Guest Post with Giveaway: Your Happy End by E.E Ottoman (Geeks)

~I am very excited to have E.E Ottoman on the blog today talking about the most awesome, geeks. So please help me welcome E.E~

Hello and thank you for having me on Pants Off Reviews! I am excited to be talking about my new short novella Your Happy End. Today I want to talk about one of my favorite things: geeks!

I am a geek.

Not in a tech and math kind of a way but in a passionate to the point of obsession kind of a way.

For as long as I can remember I have been obsessed with history. Ancient Egypt and mummification, Richard III and the War of the Roses, early Christian history, Japanese history, Chinese history, 19th century American women's history, the history of sexuality and sexual taboos, the history of mental illness and criminality, Asian American history, the history of American Chinatowns. I just love history, I love researching it and writing about it.

I am also a huge Star Trek fan, and have been reading X-Men comics since I was twelve. I have been a Holmesian since I was six, and a Doctor Who fan almost as long, fantasy is my favorite genre to read and write, and I built a to-scale model of Helium from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars books when I was thirteen. Being a geek is one of the things that I do best.

Most of all I love other geeky people. By 'geeky people' I mean people who are truly passionate about something to the point where they are not afraid to come off seeming a little weird. They don't have to be geeky about the same things I do at all. I love being around people who don't think it is strange that I like to spend all my time in a library or that I've just finished knitting a replica season 12 Doctor Who scarf, but they don't need to have or want Doctor Who scarves of their own.

Some of my best dates and relationships have been with other geeks. Nothing quite beats listening to someone talk about something that makes them light up and maybe wave their hands around a little bit. Better yet is the chance to geek out with your date over Baring-Gould's annotated Sherlock Holmes. Learning to love, or at least respect, something that someone I care about truly, deeply loves is, for me, one of the best parts of any new relationship.

Fortunately for me m/m romance is chock full of geeks and geeky characters. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a whole lot of geek/geek couples. By geek/geek I mean two characters whose passions and love of something push them outside of what is considered normal or acceptable. So when I sat down to write a superhero story I knew it would be about geeks.

Both of my main characters Cooper and Jun are, in a lot of ways, what we traditionally think of as geeks.

Jun loves to build robots and machines of all sorts. His job on the superhero team that he's a apart of is to come up with all their gadgetry. He also co-owns a comic bookstore as a cover for his superhero work. Jun is a huge comic book fan and is into both mainstream and indie comics. He is also a hardcore Trekkie who still stands by the Original Series as the best in the franchise.

Cooper is a hacker. His specialty is information collecting and surveillance. If the information is electronic than Cooper can find it, or make it disappear, whatever is needed. Also if you're in the line of sight of satellite or surveillance camera than Cooper can see you. He works for a masked vigilante getting information he needs and covering his tracks. Cooper prefers graphic novels over traditional industry comic books and is a lover of webcomics as well. He is also a dire hard Doctor Who fan and loves both Classic and New Who, although in his heart of hearts Ten is his Doctor.

Most importantly though both would self-identify as a geek and see no conflict with their gay and genderqueer identities.

Jun and Cooper meet each other and bond in Jun's comic book store. The really connecting happens though when they both discovered that they work as the technological support for two superhero teams.

Lots of cuteness ensues.

And I don't know about you but I think there are a lot worse things to base a relationship on than a mutual love of comic books and custom built cars.

Give-Away: if you are interested in participating in a give-away to win a copy of Your Happy End, visit my blog http://thisjourneywithoutamap.blogspot.com/2013/08/give-away-you-happy-end.html

Review: Bestiary Volume #1 (Take 2)

Reviewed by Fehu
The Kraken Lord and the Eater of the Sun (Bestiary #1) by E.E Ottoman
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
Egrill spends his day cloistered in his mountain home, unable to leave behind memories of the brutal war he fought and the lover he lost in the fight. But his peaceful solitude is interrupted by a strange creature that claims to be a mythical Kraken, and Egrill can't deny that he is certainly like nothing Egrill has ever encountered …






Short Review:
It took me some time to get into this story and when the pace did pick up, and other characters where introduced, I did end up liking it. HOWEVER, the story is not that long and if it takes one 1/3 of the book to get into it, that's a bit long, for this length. I did get the feeling of loneliness and isolation which Egrill was feeling and it left me feeling sorry for him, because about one third of the story were spend on the description of the mountain and the caves, where Egrill lived and then met the kraken. A lot of time is dedicated to describing everyday chores, like dressing, cooking and so on, which is not all that exiting to read about. I would have liked to know more about the war that was mentioned, about the different races that live in this world, about the gods and more about Egrill's dead lover.

