Review - Sweet Oblivion 3 Fluid

Sweet Oblivion 3 - Fluid by Jordan Castillo Price is a 59-page m/m novelette and the eighth installment in the Channeling Morpheus paranormal series. It's told first-person by Wild Bill and contains some hot, explicit Level-4 to -5 sex on the much-consulted 1-to-5 sex scene scale.

We're back in the viewpoint of Wild Bill: he and Michael have wandered to Milwaukee to take in the local vampire scene in their ongoing quest / road-trip. Now they find themselves in a loft that used to be part of a factory. It's a gallery opening for an avant-garde photographer Ivan.

While Michael drifts off on his own, Wild Bill stands at the hors d'oeuvres table talking to a cute girl, Suzanne. She wears her bleached hair in a pixie-cut and has a pair of handcuffs connected to her skinny arm – both cuffs on the same wrist. She's been meaning to get a locksmith to do something about it.

In the meantime, she's helping out Ivan by serving as the centerpiece at his gathering – literally. She reclines on the table amongst the piles of cut-up fruit, covered only in cream-cheese. The guests are supposed to "dip" the fruit, she explains to Bill who is slightly taken aback – just when he'd thought he'd seen it all.

Amusingly, she asks him, "Listen, will you do me a favor? Dip something on me and eat it. Everyone’s avoiding me like the plague. Maybe you could get it started." It occurs to Bill that 20 years ago he would have been "… all over her like stink on a wino" but now he's in a different place in his life. He's not even remotely the same person he used to be.

This is a wonderful scene, and it leads to their actual meeting with Ivan, a voyeuristic guy in his forties who has that creepy remoteness reminiscent of Andy Warhol. Ivan wants to photograph them in a private room.

Bill and Michael decide to do it, and indulge in an extremely hot scene where they're essentially having sex in front of Ivan as he photographs them and Suzanne watches. Bill is willing to do this, but it's Michael that gets really swept away. There is a really nice metaphor here where Bill realizes that the hot tungsten lights are his "sun" and that this is the closest he and Michael will get to having sex in the sunshine.

At the same time that Bill knows he is completely in love with Michael, he's also wrestling with a realistic level of temptation not often seen in m/m fiction: an attraction to Suzanne, a yearning for a tragic youth with bedroom eyes whom he sees amongst Ivan's crowd and thinks of as Vamp Bait, and even a desire to hang out with Ivan in order to talk with someone closer to his age.

He and Michael could do any number of things as the art exhibit opening starts to break up. They choose to join Vamp Bait (real name: Trey) and a vampire girl, Lolly. Unfortunately for Bill and Lolly, Trey wants them to party down on his houseboat, which is docked off Lake Michigan. Vampires may crave fluid such as blood but they are completely undone by fluid such as running water. What is Bill going to do?

Sweet Oblivion 3 – Fluid is one of those installments in the series like Sweet Oblivion 2 – Snare and Channeling Morpheus – 5 Rebirth where a LOT of unusual stuff happens. Plus we get the introduction of vivid minor character Suzanne whom I hope will show up in future installments.

I've also got to mention vampire Lolly who is shy and young and almost dainty. I really like the different way the vampires are portrayed in this series from her to Jim Harmon in Snare with his geeky 1930s expressions to the whiny kids in Rebirth who can't even get it together enough to share basic household chores but who have the power to tear humans' heads off.

The contrast between the vampiric powers and the sharply observed details of the mundane personalities is striking. It really holds those of us readers who are hopelessly bored with the usual vampire-as--eighteenth-century nobleman.

Meanwhile, Michael and Bill continue to struggle with their most deep-rooted problems. Michael realizes on page 48: "And this thing we’re doing, going around telling people to be careful not to catch vampirism -- it’s useless. Either the people we find are like Ivan, and they think it’s all some big sex fantasy, or … they already know, and they’re gonna do what they wanna do whether we warn them or not.”

Likewise, Bill has a cutting remark for Michael on page 39: "You don't kill people. Only vampires." Then he thinks, "I was a second-class citizen – of the killable variety."

Their essential conflict isn't going to wrap itself up in an unrealistic way anytime soon. Sweet Oblivion 3 – Fluid is another strong entry in the ever-intriguing Channeling Morpheus series. COPYRIGHT: All content copyright © Obsidian Bookshelf 2007-2009, except where noted. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from Val Kovalin is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Val Kovalin and Obsidianbookshelf.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Click for more information.
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