Hi peeps, we have Rick R. Reed popping in today to celebrate his new re-release A Face Without A Heart, we have a great excerpt, a fantastic giveaway and Shorty’s review, so check out the post and click that giveaway link! <3 ~Pixie~
A Face Without A Heart
Rick R. Reed
A modern-day and thought-provoking retelling of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray that esteemed horror magazine Fangoria called “…a book that is brutally honest with its reader and doesn’t flinch in the areas where Wilde had to look away…. A rarity: a really well-done update that’s as good as its source material.”
A beautiful young man bargains his soul away to remain young and handsome forever, while his holographic portrait mirrors his aging and decay and reflects every sin and each nightmarish step deeper into depravity… even cold-blooded murder. Prepare yourself for a compelling tour of the darkest sides of greed, lust, addiction, and violence.
Excerpt
He was beautiful. Beauty is so seldom ascribed to men, too often incorrectly attributed to men with feminine features—wavy blond hair, fine cheekbones, teeth cut from porcelain. But I’ve always thought of beauty as a quality that went deeper than the corporeal… something dark, dense, inexplicable, capable of stirring longings primal, longings one would be powerless to resist.
He was beautiful. I sat on a Red Line “L” train, headed downtown, bags of heavy camera equipment heaped at my side, one arm resting protectively over them. I watched the young man, unable to train my thoughts on anything other than this man who had blotted out the reality of the day, magical and transforming. Beauty, especially so rare a beauty, can do that. The young man was an eclipse, his presence coming between myself and the reality of the day hurtling by outside train windows.
He had come in behind three foreign people, a bright counterpoint to their drab clothes, colorless, already wilting in the August humidity. They chattered to one another in a language unrecognizable, Polish maybe, and I was annoyed at their yammering, unable to block it out sufficiently enough to concentrate on the book I was reading, a biography of William Blake.
I almost didn’t notice him. It wasn’t like me to pay much attention to what went on around me, especially when I was preparing for a shoot. Usually I used the time on the train to set up the photographs I would take, the way I would manipulate light and shadow and how it fell on my models, to arrange the props, set up and test the lighting.
But something caused me to look up when the doors opened—perhaps I was struck by the dissonance created by the unknown language—and I saw him. Close-cropped brown hair, a bit of stubble framing full lips, a bruise fading to dull below his right eye. The bruise did not detract from the man’s beauty but served to enhance it, making of the rough features something more vulnerable. The bruise was the embodiment of a yearning for the touch of a finger, the whisper of a kiss. He wore an old, faded T-shirt with a Bulls logo, black denim cut off just above his knees, and a pair of work boots, the seam on the left beginning to separate. In spite of the workman’s garb, there was something intellectual about the man, an intensity in his aquamarine eyes that portended deeper thought.
At that moment, I made a decision. I don’t know what caprice seized me. I have always led an orderly life, completely without surprise. But when the train pulled to a stop and the young man stood, I acted on an impulse that was as sudden as it was uncontrollable.
About Rick
Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love.
He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). He is also a Rainbow Award Winner for both Caregiver and Raining Men. Lambda Literary Review has called him, “a writer that doesn’t disappoint.”
Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever “at work on another novel.”
STALK RICK
Facebook Page | Twitter | Google+ | Blog | Website | Bookbub | Email: rickrreedbooks@gmail.com
Giveaway!
Win an ebook of Third Eye or A Demon Inside by Rick R Reed!
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Review
Title: A Face without a Heart (4th Edition)
Author: Rick R. Reed
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Length: Novel (200 pages)
Publisher: DSP Publications (January 31, 2017)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: A modern-day and thought-provoking retelling of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray that esteemed horror magazine Fangoria called “…abook that is brutally honest with its reader and doesn’t flinch in the areas where Wilde had to look away…. A rarity: a really well-done update that’s as good as its source material.”
A beautiful young man bargains his soul away to remain young and handsome forever, while his holographic portrait mirrors his aging and decay and reflects every sin and each nightmarish step deeper into depravity… even cold-blooded murder. Prepare yourself for a compelling tour of the darkest sides of greed, lust, addiction, and violence.
First Edition paperback published by Design Image Group, 2000.
Second Edition paperback published by iUniverse/Back in Print, 2006.
First Edition eBook published by Bristlecone Press, 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-1-63533-263-6
Product Link: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/a-face-without-a-heart-by-rick-r-reed-350-b
Reviewer: Shorty
Review: Having read the story and seen the movies about Dorian Gray I was not sure what to expect with this book. It was thought provoking and intriguing as we learn Liam is the artist that paints the picture that ages. Liam was intriguing yet at times seemed a little to absorbed in his own world which I expected. Upon meeting Gary, someone who I didn’t like to begin with, he insists on painting his portrait.
Gary is what I would call self centered and arrogant. He knows he looks good. When he sells his soul in order to stay young his life takes a downhill turn. Drugs, murder, mayhem and mystery surround Gary as we follow him down his own rabbit hole.
The details of the different scenes throughout were well written and thought out. I felt as though I was actually there witnessing what was happening. The story grabs the reader from the start and does not let go until the very end. It was a fantastic story that I enjoyed very much.
Highly recommended.
