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Night Moves: Volume I
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Four stories of vampires and their lives and how they interact with those around them make up this hot m/m anthology. In Theron's Boys Kiernan Kelly tells of a group of men seduced by the vampire Theron and the not so pleasant way he controls their lives. Matt Brooks poses the question in Inferno about what happens to a vampire who hasn't been turned completely because he doesn't have the heart to hunt. An artist is given his greatest commission and perhaps a chance to pay off his family's debt to his Patron in Chiaroscuro by Erastes. Finally, Kira Stone's Immortal Steps reveals a hidden vampire society amongst our own where being a person with vampiric DNA can be dangerous when Hunters want you for your hormonal serum and the larger sum your body parts will bring.
Four stories of vampires and their lives and how they interact with those around them make up this hot m/m anthology. In Theron's Boys Kiernan Kelly tells of a group of men seduced by the vampire Theron and the not so pleasant way he controls their lives. Matt Brooks poses the question in Inferno about what happens to a vampire who hasn't been turned completely because he doesn't have the heart to hunt. An artist is given his greatest commission and perhaps a chance to pay off his family's debt to his Patron in Chiaroscuro by Erastes. Finally, Kira Stone's Immortal Steps reveals a hidden vampire society amongst our own where being a person with vampiric DNA can be dangerous when Hunters want you for your hormonal serum and the larger sum your body parts will bring.
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First published September 1, 2008
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April 1, 2010
Vampire erotica seems to lurk around every corner these days. The gay-male variety, especially when written by women, can be traced back to Anne Rice's groundbreaking 1978 bestseller, Interview with the Vampire, in which the vampires form larger-than-life but non-sexual relationships. (Rice's vampires, being "dead," apparently could not rise to the occasion despite having superhuman strength and sense perception.) Since then, the mating of gay-male erotica with vampire fiction has spawned an army of immortal lovers with various physical abilities which usually include mind-blowing sexual skills.
Night Moves is an interesting mix of stories in this hybrid genre. One of the challenges for authors who want to create sympathetic vampire heroes is how to explain their need for human blood (energy) without showing them as repulsive parasites. These four authors each approach this challenge in a different way, but their central characters are all so deep-down decent that none of them has to deal with the kind of self-hatred experienced by Anne Rice's Louis, a Catholic gentleman of the 1790s, after he becomes one of the "damned."
In "Theron's Boys" by Kiernan Kelly, Theron is a nightmare pimp who seduces attractive young men into letting him "turn" them, then he forces them into sexual service. The filthy-rich (emphasis on filthy) old cads who treat the "boys" as fast food are similar to Theron. He is clearly a traditional vampire, a soulless user of the life-force of others, since he can't produce his own. Christian, David, and the rest of "Theron's boys" must decide how to deal with enslavement which could literally last forever. Despite being vampires themselves, they are not like their "Sire" or his mortal buddies and are only willing to do harm as a last resort. When two of the "boys" discover their love for each other, they confirm the difference between mutual attraction and one-sided exploitation. These "boys" are no threat to anyone else.
Both "Inferno" by Matt Brooks and "Immortal Steps" by Kira Stone show the "turning" process as proceeding in stages. The state of being half-vampire (or "latent") looks more uncomfortable than puberty, especially since the half-turned have no guarantee that anyone will finish the job, and they can't do it themselves. In the meanwhile, they are recognizable to any reader who has felt inchoate and alone, stuck in the cracks between socially-defined categories. Becoming a full vampire is shown to be much more satisfying than remaining forever in limbo, even if that were an option. In both stories, the half-turned must move forward or die.
If Anne Rice's vampires represented an emerging community of gay men (in a time when "gay" seemed to be a clear identity), it is tempting to see the vampires-in-the-making in these stories as an emerging generation of transgendered individuals, each occupying a different place in a spectrum between genders -- or a generation of entrants to the BDSM scene (especially on-line and especially involving "blood sports") who can't evolve without an adequate mentor.
