Bitch Factor 10

Only 5 Jobs!

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 03:32:00 +0000

Do you remember the Hey, Mon! skits on In Living Color? And Bitch, if you're too young to remember In Living Color, get-the- fuck-out-of-here! Anyway, here's a refresher about the Hey, Mon! skits. In these skits, a West Indian family brags about how many jobs they are each holding down. Anyone with one or two jobs is seen as lazy. Anyway, watch this clip, and then I'll tell you why I'm bring this up:

Lately, I've had quite a few people comment on the number of different jobs I worked last year. I was a paralegal, and a sales clerk for an online business... and an exam scorer for standardized tests, and a real estate agent. While it is true that I had several jobs ("Only five jobs!") last year, I was quite surprised that people commented on this... often in a snarky way that bordered on passive aggressive. Do you think I wanted to move from job to job last year? Hell, nah! I wanted each and every position to work out, but there were a number of reasons why they didn't. Let me tell ya about them...

Job #1-- Paralegal

I started the year off as a paralegal in a two-lawyer law firm. The pay was fantastic-- the most I had earned since leaving California. What wasn't quite so fantastic? Managing three law clerks-- three 20-30-something-year-old, male law clerks. They gave no heed to my pleas that they turn in their hours on time or update me about the projects they were working on. And having to take time out from all my other duties to call each of the clerks while they were in class each day, to nag them? That was not a pleasant task.

But dealing with the law clerks wasn't the worst it. I had the stressful job of setting up and maintaining a server and document library for the firm... which would be great-- only I had no experience doing that kind of system administration work (especially with Apple products). I spent a great deal of time reading support documentation so I could stay ahead of the game. But in the end, I had to give up. That law firm needed a legal secretary, instead of a paralegal, and an IT officer. Not me! I loved my boss. I loved my paycheck (though benefits would have been nice too...health, sick leave, vacation, 401k-- that job had none of those), but that was more than my hypertension could take.

Job #2-- Sales Clerk for an online business

I landed Job #2 before I left the first one of the year. Someone I knew locally was looking for a sales clerk for a business he operated out of his home. I thought this would be a great job because the owner lived five minutes away from me and he was flexible on the hours I needed to work and was willing to let me off to go to doctor appointments (since I'm a kidney patient, there are a lot of those).

Everything was fine the first couple of days on that job-- I worked on preparing quotes for incoming customer calls. My boss had his own system for doing things-- which is okay, up to a point. But then he started meddling with how I wanted to arrange physical things on my desk-- and on my computer's desktop (he didn't like that I changed the font on my computer so I could better see things, or that I had a special wrist pad next to my computer, or that I preferred a smaller mouse that fit my hand).

Granted, that boss was a Dom-- as in BDSM Dominant, and I knew that going in. I just didn't think he'd stoop to bossing me around like I was his slave-- I'm nobody's slave. I'm quite capable of choosing what I want to eat for lunch, and I certainly don't need to wait until the boss opens the car door for me to get into the car. I mean, I know that can be gentlemanly, but the boss was giving off a "I'm your Master" vibe. Nuh-unh.

The clincher with this job was that my boss's good friend would come over and hangout at the boss's house/the office-- and that friend was someone I had a history with... someone who has a "rape-y" reputation. Unfortunately, the creeper would come over to hang out and I was expected to go out with the boss and the creeper for lunch (and yes, I tried the "No, thanks, I brought my lunch-- to no avail). The last straw was when the boss screamed-- literally screamed-- when I made a mistake entering some data (trying to follow his unclear directions to the letter). I don't cotton bosses who scream. Or have rape-y guests over. So, that was that.

Job #3-- Educational Testing Scorer

I knew #3 was going to be a temp job-- scoring season only lasts a semester at a time. The first few days of training were a bit stressful-- but I caught on... well enough to figure out how to make a bonus each day. There were issues on this job-- every job has its issues. Probably the worst for me was that I have taught elementary English composition (and tutored college comp)and I graded too harshly-- according to the bots (I would go into all that, but I signed an NDA. Drat!) I left before the season was over, but by that time, most of the group I was hired with had departed for greener pastures. I can tell you this, the scoring for my team went way down without me-- I was a bit of a rock star!

Job #4-- Paralegal, Part Deux

When I graduated from paralegal school last year (a fast-paced, rigorous 4-month program at University of Texas) I expected to land a job at some well-appointed law office-- probably in family law or intellectual property. I interviewed with several firms, but none of them bit. They wanted more experience than I had (and I had worked at a law firm after I separated from my first husband 25 years ago).

Anyhoo, I did land another paralegal gig-- with a legal outsourcing company. Seemed like a nice outfit. Oh, and the client we worked for? It's a household name! Which I can't share (another NDA), but suffice it to say, it was a sweet setup. I had a corporate email and a fancy job title. We had free snacks and soda. A food truck visited the campus every morning. Oh, it was nice! But, I did not receive enough training in the beginning and some of the women I worked with were Mean Girls who did not want to help me. Absentee Millennial bosses also did not help. I felt I wasn't a good fit. When I said that to my supervisor, she kinda shrugged. Adios free snacks and soda!

Job #5-- Real Estate Agent

So, now we come to the final job of the year-- Real Estate Agent. I paid my $1k, and breezed through real estate school in three weeks. That wasn't too bad because my job, 35 years ago, was being the youngest real estate agent in the state of South Carolina. I had retained a lot of real estate knowledge from back then, so that helped me pass my licensing exam. But whew! Texas real estate is in a world of its own.

If we're friends IRL, I've probably already hit you up with my business card and for referrals. So far, I've only done a little bit of business. I've done a lot of online advertising and I have been out networking-- in spite of a surgery, an injury, a bout of pneumonia and additional medical procedures. And hey, I recently got my first paycheck! Woohoo! It almost covered all the gas I've spent helping some folks find rental properties. But that's real estate.

Luckily, there was no Job #6 last year. But 2018 is another year! Hehehe. I think this year will be more of the same. It's February and I've already applied for 15 jobs. I have had a few recruiters contact me, and I will at least hear them out. And I've been looking into buying a franchise-- but I'm still investigating whether that would be a good move. I have returned to freelance editing (please, send fiction authors my way) and may do some ESL tutoring. Yep, it's going to be an Only * Jobs! year, again.

Hey, Mon!

Blast from the Past-- Salvation Army

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 03:11:00 +0000

This post was originally published on my BiVirtue blog in 2011-- but it's still relevant.

It seems that the Salvation Army has a position on homosexuality-- "Christians whose sexual orientation is primarily or exclusively same-sex are called upon to embrace celibacy as a way of life."

Say what? Embrace celibacy? I'm thinkin' that embracing is going to cause epic fails in the celibacy game. That is preposterous advice, on so many levels.

And where does that leave us Bis-- who may not be primarily or exclusively same-sex-seeking? Does that mean it's still a free-for-all for us? Not that I have been able to take advantage of the free-for-all. For the past 15 years it's been a none-for-me. And those have been a really loooooong 15 years. Ugh. I wonder if SA has a position that unmarrieds should embrace celibacy, too. What about heteros that aren't trying to get pregnant-- should they abstain? The Salvation Army seems mired in its original 19th century beliefs (or the Bible-- either way, draconian).

So yeah, I support a boycott of the SA bell-ringers this season. Well, not that this is something new-- I never put money in those buckets, but find other ways of donating during the holidays. Homosexuality is not a choice, Salvation Army, but not dropping funds in your buckets, is.

Random tandem: I Will End You!

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 21:18:00 +0000

See the title of this post? I always wanted to say that. I'm (virtually) saying it right now. Er, not really ending Bitch Factor 10, altogether. But this Bitch needs to take a small vacation. Well, ok, a somewhat large vacation... say, until the end of 2012. At least. And hey, isn't there a good chance that the world is ending in December anyway? If that happens, you won't even notice that Bitch Factor 10 has gone on hiatus, because you'll be fighting off the zombies and raiding the compounds of the rich for their gold.

I love BF10 and I love my visitors. All 4 or 5 (avg) of you that visit each day. Ok, maybe I exaggerated a bit. All 1 or 2 of you per day. I do really appreciate my followers, and I hope that you will join me in vacationing out the rest of the year. I give you permission to do so.

Please drop by January 1 and find out if I survived the starting of a new editing business and my on-going struggle with kidney disease (if I'm dead by 1/1/13, you're excused from visiting. Consider it my gift to you).

If during the BF10 pause you want to know what I'm reading, you can return to BF10 because my Goodreads widget will still be operational and you'll at least get an idea of my number rating for each book I read in the interim. I am always available through Twitter, if you just need a quick Emme fix (@emmepangala).

Love you to all and take care. Yes! Take care...and run with it. Go hide it. Keep it safe until I return. Then, we'll talk!

Bitch Factor 10 presents: Question or Two with Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane, Authors of The Druid Stone

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 07:27:00 +0000

Treats, treats. I love treats! You probably already knew that, if you've ever seen a pic of this curvaceous Bitch. But today's treat will not require an hour of Wii Fitness after consuming. Bitch Factor 10 is lucky to have two fantastic writers visiting today, Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane, authors of The Druid Stone. Heidi and Violetta were given the Question or Two treatment. Here goes:

First for some probing personal questions. Heidi, please give us a detailed description of your fave "fat slutty bi girl" look (er, we need a Heidi paper doll for this, hmmm). Violetta, give up some deets on your "checkered past".

Heidi: Oh my! I actually dress very conservatively now! My high school best friend calls it “kindergarten teacher chic”. But if I think back on my proudest fat slutty bi girl look, it would have to be the matching nurse uniforms I and a friend wore for Halloween a couple years back. We got hit on . . . a lot.

Violetta: I used to smoke PCP in graveyards. Oh wait, I already used that line for another interview, sorry! I do have a history with certain chemicals, but I gave them up a long time ago, way before I had kids. I’ve been arrested but I haven’t been to jail. I guess the legal transgression I’m most OK with being public about is going to Cuba, which is mainly illegal for US citizens. I went there with my family for an educational vacation because we think the US embargo is ridiculous. It’s quite easy, actually: we just went via Nassau and asked Cuban customs not to stamp our passports.

How did you two come together to start co-writing together? What clued you in that you could be simpatico as co-writers?

Violetta: We beta’ed for each other and had a great rapport.

Heidi: Our first time co-writing was writing a short porn story. We had so much fun bouncing ideas off of each other and egging each other on we had to give it a go on a bigger (and more serious) scale. I still love writing sex with her though.

Please speak about your transition from fanfictioners to being full-blown novelists. What habits carried over? In what way have you had to become more disciplined writers, as novelists?

Violetta: I wrote a fairly long blog post about the transition. I think the habit of writing steadily carried over. That is, once you start writing, don’t stop. Being a novelist means kicking it up about ten notches in terms of organizing and motivation. Writing fanfiction is a gregarious activity; writing a novel is more isolated, less immediately rewarding.

Heidi: When it comes to fanfic, I think what I learned was just what kinds of characters really appeal to people and what touches and intrigues them enough to want to explore more, read more, write more, discuss more. I’m always searching to capture that spark in my own characters. (Hopefully someday I manage it!) Discipline wise? I definitely agree with V on discipline. Fanfic is a world of immediate gratification, where there’s always a beta-reader nearby and a built-in audience for whatever you do. Original fiction, you’re starting from scratch. You have to find an audience. You have to forge a new emotional connection to get people to care. And yeah, in fanfic you can leave a WIP hanging and it’s sort of accepted. With original fiction, if you don’t finish the novel, you don’t get paid, and then you don’t eat!

