Musings From Hollywood

I’m sitting here at my desk looking out the window at The Hollywood Hills, wondering why I was crazy enough to agree to write this blog. I’m very boring and I doubt anyone really wants to hear about my life but here we go.

I have been living in Hollywood for almost three years and have been lucky enough to be working as an actor almost that whole time. I love my job and what I get to do for a living. I have wanted to be an actor since I was three years old and there are still times when I don’t believe I’m really here doing what I always wanted to do.

While acting can be very rewarding and a lot of fun it is a very hard life and a very unfair business. Hollywood is not for everyone and this town can, and does, destroy a lot of people if you let it and aren’t strong enough.

Acting is more than just fancy parties, glamorous premiers and being recognized by strangers. That’s just a small part.

There is a reason why it’s called show business. As actors we spend almost all of our time submitting to projects and sending headshots and resumes to casting directors, agents, managers and publicists. We go to thousands of auditions, dozens of callbacks; most of these roles we will never get and that constant rejection can eat at people and make them hate acting and grow bitter. We spend so little time actually acting.

When we are lucky enough to act we have to memorize lines, create a living, breathing, believable human and be able to turn our emotions on and off at the snap of a finger. We must also maintain those emotions for many takes or live performances. That can be draining, especially if you have an early morning call, a night shoot or an eighteen hour day.

It can be hard to have a relationship too. If you date someone in the business there is the risk of jealousy or resentment growing if one partner’s career takes off and the other’s doesn’t. Someone outside the business may not understand why you pursue the dream and it can be hard to watch the love of your life do a sex scene or make out with someone or be naked in a role.  

I would say that if you move to Hollywood because all you want is fame, lots of money and to be a “star”, save yourself the money and heartbreak and find another career. It takes years and lots of hard work to be a star and famous. No one is “discovered” and there are no “overnight successes.”

So why do I put myself through this? Because I don’t want to do anything else. I can’t do anything else. I love performing and I’m lucky to be able to work, literally, all the time. And not just in front of the camera. I also work behind the scenes when I feel like I have to recharge my sanity. That’s another piece of advice I can give; don’t limit yourself. Do everything. You never know who you’re going to meet or what opportunities you can get. I became eligible to join SAG by working as a PA on a webseries. I got a co-star role and Taft-Hartlied.

If you are willing o do the work, have a thick skin and are tenacious, you can succeed and have a long and fulfilling career in Hollywood.

Thanks for stopping by,

~Joe

Joe Filippone has been acting for almost twenty years, ever since he was a child. He has appeared on the TV shows 1000 Ways To Die, Childrens’ Hospital, Homicide Hunters and the webseries Shooting For The Scars, Fabulous High, Driving With Our Eyes Shut. Joe has appeared in countless indie films and stage productions. He has also worked as a stage manager, director, casting director, sound and light operator, house manager and teacher. Joe is also a dancer, singer and writer whose work has appeared in nearly thirty anthologies. www.joefilippone.webs.com or www.garlandserotictales.webs.com

Older Men: Love them!

Jaxx Steele here to give you my take on older men. I wanted to take this moment to give props to sexy men over forty-five in the world. The men that are aging like fine wine and getting sexier as time passes, you know the ones I’m talking about: the Sean Connerys, Mark Harmons, Samuel Jacksons, Denzel Washingtons and Antonio Banderas’ of the world. I love then all!

I write romances and work really hard trying to bring out my characters inner as well as outer beauty. Although most of my characters are in their mid twenties to mid thirties, I personally adore older men. I have nothing against a young man, I just prefer an older man. If you will continue reading I will share a few reasons why. 

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of Jaxx Steele and not necessarily shared by the good people at All Male Romance.  

Now, that the legalities have been observed….

The physical beauty of a young man is one of his assets to be sure and surely one of his prize possessions. I mean, who doesn't walk along the beach just to see those lovely hard bodies, burned to a golden glow by the sun, glistening with a sheen of perspiration, flexing beautifully in the bright July heat? 0-0 *ahem* Sorry about that. I was lost in the visual of all that. 

