Rollercoaster Week but not of Love*

This week’s entry is more than a little bipolar. I had been struggling with the content and tone for a while, then decided to forge ahead. My family has always been more than irreverent in the face of loss. In fact, both sides has seen more than their shares of funerals filled with seemingly inappropriate hilarity. Who am I to tinker with tradition?

New Title from Sybpress

I’ll put on my publisher’s hat for a moment to make a long anticipated announcement.

Seilschaft by Jo Perridge & Cliff Morten

The best selling gay erotica title from Germany is now available in English!

When two rough and ready men get caught in a snow storm during a mountaineering trip their first instinct is simply survival. However, when cold and danger force them together neither man is fully prepared for the consequences, and conflicts soon begin to flare to the surface. Seilschaft is a harrowing, passionate, and sometimes dryly humorous tale of dominance and submission, denial and acceptance, and an intense battle to keep an altered relationship alive despite the odds.

"Mountaineering can be so sexy!... With much psychological sensitivity the authors show the 'walk on the edge' between deep friendship and hurt pride. Surprising turns happen, but one thing stays the same: the hot and hard, uncompromising sex they share."
Translated from a review for Seilschaft in the biggest Germnan gay magazine, "Maenner aktuell", June 2006

Follow this link to the ordering link and a look at the gorgeous cover.

Writing and Distractions

I spend most of my day job writing in my head. Usually it works really well. I can refine a segment or a whole chapter in the course of a shift, then write it all down once I get home. This week was difficult because of my co-worker and long time buddy, Craig. First there was the story about General Giggles that was somehow connected to his studies of Father Yod. But the worse part was the tune he planted in my head. It was The Theme from A Man and A Woman (I had the audio file here, but it made the blog impossible to load, so go to this site instead). Now, I’ve gotten annoying songs in my head before. This job makes me particularly suspeptible, it seems. I’ve had odd things like The Cover of the Rolling Stone running in my head for days. Last week, the naughty boys in this complex were singing Viva Viagra by the pool (a really stupid ad, if you ask me), and I couldn’t get that out of my head for a while. But the tune Craig implanted was insidious. My writing ground to a halt for a couple of days. I rallied late in the week though. I’m better than 3/4s through A Soldier’s Fate. I’ll be creating a web page in the next week or so with a full chapter and other excerpts for readers to check out.

On top of distractions in my head, we are living in limbo with the film projects. I don’t know what film we’re be working on or even what country we’ll be in next month. This makes me, the anal retentive traveler, very, very nervous. More on this as it develops.

Change and Sadness

It’s been a week of sharper ups and downs than even my normal LA roller coaster ride. I have some people that I’m fond of mover out of my every day life. Change is the only constant here, it seems. Still, the change in a comfortable routine is difficult. Our stalwart set guy and Sybpress driver, Randy, has returned to his ancestral homestead in Dayton on family business. It wasn’t a goodbye, but he’ll be away for some time. As he’s become a fixture in many of our activities, it’ll be strange not seeing him. However, he is being a good son, so we wish him well.

And there has been another death in my family. This time, it was a favorite Aunt and the last link to my mother. My Aunt Eleanor was always a lovely and stylish woman. I’ve always admired her. She dated Bill Cosby while in High School and he never really got over her. While he was on the Cosby Show, he sent her a beautiful blown up photo of her has a teenager. A copy of it ended up on the set. Late in life, he contacted aunt Ellie himself to invite her and her family to dinner when he was in town. I’ve been thinking a lot about her, my Mom and their older sister, Elizabeth. They loom large in the series of short prose I’m working on now. The memories make me sad, but the stories are all quite funny. So, I’ll cry a little bit today, then have a glass of wine in honor of the Harris sisters. Then, it’s back to work. Hopefully, those stories will bring them to life for those not fortunate enough to have known them.

*Love Rollercoaster by The Ohio Players

Paris, Tsunamis and Naked Actors

Paris Blues

Of late, my yearnings to return to Paris have been particularly strong. I’ve been planning the trip for our 10th wedding anniversary next year, and that’s helped a little. At least I have a firm plan for return. I’ve even started planning to do some cooking with my lovely French friends while we’re there. I plan to introduce them to the steak sandwich, and if I can find a way to get the key ingredient, I shall make a sweet potato pie for them. But that’s more than a year from now. The plans help. However, it’s been very difficult lately. It’s not a snobby or cultural thing. It’s a sybarite thing. I miss the pace of the city. I really miss the food. Paris is a very big, urban cosmopolitan center. One commute during rush hour will clearly illustrate how the city is very much like New York. However, despite this being every much the bustling metropolis, there is a true appreciation for slowing down and having a lovely cup of coffee, or simply enjoying an exquisite morsel of bread. In fact, that there is so much time spent on beautiful bread tells a visitor that food is not just food. It is part of the joy of life – joie de vivre! I miss just living with my senses and savoring everything.

I have not been helped with my longings by the media either. The newest Bourne film has some scenes in Paris. One of them around and in Gare du Nord, the train station we used when we last went to Cannes. Then, there is the new Mr. Bean film, Mr. Bean’s Holiday which is all over Paris, the TVG train and then in Cannes as well! I actually recognized a small intersection there. TV has given me no respite. One of my favorite TV chef’s, Gaida de Laurentis, did an episode of her tavel show, Gaida’s Weekend Getaway’s in Paris. She went to culinary school there. That show brought up all the memories of the many Italian restaurants we visited (surprisingly easy to do, incidentally), and reminded me of all the things I have left to see there. Paris is very much like New York in that it takes a long time to really know the city. I worked in New York a year and lived only 90 minutes away by train and visited often. However, I’d say that I still don’t know ¾ of that city well. Alas, today, I’ll have to make due with some home cooking with a French accent.

Making Waves

We received our Tsunami Evacuation Plans by mail on Friday. Don’t worry, family who is reading this, we are at the very outer edge of the Evacuation Zone. According to the color map on the very nice, glossy brochure, we just have to cross the street to be out of the zone. Additionally, there is a police station five minutes from here that is out of the zone completely and is an evacuation center. It was a cryptic mailing. The thing that was of concern for me was the phrase ‘we will issue an evacuation warning in advance of the event if there is time...’ If there is time?!! Geez. Well, all we have to do is cross the street. Why did we get this mailing? We think it was because of the fallout from the actual Tsunami warning that went out last year. It was a thorough warning and reached a lot of people, but it gave us no plan as to how to get away from the coast or where to go if we could get away. That was a fascinating experience. Usually, we get the special announcement alert on TV, it’s an Amber Alert. I was staring at the word Tsunami when a friend who lives along the Venice Canals called to ask if he’d heard the alarm correctly. That’s when I got concerned. We were fine in Playa del Rey (we were 100 feet above the coast by the time you reached our last apartment from the beach), but he is at ground level. Fortunately, the alarm was canceled shortly afterward. We do keep an emergency kit handy, and my friend has neighbors in houses that are tall enough and rated strong enough to withstand waves long enough for rescue. Isn’t LA fun?