What writerly quality would you want to borrow from your co-writer?

Violetta: I love Heidi’s banter and body language. It really makes dialogue scenes come alive.

Heidi: Violetta has a really wonderful grasp of authentic cultural representation. She has a great “ear” for dialects and slang and is so empathic when it comes to people’s values and beliefs. Take a story like “Harm Reduction” and that sense of place and personhood? That’s her magic.

Have either of you written any non-fanfic solo works since starting to co-write, and if so, what was it like writing without the other? Have you co-written with other authors yet? If so, how has that experience differed from writing with each other?

Violetta: I’m working on a solo effort now. It’s moving steadily but very slowly! I’m pretty much resigned to the slowness, however, even if it gets frustrating at times.

Heidi: I’m working on a solo project right now too, a series of short novels / novellas about a group of guys who work at a seedy porn store. I find writing solo absolutely terrifying! I’m hoping once I finish this book, my confidence will get better, but for now I feel very insecure about what I’m writing. And yes, it’s very slow going!

I’m actually co-writing with someone other than Violetta for the first time right now, as well! I’m writing a series of non-con slave/capture stories with Rachel Haimowitz. We’re having a blast, and I hope that people into that sort of thing will enjoy what we’ve come up with.

You both have spoken up about the importance of creating diverse, multi-cultural characters, like Ori in Hawaiian Gothic or Sean in Cruce de Caminos and The Druid Stone. Why is this important to you? What challenges and/or criticisms have you faced in doing this?

Violetta: It’s important to me because... that’s me. I’m Asian and I come from a multicultural family. I live in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. I don’t want to go into the challenges too much because they’re kind of depressing. But I will see that the most frustrating force is not negative reaction, it’s simply... ignoring. I see people doing that all the time. They’ll spend thirty seconds blasting Victoria Foyt for Save the Pearls, get a lot of backpats, then go on buying and reading nothing but novels with white people on the cover. I’m bored with attacks du jourand bored of white self-flagellation. I just want readers of color to have more choice, writers of color to be more financially rewarded, characters of color to be more prevalent. I don’t care how that happens, I just want it to happen.

I do think m/m is actually somewhat better in regards to racial representation than mainstream romance, but on the downside, the drekkier stuff is full of the most ridiculous and ludicrous fetishization of Asian men. I mean, romance and erotica is kind of fetishistic by nature, but you can do it in a smart or stupid way, and I see way too much of the stupid.

Heidi: Violetta pretty much covered this one. I think the issue with IR/MC romance is quite the same as say trans* romance or lesbian romance. People say they want to read more or think they should read more, but often don’t.

The Druid Stone is a sequel to your Riptide Publishing Rentboy Collection novella, Cruce de Caminos. I loved both stories, which feature Sean O'Hara as a main character, yet the tenor of TDS and CdC wildly differ. What accounts for that difference? What was it about Sean in CdC that made you hold on to him for further fantastical adventures, a continent away in The Druid Stone? Or was the expansion from CdC to TDS the plan all along?

Violetta: We actually wrote CdC after TDS. The main thing that accounts for the difference in tone is that we knew CdC wasn’t going to be a romance. We didn’t need to have a happy ending. So we felt very free to let psychology and mood be the guiding forces for the narrative.

Heidi: What she said! After we wrote TDS, we sort of wanted to explore that aspect of Sean’s history (and his sexuality) more. But it really is a completely different experience, and that was what we wanted.

What magic underbelly do you imagine existing beneath the surface of your "real" world? What fantastical element from The Druid Stone would you run away from, if it suddenly appeared in our world?

Violetta: Atlanta, where I live, used to be called Terminus. An ominous name, although it simply meant where the railroads ended. This used to be Cherokee land, and the Civil War is still being waged in sideways cultural forms.

I think my favorite monster from The Druid Stone is the giant eel with human hands for whiskers. I don’t know where I got the idea, although it feels vaguely Cronenberg.

Heidi Belleau was born and raised in small town NB, Canada. She now lives in the rugged oil-patch frontier of Northern BC with her husband, an Irish ex-pat whose long work hours in the trades leave her plenty of quiet time to write. She has a degree in History from Simon Fraser University with a concentration in British and Irish studies; much of her work centred on popular culture, oral folklore, and sexuality, but she was known to perplex her professors with unironic papers on the historical roots of modern romance novel tropes. You can find her at Heidi Belleau.com

Violetta Vane grew up a drifter and a third culture kid who eventually put down roots in the Southeast US, although her heart lives somewhere along the Pacific coast of Mexico. She's worked in restaurants, strip clubs, academia and the corporate world and studied everything from the philosophy of science to queer theory to medieval Spanish literature. You can find her at ViolettaVane.com.

A big Bitch Factor 10 thank you to Heidi and Violetta for dropping by and sharing. The best of luck with The Druid Stone and all your writing endeavors!

Non-Random Tandem: Presenting a Virtual Book Tour Visit by Kirby Crow and Reya Starck

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 05:56:00 +0000

I am soooo excited for Bitch Factor 10 to be a stop on the Circuit Theory Virtual Book Tour. Circuit Theory, written by Kirby Crow and Reya Starck, takes place in a virtual world, much like our own. Wait, no, this is the real world. Kirby and Reya are real world authors. Yet, I am... ok, maybe I better ponder that another time. Now, I hand BF10 over to Reya for a guest post. Stay tuned at the end of Reya's post for a Circuit Theory blurb and don't forget to leave a comment and your email addy to be entered in the CT giveaway.

Welcome to the Circuit Theory virtual book tour! As a thank you for helping us celebrate the release of Circuit Theory, we’ll be giving one lucky reader a $10 gift credit to Riptide Publishing! To enter, just leave a comment with your email address included below. Earn additional entries by commenting along each stop of the tour. Thank you to Bitch Factor 10 and Emme for hosting us and helping us celebrate this exciting release from Riptide Publishing!

Game Worlds as Inspiration

Reya Starck

As I write this I’m sheltering under a gilt-trimmed gazebo from a violent thunderstorm that blew in across the vertiginous canyon walls that surround me. A small cloud of fireflies is keeping me company and providing some comforting light as the rain pelts onto the metal canopy of the gazebo and I shiver under the blackened clouds in my t-shirt and jeans.

The storm departs as quickly as it arrived, and I step out into a miraculously dry world, taking my fireflies with me. Following a winding path built along what appears to be a dry riverbed, I find myself in a clearing, surrounded by the strangest plants (at least, I hope they’re plants!) I have ever seen.

They look like floating brains with straggling, jellyfish-like tentacles, and they are just as unreal as the bulbous green tubes that sporadically puff out golden spores a little farther along the clearing, and just as unlikely as the angular black creatures that are dangling from the overhang of the canyon walls: the ones I’m trying not to look too closely at.

I am, of course, not in any place that can be found on Earth. In fact, I’m in a place called Eder Kemo, one of the garden ages in the online world of URU Live, and if I keep walking past the floating brains and puffing plants I will pass through a low stone tunnel and arrive at my destination.

It’s just one small area of this virtual world: a peaceful pond with stepping stones leading to the exit of this age. Above it, a massive stone causeway soars, casting a deep shadow across the water. It’s here that I stop, because this is the place I have logged in for.

It never changes (apart from the regular, but short-lived storms) and its tranquillity and atmosphere are exactly what I need for a scene in a story that I’m writing. My headphones are clamped to my ears, and the game sounds are perfect: the soft slap of water against rock, the chirring of insects, the sigh of wind high above me as it follows the same canyon path that I’ve just taken. I bring my text file to the fore: URU window on the left of my widescreen monitor, Word on the right, and I begin typing.

A few days later, I log in again, but this time I head to the derelict ‘pod age’ of Tetsonot. A creaking, rusting observation chamber filled with darkness, dripping water, and the occasional last-gasp flash of dying red lights. My main character is in a prison and, while it’s not as battered and neglected as this area of the game, it’s what I’m feeling as I stand in there that’s important.

I don’t like total darkness, so fear is edging its way around me, looking for a way in. The pod is hollow, the drips echo, the staccato flashes of light startle me. I’m unsettled, in a place that I desperately want to escape from. It’s every prison, everywhere. This time I’m not here for my eyes; I’m here for my gut.

It can be difficult to explain to a non-gamer the level of immersion that’s possible, but if you’ve ever been late for work or bed because you got lost in a good book, or you’ve exited a movie theatre and been blindsided by having to fit your cinematically-altered peg back into the hole of real life, then you’ll understand that it’s perfectly possible to stand on a virtual beach under a virtual sunset with virtual waves crashing, and experience a very realkind of relaxation.

All writers end up with folders on their computers that are stuffed full of inspirational images. Writers who are also gamers often have additional folders full of game screen grabs which, while they don’t find their way into stories in their game format, nonetheless lurk in the writer’s mind as they type. The shimmering green mosaic roof of an in-game temple may end up as a translucent blue mosaic window in the home of a healer; and the primitive carvings on a canyon wall might become stylised hints of a visiting alien salvage company on the outside of a rusting spaceship’s hulk.

Some might think that using parts of game worlds to inspire creative writing is a form of cheating, and indeed it would be if images were lifted wholesale from the coded world and dropped into the written one without any further creative thought given to them. But there is no more deception involved in loving that green mosaic roof and transmuting it into a blue mosaic window than there is in any form of art over the centuries.

Creative people have always found inspiration in whatever world they inhabit. Rand and Robyn Miller, the creators of the original Myst series on which URU Live is based, took hundreds of real world photographs, parts of which they later used as textures in their games. And Myst itself was the forerunner of all Steampunk games; its look and feel and even its music inspiring a new generation of game-creators.

We pick and we sift. A bit of rock from here, the gleam of mosaic glass from there, the annoying habit of a work colleague, and the scent of mildew in an old library. We stir it with a pen, let it simmer in our minds, and then dish it up on the page.

We hope you enjoy your meal.

Blurb:

Attraction is Binary.

Dante and Byron are avatars. Driven by human beings, yet still only digital representations of their ideal selves. In reality, they live far apart, but share most of their waking and working hours together in a virtual world called Synth.

In Synth, like in most code, the laws are infinitely more simple and infinitely more complex. Navigating the system rules of virtual lovers is like steering through a minefield of deceit, suspicion, heartbreak, and half-truths.

Under pressure, Dante makes a friendship that trips Byron’s warning bells, disrupting their carefully-ordered lives and calling into question the wisdom of trusting your heart to a man you can never touch in the flesh.

Kirby Crow worked as an entertainment editor and ghostwriter for several years before happily giving it up to bake more brownies, read more yaoi, play more video games, and write her own novels.

Kirby is a 2010 winner of the Epic Award and a two-time winner of the Rainbow Award for her published works in fiction.

Her published novels are:

Prisoner of the Raven (historical romance, Torquere Press, 2005)

Scarlet and the White Wolf: The Pedlar and the Bandit King (fantasy romance, Torquere Press, 2006)

Scarlet and the White Wolf: Mariner's Luck (fantasy romance, Torquere Press, 2007)

Scarlet and the White Wolf: The Land of Night (fantasy romance, Torquere Press, 2007)

Angels of the Deep (paranormal/horror, MLR Press, 2009)

Circuit Theory (scifi, Riptide, 2012)

Website

Twitter

LiveJournal

Reya Starck lives in England, never gets quite enough sleep, and is a professional procrastinator and consumer of chocolate. By day she is an intrepid bacteriologist, eradicating microbes for a better world order. By night she writes wonderfully queer stories featuring an array of lovely men.

