Cardeno C.'s Blog, page 65
July 8, 2016
July 6, 2016
A Thank You from Andrew Grey
Writing is often a solitary effort. We spend hours and hours alone with the characters and situations in our head. Lord knows I do. But there is someone in my life who helps me with this process in so many ways its hard for me to say. My husband Dominic is an incredible man. Not only does he put up with me and my habit of disappearing for hours on end to sit at my computer and tell my stories. he also is the first person to read and review my manuscripts. He cleans them up for me so that I can go on to the next story. He encourages me, tell me when I've messed up, and had given me a kick in the pants when I need it.
He also sees to it that things like galley proofs and the final edit review are done through critical eyes rather than my own which tend to see what I think should be there and are more interested in what my current set of characters are up to. So sweetheart, this post is for you, for all you do. I love you and couldn't do this without you.
Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author. The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture. I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net. This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost. I will answer one question a week.
Please remember this is meant to be all in fun. (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.) So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.
Visit Andrew on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.
Follow him on Twitter: @andrewgreybooks
Visit Andrew's web site: www,andrewgreybooks.com
July 5, 2016
Happy belated holiday!
Got questions? Send them on!
You can find us on Twitter at @seanmichael09, @juliatalbot, @batortuga and @KiernanKelly
Sean’s website is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com
Julia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.com BA’s is http://www.batortuga.com
Kiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com
Facebook:
Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelW...
Julia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbota...
BA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortuga
Kiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly
XXoo
Julia Talbot
July 4, 2016
Trip Pics and Happy 4th by Cardeno C.
It's nice to be home after my wonderful trip to Canada & Alaska. I posted pictures on Facebook and Twitter and here is a recap of the beauty I saw.
Have a wonderful holiday and a great week.
CC
www.cardenoc.com
June 30, 2016
Happy Fourth! by Felice Stevens
I've always enjoyed the Fourth of July; in NYC we have the huge fireworks display and its a time when I get to go to the beach. I love the ocean.
But this year we will be in Pennsylvania which is a very appropriate place to celebrate as well, with all its history and small town parades. One thing I get to do in Pa. that I can't do in New York City is barbecue. For me, nothing smells like summer than a good hamburger and hot dog off the grill. Pair that with a chunk of ice-cold watermelon and it's one of my favorite meals in the world.
What's your favorite way to celebrate the Fourth of July and your go to summertime meal? I'm taking any and all recipes for macaroni salad and potato salad -hold the eggs!
June 29, 2016
Vacation Time! by Riley Hart
I plan on doing nothing but spending time with my family, eating too much, enjoying the weather and reading! So, I'm looking for some book recommendations. Do you know any sexy, fun summer romances I should read?
The Return - Andrew Grey
Have a great week all!!!!!
Ask Andrew is your chance to ask questions of a gay romance author. The questions can be about the writing process in general, writing sex scenes, gay men, sex, characters in romance, characters having sex... okay you probably get the picture. I promise to answer your questions as frankly and with as much humor as I possibly can.So if you have a question, please send it to andrewgreybooks@comcast.net. This is different from my usual email so your questions don't get lost. I will answer one question a week.
Please remember this is meant to be all in fun. (I was going to say good, clean fun, but who wants that.) So send me your questions and let's see what mischief we can get into.
Visit Andrew on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/andrewgreybooks and you can join Andrew's fan group All The Way With Andrew Grey.
Follow him on Twitter: @andrewgreybooks
Visit Andrew's web site: www,andrewgreybooks.com
June 28, 2016
Q&A with Sean, Kiernan, Julia and BA- influences
What's your favorite genre to read in that's not romance?
Horror/Suspense and I have a huge fondness for feminist lit, a la Marilyn French.
Who is your biggest influence as a writer?
Stephen King, no question. He's my hero. I want to be him when I grow up.
What writer of the past would you most like to meet? Of the present?
I would love to have a conversation with Kate Chopin or Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Of the present, I would love to chat with Stephen King. Not about anything in particular, just chat.
What's your best not typically romance story that more readers need to know about?
I have a horror novel that was released years ago and has been given a hard polish, a new title, and is coming out as a BA Tortuga instead of a Dallas Coleman. It originally came out as Diggers and it's being re-released as Unearthed by DSP Publications in 2017. :D
I've also written a lesbian young adult novel as Anne Key called Stealing Bases which I'm very proud of and I'm seriously considering writing a serial killer thriller featuring a psychic and a lesbian FBI agent. We'll see where that goes.
Kiernan
What's your favorite genre to read in that's not romance?
Horror. Horror, horror, horror! I grew up reading Stephen King (still my go-to re-reads, especially his early stuff), Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, et al. I particularly like my horror with a paranormal twist. McCammon's "Swan Song" and King's "The Stand" are two of my all time favorites.
Who is your biggest influence as a writer? Again, I see a lot of Stephen King's influence in my writing, even when I'm writing romance. I also see some Dave Barry in me - I love his sarcastic wit.
What writer of the past would you most like to meet? Of the present? STEPHEN KING. I want him to live in his head, just for a day.
