H.B. Pattskyn's Blog, page 22
August 28, 2012
Happy Hunk Day!
I have gotten a lot of compliments on the cover art--no surprise, it's amazing! The artist is Shobana Appavu (aka Bob) -- check out her website!
I have a release date!!! September 24. Yes, I'm totally stoked! I'm going through final edits now (mostly checking for formatting issues); I've listed Bound on Good Reads...and set up a Good Reads giveaway (it'll be up on the 1st of Sept.)
In the meantime, I'm on the Dreapspinner Press coming soon page!
Check it out:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3239 (Paperback)
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3238 (Ebook)
So...
It seems as if BDSM is getting a bit more popular, perhaps (in part) thanks to That Book. You know the one. And here's the irony, the original working title for Bound was Shades of Gray! Seriously. It was in reference to life being shades of gray as well as gray being hanky code for bondage. (And oh Good Lord, there's an APP for that!! That is truly frightening.)
But any rate, I'm so glad I changed the title--although chances are my publisher would have suggested as much if they'd gotten it with the working title. (And for the record, I started Bound long before I'd ever heard of those other books).
So anyway, it seems as if BDSM is getting a bit more popular in literature, which I count as a good thing... except that this particular sub genre is so poorly understood, not only by readers, but by some writers as well.
Now, here's where I start to feel as I'm moving into dangerous territory. I consider it bad form for an author to slam other authors and their books in a public forum (unless it's really warranted, which in a few cases, it is, because when abuse starts getting passed off as BDSM, that's just dangerous.)
And of course writing is about fantasy; I don't necessarily need to see my perfect fictional Dom running out for milk or changing the kitty litter, even though in real life, he might do just that. Still, is there anything wrong with injecting a little realism into the fantasy?
There is a great series out there that I enjoyed reading...but it's so hard to swallow the stupidly rich Dom with the incredible home dungeon who belongs to the perfect BDSM club. No bad seeds, no troublemakers, not even a stain on the carpet or a chip in the pain. Now, tight-knit communities do tend to police their own and weed out the bad seeds, but it isn't really always sunny in Philadelphia--or Letherville, either.
The two authors of non-fiction BDSM I mention in Bound are Jack Rinella and David Stein. They're writers whose books I've enjoyed and who have their heads screwed on straight. As much as I've benefited from the freedom that comes with digital printing (freedom that allows publishers to take chances on unknown writers like me!) it has come with a price: anybody with an idea can publish a book. There's a lot of crap out there folks. If you're even remotely interested in BDSM (or any combination of letters), be careful who you get involved with.
I didn't list Dan and Dawn Williams by name, but their book, Living D/s provided a great deal of inspiration for Bound.
Now, do let me set the record straight, I didn't just read books, I'm a kinky little girl in my own right. I just haven't ever had the desire to live it 24/7. There's a world of difference between living in a D/s or M/s relationship and doing it for a couple of hours in the bedroom. That said, all of the things that run through Jason's head when he starts to realize how much he loves submitting are things that ran through my head at one time. What kind of person wants to submit to someone else? Does it make me weak? Or am I just royally fucked up? The answer is no and no.
The advice Henry gives Jason (go out and meet other people in the community) was the best thing I ever could have done, myself. Seeing that submissives aren't doormats (just the opposite, in fact!) was pretty darned empowering. I'm also glad that my husband and I ended up (by sheer chance) in the right community--because there are (or were at the time) a couple of different BDSM communities in our neck of the woods. One actively practiced Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
The other, not so much. My ex ended up going to a couple of munches and grumbling, no doubt, about our many marital problems (of which my refusal to submit scenes I found uncomfortable and potentially dangerous was only the tip of the ice burg of our problems--but it did signal an end to intimacy. I did mention that subs weren't doormats, right?) At least one so-called Dom in this other group told my ex how wrong I was because "A sub always does what the Dom says".
Let's say it together class: BULLSHIT.
So, the lesson here: safe, sane, and consensual isn't just a tagline, it's a reality. If you're interested in BDSM, read, learn, TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE and listen to your gut. If somebody gives you a "bad feeling" or says something that doesn't quite jive, don't walk, RUN in the opposite direction. BDSM isn't the same thing as abuse--far from it, in fact.
and you can believe we met couples who looked an awful
lot like this when we started getting out into the community!Here are a couple websites for more information:
http://www.masterzchicago.com/RedFlags.htmhttp://mistress160.blogspot.com/?zx=1469acd7f4aec747 (she hasn't updated in a while, but this is one of my favorite blogs)
And oh yes, it IS Wednsday!
Not that these guys have anything to do with today's recipe... well... it IS "creamy" spinach pie....
Creamy Spinach Pie
Special equipment:
Food Processor (although you can substitute a fine chop by hand if you don't have one)Pastry brush (any brand new, clean, paint brush will work; we have two one is one inch, the other is three inches; I used the bigger one for this)
Additional equipment:
9x13 baking panspoon, knife, cutting board, spatulabig bowl
Ingredients:
2 bags spinach (baby or not so baby; especially if you're using a food processor, it's fine to use "adult" spinach. All I did was pull out the biggest stems and pitch them). Either chop it really fine or food process itGarlic. Okay, I like garlic. I used a whole head (it was DINKY!) You might want less1 medium-ish onion (we always cook with red onions)1 1/2 15 oz tubs of ricotta (full fat, no fat, some of each, take your pick); I only used 1 15 oz. tub the first time around and it definitely needed more.1 lb of feta (give or take)1 Tablespoon parsley (okay, I confess, I just shake the stuff in)1 Tablespoon dill (ditto) If you can get fresh dill and especially fresh parsley, GO FOR IT!4 egg yolks1 box of fillo/filo dough (I've seen both spellings on boxes)Olive oil (a couple of Tablespoons worth)Butter (or sub. olive oil); this is for the bottom of the baking dish. I just like a to add a little butter to the recipe.
Take one half of the filo/fillo out to thaw (it should come in two wrapped bags inside the box)
Chop and saute onions in a a tablespoon or so of olive oil until translucent; either dice or press the garlic, and add it to the pan to cook down as well.
While onions and garlic are cooking (covered and on very low heat), begin the job of food processing the spinach. You don't want it to look like baby food, but it should be pretty small. If you're working with fresh parsley and dill, throw that into the processor too; if you're working with flakes, those can go directly into the pan.
Once the onions have become translucent, add the spinach; if you're using dried parsley and dill, this is a good time to add it. Cover again and leave on very low heat.
Dump the ricotta and feta into your food processor and blend until creamy smooth. Add the egg yolks and give it another good spin.
Remove spinach from heat after about two minutes and dump it into the big bowl; set it aside to cool.
Grease bottom and sides of baking dish with butter. Carefully unroll the filo. Begin layering the filo into the pan. Work slowly and carefully; lay down one layer of dough (should just about fit your pan) and gently brush on a SMALL AMOUNT of olive oil. To much oil and you'll have a soggy mess. I like to put down six layers of filo on the bottom of the pan. Yummy, but not overkill.
By now, the the spinach should be fairly cool. Stir in the cheese mixture. Give the whole thing a good stir and pour it into the pan. Well. Gloop it into the pan. Use the spatula to gently smooth it into an even layer.
Add another 5 to 6 layers of filo to the top, using the same process as you used for the bottom. If there are "flaps" sticking out at the sides, I tuck them into the pan as best as I can. Make sure to add olive oil to the top of the top layer. Remember not to use too much.
Pop the pan into an a three hundred and fifty degree oven. (My 9x13 pan happens to be glass, so it has to go into a COLD oven, metal pans can go into preheated ovens). Cook for about 25 minutes. Switch to broil and give it five to ten more minutes (until top is beautiful golden brown).
Remove from oven. Serve and enjoy!
Now... you're going to have extra filo dough and extra ricotta... imagine if you will a sweet and creamy desert with a little sugar, vanilla, another egg yolk, and perhaps some almond extract stuffed into filo dough (smaller pan, same method as you used to make the pie).
Now, the spinach pie is actually from my WIP (aka "Pasha and Daniel"), but getting back to Bound for a second, one of the things you'll read a lot about is Henry's music, in particular some unusual arrangements of popular songs. This is one of Henry and Jason's favorites...one of my favorites too!
Last but not least, here's some more exciting news
Ghosthunting Michigan comes out on September 11 and Clerisy Press has me scheduled to do quite a few book signings! Of course, if any of y'all are in any of the neighborhoods and want to drop in and say "howdy"......
Sept 10 I'll be giving an interview on the 9am segment of Fox Morning News (local channel 2/WJLB)
Sept 23 Books a Million in Monroe 12 noon
Sept 29 Barnes and Noble in West Bloomfield 12 noon
Oct 6Just Imagine Books in Chelsea 2pm
Oct 14Barnes and Noble in Troy 1pm
Oct 16 Crazy Wisdom in Ann Arbor 7pm
Oct 19Book Connection in Livonia 6pm
Oct 22Nicola's books in Ann Arbor 7pm
October 25 Grand Rapids Public Library 7pm
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
I have a release date!!! September 24. Yes, I'm totally stoked! I'm going through final edits now (mostly checking for formatting issues); I've listed Bound on Good Reads...and set up a Good Reads giveaway (it'll be up on the 1st of Sept.)