Website

Twitter

My thanks go out to Reya and Kirby for including Bitch Factor 10 in the Circuit Theory Virtual Book Tour. I'll (virtually) see everyone later!

Non-Random Tandem: Cat Grant visits Bitch Factor 10

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 05:01:00 +0000

What a treat we have today! And we do LOVE treats, right? Cat Grant, author of so many tantalizing M/M stories dropped by to discuss our mutual Fassy Fascination, tats and her latest release, Doubtless. Stayed tuned after the Question or Two interview for a blurb from Doubtless and details about Cat's giveaway.

Question or Two with Cat Grant

1) Cat, I feel I know very little about your personal life- save you being a fellow Cal-Berkeley alum, your love of Michael Fassbender (known to us "droolers" as Fassy), your tatting, and your "Catting" around (no, not small 'c' catting, but the kind unique to being the lovely Cat Grant) around the picturesque Monterey Bay. Those four things certainly recommend you to Bitch Factor 10 readers, but what else would you be willing to divulge?

LOL! You’ve certainly been keeping up with my misadventures, Emme. Speaking of tatting, I just got my orchid sleeve finished tonight. Here’s a pic. Pretty damn stunning, huh?

I suppose the new shiny in my life is my addiction to the MTV drama Teen Wolf. I’ve devoured the first season and a half (aka, all the episodes thus far) in the past week, and now I’m seeking out all available fanfic for my OTP, Scott/Stiles. With Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Leverage, True Blood & all the other shows I watch, I sure as hell don’t need another fandom, but it looks like it’s sunk its claws in me. No pun intended!

2) The first story I read of yours dealt with members of the military. Are you a military veteran or a military brat? Addicted to SoldierPorn? How did your interest in the issues and sex lives of the armed forces come about?

I’m not a veteran or a military brat, but my dad served in the Army during WWII (long before my birth, let me add!). I’ve always admired those who chosen to serve and protect, and thought it profoundly unfair that they’ve been forced to serve in silence for so long.

It was actually Rachel Maddow’s series of interviews with members of the military who’d been unfairly discharged under DADT (Don't Ask, Don't Tell) that inspired me to write Once a Marine. There was one discharged Army captain who said he’d kept his personal life on hold for the better part of ten years because it wouldn’t be fair to a potential partner to have to go back in the closet for his sake. When I saw that interview, I knew I had the model for my fictional Marine, Cole Hammond.

3) After DADT was rescinded, I wondered how that epic event would affect your writing. Will you still write about unrequited active duty love? Will you change those narratives to suit the times? Or, have Rentboys taken up that space in your heart?

There’s always room for military stories – and more rent boy stories. Maybe both in the same book. There’s an idea! LOL!

4) I couldn't put down the two Power Play novels you've penned with best bud, Rachel Haimowitz- PP: Resistance and PP: Awakening. Were Fassy and McAvoy, stars of the Xmen: First Class movie, models for Power Play main characters, Bran and Jonathan? If so, were Fassy and McAvoy just physical stand-ins? Do you think of Fassy (and reading your tweets, I know you often do!) as a submissive, like Bran, or is that wishful thinking?

Uh, I’m trying to think of an answer that won’t get me sued. LOL! The best thing I can say is that Fass & James both were and weren’t the inspirations for Brandon and Jonathan. Obviously Rachel and I know nothing about the actors’ personal lives (aside from what few hints they’ve revealed in interviews), so we basically just took them as the physical inspirations, then fashioned our characters’ personalities out of whole cloth.

As for Fass as a submissive . . . my personal fantasies involve him standing on the other end of the flogger, but that’s a topic for another day.

5) You no doubt caught me off guard in your new Riptide Publishing release, Doubtless-- a follow up to Priceless, one of the selections in RP's Rentboys Collection. The first book dealt with Connor and Wes, but this time around, the story follows the loves of Steve Campbell, Connor's best friend and workmate from Priceless. I admit that I was intrigued by Steve in the first book-- who wouldn't love a best bud who buys us the attentions of a sexy young thing for the night! Was Steve begging to have his own story told after appearing in Priceless?

Yeah, Steve’s one of those characters who keeps tapping you on the shoulder until you write him his own book. And this isn’t even a traditional romance, per se – that’s coming later. I’ve got a very intriguing love story in mind for him.

6) What's up next? Will there be a Power Play 3 "massive kinkapalooza"? More menage-a- yum, like the Courtland Chronicles series? Another *less book?

Actually, I’m finishing up the first draft of a Connor/Wes Christmas story right now. The working title is “Fearless.”

7) Thanks so much for visiting BF10, Cat. Any last words?

Thanks for having me, Emme! And thanks for your insightful questions. They’ve been a delight to answer.

Blurb

Loving your best friend is hard . . . especially when he's marrying someone else.

On the surface, Steve Campbell seems to have it all: a beautiful home, a snazzy car, and a dream job as one of the country’s top 3-D optics researchers. But underneath, he’s restless and dissatisfied, tired of empty encounters with leggy lab assistants and endless evenings alone.

A chance meeting with a handsome escort lifts Steve’s spirits and opens his eyes to his long-repressed attraction to men—and his love for his best friend and business partner, Connor Morrison.

Connor might’ve loved Steve like that once, but now it’s too late for their happily ever after; Connor’s about to ask his boyfriend to marry him. Fortunately, it's never too late to learn about yourself, and maybe Steve can find a happy ending on his own.

Order Doubtless here: http://www.riptidepublishing.com/titles/doubtless

About Cat:

EPIC Award–winning author Cat Grant lives by the sea in beautiful Monterey, California, with one persnickety feline and entirely too many books and DVDs. When she's not writing, she sings along (badly!) to whatever's on her iPod shuffle, watches lots of movies, and fantasizes about kinky sex with Michael Fassbender.

Where to find Cat:

Website: http://www.catgrant.com
Blog: http://catgrant.blogspot.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cat.grant
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/CatGrant2009
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1912055.Cat_Grant

Cat's Giveaway:

Prize is one of Cat's backlist books.

-Giveaway is OPEN TO EVERYONE!
-To be entered, MUST leave a comment, ALONG WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDY.
-One commenter will be chosen randomly from all comments made throughout the tour, so the more tour stops you make a comment on, the greater your chances of winning. A list of all participating blogs can be found here.
-Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM CST on 7/23.

Book Review: Inherit the Sky by Ariel Tachna

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 23:16:00 +0000

By Ariel Tachna, Cover art: Anne Cain

My Bitch Factor 10 rating: 4.7

This has been a season of sweet M/M romance books for me. First there was Frat Boy and Toppy, then One Small Thing and Country Mouse- to name a few. One of the sweets I just finished reading a second time is Inherit the Sky. Full disclosure: I met Inherit's author, Ariel Tachna at a Texas gathering, and she graciously gave out autographed copies of Inherit at the event. I'm so glad to have met her (she's quite lovely to look at and smart as a whip, too!) and to have gotten this book, because it was a pleasant read.

First, let me throw up Inherit The Sky's blurb, then I will briefly discuss it.

Caine Neiheisel is stuck in a dead-end job at the end of a dead-end relationship when the chance of a lifetime falls in his lap. His mother inherits her uncle’s sheep station in New South Wales, Australia, and Caine sees it as the opportunity to start over, out on the range where his stutter won’t hold him back and his willingness to work will surely make up for his lack of knowledge.

Unfortunately, Macklin Armstrong, the foreman of Lang Downs who should be Caine’s biggest ally, alternates between being cool and downright dismissive, and the other hands are more amused by Caine’s American accent than they are moved by his plight… until they find out he’s gay and their amusement turns to scorn. It will take all of Caine’s determination—and an act of cruel sabotage by a hostile neighbor—to bring the men of Lang Downs together and give Caine and Macklin a chance at love.

There are just so many things I like about this book. I adore Caine and Macklin, the two main characters. Caine did not let his youth, inexperience or stutter get in the way of his determination and pluckiness- and those two were certainly put to the test when he relocated from the U.S. to an Australian sheep ranch owned by his family. Macklin's been-there-done-that crotchetiness is far more endearing than irritating. The romance between these two unlikelies (there is a small disparity in their ages that does not detract- though, Caine seemed a bit immature in the beginning of the book) took time and patience on both men's part, and I much preferred that slow build to the intense insta-love rush we find in so many other M/M romances.

It is the setting that made this story for me. It seems that Tachna has spent a great deal of time researching Australian small town and ranch life- but to be honest, I'm not sure that I would particularly know the difference. The geography is vividly described as we travel along with Caine to the Outback and settle in with him at the Lang Down sheep ranch. I found myself wishing I could listen to Inherit in audiobook format, because it would have been great to have colorful local accents and pronunciations to go along with the story.

As I have found with other Tachna stories, the writing inInherit The Sky is smooth and lyrical. In spite of all the loveydovey-ness, there is a bit of conflict in the story (a couple of the resolutions seem a bit too rushed and pat, for my tastes). As a matter-of-fact, I'd love to see a sequel to Inherit the Sky that unravels those resolutions and carries the story forward- I want to spend more time with Caine and Macklin, as well as the supporting cast of characters.

If you're looking for a sweet modern M/M western, in a setting different from the usual, you'll find plenty in Inherit the Sky deeply satisfying.

Non-random Gushing: Aleksandr Voinov visits Bitch Factor 10 today!

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 05:00:00 +0000

I have quite the active fantasy life. Channing Tatum doing a personal lap dance for me. Michael Fassbender sitting at my feet while I pet his fur. Aleksandr Voinov dropping by Bitch Factor 10 so I can ask him a bunch of nosy questions. Oh, pardon! That last one's not a fantasy-- it really happened! Aleks has so graciously stopped by to answer a Question or Two (or seven) and talk a bit about Incursion, his latest Riptide Publishing release. Keep on reading to reach Incursion's blurb and contact info for Aleks. And buttercream icing on the cupcake? There are details for the Incursion blog tour giveaway at the end of this post. Be sure to leave a comment to enter the giveaway and show Aleks your love!

Now available from Riptide Publishing

Question or Two with Aleksandr Voinov

1) I heard a rumor awhile back that you and your Muse had separated. Any truth to that? Were you caught cheating, filling your Kaigelu from another's ink pot?

The Muse is a Fickle Thing, really. At times, he can’t drag me out of bed fast enough or wakes me up in the middle of the night, and at times he can be the most sullen of teenagers, kicking a can down the road and going “meh”, whenever I try to talk to him. What he doesn’t like is too much real-life or cyberspace drama, stress, back-ache and me having to do my taxes, incidences of which I’ve had in the last few months.

It’s also probably true that I’ve generally been writing less in the last 3-4 months. Since finishing Dark Soul, I’ve really only written Incursion and Skybound, and Skybound is a tiny story of a mere 13k (and hence shouldn’t have taken me as long to write/polish as it has). But the big thing that slows me down is a historical novel that is pretty rough to write. It’s intense. There are days when I work hard on it and walk away with only one page or maybe 500 words to show for my effort. That’s a lot slower than I’m used to, but research is a big thing here. I just don’t want to get it wrong, and the setting (the Second World War) is complex. At times I found myself researching Paris, Montmartre, Jewish artists, the order of battle of SS units, and I’m not nearly finished. I’m learning a lot, but it’s a slow process and I hope I get to something good with it. But yeah, right now, writing is hard work.

