The Machinist by Gryvon is a stand-alone short story originally published in the Storm Moon Press anthology Weight of a Gun. The anthology blurb states the unifying theme: “Everyone knows that guns are dangerous; they have long been a subject surrounded by controversy. Combine them with sex and you have a subject that is virtually taboo, but smoking hot. This anthology explores the intersection of these two worlds, and the sensual possibilities they inspire.”

This story definitely fulfills its original purpose for the anthology: to create a hot situation involving sex with guns. It involves dubious consent and penetrative sex with a gun, but both participants enjoyed it, so I had no problems with it.

As a stand-alone story, it may frustrate readers in that it achieves vivid world-building and characterization only to stop after the sex scene – right on the threshold of what could have been a fabulous novel. You’re going to want to read more about these characters and this world. I hope that the author might soon publish a longer work where this story leaves off.

The story opens in the first-person viewpoint of Avery, who is a machinist (gunsmith). In his harsh, anarchic, and possibly post-apocalyptic world, rival colonies fight over scraps of technology and machinists such as him who can keep firearms in repair.

Avery is languishing in a dungeon, but soon falls into the hands of another army that has overrun his captors. At first, he seems like a vulnerable nerdy type, but his true personality shines forth – he’s an adventurer and a charmer, filled with self-confidence, who ran away from stern parents to seek his fortune. His new employer, Harrow, is a hard-bitten soldier used to complete obedience from his men. When Avery immediately tests Harrow’s limits, Harrow must assert himself with rough sex that gives Avery what he’s asking for.

Val for AReCafe ( )