You asked for it:
Those who dared:
Kayla on tasting ‘a note in the… Marcus Roche on maybe it’s me, but… ouaqquwcgk on my confession dkmhwgijnw on random awesomeness Kris on maybe it’s me, but… 
random funny: the shifter edition
They should know by now not to encourage me.
Posted in extra further randomness, K Z Snow, probably tmi, shifters, wren boudreau
49 Comments
random funny: the epilogue
For those of you who missed it, yesterday’s post degenerated into various ribald comments made primarily by Jase and Wren associated with my theory that vampire sperm, if made all cartoony facey, would have little fangs on them.
I, naturally – really, how could I not -, shared this on Twitter, which in turn led to a discussion about what vampire eggs would look like so I lent my amazing artistic powers to the cause:
Posted in extra further randomness, eyre, jackie, probably tmi, vampires
38 Comments
random funny
Posted in extra further randomness, vampires
50 Comments
the long ones: your sexual expectations
About romance and erotica books, you perves. *rolls eyes*
This is a post that’s been hanging around in my head for a while now so I decided to pull it out, dust it off and attempt to give it some polish… yeah, right…
Lurker of book blogs that I am, I frequently see comments asking how much sex has been included in a novel as well as when those scenes occur within the story line.
-> Me: 
Yes, we romance and erotica readers tend to expect some sort of sex happening between the main characters and, yes, it seems to me that those assumptions are even higher when it comes to m/m stories.
But is that all there is? Isn’t there more to it than just getting your undies wet?
I have to admit, as smutty as I am, I get particularly PO’ed when I see such comments in relation to long novels.
Are you kidding me?? 150+ pages of sex from start to finish?!
If I wanted PWP, I’d only buy books by XXXXXXX or ###### or pure pron. *Oh, wait…*
*ahem*
Seriously, though, the expectations some readers have about the amount of sex scenes in a long novel just seem, well, ridiculous to me.
For me, and setting relevancy to one side, when I read such a book I generally want to see plot and character development before the smexing happens.
I become more invested in the progression of a longer story and, when the main characters do eventually end up in the sack together, it is all the more convincing and therefore satisfying to me as a reader.
So those are my expectations when it comes to sex in longer romances. Tell me what yours are.
menage a cookie (nsfw)
I’m planning to try and kick this bloody virus over the weekend so I hope you’re all spending yours doing something way more interesting.
Kind of like these pretties. 😉
Posted in cookies, dreamspinner press, menage
21 Comments
m/m graphic novel appreciation series: a guest post by kassa (nsfw)
Don’t think I can’t hear you all saying ‘finally!’ 😛
This week’s guest post is by the esteemed and just all round fabulous m/m romance reviewer and commentator Kassa.
Like Sarah’s article, I think Kassa’s will open many readers’ eyes to the world of m/m graphic novels, including, dare I say it, that other than yaoi. 😉
*****
So I promised Kris I’d do a guest post because I love graphic novels. I started reading them when I was in high school because let’s face it, I was a geek even then. Video games and comics go hand in hand. I was selective though and got frustrated pretty easily with Marvel comics. I mean the X-Men were fun and all but the dialogue was always so stilted. I got into DC Comics for a while and they really knew how to stretch their wings and about that time I realized that yanno the men in tights thing “grappling” with villains, now that’s more interesting than the complicated webs of lies and deceit they were always weaving.
From there I started looking for graphic novels that branched out from super heroes. They’re great again but I needed more variety and wanted something that felt like reading an illustrated book (and well the overt homoerotic tendencies that exist in all super hero comics was getting tiresome since it’s so adamantly ignored/denied). Here Neil Gaiman’s Sandman truly blew me away.
This not only has a mind bending alternate reality but the plot is well crafted. The story is by turns fascinating, horrifying, creepy, and above all something you simply can’t put down. The artwork is pretty stunning and the entire series is a MUST for graphic novel fans. I can’t really stress this enough. The novels aren’t light or easy per se but well worth the time and energy. I pet my copies often.
But Sandman, as fab as it is, isn’t erotica. So getting into more smexin’ there is the first graphic novel from the LKH Anita series. This is a very slick and nicely done comic and gets across attitude and sex appeal, the two essential elements that are later lost for more and more sex. So don’t bother with the later ones, not worthwhile even for the sex.
However those are just graphic novels in general and some recommendations for those that like to branch out from just yaoi. We geeks have wide ranging interests.
But onto the men on men smexin’ in comic form, which is a particular love of mine. The problem with coming in this late is that favorites are already claimed and mentioned in previous posts.
A few of my beloved yaoi manga already claimed are:
Only the Ringer knows by Kannagi Satoru
U Don’t Know Me by Rakun
Embracing Love (Haru wo Daite Ita) by Youka Nitta
Each of these appeals to my love of yaoi for different reasons yet they are all “extreme” in some ways. The elements that work here wouldn’t work well in an m/m romance but that’s why I enjoy the genre when it’s presented as it was meant to be.
But from all these suggestions those new to yaoi/manga may be wondering where to start and some of the titles are more “advanced” you could say. For yaoi/manga start with Gravitation and Junjou Romantica, both are fun with lots of flirting, twink blushing and little graphic sex. For m/m some good starters are:
When you want the cock and you want a lot of it head to:
Here there is a mixture of super heroes and non. Pick something that suits more your taste and experiment. The artists are solid and include some raunchy, delicious fun. Plus there is NO shortage of donkey dick in these comics. They’re large, out there, and taking over.
These comics/artwork offer little plot but truly stunning artwork. This is a group of incredibly talented artists that provide some evocative pictures. They’re available in books or just cruise for the pictures. These are the fabulous folks that produced the much loved Black Wade, comic heard ‘round the internet.
So there you have it. If you feel confident on branching out from yaoi twinky goodness into the realm of m/m comics, be brave and enjoy the visual feast (in more ways than one).
to graphic novel or not? the poll
Yesterday’s post got me really curious about how many readers would actually buy a graphic novel version of their favourite m/m romance story.
Since everyone knows how nosy I am, I decided to just go ahead and create a poll to see who would fork out their hard-earned $$.
So, here it is!
Please take the time to do the clickity thing.
You never know who might be taking an interest. *fingers crossed*
Posted in comic/graphic novel, m/m, manga, yaoi
14 Comments
to graphic novel or not?
In my recent post about whether readers preferred yaoi manga to yaoi novels, Richelle made the comment “Actually, what I’d really like is for some of my fave m/m novels to have pretty illustrations throughout.”
My immediate response to that was ‘hell yes! that would be awesome!’ and then I started to think about which ones I’d love to see illustrated.
Yeah, I know. These choices might seem a tad obvious, but couldn’t you just imagine a manga version of one of Jet Mykles’ Heaven Sent books…
*drools*
*shakes head*
*fans self*
Where was I again??
*ahem*
Right.
Question for you…
If you could get one m/m – or m/f if that’s your preference – illustrated or turned into a graphic novel or manga or whatever, what would it be?
Posted in comic/graphic novel, Jet Mykles, m/m, manga, yaoi
44 Comments
Kris + Books = Good. *Sometimes*. 