Elisa - My reviews and Ramblings

The Complete Dr. Fell Volume 2: Found by Syd McGinley

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:23:24 GMT

Teacher's Pet (Lost and Found 3) by Syd McGinley

Yes! at the third story, plus some novella here and there, about Dr. Fell and his pets, I have finally closed a book and started to write a post without having to say "well, even if BDSM is not my thing...".

I like Dr. Fell, truly, but I always had this feeling about his stories, something like I should not become too fond of a "pet" since at the end he would be not the one. All the previous stories are always quite angst, but truly romantic: a wounded soul who, in the healing power of love and discipline, finds solace and is born again; a soul that, in the end, is ready to love again, but not John.

Why everytime John is not reaty to live again? why he always needs to break my little pink romance bubble? Yes, I was a little angry with John, and I almost skipped the third chapter in his series. But then, I wanted to give him another chance and I was right about it.

The problem with John is that he always takes care of the others, the wounded pets, but he never heals himself. And to heal himself he needs to give up the control to someone else, someone from his past, that knows him well. Only then he will be ready to love again.

And so in Teacher's Pet, John becomes the pupil, and at the same time he meets who has many chance to be his future pet for good.

Teacher's Pet is at the same time more angst than the previous book and more romantic. John is not so stern in it, he probably is learning his own lessons, and he lets go more: if he is doing that since he is learning to grow on the pain of Rob's loss, or since he has really met his truly pet, I don't know, but I like him better in this way.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&manufacturers_id=69&products_id=1449

Deeper Submission (Lost and Found 4) by Syd McGinley

From the title of the last novella in the Lost and Found series, you would think that Dave, the new pet of Dr. Fell, is fated to be even more a submissive for the more and more dominant John... and instead I believe that the Deeper Submission of the title is referring to a different type of submission, the one that will see John surrenders to love and to the need to finally have a little family of his own.

Now don't get me wrong, there are no babies or smushy feeling between John and Dave, but there is for sure a different type of relationship than what John is used to. Dave willingly decided to submit to John, but he is not a weak boy who couldn't have a different life if he wants; he is a smart man, with a deep proud, and he will not be the all to dependent man that you usually find in a D/s relationship, and maybe this is the reason why I like this novella, and why I think that finally John has found his match.

John's love for Rob was deep and true, but I don't know if it would have lasted. Rob was the perfect pet, always eager to satisfy his Master, and not only in a sexual way... maybe it would have lasted since John would have not been subjected to years of regrets and ifs. John and Rob together would have been a good item, probably more according the rule of a "classical" D/s relationship. But Rob is dead and John seemed unable to forget him... probably since he searched him in every following pets. When he stopped that uselessly search and accepted a man totally different than Rob, in that moment he starts a new life. Dave is not Rob, and he even wants to be like Rob, and he is exactly what John needs: a man that is young enough to be molded to some of John's quirks, but clever enough to not be totally controlled and dominated.

This is a very nice wrap up of Dr. John Fell's adventures, and the four book is probably the more romantic of them all, since you have finally the chance to see the tender side of John.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1729

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2323 (print book)

Series: Lost & Found
1) Lost: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/658300.html
2) Found

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Behind the Cover: Francis Marshall

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:31:20 GMT

Francis Marshall (1901 - 1980) served as a midshipman during the First World War. Following his discharge in 1920 he spent three years at the Slade School of Fine Art. In 1928 he met Cond Nast and obtained work as an illustrator for British Vogue.

His great interests were ballet, fashion, horses, London life, music, outdoor life, theatre and travel. His sketches in these subject areas were well suited to Vogue's publications and the 'Marshall girl', based on his wife Margaret, became a well-known figure in Vogue's illustrations. During the Second World War he was based in Bath as a naval camouflage officer.

After the War he returned to advertising and was also the principal social and fashion illustrator on the Daily Mail until the 1960s, attending the Paris couture shows. His books included An Englishman in New York, Fashion drawing and London west. He also designed covers for the novels of Barbara Cartland and illustrated volumes of Reader's Digest. He continued as a freelance artist until his death in 1980.

Out of Position by Kyell Gold Special Offer

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:35:30 GMT

Out of Position is the winner of the popularity contest of the Rainbow Awards for Fantasy Fiction and it's now competing in the third phase.

Kyell Gold wrote to me to let me know about a special he is running this week: he will be at his publisher's this coming weekend, so if anyone wants to purchase an hardcopy of the book and have it signed and personalized, he will be happy to do that.

The catch is that you have to order through Sofawolf:

http://www.sofawolf.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=95

and you have to order this week.

Dev is a football player at Forester University, a small liberal arts college where he and his teammates get to strut around and have their pick of the girls on Friday nights. That's as good as it gets—until he meets Lee, a fox with a quick wit and an attractive body.

Problem is, Lee's not a girl. He's a gay fox, an activist who never dreamed he'd fall for a football player. As their attraction deepens into romance, it's hard enough for them to handle each other, let alone their inquisitive friends, family, and co-workers. And if school is bad, the hyper- masculine world of professional sports that awaits Dev after graduation will be a hundred times worse.

Going it alone would make everything easier. If only they could stop fighting long enough to break up.

With cover and interior illustrations by Blotch.

Double Trouble by G.A. Hauser

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:30:38 GMT

This novel is set in the same world of the previous Action! Series by G.A. Hauser, the world of the bold, beautiful, and rich, of Los Angeles. Actually if you read the last book in that series, you already met Danny and Donny, identical twin working on the same firm of Mark and Steven. And in a way you already know their story and some of its development.

What is important here is to know better these two and their reason. As expected, as always I should say, G.A. Hauser’s men are not exactly “perfect” heroes, and in a way, sometime, they are not even so nice. Apparently it seems that they don’t have any moral, but actually there is always a reason behind it. In this case, when you read of two 25 years old guys still living on the shoulders of their parents with little intention to change the situation soon, you can’t really have of them a good first impression. But then you meet their parents, and discover that they are not really pushing their babies to go out of the nest, and so, as Danny and Donny do, you think, why bothering too much? Let them have the time of their life and sooner or later they will discover how it’s the real world. Problem is that sometime, people like them, discover the truth so far in their life when it is really too late to change something. Or maybe, if they are lucky, they never discover it, and they live always happy and unconscious.

Even if Danny and Donny are identical twin, and in many way they are similar, they are not alike in their emotional development. Danny, more shy and quite, is also the one that is readier to take the flight out of the nest. It’s almost like, while Donny spent all his energy in growing and glowing, Danny saved it for the right moment. Suddenly Danny is the savvier, he is the one who is taking serious decision, and Donny is unsettled by it. He feels like he is losing his brother and this cause him some emotional issue, leading him to taking out his frustration during sex with other man. Donny realizes that he is doing something wrong, but what he seems to not realize is that he is hurting other men. This is the point when you, reader, realize that you are reading about a man by G.A. Hauser: in any other novel, by any other author, Donny would probably go under a self-judgement, coming out guilty and repentant. This is what an hero does, this is not what Donny does. Donny is not an hero, as seldom G.A. Hauser’s men are; they are more irresistible villain, the bad guys that everyone, or at least me, love.

For most part of the book, Donny plays the role of the bad twin and Danny is his good conscience. Danny is so good that sometime he is almost boring in comparison to Donny. But then I saw a spark, a bit of that wickedness or naughtiness that his brother Donny is always accused of; and you realize that maybe Danny is only better in controlling himself, that he is probably smarter that his brother Donny. It’s strange but discovering that Donny is more fragile than Danny, at least at an emotional level, made him nicer to my eyes. I’m true, I didn’t like much Donny, at least not in the first part of the book, and even in the end, being him not at all repentant, it was like his happily ever after was not due. But again, as I said, there are some lucky men that have never had to face how the world really is, they are, and they will always be, the bold, beautiful and rich. And if you don’t like it, well, probably you will not like most of G.A. Hauser’s books, since she likes them a lot.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Double+Trouble/exact_match=exact

Series:
1) The Physician and the Actor: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/154682.html
2) For Love and Money: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/101976.html
3) Secrets and Misdemeanors: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/180102.html
4) Capital Games: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210160.html
5) Love You, Loveday: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/288895.html
6) When Adam met Jack: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/300519.html
7) Mark Antonious deMontford: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/463899.html
8) Acting Naughty (Action! 1): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/493312.html
9) Playing Dirty (Action! 2): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/520179.html
10) Getting It in the End (Action! 3): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/656487.html
11) Behaving Badly (Action! 4): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/700268.html
12) Double Trouble
13) Dripping Hot (Action! 5): http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/746033.html

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

Around the World: Moscow

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:12:56 GMT

I have still the flu, I'm walking around with pill for headache, watery nose and cough, but today, when I woke up, there was a slightly promise of blue sky and so I really couldn't stay inside my room. I went out like the Michelin man, all covered in different layers of dresses, and took the subway to the city centre... obviously, as soon as I was out of the Metro, it was raining :-( Well, I thought, I'm here, I'm covered, and I want to see the city, and so, I continue my walk, under a rain that was never, fortunately, too heavy to bother me too much. And strange thing, the sky was actually blue, when I could see it behind the clouds! Anyway, I walked for more or less 4 hours, I skipped lunch since the light hours are so few that I wanted to profit of all of them. Today was probably the better day for picture, I did a lot, but I chose to post only 6: I will save the others for my next pic spam appointments ;-)

No, I wasn't particularly interested in the Starsbuck Coffee, I first noticed the building behind and the nice effect of the windows with the blue sky. I was particurarly interested in the style of the building, even if it seems modern, I have the feeling that it's not, if I didn't know that it is quite impossible, I would say that it's a '60 or '70 building. Anyway, I'm like that, I notice the strangest things, and sometime my pictures have no reason if not to save in my memories the passing impression of a nice color, or of tree branches with red berry in front of a pink wall...

Straight Lies by Rob Byrnes

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:35:46 GMT

This novel is less "romance" than expected and probably funnier. First of all the two main characters, from the blurb and even from the cover I was expecting for them to be two young guys with big hopes and few means, and instead they are two partners in crime in a work and love relationship older than 15 years. So between them everything is easy, they know each other and their mutual faults. There is not much romance, meaning that there are not much love scenes (and never once we arrive to a sex scene) but between Chase and Grant there is for sure a love relationship. Here and there you can also have an hint that it was not always simple, that maybe sometime they had to overcome some obstacles in their path, but more or less they were successful in doing that, and I have never had the feeling that their relationship was in trouble.

Problem is that at more or less 40 years old, they are too old to continue to live on expedients, they maybe want to retire or arriving at least near that. And so when Jamie comes to them with a not so legal proposition, Grant sees the chance to hit the big one. Jamie filmed a famous gay actor and activist, Romeo Romero, having sex… with a woman. The tape is worth a lot, the problem is that Jamie lost it! In a cab! From that moment on Grant starts to plan a way to have it back and more he goes on, more people are involved and more I was trying to understand if, once everyone was paid back, something for Chase and Grant’s retirement plan was still available.

