Title: Sojourn Home
Author: T.C. Mill
Genre: Sci-Fi / Kinks & Fetishes
ISBN: 9781627570558
Length: Short Story (39 pages)
Publisher: Storm Moon Press (September 22nd, 2013)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥2.5~3 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Mirin’s husband returns from business off world bearing a new scar, one carved by a lover’s knife. It’s not the realization Kanovan has another lover—their relationship is an open one—or the extreme play he’s engaged in that troubles Mirin, so much as the fact it’s left such a permanent mark. Kanovan’s come home with minor changes before, habits he’s picked up on his trips among the stars. But this is something that will force both men to re-evaluate what they want from this marriage, and what they’re willing to do to get it.
Product Link: http://www.stormmoonpress.com/books/Sojourn-Home.aspx
Review: Scars, marks, possessiveness. Dark cravings and a limited knowledge that expands with every year, with every sojourn home.
As short a story as this one was, it was also a bit thought-provoking. Karavan is Mirin’s husband and his job wants him to travel off world frequently and for a long time. I feel Mirin’s longing for his husband from the very first line of the story and the intensity of his emotions only grows as the story unravels. When he discovers a mark, a permanent one at that, from another lover on Karavan’s shoulder, Mirin is assaulted with feelings he at first doesn’t recognize. He knows that Van likes to spice up things in bed. He knows Van craves pain and makes him delirious with passion. He doesn’t understand it though, yet always tries to give Van what he wants. Likewise, Van never denied Mirin anything. Yet this mark changes things.
The story goes through a series of events that have both characters trying to re-evaluate their relationship, trying to get past the new sudden tension straining their effortless until now connection. It is a difficult journey Mirin must make in order to understand his husband’s cravings, and of course, he must face the fact that he is jealous not so much of his husband’s lover as he’s at the fact that someone has marked what is his.
We see the shift happening and the power play taking a prominent though subtle place in the story. For a text that includes blood-play this was very smooth, sweet, and easy to read. Not that heavy in the emotional side as it was perhaps mesmerizing, erotic, and sensual even. However when climax in the intensity was needed at the final outlet, I felt as if the text failed to provide it.
Overall it was a nice story revolving around the scar-theme, merging with emotions and love in an already established relationship. The end was somewhat sentimental and even though I didn’t quite like the fact that Karavan kept going on with other lovers when away on business, it still maintained a certain romance in it.