First 2 Reviews of Andy Stevenson Vs The Lord of the Loins Are In!

Posted on September 18, 2008

The first reviews from gay magazines/newspapers/websites are starting to come in and I’ve got two for you here (one for each book).

From: Out In Jersey

Andy Stevenson vs. The Lord of the Loins
Written by Kage Alan (Kristoffer Gair)
Reviewed by Michael Pettyjohn

Well folks, here’s a nice light but energetic romp through school days. College, the final frontier this is the voyage of Andy, a 19 year old who had just discovered himself (six months previously in California) and is now exploring new people and other plot complications. All in all, he proceeds to boldly go where many of us have gone before! With the supporting cast of: Kim, African-American female who doesn’t take crap from anybody, Tristan, a very cute boy-toy, and Alan, the half Asian and wholly domineering kid whose friendship Andy defends. A chance meeting at a party finds Andy falling for a freshman named Alan. Murphy’s Law naturally arrives for another visit as Tristan decides to make it his personal mission in life to teach Andy about the world of sex with no commitment…whether he wants to learn it or not. What’s a guy to do after promising his new boyfriend that his middle name is “Discretion?” If you wish to take a cue from “Cabaret” and “leave your troubles outside” this Fall, read Kage Alan’s “Andy Stevenson vs. the Lord of the Loins”.

And from Rainbow Reviews (which is unfortunately no longer around) by reviewer/author Alan Chin:

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My Sexual Orientation

RATING: 4

BOOK REVIEW:
Andy Stevenson ~ a nerdy, nineteen-year-old, college student from Detroit, Michigan ~ is so deep in the closet that he is seemingly the only one who doesn’t know he is gay. He uses a sarcastic wit to keep family and schoolmates at a safe distance, which works so perfectly well that he is still a virgin with no hope of overcoming his embarrassing deficiency.

But his luck is seemingly about to change when he is asked to accompany his alcoholic grandmother on a six day trip to California to celebrate her brother’s 50th wedding anniversary. Andy envisions thousands of bikini-clad, sun-bronzed women desperate to make love to him, and can’t wait to hit the famous beaches. In his mind, all he has to do to lose his cherry is to first lose his grandmother…

Once in L.A., the reality of SoCal babes turns disastrous for Andy until Jordan, Andy’s sexy gay cousin, strikes up a flirty conversation and ends up kissing Andy on the lips at the anniversary party. That explosive kiss starts a chain reaction of comical faux pas that eventually force Andy to reevaluate everything he thinks he knows about himself.

Kage Alan paints a hilarious yet touching picture of a teenager coming to terms with his sexuality. This story is a breezy romp, an entertaining and intelligent look at a young man’s struggle with coming to terms with his sexuality. I seldom laughed out loud, but I found something interesting, witty and humorous on nearly every page. It made me chuckle, it made me roll my eyes, it made me remember that time (oh so many decades ago) when I experienced similar feelings of confusion.

The one minuscule criticism I experienced was that the story is a tad predictable, but that didn’t stop me from being totally engaged until the very last page. Often, I would sit down intending to reading 10 or 20 pages, and end up reading 60 or 80. It’s fast, it’s funny, and it’s the perfect book to keep you smiling during a long weekend at the beach. I truly didn’t want it to end. Lucky for me, I already have the sequel on the top of my to-be-read list.

But by all means, pick up a copy and judge for yourself. You won’t be sorry you did.

More to come!

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Kristoffer Gair (who formerly wrote under the pseudonym Kage Alan) is the Detroit-based author of Honor Unbound, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To My Sexual Orientation, Andy Stevenson Vs. The Lord Of The Loins, Gaylias: Operation Thunderspell, several short stories featured in anthologies (to be combined in a forthcoming book), the recently re-published novella Falling Awake, its sequel, Falling Awake II: Revenant and Falling Awake III: Requiem.