As I said, the novel is more a comedy than a romance, and even if it deals with thieves and blackmails, for sure it’s not a mystery or an adventure plot… probably the only mystery is how our heroes manage to not end up in a jail, since they didn’t give me the idea to be real criminals. Chase and Grant are more or less good boys who are trying to survive, and even their crimes usually are petty crimes, that more or less don’t give much trouble neither to their victims: some money here, a stolen car there, nothing of irreplaceable or real life-important.

Other than Chase and Grant, there are other supporting characters that I think in a way stole the scene to them. Lisa, the lesbian real estate agent with a lip-stick girlfriend, Paul the driver, even Will the unwilling blackmailer, or Henry the 41 years old policeman with a crush for the 16 years old “Amber”, no one of them is really “honest”, but no one of them is really a criminal. But who for me shine among them all is Jared, the twinkiest of the twinks: with is out of body-lose in dreams moments and his philosophy of life (every man with money is hot), he is for sure the most funniest and original of all the characters and I really wouldn’t mind to read his own personal story, where of course he would be able to find his hot sugar daddy, with a lot of money and, why not?, who is also an hot guy for real. Who instead had great potential, but among all these characters remained a bit in the shadow was Jamie: again, I think he’s good material for something more.

Amazon: Straight Lies

Amazon Kindle: Straight Lies

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

Cover Art by Kristine Mills-Noble

Around the World: Moscow

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:43:41 GMT

As expected I didn't have much time to visit around, during the week I stay at work till 9 p.m. and when we are back at the hotel we need to do a recap of the day. So more or less my time is all spent inside an office or at the bar of the hotel. And the hotel is outside the center of Moscow so, even if we would like to take a walk, we are pretty much stuck inside it. Plus I have a bad flu and so I'm not really in the mood to go out. But this morning I forced myself to at least go to see a near park, a former hunting reserve for the Zars with a small artificial island in the middle and a cathedral in the centre. It was a nice place, with maybe a bit the feeling of an abandoned place, but still, it was worth the visit. After that I went to a near craft market: I suppose people made me pay much for the little gifts I bought, but well, it was all the same a good experience and the market was a crazy place. Pity the time is not good and so in the end, I decided to come back to the hotel.

The second picture is the view from my hotel room, the morning I woke up with the snow... and yes, that is morning light ;-)

The Inside Reader: James Buchanan

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:07 GMT

And here is the second Inside Reader for this week; James was actually one of the first authors I interviewed more than 2 years before for another blog that I have now long ago abandoned, but I still remember with pleasure that experience.

I don’t profess to any great literary tastes as evidenced by my list. Having cut my teeth on 70’s and 80’s science fiction, devoured dime store mysteries and delved into the land of trashy romances, I’m far more pulp-fiction than highbrow. These are in no particular order.

1) The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer. I loved the narrator, the half-Indian Shed (who’s name is short for Out Back In The Shed, cause that’s where he services his male customers). It’s wild and crazy and terribly sad at times. Spanbauer goes from raunchy to poignant in a matter of moments. The crazy cowboy Dellwood – Shed’s mentor and lover – obtains a black stallion for Shed…which Shed promptly names “Princess.” You don’t know who’s more insane, the prostitutes Shed calls family or the bible thumpers in their town. This is one of those books I love so much, I find it hard to talk about why.

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (January 6, 2000)
Publisher Link: http://www.groveatlantic.com/#page=isbn9780802136633%20
ISBN-10: 080213663X
ISBN-13: 978-0802136633
Amazon: The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon: A Novel

Set against the harsh reality of an unforgiving landscape and culture, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon provides a vision of the Old West unlike anything seen before. The narrator, Shed, is one of the most memorable characters in contemporary fiction: a half-Indian bisexual boy who lives and works at the Indian Head Hotel in the tiny town of Excellent, Idaho. It's the turn of the century, and the hotel carries on a prosperous business as the town's brothel. The eccentric characters working in the hotel provide Shed with a surrogate family, yet he finds in himself a growing need to learn the meaning of his Indian name, Duivichi-un-Dua, given to him by his mother, who was murdered when he was twelve. Setting off alone across the haunting plains, Shed goes in search of an identity among his true people, encountering a rich pageant of extraordinary characters along the way. Although he learns a great deal about the mysteries and traditions of his Indian heritage, it is not until Shed returns to Excellent and witnesses a series of brutal tragedies that he attains the wisdom that infuses this exceptional and captivating book.

2) Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx. I fell in love with the story when it was still available on-line in the Washington Post archives. It hit me in the gut. I actually belong to a Brokeback Mountain fan group, although I don’t post there much any more. Never did fanfiction, the story was just too pure and simple for me to need to go beyond it. Although we had Friday Haiku days which I joined in on and I actually wrote poetry inspired by it.

Paperback: 64 pages
Publisher: Scribner; movie tie-in edition edition (November 1, 2005)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Brokeback-Mountain/Annie-Proulx/9780743271325
ISBN-10: 0743271327
ISBN-13: 978-0743271325
Amazon: Brokeback Mountain: Now a Major Motion Picture

WINNER OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL GOLDEN LION AWARD. Annie Proulx has written some of the most original and brilliant short stories in contemporary literature, and for many, Brokeback Mountain is her masterpiece. Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist, two ranch hands, come together when they're working as sheep herder and camp tender one summer on a range above the tree line. At first, sharing an isolated tent, the attraction is casual, inevitable, but something deeper catches them that summer. Both men work hard, marry, have kids because that's what cowboys do. But over the course of many years and frequent separations this relationship becomes the most important thing in their lives, and they do anything they can to preserve it. Brokeback Mountain was originally published in the New Yorker -- it won the National Magazine Award and was included in the O. Henry Stories 1998. In gorgeous and haunting prose Proulx limns the difficult, dangerous affair between two cowboys that survives everything but the world's violent intolerance.

3) BabyJi by Abha Dawesar. A coming of age story told from a cultural vantage point we don’t often see in the Western World. I had the honor of reading alongside Abha Dawesar at Saints and Sinners. I heard her read, she sat down next to me and I gushed, “Holy shit I have to buy your book now.” And I did, as soon as the reading was over I ran upstairs, bought it, ran downstairs and had her autograph it. It’s sassy and funny. BabyJi in her boy’s clothes and haircut is sneaking in to have sex with all the wives and girlfriends of the men who are trying to seduce her. The sex-ed scene is damn near worth the price of the book.

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Anchor (February 8, 2005)
ISBN-10: 1400034566
ISBN-13: 978-1400034567
Amazon: Babyji

Sexy, surprising, and subversively wise, Babyji is the story of Anamika Sharma, a spirited student growing up in Delhi. At school she is an ace at quantum physics. At home she sneaks off to her parents’ scooter garage to read the Kamasutra. Before long she has seduced an elegant older divorcée and the family servant, and has caught the eye of a classmate coveted by all the boys. With the world of adulthood dancing before her, Anamika confronts questions that would test someone twice her age. Ebullient, unfettered, and introducing one of the most charming heroines in contemporary fiction, Babyji is irresistible.

4) Vintage, a Ghost Story by Steve Berman. I would suggest buying the current version from Giovanni’s Room. It’s a haunting Young Adult novel about a gay, Goth teen boy haunted by the ghost of a High School athlete killed in the fifties. The Goth characters were true to the culture without being caricatures. The ghost story was subtle and vivid and had that “vintage” feel from the Twilight Zone. Plus, being a young adult novel…it felt right. It didn’t preach or feel pretentious as a lot of young adult books written by adults do. It got the whole how do I deal with my gay love and attraction and how do I solve this old story of gay love and attraction just right. I don’t know how to describe it other than, this book works.

Reading level: Young Adult
Perfect Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (March 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 1590210530
ISBN-13: 978-1590210536
Giovanni’s Room: http://www.queerbooks.com/NASApp/store/Search;jsessionid=bacqgtFJYFdyl5xEVhjNr?s=results&initiate=yes&ks=q&qsselect=KQ&title=&author=&qstext=1590210530

A lonely boy walking along a highway meets the boy of his dreams--who happens to have died decades ago and haunts the road. With its cast of offbeat friends, antiques, and Ouija boards, "Vintage" is not a typical romance but does offers readers a memorable blend of dark humor, chills, and love.

5) Anything by Naono Bohra. Its Yaoi folks. If it’s sick and twisted, Naono-sensei makes it sexy. A demon eats the flesh of his drowned lover so they both can survive in Iku Michi, Yobu Tsuki. In Kimi ni Sasayaku Mirai (The Future I Whisper to You), Renji thinks Kazuki died in a plane crash, but then Kazuki shows up at Renji’s door. Over time Kazuki proceeds to fall apart, in a very physical sense. Sex with a corpse has never been, well, sexier. Probably one of my favorites of Naono’s is Yawara Kana Onto (Gentle Warmth), where this guy with a serious teddy bear fetish wakes up to find he brought his own live bear home, and tied him up, gagged him with his own underwear... in true Naono Bohra style it’s a wee bit twisted.

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Media Blasters (April 1, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1598833979
ISBN-13: 978-1598833973
Amazon: Yokai's Hunger

Norito Ogami, an average student, has a tendency to attract demons. Koma appears before Norito, in accordance with the "Sigil Oath," a promise Norito made in his past life with Koma. The two are attracted to each other but Koma's siblings and his beautiful archenemy stands in their way...!? Yokai's Hunger is an eternal love story between a high school senior and a middle-aged beast brought together by fate!

6) The World Well Lost by Theodore Sturgeon. A pair of lovers, aliens, escape to Earth. They’re assumed to be heterosexual and are treated like celebrities. Eventually their home world finds them and demands they be turned over. Their crime, as one of the men charged with their return discovers, two men in love. Theodore Sturgeon is one of those authors who I found in my high school avoiding getting beaten up by hanging out in the library during lunch phase (this followed the junior high getting ink poured into my back-pack and pushed into lockers period). As a freshman I started in the science fiction section with Asimov and by the time I’d graduated I’d read through Zelazny. Sturgeon’s work appealed not only to my weird taste in speculative fiction, but I loved how he played with words. Strange poetic language, juxtaposed metaphors, it all just clicked with me. You can find “The World Well Lost,” in A Saucer of Loneliness: the Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon book 7.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: North Atlantic Books (September 5, 2002)
Publisher Link: http://www.northatlanticbooks.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781556434242
ISBN-10: 1556434243
ISBN-13: 978-1556434242
Amazon: A Saucer of Loneliness: Volume VII, The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon

Kurt Vonnegut cites Theodore Sturgeon as the inspiration for his character Kilgore Trout. This volume includes 12 stories from 1953, considered Sturgeon's golden era. Among them are such favorites as the title story, "The Silken-Swift," "A Way of Thinking," "The Dark Room," "The Clinic," and "The World Well Lost," a story known for being very ahead of its time in advocating gay rights.