"Inferno" is named for a nightclub where young Blaise goes to find his tribe. Having paid his entrance fee, he is "in the long passage that led to a narrow staircase and community." He meets Robert, an older, experienced man who agrees to come home with him. Blaise admits to being a sexual novice, and Robert initiates him sexually. In the process, Robert discovers that Blaise is "stopped," still human but with a vampiric taste for blood. Robert asks why, and Blaise answers: "'He said I wasn't ready. Not really. Not enough of a predator.'" Robert is aghast at the callousness of Blaise's earlier bar pickup. Apparently not all vampire "daddies" in the infernal community have a sense of responsibility for their "boys."
"Immortal Steps" is a novella in several chapters in which the true nature of vampires and their community is revealed after suspense has been raised. Tain, the half-turned vampire whose skill at Celtic dancing seems to be a sign that he is more than human, is known as a heterosexual player, and he beds women when he has something practical to gain from them. When he learns that the "Dedicated Fan" who has stalked him with messages and gifts wants to see him in person, Tain is alarmed, especially when he learns that this person is male. Throughout much of the story, Tain fights the inevitable by telling himself that he is not "gay," and then by telling himself that his attraction to Kyle, a.k.a."Dedicated Fan," is based on Kyle’s resemblance to someone who had a formative influence on Tain, not a sign that he is queer in any sense.
Kyle strives to convince Tain that lust between men is not shameful, that love is not a myth, and that monogamy is more fulfilling than an endless round of emotionally meaningless encounters. Along the way, Kyle must also convince Tain that he has been a kind of guardian angel to him for years, and that he can be trusted. Kyle takes Tain from Edinburgh, Scotland, to John O'Groats, which Tain describes as "the end of the world." The dramatic Scottish landscape makes an appropriate setting for cliffhanging conflict and for dramatic revelations about vampirism, its connection to sexual arousal, and the organization which exists to protect vulnerable vampires from being killed off like members of any other stigmatized minority.
This story seems to have the least connection to eastern European folktales about vampires as the "undead" who feed off the living. In "Immortal Steps," becoming a vampire is a process of development which involves awakening one's biological potential. It not only suggests "coming out" as a gay man, but finding one's ancestral "roots" and one's present-day community as well as coping with an unusual medical condition.
"Chiaroscuro" by Erastes is a florid tale set in Florence, Italy, during the Renaissance. The bejewelled writing style perfectly suits the period and the plot, in which the narrator Michel, a young painter, must please his crooked patron and his demanding, aristocratic customers to enable his family to survive. The entire story unfolds as a series of visual scenes, and the chapter titles (“Subject,” “Sketch,” “Composition,” “Alla Prima,” “Perspective,” “Impasto,” Pentimento”) remind the reader that the whole novella is a metaphor for visual art.
Michel is introduced to a mysterious elderly Signora who wants him to paint the portrait of her gorgeous young male companion, who seems strangely reluctant to tell his name. Alone with the awestruck painter, the young man tells him: “I am light, Michel. That is why you know me. And love me.”
Michel decides that his subject must be posed in the nude on drapery and painted with wings, as Lucifer, the rebel angel who fell from heaven. Before the painting can be finished, of course, the subject inspires the portrait-painter in time-honored fashion:
“I hardly remember undressing; my clothes were nothing but dry leaves pushed
aside, and the touch of his skin against mine was like being born, a shock so sweet and
savage that I gasped like a baby taking its first breath. Everything was a series of firsts.
The first kiss, the first heat of skin on skin, the first hand sliding down my flanks and
digging into my flesh, the first fingers—not mine—curled and tight around my cock.”
Michel already has a suspicion that his Angel of Light and the Signora with whom he has a close but ambiguous relationship are not human. When Michel discovers beyond a doubt what they are, this is no news to him or to the reader.
However, there is still the problem of the crooked patron, who threatens Michel after finding him in flagrante. You need to read the story to find out what happens. It is a conclusion fit for an opera.
The only complaints I can make about these four “vampire” stories are that (1) they all take some liberties with the vampire tradition, which seems to be the only way to turn it from a decaying corpse into something that can live indefinitely, if not forever, and (2) they all resolve moral dilemmas with amazing dispatch, considering that vampires were once figures of dread. None of these stories has the gut-wrenching emotional and philosophical depth of Interview with the Vampire. That doesn’t seem to be their purpose. If you like male/male erotica with a little mystery and a little frisson, Night Moves is a delightful sampler.
