Ryan Field's Blog, page 413

Licensing Gay Romance for Fan Fiction

Licensing books, authors, or other creative material for fan fiction is becoming even more popular on Amazon. They recently secured licenses for books written by Hugh Howey, Barry Eisler, and a few others. Amazon already has licenses with the likes of Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl, and Pretty Little Liars.

This concept of making fan fiction available for commercial sale is interesting because everyone seems to have an opinion about it. Although I've never written fan f...

Paula Deen and FN; What You Say Matters; Free Weekend Excerpt

As a follow up to a post I wrote earlier this week about FN star, Paula Deen, I wanted to link to this next article. I had a feeling we would be hearing more.

After two days of public backlash over revelations of celebrity chef Paula Deen’s tolerance for racism and use of racial epithets, the 66-year-old released three apology videos on Friday afternoon. Following her first video’s release and subsequent removal from her YouTube channel, the Food Network announced it would not be renewing Deen...

Michael Hastings Death; Sara York Interview; Winston Gieseke

The multi-talented award winning journalist Michael Hastings' death has left many in shock this week. He was only 33 years old, but he'd accomplished more in his short lifetime than most people do in a span of decades. This article has a few good photos of him.

Hastings' groundbreaking reporting on Gen. Stanley McChrystal 's candid criticism of the Obama administration is credited with ending McChrystal's military career and earned him a 2010 George Polk Award. He was 33.

The Rolling Stone...

Edward Snowden, Internet Sex Symbols, Jeffrey Toobin

Though I haven't been following the story of Edward Snowden, former CIA employee, and I probably won't because I'm tired of politics altogether at this point unless it involves LGBT issues or equality, I did think this article about Snowden becoming an overnight sex symbol was interesting.

My first thought when I saw Snowden's photo on one of those Huff Po teasers on AOL was that he certainly wasn't bad looking at all.

Then I read this:

“I know this is far beyond the point and ma...

Sam Taylor-Johnson Fifty Shades Movie; N-Word Paula Deen; Ex-Gay Group Apology

According to this article, they've chosen a director for the Fifty Shades Movie, Sam Taylor-Johnson. So the movie adaptation is moving forward, but still no announcement about who is going to star in the film.

Sam Taylor-Johnson (formerly Taylor-Wood), a famed photographer and visual artist turned filmmaker, made her directorial debut with 2009's "Nowhere Boy," a chronicle of the early years of John Lennon, played by future "Kick-Ass" star Aaron Johnson. The director and her star were later m...

My Books Published In 2013; Books Written in 2013 So Far

Here's a list of my published books in 2013 so far. I like to do these things on occasion to keep readers up to date, and for my own records. I'm notoriously bad at remembering when I've had something published. And posts like this keep me organized just in case a reader asks a question. If you asked me the titles and the sequences of all the books in the Virgin Billionaire series offhand, I don't think I could tell you. So I put all that up on the blog, and when someone asks I can refer to t...

Age, Sex, and Crossing the Line in Erotic Romance

When it comes to age, sex, and crossing the line in erotic romance I take that very seriously. In fact, I was once banned for a book (Skater Boy) that had the word "boy" in the title during the paypal censorship debacle a few years ago, and that book had characters that were all over eighteen years old, and it was stated very clearly in the book description. I did that on purpose so no one would get the wrong idea.

And because of search engines, the book was still banned. I have pos...

Gay As Blackface in Liberace?

I read an article very late last night that gets into gay as the new blackface and the HBO film Liberace. Before I get into it, I've already posted my thoughts on the HBO film Liberace and I even posted about the use of yellowface in the film Cloud Atlas.

I would also like to state that some of the gay men I know seemed to like the way Liberace was handled, and they said they liked the way Matt Damon and Michael Douglas portrayed gay men. Others were insulted and found it patronizing. I...

Academic's Guide to Self-Publishing

I wanted to post about The Academic's Guide to Self-Publishing alone because I think there are a lot of people out there who are curious about self-publishing but don't know where to begin, whom to trust, or where to start. And, I'm still seeing snippy remarks coming from genre authors who are with small e-presses about self-publishing as if they are far too grand to self-publish.

But I think we've reached the point where self-publishing has become a viable alternative to writers, e...

Nigella Lawson Choked; K.Z. Snow Rant; Gay Celebrities

(Update Below)

Nigella Lawson, international celebrity known for cookery, was choked by her husband. And when you read about it you'll be just as stunned and appalled as I was. According to the following links, this not only happened in a public restaurant, but also in front of more than a few people.

Onlookers told the tabloid, owned by the Mirror Group Newspapers, that the pair were having a heated fight during which the star was reduced to tears.

The TV chef appears terrified as her 70-...