Ryan Field's Blog, page 528

Cover Preview: THE VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE'S HOT AMISH ESCAPADE

Here's the new cover for the newest book in the Virgin Billionaire series...THE VIRGIN BILLIONAIRE'S HOT AMISH ESCAPADE.

I don't have a release date yet. But I'll post one when I get it.

Why I Like Reading YA Fiction

I'm in the middle of a great YA right now titled, TRAPPED, by Michael Northrope. I heard about the book through a friend who knows the author and when I read the book description on Kobo it had all the elements that I love...

A serious snowstorm, where kids are trapped in a remote New England school with no hope of getting out for days. Dynamics between characters that are as simple as they are complicated...especially because they are in high school where emotions rule. I'm one of those people who didn't hate high school. I didn't love it all the time, but most of my memories are pretty good. And I love reading about kids in high school today, and realizing that not all that much has changed since the l980's (I'm 40). Other than technology, like cell phones and computers, the basic dynamics aren't that different.

But another reason why I like reading YA books is because it helps me keep up with what's happening. Youth rules and there's no escape. Right now I'm finishing up a book of my own that has a main character who meets someone who is a sophomore in college. This character is only twenty and he's one of the star basketball players on his team. By coincidence, when I started reading TRAPPED, I noticed that there's a character that loves basketball, too. And when I read a few of the generic terms and phrases this character uses in the book...a small example would be he says hoops instead of saying basketball...it helped me gain a better knowledge of how my young character might behave and react and speak with his peers.

Those of you who have teenagers know what I'm talking about. I have teenage nephews and nieces and I'm cautious about everything I say in front of them. In other words, if you're an author and you're over thirty and you're not willing to keep up with what's trending, you might want to stick with characters who are over thirty. Because there's nothing worse than coming off as lame and old and tired when you're writing young characters. Whenever I see it, I cringe. And reading YA books helps more than most writers realize.

"Hula Hana" Audition - Amy Walker

Check This Out: A Contest

My friend, Ryan, is going to have a contest over at his blog next week sometime. Here's Ryan's first post, and I'll continue to post more here on my blog when he does.




One day next week I will have some kind of contest to give away this rainbow disco ball. It's 2" around and can hang anywhere I have one hanging from my rearview mirror Kadin does also. But I will be giving one away for free no strings or anything attach won't cost you one red cent it will be totally free shipping also. Check in next week for more details on how to win this rainbow disco ball!

The Q in LGBT: Rethinking Things

Since I posted my feelings about the Q in LGBT, I've been having second thoughts.

The reason why I've been having these second thoughts has to do with a lot of things I've been reading on social networks by other people who feel to strongly and passionately about the Q.

I see what they are doing, and I see how hard they are fighting. And I'm starting to think they have a point. Mainly because, I think, this is the kind of passion and strength that gets results in the end.

I'm not ready to embrace it. But I am ready to support it and the people who believe in it. And, thanks to a positive exchange on a social network I recently had with someone, I'm going to fight hard to get the Q in the title of my next book.

Release Date: A Young Widow's Promise

I just received my author copies for A YOUNG WIDOW'S PROMISE and learned the release date will be October 28, 2011.

I can't thank Dalia and Janet over at loveyoudivine.com enough for editing this book. And I can't thank Dawne Dominique enough for creating the cover. As usual, I gave her an unrealistic, lengthy description of what I wanted the cover to be. And she interpreted it, brought it all back to reality, and came up with a cover that was better than what I'd expected.

I'll post more when the book/novella is released. But I'd like to make it clear this is a m/f historical romance with a m/m subplot, that's set during the civil war, and has a very happy ending. It's also extremely low in the heat level department. There is erotica, but not anything that would be considered extreme or too graphic. In this case, the story didn't call for it. I know I'm sometimes the first one to complain there isn't enough erotica in some books. But I just didn't think this novella needed it.

Body Images, Women, and It's Nice to be Naughty, by R. Field

When I wrote the short e-book, IT'S NICE TO BE NAUGHTY, and had it published under the pen name "R. Field," my main concern was how so many people these days, gay or straight, seem so concerned over body images. I wanted to create an erotic story about a full figured woman who meets and falls in love with a handsome young man who happens to love her partly because of her full figure. I didn't want this to be the main focus of the story. But I was tired of reading about perfect people that send us all the wrong signals when it comes to body image. I used the pen name because I was crossing genres. But I'm sorry I did. If I could go back I'd just use my own name.

