Vice + Virtue

This story is a rough and rugged yarn wrapped tight around a rustic, surprisingly romantic heart. Like a peaty Irish whisky (really this tale ought to be a bourbon or a rye, I just don’t know those as well), it’s a STRONG flavor, and one not everyone will enjoy. But for those who like reading men (trans and cis alike) willing to kill, die, and fuck absolutely filth-nasty for and with one another, it’s delicious, with many layered flavors to appreciate. Minor spoilers to talk about what I loved. 

First things first: I found the sex scorching hot. I’m a sucker for intox, dirty talk, and playing rough, so watching drug dealer Gage absolutely wreck our main man Aden and his cute cat stockings in the first chapter hooked me quick. The dynamic between these two instantly compelled me; what seems from the setup like it could be a cold, transactional relationship has immediate, underlying warmth and fondness that does nothing to abate the darkness and danger of their situation, or the roughness of their intimacy with one another. Later scenes escalate in various exciting ways, with gunplay, breathplay, piss, and various other kinks making individual and ensemble appearances. This includes eroticizing some highly morally questionable actions, which as a fan of eroticizing trauma in various forms, I was into. But even when the kinks in play didn’t line up with my usual tastes, I found myself compelled; each is written with the sensory specificity and emotional awareness of someone who has really sat with those kinks, and knows exactly what they dig about them physically and mentally.

The sex also does a lot of effective characterization work. Aden and Gage both express themselves more through actions than words, but that doesn’t mean their characters lack interiority; far from it. The narrative conveys a lot through small gestures and specific reactions, both in and out of bed. It’s clear that the story understands who these two are and what kinds of lives they’ve lived, whether they talk about those things or not. Our third major player, Travis, is much more willing to use his words, though he, too, plays plenty close to the vest. But his dynamics with both Aden and Gage are fun to read, bringing out different things in both men and adding a welcome expressiveness to the dynamic between the three of them.

Lastly, as a queer who grew up in the country, I found the sensory specifics of this story comforting and compelling. Our characters spend a lot of time in the woods, and it took me back to living on an unpaved road near a gravel pit where family would go to shoot for sport, surrounded by evergreens, and visiting houses that smelled certain ways I’ve never run into in the city. For all the action—and there’s plenty, especially sex but also violence—there’s a longing for and celebration of stillness in this story: a deep desire to simply be present with beloved company while surrounded by nature.

This story inhabits its specific space with clarity and confidence. Like I said, it’s a strong flavor; mind those content warnings. But for anyone who thinks this sounds interesting… take the drink. It’ll burn good, all the way down