Title: Demonic Harmony
Author: Rob Knight
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: Paranormal M/M
Length: Short Story (6,300)
Rating: 2.5 stars out of 5
A guest review by Kassa
Summary Review: A weird and somewhat disappointing short story.
THE BLURB:
Shy is happy to feed off the crowds who come to his band’s concerts. Their energy literally feeds his soul. Then he meets new guitarist Seth, whose very touch gives Shy more harmony than a screaming horde of fans. Seth has even more secrets that Shy, however, and might be more dangerous than anything Shy has ever faced.
THE REVIEW:
Demonic Harmony is a short story that is considered paranormal I guess. I’m not entirely sure I understood the story or the angle the author was aiming for, though it’s enjoyable enough to read for a quick tale. The story centers on musician Shy who is some kind of paranormal creature. I’m not sure what kind, since the story doesn’t specify other than to say he feeds off energy. Lucky for him he meets a demonic guitarist, Seth, with energy to spare. The two get down and dirty quickly and often in this erotic short.
The story is only a few pages long and reads very quickly. The characters are introduced pretty thinly without a lot of embellishment or depth. Shy needs energy and Seth has a lot of it. There are some vague paranormal references but nothing really concrete or well defined. Neither character is well crafted; they’re more ideas than anything. Since it’s such a short story this may work for some readers who are looking more for erotica than erotic romance. Just be warned, the main protagonists are pretty thinly developed.
Once the two meet they have sex throughout the story. That’s the essence of the sip but threaded throughout are numerous musical references. Seth supposedly is tattooed all over with lyrics or musical symbols that represent various songs. This is somewhat interesting but again, the descriptive quality is very low and vague so it’s hard to get a good idea of what the tattoos are and how they appear. Also Seth apparently hears or feels music in time with sexual energy so there are some oddly placed music euphemisms during the sex scenes.
I really wanted to like and understand this sip since it’s fun, pretty sexy, and have two well-suited men. Unfortunately it feels half finished and more confusing and vague than well crafted and executed. The ideas included are interesting but they never emerge in a cohesive narrative. Instead the story feels told in fits and starts that don’t exactly make sense. It’s not a bad story if you’re looking for a quick read that focuses on sex and the paranormal elements make it different from your average singer and guitarist get it on in the tour bus quickie.
Just be sure you want something easy to read that focuses on the sex and you’re the type of reader that can ignore or overlook somewhat vague details and poor descriptive quality. It’s not the best written story due to these elements but again, it’s not horrible if it’s what you’re looking for.
Uh oh. No reviewer mind-meld. LOL My review is next week. I kind of liked it but to be honest I’m starting to find that the weirder something is lately the more I like it. Hmmm. Not sure what that says about me. I wasn’t thrilled with the sister part, but if someone is looking for kind of odd and sexy it’s okay.
That’s kind of funny Tam. I’m really glad you liked it but I definitely found myself scratching my head over this one. I liked it.. but kept wondering “wtf” while reading. I’m looking forward to your review.