Anyway, as I was saying, that's all good, but it takes more than a pretty face, doesn’t it? I am not trying to bash younger men, but if physical beauty fades with time and that’s all you have, well… An older man who is healthy in mind and conscience of his physical health can be just as beautiful! He appreciates the days he has and lives them to the fullest. His graying hair looks distinguished on him and ups his sexiness tenfold. 

As far as physical beauty goes, Father Time has been kind to his body because he remains active. He may not possess that six pack he used to at twenty five, but as he hovers around fifty he is in good shape and shows appreciation for your six pack! And Lordy! Let’s not forget there are still a few out there who do have the body they had at twenty five! 

There is also the matter of 'finding one’s self'. A young man is still searching, trying out new things, figuring what he wants in all levels of his life. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We all change as we grow into the people we are going to be. It's a fact of life. When dealing with a younger man you have to be prepared for that and be willing to be flexible enough to ride out the changes and deal with the ones that you may not like. But!...an older man has gone though most of the transformations. Therefore, he is less likely to change on you. They have already been educated so they are intelligent, worldly and confident in who he is as a man. He has no problem teaching you what he knows and welcomes the challenge of learning new things from you. 

I would love to read more gay romance with older men like that. I have been lucky enough to meet some outstanding men in their forties, fifties and even sixties. Men in the prime of who they are and looking fabulous. I wrote two books with this type of man. If you're interested in reading them they are:

Papa knows Best (available at Phaze) and one coming the holiday season, Hosting for the Holidays (coming this Christmas to Muse it Hot) Links to buy can be found on my website. Feel free to leave a comment on how you liked my blog or the books right here and until next time… 

Jaxx Steele, lover of older men, has left the building. 

www.jaxxsteele.com 

  

It’s Raining Men

Summer is my favorite time of the year (which is probably why I moved a couple years ago from the Lone Star State where about half the year is fairly warm to Paradise where it is a sweet mid-80s 365).  The best part of summer is not the hot temperatures, but the hot bodies.  On the beaches of Hawaii there are literally hundreds of half-naked, muscular males bodies spread across the sand or surfing a righteous wave. 

In fact, there’s so many, I sometimes think it’s raining men.

They come in all shapes and sizes.  Some have a distinct resemblance to the jock you may have lusted after in high school – coming from the home of Friday Night Lights, mine were always football players.

Others come in the form of a military man with their high n tights and even tighter bottoms (they may not be astronauts exploring the far reaches of outer space, but there are many cuties in uniform inhabiting the various military bases).

From Hawaii Five-0 to undercover cops, there are men in blue (without the blue) taking a break from bringing down outlaws and exacting justice to bask in the sun.

I’ve even seen the bare-chested variety that resemble cowboys like those back home in Texas (although I admit I’m fairly sure there are no vampires).

Ahh, paradise. 

I’m sure you’ll find men just like these in your neck of the woods – but as for me, I’ll take mine in swim trunks with a side of suntan oil.  So take out your umbrella, enjoy the rain of men and your summer!

-- Rebecca Leigh

http://www.ravenousromance.com/anthologies/tight-ends-an-erotic-gay-football-anthology.php?keyword=tight+ends

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=outlaw&osCsid=aiecdorbec0e87hvl2caqs4ir7&x=0&y=0

http://www.breathlesspress.com/erotic/paranormal/room-number-12.html

The M/M Romance Community Deserves a Round of Applause!!

In the past four or five years I've watched many changes happen within the publishing industry. All good changes, at least I think they are. 

But I think the most wonderful change I've seen is how the M/M romance community has pulled together and formed such a solid, positive bond. Every day when I open my in-box there's a nice e-mail from a M/M romance author talking about a new book. These e-mails are always filled with positive energy, which is the best way to start off even the rainiest, cloudiest day of the week. I look forward to seeing who is doing what, and how they are doing it. Everyone seems to be doing something different, but just as interesting.

