Clancy Nacht's Blog, page 20

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Last week Z. Allora tagged me for this blog hop.

Here’s how it works. Each author answers ten questions about their book — either a work in progress or an upcoming release — and tags five other authors who talk about their own books the next week, link back to the author who tagged them and tag five new authors. And so on, and so on, and so on. I’m only tagging one author because everyone and their dog has done this twice and also tagging is against my religion. If you are an author and are reading this and want to do it, just leave me a comment and I’ll add you.

1: What is the working title of your book?

This Old Love. It’s after that Lior song but I’m considering other options. The characters say a lot of interesting things that I could use. Considering Living Your T. The characters do sort of have to find themselves but they were childhood friends that find each other again, so it’s got both. If this ever actually gets to an editor (I have a horrible habit of binning finished stories) they may have their own ideas.

2: Where did the idea come from for the book?

When a mommy idea meets a daddy idea and they get married, they birth a book. Then a nice gay couple adopts them after that het marriage doesn’t work because those damn people are ruining marriage.

3: What genre does your book fall under?

Contemporary, m/m. There are drag queens. And a football player.



4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

I actually had models in mind, so they’d better take some acting classes.



Lindsey, aka Miss Anne Thrope, would be Andrej Pejic. Actually, if I ever get to screenwriting, that boy had better be ready to start acting a lot. In the category of already an actor and a drag queen, I just love Willam Belli. Check out her fierceness. Lindsey really underestimates his inner strength and has funneled it into his alter ego, Miss Anne Thrope. He’s hilarious, though, and is really a force of nature, even if he isn’t always aware of it.

Hank, aka Hunk, was Sean O’Pry. Matt Bomer is also acceptable since he’s actually an actor. He’d get to put more of a brood on. Or Joe Manganiello. Someone who can brood but who also has the ability for wry humor. He’s pretty lost after getting injured in college football where he can’t play anymore. He took a job at his father’s law firm, but it’s not his dream. He doesn’t really have a dream anymore so he lets his father kind of take over, as he has his whole life, letting the man pick his friends, which is why he was pulled away from being friends with Lindsey in grade school. He bullies Lindsey a bit in high school because of his intense attraction but loses track of him when he goes to college. After his injury, he comes out but feels too broken to really pursue anything but the job he hates.

For Veronica, Lindsey’s femme fatale bff mom, probably Ellen Barkin. She’s a bad-ass mom you wish you had. Vivacious, protective, sarcastic, and tough. I could write a story about her and not even care it was het. She’s maybe a little bit of a cougar, but mostly she just wants a good time.

Prescott is Hank’s rich, controlling father. I could see him as Victor Garber. He’s sort of a weasel, and Garber does that pretty well. In spite of the fact that Hank does everything he asks, he’s still not happy with his son. He tolerates Hank being gay, but he is not happy with the idea of Hank trying to get together with Lindsey, in particular.

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Hank’s having a hard time seeing the point of going on until he discovers an old crush is working as a drag queen at a local club; get together, blah blah blah.

6: Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

LOL an agency? What am I, JK Rowling?



7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

Couple of months.



8: What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Some Black Gold with that sort of dual personality/flamboyant star, but with obvious connection to Le Jazz Hot because drag queen, but this is a lot less “your gender is confusing to me” because no one is confused about who Lindsey is. Even to an extent The WASPs in that you have childhood friends, though Lindsey and Hank started close, but then became frenemies. I find writing books cheaper than therapy, so at some point everyone will know what all of my issues are.

9: Who or What inspired you to write this book?

This seems a lot like question 2. You’d think with only 10 questions there wouldn’t be repeats.



10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

There are drag queens and a performance of “Papa Don’t Preach.” Public sex. Lots of twists and turns, a strange history, two tons of really raunchy jokes. Broken people piecing themselves together.

So I’m tagging my writing partner Thursday Euclid. Hopefully we’ll have his website back up and running otherwise you’ll find his post on jettlovesgoldie.com.

Filed under: about clancy, books, promo, writing Tagged: black gold, cute boys, le jazz hot, m/m, thursday euclid, update, writing

Don't TELL Me We Don't Need Feminism.

Reblogged from Make Me a Sammich:

“a lot of fuzzy feminist thinking” -Frank

The following is from the editor of the Niagara Falls Reporter to film critic Michael Calleri who wondered why some of his reviews were not being published:

Michael; I know you are committed to writing your reviews, and put a lot of effort into them. it is important for you to have the right publisher.

