Bears Need Love Too

Guest post by Lou Harper.

No, not those kind of bears. Get your mind out of the Nature channel!

"Jay pushed himself up, and took a good look at the naked man stretched out before him. A glorious dark pelt spread across Sam’s chest and stomach, turning thick and curly at his groin. Jay gave into temptation and rubbed his face into the dark chest hair."

I had something like this in my head when I pictured Sam in Last Stop. Isn't he beautiful?

At the risk of being controversial: hairy men are sexy. There is something primal, something virile about a chest covered in thick pelt and hairy limbs. Mmm…don't you just want to rub your face in it too?

Contemporary aesthetics favor the hairless. Just type "shirtless man" into the search field of any stock photo site to see what I mean. In mainstream porn women have landing strips at their groin and bowling balls stapled to their chests. Men are waxed to every inch of their lives. As if the porn industry was trying to sanitize sex by moving it as far from reality as possible. I'm against this trend. As Woody Allen said, "Sex is only dirty if it's done right."

With all that said, I like to pair my mature and taciturn bear with a smooth-skinned and chatty twink. It's like having Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Cherry Garcia in the same bowl.

You know what I mean?

In closing, let me say this: all you bears and otters out there, you're beautiful! Be proud, hold your heads up high, and say no to manscaping!

* * *

Sam Mayne’s life is as dull as the dishwater in his small-town Montana diner, and that’s just how he wants it. Quiet, uneventful, safe from his shadowy past. The breezy young drifter who answers his help-wanted ad makes him uneasy in ways he dare not examine too closely. Except he can’t help but be pulled in by Jay Colby’s spunky attitude, endless stories, and undeniable sex appeal.

Fresh off yet another romantic disaster, Jay doesn’t understand his attraction to the taciturn line cook, but there’s no fighting the chemistry that lands them in bed together. Where Sam’s subtly dominant streak takes command, and Jay delights in discovering the pleasures of his submissive side.

Safe in the assumption their relationship is temporary, neither lover holds back when the heat is on. Until Sam’s deadly past catches up with them with a vengeance, forcing him to drop the life he’s built, pick up his lover, and run. As danger cuts closer to the bone, Sam and Jay are forced to face the truth. About themselves, about the depth of their love—and the newly forged bonds that are about to be tested to the limit.

Buy: Samhain - Amazon - Amazon UK

About the author:

Under a prickly, cynical surface Lou Harper is an incorrigible romantic. Her love affair with the written word started at a tender age. There was never a time when stories weren't romping around in her head. She is currently embroiled in a ruinous romance with adjectives. In her free time Lou stalks deviant words and feral narratives.

Lou's favorite animal is the hedgehog. She likes nature, books, movies, photography, and good food. She has a temper and mood swings.

Lou has misspent most of her life in parts of Europe and the US, but is now firmly settled in Los Angeles and worships the sun. However, she thinks the ocean smells funny. Lou is a loner, a misfit, and a happy drunk.

louharper.com

Monday Music: Spiderbite

No, this has nothing to do with Spiderman. Watching a dance show I had to "Shazam" the accompanying music and I discovered Beats Antique. Mostly instrumental electronica but damn if I didn't love every song on their Blind Threshold CD. I listen to a lot of instrumental pieces, movie scores, etc., to feed my writing muse, and I'm constantly on the hunt for more.

There was a great comment from one of the youtube videos for this song, Spiderbite: "This song is having sex with my brain. Mmm, brain sex"

Makes me smile because I totally agree. *g*

Six Sentence Sunday

From my current release, Riding with Heaven, I decided to show a different side of my main character, Evan McGrath today. Evan is an art major at UC-Boulder, and in this scene he's killing time waiting for Lucas by doing a little pencil sketching. And I stuck to an actual six sentences this time. ;-)

I hope you enjoy this little glimpse.

Rough lines formed the angles and planes of bone structure, shading added depth and shape to muscle, and a body began to rise from the page—a body that bore a striking resemblance to Lucas. Heat charged up the back of Evan’s neck. He hadn’t intended on drawing Lucas, hadn’t even consciously thought of it, but there he was in shades of graphite. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Evan reached for his eraser to hide where that moment had taken him, but his hand froze just before the soft rubber touched the page. Without giving thought as to why, he put the eraser down and flipped to a blank sheet. Evan cast a covert look around the restaurant to make sure he hadn’t been caught, then sought out his original reference model and began again.

