WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 34. Any Given Lifetime by Leta Blake

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41733251

I was very negative on Monday, but if there’s one thing, I cannot stand is bad science fiction, fantasy, or science fantasy stories. So, I am reviewing an author, who is known by me with the vast amount of her books I’ve reviewed so far, but she rarely ever writes in the science fiction or science fantasy genre. This book is very unique to me, I have not read any other book that has reincarnation in the cosmic/divine sense and futuristic nanotechnology in the same story. It’s an ambitious story and quite frankly, something I immediately gravitated towards finishing. Science fantasy as a genre is not only fan-fiction based on bigger franchises like Star Wars, Leta Blake demonstrates this point with this book.

Length-wise, it is 215 pages long and 8 hours 9 minutes on audible. It’s a decent size book that will grab your attention with its unique take on human experience. Leta Blake did her research well on Reincarnation, because I’ve done the same reading as she has noted, more on that in my review.

Plot: In January 2012, Alice has just given birth to a baby, who is the son of her deceased lover Marshall. Alice has remarried a friend of Marshall, Jim. Alice names the baby Neil due to an unknown instinct she felt towards the baby. At another location at the same time, 22-year-old Joshua Stouter scatters the ashes of his deceased lover, named Neil Russell, over a creek. Josh is troubled by the many obligations he has under him between his business interests and Neil’s estate, which turns out to be an actual fortune, despite Neil frugal and no-frills appearance. Neil was a pioneering nanotechnology researcher before he died, Joshua made it his mission to keep Neil’s legacy alive through his fortune to further the boundaries of medical nanotechnology. Readers are treated to flashback of Joshua and Neil’s life, like their first encounter when Joshua was in college and Neil was his neighbor due to the noise caused by Joshua’s dog, Magic, to Neil’s death in an attempt to save Magic. As time progresses, Joshua drowns himself in work in order to cope with his grief. Joshua meets a man named Lee Fargo, who received skin grafts from Neil. They connect and Joshua starts forming a relationship with him. However, tragedy strikes Joshua a second time due to the very technology that Neil championed, causing Lee’s own death. Joshua becomes withdrawn, having lost the two loves of his life, he begins withdrawing from his philanthropic efforts of advancing nanotechnology, losing hope in the technological progress that Neil had envisioned.

Concurrently to Joshua’s story, Alice begins noticing her child is unhappy and as her son grows older, he starts displaying signs of recognizing his past life, especially his old love Joshua. As Neil grows up in his second life, he recognizes things and concepts faster than normal children. He also is more adept at working with technology than even fully grown adults. Alice realizes what was going on, but she tries to cope with it, despite Neil’s odd behavior alienating others, including Jim, who abuses and leaves her. Neil fully knew who he was and who he is, he appreciates all that Alice had done for him and grows to love Alice as his “Second mother”. Neil through his internet searches learns about Joshua and his marriage to Lee Fargo, he is saddening to know Joshua had moved on with his own life, but he did what he could to live his new life. With a lifetime of knowledge already in his mind, he speeds past school and enters college years ahead of others, specializing in nanotechnology research. Neil wanted to help Joshua deal with Lee Fargo’s loss and decided to find a way to reconnect with his true love of two lifetimes. Ultimately, Neil and Joshua’s paths would cross again, when Neil seeks Joshua out for a grant application and hopefully a second chance. I won’t spoiler the story, but there’s a lot of touching truths and cathartic release at the end of the novel.

Review: This is perhaps my favorite book written by Leta Blake, because I can tell she did her research on the subject and truly loved all her characters. Reincarnation is not something most gay fiction writers explore often. Personally, I do believe in the concept of consciousness transfer and the concept that energy can never destroyed only transferred within a fixed system.

