Dime Novel, Dale Chase

Dime NovelRating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Wilde City Press

Genre:  Gay Erotica

Tags: Old West, Marshall, Writer, Historical

Length:  12,000 Words

Reviewer: Kazza K

Purchase At: Wilde City Press, amazon.com

 

The Blurb:

Dime novelist Benedict Bright has brought fame to Arizona Marshal Evan Teague but when he ventures west to meet the man he’s written about, he finds he’s done his subject wrong and further, that Teague is determined to set things right. As the marshal introduces the writer to western reality, through law enforcement as well as manly intimacies, Bright gains new resolve in his work while swept up in a passion like no other he’s ever known. But will it last forever… or break his heart?

My Review:

Ben Bright is a writer. Mostly, he is a writer of dime novels. Dime novels that feature Marshall Evan Teague as their hero. They sell very well as people in the east voraciously read about these frontier lawmen and the outlaws they pursue. Ben Bright is from New York and for the first time he is in Globe, Arizona, to talk to the man himself, Marshall Teague. Teague wants to give Bright a bit of an…education about the real him, not the stories that have been written about him without the author knowing him. He’s not angry about it, there’s just more to the man than on display through journalism or dime novels. He wouldn’t mind the man who wrote them to experience a few things up close and personal. Starting with his cock. Ben is unsure of how Evan knows he is one of ‘them,’ Evan assures him he’s seen plenty of men just having a need for dick when the time is right. So there you have it, 1897 old west gaydar.

A friendship of sorts, and respect, grows as Ben follows Teague more closely and sees first hand what the life of his dime novel hero is like. It isn’t always chasing outlaws like Max Heeney, who shot and killed his Deputy, Thad. There is arresting drunks, men who have been on a bender and inadvertently stolen another’s horse, overheated poker players, and sometimes there are bank robbers. But the people of Globe are grateful for their Marshall as the town is better and safer for having him there.

Dime Novel is erotica and right from the get go there is sex. Dale Chase writes incredibly hot, down and dirty gay erotica without sacrificing the story or character development. Evan Teague is rough on Ben in the beginning, a city boy writing about things second and third hand. Both men are naturally attracted to men and Evan intends on getting his share of sex from an increasingly willing Ben, and he does…quite a bit –RIMMING!

He groaned as he entered, mouth fixed to my bottom as the tongue pushed in and out. The filth of the act disgusted me, but the feel of it and the knowledge that Evan Teague had his tongue inside me were too much. My dick began to fire unaided, which had never happened before, spewing juice into the bedding while Teague fed at my rear.

Ben learns a lot about life in the west from Evan and Evan learns from Ben. Thad, Evan’s Deputy who was shot and killed by Max Heeney, was also his partner. They had known each other for some time. Ben suspected, but it was confirmed in a brief in depth moment by Evan. The two men draw close but there is much for Ben to experience for his writing. He needs to go to Colorado and Tombstone to gather information for both his journalist nature and his dime novel writing.        

I liked how Chase shows something that still holds true – that it’s easy to like the concept of dispensing justice without thinking about the consequences. About the toll on the person meting it out.. Ben holds popular belief that shooting outlaws, the bad guys, is fair and just. Evan, as the law, doesn’t see it so cut and dry –

“You ever kill anyone, Ben?”

“No.”

“It’s always those who don’t engage that assure those who do.”

——–

“Why did you get into law enforcement?” I asked. “You had to know killing was a part.”

“Course.” He blew out a sigh. “Knew that well. What I didn’t know was how after a while the bodies start to pile up inside.”

The two protagonists have such distinct voices throughout Dime Novel. Ben is educated and more genteel, Evan is more pragmatic and regional. There is also wonderful thoughts, ideas, and prose in this novella –

It’s a weakness of mine that I often succumb to affairs of the heart. Many men never consult this organ, whereas mine is always eager to jump up alongside my prick, often sending me into perilous territory. Such was the present circumstance. Teague’s revelation that I was his first since Thad could not have done more had he reached in to clutch my heart. Suddenly, I was awash in feelings for him, a veritable flood that manifested as tears in my eyes. We’re fucking, I reminded myself. I am but a vessel of satisfaction, but such homilies have little weight when the heart barges in. 

Indeed. But this is 1897 and the heart is not always able to be afforded the chance to be in charge, particularly in Globe, Arizona.

Overall:

I must stress that this is first and foremost gay erotica, but here is what I say to people who think that erotica is poorly written and has no plot. There are a more than a few writers who trash that narrow idea. I read some terrific erotica and I say…Read. Dale. Chase.  This is a fully developed short with authentic sounding prose. It is raw and rough, down and dirty at times, and then it is lyrical and romantic in a perfect, minimalist way. It also made me really like both of the  MC’s so much. There was a touch of angst, a nice story and some possibilities for later. It is historical and I felt transported in time to 1897 Arizona, as I should have. It has three dimensional characters and, even though I guess it won’t happen, I would love it if there was something more for Ben Bright and Marshall Evan Teague. 

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Wilde City Press, in return for an honest review.



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Cindi
Admin

I love the sound of this one. Erotica but with a real story. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by this author before. I’ll be adding this one to my list for sure.

Great review. Love the pic.

😉

Cindi
Admin

Strike that. I read Ghost Town by Dale Chase in the Erotica Exotica anthology. Now I KNOW I’ll be reading this for sure. I loved that one.

😀

Devon McCormack
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I saw on Goodreads that this was going to be a more adult review and thought, “I’ll be the judge of that.” Um…yes. Yes, it is. My eyes agreed the moment they saw that man shoving his tongue in a hairy hole. And as my boyfriend came around the corner, he started to tell me something only to see my screen and shout, “Oh my God! What the Hell?! Is this what you do all day?” I love it! Great review, Kazza K. Gonna have to check this title out. “The filth of the act disgusted me, but the feel… Read more »