Don't forget to check out more sixers from a bunch of other great authors here.

Riding with Heaven is now available at Loose Id, Amazon, and All Romance Ebooks.

What He Says... M/M Romance vs Gay Romance

M/M Romance or Gay Romance. I've heard both terms used and wondered if they are the same or not, and if not, how are they different? Of course I had to see what the guys had to say about it. So gentlemen, what do you think? Are M/M romance and gay romance the same thing?

* * *

Stuart Wakefield:
I haven’t been in, or read much of, the genre to consider myself an expert but I wouldn’t make a distinction between the two just yet. I didn’t consider my first novel to be a Romance at all but the M/M Romance group on Goodreads was very supportive. I felt obliged to pepper the sequel with sex to meet the perceived needs of that market but ultimately decided against it. There is sex, but only when it felt instinctively right to me.

Charles Edward:
I’m still learning the ropes, but so far my answer would be “yes and no.” When you use those terms to ask this question, I think you’re referring to M/M Romance as a genre whose audience is primarily straight females, and Gay Romance as a genre whose audience is primarily gay males. I think there is a great deal of overlap, but those markets have different sensibilities you must take into account.

Judging by the literature I’ve read, male readers seem to have a higher tolerance for multiple partners or open relationships. (Frankly, I wonder if that’s really true, or if it’s a stereotype publishers of gay male fiction cater to because they don’t know better. I have been very disappointed with some gay erotic books where everybody has sex, but nobody really gets together. So I don’t quite fit that stereotype.) On the other hand, female readers are very sensitive to cheating. Readers in both camps can sometimes surprise you in terms of what they feel is or is not cheating.

As another difference, I think a contemporary story where anti-gay discrimination doesn’t exist at all isn’t very believable to a gay male reader. I’ve read some books where I just can’t buy into the story because everything is too unrealistically easy for the characters. But the contemporary M/M romances with nearly all-gay casts and no hint of discrimination seem to have large followings.

I don’t mean to suggest in any way that there is something wrong with the authors or the audience. These are just differences to be aware of when writing for one audience or the other.

D.H. Starr (in response to Charles):
Fascinating. I wonder how you came to distinguish the M/M and Gay Romance audiences, but I love the thought of the seeming contradiction between reality and what seems to sell (or not sell).

Damon Suede:
I used to think they were the same thing, and for most readers I imagine the overlap is close... but in the past six months I’ve started to “sense” a thin divide, a gap that continues to grow and mutate. This distinction is idiosyncratic, and not something I’ve seen exercised as any kind of organized label. Because the term M/M comes out of slash and fanfic, it seems to designate more artificial and generic stories: quick fixes and “hawt” times with (over)familiar worlds and characters, lots of castrated bottoms and insta-love with extra snuggles. So for my part, I’m starting to think M/M is a better descriptor for writing that tends towards guilty pleasures and E-Z solutions; I feel like the label “gay romance” should be reserved for romance fiction which happens to feature male homoerotic intimacy. Likewise, not every book that has a gay male couple in it is a romance: LGBT genre fiction and bildungsroman keeps getting lumped in there too... Branding and labeling are massive issues for genre publishing; readers resent being misled and the spectrum of content has grown like kudzu. M/M is a relic of an often juicy, sometimes goofy amateur past. I’d like to see LGBT romance authors treated like professionals. These old stale tags are gonna shift in the coming years, mark my margins. And they need to, big time.

D.H. Starr:
A great question and my fellow bloggers have some really interesting thoughts on the topic. As for me, I guess I just don’t see the difference. I see M/M and Gay Romance as one and the same. For me, when I write the love between my protagonists (or others in some cases), it’s about the organic flow of the characters and their behaviors with one another. I tend to write stories which are more character-driven than plot-driven and therefore I revel in angst and allow my characters to lead their tortured lives, struggle, suffer, and ultimately come out the other end happy and better for the experience. I don’t include sex for the sake of sex, and I don’t insert conflict simply to create tension. I try to let my characters do their thing and in the end, I know I’ve written something that’s true (to me at least). And to those who have been loyal followers, thank you so much and I’ll try to do a better job of getting more writing out in 2012. Andrew (Jeremy’s boyfriend from Meant For Each Other) has been pounding at the inside of my skull trying to get me to sit down and let him tell his story.

