eBooks by Mathis b Rogers
Reviews & Award
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Lady Cyrrheal Annex Reviews "Blizzard"
Lady Cyrrh
Lady Cyrrh gave Blizzard
The 1997 Cyrrheal Awards -Best Gothic Mystery
Blizzard [A]
When posted: 8/22/97
Where posted: ASSG
Author: Mathis B. Rogers
This was a long one (pun intended)–more of a novelette than a short story–but it was very good, a sort of first-person gay gothic romance- mystery about a writer with amnesia. The story begins as the narrator is pulled from his crashed car by a handsome man. He doesn’t remember a thing and doesn’t know who he is, so the other guy takes him to his nearby cabin in the woods for shelter, as a blizzard is blowing up, and they soon become isolated from the world. The rest of the story is taken up with the writer’s efforts to rediscover his identity and understand the attraction he feels towards his rescuer and his repulsion towards another man who claims to be his lover.
There wasn’t much sex save for one scene is the middle (in which the police barge in on the gay couple as they ejaculate), but this was more of a mainstream story than porn anyway. The writer was quite skilled in setting up the situation–Is the rescuer all he seems to be? Can anyone he knows be trusted?–and I was eager to resolve the mystery. The denouement was a little bit of a letdown–by the time the final revelations came, I was expecting something really scandalous–but overall the story was entertaining, and excellently written as well.
Lady Cyrrheal Annex reviews "Shipwrecked".
Lady Cyrrh
Shipwrecked [A+]
Author: Mathis B. Rogers
… this story dealt with romance and the familial repercussions of being gay in contemporary society…more of a domestic fantasy than a sexual one, though there was a lot of sex (they say “I love you” over 50 times.) Kris, the young narrator, has been living with Brad, his lover, for two years, but Brad’s parents haven’t realized their son is gay and that Kris is not “just” a roomate. When Brad’s family invites the two to spend the weekend on their boat, they reluctantly, agree, knowing how hard it will be to keep it a secret. Complicating matters is Chad, Brad’s identical twin brother, who has also been asked along, and complicating things further is the freak storm that strikes, washing the boat ashore on a desert isle. (Stop singing the “Gilligan’s Island” theme.) The rest of the story deals with the aftermath, the “coming out” of the young couple, and how Brad’s parents and twin brother react to this.
It’s hard not to like this story even if you don’t like gay fiction, because the characters were simply so *nice.* I felt I knew them as neighbors. There was even a touch of sly familial sexual humor running throughout:
Mr. Peterson turned in his seat and looked Brad up and down as we climbed into the car. “No wonder those shorts had a hole in them, son,” he said. “They’re so tight that they’ll split if you get a boner. Couldn’t you find any decent clothes to wear?”
“Thanks, Mom,” Brad chided, before turning to his father.
“You shouldn’t talk like that in front of Mom, Dad.”
Mr. Peterson turned around and adjusted his seat belt. “Why not?” he asked. “She knows what a boner is. Hell, if she didn’t enjoy playing with mine, you wouldn’t be here.”
(No, there’s no incest!)
All in all, a feelgood story with roots in real life.
