On Writing And The Web -

There are also far too many writers who don't take their work or their craft seriously.  Facebook is not writing, social media (of any kind) is not writing.  I know how much time I have to screw around with my blogs and such per day - and know EXACTLY what writing I have to do.  I also love to write ... the rest is just ramping up to do it ;-)

From Metafilter: 

Powerless over the Net: Many writers are using software to fight what they call Internet Addiction that is interfering with their work. Zadie Smith thanked the programs, Freedom and Self Control, in the acknowledgements of her new novel,NW, which has a character who is addicted to online message boards. Other writers, including Booker short lister Will Self, prefer to use typewriters instead of being tempted by the Web's lures.  Scientists have recently linked internet addiction with a nicotine addiction gene, although there is no consensus on whether it is addiction or habituation.

FANTASTIC NEWS!

(from M. Christian's Queer Imaginings)


I've said it before but it's worth repeating over and over and over again: I adore working with the great Renaissance E Books/Sizzler Editions.  

Not only have they brought back into print pretty much all of my queer books under the very special M. Christian ManLove Collection:

- and now, they'd released - as I've mentioned - a brand new edition of my Lambda-finalist collection Dirty Words

But that's not all!  Check out this absolutely fantastic video spot they just released for the whole collection!

Eclipse

A beautiful short made by students of Gobelins. I adore everything they produce.

Wiki:

Gobelins L'Ecole de L'Image or Goblins School of the Image is a Parisian school, located near the Latin Quartier, dedicated to the visual arts. A consular school funded by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Paris, it provides training in various formats at a variety of different costs. It is best known for the Cinéma Department of Animation, founded in 1975 by Pierre Ayma, who brought the school into the spotlight. It acquired an international reputation, producing numerous talented individuals and teams which found their place within studios as prestigious as Disney, Universal Studios, Hanna Barbera, Pixar, Dreamworksand Warner Bros. Some of its former students include a great number of strip cartoonists and animation artists such as Didier Cassegrain, Cromwell, Jean-François Miniac, Pierre Coffin and many others. Many industry people of international fame have also taught at Gobelins (Michel Bouvet, etc.)...

The Gobelins Youtube channel

Beyond Menage at Lisabet Sarai's Beyond Romance

Oh, this is very, very sweet - not only does my great pal (and a great writer) Lisabet Sarai put up an excellent article on polyamory but she gives my upcoming class a nice plug at the end.  Thanks, Lisabet!

Here's a taste of Lisabet's article ... and info on my class (again) at the end:

Beyond Menage 

You want to know how it will be,Me and him, or you and me.You both stand there, long hair flowingEyes alive, your minds still growingSaying to me"What can we do now that we both love you?"I love you too.I don't really see,Why can't we go on as three? 

“Triad” by David Crosby
as sung by Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane
“Crown of Creation”, 1968 

I've always loved that song, especially Grace Slick's rendition. Her husky contralto voice shimmers with sensuality as she invites her two lovers to consider the possibility of a three-way relationship. I recently read that the Byrds declined to record the song because they viewed its subject, a ménage à trois, to be too controversial. In fact, the topic of this song is beyond ménage, which to me carries the implications of a one-time encounter. This is a song about polyamory – a long-term, committed, sexual and emotional relationship involving more than two people.

Polyamory appealed to me before I ever knew the word. I grew up in the late sixties and early seventies, the era of communes and free love. I read Stranger in a Strange Land in my teens and recognized that Valentine Michael Smith and his “water brothers” had multi-way sexual relationships without jealousy. I found the notion both intensely exciting and inherently reasonable.

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# 

POLYAMORY: HOW TO LOVE MANY AND WELL 

DATE: Wednesday, September 26, 2012 

TIME: 8:00PM - 11:00PM 

LOCATION: Joria Studios 260 West 36th St, 3rd Floor, between 7th and 8th Aves 

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Sure, you've heard of it – and maybe been intrigued by it – but what is polyamory and how do you love more than one person and make it work? How can you deal with jealousy, time-management, emotional rough patches, and more, to enter into multiple sexual relationships? We'll learn to separate the myths from the realities of polyamory, how to make tentative steps towards having more than one partner, and how to approach and deal with the problems of sharing yourself with others, and being involved with someone who, in turn, is involved with someone else.

Doors open at 7:30 pm - Meeting begins at 8 pm 

COST: TES Members $4, Students with ID $4, Reciprocal Groups $6, Non-Members $10 

FURTHER INFORMATON: TES (https://www.tes.org)

Coming (ahem) Very Soon!