In the meantime, I'm on the Dreapspinner Press coming soon page!
Check it out:
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3239 (Paperback)
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3238 (Ebook)
So...
It seems as if BDSM is getting a bit more popular, perhaps (in part) thanks to That Book. You know the one. And here's the irony, the original working title for Bound was Shades of Gray! Seriously. It was in reference to life being shades of gray as well as gray being hanky code for bondage. (And oh Good Lord, there's an APP for that!! That is truly frightening.)
But any rate, I'm so glad I changed the title--although chances are my publisher would have suggested as much if they'd gotten it with the working title. (And for the record, I started Bound long before I'd ever heard of those other books).
So anyway, it seems as if BDSM is getting a bit more popular in literature, which I count as a good thing... except that this particular sub genre is so poorly understood, not only by readers, but by some writers as well.
Now, here's where I start to feel as I'm moving into dangerous territory. I consider it bad form for an author to slam other authors and their books in a public forum (unless it's really warranted, which in a few cases, it is, because when abuse starts getting passed off as BDSM, that's just dangerous.)
And of course writing is about fantasy; I don't necessarily need to see my perfect fictional Dom running out for milk or changing the kitty litter, even though in real life, he might do just that. Still, is there anything wrong with injecting a little realism into the fantasy?
There is a great series out there that I enjoyed reading...but it's so hard to swallow the stupidly rich Dom with the incredible home dungeon who belongs to the perfect BDSM club. No bad seeds, no troublemakers, not even a stain on the carpet or a chip in the pain. Now, tight-knit communities do tend to police their own and weed out the bad seeds, but it isn't really always sunny in Philadelphia--or Letherville, either.
The two authors of non-fiction BDSM I mention in Bound are Jack Rinella and David Stein. They're writers whose books I've enjoyed and who have their heads screwed on straight. As much as I've benefited from the freedom that comes with digital printing (freedom that allows publishers to take chances on unknown writers like me!) it has come with a price: anybody with an idea can publish a book. There's a lot of crap out there folks. If you're even remotely interested in BDSM (or any combination of letters), be careful who you get involved with.
I didn't list Dan and Dawn Williams by name, but their book, Living D/s provided a great deal of inspiration for Bound.
Now, do let me set the record straight, I didn't just read books, I'm a kinky little girl in my own right. I just haven't ever had the desire to live it 24/7. There's a world of difference between living in a D/s or M/s relationship and doing it for a couple of hours in the bedroom. That said, all of the things that run through Jason's head when he starts to realize how much he loves submitting are things that ran through my head at one time. What kind of person wants to submit to someone else? Does it make me weak? Or am I just royally fucked up? The answer is no and no.
The advice Henry gives Jason (go out and meet other people in the community) was the best thing I ever could have done, myself. Seeing that submissives aren't doormats (just the opposite, in fact!) was pretty darned empowering. I'm also glad that my husband and I ended up (by sheer chance) in the right community--because there are (or were at the time) a couple of different BDSM communities in our neck of the woods. One actively practiced Safe, Sane, and Consensual.
The other, not so much. My ex ended up going to a couple of munches and grumbling, no doubt, about our many marital problems (of which my refusal to submit scenes I found uncomfortable and potentially dangerous was only the tip of the ice burg of our problems--but it did signal an end to intimacy. I did mention that subs weren't doormats, right?) At least one so-called Dom in this other group told my ex how wrong I was because "A sub always does what the Dom says".
Let's say it together class: BULLSHIT.
So, the lesson here: safe, sane, and consensual isn't just a tagline, it's a reality. If you're interested in BDSM, read, learn, TALK TO OTHER PEOPLE and listen to your gut. If somebody gives you a "bad feeling" or says something that doesn't quite jive, don't walk, RUN in the opposite direction. BDSM isn't the same thing as abuse--far from it, in fact.
and you can believe we met couples who looked an awfullot like this when we started getting out into the community!Here are a couple websites for more information:
http://www.masterzchicago.com/RedFlags.htmhttp://mistress160.blogspot.com/?zx=1469acd7f4aec747 (she hasn't updated in a while, but this is one of my favorite blogs)
And oh yes, it IS Wednsday!
Not that these guys have anything to do with today's recipe... well... it IS "creamy" spinach pie....
Creamy Spinach Pie
Special equipment:
Food Processor (although you can substitute a fine chop by hand if you don't have one)Pastry brush (any brand new, clean, paint brush will work; we have two one is one inch, the other is three inches; I used the bigger one for this)
Additional equipment:
9x13 baking panspoon, knife, cutting board, spatulabig bowl
Ingredients:
2 bags spinach (baby or not so baby; especially if you're using a food processor, it's fine to use "adult" spinach. All I did was pull out the biggest stems and pitch them). Either chop it really fine or food process itGarlic. Okay, I like garlic. I used a whole head (it was DINKY!) You might want less1 medium-ish onion (we always cook with red onions)1 1/2 15 oz tubs of ricotta (full fat, no fat, some of each, take your pick); I only used 1 15 oz. tub the first time around and it definitely needed more.1 lb of feta (give or take)1 Tablespoon parsley (okay, I confess, I just shake the stuff in)1 Tablespoon dill (ditto) If you can get fresh dill and especially fresh parsley, GO FOR IT!4 egg yolks1 box of fillo/filo dough (I've seen both spellings on boxes)Olive oil (a couple of Tablespoons worth)Butter (or sub. olive oil); this is for the bottom of the baking dish. I just like a to add a little butter to the recipe.
Take one half of the filo/fillo out to thaw (it should come in two wrapped bags inside the box)
Chop and saute onions in a a tablespoon or so of olive oil until translucent; either dice or press the garlic, and add it to the pan to cook down as well.
While onions and garlic are cooking (covered and on very low heat), begin the job of food processing the spinach. You don't want it to look like baby food, but it should be pretty small. If you're working with fresh parsley and dill, throw that into the processor too; if you're working with flakes, those can go directly into the pan.
Once the onions have become translucent, add the spinach; if you're using dried parsley and dill, this is a good time to add it. Cover again and leave on very low heat.
Dump the ricotta and feta into your food processor and blend until creamy smooth. Add the egg yolks and give it another good spin.
Remove spinach from heat after about two minutes and dump it into the big bowl; set it aside to cool.
Grease bottom and sides of baking dish with butter. Carefully unroll the filo. Begin layering the filo into the pan. Work slowly and carefully; lay down one layer of dough (should just about fit your pan) and gently brush on a SMALL AMOUNT of olive oil. To much oil and you'll have a soggy mess. I like to put down six layers of filo on the bottom of the pan. Yummy, but not overkill.
By now, the the spinach should be fairly cool. Stir in the cheese mixture. Give the whole thing a good stir and pour it into the pan. Well. Gloop it into the pan. Use the spatula to gently smooth it into an even layer.
Add another 5 to 6 layers of filo to the top, using the same process as you used for the bottom. If there are "flaps" sticking out at the sides, I tuck them into the pan as best as I can. Make sure to add olive oil to the top of the top layer. Remember not to use too much.
Pop the pan into an a three hundred and fifty degree oven. (My 9x13 pan happens to be glass, so it has to go into a COLD oven, metal pans can go into preheated ovens). Cook for about 25 minutes. Switch to broil and give it five to ten more minutes (until top is beautiful golden brown).
Remove from oven. Serve and enjoy!
Now... you're going to have extra filo dough and extra ricotta... imagine if you will a sweet and creamy desert with a little sugar, vanilla, another egg yolk, and perhaps some almond extract stuffed into filo dough (smaller pan, same method as you used to make the pie).
Now, the spinach pie is actually from my WIP (aka "Pasha and Daniel"), but getting back to Bound for a second, one of the things you'll read a lot about is Henry's music, in particular some unusual arrangements of popular songs. This is one of Henry and Jason's favorites...one of my favorites too!
Last but not least, here's some more exciting news
Ghosthunting Michigan comes out on September 11 and Clerisy Press has me scheduled to do quite a few book signings! Of course, if any of y'all are in any of the neighborhoods and want to drop in and say "howdy"......
Sept 10 I'll be giving an interview on the 9am segment of Fox Morning News (local channel 2/WJLB)
Sept 23 Books a Million in Monroe 12 noon
Sept 29 Barnes and Noble in West Bloomfield 12 noon
Oct 6Just Imagine Books in Chelsea 2pm
Oct 14Barnes and Noble in Troy 1pm
Oct 16 Crazy Wisdom in Ann Arbor 7pm
Oct 19Book Connection in Livonia 6pm
Oct 22Nicola's books in Ann Arbor 7pm
October 25 Grand Rapids Public Library 7pm
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
August 27, 2012
Drum roll please!
And the winners are:
Tracey D won a signed copy of Heart's Home (it's in the mail!)
Lilly won a signed copy of Bound: Forget Me Knot (which is due out later this month)
Congratulations, ladies!!
Thanks to everyone who hopped by and participated. I appreciate all the wonderful comments.
If you'd still like chance to win, I'll be participating in the Howloween Blog Hop in October, giving away copies of each of my two books. I'm also planning on doing a Good Reads Give Away of Bound, stay tuned here for more info. (I can't set that up until I get a release date!)