2) Speaking about your relationship with your Muse, who's the Dom, who's the sub? Is "thwapping" a kinky form of discipline between you? And while you're at it, explain what "thwapping" is. Or is thwapping an English/German literary term?

I’d think we switch. Sometimes the Muse is all “command me, Master”, and other days I have no illusion of who’s in charge. I think he even tops from the bottom. And “thwap” is the sound when you hit somebody with a leather glove. It’s part punishment, part challenge.

3) Let's talk about your "Disabled German-Named Space Maori in a Haunted House IN SPAAAACE with Polymorphing Monster" story. In your acknowledgements for Incursion, you dedicate the book, in part, to "all real-life shape-shifters." Are you a shape-shifter? Are you really an amoeba, because I think being a single-celled organism would be a totally cool natural state?

“Disabled German-Named Space Maori in a Haunted House IN SPAAAACE with Polymorphing Monster” is what my partner called the story. I was telling him about the concept (he loves sci-fi), and he said “so, if I understand it right, you’re writing a Haunted House story with a disabled Space Maori who has a German name and he’s trapped with a polymorphing monster”. At first I was slightly affronted (because I’m taking my ideas pretty seriously wile I write), but I had to admit that he wasn’t far off. All ideas sound silly when summarized like that, though. I mean, seriously?

I do have more complex organs than an amoeba, but if I could have one super power, I’d take shapeshifting. However—I really do think we are already shapeshifters. Damn slow ones, if you consider our natural progression from zygote to rotting bones, but a baby and an old person side-by-side are very different. I do think there’s an “essence” that stays the same, but even as humans, our bodies are capable of a huge amount of change. It can be something harmless as getting a new hair cut, or something as dramatic as losing or gaining a whole lot of weight (“You look like a totally new person!”). What has probably impressed me the most is the shapechange of trans* people who decide to transition physically to the other gender to match their being with how they are perceived. I’ve seen gorgeous people switch over and every time I see it, I’m heartened and strengthened.

Am I a shapeshifter? Well, my world view is strongly influenced by shamanism and energy-work. I change all the time. I’m recently turning more gray (my hair, that is). I’ve managed to get back to the gym and am now running (slowly, right now, but sustained), and I can already see changes. On another level, what is the essence of our being? This is a question that has got me thinking a lot. I mean, we’re talking about characters being “alive” on the page, although they are only really words. I think there’s something bigger at play, a kind of energy, life, possibly what our ancestors would have called “magic”. As a writer, when I write, I become that person I’m writing about. It’s part channeling something (or dragging it up from the sub-conscious), and part seeing through another person’s eyes, taking on their beliefs, their experiences, their pasts, really believing it. And then returning to my normal-day self. It’s definitely emotional shapeshifting. While I write, I am that person, and then I get up and get a tea and stretch my legs and am myself, though sometimes out of sorts and dazed and yearning to go back. But all humans are shapeshifters on that level. We’re parents and children, employees and madpeople, we’re irrational and business-like, we can be enemies and lovers and all those live in the same body.

4) At one point in Incursion, one character tells another, "I'll teach you how to become." How does one best teach another how to become-- anything? Able-bodied, a man…human?

That’s a very good question. In a way, it takes us such a long time to become who we are. To acknowledge our potential and embrace it. It can be something as simple as “I always wanted to write a book.” The moment you decide to listen to the voice that tells you what you really want, what your deepest desire is (of course, don’t listen to the voices if they tell you to kill people or molest children) and act on it, you become. The moment an “I’d really like to write a book” turns into “I’m a writer”, something huge has happened. Something real and powerful and amazing.

This may sound cheesy, but for me, love is when a person encourages that voice in a partner. My partner met me when I was somewhat screwed up and not in a good headspace. I was writing, but I wasted a lot of energy being glum and elitist and cramped up. I always expected the worst to happen, I was constantly worried. And while some of that was perfectly justified, it did make life harder for myself. My partner has always encouraged me to be more positive, to ease up, to follow the flow, to stop worrying, and encourages my gentle, giving, generous and warm side. Over time, I got back in touch with that side of me that was always there but knocked back by stuff that happened in my life. Slowly, I’m getting some of my mental and emotional habits under control and become a better person overall. I like the idea that our loves and lovers make us into better people—there’s a process of mutual civilizing going on.

5) One line I love in Incursion is "Take your darkness to the warrior, for they can slay it." What is your "darkness"? Do you have a darkness-slaying warrior of your own?

Good pick! It’s one of those lines that really resonate with me. When I wrote it, I paused and stared at it in wonder, thinking “wow, where has that come from?” I think it takes real courage to face your own darkness and possibly even more to face that darkness in others. Warriors in that society are part priests, part healers, part shamans; spiritual warriors. All my life I’ve been struggling with the idea of the Warrior (and he/she is a strong archetype). What makes us strong? What is courage? And if somebody has bigger obstacles to overcome than other people, is he/she more courageous than somebody who had it easier? (Personally, I think yes—I’m more in awe of a Paralympics athlete than their less-challenged peers).

My own darkness—lots of stuff. Fears and doubts and laziness and resentment and anger and old scars, and selfishness and worries and being unable to help people. Like anybody else, I got some hard knocks in life, and coming to terms with the fact that’s just part of life and part of being human isn’t always easy. Somebody said that anybody who’s reached adulthood has enough stuff to write about for the rest of their lives, and I agree.

So, it’s the material I work with. I reach into those often murky waters, and if I touch something that feels powerful and alive and wriggly (picture a big ugly conger eel), I do my best to pull it out when I write. But I’ve reached a new level of that, too. I used to dig that stuff up and throw it in the face of my readers, which really was a helpless, angry act (well, I was a teenager, and thankfully, very little of that stuff made it into paid circulation). These days, I dig it up and examine it and ask the reader to join me in the process of working through this. When I take my fear, I invite the reader to take their fear, put it there, add it to my fear, and together we go through those issues and defeat them together. Reading is not a passive act at all, it’s a collaboration. If the reader walks away stronger and hopeful and feels like a burden’s been lifted—perfect. I try to write about these internal (and often external) hard-won victories, and the main transformative power is love.

6) What's happy-making in your life right now…in your writing?

I’m excited like a kid about my patio—in end-July, some landscaper people are coming over to rip open the nasty concrete behind my house and put down a sandstone patio. In my mind, I’m already sitting in the late autumn sun editing a manuscript there. It took me two years to decide what I want done in the garden, but now that I have a plan I can’t wait for it to happen, although it’s a long process and will get completed in stages.

I’m also getting a big kick out of running, and I’ve taken up meditation, which leaves me nice and calm and aware. Running and meditation entered my life at roughly the same time and are complementing each other beautifully. Ideally, I want to be able to run 10k with my partner, and a big dream is a half-marathon, because essentially it’s a ludicrous goal for me and hence I’m attracted to it. I’d get bored by a full marathon (running for 5-6 hrs? Really? How do people spend that time in their heads?), but people have told me if you can run a half-marathon, you can run a full marathon, so that’s the goal. Happy-making is that I’m getting my first bespoke three-piece suit fitted this week.

In writing: When I get emails from readers telling me I touched them. I got one this morning on a full commuter train and was grinning to myself like a loon the whole way. Also, finding a good sentence that has power and that will stay with me and others, or finishing a scene, or getting a good number of words out, or finding a perfect piece of research. It’s the sense of wonder and gratitude that makes this job so rewarding, and there’s the up and down of pride of achievement and humility that I can do this and that I can reach and touch people. It’s pretty intense emotionally.

7) Your stories are often exempla of the pitfalls of religious dogmatism. All that aside… when can we expect the announcement that you are starting your own religion? I know you've already kicked things off with a "ten albino virgin pygmy hippos" sacrificial barbeque. You have throngs elbowing for a place at your boots (I do hope you cordon off a VIP section-- and that you'll reserve an all-access pass for me *squeak*). Oh Great Savior of My Kindle, how much longer must we wait to formally assemble for your worshipage?

I guess I’m widely known as the rabid atheist among m/m writers. But you put it very well—it’s fine if people are religious, all power to them, I know terrific people who are also religious, from Quakers to Catholics to Muslims. But I’m not—that paradigm doesn’t work for me, and I had a phase during my teenage years when I tried. What I do get really quite angry about is when a religious person uses their religion as an excuse to make other people miserable, or, worse, justifies atrocities and violence, from wars, ethnic/religious cleansing to suicide bombings to witch burning.

My last vestiges of Christian faith died when I studied history and worked out that the Greeks and Romans (the pagan, pre-Christian ones) had systems to be a “good person” without requiring any kind of god keeping tabs on them, so I went with that. But I respect that some people want to be religious or feel happy while believing in a god/dess (or many).

As to starting my own religion. I’m the last person on earth who should do that. I don’t want the responsibility, and I’d be the first to say “don’t believe anything I say, this is my truth and yours might be totally different.” Also, can you imagine the Faithful grabbing stuff from my office and carry it home as a relic (“Hey, I NEED that thesaurus!”)? Also, my front garden is small and my street is pretty quiet, so I could really only accommodate maybe one or two tents of devoted fans camping out in my front garden, or I’d get in trouble with the neighbours (who are lovely), so I simply don’t have the proper space for a mass religion, sorry to say.

Although, if I did start a religion, it would involve getting all writers and book people together in a nice location (my patio is too small, but maybe think a large park) and there’s food and some music and group readings, and snark and damn awesome coffee, and book swaps and creative writing groups, and everybody can adopt a virgin albino pygmy hippo to take home to help them write or just look cute. I think that would be pretty awesome.

Incursion blurb:

Fighting with your back to the wall is all well and good—as long as you’ve chosen the right wall.

When the local authorities ask Kyle Juenger to hunt a shape-shifting Glyrinny spy, he can’t refuse. After all, he can use the reward to replace his paralyzed legs with cyberware, and maybe even to return to his home planet. Besides, he hates the morphs—those invasive, brain-eating monstrosities whose weapons cost him his legs.

Kyle’s best lead is the Scorpion, a mercenary ship armed to the teeth. Grimm, the Scorpion’s pilot and captain, fascinates Kyle. He’s everything Kyle lost with his legs, and he’s from the same home world. He’s also of the warrior caste—half priest, half savior. But Grimm’s been twisted by life as a merc, and Kyle’s stuck undercover as a criminal on the run.
That doesn’t stop Grimm from coming on to Kyle, or from insisting he’s more than the sum of his past and his useless legs. But Kyle has other concerns—like tracking a dangerous morph who could be wearing anyone’s face. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, Kyle can’t tell if Grimm is part of the solution . . . or part of the problem.

Buy Incursion at Riptide Publishing

Aleksandr Voinov is an emigrant German author living near London, where he makes his living editing dodgy business English so it makes sense (and doesn’t melt anybody’s brain). He published five novels and many short stories in his native language, then switched to English and hasn’t looked back. His genres range from horror, science fiction, cyberpunk, and fantasy to contemporary, thriller, and historical erotic gay novels.

Visit Aleksandr’s website at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com, his blog at http://www.aleksandrvoinov.blogspot.com, and follow him on Twitter, where he tweets as @aleksandrvoinov.

And now- Aleks' Giveaway!

