My obsession

I have a confession to make... I'm a wannabe fag hag. I haven't got any gay friends (far as I know) but wouldn't mind it. To be honest, a more correct way of describing me would rather be the Japanese term fujoshi (which basically means a woman who likes to read about gay relationships and the like).

Now some people in my circle of friends already knew this from way back, some even share my interest with a vengeance.

However, I just had to say it now since I'm about to throw myself into a glowing array of praise for an author who's just managed to ramp up my obsession another fifteen notches or so.

I'm talking about an author by the name of Jet Mykles. She writes erotic novels and short stories, with both m/f and m/m pairings. I've read as many of her works as I've been able to get, from both pairing categories.

My obsession with her works began slowly with some short stories in some Boys' Love (BL) anthologies. And then came the Heaven Sent series...

It's about the members of a rock band called Heaven Sent. Each book in the series is about one of the members and their relationships.

The first book, Heaven, gives us the story of Johnnie, the sultry vocalist of the band. He seems to be a true go-getter. He sees something he wants, he makes damn sure to get it... and make sure whatever he's got will be more than happy to be his. There is a short story, Pretty Red Ribbon, attached to it as well.

However, it was the second book, Purgatory, that really caught me. I do admit I was a bit partial of course since I have a certain weakness for rock bassists and guitarists. Don't ask me why because I simply can't explain, it's an instinct I think. Anyway, Purgatory deals with the band's bassist, Lucas, and his trials and tribulations when trying to right a stupid youthful mistake. He seems to have an excessive amount of self-confidence and isn't afraid to display it. And while his intended target might not be too happy about it along the road, self-confidence is often the way to success. So dear, sexy Lucas does it his way. As with Heaven (and the following books in the series) there is a short after the story-story, Sexy Spring Surprise, attached to this one as well.

The third book, Hell, deals with the guitarist, Brent, and his conflicting emotions when a new member, the keyboardist Hell, joins the band. The image I got of Brent from the first two books are here deliciously shattered to reveal some a very intriguing and unexpected side of his personality. The after the story story is called Feisty Little Firecracker, which seems to be a perfect title to describe not only the relationship created in the main story but also the characters.

The story of the last member of the band, the surrounded by gay relationships-drummer Darien, is the subject for the fourth book (not counting the various after the story-stories), Faith. Darien is open and likeable. While he himself sticks to women, in fact even marries one, he fully supports his bandmates' choices of partners, regardless of genders. When his marriage doesn't work out exactly the way he'd thought it would, however, Darien himself suddenly has cause to wonder exactly what it is that his bandmates have found and he hasn't. Enter the romantic interest and a very amusing and refreshingly open-minded Darien decides to take the other for a wild spin. The after-story is called Sly Spectral Trick and is delightfully amusing.

There have been two other stories in this series published after the ones mentioned above.

One is called Genesis. Brent, who more or less lives for his music and never is happier than when he can stand on stage with his guitar, gets into an accident just before a big gig and a replacement has to be brought in. While the replacement is good, maybe he is too good? Brent has to watch someone else stand in his spot on the stage. At the same time Lucas is being more or less stalked by his female co-actress from a movie he'd been cast in, which doesn't much please his sassy partner. Hell has got his hands full with trying to make sure his partner doesn't break down. And Darien, still quite new to his relationship with his partner, is worrying about the re-appearance of his partner's former lover. And on top of all this they all have the gig to worry about. In the midst of all this Johnnie and his partner, now his spouse, seem wonderfully stable and loving most of the time and Johnnie seems to take most things in stride.

The last story, Revelations, is on my to-read-list so I haven't got much to say about it as of yet. But if it's in any way alike the previous ones I'll probably read it from page one to end way too late into the night.

So, yeah, Jet Mykles certainly has got something. She creates characters and stories that catches the reader's interest... and keeps it way after the story itself has been read and finished. The fact that this lovely author has also made BL fanfics about the characters of the Japanese manga/anime Weiss Kreuz, where the original story itself was full of BL vibes, of course only served to make me love this author even more.

I recommend reading her works. Aside from those mentioned above there are many other nice stories (Tech support is one of my personal favourites for example) with m/m pairings.

If you prefer to read stories with m/f pairings, or just want a soft introduction to some m/m action, I recommend the Dark Elves- or the Leashed-series. I could write a lot about those as well but I need to get back to fuelling up my own obsession. The freebies at Jet Mykles's own homepage, www.jetmykles.com, is, after all, calling to me.