Ryan Field's Blog, page 538

Pirates, Demonoid, Astatalk, and the .99 e-book...

This isn't a post about e-book pirating in the traditional sense. I'm not going to complain or grouse about it. About a year ago I posted something about pirating and I received a lot of comments and e-mails about why people pirate. In many ways, I was enlightened and I've been thanking the people who commented ever since.



I still don't pirate anything myself. And I won't because it's against the law. Even though I do agree on some points, like the fact that the expensive agency model e-books are way overpriced. I even agree that many e-book cover descriptions aren't very good. And don't get me started on product descriptions about e-books on large retail web sites. I bought one myself last month that was supposed to be an erotic romance and the only thing about it that was erotic was the word erotic in the book description. So I understand how readers can get frustrated. Sometimes it's dismal. And I can only hope I'm putting out information about my own books that let readers know what they are buying. I'm even open to questions in e-mails if you're not sure about one of my books. I do it all the time.



But I am curious about how e-book pirates feel about all the .99 e-books that are being released nowadays. If you're an author and you have e-books out it's become such a huge trend to have a .99 e-book it's almost embarrassing if you don't have at least one.



So, from an objective POV, how is the .99 e-book thing working out for you? Are e-book pirates more motivated to spend .99 on a full length novel than they are to pirate it for free? There's not much you can get for .99 anymore in the US. You can't even get a scratch off lottery ticket for less than one dollar anywhere. I know I've been reading .99 e-books and it's cut my reading budget more than I expected it would. And most of those .99 e-books I've read are very good.



Any and all thoughts are welcome. Feel free to post anonymously now or next year. If you still think .99 is too much to spend for an e-book, post your thoughts. I really am curious from an objective stand point.

Tops, Bottoms, Versatiles...

I found this article and thought I'd post it. It's an interesting examination of how gay men behave in certain sexual circumstances. Frankly, I don't completely agree with everything. I think these studies are incorrect in the sense that I don't think everyone's telling the truth. There's an old saying about the two things people lie the most about: sex and money.



There's also nothing more frustrating in the world than two bottoms trying to figure out how to have fun. In fact, it's downright pitiful and a complete waste of time.



One of the things I always try to put into my fiction is what's really going on in the minds of my gay male characters when it comes to sex, not what studies say or research suggests. I want them to feel free to at least think about what they want, without any inhibitions. And we all have inhibitions we'll never talk about openly...even the folks who take these surveys and do these studies.



But it's an interesting piece, and a lot of the information is on target. Here's a link, and I've posted part of the article below. I think it's worth reading, especially if you're a fan of m/m romance. And I think a lot of the information could apply to the straight world, too. I know for a fact a lot of you so-called straight guys aren't being completely honest. And I don't care what research says or studies show.



Top Scientists Get to the Bottom of Gay Male Sex Role Preferences

"Tops," "Bottoms," "Versatiles" and others in the study of gay male self-identity



By Jesse Bering | September 16, 2009 | 72



.ShareEmailPrint1 2 3 Next > .



Jesse Bering​



Image:



It's my impression that many straight people believe that there are two types of gay men in this world: those who like to give, and those who like to receive. No, I'm not referring to the relative generosity or gift-giving habits of homosexuals. Not exactly, anyway. Rather, the distinction concerns gay men's sexual role preferences when it comes to the act of anal intercourse. But like most aspects of human sexuality , it's not quite that simple.



I'm very much aware that some readers may think that this type of article does not belong on this website. But the great thing about good science is that it's amoral, objective and doesn't cater to the court of public opinion. Data don't cringe; people do. Whether we're talking about a penis in a vagina or one in an anus, it's human behavior all the same. The ubiquity of homosexual behavior alone makes it fascinating. What's more, the study of self-labels in gay men has considerable applied value, such as its possible predictive capacity in tracking risky sexual behaviors and safe sex practices.



People who derive more pleasure (or perhaps suffer less anxiety or discomfort) from acting as the insertive partner are referred to colloquially as "tops," whereas those who have a clear preference for serving as the receptive partner are commonly known as "bottoms." There are plenty of other descriptive slang terms for this gay male dichotomy as well, some repeatable ("pitchers vs. catchers," "active vs. passive," "dominant vs. submissive") and others not—well, not for Scientific American , anyway.



In fact, survey studies have found that many gay men actually self-identify as "versatile," which means that they have no strong preference for either the insertive or the receptive role. For a small minority, the distinction doesn't even apply, since some gay men lack any interest in anal sex and instead prefer different sexual activities. Still other men refuse to self-label as tops, bottoms, versatiles or even "gay" at all, despite their having frequent anal sex with gay men. These are the so-called "Men Who Have Sex With Men" (or MSM) who are often in heterosexual relations as well.



Several years ago, a team of scientists led by Trevor Hart at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta studied a group of of 205 gay male participants. Among the group's major findings—reported in a 2003 issue of The Journal of Sex Research —were these:



(1) Self-labels are meaningfully correlated with actual sexual behaviors. That is to say, based on self-reports of their recent sexual histories, those who identify as tops are indeed more likely to act as the insertive partner, bottoms are more likely be the receptive partner, and versatiles occupy an intermediate status in sex behavior.