Lastly, please check back on Wednesday, for my regular Hunk Day Blog... I have a great recipe for creamy spinach pie to share, some thoughts on BDSM and some other fun stuff!Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
August 23, 2012
Rainbow Book Reviews Blog Hop!
Welcome! If this is your first time here, I hope you'll take a minute to poke around...or at least come back later. I know it's hard to stop and linger when you've got so many other awesome websites to visit--and believe me, I do know, because I'm hopping around the blog hop, too!The organizers of the blog hop asked us all to answer the question: What LGBTQ literature means to me?
For me, the answer is pretty simple: I'm a bisexual woman and I want to read about characters who "look like me". But maybe that isn't the simple answer, because I write (and mainly read) m/m romance--and I'm not a boy. Those characters don't "look like me" (for which my husband is rather happy, he's a very straight man).
Even so, the characters that I identify with the most have gone through at least some of the same things I did: coming out, being in a relationship with someone of the same gender, dealing with idiots who just don't get it... and at least in this country (I'm in the U.S.), there seem to be more of those than ever. GOP lawmaker Stacey Campfield referred to bullying (against teens who are gay or suspected by their peers of being gay) as "the biggest lark out there"...and sadly, that is far from the stupidest thing the man has said, it just happens to be the most hurtful toward our kids. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/stacey-campfield-tennessee-senator-dont-say-gay-bill_n_1233697.html). I'm a mom. I want to slap the guy... except that's assault, and I wouldn't really do anybody any good sitting in a jail cell, because I'm I make my living from writing, and trust me, most months that's barely enough to buy groceries, no way I could come up with bail money!
What I can do is what I do best: I can write. Yes, I write romance novels, some of them paranormal romance stories, but the very real human emotions are the same. The need to love and be loved is universal.
So maybe the biggest thing LGBTQ literature means to me is getting the message out there that we're people too. We deserve the exact same rights as everybody else. in this country, among them the to go to school without being bullied for being who we are, the right to love and get married if we choose to.
In celebration of LGBTQ (or QUILTBAGS* as I prefer) literature, I'm giving away TWO awesome prizes--but one of them comes with a slight catch. My second novel is due out in September, and I don't have an exact date. So if want that one, there will be a waiting period (but some things *are* worth the wait!)
As you've probably gathered, I have two novels, both from Dreamspinner Press.
All you have to do for a chance to win one of them is leave a comment below and let me know which one you'd like (and yes, you can put your name into both hats if you want).
PLEASE: be sure to include your email address so I can contact you.
Heart's Home has been aptly described as an urban fantasy set in Victorian London. There are werewolves, a daemon, murdered women, a sadistic pack leader, and one poor copper caught up in the middle of it all... it's pretty steamy and very sensual.
Bound: Forget Me Knot is due out in September. I *wish* I could post the cover art because it's awesome (Thank you Bob!!!) but it's also not finalized (i.e. all I have is the rough draft and artists really hate it when you start showing around incomplete work!) However... Bound is a contemporary BDSM/Kink novel that is both incredibly steamy and sexually charged. (Two men meet at a science fiction convention and one of them gets all tied up...)
I'm giving away actual signed paperback copies--and international entries are absolutely welcome!
So leave a commentTell me which book you'd like (or both) to winAnd on the 27th, I'll put the names into hats and draw the winners Winners will be notified by emailOnce I hear back from the winners I'll post their names here (I'll use whatever name you singed into the comments with).
And hop on over to the next blog for more goodies :)
To return to the Blog Hop, click here:http://rainbowbookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-rainbow-book-reviews-blog-hop-is-here/
*QUILTBAGS =
Q for Queer/Questioning
U for Undecided/Unidentified
L for Lesbian
T for Transgendered & for Third Gendered
B for Bisexual
A for Asexual
G for GayS for Straight.Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
August 22, 2012
So I've been away for a while...
I took the last few of weeks off because life kind of exploded on me in a pretty nasty way. Things have settled back down and I'm back and intend to get back to posting every week. I'd actually intended to post something for this Wednesday, but somehow it crept up on me when I wasn't looking and oops, it's almost Thursday! Sigh.
So, just a quick announcement:
I'll be participating in the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog hop, starting this weekend!!
http://rainbowbookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-rainbow-book-reviews-blog-hop-is-here/
I will be giving away TWO prizes.
Participants will have their choice of a signed copy of Heart's Home , OR a signed copy of Bound: Forget Me Knot (due out in Sept., so that prize will be delayed, but so worth it... if you like kinky romance!)
I have a couple of announcements regarding Ghosthunting, Michigan as well... but I'll save those for next Wed.
And yes, I promise a great recipe and lots of hunky guys to make the day better ;-)
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
So, just a quick announcement:
I'll be participating in the Rainbow Book Reviews Blog hop, starting this weekend!!
http://rainbowbookreviews.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-rainbow-book-reviews-blog-hop-is-here/
I will be giving away TWO prizes.
Participants will have their choice of a signed copy of Heart's Home , OR a signed copy of Bound: Forget Me Knot (due out in Sept., so that prize will be delayed, but so worth it... if you like kinky romance!)
I have a couple of announcements regarding Ghosthunting, Michigan as well... but I'll save those for next Wed.
And yes, I promise a great recipe and lots of hunky guys to make the day better ;-)
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
July 18, 2012
Better late than never...
Yes, it is not quite as early as I usually get this out. I was burning the midnight oil last night and got so into work (and then just plum tuckered out) that I sort of forgot to finish this and update before bed.
Okay... so here's the originally planned post for today:
Conventional wisdom tells us to begin a new story at the beginning and end at the end. Seems fairly straightforward, right?
But where is "the beginning"? How does a writer figure out where to start his or her story?
That's something I ended up thinking a lot about as I was working on my YA novel, which is about to be turned into Harmony Ink (under the pen name Helen Bobbish). Originally, the story was a fanfiction piece called Broken Branches that I wrote as part of my Torchwood universe on Fanfiction.net. (It's part of the greater--as in blood ginormous--anthology entitled Short Stories.)
The original fanfic (kind of an oxymoron, I know, but run with me here, okay?) started with the boys (original characters, not our Jack and Ianto as teenagers), playing a combination of truth or dare and spin the bottle. Not that I ever did that as a teenager... *blush*. However, that beginning presented an immediate problem for me (I have no idea how Elizabeth would have felt about it), because while I know teens do drink, it wasn't something I wanted to portray, or at the very least, it wasn't something I wanted to kick a YA novel off with. That just seemed in pretty poor taste. Even with the very negative things that did follow, it wasn't how I wanted to start a book aimed at the 14-18 year old crowd.
So I changed it to a non-alcoholic game of truth or dare and made it work, because peer pressure is almost as good as booze for getting kids to do stupid things. Within a few thousand words, I realized that I had not started at the beginning.
Now, I didn't necessarily want to start at the true beginning (on the First day, God created...etc.), but there was a better starting place, I just knew there was. The only hitch: technically, it's when Kyle and Benji meet. That's the fifth grade. I'm writing for the upper end of the YA spectrum. The average sixteen year old isn't going to care that much about an 11 year old protagonist. And seriously, if the point is HEA, a book that starts with the boys are 11... well, it would be like MZB's Catch Trap. Yikes. That's a mighty long book. Not only am I on a time crunch here, but I don't want to write a 150K word book. I don't even read books that long most of the time anymore!
The place to start a story is as close to the moment where the main characters' lives change forever as possible. The thing the writer needs to figure out is where that is--and perhaps more to the point, to figure out which life changing even is the most important, because there are lots of life changing events in a person's life. It comes down to this one question: What is the story that I want to tell here? Who is it about? What is the (gulp) theme?
The story I want to tell is two boys coming to grips not so much with their sexuality, but with the fact that they are more than best friends. They're soul mates. (Yes, I'm a sap). The question is, for me, at what point do they both wake up and smell the proverbial coffee? What triggers it? When do best friends become boyfriends?
And, because I am a practical, working writer, how do I accomplish this in the amount of time I've allotted myself, while dealing with a ruddy family crisis (no fears, we're dealing), and a minor glitch that has led me to discover not one, but TWO new hobbies this week. One is born truly of necessity. The people I buy my soap from don't seem to want to take my money. Seriously. Twice we've called them to place an order and twice no one has been around who was able to take a credit card number. Right. It's really not that hard to make soap. But this was *after* I ordered the wherewithal to make some personalized rubber stamps, which was more or less a whim... and you know, I need another hobby, right?
Seriously, back to writing. Figuring out the beginning is sometimes easy, it comes to you in a flash--but most of the time there are several false starts until you figure out the actual beginning, that place where the story YOU want to tell--NEED to tell--really begins. What life changing event triggers the rest of the events that lead to the two most amazing words a writer can ever write: THE END. ;-)
Okay.
It's Wednesday.
You know what THAT means!
There is absolutely no special reason for this one this week, I just found it while I was cruising the web and... well... yeah, do I *really* need to explain?
Who says reading isn't sexy?
For this week's recipe, I thought I'd share another cold one, since it has been beastly (and deadly) hot the past week:
Tabouli Salad
this is one of my favorites, and I found a really great recipe for it a couple of years ago...which I've tweaked a bit...this will yield a LOT of tabouli.
