Title: Mortal Companion Author: Patrick Califia Publisher: Suspect Thoughts In a world still mourning the absence of Buffy and the putrescence of the final season, it's encouraging to find the world of vampires and humans erotically explored in dimensions of the flesh and beyond rarely explored in genre fiction. This time Patrick Califia (Macho Sluts etc.) crafts an intriguing tale of S&M insatiability, of more boundary crossings and revelations than a hoard full of midget hookers on the Springer show, and of unsettling yet almost romantic love. Yep, Califia and the L word. Go figure. I have to admit I was expecting some more 'literary', and that's my fault, not the text. Califia has a good handle on dialogue, blending the popular with the fantasy, the romantic with the raunchy, so we're not surprise when one of the characters only half-ironically remarks, "I don't want to think about this [the partner being a vampire]. I want to hold onto the man who took my virginity and have him pet my hair and tell me I'm beautiful and he loves me. No, this can't be!" On a more pedantic note, I'm not so sure about the ostrich reference on page 156 - emus were in the Dream Time, to be sure, but their African counterparts? But forget about that - when there's mind control sex slave multiply pierced cops and punks to be pummeled and plucked and ploughed, who's going to bicker about the buggering birds? Califia's not written a highbrow po-mo tome this time, but he has created a darkly erotic and dangerous narrative that arouses and alarms at an equal pace. Like any good master, he's firm, not-often gentle, and only occasionally fair. Now, who's next for the tongue lashing?