(2) Compared to bottoms, tops are more frequently engaged in (or at least they acknowledge being attracted to) other insertive sexual behaviors. For example, tops also tend to be the more frequent insertive partner during oral intercourse. In fact, this finding of the generalizability of top/bottom self-labels to other types of sexual practices was also uncovered in a correlational study by David Moskowitz, Gerulf Reiger and Michael Roloff. In a 2008 issue of Sexual and Relationship Therapy, these scientists reported that tops were more likely to be the insertive partner in everything from sex-toy play to verbal abuse to urination play.

Small dog goes crazy!

Thanks to Ryan from A Guy In Love

For those who read my blog, you've heard me mention a blogging buddy I've had for a long time. Here's a link to his blog, and his name is Ryan. I think it's like six or seven years now I've been following him. But it could be longer. The time flies so fast I lose track.



Well. I just wanted to send a shout to Ryan, and tell him I love this new group he started on facebook. It's a private group celebrating the nude male body. Oh yeah, male nudity. That's right, male nudity. The emotional folks over at a few romance web sites wouldn't know what to make of it and they'd probably drop their half-glasses and the tight little buns at the back of their heads would explode. They might even shudder and cross their legs.



But this is the kind of group that's fun and entertaining. And with so much boring, cute crap out there sometimes on publishing blogs...not to mention all the serious depressing crap...it's nice to see something that's fun for a change. I just hope facebook doesn't decide to censor it. They've been known to do that, you know. Facebook isn't a democracy. Because if it does, I might have to talk to Ryan about starting our own little fun web site/social network like this and facebook can go to hell.

Edits...Bury it, Officer and The Bachelor

For some reason, edits always come around at the same time. I don't plan this. But this is a good thing. I hate to be working on one book and editing another at the same time. It's hard to switch gears that way.



For the past week, I've been working on edits for my new short story with loveyoudivine.com, BURY IT, OFFICER. And on my new novel for ravenous romance, THE BACHELOR.



And I went way over word count on THE BACHELOR. It's pushing 71,000, which is longer than I usually like a m/m erotic romance to be. But in this case I think it works. When I started editing, it was over 100,00, but I thought that was far too long and wound up editing almost 30,000 words. Which isn't easy to do. Mostly what I cut out were erotic scenes. This is one of those books were the romance doesn't really get under way until the middle of the book, and up until then, the main character, Jim Johnston, has a few little flings along the way that leave him less than satisfied.



But I think he grew in this book, which is what I wanted from him this time. And the erotic scenes I did cut turned out to be scenes that weren't really needed. Too bad there isn't a section at the back of books like they do with films, where everything that's cut during edits is shown to the reader in an unedited version. I'd love to read them myself.

Self-Published Transgender Book: REFUSE by Elliott DeLine

Here's another post about a book that was self-published. I find it more than interesting, being that I don't see many books out in this genre from publishers. In fact, I really, really like this one a lot. Please take the time to check it out and see what it's all about. I like that the author added a few product details. I'm sure this one is going on my TBR list as soon as I'm finished reading the books I have left for the Rabinbow Awards.



I'm always harping about how we never see much about the T and the B in LGBT. Well, here you go. Check it out and learn something new.



About the Author: Elliott DeLine is an American independent and freelance writer, born on August 14th, 1988 in Syracuse, New York. Currently he lives in North Syracuse, with family and a brown tabby named Tiger (his best friend of 15 years). Elliott is also a university student and works at a public library. His controversial personal essay "Stuck at the Border Between the Sexes" was featured in The New York Times Modern Love series in the spring of 2011. 'Refuse', his debut novel, is available in ebook and print as of April 2011. Elliott enjoys nature, books, music, scowling, and writing about himself in the third person.







Blurb:



"All writers are born in the wrong body, but it happens to be the reader's good fortune that Elliott DeLine was literally born in the wrong body – even if he would never use a tacky cliché like that. 'Refuse' is a stunning debut "novoir" about an over-observant young outsider with really great hair who is outside everything – including the transgender community – but keeps a great deal bottled up inside. Funny, cynical, tough, vulnerable, honest, deluded, sagacious, self-loving and self-loathing, 'Refuse' is irresistible."



-Mark Simpson, author of Saint Morrissey



Book Description:





Dean, a 22 year old female-to-male-transsexual, is no LGBT poster boy. Unemployed, depressed, mid-transition, and still living in the upstairs bedroom of his parents' house in a conservative suburb, he can think of little to do but write his memoir. In the third person, he tells the tale of his would-be love affair with his college roommate, Colin, another trans man with a girlfriend and a successful indie rock band.





Words: 80468 (approximate)

Language: English

Available in ebook and print here:





*7/31: Ebook Will remain 'You Pick Price' until 8/14/11*





www.facebook.com/politelyRefuse







Please share with your friends!

Full Moon Bites: Review: A Regular Bud by Ryan Field

Just saw this review for A Regular Bud. I didn't solicite it, which makes me happy. It didn't get five stars, but I can live with it and I'd like to thank the reviewer.





