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Hang Out
Nick, an introverted university student, has broken up with his long-term girlfriend. When his best friend Hannah tries to cheer him up by taking him to a party at the house of a rich entrepreneur named Tom, Nick gets too drunk too fast and wakes up the next morning on Tom’s couch, in Tom’s pyjamas. So begins Nick and Tom’s friendship, which soon defines and redefines itself in unexpected ways, forcing Nick to ask himself: just what exactly is at stake if he wants to keep having so much fun? Hang Out is an exciting exploration of our sexual limits, of new relationships, and what it means to know your sexuality, or why it even matters.
183 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 31, 2015
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May 31, 2015Please contact me if you would like a free EPUB, MOBI or PDF of this m-m romance novel to review.
Reminder that this and all other books by Cardboard Wall Empire authors (myself, Billy and others soon- keep eyes unpeeled so that they continue to work, at least for the purpose of spotting new CWE authors shortly!!) can be found on Lulu.com
(Paperback and giveaway soon.)
Would you believe it, another week, another Billy book! Ah, if only we could carry on indefinitely, but I’m afraid it stops here (https://xkcd.com/605/ )
At least for now. Billy can consider his bluff called, and I hope he gets in touch soon. Who knows? If this novel and Saxual Healing become popular enough, he might consider passing me more of his writing while he remains in hiding. I don’t want to kid anyone, though: this is simply a gay romance novel with a lot of explicit sex scenes for little purpose beyond arousal. It has a niche appeal, unlike Saxual Healing (lawl.)
Anyways: here is a novel with promise- promise that we may never see fully fulfilled if Billy remains hidden, but I have a suspicion that the publication of this book will become too tempting an offer of further salacious fun for him, an offer that I doubt Billy can resist- but (I guess) that largely depends on the popularity of his two books! :P
Some background info
As far as I can work out, Hang Out was written over the course of a single week in summer 2014. Since it is my sincerest wish to leave Billy’s voice alone, I made minimal edits after I read it. I only changed some minor grammatical errors, and the rest is the same. Something like this written in so short a space of time: quite a feat, no? Shame the author can’t accept any praise for it… I must imagine he had a week to spare, was curious if he could write sellable smut, and, being an inexperienced novelist, thought it would be a good exercise to work out the mechanics of sex scenes. After all, I believe every author should be allowed at least one “I could have written that” novel to appease themselves about the success of shitty books, and furthermore, sex scenes are rife in the literary works of authors I like: Murakami, Delany, Joyce, Gass, Jelinek and any number of novels by undersexed writers, mostly male. It’s not a big leap of the imagination to see, oh I don’t know, me writing something like this either, given that there are sex scenes in my own writing, but those are primarily for the purpose of disgust or humour or both. There’s something about disgust-provocation that is easier to include than sincerity. It’s safer. I’d be too embarrassed to put my name to a novel like this one. For example. Not at all to say that I disapprove of this kind of thing!
However, I don’t know a lot about this genre. So, I asked my local generous smut-purveyor Julio, to whom I am so grateful, to direct me to some excellent stories that demonstrated the wide versatility of the m-m romance genre (particularly Muscling Through, Dark Space and Concubine) and those who enjoy such stories should definitely follow his reviews!
In terms of marketing this kinda thing, I feel a little out of my league. I designed the cover, which you may be disappointed to see contains no stock photos of muscly dudes. But the Billy of SH very much enjoyed his ability to manipulate the reader’s imagination, so I wasn’t happy with the reader’s impression of the characters being limited to some bog-standardly attractive stock photo guy. I’m not at all able to communicate with Billy, so I can only guess at what he’d want, or if he was even happy with this novel leaving the vault, but I’m a big believer in the mental marketplace between writer and reader and letting this being the deciding factor of a book’s merit, rather than the writer themselves trying to decide objectively, which is never possible.
Is this book for you?
The final thing to consider: does this novel have literary merit? There is some attempt on the author’s part to consider how the narrator, a young man who formerly considered himself heterosexual, could feasibly begin a homosexual relationship, and there are some interesting questions raised by the internal conflicts that Nick is then presented with, as well as trying to work out how such a relationship might affect his sexual preference, if it even needs to. I also think there is an interesting contrast between the dry, mechanical and somehow dull nature of the first sex scene in the book and the sensuality of those that follow. But it’s undeniably a book with a predominantly pornographic aim.