Playing with Actors

I get mail about my blogs like last week when I wrote about working with actors. Most are nice notes. Some are envious. Those opinions are misguided. Working with actors is not the same as meeting them as fans. It’s serious work where everyone’s creativity and skill is put to the test. We all have to be careful of each other’s sensitivities while pushing hard to get just the right kind of performance. Last Saturday was a blast for everyone. We did a lot of good work, and I saw the potential for amazing performances. However, it was exhausting.

But that’s not to say I don’t have fun with them. Actors are attractive people with big personalities and lots of charisma. That’s why people want to watch them. They are also flirty and naughty because they like being looked at – a key part of being an actor. I’ve loved interacting with them from the first one I ever met, but it is a challenge to this sybarite. Once you enter into a working relationship with them, it’s hands off thinking about anything else. Even before I was married, this was difficult. They tease and flirt and even make overtures that they may or may not follow through to keep a producer close. My first cast was for the first version of Hidden Passion Films nearly 20 years ago (have a ranted lately about how long it can take a concept to get a green light). Those gorgeous boys drove me crazy. While we were at a Romantic Times Convention to promote the concept, one of the actors answered his hotel door with a towel around his neck after just leaving the shower. No towel around his waist, mind you or pants or underwear, for that matter. He was fabulous, but I was trying desperately to be professional. Dang it all! Maybe because I’m a bit older now and married, I can enjoy the flirting more without being frustrated. Of course, I still think evil, horrible things about my actors at times – okay, most of the time. I channel those lusty urges into my writing. My HPF actors are all very yummy and naughty. I adore them and think they’ll end up with quite a following. I’d say more things to incriminate myself, but some of them read this blog. :)

Torturing My Leading Men

The long hand version of A Soldier’s Fate is in the home stretch. I should have the cover art very soon and the webpage shortly after that. This section of the book has been difficult because I am actively traumatizing Rik and Vincent. It’s been difficult to write – surprisingly so. However, I came up with some surprising character development, so that’s been fun. Stay tuned for more.

Hidden Passion Films - Romance Novels for the Samll Screen

It’s been an odd week. There was the water heater fiasco that befell us and a couple other people we know in different parts of town. There was the one errand I tried to do all last week that remains undone. It was a frustrating week on almost every level I can think of. But there was one thing that happened that was both fun and creatively satisfying.

We started work on the two short films that will launch Hidden Passion Films. The concept is to produce films from period romances for the small screen (DVDs, download). We picked two very simple scenes that represented different periods as an example of how the full features would look. One of them is The Gift of Surrender the other is The Gunslinger. More can be found on the concept on the website for Hidden Passion Films. It’s still under construction, so I’m not sure how the type will appear on some browsers, but the concept is there.

The shorts are less than 10 pages each, so we did the rehearsals for both in one afternoon. Jon lead the actors through a table read, and then walked through the basic blocking of the movements. The actors for The Gunslinger are Travis Willingham . I like his current headshot a lot better, and I like the scruffy version even more. I’ve written about Travis several times in this blog. He’s really good in the role, and he’s extremely funny to work with. Our leading lady is Jennifer C. Sparks, a relative newcomer who is also quite good and very natural in the part. It’s always a fascinating experience to hear the words you’ve written actually performed the way you heard them in your head. I love writing novels for the independence of the creative process. I am very possessive of my characters and loathe to let them go. However, there is something wonderful about seeing the characters come to life even though the writer must lose them to the actor.

The leads for The Gift of Surrender have changed since I first mentioned the short. We had to recast Nikulainen as the original actor has gone on a theatrical tour. The new actor is David Matthiessen. He is quite dashing and compelling in person, and the camera really loves him. I should note for those who've seen POTC: At World's End (SPOILERS for those who haven't) , that when Johnny Depp seems to stab himself on the Black Pearl, he's actually stabbing David, who did such good impressions of Depp, he was given those lines about the rope. There were several moments during the rehearsal when I heard him speak the lines the way I heard Nikulainen in my head. It was thrilling. The very lovely Lisa Lee is still on board for Sarianna. She’s a bit more of a spitfire than I envisioned Sarianna, but I liked the interpretation. She really enjoyed tying up our Niku. The poor man was kept on his knees through all the direction that Jon was giving. He didn’t seem to mind. I certainly didn’t.

It was an exhausting day despite relatively little physical activity. Working with actors takes a lot of mental energy, and the process itself is tiring. I was in bed hours before my norm. Naturally, no writing got done Friday or Saturday. That’s okay though. I felt that we accomplished a lot. Now, we have to secure the location and set the dates. Stay tuned.

A Brief Rant

Some weeks ago, I was ranting about all the mutations of cheese steaks that I found appalling. Well, the most appalling of all is in my home town of Philadelphia. There at the Barclay Prime Hotel is a Kobe Beef cheese steak that costs $100! It has shaved truffles on it, for Pete’s Sake. That’s ridiculous. I’d never order that unless it came with a side of the French Rugby team, naked.

Film, Food, Writing and Spider-Pig

Food, Film and Me

What follows is a lot of rambling. I’m becoming more like my southern relatives as I get older. There is a point in all of this.

Food has been center stage for me of late. It’s a large part of A Soldier’s Fate. I’ve actually made all the recipes in those books. It plays a role in the Cop novel, Freak Experts (more on that later), and it looms large in my personal life. My day job is located near no eateries. Even with a car, it would take too long to find something and get back in time. So I’ve been cooking more. And that’s a good thing. It’s easier to try to eat right when there is no alternative (yep, given the option, I’ll still go for an In and Out Burger). And it’s not a chore, really. I’ve been hooked on cooking shows since The Galloping Gourmet. I had a chance to watch the old shows on the Food Network a while ago. They were as funny as I recalled. From there, The Frugal Gourmet sparked my fancy. I started cooking for my family around then.

It was The Food Network that really opened up my culinary world. I’ve watched it since the beginning and have a stack of recipes from the website that is several inches thick. I never thought of myself as more than someone who could follow a recipe until recent years. Last week, I was able to re-create an amazing meal I had at the Bistro of Santa Monica by figuring out what the key ingredients were. And I’ve figured out how to make my favorite appetizer (tex-mex eggrolls). I found a recipe that was close to the one I had at the Cheesecake Factory (the only thing I haven’t had there is the cheesecake).

