Erica Pike's Blog, page 22

Twinked Out, by Katey Hawthorne

True story: I first heard the word "twink" when I was 20 years old and in college. Hey, this was a long time ago, the internet was small, and I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Gimme a break. Now, my friend group had an extremely, er, fluid outlook on sexuality, let's say, but we did our own thing and never applied labels.
ImageWhich is why when I first heard the word, it was in this context: "Katey, you gotta come play EverQuest--we'll totally twink you out!" "Dude, you are the awesomest wood elf bard twink ever! W00t!"
Probably the same year, I heard that word hurled between two men as an insult. "Whatever, you fucking twink." Context clues let me know they were not referring to a high elf wizard or dwarf paladin. I'm quick like that. Shortly thereafter, of course, I came to understand what it meant, and that it was often used in a complimentary (oh-god-you're-so-pretty) way as well as a pejorative (dumb-and-full-of-cum) one, and that it was yet another label that some will embrace and some will loathe, as is their right and no one else's.
Which is why I'm always kind of split on the word. While I approve wholeheartedly of any and all physical types celebrating their own personal brand of beauty, I know some find that particular word offensive due to connotations of shallowness and disposability. Unless I know how a person feels about the label, I have zero right to use it. Like, you know. Any label at all ever. 
So when I'm writing a character to whom it might be applied, then he gets to say.
Exhibit A: Hansen Marks. My friends will tell you that I often describe the cover of Equilibrium as "Hansen lookin' all twinky." The boy fits the textbook description perfectly. He doesn't know it, but his boyfriend totally does--and knows to keep his mouth shut about it. 
Defensive? Misguided? Hey, whatever, man, step off his balls already. He's on his way to a PhD in applied economics and he can set you on fire with his brain. Imply that you judge him even slightly based on his looks at your own peril.
My blog isn't safe for work anyway!Exhibit B: Kieran Cooper, a character in an upcoming book--two, actually. I saw this NSFW picture on tumblr and thought of him, just as an illustration. Anyone who points out his twinkiness to Kieran gets a big old, "Thanks, honey." (Did I mention he's southern, too?) Dude is tooth-rottingly sweet, golden on the outside, and even occasionally, yes, full of cream.
He is also incredibly intelligent, loyal, and tough. He might look like junk food to some, but the hell with them--he doesn't believe anyone is, when you get to know them.
What's the point? Twofold:
1. Although most games make an effort to disallow twinking with things like level caps nowadays, gay gamers always get a good laugh over the puns.
And
2. No one gets to stick a label on someone's forehead except the person who owns said forehead. And that's when a label can be awesome. And, like this week, celebrated.
- Katey Hawthorne

Twink Week

Okay guys, I explained about my straightforwardness last week and how, although I’ll try not to be offensive, I’ll be open about subjects that may be considered taboos. Here's one:
It’s Twink Week here at my blog, in honor of Eric Wesley from my upcoming release, Absolutely Eric. 
Before we start, here’s the definition of a “Twink” on Wikipedia:
"Twink" is a gay slang term describing a young or young-looking gay man (18–21 age category) with a slender, ectomorph build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair. [4][5] Someone older than 21 with similar looks and build is said to be "twinkish." In some societies, the term chick or chicken is preferred.[6] The related term twinkle-toes, which implies that a man is effeminate, tends to be used in a derogatory manner.[7] The terms can be complimentary or pejorative.[8][9]
See that last line? Whenever I use the word “twink”, I never mean it in a pejorative manner. I love writing twinks. They’re never “girly” in my stories (see my rant on that term): They’re guys, they’re strong and they’re usually the stars of the stories (not in a flamboyant way – except for Eric). Eric is interested in fashion, he wears eyeliner and he likes doing things with his hair, but he’s a guy through and through. 
The term is often used in the pr0n industry, but it’s not exclusive to it. The LGBT community uses it freely, but there seem to be different meanings to the world. Usually it’s only a “look”, but Homorazzi goes further and describes twinks as "...generally quite young (18 to mid-20′s), skinny, have essentially no body hair and may frequently be found applying foundation or fake tanning lotion. Generally, they act as though the entire world revolves around the fact that they are young and gay." Yeah, no, whether or not that's the correct classification, that's not what I think when I think "twink". I’m merely talking about the look, and not personality. Is this stereotyping? I don't believe so, because (leaving out the personality) it's just a look, like "bear" and "athletic" is a look.
Should twinks be ashamed of being twinks? No. “Bears” are generally proud to be bears, so why shouldn’t twinks be proud to be twinks? They're no less men than bears.
Should non-GLBT people not use the word “twink”? I don’t see why they shouldn't. It may be a slang among GLBT people, but it's become very widespread. People who know me know I'm the advocate for "more exposure = faster acceptance", so even if some people see twinks as a negative thing, the more they hear the term and the more the term is discussed, the better to get over the negative aspect.
Should I not talk about twinks because I’m a semi-straight woman? Again, I don’t see why I shouldn't. I write m/m literature, I’m extremely supportive of GLBT people, and I don’t ever use the word “twink” in a pejorative manner. I also think "twinks" are attractive, just like I find all sorts of other looks attractive.
Should I not have brought up this topic? Perhaps not, but just like brunettes, beefs, and bears can be talked about (in a good, non-offensive manner), twinks should be okay to talk about too.
So, I officially welcome you to Twink Week. I’ve got some awesome people visiting with guest blogs, and I hope we can have fun.
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Hot Hands: FREE Today Only!

