Hot off the presses and just in the nick of time. Now that it is finally finished, I got a chance to read the rest of the stories and I have to say I was quite impressed. This kinky collection of dirty shorts is a fitting companion to the month of October. Everyone knows that October is Oktoberfest as well as Rocktober among other things, but for the ones who were not aware please mark it on your calendars: It is also National Kink Month. A Closer Look is appropriately kinky, so much so that Apple books and Kindle have refused to publish it and Facebook has refunded the money tendered for ads. It is possibly because of the risqué pictures that head every tale, but those, as well as the nude cover have been artistically smudged and made to look like faded pencil drawings to the extent that they are not much more arousing than Boticelli’s Venus on the Shell. Perhaps with the exception of the very last picture. Anyway, I understand that none of them is actually offering an explanation of their rejection.
All that said, let me address the changes made since I have reviewed the preview copy. Mr. Llime has apparently corrected all the typos I had pointed out to him as well as streamlining some of the sentences that were a bit too rambling. Additionally, he has added 9 more stories make the skinny volume a bit heftier. The newcomers are just as variegated and rousing as the first batch. We have a lewd ghost whose action might turn you on, a pair of German twins that will leave you drooling, a strangely twisted story of bestiality, and a vagina that changed the course of history. There is a staged, choreographed fake rape performed at gun point and accompanied by a very untraditional flamenco ensemble. Throughout it all, stiff appendages and other hard objects, manage to find their way into welcoming, moist and dark human alleys. Silly ditties influenced by Mr. Llime’s heroes intermingle with bits that sound too real not to be just a little bit auto-biographical as well as imaginary situations that might cause some readers to feel uncomfortable and yet unable to put down the fascinating tome. Towards the end we are treated to another story of incest and time with no punches pulled. Then there is one involving necrophilia, but as you might have expected by now, it is not going in any ‘conventional’ direction. The last piece, is possibly the most brutal one because it appears to incorporate some real rapes. It is also unusual in that it is actually a chapter from a future book. I was told that the rapes will make sense in that context and that only one of them could be considered as such. Guess I’ll have to wait and see.
In conclusion I have say that I will stick by my first impressions and I cannot think of anything else that needs to be added to:
“Bottom line: Llime brings the mind of a child, eye of a man and craft of a writer to the exploration of sexual encounters. Keep this book on your night table next to a large box of Kleenex tissues.”
A. Haggard Reader