So. This book is perhaps for two audiences:
1. Smut-revellers.
2. Billy aficionados.
I’m proud to say I belong in both categories. But for those only in category 2, you probably want to know if there are any autobiographical elements to the story. Well, there are similarities between the protagonist Nick’s relationship with Tom and Billy’s relationship with Jamie in SH (as I pointed out in the SH foreword), and perhaps Nick’s friends are similar to those Billy had at school. Beyond that, Hang Out is written in an uncharacteristically sweet and sometimes poetic voice, with Billy’s trademark ironic sense of humour significantly toned down from its innuendo-heavy ramblings in SH (what a shame!!)
Okay, I hope that sums up everything you might want to know about this novel :) and once again, get in touch with me if you’d like a free copy for review!
Reminder that this and all other books by Cardboard Wall Empire authors (myself, Billy and others soon- keep eyes unpeeled so that they continue to work, at least for the purpose of spotting new CWE authors shortly!!) can be found on Lulu.com
(Paperback and giveaway soon.)
Would you believe it, another week, another Billy book! Ah, if only we could carry on indefinitely, but I’m afraid it stops here (https://xkcd.com/605/ )
At least for now. Billy can consider his bluff called, and I hope he gets in touch soon. Who knows? If this novel and Saxual Healing become popular enough, he might consider passing me more of his writing while he remains in hiding. I don’t want to kid anyone, though: this is simply a gay romance novel with a lot of explicit sex scenes for little purpose beyond arousal. It has a niche appeal, unlike Saxual Healing (lawl.)
Anyways: here is a novel with promise- promise that we may never see fully fulfilled if Billy remains hidden, but I have a suspicion that the publication of this book will become too tempting an offer of further salacious fun for him, an offer that I doubt Billy can resist- but (I guess) that largely depends on the popularity of his two books! :P
Some background info
As far as I can work out, Hang Out was written over the course of a single week in summer 2014. Since it is my sincerest wish to leave Billy’s voice alone, I made minimal edits after I read it. I only changed some minor grammatical errors, and the rest is the same. Something like this written in so short a space of time: quite a feat, no? Shame the author can’t accept any praise for it… I must imagine he had a week to spare, was curious if he could write sellable smut, and, being an inexperienced novelist, thought it would be a good exercise to work out the mechanics of sex scenes. After all, I believe every author should be allowed at least one “I could have written that” novel to appease themselves about the success of shitty books, and furthermore, sex scenes are rife in the literary works of authors I like: Murakami, Delany, Joyce, Gass, Jelinek and any number of novels by undersexed writers, mostly male. It’s not a big leap of the imagination to see, oh I don’t know, me writing something like this either, given that there are sex scenes in my own writing, but those are primarily for the purpose of disgust or humour or both. There’s something about disgust-provocation that is easier to include than sincerity. It’s safer. I’d be too embarrassed to put my name to a novel like this one. For example. Not at all to say that I disapprove of this kind of thing!
However, I don’t know a lot about this genre. So, I asked my local generous smut-purveyor Julio, to whom I am so grateful, to direct me to some excellent stories that demonstrated the wide versatility of the m-m romance genre (particularly Muscling Through, Dark Space and Concubine) and those who enjoy such stories should definitely follow his reviews!
In terms of marketing this kinda thing, I feel a little out of my league. I designed the cover, which you may be disappointed to see contains no stock photos of muscly dudes. But the Billy of SH very much enjoyed his ability to manipulate the reader’s imagination, so I wasn’t happy with the reader’s impression of the characters being limited to some bog-standardly attractive stock photo guy. I’m not at all able to communicate with Billy, so I can only guess at what he’d want, or if he was even happy with this novel leaving the vault, but I’m a big believer in the mental marketplace between writer and reader and letting this being the deciding factor of a book’s merit, rather than the writer themselves trying to decide objectively, which is never possible.
Is this book for you?
