Torchwood CoE reaction (spoilers)

I couldn’t manage to keep my resolve of not watching part #5, so I finally watched it on iPlayer.  In my usual indecisive way, I’m in two minds about it. Read the rest of this entry »

Round Robin at Coffee Time Romance

Some time ago I seem to have signed myself up to host a round robin story on the Coffee Time Romance boards

http://www.coffeetimeromance.com/board/forumdisplay.php?f=255

the idea being that I start the story off with a couple of characters, setting, genre etc, then everyone contributes a paragraph a week, and I intervene occasionally to try and keep the whole thing trundling towards a reasonable ending.

But they’ve just asked me what sort of genre I want to do.  I need help!

If you were taking part in something like this, would you prefer

1. A Regency

2. A pirate story

3. An Earth based SF story (think Torchwood.)

4. An intergalactic SF story (think Star Trek.)

5. A ghost story

6. A murder mystery

7. Something else (all suggestions welcome!)

Currently I have no idea what to do!

Hidden Conflict has a cover

Hidden Conflict, which is the anthology in which Blessed Isle has a spot, now has a cover.  It’s beautiful and work-safe, and designed by the talented Jordan Taylor, who also has a novella in the anthology: Read the rest of this entry »

Amazing sulking power strikes again – TW (spoiler free) reaction.

I’ve just seen last night’s Torchwood (ep4) on iPlayer.  My reaction: ‘ok, that’s it. Don’t care about how it ends. Not watching any more. So there!’

That is all, really.

….ok, so maybe I wouldn’t mind some gruesome angst filled revenge, but possibly not enough to bother watching it for.

(There may be spoilers in the comments, though.)

Displacement activity

First of all, thanks so much to everyone who commented yesterday.  Now I know what I ought to do, but haven’t yet plucked up the courage to do it.  But I will!  Thanks 🙂 Read the rest of this entry »

The old one-two again

Oh God, I’m so tired of this.  Why is it that the moment you’ve calmed down from defending yourself against the ‘straight women who write m/m fiction ought to be ashamed of themselves for exploiting gay men‘ debate, you get hit with the ‘women who write m/m fiction ought to be ashamed of themselves for their misogyny‘ stick?

I’ve been holding a long email conversation with a lady who is convinced that misogyny is at the root of my writing, and at the root of the reason why (she thinks) no m/m writer in existence likes her book.  Now she says that because I don’t admit to being a misogynist, I must be so ashamed of it that I’m lying to her.

What do I do?  Ingrained politeness tells me that I must not be the one to put a stop to a conversation.  My religion tells me I must turn the other cheek and forgive seven times seventy times.  But dear God, it’s so hard!  And in the mean time I’m losing the will to write anything at all.

Do I tell her that the conversation has gone on too long and it’s a threat to my mental health?  (It really is making me that angry and depressed.)  Or do I wait a couple of weeks, until my anger and depression have eased a bit and then give her a polite answer back – thus prolonging a conversation that makes me feel like this almost every time?

Or do I just grow a thicker skin and laugh it all off?  I think that may be the ultimate answer.  But will a thicker skin make me more insensitive?  I’m not sure I would want that.  I guess you need callouses on your skin for walking or for playing the harp, but do you need callouses on your soul to be able to write?  I somehow can’t imagine they would make you write any better.

Why should het women be allowed to write m/m romance?

I keep coming back to this because it keeps being something I am asked to justify.  But I was browsing Metafandom on LJ this morning and I discover in this post about fandom’s skeevy behaviour towards GLBT people that rm has already answered it fully and completely.  I will be adopting this answer myself in future.  Thanks RM!

I am _not_ saying that het people shouldn’t be writing slash (one unfortunate drama I’ve seen on the Internet lately), because hey, what turns you on, what interests you, no matter who you are, THAT’S PART OF YOUR SEXUAL AND EMOTIONAL IDENTITY TOO and I’m all for it.

Scentsational!

