Reviews

Mate

BDSM isn’t my usual; I don’t claim to understand what makes either side tick. But I have to stand in awe of Lauren Burka’s Mate.

Why did I read it? I got lucky, won a contest. She said the prize was an ebook, a collection of short stories. Lauren, you didn’t say the half of what I’d won.

World building-how the hell did she draw such a vivid picture of a future world, one we’d recognize but was clearly beyond us, in such a few deft strokes? Complete with a history, a future, and impending disasters, personal and public? A sentence here, a fragment there, and this somehow future popped off the page. Finding the bones in the story is how I read since I started to write, yet I didn’t want to look at the skeleton, I wanted to look at the beautiful corpus, the whole.

The protagonist-how did she show us his heart, his despair, his hope, using sex that normally leaves me cold? Not just sex, but computers, something lifeless that still has personality, sometimes malevolence?

I won’t spoil it for you. I’ll just tell you to go buy it. Now. Here.

PD Singer

The Memorial Garden

In MEMORIAL GARDEN, Lauren Burka, has created a world of decadence ruled by an empress who values her own pleasure far above the lives of her consorts. Full of erotic and ironic twists and turns, this story creates a tapestry of sensual surprises and forbidden pleasures.
Rebecca York

Mate

“Here’s proof that science fiction and sex go together when the storytelling’s hot.”–Ellen Kushner, author of Swordspoint and The Fall of the Kings

“Competently written, and more to the point, hot.”–Feminist Bookstore News

“Something new is happening folks: … as het-bi-homo-pansexual in its orientation as leathersex can be. And it’s happening at the unexpected by perfectly obvious junction of sadomasochism and science fiction. [These] stories are cheap to buy, easy to read, and set down by writers who know their SM as well as their SF.”–The Spectator, San Francisco

The Memorial Garden

Mychael Black, author of A Family Most Unconventional in Other Magical Creatures, writes: Sofian, heir to the throne of Mazinara, finds himself whisked from the comfortable life of a noble and swept into a life of servitude to the Empress. No one can give him answers, and when he asks, he is swiftly punished. He spends two years aboard a sky ship, during which he learns more about the world he’s soon to be a part of, but nothing can prepare him for life in Firdoos, home of the Celestial Court.

Set to be the Empress’ consort, he discovers a former consort, Numair, who shows him the sights of the city. Being a former consort, Numair takes his pleasure now from Sofian. As they spend time together, they discover things about one another. When the Empress summons Sofian for the last time, however, it changes his life – and Numair’s – forever.

The Memorial Garden is a unique and engrossing tale that is a wonderful blend of fantasy and science fiction. Lauren P. Burka draws you into this world with detailed and rich descriptions, and a love affair that delves into pain and pleasure. It’s hard to say much without giving away the story, so all I can say is this: if you’re looking for something distinctly different and beautifully written, and incredibly absorbing, then read The Memorial Garden.

Note to all:

I started this page before I realized what WordPress could really do. Here is a list of more recent reviews auto-generated from tags. What will they think up next?

Reviews

• Book Review: Wishbone by Lauren P. Burka
• Review of "The Memorial Garden"
• "Up for Grabs" reviewed
• Review of Wishbone
• Review of Wishbone
• Review of Wired Hard 4
• Review for Wired Hard 4
• This is good news, right?
• New Review of "Up for Grabs"
• A Review of Wishbone
• Up for Grabs gets a nod
• Review of Wired Hard 4
• The further adventures of "The Ontological Engine"
• ERWA Reviews "Up for Grabs."
• More Good News: Up for Grabs reviewed by Rainbow Reviews!
• Praise for "Mate."
• I'll never look at Cheetos the same way again
• Praise for "The Memorial Garden"