Thursday, May 31, 2012

Sodomite -- first attempt

I think there should be a cocktail called a Sodomite.  There isn't one yet, as far as I can tell.  So I'm trying to come up with a recipe, hopefully something I'll like to drink (so that leaves out things like whiskey, even though whiskey would make a great ingredient in a drink called a Sodomite) and also something that can be made with what I have in the house, since I'm a cheap bastard and don't want to buy a thousand different kinds of liquor.  I did buy maraschino cherries (with stems) because they seemed necessary.

So tonight's attempt:

1 part pomegranate juice
1 part Absolute Citron vodka
2 parts Canada Dry Bitter Lemon
1 maraschino cherry

Served in a champage flute

was, as I had feared, too sweet.  I do like the pomegranate juice, though -- it gives it a nice deep color.

Next time, I'm going to try the same first two ingredients but use tonic instead of the bitter lemon, with maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime in it.  And if that's STILL too sweet, then move down to club soda.

Any suggestions for other ingredients?  I believe I have Peach schnapps and Cointreau in the cupboard, as well as Kahulua and gin.  Irish cream in the fridge.  A tiny, unopened bottle of Absinthe we brought back from Italy, but if it's anything like the fake Absinthe I had in New Orleans, it will probably stay unopened -- the drink they made with it there was so disgusting I had to pour most of it into the sewer.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

winner of Blog Hop drawing

Thank you to everyone who commented on the "Hop Against Homophobia" post -- I put all of your names on slips of paper, then stuffed them behind a sofa cushion and pulled one out.  The winner of an e-copy of "Cross Bones" is Erica Pike! Erica, I'll email you to let you know how to claim your book.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Marriage Equality vlog

Awesome video, especially the very last bit.  We Americans *should* be embarrassed that some of our fellow citizens don't have equal rights.

(pinched from 365 Pretty Good Reasons, a great blog with the crappiest interface in existence.  It's impossible to leave comments on it.)

Hop Against Homophobia -- my Blog Hop post

The Hop Against Homophobia is here!  (All avow alliteration! :D)

First thing:  make sure you visit everyone else's blogs, which can be accessed through the main Blog Hop site.

Second thing:  I'm a straight ally, so I don't have any personal experience with homophobia.  The closest I've gotten to it is reading those really ignorant, ugly comments that show up below online articles about gay rights.  I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have that sort of bile spewed directly into my face in real time, not knowing if words will be the end of it or if they're the prelude to a bashing.

So how do we end homophobia?  It needs to be extinct, not just driven underground. (I apologize in advance to any non-US readers -- this post is going to be very United States-centric.)

Despite the civil rights victories of the 1960s, racists still exist.  They know not to use the N-word in public (because if they do, they'll be told off, sneered at, ostracized by most Americans), but they'll say it in private, among their friends and families.  Just the fact that they still *think* it gives me the creeps, really.

I don't want to control people's thoughts or to force them to think a certain way -- no one wants the Thought Police -- but I want those bigoted, hateful thoughts to disappear organically, to be burned away by education, by open-mindedness and acceptance.

I have no idea how to do this except to Stay Calm and Carry On.  To not tell people that they're being MORONS, even when I really, really think it, because then I'll lose them forever.  To not drive that hatred (and idiocy) underground where we can't shine a light on it.  It's gonna be hard, but I'll try.  :)

We *can* win hearts and minds.  The man who organized NOM's bus tour last summer had his mind changed by the peaceful counter-protesters at the Atlanta rally.  My friends and I were some of those counter-protesters.  It feels great, knowing you made a difference.


There's still a long way to go -- the recent vote in North Carolina proved that.  But things are changing fast, and young people give me hope for the future.  I'll do my small part by continuing to march for equal rights and by writing as much HEA gay porn as possible.  :)


(You can read HEA (oops, spoiler!) gay porn in my story "From A Simmer To A Burn", one of the M/M pirate romance stories in "Cross Bones", an anthology published by Dreamspinner Press (and, I just discovered, on sale right now!).

Comment on this post from now through May 22, and I'll put your name into a drawing for a chance to win a free e-copy of "Cross Bones".)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Hop Against Homophobia on May 17

Okay, I need to start gearing up (i.e. should have started gearing up weeks ago, but see title of blog) for the Hop Against Homophobia, a blog hop that will take place May 17. Everyone who leaves a comment on any post in my blog from today through May 22 will have a chance to win an e-copy of "Cross Bones", an anthology of pirate stories published by Dreamspinner Press. I'll put all the names into a hat or a jar or behind the sofa cushions, then I'll draw one lucky winner's name on May 23!

I know that homophobia isn't something that's going to go away overnight. There are a lot of people out there who are misinformed about the LGBT community and, worse, wish to remain so. You can't force a person to open his or her mind, you can only offer them the opportunity to see that things might not be as black-and-white as they think. While I doubt that any anti-gay woman (or man) will ever read a M/M romance, it's a wonderful fantasy to think that one of our stories could change someone's mind about the real world.

M/M romances are, if not an antidote to homophobia, at least a balm to the soul.  My characters are men who love each other, not as friends, not like brothers, but in a TOTALLY gay way. No "no homo" here. Spoiler alert: I write happy endings. And the more homophobia I see in real life, the more I want to write stories with happy endings for my characters. Maybe someday those happy endings will translate to real life.