3/4 cup black beans, cooked according to instructions on the bag, then left to cool
3/4 cup white beans, cooked according to instructions on the bag, then left to cool
You WILL need two pans otherwise your white beans will turn dingy grey.
And by 3/4 cup, I mean one cup pre-cooking. The cooked product will be almost double that because the water makes the beans swell up. I said this makes a lot.
3 cups bulgur or cracked wheat + 3 cups HOT water
place the wheat in a bowl, pour the water over, and let it stand for 20 minutes or so. You'll want it to cool down before adding anything else.
2 medium-ish cucumbers chopped relatively fine
3 medium-ish to large tomatoes chopped relatively fine
1 carrot shredded
2 to 4 cups fresh parsley chopped -- okay, parsley is hard to measure before you chop it. Grab a big bunch and go to down. Some people like a lot of parsley (basically parsley salad), some like less (basically wheat salad). I like it somewhere in the middle, leaning toward less.
1 to 2 cup mint (the ratio my taste-buds prefer is 2 parts parsley to 1 part mint; some people like more mint than that). What kind of mint? Well, I don't recommend spearmint, but peppermint is good. I have apple mint in my yard and it works out great. Lemon mint might be fun, too.
1 lemon squeezed (might need less with lemon mint)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (olive NOT vegetable)
Salt to taste
from the play: Alice and the Bunny Hole
I'm quite lazy. Once I've done ALL that, I just put it all in a big bowl and toss it with a couple of wooden spoons. It IS better to let it sit overnight, so that all the flavors marry up. After that, it sits in the fridge and I pick at it. Because I am so excessively fond of tabouli, it seriously lasts less than a week... you can cut the recipe in half if you like ;-)
Pretty much all of the ingredients are adjustable to taste.
Just a note of caution: parsley is a VERY mild abortative. It is technically only effective if used in the first week or so of pregnancy, but erring on the side of caution, I wouldn't recommend any dish this heavy in parsley to any woman in her first trimester. Any woman with a history of difficulty carrying to term should probably steer clear of parsley heavy dishes her entire pregnancy.
Next week: a discussion about literature and genre.
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
Okay... so here's the originally planned post for today:
Conventional wisdom tells us to begin a new story at the beginning and end at the end. Seems fairly straightforward, right?
But where is "the beginning"? How does a writer figure out where to start his or her story?
That's something I ended up thinking a lot about as I was working on my YA novel, which is about to be turned into Harmony Ink (under the pen name Helen Bobbish). Originally, the story was a fanfiction piece called Broken Branches that I wrote as part of my Torchwood universe on Fanfiction.net. (It's part of the greater--as in blood ginormous--anthology entitled Short Stories.)
The original fanfic (kind of an oxymoron, I know, but run with me here, okay?) started with the boys (original characters, not our Jack and Ianto as teenagers), playing a combination of truth or dare and spin the bottle. Not that I ever did that as a teenager... *blush*. However, that beginning presented an immediate problem for me (I have no idea how Elizabeth would have felt about it), because while I know teens do drink, it wasn't something I wanted to portray, or at the very least, it wasn't something I wanted to kick a YA novel off with. That just seemed in pretty poor taste. Even with the very negative things that did follow, it wasn't how I wanted to start a book aimed at the 14-18 year old crowd.
So I changed it to a non-alcoholic game of truth or dare and made it work, because peer pressure is almost as good as booze for getting kids to do stupid things. Within a few thousand words, I realized that I had not started at the beginning.
Now, I didn't necessarily want to start at the true beginning (on the First day, God created...etc.), but there was a better starting place, I just knew there was. The only hitch: technically, it's when Kyle and Benji meet. That's the fifth grade. I'm writing for the upper end of the YA spectrum. The average sixteen year old isn't going to care that much about an 11 year old protagonist. And seriously, if the point is HEA, a book that starts with the boys are 11... well, it would be like MZB's Catch Trap. Yikes. That's a mighty long book. Not only am I on a time crunch here, but I don't want to write a 150K word book. I don't even read books that long most of the time anymore!
The place to start a story is as close to the moment where the main characters' lives change forever as possible. The thing the writer needs to figure out is where that is--and perhaps more to the point, to figure out which life changing even is the most important, because there are lots of life changing events in a person's life. It comes down to this one question: What is the story that I want to tell here? Who is it about? What is the (gulp) theme?
The story I want to tell is two boys coming to grips not so much with their sexuality, but with the fact that they are more than best friends. They're soul mates. (Yes, I'm a sap). The question is, for me, at what point do they both wake up and smell the proverbial coffee? What triggers it? When do best friends become boyfriends?
And, because I am a practical, working writer, how do I accomplish this in the amount of time I've allotted myself, while dealing with a ruddy family crisis (no fears, we're dealing), and a minor glitch that has led me to discover not one, but TWO new hobbies this week. One is born truly of necessity. The people I buy my soap from don't seem to want to take my money. Seriously. Twice we've called them to place an order and twice no one has been around who was able to take a credit card number. Right. It's really not that hard to make soap. But this was *after* I ordered the wherewithal to make some personalized rubber stamps, which was more or less a whim... and you know, I need another hobby, right?
Seriously, back to writing. Figuring out the beginning is sometimes easy, it comes to you in a flash--but most of the time there are several false starts until you figure out the actual beginning, that place where the story YOU want to tell--NEED to tell--really begins. What life changing event triggers the rest of the events that lead to the two most amazing words a writer can ever write: THE END. ;-)
Okay.
It's Wednesday.
You know what THAT means!
.jpg)
There is absolutely no special reason for this one this week, I just found it while I was cruising the web and... well... yeah, do I *really* need to explain?+-+Copy.jpg)
Who says reading isn't sexy?
For this week's recipe, I thought I'd share another cold one, since it has been beastly (and deadly) hot the past week:
Tabouli Salad
this is one of my favorites, and I found a really great recipe for it a couple of years ago...which I've tweaked a bit...this will yield a LOT of tabouli.
3/4 cup black beans, cooked according to instructions on the bag, then left to cool
3/4 cup white beans, cooked according to instructions on the bag, then left to cool
You WILL need two pans otherwise your white beans will turn dingy grey.
And by 3/4 cup, I mean one cup pre-cooking. The cooked product will be almost double that because the water makes the beans swell up. I said this makes a lot.
3 cups bulgur or cracked wheat + 3 cups HOT water
place the wheat in a bowl, pour the water over, and let it stand for 20 minutes or so. You'll want it to cool down before adding anything else.
2 medium-ish cucumbers chopped relatively fine
3 medium-ish to large tomatoes chopped relatively fine
1 carrot shredded
2 to 4 cups fresh parsley chopped -- okay, parsley is hard to measure before you chop it. Grab a big bunch and go to down. Some people like a lot of parsley (basically parsley salad), some like less (basically wheat salad). I like it somewhere in the middle, leaning toward less.
1 to 2 cup mint (the ratio my taste-buds prefer is 2 parts parsley to 1 part mint; some people like more mint than that). What kind of mint? Well, I don't recommend spearmint, but peppermint is good. I have apple mint in my yard and it works out great. Lemon mint might be fun, too.
1 lemon squeezed (might need less with lemon mint)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup extra virgin olive oil (olive NOT vegetable)
Salt to taste
from the play: Alice and the Bunny HoleI'm quite lazy. Once I've done ALL that, I just put it all in a big bowl and toss it with a couple of wooden spoons. It IS better to let it sit overnight, so that all the flavors marry up. After that, it sits in the fridge and I pick at it. Because I am so excessively fond of tabouli, it seriously lasts less than a week... you can cut the recipe in half if you like ;-)
Pretty much all of the ingredients are adjustable to taste.
Just a note of caution: parsley is a VERY mild abortative. It is technically only effective if used in the first week or so of pregnancy, but erring on the side of caution, I wouldn't recommend any dish this heavy in parsley to any woman in her first trimester. Any woman with a history of difficulty carrying to term should probably steer clear of parsley heavy dishes her entire pregnancy.
Next week: a discussion about literature and genre.
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
July 10, 2012
To write sequels or not to write sequels...
The topic of sequels isn't exactly a hot one at the moment (most writers I know are busy debating genre vs. literary fiction:
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/07/how-hard-should-we-make-our-readers-work/
http://joeponepinto.com/
http://litreactor.com/columns/battle-of-the-books-genre-vs-literary )
Although certainly no few people are going to be talking about the fact that there will be no Pulitzer Prize awarded for new fiction this year:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/letter-from-the-pulitzer-fiction-jury-what-really-happened-this-year.html
But I'd like to talk about something else. You know, just to be different ;-)
I've got two Works In Progress at the moment, and at least one has sprung a sequel...or at least a spin off. It could go either way. Or both ways. Well what did you expect from a lady who bats for both teams? ;-)
Seriously, though, I have to wonder:
do romance readers want sequels? (I mean really want, not just think we want.) Isn't romance about that first blush of love (or occasionally rekindling an old flame)? Once we see the first look, first kiss, first hot sex scene, what's left? More of the same? Are sequels to romance novels little more interesting than tired old marriages?