I have not been alone in becoming a Foodie. Over the years, it’s been easier and easier to find exotic ingredients in regular supermarkets. You should have seen the face of the Acme Markets manager in Philly when I asked for Panko Flakes 15 years ago. It’s easy to find almost anything mentioned on a cooking show now. And the Foodie thing is all the rage in films this year. We thought one of the best scenes in Spiderman 3 was the omelet making scene between Harry and MJ. Not only was it a flat out sexy scene, the omelet was perfect (they are not supposed to be brown on the bottom). I admit to being really geeky in noticing that the food was correct in that scene, but I’m not alone. The film makers behind Ratatouille hired the renown chef behind The French Laundry restaurant to consult on the kitchen scenes. They actually made all the dishes scene in the film and then digitally animated them. It was a cartoon and the food looked amazing. Now, the whole rat thing, I still shudder over. I enjoyed the film, but admit to getting freaked out by a number of the scenes.

The food in movies things is a pre-occupation for me, because I’ll have to be the food stylist on the short and or feature we’re developing (I say that because we may skip the short and do the feature – we don’t know right now). The entire short revolves around a meal of fried chicken and biscuits. The food has to look appetizing on camera. It doesn’t have to be that edible (in film, it often isn’t), but I’ll make sure it is for the actors’ sakes. And we have to have several plates to replace food that has lost its looks. Neither the short nor the feature will have the budget for a stylist, so that will be me. I make good fried chicken, and I’ve made biscuits good enough to get past my southern Grandmother. I’ve even fed cast and crew on three different shoots. I cook to relax and focus, so I often cook during production meetings. But this will be a lot of pressure. Maybe it’ll get me a food show. (Food Tips from a Mad Black Woman)It would have to be set in Paris. Okay, now I’m digressing. I know how to make the food. I’ll have to get some pointers from an actual stylist on how to make things look glossy and what not for the camera. It should be a fun thing to learn.


Pop Culture Comes Home

A few weeks ago, while on our way home, we saw searchlights. That’s not odd for LA, but it is weird on a weeknight and in a part of town with no theaters. As we passed the lights, I could see a huge sign from the freeway. Our neighborhood was one of the LA locations with a Quik E Mart . There were long lines for weeks, but we finally decided to go. It was surreal, to say the least. I have to commend the guy manning the Squishee machine. He actually said in a reasonable Apu impersonation ‘Thank you and please come again.’ I was impressed. And I enjoyed that Squishee and the accompanying brain freeze. The movie was a blast. It was very inappropriate and delighted in being so. And for reasons I simply cannot explain, my favorite thing from the film was:

Spider-pig

Spider-pig

Does whatever a spider-pig does

Can he swing from a web?

No he cant

He's a pig

Look out,He is the spider-pig

On the Writing Front or Pile it On!

I am nearly finished the first draft of A Soldier’s Fate. Oh, I’m very pleased that Ann Cain will be doing the cover. I really loved her work on A Soldier’s Choice. And the plot for the third Surrender novel, The Legacy of Surrender is well underway. The memoir about my family is slowly coming together. It sounds like an insane juggling act, but aside from the occasional notes on the memoir and Surrender book, my focus is A Soldier’s Fate. In the midst of all this, Freak Experts, my cop novel, has started percolating once more. I had a real block on that book for a few key reasons. I really wanted to do the story that happened before the script for the film takes place. But that wasn’t really working for me. The crime plot was not as strong as what I have in the script. I had many of the same problems writing the novel for Demon Under Glass. Adapting our film was far more difficult than I ever thought. When I decided to stop fighting the script for Freak Experts and include it with flashbacks from the partners’ first case, the block went away. I can’t get to it for some months, but I know what I want to do.

That brings up another problem. I had never planned on writing a romance novel for the film ‘The Gunslinger.’ That’s what the film that needs the fired chicken dinner. We had intended it to be just a romance novel for the small screen. However, since we’re doing a trailer for The Gift of Surrender, I’m now given pause. It would be a shame to put a short up for a romance and not have a novel to go with it. I just don’t know when I could write it. Ah well, that’s for another blog.

Next week (hopefully), the rehearsal for the shorts.

Grab Bag

Sorry for the lack of a post last week. My wrist still doesn’t like me using a keyboard – even with a brace. The healing is very slow going.

Words and Phrases

My favorite adjective this week: batty. It was used in an LA Times report on the upcoming TV season. I think that’s a much more clever way of saying someone is nuts. Batty implies an eccentric sort of behavior one expects with those involved in creative pursuits. Needless to say, I know a lot of batty people – including me. My favorite new phrase: Popular Eugenics (see this link for an explanation of Eugenics). That’ sounds like a profoundly twisted version of Popular Mechanics. I found the phrase in a book from the turn of the last century on Sex Education. Though the text was considered progressive, the good doc who wrote it still seemed to think that ‘the singular vice’ (love that phrase, too) was responsible for all sorts of disease and moral depravity. My favorite forecast: warm with a 20 percent chance of fire. It’s been that kind of summer in Los Angeles: very hot, too dry, no rain. I’m really not getting how anyone can retire to a place like Palm Springs.

But What's it About?

Writing wise, the theme has been what my novels and short stories are about. I’m not talking about what the plots are, but what the central theme of the stories actually is. Sometimes, that’s not obvious – even to the writer. I’m working very slowly on a collection of stories about my family at different points in my life. They are very amusing tales that I’ve told many time. Why were my mother and I running through the entire length of an Amtrak train en route to New Orleans? What did my ex-marine turned cop father do when the joint was passed to him at the George Harrison /Ravi Shankar concert I begged to be taken too (yes, I’m that old)? Why do my bother and I really hate Stuckey’s . Each answer involves a very amusing story. But it wasn’t until recently that I figured out what the stories were really about. All of them surround the moment when I really saw my parents as people and not Mom or Dad. That realization has helped the writing flow better. Jon is wrestling with that same question concerning a new script. The lack of an answer has stymied his progress.

Sequels

The sequel writing is on schedule. I hope to have A Soldier’s Fate published for Yaoicon in October . Despite the wrist, I’m ¾ of the way through the writing. The Legacy of Surrender will have excerpt by then, but won’t be published until early next year.

Films

The film shorts will be shot soon. I’ll have blogs from the set and lots of photos. There is a website in the works for those as well. We may have a feature on the horizon. I have to keep mum on that for a while.

My wrist is achy, so I have to hold off on my food, sex and movies comments for next week.

Mourning Mentors

I've written a blog about some writers who have recently passed away and their influence on my work. One of the authors was a subject in my first blog here.

You can read that post at:

http://sybpress.blogspot.com

Where to Put the Heterosexuals

Snippets of conversations from the past week or so:

“Which one of you cowboys made a woman cry?”

“I can do Greek, I’m easy.”

“I like the naked guy with the angel wings better than the naked guy lying with the wolf.”

“But why was she dressed like a cave girl?”

“What was up with that goat?”

“So where are you going to put the heterosexuals?”

I’ll address the last statement because it has to do with a dilemma I’m facing with one of the novels I’m working on. I could explain the other snippets, but they don’t make much sense even after putting them in context. They were all part of various work-related conversations.

A Soldier’s Fate, is not just a continuation of Rik and Vincent’s story. There is a strong subplot revolving around Bobby’s becoming a soldier and falling in love. This has been a dilemma because most of my readers and, frankly, the strongest sales have been from the gay community. I’m not saying that there would be no interest in Bobby and Ellie from that community, but I can’t have Rik and Vincent viewed as mere supporting characters. Thus, I’ve had to keep a close eye on how I’m developing the story and not let Bobby’s story overwhelm the novel. Then again, I do have a lot of material in my head concerning those two characters that I don’t want to abandon. I’ve decided to take advantage of the website and put the material there as bonuses. Now, there are schools of thought dictate that writers should write the novel and let it go where it will. That is a valid argument, and I am a veteran of mixing genres as I see fit and hoping the readers will follow. However, A Soldier’s Choice has done very well thus far, and the feedback I’m getting is the readers really love being with Rik and Vincent. I don’t think it would be fair to them to give them less than what they’re looking for. Hopefully, I’ll be able to have the best of both worlds by putting the bonus material online.

The Legacy of Surrender is well underway. The main plot revolves around Princess Kirsi and the handsome and mysterious Prince Ruark who washed up on a riverbank near her home. He comes from a far away kingdom with assassins at his heels and a grave problem for which he needs extraordinary assistance. For Nikulainen and Sarianna, the dilemma is how much their stable kingdom should involve itself in the affairs of a far away land. They must also face the possibility of losing their beautiful, beloved daughter to the enigmatic stranger. Meanwhile, Prince Alkarin is coming into his own as a Captain of his father’s elite guard and quite a rake amongst the ladies. This novel is shaping into a story in the vein of the previous Surrender titles. It mixes impending disaster with desperate romance. This one also pushes the notion of sensual possession to the absolute limits.

Alas, I cannot do an exerpt from either. Both books are still largely in long hand. My wrist is already protesting the amount of typing I’ve done today. That nun who tried so very hard to teach me touch typing in high school would be cackling her head off at how important that skill has become to me – if she’d had a sense of humor. At the time a pooh poohed the secretarial arts. What did I know?



Hopefully, I’ll be able to input more material by next week.

Blog Delay due to Injury

I've sprained my wrist badle enough that I can't type. I'll have an extra long blog over the weekend or next week.

On Mantasy and Possession

Book Trailers

The audio clips from A Soldier's Choice were causing bandwidth bedlam on the website. Thus, I pulled them, made them into booktrailers and put them on Youtube, where they have plenty of bandwidth. I only kept the ones that were spicy. Here are the links:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uETejx10OT8

and

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NYj67zQL6_E

Possession

This is an early blog. Our weekend plans are completely in the air, so I thought I'd post tonight. The subject this time are what certain words mean in the realm of romantic ficiton and in real life. The term possession and possessiveness has been coming up a lot, because of the Soldier's sequel, A Soldier's Fate and the Surrender Three-quel, Legacy of Surrender (yes, it is a title change - we thought we could keep the blank of Surrender theme going). The description of this blog even uses the term possession.

Possession is a tricky business. In fiction, especially the romances that I write, a possesive lover is a wonderful thing. My men are never overbearing or jealous (they have absolute confidence in their lover's fidelity and devotion), but they are focused in their attention on their beloved. And they don't like their beloved touched unduly by others. Their gazes are intent. They are ever ready to claim what is theirs. In A Soldier's Choice and the upcoming sequel, Rik and Vincent are loathed to be separated from one another. They are happiest within arms length of each other. And woe is he (or in the case of the sequel, she) who has the foolish notion of coming between them. The key to writing these characters as romantically possessive and not psychotically so is a matter of degrees of intensity. It helps that the lover is willing to be so intensely possessed (that's part of the whole surrender notion in all of my erotica). Then, there is the degree of fierceness. Nikulainen may not want Sarianna's servant bathing her, but he would never try to skewer his Grandfather for embracing her. During The Price of Surrender, Nikulainen's realtionship with older brother, Armas is such that he allows him to protect Sarianna in his absence. Yet, he still quietly bristles at all the attention she receives during daily royal audiences. Vincent and Rik are very possessive of each other after going through so much to have their relationship, but each has many people they are close to. There are even more that are attracted to them for various reasons. Rik came up with the notion of reclaiming one another from outside touches as a way to cope without getting violent. It's a fun way for them to cope.

Now mind, gentle readers, that this is possession in the fantasy world where the owning is mutual and benign. I could never stand a smothering boyfriend, and I always thought the song 'I'll Be Watching You' was creepy and scary. I do not advocate possessiveness other than in between the covers of a book.

Mantasy

No, dear ones, I'm not misspelling again. It's a term Stephen Colbert used this week to describe the life of Matthew McConaughey. I also thought it was a whimsical term for m/m fiction. It's also the name of a gay porn movie (Mantasy Island). If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will. We like Mr. Colbert so much that Sybaritic Press offered him a contract for his erotic sci-fi novel, Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure. It would have been our longest title. As yet, he has not accepted.

Damsels, Teasers and Excerpts

First, let me do a little cross publicity. Sybpress’ newest author, Brenda Petrakos has a website up complete with performances of one of the stories from Stories from the Inside Edge. Go to: http://sybpress.blogspot.com/ for the details and links.

The fiction is proceeding at a good pace. I’m better than a third of the way through writing A Soldier’s Fate on paper. I’m more than half way through the novel in my head. My non-genre short story is going well though more slowly. I have a deadline of sorts now. Marie is looking for short stories for the end of July. I hope it’ll be in good enough shape by then to submit.

I’m really jazzed about the inspiration I found for Surrender’s Destiny, the third of the Surrender novels. I was watching a show called Terry Jones’ Medieval Lives . In the one on damsels in distress, I heard a story of a Scottish Princess who noticed a good looking man on her property while out riding. She scooped him up and carried him off. No one knows what happened between them, but two weeks later, they were married.

Since the Surrender books deal with possessing and owning men by lovely royal women, this gave me a wicked idea for how Princess Kirsi snares her man. That notion has also given me some white-hot ideas for love scenes. Makes me long to warm up the old riding crop. But, I digress. I’ve also figured out what big brother Alkarin has been up to, and even how to end the story. It won’t be done in time for the fall book fairs and conventions, but I will have a release date and some excerpts for a promotional CD. Of course, I post excerpts here.

I’m learning from the promos that have resulted in the most sales. My personal author’s page is getting a make-over. And I’m going to have separate pages made for each title or series of titles, so I can advertise them in their niche market without hassle. Separating A Soldier’s Choice to its own site has enabled me to advertise it on yaoi sites and gay erotica sites. The ad campaign is a few dollars a month, but has resulted in the best sales I’ve ever had for a title. I’m going to do a page for the Surrender Titles and advertise them on mainstream romance and fantasy sites in the same fashion and see what happens.

Speaking of excerpts, I’m finally posting a taste from A Soldier’s Fate. The book is still on notepads, so I’m typing from notes. This is really rough and unbeta’d.

“So what’s with all the books?” Vincent asked.

“It’s your employee handbook,” Remak replied. “You should each have a copy.”

I placed mine on the large pile of papers accumulating at my elbow while Vincent leafed through his. My focus was on the schedule.

“After the spar tomorrow, Vincent will meet with Chef Jean. We’ll meet with the generals and brief them on the parameters of the study,” I said. “Vincent, do you think you can join us at some point?”

Vincent glanced up from the book. “Dunno. I have a lot to cover, and I don’t know what chef Jean has in mind. Who wrote this section on interacting with Altereds?”

“That would be Dr. Auerbach,” Remak replied.

My lover’s irritated tone prompted me to pick up my copy and look for the apparently offensive passage. In the Dos and Don’ts section under Sudden or Unwelcome physical contact was a caution that such actions could insult in one’s face being melted off.

“I think the book has to cover the worst case scenario,” I offered.

“I have never melted...”

“There was that sergeant’s glasses,” I countered.

“He got them off in time.”

“True, but a civilian in similar circumstances could sue,” I said.

“And that’s not the worst I could do,” he muttered.

“Hardcase,” Remak said patiently. “The language in that section was chosen to disabuse civilians who may be tempted to touch either of you or any Altered.”

“Secretaries who want to pet your hair,” I suggested because that was what I was thinking about.

“Oh,” he frowned. “Well, bollocks to that.”

Sonja Becker entered the room as Vincent slammed the book shut. Her cool, efficient demeanor had returned. She smiled as she took a seat. Vincent still glared at her. He moved closer to me as we began the meeting.


***

All through the evening, I attempted to remove my suit jacket or tie to get comfortable. Each time, Vincent glowered at me with clear disapproval. Thus, we put everything away in the new apartment, ate then cleaned up still buttoned up in our suits. Bobby noticed this. He rolled his eyes before heading off to his room for the evening. I heard him say something about soundproofing in the new place. Vincent was putting away his knives as Bobby’s door closed. He looked at me intently.

“I’m going to reclaim you from her,” he said softly. “Come with me, now.”

More to come next week! Yes, I am aware that I am evil.

Familiarity and Potential for Contempt

The first rule of every writing class is to write what you know. That makes perfect sense. The characters drawn from reality have more depth and complexity than ones formed solely from the imagination. Long time readers of mine have been given cause to wonder about the extreme adventures I’ve written about in my erotica. My male readers wonder how I know so much about men to write in a characters head. Well, I admit to having some escapades that give me a thorough grounding in the wilder side of erotic relationships. And I do know a lot about men. For a long time in my twenties, my circle of friends was mostly guys. I was the gal pal of the group. I had a ringside seat to their dating and their friendships and how they viewed life and the world. I listened very carefully and was given a lot of insight. Consequently, I remain friends with most of my exes. And I learned to write male characters who are very real. As for the gay men, I’m a long time fag hag. I have close friendships with gay men. And they talk a lot, too.

As for the settings in my novels, I certainly didn’t spend any time in any of them. However, I went to Journalism school as an undergrad. I was trained to research a subject thoroughly in order to write about it with authority. That’s an easy skill to transfer to fiction. Much of the fiction I write springs from reality. I read a lot of histories and biographies before I wrote ‘the Privateers.’ Even though it is set in space, I had the script read by a leading expert in pirate lore. In the Gunslinger, the heroine is reading a dime novel about a real life gunslinger. I drew that from the real life of Kit Carson who came to the rescue of a woman kidnapped by Apaches. He found her body, unfortunately, and amongst her belongings was a dime novel about him. The research gives reality to the story and often helps fuel the plot.

I’ve been having a blast with the research for A Soldier’s Choice sequel, A Soldier’s Fate. That has included everything from military cooking and nutrition to historic resistance movements and undercover espionage techniques. It’s quite a lot of fun, and the novel is coming together nicely.

But writing what you know can be a minefield when it is a story about one’s own family. I’m working my way through a story about my mother. Though it is fictional, the events are real. And with any family based story, history can be revisionist and feelings can be hurt easily. It’s really hard to explain the notions of creative license and artistic vision to irate relatives at a reunion. In many ways, this story will be my most controversial work where they are concerned. They flat-out don’t understand the erotica. Aside from worries over the reaction looming over the story, the writing is hard. Grief never really leaves. Though the story itself is not sad, I find myself crying a lot. That makes for slow going. But I’m pleased to finally tell her story.

I’ve cried enough today for lost Mothers. I’m off to roast some garlic.

Big Fun Concludes -- More on New Novels

Month of Fun Concludes

It has been a great month celebrating the 47th birthday. Most of the Moth of fun involved consuming a wide variety of my favorite foods and beverages. There was the amazing chocolate truffle cake that was also a work of art, and the cinnamon cream cake from the Corner Bakery. We even made a batch of wonderful ginger spiced cookies and chocolate chips to end the month. But I didn’t gorge myself on sweets alone. I am a carnivore who had a really fun month. I made my own Carpaccio to share with Marie. I steamed Alaskan King crab claws to have with champagne on the night of the actual birthday. I like to think that the crab came from Sig Hansen and his crew on the Northwestern. The odds are pretty good that it did. Wherever it hailed from, it was delicious. I really like those crazy Norsemen on The Deadliest Catch. I also like the Norsemen on New Scandinavian Cooking, but that’s because one of them looks like Sean Bean. But I’m digressing.

