Ryan Field's Blog, page 510

Free Kindle Book on Amazon: "Camping in the Backyard Going Forward" by Anthony Zatti

I'm not exactly sure how this works. But a friend of mine is having a book released for free through Amazon and I wanted to give him a shout. The title is Camping in the Backyard Going Forward, and the author is Anthony Zatti.

Here's his post on facebook, verbatim:

It's now less than five hours until you can get a copy of my book, Camping in the Backyard Going Forward, from Amazon/Kindle for FREE. That's right for FREE. You can get it for your Kindle or to read on your computer for FREE right after nidnight tonight. You only have a limited time to take advantagre of this promo offer by Amazon/Kindle Books/Anthony Anthony Zatti.

And here's the Amazon link.

I don't think I can get this one for free. I don't own a Kindle and I'm not a Premium Kindle Member. I own Kobo and NextBook. But for those who own Kindles, I would imagine it's worth your time to check out a free e-book and see if it's for you. I do this all the time on Kobo and I'm usually happy with what I receive. I'm also planning to buy the book anyway as soon as I'm finished reading Merv Griffin's new bio (Oy...what a tale of deceit).[image error]

A. B. Gayle's Review of GAY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

This is one of those times I'm thrilled with a review, and it's all because the reviewer "got" what I was trying to do and I never had to explain myself once. For a writer, this is the ultimate experience. I honestly don't care about how many stars I get or what kind of ratings readers leave. I've been around too long not to know and understand how subjective the reading experience can be and how people will react in many different ways. If you don't believe me, just go over to goodreads and check out a few of the reviews left for The Great Gatsby.

But when a reviewer actually sees what an author was trying to do, without doing anything other than reading the book, it's a wonderful feeling to know that you at least touched one person. And I never did get into any long explanations about what motivated me to write GAY PRIDE AND PREJUDICE the way I did because I was on the fence about the title and how closely related the title was to the classic Pride and Prejudice. As you can see in the review below, the book isn't much like the original classic. I figured I just keep my big mouth shut and see if readers knew what I intended with this book.

Here's a link to the review. And below is the actual review copied and pasted verbatim. There are no spoilers, but I should warn that there are a few words and phrases with adult content and this is an PG rated blog, so if this sort of thing offends you, please feel free not to read it.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So far, of all the remakes I enjoyed this one the most. Mainly, because Ryan does such a good job of translating the pride and prejudices to the gay community.

Don't expect a scene by scene remake. This takes the aspects that are at the core of Jane Austen's book: the cutting observations about people and society and what people of that ilk are proud and prejudiced about but putting them into a modern gay context. So, we're not getting dry 1800 social observations of character but 2010 characterisations from a gay POV. They're none the less apt.

This means that the characters will be different. Tristan is no Eliza Bennett, but he shares some of her qualities, her honesty and her embarrassment at the behavior of her relatives, and most of all in being opinionated. Likewise Miller is no Mr Darcy, but he also is bound by the strictures of his parents and background.

In this case the prejudices and pride are linked up with new vs old money, gays vs straights, old queens vs new age gay.
I want you to stick with our own kind, and I don't want you screwing around with all these straights.

There's also the more normal kind of pride:
Ellen's face gleamed with pride; she gazed at her big strong straight son with love and affection.

I love that the alternate love interest is a stud ex-serviceman just back from Iraq.

The parallel works really well in this case, as the whole topic of marriage is at the core of the original. Who should marry who and why and again in this case, all Tristan wants to do is get married.

"As I got older and legalized same-sex marriage became an issue within the lgbt community, I started to realize I deserved to fall in love and get married just as much as heterosexual couples deserved it. I made a decision a long time ago I wouldn't settle for less. Call it pride, call it being stubborn. But I won't settle for less."

In this case "Mr Darcy" is still not exactly pro marriage. He just wants to fuck.

There are some priceless bits eg when one main character comes up with this:
"Do you want to suck my xxxx?" Miller asked. He adjusted his position and spread his legs wider.
Tristan smiled. He had a feeling Miller was trying to shock him on purpose. "That's not very romantic," Tristan said.
"You haven't sucked my xxxx yet, so you don't really know that for sure. It might be the most romantic thing that's ever happened to you."

And later, the other MC says this:
Though Tristan would have laughed at clichéd expressions like dripping xxxx or weeping xxxx in public, and he would have frowned if anyone had used these awful, trite, clichés in ordinary conversation, when he had one right in front of him it was a different story.
you have to smile!