What sparked this post was something I saw on facebook. It's been shared so many times I'm not sure who wrote it. But I've copied and pasted it verbatim below.






A while back, at the entrance of a gym, there was a picture of a very thin and beautiful woman. The caption was "This summer, do you want to be a mermaid or a whale?"

The story goes, a woman (of clothing size unknown) answered the following way:

"Dear people, whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, seals, curious humans), they are sexually active and raise their children with great tenderness.
They entertain like crazy with dolphins and eat lots of prawns. They swim all day and travel to fantastic places like Patagonia, the Barents Sea or the coral reefs of Polynesia.
They sing incredibly well and sometimes even are on cds. They are impressive and dearly loved animals, which everyone defend and admires.

Mermaids do not exist.

But if they existed, they would line up to see a psychologist because of a problem of split personality: woman or fish?
They would have no sex life and could not bear children.
Yes, they would be lovely, but lonely and sad.
And, who wants a girl that smells like fish by his side?

Without a doubt, I'd rather be a whale.

At a time when the media tells us that only thin is beautiful, I prefer to eat ice cream with my kids, to have dinner with my husband, to eat and drink and have fun with my friends.

We women, we gain weight because we accumulate so much wisdom and knowledge that there isn't enough space in our heads, and it spreads all over our bodies.
We are not fat, we are greatly cultivated.
Every time I see my curves in the mirror, I tell myself: "How amazing am I ?! "

(The girl on the picture is French model Tara Lynn)

A Young Widow's Promise: Researching the Civil War

I know most of you are going to think this post is about as interesting as reading a legal document. But while I've been researching for A Young Widow's Promise, I've found a few things I didn't know about life in the 1800's. This is why I love doing historicals, and also why I don't do them often.

And being that the storyline in this historical revolves around maintaining a graveyard, I had to know a few details about how lawns were treated and maintained during the Civil War.

We take for granted that lawn mowers have always been around...we take for granted that lawns have always been around. But that's not the case. As you can see here, lawn mowers are a fairly new invention. And because of a few years difference, the one in my story had to be ordered from Europe.

Thomas Green produced the first chain-driven mower in 1859. Manufacture of lawn mowers began in the 1860s. By 1862, Farrabee's company was making eight models in various roller sizes. He manufactured over 5000 machines until production ceased in 1863.The first United States patent for a reel lawn mower was granted to Amariah Hills on January 12, 1868.

And this was just some of the basic research involved.

Authors Are Always Fighting For the Reader...

In this quick post I wanted to explain that sometimes the editorial process can be tricky. This is especially true when you get an editor who isn't familiar with gay men and the editor is editing m/m fiction. It's one thing to know when to remove or add a comma. But it's completely different when it comes to getting inside the head of a gay man and knowing when a scene works or not. I've been an editor. So I know how it works on both sides of the fence.

I've posted about how I love all the editors I work with. And I thank them time and again for helping me produce what we all think and hope readers are going to like. I stand by this and I can't thank them enough.

But sometimes there are situations where the author knows more than the editor. And this is when the author has to fight for the reader. It doesn't happen often. But when it does, I can tell you for sure that authors aren't thinking about the editor's feelings or opinions. Authors aren't thinking about what book reviewers will think or how they will feel either.

The author is only thinking about one person: the reader. We think about those of you who have sent us e-mails and praised our work. We think about those of you who have left one star reviews and have been disappointed in something we hope we can learn from. We even think about those of you who haven't read our work yet. And we do our best to make sure you get what we think and what we hope you're going to want. You are the most important people to us and nothing else matters. And if it means we have to fight to get you what we think you want, we're more than willing to roll up our sleeves and go to battle for you.

Gay Pride Around the World...

A look at hundreds of gay rights supporters in a fight for equal rights dance and cheer during the annual Gay Pride Parade in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

I'd like to note that civil unions are legal here, too. And have been since 2008.