7) Leather, Licking and Lawnmowers by Dusk Peterson. I will never, ever see raffle tickets and carrot Jell-O rings without busting up. But it’s so great to see the Leather culture taken out of the normal ‘club hub’ and thrown into suburbia.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 74 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Love in Dark Settings Press (May 24, 2008)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
ASIN: B001AJXPAW
Amazon: Leather, Licking, and Lawnmowers

"Leather, Licking, and Lawnmowers" takes leathersex out of its usual bars and back alleys, setting it in unexpected locations: A 5&10. A potluck. A hamburger joint. A college waltz party. Even when the leatherman who narrates these stories returns to the Eagle bar, things don't go quite the way he expected. . . . Written by the former director of the Erotic Authors Association, who is also editor of "True Tales: An Erotic E-zine of Masculinity and Power," this five-tale gay erotica collection includes the story "Spontaneous," runner-up for the 2006 Rauxa Prize for Erotic Fiction.

8) Anything by Clive Barker. I suggest, “Human Remains,” from the Books of Blood, VIII, where an ancient statue comes alive, stalks a male prostitute and “becomes” him. Barker is the master of creepy.

Paperback: 528 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade (October 1, 1998)
Publisher Link: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780425165584,00.html?Clive_Barker's_Books_of_Blood_1-3_Clive_Barker
ISBN-10: 0425165582
ISBN-13: 978-0425165584
Amazon: Clive Barker's Books of Blood 1-3

With the 1984 publication of Books of Blood, Clive Barker became an overnight literary sensation. He was hailed by Stephen King as "the future of horror," and won both the British and World Fantasy Awards. Now, with his numerous bestsellers, graphic novels, and hit movies like the Hellraiser films, Clive Barker has become an industry unto himself. But it all started here, with this tour de force collection that rivals the dark masterpieces of Edgar Allan Poe. Read him. And rediscover the true meaning of fear.

9) Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice. She who made vampires for me and then destroyed them…she and the Antia Blake series – there is a point where a series should just END. But Lestat and Louis were perfect. Jaw droppingly understated and beautiful. The love hate relationship between them electrified me. Sexual imagery and innuendo without consummation except in death. I may hate every book from The Body Thief forward, but I will always love Interview.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 18, 1997)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345337665
ISBN-10: 0345409647
ISBN-13: 978-0345409645
Amazon: Interview with the Vampire

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force–a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

10) The Dragon Riders of Pern. Okay, McCaffrey… chicky ended up bit apologetic about the whole gay thing and slightly homophobic – and I’m putting it nicely here. However, I read this book when I was in a really hard period about who I was. This was the book that fueled my dreams. Forget being a Bronze rider forever tied to the aloof chicks who rode Golds. I wanted to be a Brown Rider in my leathers, licking my lips, over a stable of Male Green riders who may have occasionally been bitchy or hormonal because their dragons were PMSing, but they were horny, hot dudes who rode the front lines of life and death in fighting thread. It might have been unintentional on her part, but the book gave me a look at a culture that was inherently homosexual. As an author, all I can say is sometimes we write the book we want and sometimes we write the book we never intended.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (July 26, 2005)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345456335
ISBN-10: 0345484266
ISBN-13: 978-0345484260
Amazon: Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern)

HOW CAN ONE GIRL SAVE AN ENTIRE WORLD? To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise—and take back her stolen birthright. But everything changes when she meets a queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa’s world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread, but there are very few of them left these days. Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world. . . .

About James Buchanan: James Buchanan is an award winning author of, primarily, gay erotic fiction. James grew up in a small Southwestern town, hours away from any other small Southwestern town. A stint at the State University, where he ostensibly majored in English, garnered him a degree useful for being someone's secretary. The absolute lack of employment opportunities led James to Southern California. After a stint in County Mental Health (administration not client) he ran screaming into the field of Law. James has been practicing for nine years and someday he might even get it right. James has published several short stories and novellas as well as six novels with various publishers.

Personal Demons
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (October 7, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=PDEMONS1
ISBN-10: 1608200620
ISBN-13: 978-1608200627
Amazon: Personal Demons

Hunting a notorious hit man, FBI Agent Chase Nozick and LAPD Det. Enrique Rios Ocha delve into the inner worlds of Santeria, Voodoo and Palo Mayumbe. A missing informant, her murdered brother and a ghost from Chase's past send them on a hunt through mystics and psychic surgeons to find their witness before it's too late. Can he rely on leads from a child possessed by Orishas? Do cards hold stronger clues than blood? Chase must conquer his own personal demons to bring the killer of his partner to justice and find the strength to take a chance on Enrique.

The Inside Reader: Rowena Sudbury

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:54:18 GMT

This week I'd like to host two very different inside readers. The first of them is Rowena Sudbury: she wrote a very nice manlove medieval romance, that reminded me a lot of the old savage romance I was so fond of many years ago. So I'm not surprise to see in her Top 10 List some "old" names, that for the romance fans are now classic. Rowena is a special inside reader since her list is not strictly LGBT related, but it's interesting to see how a woman who loved classic romance is now a gay romance author.

I am a life long reader, and have been reading romance novels for almost thirty years. I discovered early on that I tended to like historical romances over straight "trashy" romance novels, but sometimes a great trashy novel is just what one needs.

I'm afraid I stole my first ever romance novel. It was back in the early 1980s, and my husband and I were visiting his cousin. She worked in a grocery store and had a bookshelf full of books that had the covers torn off. She blithely told me it was ok because she worked at a grocery store, and it was common to tear the covers off books that didn't sell. I started reading one of them and hadn't quite finished by the time we were going to leave so she told me I could have it. It wasn't until years later that I found out that books with the covers torn off are supposed to be thrown away, so in essence I had stolen it. To make up for it I bought every novel I could find by that author.

Here is my list of "straight" historical romance novels. I've also included one LGBT novel, really the only one I've read all the way through. Too busy writing now to read much of anything. These books are pretty much listed in the order in which I originally read them.

1) The Poldark Saga by Winston Graham. This series of books were not romance novels per se, but they were my introduction to Cornwall and ignited my love for the area. I've read these books countless times. My favorite of the series is The Four Swans. The series centers on the life of Ross Poldark, and his wife Demelza. There is a scene of incredible sensuality in this novel; a scene of adultery between Demelza and a young naval captain named Hugh. I think what really drew me in was Winston Graham's ability to describe a scene is such detail, including physical description and emotional turmoil. I found myself reading it again and again.

Paperback: 581 pages
Publisher: Macmillan UK (April 1996)
ISBN-10: 0330344994
ISBN-13: 978-0330344999
Amazon: The Four Swans (The Poldark Saga)

Ross seems secure in his hard won prosperity, but a new dilemma faces him in the sudden infatuation of a young naval officer for his wife Demelza. For Demelza, Elizabeth, Caroline, and Morwenna, there are times of stress and conflict ahead.

2) Penmarric and Cashelmara by Susan Howatch. Penmarric takes place in Cornwall, so immediately I was in love with it. It follows the ups and downs of a Cornish family from 1890 through to 1945. There is much anguish and a modicum of happiness. I recently re-read the book because I had a burning memory that the book included allusions to homosexuality. When I read it originally I believe I was in high school, well before my infatuation with anything m/m related. The memory stuck in my head though, enough so that I had to re-order it from Amazon to slake my curiosity. My memory turned out to be accurate, and though the homosexual love affair is never spelled out directly, I was impressed that it was included. I think there is a stronger allusion to it in Cashelmara, but I haven't taken the time to re-read that one yet.

Mass Market Paperback: 704 pages
Publisher: Fawcett (July 12, 1984)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780449206225
ISBN-10: 044920622X
ISBN-13: 978-0449206225
Amazon: Penmarric

Set against the starkly beautiful landscape of Cornwall, PENMARRIC is the totally enthralling saga of a family divided against itself. At the center of the novel is the great mansion called Penmarric. It is to Penmarric that Mark Castallack, a proud, strange, and sensitive man, brings his bride Janna--the first act in a tempestuous drama that was to span three generations....

3) The Cornish Heiress by Roberta Gellis. This is the book I "stole". Of course, I was drawn to it because it took place in Cornwall. I found out after reading it that it was part of a series called the Royal Dynasty Series. I bought the rest of the books in the series, and loved them just as much. I always have a soft spot in my heart for this book though, because it was my introduction into quality historical romance.

Paperback: 499 pages
Publisher: Cerridwen Press March 26, '09
Publisher Link: http://www.jasminejade.com/pm-7031-533-the-cornish-heiress.aspx
EFormat: 9781419921001
Trade Paperback: 9781419958564
Amazon: The Cornish Heiress

Megaera’s drunken father sold her at fifteen to Edward Devoran, whose need for money mortgaged her estates and drove him to join a band of smugglers. Megaera was lucky; before all the jewels she was selling to pay the interest were gone, Edward had been murdered by his partner Black Bart. Megaera didn’t betray Black Bart; she just became Red Meg, took Edward’s place and Edward’s profits among the smugglers, and kept paying her mortgages. Philip St. Eyre wanted to fight Napoleon, but his talents—he had been raised as a Frenchman and could pass as French—would be utterly wasted in the army or the navy. He was the perfect spy and had a way to reach France through his father’s old friend, the smuggler Pierre. Thus Philip met Red Meg and fell in love. Meg thought Philip was Pierre’s by-blow; Philip thought Meg was a common smuggler. To both gently born lovers the match was impossible. Until Black Bart tried to murder Meg and Philip had to take her to France where her handiness with a pistol saved his life and his mission and exposed all their secrets.

4) The Roselynde Chronicles by Roberta Gellis. I wasn't going to include two books by the same author, but I am making an exception because this series is medieval, and this is where I gained my love for the medieval time frame. I still have all six of the books that were part of the original series: Roselynde, Alinor, Joanna, Gilliane, Rhiannon, and Sybelle. It would be hard to pick one favorite out of the bunch; they are all so good. Roberta Gellis uses such incredible imagery, like Joanna lying abed with her husband, and in her eyes the golden hairs on his chest make a prison for the long red strands of her hair.

Paperback: 560 pages
Publisher: Leisure Books (July 1994)
ISBN-10: 0843936312
ISBN-13: 978-0843936315
Amazon: Joanna (The Roselynde Chronicles, Book 3)

Letting her passionate nature be frozen by her fears, iron-willed heiress Joanna defies every outward peril in King John's decadent court, until she comes face-to-face with Geoffrey, a knight whose presence unleashes terror and desire in her heart.