Ryan has the equivalent faux pas down pat. The comments about the price of things, never done by someone who really is "old money". And I loved this bit:
And Clint had been giving him fashion tips. Eldridge hadn't worn a bow tie, a crew neck sweater draped over his shoulders, or a pair of pink plaid slacks in weeks.


But Ryan doesn't neglect sharing real facts to educate people about factors affecting the LGBT community. In this case:
"There are many older gay couples who have been together for years. Just like straight married couples, they own property together. When one of them passes away, the surviving partner is forced to pay inheritance taxes on their own property. It runs into thousands and it wipes them out."

He also doesn't pull his punches on a couple of occasions about hypocrisy.

Ryan Field's "Covers of Classics" can be a bit hit or miss, but to me, "Gay Pride and Prejudice", does exactly what he has set out to do.

It's time.

I just saw this video again over at www.2boysinlove.blogspot.com and I wanted to repost it on my own blog, too.

The reason I'm doing this is because this video is what my own life has been like. I know people will think it's not reality. But it is my reality, from the hospital scenes to the amusement park scenes.

And I like to see it being passed around.

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Matthew Darringer: "Be It Ever So Humble" Post

I've linked to Matthew's blog before and I'm doing it again. There's a quality over there that seems to incorporate psychology and literature in an interesting way. I'm very interested in reading Matthew's fiction...he's promised he'll let me when the time is right.

There's a lot of reality, too, especially the descriptions. I swiped the photo above directly from Matthew's blog.

I've also been quietly following the blog of a middle aged gay man who recently moved to a trailer park in Maryland, in some unheard of town I'm assuming is near DC. I'm not quite sure what the tone of this blog is, at least not yet. Some of it is all about the joys of living in a single wide, other parts seem to be about being single, gay, neurotic, and eating out alone.

This blog is interesting, too, in the sense that the middle aged gay blogger seems perfectly content, to the point of being overjoyed, in the single wide.

And the point I'm trying to make...I promise I'll get there...is that here are two very good, nicely written blogs, with two different POV's, taken from two very different perspectives. The psychology is there, in both. And they both offer a degree of reality on the Internet we don't see all that often.

Check them out and see what I'm talking about, especially if you're looking for different blogs to read that are authentic. They are out there, you just have to look. And neither of these blogs appear to be selling anything or exploiting anything. It's personal blogging at its best.

Free E-books: Free Library of Philadelphia

A friend pointed this link out to me earlier this week and I haven't had time to check it out yet.

But from what I gather, you can borrow e-books from the Free Library of Philadelphia no matter where you live.

I will be checking it out in more detail, probably later this week. I've always been a huge fan of public libraries and I think this is a great way for them to co-exist in the digital age of publishing.

Grammar Police and Social Media

I have a nephew who is always posting different photos on social media, usually facebook. And each time he posts a photo there is always a caption that reads like this: "Me and my friend," or "Me and my Mom." Of course it's grammatically incorrect. And this particular nephew is 29 years old, he's a doctor, and he's well above average in the IQ department. If he'd gone through 12 years of Catholic school like I did, Sister Unforgiving in the photo above would have smacked his fingers with that ruler.

But my nephew is not the only one I see doing this on social media. To be honest, I'm often tempted do to it myself just to see if I could get away with it. When it comes to social media, from blogging to facebook to twitter, I've always believed it's supposed to be casual and free from grammar police. I also believe that language, grammar, and communication in general change and evolve with time. And when more people use something that's normally considered grammatically incorrect, it might be time to change the rules a little. Ending a sentence with a preposition is a good example. There was a time, not too long ago, when it was considered wrong to end any sentence with a preposition. Now it's done all the time, it's perfectly acceptable, and it's the way people actually speak. Communication evolves; some of the things we thought were important two hundred years ago don't apply anymore.

So I don't mind when I see these small grammatical errors on social media. I don't mind when I see huge grammatical errors on social media either, because this is the way people speak on a daily basis. And, the key word here is "social." We're not talking about "educational" media. We're not talking about "bore-me-to-death" media. I think this is especially true when it comes to personal blogging. Nothing irritates me more than when I see a fool correct someone's grammar on a blog or social media...or on a comment thread. It. Doesn't. Matter. It. Is. Casual.

And yet I see it all the time, especially with regard to authors, editors, and publishers. There are people who must seriously believe that because authors, editors, and publishers work on books where grammar should be excellent at all times they don't deserve a break on social media. Most of the time it's the smallest mistake that people will single out and mention, in public, to the author, without giving it a second thought.

Personally, I think it's highly inappropriate to correct someone in public, on social media, with regard to grammar. I don't care what line of work they do either, and this includes authors or anyone connected to publishing. To correct someone in public on social media is basically the same as correcting someone's grammar at a cocktail party. It's bad manners, which is far worse than poor grammar. I tend to believe the people who do this on social media are also the same types of people who would do this at a cocktail party (I'd bet most don't get invited out often).