Thanks for joining me on the Incursion virtual book tour! Feeling lucky? I’m giving away three prizes to commenters on any of the blog tour stops. Comment on this post (feel free to ask questions!) and you might win! The first winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift certificate and a swag bag with assorted magnets, wrist-bands and other goodies. Two more lucky winners will receive swag bags as well. I ship internationally and will draw the winners from all commenters after the tour is over. Deadline for entry is 7/15/12. Please include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you. Enjoy!

Guess who's visiting Bitch Factor 10 tomorrow?

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:28:00 +0000

I am soooo excited about Aleksandr Voinov stopping by Bitch Factor 10 tomorrow that I'm practically wettin' 'em! I loved his latest book, Incursion (watch for my review next week). Aleks totally makes shape-shifters his own in this action-packed sci-fi-er. Aleks discusses the book, and a few other nosy questions I was dying to ask. So come for the Incursion... and stay for the giveaway. That's all coming up tomorrow on Bitch Factor 10.

Random Shit: Today's Sing-a-long

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 22:00:00 +0000

I'm about to completely rearrange my personal and professional life. This is not a surprise if you've known me any length of time. It's not that I'm fickle, I just believe that every breathable moment is an opportunity for improvement. No, really, I do believe that. And, it doesn't hurt that I'm disco-dancing my way to age 50 (there should be an echo for that). Change is hanging in the air like a grassy fart from...

Isis the Bitch of BF10 fame

Anyhoo, I'm switching my career focus from librarian to literary editor. I have a lot to learn, because it's apparent that 2.5 college degrees, lots of beta-reading and a book review blog do not an editor make! I'm starting from scratch, but what else is new? And you know I'll be coming here and bitchin' about every little thing as I stretch and grow towards my goal.

Ok, just a bit more sappy-cheezy shit. Here's a video for my sing-a-long song of the day, "A Brand New Day" from the Broadway musical, The Wiz. Oh, and, sorry, this is the best of the YouTube videos of the song I could find.

Happy Earwig... er, I mean...Earworm!

Book review: The Vengeance of Legion by Helen Fields

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 01:45:00 +0000

The Vengeance of Legion by Helen Fields *

My Bitch Factor 10 rating: 4.8

In my review of the first book in the Eve McKenzie's Demons series, I groused that The Immolation of Eve was not quite an "epic" beginning to the tale of a British solicitor who discovers that she is an unwitting part of an otherworldly power struggle. Don't get me wrong, I loved the book, but I felt the scope of Immolation wasn't quite epic-y enough for that claim. In Immolation's sequel, The Vengeance of Legion, there is a greater sense that Eve's journey is taking on epic proportions. Eve is suited up as "heroine," as there are demons to slay and despots to overthrow. So, yes, this time Fields takes us on an even more fantastical and epic quest to Eve's origins… and her future.

Here's the summary of VoL from the book's blurb:

Eve MacKenzie has had a tough year...pursued by an incubus determined to use and control her, narrowly avoiding death in a bloody and bitter demonic war then having to part with the man she loves to avoid a mortal curse. So she did her best to move on, settle into her new life in California and remember how it felt to be normal.

Unfortunately for her, the incubus she deprived of power is back and he wants revenge and this time he won't stop until she has paid in blood for the humiliation she dealt him. Torture, tragedy and desperation abound in this dark fantasy sequel to The Immolation of Eve.

In my review of Immolation, I talked about Fields' understated writing style. That’s still evident in Vengeance. The writing just seems so effortless-- how does Fields manage this (again!), especially given all the action in the book? Mayhem seems to follow Eve wherever she goes, even in the idyllic setting of Carmel, California. And this time around, Eve's friends are guilty by association, as the bad guys take the fight to supporting characters, in an effort to draw Eve back into the struggle she had left behind in the first book.

The pace of Vengeance is slightly more relaxed than it was in Immolation, but the plot here is anything but tranquil. In the beginning of Vengeance, Eve has retreated to a "normal" life in Carmel, but soon she is drawn back into the politics and violent upheavals of her native people. It made sense in Immolation that Eve had to rely more on James, her otherworldly guide and love interest-- after all, she had been thrust into a world that she didn't even know existed. This time, Eve leads the charge, with her friends as back up. James is distant (in many different ways), but is still very much in the picture. Immolation was as much about Eve's discovery of her sexual self as it was finding out about her birth parents and adoption; in Vengeance, Eve doesn't seem to have the time or heart for love-- though she does manage to get her "sexy on." This story remains more of a sexy dark fantasy tale, than a romance. Though I have to admit that I'm surprised that there isn't more sex in a book with so many incubi and succubi-- oh, wait, there is that wild party scene in Carmel… nevermind.

As much as I admire Eve, with all her wit, intelligence and pluckiness, it is the dastardly Perun who interests me most. He is even more sinister in Vengeance, and the veneer of charmingness has worn off from their Immolation encounters. Perun has assembled his dark forces and wants Eve--who is of royal birth, and ruling her people, in absentia-- completely out of the way, and is willing to use any and every ruthless means at his disposal. This makes for several scary, gory clashes. I totally felt like Perun was channeling Joffrey from HBO's Game of Thrones at the conclusion of this book-- brattily wicked and oh, so deluded… almost sympathetic. Almost. Loved Perun!

I'm not going to give much away here. I love Fields' writing, love the characters, love the dark places this story goes. Alas, there is no pat HEA here, but then I told you this wasn't really a romance. I can forgive the cliffhanger, because Fields deftly handles it (thanks for the eggs, Helen!) and does not leave the reader as much frustrated, as really wanting to know "what happens next, what happens next

Helen Fields promised in the blurb for Immolation of Eve that this series would be an "epic adventure of seduction, loss, love and revenge." She has more than accomplished this in this second chapter, and I am eagerly awaiting the next sequel.

Other quick notes: There's a nice two paragraph prologue that will clue you in if you haven't read Immolation of Eve before The Vengeance of Legion. Also, the third book in the series isn't coming until 2013 because Helen will be working on a legal novel.

*The author of The Vengeance of Legion requested this review and provided an ARC for that purpose. This review represents my personal opinion of the book, and I was not influenced by anyone as to what to write in my review. Which should be obvious by how rambling it is. No author was harmed in the process of writing this review-- well, not physically, anyway.

Book review: Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 03:21:00 +0000

Hawaiian Gothic by Heidi Belleau and Violetta Vane *

My Bitch Factor 10 rating:

The title of Violetta Vane and Heidi Belleau 's new novel may first conjure up images of leis and scowly-faced tiki gods , but Hawaiian Gothic is not a book of kitschy pop culture design or the stereotypes that immediately come to mind when one thinks of a story with a Hawaiian backdrop. And no, I wasn't expecting a light-hearted, laid-back tale of two guys who fall in love while hanging ten-- any self-respecting English major knows that "gothic lit" means something very different than common notions of gothic-ness. Vane and Belleau take the main characters in Hawaiian Gothic to some very dark and horrific places in their quest for reclaimed love.

Let me start off by saying that HG was a very intriguing read. So much so that I've had the damnedest time trying to write a review. The book touches on so many themes and topics that interest me: folklore, returning veterans with PTSD, euthanasia, multi-cultural representation in the M/M genre, polyamory-- just to name a few. It takes really gifted writers to successfully blend so many divergent elements together in one novel, and Vane and Belleau clearly have this talent.

Before I get too cart-before-the horse-y, let me blurb you:

Ori and Kalani were childhood friends too afraid to be lovers. Now in their darkest hour—Ori disgraced and Kalani a wandering spirit—they’ll fight the world and death itself for a second chance.

Gregorio “Ori” Reyes thought there was nothing left for him in Hawaii. A former Army Ranger and promising MMA fighter, his dishonorable discharge turned him into the family disgrace, and his childhood best friend Kalani never could love him back--not the way Ori needed to be loved--even before Kalani’s doctors declared him to be in an unrecoverable coma. Ori’s return to Hawaii seems fated to be a depressing reminder of every chance he never took... until Kalani himself impossibly welcomes him home.

Kalani’s body is bedridden, but his spirit is free to roam, and it turns out it’s not just Ori who had unspoken yearnings. Kalani is eager to prove that he can still savor all the pleasures of this world. Together, they remember all those years of surfing, wrestling, touching and aching but too afraid to act; now, they cross that final barrier and struggle against each other in an entirely different way.

Passionately but tenuously reunited, the pair must solve the mystery of Kalani’s unlucky life, sorting through dark family history and even journeying to the Hawaiian ghostworld. And the greatest terror of their journey is that Ori might have to put Kalani to rest.

Now to some particks (and yeah, this might get a bit spoilery):

The Characters-- Kalani, Ori and Hawaii

We know from the blurb that Kalani is in a coma. I know some readers may be hesitant to approach a romance that has one partner non-responsive. And I have to say that during my first read of HG I kept thinking, man, when does Kalani get to have an active part in the story. A second read, however, showed me that Kalani is really all over the story-- beginning to end. He is never far from Ori's thoughts, dreams, or his heart. Non-linear storytelling allows us several glimpses into Kalani's life-- from a childhood where he first met Ori to his nearly-static state in the hospital.

In spite of the insight that the flashbacks give us, throughout, I still don't feel that I know quite as much about Kalani, as I do Ori-- but then I've always been the best company for the most miserable of characters. And boy, Ori knows misery. He has returned from two tours in Iraq and a stint in Leavenworth to find the man he has loved his whole life, unreachable-- languishing physically and with very little indication that anything mentally has happened in a long time. I found myself comparing Ori to the gothic heroes. Did he feel alienated from society, from his loved ones? Absolutely. This comes across from the very first pages and continues until he is reunited with Kalani. Was he brave? Yep. Steadfast? Most certainly. Self-sacrificial? Perhaps too much so… Saying that Ori's decision-making leaves a lot to be desired is a gross understatement; but all the same, Ori, and his fanatical/fantastical love for Kalani, makes the story for me.

It's a good thing the boys are in Hawaii, because the only hope for restoration and redemption either of them has lies in the mythical and mystical, and Hawaii provides that in spades. So much of the story is infused with the spirit(s) of Hawaii that I think it's appropriate to think of "place" as "character," here. I am not sure this story would have worked as well in a different locale. Thankfully, this is a different Hawaii than the touristy claptrap that many of us know from past visits there. Vane and Belleau's Hawaii is gritty, spiritual, off-putting and welcoming; it is difficult to know if Hawaii will serve as protag (bringing the lovers together) or antagonist (forever separating them). Hawaii is the first main character we meet in the story, newly surfaced from the ocean depths--already beautiful, and bespoiled (much like Ori and Kalani's relationship). Hawaii is home to Ori, ethnically Filipino (though considering how Ori ties his very existence to Kalani, perhaps it is, "home is where the boyfriend is"), and quite possibly a final resting place for Kalani, an indigenous Hawaiian; but more importantly (to me, at least), ubiquitous Hawaii contexualizes Ori and Kalani-- shaping their history, their culture, their beliefs, their love.

