A Christmas Carl Print/Paperback

Twenty years ago when my stories first started showing up in gay anthologies by gay presses like Alyson Publications, I used to get excited whenever my author copies came in the mail.

And now, after over one hundred digital releases, I have to admit that I’m still just as thrilled as I was back then when I opened the mailbox this weekend and found my author copies in print.

This time it’s even better because I did it without a publisher. Many of you may not know that even though all of my Ravenous Romance novels were released as both e-books and print, I never once received an author copy of a print book from Ravenous Romance. They just didn’t do that. If I wanted a copy of a Ravenous Romance book that I authored, I was told that I had to order it and pay for it myself.

So I never bothered. I did receive digital author copies, and that was exciting, too. But there’s something about seeing these books in print that’s hard to describe. And I’m not going to go back to reading print books for personal pleasure, not ever. I love my digital library. But the print books give me something tangible. I guess some old habits just can’t be broken.

In any event, here’s where you can find A Christmas Carl now as an e-book or as a paperback.

Defying Gay Stereotypes

Here are a series of memes with quotes by gay men who are defying the stereotypes we see all too often.

I like this one:

I’m a gay police officer. I don’t do anything sexy like use handcuffs in bedroom, nor have I ever seduced a straight man. My job is really normal and I like it that way.

I like the other quotes, too. Many of them seem to want to bring home the point that gay men don’t always have women friends…because they have so little in common with straight women. But there is one thing in particular I didn’t find here that I think has become a very serious stereotype. This concept…this rule…that all gay men have to follow the same brand of politics. And that simply just isn’t so.

They didn’t mention the “gay icon” stereotype either, which is always something that’s passed me by.  Not every gay man loves Cher, Bette Midler, or any of the others.

The other issue I have is that just because something is a stereotype doesn’t make it wrong…or even bad. I think the main focus is that gay men are highly diverse. 

You can check them all out here. 

Queerty Writer Doesn’t Like TROLLS or Butthurt?

This is rich. It’s an article about butthurt from a writer with a gay press who would probably be the first to scream free speech if anyone tried to silence his personal views.

I once saw an exchange on a small personal blog where someone commented and disagreed with the author of the blog post…a gay author. The author of the post RAN to social media, posted there was a TROLL commenting on his post, and his minions followed him back there with popcorn. 

The only problem is that I was there watching this entire exchange, silently, too. I didn’t see a troll anywhere. I saw someone commenting who didn’t agree with a highly charged topic and he or she was expressing a different POV. The gay author of the post didn’t like this and neither did his minions. They went after this alleged “troll” in such a vicious way the person commenting finally gave up and moved on. And this so-called “troll” was making a perfectly valid point without getting offensive or abusive. The gay author and his minions, however, were actually behaving more like trolls than the person they were calling a “troll.”

There’s a huge difference between an Internet troll and someone with a different opinion. The word troll, like the word bully, is highly overused in most cases. Unfortunately, the distinction isn’t pointed out in this particular butthurt piece.

This is the overall tone coming from the author…

The troll is lurking in the shadows, more than happy to tell you your child is ugly, your haircut looks terrible, and your version of “Defying Gravity” never got off the ground. 

You can read it in full here.

Once again, butthurt at its best from someone too special to take criticism.

If you think I sound a little too cold-hearted about this, think again. I’ve been subjected to every single ounce of criticism and opinion there is online as an author and I’ve never once complained butthurt in all the time I’ve been doing it. So I have very little sympathy when I hear someone else do it. 

I think many of the comments on this one agree with me. I highly suggest checking them out.