Every once in a while, there's a review that really touches me to the core. This is one of them.
"I have to start by calling attention to the writing itself. It’s exceptional. When I take a break from reading and have to take a moment to get reacquainted with my surroundings, it’s just not possible to be pulled any more into a story. The use of words landing in the exact perfect place, the small intricate details woven together, and the flow of moving from one page to the next, perfectly illustrates Deckard’s talent.
The story is set in a historical period, but does not focus or dwell on a lot of historical details. The well researched details are in the scenes themselves that slowly sneak up on you to give you a full picture of where you are. It’s the description of the laces and the material of the men’s pants, their boots, the type of shirt (or lack of shirt) they are wearing, the color of the bedding, the placement of items in a room, the detail on a window, and then all of a sudden Baltsaros walks into his quarters and you can picture him and what his room looks like without having been given a list and an information overload of details. That is an art form."
Pirates, adventure, romance, gay sex, a titch of MMF, a splash of BDSM, and a dash of MMM. This book has everything. It’s refreshing to read a MMM Romance that blows convention out of the water...
Just finished writing the sequel to Caged last night. I'll wait a few days to clear my head and start the first reread. Hopefully it will be published in a few months.
"I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with these three men as they fought, loved and hurt. Their many adventures, the steamy sex, and the memorable secondary characters made this story a joy to read. I especially loved the badass Katherine, whose relationship to Jon was almost sisterly and I even liked Baltsaros’ ex-wife, Abetha, who went through changes of her own. Jon’s growth throughout the story was very convincing and well portrayed. He’s a solid character with the right mix of strength and compassion that brings all three men together..."
Ever since I was young, I have had fantasies of pirates and sailing the oceans. This book brought back some of those, and therefore made a heck of a good read.
The story is of Jon, a young stable man who, through a series of bad coincidences, and a whole lot of bad luck, ends up wanted for murder, and on the ship of Captain Baltsaros, and his first mate Tom. He is brought aboard the ship, against his will, after the Captain heard of Jon’s “special talents”. Through many rough seas in his relationship with the Captain, and separately, with Tom, Jon goes on an adventure that tests his beliefs and himself.
The Captain is an interesting character. He is strong, but is he evil or good? It’s really hard to decide. One page I was thinking evil, than he does something that makes him look good. And Tom, he is an enigma in himself. He acts tough, rough, and cold. But is he? This story is full of suspense, and also mystery, adventure and romance. The sex is rough, as you would imagine on a boat of men, and the whoring on shore is well described. And the book holds a whole bunch of surprises as the story unfolds.
"I admit it. I’m a sucker for this trope-the downtrodden who finds a home and family, one not borne of blood, and blossoms like a flower in spring. I love it. It gets me every time. Every. Single. Time. AND they’re kinky too? Kinky pirates, no less. Shut the front door! I mean… it doesn’t get much better than that...."
When you learn that there is a book that you've ached to read about actually written and quite masterfully...
...a treasure. It's not a book for everyone but hearties....this book was made for me!! *licks pirate sword*
Sometimes it's hard discussing why a book rocks. There are very few books where I want to just say: 'eff this reviewing shit, just 'effing read this 'effing book! NOW!' Doesn't happen to me a lot but when it does I just want to crow from the rooftops.
This.
This is one of those books for me.
This book has heart, actually, hearts (literally and figuratively) and it's dope. For a first time novel...I was impressed. Is this book going to be for everyone? Hell no. And that's okay. I'll love this book enough for the non readers.
1 - Caged is being edited. Professionally. Nothing of the story changes... just tightening up the text a little and fixing the niggling little typos/errors. I'm also adding a map at the beginning - might help the immediate assumption that it's historical fiction rather than historical fantasy.
2 - Spires is at 70%. I'm pretty sure that the final title will be Heart: Beyond the Spires. I like long titles. But we'll see.
3 - It's fucking gorgeous out these days. Between the beautiful weather and The Sopranos, my productivity is taking a hit; but, you know what? I'm my own boss, I make my own schedule.
4 - Sword is not officially on hold just yet. I may still want to continue while I'm working on Spires. Might be nice to jump tracks every once in a while.
5 - Murphy got a little surgery to remove some growths on his leg. He would like everyone to know just how miserable he is.
The reviews of Caged are fascinating. No one ever spends this much time analyzing or discussing my paintings.
I sometimes wonder if I should write a post addressing some of the common issues that people have or wait until someone just asks me why I chose to write it the way I did.
What do authors normally do?
I've never been one to write about any of my work. I'd rather leave that up to other people. I mean - I know my book. I wrote it for me. I feel odd even having left a tiny review of it... for the same reason that I would feel uncomfortable saying to someone: "Hey look at what I'm wearing! Isn't it well put together? Aren't my shoes nice?"
Not that I'm interested in defendingCaged. I'm really not. I have little interest in that sort of thing in general. Everyone's opinion is completely valid in my opinion. I just wonder if folks would benefit from knowing what in the book is done on purpose or if will just leave them scratching their heads even more.
...
Edit:Though, thinking about it now, I might end up frustrating people if they do ask me questions. I've never been good at answering anything straight if I can avoid it:
Occasionally I feel like I should add a disclaimer to my book blurb.
Disclaimer: If you are looking for "ahoy matey", peg-legged, eye-patched, hook-handed, swinging-from-ropes-with-a cutlass-between-their-teeth, daily-battles-and-plunder kind of pirates, you will not find much of that here.
When people think of pirates, they think of what Hollywood has made them out to be. It makes writing about them hard because people expect excitement and shiver-me-timbers 24/7. It wasn't like that for most pirates.
First off, being a pirate was a way of life, not an occupation. It was about being free and equal, living aboard, taking care, and loving a ship that was home. It was about honour and democracy. It was also about screwing the system... yes. But it largely wasn't done in epic gun-battles, plunder, and pillage. Pirating usually entailed transporting contraband/stolen goods for crooked merchants and steering clear of the navy. Mostly it meant long bouts of little activity punctuated by high-risk jobs that paid fat wallets.
When they came across merchant vessels, yes they boarded and raided... but it was done with surprisingly little bloodshed. Pirates lived mostly on reputation; they adopted scary names and wore strange clothing to make themselves seem crazy and vicious. The end-result was that folks surrendered to them quickly. Look at Blackbeard and his habit of lighting little wicks in his beard and hair before a battle - he looked like a living demon. Why waste cannon balls if you can simply scare your victims into quickly emptying their holds?
Some pirates were more successful than others - Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts, for instance, reportedly sacked hundreds of ships over a three year period. Your average pirate ship? Maybe ten a year.
Life at sea could be dangerous - cannons bursting loose from moorings, bad storms, dumb luck from falling from the shrouds. There were a lot of injuries, and amputations were fairly common. However, not as common as movies make them out to be. Folks often simply died from their injuries... even minor ones. They didn't live in the most sanitary of conditions.
The fact of the matter is that "pirating" was often just a small part of being on board a pirate ship. There was a lot of down time for the men and women who became pirates, lots of time to build camaraderie and culture. It's that quiet time—life surrounded by sun and sea and your fellow pirates, pledged to loyalty and respect—that I set out to capture in Caged.
