Special Forces

[jack scribe]

I came across this story by a recommendation and was spellbound from the first page. Special Forces is a co-authored work of miltary gay erotic fiction by two men: Marquesate (a Scottsman) and Vashtan (a German who now lives in London). The first of three cycles has been finished: Soldiers (1980 - 1989), and the authors have been working on the second cycle: Mercenaries (1990 - 1997). This section currently contains three chapters that takes the reader up to 1991. It appears that the two authors post a long chapter each month.

Here is a little preview I copied from their site:

It is the epic story of a Scottish SAS soldier and a Soviet spetsnaz soldier. Two enemies who meet in the line of duty during the early days of the Soviet Union's last war in Afghanistan. Behind enemy lines respect and finally love grow ... but that's only the official version.

The reality of these two men is dark, brutal, fueled by aggression and insane lust. Steeped in pain and killing, with death as their shoulder companion, these Special Forces soldiers meet in 1980. Their intense hatred caused by rape, revenge and torture turning into fucked-up lust and years of secret encounters in the rat-infested labyrinth of Kabul and the Afghan mountains. Time, despair and desolation smoothing down the sharpness of hatred, its venom drained with each physical encounter, the lust helping to form an understanding that only two men of the same kind can share. Enemy Mine and Brothers in Arms - on two different sides.

This novel spans across over thirty years of their lives. It's harsh and violent, but life is cruel and they just do what they need to survive.

It is exceptional, unusual writing that can be brutal, tender, savage, questioning...you throw in the descriptives...all at the same time.

http://www.marquesate.org/special-forces-soldiers.html.

Let me know what you think. I think it's some of the best gay-themed fiction I've read.

Jack

[JamesSavik]

Ugh! I couldn't get past the murder/rape/sadism

Not that this isn't part of war, the kind of warriors I admire would fit these pukes with a toe-tag

[canundra]

Absolutely love this story. The rape/sadism stuff can get a bit weird at times, but everything else just makes up for it. Especially Chapter 15 (Enemy Mine). One of the best pieces of writing I have ever read. Ever. Ever. Ever.

[Trab]

I agree that it is brilliantly written, and deeply insightful, but I had to stop reading it, as I found some of the content too disturbing for my inner balance. That's not a knock against the story, at all. It's just not for me, any more than horror/gore is.

[Camy]

Not my cup of tea.

[DesDownunder]

Not my cup of coffee either.

[Bruin Fisher]

I read the first section, initially winded by the extreme violence of the subject matter. It reminded me of the mega-violent video games popular with pre-teens. You know, the ones where you prowl around looking for 'gooks' to kill colourfully, with the automatic weapon you're holding, and visible on the screen.

If you can stomach the violence the story's rather good and very different. It confirms for me that gay writing isn't a genre, but that gay writing can be any genre - including military s&m.

Unfortunately the quality of the writing deteriorates in the second section and I didn't persevere as far as part three. It becomes a rather tedious exercise in finding a thin plot that will get you from one sex scene to the next as quickly as possible. And the sex scenes become more improbable as it goes on.

Not my cup of tea, as Camy said.

Bruin