WIP Wednesday: His Master's Touch

On Friday, because I am so awesome. And I can never get the days of the week straight. Like... ever.

From our historical Roman WIP that we're tentatively calling "TMQF", currently on hiatus while we do a little freebie for the M/M Goodreads Group's "Love Is Always Write" event.

Marianus acknowledged his presence once again, and his regard brought the same mix of arousal and fear roiling in his stomach, then diffusing, sinking lower, transmuting into heat and hardness. Not bodily fear—Anazâr had been used for release by masters before, and ones much crueler and less physically appealing than Marianus—but fear of causing displeasure, of being valued lower, of having his place in this household irrevocably changed.

Anazâr thought his hesitance would earn him punishment, but Marianus’ face was sympathetic. “I’ll give you the choice of refusing, and Alexandros will bring me a kitchen slave instead. No?” Anazâr stood frozen, barely able to breathe. Marianus stepped closer. “On your knees, then. No, not the tile, you can move to the rug.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t sound so surprised. I know some masters take pleasure in the pain of their slaves, but I’m not one of them. I’d have you comfortable.”

“Dominus,” Anazâr acknowledged, allowing himself to be lead to the rug. Marianus didn’t grip him, just barely brushed his elegant fingertips across Anazâr’s skin with the faith that Anazâr would not let that touch be broken. Marianus’ power: the ability to command without threat, to have his expectations fulfilled without voicing them.

That same touch guided Anazâr to his knees.

Women in M/M PSA

Riding on the heels of Aleks Voinov's post criticizing M/M genre "purity" and the misogyny, transphobia, and biphobia it represents, I'd like to make a quick public service announcement and offer a bit of feminine and feminist perspective on the issue. Do hop by Aleks' blog as well, though, for an examination of how this issue impacts transgender authors, readers, and characters, as well as a very important point on self-censorship.

And now for the PSA:

My books have women in them. Capable women, smart women, lost women, emotional women, kind women, villainous women, mothers and wives and exes and sisters and cousins and girlfriends and great great great (great great great, etc.) grandmothers. Sometimes they have sex. Sometimes I even write in full glorious detail about their sex organs.

Look, I get it. Women grow up in a world that teaches us to revile our own vaginas. We're taught our sexuality, our sexual urges and feelings, are somehow dirty and grotesque, whereas male sexuality is celebrated. We all live and die with "Lie back and think of England" hanging over our heads. For people like me, that already confusing and damaging relationship is further complicated by our sexual history, namely the fact that I (among many many too many others) am a survivor of rape and childhood sexual abuse. Basically what I'm saying is... I've been there on the hating vaginas front. I was at one time the queen of hating my own vagina. I had enough issues to get myself a respectable place in JSTOR.

Thing is... I acknowledge that. I forgive myself for being a product of my society, but that doesn't mean I don't examine and try and heal these harmful attitudes when I recognize them in myself or when someone else points them out to me. Other feminists will argue I'll never make progress in that respect so long as I write M/M, a genre where I can safely avoid female sexuality for as long as I bloody well please. Maybe they're right and maybe they're wrong. I'll continue writing and reading subjects I enjoy, and continue working on my issues with my gender, and if there comes a time when I decide that I can't write M/M and call myself a feminist, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

I'm not saying anyone else has these issues (or at least, I'm saying somebody else does, but not necessarily you). I'm not your therapist. I don't know why you read or write M/M. I don't know what you get out of it. Maybe you're perfectly comfortable with your body and your sexuality and the mere notion of what I'm saying is offensive to you. If you're feeling defensive right now, though, I'd ask you to give this some thought rather than rejecting it outright. A little bit of self-reflection is never a bad thing, even if you do it and say "Nope, I think I'm all clear on this front."

But whether or not this post speaks to you or enlightens you or makes you want to scream HOW FUCKING DARE YOU into my face, know this:

I will warn for themes of rape, abuse, and incest in my stories. I will warn for violence and violent and abusive language. I will not warn for female characters, and I will not warn for female characters getting it on. You have a right to have whatever relationship with vaginas you please, but I likewise have a right not to coddle your Issues by letting you know in advance about the presence of vaginas in my writing. I feel I owe my readers warnings about rape and abuse and incest and abusive language because I want them to feel safe reading my writing, so that people with issues with rape know that X story might upset, disturb, or trigger them, etc. I don't owe my readers safety from vaginas. If that means my stories don't conform to the "purity" standards of the M/M genre as it stands, well then I guess I'll have to put them in another niche of romance.