Today, Hot Hands is FREE at No Boundaries Press. This is for today only (May 5th) - it'll be back for sale tomorrow, so use this day to grab a copy.

The Purpose of Hop Against Homophobia

Hi guys,
There's a new post up on Hop Against Homophobia. We were recently made aware of a blog post that talked about how wrong this hop is, and the person who wrote that post made a very valid point. We're hoping that today's post will help clear any misunderstanding about the purpose of this hop. 

Women Maintain Gay Stereotyping

I'm continuing the topic of female m/m authors. You can read the first part here and the second part here.

You want to hear something funny? When women do write unemotional guys who are driven by testosterone, like "men are supposed to be written", they get reviews saying that the reader couldn't connect with the characters emotionally. You know why? People expect emotions in romance books! They also expect sex in erotic books and expect both in erotic romances.

That's the core of the matter:

People put down female m/m authors who write men with emotions without considering the genre. There are "rules" to every genre, though these rules can be bent out of shape. However, once you stray too far, you've ventured into a different genre (or no genre at all). This is why most of the male m/m authors I've read also write guys with emotions: they're writing in the genre and know what is expected. You can’t, for example, write in the romance genre if there’s no romance in the story. Furthermore, you can’t have a romance with no feelings involved – that just isn’t a romance.

Comparing the books I've read by male and female m/m authors, I can't say there's a whole lot of differences in the gay characters. Very often, I don't see a difference at all. Some say that there‘s a big different in the sex scenes, and I‘m not going to refute that, but is a sex scene written by a woman any worse than the ones written by a man? I’d say that in most cases they’re not (if they’ve done their research and/or have had backdoor sex themselves (yes, women can have backdoor sex too)). Aside from the sex scenes, a lot of people claim they can figure out the sex of the author 90% of the time by the first few pages. Again, I'm not going to refute this, but I really don't see this difference that often – at least not in most of the books I read (I’ll admit that there are some where I can clearly see it’s a woman – I’m not saying that’s a bad thing). Most of the time though, the reader will know the sex of the author before reading (because it‘s on the cover, in the book-line of the e-reader, and in credits) and that has to influence what the reader believe marks the distinction between male and female writing. It would be very interesting to do a research on this, excluding the author names and see if the reader can really tell if the story was written by a male or female.

I've often heard that female m/m authors maintain gay stereotyping. Writing gay men with emotions doesn't mean stereotyping of gay men. Like I stated in my first post, all men have emotions and men are as different as they are many (gay and straight men) and like I stated above, we‘re writing within a genre. I don't even understand why this is such a popular topic/comment. Most of the books I've read have such vast range of characters that I rarely see the same character twice. I wonder what sort of books these people have been reading for them to claim that gay men are subjects of constant stereotyping in books? Very old books? I don't see it in the more recent books. I don’t know, maybe I’ve just been lucky.

Then there's the question if these people have really formed these ideas themselves. Is it just the buzz of a few that has spread, and now a number of people are convinced that gay men are being stereotyped in m/m books?

Let's talk about sex in m/m books. If there's a lot of explicit sex scenes, it does NOT mean that the author thinks that gay men are all about sex. Absolutely not. It just means that the author is either writing m/m erotica or m/m erotic romance (yes, I make a distinction between those two). Again, authors are writing within certain lines of the genre and sex is expected. Very often (especially in the erotica genre) the story revolves around the sex (but gay men don’t revolve around sex – it’s just that one encounter, or those scenarios displayed). But there are loads and LOADs of m/m erotica and erotic romances. Why? Does it mean that women think gay men are all about sex? No, because there’s also loads and LOADs of m/f erotica and erotic romances.