What's your best not typically romance story that more readers need to know about? I have two horror stories available at Amazon. One is a very short read called "Dolly," and the other is a novella called "The Hole." Neither is a romance, but I think they're both pretty neat reads.
Sean
What's your favorite genre to read in that's not romance?
Science Fiction and within Sci-fi it's post-apocalyptic fiction (but I do love most sci-fi, just that's the favorite sub-genre)
Who is your biggest influence as a writer?
Probably Steven King, but there are lots of books that make me go, damn I want to write like that when I grow up.
What writer of the past would you most like to meet? Of the present?
I think it would be great fun to meet Shakespeare - I expect he was foul-mouthed and full of low-brow humor. But I'd also love to meet the romantic poets. And to hang out with Hemingway and Stein in a Paris cafe for an afternoon.
What's your best not typically romance story that more readers need to know about?
Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje - this is one of those books that makes me fall in love with words and literature all over again. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess does that too, but that one is probably much more well-known. So apparently I was meant to name one of my books on this last question. I'd have to go with Windbrothers. It's a full-blown fantasy novel!
Julia
What's your favorite genre to read in that's not romance?
Mystery and suspense. I read a lot of het and bi romance as well.
Who is your biggest influence as a writer?
I see a lot of Elizabeth Peters in me. Johanna Lindsey and Karen Robards when it comes to romance. Stephen King really has shaped my generation as far as storytelling. Shirley Jackson stunned me with her surprises.
What writer of the past would you most like to meet? Of the present?
I love idea of meeting Donne and Shakespeare and such. I got to see Stephen King speak not long ago and would love to sit and chat. Neil Gaiman fascinates me. Most of my romance heroes I've met, including Desiree Holt. Adore her.
What's your best not typically romance story that more readers need to know about?
Hmmm. Tomb of the God King, which will come out next year with DSP as a reprint is a Cthulian adventure with H Rider Haggard elements. I'll link y'all when it's out!
Got questions? Send them on!
You can find us on Twitter at @seanmichael09, @juliatalbot, @batortuga and @KiernanKelly
Sean’s website is http://www.seanmichaelwrites.com
Julia’s is http://www.juliatalbot.com BA’s is http://www.batortuga.com
Kiernan's is www.KiernanKelly.com
Facebook:
Sean -- https://www.facebook.com/SeanMichaelW...
Julia -- https://www.facebook.com/juliatalbota...
BA -- https://www.facebook.com/batortuga
Kiernan -- https://www.facebook.com/kiernan.kelly
XXoo
Julia Talbot
June 25, 2016
Yelling at Anti-same-sex marriage campaigners, by Renae Kaye
Today something ugly happened.
I wasn’t there, but I heard about it. In a way I am glad I wasn’t there and didn’t have to go through it. In another way I’m sad I didn’t get the chance to yell and scream.
For me, the pain and fury started with a text message from my husband. He’d taken the kids to his parents’ house, leaving me home for a lazy day in my PJs. The text message said:
I was pruning for Dad out the front and an old man and lady handed me a pamphlet. I thought it was to do with the election so I didn’t read it but [hubby’s brother] did and it was anti same sex marriage. He ran off after them to have a talk…
The rest of the text was about the old people’s reaction to my brother-in-law confronting them about scaremongering. From the report it appeared that they were ill-prepared for someone to argue with them and didn’t know what to say.
My response: Damn. I want to get in the car and come over to yell at them.
I was angry. DAMN angry. This is what the stupid Australian Government has now created. Groups of people who find it necessary to roam the streets and hand out literature on what is basically a hate campaign.
For those people who are unaware of Australian politics and our fight for marriage equality, I will try and make it simple. Polls show that the majority of the Australian people want marriage equality. But the politicians are refusing to change the laws or bring about a change that would be a step towards it. Each time it is introduced into Parliament, the opposition knocks it back. We are at the stage where our two leading political parties – Liberal and Labor – don’t have the numbers to support any of the changes they wish to bring forward, and in a petty war, they are simply knocking back every bill introduced by the opposite party.
In a move that perhaps was made in the heat of the moment, and I think has been very much regretted, the Government promised the public a plebiscite, which is simply a yes/no vote from the public (at great cost to the taxpayer). However, in a move that has angered most Australians, a bunch of nitwit politicians have promised that even if the plebiscite votes for marriage equality, they would still vote it down due to their conscience.We (the public) have been promised to have a say… but not for another two years? And the latest talks from the politicians have shown that they are looking at ways to circumvent their promise – how to either word the plebiscite unfavourably and to make the decision non-binding.
But we don’t want a plebiscite in two years. What will that prove? Two years of people against same-sex marriage having a free reign to bash (verbally and physically) LGBT people? Two years of arguments and hatred, just for the politicians to find a way to make it go away despite the way the vote is? The current push from pro-marriage-equality camps is to drop the plebiscite, and make the politicians due to the job they were elected to do. You know that job? That one where they’re supposed to represent the people?
