Brandon Archer, bestselling homo-erotic author, has had far from the easiest life - and it's getting harder. Writer's block, the bane of an author's existence, has set in with a vengeance. Of course, it is more damaging that he is fast on the track to being an alcoholic, as was his father before him. Growing up, he couldn't wait to escape his home life. He feared his mean drunk father, he hated his spineless mother and he looked out for his little brother as much as he could. His writing was his escape, his salvation. Now it's Christmas Eve, a day that has always carried bad memories for him. He's drunk, as is increasingly the case these days, and is on the lookout to get laid. He doesn't know how many guys he's had sex with. Too many to count - or even remember. He doesn't know yet that this Christmas Eve will be different than any other before. For this Christmas, he is going to be shown the error of his ways by an unlikely being. But is any of what happens real, or just a dream? Can Brandon turn his life around?

Whilst the traditional male/female romance will always be my favourite, I have developed a real penchant for alternative sexualities, or homo-erotic, tales of which there are not enough available. Due to this, I keep a keen eye out for any I think I would enjoy. Upon happening across Christmas With Wistan, I did not immediately snap it up, but am very glad now that I did pick up this tale, which offers a fairly unique twist on Dicken's Scrooge. Brandon is a guy who has lost his way in life, if he ever knew what path he was traveling on to begin with. He has never known love, and the one time he came close he shied away in wariness and fear. Now he is alone, with only alcohol and one night stands with strangers in his life. Accompanying Brandon as he claws his way back from the brink in this story was a great journey. Brandon himself makes a great primary character. There is detailed sex in this tale with multiple partners, in varying circumstances which even homo-erotic fans may find slightly unsettling, yet it fits in with the storyline and makes a great contrast between what is, and what might have been. Brandon Archer has woven a tale where reality and fiction mix, so that I knew not where the actual elements left off and the fiction picked up. This is one that will most definitely have you guessing, especially if you are a believer in the paranormal. Christmas With Wistan is a very good story well worth reading. I wish Brandon Archer much luck as a writer, not that he'll need it with his talent.


Reviewed by: Elizabeth