Customer Reviews

The Blood of Kings: A Novel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'll admit that I am not a fan of the "gay vampire" genre of novels, and usually try to avoid them. But a friend alerted me to an interesting twist in John Michael Curlovich's "The Blood of Kings," and I gave it a try. I'm glad I did.

The plot may sound predictable, in that a lonely gay teen, estranged from his family and away from home for the first time at college, meets a mysterious professor who befriends him, and introduces him to the dark side of Egyptian history. But Professor Danilo teaches not only his student Jamie, but also the reader, about the interesting parts of Egyptian history (which the author later admits he took some liberties with) that suggest that gay men carry the "blood of kings" from that civilization. That sets this novel apart from the genre, and makes it rather interesting reading.

Jamie arrives on campus when it is already reeling from a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances, usually of student athletes like himself (He is a music major who is also a competitive swimmer). When Jamie discovers the mutilated body of his roommate's boyfriend, he is drawn further into the mystery, seeking the comfort of his growing personal relationship with Professor Danilo, which whom he becomes lovers. It's a relationship that leads Jamie into am new life, one he never expected but becomes convinced he was destined to lead.

I give the author extra points for an original and interesting concept, but only an average grade for the quality of the writing overall, which I found to be lacking in parts. Average it out to a 4 stars out of 5.

In all the time I have spent reviewing books, my least favorite sub category would have to be GAY VAMPIRE NOVELS. Generally, they all follow the same plot...some young blond guy sees some mysterious guy in all black, blah blah blah. Not interested.
So, when my books to review for the month contained not one but three GAY VAMPIRE NOVELS, I was less than pleased.

The only one of the three that didn't get thrown across my room in frustration half way through the read was The Blood of Kings, a new novel by John Michael Curlovich.

Something interesting happens while you're reading about twenty year old Jamie and his love affair with the Egyptian Professor Danilo. There is no lesson about the power of love. There are no interesting dressing tips on the sides of the pages. No recipies for succesful parties. Instead, we are tricked into learning about homosexual historical figures, and Mr Curlovich actually makes it interesting.

Professor Damilo tells the reading audience that homosexuals have the blood of kings in them, and if we chose to accept it, then we can do some amazing things. If we don't, then we are no worse than the people that would persecute us.
If we don't, then we are no worse than the people that like to pretend homosexuals never did anything positive towards our worlds history.

Professor Damilo reminds us that our ranks once included Richard the Lion Heart, Chopan, Louis XIII, and lovers Antinous and Hadrian.

What do our ranks include now? Talk show host and make-over experts? Closetet movie stars and musicians? We may not be burned at the stake or killed with burning hot pokers any more, but how far have we really come?

As for the actual plot, there is some depth and mystery to the relationship between Jamie and his professor, but two thirds of the way through the book, everything about the professor is explained. The readers only drive to read the book is to find out more about homosexual history and Egyptian mythology. For me, this was more than enough.

In this day and age when our own culture tricks us into thinking our only heritage is bath houses and color themed parties, it's nice to have some one take the time to show us
that we actually come from some absolutally amazing places. We were kings. We were pharos. We were composers. We were famous. And there are those out there that would have us never ever know this. There are historians that are doing what they can to remove the "homosexual element" from American history.

John Michael Curlovich says it best himself. "...It's a slow uphill fight. Homosexuality may not frighten the horses anymore, but it makes a lot of academics really skittish.

Thank you for educating this man a bit on where he really came from. A place of Dignity.

The essential problem with this novel is that it is so poorly written. The author makes observations about the characters that don't make sense & remove the reader from the story, e.g., "I yawned without knowing it." Also, the mysterious Danilo comes across like a caricature of Dracula. If this novel had been written as a tongue in cheek comedy, it might have worked. I am astounded at the great reviews this book has received (and a bit suspicious of them).

What an amazing creation John Michael Curlovich has captured in this fantastic thriller of a story. Couldn't even think of putting it down and when i did have to put it down for work and such all i could think of was the story. Still thinking about it since i can't tell the end all i can say is that i'm ready for the next novel because there has to be a continuation to this increadible story. Great amazing work Mr. Curlovich...if anyone know of a website this author has please let me know i have been searching for it but can't seem to find one. [...]

I have always admired and tried to expand my knowledge of Egypt and the Pharoahs. Curlovich did a wonderful job in his description of modern day Egypt. I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in the Ancient World and is curious about what gay life would have been like 3000 years ago! Bravo enjoyed this book tremendously.

This is Jamie Dunn's story. He has already lived it, now it's time for you to hear it.

As the novel opens Jamie is a swimmer, piano player, and a devotee of classical music. He is also in love with Tim Johanssen, the captain of his high school swim team, and Tim Johanssen loves him. Unfortunately, they are living in the small central Pennsylvanian town of Edensburg and this type of behavior is not to be tolerated. So, they are separated for the rest of their high school days, but when Jamie wins partial scholarships in swimming and piano, he follows Tim to West Penn. He ends up in a rocky relationship with him until Tim gives him the ultimate snub.

At Penn he meets Professor Danilo Semenkaru an Egyptologist who will give Jamie a tour of his Egyptian exhibits, and it is love at first sight for both. It is Semenkaru that will tutor him in Egyptology, and assorted subjects, and Roland MacTavish who will become a faux father figure and his music instructor. He will also meet, Justin Hollis, another swimmer who will be his friend throughout the novel, and who will become an important figure later in the novel.