I know I won't end stereotyping of men (see the first discussion), or change the minds of the ones who think women shouldn't write m/m with these post. I just really wish people would come to their own opinions by reading the actual books instead of just jumping on the opinion-wagon and get all riled up over something that may not be true. Honestly, let's all just use our energy to write more books. It'll increase awareness and help bring about acceptance. Authors bashing on other authors (that includes a group of authors (female m/m authors, for example)) is never professional and only reflects badly on the basher.

Okay, long, loooong rant over. Thanks for bearing with me :)


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The Icelander in Me

I think it‘s time I explain a few things about myself. I was born and raised in Iceland. I lived in Denmark for three and a half years, but other than that – and some overseas vacations – I've been in Iceland, around Icelanders my entire life. 
The thing about Icelanders is that we‘re pretty straight forward people with straight forward humor. That means a lot of things, but I‘m going to talk about two: taboos and humor.
Iceland is very advanced when it comes to taboos. That is to say, for not having many taboos. Iceland is first and foremost in Europe, where there are less taboos than in the USA, and Iceland is also a part of the Nordic countries where there are even less taboos than in a lot of other European countries. 
I was a teen when Iceland‘s biggest pop star, Paul Oscar, became popular. He was a phenomena that no one had seen in Iceland before (or since). He not only had unique music, but he was gay and proud of it. He has helped push things out of the closet when it comes to LGBTQ talk and today LGBTQ talk isn't taboo at all in Iceland. It is freely discussed in media and among people. It is why I sometimes discuss LGBTQ matters that make some people take a step back...and ask if I have a right to discuss these matters. This makes me stop and think every time because while the discussion may seem innocent to me, it may be a sensitive matter for other people, so I start to wonder if I should really be discussing it. But then there's the fact that everyone has a right to discuss whatever they want to, as long as they're not harming other people while doing it.
There are other things that are in no way taboo here, like the talk of sex. We don’t even hide that sort of talk from our teenagers. Most of us don’t even freak out if our kids catch a glimpse of something erotic, not that we’re actually showing them pictures of naked people - of course not; they’re children - but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they accidentally caught a glimpse of it. 
Now, humor: Danish humor is not unlike the Icelandic humor: a bit sarcastic, jabbing, and make-fun-of-yourself. Like the Danes, Icelanders have a knack for making fun of themselves. We’ve pretty much had to, since we’ve lived under very harsh conditions since the settlement years. It is said that joking makes life easier, and I believe this has been a motto for many Icelanders through the decades.

Until World War II we were pretty isolated from the world. It’s a small country, 300,000 people’ish today (probably around 230,000 in WWII), and when you meet someone new it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll have a joined acquaintance. With that kind of familiarity it’s easy to see how the jabbing humor has developed, like it would between siblings. Almost anything goes and not many things are off limits when it comes to joking. What I’m trying to say here is that I’ll joke about things, and talk about subjects without much reserve. To some it may seem insensitive, but it’s not meant that way. I realize not everyone’s humor is like this – far from it – but I’m hoping by explaining this that people will take my humor in stride and not take the things I say personally. I try to be careful, considerate to the fact that this kind of humor is...weird and offensive to different cultures/people, but sometimes things slip out before I can stop myself.

So why the archer woman in the skimpy outfit? Because my humor, comments and taboo-less discussions can sometimes seem like a sharp arrow at a target. A jab. A negative thing. I apologize in advance for that. I try not to be offensive, but it’s sometimes hard to see where the lines are. I understand that some people are sensitive when it comes to matters of sex and LGBTQ talk. Me being me, and raised in this surrounding, I go all out and don’t hold much back. This may seem insensitive to some people, and I’ve gotten into trouble for it more than once, but those who know me or have gotten to know me know that I mean no disrespect by it. It's hard for people to change who they are and I’m not sure I’d want to change this openness in me. I never talk about LGBTQ things in a pejorative manner. If I talk about gay men in leather, I talk about gay men in leather in a positive way and I don’t see how such a discussion can be negative or should not be talked about (just like I don't see how it would be wrong to talk about straight women in leather). Not talking about it would make it a taboo, and, yeah, you know where I stand on that.