The 'Lore

Props to Belleau and Vane taking out the nice tea cups and steeping the reader in Hawaiian/Pacific Islander culture-- especially folklore, mythology and legend (and, accordingly, I can forgive them for making the boys surfers-- just once I want a story with a Hawaiian who neither surfs nor swims, hehehe). I feel like I got a few too many dips in the cups where language was concerned, because I only previously knew "mahalo" and "aloha." I felt I was missing out on some of the meanings of Hawaiian and Pidgin words in the text-- but I did discover, after my 1st reading, that the authors have included a glossary on one of their HG websites (https://sites.google.com/site/hawaiia... so don't let any language barriers deter you from enjoying HG. I must admit I know next to nothing about Hawaiian deities, and I still haven't done enough research to find out where the authors borrowed from traditional lore and what was of their own highly-creative making. I will tell you this, though, the fantastical elements in Hawaiian Gothic definitely meet the horrific standards for gothic literature. Throughout the story there is a tug-o-war between the natural and supernatural worlds. It would be clichéd to say that Ori goes to hell and back to save his lover. It would be more accurate to say that Ori goes to a place that almost makes a heaven out of our usual ideas of hell. Yikes! so much of the otherworld imagery in this story gave me the creeps! Oh, and, Ori and Kalani take loving to a whole 'nother plane-- literally! Thankfully, there are deities and humanly entities to guide the lovers, on both sides of the divide.

The Romance

I hope you'll indulge me on this next part-- the alternative relationships represented in Hawaiian Gothic. I love that Ori and Kalani come from different ethnic backgrounds, but also share a Hawaiian heritage (it sure comes in handy for the boys). Thank the Goddesses (in this case, Violetta and Heidi) that we aren't dealing with two haoles! (look it up) That would have been as unwelcome as an uncoordinated, "hippy" Minnesota housewife doing interpretative Hawaiian dancing.

We know this is a friends-to-gay lovers relationship, and as is often the case in these stories, Ori and Kalani must each deal with homophobia, in addition to other challenges. Ori goes to great lengths to unravel the mysteries of Kalani's family, as a means of restoring Kalani to physical and emotional balance. And, as Ori strives to make sense of Kalani's painful and lonely childhood, a polyamorous aspect enters the story (in spite of tagging to the contrary, I see this as more polyamory than ménage) -- but I really don't want to give too much away. But it seems that the "real" world in Hawaiian Gothic is much too dangerous for many expressions of love-- whether that love is parental, homo- or bi-sexual. For the most part, Vane and Balleau handle the relationships with affection for the characters and sensitivity, when needed. HG is also quite scorchingly erotic, when appropriate (er, when is scorchingly erotic ever not appropriate?).

Tiny Quibbles

Ok, as much as I loved this story-- and I loved this story, there were a couple of things that left me scratching my head. I was totally onboard with Ori having to work through his issues with his military service in Iraq and the resulting PTSD-- that all seemed to be part and parcel with his guilt over his perceived abandonment of Kalani and any potential their friendship had to go other places. The MMA thing, though, seemed superfluous-- kinda kewl, but superfluous. One might argue that Ori was going to need all that MMA-bad-assery for future ordeals, but I think everything he had already experienced in Iraq was probably sufficient preparation for what he would encounter. And… there's Kalani's shark adventure (remembered in flashbacks, but still…). Between that hospitalization and his coma, that Kalani seems to invite extreme misfortunate. I fear for whatever future those two might have together!

And hmmm. The magic realism in this story is a bit heavy on the magic in parts, but it never get so out of hand that Vane and Belleau cannot manage to reel it in. But I still don't get what all happened with Saul's bungling magic, why he even went that route? Saul is a tragic character, and I do appreciate how he seeks redemption in helping Ori and Kalani-- but I wouldn't put faith in such a character in the story-- and as a reader, I don't entirely trust him, either. And magic aside, I really don't get Malia's final actions-- but hell, now that I think about it, I've done similar things, in a similar situation, so maybe I shouldn't judge her too harshly.

Summary

Let me wrap this up, because, really, I could go on and on. I didn't even get on my euthanasia soap box! Anyhoo, so much of Hawaiian Gothic was heartrending and heartwarming. It had just the right amount of action-- of the horrific/fantastical variety. It was a very touching love story that I know I will revisit again and again.

*The authors of Hawaiian Gothic requested this review and provided an ARC for that purpose. This review represents my personal opinion of the book, and I was not influenced by anyone as to what to write in my review. Which should be obvious by how rambling it is. No authors were harmed in the process of writing this review-- well, not physically, anyway.

Random Shit: Dishing the Soaps-- Boxer Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 04:45:00 +0000

I guess it's ok to admit this here: I come from a family of soap opera lovers. Mom watches them. Sissy watches them. Daddy, does?!?!! My father says that he got hooked on soap operas when he started working nights. Apparently there wasn't much on tv during the day for men, back in the sixties and seventies, so Daddy started watching soaps. I think Dark Shadows was one of Dad's faves; I think my mother and Sissy have watched every single soap on the air, one time or another. My father got to put his carpentry skills to greater use by building bookshelves-- for all the VHS recordings of various and sundry soaps (I think my family alone kept the VCR industry afloat until the new millennium with their soap opera recording obsessions).

I was never really big on soaps. I was real snobby about my entertainment from a really young age (yeah, Monty Python and Benny Hill were more my speed) and was not hooked on soap operas like the rest of my family. But I married and had a baby really young (I probably would have known the pitfalls of that had I been watching soaps, hehehe) and found myself with nothing to do each day once I sent hubby off to play on his submarine and the baby had been fed, bathed and diapered. The little Mississippi town we lived in did not have a book store and I hadn't met any of the neighbors, so I was forced-- forced I tell ya!-- to start watching soap operas. I told myself I was only watching so that I could see if I could keep up with the plotlines, and so that I could lampoon them on the occasions I felt up to walking Junior to the nearest payphone so I could call home to my family.

Since we seemed to get only two channels in our first apartment (ABC and TBS, which seemed to be the only choice for that new fangled thing called "cable tv"), I started watching All My Children, One Life to Live and General Hospital every Mon-Fri afternoon. While I never fell in love with any of them, I guess I could mostly tolerate All My Children-- since it had Af-Am teenagers (gasp) in the cast. I did get to where I could put actors' faces with their character names after awhile-- but you know, it was ultimately just one big, ridiculous jumble. Well, with one exception-- General Hospital had that Luke'n'Laura rape/not rape story line. That was it for me. I thought I was better off reading the classy stuff I found at the drugstore like Clan of the Cave Bear, The Thornbirds and Chances by Jackie Collins.

I would catch a soap opera glance every now and then when I visited my folks back home. Mom, Dad and Sis are still soap opera watchers-- only they are now recording their soaps on the DVR instead of VHS. Is it just me, or have soap plots gotten even more ridiculous? Space aliens, witches and Pinocchio-wannabes? I thought the plots where kids were born one year, and in college the next, were bad! But you know, I've kinda mellowed, and I'm more accepting of cliched, cheesy entertainment, so I no longer rag on the folks. Rolling my eyes seems to suffice.

You know, though, I've got plenty of time for soaps now that Junior and the three brothers that followed are grown and out of the house. The fact that I haven't been gainfully employed for a couple of years also helps free up my schedule for watching soaps. But you know, I think WATCHING soaps is way passé-- internet soaps is where it's at now, man.

Well, ok, you can catch some soaps on Youtube, but right now I'm having fun with a text-y internet soap opera called Boxer Falls. Why does this soap appeal to me where so many others have made me gag? Boxer Falls is a gay soap opera. And it's hilarious, so tongue-in-cheek. Literally! And there's hot sweaty mens-- and what's not to like about that?

Ok, I need a milk and cookies break, so why don't you read this blurby bit about Boxer Fallsthat is on their website:

Boxer Fallsis a weekly homoerotic soap opera being posted at the M/M Romance Group at Goodreads. Penned by a group of fan favorites and new voices, a roster of unparalleled talent brings this "gaytime drama" to life with high camp, low blows, and intense sexiness.

Our writers produce episodes as interconnected short stories about the ongoing adventures of the residents of a tightknit Berkshires resort town with a queer reputation as it gains a reputation as a homo hot spot for the discerning traveler. You should expect sex, scandal, secrets, and happy endings that come at a high price.

Every week a new guest star will take up the pen. Join Ellis Carrington, Poppy Dennison, and Damon Suede along with a host of your favorite gay romance scribes as they cut loose with suds and studs in abundance. And since Brita Addams has joined the team, Boxer Falls has been churning like never before.

I'm back. Nutrisystem Chocolate Chips cookies aren't half bad. But actually, I've rattled on enough. Why don't you follow the links and check out Boxer Falls. This week's episode is written by Sara York and sponsored by Yours Truly. Oh, and be sure to sign up for the Boxer Falls newsletter so you'll be able to keep up with all the naughty bits.

All for now!

Book review: Gambling Men by Amy Lane

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Thu, 10 May 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Gambling Men: The Novel by Amy Lane

Bitch Factor 10 rating: 4.8

Hmmm, I really wish you could deliver fractional amounts in your Good Reads ratings. This one was a 4.8 for me. I couldn't resist Quent and Jace-- they captured my attention and my heart from the very first pages. I would even be inclined to give this one a 5 if it weren't for the copious amounts of poker metaphors. Sure, I've played poker before (well, playing video poker counts, right?) but since I'm not that much of a player I had to really use my noggin to figure out the gaming and gambling analogies here-- and Emme's noggin just wanted to stay on vacation. You don't have to put on your poker face for this, though, as you'll eventually get the gist of it, even if you're not into that game.

The beginning of the novel is pretty fast-paced, in keeping with Jace's personality and Quent's attempts to keep up with his best friend and business partner. But when things move in a more sexual and romantic direction for the boys, I was able to catch my breath and savor the way Jace and Quent develop into a couple. Their relationship was believable for me, and I like that they had to put some time into strengthening their bond, in spite of them knowing each other for many years.

I liked the secondary characters in this one-- the office staff, as well as the poker buddies. And it would be nice to be filled in on more of the lives of the secondary characters-- I need the scoop on Toby and the mysterious Mack and more interactions between Quent and his family (that might be a bit too painful for Quent, though, so scratch that one). And, Uncle Mike's and Jefferson's story is begging to be told-- what a loving example of the commitment of two men and how they managed to raise a child.

This is another heart-warming friends-to-lovers, with just a dash of conflict (much less than the last Lane book I read, Chase in Shadow, thank Goddess!) and plenty of sizzle. Amy Lane delivers another winner in Gambling Men.

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Book review: Hot Hands by Erica Pike

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Mon, 07 May 2012 22:42:00 +0000

Hot Hands by Erica Pike

Bitch Factor 10 rating:

Well, I'm the kind of girl who can't help but get her hot little hands on a free M/M read. Yeah, I'm cheap like that-- or rather, I owe 75K in student loans and I still have two kids in college, and it's ixnay on the ookbay uyingbay. So, when Erica Pike posted on Twitter that her short, Hot Hands, was available for free the other day, I hopped over to No Boundaries Press and downloaded a copy.

Hot Hands is about Casper, a young gay college student who has been repeatedly groped at school by a mysterious someone. Now I'm of two minds about uninvited groping. The frumpy, law-and-order part of me feels that groping someone without permission borders on (or is…) sexual assault. The sexy libertine part of me says, hey, being groped by someone unknown-- that's fucking hot! These two sides of me were warring when I first started reading this story-- but the one with the over-active libido won out! And, thank Goddess, because Hot Hands turned out to be a surprising and enjoyable read.