Read more… 817 more words

New Resource: Preparing for Airport Security

Reblogged from National Center for Transgender Equality's Blog:

While most transgender and gender non-conforming people get through airport security without any incidents, the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) urges travelers to understand their rights before going through airport security with our new resource Airport Security and Transgender People.

The seasonal Holiday travel uptick can mean things are more hectic and potentially confusing for travelers and for Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) than usual.

Read more… 339 more words

Eat, Perv, Love: So, GRL. How was it?

I know I promised to get back with A.B. Gayle on how GRL was and if I thought it was worth it.

Yeah, it’s totally worth it.

I went into it a little concerned because I am not the most social of people Curmudgeon wouldn’t be too far off. And I did keep to the fringe of things (other than when I sang “Welcome to the Jungle” at karaoke…I’d like to blame alcohol on that but I wasn’t really that drunk…I’m just a ridiculous ham) but I still managed to meet people I’d only seen in the pixel and found out that people have actually read our books.

Yeah, I know, as much as Treva Harte loves me, she probably wasn’t paying me out of her own pocket for three years, but still I was surprised. Not just that people had read the stories, but had real opinions on them and most of them appeared to understand what we were trying to express! I met VJ Summers who actually liked The WASPs (which given some of the reviews I thought was only a story a parent could love) and has us convinced we could do a sequel. 

We met and chatted extensively with Z Allora Allora. She’s such a bundle of wonderful energy and she didn’t seem to think our concept for Black Gold 2 was totally insane, which gave me the confidence to jump in and attack the rewrites. Also, she was one of my stalwart defenders when the go-go dancers got too close and gave me The Fear. One day I will write up why stripper/dancers give me The Fear, but these ones did seem pretty nice and didn’t smell of Axe (okay so I guess given that description, The Fear is self-evident.)

I also met E.M. Lynley who edited Bedknobs & Beanstalks, one of the first anthologies I was even included in and who is kind of to blame for me. I swear, she’s been everywhere and she showed me that a geoduck was, which I’d somehow always thought was like…a gemstone. Like a geod? With uck attached to it? But no, it was a creature that looks like a giant cock. At least, that’s what I remember. There was a lot of Icelandic alcohol involved. 

Oh yeah, Icelandic Princess, Erica Pike, brought alcohol, some of which tasted like cumin, some tasted like old paper, and the last tasted like cough syrup and I swear cured me of my sore throat. 

Thursday Euclid is going to be so proud I remembered so many names because I am notoriously awful. “You know, that person with the stuff! I want to friend them! I need their name!” But look at me, namedropping like a mofo. Okay, it kinda helps I knew the names before and didn’t have faces. The faces part is easier for a visual learner. 

So, I met Christy Lockhart and Treva Harte whom I’ve been working with for a couple of years but now I can identify them in a public setting! And there was a Loose Id little dinnery thing where we supped on appetizers (okay admittedly I kinda lost weight in ABQ because I wasn’t super impressed with NM cuisine and was on the move a lot) and I chatted about snake shifters with Tara Lain and femme dom with Belinda McBride. We had a little lobby political discussion with Lynn Lorenz (who is also a Texan!) and the other Loose Id laydees and it was just so…like everyone was already an old friend. We all had this common bond of our writing and interests and politics and I wasn’t nearly as guarded as I am day-to-day. 

Oh! And I almost forgot a super awesome part! So, we did the book signing and I sat with Cherie Noel (I know, right, how cool am I?) and a pretty woman with a camera stopped by and shot some pictures of me with my inflatable sheep Jody (who has a slow leak, but thank goodness Thursday is so good at blowing) and I thought that was cool but then later she came back and she was ELISA ROLLE. 

See, here’s the thing. I’d never met her (obviously) but she’d reviewed some of my very first works and it really did give me some confidence even when it kinda felt like no one was really getting me. I know I’m not the only author who has been the beneficiary of that kind of support and so I was really pleased to meet her and shake her hand. Or hug her. I don’t really remember what I did, but I hope I let her know how much that meant to me. 

So, you know, I found out I had fans and I found people I fanned. I attended publisher forums and got to know better what the different publishers were doing with their imprints and what they were looking for. I did some crafts ate some cake, sang badly, and met some really awesome people, some of which I already kinda knew. I know I left people out and awesome discussions but there is truly too much to cover in a blog space. 