Bad puns aside, I got a package through the door on Monday, and it was 8 little ‘imps’ of Black Phoenix Alchemical Laboratory (BPAL) perfumes and one full bottle of the like. Courtesy of Snakey who was selling his stash to finance a trip to the USA.

I’ve heard so much about BPAL, and the names of the perfumes are so evocative, and the descriptions even more so, that I decided to ask for a sort of introductory set.  I didn’t know what I was getting (never tried anything from them before), which made it all very exciting.

What arrived (in a lovely little black bag – thank you Snakey!) was

1. Bottle of “Chaos Theory V: Recursive Self Similarity v.3. The Penitence Series.”
(See what I mean about the names?!)

Imps (little tester vials) of

DRAGON’S HIDE: Flame kissed, warm, smooth, and highly protective. Dragon’s blood, leather and a hint of smoke.

Smelled to me of: Roses, bubblegum, pear drops and a hint of cinnamon.  Probably the girliest of the scents.

The Ghost: A thin, sinuous, creeping chill, the scent of glee-filled undeath: white iris, osmanthus, Calla lily, tomb-crawling ivy and a coffin spray of gladiolus, lisianthus and delphinium.

Smelled to me of: In the bottle, Jasmine and lemon.  On me, it suddenly (like the ghost) went undetectable and I couldn’t tell it was there.

The Owen’s Tomb: Marble and dust surrounded by burdock, knotweed, dandelions, daffodils, and long-dead calla lilies.

Smelled to me of: strong pipe tobacco. Actually very nice, but made me want to wear corduroys and a tweed jacket, and possibly take up archaeology.

Hastur: Smoky-sour labdanum, black patchouli, wet tobacco, and brimstone.

Smelled to me amazingly enough exactly like it says – a nice smoky, musky sort of smell with patchouli for sweetness.  This is probably close to the scent Jasper wears in The Wages of Sin.

Mandrake

La Belle Au Bois Dormant

Miss Lupescu

Aeronwen (Ladies of the Grindhouse)

I haven’t yet tried these on yet, but they all smell good in the bottle.

The real stand out success so far has (thankfully) been the bottle of Chaos Theory.  This is fantastic!  It comes out of the bottle going ‘ooh, I’m minty!  Really really spearminty.  Maybe also with some talc.’  But within about ten minutes of applying it does this amazing alchemical shift, and suddenly becomes chocolate covered Turkish Delight, and mint tea and grass.  And it’s gorgeous!  I really don’t mind smelling like chocolate covered Turkish delight all day long.

But the way it changes when it’s on is almost miraculous.  I end up waiting for it and when it starts I have to stop dead and just breathe.  It’s like the world is being turned inside out, in a nasal sort of way.  An almost awesome experience.  I think I’m hooked 🙂

Cover art hair tearing

Maybe it’s a case of ‘separated by a common language’ again, but how hard can it be to find a single decent picture of an Oxbridge young man in summer flannels (preferably lounging against a wall)?

I’m looking for something like this:

And I’ve tried Brideshead Revisited (as a sort of theme), Maurice (theme), EM Forster, Oxbridge punting, Oxbridge boating, 1930s style, flannel trousers, garden party, Ascot, Edwardian gentlemen, elegant men, themed weddings and even three men in a boat. And I’m getting pictures of gardens, ties, men in business suits and high tech yachts. Searching for ‘men in punts’ just gets me a do you mean ‘men in pants’?

So maybe I’m using the wrong terms. Anyone got any suggestions?

UK writer’s conference

Anyone interested in coming along to, or helping to organize a writer’s conference in the UK?  If it sounds like something the UK has been missing for years, and you would be very interested in seeing something like that get started, please join us on http://groups.yahoo.com/group/writingconference2010/

and we’ll try to hammer out exactly what kind of thing we’re looking for, and get it all organized for next year 🙂  For more information, check out erastes’ LJ, or just join the yahoo group 🙂