Onto whether or not I have a right to discuss LGBTQ matters: Am I harming LGBTQ people by it? I don't think so. I'm of the belief that the more matters are discussed, the better, especially if things are talked about in a positive light.
As I've said, I am aware that there's a big difference in culture and/or personal opinion when it comes to these things. However, I will still be myself and I can't change my humor. That means I will probably continue to rub people the wrong way in the future. That said, next week is “Twink Week”. Yup, I said it: twink. I can already hear the bones crunching, as I'm pretty sure I'm stepping on some toes, but I’m going to do this in honor of next week’s release, Absolutely Eric. Eric, after all, is a very proud twink and I want to be able to discuss twinks in a positive way, just like "bears" are usually discussed in a positive way. So please, if the word or discussion of twinks offends you, you may want to stay away from this site next week, since I have fellow authors stopping by to discuss twinks. If you don’t mind the discussion then come on over and make yourself comfortable :)

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Win a Copy of Absolutely Eric!

I'm always excited when I have something up on Stumbling Over Chaos. I love that site ^.^ Chris and her cats are so funny. We're offering a copy of Absolutely Eric! Here's your chance to win. Ends on May 10th.
There will be more chances: I'll offer a copy during the Hop Against Homophobia on 17th-20th May. You can win one of two copies through Goodreads, if you add the book to your to-read list (ends on May 11th). Lastly (for now), I'm offering a copy at Book Reviews and More by Kathy on May 25th. That's four copies all in all.
But yeah, for now go and check out Chris's site. There are also loads of other books to win - a few every week.

Being Interviewed Today

The lovely Angelica Dawson interviewed me a few days ago and the interview was posted on her site today. I talked about how I choose my books, how I plan my (not so) brilliant posts, promo and LGBT rights.
Other matters of interest: The Hop Against Homophobia is only fifteen days away! Woohoo! Fourteen days, if we exclude this one!
Okay, I'll post something a little more meaty tomorrow.
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Excerpt: Grade-A-Sex Deal

Excerpt for Grade-A-Sex Deal:


A light knock on the door brings me out of my misery. The only perk of this job is about to enter, and perky he is indeed.


Troy Anderson pokes his beautiful face into my office, swings his slim, athletic body inside and locks the door behind him.


“Come in,” I say calmly to the young kid who only ever wears skin-tight jeans and sleeveless tops. My guess is that he does it just to tease me. I can’t take my eyes off his thin waist and nicely toned biceps and whenever he catches me ogling, he shoots me a smirk.


“What can I do for you, Troy?”


“You can give me an A on that exam you’re making,” Troy replies in his low, seductive voice. His blue eyes scan the table in front of me. Out of habit I pull a folder over my notes.


“And why would I do that?” I ask in my monotone teaching voice.


Troy’s full lips quirk into a smirk. “Because we have a deal.”


He walks to my desk and traces the edge with a long finger. My eyes follow that finger where it slides off the wood and lands on his growing bulge.


“The deal’s off,” I state matter-of-factly.


An old magazine lies on top of my screen. I grab it and pretend to sink my consciousness in the wonders of the South-American rainforests while everything within me is fantasizing about what he keeps hidden in those jeans.


“No way,” Troy says with a confident smile in his voice. “I haven’t been coming to see you every week for you to bail out now. The exam is next week.”


I count down a full minute before I lower the magazine to answer. “I’m very well aware of that, Mr. Anderson, but you didn’t show up last Monday night. You broke the deal.”


“Oh come on, I was studying,” he says and for the first time I hear a crack in his resolve. It surprises me so much that my eyes fly up to meet his. That gorgeous, sandy-blond hair half covers one of his blue eyes and sweeps the curve of his neck. His slender jaw flexes on his tanned face as he swallows.


“What do you propose?” I ask calmly, trying hard not to reveal how much he affects me. His mere presence is enough to have me jumping hoops. Yes, we do have a grade-A-sex deal, but the more we meet the more I like having him around.

Excerpt: Hot Hands

Excerpt for Hot Hands:
I try to act casual as I walk down the empty hallway, plotting a way to counter Joey’s attack. But when I stop by a small dark space ready to twist around and tackle back, I get pushed into the darkness with speed I didn’t know Joey possessed. My school bag drops to the floor with a thud.
“Joey!” I yelp in surprise as my face is pressed against a wall.
“Joey?” a deep voice vibrates from the back of my neck. 
I gasp out loud. This isn’t Joey. Joey’s voice is much higher. 
“What do you want?” I ask through rattling breaths and a heart that’s ready to pop.
“What do you think I want?” he growls into my ear.
Oh God, when he says it like that, it’s pretty clear. I can’t believe this is happening right here in school. With my mind going numb, I try to escape, but he’s a good six inches taller than me and he’s strong. He pins my wrists to my back and pushes me into a dark room. I’m about to scream for help, when I feel his big hand on my ass. Hot and gentle.
Hot-Hands.