------------------------------------------
Night Moves is an interesting mix of stories in this hybrid genre. One of the challenges for authors who want to create sympathetic vampire heroes is how to explain their need for human blood (energy) without showing them as repulsive parasites. These four authors each approach this challenge in a different way, but their central characters are all so deep-down decent that none of them has to deal with the kind of self-hatred experienced by Anne Rice's Louis, a Catholic gentleman of the 1790s, after he becomes one of the "damned."
In "Theron's Boys" by Kiernan Kelly, Theron is a nightmare pimp who seduces attractive young men into letting him "turn" them, then he forces them into sexual service. The filthy-rich (emphasis on filthy) old cads who treat the "boys" as fast food are similar to Theron. He is clearly a traditional vampire, a soulless user of the life-force of others, since he can't produce his own. Christian, David, and the rest of "Theron's boys" must decide how to deal with enslavement which could literally last forever. Despite being vampires themselves, they are not like their "Sire" or his mortal buddies and are only willing to do harm as a last resort. When two of the "boys" discover their love for each other, they confirm the difference between mutual attraction and one-sided exploitation. These "boys" are no threat to anyone else.
Both "Inferno" by Matt Brooks and "Immortal Steps" by Kira Stone show the "turning" process as proceeding in stages. The state of being half-vampire (or "latent") looks more uncomfortable than puberty, especially since the half-turned have no guarantee that anyone will finish the job, and they can't do it themselves. In the meanwhile, they are recognizable to any reader who has felt inchoate and alone, stuck in the cracks between socially-defined categories. Becoming a full vampire is shown to be much more satisfying than remaining forever in limbo, even if that were an option. In both stories, the half-turned must move forward or die.
If Anne Rice's vampires represented an emerging community of gay men (in a time when "gay" seemed to be a clear identity), it is tempting to see the vampires-in-the-making in these stories as an emerging generation of transgendered individuals, each occupying a different place in a spectrum between genders -- or a generation of entrants to the BDSM scene (especially on-line and especially involving "blood sports") who can't evolve without an adequate mentor.
"Inferno" is named for a nightclub where young Blaise goes to find his tribe. Having paid his entrance fee, he is "in the long passage that led to a narrow staircase and community." He meets Robert, an older, experienced man who agrees to come home with him. Blaise admits to being a sexual novice, and Robert initiates him sexually. In the process, Robert discovers that Blaise is "stopped," still human but with a vampiric taste for blood. Robert asks why, and Blaise answers: "'He said I wasn't ready. Not really. Not enough of a predator.'" Robert is aghast at the callousness of Blaise's earlier bar pickup. Apparently not all vampire "daddies" in the infernal community have a sense of responsibility for their "boys."
"Immortal Steps" is a novella in several chapters in which the true nature of vampires and their community is revealed after suspense has been raised. Tain, the half-turned vampire whose skill at Celtic dancing seems to be a sign that he is more than human, is known as a heterosexual player, and he beds women when he has something practical to gain from them. When he learns that the "Dedicated Fan" who has stalked him with messages and gifts wants to see him in person, Tain is alarmed, especially when he learns that this person is male. Throughout much of the story, Tain fights the inevitable by telling himself that he is not "gay," and then by telling himself that his attraction to Kyle, a.k.a."Dedicated Fan," is based on Kyle’s resemblance to someone who had a formative influence on Tain, not a sign that he is queer in any sense.
Kyle strives to convince Tain that lust between men is not shameful, that love is not a myth, and that monogamy is more fulfilling than an endless round of emotionally meaningless encounters. Along the way, Kyle must also convince Tain that he has been a kind of guardian angel to him for years, and that he can be trusted. Kyle takes Tain from Edinburgh, Scotland, to John O'Groats, which Tain describes as "the end of the world." The dramatic Scottish landscape makes an appropriate setting for cliffhanging conflict and for dramatic revelations about vampirism, its connection to sexual arousal, and the organization which exists to protect vulnerable vampires from being killed off like members of any other stigmatized minority.
