This was a very, very interesting story. Besides the obviously crazy intense plot twists, what I really enjoyed was how Jwolf played about the power assertions between Tyler and Travis. In the beginning, Tyler displayed all sorts of heteronormative dominating douchebaggery that was typical of how many men treat women, but then Travis started making demands of affection of his own that kind of threw him back in control and made Tyler uncomfortable. I felt like the whole story heavily revolved around this constant power struggle with every subsequent event tipping the balance; Tyler threatening Travis with the gun, Tyler kidnapping him, but then Travis killing the clown against Tyler’s will, Travis going to the police, Tyler trying to kill him but with a reversal of positions at the end, etc.

I also enjoyed the characterization quite a bit. Both characters were vivid and unique, and both of them were flawed. I feel like I read too many stories with characters that aren’t flawed enough, and that makes me feel apathetic towards them, but Travis and Tyler both were intriguing in their own right yet made their fair share of stupid decisions. Both men exhibited blatant vulnerabilities/insecurities. Both hungered for attention, for love, and (again) both had desires to feel like they needed control over their life somehow.

I liked how their affections towards each other were entangled with all sorts of other motives and consequences. Sometimes, it was hard to tell if Tyler really did love Travis, or if he was just psychotic, and if they really felt anything beyond infatuation with each other. “Love” in real life is often adulterated and difficult to define, and I thought this was a more realistic reflection of such “complicated love.”

As for Travis’s final arrest – I thought he completely deserved it. He made way too many irrational decisions that I was pretty indifferent towards his survival near the end. I mean, if you knowingly run off with a serial killer and then all the same be rather apathetic towards the wellbeing of your family, you deserve to be subject to natural selection lol. I’m not sure if Jwolf was aiming for that but I thought that in the latter 2/3rd of the story the majority of Travis’s decisions seemed completely illogical and that did stretch my limits of believability, unfortunately.

Now only the stylistics of the story. I enjoyed Jwolf’s prose and I think a lot of people can benefit from reading his stuff. It was appropriately detailed and I had a vivid image of each and every setting, although there were some awkwardly placed adverbs. The characters were described well too, even though he took a very conventional approach with Travis (which would normally make me stop reading right away). I did catch a few spelling errors (some homonyms) and thought that it could have benefited from another beta/editor, but other than that I’d say it was fairly well-written.

I think the strangeness of the story would be off-putting to some and thus a more detailed synopsis would definitely help reach out to a target audience. Personally, I liked its uniqueness. I like stories that are fresh, exciting, honest, and thematically sound, and “Nowhere Man” definitely reflected all of that.

Thank you Jwolf for writing this riveting tale, and thank you to all the people who organized CSR!

JWolf understands the edge. And, in this short thriller, he doesn’t waste words. Every word transports the reader to a place where there is no turning back and the reader is suddenly, inextricably, sucked in.


Nowhere Man is a dark escape into one man’s reality. But that is not the sum of the story. Every action has a reaction. Note, not an equal and opposite, but every cause has an effect, and this is clear from the time you start reading, to the time you finish. Every scene, every chapter of Nowhere Man is suffused with action and drama born out of a conflict that leads to disaster. One thing is absolutely certain, Mr Wolf is not afraid of the edge, and he places his reader, without too much interior thought, straight into it with him.


Travis lives in a trailer park with his brother and his wife, stuck in a nowhere place. Life is humdrum in the park, until he meets the tattooed Tyler Lafferty. Lafferty is one serious hunk of a man who likes to sing a song called “nowhere man” and Travis is drawn to him, both mentally and sexually. Lafferty plays him like putty in his fingers even to the point of stalking him. But Lafferty isn’t enough for Travis. The young man’s seclusion leads him to meet a man called Wade. And this is where the trouble starts. It becomes apparent that nothing is what it seems, and when Lafferty confesses to Travis that he had murdered his wife, it is too late to turn back. Travis is unable to withdraw, and it is this inability that leads him closer and closer to the edge of his own sanity. Only a miracle can save Travis. That, or murder.


Lafferty is conspicuous in his stalking of Travis.

“I pulled up to the trailer, closed the door to the truck behind me and was ready to creep into the house and pass out. Morning would be here before I knew it.
”Need a light?” I heard from behind me as I approached the stoop. I turned around and put familiar face to familiar name. Tyler was standing right there, flicking a Bic lighter on and off and glaring at me with an expression I didn’t quite understand.”


I recommend Nowhere Man as a rollercoaster of a read. It has a well-constructed plot that will not bore. The reader is hooked from the first word through scenes of action and reaction and the heat is on from the very first line. But the hook in Nowhere Man has several levels. It is real and it is imagined. It is internal and external. It is both positive and negative. There is an underlying threat of impending doom with every turn of the page, and Travis knows and understands the situation he is in and that it must be dealt with.


The conflicts increase between Travis and Lafferty and Wade, and Travis finds out all too late that the conflict has developed into a game.

“Every sound made me nervous. Every branch click under my foot made me jump inside. Every owl hoot and holler made me look up into the trees. Every rustle made me wince.”


Wolf increases the stakes at every turn and puts forces into place for the grand finale. The ending had me pulling my hair out, for I wanted this story to continue.

Well written and easy to read.  The plot moves along at a quick pace and there’s plenty of action and sex throughout to keep it interesting.  I had trouble getting into the story at first.  It felt anachronistic – Travis’ gay sex is limited to anonymous blowjobs for fear of reprisals from his employer, family and community.  Tyler is so homophobic that his sexual attraction to another man makes him physically ill (evidently).  I do know this is still a current reality in many places.  That said, it made me reflect that much of society worldwide has changed because the first few couple chapters sounded like a way of life that was left behind about 35 years ago.

