Uly's Comet

The Swithin Chronicles #1

by Sharon Maria Bidwell

LGBT Fantasy
The Swithin Chronicles; Next The Comet's Tail

Markis Shavar, the Swithin Prince, controls the power of the Comet. His power may be the only thing that can stop a war between two vast monarchies. A war that could devastate the world. If that weren’t pressure enough, he may also have to rescue a princess and face a marriage of convenience. And it sure as hell doesn’t help that Markis can barely control the power when he calls it forth. Traditional methods – including celibacy, aren’t working and he is running out of time.

His personal guard and best friend, Ryanac, insists that Markis should embrace love, both emotionally and physically, to control the Comet. He’d really like for Markis to embrace him. It’s entirely possibly Ryanac is correct…but if he’s wrong, it could destroy them.

When Markis leaves the palace one night to indulge in the luxury of a little solitude, he captures Uly, a would-be thief. Out of boredom, he decides to play a little game with the street rat, but Uly has other ideas. He plans to teach the prince a lesson in desire … and love.

If a street thief can teach a prince to gain control by losing it, love may truly conquer all.

Publisher’s This novel contains homoerotic and polyamorous sexual acts that may be offensive to some readers.

Genres: M M Romance, Fantasy, Gay, Menage, LGBT

161 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2006

About the author

During Sharon’s writing career she’s lived in a house with a Harry Potter cupboard under the stairs, shared a publisher with the creator of Roger Rabbit, and has taken a trip to Jupiter. Only one of these has been in her imagination.

The first short story she submitted — Silver Apples of the Moon — was accepted by Roadworks Magazine. The editor announced her as “a writer who is going places” and described the story as having “both a Sci-fi and horror element,” and being “strong on characterisation, and quite literary, in terms of style.” Subsequently, she was approached to write all reports and publicity material, including a piece for translation into Braille for The Really Wild Nursery and Arthritis Care Breaking Down the Barriers garden project, which took place at the Malvern Spring Show.

Since then, her work has appeared steadily in both print and electronic publications, such as Midnight Street, Aoife’s Kiss (Sam’s Dot Publishing), Night To Dawn, and Radgepacket (Byker Books). Her short story — Bitter and Intoxicating — was snapped up for inclusion in the anthology Red Velvet and Absinthe. This compilation, edited by Mitzi Szereto with a foreword by Kelly Armstrong, was designed to evoke the romantic ethos of classic Gothic fiction with a serving of eroticism. With a repertoire of twisted tales and a love of cross-genre writing, it surprised everyone (including herself) when she branched out into erotic romance. These works have been critically acclaimed and often described as ‘deeply passionate’.

Sharon’s worlds are vivid, unexpected and sometimes intensely magical. Sharon writes whatever her warped mind can come up with and is quite capable of writing something darker, grittier, and even outright twisted. Though her love for all things Myth and Legend has led her to write under more than one name, from 2019 she's using S.M.Bidwell for her Dark Fiction.

She was propelled into the Steampunk universe of Space, 1899 and beyond, winning approval of series creator and award-winning game designer, Frank Chadwick, with three books, one of which was co-authored with editor (and writer) Andy Frankham-Allen, and subsequently led to her writing for the Lethbridge-Stewart series, and a short audio story for Doctor Who, performed by Katy Manning.

She's also on Goodreads under the name Sharon Bidwell.

Reviews

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tasting:

Why I bought it:

It was last year some time and a gazillion books ago. Having said that, I think one of the reasons it interested me was because it was fantasy which is one of my fave genres.

Dislike/like (ending on a high note):

Dislike~ The first book has m/f and m/f/m/m in it. There are only a few scenes and they are relevant to the plot. Stick with it as the other books in the series focus on the developing m/m/m relationship between Markis, Ryanac and Uly, with any m/f action generally happening off page.

Like~ Re-reading the blurb makes the story sound a little, well, cheesy, which I can assure you it’s not - and it’s not Eliza Doolittle-ish either. I think Uly is a very engaging character with whom the reader falls more in like/love as the story and the series progresses. He is both innocent and worldly, shy yet affectionate and passionate, uneducated but intelligent. A wonderful protag.

Dislike~ I did get pissed off at Markis, especially in the second book, because he wasn't open with Uly at times – very protective and treats him like a child which was frustrating all round - and didn't seem totally honest about his relationship with Ryanac. The way the m/m/m developed was convincing however, and not all rainbows and fairy dust as some authors would have ménages to be.

Like~ Magic, power, political intrigue, danger, romance, and a prince, a pauper and a knight. What the heck else do you want in a fantasy?? Possibly only excellent world building, terrific writing and great character development?? Look no further. It's all here! *g*

So, what I think:

A very good m/m/m fantasy series. It’s one of my keepers.

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‘Tasting’ is my version of a mini-review where I talk a (very) little about what I liked and disliked about a book as well as who I think the story will appeal to. Oh, and I’ve added a bit about why I picked up the book in the first place – sometimes this can be interesting to know.

[Tracy's Place · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally read 1/19/10 - 4 stars

I didn't like this one quite as much the second time around but it was still pretty darned good.
3.75 out of 5

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This began very intriguing, and the writing is really good, really evocative, so even as I felt quite uncomfortable with all the casual racism present, I decided to keep reading. Soon enough, it was obvious that sex was a big part of the story. Seriously, if we take off all the sex scenes we got a third of the page count, if we are lucky. And when it was evident where this story was going, I lost all interest.

This is an evident case of 'It is not the story, it's me'. Sorry, but not my thing :(

[Reader (Show me, don't tell me) · Rating 3 out of 5]

An allright read, I guess, though it didn't make me want to read the remaining books in the series.

I started losing interest in the book right after the rescue of the princess. Regardless of that society's openness with sex, I just couldn't see why on his 'wedding night' the prince wouldn't want to make sure any heir being conceived was his and his alone before the whole sharing thing begins.

I would love to read more about Uly and Markis' relationship but won't risk $8 to be disappointed.

[Joie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really liked this one. It's not your typical romance it actually requires you to think which not enough of these types of books do. Now to be perfectly honest it gets off to a really slow start. You have to stick with it though it's worth it. Also at times its filled with a bit to much fluff I just wanted to get out my red pen and stratch out about 15% of nothingness. But this is a really good story I recomend this to anyone.

[Bree · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had planned on giving this a 4 until the introduction of Tressa’s character and her involvement in the story. I could have done without that. I didn’t realize going into this that it was 3 book story, I really wish I would have. I’m tempted to read through to the conclusion, but I’m not sure I want to and it has everything to do with Tressa... 😑 But I really like Uly and Ryanac. Not yet sure about Markis.

[D]

Yay! I stopped myself from puking!