This story seems to have the least connection to eastern European folktales about vampires as the "undead" who feed off the living. In "Immortal Steps," becoming a vampire is a process of development which involves awakening one's biological potential. It not only suggests "coming out" as a gay man, but finding one's ancestral "roots" and one's present-day community as well as coping with an unusual medical condition.
"Chiaroscuro" by Erastes is a florid tale set in Florence, Italy, during the Renaissance. The bejewelled writing style perfectly suits the period and the plot, in which the narrator Michel, a young painter, must please his crooked patron and his demanding, aristocratic customers to enable his family to survive. The entire story unfolds as a series of visual scenes, and the chapter titles (“Subject,” “Sketch,” “Composition,” “Alla Prima,” “Perspective,” “Impasto,” Pentimento”) remind the reader that the whole novella is a metaphor for visual art.
Michel is introduced to a mysterious elderly Signora who wants him to paint the portrait of her gorgeous young male companion, who seems strangely reluctant to tell his name. Alone with the awestruck painter, the young man tells him: “I am light, Michel. That is why you know me. And love me.”
Michel decides that his subject must be posed in the nude on drapery and painted with wings, as Lucifer, the rebel angel who fell from heaven. Before the painting can be finished, of course, the subject inspires the portrait-painter in time-honored fashion:
“I hardly remember undressing; my clothes were nothing but dry leaves pushed
aside, and the touch of his skin against mine was like being born, a shock so sweet and
savage that I gasped like a baby taking its first breath. Everything was a series of firsts.
The first kiss, the first heat of skin on skin, the first hand sliding down my flanks and
digging into my flesh, the first fingers—not mine—curled and tight around my cock.”
Michel already has a suspicion that his Angel of Light and the Signora with whom he has a close but ambiguous relationship are not human. When Michel discovers beyond a doubt what they are, this is no news to him or to the reader.
However, there is still the problem of the crooked patron, who threatens Michel after finding him in flagrante. You need to read the story to find out what happens. It is a conclusion fit for an opera.
The only complaints I can make about these four “vampire” stories are that (1) they all take some liberties with the vampire tradition, which seems to be the only way to turn it from a decaying corpse into something that can live indefinitely, if not forever, and (2) they all resolve moral dilemmas with amazing dispatch, considering that vampires were once figures of dread. None of these stories has the gut-wrenching emotional and philosophical depth of Interview with the Vampire. That doesn’t seem to be their purpose. If you like male/male erotica with a little mystery and a little frisson, Night Moves is a delightful sampler.
------------------------------------------
March 16, 2016
This is an anthology of vampire tales that are quite gay.
Theron's Boys by Kiernan Kelly:
Christian is a newly turned vampire that after only 3 years started to regret his choice and considering finding ways to rebel on the sire that so entranced him in the first place.
Inferno by Matt Brooks:
A vampire in the making having a fast night with a full vampire that offers to help.
Chiaroscuro by Erastes:
An artist is asked to paint someone by his family's provider. When he meets him he almost goes insane.. only to discover he is not just a normal guy.. adventures are to happen in the drawing room :)
I really hope their is a sequel for this one!!
Immortal Steps by Kira Stone:
Tian is a dancer and a very good one too.. He is followed by his most dedicated fan only to discover who his true identity is and what Tian could be if only he wanted.
Marked and hunted, he is running for his life!
This anthology was very good, I was so engrossed in it.. Every story is unique and captivating in itself. Having different vampire lore and legends mixed up.. Very fun read!
The most one I enjoyed was the last one.. :)
Quotes I enjoyed from this book:
Story 1
Actually, when Christian really thought about it, he realized that he’d jumped into his new life (for want of a better word) knowing very little about being a vampire at all. When Theron had first approached him about joining Theron’s Boys, as he’d called his little club, it had sounded like a sweet gig. Zero body fat, heightened senses, vastly increased strength, all the sex you could handle with none of the usual worries over disease, living forever-all tempting little perks that came with membership.
