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Val Kovalin

Hello, everybody. I'm afraid the time has come for me to stop accepting review copies from authors. Readers, rest easy. I'm NOT going to stop writing reviews. From here on, I'll be acquiring my m/m fiction myself (that is, buying it), and I'll keep posting reviews on a regular basis.  However, in order to keep my schedule in balance, I've decided to stop accepting review copies from individual authors.

 

I am very grateful for the fabulous fiction I've received from everybody during the past two years – it has paved the way for my website and blog, and has given me a wonderful introduction to what the m/m fiction genre is all about. I've read some truly outstanding fiction. 

 

The upside is that I'll still be reviewing (though not on request), and – while my own schedule might not line up with everybody's release dates – my purchases will definitely be adding to everybody's revenue, ha, ha! (I've got a couple more reviews that I promised people that I would do, and those are still forthcoming.) Thanks, everyone, for your understanding!

Oh, also, I'll be dropping off the blogosphere for about a week while I wrap up some other projects.  So I won't be checking my LiveJournal until then.  See you all in about a week!


 
 
Val Kovalin
Here's my review of Playing the Field - Play On, a contemporary m/m by J. M. Snyder.  Also, there is an outstanding essay on cover art at Cerebral Reviews.  Readers will love this, and writers really need this!  Don't miss Fanny Hill's essay on Cover Art.
 
 
Val Kovalin
08 July 2009 @ 12:42 pm
Bounty of the Heart, an m/m historical set in 1890s Alaska; and Mastering Stefan, a contemporary BDSM short story. 
 
 
Val Kovalin
30 June 2009 @ 06:16 am
Writers, what is a tagline and why do you need one?
 
 
 
Val Kovalin
22 June 2009 @ 08:42 am
M/M writers, why is the theme of Opposites Attract so much fun to explore in fiction?
 
 
Val Kovalin
Okay, admit it. Many of you are word-nerds like me and enjoy figuring out the connotations of words. I've just finished another article: Physical Description - the Medium / Athletic Male Body Type. While writing it, I grappled with such questions as

  1. Can a term such as "built like a brick shithouse" be even remotely considered a compliment?
  2. What is the ideal physique for a special-ops soldier?
  3. Why does the word "svelte" have such a weird connotation? Or does it? Maybe it's just me?
 
 
Val Kovalin
17 June 2009 @ 01:22 pm

Advise for newcomers in the m/m field based on some strange behavior I've been hearing about.

 
 
Val Kovalin
The Wounded Cynic.  Would you believe I've barely run this character at all in my reviewing of m/m fiction?
 
 
Val Kovalin
14 June 2009 @ 09:48 pm
over at Erotic Horizon Blog!
 
 
Val Kovalin
M/M fans, here's my review for the Tides Universe epic fantasy stories by Lee Benoit  ([info]leebenoit ):  http://tinyurl.com/nx3l6t

 
 
Val Kovalin
My review for two graceful and lyrical f/f stories by Sacchi Green on Silver Romance theme,
 
 
Val Kovalin
10 June 2009 @ 07:51 am

M/M writers, those with blogs and websites (all of us, right?) might wonder, what is content theft and how do I fight it?

 
 
Val Kovalin
09 June 2009 @ 10:21 pm
Don't miss the new m/m paranormal by Jordan Castillo Price, Sweet Oblivion 3 Fluid.  My review

 
 
 
Val Kovalin
08 June 2009 @ 07:57 am
M/M Writers, how many of us enjoy writing about the Rebel archetype?
 
 
Val Kovalin
03 June 2009 @ 07:29 am
M/M writers, is social networking a huge useless time-suck? Any reason to do it other than just for fun?

 
 
Val Kovalin
02 June 2009 @ 01:25 pm
M/M writers, struggling with social networking? Here's what attracts readers to blogs & what to do on Twitter
 
 
Val Kovalin
MM writers, our characters have to have jobs. Guess which are the 3 most overused professions in m/m fiction? 
 
 
Val Kovalin
28 May 2009 @ 11:18 am
My review for very entertaining m/m mystery The Art of Dying by Josh Lanyon and Jordan Castillo Price

 
 
Val Kovalin
27 May 2009 @ 07:09 am
M/M Writers, wonder how to get the best out of an experience with a beta-reader?
 
 
Val Kovalin
26 May 2009 @ 08:54 am
My review of terrific m/m novel The Protector by NL Gassert up for Lambda Award this Thursday.
 
 
Val Kovalin
26 May 2009 @ 07:02 am
M/M writers, ever wonder about the risks and rewards of getting asked to beta-read for someone?