5) A Moment in Time by Beatrice Small. My other favorite romance author is Beatrice Small. I love so many of her books. I think the first one I read was Skye O'Malley, the first book in a captivating series that takes place in Ireland. A Moment in Time is my favorite, and one I have read over and over as it takes place in Wales during Medieval times. There is also reference made to Fair Folk, and at the end of the book is a tremendous twist that literally made me cry the first time I read it.

Paperback: 516 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (September 10, 1991)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345368638
ISBN-10: 0345368630
ISBN-13: 978-0345368638
Amazon: A Moment in Time

Young Wynne of Gwernach has no dreams of marriage. Innocent and pure of heart, she believes that love is an illusion. Instead, she devotes herself to managing the great family estate nestled in the raw beauty of Wales, vowing to protect it and her younger brother until he comes of age to inherit.

6) Lovespell by Deana James. Another Medieval English romance, this one involving a girl whom is forced to masquerade as a boy. This book is for all intents and purposes a bodice-ripper. The history seems accurate, but the book has little redeeming value. I just found the erotic interplay between the main male character, and the girl when she is dressed as a boy to be very appealing. Perhaps it was foreshadowing for what I really wanted to read.

Paperback
Publisher: Zebra (August 1, 1984)
ISBN-10: 0821714163
ISBN-13: 978-0821714164
Amazon: Lovespell

7) A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss. I read many of Kathleen Woodiwiss's books, but this is the one that stays in my memory. I liked the intrigue and passion.

Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Avon; 1ST edition (October 1, 1983)
Publisher Link: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780380844005/A_Rose_in_Winter/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0380844001
ISBN-13: 978-0380844005
Amazon: A Rose in Winter

The fairest flower in Mawbry is Erienne Fleming, the enchanting, raven-haired daughter of the village mayor. Charming, spirited and exquisitely lovely, she is beset on all sides by suitors, any one of whom would pay a king's fortune for a place in her heart. But Erienne has eyes for only one: the dashing and witty young Yankee, Christopher Seton. But marriage for love is not to be, for her irresponsible and unscrupulous father, crippled by gambling debts, is intent on auctioning off his beautiful daughter to the highest bidder. And in the end, Erienne is devastated to find it is the strange and secretive Lord Saxton who has purchased her—a mysterious, tragic figure who wears a mask and a cloak at all times to hide disfiguring scars gained in a terrible fire some years back. But in the passing days, Saxton's true nature is revealed to her. A gentle and adoring soul, he treats his new bride with warmth and abiding tenderness, yet appears to her only by daylight. She, in turn, vows to be a good and loyal wife to him. And then Christopher Seton reenters Erienne's world Conflicted by emotions she cannot suppress, Erienne valiantly attempts to remain honorable to her elusive, enigmatic husband but feels herself irresistibly drawn to Seton's passion, his fire, and his secrets. Entangled in intrigues she doesn't yet understand, Erienne Fleming will soon have to make a devastating choice: between love and honor . . . between her duty and her heart.

8) The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I liked this book for many reasons, most notably because it dealt with the legend of King Arthur. Told from the point of view of the women in Arthur's life I felt it gave an alternative view. A true fantasy that, at least in my mind, was rooted in history. It led me to buy actual history books that dealt with Arthurian Legend. Also, even though the entire book is grand, and worth re-reading, there is a scene that always stuck in my head, and again I believe it was just foreshadowing of what I truly enjoyed. Midway through the book, at Beltane, Arthur takes both Gwenhwyfar and Lancelet to his bed. I remember reading between the lines at that scene, and being floored at the images. I think this book just further cemented my love for the Cornish, the Welsh, and all things mystical.

Hardcover: 912 pages
Publisher: Del Rey (October 31, 2000)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/delrey/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345441188
ISBN-10: 0345441184
ISBN-13: 978-0345441188
Amazon: The Mists of Avalon

Marion Zimmer Bradley began her distinguished book publishing career in 1961 with her first novel, The Door Through Space. The following year she wrote the first book in her hugely popular Darkover series, Sword of Aldones, which soon became a Hugo Award nominee. Bradley's novel The Forbidden Tower was also nominated for a Hugo, and The Heritage of Hastur was nominated for an esteemed Nebula Award. The Mists of Avalon was the single most successful novel of Bradley's career. It won the 1984 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel and has been among the top five trade paperback books on Locus's bestseller list for years. Ms. Bradley died in 1999.

9) The Fool's Tale by Nicole Galland. I really can't recommend this book, it disturbed me so much I wasn't myself for at least a week after I finished writing it. I list it because I read it while I was in the process of writing The King's Tale. I thought it would be fun to read a book that took place in Wales around the same time frame as my book, and with such a similar title. The events of the last few pages are shocking. However, there is a great degree of homosexual tension running through the entire book. For that reason alone I continued to read it.

Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks (January 24, 2006)
Publisher Link: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060721510/The_Fools_Tale/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0060721510
ISBN-13: 978-0060721510
Amazon: The Fool's Tale: A Novel

Wales, 1198. A time of treachery, passion, and uncertainty. King Maelgwyn ap Cadwallon, known as Noble, struggles to protect his small kingdom from foes outside and inside his borders. Pressured into a marriage of political convenience, he takes as his bride the young, headstrong Isabel Mortimer, niece of his powerful English nemesis. Through strength of character, Isabel wins her husband's grudging respect, but finds the Welsh court backward and barbaric, and is soon engaged in a battle of wills against Gwirion, the king's oldest, oddest, and most trusted friend. Before long, however, Gwirion and Isabel's mutual animosity is abruptly transformed, and the king finds himself as threatened by loved ones as by the enemies who menace his crown. A masterful novel by a gifted storyteller, The Fool's Tale combines vivid historical fiction, compelling political intrigue, and passionate romance to create an intimate drama of three individuals bound -- and undone -- by love and loyalty.

10) The Desire for Dearborne by V.B. Kildaire. This is the only LGBT book I can include on this list. I just read it a month ago, and found it very enjoyable. Not only is it a historical romance, but there is so much mention of Arthurian Legend I was hooked. I found myself wanting more at the end. I was just getting into the love story between Julien and Leander when all of a sudden the book was over. I would definitely read another book like this one.

Paperback: 276 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 15, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_114&products_id=1497
ISBN-10: 1615810099
ISBN-13: 978-1615810093
Amazon: The Desire for Dearborne

Leander Mayfield is the only surviving son of a poor farmer... or so he believes until the day he learns he is in fact the new Earl of Dearborn. Still recovering from a lingering illness, the sensitive young man travels to Great Britain to claim his estate and embarks upon a bewildering new life. Julien Sutcliffe, the Earl of Blackstone, is suffering from ennui. He's tired and bored with all the finery and wealth and wonders about him. Then he meets this refreshingly naive American Earl, newly arrived in England, and suddenly the world comes alive around him again. Irresistibly drawn to one another, Julien finds himself besotted, and Leander is equally smitten. But just when they think they may have finally found happiness together, Julien and Leander discover that something--or someone--is determined to separate them permanently.

About Rowena Sudbury: Rowena Sudbury writes m/m stories and is published with Dreamspinner Press

The King’s Tale
Paperback: 282 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (July 27, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_148&products_id=1508
ISBN-10: 1615810218
ISBN-13: 978-1615810215
Amazon: The King's Tale

Though Dafydd is the fourth son of Welsh nobility, when he leaves his home he becomes a humble woodsman in small kingdom of Lysnowydh on the sea. During a fierce storm, a stranger seeks shelter in Dafydd's remote cottage. He is no ordinary traveler—he is Christopher, King of Lysnowydh. The wild passion that flares between them rivals the storm, and love moves King Christopher's heart to name Dafydd Marshal of his troops to keep him close. However, love is never simple or safe when it must endure the pressures of political life. Though Dafydd proves himself in battle, Lysnowydh's nobles protest his rise in position and power. Forces will conspire against Dafydd and Christopher, and they must endure treason, treachery, and the demands of a kingdom requiring an heir to secure their happiness together.

The Rainbow Awards: Cover Contest Round 4

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:58:15 GMT

Phase 3 is started and will last till mid of December but you can continue to vote for your favorite cover art.

55 Covers still in contest, here is the link to covers and poll

http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/2009CoverContest_1_4.htm

the covers are grouped in slot of 10, each slot represent a question in the polls. My suggestion: open the above webpage in a different browser than the poll, and look at the covers while ticking off the ones you want to vote in the poll.

Since this is a "funny" contest, I will allow only votes through LJ accounts, not voting with comments sorry. The good news is that you can vote as many covers as you want for all the length of the contest :-) The cover contest will last for six week: every week the covers will be halved by 50%, to arrive at the sixth week with only 10 covers. The winning cover will be announced at the same time with the winner of the 2009 Rainbow Awards for LGBTQ Fiction and Non Fiction.

View Poll: 2009 Rainbow Awards Cover Contest - Round 3

E-male by Scott&Scott

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:51:41 GMT

E-male is a pure classic romance novel. It has not any pretence to be anything else if not a light romp. Kory Miles is a geeky guy working as waiter while he is trying to build a successful online dating website. He is so good in his work that the website is a endless source of good matching but there is a problem: no complicated algorithm calculates the best matching, it’s all in Kory’s mind and good sense. Problem is that e-male is also starting to “eat” its owner, Kory has not real private life and he is always worried that no one discovers who is really behind the website. So when he has the chance to sell the website to another company following it as a consultant, it’s a perfect solution.

Zac Djorvzac is the owner of a travel agency and he has three rules: No Drama, No Dancing, No Dating. For the owner of a gay travel agency this is like a contradiction in terms, since you can’t have a group of gay men together and not having at least one of the Ds above. When Kory enters Zac’s office with a business proposal Zac never sent to him, Zac thinks the man is another city boy interesting only in partying and “loving”. And it not helps to make him changing his idea that Kory has an impromptu sex session with him on the floor behind the desk.

From a start like this, you would expect for the book to be a sex scene after the other. And this is something that actually I have never found in a Scott&Scott’s novel. Yes, there is sex, and also good sex, but the most important thing is the romance. These partners in work and life write novels that proof to the everyday gay man that also him is allowed to have romance. Since he is also a man, the romance is maybe a bit easier and less flowerily, but it’s not less romantic. Kory believes in true love, it’s the basic rule of his online dating website, but he is also a man who walks around with a condom in the pocket, just in case. Zac is apparently a stoic man, but in the end, he has a behind the should past as party boy.

