Jump to content

Featured Story: Presence


Renee Stevens

1,154 views

Being the start of a new week, Monday's are also a good time to take a look at some of the different stories that can be found on Gay Authors. With so many great works, it can be easy to overlook one and Monday's provide an opportunity for us to help make one of them stand out and maybe catch your interest. Today, we're bringing you a review by Timothy M. of carringtonrj's story "Presence". Enjoy!

 


by



Promising Author

 

Reviewer: Timothy M.


Status: Complete
Word Count: 48,924

 

Most stories on GA are about gay men and for good reason, since this is the preference of the majority of members. But luckily there are also stories for readers interested in other aspects of the sexual diversity of humans. One of the authors who explore the questing nature of human relationships is carringtonrj.

 

His stories are certainly not mainstream, neither in content nor in form. But they are invariably well written, poetic, romantic, heartfelt, and open-minded. And as one of his readers said: ‘your characters always have a fluidity to their sexuality.’ I might add that many of them are as shy, unassuming and modest as the author himself.

 

RJ has a small but enthusiastic fan group, but I’d like to see it expanded, and I’m sure there must be other readers who’ll appreciate his particular talent. This review concerns his most recent story, Presence, which perhaps is a greater challenge than earlier stories like Vintage or London and Love. One of the reasons is that RJ experiments with different styles of writing, and each chapter has its own distinct flavor. Some chapters contain nothing but dialogue, while others follow the rambling thoughts of the protagonists.

 

But Presence also has many of RJ’s signature traits: interesting characters with intelligence and empathy, beautiful imagery, and a grasp of the written word which is second to none. There is no rushing or hectic drama, but a calm intensity in every chapter. In fact, I have more than once left a review which comments on the soothing quality of his stories, e.g.:

 

The calmness of this chapter was a balm to soothe the hurt and hurry of everyday lives. (Presence ch 10)

 

Your habit of describing the situations with two or more phrases, reinforcing the impressions in subtle variation, is part of what creates the slow mellow progress which sets this story apart from the fast-and-furious action which pervades modern life. (Vintage ch 3)

 

Let me mention other good points of Presence, a story which according to the description tells of ‘A lesbian romance with a gay boyfriend along for the ride.’ To me the main one is Alex who is a woman of keen but kind wit, at once sensible and sensitive. For some reason I enjoy reading stories with intelligent, strong women, perhaps because they are attractive as both friends and lovers. I despise the Bridget Jones trend of 'helpless, silly women' being cute and desirable. Give me an Alex any day!

 

I’m also intrigued by the interaction of Alex with the two other characters of the story: Jamie, her boyfriend, and Lucy, who meets Alex at work. The way Alex and Lucy think about and react to each other and to the confusion and joy they feel at their mutual attraction, is so vivid, believable and universally human that I think all of us can relate, whether we are male, female, gay, straight, or anything in between. It is clear to me that no matter their faults and foibles, carringtonrj cares deeply for his characters and their struggles to find themselves, and he makes me engage myself in them too.

 

Why not give him and Presence a try? You might be as surprised and delighted as I was when I first stumbled on carringtonrj’s genderqueer stories.

 

Category: Fiction Genres: Romance Tags: Mature Adult, Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Love Rating: Mature

  • Like 9

6 Comments


Recommended Comments

  • Site Administrator

Great review, Tim.  I've enjoyed other stories that RJ has written, and this sounds like a good one too.  :)

  • Like 3
Link to comment

RJ is definitely an original author that should be recognized. His stories have so much substance and his descriptions and settings are so well written.  He's definitely an author to be checked out.  I love his writing.  It's beautiful.

  • Like 4
Link to comment

I've only read 'Vintage', and it was stunningly written. Shenton (hope I spelled that right) and Carrington are characters who have stayed with me. At some point, I will read this one as well. Excellent review, Tim.

  • Like 2
Link to comment

Thank you so much for the lovely review and comments. It's so nice to get some positive feedback. T. you have been a beautiful perfect reader to lots of people here I know (as well as being a great favourite writer too), and I count myself very lucky that you've read some of my work. Thank you so much for this review. x

Link to comment

Tim, this was another excellent review! I haven't read this story yet, but I have read a lot of stories by RJ. He is definitely a great writer who always leaves me feeling good after reading his stories. :)

 

I really like the fact that his stories deal with many different types of characters (is that called genderqueer, as his logo states?), and he always writes beautiful descriptions of all the locations in the stories.

 

This is another story I have to check out. :)

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I should have remembered to thank you all for leaving such nice comments on the review. Apart from the delight of surprising the author with a review and hopefully capturing more readers, the reactions of readers are the main rewards for making the effort to write reviews. (Oh and Renee sending me nice PMs count too, lol,)

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Our Privacy Policy can be found here: Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue..