Davey Wavey Interivew With Brent Corrigan; Peter Scolari Wins Emmy For Playing Gay Dad; JK Rowling's Revelation and HIV Metaphor

Davey Wavey Interview With Brent Corrigan


Sometimes I like to post on topics that I know absolutely nothing about. For me it's a practice in objectivity, which I think is important to any writer. In fact, I wish we saw more objectivity these days everywhere.

So here's an article about an interview Davey Wavey did with Brent Corrigan. It's interesting and I really don't follow either one of them often.

Does this turn you on? Unavoidable YouTube personality Davey Wavey just interviewed adult film star Brent Corrigan for his Business of Sex web series, eking out stories about his early beginnings in the adult film industry, why he wants to steer clear of promoting King Cobra, and his lifelong obsession with horses.


You can check it out here. There's a video.


As always with pieces like this that are just meant for fun and not meant to change the world, you'll find the comments from readers a little surprising. At least I did. 


Peter Scolari Wins Emmy For Playing Gay Dad

I know nothing about this. I used to watch the TV show Girls all the time. I think I even posted about it here at one point. But even though I liked it, I stopped watching because of Lena Dunham. I'm not going to elaborate on that, but I lost track of the show and characters and this is news to me as well.

Peter Scolari won his first Emmy Award on Saturday (10 September) for his portrayal of Lena Dunham’s gay dad on the HBO series Girls.

The win took many by surprise since the actor was not initially a nominee in a field that also included Larry David (Saturday Night Live), Tracy Morgan (Saturday Night Live), Martin Mull (Veep), Bradley Whitford (Transparent) and Bob Newhart (The Big Bang Theory).


You can read the rest here.


JK Rowling's Revelation and HIV Metaphor

The only book I've really read by JK Rowling was A Causal Vacancy, which I reviewed here on the blog. I loved that book, it was a long book, and I hated to see it end. However, I'm not familiar with the Harry Potter series at length, it's not my preferred genre, and I know nothing about this alleged controversy with Rowling. I wasn't even sure how to title this part of the post.

JK Rowling has debunked the ‘revelation’ fan fave character Remus Lupin’s werewolf condition is a metaphor for HIV.

In one of her new ebooks, the author is quoted as talking about his lycanthropy as a metaphor for an illness that carries some negative public opinion. 

Here's the link to read more. I can't parse this one no matter how hard I try. But someone in the comments tried to make it clearer.

Amazon Link

Valley of the Dudes

Uncertainty

  Amazon All Romance E-books Smashwords

 Unabated

 Amazon

 Unabated Create Space In Print

Free Giveaway/Excerpt; Gay Kisses for Putin; Advertorials/TV Show Girls

Free Giveaway/Excerpt

There's a free Valentine's Day giveaway over at Queertown Abbey today, and an interview with author, TM Smith. I participated and I'm giving away a free copy of my latest tear-jerker in the Glendora Hill series, Cowboy Christmas Miracle. And I'm posting a never before posted free excerpt from that book below in this post.

You can read more here and see a full list of who participated, and to enter the free giveaway.


Gay Kisses for Putin

In a show of support for LGBT people in Russia and around the world, there's a campaign today with protests, and anti-gay Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is being sent kisses from LGBTI people from all over the world. The point is to show how love...Valentine's Day...can conquer hatred and fear.

From midday in London near the Russian Embassy, there will be a LGBT carnival with samba music and drag artists.

Some will also be wearing mocking the Russian president by wearing Putin masks.

To promote the event, they sent out an image of Putin kissing Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

They (we) want Putin to know that the protests are NOT over because the Olympics are underway and Johnny Weir is still making news (ugh), nor will they ever be over as long as Putin promotes fear and hatred and Weir promotes apathy and idiocy.

You can read more here. The fact that this is such a widespread global effort makes it unique I think. I don't remember seeing anything like this in the past and I hope it continues.

Advertorials/TV Show Girls

I'm a fan of the TV show, Girls, and I've posted about it several times on the blog. I like it for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it talks about books and publishing a lot. Last night I watched a recent episode where they discussed advertorials...and writers balancing a writing career and a full time job...not an easy thing to do.

For those who aren't familiar with advertorials, here's a good basic definition.

An advertorial is an advertisement in the form of editorial content. The term "advertorial" is a blend of the words "advertisement" and "editorial."
 Merriam-Webster dates the origin of the word to 1946.^[1]
In printed publications, the advertisement is usually written in the form of an objective article and designed to look like a legitimate and independent news story. In television, the advertisement is similar to a short infomercial presentation of products or services. These can either be in the form of a television commercial or as a segment on a talk show or variety show. In radio, these can take the form of a radio commercial or a discussion between the announcer and representative.

If you do a search about advertorials you'll find a few interesting discussions, one of which had to do with a Scientology Advertorial in Atlantic Magazine, which many called unethical.

But the point of this post is about writers trying to balance writing careers with full time jobs. First, I don't think it's possible for any writer outside of a small handful of highly commercial writers like E.L. James or J.K. Rowling to not have some kind of supplemental income. I think the episode on Girls I watched last night handled the topic well. Not perfect, but well. Hannah, the main character, got a full time job at GQ Magazine writing advertorials. She's thrilled about the money, the free food, and she even proves she's going to be good at the job. But she's also haunted by the fact that she might be giving up a career as a serious writer in order to take this job. The people in her department were all just like her and they all have a few reputable publishing credits. But after they took the job they stopped writing. Life happens. Dreams fizzle out. It's not all that unusual to anyone over thirty years old.

As I said, they handled this well in the storyline, but didn't go all the way. It's a given that all writers need to work to make money. It's also a given that the odds of making a decent living as a full time writer are slim...even today with so much happening in digital publishing. I faced this about twenty years ago and with me it wasn't about working full time and writing as much as it was about what I did full time while I wrote part time. In other words, I worked for a short time as an associate editor for Playgirl Magazine, and for a publication called Astrology Your Daily Horoscope. I loved the perks and the money. I even loved working in the print magazine business. However, I just couldn't figure out a way to focus on editing all day long and then going home and writing my own fiction part time at night and on weekends. So I ultimately decided that if I ever wanted to get published with fiction I would have to make a choice. The choice wasn't about whether or not I wanted to work full time. I had to do something. My choice was more about what I did full time so I could write part time and not get burned out.

So I quit the editing jobs in publishing, and that wasn't easy to do. I liked the concept of working in print publishing, but knew deep down that if I continued I would never write anything of my own. I just couldn't separate myself from the editing to focus enough on my own fiction. So instead of working as an editor, I decided to open my own small business. I opened an art gallery in New Hope and focused on selling a wide variety of art that would attract the high end art buyer to the average home owner looking for a nice generic landscape. This gave me the opportunity to make money and at the same time write fiction part time during my off hours. I kept the gallery open seven days a week for ten years and wrote fiction when there weren't any clients looking for art. It wasn't always easy. We never took vacations. But it was worth it because I found that in doing something totally unrelated to books and publishing full time I couldn't wait to get back to my own fiction and start writing part time. I also enjoyed the gallery. I wasn't miserable.

This may or may not help anyone else out there facing this dilemma right now. But I do think it's possible to have a writing career and still work full time doing something else you like to support yourself. You just have to do something full time that's not going to burn you out mentally when it's time to write. Some writers work in sales, some are real estate agents, and some even work full time in construction. It can be done. It's just the way you do it that matters.

Free Excerpt from Cowboy Christmas Miracle

Keith asked him a few more questions about stress in his life, how hard he was working, and what kind of diet he had. He didn’t want to worry him, but he also wanted to be honest with him. “You said earlier today you wanted to make an appointment to see me next week. Was it about these symptoms?”
            Sebastian nodded. “I figured I would get an examination just to be sure there’s nothing seriously wrong. I really do feel fine most of the time.”

            Keith wrote a few more things on the clipboard and then he set it aside on a counter. He looked Sebastian in the eye and said, “I’d like you to see a neurologist. I can refer you to a colleague of mine in Austin. I went to medical school with him, he’s gay, and he’s the best I know around here.”

            Sebastian sat up straighter. “A neurologist? Why can’t you just treat me here? Are you telling me there’s something seriously wrong?”

            Keith had learned how to counsel his patients, not frighten them. “I’m not saying anything definitive. I’m a primary care physician and it’s my job to refer you to a specialist who is qualified in his or her field when I think there’s cause for concern. There’s probably nothing wrong and you’re fine. But after what happened today, and after you mentioned what’s been happening recently, I think you need to see a specialist, have a few tests, and rule out everything to be on the safe side. I can set up the appointment for you next week. I’d like you to see him as soon as possible and his waiting list is three months long.”

            “If you think it’s necessary,” Sebastian said.

            Keith patted him on the shoulder and smiled. “Look at it this way. If your son or your husband told you what you just told me, would you want them to ignore the symptoms and wait, or would you want them to get more tests to be on the safe side?”

            Sebastian sent him a look and frowned. “Of course I’d want them to see a specialist. But please don’t say anything right now. I’ll tell Avery later. I just don’t want Kick to know about this. He would really freak out. Since he lost his dad he thinks his main objective in life is to take care of me and keep me from all harm and it’s just not natural. If he found out about this, he wouldn’t leave my side.”

            Keith had learned to remain impersonal in situations like this. He patted Sebastian’s shoulder again and said, “How you deal with telling your family is up to you. But I do think you should talk to your husband about it. I don’t normally tell patients what to do, but in your case I feel as if I should say something.” He’d seen the concern on Avery’s face. He’s seen the love in Avery’s eyes.

            Sebastian jumped off the examining table and said, “I will tell him tonight. I don’t want to go to Austin alone. I’d rather have Avery there with me.”

            “Good,” Keith said. “I think that kind of support from family is necessary. And I also agree with you about Kick. There’s probably nothing to worry about, so why freak the poor guy out.”

            Sebastian glanced down at his torn shirt and said, “I wish I hadn’t worn this shirt today. It’s ruined.”

            Keith laughed and said, “At least you’re okay.” Then he put his arm around him and said, “C’mon, I’ll walk you out. I’m sure they’re all pacing the floors out there. And if you need anything let me know. You know where to find me.”

            As they crossed through the doorway, Sebastian said, “Thanks, Keith. I really appreciate you coming here today on such short notice, and I appreciate you getting me the appointment in Austin.”

            Keith patted his back and said, “That’s my job, landlord. And this was actually my first time here and I think I’m going to like it a lot. It’s the first time I’ve had such a good feeling in a long time.”

            “That’s so interesting,” Sebastian said. “I felt the same way when we first moved to Glendora Hill. Remind me to tell you the story someday. It’s very interesting, about how my uncle left me the building and a few little secrets.”

            By the time they reached the middle of the hallway, Kick noticed them and he started running to his dad. Keith stepped back and let Kick put his arm around Sebastian, and then Avery walked over and he started asking questions. When Keith assured Avery that Sebastian hadn’t hurt himself in the fall, Avery thanked him and he put his arm around Sebastian. As they headed outside, where the crowd was still waiting to hear what had happened, Sebastian glanced back and Keith and winked.

            Keith lifted his hand and made a telephone gesture, then he mouthed the words, “I’ll call you next week.”

            Although Avery had cleared all the people from the waiting room, there was still one person left behind. As Avery, Sebastian, and Kick headed out, Ben Sanders appeared in the hallway with his hands in his pockets and a great big smile.

            “You’re still here?” Keith said. He wasn’t sure what had happened to him. “You’ve been waiting for me all this time.”

            Ben shrugged and said, “I thought we were going to the Glendora Hill Diner tonight for dinner. It’s a little early, but I’m starved.”

            It was early for dinner, at least for Sebastian. He glanced at his watch and saw it was a little after six o’clock. In Chicago he’d never gone out to dinner a minute before eight pm. And if he did he never would have admitted that aloud to any of his gay friends. The gay men in his circles had dinner after eight, brunch after one on Sunday, and never showed up at a nightclub before midnight. But he was hungry, too, and he didn’t feel like waiting around until eight o’clock to eat. Ben looked so cute standing there rocking back and forth in his cowboy boots, he didn’t want to let him down.

            “Just let me go back and get my chart,” he said. He wasn’t even certain about who had opened the clinic or whether he was responsible for closing it up now. He figured the person he’d noticed at the front desk in the waiting room would know. “I’ll be right back.”

            “I’ll be here,” Ben said. “I can’t go anywhere anyway. You’re my ride. I left my car at the ranch.”

            There had been so much happening Keith hadn’t thought about how Ben would get home. He didn’t mind driving him back to the ranch after dinner. Only he hoped he wouldn’t run into Judd again. So far he’d been in Glendora Hill for less than twenty-four hours and he’d had the best sex of his life with Judd and the most embarrassing emotional experiences. The last thing he wanted to do at that point was go for round three.

New Book Cover: Fangsters; Hannah on "Girls" Gets E-book Deal; CBS Sunday Morning Barbie Porn

Here's the preview cover for my new book, Fangsters, that's being published with Riverdaleave.com books on April 30th. I've posted about this here. And I'll post more info with excerpts as I get it back in coming weeks. Here's the book description:

When organized crime meets the underworld of the living dead, it creates endless possibilities for intrigue and passion. Combine that with a traditional old vampire clan from Sicily trying to mainstream with humans in northern New Jersey as business people, and it winds up becoming an adventure into darkness of epic proportions.

Anton Pagano is from an old Sicilian vampire clan that migrated to New Jersey in the late 1800's. He lives in a mansion in northern New Jersey with his mom and dad, and he's never had to worry about anything other than his wardrobe, his latest new car, and the secret love affair he's been having for years with another vampire in his clan. At a glance, he looks and sounds just like anyone else between the ages of twenty-one and thirty years old.

But when Anton's dad, the head of their clan, decides it's time for Anton and his vampire cousin, Digger, to get into the family business, Anton's not all the excited about it. Until he meets a sweet young human man named Leo on his first night at work. They wind up spending the rest of the night together, and then things get even more complicated when they bring Anton's secret vampire lover into the picture a few weeks later.

After a bloody battle with werewolves, and the beginning of what Anton predicts will be an all-out war between two vampire clans in New Jersey, Anton and his secret vampire lover decide it's time to consider turning Leo into a vampire so all three of them can be together for eternity. But thanks to fate, nothing is as simple as it looks, and they wind up doing the one thing they ever wanted to do to Leo as a last resort. 

Hannah on Girls Gets a Book Deal

I've made no secret of how much I love the TV show, Girls.  On reason I love it is because of how it focuses on "new adults" and how I'm a huge fan of the upcoming genre, new adult fiction.

I also like Hannah as a character. She's annoying and adorable at the same time. She's also smart, and trying to figure things out like so many young people her age.

In an episode last night, she gets an e-book deal and I thought it was interesting how they treated the subject of e-books on the show. For the mainstream, it's obviously something so new the writers have to emphasize that it's an "e-book" deal. When those of us who have been writing and reading e-books for so long now just call them books, not e-books.

It was also interesting...and entertaining...to see Hannah's reaction when they told her she had a one month deadline for the e-book they wanted her to write.  I once had a three week dealine for a 60,000 word novel. Anyone who has ever worked in e-publishing can understand this.Your first instinct is to run. The next is to sit down and start writing, because publishing is NOT the slowest industry in the world anymore. Far from it.

CBS Sunday Morning Barbie Porn

I talked about how CBS Sunday morning was going to do a segment about erotic romance in the mainstream this past weekend. I did DVR it and I did watch.

Of course they did what the mainstream usually does: they made funny haha jokes that aren't really funny, they use terms like "mommy porn" that make no sense to most of us, and they refer to erotic romance as porn instead of love stories with sex added into the storyline. (I proved, once and for all, an erotic romance can be a book without sex when I released "Chase of a Dream" in abridged and unabridged versions last year...with and without sex...and it didn't change much about the storyline when the sex was removed.)

But overall, I found the CBS segment about erotic romance entertaining, especially when 76 year old author, Desiree Holt, gave Bill Geist a first hand example of how she uses physical props in order to get sex positions right in the sex scenes she's writing.

In order to do this, Ms. Holt uses Barbie and Ken dolls. She claims it gives her a first hand account, up close, of the way real people might pose during various sexual acts. And CBS actually blurred out the heads of the dolls during a Holt demonstration. I'm not joking. It was highly amusing. Evidently, Barbie porn isn't okay on TV, especially on Sunday morning.

I thought Desiree Holt was adorable and I thought she did a great job talking about erotic romance, considering how Bill Geist seemed to have a proverbial stick up his ass, and how he kept rolling his eyes. But he could have been joking around, too. The overall interview and segment wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. And, of course, they had to mention Fifty Shades of Grey, once again, as the book that started everything and all about erotic romance. What can I say? I guess they honestly don't know we've been writing books in this genre long before E.L. James jumped out of the Twilight fanfic pile. But you take what you can get, with a great big smile.

As a side note, although I did find the use of Barbie dolls as props entertaining, I have never actually used props like that for my own erotic romances. I draw from personal experience, thank you, and I've created my own positions many, many times.  

Another Free Book; Photo of Tony; New M/M Romance Publisher; Male Nude Scenes in "Girls"

Update: Having tech issues with the free promo for Jonah Sweet. I will post more when we get this figured out. And it will be offered for free within the next few weeks.

I will write a new post about this free read sometime this week, but wanted to mention it now so I don't forget all about it. This blog is often like my big "to do" list, where I can reference a lot of things I might forget when things get busy.

In any event, my last free book at ARe is coming down (or it is down now) and I decided to do another free read with ARe with another indie published book, "Jonah Sweet of Delancey Street." It takes time to get these free reads organized, trust me, when you're doing it alone. But it will be sometime this week.

Now, I've had a lot of people ask about seeing a photos of Tony, my partner of 20 years. He's usually very private and he doesn't even like the things I post about us on facebook half the time. But I've been bugging him about giving me a photo to put up somewhere on the blog, and he's finally granted me permission to use the one above. It's a nice photo that was taken about four years ago at the Jersey shore...I think that's where it was...in Brigantine.

I actually understand his reasons about privacy, and I try to post things that don't cross the line when it comes to privacy issues. But, in the same respect, I also think that if I'm an author with published works out there, and I post about my partner of twenty years all the time, I should be able to at least post one simple photo of him. I have to admit, as a reader, I get a little frustrated (I want the right word here) when I can't see photos of bloggers or authors...ever. I'm not talking about posting the family photo album, but it can be annoying when you read about someone for years and don't see a face with the words...ever.

New M/M Romance Publisher on the Scene

According to a blog post I read over the weekend, m/m romance authors, Geoffrey Knight and Ethan Day will be starting a new publishing venture this year.

But does the world of gay publishing really need another press? I believe whole-heartedly that the answer is ‘Yes’. Gay Romance has been growing at a rapid rate over the last two years, and I firmly believe that 2013 will be the year that Gay Romance comes into its own. No longer will it be considered the poor queer cousin of straight romance, and its quickly-growing legion of fans (the vast majority of whom are women) will need quality content to feed their almost insatiable appetite for Gay Romance.

However, when Ethan and I decided to jump into the fray, we were very conscious that many writers of Gay Romance enjoy writing more than just romantic tales, including ourselves. Sometimes a story belongs within the bounds and definitions of romance; but sometimes as a writer you want to break the rules. And so we made the decision to publish both traditional Gay Romance, but also publish other genres. We wanted to create a press that builds a bridge between Gay Romance and all other forms of Gay Lit, and to create a hub where fans of all quality gay tales could come and explore and potentially delve into genres they haven’t tried before.

 

You can read more here.

 

I wish them all the best. I like breaking the rules as often as I can. From my own personal experience in indie publishing I know it's not a simple venture. We just figured out how to do formatting an easier way with Smashwords one year later, and it's all about the formatting with digital publishing. HTML is a language in itself.

 

I'd also like to add that I hope others in the m/m romance community will support them in this new endeavor. I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there are those on the Internet who like to critique and slam new publishers before the new publishers even get started. It's a left-handed bully tactic that I think is changing now because people like me aren't afraid to challenge these highly opinionated bloggers anymore who sneak around and conspire in the dark corners of the Internet.

 

And when someone is beginning a new venture, especially in gay fiction, I believe in offering them support.  And though I know nothing about either Ethan Day or Geoffrey Knight, from what I've read this venture looks interesting to me.

 

Male Nude Scenes in "Girls"

 

I'm a huge fan of the TV show "Girls." Unfortunately, Tony isn't so I have to DVR it and watch the shows in tandem sometimes late at night when he's sleeping. I love that show so much, and the new adult reality factor it has brought to TV, I can't get enough of it. In fact, Lena Dunham does such a great job, and makes what she's doing look so easy, I'm hoping this show sticks around for a long time.

 

Here's more about the show from one almost/kind of snarky reviewer. But, it's actually a good review overall. You can read more here.  

 

Last season, Hannah had a dead-end relationship with never-working “actor” Adam (Adam Driver), with whom she had painful, afternoon anal sex. It was ugly to watch and uglier to remember that it always took place in his ugly, dirty apartment on sheets that look like they were last changed during the Clinton administration. She should have put paper down before she got down!

 

I think the reason the review was written the way it was is because this show seems to challenge a lot of the fakery of TV and it hits real issues that real people can identify with in an entertaining way. They also handle gay issues, and gay characters, in a different way than what I normally see. I like the way it's done and I don't have any complaints this time. And I think that's because it is so real. Even the setting: they live in Brooklyn, not Manhattan. If you are not familiar with New York at all, you might not get this. Manhattan is now such an expensive place to live it's virtually impossible for anyone just starting out to actually be there. In old TV, like "Sex in the City," they would have made it possible by creating a fake storyline.

 

There is also some male (and female) nudity in this show that's done appropriately with each scene so that it adds more dimension to the scene. In other words, it's not about the sex in most cases. Unlike the squeaky clean reviewer above, I personally don't think it's dirty either. It's mostly about the underlying issues behind the sex, and what led to that point. I haven't seen any male full frontal, though. But the one male nude scene I saw in a recent episode was definitely worth hitting the rewind button on DVR. 

 

I also think this type of entertainment is going to be a new trend that's going to change a lot of things. One of my best friends is a straight guy in his early thirties and I gather a lot of great material from him on various topics, like how men like him think about sex, or how straight men his age think about gay men. It really is, in a way, breaking the ultimate stereotypes and incorporating gay into the mainstream. 

 

There's not much on the web about the male nude scenes in the show, or much to link to...yet. But I have a feeling there will be more to come if Lena Dunham has her way.   

 

The New Adult Fiction Line at St. Martin's Press...And My New Adult Fiction

A few years ago St. Martin's Press had a New Adult fiction contest and I lost track of what happened. But I didn't lose track of the New Adult genre.Here's what New Adult Fiction is, for those who don't know. And no, it's not unrated adult oriented material.

According to St Martin’s Press, they fit in a new, previously-unidentified genre called ‘New Adult’. JJ from St Martin’s Press explains that, ‘New Adult [fiction] is about young adulthood, when you are an adult but have not established your life as one (career, family, what-have-you)’.

I heard about New Adult even before this announcement from SMP and started working on short erotic stories with new adult characters. Although I didn't classify them all up front this way because I wasn't sure readers would get it, I have more than a few out there hiding in disguise. There's always a plan.

I became fond of this new genre because all new adults are sexually active...if not at their peaks sexually...and I write erotica and erotic romance. And new adults are of legal age to do anything they want. I think the first time I came out and stated I was working on a New Adult story was last Christmas with the release of THE COMPUTER TUTOR. I've written others after that with New Adult characters, but I didn't go into detail because the genre is so new I didn't want to go into overkill.

Agent Kristin Nelson talks about New Adult here with regard to how much sex will be in New Adult fiction.

But back to the original Arizona question that started this entry. How much sex is going to be allowed in the romance?

Well, this new line at SMP is not a romance imprint per se—which is what I think that participant thought it might be. They are more a line for publishing smart, upmarket fiction for this target audience where sex and relationships are simply part of the question. In other words, it’s not so much about the happily-ever-after, which is the focus for a romance, nor is it about the sex—explicit or otherwise. It’s more about the story that will speak to older teens and twenty-somethings. Think Emily Giffin’s SOMETHING BORROWED, Curtis Sittenfeld’s PREP, Nick Hornby’s SLAM, and even GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING in some respects.

That post was written in 2009. Since then New Adult TV shows like "Girls," which I posted about here before, too, (somewhere...I can't find the link) have come into the picture and changed the scenery a little. This show has been described as the better, updated version of "Sex in the City," because it has New Adult characters. These characters aren't bopping around Manhattan in designer shoes. These people are living in Brooklyn trying to figure out how to pay the rent. The realism is so much better it makes SATC look stupid. And there's plenty of sex...far more than the trite tidbits allowed in SATC. In fact, Hannah can be a very naughty little girl at times and people seem to love it. I nearly fell off my sofa when her boyfriend peed on her in the shower...ON TV. I CAN'T GET AWAY WITH THAT IN EROTIC ROMANCE! There are a few things about "Girls" I wasn't in love with, especially their treatment of gay characters. But overall I think it's an excellent example on TV as to what New Adult authors are going to try in New Adult fiction in the future.

I've not only been doing New Adult for a while, I'm going to continue to focus on the genre as much as I can. The lines drawn between gay and straight aren't as vivid with this age group. And I might not always write these things in the form of erotica. I'm finding this new generation of New Adults to be a very interesting crowd and the material to write is endless. I even went there with Jim Darling, the main character in "Chase of a Lifetime," with regard to him just graduating from Princeton and not knowing what to do with his life...and making tons of mistakes along the way. And Jim's best friend Cain Mayfield, who I bring back in the upcoming sequel, is the perfect New Adult character fresh out of college and trying to get his life together.

The only area where I find it difficult to focus is the erotica part. So many in publishing frown...actually they sneer...at erotica in any form it's hard to be taken seriously. If you write erotica you are classified in erotica forever and nothing else matters. But with my next release on Amazon I'm going to rectify this for everyone. It's an experiment I've been working on that I hope will recitfy some of the things erotic authors have been dealing with forever. Because I'm self-publishing this I have the freedom and control to do this...a publisher would never go fot it. But I trust readers now more than ever and I think they'll understand. And I will post about this experiment I'm doing very soon. I have no idea how it will be received, but so far it's working out well in the editorial stage. My only big decision is how to release it.

This Hurts My Heart: TV Show "Girls"...Gay Guy Smacking the Woman Upside Her Head

I'm going to start a regular feature on the blog titled, "This Hurts My Heart." Sometimes it will be parody, other times it will be real. In this post, I guess it's a combination of both.

First, I'd like to state that I'm against any form of violence across the board. I find all violence deplorable.

With that said, there's a new TV show out called, "Girls." It's an HBO original series and I would consider it a current version of "Sex in the City," with new adult characters. There were a lot of things about SITC I didn't like, especially the way gay men were treated like pet poodles. I can't say this about "Girls." I like most of what I see...but they still can't seem to get it right with the gay guys.

The show airs on Sunday night. I DVR and watch during the week. So I finally found time late last night to catch the most recent episode. The plot of this particular episode revolved around the three girlfriends going to a party in Brooklyn (I'm not invested enough yet to know their names). At one point, one of the girls runs into a guy she knows and they wind up outside on some kind of a bridge or crosswalk between two buildings. At the end of their conversation, the girl picks up an empty bottle and tosses it over the rail.

Of course the girl thinks they are alone. But the bottle lands on a group of rough guys from Brooklyn who are standing below the crosswalk. This is the interesting part. The nice straight guy who is up on the crosswalk with the girl who dropped the bottle apologizes and tries to be nice about it. But the girl offers no apology whatsoever. In fact, she's insulting, she's obnoxious, and she basically laughs in their faces. Which only pisses the rough guys from Brooklyn off even more.

A few scenes later, the rough guys from Brooklyn catch up with the nice straight guy and snarky girl who were up on the crosswalk, at the party. This is even more interesting. Instead of doing or saying anything to the girl who caused all the trouble, the rough guys from Brooklyn go after the straight guy she was with...the same guy who apologized to them. He gets the shit kicked out of him, while she stands there watching and she caused all the trouble.

I'll leave it at that, without comment.

Moving on to another scene that happens later, I see another one of the "girls" having a conversation with a gay guy she went to college with. She runs into him at the party and starts to unload a pile of emotional garbage on him and he's not interested in listening to her. When he tells her this, she attacks him with some very offensive comments. One comment the girl makes is so offensive the gay guy looses control. He lifts his arm, smacks her upside the head, and does it without a hint of remorse. I haven't seen anything like THIS since "Dynasty."

Aside from the fact that I'm against violence, I found it interesting that the straight rough guys from Brooklyn would never hit a woman...not even if she deserved at least a good kick in the ass for dropping a bottle on their heads and laughing at them. And yet somehow it's okay for the gay guy to smack a woman in the face for making a nasty comment about the way he speaks. There's something wrong with this picture on more than one level.

In one respect, I do think the writers of the show broke the double standard when it comes to violence in a general sense, and I think that's what they were trying to do. I'm thinking they were making a social comment in general. It's okay to hit a straight man, nothing wrong with that, even if he didn't do anything. But don't dare let a straight man hit a woman, even if she's wrong. Of course all violence is wrong, but you get the picture.

In another respect, they got it all wrong with the gay guy by using him as an example. They diminished gay men in a very clever way that most people might not notice. By allowing him to smack the woman in the face they made him less masculine than the rough guys from Brooklyn and promoted the age old stereotype that the gay man is one of the girls. But more than that, they turned the gay guy into a bad stereotype of a woman, which made it twice as offensive to both women and gay men.

Oh, it's entertaining. Let that prissy gay guy smack the dumb bitch. People will love it and we'll get higher ratings. But this sort of thing diminishes women, gay men, and makes straight men look like cave men. I do know...and understand...that on certain levels things like this can and do happen in real life. There are gay men who would smack women and it wouldn't be considered abusive in the same way it would if a straight man smacked a woman. But that doesn't really make it any less offensive (or abusive) to the gay men who wouldn't do something like this...to anyone.

The basic moral of this post is that all violence is wrong. But the gist of the post is that it's just as wrong to turn gay men into bad stereotypes in order to make a point, and I'm getting tired of it. That scene where the gay guy smacked the woman in the face could have been written differently and they still could have made their point without insulting both gay men and women. Or for that matter, the previous scene with the straight rough guys from Brooklyn could have been handled much better. Instead of kicking the shit out of the straight guy who did nothing to deserve it, they could have poured a couple of bottles of beer over the straight girl's head and it would have been even funnier, and without physical violence. And all the straight guys watching the show would have enjoyed that scene a lot more than what actually did happen.