Velocity

By Robin Tamblyn

Matt Santini is discontented. An unhappily closeted gay actor, he's just lost his lover and is fast approaching thirty without so much as a decent soap opera callback in sight.

24 year old Richard Lucas has even bigger problems. The newest recruit of fading Formula One team Logan Racing, he's fighting to escape the omnipresent shadow of his ace older brother as well as his burgeoning sexuality.

After Matt wins a role in hip new TV drama Nightsearcher (think: Buffy on wheels), the two men begin a secret affair that takes them all over the globe on a collision course between career and companionship in which there can only be one victor.

"Robin Tamblyn follows up backdoor-to-Tinseltown blockbuster King of Hollywood with Velocity, a steamy, adrenaline-rush, fast paced novel mixing hot guys, sexy shenanigans and Formula One racing. Written with verve and a youthful edge, Velocity takes you on the inside track to the macho world of racing, where sex and the need for speed meet head on. Fasten your seat belts readers, Velocity is one pleasure-trip of a ride "
--Michael D. Craig
Author of The Ice Sculptures: A Novel of Hollywood

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595336590
• ISBN13: 9780595336593
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Fast Lane, Masculine Romance

I admit it. I LOVE butch gay novels. You know the kind where some manly pursuit is being explored, and the hero's a blue-collar worker, or a policeman, or an athlete. Of course, I prefer these books to ultimately be romantic, but the butcher the better. VELOCITY, by Robin Tamblyn, falls squarely within these parameters. This novel tells a story of Formula 1 racing, and a hot young British driver, Ricky Lucas, struggling with his hidden sexuality, and dealing with exaggerated expectations placed on him due to his, three times world champion, older brother Michael's accomplishments. After the first Grand Prix of the circuit in Melbourne, Ricky meets Matt Santini, a young American actor. Matt's just gotten his big break starring in a new TV series about F1 drivers and vampire hunters. Sort of a testosterone filled version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Matt's in Australia doing research for his part and he and Ricky are immediately attracted to one another. Unfortunately, both are firmly imbedded in the closet. Ricky's never had a boyfriend, or a girlfriend for that matter, and Matt's just getting over a relationship with a man who could no longer put up with Matt's need for secrecy. A need he perceives as fundamental for his acting success. Surrounding the two male leads are many interesting characters, some straight, some gay. There's Ricky's brother, the homophobic God of F1 and his unfaithful wife, Suzy, whose affair with her husband's teammate Mario is hot circuit gossip. There's also Ricky's team owner, JL, and his in-your-face daughter, Lucy, whose has a long standing crush on Ricky. Along for the ride are notorious magazine publisher Thomas Howard Finster III a man determined to out every closeted celebrity he can, and Matt's buddy Ryan, a successful film director whose willing to act as a go-between for Ricky and Matt. I'd of liked more of this novel, at 174 pages it's almost a novella, but Tamblyn's minimalist narrative style actually works well with this fast paced tale. As I said before, this is a butch book with just the right romantic hook. If you're like me, that's all you'll need to be totally absorbed.

Love at full throttle

Robin Tamblyns' excellent second novel, Velocity, describes the meeting of two entirely different worlds - Hollywood, and its laid-back attitude to sex and relationships, and the testosterone-soaked world of Formula One racing. Racing driver Ricky Lucas struggles to emerge from the shadow of his elder brother and F1 champion, Michael. Matt Santini is an actor assigned to a TV series about F1, and follows the racing circuit to research his part. The two meet and fall in love, but the disapproval of Michael towards homosexuality holds them apart. Meanwhile Michael's wife, frustrated by her husband's impotence, is having an affair with one of the other drivers. The book follows the twists and turns of the racing circuit, and has a number of surprises in store. The plot is as speedy as the sport that it describes. Can hard hearts be changed, relationships repaired? And who will be this seasons' champion? You will have to read it to find out. A good read for those sympathetic to the desires of gay people, and for Formula 1 fans.

Velocity

Matt Santini and Richard Lucas are two young men trying to build up their careers; the one in acting, the other in Formula One driving. So far, so normal. But both these men are homosexuals, which is not directly liked to be seen in their industries. So they do, what most gay celebrities do, they hide it. When Matt gets a job for a new series set in the racing sport, he meets Richard. They start having an affair that takes them all over the globe, but their problems are always accompanying them... The title Velocity says it all. Robin Tamblyn's second novel is fast. It takes you on a trip around the world and doesn't leave you where you were. At least that works for the protagonists, but I'm sure the reader take something with them. At least that worked for me. Tamblyn doesn't drown in clichés, which is very refreshing. Like in King of Hollywood, Robin Tamblyn includes various side blows on existing celebrities. That is very amusing if you know whom Tamblyn is referring to. Tamblyn creates interesting characters and succeeds in making a gay story appealing to all kinds of readers. I for one, really enjoyed it and I'm a straight woman. Go ahead and read this book if you like intelligent stories and are bored by the standard I-know-how-it's-gonna-end plots. Enjoy!