But having said all this, I have a feeling that this distate for vaginas among M/M readers is far less widespread than some people would have us believe.

I'm an M/M reader and writer who enjoys women characters and who recognizes that human sexuality and gender is a spectrum. As such I'm perfectly fine with M/F and M/M/F relationships appearing in my M/M stories. If you are too, speak up and be heard!

ETA
For further reading, I highly recommend this post that popped up overnight on Dear Author:
SEXUALITY AND SAME-SEX ROMANCE: PLACEHOLDERS, POWER DYNAMICS, AND THE P-WORD by Jill Sorenson.
A really excellent, in-depth examination of this issue that's a million times more thoughtful than my post here.

Happy St. Paddy's Day Beef and Guinness Stew

My husband was born and raised in County Kildare, Ireland. He's not a big fan of Saint Paddy's day, especially not the whole North American green beer spin on things, but he is a big fan of Irish food and of people buying him drinks, so he puts on a good show of it.

This is my Culchie father-in-law Mick's beef stew recipe, and the only one my husband will eat. Which I happen to be cooking for an Irish-themed potluck tonight. That my husband will no doubt complain about once we're fed and home again. Never mind him, though, he's a spoil sport.

So here's what you'll need:

(Feeds 2)
1 lb stewing beef
1 can of Guinness (plus one to drink, if you're like Mick)
300 mL of beef stock
1 tsp "mixed herbs"
1/2 cup flour
Potatoes and other root vegetables
3 sticks celery
1 onion (optional)

Start off by peeling and prepping your vegetables. You can use whatever veg you're into: if it grows underground, it'll probably taste good. For my husband and I, we like a mix of yukon gold potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and turnip. I threw some celery in, even though he doesn't like it, but there's no sneaking an onion by him so I had to leave that out. There's no exact numbers for this: just do as much as you think your family wants to eat. I'm serving a crowd so I did 5 carrots, 5 parsnips, 6 potatoes, a big turnip, and 5 small stalks of celery.

 

Once you've got them all prepped, toss them into a big bowl and put them aside for later.

Next, take out your stewing beef (or you could buy a roast and cut it up yourself, but eh, I'm lazy). I buy mine from the local butcher's because it's high quality, humanely raised, and locally-sourced. If you buy tougher/cheaper meat, I imagine you can just cook it longer (or even stick it in a slow-cooker for the day) and it'll taste perfectly delicious.

Roll the beef in some flour. I added pepper, although that's not strictly included in Mick's recipe. Put a pot (if you're going stove-top) or cast iron dutch oven (if you prefer to bake) on medium high heat on the stove and add a glug of olive oil. When the oil's hot, use it to sear your beef. Usually I use a dutch oven, but because I'm making this for a big party tonight, I'm using my mother's stock pot.

 

Once your beef is seared, remove it from the pot and set aside. (I just threw it on top of my vegetables, because eh.) Crack open a Guinness (or two) and pour it into the bottom of the pan to deglaze. Mick's exact directions are to "pour a small glass" into the pan, reserving the rest, and then add the remainder of the can later. I imagine this method would give you a stronger Guinness flavour than pouring in the whole can at once at this point, which is what I did. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the yummy bits the beef has left behind. Let the Guinness boil a bit to burn off the alcohol.

Once you've deglazed your pan, dump your meat and veg back into the pot. If you followed Mick's Guinness instructions, add the rest of the Guinness. Add the beef stock, as well. Your liquid shouldn't cover the vegetables. Finally, add your "mixed herbs." Mick was in bed by the time I tried to ask him what "mixed herbs" are, so I used my mom's jar of herbs de provence, which is always yummy with beef.

 

If you're cooking this on the stove top, bring it to a boil and then lower the heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for two hours. If you're baking it, bake it at 190 Celsius for 2 hours, likewise stirring occasionally. It'll thicken as it goes.

(And then at the very end of the recipe, Mick notes "don't forget to pre-heat the oven." Thanks, Mick!)

Serve with Irish Soda bread. To eat it like my husband does, you can also add Chef Brown Sauce right before serving. Happy St. Paddy's day!

5 Tips for A Successful Co-Writing Relationship

People are always asking Violetta and I how we do this co-writing thing, so I've decided to do a series of blog posts discussing the ins-and-outs of our method. First on the docket, how to get along with the person you're about to split your royalties with.