In a way, I identify with Neil as a scientific mind, who is confronted with what should be the anathema of scientific knowledge, such as the concept of a soul. This character is quite interesting, I like the snippets we see of him in his original life as the aggressive research scientist, whose life is changed twice due to Joshua’s dog Magic, once out of spite for the dog barking to meet a naked Joshua in his rented apartment and once trying to save the dog from getting run over by a truck. An atheist by most measures in both lifetimes, he learns to open up his mind to the impossible idea that death is not the end. Even though he’s not religious or spiritual, his journey is probably the most spiritual thing in gay fiction. Spirituality is not merely about ritual or orthodox practices, like Christians, Jews, Muslims, certain Mahayana Buddhists sects, and other believe have to be followed to live “good lives”.

Neil’s lesson about life, seeking cure for disease and death, and love reminded me of an old Chinese parable. I remember a story from Chinese folklore about a doctor, who sought desperately to find the secret of to cure disease, so he can be with his lover without fear of disease. He seeks out Buddhists, who told him to pray more and do good, but he witnesses the monks still dying from illness. He seeks out Taoists, who told him to investigate nature and medical herbs to find the right combinations, but he learns medicine can only prolong life, not extend it. In the end, the doctor saves an innocent deer and the deer teaches him the secret to immortality, but he alone is the only one who can benefit from it as immortality means loneliness. The doctor chooses to cherish a short life with his lover, who accepts him back in her life despite his age and their time apart. This Chinese parable can be found as part of the collection called 聊齋誌異 (Liaozhai zhiyi, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio).

The greatest lesson Neil learned, like the doctor in the parable is that his science and search for knowledge must not be for himself, but it’s love that drives the journey forward. It’s that transcendent love for Joshua that kept him going and allows him to continue living his second life, despite his hardships and the abusive relationship of his stepfather.

On the flip side, Joshua story is no less amazing. He’s striving to keep Neil’s original dream alive for nanotechnology, he’s not just a lover pining over someone he lost, but he’s a lover that keeps his love and his former lover’s legacy active. I appreciate the touch of adding Lee Fargo’s character into this story, because it shows Joshua moved on with his life, which does not always happen with partners of dead lovers in romance fiction, especially ones with reincarnation. Joshua is a wounded man, who unlike Neil has had to lose a passionate lover, not just once, but twice in a lifetime. He also shows human frailty and fears, despite wanting to continue Neil’s legacy of nanotechnology research, he became far more reticent after Lee’s death due to the same advances in technology. Progress is not a linear path with new technologies and personal setbacks can lead to unreasonable fear, the science fiction writers understand that principle better than most. While Neil, the scientist, represents the spiritual and fantasy elements of this novel, Joshua’s story, dealing with loss, seeking to improve mankind with technology, and learning to fear the technology he helped create, was science fiction at its purest. Science fiction is the story of technology and humanity, the future and the contemporary. Joshua’s experience is a testament to Leta Blake’s range.

Additionally, I loved the side characters in this novel. Alice as Neil’s second mother was a charming woman, who did everything in her power to love her odd biological son, despite knowing what he was in his previous life. I can’t imagine how such a scenario would work with a mother, knowing that in the simplest genetic sense, Neil is her son, but from a spiritual level, he’s someone else, not created by melding her genetic material with her dead lovers. There’s a tragic overtone in her story too, she’s willing to sacrifice her happiness for Neil, including being victimized by Jim. Another character of note, Lee Fargo is quite charming and fundamentally good for Joshua. He gives love without asking for reciprocation and his self-sacrificing actions that caused him to receive burns on his body gives this character depth. If his spirit truly did speak to Joshua as a prophetic dream to allow Joshua to go back to Neil, I wouldn’t be surprised, but I truly hope that some point in the future Lee will cross back into their lives again.

My Review: 5 out of 5, I’d give this book an even higher score than this, because it truly touched me. The first time I read it, I cried my heart out at various points, because it’s beautiful expression of eternal love. This is how you combine Science Fiction and Fantasy together in a book, while trying to be original and unique with your story and characters. It's a gem that I hope others will one day share as well.