It's hard to talk about everything that happens to Casper in Hot Hands without spoilers, so I'll just touch on a couple of things. Casper's groper starts out grasping him in crowded campus situations where he can remain undetected. Eventually the groper becomes even more emboldened, and stages a scene where he sneaks up on Casper, blindfolds him and takes the groping into new territory. Casper, poor boy, is a virgin, so all this clandestine fondling goes right to his gonads, even though he doesn't know who is his Secret Groping Admirer. Part of the fun of Hot Hands is the back and forth in Casper's mind as he tries to whittle down the list of suspects on his college campus to people he knows and who would be so inclined. Is the Groper with the intoxicating scent, sexy voice and very rigid cock a friend... or a long-time foe who is playing a prank on him? I ain't telling here...well, ok, maybe I'd give it up if you groped me...right there, hehehe.

I gotta tell ya, Erica Pike's story seemed kind of corny in the beginning, mostly because Casper was so wishywashy. But as this short story progresses, I began to empathize with Casper and started to understand some of the issues that shaped his reasoning. Casper had been the victim of bullying in high school, so it is understandable that he would be leery of finding himself in a similar situation in college. The scars that Casper has from his childhood run deep (and perhaps deserved more than a few mentions, but this is a short story, after all) and the groping situation provides him an opportunity to work through that pain. I'm just not sure that Casper completely makes peace with the past-- because Pike ends the story with a reveal that does not expose everything the reader might want to know (is there going to be sequel?).

Overall, Hot Hands has a lot going for it. The naïve but adorable Casper eventually won me over, as did his Hot Handed Lothario. I had to pack away my fuddy-duddiness to enjoy this one, but I'm glad I did. Erica Pike was a new author to me, but now I'll be seeking her out.

Happy Groping, to one and all!

Oh, one other thing… I'm going to have take off some percentage points because Erica's story was at No Boundaries Press, which was a new publisher for me. While I was perusing the selection there I came across some stories by other authors that I downloaded-- against my better judgment. I really shouldn't blame Erica for what some of her fellow writers are putting out at No Boundaries, but I will never, ever consider breast-feeding as just the hallowed activity of a caring mother again! Thanks for the breadcrumbs, Erica, that led me down that crooked, crooked (icky) path. hehehe.

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Book review: Country Mouse by Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Country Mouse by Amy Lane

Boy, I tell ya, it took me a bit of time to get around to reading this one. No, unlike other reviewers, I did not have any hesitation because Country Mouse was written by two authors (Amy Lane and Aleksandr Voinov) with two different writing styles, that may or may not mesh. No, it was simply the title: Country Mouse. Because... at the time Riptide Publishing requested a review, I was up to my ass in...country mice. Those fucking critters had invaded my home-- my bedroom, bath and kitchen, and I didn't want to read anything referencing mice-- metaphorically or otherwise! I'm even starting to blame one half of this writing team for my recent adventures in pest control-- I got scorpions galore in my house when I started reading Voinov's Scorpion a few months back. Yes, I think I see a pesky pest pattern here.

Luckily for the authors, I got rid of my mouse problem (took 5 different types of traps to catch those smarty-pants fuckers) and could go on and read this story. Ah, how refreshing! I really liked this story, in spite of the memories the title conjured up (the cover is cute and very a propos,too).

Everybody and their greasy grannies have already synopsed and reviewed this one to death, so I'll just move on to a couple of comments. Rodents aside, I have been pretty preoccupied with other things lately-- so much so that it seemed in the first bit like Owen and Malcom (well, Malcom, mostly), were speaking in a coded language that only the two of them could understand. I was surprised that Owen, being an American and all, caught on so quickly to Malcom's "drift" in the bar where they initially hook up. Maybe it's that I don't really "get" hook up culture-- I have never been good at approaching people in bars and letting them entice me into following them home. But Owen certainly got it *cough cough*

I really like how Owen turns the tables on the bristly, British Malcom (Yay, Yanks!). I really had no expectation that Owen would in any way take the reins in this brief relationship cum one-night-stand, especially given his gentle, forgiving nature. But there was a great deal more to Owen, and I totally fell in love with the way he patiently works things out with Malcom. Oh, and Malcom's flabbergastedness and willingness to be vulnerable just endeared him to me even more.

I'm usually not overly fond of short-encounter love stories, but this one works. It's level-headed, but still takes chances. The sex is hot and kinky, as expected from these authors, but doesn't overwhelm the story. The ending is sweet, so hold-your-breath sweet, but has just the right hint of tartness to balance it out. Dammit, Amy and Aleks-- I want more of these two. I want more of you two together as writers, as you seamlessly knit Country Mouse into a fine story.

Just watch it with the book titles, Aleks-- no "Playing 'Possum" or "Night of the Wolf Spider" nonsense in the future, please.

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Book Review: Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #1 by Andrea Speed

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Josh of the Damned Triple Feature #1 by Andrea Speed

Bitch Factor 10 rating:
In this third trip to the Josh of the Damned series pond, we have a triple feature. Yay! I really like the B-movie vibe of this book's cover-- and its stories. We are treated to three separate tales here, all smacking of that quirky Andrea Speed humor. I like...I like!

The first story is Night of the Mustache. Really, I don't need to tell you much more about that particular story than its hairy title. It is weird and amusingly entertaining, but I'm not sure how this one fits in with the overall story arc-- but maybe it's just meant as an intermission. In any case, there's finally a little more "action" between Josh and Colin-- if only Josh could remember it. Doh!

The second story, I was Cthulhu's Love Slave, has a little more umph to it than NotM. The JotD world is nothing but surreal, so I never can figure out how much time has transpired between stories, but in this one we know it's Xmas and Josh is pulling a night shift at the Quik-Mart. This time out, we do learn a bit more about Josh's life-- or rather, his lack, thereof. We even get more of the mysterious employer, Mr. Kwon. I'm not entirely sure why a Red Lobster menu item drops by to harass Josh, but I sure hope Stan, THE Cthulhu's relative, makes a future appearance because that would increase the possibility of tentacle sex. One can never have enough of that, right? Ok, well, maybe not. But Bobo the Yeti is back, and he's still just as irresistible as he was in book two, Peekaboo.

The last of this triple-feature is Interview with the Empire. In this one, we get a bit more 411 on Colin, the knight to Josh's damsel-in-distress. He's got his own place on the other side of the hell portal, and a boss, to boot! Colin has been a fairly innocuous boyfriend up until this point, but it seems Josh has even more reason to have doubts about his lover, once he has a better look at Colin's world. We'll have to stay tuned to figure what's brewing with these boys and the nefarious Quik-Mart upper management.

Josh of the Damned Triple Feature is a fluffy, paranormal ride but that don't bother me none. Snark and pop culture references always work for me, so I'm committed to JotD till the very end. Speed is dishing out this story in tiny nibbles (this one admittedly larger than the 1st two books), and I'm sure that doesn't work for some readers, but I have always been a fan of serials, so I don't mind. I recommend this volume, and the previous ones, to those that like a goofy B-movie or comic book feel to their paranormals. As a matter-of-fact, I would love for this series to get the graphic novel treatment. I love getting to know more about the boys and new characters, and I'm so looking forward to further installments.

ps. More Bobo, please!

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A little quip re: My future employment prospects

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 00:53:00 +0000

Man, if I don't start earning more money soon to pay-off my student loans Ima gonna have to look into the Colombian Prostitution opportunity. I'm a little smarter than some of those current-events bitches because I take credit cards and require payment up front. Don't know if I'd be offering a US government employee discount, though.

Book review: Alien Rule by Tracy St. John

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Alien Rule by Tracy St. John

Bitch Factor 10 rating:

It took many moons for me to get a copy of Alien Rule to review. Sure, I could have gotten it into my hot little hands sooner if I had bought a copy, but after reading the first book in this series, Alien Embrace (here's my review of that one: http://bitchfactor10.blogspot.com/201...), I thought I would just borrow the sequel.

Alien Rule has much in common with its predecessor. We are still in the universe of the Clans of Kalquor. The Kalquorians are still diplomatically warring with the theocratic denizens of Earth, and we have a band of ex-pat Earthers that have been marooned on planet Plasius, where all the inhabitants are sex-crazed (why couldn't *I* have been dropped off on a planet like that instead of being stuck here? My alien parentals must have left me here on Earth as punishment, hrmph!)

This story follows Nurse Jessica, and her intersex friend Michaela as they try to find Kalquorian clans that will take them in and make them brood mares...er, make them "honored Mataras." Because, you know, it's every girl's dream to hook up with a triad of double-donged aliens that will impregnate them with their alien seed. And I'm slightly confused about how well Michaela would have worked out as a child-bearer for a prospective clan-- does she have a viable womb? Anyway, this story is mostly about Jessica and her boys, so I'll touch on Michaela's situation a bit later.

I don't know-- I never took to Jessica in this story, mainly because she is wishy-washy when it comes to the "rapey" scenes in this book. "No means no!" may the hue and cry of women on Earth, but on Plasius, as far as Jessica is concerned, "No means, 'well, yeah, go ahead and disregard what I say, because I really like being penetrated in all my orifices at once, virgin that I am.'" UGH! Not to discount that there are women who out there who have rape fantasies and love reading "romances," that make use of that trope, but argh! this book leans more towards actual rape than dubious consent or fantasy.

My inclination is to be a little more forgiving of Jessica the Virginal because she may be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or feel rebellious against the puritanicalism of Earth. But Jessica is so hypocritical in this story, that I can't really give her a pass. When Jessica encounters another Earther refugee she excuses taking up with the aliens by saying, "I found it inappropriate to shelter on the transport among men (her fellow Earthers) I do not know the intentions of." Right? It couldn't possibly be that you passed up your own kind so that your mouth, pussy and ass could be repeatedly stuffed by the Three Musketeers, could it? The bitch doth protest too much!

Jessica is bad enough, but potential lover Clajak (hate that name, btw)takes the cake. Clajak is a grade-A asshole, through and through. Throughout most of the book, he does not take responsibility for his actions-- not as an heir to the Klaquorian throne, and not as a suitable love interest in the triad that wants to "woo" Jessica. Dewd can not control himself, of course:

Your sex (Jessica's) yields to penetration yet clings to mine with such a grip that I must fight for control every moment."

Poor, poor Clajak. He's a (willing) slave to the coochie. Jessica just has a pussy that forces Clajak to misbehave. And, scarily, he goes easy on forcing himself on Jessica because "it was a shame she was too small to fuck properly." *shiver* Thank Goddess Jessica is muy pequeno or that lovemaking could have turned all kinds of nasty (or nastier...). Yes, it all Jessica's fault-- she is preventing Clajak from being nice to her, and therefore he has to go all rapist to get her to submit.

Clajak isn't the only douche in this equation-- his clanmates Egilka and Bevau agree with Clajak that they can and should "resort to coercion and punishment," as effective dating tools to win over Jessica. You know, just in case the penis-times-two-times-three action doesn't work.

As if the rape theme was not enough for Jessica and Crew, there are other instances of dub-con in the story. I don't want to be too spoilery, but Tracy St. John seems to have a fascination with younger girls being raped. Even though Jessica is an adult, she is often referred to in girlish terms. And I think substituting an under-aged "alien" for a "human girl," in another scene is a thinly veiled and despicable ruse to use the violation of a child for erotic entertainment.

Anyhoo, you can guess how this all ends up-- Jessica learns to love the triad; the boys don't have to resort so much to rape to express their love for Jessica after she finally gives in to them. yada yada yada. There's nothing unexpected here about how things turn out for Jessica and posse. What is surprising is that there is so much growling when characters are aroused or having sex (to be fair, the Kalquorians seem to growl at other instances, too, like when they are showing disapproval of political leaders). I'd guess that there are at least 50 instances of growling with the boys-- and even Jessica starts doing it! I've been doing this sex thing for some 30+ years now, but I haven't encountered all that much growling. I must be doing it all wrong-- like, with humans, to start, hehehe. The repetition of certain words and phrases was driving me batty in this story, as was the repeated fuckings. Hey, I thought there were more possible variations of having four people have sex with six penises, four asses and one vagina between them-- but apparently, no, it's the same ole, same ole.