Back to the food. I also had a papusa from the local El Salvadoran bakery café. I got hooked on that tasty snack while temping at a factory where a lot of Salvadorans worked. I also learned to make Hungarian Goulash there, but that’s another story. Finally, we managed to visit the French Bakery Café a few times for their wonderful breakfasts and sandwiches. I’m surprised that I didn’t gain thirty pounds for 31 days of fun, but there is a long walk as part of most of my commute during the week and also on the weekends. I haven’t made headway in the wait loss area, but I’m not losing ground. There were some big fun events like the movie screening and audition I wrote about earlier. I became an anime character with a great figure! But I also had some really fun quiet moments with friends watching old movies on TV at home. Considering how upset I was at the beginning of the year, May was a really fun month.

Writing Updates

We were really tied up with a new title release this week. Our author, Rachel Kann, has a hard deadline she has to meet. Her book was part of that deadline, so we had to focus on getting the galleys corrected and to the printer. I haven’t had time to input any of the Soldier’s Choice sequel, so no new excerpt this week. I hope to have the time this week. Meanwhile, I was confirmed for panels at Dragoncon. One of them happened largely because of Richard Hatch. I wrote about him in the Dragoncon blog last year. That panel would be an ideal place to talk up the Surrender novels. Thus, the third installment is underway along with everything else. It has no title yet, but I have half the plot worked out. It’s Kirsi’s story, but her brother Alkarin will be prominent. There will be more fantasy magic in the story as well. I’ll share the story when it’s fully fleshed out. May has been great for writing as well. The Muse attack has not relented, but somehow the stories are advancing at a respectable clip. This makes me very happy.

It’s time to do my cooking for the week. If I can, I will post excerpts mid-week.

The Senior Set and Smut and Who IS Our Audience?

On Monday, Sybpress did its thing at the Santa Monica Book Fair. I do the official report here. It's an event for the literary and poetry set on the Westside of LA. It was interesting to get a good look at the other small presses in our area in an intimate setting. Our main competition in the literary prose and poetry arena was in that room. It's very difficult for small presses that publish prose and poetry to have a presence nationally or internationally save for Pushcart consideration. We sell our titles primarily at these kind of events or other sponsored readings. Our erotica is a different matter. Genre fiction has a lot of internet venues on which to advertise and in the care of male/male erotica, there are niche brick and mortar stores that will carry our product.



Places like this bookfair are where the two halves of Sybpress collide. Everyone who was checking out our newest literary author, Brenda Petrakos, also picked up our other new title, Connie Bailey's delicously naughty Bawdy Yarns. Most of the browsers had silver hair and well worn faces. I inwardly had a fit each time this happened. It was much the same reaction I have when my Mother-in-Law announces she's read something from our erotica line. I had a strong urge to leap across the table and snatch the tome from curious hands. But this crowd was unique. Many still wore some paisely or had some leather fringe in evidence. I realized that this silver haired crowd was likely a part of the Summer of Love. I doubt anything within the covers of our racier titles shocked them. Jon reasoned that they probably did much of what we write about. That they didn't throw the book aside like it burned flesh should have clued me in.

It was an interesting revelation and comes on the heels of some discussions I've had with our erotica authors recently. Who is the audience for Sybpress m/m erotica? Most of our authors assume that it is the same audience that reads fanfic and slash. That's reasonable since the authors come from there. We do get some buyers from that arena, especially when an author with a following first publishes. They are a small fraction over all. We get another small percentage from romance readers who frequent websites devoted to reviewing such titles. That's been sticky, because the majority of romance readers are really skittish about m/m. We really had an eye opener on that at the last Romatic Times Booklovers convention. We advertise on some romance sites, but very carefully. However, the majority of our sales are to gay men. It's about 90 percent of our buyers, according to our tracking service. The only bookstores that carry our titles right now are gay and lesbian bookstores. It's an interesting relationship, because they still can't quite wrap their minds around women writing this stuff. I and my fellow female m/m writers will be speaking at major gay conventions this year to talk about the phenomenon. While we court the fandom base and attend conventions and advertise with entities that are friendly to the works, our main ad bucks go to the guys.

I know I promised an excerpt from the Soldier's Choice sequel, but I'm too tired to input. It will be in the usually scheduled Sunday blog. And there definitely will be a third installment of the Surrender novels. More on the why of that and what it has to do with Richard Hatch later.

The Muse Attacks!

This week has been marked by a huge increase in creative activity. I know that I have preached in the past that a writer shouldn’t wait for the muse to strike to write, but there is another side to that argument. Sometimes, the muse gets very active on more than one work of writing. That can be tiring, but it’s not a moment to be squandered. Thus, I am working on A Soldier’s Choice late at night, the third Surrender book is generally percolating in my brain. I have nearly worked out the plot for that one, but I’m far from putting pen to paper. And I am writing my first non-genre (not erotica, not romance, not fantasy or scifi) short story since Grad School. I’m not sure what I will do with it, but it seems to need to come out right now. Thus, I work on it during my various commutes. It’s difficult, because the subject makes me cry. Then, to add to the fun, Jon and I have been kibitzing about a script we’ve been researching for well over a year. That started after a long chat with my brilliant friend Sarah. We’ve just about reached the tipping point for research and theory and are ready to finally write the danged thing. I hope I’ve finished one or two of the previously mentioned works before that point pops up.

I never fight the Muse when this explosion happens. Sometimes, this kind of surge causes me to find solutions to previous problems with the work. I may not remember those solutions if I don’t implement them when they occur. Time becomes the main problem when the creativity surges. I have other duties and responsibilities that I have to tend to, so something must be sacrificed. Usually, that’s sleep. I write until the wee small hours of the morning until I am literally falling over on my sofa. Then I get up early to get various bits of business out of the way, so I can write a little more before running out the door. The works are shaping up slowly, and I am – for the most part – on top of everything else that’s going on right now.

I keep hearing in the news that 40 is the new 30 or something like that. Oh, how I wish that was true. Last week, when getting ready for the movie screening, I was plagued by acne (Acne!) and cramps. I was plagued by the very same things that plagued me at age 17. I don’t think it’s fair that I don’t have that 17 year old’s body. Actually, I would have preferred the 27 year old body (still a size 8 but with actual curves). When I think about it I’d like some other 27 year old’s body – preferably one of those fine shirtless things that jogs or rollerblades past my house. What was I talking about?

Since tomorrow is a holiday, I will be spending some of it working online. Part of it will be spent at the Santa Monica Small press Book Fair. See the Sybpress Blog for details. Anyway, I will be posting excerpts from the sequel to A Soldier’s Choice at some point tomorrow.

Big Fun

It isn’t often that my Month of Fun overlaps with business. That usually only happens at the Marche du Film in Cannes. Last week it happened three times in Los Angeles. One was the weekend event I’ve written about in the Sybpress blog Seeing the performances of Brenda’s incredible stories was a wonderful treat for someone who is a writer and a publisher. I count that as quite a treat.