I used to dread opening my in-box in the morning. I never knew what to expect. If it wasn't spam, it was a political e-mail from a disgruntled friend with too much time to waste. And now when I open my mail I can't wait to see what's new and what's happening within the M/M romance community. There are so many wonderful books from which to choose my TBR list becomes longer each month. I have two Kobo e-readers, the Look Book and the regular Kobo, and my libraries are filled with more books than I ever dreamed I'd read.

I've also seen M/M authors bond together in ways I never could have predicted four or five years ago. We used to be set apart from each other and didn't have opportunities to communicate. But I've seen contests like The Rainbow Awards grow into positive representations of what all M/M authors are striving toward with their hard work. This includes cover artists and models as well. And no matter how busy anyone is, there's always time to help out a fellow author. Sometimes it comes in the form of offering advice, other times it comes in the form of providing support. The energy has become explosive; you can almost feel it everywhere you go these days on the Internet.

From social networks to personal blogs, almost all M/M authors are selflessly dedicated to creating changes and making positive moves that promote a better quality of life to the entire lgbt community. Some have become involved in wonderful organizations that provide support for people living with HIV and AIDS. Others have offered support to PETA and other animal rights organizations. I can't list all the organizations; it would take too long. Readers benefit, too. They get chances to win free digital readers and free e-books and communicate one on one with their favorite authors. And publishers are working with their authors in order to please their readers.

And the wonderful reviews sites that have popped up in the past four or five years that support the M/M community have become positive places where authors and readers can browse and learn information they wouldn't normally be able to find in bookshops and newspapers. In fact, there's so much information out there I set time aside to read these sites for pleasure most of the time. What used to be hard work is now something we look forward to doing.

If the changes that have happened recently are any indication of the changes yet to come, there's a lot to look forward to in the future. And I think that's what's going to happen. I get e-mails at least three or four times a week from new M/M authors asking questions about publishers, social media, and how to get started writing M/M fiction. And from what I've seen, there are a lot of great writers yet to come. They have fresh voices, creative concepts, and new approaches that haven't been done yet.

It's probably one of the best times to be part of a publishing community in the history of publishing. I don't know what it's like with other genres, but I hope they are experiencing the same exciting energy we're all experiencing in the M/M romance community.

 

 

Ryan Field
Romance Author
www.ryan-field.blogspot.com
rfieldj@aol.com 

 

What is it about a bad boy?

There’s just something about a bad boy that sets something off inside me that I can’t explain in a few words. I’m not talking about “bad boys” who commit crimes such as murder, theft, rape, and the like. I’m talking about Bad Boys who can make you lose all thought, that can make you week kneed and breathless with just a look. The sort who use their voice to command the simplest of requests or the most demanding ones—they get me every time. The one’s who push the limits and don’t follow the norm as described by the general public of today’s society or that of yesterday’s. The one’s who dare you to tell them they are bad.

He can be that bad boy lawyer who comes within inches of over stepping the legal lines to prove his client innocent or guilty. He can be that bad boy doctor who refuses to settle on a diagnosis because it “seems” to fit his patient’s aliments and he has a full slate and a full social life. He can even be the taxi driver who pushes his luck to get his client to their destination without getting tickets on the way. Or, he can be the Dom in a relationship and this is where I’ll drive this particular short.

To me a Dom in a relationship is the “Bad Boy,” who pushes the limits on his partner. Never an easy person to read by any means. He’ll play on the edge with your emotions, your physical and sometimes mental limits. A bad boy who takes pleasure from your discomfort and sometimes pain. It fills his needs as well as your own. Why is it so fascinating to me that simple commands from a well-rounded Dom makes me quiver? Is it his eyes? The way he uses his voice? The way he expects obedience without question? What is it about that bad boy that just makes me pause and catch my breath? Honestly, if the guy says: “Drop your pants…(he is holding a flogger of some sort in his hand and gently hitting his thigh with it, warning you of what’s coming) face the wall and get on your knees...” My own excitement level goes UP. There have been times I’ve had to place the book down to catch my breath.

