Book Title: Genie in a Vodka Bottle
Author: Rob Rosen
Publisher: JMS Books
Release Date: November 6, 2021
Genre: Speculative M/M Romance, Mystery, Adventure
Tropes: Genie, Enemy to Friend, Magic
Themes: Searching for love, forgiveness
Length: 139 pages/56 000 words
It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.
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A funny, frisky, and frequently heart-pounding genie romance and adventure novel!
Blurb
Mysterious forces are at play when Paul’s vacation to Spain unexpectedly detours to Gibraltar and then Morocco, to a vodka bottle in a hole in the wall bar, to a handsome genie with a slew of secrets, plus almost limitless powers, virtually no memory, and a keen desire to be freed from his curse. Along the way, Paul is reunited with his ex-lover and the genie’s previous master as fate draws them ever deeper into a murky, dangerous past.
On our heroes travel, from the frigid north of Russia to a magic carpet ride across China, ultimately finding themselves in the deserts of ancient Jordan. Here, they encounter another of the genie’s previous masters and a power far greater than they could’ve ever imagined, all within a massive temple carved into a mountainside. Can our intrepid foursome uncover the truth before the curse takes them all and possibly the entire world down? Will love win out in the end? Or is the genie forever doomed to a life foretold in fairy tales?
In this funny, frisky, and frequently heart-pounding adventure, only one thing is for certain: magic can happen even without three wishes.
I lifted the bottle. “This is what I freed you from?”
He nodded, an aromatic breeze rising in his thick neck’s wake. “From the bottle.”
I thought about my trip there, about packing for the trip, about Christina singing, Bowie singing, Barbara Eden blinking. Genie, genie, genie. But no, it couldn’t be. But duh, it clearly fucking was. “Genie,” said I.
He bowed. Or at least his top half bowed. “Master,” he boomed, the walls shaking on all sides. Or maybe that was just me shaking. Yep, probably, definitely me.
“Fuck,” I said.
He grinned. “It seems to be a word you are fond of.”
I nodded. “It seems to be a word that is currently suitable.”
He snapped his fingers. He was a man now, a man in billowing purple and gold slacks, still shirtless, my size, give or take. Well, my size plus a whole bunch of muscles, so, yeah, more give than take, but still. “Is this better, Master?”
I hadn’t stopped nodding and so I continued to nod. “It’s not worse.” I pointed to his chest. “You’re a genie.” And now he nodded. “And I’m your master.” His nod also remained nodding. “Let me guess; your name is Omar.”
His nodding abruptly came to a halt. He squinted down at me. He started to reply, then didn’t. I could see a flash of something behind his eyes, but he was pretty much all flash, so it was hard to tell what it was I’d seen. Curiosity, arousal, fear? I wondered what he could possibly be afraid of. In any case, he replied, “You know what a genie is, what I am capable of?”
I stood. My knees buckled, but I stood, nonetheless. “Everyone knows what a genie is. They make movies about your kind, write books, songs.” I sighed, remembering MTV, VH1, the elevator. “Especially songs.” I pointed around the still still room. “They can’t see us, hear us?”
His nodding turned to a shake. “We are not officially here, Master.”
The word sent a shiver down my back. Master. I knew what he was; I didn’t yet know what I was, what the word meant in conjunction with myself. I’d seen the movies, read the books. The shiver returned, travelling up this time. “Where are we then?”
The pause retuned, as did that something behind his eyes. Did he not understand the question? Did he not want to answer it? Did he know the answer? “The master is inquisitive.”
“Um,” I ummed, “I just uncorked a genie from a bottle, so yeah, inquisitive. I mean, genies don’t exist.”
He grinned. “You said everyone knows about me, so clearly, I do exist.” He snapped his fingers again. Food appeared on the table. Platters of it. Chicken and fish and assorted vegetables, all steaming, all smelling decidedly like he did, namely rich, earthy. “Taste.”
I hesitated only for a moment. The food smelled amazing. I was hungry. So taste I did, then moaned rapturously. “Kudos to the chef,” I said in between eager chomps.
His grin grew to a wide smile. He was movie-star handsome, a darker version of a younger version of Marlon Brando. I again moaned in rapturous delight. I suddenly had the urge to taste him, too.
“Is the food not real, Master?” He chuckled as I nodded. “See, I do indeed exist.” Again, he snapped his fingers, the food now gone, even the grease on my fingertips nothing more than a memory. “What do these movies and books and songs you mentioned say about me?”
I stared down at the empty table, at my clean hands, at the mannequin-like people still motionless around me. What did the tales say? I had never seen the Disney movie, and the movies and books from my childhood had largely been forgotten. Still, I supposed I knew enough. “I freed you, so I should have some whishes coming my way.”
He shrugged, grinned, winked in rapid succession. “What else?”
“I’m guessing you were cursed, somehow trapped in the bottle, and that once you grant me my wishes, you’ll be trapped yet again.”
His shrug slacked; the grin turned to a frown. “Why would I have been cursed?”
Well now, that was a weird question. In fact, I had thought his questions were rhetorical, but now, not so much. “You tell me, Genie.”
He snapped his fingers. The bar became animate. My genie was suddenly dressed like a tourist in jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers. “Come,” he said. “Time to explore the world. I have been trapped far too long.”
Rob Rosen is the author of the award-winning novels Sparkle: The Queerest Book You’ll Ever Love, Divas Las Vegas, Hot Lava, Southern Fried, Queerwolf, Vamp, Queens of the Apocalypse, Creature Comfort, Fate, Midlife Crisis, Fierce, And God Belched, Mary, Queen of Scotch, Ted of the d’Urbervilles, Sort of Dead, and Genie in a Vodka Bottle, and editor of the anthologies Lust in Time, Men of the Manor, Best Gay Erotica 2015, and Best Gay Erotica of the Year, Volumes 1, 2, 3 and 4.
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