose cold and aloof manner has kept them from truly loving one another in the past.
Now the question becomes just how far is Anson willing to go in order to help a man who has previously confessed he could never be the lover Anson desires. It is here that Axelson show his true mastery over the written word. By making Anson a sort of "everyman," someone like you or I, he makes Anson's dilemma our very own. We find ourselves wondering how we would react; how we would have chosen. In that moment, when we fight for our lives, at what point do we finally give up and say, no more...the loss is not worth the gain? And if, in that moment, we choose wrongly to preserve ourselves at the cost of another, how much would we give to have the ability to take it back...to change our minds and sacrifice ourselves for those we love?
These are the questions that surface repeatedly in this tautly written horror novella. WIth relentless drive, Mr. Axelson takes us to the edge again and again and leaves us breathlessly clinging to the ereader in our hands. The terror and repulsion the creature evokes in the minds of both Barrett and Anson is so real that you yourself feel that little shiver down your spine; that tingle on your neck that causes you to occasionally take a furtive glance over your shoulder to make sure you are still alone.
Earthly Concerns is a wild ride that leaves you gasping at every turn and praying that everyone comes out alive when the horror subsides. Through it all, the author weaves into the characters of Anson and Barrett a love so beautifully self-sacrificing that you can't help but hope that somehow it and they will survive.
My only criticism of this intense novella was its abrupt ending. I needed just a bit more. I was left wondering where these two men would go on from here and I felt a little cheated when I discovered that I was not to find out in the end.
However, apart from that, this novella certainly has it all. Were I to describe it in terms of other authors in this genre I would say that it stacks right up there with a Dean Koontz or a Stephen King--yes--it's that good!
March 16, 2012
There is no question about it, I really enjoy Xavier's books. Earthly Concerns was no exception. Anson has a special gift. He is able to see the in between. He is also able to see the past and the future. It is a gift or a curse depending on what day it is. So usually, its a curse. His aunt has been his teacher throughout his life and reminds him of the responsibility of having such powers. If you can see, you must help. The last person in the world he would have imagined asking him for help was his old lover Barret. The one man who had broken his heart and shattered his dreams.
Barret has lost his daughter. He can't come to terms with what he saw and what he knows, so his calls the only person that might be able to make since of it. Anson was like a breath of fresh air, but Barret had yet to come to terms with his own sexuality. He has many problems to overcome, and finally come to terms with his feelings for Anson. Through this tragedy, can he patch up everything?
This book was an excellent short read. It has a little bit of everything. Lost love, tragedy, paranormal beings, and the hint at a second chance. I must warn you about Xavier's books. :) They are quite emotional and are guaranteed to wring a response from you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for those who enjoy paranormal reads!
Barret has lost his daughter. He can't come to terms with what he saw and what he knows, so his calls the only person that might be able to make since of it. Anson was like a breath of fresh air, but Barret had yet to come to terms with his own sexuality. He has many problems to overcome, and finally come to terms with his feelings for Anson. Through this tragedy, can he patch up everything?
This book was an excellent short read. It has a little bit of everything. Lost love, tragedy, paranormal beings, and the hint at a second chance. I must warn you about Xavier's books. :) They are quite emotional and are guaranteed to wring a response from you. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it for those who enjoy paranormal reads!
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March 31, 2015supernatural drama
It's a good story but I wish the ending, mean the last five or six pages, had been less confusing. I read it a couple of times just to work it out in my head. So it is worth reading
It's a good story but I wish the ending, mean the last five or six pages, had been less confusing. I read it a couple of times just to work it out in my head. So it is worth reading
April 24, 2012
Just a quick comment, loved the writing style, this book was wonderfully written. 4.5 stars and recommend to anyone.
March 4, 2015
Earthly concerns
Earthly concerns is a good read but a lit bit out their. It's a book you have to read to see if you like it
Earthly concerns is a good read but a lit bit out their. It's a book you have to read to see if you like it
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