Full Moon Bites: Review: A Regular Bud by Ryan Field: "  3 Stars This was a nice short story about Noah, who has a shoe and smoking kink, and his roommates dominate little brother, Dave. It w..."

Greyson Chance Performs "Waiting Outside The Lines" on Ellen

This guy is soooo damn good!!

First Self-Published Author Shout...Myths of Gods by Leigh M. Lane

Earlier this week I posted that I'd love to do a few blog posts about some of the wonderful self-published authors out there. One of the first responses came from an author I know, Lisa Lane. I read one of her books in print, which was part of a collection of romance novels for a special event. I fell in love with her writing style. She's a pro, and a perfect example of the kind of talent who is self-publishing nowadays. And she was nice enough to send me the information below about her self-publishing experience.



I am in awe of these authors who have taken control of their careers and who have worked so hard to produce quality books.







Thank you, Ryan, for allowing me to guest blog about my recently self-published release, Myths of Gods. Some readers might have read my erotic writings published through Ravenous Romance, but this book is neither erotic nor romantic. In order to distinguish Myths of Gods from my erotic romance books (and not at all to confuse readers, I assure you), I published this book under the pseudonym Leigh M. Lane.





My Self-Publishing Adventure: MYTHS OF GODS



I remember the moment I decided I was going to self-publish Myths of Gods. The decision was liberating, as much of a gamble as I knew it was going to be. The main deciding factors were:



· Myths of Gods tackles religion and political corruption head-on, which is timely, but also makes the book anything but a mainstream sell;



· Although technically a work of dark science fiction/fantasy, it is a literary work, and dark, literary science fantasy is not going to be on any agent's list—especially when it's also a religious allegory and biting political satire; and



· Because of the many literary details in the book and the care I took to ensure that no scene, no line, no word was without purpose, I wanted full editorial control. I have no problem working with editors on my books—just not on this one.



In lieu of high-paid editors, I was lucky enough to have the help of my younger sister, who is a published author and has her Master of Arts in English, and my husband, a published academic writer who is working on his second Master of Arts agree, to spend whatever time it took to get the book ready for publication. Between the three of us, we went over the "final draft" at least a dozen times, over a period of several months (I had already redrafted it numerous times over the previous six years). Toward the end, we had "editing parties," in which the three of us read the manuscript together over the television screen, carefully sifting through every line for editorial issues.



In addition, a small handful of friends were willing to beta-read as a favor, and they offered valuable feedback that helped me to sharpen and tighten the story. My husband typeset the interior for the paperback and I typeset and formatted the Kindle/ePub copy. I'm also an artist, so I was able to design my own cover. I've heard that professional services are popping up all over the place, which I think is great. Self-published books should not look . . . well, self-published. With Myths of Gods, I just got lucky that enough talented friends and family were as enthusiastic as I was about seeing it get published.





About Myths of Gods:



Myths of Gods is a story about good, faithful people and the leaders who would use their collective faith to their own selfish and destructive ends.



In a time and place before the world as we know it, an infant god comes to the people in the form of three boys and two girls. Follow their baby steps through an exploration of human nature, eternity, and sacrifice, taking critical look at religion, dogma, and social/political hierarchy.



You can check it out and buy it here on Amazon. in digital format. Or you can find it here on Amazon in paperback.





Please check out my web site, here.



Thanks for letting me stop by!

Lisa "Leigh M." Lane

Gay Conservatives? She Didn't!!

Although I remain on the sidelines when it comes to political matters here on this blog, I do welcome all views when it comes to the lgbt community. In my private life, I vote on individual issues, not along party lines or for the coolest candiate with the best personality and the best line of BS. I also vote on a candidate's past record and experience when I don't have any other choices.



So far, I've yet to see a political candidate that inspired me. I'm waiting. I hope it happens. I thought highly of John Edwards, but look what happened to him. I thought highly of Hillary Clinton, but lost faith in the system when so many failed to grasp her extensive experience and how hard she's fought all her life to get where she is to gain that experience. And, unfortunately, it doesn't look as though I'm going to be inspired much in the next Presidential election.



But I do like and respect all political viewpoints. I find the exchange between opposite sides fascinating, and I don't have any problem remaining objective. And one viewpoint that we rarely hear about is that there are, indeed, many gay conservatives. I don't agree with everything they say. But I like the fact that they are out there saying it in spite of the fact that it's not the hip thing to do. And I wanted to share the link below to show that there is a lot of diversity within the gay community, and not everyone who is gay fits into one paticular mold...or cliche.



If you check out The Gay Patriot, you'll see what I mean. Even if you don't agree with them, you have to admit it's interesting.



Here's an example of a short post they did, which says it best.



It's amazing how many people assume . . .

Posted by B. Daniel Blatt at 3:36 am - July 15, 2011.

Filed under: Gay America,Gay Conservatives,Gay Culture,Homocons

. . . , a friend of mine said tonight, that because I'm gay, I'm also a Democrat.



It does seem a lot of people make that assumption.





And if you click the link and read the comment thread, it gets even more interesting.