I’ll be releasing my next book in the Chase of a Lifetime series, Chase of a Holy Ghost, very soon and I just got the cover from the artist and wanted to share a preview. Below, at the bottom of this post, is an excerpt from the book.
I’ll post more as soon as the book is launched. This one is an indie project for me and I don’t like to rush it. After I get edits and copy edits I usually wind up re-reading it about 200 times on my iPad just to be sure. I’m shooting for a Memorial Day Weekend release, though. (Hint to indie authors: I find that doing a final read-through on my iPad or e-reading device helps a great deal because that’s how readers will see the finished book.)
Gay Batman/Superman Trailer
Here’s a link to a gay parody trailer of the new Man of Steel 2 movie with Ben Affleck. The real film hasn’t even finished shooting yet.
The three minute short in English depicts a Batman who is struggling with his sexuality – though a cute Superman seems ever so comfortable with his.
‘Every hero has a secret,’ a voiceover says in the video, ‘But when it becomes too difficult to keep and the word starts to spread they have to accept what they truly are.’
My favorite gay travel journalist, Jean Paul Zapata, wrote about his experiences with Tough Mudder. This is from one of my previous posts…so you can see what Tough Mudder is about. I’ve been following this because I love the idea of actually doing Tough Mudder. I would kill to do it.
I have posted about LGBT travel writer, Jean Paul Zapata, before because I always enjoy his pieces. And now he’s embarking on one of the toughest challenges of his career: Tough Mudder. In short, Tough Mudders are people who sign up for physical challenges that make boot camp look like kindergarten. It’s a lifestyle for many. Tough Mudder is a hugely popular physical endurance regimen that is gaining in popularity even more this year in the US and UK, and Zapata recently commented on his own experiences doing it.
The West London Tough Mudder event I participated in had 10 to 12 miles of muddy uphill running trails broken up with obstacles designed by the British Special Forces, and had around 20,000 people participate over the weekend.
The obstacles ranged from carrying logs uphill to running through a mud field where open-ended electrical wires waited to sizzle you into their embrace.
I’ve been wondering when TV Network OWN would finally start producing something more current that doesn’t have that old time 1980’s and 90’s feel with Dr. Phil content and all that self-help stuff that was so popular back in the day (I don’t think most people really care “Where They Are Now”). Now OWN is finally going to do an interesting documentary on Michael Sam and his journey as a gay man working toward the NFL.
‘Like every player out there working to make a team right now, my focus is on playing football to the very best of my ability,’ Sam said in a statement Wednesday (14 May).
‘I am determined.’ He added: ‘If seeing my story helps somebody else accept who they are and to go for their dreams too, that’s great. I am thankful to Oprah for her support and excited to work together.
I’ll be looking for this one. I think Sam underestimates how many gay men of all ages he might be helping. I get letters from them all the time, and I honestly don’t always know what to say. You can’t just tell someone in the closet to come out and life will be perfect, especially if it means giving up everything they’ve ever known. That’s dangerous. And documentaries like this one with Michael Sam can at least show other men struggling with who they are that life as an openly gay person is a lot better than hiding once you finally make the decision to do it.
They asked Jim a few more questions about the medical marijuana dispensaries and his limited relationship with Hal Robertson and he tried to answer them with direct eye contact and an even tone. Jim invited them both into the house because he knew they weren’t trying to implicate him with Hal’s disappearance by that time and he wanted to help them out as much as he could. The fact that a man had gone missing bothered Jim the most. Detective Sorrento seemed eager to have a cup of coffee. But Landers shot his partner a look and said, “We don’t have time. We have a lot of places to go after this. And we’re working on more important cases.”
This comment bothered Jim even more. “More important than a missing man?”
Landers shrugged. “I’m afraid we have priorities. The fact is some cases like this one are never solved.”
This should have made Jim feel better, but he frowned and said, “I see.”
“I’d kind of like coffee,” Sorrento said.
“Well you’ll just have to wait until lunchtime,” Landers said, sending his partner a dirty look.
When Jim saw the crestfallen expression with which Sorrento replied to Landers, he wanted to take him into the house and give him coffee anyway. Although he was over six feet tall and made of muscle, he had an almost childlike quality Jim found hard to resist. It wasn’t anything sexual and Jim would never have made sexual advances toward a straight man even if he hadn’t been married. Some straight men had an effect on Jim and he’d never understood why. He wanted to protect them. It was usually the biggest and strongest and most clueless that made him feel that way.
Right after that Detective Landers said, “Thanks for your time. I doubt we’ll be contacting you in the future. I’m not sure it’s a strong case in any respect,” he turned toward the dark SUV he’d parked near the front steps.
“If I can help, just let me know,” Jim said. “I don’t mind you contacting me again.” Len would have smacked him in the back of the head for saying that. But Jim was starting to feel terrible about the fact that no one seemed to care Hal was missing, not even the police. “If you know anyone interested in buying a few medical marijuana dispensaries, please let me know. Hal Robertson was my only hope.”