Unfortunately, the people who do this all the time probably won't even read this post. They will continue on, correcting people on social media, boring us all to death with their snide tongue-in-cheek comments and we'll have to ignore them. But if someone does, indeed, correct you on a blog or any other social media, don't worry. Don't give it a second thought. Because this is not someone you need to care about or know.

Interview with A. B. Gayle

I did an interview with author/editor, A. B. Gayle, recently and the post went up today.

You can check it out here.

The questions weren't always easy. They made me stop and pause more than once. But they were interesting to answer.

Something Lighter...The Gay Gourmet

Although I have a state of the art kitchen and my stainless steel appliances sparkle, I have to admit that I'm not the best cook. Nor do I want to be the best cook. In fact, I don't even like to turn on the stove unless it's absolutely necessary. I'd much rather order something and keep those appliances in sparkling condition.

But I find blogs like The Gay Gourmet very helpful, and entertaining as well. It's a place for inspiration and ideas, and the photos are great. And that's not easy to do when it comes to food. I see those disgusting amateur pics on facebook all the time, where someone bakes a "yummy" cookie that looks like something that was scraped off the bottom of someone else's foot. Trust me, this blog isn't like that. It's something that will inspire you, not repulse you.

You can read The Gay Gourmet by clicking this link.

High Concept Foot Fetish; Four Feet Under...

I have a new short story coming out in the next month or so that's unusual...for me...in the sense that it's focused on the concept of foot worship. I remember watching an old rerun of Sex in the City and there was a scene where a shoe salesman in an exclusive New York shoe store had an obvious foot fetish. That episode stuck with me for years, and I've always wanted to write a story about a character who has a foot fetish ever since. But I also wanted to do it with a casual voice, and without insulting those many, many people, gay or straight, who do have foot fetishes. I won't know whether or not I've succeeded until the story is released. But I did want to explain a few things about the story in case readers have any questions.

First, this is not what I would consider m/m romance. It's m/m erotica for sure; it's m/m erotic fiction, for sure. But the emotional aspects of a true romance are not there. On the other hand, there is a happy ending, I do get into the emotional feelings and responses of the main character, and he is a very sensitive young guy who is going to community college for two years in order to save money to go to a four year university. He's a decent guy; he's a normal guy; but he's into feet. And he meets two other guys one night in the school gym who feel the same way he feels.

Second, this is a high concept story, which I don't usually do. The tag line reads: "Love, lust, and four big feet in a locker room." Here's the wiki definition of high concept:

High concept narratives are typically characterised by an over-arching "what if?" scenario that acts as a catalyst for the following events. Often, the most popular summer blockbuster movies are built on a high concept idea, such as "what if we could clone dinosaurs?" (Jurassic Park), and so on. However, it is important to differentiate a high concept narrative from an analogous narrative. In the case of the latter, a high concept story may be employed to allow commentary on an implicit subtext. The prime example of this would be George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, which asks "what if we lived in a future of totalitarian government?" while simultaneously generating social comment and satire aimed at Orwell's own (real world) contemporary society. Similarly, the Gene Roddenberry SF series Star Trek went beyond the high concept storytelling of a futurist starship crew, by addressing 20th-century social issues in an abstract and defamiliarising context.

High concept gets a little complicated, but a good example would be the movie, "Snakes on a Plane." In this case now, with my story, it's Four Feet Under with My Buddies. There's no mistake here: my story is about feet. And the "what if?" is all about a young guy who finds himself in a situation that is exaggerated in more ways than one involving feet.

An Interesting Take on Gays, Family, and Christmas

When I read the blog post I'm quoting and linking to below, I have to admit that I did identify with everything that was written. I think most gay people experience this, especially around the major holidays.

"The huge amount of responses I got to my last post made me wonder if queers are more likely to feel alienated from their families than straight people are. I mean, if your family doesn't respect your queerness, this is pretty self-evident. But I know a lot of queers whose family is cool with their queerness, but they still feel alienated. Why would this be?"

My family is fine with me being openly gay...but...there's still that unspoken "thing" that I experience, especially during the holidays. It's not something that is done on purpose. I know this for certain. But this feeling of disconnection is why a lot of my gay friends have started their own holiday traditions with other gay friends. Many gays travel during the holidays, in order to avoid these family situations. I'll probably do the same thing, eventually. For now, I'm happy with how well my amaryllis did this year in the photo above. They don't always do this well.

You can read the rest of the post here.