Ok, I didn't absolutely hate this book. I kinda knew what I was getting into since I read the first one in the series. I do like that bellydancing figures into the story, since that's one of my hobbies. And, Michaela's intersexualism adds interest to the story, but I couldn't help but cringe at how self-hating she was throughout most of the story. Michaela's lack of self-worth is somewhat understandable, given Earth's non-acceptance of intersexuals, but Michaela's constant moments of insecurity started to make me share that opinion of her. She almost had ME convinced of her worthlessness. I wouldn't mind Michaela having her story in the series, because I'd like to know how she works out with her clan (hmmm, what happens when there are SEVEN penises, instead of six...).

Ok, enough blathering about this book. Bottom line: this book entertains the notions of rape and dubious consent far too often to be enjoyable. Fans of the series, though, probably wouldn't shy away from this one. Everyone else, though, could (and probably should) give it a pass.

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Random shit: A little quip re:stay-at-home moms

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 16:43:00 +0000

I was a stay-at-home mom. I had four sons that I homeschooled, and I thought it best to put my career plans on hold so that I could see them off to the best start in life. I don't know how we made it on one measly paycheck, but we sacrificed what we could and we made it work. All the boys are successful adults now, so it was well worth it.

One thing, though-- it's hard to justify being a stay-at-home mom once the kids are all grown up. Believe me, I've tried. hehehe!

Random shit: A little quip re:George Zimmerman

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 23:17:00 +0000

George Zimmerman's website alone should serve to tell us everything we need to know about his mental state. Luckily, he won't be standing trial for bad web design.

Book review: Oral Expressions by Ann Campell

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 02:45:00 +0000

FYI: The author provided me a copy for review, but this bitch is solely responsible for the content of the review.

Trey and his friends are awfully considerate when they stage a bachelor party for their friend, Richard. Trey even opened his home to the revelers, and friend Paul has arranged an hour with a phone sex operator. (Now that is an interesting choice for the groom's gift-- I like it!)

When the groom chickens out of making the call to the phone sex girl, nice-guy Trey doesn't let the opportunity go to waste. He calls the girl himself, to at least give her a few minutes of time, so that she isn't out of all the money from the groom's bailout. But instead of a few minutes, the silky voice entices Trey to stay on the phone far longer than he intended.

"Belle" knows all the right things to say to get a guy riled up-- it's her job. Well, not her day job, but a second job that helps take her mind off of other things, like a hot guy at work. "Belle" pops Trey's phone-sex cherry, but that's only the beginning of the "oral expressions" for these two.

You'll have to pick up this very spicy short to find out the rest for yourself.

This may be somewhat familiar territory, but Ann Campbell has written a fast, flirty, sizzling tale that does not fail to deliver the "yum."

Random bits: This short is 36 pages long. Nice cover!

Random Tandem: mini-review of The Hunger Games

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 04:59:00 +0000

It seems like I have been waiting for this movie FOREVER! And now that it's come (and gone, because I saw it tonight) I'm kinda ambivalent. It's always a difficult thing to love a movie that has a favorite book as the source material. I do have to say, though, I think The Hunger Games will please most of its movie-going public-- but diehard fans may feel like me, that the movie lacked some of the intensity of the book and the characters in the movie didn't feel as fleshed out as I would have liked. The politics behind the Hunger Games seemed like a middle-school book report version-- but I guess if it were more true to the books, it might have been too bleak. At least the director didn't completely blunt the horror of children having to kill children.

As far as the visuals, I needed an antacid after watching the multitude of stomach-turning color combinations of the citizens of Capitol, hehehe. Overall, I think they got the look and feel of the story down. Special effects were not distracting (I particularly liked the wolfie mutts, though I don't think some of the peculiarities about them, that we know from the book, came across in the movie).

Overall, the acting was great. I knew Jennifer Lawrence would deliver. I totally expected Woody Harrelson to ruin Haymitch with overacting, but Harrelson seemed to hold back. Lenny Kravitz sort of sleep-walked through his role. I adore that little one who played Rue, Amandla Stenberg. Really didn't get much out of the performances of the other tributes-- they mostly seemed pretty one-dimensional villains (with Rue and Thresh being the exceptions).

Ok, this is running kind of long for a mini-review. Just one more, really superficial thing-- Donald Sutherland, as President Snow, is creepy. That man has always been creepy (Invasions of the Body Snatchers still scares me), but his ginormous ears are even creepier than I remember from many movies past. Thank Goddess he's extra furry in this one, because otherwise I would have been clutching the teenager seated next to me every time DS made an appearance.

It's bedtime. I'll probably have Hunger Games dreams tonight. I'm not complaining, though. I mostly enjoyed the movie, and I want to see how the sequels are handled. Dreams might be all I have to keep me company about the Panem world for a while-- unless I pick The Hunger Games trilogy up again. Good idea.

Random tandem: A mini-review of John Carter

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:44:00 +0000

I just got back from a free Austin screening of John Carter, the new Disney movie in wide release on March 9th. I really didn't see this coming! I loved this movie! It was everything I had hoped that Conan would be, but wasn't.

I saw John Carter in an IMAX theater in 3d-- which really added to the visual experience. The scenes weren't CGI-ed to death, which I really appreciate. The cast was appealing-- from the leads, Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins (glad they had chemistry), to the supporting cast of perennial favorites like Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church and Samantha Morton. And lest we forget-- Mark Strong. I don't know what it is, but that man just goes straight to my panties, especially when he plays a villain (as he does here). There's plenty of action, and I was a little surprised at the amount of violence there is in this Disney flick, but none of the violence is unwarranted or too over the top. Oh, and I love the array of creatures-- and yeah, I know I don't have a say about that because I'm one of the few that hasn't totally hated on Jar-Jar Binks. I could totally see spending some discretionary income on action figures, here.

Ok, I only have a couple of film-lit classes under my belt (and believe me, that belt has expanded a great deal in the 12 years since I graduated), so I'm not equipped to discuss the technical aspects of the film's production. I am intrigued about the original story by Edgar Rice Burroughs. And let me stick my neck out-- I think John Carter has the potential to be the Star Wars of a new generation-- but I think the timing of the release doesn't lend itself to mega-block-buster status. I mean, this movie is going to be a winner for Disney, but I think it deserved a summer release, rather than one at the beginning of Spring Break. And, surprisingly, I have only seen one preview for the movie thus far, so it's almost like Disney is being cautiously optimistic in promoting the movie. Quite a change from the The Hunger Games hoopla (which I've unabashedly bought into).

I'm going to recommend John Carter to friends and fam and hope that John Carter has some further adventures coming to the big screen.

Storm Grant, author of Few Are Chosen visits BF10

noreply@blogger.com (Emme Adams) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Few are chosen, but Bitch Factor 10 was-- for a Riptide Blog Tour visit from Storm Grant, author of the highly-amusing Few Are Chosen. Today, Storm is the guest poster, telling us how " you know you're a writer..." Storm has also included a blurb from Few Are Chosen and there's a contest, too! So be sure to look for contest details towards the end of this post.

Buy link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/few-are-chosen

You know you're a writer when...

So there I am, skipping along behind the dogs at the dog park, delighted the ice is finally gone so I don't have to watch my footing, and--down I go. Goodbye, ice. Hello, mud.

I get home and toss the muddy jeans in the washer, then spend several minutes examining and describing my poor raw knees to myself. Why?

There are poor raw knees in a scene I need for my current work-in-progress.

Now that I've embraced raw-kneehood, I guess I should put some disinfectant on them. It's a dog park, who knows what was in that mud? Ewww!

I’ve done some weird-ass things to get info for my books. Please, please, please never ask my husband about that sex scene for GYM DANDY.

The 300-year-old converted monastery I stay in each year in Mexico? I spent several nights scaring the other tenants by wandering up and down the four flights of stairs in the dark so I could give my Grim Reaper an apartment in Hell for SCYTHE DOES MATTER.

My latest release, FEW ARE CHOSEN from Riptide Publishing, is my first YA. I spent so much time spying on teens at the local mall that I worried Mall Security would have me arrested. But I realized they were the same horribly self-conscious, attention-hungry, insecure kids that we were back in the 1970s. Just less pot and more iPods. Or maybe that’s just me.

In order to figure out what cultural references kids would get, I gathered my teenage nephews plus their girlfriends and read them a page of questions. Oddly, they can hum the theme but don’t know Jaws, they know that a repeatedly descending fist coupled with a squeaky noise means death-in-the-shower but have never heard of Psycho. And despite repeated watchings of Zoolander, have no idea who David Bowie is. Huh. Kids today.

Now I’m embarking upon a new writerly quest—I want to write a mystery. It’ll still be a funny, creature-filled bonanza, but it will follow the mystery structure. So now… I’m going to need to murder somebody so I can describe it from the murder’s point of view. Any volunteers?

What crazy things have you done to get realism and good description in your writing?

Storm Grant (also writing as Gina X. Grant)

Email / Website / Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Goodreads

BLURB:

FEW ARE CHOSEN by Storm Grant

Sparks fly between virgin teenage demon hunters when the Chosen One turns out to be… the Chosen Two?

Apprentice warrior Blake St. Blake is the Chosen One, raised by an ancient order to defend the world against evil. Well, maybe not the whole world, but at least his neighborhood in downtown Detroit.

When a dreaded reflux demon is sighted in a local cemetery, Blake is sent off to his very first battle, armed with his sword, his super-senses, his black leather duster, and a few well-rehearsed one-liners.

But another Chosen One gets in Blake’s way—an apprentice wizard named Shadow. While the boys argue about who’s the more chosen of the two, the demon escapes.

Blake wants to be angry, but it turns out he and Shadow have a lot in common. Besides, Shadow’s pretty cute, and Blake can’t help but think that the wizard’s skills (and hands and lips and other bits) might make the perfect complement to his. Blake and Shadow are brave enough to challenge the reflux demon in a second battle, but will they have the courage to tell each other how they feel?

Title Details

Publisher: Riptide Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-937551-22-3

eBook release: Feb 20 2012

eBook formats: pdf, mobi, html, epub

Word count: ~12,000

Page count: ~40

Heat Wave: On-screen, mildly explicit love scenes

Type: Standalone

eBook $2.99

Contest details:

Play The Name Gamefor FEW ARE CHOSEN and win a copy of ALL THREE of these entertaining books from Storm Grant’s backlist: Gym Dandy, Shift Happens, and Tart and Soul. (Two full-length novels and a novella!)

1. What is Shadow’s real first name? ___ ___ ___ ___

2. What is Shadow’s mentor’s first name? ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

3. What is the name of the Order that raised and trained Blake? The Order of the ___ ___ ___ ___

How to enter: DO NOT POST YOUR ANSWERS! Instead, to qualify:

1. Email your answers to the three questions, above, to storm.grant@gmail.com.

2. Then post a comment to this blog stating that you’ve emailed your entry.

You may enter once for each stop on the blog tour, thereby increasing your chances of being the grand prize winner!

One grand prize winner will be selected March 5^th.

Blog tour, details here.