The Backlot Gay Book Forum discussion

I've enjoyed Jordan Hawk's Whyborn and Griffin series so much that I decided to try one of her other paranormal ventures, the Agents of SPECTR series. It's comprised of six novellas averaging about 110 pages each; these stories together form one complete story arc and must be read in the proper order.

"Agents of SPECTR" series in order

Here, I'll provide the publisher's blurb for the first volume:

Unregistered paranormal Caleb Jansen only wants a normal life. But when a demon murders his brother, Caleb knows he has to avenge Ben’s death, no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, his only allies belong to an extremist group who would kill Caleb if they found out about his talent.

Gray is a wandering spirit, summoned to hunt and destroy demons by drinking their blood. This hunt goes horribly wrong, and for the first time in his existence Gray is trapped in a living, human body. Caleb’s body…and Caleb is still in it.

Hotshot federal agent John Starkweather thinks he’s seen it all. But when he’s called to exorcise Caleb, he finds a creature which isn’t supposed to exist outside of stories. For Gray is a drakul: a vampire.

Having spent his life avoiding the government as an unregistered ‘mal, Caleb can’t let himself trust a federal exorcist, no matter how sexy. And he certainly isn’t going to give into the heat growing between them and sleep with Starkweather.

Can Starkweather win Caleb’s trust and convince him he isn’t the enemy? Can Caleb keep Gray under control, as the drakul experiences the temptation of a living body for the first time?

Because if he fails and Gray gives in to bloodlust, Starkweather will have no choice but to kill them both.

Eh, now that I re-read the blurb, it really does not capture the spirit of these books in the least. I don't know that I'd be particularly interested in starting the series based only on that description, but all six books grabbed my attention---I just kept reading and reading, wanting to know what happened next.

It's certainly an odd sort of relationship---one man falling in love with another, who happens to be hosting a powerful otherworldly paranormal being in his mind. This being (not quite the traditional storybook vampire) is very confused to be seeing the world through the eyes of a vibrant young man, and despite the fact that it has observed the world at a distance for thousands of years, it's confused by the human emotions and experiences it is now subject to.

The relationship between these three personalities develops in a way that ordinarily I wouldn't be very thrilled with---but you know, for me it totally WORKS in these stories!

Now, the tales are more violent than the sort of reading I usually care for, and I think the big finale that winds everything up in the final volume was a bit cliché. But overall I enjoyed the stories, and will recommend them to those who enjoy urban fantasy/paranormal reading.

At present the first three novellas are bundled together as SPECTR Volume 1, and before long the final three should be available as SPECTR Volume 2. You'll save a fair amount of money by buying them bundled as compared to the six individual titles; bundling works out to about $5.00 for the equivalent of a 300+ page book, which seems quite reasonable.

My only other complaint is that I'm afraid I'm not all that impressed with the covers. I think they needed a more professional, sophisticated feel; these look like the sort of crudely photoshopped covers that you would have found when ebooks were just starting out. Oh---and while the model for Caleb is a fairly good match for how the character is described in the books, while I was reading I was picturing young actor Samuel Larsen in the role; perfect fit! (Except with long straight hair instead of dreads, of course.)

I've enjoyed this series, although as you say, it is more violent than I usually like. Haven't read the final story yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

Jordan L. Hawk is revisting her SPECTR series and has published what will be the first of a set of new novellas; this new story is titled Mocker of Ravens. I've already picked up a copy, but will first re-read all the earlier stories before trying the new one, so that the plots are fresh in my mind.

So, the stories at this point are:

Hunter of Demons
Master of Ghouls
Reaper of Souls
Eater of Lives
Destroyer of Worlds
Summoner of Storms
Mocker of Ravens

You can buy each individually, but you'll save a lot of money if you pick up the first six as a bundle (it's titled SPECTR: The Complete First Series ).

I still picture actor/singer Samuel Larsen as Caleb when I'm reading these! Perfect fit for the character:

I LOVED this series. Fantastic.
SPECTR, the first series
By Jordan L. Hawk
Five stars

ISBN: 9781941230091
600 pages
Published 2014 Smashwords

What if everything in your life and training told you that demons have to be destroyed, and yet you found yourself falling in love with the most dangerous demon of all?

I caught sight of this fantastic Jordan Hawk series when it was marketed as a bundle—the first six volumes, weighing in at 600 pages. Goodreads friends told me to read it. I resisted committing to such a large undertaking (what if I hate volume 1?); but once I started in, I tore through these six novellas in less than a week: Hunter of Demons, Master of Ghouls, Reaper of Souls, Destroyer of Worlds, Eater of Lives, Summoner of Storms.

Jordan Hawk’s work has long appealed to me. Her ability to create a plausible world populated with characters who make you care is exemplified in her “period” paranormal series, “Widdershins.” I note that not everybody likes this sort of thing (my husband, for one), but if paranormal action gay romance holds any appeal, then the tiny epic saga of John Starkweather and Caleb Jansen will ring all your bells.

I say tiny, because the action over the course of these six books happens in about a month and a half. Each book takes place over a few days, but the impact on the main characters’ lives is, well, epic. What makes the entire series so excellent is Hawk’s attention to detail; she keeps all the threads of the plot carefully in control, weaving the story together until its harrowing, cataclysmic finale.

The entire series is, of course, a metaphor. In a contemporary America where gay people seem to be accepted, it is those with any sort of paranormal abilities who are marginalized, discriminated against, and registered by the government. Thus John Starkweather, turned over to the state as an adolescent by his fearful family, has grown up believing in the mission of SPECTR, a government agency that hires paranormals to control the demons summoned by folks who think they can handle it. On the other side of the equation is Caleb Jansen, an aspiring artist who has hidden his minor paranormal skill all his life to avoid the social stigma. Having been raised with total mistrust of authority in general and SPECTR in particular, Caleb gets drawn into a splinter group’s amateur exorcism that turns his world inside out.

But it is the third major character, Gray, who is the real catalyst for the story. A 5000-year-old drakul, or vampire spirit, he has drifted through countless lives, hunting demons and seeing the world in black and white, through the fragmented, meaningless memories of the dead bodies he inhabits. When he wakes up in Caleb’s body, staring into the intensely blue eyes of John Starkweather, it is the first color he has ever seen. The first pain he has ever felt. The first living human emotion he has ever encountered.

For all three characters, John, Caleb and Gray, the journey is earth-shaking. This is a violent, bloody, exciting action story in the contemporary millennial vein; but it is also a love story of grand proportions. It is a tale of heart over mind, of doing what is right over doing what is legal. There is a profound moral foundation to this story, rooted in the intertwined souls of its three protagonists. There is a certain “X-Men” or James Bond cartoonishness that is only to be expected in the genre, but Hawk gives her characters—almost all of them—a palpable humanity that keeps the reader locked into the narrative.

How I wish that all my millennial gay geek friends would stop trying to find a reflection of themselves in Hollywood nonsense like “Batman v. Superman,” where the only winner is the straight movie-going audience. Jordan Hawk gives us gay superheroes. I may be an aging baby-boomer, but I’ll never have enough of this. Can’t wait to start on the second SPECTR series.

Having just finished book 1 in the first series I can see why everyone is so enamored with the characters. I have just bought the rest of the series and am very much looking forward to immersing myself into Ms Hawk's paranormal world of SPECTR.