 
 
Val Kovalin
25 May 2009 @ 05:17 pm
Here's my review of excellent m/m novella Calendar Boys - July:  Vintage by Jamie Craig.  Plenty here to like - menage, silver romance, France

 
 
Val Kovalin
M/M writers, how many of you love writing about the Protector archetype?

 
 
Val Kovalin
23 May 2009 @ 11:41 pm
Reviewed excellent m/m story collection on law-enforcement themes Ready to Serve by James Buchanan
 
 
 
Val Kovalin
Go in Spring. It can get very hot and humid in the summer!

Take a book for the plane trip -- or better yet, an ebook reader! I was unlucky enough to have to sit in a middle seat for three hours on the flight out. The guy on my left was reading a Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Killer Angels. The lady on my right was reading a Booker Prize winner that I wasn't familiar with. And there I sat between them with my m/m erotica, ha, ha!

I sometimes wonder if people pick out imposing-looking books to be seen in public with. Seriously, though, I had what turned out to be some very good stuff to read: Calendar Boys - July: Vintage by Jamie Craig, Ready to Serve by James Buchanan, and the Partners in Crime by Josh Lanyon and Jordan Castillo Price (I've finished all but Jordan's novella, which I've just started). Reviews soon!


Dulles Airport has got to be the most non-descript airport on the face of the planet.


Go to Washington when you're middle-aged and can appreciate it. It was almost like a religious experience for me standing at the Washington monument and especially inside the Lincoln Memorial. When I was a kid, I would have been wondering when we'd have lunch or something.


Plan on more than a day to see the Smithsonian, which is just absolutely huge. Somehow I found it sad that my husband and I had the entire room dedicated to plate tectonics to ourselves because everyone else was crammed into the next room gawking at the Harry Winston jewelry collection (though we did look in to see the Hope Diamond).


Be careful. Drivers in Washington DC are aggressive though, according to my husband, they've got nothing on the drivers of Boston!


Don't expect Fairfax VA, Herndon VA, or Washington DC itself to have much connection culturally with the American South. I could be wrong here because I didn't have that much time to explore, and it's been many years since I've been in the South. But I didn't hear one Southern accent -- and I think the Southern accent is the sexiest thing on earth, especially coming from men. But in DC I mostly heard people speaking Spanish, German, and Japanese!


It's definitely worth going.  I'd do it all over again next month and see all new things if only I could!
 
 
Val Kovalin
20 May 2009 @ 09:35 am
I'm preaching to the choir here, I know.  But, writers, you got to have a website. Think of it as your resume when you design it.
 
 
 
Val Kovalin
When writing reviews, how detailed should reviewers get to be most helpful to readers & writers of m/m fiction?
 
 
Val Kovalin
14 May 2009 @ 05:01 am
Review of an outstanding f/f short story Alternate Lives by Sacchi Green here.  It fits in the Silver Romance theme.
 
 
Val Kovalin
13 May 2009 @ 04:35 am
Writers, what do you stand to gain from daily practice? Find out that and my most frustrating situation in writing
 
 
Val Kovalin
12 May 2009 @ 10:45 am
Writers and e-publishers, ever wonder why we readers love the novella-length fiction? http://tinyurl.com/qb4rtf
 
 
Val Kovalin
12 May 2009 @ 10:44 am
Review of Without Sin, young adult mm novel by J.M. Snyder writing as J. Tomas http://tinyurl.com/o32lq4
 
 
Val Kovalin
12 May 2009 @ 10:43 am
Review of Many Roads Home fantasy mm novel by Ann Somerville http://tinyurl.com/oy9cv3
 
 
 
Val Kovalin
I'm starting to receive some terrific fiction for the list I'm trying to compile for "Silver Romance" stories of gay and lesbian couples who are 40 years old or older.  Sorry about applying the term "silver" to people as young as 40; the term is intended for an older age group than that, but I lowered it to 40 so as to include more fiction. 

Thanks again, everybody, for sending me fiction to review and please feel free to continue.  There is no deadline on this -- just me hoping to encourage more attention and sales in this sub-genre. 

Here is my review for two elegantly written and life-affirming stories involving a gay Canadian couple, Mike and Owen, in their fifties:
Yesterday Today & Always by Anah Crow & Dianne Fox
http://tinyurl.com/ralwnf
The More Things Change by Anah Crow and Dianne Fox
http://tinyurl.com/r2jgu2
 
 
Val Kovalin
Over at my Obsidian blog, my Sunday Fiction Feature is a great mm historical romance Whistling in the Dark by Tamara Allen that is so good I want to bring it to your attention
 
 
Val Kovalin
09 May 2009 @ 11:53 am
See my Saturday Reviewer Profile for m/m fiction reviewers. This week I describe the Google blog of the Book Utopia Mom, also known here on LJ as [info]bookutopiamomhttp://tinyurl.com/qnyo6g