And yet, there are sequels in the romance world. There are even full series (J.P. Barnaby's Little Boy Lost, a six book series, springs immediately to mind.) I haven't read them, but they are SO on my "to read" list! So is Ariel Tachna's Partnership in Blood books. In the case of the first series, I believe it's more along the lines of one great big long story broken into six novel sized parts. The Partnership series just sounds... well, vampires and wizards, need I say more?
But what if the sequel isn't as strong as the first book? What if, by it's very nature, it is bound to be weaker simply because there are no more "firsts"? Who wants to read about the continuing saga of our heroes AFTER they've ridden off into the sunset (or wherever it is vampires ride off into)?
And how many is TOO many sequels...?
Okay, going astray here, I WANT one of these, only with MY book covers....
I know it isn't out yet, but I'm thinking about writing a sequel to my BDSM novel. The material is there--in fact, a lot of the writing is there because I didn't know quite where to end it, so I kept writing, and writing, and writing... and I know what happens after Jason and Henry ride off into the proverbial sunset. But do you, the reader, want to know? Do you care? Are you content with Happily Ever After, or do you want to know more about the Henry's jealous ex, Derrik, Jason's father's wedding, or the woman who wants to occupy Henry's bed--or at least his St. Andrew's Cross, because while he might Top both men and women, he definitely only sleeps with guys--? (And of course that causes a hiccup in the relationship because Jason isn't the most secure kid in the world--but the first book cuts off before y'all even get to see where Henry lives, let alone some of the people in his life, like his mom and her emus. Yes, emus).
an emu looking at you
Or would you be content with mere glimpses of Henry and Jason (whom admittedly you haven't even met yet, the book isn't due out until September-ish), when I write about their friends, Sebastian and David in the spin off? (For clarity's sake: a sequel picks up where the previous book left off, a sequel picks up the setting, but gives the story of a different set of characters. We get to see our favorite characters from the previous book, but it's not their story being told, it's somebody else's).
Sequels are certainly popular in other genres; they're the bread and butter for science fiction and fantasy writers, and let's not forget the cozy mystery (okay, those aren't exactly sequels, but still...)
Do you want to see a true sequel for Heart's Home, or do you really just want Robin's story? (Which isn't the first thing I'm due to write about, I'm writing about Thad, that other contrasexual werewolf in Alun's pack, first. Oh, and Rhianna comes back of course because she's not done making trouble for Alun and James. No way she'd slink off that quietly--but I'm guessing you already knew that...)
So... romance readers, the floor is yours: sequels or spin offs or both or neither...
Oh yes, and of course.... it's Wednesday!!
In celebration of my upcoming BDSM novel, Bound: Forget Me Knot, which is due out September(ish), here are some beutifully submissive boys, and the men who Master them....
And yet again, today's recipe has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of the above...unless you're into food and sex, which quite frankly, I'm not...
Now, I realize that summertime isn't when most of us thing "soup" -- unless you're thinking of gazpacho soup, a yummy cold tomato based soup.
You’ll need:
6 large-ish tomatoes (brandy wine would be nice) tomatoes that are fully ripened. You’ll need to peel them. This isn’t as hard as most people think.
To peel tomatoes, all you need is a pot of boiling water, large bowl of ice water, tongs and a little bit of patience. While you’re waiting for the water to come to a boil, you can deal with the rest of the ingredients:
1 medium to large Spanish (or better yet, Vidalia, if you can get your hands on one) onion, peeled and minced2 cucumbers, peeled and finely chopped; most people also like to scoop out the seeds.1 sweet red and/or yellow or orange pepper (I like peppers, so I usually do two), also finely chopped. (I usually roast my peppers first, because I love the flavor. To roast peppers indoors, all you need is a gas stove, those tongs you already have out and a little patience. Turn on a burner to low/medium, and set the pepper over the fire, right on the burner. Let it go until it’s roasted, i.e. slightly blackened.)2 to 3 large cloves of garlic minced fine (depending on how much garlic you like)Most recipes call for chopped celery. I’m not a big fan of celery, so instead of chopping a stalk or two of it, I usually add a little celery powder. My local Chinese grocery carries it.1 half a lemon, squeezed1 lime squeezed
Probably by the time you’ve done all this, your water will be boiling. Lightly score the tomatoes (i.e. cut an ex in the bottom with a nice sharp knife). Drop in those tomatoes. Let them sit in the water for approximately 20 seconds. Pull them out using tongs, and drop them into the ice water. You can go ahead and let them rest there while you finish up:Seed and mince very finely 1 jalapeno pepper (or use jalapeno powder, about an eighth of a teaspoon should do)
Finely chop up a dozen or so fresh basil leaves (or use about a tablespoon of dried basil)
To skin the tomatoes, simply peel at the score marks. The skin should slide off fairly easily.Go ahead and give a fine chop to those tomatoes; slide them, juice and all into a large bowl with the rest of your chopped and minced ingredients and citrus juice. To the pot add:
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil2 teaspoons balsamic or red wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar will do in a pinch; I’m not a huge fan of white vinegar for cooking).1 teaspoon ground cumin3 cups of tomato juice (V-8 works, too)2 cups of roasted corn (or plain corn, but these days, you can get roasted corn in the frozen food aisle… of course you can also roast it and slice it off the cob yourself, if you like)Salt and pepper to taste
If you have a food processor, you can give everything a rougher chop and process it, but I tend to like a nice chunky soup. If you’re going to run it through a food processor, add the corn AFTER it’s been pureed.
Cover and let sit overnight in the fridge. Serve chilled on a hot summer day, maybe with some of those midnight margaritas I gave the recipe to a few months back….
Please remember to leave a comment with your thoughts on sequels...or just about anything else.
And I've managed to wet your apatite a little for that BDSM novel I have coming out in September, but if you're afraid your book budget is going to be blown by then, I'll be giving away a signed paperback copy of it in October, during the Howoween Blog Hop!
And just in case you missed it the first time around....
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2012/07/how-hard-should-we-make-our-readers-work/
http://joeponepinto.com/
http://litreactor.com/columns/battle-of-the-books-genre-vs-literary )
Although certainly no few people are going to be talking about the fact that there will be no Pulitzer Prize awarded for new fiction this year:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/07/letter-from-the-pulitzer-fiction-jury-what-really-happened-this-year.html
But I'd like to talk about something else. You know, just to be different ;-)
I've got two Works In Progress at the moment, and at least one has sprung a sequel...or at least a spin off. It could go either way. Or both ways. Well what did you expect from a lady who bats for both teams? ;-)
Seriously, though, I have to wonder:
do romance readers want sequels? (I mean really want, not just think we want.) Isn't romance about that first blush of love (or occasionally rekindling an old flame)? Once we see the first look, first kiss, first hot sex scene, what's left? More of the same? Are sequels to romance novels little more interesting than tired old marriages?
And yet, there are sequels in the romance world. There are even full series (J.P. Barnaby's Little Boy Lost, a six book series, springs immediately to mind.) I haven't read them, but they are SO on my "to read" list! So is Ariel Tachna's Partnership in Blood books. In the case of the first series, I believe it's more along the lines of one great big long story broken into six novel sized parts. The Partnership series just sounds... well, vampires and wizards, need I say more?
But what if the sequel isn't as strong as the first book? What if, by it's very nature, it is bound to be weaker simply because there are no more "firsts"? Who wants to read about the continuing saga of our heroes AFTER they've ridden off into the sunset (or wherever it is vampires ride off into)?
And how many is TOO many sequels...?
.jpg)
Okay, going astray here, I WANT one of these, only with MY book covers....
.jpg)
I know it isn't out yet, but I'm thinking about writing a sequel to my BDSM novel. The material is there--in fact, a lot of the writing is there because I didn't know quite where to end it, so I kept writing, and writing, and writing... and I know what happens after Jason and Henry ride off into the proverbial sunset. But do you, the reader, want to know? Do you care? Are you content with Happily Ever After, or do you want to know more about the Henry's jealous ex, Derrik, Jason's father's wedding, or the woman who wants to occupy Henry's bed--or at least his St. Andrew's Cross, because while he might Top both men and women, he definitely only sleeps with guys--? (And of course that causes a hiccup in the relationship because Jason isn't the most secure kid in the world--but the first book cuts off before y'all even get to see where Henry lives, let alone some of the people in his life, like his mom and her emus. Yes, emus).
an emu looking at youOr would you be content with mere glimpses of Henry and Jason (whom admittedly you haven't even met yet, the book isn't due out until September-ish), when I write about their friends, Sebastian and David in the spin off? (For clarity's sake: a sequel picks up where the previous book left off, a sequel picks up the setting, but gives the story of a different set of characters. We get to see our favorite characters from the previous book, but it's not their story being told, it's somebody else's).
Sequels are certainly popular in other genres; they're the bread and butter for science fiction and fantasy writers, and let's not forget the cozy mystery (okay, those aren't exactly sequels, but still...)
Do you want to see a true sequel for Heart's Home, or do you really just want Robin's story? (Which isn't the first thing I'm due to write about, I'm writing about Thad, that other contrasexual werewolf in Alun's pack, first. Oh, and Rhianna comes back of course because she's not done making trouble for Alun and James. No way she'd slink off that quietly--but I'm guessing you already knew that...)
So... romance readers, the floor is yours: sequels or spin offs or both or neither...
Oh yes, and of course.... it's Wednesday!!