Detective Landers laughed and said, “Sorry I can’t help you out there.”
Jim turned to join him and tripped over a rock, lost his balance completely, and went face forward into one of the round boxwoods that lined the driveway.
Without saying a word, Detective Sorrento lurched toward Jim and grabbed him just as he was about to land on the boxwood. He reached under Jim’s arms, lifted him up high, and turned him around.
It happened so fast Jim didn’t even realize it until Sorrento lowered him and said, “Damn. Are you okay, buddy?”
Jim felt his face grow warm. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
Detective Landers honked the horn. He’d missed the fall and didn’t know why Sorrento hadn’t followed him to the car.
“I better get moving,” Sorrento said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Jim nodded. “I’m fine.”He wanted to punch himself for being so clumsy.
As Sorrento turned to leave, he patted Jim on the shoulder and said, “Sorry about what I said earlier about the homosexuals. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Jim watched him lope back to the SUV. “No offense taken.”
When Detective Sorrento was in the SUV, Jim stood in the driveway and waved as they turned around to head back to the main road. It struck him there was something familiar about Detective Sorrento he couldn’t figure out. Although he knew he’d never actually met him, he felt as if he’d seen him somewhere before.
He glanced at his watch and realized it was getting late. Even though he didn’t have to deal with selling the marijuana dispensaries at that point, he still had a heavy workload. He had one online retailer who needed more web exposure. He had another brand new designer who wanted to come up with a public relations campaign that would give back to the community and help brand her business. So he went into the house and up to his top floor office near the bell tower and forgot all about Hal Robertson and the two detectives until later that day.
Around two in the afternoon, almost exactly around the time Jim usually started wrapping things up so he could go back to West Hollywood and pick Culum up from school, the phone rang and Jim answered without thinking. He normally would have let it go to voicemail at that hour. He knew if it was Len or anyone important they would have called his cell phone next.
A mild voice said, “May I please speak with Jim Darling?”
“This is he,” said Jim. “I’m in a hurry, though. If you give me your name and number I’ll call you back tomorrow.”Jim glanced at his watch. He didn’t want to be late for Culum.
“It will only take a minute,” the guy said. “I want to talk to you about setting up a meeting to make an offer on a business you own. The medical marijuana dispensaries. My name is Vince Robertson. My uncle was going to buy the dispensaries, but now I’m interested in them.”
I’ll be releasing my next book in the Chase of a Lifetime series, Chase of a Holy Ghost, very soon and I just got the cover from the artist and wanted to share a preview. Below, at the bottom of this post, is an excerpt from the book.
I’ll post more as soon as the book is launched. This one is an indie project for me and I don’t like to rush it. After I get edits and copy edits I usually wind up re-reading it about 200 times on my iPad just to be sure. I’m shooting for a Memorial Day Weekend release, though. (Hint to indie authors: I find that doing a final read-through on my iPad or e-reading device helps a great deal because that’s how readers will see the finished book.)
Gay Batman/Superman Trailer
Here’s a link to a gay parody trailer of the new Man of Steel 2 movie with Ben Affleck. The real film hasn’t even finished shooting yet.
The three minute short in English depicts a Batman who is struggling with his sexuality – though a cute Superman seems ever so comfortable with his.
‘Every hero has a secret,’ a voiceover says in the video, ‘But when it becomes too difficult to keep and the word starts to spread they have to accept what they truly are.’
My favorite gay travel journalist, Jean Paul Zapata, wrote about his experiences with Tough Mudder. This is from one of my previous posts…so you can see what Tough Mudder is about. I’ve been following this because I love the idea of actually doing Tough Mudder. I would kill to do it.
I have posted about LGBT travel writer, Jean Paul Zapata, before because I always enjoy his pieces. And now he’s embarking on one of the toughest challenges of his career: Tough Mudder. In short, Tough Mudders are people who sign up for physical challenges that make boot camp look like kindergarten. It’s a lifestyle for many. Tough Mudder is a hugely popular physical endurance regimen that is gaining in popularity even more this year in the US and UK, and Zapata recently commented on his own experiences doing it.
The West London Tough Mudder event I participated in had 10 to 12 miles of muddy uphill running trails broken up with obstacles designed by the British Special Forces, and had around 20,000 people participate over the weekend.
The obstacles ranged from carrying logs uphill to running through a mud field where open-ended electrical wires waited to sizzle you into their embrace.
I’ve been wondering when TV Network OWN would finally start producing something more current that doesn’t have that old time 1980’s and 90’s feel with Dr. Phil content and all that self-help stuff that was so popular back in the day (I don’t think most people really care “Where They Are Now”). Now OWN is finally going to do an interesting documentary on Michael Sam and his journey as a gay man working toward the NFL.
‘Like every player out there working to make a team right now, my focus is on playing football to the very best of my ability,’ Sam said in a statement Wednesday (14 May).
