Every Nine Seconds: A Queer as Folk Novel

Rating:
Summary: Fanfic at best
Review: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

This is effectively a fanfic novel which the show's producers commissioned and some of the online fanfic is better. It is supposedly a novel about the last weeks of Brian and Michael's senior year, spring 1989.
At first glance this offers all kinds of possibilities, but the author does nothing with them. Lindsey Peterson does not appear, despite the series' revelation that she and Brian "dated" in high school and that Jack Kinney liked her; the absence of Ted (whom B and M did not know and who was doubtless in grad school grinding away on an MBA), Emmet (who was back in Hazelhurst as a teenager), Melanie (who is goddess knows where smoking a cigarette), Ben (who was probably also in grad school as a nervous young gay man) and Dr. David (a married man of 29 with a year-old son!) is understandable, but what about Lindsey?
The scene in which the six-year-old Justin Taylor appears is totally ridiculous. Apart from causing fans of the show to go "ooo" it has no purpose. And would protective Jennifer have taken her little boy into a liquor store? And if Justin's sister is ten in the first season, Jennifer is pregnant in the novel.
As with most fanfic, the author's writing is totally derivative and does nothing to enlarge on the characters. The idea that Babylon opened on Brian's 18th birthday is weird: did a gay club anything like that big (the Babylon set is a 75,00o Sq ft building) have the potential to exist in Pittsburgh in 1989? I don't think so. And when did Vic get his Babylon ID, if he was living in New York? And is Vic HIV positive in the novel? This is alluded to, but never elaborated on. Debbie would never have let him visit without a full report on his health.
In all, little imagination, less research and no editing make this an inferior work. Hardcore QAF fans will want to borrow it, not buy it, and the rest can ignore it and enjoy the music and naked boys in the show.

Rating:
Summary: Save your money - read a fanfic
Review: Ugh. I was so excited when I heard about a Queer as Folk novel coming out. As a huge fan of the show, I was ecstatic that I would have more of my favorite characters. Man, what a disappointment.

The story is just, well, meaningless. Nothing really happens, just Mikey and Brian getting ready for the prom, going to prom, graduating High School... but none of the emotion you get from watching the show. The characters are boring - Brian just constantly gets it on with someone, and Michael sits around rolling his eyes getting aggravated with his friend. You don't get to know any of these characters, and if it wasn't for already knowing them from the tv series I certainly wouldn't have cared one bit about them.

There are also some issues I have with the book regarding its tampering with the magic of the tv show. For example, the shell bracelet which Brian wears was explained by the show to have been bought in Mexico. Well now the book claims that Michael gave it to him. Then you have Brian cheesily dancing at the prom to the final song, which was "Save the Last Dance". No WAY! That just seems so wrong. That song was something special for Brian and Justin to have danced to. It was THEIR song! Why couldn't the author have just found his own song to include, instead of trying to [use] a powerful moment from the show? That ticked me off. (And personally, I don't even think Brian would have gone to his prom -he would have seen it as something ridiculously heterosexual.) The thing that ticked me off the most though was Brian running into a young Justin at the licquor store. I mean COME ON! That is the STUPIDEST thing ever! And again, it steals away from the magic of the show, in my opinion.

This book is a lot of fluff, and you can certainly find better fanfiction for free on the internet. Save your money!

Rating:
Summary: Fanfic is Better
Review: Unfortunately, this work isn't even up to the level of fanfiction, either in the quality of the writing, the characterization, or the information about the backstory of the show. Much of what it states as "fact" is contradicted in the canon of the show -- Brian's bracelet is the most obvious -- although the second book (which is obviously by the same writer under a slightly different name -- what's THAT about?) is even WORSE in that regard.

I agree with the poster who said that dragging in Justin as a child is cheap and embarrassing -- where was this guy's editor to red pencil this entire scene? And trying to connect "Save the Last Dance" and the Prom -- which is for many fans the highlight of the entire series -- to Brian and Michael in high school undercuts that singular "ridiculously romantic" moment for the show's "supercouple."

We see nothing of the development of Brian's persona -- he seems to have been born, full-blown, as Liberty Avenue's "super stud" in one night. And Michael comes off as mentally challenged rather than simply naive.

A grave disappointment for the real fan.