Edmond Manning:
I loved Damon’s answer because I am having a hard time seeing the distinction and he made some excellent points. But I think I’m more aligned - philosophically - with Doug’s response. A few reviews of King Perry have said, “This isn’t quite a romance, and not just because of the lack of HEA.” While the ending is definitely celebratory and joyful, the two leads don’t end up together, which has frustrated some romance readers (and delighted some readers chanced a Bittersweet romance). I guess my point is, I’ve been really focusing on the difference between romance and gay literature. My book has lots of deliciously raunchy sex and the two men say, “I love you” to each other, meant in a romantic, intimate way. Yet...it may not be a romance. I’m excited we have so many genre discussions worthy of uh...discussion. (Dang, that last sentence sounded more intelligent in my head.)

* * *

Now we turn the floor over to you. Do you think M/M and gay romance are the same? Why or why not? Curious minds want to know. *g*

On being an adult. Thursday, July 5th the guys will be back to share the moments in their lives when they realized they'd officially reached adulthood. Be sure and drop by.

And don't forget, if you have any topics, questions or photos you'd like the guys to tackle, just shoot them my way. We'll make sure you get the credit.

Miss a previous topic? Check them all out here: What He Says Archives

Monday Music: Letters From the Sky

"Letters from they Sky" by Civil Twilight. Never heard of these guys before, but this music is so emotive... moody, heartbreaking...I've had it playing on loop.

Monday Music: Sour Cherry

While procrastinating getting some work done I stumbled across this video for a TV show I'd never heard of before, Spartacus: Vengeance. I saw 300 and L.O.V.E.D. the cinematography. Effing beautiful to watch. From the trailers for this TV show it looks like they've carried on with that. Bit too violent and gory for me, but I'd watch for it for the cinematography alone. More so because of Argon and Nasir. ;-) So new to me, "Sour Cherry" by The Kills, and Spartacus: Vengeance.

Six Sentence Sunday

I didn't forget about Six Sentence Sunday this week, and I did promise a smexy six from my new novel Riding with Heaven -- which is available now at Loose Id, by the way. ;-)

So, as promised... This little snippet takes place at the end of their second day on the road and things are getting a wee bit heated between Evan and Lucas. Once again, I couldn't keep it to just six sentences, so you get a bonus three extra.

     “Do you sing, Evan?” Breath hitched in Evan’s throat as the whispered question rode hot, moist breath that gently ruffled his damp hair and the back of his neck. He hadn’t even heard Lucas move, and now he could feel that beautiful body right behind his. Lucas’s erection pressed lightly against his ass. “Do you?”
     Evan shuddered in answer, and Lucas slid his arms around Evan’s waist, pulling him back so their bodies pressed together, fitting perfectly. One hand fanned over Evan’s sternum and the other below his navel. Heat spread from the contact points and warmed his skin from head to toe.
     I’ll sing for you. I’ll sing anything for you.

So, what did you think? Was it smexy? Don't forget to check out more sixers from a bunch of other great authors here.

What He Says... About Manscaping

“There's nothing quite like a shorn scrotum... It's breathtaking... I suggest you try it!"
    - Mike Myers as Dr. Evil in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

Myself, I'm a big fan of clean-shaven faces and fairly bare chests, but let's see what the guys have to say...

* * *

Damon Suede:
Nope. Nyet. Nein. I find it creepy and off-putting. It’s a bit like generic porno-speak during sex. The moment a guy says, “Fuck that ass.” Or “that’s so hot, stud!” anything resembling chemistry gets flushed down the toilet because I know they’re just aping cliches they picked up from low-budget porn improv in the San Fernando Valley. Homos homogenizing themselves? The blanding and blinding of America. That’s depressing. It depresses me.

Manscaping reflects the same cultural impulse. Plucking and buzzing ourselves like a fucking hedgemaze. We aren’t supposed to be assembly line robots. We don’t come out of a can or a mold. No two treasure trails are the same, and why would anyone want them to be? Some folks are hairy, some aren’t. Whatevs. Homogenizing us just guarantees that nothing is authentic and everyone feeds their own anxieties. In a (very) few cases I’ve seen guys groom themselves in ways that may be more appealing, but mostly manscaping is part of the trend to make ALL people live and look the exact same way even if they don’t and can’t. Look: can it work? Sure. Anything can be hot, but nothing is hotter than authenticity.

