gratuitous cookies

Posted on 14/10/2010 by Kris

It has been a busy week and I am absolutely exhausted.


With only a week to go till I leave for the US, I am also freaking out about what I need to get done beforehand.

Freaking. Out. Badly.

My ‘to do’ lists are cross referenced. In colour.

Yes, I am that bad.

Anyhoo, since I am suffering badly from mushy brain, I’m giving you cookies.

I’m sure you will be disappointed. *rolls eyes*



Posted in cookies, extra further randomness, me | 30 Comments

jambrea’s story: your choices

Posted on 13/10/2010 by Kris


I know some of you have been waiting for this so without further ado…

The prompts for Jambrea Jo Jones’ m/m story!

1. the setting ~ an abandoned stone tower… or is it…

2. some background to one of the main protags ~ one wishes the seven guys he lived with were more his type

3. another character/s ~ It was a tie! I LOVE when it’s a tie. Jambrea has to include a snarky side kick AND a talking wand in her story. Woot!

4. a conflict ~ a dragon thinks the virgin hero would make a yummy meal *Perves!*

5. an object/phrase to be mentioned in the story somewhere ~ ‘Where the fuck is a Fairy Godmother when you need one?’

This is going to be fun!

For us. 😛

Oh, and this is my last day at DIK so go and visit me there. It might help you understand why I snickered when I found the above image. 🙂

Posted in a choose your own m/m story, dik, guest blogging, jambrea jo jones, me | 10 Comments

patrick says…

Posted on 12/10/2010 by Kris


Neither can I apparently cos I’m still ranting about bookstores at DIK.

Go visit or I might not let you know what the prompts are for Jambrea’s story tomorrow.
Posted in dik, guest blogging, jambrea jo jones, me | Leave a comment

ever wondered what i look like??

Posted on 11/10/2010 by Kris


Okay. That may be a bit of a fib, but there is an AWESOME pic of me at DIK at the moment.

You should check it out.
Posted in dik, guest blogging, me | 3 Comments

random awesomeness

Posted on 10/10/2010 by Kris


I have to get up at some ungodly hour this morning to travel to the country where I will, no doubt, charm everyone with my wit and intelligence before flying home in the evening.

Great.

*sigh*

Later on today/tomorrow/whenever the bloody timezones work, the first post of my 3-day visit at DIK is going up.

Yeah, it’s that time again. Yeah, I’ll be trying to offend as many people as possible.

What’s new.

On that note, be sure you make your selection for Jambrea’s choose your own m/m story.

I don’t see why I should be the only one having a crappy day.
Posted in dik, extra further randomness, guest blogging, jambrea jo jones | 10 Comments

jambrea jo jones is going down

Posted on 08/10/2010 by Kris


Please welcome our next victim author to my awesomesaucey choose your own m/m story game… Jambrea Jo Jones!


How to play:

Step 1. Peeps choose different elements to be included in a story.

Step 2. After counting the votes, I let you know the results and…

Step 3. Hand it over to Jambrea, who has agreed to produce the short story incorporating your choices in about 4 weeks time. Silly girl.

The story prompts:

1. the setting
a) an enchanted castle

b) a mysterious forest
c) a witch’s gingerbread cottage
d) an abandoned stone tower… or is it…

2. some background to one of the main protags
a) one is sick and tired of his wannabe hook ups pulling his long hair

b) one is a cross dresser who has lost one of his Manolo Blahniks
c) one has insomnia and is positive that it’s because of his lumpy bed
d) one wishes the seven guys he lived with were more his type

3. another character/s
a) a narrator who keeps giving advice

b) a snarky side kick
c) a talking wand
d) a couple of stepsisters who would do the guys from Sons of Anarchy proud

4. a conflict
a) one is actually the son of the wicked witch

b) one has inherited the role of Prince Charming against his wishes
c) the ‘fair maiden’ is agoraphobic and doesn’t want to be rescued
d) a dragon thinks the virgin hero would make a yummy meal *waggles eyebrows*

5. an object/phrase to be mentioned in the story somewhere
a) ‘… stuck in his thumb and pulled out a…’

b) a zombie unicorn
d) ‘Where the fuck is a Fairy Godmother when you need one?’

Leave a comment with your choices or email me at krisngoodbooksATgmail.com. You have until midnight Tuesday 12 October (Perth, Western Australia time).


Now y’all be nice to Jambrea as I’ve been, y’hear. 😛

Posted in a choose your own m/m story, jambrea jo jones | 38 Comments

a cookie pairing i’d like to see

Posted on 07/10/2010 by Kris


*ponders*

I need to come up with choices for tomorrow for the next choose your own m/m story…

I wonder if…

O_O

*rubs hands together if glee*
Posted in a choose your own m/m story, cookies, pretties | 24 Comments

m/m graphic novel appreciation series: melissa’s guest post (pt 2)

Posted on 06/10/2010 by Kris

Please welcome back Melissa for the second part of her post in my m/m graphic novel appreciation series. (You can find the first part here.)

If you’re anything like me, light bulbs will be going off when you read this and you will mutter to yourself ‘so that’s what THAT means’.

I feel edjumacated!

Thank you, Melissa! 🙂

*****

Hi again! Here is the rest of it and I cut a lot out so it’s not as long!

Dojinshi (どじんし) – Dojin means “folks who share the same taste” and shi “means magazine”. Or manga that takes characters from books or other manga that are not romantically involved and proceeds to well, involve them. This is the Japanese way of slash fanfiction. And while many are yaoi, there are just as many that are shōnen-ai, so it’s kinda an “in between.”

Kris: Gank!

