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The Mark Manning Series by Michael Craft |
Eye Contact
Body Language
Name Games
Boy Toy
Rating: ****
Reviewer: Meg
Note: Please read these books in order.
There are many interesting aspects to the Mark Manning Series that make the reader think about these books long after reading them. Some of the thought provoking issues include fidelity, parenthood, the found family, the nature of sexual attraction, coming out and news publishing ethics. In the first book, Flight Dreams Mark meets, at the age of 39, the love of his life, Neil. Neil is Mark's first sexual experience with a man and the event forces him to face his homosexuality. As Mark comes out their relationship develops over the next several books experiencing a few bumps and much bliss. The bumps happen as they do in many relationships over fidelity and career moves, but Mark and Neil survive and become stronger. Eventually Mark leaves the Chicago paper where his work is appreciated but not really rewarded and moves to the small town of Dumont Wisconsin to take over The Dumont Register, a paper which has been left to him along with a substantial inheritance after the death of an uncle. Eventually Neil moves with him and by the most recent book, they are firmly a couple with a new informally adopted extended family.
Fidelity is an issue with Mark that arises frequently. He has come late to sensuality and has his share of fantasies that are strong and exert an almost irresistible pull on him. Learning to control sexual urges, to accept them without acting on them outside a committed relationship is a problem we all face. Mark slips once and confesses all to Neil. They work it through and Mark discovers that his job is to turn his sensual desires inward toward Neil to keep their own sexual activity fresh and exciting as time goes on.
Curiously as the books go on the sex becomes more and more graphic. Perhaps the writer has been "feeling" his way with his audience and has become more confident of their enjoyment and acceptance of explicit sex, or perhaps as Mark becomes more comfortable with his intense fantasies, out of body experiences and night dreams that arouse him to orgasms which wake him up, his descriptions become more vivid and straightforward. From the first book the author is able to use sexual moments to add punch to his plot lines. He has a way of sneaking up on the reader and suddenly there are Neil and Mark in the middle of a steamy session. Craft is also able to make the reader enter the almost hypnotic trance states that Mark experiences when he is attracted to another man and which he struggles to control. But the level of intensity increases as the books go on and the descriptions become more detailed and complete. There is a moment in Eye Contact where the sex stops abruptly because the author says the rest is better left to the imagination, making me want to throw the book across the room! (I would have if I hadn't been so sure that was precisely the reaction he wanted). Thankfully with Name Games and Boy Toy the sexual scenes become longer and more deliciously complete.
Parenthood is thrust upon Mark and Neil in Body Language when Mark, along with the inheritance and the paper, becomes guardian of a difficult, sulky teenage nephew named Thad. Through the next two books, Mark and Neil learn what parenthood means and their responses to Thad are touching as they work hard to win his trust and to encourage his interests. Boy Toy is particularly fascinating because Thad's reputation is sullied during a murder investigation and all Mark's protective instincts are fully engaged. At times he is nearly frantic with worry and has to work hard to stay objective and to keep his newspaperman's ethics where they should be. It is fascinating to watch these two new parents develop their paternal instincts so quickly and so naturally. They rise to the occasion as any biological parents would and have to decide moment by moment whether to intervene or to let Thad solve his own problems. All the little complicating worries of parents come to the fore. Initially Mark is concerned that Thad will suffer from the opinions of his peers and seeks reassurance from Neil that Thad is OK. When Neil tells him that Thad has seemingly shrugged the problem off, Neil worries convolutedly that Thad is either too cavalier or that his feelings run too deep and he is trying to cover them up. Like any parent Mark tries to think of all the options possible, sometimes only succeeding in increasing his own fretting. But there are other kinds of moments too. My favorite sentence from Boy Toy reads,
As always in this series Mark is faced with ethical issues in publishing. For me, someone who knows little about journalism, it has been an education to learn that to journalists the editorial is the heart and soul of the paper (I really always did think it was the news). I am paying more attention now to editorials as a result.
This is an enjoyable series on many levels from the wonderfully arousing sex to the problems of two busy career oriented men trying to bring up a troubled teenager to the mysteries themselves. Perhaps for me the mysteries are secondary to the lives of these two guys. Like many other gay characters in other books, they survive negative public opinion to live successful business and personal lives conquering themselves as well as the everyday problems of living.
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