1. Put a sock on the doorknob

Even if you're writing with a very good friend (like I am), being successful at co-writing means acknowledging that you are entering a professional relationship with one another. Have you ever been roommates with a friend? You have this picture in your head of the two of you baking cookies together and having America's Next Top Model marathons in your underwear (okay maybe just me), and then suddenly she's eating the food you bought or leaving hair in the shower drain or bringing over her drunk friends when you've got an essay due the next day and... you've got to somehow enforce your boundaries while maintaining your personal relationship. You don't want to be that person that just rolls over and lets their friends take advantage of them, and you don't want to risk your friendship by being too strict about your living rules... 

Co-writing is a professional venture. You will have artistic and financial disagreements, and sometimes these will prove to be a strain on your personal relationship with the other person. Plan for it. Before you write a single word together, talk together about what your expectations for your co-writing relationship are. Talk about the money, but also talk about how you want to handle creative disagreements (and you will have them, so don't kid yourself). Talk about how you're going to deal with professional disputes in a way that doesn't hurt your friendship. Talk about boundaries. Talk about how you'll make business decisions. Write a contract. Most of all, be prepared to work around the fact that even if you are BFFs who finish each other's sentences, when you stretch the definition of your friendship (like living together!), there's going to be some conflict. Be ready for it.

2. On Wednesdays, we wear pink!

Violetta Vane and I are both full-time moms, and when we wrote our first book, we were both working day jobs as well. Every Sunday, I go to my mother's for a family dinner. On Tuesdays, she volunteer teaches. Thursday night is my husband and I's date night. She's two hours ahead of me timezone-wise, so she goes to bed two hours earlier. Her son's sick. My daughter's teething. And so on, and so on, and so on. The long and short of it is, when you're co-writing, you suddenly have two people's "real lives" getting in the way of your writing time. 

When a deadline's looming (like it is for us right now... several of them!), this can be very stressful, but it can also be dangerous when there is no deadline, because there's no urgent motivator forcing you to make time for your writing. And every writer knows how unproductive you can be when you get that "eh, it can wait" attitude about writing. Schedule time for writing together. Set goals. Share a calendar with pertinent deadlines. When we're super busy, this can be as little as "separately write 100 words each a day", but it can also take the form of "barring child-vomit emergencies, Saturday is a day for editing and nothing else" or "Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 6pm-8pm we will both log on and write". We keep a calendar that lists our deadlines, our wordcount goals, our real-life commitments, and schedules in time specifically to simultaneously write. When you have two people and their families and their jobs to wrangle, a little organization goes a long way.

3. You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake

I'm an author too. I know about our tendency to get a little bit... difficult as artistes. When you're co-writing, there often isn't room for that desperate clinging to your artistic vision. The reality is, sometimes you won't see eye-to-eye on something, and sometimes you're going to have to compromise on something you would have originally kept had you been writing on your own. For Violetta, I once poo-pooed a car chase scene she was itching to write. She didn't want to write a captor/captive narrative for Riptide's Roman Warriors call. Sometimes something that you are super in love with, your co-author just can't get behind, and at those times you have to relinquish control a little. 

We're all used to compromising our vision with an editor, but co-writing brings that to a whole new level. Ultimately, a good editor will make your work stronger, but will do so in a way that doesn't compromise your style. They want a story that's your style at its best not... your story in their style. In co-writing, though, sometimes your co-author really does want your story in their style, and that's their right. They're an author too, which means sometimes they're going to exercise creative control in a way that is far more fundamental than tightening your pacing or fixing your comma splices. They might even... change your characterization. If you're not willing to do this give-and-take, you're going to have a very hard time maintaining a working relationship unless you find someone who is willing to cede you majority creative control. Violetta and I both have strong visions for everything we write, which means sometimes something's gotta give. Leave your ego at the door for this one, kids.

4. Let your co-author's freak flag fly

In keeping with the above rule, sometimes you have to just have to let your co-author try something you totally don't get... at all. For Violetta and I, when we disagree I have a tendency of saying, "Let me try and sell this," which is basically my way of saying "I know you're not hot on this idea, but let me actually get it down, and then decide if once you see it on the page, you understand where I'm coming from." Sometimes she sees what I've written and goes "Oh, now that I see it in context I love it!" and sometimes I get to delete everything while we try a new strategy. Both people have to be willing to let the other take risks, and also accept that sometimes those risks might not pan out. 