Another happened earlier in the week and involved an audition. Those have seldom been any fun, let alone something I’d call a treat. However, this was both. We’re planning on shooting some short films as proofs of concept for funders and distributors interested in our features. We’re starting with the most developed of the small features, a romantic western called The Gunslinger. Here’s the short version from the Dragoncor Productions website.

The Gunslinger is the story of Shadow Smith – a wanted man who has been wrongfully accused of murder. He has had no end of confrontations over his ill-deserved reputation. While in New Mexico, he rides into a range war to confront a gunfighter who has been using his name. He can’t allow anymore killings associated with that name than he already has. Instead, of a would-be gunslinger, he discovers K.D. Delaney, a beautiful young woman posing as Shadow to fend off two factions that want her land. The real Shadow stays because he can neither resist the fight nor the woman. K.D. is strong despite being wracked with grief over her father’s recent death. And she gives him the first home he has known for a long time. If they survive the superior numbers and weapons against them, will they be able to prevent the law from hanging Shadow?

Because we wrote it, it is a twisted romance. There is a wild subplot involving the fictional Shadow Smith in some really awful dime novels and how KD has fantasized him into a character that no one could live up to. Thus we needed a tall, good looking man (I know, who doesn’t) that can really act and is willing to do the short for the tens of dollars we’ll be paying.

Travis did such a wonderful job with the audio excerpt of Rik on the website for A Soldier’s Choice, he was our first choice for Shadow. And he was willing to audition. Even with all he had going for him, he was not a shoe-in. I had a good feeling though. He asked some really good questions after reading the script and the short. So early one morning last week, I watched him become Shadow Smith before my eyes. Even though the KD he was ready with was Jon, not a lovely blond, he still bowled me over with his version of my sardonic and charming desperado. He was very charming, a little shy and very, very sexy. That was definitely a treat for the day. I can’t wait to shoot the short.

The third business related treat was a movie screening. Every event like that is, at its heart, about business. This was an advanced screening for Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End for the crew and some of the cast. My date was one of the actors in the film, Ho-Kwan Tse who played both, Hadras and a crewman from the Black Pearl. The screening was at the El Capitain Theater. I’ve always wanted to see the inside of that theater, but the ticket prices are really steep there. The film itself was a blast, and that’s all I can say without major spoilers. Seeing a film with crew is really different. They don’t react to scenes the way a regular audience does. They laugh at odd scenes because of some inside jokes, I assume. And they cheer folks like the stunt guys. It was a most interesting experience along with a great film. Thus this was a big week in the whole Month of Fun.

During all this excitement, I managed to fill notepads with the sequel for A Soldier’s Choice. I am distressing my boys, so that is distressing me. But there are some really hot scenes developing as well. I should have excerpt in the next week or two.

Book Launch and Blog Delay

I had a big week and weekend of fun to write about. I also had a big Sybpress event on Saturday. I had to report on that before doing my blog. I'll post mine tomorrow. Meanwhile, read about the book launch and upcoming bookfair.

http://sybpres.blogspot.com/
Spread the word and come on by!
DL

Ya Gotta Have Friends

Warning, the following paragraph contains some general whining. You may skip ahead if this is distasteful.

This has been an unusually difficult blog for me to write. The first attempt came out much too dour. The second was too strange – even for me. I think all of the stressors from the beginning of the year are catching up to me. The manifestations have been numerous. Lately, it has been physical. I think I could sleep for a week and not make a dent in the fatigue. And I always seem to be on the verge of a very bad cold. There is too much that needs to get done, and I have no energy to do any of it.

Of late, I’ve needed to spend time chatting or hanging out with my writer friends. They are the only people who really understand the occasional flare-ups of angst and sadness that can overwhelm a creative mind trying to cope with the business of their work or the people who read it. I have many wonderful and close friends who are not writers, and they try to understand when I’m like this. But only a writer understands feeling the feeling of complete vulnerability and fear after something is sent out to a new editor or published or awaiting review. Sometimes there is a great sadness when something is finished. I compound this problem by working with other writers who all have similar issues. I had been troubled by my inability to cope with all of it. But then, I got some sage advice from the incredibly talented and wise, Sarah Freligh. I give you better than a shout out, my friend. Readers should check out one of her poems and bio here. Though as creative as they come, she is also very practical and really down to earth. I was given a new perspective, and I’m grateful.

My other creative friends helped me bring in another year in their own ways. From Craig, I received a great hug and something to make me laugh. He is my favorite Jersey Boy (a great compliment considering my second favorite is Bruce Springsteen). Craig has a way of always knowing when I need to laugh. While I was at Borders, I could never go through a whole shift angry if he was working as well.

Then there is the wonderful Marie, my co-publisher. She brought me the loveliest and most delicious gift for my birthday. It was a tiny and perfect chocolate truffle cake that I relished. And over much champagne and reinforcements, we watch a great old film and laughed about our past decades – decades! I was encouraged to write the third novel in the Surrender series. I definitely am feeling that pull. But I must spend a little more time with my soldier-boys. I have to have that done for YaoiCon in October. Marie reminded me that times have been pretty good since moving out here. Our little Press is breaking even (very big in the independent press world). And we’ll be doing more traveling because of it. I am writing more than I ever have in the two decades since I got the MA in Creative writing (decades, I tell you). And I am largely happy with the work. I am even considering something ‘literary’ after all these years. Life am good (no, it’s not bad grammar, it’s a reference to an Adventures of. Superman ep, Little-big-head man.

The month of fun continues this week with a visit by a tall, dark and naughty actor-boy and a really fun time at the cinemas.

I'm an Anime!

I'm working on the new blog. I have a lot to cover and am a bit under the weather. But I thought I'd take a moment to share my new image. This is courtesy of Anne Cain, who did the cover for 'A Soldier's Choice.' I'm really pleased atthe waist-line she gave me! I'll piost the rest of the blog tomorrow, hopefully.

'Cheesesteaks', Mutants and Strangulation

The So-Called Philly Cheesesteak

I begin with a rant of sorts. Jon and I are from Philadelphia which is home to the steak sandwich, known to the rest of the country as the Philly cheese steak. We learned to live with that slightly incorrect usage. In Philly, it’s a steak sandwich and it doesn’t necessarily come with cheese. You have to ask for that. So, first the term is wrong. Then, there are the increasingly strange variant on this sandwich that are puzzling. The last ones are outright annoying. Philly steak sandwich meat is never put on a hamburger like Dominos Pizza.