If the light story and the funny moments weren’t enough to make me like this novel, the multiple references to “Dirty Dancing” and Patrick Swayze as must to seen movie for every respectable gay man and teen girls won me over. The roles between Kory and Zac change abruptly and when they leave for a vacation together to Baytown Beach with Kory’s friends and Zac’s employees (like a school trip among different classes where the main purpose is to gossip and dating), Kory becomes the library/laptop mouse, who hardly leaves his room, and Zac is now the beach boy who knows all the better places and who tries to drag Kory’s out of his shell. The dance lessons in the water or balancing on a rock, remind me too much Dirty Dancing to not love the story.

As I said this is a light story. It’s also maybe a little unrealistic, I can’t really believe that a group of grown men can go back so much to their teen years to consider a beach ball contest the main event of their vacation, but still, the story was nice and romantic, pretty much like a young comedy movie, that type of story that you read to rest and relax.

Amazon: E-Male

Amazon Kindle: E-Male

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

Behind the Cover: Boris Vallejo

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:16:35 GMT

Boris Vallejo (born January 8, 1941) is a Peruvian-born American painter. He emigrated to the United States in 1964, and he currently resides in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He frequently works with Julie Bell, his wife, painter and model.

Vallejo works almost exclusively in the fantasy and erotica genres. His hyper-representational paintings have graced the covers of dozens of science fiction paperbacks and are featured in a series of best-selling glossy calendars. Subjects of his paintings are typically gods, monsters, and well-muscled male and female barbarians engaged in battle. Some of his male figures were modeled by Vallejo himself, and many of his later female characters were modeled by his wife. His latest works still retain heavy fantasy elements, but lean more towards the erotic rather than pure fantasy themes.

The Toast of the Town (1976)

The Master and the Maiden (1977)

A Season For Brighton (1978)

First Love (1981)

Soap / Counterfeit Lover (1981)

Vallejo commenced painting at the age of thirteen and had his first illustration job at the age of sixteen. After emigrating to the United States in 1964, he quickly garnered a fan following from his illustrations of Tarzan, Conan The Barbarian, Doc Savage and various other fantasy characters (often done for paperback fiction works featuring the characters). This led to commissions for movie poster illustration, advertisement illustration, and artwork for various collectibles - including Franklin Mint paraphernalia, trading cards and sculpture. Along with Bell, Vallejo presents his artwork in an annual calendar and various books. Vallejo's work is often compared to the work of Frank Frazetta, not only because it is similar stylistically but also since Frazetta painted covers for paperbacks of some of the same characters.

Vallejo's preferred artistic medium is oil paint on board, and has previously used digital media to combine discrete images to form composite images. Preparatory works are pencil or ink sketches, which have been displayed in the book Sketchbook. He and Julie Bell have worked on collaborative artworks together, in which they sign the artwork "Boris and Julie" or "Julie and Boris".

Vallejo has created film posters for numerous fantasy and action productions, including Barbarella (1968), Knightriders (1981), Q (1982), and Barbarian Queen (1985). He has also illustrated posters for comedies, notably National Lampoon's Vacation (1983), European Vacation (1985), and Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007), co-created with Bell.

Vallejo is married to fellow artist Julie Bell, whose artistic style is very similar to Vallejo's. He has two children from a previous marriage to artist and writer Doris Vallejo. His son, Dorian Vallejo, also has produced work in the fantasy genre but now works primarily as a portrait painter. His daughter, Maya Vallejo, is a professional photographer.

http://www.imaginistix.com/

Around the World: Moscow

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:41:57 GMT

So here is the reason why you will not see me much for the following month. I'm in Moscow for work, and I'm busy all the working days till late at night. Plus I have limited internet connection. But I still managed to visit a bit Saturday morning: here are some pictures. And this morning, when I awoke, there was also the snow... hope it will remain till next weekend when maybe I will time to visit again.

Top 100 Gay Novel: Looking for It by Michael Thomas Ford

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:08:43 GMT

I was wandering a lot around Michael Thomas Ford's novels, never deciding to buy one since, first there were so many to choose from that I didn't know where to start and second I was worried to become addicted and knowing me if I liked one than I for sure I would have bought all of them. So I waited and waited and then in a gay bookstore they were all there, looking at me from the shelves and they are so pretty with those covers that I picked one. The saleswoman told me pick one random, they are all good and my choice was Looking for it.

It's strange, usually I don't like stories with too much characters, I never know for whom to care for and always feel like no one of them has enough space. And above all, at least one of them has not an happy ending. And instead Looking for it made me rethink on my assumptions. It's true, it's the choral story of a groups of friends, all of them gay and all of them represents a way to face gay life. There is Mike, the bartender of the Engine Room, the pub where all of them gather. He seems the more steady of them, always ready to listen to other problems. But also Mike has his bad experience in the past and maybe he is alone since he fears to be burnt again. But Mike is a too good guy to stay alone forever and so enter Father Thomas Dunn, the new episcopal pastor of the S. Peter's Church, the same church where some of the above friends go. So, in a way, Mike and Thomas do the same work, they listen to people problem trying to forget that also them have their own relationship issue. Thomas was in love with a fellow seminarist, a boy he didn't have the courage to love and who died. Since then, Thomas's guilty grew so much that now he is convinced that his punishment is to be alone forever. What I liked of Mike and Thomas' story is that it was without angst; both of them new that it was not an easy relationship but they faced it with an easiness that made it sweet and tender.

The other known couple in the novel is John and Russell, who are facing the classic 7 years love relationship crisis. They love each other, but they arrived in a moment in life and in their relationship, where the other is granted, and you believe that you haven't to prove your love. John and Russell were since the beginning a strange couple, Russell full of joy and life, and John so quiet and shy. Probably this is the reason why they love each other, but living together is a play of balancing, and probably they forgot that. It will be not easy for them to find a way to stay together, but what I liked of their story is that they never stopped to love each other.

Then there is Simon, one of the best character of all. He is 65 years old and recently "widower". His more than 40 life partner died of cancer the year before, and Simon is wondering why he didn't die with him. He has friends, a place to stay but he is alone, and at his age he doesn't believe possible to have a second chance in love. And even if it was, how will he recognize it? He was out of the dating game for so much that the rules are all changed, and he doesn't know if he likes how they are playing now.

The last two men, but not the least important, are Stephen and Greg. In a way they are similar, they both are in the closet but in the opposite way: Greg came out simply living his family and all he knew to live in another city, among strangers who accept him for who he is and not for who they want him to be. Stephen instead is out with his friends but completely in the closet with his family, and living one door next the other it's quite impossible to have a normal relationship. So both of them are limiting their relationship to one night standings, believing in this way to quench the thirst of love they have, and instead gathering so much need inside that sooner or later they will explode.

On a side note there is also the story of Pete, probably the sadder of all. A man who was raised believing that being gay is the worst evil of all, and that has no way to understand his needs and feelings. The only way to claim them is with violence. Even if he is not a "good" guy, I think the author considered him another of his boys, another way to live being gay, I wish this one being the less chosen, but I know that in reality, for many people is the only one. I can't hate Pete, neither after knowing what he did, I can only feel a great pain for him.

On a closing note, Looking for It is a wonderful romance, and it's also pretty sexy, something I seldom have the chance to find in a more mainstream novel. The sex scenes are all good, even the one that serves to the author to prove something, they are enough but not too much, and above all, they are more romantic than free.

And now my only problem is how to choose the next one among the Michael Thomas Ford's novels...

Amazon: Looking For It

Michael Thomas Ford's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/423626.html

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

Cover Art by Steve Walker

Sorry if I will be off line for a bit

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00:44 GMT

For the next month you will not see me much: I'm on a long leave for work and I don't have internet access during my free time. Plus the free time is very stretch and so I have to choose if to sleep or to read, and I have to sleep. I will try to post some reviews, but to give you an idea, it's three day that I'm reading the same book, and it's also a very good book, but really, I have no time to spare for reading.

I will try to post my usual appointment, but probably some of them will be lost or post in a different time. Please forgive me and I will come back to my usual scheduling in a month or so.

The Inside Reader: Sean Kennedy

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:20:09 GMT

I'm very happy to have as my Inside Reader Sean Kennedy whose Tigers & Devils is one of the best gay romance of the last year. Sean Kennedy's list is a mix of classic, romance and young adult novels, some of them already in my wish list and some of them are my "don't miss" as well (see Maurice and Orlando).

1) Maurice by EM Forster. One of England’s most prominent novelists, the story that was closest to Forster’s heart was only published after his death. This book means so much to me because it was one of the first ‘gay’ books I ever read, sneaking it off my older sister’s shelf. It was also one of the first representations of a gay couple I discovered in film or literature that didn’t end in tragedy. Seriously, check out the excellent documentary The Celluloid Closet to discover just how often a gay, or gay-coded, character doesn’t survive the film they’re in. Imagine my relief where I read a story where the characters slipped away into the mist, presumably to find a place where they could live freely and happily.

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (December 17, 2005)
Publisher Link: http://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?ID=12811
ISBN-10: 0393310329
ISBN-13: 978-0393310320
Amazon: Maurice: A Novel

"The work of an exceptional artist working close to the peak of his powers." Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times. Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and Cambridge, and on into his father's firm, Hill and Hall, Stock Brokers. In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in almost every way, "stepping into the niche that England had prepared for him": except that his is homosexual. Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately after Howards End, and not published until 1971, Maurice was ahead of its time in its theme and in its affirmation that love between men can be happy. "Happiness," Forster wrote, "is its keynote. In Maurice I tried to create a character who was completely unlike myself or what I supposed myself to be: someone handsome, healthy, bodily attractive, mentally torpid, not a bad businessman and rather a snob. Into this mixture I dropped an ingredient that puzzles him, wakes him up, torments him and finally saves him."

2) Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice. The Vampire Chronicles are kind of like the first set of homoerotic novels that a queer kid can get away with reading while still closeted because they are not often seen as ‘gay’ books. Rice’s vampires crossed all boundaries – sexual, religious, political – and therefore opened up the eyes of any teenage kid who knew to seek them out.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 18, 1997)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345337665
ISBN-10: 0345409647
ISBN-13: 978-0345409645
Amazon: Interview with the Vampire

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force–a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

3) Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin. There is no denying that this is a gay classic, and it works so well because it shows gay people interacting with the straight community rather than being apart from it. The whacky residents of Barbary Lane can be followed through seven books, although you should be warned that as the books move into the eighties they become a bit more sombre when the impact of AIDS is first known.

Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial (May 29, 2007)
Publisher Link: http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061358302/Tales_of_the_City/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0061358304
ISBN-13: 978-0061358302
Amazon: Tales of the City: A Novel (P.S.)

For more than three decades Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City has blazed its own trail through popular culture—from a groundbreaking newspaper serial to a classic novel, to a television event that entranced millions around the world. The first of six novels about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane, Tales is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed forever the way we live.