The final thing to consider: does this novel have literary merit? There is some attempt on the author’s part to consider how the narrator, a young man who formerly considered himself heterosexual, could feasibly begin a homosexual relationship, and there are some interesting questions raised by the internal conflicts that Nick is then presented with, as well as trying to work out how such a relationship might affect his sexual preference, if it even needs to. I also think there is an interesting contrast between the dry, mechanical and somehow dull nature of the first sex scene in the book and the sensuality of those that follow. But it’s undeniably a book with a predominantly pornographic aim.
So. This book is perhaps for two audiences:
1. Smut-revellers.
2. Billy aficionados.
I’m proud to say I belong in both categories. But for those only in category 2, you probably want to know if there are any autobiographical elements to the story. Well, there are similarities between the protagonist Nick’s relationship with Tom and Billy’s relationship with Jamie in SH (as I pointed out in the SH foreword), and perhaps Nick’s friends are similar to those Billy had at school. Beyond that, Hang Out is written in an uncharacteristically sweet and sometimes poetic voice, with Billy’s trademark ironic sense of humour significantly toned down from its innuendo-heavy ramblings in SH (what a shame!!)
Okay, I hope that sums up everything you might want to know about this novel :) and once again, get in touch with me if you’d like a free copy for review!
November 23, 2015
Can you really fit three penises up one arsehole?
If my beginning this review like that has shocked you, then Hang Out is not for you.
I often like to throw myself in at the deep end, so having never read an erotic book before, this hetero guy might as well start with an m/m story that for the first ten pages describes non-stop hot and horny gay sex with every fine lubricated and messy detail.
I don’t care for genres too much, and neither does this author. Having read all his other books, I naturally wanted to read this one as well. So I can’t compare how this book fits into any gay lit genre, but I can tell you how much I enjoyed it.
Hang Out is the simplest of this author’s books. I know that he’s more than capable of providing plot twists and other such forms, which is why it was surely intentional that in Hang Out, he goes for a different approach.
Nick is a university student who’s beginning to entertain the idea of sexual experimentation. When he meets an older gay guy, Tom, they soon become friends and a progressive relationship steadily builds.
The story being told by Nick works perfectly. In Hang Out, you’ll find everything that everyone experiences with youthful first-time love and sex. The two things go hand in hand, so not only is Nick developing his understanding of adult relationships, amongst universal teenage-angst naivety, he is also discovering what he likes to do in bed and what sex is really all about.
The writing style has a way of enticing and pulling you in. The intended slow progression works surprisingly well, as does the romanticism and emotion (there is a real gentleness and sentimentality at times) that is coupled with the other half of the book which is highly detailed and descriptive dirty sex (which, to confess, sometimes bored me, sometimes intrigued me, sometimes made me wince, and occasionally turned me on.)
I’m sure plenty of sexually experimenting young dudes would identify with Hang Out and gain much from it. But I think plenty of other people would enjoy reading this book too (and you can’t help but reminisce about your own first love and first sexual experiences). I said in my first review of this author’s work that he could write about anything (an old shoe, perhaps) and he would still entertain me, because a good writer simply writes well and it has nothing to do with subject matter. So this book proved that the author is still that skilful writer I know him to be.
Hang Out is just that. You get to hang out with Nick who hangs out with Tom who likes to hang out. I liked hanging out with them for a while. Let it all hang out.
July 8, 2015
I have tried to work out what to say about this book that doesn't give away the entire story...
In the first part of the book, I was entertained by the story, but felt it wouldn't have much depth to it. Just an interesting tale, not much meat. But I was surprised by where the story went and especially with how much I ended up caring for the characters. The author did a stealth job on me. I became invested in the characters without knowing it and ended up thinking about the events in the story long after I was done reading.
I felt a kinship for Nick. I understood his feelings, his reactions. But I also felt for Tom. I hope others read this. I want to discuss.
In the first part of the book, I was entertained by the story, but felt it wouldn't have much depth to it. Just an interesting tale, not much meat. But I was surprised by where the story went and especially with how much I ended up caring for the characters. The author did a stealth job on me. I became invested in the characters without knowing it and ended up thinking about the events in the story long after I was done reading.
I felt a kinship for Nick. I understood his feelings, his reactions. But I also felt for Tom. I hope others read this. I want to discuss.
