About Client Privileges
by Maia Strong
196 pages / 75000 words
ISBN: 978-1-60370-798-5, 1-60370-798-0
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, epub, Sony-optimized pdf
Jonas Vaneau's life seems ordinary, with days working at law courts and evenings at home with his cat, plus countless Sabbath dinners with his parents and an endless string of potential brides. Meanwhile, an unusual encounter with seemingly ordinary brothel client Jonas causes Micah Hartshorn considerable consternation. When Jonas inexplicably bursts past his emotional defenses, Micah can't even fall back on his professional skills to help him.
The attraction between Micah and Jonas grows, despite their misgivings. As they grow closer, all personal problems are swept up in political unrest when new laws threaten both men's livelihoods. When even greater troubles send Jonas' world spinning beyond his control, it's up to Micah to save Jonas from the downward spiral if he can.
Review
Lee Benoit, author of the Dragonwalker stories, writes:
Client Privileges is a delicious surprise. In a world reminiscent of a Mediterranean city, Jonas is a deceptively ordinary law clerk and Micah is a deceptively exotic whore. Their deceptively simple meeting takes place in a guild-sanctioned brothel, and during their encounter Jonas’ sexual ambivalence tumbles to Micah’s professionalism. You might think you know where this story is going, but you’d be wrong. I was, and I took great delight in the surprises that followed.
Without spoiling anything, I can tell you that Jonas’ self loathing about his desire for men doesn’t stem from a repressive society, but from his repressive and dangerously powerful father, head of the University Guild and arbiter of a new morality, one whose disapproval of homosexuality wreaks changes in the laws of their city and threatens the livelihood of many citizens, including Micah. Jonas’ struggle to balance his family, his career, and his own heart make for compelling reading all on their own.
Micah, on the other hand, toils unaware of these changes to the big picture. He takes pride in his profession, and unlike Jonas has learned the trick of perspective. For Micah is a single father, delighting in his adopted daughter as he worries about money, tries to keep his house in order, and contends with his rather unprofessional attraction to Jonas. A neighbor’s invitation brings the two men together outside the brothel, and their relationship makes its tentative steps against the background of a society in flux. I appreciated the warmth and gentle humor with which Maia Strong imbues Micah’s home life and romantic tribulations. Micah and Jonas’ growing friendship is the perfect complement to their searing encounters as client and whore.
Micah and Jonas’ story unfolds at a leisurely pace, skillfully balanced against the author’s thoughtfully detailed world building. There’s a lot going on here, from the depiction of an inclusive and tolerant society tilting to one governed by fear and the curtailment of long-held civil rights. Strong spins this world in all its complexity without ever leaving the reader behind. We come to understand, organically as the characters do, how insidious the changes wrought by Jonas’ father and his cronies will be. Underlying the political story is a fascinating array of ethnic and religious variation including a majority faith that’s Judeo-Christian as filtered through the feminine face of God. Marvelous! To all this richness, which Strong weaves effortlessly, there’s one more element, gently fey, that adds depth and wonder to the hard-won climax of the story.
Client Privileges is richly rewarding on many levels. I won’t be forgetting Jonas and Micah anytime soon, and I eagerly anticipate more stories from Maia Strong’s fascinating universe.
Sample
This was a bad, bad idea. Jonas paused to catch his breath in the hot, heavy air. Summer had struck with particular vehemence this year. He wished again that he'd chosen to ride to his destination, but the risk of being observed and possibly recognized was too great. He was nondescript enough to generally pass unnoticed, but there wasn't a cabman in the city who wouldn't sell out a fare's privacy for enough coin.
In the distance the university's enormous clock struck the quarter hour, its deep-toned bell tolling like a death knell. Jonas continued walking at a quick but less frantic pace, keeping his head down and his eyes focused on the road three paces in front of his feet. It would have been a normal enough stride were it the rainy season, but the rains were months away. Even so, no one he passed gave him more than a cursory glance. Most people took no notice of him at all. He'd had a friend at university who could make himself virtually invisible, but Jonas lacked that enviable cheel ability. If he had it, he wouldn't be so worried about his current venture.
There's nothing wrong with it, he told himself for the umpteenth time. There were no legal imperatives against what he was doing -- only the deeply rooted and infuriating shame he felt. Right now, he was doing his best to ignore it.
He took a moment to glance around, checking his location. Yes, he was still on the correct route. He turned left and the university's gleaming whitestone buildings came into view between the rows of houses and shops. The place looked smaller in the distance, but it was still as intimidating as it was beautiful. He looked down, turned right at the next cross street, and was glad to leave the sight behind. Several blocks and one more turn brought him in view of his destination. The sign over the door was visible even from here at the far end of the street: a delicately rouged woman, scantily clad and cuddled up in a pile of richly colored pillows. It was the juxtaposition of the bawdy with the cozy that attracted Jonas to the Whore's Nest brothel. That, and its location far from the law courts where he worked.
Jonas contemplated the sign as he walked slowly toward the building. Was he really going to do it this time? Was he really going to go inside? He knew he could get what he wanted in there, knew they had his type on the day staff. His previous forays to this neighborhood had allowed him to learn that much. He wasn't worried about payment; his salary was more than sufficient to cover whatever recreational expenses he incurred. It was his own fear of being caught -- fear that somehow his parents would find out the truth -- that had repeatedly turned him around mere strides from the door. He hesitated on the footway outside the low gate that led to the neatly manicured garden.