There are bits and pieces that are told about Egrill's past, it's just not much in comparison to things like those former mentioned everyday chores, which took so many pages. I liked Egrill and enjoyed reading about him, especially after he met with the Kraken and finally there was some action and not only descriptions. My bad news for tentacle lovers is that the tentacles didn't really play a big role here, even with Egrill's new lover being a Kraken.

3.5 Pants Off

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The Staff of Kyade by James L. Craig
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
2.5 Pants Off

Blurb:
When royal soldiers attack his village in search of a magical relic, Kenji watches in horror as all that he loves is destroyed. Determined that they will not get what they want, he takes the staff they seek and flees, vowing to avenge all those he lost as soon as he can.



Short Review:
So, did anyone watch Sailor Moon when they were child or teenager? One of the characters is Mamaru and we meet a white horse who strongly reminded me of Pegasus. The story was written like a fairytale and I think the point of view that was chosen, wasn't the best for this story, mostly it felt told and not shown and this is my main issue with this. I didn't connect to the characters at all, they felt
distant and not fully developed.

2.5 Pants Off

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Fireborn by Talya Andor
Less Than 3 Press
Short Story
3 Pants Off

Blurb:
Thaniel has been chosen for the sacrifice that will renew the lands and bring sorely needed rain, and it is a duty he has always accepted. On his last day he ventures out to enjoy those things he loves and finds final resolve in all that he enjoys. But that resolve is tested in the moment when he must say goodbye to his dearest friend …







Short Review:
The story is good, but lacks details, same with the world building. The reason behind the sacrifices are not sufficiently clear to me, for one. Also how does the phoenix appear in this kingdom? What about other places, does every nation have to do this sacrifice ritual? Thaniel and Blaise are both not really fleshed out as characters, but I liked Thaniel non the less, he had potential but at the end he goes with Blaise and I felt like I only witnessed the end of a story and was missing the biggest chunk of it.

On the plus side, I wanted to read that part, I wanted to see how both young men fell in love or at least come to care so deeply for each other. It's also well written and the characters have potential. I think I'm going to try something longer by this author, to see if they make good on some of the promising aspects in this story.

3 Pants Off

Review: Heart of Water and Stone by E.E Ottoman

Reviewed by Fehu
Heart of Water and Stone by E.E Ottoman
Less Than Three Press
Short Story: 52pgs
3.75 Pants Off (Almost 4's)

Blurb:
Girin is a troll, content with his simple, quiet life in the forest—a life thrown into chaos when he stumbles across an unconscious human on one of the mountain paths. The human is not an ordinary one either, but a witch—tortured, branded, and mere steps from death when Girin finds him. 

 Unable to leave him there to die alone, Girin takes the human home to nurse him back to health. But he quickly learns that keeping one stubborn human alive is a far more difficult task than he first surmised …



Short Review:
I liked this one! It’s rather sweet and reminded me a bit of some earlier stories published by LT3 Press, especially in their fairytales anthologies; if you liked those then you will probably enjoy this story.

A troll and a mage do make an interesting couple. Girin is very caring and the reader is only shown the events from his POV, but I still could see how Ronan could fall for him. While Girin might not be beautiful, he is probably the only one besides Ronan's family, who was good to him, without expecting something in return. While Ronan was prickly in the beginning, he warms up to his caretaker.

It’s a story about two lonely souls finding to each other. Ronan is a witch, he is feared by the humans and would have been killed by them if Girin hadn't come along and helped. Girin is a troll but of mixed blood and so doesn’t truly belong anywhere and lives quietly in his hut, until he finds Ronan and starts to develop feelings for him, which he assumes are one-sided.

Ronan’s trouble does catch up to them, they face it together and this is the part I found a bit dissatisfying. They were held captive, escaped with Ronan’s sister and then it was over and good for them. What of the villagers, the soldiers and the lord Ronan had belonged to. They knew where Girin lived, so the happily ever after could be disturbed at any minute.

Here it felt like they just left and the trouble is over, which from the context it shouldn’t be; there was no compromise with the villagers. That is why I cannot give it full 4 stars and of course because it’ a bit rushed to the happy end and I was not satisfied.