In celebration of my upcoming BDSM novel, Bound: Forget Me Knot, which is due out September(ish), here are some beutifully submissive boys, and the men who Master them....
.jpg)
And yet again, today's recipe has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of the above...unless you're into food and sex, which quite frankly, I'm not...
Now, I realize that summertime isn't when most of us thing "soup" -- unless you're thinking of gazpacho soup, a yummy cold tomato based soup.
You’ll need:
6 large-ish tomatoes (brandy wine would be nice) tomatoes that are fully ripened. You’ll need to peel them. This isn’t as hard as most people think.
To peel tomatoes, all you need is a pot of boiling water, large bowl of ice water, tongs and a little bit of patience. While you’re waiting for the water to come to a boil, you can deal with the rest of the ingredients:
.jpg)
1 medium to large Spanish (or better yet, Vidalia, if you can get your hands on one) onion, peeled and minced2 cucumbers, peeled and finely chopped; most people also like to scoop out the seeds.1 sweet red and/or yellow or orange pepper (I like peppers, so I usually do two), also finely chopped. (I usually roast my peppers first, because I love the flavor. To roast peppers indoors, all you need is a gas stove, those tongs you already have out and a little patience. Turn on a burner to low/medium, and set the pepper over the fire, right on the burner. Let it go until it’s roasted, i.e. slightly blackened.)2 to 3 large cloves of garlic minced fine (depending on how much garlic you like)Most recipes call for chopped celery. I’m not a big fan of celery, so instead of chopping a stalk or two of it, I usually add a little celery powder. My local Chinese grocery carries it.1 half a lemon, squeezed1 lime squeezedProbably by the time you’ve done all this, your water will be boiling. Lightly score the tomatoes (i.e. cut an ex in the bottom with a nice sharp knife). Drop in those tomatoes. Let them sit in the water for approximately 20 seconds. Pull them out using tongs, and drop them into the ice water. You can go ahead and let them rest there while you finish up:Seed and mince very finely 1 jalapeno pepper (or use jalapeno powder, about an eighth of a teaspoon should do)
Finely chop up a dozen or so fresh basil leaves (or use about a tablespoon of dried basil)
To skin the tomatoes, simply peel at the score marks. The skin should slide off fairly easily.Go ahead and give a fine chop to those tomatoes; slide them, juice and all into a large bowl with the rest of your chopped and minced ingredients and citrus juice. To the pot add:
.jpg)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil2 teaspoons balsamic or red wine vinegar (apple cider vinegar will do in a pinch; I’m not a huge fan of white vinegar for cooking).1 teaspoon ground cumin3 cups of tomato juice (V-8 works, too)2 cups of roasted corn (or plain corn, but these days, you can get roasted corn in the frozen food aisle… of course you can also roast it and slice it off the cob yourself, if you like)Salt and pepper to tasteIf you have a food processor, you can give everything a rougher chop and process it, but I tend to like a nice chunky soup. If you’re going to run it through a food processor, add the corn AFTER it’s been pureed.
Cover and let sit overnight in the fridge. Serve chilled on a hot summer day, maybe with some of those midnight margaritas I gave the recipe to a few months back….
.jpg)
Please remember to leave a comment with your thoughts on sequels...or just about anything else.
And I've managed to wet your apatite a little for that BDSM novel I have coming out in September, but if you're afraid your book budget is going to be blown by then, I'll be giving away a signed paperback copy of it in October, during the Howoween Blog Hop!
And just in case you missed it the first time around....
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
July 3, 2012
Gone to the Dogs...
.jpg)
As many of you know, the plight of endangered species is near and dear to my heart, but that doesn't mean I don't get just as emotional about causes a lot closer to home (and you all know how much I love....
.jpg)
....dogs.
Got your attention, didn't I?
Seriously,
when this great contest came to my attention, I was really excited to share it (and participate!)
Write To Woof
http://www.writetowoof.org/index.html
The quick and dirty is that for almost the next FULL YEAR (until April 30, 2013), writers may submit stories of a maximum of 12,000 words (or poetry/rant of 100 lines or fewer), along with a (paltry) entry fee of $15--all proceeds will go to help Almost Home, a no-kill shelter in my home state of Michigan, (in fact, entry fees are considered donations and are therefore tax deductible, so talk about a double bonus!)
There are ten categories:Poetry / Rant (100 lines of fewer)the following genre categories are 12,000 words or lessRomanceMystery/CrimeScience Fiction/Fantasy Thriller/SuspenseHorrorYoung Adult (Pre-teen/teen)Juvenile Lit (children stories)Biography (including autobiography)Non-fiction/Essay
Prizes:Three over all winners will be selected by a panel of judges:1st place $2002nd place $1003rd place $50
(http://www.writetowoof.org/FAQ.htm)
In addition, there will be non-cash winners in each category and according to the website, EVERY entry will be published in an anthology that will be up for sale at Amazon.com (yikes, I wonder if they realize how big that anthology could be)...and let's not forget the best prize of all: helping save lives because every year hundreds of thousands of loving pets end up in shelters all over the country. Sometimes their owners have died, or simply been forced to move and can't take their pets with them. Sometimes they are victims of natural disasters, like hurricanes, earthquakes, and forest fires, just like people are. In some cases, someone, somewhere is looking for them, but they've been separated by flood or fire. And far too often, these animals were the victims of abuse, abandonment, neglect, or they just got "too big" and their owners didn't want them or couldn't take care of them any more.
Far, far too many lost and abandoned pets are euthanized every single day, simply because there was no one willing or able to adopt them--and most shelters don't have the budget to operate as "no kill".
Many of these animals are older or special needs (blind, arthritic), making them difficult to place (everybody wants a cute kitten, but that 12 year old cat? He's a lot harder to find a home). I think that Woof to Write is a truly brilliant fund raising idea. It benefits everybody involved.
Or, of course, if you wanted to get involved closer to home, you could chose to do something for a shelter in your hometown...and remember how hard it is for older animals to find loving "forever homes", the next time you find your home in need of a four footed occupant to make it just a little bit more complete.
In celebration of dogs, here are some very special Hunk Day men and their best friends:
sigh, I wish this one was in color......but this one is:
(some of you may have seen thison Facebook)
now seriously, if your mind ISN'T in the gutteryou'll recognize the fuzzy puppy for what he is......if your mind IS in the gutter,it's got great company!!
Recipe:
today's recipe is completely unrelated to anything else in this post.
While chocolate is probably my favorite food of all time, one of my absolute favorite cakes is actually carrot cake.
okay, I have never in my life made one THIS prettyFor ages now, I've been saying that carrot cake counts as real food because it has...well, CARROTS in it. Many carrot cake recipes also call for walnuts and raisins as well, and those are both good for you, right?
Right.
So the other day, I set out to "prove my theory" and make "real food" out of cheese cake. The resul:
Carrot Cake Pancakes
The only special piece of equipment you'll need is something you probably already own:
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A cheese grater.IMPORTANT note:grate your carrot using the finest size shredder you have available. Carrots are hard veggies and can take forever to cook. You (most likely) don't want to crunch down on raw carrots!
So, here's the basic recipe:1 egg1 cup milk (or buttermilk, if you like buttermilk pancakes--and will have something to do with all that leftover buttermilk later)2 tablespoons butter, melted (preferably unsalted, but whatever's in your fridge will work fine, even if it's margarine and not butter)1 cup flour sifted (yes, do please actually sift it) -- and of course, you can use whole wheat flour, oat flour (which would be yummy, it's got a GREAT flavor), rice flour (can be a bit tricky to work with, but that's actually what I used when I made mine because it's what I had on hand).2 tablespoons sugar1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder1/3 cup of finely chopped walnuts (feel free to substitute pecans, macadamia nuts, or any other SOFT nut--or a mix of nuts)1 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon each ground cinnamon and ginger 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg, clove, and allspice1 decent sized carrot (enough to yield about a half a cup of shredded carrot)whisk together liquids, sift in dry ingredients (okay, do not try to sift the carrots or the nuts), beat until almost free of lumps (that's what my Aunt Mary taught me, she said to leave a few lumps, it made for better pancakes. I dunno....well...her pancakes were pretty fantastic!!)
Stir in the carrots and nuts, add more liquid or flour to adjust for consistency (I like my pancakes thin, almost crepe like, you might prefer them thick).
Make just the way you would make regular pancakes...unless you're feeling innovative, like this guy:
http://www.geekologie.com/2012/05/pas...Okay, I got side tracked. We're not quite done yet. While your pancakes are cooking you'll also need to work with the following:
8 oz softened cream cheese3 teaspoons vanilla3 tablespoons sugar
(you may find you want more or less depending on how sweet you like your fluffy white stuff)In a bowl blend the cream cheese and sugar (literally "cream it" together--I'm not making that up, it's a real baking term!!) Stir in the vanilla. It takes a little work to get it all whipped together (a fork works best) so be patient. (Yes, I'm asking you to whip your cream....sigh).
Basically, this mimics typical carrot cake frosting and is totally optional....but seriously, the frosting is the best part! I ended up plopping some onto each pancake and then topping it with a little maple syrup and some nuts and raisins....