4) Hero by Perry Moore. This is the kind of book I wished I could have read when I was a teenager, who still enjoyed his comics but wished he could have seen himself reflected in them. Although it has its (extremely) dark moments, LGBTQ teens everywhere would enjoy this story of a gay superhero who is coming to terms with both his newfound powers and his sexuality. Can someone save the world and come out at the same time?

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Hyperion Book CH; Reprint edition (May 5, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://hyperionbooksforchildren.com/board/displayBook.asp?id=2103
ISBN-10: 1423101960
ISBN-13: 978-1423101963
Amazon: Hero

The last thing in the world Thom Creed wants is to add to his father’s pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And that he’s been asked to join the League – the very organization of superheroes that spurned his dad. But the most painful secret of all is one Thom can barely face himself: he’s gay. But becoming a member of the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes, including Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger; Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch; and Ruth, a wise old broad who can see the future. Like Thom, these heroes have things to hide; but they will have to learn to trust one another when they uncover a deadly conspiracy within the League. To survive, Thom will face challenges he never imagined. To find happiness, he’ll have to come to terms with his father’s past and discover the kind of hero he really wants to be..

5) Orlando by Virginia Woolf. A classic in so many ways, the history behind this book makes the meaning and the layers even more eloquent and opens up a whole new world of interpretation. Essentially a love letter to one of Woolf’s partners, Vita Sackville-West, Orlando is a coded lesbian romance. Orlando is a nobleman who simply decides through his own will that he will never grow old. He moves through the centuries, has many romances and even changes sex, becoming the Lady Orlando. It was because of the gender-bendering and ‘fantastical’ elements that Woolf could, at the time, explore gender and sexuality in a way that had never been done before. It is a brilliant work that should be read by everybody.

Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (December 5, 1999)
Publisher Link: http://www.wordsworth-editions.com/jkcm/default.aspx?pg=/book%20more%20details/&showkey=190
ISBN-10: 1853262390
ISBN-13: 978-1853262395
Amazon: Orlando (Wordsworth Classics)

With an Introduction and Notes by Merry M. Pawlowski, Professor and Chair, Department of English, California State University, Bakersfield. Virginia Woolf's Orlando 'The longest and most charming love letter in literature', playfully constructs the figure of Orlando as the fictional embodiment of Woolf's close friend and lover, Vita Sackville-West. Spanning three centuries, the novel opens as Orlando, a young nobleman in Elizabeth's England, awaits a visit from the Queen and traces his experience with first love as England under James I lies locked in the embrace of the Great Frost. At the midpoint of the novel, Orlando, now an ambassador in Costantinople, awakes to find that he is a woman, and the novel indulges in farce and irony to consider the roles of women in the 18th and 19th centuries. As the novel ends in 1928, a year consonant with full suffrage for women. Orlando, now a wife and mother, stands poised at the brink of a future that holds new hope and promise for women.

6) A Boy’s Own Story by Edmund White. Often labelled the ‘gay Catcher in the Rye’ this is the story of a teen trying to discover himself in a much more unwelcoming period of the 50s. A bit bleak and heavy going at times, this was followed up by two sequels, yet I never found them as appealing as this one.

Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (February 24, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780143114840,00.html?A_Boy's_Own_Story_Edmund_White
ISBN-10: 0143114840
ASIN: B002SB8PM4
Amazon: A Boy's Own Story: A Novel

Originally published in 1982 as the first of Edmund White’s trilogy of autobiographical novels, A Boy’s Own Story became an instant classic for its pioneering portrayal of homosexuality. The book’s unnamed narrator, growing up during the 1950s, is beset by aloof parents, a cruel sister, and relentless mocking from his peers, compelling him to seek out works of art and literature as solace—and to uncover new relationships in the struggle to embrace his own sexuality. Lyrical and poignant, with powerful evocations of shame and yearning, this is an American literary treasure.

7) Geography Club by Brent Hartinger. Is it just me, or does some of the finest LGBTQ lit out at the moment seem to be in the YA genre? A group of teens wish to form a Gay-Straight Alliance at their local high school, but don’t wish to be so open about it so they name it the “Geography Club” so nobody else will join because they’ll assume it to be too boring and therefore it won’t draw attention to itself. As Russ says, “who will want to join that?” The wonderful thing about this book is how realistic the teenagers and their actions are, although good kids they sometimes do ‘bad’ things in order to protect themselves. Of course the club won’t remain secret for long, and so far there are two sequels that are just as enjoyable to read.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen (February 17, 2004)
Publisher Link: http://www.harperteen.com/books/9780060012236/Geography_Club/index.aspx
ISBN-10: 0060012234
ISBN-13: 978-0060012236
Amazon: Geography Club

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he's the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school's baseball team. Soon Russel meets other gay students, too. There's his best friend Min, who reveals that she is bisexual, and her soccer–playing girlfriend Terese. Then there's Terese's politically active friend, Ike. But how can kids this diverse get together without drawing attention to themselves? "We just choose a club that's so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever in a million years join it. We could call it Geography Club!" Brent Hartinger's debut novel is a fast–paced, funny, and trenchant portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of high school and the even more dangerous landscape of the human heart.

8) A Really Nice Prom Mess by Brian Sloan. Another recent YA novel, what is so fun and different about ARNPM is that it is like a John Hughes movie (the good kind of Hughes film from the 80s) except it actually has gay characters in it. Cameron and his boyfriend double date on the prom so that they can almost pretend they are going with each other – unfortunately it all goes to hell when his date Virginia finds out he’s gay and she’s not too happy about acting as his beard for the evening. What follows is a comedy of errors of epic proportions and a series of wild adventures, and Cameron finally finding the strength to be himself.

Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse (February 19, 2008)
Publisher Link: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Really-Nice-Prom-Mess/Brian-Sloan/9781416953890
ISBN-10: 1416953892
ISBN-13: 978-1416953890
Amazon: A Really Nice Prom Mess

Cameron doesn't want to go to prom. Not with his boyfriend, Shane, and definitely not with his fake date, Virginia. Sure, it's senior prom, it's the end of high school, and Virginia's drop-dead gorgeous. But none of that matters to Cam, who's never liked any high school dance. Ever. Then an unexpected kiss changes everything, and Cam needs to make a quick exit. After teaming up with a waiter who's been dealing drugs in the bathroom, Cam leaves the prom. But his night is far from over. From a high-speed car chase, to a stop at the after-prom party, to a bar with a wild dance contest...Cam's night finally ends in the most unlikely of romances.

About Sean Kennedy: Sean Kennedy lives in the second-most isolated city in the world, so it’s just as well he has his imagination for company when real-life friends are otherwise occupied. He has far too many ideas and wishes he had the power to feed them directly from his brain into the laptop so they won’t get lost in the ether.

Dash and Dingo by Catt Ford & Sean Kennedy
Paperback: 310 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 28, 2009)
Publisher Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=55_113&products_id=1480&osCsid=n06f2lbln590fboc3lb4vu9fg5
ISBN: 1615810668
ISBN-13: 978-1615810666
Amazon: Dash and Dingo

Stodgy British archivist Henry Percival-Smythe slaves away in the dusty basement of Ealing College in 1934, the only bright spot in his life his obsession with a strange Australian mammal, the thylacine. It has been hunted to the edge of extinction, and Henry would love nothing more than to help the rare creature survive. Then a human whirlwind spins through his door. Jack "Dingo" Chambers is also on the hunt for the so-called "Tasmanian Tiger," although his reasons are far more altruistic. Banding together, Dingo and the newly nicknamed Dash travel halfway around the globe in their quest to save the thylacine from becoming a footnote in the pages of biological history. While they search high and low, traverse the wilds, and fight the deadliest of all creatures—man—Dash and Dingo will face danger and discover another fierce passion within themselves: a desire for each other.

OutAuction NYC 2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:22:07 GMT

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the GLAAD Board of Directors, the Honorary Committee and Arts Advisory Committee and this year’s Planning Committee invite you to join them for OUTAuction NYC - the eighth annual art event to celebrate established and emerging artists, while recognizing GLAAD’s Top 100 Artists.

Event Details: Sunday, November 15, 2009 5:00 - 9:30 pm Metropolitan Pavilion 125 West 18th Street New York, NY 10011 Dress: Cocktail Chic

Since 2002, GLAAD has produced this annual fundraising event to support their programmatic work. Part art auction and part glamorous cocktail reception, OUTAuction NYC is the must attend event of the fall season. Join them and bid on 100 unique pieces of art. Last year’s live auction featured work from Pablo Picasso, Herb Ritts, Steven Klein, and Marc Chagall. Past artists include: Ross Bleckner, Ryan McGinness, Patrick McMullan, Annie Leibovitz, Karim Rashid, Mario Sorrenti, Peter Max, Rosie O’Donnell, and many others. Celebrities who have participated in the past include: Tom Ford, Susie Essman, Patricia Fields, Eva LaRue and Junior Vasquez among others.

http://www.glaad.org/outauction2009

Among this year 100 artist, I recognized some names of people I "met" online for different reason, and obviously I asked them for a sneak peek of their artwork:

Aaron Kratch, author of Half-Life, a coming of age gay-themed novel I reviewed, and Top 100 Gay Novels author

Aaron Kratch - Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas
http://www.aaronkrach.com/

Frank Louis, Italian-American photographer who already in the past gifted my LiveJournal with some exclusive photos of my Man Candy, and wonderful online friend, Jack MacKenroth

Frank Louis - Twilight 5
http://franklouis.com/gallery/

Our common online friend, fantastic artist and now wonderful cover artist, Paul Richmond

Paul Richmond - Noah's Gay Wedding Cruise
http://www.paulrichmondstudio.com/

Love Me Dead by William Maltese, A.M. Riley & Lex Valentine

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:11:02 GMT

Ghost Hunters – Long Beach by A.M. Riley

If you start this anthology thinking to read something haunting and dark, you would be surprised by the first story, which is almost a sweet romance. James and Rick are best friend since forever, they met when they were still too young to understand what a sexual preference was, and from that moment on they were inseparable. Rick believes in ghosts and James believes in Rick; if Rick wants to go ghost hunting, James is there with him, and so it was for the past eight years. I actually don’t know how old they both are, but due to their “innocence”, I think they are 20-something, so it’s not implausible that they are in that moment of life when they need to take a final and life changing decision. James loves Rick, but he has no courage to come out to his friend, at least not with his feelings. The night before James told Rick he is gay, but he didn’t admit his feelings for him; and since Rick didn’t tell anything, James took that as a rejection, and now he is thinking to give up, to the ghost hunting and to Rick. I think that James didn’t understand that Rick is not a straightforward type of guy and that he probably has no courage himself to come clear with James. But they have a friend in common that maybe will help both of them.

