Title: When the World was a Blank Page
Author: Veronica Sloane
Length: 3,200 words (14 pdf pages)
Publisher: Torquere Press
Genre: m/m contemporary
Rating: C+
Blurb:
Scotch never imagined that his first time would be in the backseat of a car, but his new boyfriend Jimmy can talk him into anything. As snow falls outside, they talk, laugh, and discover brand new things about one another.
Review:
This story had potential, but I found there were a few chunks missing that left me wondering what happened. It begins with the two men sitting in the car in the snow, and then there is a bit of a flashback as Scotch remembers how they met, on another cold night. Scotch was sitting outside his apartment as his roommates host a party. Soon he’s joined by Jimmy who lives across the street who strikes up a conversation. The story then cuts back to several weeks later where the two are sitting in a car in the cold looking at the newly fallen snow in a park. After chatting for a bit, Jimmy convinces (without much effort) Scotch to have sex in the backseat, Scotch’s first time.
It was the skipped portion that left me wondering what happened. How did they go from chatting on the steps to dating. Jimmy is much more open than Scotch. Scotch seems to be a wanderer, temporarily finding a place to stay until he moves on, but you never really find out much about him. Where he came from or what brought him there remains a mystery. While you don’t find out anything about Jimmy either, you get the impression he’s just a regular guy. I did like how Jimmy brought out a side of Scotch that you could tell was not normally there. He had difficulty believing that Jimmy really cared about him, but I got that sense of hope and wonder from him.
There’s not much to the story, just the meeting and the sex. The sex is realistically done for a first time, but Jimmy is tender and caring and wants to make it as good as he can for Scotch’s first time. Scotch is suitably nervous. You can tell there is caring on Jimmy’s side and tentative hope that it’s real on Scotch’s. As with most super shorts, it’s hard to get a handle on the characters and a little longer story would have been nice, but still, this is the second story I’ve read by this author and I really like her style and I liked the atmosphere of the guys being cloistered in the car and surrounded by the snow and quiet, that sense of being alone in the world of white.
