Ryan Field's Blog, page 511

Ding Dang Dong,c'est Noël

Unpublished Excerpt from The Computer Tutor

I'll be around for the next week working and blogging, but it might be sporadic. I'm finishing up a new novel and when I'm not working regular hours the novel always comes first.

But I wanted to share an unpublished excerpt from The Computer Tutor. In this scene, the two main characters are getting to know each other, and one is showing the other how to bottle feed a newborn puppy.

If you celebrate the holidays, I hope you enjoy them. If you don't, I hope you have a great weekend.

He placed the puppy up against his chest and
cradled it in his arm. "I never had to do this
before. Mindy is a great mom. She usually does
all the work."

I smiled and lifted another pup out of the box.
"That's the first time you've mentioned her name."

"I'm sorry. It's been so overwhelming. I've had
Mindy since she was eight weeks old."

I handed him a baby bottle and said, "Don't
worry, because you're going to have plenty of
forms to fill out as soon as we're finished feeding
these guys. You'll be writing her name more than
you ever dreamed you would."

He seemed willing and eager to listen to
everything I said about bottle-feeding newborn
pups…almost curious. When I told him it was
important to turn the baby bottle upside down
and be sure there was a slow drip instead of a
constant stream, he did exactly as told and asked
why. When I told him if there was a flowing stream
instead of a drip and that formula could get into
the puppy's lungs and cause pneumonia, he
turned the bottle upside down and doublechecked
to be certain it wouldn't harm the pup. I
explained small details about calorie intake and
how important it was to feed them every three
hours. And he listened, almost without blinking
at all. I was glad to see he wasn't as stupid as I'd
thought he was. I was, also, glad the puppies were
easy to feed. I'd seen cases where they had to be
finger fed, which wasn't easy.

By the time they were ready to be fed a second
time, Allan made the preparations and I watched
him do all the work. I wanted him to know what
to do when I wasn't around. The first week in a
pup's life is the most important week. It's a good
thing all the pups were strong, even the so-called
runt, which was my personal favorite. They drank
the formula a second time without any problems,
which didn't always happen.

Before we knew it, Christmas morning had
arrived. Hours had passed since Allan had first
brought Mindy into the clinic, and she seemed to
be doing very well in recovery. She even lifted her
head up the first time she saw Allan and licked
his hand. It tugged at my heart to watch him bend
over and rest his cheek against her neck. He'd
been so strong and stoic since he'd arrived, it was
as if a flood of emotion overtook him and came out
all at once. He cried so hard and so quietly, his
entire body shuddered. I turned in the other
direction and left him alone with Mindy for a few
minutes.

Link to a Nice End of the Year Post

Late last night, I came across a very nice blog post I wanted to share. This is the time of year where most things slow down and we all take breaks.

And I've seen a lot of end of the year publishing blog posts that are very nice, but so far this one is the nicest.

It was written by Miriam, over at the Dystel & Goderich Literary Management blog. You can check it out here and read the entire post. It's not that long, which proves that less is always more.

Here's one line that resonated with me, with regards to why it's so important to read:

"Because it sharpens your wit and develops your capacity for empathy."

These days it often seems harder and harder to be empathetic regarding a wide range of issues. But reading helps bring this back, and if you read a book like The Help, you'll know what I'm talking about.[image error]

Philadelphia: Baby Found Inside Cardboard Box

One of the smaller elements in the Virgin Billionaire series is a fictional organization that's very close to Luis Fortune's heart. It's called The Angel Association, and it focuses on helping young women who give birth and abandon their newborn babies in dumpsters, on doorsteps, and, in this case, in a cardboard box on a curb. An infant was left on a North Philadelphia street in a cardboard box, and man out sweeping the street accidentally found the baby. I don't even want to think about what could have happened.

We hear about these things every so often. In the Philadelphia area, I haven't heard about it for a while. But every time I do I can't help wondering about how fortunate it was that someone came along, at just the right time, and found that abandoned baby before something terrible happened. Because we also hear about abandoned babies that are found dead. For whatever reason, that thing we call fate didn't intervene and no one came along at just the right time.

There are a few real life organizations out there that focus on infant abandonment, and although I'm usually very private about which charities/organizations I support, I don't have any problem mentioning groups and organizations that provide safety for newborns. When I wrote about The Angel Association in the Virgin Billionaire series, I didn't just pull the concept out of a hat. I truly believe this is important, and it's not something we hear about often in the mainstream media.

Below are a few links to organizations that focus on infant abandonment. Check them out; read what they have to say. And spreading the word would be nice, too.

If you are a woman about to have a baby and you happen to be reading this blog post, you have alternatives. You don't have to abandon your infant. These organizations are discreet; they are here to support you, not punish you. And if you don't trust organizations like this, contact me personally through this blog or my e-mail address. I'll make sure you get personal support, as discreetly as possible.

A Safe Haven For Newborns

Abandoned Babies

The Angel Cradle's Program[image error]

Amazon Link: In Bed with the Boss

They just sent me a link to Amazon, for the kindle edition of IN BED WITH THE BOSS.

For those who didn't read the recent post I wrote on release day, this is a two novella book/anthology I collaborated on with m/m author, Andrew Grey last fall.

Andrew's story is THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANT.

Mine is THE ARRANGEMENT.

Both focus on love in the workplace, where anything that can happen often does happen.

Here are the Amazon details:

Product Description
In these emotional tales of love and attraction at the workplace, two best-selling authors explore complicated -and sometimes steamy!- relationships between employee and boss.

In THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANT, best-selling author Andrew Grey sets the backdrop for successful Christian, a nationally known erotic photographer, and his assistant, David , the efficient but demure type who is always there for his boss... Will these two star-crossed lovers ever find a way to come together?

In Ryan's Field's THE ARRANGEMENT, it's 1962 and Toby has just moved to New York to start a new job in advertising. He's hoping to find a social life, but Toby wasn't expecting his over-sexed boss to use Toby's apartment as a love nest so he can sneak around with young men behind his wife's back! Toby wasn't expecting to fall in love with one of his boss's young men either. With all the secrets Toby's cheating boss is keeping from everyone, will Toby be able to live with the lies and infidelities for long? Or will Toby find the strength to stand up to his awful boss and do the right thing for the young man he loves?

Don't miss these sizzling all-male novellas of passion and romance, or the chance to be swept away in a naughty workplace fling!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product Details
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 299 KB
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Ravenous Romance (December 19, 2011)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B006OBUG3A
Text-to-Speech: Enabled
Lending: Enabled
Average Customer Review: Be the first to review this item
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,743 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Lethal Obsession Blog by Michele Montgomery

Here's another author I'd like to highlight today, Michele Montgomery. She also writes m/m romance, and I like her work a great deal. There's a "real" quality about it, and a lot more emotion than I'm used to seeing. If there were such a genre as "reality fiction," I think this is how her work would be classified.

She also gets into her characters very deeply. To the point where she's created a blog that discusses her character's lives in depth. You can check the blog out by clicking here. I think you'll enjoy what she's doing.

I recently read a comment on a book review site where someone mentioned that authors don't use their blogs enough to discuss their books, their intentions, and what motivates their stories and characters. I tend to agree with this comment. And when you see what Michele has done with this blog, you'll see she's taken this concept to another level.[image error]

Marc Broude - Vampire Salt (Unreleased Demo)

Here's a music video sent from a blog reader, Marc Broude. I think it's excellent.


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Allromanceebooks.com In Bed With the Boss

Here's a link for allromanceebooks.com, where they just listed IN BED WITH THE BOSS, a collaborative effort I worked on with author, Andrew Grey.

It's a 50,000 word book, with two 25,000 word novellas that we put together this past fall.

You can follow this link and check it out here. They give excellent product descriptions at allromance.

You can also read more about it here, on this blog.

Merv Griffin: A Life in the Closet by Darwin Porter

I went to a Christmas party this past weekend and everyone, of course, was talking about what book they were reading. One friend who has been in a book club for years, mentioned the non-fiction book, "Merv Griffin: A Life in the Closet."

It sounded interesting to me, and I'd just finished reading a lot of fiction, so I downloaded it to my Kobo on Sunday night. I paid more than I wanted to pay, but celebrity bios seem to command higher prices. They always have, and probably always will. So I didn't mind that part. I also bought the book based on one recommendation and a quick preview on Kobo.

I'm only a few chapters into the book at this point, but so far I'm enjoying it. Although a lot of the book is, indeed, hearsay, it seems plausible to me that each and everything written could have happened. So far, no complaints...all history/bio is hearsay as far as I'm concerned.

I just checked out the product description and reviews over at Amazon and I found that an editor I worked with more than once, Richard Labonte, gave an excellent review and a nice blurb to the author of this bio that was highlighted with the product description, not with the customer reviews. I trust Richard's judgment because I've been a contributor to his LGBT books, one of which won a Lambda Award.

After I read Richard's review, I clicked over to the customer reviews to see what readers had to say. There are only thirty reviews right now, and most of them are one star reviews written by people who seem almost insulted at the concept that Merv Griffin lived a life in the closet and that this closeted life is now being discussed in a book. It took me back to the shocked comments when people found out Rock Hudson was gay, lived a complete lie, and everyone bought it. It's like they want to put us into this neat little "gay" box, like the two fake characters on "Modern Family," but they don't want to know what it's really like.

Of course we'll never really know what Merv Griffin's real life was like. Only Merv knew that. He made an art out of creating a persona for the public that was filled with deception and self-promotion for the sake of his "image." His goal was making money and maintaining his image, at any cost. I'm not judging him; I can't say I blame him either. But these days, there is still a lot of this going on in Hollywood...and other places, like Washington, DC, with closeted gays...and I think it's time our gay brothers and sisters in power start to speak up a little to make it easier for younger people. Nowadays, as opposed to thirty years ago, it's more about authenticity than deception. In fact, the closet case is becoming so cliche I have trouble even looking at them on television or in films.

But, from the tone of the reviews of Merv's bio, I can still see that people just don't want to hear it. For the life of me, I don't get why either. I'll post more about this book when I'm finished. Maybe there's something I haven't read yet that will change my mind. But from what I have read so far, every single thing in this bio is plausible. And I'd bet there are still plenty of people left in Hollywood who knew Merv Griffin well enough to back it all up...some of whom are, indeed, living the same life Merv did. The gay community is small sometimes. We all know people who work in fashion, theater, film, and publishing. We also know who is gay and who isn't. We just don't talk about it.[image error]

My End of the Year Guest Post on Friendzstop

I was asked to do an end of the year guest post over at Friendzstop.

Here's the link, and please take the time to check out the entire web site. There are some interesting things happening over there I enjoy reading about.

The post I wrote deals with "reflections," and moving forward. It was a difficult post to write, which I explain in more detail, and I titled it "Reflections Don't Always Mean Looking Back" because it was so difficult to write.

A huge thanks to Anders for letting me do this!!