And throughout all of this, a continuing series of disappearances and grotesque and ritualistic murders of beautiful young gay men is happening across the campus.

Jamie is your typical Curlovich character. One that starts out confused, people's kick toy, and perpetual victim. Victims, ain't we all. He's not sure of his place in the world, but gradually comes to realize his destiny. And it is these three people, Danilo, Roland, and Justin who will drive the events of Jamie's life, both positive and negative, throughout "The Blood Of Kings". It is Danillo that will gradually seduce Jamie into a lifestyle of sex and death.

Unlike so many others, thankfully Curlovich has some class. He clearly knows that we don't need either graphic sex scenes, or intense splatter, even if the murders are grotesque. Once we are informed of the particulars of the murders and the mutilations, Curlovich never goes into graphic details.

The same can be said of the paranormal romance area of the novel's plot. Unlike some writers who confuse eroticism with pornography, Curlovich keeps the eroticism high, but the graphic sex low. We know how these things work, and we don't need a continuing detailed lesson in either male anatomy, or an instruction manual in lovemaking. So, if you're a gay man who is looking for a paranormal romance that is high on eroticism but low on the graphic details, then this novel may be for you.

I'm not into classical music, but for those who are serious music fans, then this novel will be a treat as classical music is one of this novel's driving plotlines. The fact that Curlovich uses classical music, and ignores popular culture of all kinds, for whatever reason, gives this novel a timeless feel, instead of dating as a novel involving pop culture very well might do.

This novel also has a high noirish content as we see how Jamie goes from an innocent at West Penn, to a man who will soon lead two lives, one of a prize student, and one involved in murder and mutilation.

This novel also continues Curlovich's fascination with ancient Egypt. Something that can also find in his thematically linked Egyptian trilogy ["Cities Of The Dead" (1988), "The Colors Of Hell" (1990), & "The Mummy: Dark Resurrection" (2007)] that he wrote under the Michael Paine name.

Unfortunately, Curlovich has written a novel that is set in an alternate universe where there are, except for one token, no women, where all important men are is gay. Really. They are either openly gay, practicing some discretion, or self-hating hypocrites practicing a submerged lifestyle while covering it over with a heterosexual veneer. And it becomes tiresome. There are almost no heterosexuals except those that serve the purpose of being gay-bashers, and no bisexuals, these are bunched into the self-haters and are therefore legitimate prey for the two serial killing race purists. Transsexuals? Forget it.

The theory behind this series is this that gays are descended from an ancient strain of Egyptian royal blood. The racism here being the adulation of athletic, white or Egyptian gay men only. Yes, no black, Latin, or Asian gay men ever apply to this world, and that all the great things that have happened, or that have been created, are the works of European or Egyptian gay men. Even all great major characters in history have been gay, even Jesus Christ, something that, I'm sure, will virtually surprise everybody. How much of this are the characters of Danillo and Jamie speaking, and how much is Curlovich is debatable, but in his coda that follows the novel, I suspect that much of it is Curlovich.

Also, while blood drinking is involved, this is not a vampire novel; it is a philosophically oriented, dark paranormal romance, involving a pair of cannibalistic killers. Yes, there is blood drinking, but they also cut out the eyes, heart, and genitals of their victims and eat them, and do so coldly and sanctimoniously, as if other gay men were cattle to be slaughtered.

This novel does something that should irritate any gay man. After years of insisting that being gay does not equal perversion, Curlovich just junks this, and starts an argument that he will refine in the second book in this series. That things like pedophilia or incest are GOOD things, and that those that practice them are just misunderstood. It is you that must be morally askew if you object to such things. Especially when they are practiced between those of "Royal Blood". Really? Well, let's try that one in court sometime. And Curlovich just justifies Jamie and Danillo's Leopold-Loab simulation as "The viciousness of the dull toward the intelligent." (p 205). This novel gets four stars because of the whole slow motion corruption of Jamie, and Curlovich's work in creating a whole new mythology to back up his novel. However, I still don't like either major character as they are the type of unlikable, predatorily, self-important supermen who think that they are the only roses in a world of bad smells.

For this site I have also reviewed this other John Michael Curlovich book in the Jamie Dunn series:

Blood Prophet: A Novel

And these other books by him as Michael Paine in his loose Egyptian trilogy:

Cities of the Dead
The Colors of Hell
The Mummy: Dark Resurrection

and these other books as by Michael Paine or as himself:

The Night School
Owl Light
Stage Fright
Steel Ghosts
Triptych of Terror: Three Chilling Tales by the Masters of Gay Horror

This was a vampire story that thought outside the box! A young gay man who is on the rebound from a breakup, decides to take a class in Egyptology taught by a magnetic, enigmatic professor.Although star athletes are being murdered and horribly desiccated, Jamie, our young student is oblivious since he has other things on his mind..his burgeoning love affair with Professor Danilo.
But there is much more to Danilo than meets the eye and Jamie will eventually have to choose between returning to his bland, ordinary world or joining his vampire lover and mentor in a lifetime of passion, power and blood.
The story seemed innocent enough in the beginning, but as the reader progressed with Jamie, events unfolded beyond my wildest expectations!
Emotional roller coaster of lust,love,passion, murder