I really loved this story; I have always had a soft spot for young lovers. And the scene where James admits to a “virgin” Rick that he had a sexual intercourse while his friend was away and Rick simply replies that he had noticed a change in him, was so sweet and tender, an admission of love without actually saying the words. I also loved that, all in all, this was not a paranormal story; the only otherworldly event is a nice topping to a more than nice story, I liked it, but it was not essential to the story.

Rousing Caine by Lex Valentine

This story reminded me an old Hollywood movie, not since it was old fashioned but since it faced the “ghost” side at the same way, not giving much explanation and looking at it like another oddity that adds spicy to the love story. Jason was recently dumped by his younger boy toy, a man he met soon after a bad divorce and who was probably only a way to forget that experience. Still, it wasn’t nice to be not only dumped, but also robbed, Chris, the boy toy ran off with his safe money and a priceless painting. And Jason ran off to his beach house to forget. So, when the morning after he awakes with a ghost in his bed, he was probably ready to have an affair without strings attached, and how it could have them when Caine, the man, is already dead? I think Jason takes it so easy since he doesn’t really believe in the story, oh yes, he believes Caine to be a ghost, but he doesn’t believe their story could last. And so troubles come only when both of them start to move on the simple fling and think to the future. More, when Jason realizes that Caine’s feelings are real, and they were so for a long time, that is the moment when all go to hell.

If you consider the love story, the novella is nice. What I’m not sure to like much is Jason’s character; I think he is a bit selfish. Not only he doesn’t try to understand Caine’s reasons, at least not immediately, but even worse, when he thinks to have lost Caine for good, and so he has already done a bad mistake, he even wishes Chris’s death. All right, Chris is not exactly the best of the man, but I think Jason should at least try to understand his reasons, maybe he was a runaway kid, maybe he had inner trouble, and so on. Instead, really, I have the feeling Jason is a bit self-centred. But well, as I always say, it’s better to have an imperfect man as hero than a perfect hero as man, imperfect men are more interesting and usually give better material for a story.

The Day They Closed The Iguana by A.M. Riley

There are light and funny ghost stories and there are very sad one. A.M. Riley tried both; her first story in this anthology was funny so I should have probably guessed than the second would have been not. Billy is a more than thirty year old former wanna-be-actor, not old fashioned theatre owner with ghost attached. The story is not clear, but probably Billy was in love with Seth, Seth was in love with the idea of being an actor and then he died. Since Billy is now thirty, and we are talking of something happened more than 10 years before, Billy and Seth had to be very young, probably Billy’s first love. And you never forget your first love. So Billy spent all his twenty-something year to mourn for Seth, and it was also quite impossible to forget him, when his ghost was there to remind Billy of who he lost. But years passed and nothing changes and Billy realizes that if he doesn’t do something, he will spend the rest of his life alone, if not for a ghost who is not able to warm him during a winter night.

Enter Frank from Montana. Frank is gentle, caring, down to earth and very real. He reminds me of a movie I love, Bus Stop, where a wonderful Marilyn Monroe is sidetracked from her path towards the glittering lights of Hollywood, from a very handsome and very pushing Montana ranch owner. Billy is Marilyn Monroe, he is already in Hollywood, so that is not his impossible dream. The impossible dream is his love for Seth, and instead Frank represents the today, the now, the possibility. He is maybe not the lost dream of his youth, he is maybe not so striking and perfect as Billy reminds Seth to be, but he is real. Now Billy has to decide if continuing to live with his dreams, or being sidetracked in Montana.

Black Candle Reader by William Maltese

I actually don’t know if all the facts in this novella happened by night, but that was the feeling. At the beginning I didn’t understand if I was reading a series of short independent stories or what: there were different characters, two male escort, the narrative voice, without name (an Afro-American hustler) and his lover Jeremy; a clairvoyant, Kenneth, who is eager to have finally a contact with a human body and not with ghosts; a forty-something man, Talon, who thinks he has to pay for his father’s sins; a young hustler, Sammy, who is dreaming a better life; a serial killer, without name. Their stories seem disconnected if not for one thing they have in common, the sex. And the crazy but nevertheless meaningful flow of words that is a William Maltese’s story. This time actually, it’s a little less sex-centred, to be more scaring (I don’t find sex scaring…); this story is darker, and sadder. I actually felt real sorry for one of the above character, and maybe even for another one. Not really for the third of them who will not arrive at the end of the story. The Love Me Dead of the title in this case is not the love for a ghost, but the crazy love (and not the kind of good crazy of above) which brings to death half the men we are introduced at the beginning.

The previous three stories where not at all scaring and most of all romance, with various degrees of that, and instead Black Candle Reader is probably more horror than romance. I kind of find romantic Jeremy and “I”’s love, not a typical sweet and rose love, they are, after all, male escorts still on the job, but I think “I” is looking after Jeremy, and they are only waiting a good time to retire and being an old fashioned couple aging together in a nice cottage. Or maybe I’m trying to paint in pink the darkness of the story… but still, there were sometime, during the narration, that between cum and candles, I really read Jeremy as an innocent boy at play, and “I” an odd knight in shining armour.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=ANTHLVDD

Amazon: Love Me Dead

Amazon Kindle: Love Me Dead

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

In the Spotlight: Mark Kendrick

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:37:17 GMT

The Book: Scott Faraday is sixteen and has no idea that his world is about to radically change. Scott is fun-loving, in a small-town rock band, and out—but only to a select few.

Isolated in a high desert town, Scott doesn’t know anyone else who is gay. When Ryan St. Charles, a troubled 17-year-old, moves to Yucca Valley, Scott’s world tilts on its axis.

Ryan is a brash seventeen-year-old who has just severed a long relationship with a man, but still considers himself straight. As Scott and Ryan’s friendship develops, Scott begins to suspect that Ryan might be covering up that he’s gay. When Scott comes out to Ryan, their friendship is transformed into his first real relationship.

Tightly focused on these two characters, Desert Sons follows the thoughts and emotion of the ups and downs of a young adult gay relationship. Filled with first-time wonder, teenage angst, and the swirl of emotions that can only be expressed by youth, readers are pulled headlong into a highly-charged drama.

“In Desert Sons, Mark Kendrick has provided all the ingredients of a good book: solid characterization, a compelling story, and a skillful evocation of place. All in all, Desert Sons is a wonderful read, realistic and moving. Highly recommended.”—Guy Willard, author of Foolish Fire and Mirrors of Narcissus

Amazon: Desert Sons

Other Books in the List:

Into This World We're Thrown (2002)
Amazon: Into This World We're Thrown

Stealing Some Time Vol 1 (2003)
Amazon: Stealing Some Time:Volume 1 (Parts 1 and 2)

Stealing Some Time Vol 2 (2003)
Amazon: Stealing Some Time: Book II

The Rylerran Gateway (2008)
Amazon: The Rylerran Gateway

The Author: "I remember being fascinated with pens at an early age. That was just about the time I learned how to write in cursive. The fact that a pen would put a permanent mark on a page, as opposed to a pencil, which could be erased, was intriguing. I sought to make sure that what I wrote would be permanent and legible.

Fourth grade was a pivotal period in my young life. I was enrolled in one of those experimental 'open concept' schools that year. Although they were a failed educational experiment nationwide, the concept worked on me like no other grade before or after. I took my first Spanish class then. It stuck. I read my first SF book then. It's a genre that I still read and can't get enough of. I learned how to read a map. That came in very handy once I became a Boy Scout. To this day I have a fascination with maps. We did those SRA Reading Labs modules that year, too. Boy, was I hooked on reading because of them. I wrote my first imaginative story. My life was never the same when I realized that my imagination was restless, was overflowing, and needed a voice.

I started out writing one page creative stories that had little audience (they were very imaginative, but extremely childish). In 6th grade I wrote a stage play and acted in it, too. I didn't take to acting but my imagination was on fire. Shortly after my 15th birthday the poetry Muse visited and refused to leave. She stayed with me for over 20 years. I ended up writing 15 volumes of poems (count 'em: hundreds). In high school I co-wrote a play, again which I acted in. I was also the co-editor of, and contributor to, a student creative writing anthology which sold out. Although poetry was my main creative outlet for years, always in the back of my mind a couple of novel length ideas were incubating.

Despite the fact that I had an imagination that wouldn't quit, I wasn't particularly encouraged to write. Some people have the luxury of supportive relatives. I didn't. If you're one of those people be thankful for that! For encouragement I turned to my creative friends (mostly musicians) who I felt were gods. Some of them knew that one day I would write the novels I knew were inside me.

I eventually went off to college. Thinking that I had to be practical I majored in business with an emphasis on technology. I got into the wonderful world of computer networking and ultimately became a Microsoft certified networking consultant. Spurred into action by a random conversation with an IT co-worker back in 2000, I wondered why I had let my novel ideas languish. Just a few days later I launched Word 2K and went to work. It was as if the floodgates had opened. I had waited so long, had squashed my need to write for way too many decades, that the stories started pouring out." Mark Ian Kendrick

http://www.mark-kendrick.com/

Top 100 Gay Novels List (*)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (simple - without photos)

External Link to the Top 100 Gay Novels List (wanted - with photos)

*only one title per author, only print books released after January 1, 2000.

Note: I remember to my friends that guest reviews of the above listed books (the top 100 Gay Novels) are welcome, just send them to me and I will post with full credits to the reviewer.

Other titles not in the top 100 list:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/top50MM

A Different Light Event: Book Signing & Reading w/ Aiden Shaw

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:30:24 GMT

BOOK: Sordid Truths
AUTHOR: Aiden Shaw
DATE: Wednesday, November 11
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: A Different Light Bookstore, San Francisco

Buy at A Different Light

Amazon: Sordid Truths: Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom

Adult film superstar Aiden Shaw follows up his bestselling memoir My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution with a prequel that graphically charts the author's meteoric rise to becoming the highest paid gay adult film star in the world.

Sordid Truths: Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom chronicles the author's ascent from being just another broke and very horny college boy, who dabbled with the idea that he could sell his young body for hard cash, to becoming the internationally renowned adult film superstar.

Within a short time on the scene Aiden Shaw was something of a celebrity within his field, having been introduced to wealthy, weird, and wonderful eccentrics and famous—and famously closeted—Euro trash personalities and the celebrated elite. However, working as a prostitute turned minor league once gay adult film legend Chi Chi La Rue took Polaroids of the naked and aroused Shaw and launched his career. The rest is history, as is documented in more than fifty films that won him numerous honors.