One man in particular drew Christian’s interest. He seemed to be the center of the universe to the men he sat with, the others treating him with a deference that bordered on worship. The very air around him crackled with power, with danger, and with a raw sexual energy that had Christian as hard as iron in no time flat.
Suddenly, the man looked up at Christian. With one long, elegant finger, he lowered his sunglasses down over the bridge of his nose, peeking at Christian from over the frames. A wily, amused smirk creased the man’s cheek as they’d made eye contact.
Story 3:
He took it delicately and the way he moved towards her I was reminded of an old fashioned dance, a gavotte, or a minuet. He dropped to his knees and bent over her hand and after a moment I had to look away, for the kiss he gave her was every bit as sensual as anything he had done to me. His eyes burned as he looked up at her and I felt myself blushing, feeling childishly jealous as I wondered once more what their relationship was.
Story 4:
“Because you mean the world to me,” Kyle admitted.
It wasn’t natural. It couldn’t be. And yet again Tain knew this was right. He soaked it up body, mind, and soul. He welcomed the surging forces at work in his body, let them change him. Let them strip away the last shreds of his humanity and reveal the vampire inside.
Theron's Boys by Kiernan Kelly:
Christian is a newly turned vampire that after only 3 years started to regret his choice and considering finding ways to rebel on the sire that so entranced him in the first place.
Inferno by Matt Brooks:
A vampire in the making having a fast night with a full vampire that offers to help.
Chiaroscuro by Erastes:
An artist is asked to paint someone by his family's provider. When he meets him he almost goes insane.. only to discover he is not just a normal guy.. adventures are to happen in the drawing room :)
I really hope their is a sequel for this one!!
Immortal Steps by Kira Stone:
Tian is a dancer and a very good one too.. He is followed by his most dedicated fan only to discover who his true identity is and what Tian could be if only he wanted.
Marked and hunted, he is running for his life!
This anthology was very good, I was so engrossed in it.. Every story is unique and captivating in itself. Having different vampire lore and legends mixed up.. Very fun read!
The most one I enjoyed was the last one.. :)
Quotes I enjoyed from this book:
Story 1
Actually, when Christian really thought about it, he realized that he’d jumped into his new life (for want of a better word) knowing very little about being a vampire at all. When Theron had first approached him about joining Theron’s Boys, as he’d called his little club, it had sounded like a sweet gig. Zero body fat, heightened senses, vastly increased strength, all the sex you could handle with none of the usual worries over disease, living forever-all tempting little perks that came with membership.
One man in particular drew Christian’s interest. He seemed to be the center of the universe to the men he sat with, the others treating him with a deference that bordered on worship. The very air around him crackled with power, with danger, and with a raw sexual energy that had Christian as hard as iron in no time flat.
Suddenly, the man looked up at Christian. With one long, elegant finger, he lowered his sunglasses down over the bridge of his nose, peeking at Christian from over the frames. A wily, amused smirk creased the man’s cheek as they’d made eye contact.
Story 3:
He took it delicately and the way he moved towards her I was reminded of an old fashioned dance, a gavotte, or a minuet. He dropped to his knees and bent over her hand and after a moment I had to look away, for the kiss he gave her was every bit as sensual as anything he had done to me. His eyes burned as he looked up at her and I felt myself blushing, feeling childishly jealous as I wondered once more what their relationship was.
Story 4:
“Because you mean the world to me,” Kyle admitted.
It wasn’t natural. It couldn’t be. And yet again Tain knew this was right. He soaked it up body, mind, and soul. He welcomed the surging forces at work in his body, let them change him. Let them strip away the last shreds of his humanity and reveal the vampire inside.
Read
April 14, 2009Night Moves is a vampire anthology. The common path is the journey of a young man to his new vampire life, but all the stories have their uniquiness and originality.