I asked my husband to bring the pamphlet home. It has been put out by the Marriage Alliance. (Printed by Vivid Print of Fyshwick ACT – so anyone who was thinking of using that business, I would suggest you don’t.) The message on the flyer is that those pushing for same-sex marriage have a deeper agenda. They put forth these four newspaper headlines to prove their point. Remember – these are just news headlines from various media outlets. And darned if I know how it relates to marriage equality.
“Activists push taxpayer-funded gay manual in schools” with the first paragraph shown to read “Eleven-year-old children are being taught about sexual orientation and transgender issues at school in a taxpayer-funded program written by gay activists.”
My first thought: Oh, good. They are teaching the kids about the ISSUES of homophobia and transphobia. They are teaching the kids that someone may be different from them and that’s okay. And Marriage Alliance wants to shut this down? Are they really people who think that teaching children about the “issues” surrounding LGBT people is teaching them to be gay?
I don’t know about you guys, but my first sex education at school was taught when I was in Year 4. That’s eight- and nine-year-olds watching Where did I come from? on a TV and being told that a man puts his penis inside a woman’s vagina and rubs. This is acceptable to them, but being told that “some girls love girls” is not?
So they don’t wish to teach kids about bullying. And they don’t wish to teach kids that it’s not acceptable to point and call out “Faggot!” because they think that the teachers will go around encouraging children under the age of consent to … I don’t even know what!
Let’s move on to the next headline they use to back up their “gay agenda” scaremongering.
“Safe Schools: tell concerned parents ‘tough luck!’”
For those who don’t know Safe Schools is an anti-bullying program that teaches kids about those who are different from them. It focuses on homosexuality and transgender as well as other issues that cause bullying such as race, religion and socio-economic background. Some parents expressed dismay at this.
My thoughts are that if parents did their “job” at home and taught this stuff from birth, then the schools wouldn’t need to “step in” and make sure their “darling children” (ie rampant bullies) know what acceptable behaviour is.
So if it is the “hidden agenda” of same-sex marriage activists to stop kids being bigots, then yes, I would say that is something I support.
“New gender non-specific birth certificates for the ACT” with the first paragraph shown as “The terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ will effectively become interchangeable under new laws…”
Oh, wow. Now this IS a scary thing, isn’t it? A child having TWO parents? So, in their opinion two parents in the scariest thing that can happen to a child?
“Same-sex lobby threatens Catholic archbishop over Christian booklet”
Oh, yes. Now this is the biggest gay agenda. All those people out there supposedly supporting same-sex marriage, and in fact, all they really wanted was our country’s anti-discrimination laws applied. All of these people wearing rainbow clothing, and vowing to support marriage equality, are really just being underhand and don’t want the Catholic Church handing out a booklet to school children that says some pretty discriminatory things about a certain section of society.
How dare they!
After handing this pamphlet to my husband and being raked over the coals by my brother-in-law for denying people their equal rights, apparently a group of them gathered on my in-laws’ front lawn.
Text from hubby: There is around 10 of them out the front now. All 70 old +.
Me: You should yell at them, “Stop worrying about what other people do in their bedrooms. What makes you so interested in that?”
Him: I said that its on the same level as being racist.
Me: Yep! Shall I come and argue????
Him: They just kept saying, “Oh you’re wrong” “is not”
So, basically, in the end they had no idea what they were campaigning for? They were scaremongering because they had been scaremongered themselves.
Hubby was livid. He raged at them (which, if you know my hubby, is something out of the ordinary) and sent them a long letter tonight. To him, he isn’t so much an ally of LGBT, but he doesn’t want people getting in his face about stuff that is none of his business. His take on marriage equality is that what people do, who they love, who they marry is no business of his. It’s their choice. And no one should be stopping them. But mostlyno one should be making him read rubbish pamphlets.
Me? I’m not going to idly sit by and watch my friends be told they’re wrong, flawed, sinners and unequal. I will get in faces. Anti-same-sex-marriage campaigners better hope they can take it as much as they dish.
It was an ugly day for me. But it’s one that I know will only get worse. And I hope to hell the politicians do something about it – and soon. It may involve pulling on their big-girl panties and acting like adults paid to do a job. It may be tough for them. But they should concede it is 100 times tougher for those without marriage equality and who have to put up with this hatred.
(Oh - and PS - follow this link to sign up to my newsletter - no spam, just a brief email when I have news) How to contact Renae:Email: renaekaye@iinet.net.auWebsite: www.renaekaye.weebly.comFB: www.facebook.com/renae.kaye.9Twitter: @renaekkaye
June 23, 2016
It's Good to be Green by Felice Stevens
This has nothing to do with being skinny and everything to do with being healthy-I'm doing it to get my blood pressure down, my cholesterol back in line and to feel better in my own skin. I don't want to be a twig, I want to get back in control of my life. I've always been a pretty healthy eater and have now started drinking green juices and eating much less meat and more fish and dark green vegetables. Fruits in moderation because they're high in sugar.
Want to join me? Great! Let's keep each other accountable! Anyone in?
