Wizard’s Moon by Josh Lanyon

A short story that is ahead of its time

 

 

Story blurb: A warrior from the Northlands purchases a young man for purposes both secret and perhaps sinister.

About the author: A distinct voice in gay fiction, multi-award-winning author JOSH LANYON has been writing gay mystery, adventure and romance for over a decade. In addition to numerous short stories, novellas, and novels, Josh is the author of the critically acclaimed Adrien English series, including The Hell You Say, winner of the 2006 USABookNews awards for GLBT Fiction. Josh is an Eppie Award winner and a three-time Lambda Literary Award finalist.

Author’s note: Once upon a time, a long time ago, I really, really wanted to write fantasy and speculative fiction. This dusty little story was my first published attempt. I believe I had plans to follow Faro’s adventures in the Northlands over the course of several stories, but I think at this point we will just have to take it for granted that everything eventually worked out.

“Wizard’s Moon” is old school fantasy and certainly not what I would write these days, but I think it’s still sort of fun and I hope you enjoyed it.

 

Review by Gerry Burnie

Quite a while ago (June 2013) I reviewed Josh Lanyon’s Cards on The Table, and commented that it was, “Not too long, not too short, but just right!” Unfortunately, I can’t say the same thing about Wizard’s Moon [JustJoshin Publishing, Inc., March 8, 2015]. At 44-pages, for a story like this, it is just too short. In fact it is just too everything: Too dark, too angst-driven, too under-develop, and too sketchy.

I agree with one other reviewer who observed that perhaps this story shouldn’t have been released in its present form. You are as good as your last book, and for anyone but an established writer like Layon it could have been career damaging.

That said, the author did move the story along at a good pace, which kept the pages turning, and the promise of a good story was there with a bit more development, but it just wasn’t enough to fully satisfy.

To fill you in on the plot: Faro is a young slave working at a brothel as a servant and bookkeeper, but not one of the interns. He does have a casual affair with the keeper until he is sold to the Jaxom – a warrior from ‘The Northlands.’

The high king has died, and now the kingdom has been divided into a number of mini-kingdoms, and from the time of his arrival Faro is thrust into an atmosphere of murder and intrigue.

Things resolve by the ending of the story, but it leaves the reader wanting. Two and one-half bees, which I will round up to three because it is Lanyon.

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