Book Title: A Pride Anthem
Author: Rob Browatzke
Publisher: Self-Published
Cover Artist: Alex Bischoff
Genre/s: Literary queer fiction
Length: 20 000 words
It is a standalone book.
Heat Rating: No sexual content.
Blurb
Three spirits. One night. One last chance.
Jake is dead. Ben knows that. But when Ben wakes up to see Jake standing over him, he is forced to face his feelings not only about Jake's death, but about the direction of his life. In a big gay Christmas Carol style night, Ben is visited by more spirits, and Pride will never be the same.
Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited
“So what if I do?” Ben screamed, even as Ben-on-the-couch cried. “So what if I want to leave? No one will care.”
The clock struck nine and the office faded away, to be replaced by... the office again. Ben sat up on the couch. Had he been sleeping? Dreaming? Regardless, it was true. He had known for a long time that none of it – bar or community or Jake – none of it really mattered.
“And that's where I come in,” said the smooth-bodied blond muscle hunk in glittery gold booty shorts that suddenly appeared at the foot of the couch. “I'm the Ghost of Pride Present, but that's a bit of a mouthful.” Ben couldn't help but glance down, at what was also a mouthful. A very impressive mouthful. The ghost saw, and smirked. “You can call me Marc.”
“I'm done,” Ben said. “This whole nocturnal spiritual journey is over.”
“It's just beginning,” Marc said.
“It ends now. If I don't go, you can't make me.”
“Oh, that's her rule, not mine.” Marc reached down with a meaty hand and yanked Ben off the couch. “Besides, there’s not a gay man alive or dead who doesn’t want to come with me. Happy Pride!” Marc said, and he kissed Ben on the cheek.
Review
As the blurb
suggests, Pride Anthem is indeed a Pride-centered retelling of Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol. And it is a delightful story.
Poor Ben is
struggling. While he still owns and runs the gay club he started with Jake, it
just isn’t the same since Jake has died. Ben has lost his sense of joy along
with his sense of pride and as the annual Pride Parade is about to take place
he fully intends to ignore it…again.
When Jake’s ghost
appears to him, urging him to embrace life and Pride again, Ben is inclined to
ignore the suggestion. But, with each subsequent ghost, his resistance
diminishes.
This story is
multi-layered. While it is, of course, the story of Ben at last coming to terms
with the loss of Jake and finding the courage to move forward again, there is
more to it than ‘just’ that. Because the ghosts also allow us glimpses of Pride
past, present, and (possibly) future. It shows how acceptance has grown over
the decades and poses the question as to what Pride will mean if/when being
LGBTQ… has become as unremarkable as red hair. I love it when a book
successfully manages to combine an inspired story with food for thought and Rob
Browatzke certainly did that.
When I found myself
tearing up while reading the fully expected yet still deeply touching ending,
it was a very delicious cherry on an already wonderful cake.
And talking about “Pride
Anthems”: the book ends with a list of forty actual Pride Anthems. Just in case
you need a reminder of have forgotten about one or two of these powerful songs.
To me it suggests that maybe it’s time to create my first ever playlist J
About the Author
Rob Browatzke is a writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, proud teller of stories and thrower of parties.
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