I think I did okay for promotion and there were people who purposefully read every author who was going to GRL so if you’re looking from an investment perspective, it’s potentially worth it. I know A.B. Gayle is coming from a lot further away than most, but it’s a great time and next year is in Atlanta, which is fun to explore. I’ve only been a couple of times and usually for convention, so my memories may be a little gin-drenched, but they were happy and good food. 

So do it! And drag Norma Nielsen with you, we have models to drool over!

Filed under: books Tagged: grl, grl2012, loose id, promo

Coming soon, to a GRL near you

Normally I don’t publicize my comings and goings, partially because I’m lazy but also because I worry that too much knowledge will tempt people to break into my home and steal my cats. Since my husband will be home with a loaded shotgun, I’m not as worried about admitting that I will be at GayRomLit this year.

That’s right, I’m packing up Thursday Euclid and we will venture forth in a rented car (hopefully a Charger!) with an audiobook version of The Passage to listen to along the way. I’m hoping to stop through Roswell to seek some Truth Out There. Then I will be in the ABQ seeking much alcohol and frolic (I’m kind of a frolicaholic, so don’t let me get too crazy.)

This isn’t my first convention, but it is my first one as an author, so be gentle.

RETREAT!

p.s. I’ll have some pretty Jett & Goldie postcards and also Luke & Marshall!

Filed under: about clancy, promo

See my interrogation; read/write political slash

The good news is that usually when I’m quiet, it means I’m writing elswhere, which is usually book-related and rarely just me smarting off at Huffinton Post peoples. At least, not for that long.

But I did take a little time off to submit to a little Q&A of the Joyfully Reviewed variety, so if you want to see what random answers I came up with on a random day, you can see me very candidly disavowing any truth to my statements because even people who do not know the word “mercurial” would agree that it is a very politic way of describing me.

Yes, that is Rick Perry smiling at yours truly just before he got on stage at the first big Teaparty Rally at Austin City Hall and proclaimed that he could see why Texas would want to secede. I knew he wasn’t serious because he kept his hair under a hat.

And then, because I’m seriously debating doing a quickie little thingy for it, and at the very least, crossing my fingers that someone will write a little Rick on Rick action (Santorum/Perry) so I don’t have to, check out Hail to the Slash. Slash about and/or around presidential/vice presidential candidates and any other world leader of any time you feel like smutting up.

Part of me would like to write about the pair of Ricks nerd slapping each other over who gets to be the biggest nelly bottom, but I’m truthfully afraid that it will render me impotent for weeks after as my brain tries to deny it inhabits this skull.

This is the same brain that wrote about coffee enemas, so you can only imagine how frightening this scenario in my head must be.

Filed under: about clancy, political, promo Tagged: political

Guns, they’re kinda like cars, right?

Non-violence (Håkan Dahlström) / CC BY 2.0

The gun control debate is always super debatey but what I’ve noticed a lot lately are these terrible, horrible, no good, very bad false equivalencies often shouted with great vehemence and a complete lack of logic.

The other day I had such a “discussion” with someone online. I know, someone is wrong on the internet? I’m shocked.

But yes, I do go onto sites like the Huffington Post and feed the trolls for the specific love and purpose of getting “likes” which feel like the warm embrace of hugs my father never gave me. (Disclaimer: we are not a huggy people)

In one such encounter, I was given the comment that cars kill a lot of people and yet we don’t practice car control.

Now, before I was able to give my witty riposte of, “You’re right, may I borrow your gun to drive into work today, because my car is feeling too much like a killing machine to me today.” They said, “and don’t say that cars serve another purpose because that makes you a hypocrite!”

Aside from the fact that I don’t think hypocrite means what they think it means, I did stop to ponder what, exactly, would be hypocritical about saying that cars, uh, aren’t machines created for the purpose of putting holes in things and you can’t drive your gun to the park.

Nothing, of course. It was just another mindless miss-spew of something one of our mental giants like Rush Limbaugh might say with very little logical follow through. Just the, “oh hey, you’re right! lots of people die in car accidents, that’s totally the same thing!”

But then as I pondered this further, I discovered that there was some merit to the comparison of cars to guns. I think they’re right. We really should treat guns more like cars. Because with a car you need to:

Test for a license
Yearly registrations
Yearly inspections
Insurance

I think that’s a wonderful idea to treat guns like cars. Register each gun, each year. Take each of your guns in for inspection and proper function yearly. And have insurance on each and every gun that you own.

