Blood Fruit - Horror Anthology Coming Soon!

I've been looking at the final proofs or an anthology called "Blood Fruit."  My story "Hollow" will be included in this collection.  It's nice to wander from genre to genre.  I love the cover art and had to share.

I'll let you know when the book is available for order.

What the fuck you got on?

Love these Calvin Klein ads.

Happy Father's Day

Dan Payne (star of Battlestar Galactica and Mulligans) is modeling a DILF t-shirt from the fantastic (and sorely missed) Otter Fashion.  http://www.otterfashion.com/ is out of commission at the moment, but if you click the link, it'll take you to an avid fan's Facebook page.  "Like" them in order to find out about their new designs, now available at various other internet outlets.  This company has some fantastic T-shirts, swimwear and accessories.  And the models ain't half bad either.

If you haven't seen Mulligans, it's definitely worth a viewing.  The story revolves around two college buddies who come home for a vacation and end up stumbling into an emotional tangle neither of them ever expected.  I won't go into a lot of detail in case you're one of those people who doesn't like to know the plot before it unfolds before you on the screen, but I will say there are some family tensions that revolve around issues of the closet and affairs of the heart.  The acting, particularly from Payne, Thea Gill and Charlie David, is top notch.  Charlie David (Dante's Cove) wrote the surprisingly touching, believable and bittersweet script.  The movie had the potential to sway too far into melodrama, but the balance it just right, capturing both the gentle rhythms of vacations at the lake and the emotional turmoil of secrets and betrayal. 

And finally, a couple of (very different) book suggestions:

  

Ariel Tachna's ebook Her Two Dads is a romantic two-men-and-a-baby story about a man forced to choose between the child he loves and the the man who could be the love of his life.  5% of the proceeds from teh sale of this book go to The Family Equality Council and COLAGE, organizations working to secure full civil rights for gay families.  Available in ebook formats from Dreamspinner Press.

Daddies (Cleis Press, edited by Richard Labonte) is an anthology containing a full range of erotic stories about all kinds of daddies (biological and othewise).  Dive in, there's something for everyone.  My short story "For Luck" is included in this anthology:  There are significantly less than six degrees of separation when a smalltown father and son's sexual paths cross. Who's your daddy?  Available in paperback or kindle.

So Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there.  (And to all the Daddies too...)

Random Guys: Fighting the Summer Heat

The heat is unbearable here in the American South.  The asphalt sticks to your shoes when you walk out to check the mail and you return to your house drenched in sweat.  Wishing I had a pool right about now...

Happy Birthday Neil Patrick Harris.

I will confess that, although I watched Doogie Howser as a kid, I really didn't fall for Neil Patrick Harris until I heard him sing the role of Toby in the 2000 Lincoln Center Concert version of Sweeney Todd.  What a voice.  A couple of years later, I stumbled across a studio recording of him singing the part of Charles in Sondheim's seldom heard television musical, Evening Primrose.  Since then I've collected as many of his recordings as I've run across:  Assassins, Batman: The Brave & The Bold (yes, it's a musical), Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (a work of genius by my hero Joss Whedon), Commentary! The Musical (another Joss Whedon production), and of course his Glee appearances (singing with Matthew Morrison - could it get any better?).

"My Eyes" from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog:



I also saw Neil in Proof on Broadway in 2002.  He played opposite Anne Heche and Len Cariou as Hal, a young grad student who discovers a groundbreaking proof that he attribues to his mentor Robert (Cariou), but which could be the work of the professor's daughter Catherine (Heche).  Hal tumbles into a romantic relationship with Catherine as she grapples with the complicated world of genius, mathematics and mental illness.  His performance was startling in its intensity, energetic and real.  And it left me wanting to see more of his theater work.

Unrepentant. Dame Helen Mirren on the irresistible charms of the movie Caligula.

AARP Magazine Interviewer: Why did you choose to star in the soft porn cult classic Caligula, in which you danced in a cone bra?

Helen Mirren: It was an irresistible mix of art and genitals.

I watched the uncut version of Gore Vidal's Caligula recently and was surprised by how explicit the movie was.  It's somehow startling to see cumshots in a movie with so many Oscar winners.  The depravity will probably turn most viewers away, but there are some stellar performances.  In addition to Helen Mirren as Drusilla, Caligula's sister/wife, who presides over an epic Roman orgy, the film is chock full of fine actors.  Peter O'Toole is wickedly insane as Tiberius and Sir John Gielgud gives a surprisingly sympathetic performance as Nerva, a conservative retainer in the royal household.  Malcolm McDowell as the unsympathetic Caligula slashes through the film like a sword-wielding psychopath.  The creepy Giancarlo Badessi, as Claudius, had me reaching for the remote.  As a fan of Robert Graves' I Claudius and Claudius the God, I couldn't stand to watch Badessi's vacant buffoonery.  

In 2005, this fake trailer for a reimagined Caligula film made the rounds at film festivals.  Helen Mirren is joined by Gore Vidal, Benecio Del Toro, Milla Jovovitch, Karen Black, and Courtney Love in this amusing soft core parody.

Random Guys: When the Run Ends