While the products are really appalling, the advertising features a Philly accent that neither of us has ever heard south of Brooklyn are worse. I’ve only seen an outsider get that strange, nasal tone right twice. Once was in the Jack in the Box ads for their odd variant on the steak sandwich. The other was from Toni Collette, an Australian actress who played Haley Joel Osment’s mom in The Sixth Sense. I could have sworn she was from south Philly. And the last thing, for those restaurants out here or places other than Philly who manage to get the steak sandwich in the ballpark, they shouldn’t cost more than $6.99. It’s made from the cheapest meat on the planet or it should be if it’s authentic, and is supposed to be a cheap meal option. I’ve seen it for as high as 10.95 in other states. Ridiculous! We’re lucky enough to live near Markie D’s, owned by a man who hails from our fair hometown. He does a good job at a fair price AND he has Tastykakes. Joy! The first time we went there, he asked us what part of Philly we came from. I asked how he knew. He said we knew how to order one, and we called it a ‘so-called’ steak sandwich when we ordered. That meant we knew what a real one was supposed to me. The only thing they need to have is Federal Pretzels and Habersett’s scrapple (it’s sound awful, but them’s good eats) and I’d be in nirvana.

On the food topic, I’ve been having fun with recipes for the sequel to ‘A Soldier’s Choice.’ One of the sub plots involves food, and one character is nearly obsessed with it. Thus, there are already a lot of recipes in this novel. I’ll have to another bonus cookbook. I’ll be attempting two of them this week as part of my continuing birthday celebration. They are more elaborate than my usual efforts, but they are worth the try. I’ll reveal how I did next week.

Mutants, Vampires and Atlereds

The sequel is going well. I was worried that I was getting too involved with the inner workings of the Foundation for Altered Development and it’s headquarters. It is, after all, erotica. Those details weren’t any where near being erotic. However, I hit upon a very valid reason for the characters’ behavior early in the book that causes a crisis in their relationship. This relationship problem flowed organically from the details of the job and the organization they work for. That was one of those unexpected and magical moments that sometimes happens to a writer. It gave the conflict more depth and edge than I’d imagined. Now I’m struggling to keep up with the characters as the scenario are moving forward in my head. It’s a lot of fun. And the erotica is fitting in seamlessly which pleases me as well.

The other surprisingly seamless element in the sequel is the explanation of how Altereds happened. I am fusing a futuristic story with a vampire story. However, at the heart of Demon Under Glass is science. WARNING: Geeky Stuff follows. The Vampire, Simon Molinar, is not of the undead. He is an altered human. We proposed that a virus caused a genetic mutation. The Delphi Project was formed to research how he worked and if the mutation could be generated in other humans. What we figured out is that the results of the Delphi Project’s research was used on dozens of subjects over a number of years, primarily in this country. The descendants of the experimental subjects who really developed Molinar’s traits manifests one or more of them (speed, strength, senses, etc) as children. The military uses the Delphi Project’s old research to further Alter the subject and enhance those traits and cause others to manifest. None of the Altereds have the thirst for blood. Molinar’s real identity of a vampire has been concealed in the years since Delphi was shut down though rumors persist. The sanitized version was that he was a genetic oddity who came to believe he was a vampire. The report calls him a sociopathic serial killer who eventually escaped the facility to an unknown fate. I had to figure out all of this because Bobby hears the rumors told to call new Altereds. Also, in trying to change how Altereds are treated through the medical procedure, Rik and Vincent discover that the practices dates back to the original experiments on Molinar. This sounds very techy and geeky, but it was fun to work it all out as a writer. You can check out the trailer for the film which really covers how the experiments works, and is fun to watch this link.

Month of fun update

Yesterday, I treated myself to a manicure and a dinner with one of the actors who did the voice of Vincent on the website for A Soldier’s Choice. An outing with an actor is always fun, but usually exhausting. We had a rollicking good time though there was some hubbub when Vic found out that I’m doing panels with Travis (the voice of Rik on the website) at conventions. They have some sort of rivalry that they claim is friendly see this link. And I’m in the middle getting strangled. They are both way cute, so the consternation they cause is well worth it.

More to come...

Spring in LA and Me Without a Net Gun

Updates

This was a productive week. On the publishing front, we have one title that will soon be a proof, the last step before publishing. As soon as we get galleys back, we’ll be publishing two more titles. We have scripts for the film shorts. I found a costume designer for Gift of Surrender that is reasonable, and we have a hair stylist who can do the hair pieces. We even found a suitable location, I believe. The other two shorts are in the audition stage. And we’ve made some progress on the big film project, The Privateers. It seems I am doing Yaoi Con with the voice actor who did Rik Heron on the website for A Soldier’s Choice. And I may be doing a panel with him at Dragon*Con and a separate panel with Richard Hatch on writing sex scenes in Science Fiction. Those have not been confirmed. And I actually began working on the sequel to A Soldier’s Choice. I should be posting excerpts in the next week or two. I’m loving being with the characters again.

Springtime
It is spring in Los Angeles. And while it is not nearly the same as springtime in Paris, there are certainly lovely things to behold. The flowers here are bold in their spring colors. There are vibrant reds and yellows and purples bursting from gardens. The air smells like honeysuckle or night blooming jasmine. It never ceases to surprise me how pretty LA is in the spring. And then there are the half-naked men. One doesn’t have to be near the beach to see them jobbing or skating down the street. Jon often jokes that I need a net gun as I watch those male lovelies pass by. You see, even when they are walking, most are faster than me. Forget about catching them when they are jogging or skating. Once in a while, a situation will arise where a tall, lithe young thing will stop to do his stretches and, heaven help me, bend over to touch his toes. I’m certain he knew I was ogling him. But even when stationary, these boys would be hard to handle without an effective projectile restraining device. To my delight, Mythbusters episode 77 featured a net gun. They were trying to catch pigeons. Don’t ask. It was a little loud for pigeons, but the net did deploy consistently. However, it was really big and unwieldy. I need something easy to conceal, or the boys won’t come near me. Yes, I have an entirely warped mind, I know. But this all a part of how I appreciate the beauty of spring. And speaking of the local cute critters, we found there is a wacky squirrel on this block. He’s got quite a pretty, bushy tale and is kind of bizarre like our squirrel in Playa. Each week, there is something to make me feel more at home.

Month of Fun
This week begins the month of May. Since I turned 40 a while back, I keep the month of May as a month-long celebration called the Month of Fun. I do something for myself each of those 31 days to celebrate my birthday. I encourage everyone to do the same. It doesn’t have to cost lots of money, just a little treat. I have desserts I wouldn’t usually have. I make sure I enjoy a couple of sunsets. I’m lucky that May is a big movie premier month. I will count Spiderman 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End as my treats. I’ll get a manicure and a massage at some point. I do that sort of thing. Do the same in your birthday month.