It’s not gun control. It’s treating guns like cars, which are pretty much the same thing anyway and if you say they’re not, you’re a HYPOCRITE.

Filed under: political Tagged: gun control, political, rant

This is why we can’t have nice things

So here we go. Another mass shooting. And another opportunity to open the dialog for why gun control may not be the worst thing ever has come and will go with little comment from those who govern us aside from the notion that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

As they say, guns make it a hell of a lot easier.

But look, before we get all crazy about how we can militia-ize and overthrow and tyrants and all of that…hysteria, let’s just stop and take a deep breath. 

Gun control doesn’t mean seizing all guns and never letting anyone have one ever even though we’ve been letting nutbags have them for years and years and years and only bad guys have them and good people need guns at a moment’s notice sometimes and have absolutely no other alternatives because the police are to slow/lazy/don’t care/are socialists. Gun control means, hey, maybe we kinda sorta don’t need semi automatic weapons because they lead to bad things and a lot of people are getting shot by nutbags.

It means, hey, maybe instead instead of like, deploying drones over a cow dispute (I’m so not kidding) because we’re not sure what dude might be packing, we maybe kinda keep records of these kinds of things and maybe when someone gets all stockpiley, we stop by with some scones and say, “so what up?”

Now, I get how someone stockpiling weapons might feel a little nervous by police types stopping by, but to be honest, I’m a little nervous about people stockpiling weapons. In fact, I’m a lot nervous about it since, you know, there have been a couple of them recently and they don’t seem likely to stop.

Now, I know what you are going to say. Guns? What about that guy in China who killed like 8 people with a knife? Isn’t life just hard and bad and if we’re going to shake down gun owners, shouldn’t we logically then shake down knife owners?

Except, you know, the whole thing about the primary purpose of knives being things like chopping vegetables or whatever. 

The gun’s primary purpose is to put holes in things. Even if you’re a hunter or legitimately want to keep deer off of your lawn, or just want a weapon for peace of mind in case of home invasions, all of that has deathy implications. 

Yeah. So like, sure you can kill someone with a hammer, but you probably shouldn’t hammer in nails with your gun. 

Now, full disclosure, my first non-tv experience with a gun was having it shoved in my face in the course of being kidnapped. Before you say, “but if you had a gun…” I was four. If I had a gun, my babysitter would’ve been dead in the course of trying to enforce naptime. But still, maybe if my babysitter had had a gun? Only, she was driving and the guy came really fast. But maybe if one of our helpful citizens also caught in Houston traffic had a gun? The maybe my head would’ve been blown off by a helpful citizen playing Rambo. That would’ve been awesome because I wouldn’t have been kidnapped.

Did I mention that the guy who came to the car had just robbed a bank and there were police with guns behind him? Oops! Guns were there and miraculously bad shit happened in spite of many, many guns present! 

So yeah, the notion that bad things won’t happen any more because guns isn’t applicable in every case. In fact, it’s not even applicable in most cases because people with guns can act so quickly. I’m sure you’re Quickdraw McGraw, but most people aren’t, you know, watching a movie thinking, “if someone comes in shooting, I’m so totally ready.”

So, okay. Maybe a little control would be not so bad. Why aren’t we having this conversation? Well, because NRA. And it’s not that NRA is just full of evil peoples who want a lot of people shot in the head. But it’s simply in their nature to advocate for gun rights. And they’re really, really good at it. So good at it, that they managed to supersede the wishes of a Tennessee community in the hopes of making it super okay to keep guns in the car on PRIVATE EMPLOYER’S LOTS.  

Yeah, so maybe you’re an employer who had a bad case of the kidnappings as a child and you say, “I’d rather you not bring your gun to work or have it on you while here or keep it in your car because you may have a bad day and get all killy. ‘Cause, you know, these things happen sometimes.”

Then the NRA says, “But…but… highway violence is all over the place and if everyone on the road had a gun, then people could shoot back, which would lead to less bullets flying and less death, or something.”

And you say, “This is my private parking lot. Please do not be bringing your killing machines to it.”

Only, not so much. Because they want to make it law. And you’d totally fire the person bringing the gun to work, except now they’re armed.

Oh. I get it now. NRA is trying to solve unemployment.

In any case, I’m probably going to get a gun soon. After some lessons. And then a concealed carry license. Because it’s better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it. Or something. 