Published works:
Brutal (Millivres Books, 1996)
Amazon: Brutal Uncut
If Language at the Same Time Shapes and Distorts Our Ideas and Emotions, How Do We Communicate Love? (The Bad Press, 1997)
Amazon: If Language at the Same Time Shapes and Distorts Our Ideas and Emotions, How Do We Communicate Love?
Boundaries (Brighton: Millirowler Group, 1999)
Amazon: Boundaries
Wasted (Brighton: Millivres Prowler Group, 2002)
Amazon: Wasted
My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution (New York: Carroll & Graf, 2006)
Amazon: My Undoing: Love in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography, and Prostitution
Sordid Truths: Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom (Alyson Books, 2009)
Amazon: Sordid Truths: Selling My Innocence for a Taste of Stardom

Just for You by Jet Mykles

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:01:42 GMT

I was all for expecting to like this story, I'm not new to Jet Mykles' pretty boys and her work, where western romance blends with yaoi without being overtly influenced. And I was expecting for it to be fun and light. But I wasn't expecting to be surprise to the turn of event and for the reversed role of the main characters. Yes, I'm true, I was expecting the usual "gay for you" book where a strong alpha male, and supposedly straight, falls in love, after having fallen in lust, for a pretty young gay boy, and then happily ever after. So see, nothing complicated and everything good.

But no, the story is not so "straight" (pun intended) as I was expecting. First of all Kevin, the "straight" man, is not an alpha male, far from it. He is more like a lost puppy with melting "puppy" eyes and all. And no, he will not play the role of the sheep fallen in the clutches of the Big Bad Wolf, or of the closeted shy gay boy who was only expecting to be freed by gay superhero. Kevin has all a role, and philosophy of his own. I think Kevin is super-gender, meaning that he likes girls, but has not issue to admit that he can like also boys. Basically Kevin is a man (boy) who doesn't like to take the lead in life, in relationship and in bed. He prefers to be the leaded. So yes, it's entirely possible that Kevin could find a strong girl who will command him in bed, and life, but it's more probable that the role is taken by a man.

And here the second surprise, the above said lead man, Justin. In the conventional scheme of straight Alpha Male meets gay omega boy, Justin has to be your typical flamboyant gay boy, young and pretty. But we have already said that Kevin doesn't fit his conventional role and so doesn't Justin. Justin is older than Kevin, and yes, maybe he is a bit flamboyant, but not so much to outshine poor Kevin. I think Justin was like that when he was 20-25, but not that he is more than 30, he has arrived to a moment in his life when he is looking for Mr Right. And yes, maybe in his mind Mr Right is an older, and wealthier, man, but love has other idea. When Justin meets Kevin by chance, on the street, he is suddenly smitten, and in love.

At first Justin comes out so strongly, that the reader has a bit of trouble to judge Kevin. From the blurb, I wasn't really thinking to like Kevin, I don't know, I had this feeling that Kevin was taking advantage of "poor" Justin. But then, as I said, the reader has the chance to see that basically Kevin is a good boy, that he really doesn't want to hurt Justin in any way, and truth be told, Justin seems a man who is more than capable to look after himself. There is a fine play of balancing, Kevin is the one who needs something by Justin, but Justin is the one who has probably the strongest will, and so I have never felt as Kevin was wronging him.

It's also a pretty sexy story, not so much and so soon as I was, again, expecting. At first it's more kissing and cuddling, more sweet than sexy, but when the sexy part arrives, it's good and fun. Even if Kevin is shy in life, he is not shy in bed, not at all; I have the feeling that Kevin has arrived first to understand his sexual desires than his life-choice ones.

http://www.loose-id.com/Just-for-You.aspx

The Rainbow Awards: Third (and last!) Phase: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/850354.html

Cover Art by P.L. Nunn

Behind the Cover: Robert McGinnis

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:49:12 GMT

If you love the old savage romance, maybe you don't know the name Robert McGinnis but for sure you know his work, he is the cover artist for the first 13 books by Johanna Lindsey, yes, those famous and notorious covers, loved, hated, that sometime you find with a strategically positioned "sales price" and that are now collectible items for the lovers and fans of the genre.

Robert McGinnis was born in 1926. He grew up in Wyoming and Ohio and studied art at Ohio State University and the Central Academy for Commercial Art in Cincinnati. He has done advertising work, book and magazine illustration, gallery art and movie poster (Breakfast at Tiffany for telling "only" one and many of the James Bond films). The first of his nearly eleven hundred paperback covers appeared in 1958. His home and studio are in Old Greenwich, Connecticut.

This is actually the 10th of the "Johanna Lindsey" covers, but I think it deserve to be out of the cut as first since it is the one that often you find with a "special price" stick on the... bum of the man and you can't remove it! Anyway, after this one enjoy also all the other covers, in release order:

Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis released in 2001 by Pond Press is now a collectible item itself.

Amazon: Paperback Covers of Robert McGinnis.

A beautifully designed and produced book of the best of Robert McGinnis, one of America's foremost illustrators and a member of the American Illustration Hall of Fame. Since 1958, he has painted over 1,000 paperback covers in all genres, including mystery, romance, and western. In addition to a definitive list of his paperback work, the book provides over 200 full color illustrations, not just of the book covers, but of McGinnis' model photos, sketches, roughs and finished art. The book will provide indispensable to collectors of his works, as well as a visual treat for lovers of fine illustration.

I wouldn't bet to see this day so soon...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:02:38 GMT

All right, some signs were there, my LiveJournal is devoted to Gay Romance, and it's two years that it has a continuous growth that is almost scaring, and not, I'm not self-flattering myself, it's something that made me really wonder, if you don't count last month, that with the Rainbow Awards and all, it was a special month (more than 35.000 single visits, 82.000 page views), the previous month was more or less 25.000 single visits, more or less 5 times the visits of the same month the previous year.

So yes, something was happening, and fast, but really, I wouldn't believe to see the day when Harlequin, the most conservative romance publisher in the world, the same publisher who owns Mills&Boon in England, would open a new line accepting Gay and Lesbian story! But it's true, read here:

"Carina Press is a new digital-only publisher that combines editorial and marketing expertise with the freedom of digital publishing. With a long history of digital marketing and editorial experience, the Carina Press team is committed to bringing readers fresh voices and new, unique editorial.

Our philosophy is: no great story should go untold!

Carina Press will publish a broad range of fiction with an emphasis on romance and its subgenres. We will also acquire voices in mystery, suspense and thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, erotica, gay/lesbian, and more!

Our first books will hit the digital shelves in Spring 2010. Stay tuned!"

http://carinapress.com/

All right, there is Angela James behind it, the same Angela James who, with Samhain Publishing, brought out so good M/M romance authors, so I'm giving them credibility, and will look forward to the Spring of 2010.

The Rainbow Awards: Cover Contest Round 3

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:11:24 GMT

Phase 3 is started and will last till mid of December but you can continue to vote for your favorite cover art.

110 Covers still in contest, here are the link to covers and poll

http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/2009CoverContest_1_3.htm (Slots from 1 to 5)

http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/2009CoverContest_2_3.htm (Slots from 6 to 11)

the covers are grouped in slot of 10, each slot represent a question in the polls. My suggestion: open the above webpages in a different browser than the poll, and look at the covers while ticking off the ones you want to vote in the poll.

Since this is a "funny" contest, I will allow only votes through LJ accounts, not voting with comments sorry. The good news is that you can vote as many covers as you want for all the length of the contest :-) The cover contest will last for six week: every week the covers will be halved by 50%, to arrive at the sixth week with only 10 covers. The winning cover will be announced at the same time with the winner of the 2009 Rainbow Awards for LGBTQ Fiction and Non Fiction.

View Poll: 2009 Rainbow Awards Cover Contest - Round 3

Man Candy Day: Will Chalker, Bryce Draper & Ryan Cooper

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:12:37 GMT

My Men Candy this week are a mixed group. I didn't pick up them for a specific reason other then... well, that I like them ;-) They have something, eyes, body, smile... I don't know, probably they are not classical beauty, but when I browsed the net for this week, they were the Men Candy who stand out among the other!

Will Chalker is one of the guys in undies (well, in his case with neither that) for the editorial “Dessous Animes” in l’Officiel Homme by Matthew Brookes in 2005.

Will Chalker (born 7 March 1980 in East Sussex, England) is an English model and an amateur boxer. He is one of few male models to be considered a supermodel. He began modeling at the age of twenty in 2000, leaving his earlier career as a construction worker after a friend took test shots of him. His big break happened when he was featured in the advertising campaign of Paco Rabanne's perfume Black XS in 2003.

Since then, he has appeared in major ad campaigns including YSL, Perry Ellis, Wormland, Valentino, Mark O'Polo, Zara, Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Dsquared2, Gap, Ermenegildo Zegna and Paul Smith. His runway tasks include opening and closing for Gucci, John Galliano's finishing tableau, Athena-poster look for D&G, carrying a baby tiger onto Dolce & Gabbana's spring/summer 2005 menswear catwalk, and walking along Sonia Rykiel during her show. He has appeared in GQ, l'Uomo Vogue, i-D, Japanese Wallpaper, Spanish Esquire and Upstreet. He has also done commercials for Levi's and his commercial for Paco Rabanne Black XS with has been remixed with scenes starring Bianca Balti to promote its "for her" version.

He has been the first man nominated for Best Model at the British Fashion Awards.

He is currently signed with New York Model Management, UNIQUE DENMARK, Models 1 in London, LA Models, Mega Agency in Hamburg, Fashion in Milan, Traffic in Barcelona and MGM in Paris.

http://models.com/models/Will-Chalker

Bryce Draper is signed by Major Model in New York and Beatrice in Milan.

2009 was a busy year for him, he is in the following editorials: Elle Italia, Dame e Cavalieri, by Ruven Afanador; U Magazine, Remembrance of Things Past, by Joe Lally; Vogue Hommes Japan, Do it yourself, by Jeremy Kost. He is also on the cover of U Magazine, July 2009, by Joe Lally. In the editorial I chose, he is shot by talented Tony Duran in Paris.

“I owned an home security company in Los Angeles and sold an alarm to a guy in the modelling industry. It was quite funny when he asked if I had a manager and I responded that I was a manager (thinking about alarm sales, being the owner/manager). I never wanted to model and when a relationship of mine fell through, I moved to NY to clear my head… the prior connections with the guy in LA… and here I am.

I thought that I would see NYC one day on a vacation and now I live here. I’ve lived in Paris for a year, travelled to South Africa, Cuba, Thailand, it has been amazing to open my eyes to the real world and get out of the bubble I was raised in. I have met many unique people that have shaped my view on the world positively.”

http://models.com/models/bryce-draper

Ryan Cooper (New York Model Management) have everything to be a sexy symbol: Awesome body, beautiful face and sex appeal. He is in Armani Exchange campaign, A/X F/W08, by Tom Munro and in the editorial for Numero Homme, After Party, Spring/Summer 2009, by Liz Collins.

He is signed with New York Model Management, UNIQUE DENMARK, Models 1 in London and IMM Bruxelles.

http://models.com/models/Ryan-Cooper