‘I am determined.’ He added: ‘If seeing my story helps somebody else accept who they are and to go for their dreams too, that’s great. I am thankful to Oprah for her support and excited to work together.
I’ll be looking for this one. I think Sam underestimates how many gay men of all ages he might be helping. I get letters from them all the time, and I honestly don’t always know what to say. You can’t just tell someone in the closet to come out and life will be perfect, especially if it means giving up everything they’ve ever known. That’s dangerous. And documentaries like this one with Michael Sam can at least show other men struggling with who they are that life as an openly gay person is a lot better than hiding once you finally make the decision to do it.
They asked Jim a few more questions about the medical marijuana dispensaries and his limited relationship with Hal Robertson and he tried to answer them with direct eye contact and an even tone. Jim invited them both into the house because he knew they weren’t trying to implicate him with Hal’s disappearance by that time and he wanted to help them out as much as he could. The fact that a man had gone missing bothered Jim the most. Detective Sorrento seemed eager to have a cup of coffee. But Landers shot his partner a look and said, “We don’t have time. We have a lot of places to go after this. And we’re working on more important cases.”
This comment bothered Jim even more. “More important than a missing man?”
Landers shrugged. “I’m afraid we have priorities. The fact is some cases like this one are never solved.”
This should have made Jim feel better, but he frowned and said, “I see.”
“I’d kind of like coffee,” Sorrento said.
“Well you’ll just have to wait until lunchtime,” Landers said, sending his partner a dirty look.
When Jim saw the crestfallen expression with which Sorrento replied to Landers, he wanted to take him into the house and give him coffee anyway. Although he was over six feet tall and made of muscle, he had an almost childlike quality Jim found hard to resist. It wasn’t anything sexual and Jim would never have made sexual advances toward a straight man even if he hadn’t been married. Some straight men had an effect on Jim and he’d never understood why. He wanted to protect them. It was usually the biggest and strongest and most clueless that made him feel that way.
Right after that Detective Landers said, “Thanks for your time. I doubt we’ll be contacting you in the future. I’m not sure it’s a strong case in any respect,” he turned toward the dark SUV he’d parked near the front steps.
“If I can help, just let me know,” Jim said. “I don’t mind you contacting me again.” Len would have smacked him in the back of the head for saying that. But Jim was starting to feel terrible about the fact that no one seemed to care Hal was missing, not even the police. “If you know anyone interested in buying a few medical marijuana dispensaries, please let me know. Hal Robertson was my only hope.”
Detective Landers laughed and said, “Sorry I can’t help you out there.”
Jim turned to join him and tripped over a rock, lost his balance completely, and went face forward into one of the round boxwoods that lined the driveway.
Without saying a word, Detective Sorrento lurched toward Jim and grabbed him just as he was about to land on the boxwood. He reached under Jim’s arms, lifted him up high, and turned him around.
It happened so fast Jim didn’t even realize it until Sorrento lowered him and said, “Damn. Are you okay, buddy?”
Jim felt his face grow warm. “I’m fine. Thanks.”
Detective Landers honked the horn. He’d missed the fall and didn’t know why Sorrento hadn’t followed him to the car.
“I better get moving,” Sorrento said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Jim nodded. “I’m fine.”He wanted to punch himself for being so clumsy.
As Sorrento turned to leave, he patted Jim on the shoulder and said, “Sorry about what I said earlier about the homosexuals. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
Jim watched him lope back to the SUV. “No offense taken.”
When Detective Sorrento was in the SUV, Jim stood in the driveway and waved as they turned around to head back to the main road. It struck him there was something familiar about Detective Sorrento he couldn’t figure out. Although he knew he’d never actually met him, he felt as if he’d seen him somewhere before.
He glanced at his watch and realized it was getting late. Even though he didn’t have to deal with selling the marijuana dispensaries at that point, he still had a heavy workload. He had one online retailer who needed more web exposure. He had another brand new designer who wanted to come up with a public relations campaign that would give back to the community and help brand her business. So he went into the house and up to his top floor office near the bell tower and forgot all about Hal Robertson and the two detectives until later that day.
Around two in the afternoon, almost exactly around the time Jim usually started wrapping things up so he could go back to West Hollywood and pick Culum up from school, the phone rang and Jim answered without thinking. He normally would have let it go to voicemail at that hour. He knew if it was Len or anyone important they would have called his cell phone next.
A mild voice said, “May I please speak with Jim Darling?”
“This is he,” said Jim. “I’m in a hurry, though. If you give me your name and number I’ll call you back tomorrow.”Jim glanced at his watch. He didn’t want to be late for Culum.
“It will only take a minute,” the guy said. “I want to talk to you about setting up a meeting to make an offer on a business you own. The medical marijuana dispensaries. My name is Vince Robertson. My uncle was going to buy the dispensaries, but now I’m interested in them.”