(from M.Christian's Queer Imaginings)


- from Sizzler Editions/Renaissance E Books: the new edition of my Lambda-nominated collection of queer erotica, Dirty Words.  Here's the final cover and a taste of the great intro by Patrick Califia:

It can be very damned awkward to have a good friend who is also a writer (or wants to be one). What do you do when someone approaches you for an introduction or a blurb for the back cover ... and you like their wicked smile or their spicy chicken marsala or their hospitable, fuzzy butt a whole lot more than you like their paragraphs, which are as graceful as a football tumbling down the stairs, mixed metaphors, and fuck scenes that could not be resurrected with a truckload of Viagra? Fortunately for me, M.Christian presents no such dilemma. Given our long and intimate acquaintance, I probably can't be 100% objective about the book you are holding in your hot little hands. But I can honestly say that this is some of the best writing, period, that I've perused in the last year...

More Philosophy

Welcome To Weirdsville: Sweet, Sweet Death

(from Meine Keine Fabrik)


Here's a fun little piece from Welcome To Weirdsville that answers the age-old question "Does molasses run in January?"  Alas, the answer is yes ... and tragically...

Sweet, Sweet Death

"Tell me, what was 15 feet high, moved at 35 miles-per-hour, and killed 21 people in 1919?"

"I don't know, Mr. Bones, what WAS 16 feet high, moved at 35 miles-per-hour, and killed 21 people in 1919?"

"Well, before I tell ya, I'm going to first have to tell you about the sweet brown liquor called rum."

No, before you ask, an elephant didn't get smashed and went on a killing spree (though in another column I might talk about how Mary, a killer pachyderm, was lynched by a monster crane) – this is rather background on a certain gruesome catastrophe that, while unspeakably fatal, was also particularly – almost comically – unusual.

Not to blow the surprise, but if you happen to live in Boston, you might want to simply go onto the great fiction on this website. Your parents and grandparents have probably already spoken, with hushed seriousness, of this certain day – January 15, 1919 – though you may have replied, "Right, sure–"

Liquor has always been a big cash cow. It is with no exaggeration that businessmen have said that you can't go broke investing in sin – and an almost guarantee big seller has always been alcohol. Cheap materials, easy to produce, high profit margin, and with addicted consumers, booze is an entrepreneur's dream – especially in the years before 1919. But this was 1919, and a nightmare was lurking not too far away – a nightmare, that is, for those Americans who like a little sip now and again, and for the business that tried to meet that tipsy demand. In other words: Prohibition.

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Amos Lassen Likes The Very Bloody Marys

(from M. Christian's Queer Imaginings)


Check out this wonderful review of The Very Bloody Marys that Amos Lassen posted to Amazon. Thanks, Amos!

The homoerotic nature seems to appeal to gay people. Anne Rice had a career based upon the blood sucking creatures until she turned to Jesus. Other vampire novels and movies have won us over but "The Very Bloody Marys" is M. Christian is headed to be our new favorite. Christian is a new voice in the field and he is unique and fascinating. His arrival on the vampire scene gives us an entire new way to look at the demons. He is funny and fierce at the same time and will keep you entertained throughout the 171 pages of his new book. 

Christian is not new to the gay writing scene having been responsible for over fourteen anthologies and his short fiction has appeared in over 200 books as well as one novel and several collections. "The Very Bloody Marys", however, is about to become his breakthrough novel. 

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2 For Me and Me for 2: An Interview with two M. Christians

(from M. Christian's Queer Imaginings)


In 'celebration' of the re-release of Me2 - the queer horror/thriller I supposedly wrote - by the great folks at Sizzler/Renaissance E Books, here's a fun little interview I did with another "M. Christian" about the book:

2 For Me and Me for 2: 

An Interview with two M. Christians

Tape Begins

M.Christian 1: So I’ve finally apprehended you, foul fiend!

M.Christian 2: What the hell are you talking about? I caught you!

MC1: There’s no denying it: you’re the wretched scoundrel who’s been impersonating me, writing books under my name, soiling my creative reputation, attempting to profit by using my name –

MC2: Hold it right there, buddy! I don’t know what kind of twisted game you’re playing but you’re the one who’s been copying me, ripping off my name –

MC1: Liar! J'accuse! It is you who have stolen my identity, my very existence, and sought to supplant me as the rightful owner to the life of ‘M.Christian!’

MC2: You’re freaking nuts!

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Yet More Philosophy

Man is the only animal for whom his own existence is a problem he has to solve.
- Erich Fromm

Absolutely. Brillaint

The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of

(via Meiene Kleine Fabrik)