July 7, 2015
2.5 stars rounded up.
I can't really call this a romance. There's not a HEA or even a HFN, though I guess Nick ends up taking the lessons learned and moving on. What this book represents is more of a journey to self-discovery. For Nick, that journey takes him from firmly heterosexual to maybe gay (though possibly more of a GFY) when he meets Tom at some party, and starts hanging out with the guy. Nick is in his final year of studies, and Tom is some kind of entrepreneur working for himself. From the start, their relationship is odd, and while I could see Nick becoming more and more ensnared, I didn't feel as if Tom was serious about it.
The writing style, with its oddly twisted prose, didn't make for easy reading, and the many editing mistakes also took me out of the story repeatedly. Still, I read on, because I wanted to see if my gut feeling about Tom would turn out to be true.
Spoiler: It did.
There wasn't much of a plot, just two men hanging out, without ever actually dating, plenty of sex (once Nick starts getting into the gay part), but I understood what exactly Nick saw in Tom, and why he kept going back for more. There were many side characters, including Nick's friend Hannah, his ex-GF Sarah, and other friends of his, that all seemed to flit in and out. The main character read very young, younger even than he was supposed to be, and he didn't know himself very well, nor did he really have good insights into what his actions were doing to others, and how others viewed him. Ah, youth.
was really the only thing that smacked of realism in this book. There is an overall morose tone to it that I didn't expect from the blurb. I expected more of a romance, to be quite honest, and this may be the reason that this book didn't work so well for me. YMMV.
**I received a free copy of this book from its listed editor, Leo X. Robertson. A positive review was not promised in return. **
I can't really call this a romance. There's not a HEA or even a HFN, though I guess Nick ends up taking the lessons learned and moving on. What this book represents is more of a journey to self-discovery. For Nick, that journey takes him from firmly heterosexual to maybe gay (though possibly more of a GFY) when he meets Tom at some party, and starts hanging out with the guy. Nick is in his final year of studies, and Tom is some kind of entrepreneur working for himself. From the start, their relationship is odd, and while I could see Nick becoming more and more ensnared, I didn't feel as if Tom was serious about it.
The writing style, with its oddly twisted prose, didn't make for easy reading, and the many editing mistakes also took me out of the story repeatedly. Still, I read on, because I wanted to see if my gut feeling about Tom would turn out to be true.
Spoiler: It did.
There wasn't much of a plot, just two men hanging out, without ever actually dating, plenty of sex (once Nick starts getting into the gay part), but I understood what exactly Nick saw in Tom, and why he kept going back for more. There were many side characters, including Nick's friend Hannah, his ex-GF Sarah, and other friends of his, that all seemed to flit in and out. The main character read very young, younger even than he was supposed to be, and he didn't know himself very well, nor did he really have good insights into what his actions were doing to others, and how others viewed him. Ah, youth.
was really the only thing that smacked of realism in this book. There is an overall morose tone to it that I didn't expect from the blurb. I expected more of a romance, to be quite honest, and this may be the reason that this book didn't work so well for me. YMMV.
**I received a free copy of this book from its listed editor, Leo X. Robertson. A positive review was not promised in return. **
June 29, 2015
DNF at 36%
For me this book, as far as I endured it, was nothing but a weak (or weird, I'm not sure which one) plot, dispersed over a twisted and boring prose that I found difficult to follow.
Sex? Plenty. Arousing? Not for me
Is it this story a romance? No way. You know what? I always read endings -I'm a sucker for endings and furthermore for epilogues-, even in books that I DNF, because sometimes it happens that something in those last pages incites me to retake the reading and to surpass potholes. In this case the last chapter only confirmed that idea; that chapter was so depressing as the first 36%.
For me this book, as far as I endured it, was nothing but a weak (or weird, I'm not sure which one) plot, dispersed over a twisted and boring prose that I found difficult to follow.
Sex? Plenty. Arousing? Not for me
Is it this story a romance? No way. You know what? I always read endings -I'm a sucker for endings and furthermore for epilogues-, even in books that I DNF, because sometimes it happens that something in those last pages incites me to retake the reading and to surpass potholes. In this case the last chapter only confirmed that idea; that chapter was so depressing as the first 36%.
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