Remember! You're writing with your co-author for a reason. They have a certain special spark, you love what you make together, they bring skills to the table that complement your weaknesses, they're incisive or witty or creative or just plain fun to work with. Keep that admiration in mind when they come up with an idea you're not too sure about and let them give it a go! When Violetta came back at my captor/captive idea with "How about a gladiator having to train an ensemble cast of ragtag gladiatrices?" my first response was "Oh god what?" but now that we're in the thick of it, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love the concept, I love the characters, I love knowing that the story we're writing is really going to set us apart from other Roman-themed M/M. You are working with a brilliant person! Let them be brilliant! And if they're not brilliant... why are you working with them?

5. Houston, we--

Communicate communicate communicate! Remember in that first point when I said to hash things out before you start? Keep hashing them out. If you're worried about a deadline and want to pick up the pace, say so. If you're frustrated that you're always footing the bill to mail contracts, say so. If a chapter just totally isn't working, say so. If you've lost interest in a certain WIP, or don't know where it's going, SAY SO! Co-writing requires a lot of compromise, probably more than most authors or artists are willing to give. But compromise doesn't mean being unhappy or feeling taken advantage of or silently stewing over things you don't like. Keep it professional, of course, but remember that your name is on this book too. You are the only one who can advocate for yourself in this relationship, so do it! And just think: if you're anxious about a deadline and writing two nights a week isn't cutting it, or if you're burnt out editing a chapter, your co-author might be feeling that way too. And don't feel like you only have to speak for yourself. Take the initiative and ask her how she's doing, too: "What do you think of chapter 9? How are you feeling about this deadline? You seem kind of stressed, do you want to take a couple of days off and have an America's Next Top Model marathon?" 

Keep the lines of communication open from start to finish: write a professional contract together, plan a schedule together, plan the story together, sketch out characters together, share the workload of writing, editing, and promoting together. Stress together. Complain about synopsis writing together. Angst about the wait period to hear back on a submission together. Look at reviews together and whine/cry about the bad ones together. And then, at the end of it all, celebrate together. You overcame conflict and schedules and egos and day jobs and googledocs crashing and wrote a damn book! 

Like It or Not Announcement

Guess what? Violetta and I are going to have a short story in Storm Moon Press's non-con anthology, Like It or Not!

Our story is called "Salting the Earth" and here's the blurb:

Be it forced seduction/dubious consent, non-violent intimidation, or pre-negotiated fantasy, there is something wickedly taboo about non-consensual sex, where consent is muddled. While rape is a crime of power, focusing on exerting physical control over another person, non-con is all about the gray area where verbal consent is either never given (not a 'yes', but not a 'no' either) or doesn't match the arousal and passion both parties share during the act. In Like It or Not, we push the boundaries of consent without fully breaking them.

Salting the Earth becomes Ronan's only choice when he suspects his sister has been taken by the fairies. However, this only draws the interest of ruthless King Finnbheara, who extracts a price for his cooperation that may be too high for Ronan to pay. 

Also in the anthology? Angelia Sparrow, Gryvon, Naomi Brooks, Sean Michael, Stella Harris, and TC Mill!

It comes out May 11th 2012, but you can preorder it RIGHT NOW for 20% off the list price! That's right, six awesome boundary-stretching erotic M/M stories for $5.59!

Buy it now!
Add it on Goodreads

And after the jump, check out the full sized cover and the blurbs for the other stories in this collection.
(And just as a warning, those with rape-related triggers might find the imagery of the cover disturbing, so please proceed with caution!)

Presented without comment: "The Smurfette Principle"

Stumbled upon this and thought I'd share. How can we apply the thoughtful critique put forth by this video to M/M romance, a genre which by its very nature is focused on men and their relationships?

Happy Valentine's Day! Free Read!

Happy Valentine's day, internet! As promised, here is our short story Harm Reduction, now available for download from Storm Moon Press!

It's 1992 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and Magic Johnson has just gone public about being HIV+. Out of the news but right at the frontlines, Julio Torres works the streets and the parks, doing everything he can to keep more people from dying. He meets a young hustler named Linley who doesn't stand a chance. But no matter how hopeless, Julio never gives up trying to do the right thing.

It's 2012 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and there's a Whole Foods around the corner selling organic flowers for Valentine's Day. The city has changed, and so has the world, but Julio is still holding on to his past. He's moved on with his life, taken up new causes, but he just can't let Linley's memory go.

Goodreads | Download

And don't forget to check out SMP's other seasonal free reads here!