When Velvet Glove submissive Ghost appears in Trip's medical office, no one is quite sure what's wrong with the young man. Ghost collapsed during a scene with a patron, and Trip has to decide if the kid is ill or if something deeper is going on. Strangely drawn to the pale, silent Ghost, Trip discovers that there's a lot more than meets the eye under the calm surface. When Ghost can't go back to work for the club, Trip takes him in, letting their new relationship deepen, teaching Ghost to trust. Can Trip help Ghost learn to accept his gifts?
Often referred to as "Space Cowboy" and "Gangsta of Love" while still striving for the moniker of "Maurice," Sean Michael spends his days surfing, smutting, organizing his immense gourd collection and fantasizing about one day retiring on a small secluded island peopled entirely by horseshoe crabs. While collecting vast amounts of vintage gay pulp novels and mood rings, Sean whiles away the hours between dropping the f-bomb and persuing the kama sutra by channeling the long lost spirit of John Wayne and singing along with the soundtrack to "Chicago."
A long-time writer of complicated haiku, currently Sean is attempting to learn the advanced arts of plate spinning and soap carving sex toys.
Barring any of that? He'll stick with writing his stories, thanks, and rubbing pretty bodies together to see if they spark.
This is one story in the Velvet Glove series, a BDSM futuristic club, almost a community, where subs and doms live together with the only aim of pleasure.
Ghost is a sub who went in a semi-coma during a session. Trip, the new doctor, has a sudden feeling of possessivness for the boy, and knows immediately what is the problem: Ghost is an empath, and if he is not able to exclude all the strong feelings to reach him, they can destroy him. Obviuosly he can't return to be a sub, and Trip decides to take him in, like his lover. Finally Ghost can open himself to another person, not fearing to be overwhelmed.
The story is pretty short, less than 40 pages, but I like very much Ghost. He is like a child who needs to be protected, but he is not a weak man; he is only too special to be able to live alone, and he only needs a special man to take care of the ordinary problem for him. And Trip wants to be that man.
Velvet Glove series is like a serial fiction tv, in every enstallment you will find two new characters, but you will have also the chance to have a glimpse to the past characters. But even if you haven't read the previous books, you can always pick one here and there and appreciate it as a single story.
Good book, Well written yet left some questions in a lot of places. Makes you want to know more. Interesting that we are now part of universal system with different races that needs to be explored more around the two main characters. Would love to see/read more on the club and the two main characters.
This is from the Velvet Glove world which I’ve only ever read Braided, but something compelled me to try this. Ghost, one of the subs at the club, passes out during a scene for no apparent reason. Club doctor Trip tries to figure out why and it seems Ghost comes from a line of seers and Ghost is empathic. When others’ emotions get too much he shuts down. Trip also seems to be a tiny bit empathic and they can’t send Ghost back into the sub population, so Trip takes him on and they are able to connect and allow Ghost to have feelings and work in the clinic with him sensing people’s feelings. You don’t need to read the other stories to get this one, and I enjoyed it. Not buckets of sex as you’d expect but the connection between Ghost and Trip was interesting.
Merged review:
This is from the Velvet Glove world which I’ve only ever read Braided, but something compelled me to try this. Ghost, one of the subs at the club, passes out during a scene for no apparent reason. Club doctor Trip tries to figure out why and it seems Ghost comes from a line of seers and Ghost is empathic. When others’ emotions get too much he shuts down. Trip also seems to be a tiny bit empathic and they can’t send Ghost back into the sub population, so Trip takes him on and they are able to connect and allow Ghost to have feelings and work in the clinic with him sensing people’s feelings. You don’t need to read the other stories to get this one, and I enjoyed it. Not buckets of sex as you’d expect but the connection between Ghost and Trip was interesting.
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 8/10
PROS: - The character of Ghost has an ability that is unusual and manifests in interesting ways. It’s also quite a mystery at the beginning of the story, so I was intrigued right from the start. - The story isn’t long (about 40 pages), but it has several sex scenes. Michael tends to create BDSM characters who fall hard and fast, so all of the scenes here are tender and emotional, even when the characters hardly know each other. I also thought Ghost’s and Trip’s descriptions of each other as cats and butterflies were cute.
CONS: - If you read many of Sean Michael’s stories, particularly those that take place in the same universe (for example, the Velvet Glove stories or the Hammer stories), they all start to look the same. (I *like* them, so that doesn’t bother me per se, but it is a weakness overall, I think.) - I know I harp on editing in my reviews, but I can’t stop myself from noticing errors and misspellings. They’re more prevalent in Michael’s books than in books by many other authors, and many of the mistakes seem so obvious to me. It’s like no one even reads the stories through between the time when they’re written and the time when they go into print. Here’s an example: “He slid his hand down along Ghost’s braid and slowly undoing it.”
Overall While "Ghost" is not his strongest work, Michael takes a slightly different angle than I've seen in his other works (so, it's new at least for me). Trip, the curious doctor, and Ghost, a boy who's a puzzle, make a nice combination as Michael's characters once again find their happy endings with one another.
While the story's concept and completion are all well done, there are chunks of dialogue that felt stilted and forced, like daytime dramas. However, even though this counts against the work as a whole, I still enjoyed the majority of the story. Also, this seems to be one of the few stories that doesn't involve more "hard core" BDSM. The only references we get are in discussion or inner thoughts.
Once again, this was sweet. Not long, not kinky, just nice.
Of course, I find it somewhat suspicious that almost all the subs (which apparently includes all kinds of subordinate staff) are “boys”, not merely by word, but actually thin and small and young and somewhat childlike. What do they do – get rid of them once they grow a little older?
Aside from that consideration, I simply could have done with a little less sex and more of what life was going to be like from now on for the couple. Because that part interests me. Then again, why would I expect this series to focus on anything but romance and sex and wallowing in happiness? ^^;
Possibly my favorite "Velvet Glove" novel; Ghost is unbearably endearing and Trip's kindness and obvious care for him is beautifully romantic. There are slight hints of the BDSM that comprises all Velvet Glove novels but thankfully not much - on first read, it was obvious that Ghost shouldn't be treated in that manner because of his fragile nature. Was very, very pleased that Trip wasn't so much interested in domination in the end so much as love, and how it was not Ghost conforming to Trip's needs, but Trip conforming to Ghost's.
"Ghost" is my first venture into the Velvet Glove universe and I must say I am impressed and looking forward to reading more. I loved the characters, they remained believable throughout the story, something that seems to elude many authors these days. Ghost managed to keep me intrigued merely by being in this story and Trip helped pull it all together for me. Good job, Sean Michael, keep up the good work!
Too fast. After just figuring out about Ghosts empathic abilities, the doc just happens to be the dampener and goes to that conclusion immediately. Like the biggest coincidence in the world.
And 'nice' how the dom just decides to take a sub. No need to ask what the sub wants. I understand that deciding on the dom should be one of the decisions a sub is entitled to make.
Insta love. Mushy
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
The story is on the short side from what I have started to expect from Michael but a great read anyway. Just before this I was rereading Fits Like A Glove and they refer to this incident, so I was curious what actually happened.
I think Ghost is a really lovely character and you even see a different side to Mal :)
So sorry that this was a shorter than usual story cuz I just LOVED Ghost and Trip. I like the empathic ability and that they ended up being in tune with each other. The shortness of the story was the main drawback but the characters are great.