Stuart Wakefield:
I’m all for it and practice regularly. Some parts I wax, some I shave, and some I pluck, but generally I just cut it back as opposed to off. I feel better after a grooming session and I think it’s worth taking some time out to care for yourself physically as well as emotionally. I’m not excessively hairy so I don’t see it as a huge job. Not having a partner makes it tricky when it comes to my back but, thankfully, that’s my least hairy part. ;)

D.H. Starr:
I get so turned on by a well manscaped body. Every once in a while I’ll do a full manscape, but it’s a real chore since I have a hairy chest. I don’t have any on my back, maybe a few stragglers, but it’s all in the front, the arms, and legs. I need to invest in a good set of clippers so I can clip. That’s the way I’ll look best. Clip it so it’s not all bushy, then keep my pubes neat and trimmer and my balls and ass smooth as silk. Gosh. In answering this question I feel like I’m giving way too much information.

Thorny Sterling:
Around here, we have hardwood floors and shag carpeting. See, I used to think it was almost required, so I started shaving when I was 18. My husband used to manscape -- he’s pretty hairy everywhere -- but I asked him to stop and now I think there are spots I could probably braid if he’d let me. I just like him furry and he likes not having to fuss with it. Now me? I’m not really hairy anywhere to start with but I like the bare look with some of the clothes I wear and it’s not a lot of work to keep me as smooth as Doug’s silky ass. ;)

Edmond Manning:
I don’t manscape. Should I? Yeah, probably. Early in my relationship with my barber, he yelled at me for not trimming my eyebrows. (He’s a wonderful, grouchy polar bear.) I tried to argue my brows weren’t that bad and he immediately plucked the longest one (ow!) and pulled it between his fingers. He said, “I can floss with this. Sit back and shut up.” He now trims my eyebrows, nose hair, and ear hair. Is that manscaping?

* * *

Your turn! Do you like a nice smooth chest or a thick downy pelt?

The guys will be back Thursday, June 21st with some deeper thoughts on MM romance vs gay romance.

And don't forget, if you have any topics, questions or photos you'd like the guys to tackle, just shoot them my way. We'll make sure you get the credit.

Miss a previous topic? Check them all out here: What He Says Archives

Behind the Cover: Necessity's Door

We're doing things a little bit differently for today's edition of Behind the Cover. Instead of me sharing my process in creating a cover, Fiona Glass is sharing her observations from the author's point of view, as we built the cover for her new story, Necessity's Door. Plus, Fiona has a few goodies she's giving away, so be sure and enter for chance to win some cool stuff.

* * *

Did you know how much hard work goes into producing the artwork for book covers? I certainly didn't until I had my first book published, and it was a real eye-opener. Of course, not every publisher lavishes the care and attention on cover art that they perhaps should. I'll withhold names to protect the guilty but one publisher put out a couple of my gay stories with a picture of a naked woman on the cover - and then wondered why it didn't sell!

Mercifully, Riptide Publishing are a lot more professional about matching artwork to the contents, and it's quite a detailed process.

First comes the cover art form, which each author is asked to fill in. I didn't just have to give my name, the book title and a description of the main character, but all sorts of other information as well. The look, feel and style of the cover. Particular images I might want on there. Links to book covers I liked, or that conjured up the look I was aiming for. Excerpts from important dramatic scenes in the book. It was surprisingly detailed, but all that detail meant I was much, much more likely to get the sort of cover I wanted for my book.

Sure enough, when L.C. sent me the proofs for 'Necessity's Door', I was bowled over. She might as well have read my mind, the result was so close to what I'd been looking for. And she didn't just supply one cover, but four for me to choose from, with slight differences in style of background, style and position of the book title, and in the model she'd used for the main character.

In the end I discarded two, simply because the models weren't quite right for Jake. One was worryingly similar to the Formula One racing driver Michael Schumacher (who's never, um, been a heart-throb of mine) and the other was perhaps a little too... bland. But as soon as I saw the model on the second choice I thought 'Oh, yes'. He didn't match Jake's description exactly, but he did capture the quirkiness, the feeling of being that little bit different to the norm, that was perfect for my character. I loved him!

