19 · Orson Scott Card's Gay Razzmatazz

"In a world where science and engineering rule while magic merely serves, an industrialist aristocrat’s genius heir finds himself drawn to the allure of a novice kitchen-wizard." Young love blossoms in a world aswirl with conflicts both magical and mundane in an alternate Victorian era where Europe's class system changes under the influx of magical innovations from the flourishing African nations. All that fancy philosophy aside, a cover like this promises certain salacious same-sex shenanigans, and famed marriage-equality activist O. S. Card's saucy gay romance novel certainly delivers on its promise! K rates this book a B on the turgidity scale. Khaki crafts some convincing stilts. Bookmarked passages: More feathers for Phase Four, red ink protocol, Farscape slash fiction, Alvin Maker: The Sorceror-Slut, award-losing author, penis-equipped danders, David Bowie's ball handling, Chang & Eng, Brian Blessed, non-colonial Victorian era, cantrip parlors and back-alley tech clubs, recharging at the sex-garden, Orson Scott Card has a "type", bilingual street signs, Mormon multilingual WordPerfect, Stirling engines, popular polyandry, wizard unions, seizing the means of conjuration, Chuck Tingle's Brexit allegory, Bloise Idaho, a bit of a shit-bird. Selected quotes: "The gay sex does get in the way of the cooking. – Story of my life, really." "Whatever comes after post-modernism, that's Chuck Tingle." "A pre-shaprd tip is pressed into the subject at a pre-set force..." “It’s like the fluffer of modern technology.” "can't wait to get into his magic sack!" "Their eyes 'throbbed' at each other — that was a gross one!" “And he’s into reciprocation, which I like.” “So we have cat-fur and glass rods – and a lot of other rods being rubbed here, and a lot of magical power is released in the process!” Find CoverMyAssCast on Twitter, Gmail and www.covermyasscast.com.