Call Me Methuselah Gay Fiction, Gay Romance, LGBTQ Romance
JMS Books
Nov 27, 2021
indle
294
Amazon
Since humanity’s first steps in the Stone Age, Methuselah has harbored an ancient secret. Cursed by the shaman to witness the end of days, he searches in vain for a home, place to place, clan to clan, yearning to belong. First in prehistoric Africa and lately disillusioned with love for a hundred years in the New World, he learns all too well to guard his heart and hide his story. That changes when a car crash lands him in the hospital with a fractured skull. Doctors discover strange stem cells in his blood, promising cures and a fountain of youth. Methuselah faces choices of life and death.
Forced on the run again, he comforts himself by reliving a happier time, when he and Arrow, his first love, raft across the paleo-lake Makgadikgadi, which rested in those days on the vast Kalahari. In their age-old journey, the cavemen lovers find a place to call home and learn what it means to belong.
While Arrow’s enlightened sensibilities get the two of them in trouble and challenge Methuselah’s judgment, their adventures in an untamed world bring them together. When Methuselah’s enduring youth reveals itself through the passing seasons, he and Arrow bravely face a dire reality.
From the distant past that lives inside Methuselah, Arrow’s spirit reaches out, providing guidance for our threatened times. He gives Methuselah the strength to do the right thing and the courage to live his true self in the modern world. Arrow’s memory opens Methuselah’s heart and renews for him a hope of redemption in the arms of a caring man today. If only Methuselah permits himself to love once more.
Review by Xanthe
Reviewer for The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
This is quite a different read for me, but I found it to be quite interesting. Methuselah is a man that has lived hundreds of lifetimes. He now goes by the name Oscar and is on the run from someone wanting to use his blood for possible nefarious purposes. To help settle his mind, he now finds himself wanting to write about his life, starting right from the beginning.
I enjoyed the present and past aspects as we flit between the present day with Oscar on the run, hiding from those who may mean to use him, and the past, when Oscar grew into a man and first became aware of his immortality. Oscar writes his memoirs about his time growing up and the plight he shares with his partner, Arrow, as they travel between islands. They experience much hardship along the way, both from people and the environment. As a man who has now experienced so much, Oscar is able to look back and reflect on all that happened, the impact it had upon him and those around him. The relationship between Diver (as he was known then) and Arrow is something he has held in his heart all this time and it clearly means a lot to him. They were rather different in some of their opinions but that didn’t stop them from wanting to be together.
In the present day, the drama comes from Oscar constantly being aware that he needs to hide, keep from staying in any place too long to be noticed that he doesn’t age, and stay away from anyone who finds out anything about him. When the anomalies in his blood are discovered, he knows he doesn’t have long and runs. Attempting to keep his name and face away from modern technology is proving more and more difficult, even with the help of an old friend.
I thought that the story flowed really well between the past and present scenes. It was all wonderfully described, making it easy to visualise the islands from the past and the journeys that Diver and Arrow made on their rafts. Everything related by Oscar brings emotion and frustration of a time when it was a much simpler life but existing was much harder. Though Oscar is so many years old, I still found him to be occasionally stubborn and a little childish, just as he was in the beginning. I like that he held some character traits and that he was aware of it most of the time. He has two people that he has relied upon to help him exist in today’s society, so that he stays out of online systems and is unable to be traced. I found myself never quite sure on who could be trusted, especially when a young man is introduced that may be able to help with another identity for Oscar to use. We’re left with a HFN ending and the possibility of another book that could explore a new relationship for Oscar and a decision on what he would like to do in the future.
It’s not something I normally do, but one line from the book stood out to me as it has meaning both in the past and present tense. It’s talking about genetics and where you are born but it feels like something that we could say at any point in time and it still stands true, as though we’ve learned nothing over time. “Did it really matter where you came from or what you looked like? Wasn’t it more important who you were as a person, your spirit, talents and principles? These things didn’t show in a test. You had to be there; he knew this first hand.”