The only problem was that I preferred the crispness of the background, and the style of the lettering, on the first choice cover. "No problem," said L.C. and promptly swapped them out so that I had model #2 on background #1. Now it really is perfect and I'm absolutely delighted with the result.

There's even a blue monkey, and you'll have to read the story if you want to find out what that's all about!

Blurb:

Being an openly-gay detective in Birmingham comes with its share of problems. For one, the pay is awful. For another, Jake always gets stuck with the crappy undercover jobs. Like posing as a prostitute to catch the new crime boss in town—a man notorious for rough sex with pretty young rentboys.

Jake’s latest op is fraught with difficulties, all of them men. Like his partner, Mac, who he’s secretly fancied for months. And his new client, Graham, who he keeps sleeping with for reasons far beyond maintaining his cover. And of course there’s the target, Frank Warren, who’s much harder to lure than Jake had anticipated.

The longer the job drags on, the tougher it gets for Jake to juggle his own needs with those of the job. They may be closing in on Warren, but Jake’s heart—and moral compass—are slipping through his fingers. Mac is there to back him up, but is he really the man Jake needs? Tough to tell among all those lies Jake's been telling himself and everyone else.

Like the sound of it? Want to read more? There’s an excerpt and further details at the Riptide Publishing website so feel free to click on over there and have an explore.

Giveaway:

During this blog tour I’m holding a little contest with a variety of prizes. There’s a perfect-bound (ie print) copy of my earlier gay cop story ‘Any Means Necessary’, a print copy of Radgepacket Volume 2 which contains my gay short story ‘Rock and a Hard Place’, and various bits and pieces of general swag!

All you need to do is answer the following three simple questions, the answers to all of which can be found in ‘Necessity’s Door’. When you have the answers, email them to me personally and I’ll put all the correct entries into a hat (well, actually a willow-pattern bowl, but who’s checking...) and the first correct entry drawn from the bowl at the end of the blog tour will win the prize.

Here’s the questions:

1. What is the real name of The Blue Baboon gay club?
2. What colour is Frank Warren’s hair?
3. How much does Warren pay Jake for sex?

Think you know the answers? Then get emailing and good luck! I’m looking forward to hearing from you. And in the meantime if you’d like to find out more about me and my work, then please just drop into my website or my blog.

It's Out! It's Out!

Woot! Today's the day! Riding with Heaven has officially hit the cybershelves!

I feel like its been forever since I had a new story out and I'm by turns excited and terrified. Its like the first time all over again, when you're all unsure and awkward, but the desire is so strong your forge ahead anyway. I had fun writing this story, and truly hope those of you who pick it up enjoy reading it.

Now, if I'd had the time to make a trailer for this story I'd show it here, but busy busy busy... So how about a little Road Trippin' with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and some Feeling Good with Michael Buble. :)

Buy links! Okay, just one link so far. I'll let you know when it hits Amazon and the other reseller sites. http://www.loose-id.com/Riding-with-Heaven.aspx

Monday Music: Keep Me

"Keep Me" by the Black Keys. This is a fave tune because of that grungy get down in the mud raw guitar. Dayum, I love that.

Six Sentence Sunday

Okay, so I kind of forgot about Six Sentence Sunday last week, and I *almost* forgot this week too! Ack! But I didn't. Yay! So I have another six sentences from my new novel Riding with Heaven. Just two more days to go until release day! It kind of turned out to be eleven sentences though. You can stop reading at six if you want though. ;-)

This little snippet takes place at the end of their first day on the road. You may think you know what happens next, but, well...it is a romantic suspense story.

     “Invite me in.” It was almost a whisper, and Lucas’s warm breath gusted over Evan’s cheeks. His jeans grew increasingly uncomfortable.
     “What are you, a vampire?”
     “No, but I do like to suck.”
     Evan groaned and dropped his gaze to Lucas’s mouth, mesmerized when Lucas’s pink tongue snaked out and slid slowly along his top lip. He desperately needed to breach that small slice of space between them. “I don’t do hookups.”
     “Neither do I. Just hurry up and open the damn door.”
     Evan did.

So, what did you think? I will make a point of not forgetting next Sunday, and be back here with another six. Maybe we'll go with a smexy six. ;-) Until then, you can check out more sixers from a bunch of other great authors here.