Now, none of that placing the book down catch the breath happens when I read a contemporary novel that is on the bestseller list in the New York Times. Nope, it only happens when I grab up a hot M/M book with a strong Alpha male and a sweet non-alpha male. Picture a Dom Vampire, with a submissive human. Talk about Bad Boy! Or, take two hot Vampires, both Dom’s trying to make their love work, something like, Mychael Black’s “Dark Needs.”

Or let’s switch over to a Het story and think Johanna Lindsey and her Alpha bad boys. For years I glued my eyes to her books, falling for all of her “bad boys,” the ones who kidnapped the women who would eventually fall in love with them. I loved the part of the kidnappings, the seduction of the “innocent” virgin, but quickly grew bored with the innocent and the damsel in distress plot. I needed more; I needed something else and didn’t find it until I switched over to the MM Genre. And boy-oh-boy did I find treasures. I believe I spent a small fortune buying the stories up.

When I stepped into the MM world first as a writer, then stepping it up to become a reviewer as well, I could not get enough of the BDSM titles read fast enough. It is well known it’s what I read/ review for the site and if we receive a request for a review I take them like a tiny goblin in the night and savor them until I am able to get to them. I like my bad boys on the darker side of life, same as I write. It’s not to say I don’t enjoy a sweet love story by any means, but if we have a bad boy linked in it, you can bet I’m loving him a tiny bit more.

There’s a mystery behind the bad boy’s eyes, be they black, blue, gray, purple, or green, there’s just something that you can’t read about them no matter how hard you look. You hear or read the words of command and for a moment you can get lost in that because in “real” life you’re nothing like the characters. Maybe in real life you’re the stronger one in your relationship and just for a little while you can get lost in the world of fiction bad boys. They’re safe to admire from there. In real life I could not give up control the way the characters do so well in fiction stories to the bad boys. It’s nice to dream though.

I love the mystery, allure, and the complexity of a bad boy. Someone who takes the initiative to show his partner another way of life without breaking the law and ending up in jail. Someone who can comfortably take control not only for himself but also for his partner with complete surety in his actions. Someone who can love with his whole being and still be that bad boy.

In BDSM stories, the limits are always pushed and to me a Bad Boy does just that: pushes the limits.

 Thanks for reading,

Michele L Montgomery

Q & A with DC Juris

Hi folks! ::waves:: DC Juris here!

So, I must confess, I couldn't come up with a single thing to write about this morning. Or rather, I came up with about a hundred things, but they all seemed stupid. LOL

I thought what I'd do instead, is post some reader questions that I've received in e-mails or messages, and the answers I gave. Sort of a mini interview, but by the readers. Kind of. Anyhow, here it is!

Q: I loved Calliph's name! How do you come up with character names? 

A: It depends. Sometimes, if I'm stuck on a name, I'll ask my husband, and just keep shooting down suggestions until he lands on something I really like. Also, I'm fond of taking my friends names and screwing them around until something interesting comes out of it. Calliph's name is a combination of my friend Phillip's first and last name.

Q: You write a lot but you have a day job, right? How do you stay focused on writing and not let the real world intrude?

A: For me, writing is a constant. It's something I do everyday, all the time, even if I can't physically get the information out of my head. For instance, right now, I'm thinking in my head “he typed” after each sentence. When people speak to me, I follow their words with mental additions of my own, such as “he said, raising an eyebrow at me in annoyance.” I literally live my life in a book, so there isn't a point when I'm not writing. I've learned over the years to scribble what I can, when I can. I write on scraps of paper, napkins, envelopes – whatever. Back in the day, when I worked for Publix supermarkets in Florida, I wrote whole stories on Presto slips, which are about the size of a personal check in length, and not as wide. :-)

Q: How do you make up your characters?