That’s right. I’m liberal, I vote, and soon I’ll be packing. 

Filed under: books Tagged: gun control, political, rant

Who’s tired of Tosh blog posts? Not me!

Much has been said about the incident between Daniel Tosh and a young woman in his audience. Whether he said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if she were raped by like 5 guys?” or “Wow, she must’ve been raped by like 5 guys,” (both of which sound like him because he does talk like a Valley Girl, like) he apologized and, whatever. We’re square. He’s off my Christmas list, but he’s about as relevant to me as he was before.

Then came everyone and their fucking llamas.

Well. Here I am. Here’s my llama: Freedom of speech and why no one has tried to take it away here.

Look, Tosh was never in danger of being arrested for what he said. A lot of people seem to be gravely ignorant about what freedom of speech means.

It means that you may say just about whatever screwball thing that enters your brainpan. What it also means is that you get to enjoy the responsibility of having said it.

See, Tosh said, “Rape jokes can be funny.”

Heckler said, “Rape jokes are never funny.”

(to which I, rape survivor and woman say, “They can be.”)

And Tosh said, “Whatever, get raped, you were raped, blah blah blah. Defying logic, I wasn’t prepared for anyone to disagree with that premise because I thought my primary audience were date rapists.”

Now, heckler felt violated, as the heckler has every right to feel. Tosh felt annoyed, as a comedian on stage who is being heckled is very likely to feel.

Heckler and/or heckler’s friend wrote about those feelings in a blog post (which, because freedom of speech, wasn’t illegal) and other people who were not heckler, heckler’s friends, or Tosh, commented the shit out of it. Which they also had the right to do, because freedom of speech.

Tosh had the right to double down, ignore the whole thing, or apologize. Maybe he could’ve apologized better. Or checked himself into rehab. Or sent the heckler flowers. Whatever, he was free to respond how he wanted. Everyone was free to accept that or not.

You see all of this freedom? You see any censorship here?

Now, will Tosh stop telling rape jokes? Unlikely. Will he be more careful about landing them? I hope so. Will people who dislike rape jokes go to his shows? Hopefully not. But if they do, hopefully Tosh will have formulated a better response for when he’s heckled over it.

The moral to the story is: If your premise is that rape jokes can be funny, BE FUCKING FUNNY.

Remember: everyone’s got a nemesis

This isn’t about anything going on at the moment. The last review I received was actually fairly glowing. But, with a new release out, I know (or at least i hope) someone will eventually say something, because really the only thing worse than a bad review is silence.

I know a lot of writers do not read reviews at all. That’s fair. We all do what we need to in order to have space to work and create. I’m morbidly fascinated and fired in the kiln of Harry Potter fandom. So really, I feel like I’m pretty equipped to deal.

That said, whenever I do feel like I need to gird my loins to see what is being said about me, I reflect upon Ambrose Bierce’s criticism of Oscar Wilde.

That sovereign of insufferables, Oscar Wilde has ensued with his opulence of twaddle and his penury of sense. He has mounted his hind legs and blown crass vapidities through the bowel of his neck, to the capital edification of circumjacent fools and foolesses, fooling with their foolers. He has tossed off the top of his head and uttered himself in copious overflows of ghastly bosh. The ineffable dunce has nothing to say and says it—says it with a liberal embellishment of bad delivery, embroidering it with reasonless vulgarities of attitude, gesture and attire. There never was an impostor so hateful, a blockhead so stupid, a crank so variously and offensively daft. Therefore is the she fool enamored of the feel of his tongue in her ear to tickle her understanding.

The limpid and spiritless vacuity of this intellectual jelly-fish is in ludicrous contrast with the rude but robust mental activities that he came to quicken and inspire. Not only has he no thought, but no thinker. His lecture is mere vebal ditchwater—meaningingless, trite and without coherence. It lacks even the nastiness that exalts and refines his verse. Moreover, it is obviously his own; he had not even the energy and independence to steal it. And so, with a knowledge that would equip and idiot to dispute with a cast-iron dog, and eloquence to qualify him for the duties of a caller on a hog-ranche, and an imagination adequate to the conception of a tom-cat, when fired by contemplation of a fiddle-string, this consummate and star-like youth, missing everything his heaven-appointed functions and offices, wanders about, posing as a statute of himself, and, like the sun-smitten image of Memnon, emitting meaningless murmurs in the blaze of women’s eyes. He makes me tired.