About Mine

edited by SA Clements, with stories by Sue Brown, Lauren P. Burka, JL Merrow, Josephine Myles, Lydia Nyx, M. Raiya, Kate Roman, Julia Talbot, Gabriel West, and Cari Z.
253 pages / 60900 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-082-4
Ebook zipped file contains - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub

The thrill of possession is far more exciting when the one doing the taking is more than human. From vampires to werewolves, from dragons to demons, the stories in Mine explore just how growly and hot a relationship can be when it teeters on the edge taking things too far.

Spanning the ages from medieval to modern, Mine explores love between all manner of men, and more than men. What happens when heartache and passion lurk around every corner and the heat of need and the heart-pumping feel of an adrenaline rush overcome good sense? Find out in Mine now!

Stories include:
Leeches and Layabouts by JL Merrow
The Highwayman of Colby Heath by Kate Roman
The Devil Went Down to Swindon by Josephine Myles
Lover of the Hand of Heaven by Lauren P. Burka
Sate of Mine by Cari Z.
The Dragon and his Knight by M. Raiya
Possessed by Sue Brown
The Hand that Feeds by Gabriel West
Impasto by Lydia Nyx
Mediocre Art by Julia Talbot

Review

Lee Benoit, editor of Someplace in this World, writes: I don't know what I was expecting from a collection that explores the intensity of romance with an other-than-human lover, but what I found in Mine blew any expectations out of the water. Mine's authors deliver that intensity in ten way-beyond-ordinary tales laced with deep emotion, deft writing, daring imagination, and healthy dollops of wit.

Just witness "Leeches and Layabouts" by JL Merrow: a wry and charming story of a newly turned vampire who now needs a front man for his garlic farm and the unemployed guy determined to stay on the dole who turns up for an interview. Their awkward first meeting portends a deliciously bumpy ride.

"The Highwayman of Colby Heath" by Kate Roman gives us the very hot courtship between a hapless highwayman and the wolf who claims him in a classic historically-tinged tale.

In "The Devil Went Down to Swindon" by Josephine Myles, the archetype of the Devil at the crossroads gets an update to a UK backwater. Neither the struggling musician nor the Devil are quite what they appear, and their courtship is full of snappy dialogue and the wonder of sexual discovery.

"Lover of the Hand of Heaven" is Lauren P. Burka's gorgeous story of an emperor's son and his lifelong friendship with an immortal guardian. The lush atmosphere is the perfect backdrop for the slow unfolding and dreamlike fulfillment of the characters' desires.

Cari Z's "State of Mine" is a taut and multilayered story about a vampire operative and the human psychic who watches his back. The world-building alone would recommend this tale, and the romance between the two protagonists builds with a haunting and gritty realism.

"The Dragon and his Knight" by M. Raiya carries a dragon shifter and his very willing human thrall a millennium forward in time and a world away from their origins. The amusing and affecting disorientation resulting from living a thousand years in seldom-pierced isolation gave this story a special poignancy.

Sue Brown gives us a second dragon-shifter tale in "Possessed," in which a charmingly underwhelming human undertakes to improve his health and outlook at the behest of a lover he hasn't yet met, with affecting results.

In "The Hand that Feeds" a domesticated wolf-shifter slowly remembers what -- and whom -- he really needs. The conclusion of the story may be inevitable, but Gabriel West leads us there by a road less traveled.

"Impasto" is Lydia Nyx's account of the material objects that surround a vampire and his human lover of two decades on the eve of the human's turning. Nyx does an incredible job of teasing out the story -- and implications -- of their relationship in this stunning, impressionistic piece.

And finally, there's nothing mediocre about "Mediocre Art" by Julia Talbot, in which a human artist learns his true worth from a vampire who falls for the art first, and then the man.

Fans of paranormal erotica will find much to sink their teeth into here. But what's really awesome is that readers who are weary of the orthodoxies of the genre will absolutely be surprised and delighted by the tweaks, tickles, and giddy inversions Mine's authors have achieved.
 

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