Reviewed by Carissa

 

TITLE:  A Matter of Disagreement

AUTHOR:  E.E. Ottoman

PUBLISHER:  Less Than Three Press

LENGTH:  74 pages

BLURB:  

 

The rise of mechanical animation, and its popularity at court, is threatening to end Andrea’s scholarly pursuits of spell craft and literature—and force him to let go of his assistants, who depend on him to support their families In retaliation against the field that is ruining his life, Andrea begins to campaign against it. The efforts gain him notoriety, but do not solve his financial dilemmas.

 

When he is dragged to a party by his brother, he comes face to face with the man who pioneered mechanical animation: Leon Gregory de la Marche VI, Marquis de la Marche. And he is not at all what Andrea expected.

 

REVIEW:  

 

Andrea may come from a (somewhat) noble family, but being cut off from the family money means he is in a bit of a bind.  He has devoted his life to researching and discovering the use of spellwork in ancient times, and it is, to say the least, not a very lucrative career.  He can barely afford to live on, and pay his three research assistants, on what he has.  And with the rise of the newer, and flashier, discoveries in mechanical animation, finding funding is very much like shooting fish in the middle of a desert.  Pointless and very likely to suck you dry.

 

Coerced into attending yet another society function by his older brother, Andrea is less than pleased to find the host is one the stars of the academic vein that is practically strangling his own.  He is even less pleased to find the man, Leon Gregory de la Marche, is exceedingly handsome and not at all bad company when he is not being a stuck-up ass.  But with all their differences, both in fortune, name, and personality, there really isn’t much hope for anything between them.  Which is sad, because when they are not actively hating each other’s guts, they make a fine pair.

 

I am quite surprised by how much I liked this book. It is not all that often that I get such lovely twists in a short story, but this one sure did it.  I’ve had this story for about a month, but because of the time constraints I’ve had a hard time fitting it into my schedule.  I may have also been a bit wary about reading it since I have never read anything by E.E. Ottoman before.  I’m kinda kicking myself now, because this short story was really good.

 

I’ve always had a bit of a thing for Regency England, and when I discovered Steampunk (and its many variations) I was in heaven.  This story, with its mechanical message birds and society ball was a great fit with me.  Also loved having the wonderful trappings of 19th Century England without those pesky little sodomy laws.  It means I can have my cake and eat it without having to worry that my guys are going to end up in jail or fleeing the country.

 

And there is one hell of a twist in this book–though I will ruin it if I give you too much–but it was really unexpected and something I just love.

 

Also really enjoyed the antagonism between Gregory and Andrea.  I do like when enemies find themselves falling for each other.  And when they finally get round to pulling each other’s clothes off (instead of pulling each other’s hair) it was very hot.

 

Andrea was sure he was blushing straight up to the tips of his ears. “No need to be crude about it.”

“We are both naked, you are going to stick a glass cock up my ass and I’m going to suck you off— the time for modesty has passed.”

 

I wish there had been more of it.  And more of the story in general.  It was something not all that common, in my experience, and having something unique in always a huge plus.

 

I am glad that I have got several of Ottoman’s short stories over the last few days, because if they are as good as this story was, I’m going to have another author to stalk.  This story may be short, but it was great, and I highly recommend it.

RATING:  

 

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