Ok, I know I’m a geeky fangirl, but I love dojinshi’s. While I enjoy the regular manga, there is just something about taking the lead characters and making them a couple! And trust me, if it is written, someone will make it into dojinshi. My favorite is Naruto. My kid first became a fan of this manga, and then I got into it. I have a few favorite companies two of which are:

Anything by Uzu Uzu company because I love their artwork!

a. Ura Mono-Naruto’s drunk and Sasuke produces a shadow clone in order to help take care of him and much smexen happens.


(lol, my LiveJournal icon is from this dojinshi)

b. Goshujin-sama no Oose no mama ni (As My Master Commands)- Naruto loses a bet and as a penalty has to dress up as a maid and take a photo with Sasuke in his house. He does, but Sasuke doesn’t want the photo to be shown to everybody.

or Ichihara Tetsuno– another good artist

a. Hana no Shita- ANBU! Naruto reflects on sakura (the tree) and Sasuke.

b. The Sleeping Sound of Snow- During a mission, Naruto goes temporarily deaf from a fight. Kakashi assigns Sasuke to watch after Naruto until his hearing improves, and Naruto comes to some realizations in the silence.

Shota (ショタ)- is manga/anime that depicts small boys- together- or with older men. I have to say that it is not my cup of tea and I only listed it because many people do like it. I don’t have an example for it cause, well, I don’t like it, so I don’t really know what’s out there. Kris: Me either. It’s icky.

Onto the Fluffier side:

Shōnen-ai (しょうんえんーあい )- literally means boys love. In today’s terminology, it refers to the more romance oriented manga with only slight sexual themes or innuendos. These are great for beginners who don’t care for the more explicit details! My mostest favoritest is Kyo Kara Maoh! It started out as an anime, but now is a manga! Loves it. 😀 Kris: Is t-riffic!

Yuri is an average baseball-loving high school student. One day, Yuri tries to save his former classmate from a group of hoodlums. Turning on him, they drag Yuri into the bathroom and push his face into the toilet. When they flush the toilet, he is transported to another world. Yuri is taken to a castle and crowned King of the Demon World! Is he going to end up as the leader of the land, surrounded by his extraordinarily handsome lieges or will he make his way back home?

“Manga Geared Towards Men”

Gei Comi (ゲイコミ) and Bara have already been covered pretty well in earlier posts so I won’t rehash them!

Three websites that are great for finding non-licensed and sometimes licensed (in the US) scanlated native manga and dojinshi:

1. Aarinfantasy: I love this site! This site is dedicated to all lovers of yaoi or any type of boy love as long as it is not licensed (they also have a huge host link forum for non-yaoi as well). It has a huge host forum where you can get anime, manga, dojinshi, yaoi games, dramas, movies… you name it. Really a must see if you haven’t already found it and if you want to leave a good rep for me for leading you there then I won’t mind at all. ;p

You can get the general gist here or join the forum where all the goodies are here, but you have to be of age in your country to register and it is hosted in the US, so expect US weirdo laws.

2. MangaFox: This is a good site for finding any type of manga, including yaoi manga, you just have to search for it! It provides scantalations on some licensed material (in the US) as well.

3. MangaTraders: This is also a good site for yaoi manga, but again you have to search for it because it also provides any type of manga.

Reference links:

http://www.graphicnovelreview.com/?p=67

http://www.villagevoice.com/2006-10-31/news/drawn-together/

http://www.csuchico.edu/~mtoku/vc/Articles/toku/Wil_Toku_BoysLove.html

http://moongsil.com/study/yaoi_eng.pdf

http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/lunsing.html

All product descriptions are taken from Amazon.com or Aarinfantasy host forum.

Posted in guest post, m/m graphic novel appreciation series, melissa, yaoi | 7 Comments

things that make you go O_o

Posted on 05/10/2010 by Kris

Cover:


Character description:

“His long, curly blonde hair was pulled back from a face that appeared to be chiseled from steel. Blue eyes teased her with their intelligence and humor [sic].”

Back to cover:


Back to character description:

“His long, curly blonde hair was pulled back from a face that appeared to be chiseled from steel. Blue eyes teased her with their intelligence and humor [sic].”

Don’t you just fucking hate that!

*grump*
Posted in book covers, pet peeve/fave rant, sherrilyn kenyon, things that make you go O_o, WTF | 28 Comments

romance & the tough issues

Posted on 04/10/2010 by Kris

*Warning: This post discusses sexual abuse in fiction.


After my rant about my despised ‘twu wuv will cure what ails you’ trope, some of the comments started me thinking about the way sexual abuse is dealt with in m/m romance and I was reminded of this by way of a few recent reads.

There is no doubt rape is an extraordinarily tough issue for any author to tackle. It does seem to me, though, that one of the biggest traps a writer can fall into is by making the victim either a whore or a nun.

I’m not saying this doesn’t happen in RL nor am I wishing to be deliberately dismissive of an horrific act that quite frankly scares the absolute shit out of me.

Rather, I’m wondering if m/m romance – or perhaps romance more broadly – has taken the step beyond the whore/nun characterisation?

I’m also interested to know whether this rather narrow representation is partly due to the stigma attached to male rape. That is, if it’s not a topic which is openly discussed, can it be convincingly explored other than by using the example of the female victim? Or is that justifying the ‘chicks with dicks’ approach?

I don’t have enough knowledge to be sure one way or the other, but I’d be very interested to see if anyone else has had similar concerns about male rape in m/m romance and if you have any recommendations about books that you believe portray this realistically.

Your thoughts?

Posted in characters, m/m, romance, tropes, twu luv | 23 Comments