Ergo, you may wantraisins and nuts as well asmaple syrup (I seriously recommend REAL maple syrup)all right, now that we've all trotted our minds through the gutter together...
don't forget that Woof To Write contest and the amazing cause it goes to support.http://www.writetowoof.org/index.html
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(and in case anyone is wondering why the last two posts have been highlighted, I'm having a heck of a time with formatting all of the sudden. I get random white highlights, even when I haven't cut and pasted anything from anywhere..... grrrrrrrrr)
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
June 26, 2012
Out and About...
It's always a challenge coming up with ideas for new and interesting blog posts. I got the idea for this one while I was sitting watching Law & Order this morning.
Both the actor B.D. Wong and the character he plays on Law & Order SVU, George Huang, are openly gay men. That got me thinking about my other favorite openly gay television character (the Closer's Dr. Morales), who also happens to be played by an openly gay man (Johnathon Del Arco). And that got me thinking about gay characters on television, in general.
Both Law & Order and the Closer have tackled homosexuality and homosexual characters in a positive (i.e. realistic) way. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are just muddling through, trying to live their lives.
I was also happy with the way that ER, Bones, and even Buffy handled homosexuality and bisexuality (gotta love Angela on Bones!)
And you all know I'm a huge Torchwood fan, and while Jack's sexuality is hard to pin down, Ianto was most likely bisexual (in an interview I read a couple years back, Gareth David Lloyd said he'd always thought Jack was the first man Ianto ever slept with, so regardless of what I did to the boys in fanfic, I'm happy to go with that as cannon). The thing I love about (cannon) Jack and Ianto is that it was never about "two men" falling in love it was about "two people" falling in love. Gender was irrelevant to the relationship. Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica (and spin-offs), and the Star Trek universe have handled it much the same way: the same sex relationships haven't been about two men or two women, but simply two people. Kudos!
Other shows have handled the subject of homosexuality not so well. When I started doing a little research for this blog, I was gobsmacked to discover that, while I've missed most of this season of Eureka, it's one of the shows I watched fairly regularly in the past. Yet somehow I missed the fact that Vincent is "openly" gay. Well, okay, if by "openly" they mean his mannerisms are a touch effeminate then I suppose we can call him "openly" gay...oh and there was that one comment in which he inquired of a male character "is he cute?" And that, dear readers, is the only clue we've ever been given to Vincent's sexual orientation. (Actually, my husband jumped in to say there have been a few other instances where Vincent has mentioned good looking men, commenting on their physique. So I suppose there have been at least a few comments over the last six years go clue viewers in).
But the thing that really bothers me is that Vincent has never been shown to be in a relationship, or even made a casual comment about a boyfriend (or a male he finds attractive who isn't well established as being straight).
Every other main character has had a love interest of some sort during the course of the show, whether it was a real relationship or a hopeless crush (on another straight character). Through changed time lines, alternate realities, trips to Titan and back, and even death and holographic resurrection, every single main character has been seen seen with some sort of romance blossoming--even sheriff Carter's house. That's right. House. As in that place that a person lives. (She is A.I. -- artificial intelligence -- enhanced, but the fact remains that she is a a building . Her boyfriend is Deputy Andy, the sheriff's android deputy.) So the robot and the house get to be in a (sexually active) relationship, but all the gay man gets to do for fun is cook for the entire town (he's the town's chef), occasionally dole out bits of wisdom to help other characters mend their broken hearts (and other relationships that have gone awry), and of course: cater other peoples' weddings.
I'm pretty disturbed about the message this is sending. It reminds me a little too much of "Rainbow Bear's Wedding", in which Rainbow Bear (who is gay) doesn't get to get to participate in the mock wedding ceremony at school, but instead helps his straight classmates plan their weddings instead--because apparently that's all gay people are supposed to do.
Here's a list of television shows in which LGBT characters play a role, be it large or small:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dramatic_television_series_with_LGBT_characters
And HERE are some very good looking out, gay men, who do a whole lot more than just cook for other people....
John Barrowman....and oh does that man have a voice...
Ian McClellan... because a little snow on the roofcan be damned sexy, too!
Matt Bomer (from White Collar)really, the picture says it all
Johnathon Del Arco (making the county Medical Examiner's office look good onthe CloserHe did a guest spot on White Collar too.)
Wilson Cruz (he's been in a bunch of stuff, but I just saw him in Lara Croft Cradle of Lifeyeah, no words necessary here,either.
Okay, Neil Patrick Harrisisn't really my ideal of sexybut he can be quiet adorably cuteeven when he's playing the Bad Guy:
B.D Wong... sexy in a suit
and speaking of sexy Asian men...
Star Trek's George Takei
Which really wasn't an intentional lead in to today's recipe, it's just the way I ended up loading the pictures onto the blog (I was too darned lazy to rearrange them once they were in, honest!)
Recipe
Ed's Asian Chicken:
In a large bowl, assemble the following:
1 cup of sesame oil
1 cup of vegetable oil (something light, i.e. no real flavor of its own)
2 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 tablespoons powdered garlic
1/2 cup of soy sauce
whisk it all together and add:4 or 5 pieces of chicken (we usually use thighs; if you use breasts, you might not be able to fit as many in, if you use legs, you can fit in more; boneless breasts take up about the same amount of room in a bowl as thighs)
I like to pull some of the skin off my chicken before soaking it; my husband doesn't. *shrug*
(If you're planning to grill over open flames, I recommend leaving the skin ON -- and stand back when you put it on the grill, as the oil will cause flames!)
But...before you get to the cooking part, you'll want to soak the chicken in the sesame/garlic/soy marinate at least over night. We've left it in the soak for two days at a time (mostly because something came up and we didn't end up at home for dinner on the day we'd planned to cook and eat it), and let me tell you, it was GOOD. The longer the soak the stronger the flavor.
A word on altering recipes. You've seen me talk about alternating ingredients, playing around with measurements--and certainly, you can fiddle with the amount of garlic and ginger in this one, BUT... one day my husband decided to fiddle with this perfect recipe. He put in "Five spice". Five spice (at least the one we've got) consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and fennel. The dog got my chicken that night, I found it inedible.
So. Once you get a recipe "just right", don't fuck with it. Just enjoy it :)
There's nothing sexier in my book than people who are committed to one another and to their families....
maybe I spoke too soon about Neil Patrick Harris not being sexy, guess he just has to beposing with the man who loves him!
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
Both the actor B.D. Wong and the character he plays on Law & Order SVU, George Huang, are openly gay men. That got me thinking about my other favorite openly gay television character (the Closer's Dr. Morales), who also happens to be played by an openly gay man (Johnathon Del Arco). And that got me thinking about gay characters on television, in general.
Both Law & Order and the Closer have tackled homosexuality and homosexual characters in a positive (i.e. realistic) way. Some are good. Some are bad. Some are just muddling through, trying to live their lives.
I was also happy with the way that ER, Bones, and even Buffy handled homosexuality and bisexuality (gotta love Angela on Bones!)
And you all know I'm a huge Torchwood fan, and while Jack's sexuality is hard to pin down, Ianto was most likely bisexual (in an interview I read a couple years back, Gareth David Lloyd said he'd always thought Jack was the first man Ianto ever slept with, so regardless of what I did to the boys in fanfic, I'm happy to go with that as cannon). The thing I love about (cannon) Jack and Ianto is that it was never about "two men" falling in love it was about "two people" falling in love. Gender was irrelevant to the relationship. Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica (and spin-offs), and the Star Trek universe have handled it much the same way: the same sex relationships haven't been about two men or two women, but simply two people. Kudos!
Other shows have handled the subject of homosexuality not so well. When I started doing a little research for this blog, I was gobsmacked to discover that, while I've missed most of this season of Eureka, it's one of the shows I watched fairly regularly in the past. Yet somehow I missed the fact that Vincent is "openly" gay. Well, okay, if by "openly" they mean his mannerisms are a touch effeminate then I suppose we can call him "openly" gay...oh and there was that one comment in which he inquired of a male character "is he cute?" And that, dear readers, is the only clue we've ever been given to Vincent's sexual orientation. (Actually, my husband jumped in to say there have been a few other instances where Vincent has mentioned good looking men, commenting on their physique. So I suppose there have been at least a few comments over the last six years go clue viewers in).
But the thing that really bothers me is that Vincent has never been shown to be in a relationship, or even made a casual comment about a boyfriend (or a male he finds attractive who isn't well established as being straight).
Every other main character has had a love interest of some sort during the course of the show, whether it was a real relationship or a hopeless crush (on another straight character). Through changed time lines, alternate realities, trips to Titan and back, and even death and holographic resurrection, every single main character has been seen seen with some sort of romance blossoming--even sheriff Carter's house. That's right. House. As in that place that a person lives. (She is A.I. -- artificial intelligence -- enhanced, but the fact remains that she is a a building . Her boyfriend is Deputy Andy, the sheriff's android deputy.) So the robot and the house get to be in a (sexually active) relationship, but all the gay man gets to do for fun is cook for the entire town (he's the town's chef), occasionally dole out bits of wisdom to help other characters mend their broken hearts (and other relationships that have gone awry), and of course: cater other peoples' weddings.