A: I don't. They come to me fully formed, of their own accord, and tell me about themselves. I don't sit down and think, “I'm going to write a story about a werewolf.” My characters just tap me on the shoulder and start talking.

Q: How do you keep all your characters straight (no pun intended!!)?

A: The same way I keep all the people in my life straight - I just know them. I do have notebooks for each couple, but I haven't as of yet made any character outlines, or anything like that. They're like my friends. I just know them.

Q: You write about a lot of kinky sh*t. Do you do any of that stuff?

A: Some of it. ::grin::

Q: Will you marry me? (Seriously…this was a question.)

A: No. Maybe. Buy me dinner and we'll talk.

Q: I downloaded your memoir from your website and it made me cry. Did all that stuff really happen? Did your family, like your extended family, not know enough to help you? How did you go from there to where you are now? What kept you going to get here?

A: Yep, it all happened. My extended family knew some of what was occurring. You have to realize, we lived over an hour from all of them, so it wasn't like they were at our house all the time. That being said, most of them did know the conditions I was living in, and no, they didn't help.

I got from there to here by perseverance and seeking to better myself through all avenues available. I moved out of my parents' house as soon as I could. I got therapy and anger management. What kept me going was that I didn't want to be a statistic - I wanted to be that guy who people would say, "you'd never know he'd been abused." I didn't want my past to dictate my future.

That's all for now. Thanks for stopping by!

~DC

YOU NEVER CARED by Michele Montgomery...a Free Download, Too!

I had the privilege of reading Michele Montgomery's new story, YOU NEVER CARED, and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm a fan of a lot of Michele's books, which include one of my all time favorites, TONY AND RYAN. But this book, YOU NEVER CARED, really drew me in because the storyline revolves around young adults, social images, and bullying. And, as always, Michele's books are written with a neat style that keeps the story moving forward at all time.

This line hit me fast: I never realized what my words and actions could do to another person. This is where the magnitude of what he's been doing hits Jordon, the one who is telling the story.

This time the story is told from the bully's POV, and how he regrets his decisions. He's tired of being what his father thinks he should be. And he's tired of trying to live up to everyone's expectations of what they think he should be. But more than that, he knows in his heart he's been wrong all along. And, this is why I love Michele's work. It's filled with emotion on all levels.

Another line that stopped me short for a moment was this: That was the worst of it for me at that moment, watching Samuel deal with the loss of the guy he loved, and it was all because of me. Jordon's talking about Sammy's dead lover, Casper. And I could feel Jordon's regret as I read this.

Once in a while we read something that inspires us. YOU NEVER CARED did this for me. This is a story about facing demons and regret, growing up and learning tolerance...even if it's a little too late in some cases. And that every single action in the universe...karma...causes a reaction in one way or another. But most of all, it's a story about redemption. And it's never too late for that.

Here's a quick blurb, and the story can be downloaded for free here.
I can't recommend it enough to all readers.

Jordan is a golden child—wealthy, popular, the self-professed ruler of the senior class. Jordan is also a bully, a bully whose group of friends mercilessly tormented seventeen-year-old Casper for being different, for being poor, for suffering silently. Random acts of abuse from his classmates were par for the course in Casper’s life, until one night, the bullying evolved into a hate crime and he, unable to endure, longing for peace, finally took his own life.

You Never Cared is the heartbreaking tale, told in Jordan’s words, of a life stolen, of love lost, and of a soul compromised. But ultimately, it is a story of forgiveness and redemption. As Sammy, Casper’s friend and lover, attempts to cope with the anguish of his boyfriend’s loss, Jordan attempts to own his part in the crime, trying to make amends but knowing his only hope is to carry on Casper’s legacy, to work to build a better future for boys and girls who, like Casper, just need a strong voice to encourage and stand up for them.


Thanks for stopping by!


~Ryan Field