Reviews of Random Act of Blindness

Reviews of Random Act of Blindness

5 out of 5 stars

"Intelligent and classy book...

Being a straight married female, I wasn't sure what to expect as I began reading this novel. I am accustomed to anything labeled "erotica" being seedy and without plot. This book was a welcome surprise! It is written with intelligence and class. Any awkward feelings I felt as a "straight" person as I began reading this-my first example of "gay erotica"-immediately paralleled the awkwardness being felt in the first few pages by the main character which allowed me to relate, as it should anyone, gay or straight, and keep reading. These characters are so real anyone should be able to identify with them. I loved the clever dialogue! Combine this great characterization with a compelling plot and it becomes about the story, not the sex. However, for those of you interested in the sexual encounters, they are such that would make any couple envious!

In the end, what I found was a very intelligent,witty,and compelling love story about the kind of fulfilling relationship that everyone searches for yet few rarely find in their lifetime. No matter who the lovers may be, no one should ever condemn true love. A truly great read written by an obviously intelligent and witty author! Kudos, Jae Baeli!
~Tanya Gotcher
Little Rook, AR
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Brilliant!!!! I just finished reading Jae's book, "Random Act Of Blindness." I'm not accustomed to writing reviews, so please bear with me as I share my experience of this book. I had scanned excerpts from the book twice before, thinking, "well, this will be a juicy read," not realizing what lay forward. I started reading from the beginning earlier tonight and I couldn't stop until the last page. My initial perception of the story changed after the first 20 pages or so. What I thought was going to be a typical erotic story, ended up being everything but. The characters were authentically portrayed, vividly real. As I read, I felt like a starving soul voraciously hanging onto whatever morsel the next line would leave me with. I wanted more... I was filled with surprises, chuckles, and deeply immersed in the emotional experiences of the characters. Jae's talent with words and the ability to transport the reader to a delightful and entertaining journey is first rate! From the taboos of forbidden sex, to the apprehension of blossoming love, I was transfixed from the first word to the last. I highly recommend this book!!!
Now I can't wait to read the rest of them...... Thanks Jae........well done!
~Sandi Partee
Maine

Reviews of Random Act of Blindness

New Review of my book RAOB

Review of Random Act of Blindness on weRead: 

"I didn't want to put this book down, the characters had me hooked from the start, the erotica so real, I wanted to be there. Its not often I find a book that has me enthralled from beginning to end, Random Act of Blindness is one of the few. I am so looking forward to my next novel by Kelli Jae Baeli." ~ Joanne Cincotta



Excerpts:

 EXCERPTS:

Never, in all her days, had she imagined herself in a position like this. Vivid fantasies aside, Rachel had never considered acting on the impulses that invaded her thoughts throughout the day. They were private affairs stored only in some scurrilous recess of her mind. Yet her mind interacted with other minds, and often, there were fragments of information to be had in decidedly ironic ways. Doctor Bass, for instance, listened to her confession of the scandalous gearshift penetration mirage, and fantasy bondage scenarios and produced a copy of the bondage magazine. While not something Professor Rachel Leeds believed would qualify as a "literary device," it was nonetheless pivotal in the events in which she was now participating. Namely, being on her way to a hardware store to find something to use as a whip on the girl who lay naked and bound in hotel room number 66, the Mark-of-the-Almost-Beast.

Faith. To believe in things not yet seen, they say. Patrice was faithful a long time ago. Then she communed with the faithless, and their cloying demands. She needed evidence because it made her feel foolish. And faith was lost. But the bitterness left her cold, barefoot, detached from the warmth of love and connection. Then she discovered a different faith. One born of her own power, left untapped for eons, swirling, ebullient, joyful. And now, coming full circle, she found herself wholly unqualified, still, to manifest from faith alone. Yet, perfectly accustomed to crying alone, wishing alone. Hope did not float. It sat on the bottom, weighted by its own lie.

New Review of my book RAOB

Genre Horizons: RAOB

Random Act of Blindness is unlike any of my other books...I say that with a generous leeway in definition, because none of my books is like any of my other books.