So, the guys in this story have a lot of sex.  Because jwolf writes so well, this makes for great reading.  Notably, none of the sex scenes were gratuitous and this is a credit to fantastic plotting and story development. The sex is integral to the plot, advancing the story.  The scenes also offered greater interiority to Travis’ character and showed Tyler coming to terms with himself and his past. (There may have been a couple gratuitous scenes with the sheriff’s deputy towards the end of the story.)

Neither of the main characters invoked my sympathy. I identify with characters who have a sense of purpose, even if that purpose is flawed or downright evil.  Neither of these men had any apparent goals, no plan beyond mere survival, no direction.  Travis, particularly, could have benefited from some stronger sense of himself as a person and what he wanted out of his life.  He had no reason not to continually go along with Tyler.  He didn’t mind giving up his present life for the man and since he had no plans for the future, there was nothing to give up there.  This made Tyler’s coercion of Travis that much easier.  Either of them could be the “Nowhere Man” of the story’s title. 

Neither of the main characters invoked my sympathy. I identify with characters who have a sense of purpose, even if that purpose is flawed or downright evil.  Neither of these men had any apparent goals, no plan beyond mere survival, no direction.  Travis, particularly, could have benefited from some stronger sense of himself as a person and what he wanted out of his life.  He had no reason not to continually go along with Tyler.  He didn’t mind giving up his present life for the man and since he had no plans for the future, there was nothing to give up there.  This made Tyler’s coercion of Travis that much easier.  Either of them could be the “Nowhere Man” of the story’s title. 

Word.

I read this a while ago.  It was the kind of story that I didn’t have to go back for a re-fresher before getting into a discussion.  The story stays with you long after it's finished.  The plot twist and turns were so fluid that you didn’t know that you were slipping down the other side until you were almost around the next curve.

The absence of cellphones and internet makes me wonder the time period.  To me it felt like it was set in the late 80’s maybe cause that’s when I was coming of age, similar to Travis and why I felt such a connection. 

I don’t know if anyone else got this vibe while reading, but all of the characters interaction with Travis made me start to think that there was going to be a crazy moment at the end where we find out that Travis has multiple personalities and that he is all of the characters, kind of like a ‘Fight Club’ twist.

Example: When Travis locks the front door of the trailer, but Wade still gets in, or how would Tyler know that Travis went to the police? Afterwards, Travis comes home and everything is gone.  Hmmmmm?

I really enjoyed this story and Jwolf’s writing.  He’s very talented and I’m excited to see him posting more. Good choice for the CSR!

I nominate......

Brotherly Love - Circle !!

Such an underexposed fantastic story with plenty to discuss. Also it's like the only story that I really love that I can find within the 20K - 90K range :< 

Also:

Running Far Afield - Libby Drew (18K ish)

Autophobia - Thornton (13K ish)

The Other Side of Me - Domluka (lol)

But all of these are a little out of the word count range...

I sat down to read this over the weekend.

I'd not read anything about the story, so didn't have any preconceptions about the story, or know anything about it.

To say I was somewhat alarmed as the plot unfolded would be pretty accurate. This is not a story I can say I really enjoyed, yet it gripped me all the same.

It is a world of their own making in many ways, although you do get the feeling that in some ways Travis was preyed on by a rather cunning man and a vulture of an ex partner.

There were parts of the story where I actually felt ill reading. It is scary to think that someone could be that bent and twisted, yet the character of Travis is so well written you can't help but believe that he is completely capable of such a killing spree without remorse or effect to his mental state it would seem.

Yet throw in the death of his first real love, and he loses it. It poses a really interesting question. When we really find love, do we ever really fall out of love, even if we part?

I also found it quite spooky to explore the unhealthy aspect of attraction, and how despite the fact that Travis knew he was out of his depth, knew he was in love with a killer, he didn't care.

Weird to think love can do that to a person, but again, the manner in which is presented, you accept it and believe it.

All in all....

A really well written story, somewhat of a thriller I'd agree, but not one that I'd rave about I have to admit. The subject matter was a little too obscure and while I admire JWolfe for being bold enough to explore the theme so well, it would not be a story i'd go back to in any great hurry.

I'm glad the book club chose to read it. It was interesting to say the very least, and I did enjoy the fact that it was not a blissful, ideal, coming of age make believe.

So what are we onto next month then???

Nominating Josh's Blog by Carl Holiday.

Hey guys, I've been reposting what I've written in CSR to the author stories' themselves in the form of reviews. I think the authors and any other readers might appreciate that :3 but totally up to yall

Hey guys, I've been reposting what I've written in CSR to the author stories' themselves in the form of reviews. I think the authors and any other readers might appreciate that :3 but totally up to yall

That's a good idea.  Maybe, too, one of the admins could leave a comment on the stories read by the CSR group along the lines of "This story was nominated and discussed by GA's book club.  Check out their reviews here (and insert the link back to the blog page)."

Just looking through stories we haven't had reviews of before, and that are in the word range.  Found these

There's The Bully by dkstories - 59K so right in the ballpark.  Or Yankee by TheZot, which is at 67K.  Or Tyler by VLista which is 89K (so just at the upper edge). First Encounters by underthehoodster, which is at 52,651

My leans would be The Bully or Tyler

And great idead Fishwings!

That's a good idea.  Maybe, too, one of the admins could leave a comment on the stories read by the CSR group along the lines of "This story was nominated and discussed by GA's book club.  Check out their reviews here (and insert the link back to the blog page)."

Yeah, or that. I think it's nice not to have our discussions fade into oblivion xD Besides the fact that CSR is (surprisingly) a lot of fun, the added benefit of giving the stories we've read more exposure is definitely good

Hey folks! Thank you so much for the awesome comments and great constructive feedback. I learned a great deal writing this story, and I'm glad I had the chance to share it with all of you.