I'm pretty disturbed about the message this is sending. It reminds me a little too much of "Rainbow Bear's Wedding", in which Rainbow Bear (who is gay) doesn't get to get to participate in the mock wedding ceremony at school, but instead helps his straight classmates plan their weddings instead--because apparently that's all gay people are supposed to do.
Here's a list of television shows in which LGBT characters play a role, be it large or small:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dramatic_television_series_with_LGBT_characters
And HERE are some very good looking out, gay men, who do a whole lot more than just cook for other people....
.jpg)
John Barrowman....and oh does that man have a voice....jpg)
Ian McClellan... because a little snow on the roofcan be damned sexy, too! .jpg)
Matt Bomer (from White Collar)really, the picture says it all.jpg)
Johnathon Del Arco (making the county Medical Examiner's office look good onthe CloserHe did a guest spot on White Collar too.)
.jpg)
Wilson Cruz (he's been in a bunch of stuff, but I just saw him in Lara Croft Cradle of Lifeyeah, no words necessary here,either..jpg)
Okay, Neil Patrick Harrisisn't really my ideal of sexybut he can be quiet adorably cuteeven when he's playing the Bad Guy:
B.D Wong... sexy in a suitand speaking of sexy Asian men...
Star Trek's George TakeiWhich really wasn't an intentional lead in to today's recipe, it's just the way I ended up loading the pictures onto the blog (I was too darned lazy to rearrange them once they were in, honest!)
Recipe
Ed's Asian Chicken:
In a large bowl, assemble the following:
1 cup of sesame oil
1 cup of vegetable oil (something light, i.e. no real flavor of its own)
2 teaspoon powdered ginger
2 tablespoons powdered garlic
1/2 cup of soy sauce
whisk it all together and add:4 or 5 pieces of chicken (we usually use thighs; if you use breasts, you might not be able to fit as many in, if you use legs, you can fit in more; boneless breasts take up about the same amount of room in a bowl as thighs)
I like to pull some of the skin off my chicken before soaking it; my husband doesn't. *shrug*
(If you're planning to grill over open flames, I recommend leaving the skin ON -- and stand back when you put it on the grill, as the oil will cause flames!)
But...before you get to the cooking part, you'll want to soak the chicken in the sesame/garlic/soy marinate at least over night. We've left it in the soak for two days at a time (mostly because something came up and we didn't end up at home for dinner on the day we'd planned to cook and eat it), and let me tell you, it was GOOD. The longer the soak the stronger the flavor.
A word on altering recipes. You've seen me talk about alternating ingredients, playing around with measurements--and certainly, you can fiddle with the amount of garlic and ginger in this one, BUT... one day my husband decided to fiddle with this perfect recipe. He put in "Five spice". Five spice (at least the one we've got) consists of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, ginger, and fennel. The dog got my chicken that night, I found it inedible.
So. Once you get a recipe "just right", don't fuck with it. Just enjoy it :)
There's nothing sexier in my book than people who are committed to one another and to their families....
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maybe I spoke too soon about Neil Patrick Harris not being sexy, guess he just has to beposing with the man who loves him!Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
Congratulations
I just wanted to thank everybody who stopped by during the Blog Hop! I wish I'd been more active in this one, but I was fighting a deadline (I lost), and the pressure got to me a bit, so I went into anti-social mode for a few days.
But... I really, really, really appreciate everyone who came by and left comments and I can't wait to check out some of the suggestions! For everyone who commented about the cover of my book (it IS yummy, isn't it?), the thanks for the great art goes to Paul Richmond (if you scoot down two posts, you'll find his website info--please check it out, he's a great artist and a real sweetheart).
The winner of my give away is Manda! I've already contacted her and the book will be in the mail today, I just have to get to the post office.
Please consider stopping back by tomorrow for my regular Wednesday post! I've got an amazing recipe to share. In fact, it's what we're having for dinner tonight. My husband (a chef) does this killer Asian chicken with ginger and garlic and sesame... it is amazing (and it's been marinating since yesterday, because he didn't get home until late last night, so instead of being last night's dinner, as originally planned, it's going to be tonight's dinner...but the longer it soaks, the better it is! As Rachel Ray would say: Yum-o!)
So... what are my plans with that deadline that beat me? I have the most amazing publisher who pretty much told me "chin up, no worries, you'll get it done, just go work on something else for a while." Which is what I'm off to do today, because my next deadline is less than a month away... and I'm the one who suggested it! I'm working on a YA novel that started out its life as a fanfiction story, although by the time it got to that part of the story, most of the characters were OC (original characters) anyway. (So, no, it's not a Harry Potter fic with new names ;-) It's actually a Torchwood fic, but I'm thinking about making the Ianto character a yoga instructor and Jack... can't make him too much un-Jack like... maybe a Martial Arts instructor. I'm thinking he and his partner met while teaching classes at the Y (YMCA) or something. What do you think, Torchwood fans, Ianto as "yoga boy"? I think Jack would approve!
The original fic is almost 50K words--maybe about half of them are usable in the new version. Guess that means I'd better make myself another cup of coffee and get writing!! (Because of course, now that I've had a few days to relax, the "brick wall" that I felt like I was banging my head against with Daniel and Pasha has finally started to show a few cracks... seriously, the novel is at 74K, and only needs another maybe 5000 words to finish it!)
See y'all tomorrow for some Asian chicken, sexy male goodness, and.... some brilliant words about something (yeah, right! ;-P I know you guys come here for the sexy men and maybe the recipes.)Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
But... I really, really, really appreciate everyone who came by and left comments and I can't wait to check out some of the suggestions! For everyone who commented about the cover of my book (it IS yummy, isn't it?), the thanks for the great art goes to Paul Richmond (if you scoot down two posts, you'll find his website info--please check it out, he's a great artist and a real sweetheart).
The winner of my give away is Manda! I've already contacted her and the book will be in the mail today, I just have to get to the post office.
Please consider stopping back by tomorrow for my regular Wednesday post! I've got an amazing recipe to share. In fact, it's what we're having for dinner tonight. My husband (a chef) does this killer Asian chicken with ginger and garlic and sesame... it is amazing (and it's been marinating since yesterday, because he didn't get home until late last night, so instead of being last night's dinner, as originally planned, it's going to be tonight's dinner...but the longer it soaks, the better it is! As Rachel Ray would say: Yum-o!)
So... what are my plans with that deadline that beat me? I have the most amazing publisher who pretty much told me "chin up, no worries, you'll get it done, just go work on something else for a while." Which is what I'm off to do today, because my next deadline is less than a month away... and I'm the one who suggested it! I'm working on a YA novel that started out its life as a fanfiction story, although by the time it got to that part of the story, most of the characters were OC (original characters) anyway. (So, no, it's not a Harry Potter fic with new names ;-) It's actually a Torchwood fic, but I'm thinking about making the Ianto character a yoga instructor and Jack... can't make him too much un-Jack like... maybe a Martial Arts instructor. I'm thinking he and his partner met while teaching classes at the Y (YMCA) or something. What do you think, Torchwood fans, Ianto as "yoga boy"? I think Jack would approve!
The original fic is almost 50K words--maybe about half of them are usable in the new version. Guess that means I'd better make myself another cup of coffee and get writing!! (Because of course, now that I've had a few days to relax, the "brick wall" that I felt like I was banging my head against with Daniel and Pasha has finally started to show a few cracks... seriously, the novel is at 74K, and only needs another maybe 5000 words to finish it!)
See y'all tomorrow for some Asian chicken, sexy male goodness, and.... some brilliant words about something (yeah, right! ;-P I know you guys come here for the sexy men and maybe the recipes.)Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
June 21, 2012
Blog hop!!
Romance / Manga Blog Hop
My first "exposure" to anime came many, many, MANY years ago with Kimba the White Lion. Of course, I had no idea it was anime. I didn't even get that Battle of the Planets was anime, either (at least not until later). By the time I was watching Robotech, I had a clue... although it would be a few years before I discovered yaoi (and admittedly, my experience is limited, if only because there are only 24 hours in a day!)
Many more years later, I must confess to having watched and enjoyed much of Sailor Moon, and having gotten sucked into (but not yet been able to finish) Revolutionary Girl: Utena. Utena is definitely my favorite...
So, the short version is that I don't have any great insight into yaoi, other than it can be quite beautiful... and I'm looking forward to indulging in a little blog hopping to see what other folks have to say/give away...
Oh what a clever segue! (hey, that's as clever as it gets at midnight...) Up for grabs is one copy of my debut novel, Heart's Home :
In a nutshell, there are werewolves, a daemon, a murder or two, a constable (whose a wee bit out of his depth, seeing as he doesn't believe in things that go bump in the night), a tiny bit of a love triangle... and the whole thing is set in Victorian London. As one reader so aptly described it, Heart's Home is an Urban Fantasy that just happens to be set in in the 1800's
If you want to read one of my favorite excerpts, click on the tab above labelled "Heart's Home"
Entering is easy: Just leave a comment below (all the better if you tell me what your favorite manga/anime is... but it's not a requirement, honest! Just saying "hi" will get your name in the drawing). On the 25th I'll draw a name out of the hat and announce a winner...
Here's the opening to Revolutionary Girl: Utena... in Japanese... ah well. Hopefully it'll give y'all an idea what it's about ;-)
Helen Pattskyn, Fantasy Artist, Gay Romance Author