But i was trying to do something that was not only different for me, but different for authors in general. I wanted to take a genre that is relegated to the fringes, and elevate it into a mainstream sensibility. I wanted to write an erotic book with three- dimensional characters, a recognizable plot, and a handling of the material that made a reader care about what happened to the people in the story. I think I accomplished that, and so it is a book I am very proud of.

I think that authors often underestimate their readers--authors and perhaps publishers, agents, editors and marketeers. If a writer gains fame with a breakthrough novel, he then seizes on that formula and begins to write the same story over and over again; the same people, dressed up in different clothes. There are only a handful of authors I feel write with a certain formula, but still manage to write something new each time. Those are the authors Ii continue to read. And I will read everything they write, with little concern for what genre it falls into; in this way, I believe that many formula writers do their readers a disservice. I remain interested in that author because of his/her command of the language, the ability to create characters I care about; the cleverness to keep me guessing, and the presence of mind to tie up the loose ends and give me a satisfactory ending that will not leave me feeling as though I had wasted my precious time. I want to come away from a book feeling good about something. That doesn't mean I need fairy tales, either (although, really, fairy tales are notoriously dramatic, gory and often filled with characters and deeds no child should be privy to--Hansel and Gretel anyone?)

I find it exciting to hear of a favorite author breaking out of one genre and leaping into another. I can't wait to read that book. It's like seeing your love in new clothes; like driving a new car; like a meal you only get to have once a year, but that you love above all other meals. Thus, I hope to see more authors expand their genre-horizons. There are enough clones out there--both stories and writers. Give me a new species and my interest will be as intense as it originally was with the one that preceded it.

Genre Horizons: RAOB

Random Act of Fiction

The book I am working on now is an expansion project. Random Act of Blindness began as a short story for an erotic publication, grew into a novella, and now, I am expanding it to a full-length novel. This project is dear to me because I am trying to do something that I don't think happens very much in the genre: making a truly erotic story rich with all the elements of any other good novel.

I have always wondered why erotica seems to be sequestered in a dark corner, like a misbehaving red-headed step-child. Why can't we have stories that are interesting, filled with three-dimensional characters, and a plot that keeps you turning pages? Why are erotica and quality fiction so often mutually exclusive? I mean, we all know that we all have sex (unless we don't, and that's another subject). So why do we pretend that sexual activity is not a part of our existence? It is at once one of the most motivating factors in our every day lives. It melts hearts, it wrecks marriages, it defines us, moves us, reveals us, and keeps us in touch with both our humanity and our spiritual selves. So why do we pretend, in our fiction, it is only an afterthought?

Perhaps the crux of the issue revolves around the degree to which we describe our sexual encounters in novels. But then, I have to wonder if this is some atavistic mentality that smacks of our historical shame regarding the sex act itself. I contend that sex is not dirty, unless you haven't bathed.

Another challenge I have found with Random Act is that in expanding a story like this, one can only show the characters having sex so many times before it becomes tedious. It has to become, to a degree, less about the sex, and more about the characters and the story. This precarious balance I seek will no doubt make me a better writer, if I manage to pull it off. It remains to be seen if any publisher finds it a viable and respectable offering in the fiction milieu.

Random Act of Fiction

No, the Other Baggage...

I sat down with my coffee and noticed no mail yet from the source of my current vexation. Within 5 minutes, (last night after our phone call, I sent the txt: Thank u for being u. I get a text from her- Got ur txt. : Training 2day, No email. grr. I text back: Rats! Guess I'll work on writing, music, sculpture & my self. Have a good day! . . .

So I'm spending the day trying to be productive. I have to stop obsessing on this woman. Baggage still needs another 20,000 words or more, unless I'm going to let it be a novella. It did occur to me yesterday that I might consider writing novellas. . .i have this idea that I have to write full-length novels because that's what "real writers" do and with the idea that potential publishers/agents won't take it seriously if you don't. . .well, it's not like they've been beating down my door. I've been doing it all myself. And then there's the argument I make frequently, that a book should only be long enough to tell the story. I don't believe in "padding" as I think it contradicts the act of creation. . .so. IF it becomes clear that Baggage is complete before it reaches standard length, I guess I'll have to let it be a novella. I'm also trying to get A Random Act of Blindness done. It needs to at least double in size to even be able to reach novella size in order to print it in paperback. It's around 50 pages, and needs to be at least 100.

No, the Other Baggage...