Theron's Boys by Kiernan Kelly: Christian is a very modern and very new vampire. When he was turned he was 27 years old and now, 3 years later, he is deeply regretting his choice. His sire is a club's owner who turns young men to use them as toy boys in his club. He turns only young beautiful males and then makes them live in shared apartments, with only few hours to sleep and feed. Three years of this life and Christian is ready to rise against his sire, even more when he realizes to be in love with David, his roommate. As always, Kiernan Kelly's story has a funny style, like the stirring up reason for Christian's revolt, his unability to buy a Playstation3. It's light and fast, very enjoyable.
Inferno by Matt Brooks: this is really only a scene, and I'm a little disappointed of it, cause I'm always happy to have the chance to read a new author, and I didn't know Matt Brooks before. Blaise is an half turned vampire who roams the clubs by night in searching of something even him doesn't know. Then he meets Robert, a very sexy and full vampire, who is glady and ready to take him to the end of his path.
Chiaroscuro by Erastes: Michel is a poor painter who is hired by a very rich woman to paint his young "nephew", Yuri. Michel is like a property in the hands of a vicious patron, a greedy and without nobility man, who treats him like a pet. But when Michel sees Yuri, he suddenly falls in love and all forbidden desires are awaken in him. The story is setting in late nineteen century in Florence and if not for some hints during the tale and the ending, it could be only an historical tale rather than a paranormal one. But this is not a flaw. Pity it's only a short story, even if at the end the author let intend that maybe there will be a sequel.
Immortal Steps by Kira Stone: Kyle is an ancient vampire who is ready to reunite with his soul mate, Tain. In a previous life, Kyle was Tain's mentor but he left when the man was only a teen to let Tain grew and become a man. But now Tain is riped to be pick. Cause vampireness is not something you receive from another, like a virus, but it is a genetic changing you have inside and that another vampire can take out. And Kyle has every intention to be Tain's sire. Also in this case, I think the story would be worthy of something more, I feel like the short lenght doesn't allow to the story its fully development.
All in all, Night Moves is a good vampire anthology, with a right dose of paranormal and erotic elements. Another good addition to the M/M anthologies by Aspen Mountain Press.
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/22...
Theron's Boys by Kiernan Kelly: Christian is a very modern and very new vampire. When he was turned he was 27 years old and now, 3 years later, he is deeply regretting his choice. His sire is a club's owner who turns young men to use them as toy boys in his club. He turns only young beautiful males and then makes them live in shared apartments, with only few hours to sleep and feed. Three years of this life and Christian is ready to rise against his sire, even more when he realizes to be in love with David, his roommate. As always, Kiernan Kelly's story has a funny style, like the stirring up reason for Christian's revolt, his unability to buy a Playstation3. It's light and fast, very enjoyable.
Inferno by Matt Brooks: this is really only a scene, and I'm a little disappointed of it, cause I'm always happy to have the chance to read a new author, and I didn't know Matt Brooks before. Blaise is an half turned vampire who roams the clubs by night in searching of something even him doesn't know. Then he meets Robert, a very sexy and full vampire, who is glady and ready to take him to the end of his path.
Chiaroscuro by Erastes: Michel is a poor painter who is hired by a very rich woman to paint his young "nephew", Yuri. Michel is like a property in the hands of a vicious patron, a greedy and without nobility man, who treats him like a pet. But when Michel sees Yuri, he suddenly falls in love and all forbidden desires are awaken in him. The story is setting in late nineteen century in Florence and if not for some hints during the tale and the ending, it could be only an historical tale rather than a paranormal one. But this is not a flaw. Pity it's only a short story, even if at the end the author let intend that maybe there will be a sequel.
Immortal Steps by Kira Stone: Kyle is an ancient vampire who is ready to reunite with his soul mate, Tain. In a previous life, Kyle was Tain's mentor but he left when the man was only a teen to let Tain grew and become a man. But now Tain is riped to be pick. Cause vampireness is not something you receive from another, like a virus, but it is a genetic changing you have inside and that another vampire can take out. And Kyle has every intention to be Tain's sire. Also in this case, I think the story would be worthy of something more, I feel like the short lenght doesn't allow to the story its fully development.
All in all, Night Moves is a good vampire anthology, with a right dose of paranormal and erotic elements. Another good addition to the M/M anthologies by Aspen Mountain Press.
http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/22...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews