What is it about models?

So many of them are other things, as well: professional photographers, clothing designers, website designers, singers (although I can't think of any good model/singers) - and, of course, artists.

The sketches in this post belong to a model who goes by "Christiane" in real life, Malady Charlotina in the art world, and Ulorin Vex (Yes, her again! You know how much I love this lady ;-)) in the modeling world. I like her baroque flourishes, especially with the corsets and bondage gear. The more the better, I say!

I hope you'll enjoy her art, too; and that you'll stop by her site for more goodies. Some of them are even available as iPhone cases.

A *Preliminary* Peek Beneath the Duct Tape on "How Did It Come to This?"

I have more to say about my latest story than usual, so I'm splitting my commentary in two and devoting the first half to non-spoilery talk about the inspiration for Jimmy DeVere.

Of course, if you're interested enough in gay men to read a cyan story, you probably already know about Johnny Weir. In fact, you probably know more about him than I did when I started writing How Did It Come to This?.

I used to enjoy watching the Winter Olympics, especially the figure skating, but I gave it up before Weir burst onto the scene. Oh, I heard about him here and there, but I never saw him skate and only once saw him interviewed before I started writing. My impression of him was based mainly on pictures, a few sports articles, and the shitstorm he braved at the 2010 Olympics.

I always knew that if I wrote my "hockey player vs. figure skater" story, Johnny Weir would be the model for my MC'er; but it took a long time for me to work out the plot. Once I did, I was dying to start writing; so I researched hockey and figure skating as quickly as I could, then went with what I already knew about Johnny Weir. That might sound odd to you, but I thought I had a strong enough mental image to build a character around. Besides, Jimmy was never meant to be Johnny exactly; he's more of an intentionally uninformed fantasy version of Johnny. That gave me license to play around with details like his musical taste and personal life, not to mention his species. ;-)

Once I had the rough draft in good shape, I could relax enough to satisfy my curiosity about the real Johnny. I started with YouTube, where I found (among many other interesting things), the video below. The routines he performs in competition are beautiful, but I can't help liking his exhibition performances better because they really allow him to be himself.

Later I discovered that all ten episodes of Weir's reality show (Yes, he has one all his own), Be Good Johnny Weir, are available online. I highly recommend them. The show is awesome and Johnny Weir is even more awesome. He doesn't always come out on top, but his courage and ability to bounce back are amazing. And he never, ever caves in to bullies. He always remains true to himself, no matter what the cost.

Watching the show (and several more interviews), I realized Jimmy isn't as much like Johnny as I thought. Considering how much Johnny values personal freedom, he might be horrified to know about my story. What I'd like to think, though, is that it would give him a good laugh. Weir has a great sense of humor, and he took a hilarious jab at homophobic hockey players in one episode of his show. As you read the following quote, bear in mind that I wrote my story before hearing him say this:

Let's go brave these hockey players. Last week they called me "Johnny Queer" and then made a blow job gesture....When you walk by a group of jocks and they're making fun of you, in general, I'll want to turn around and say, "Okay, if you want a blow job, present your penis." Sexually, I enjoy being pursued, or taken to dinner and then pursued. I think it's trashy to do it behind your back.

I so love this man. :)

Now here are a few last Johnny/Jimmy-related notes before I send the next chapter to Simon:

• Johnny's teeth turned out to be straighter than I remembered, but they really are a little...peculiar looking, aren't they? And those canines are definitely worrisome.
• Yes, I've seen Blades of Glory, but I didn't name my MC'er after Jon Heder's character. I named him "Jimmy" because it was the closet name to "Johnny." I enjoyed the movie, but I don't think it made a big impression on my story.
• Yes, I've seen The Cutting Edge, but it was a couple of decades ago and I don't remember much about it. Any coincidences beyond the obvious really are just coincidences.
• Yes, I know about the Canadian reality show that pairs hockey players with figure skaters. No, I never got to see it.
• Yes, I know about the reality show that pairs figure skaters with non-skaters; and I know Johnny Weir was a judge for the show. But I didn't find out about it until after I finished my rough draft, and I haven't seen it yet.
• Yes, I'm sure the figure skating sections of my story have a few technical problems. Just take a deep breath and use that extra buoyancy to suspend your disbelief, okay?

If you're looking for a new tattoo...

Zoetica Ebb takes commissions, then shares them on her blog. The first and third images below are designs she created specifically for herclients. The middle one is just one of her drawings, but it's the piece I'd most want as a tattoo, if I had to chose any of her artwork.

Oh, and FWIW, she designs iPhone cases, too.

Silvergasm

I found these pictures by following a link from Ulorin Vex's Deviant Art gallery, where she models some other designs from this fashion house. I think you can see why I chose this set over hers, though. You can imagine what the one at the top of this post did to me. ;-P

As a whole, this set reminds me of trilby else's story Golden. His brainwashed Venusian warriors don't look quite like this, but you could certainly apply their backstory to these gals. They're so obviously seducing each other into deeper trance; and once their Mistress is satisfied with them, she'll send them out to enslave more women. You'll find plenty of conversion candidates on the designer (Anillarte)'s website.

The photographer is Rebecca Saray.

The good news and the bad news

Bad news first: Chapter 1 of "How Did It Come to This?" didn't make it into this week's EMCSA update because Simon thought it didn't have enough overt MC content. He asked me to send him more of the story.

Thus the good news: I've just sent him the second chapter, so that means you'll probably get the first two sections of the story in the next update. They're only 4,000-5,000 words each, so I don't think that will be too much for anyone to read in a single week.

Honestly, I was torn myself about whether or not chapter 1 had enough MC to post alone. The content is there, but it's pretty subtle, and you won't understand what's happening until the end of chapter 4. On the other hand, you won't have any trouble spotting the MC in chapter 2...or the sex, either. ;) Part 1 is mainly humor. And strippers. ;P

I can't help being disappointed that Simon withheld my story, but I understand his point of view (and I'm glad to know he really reads my stuff ;)), so I can't complain. I just feel bad for anyone who was looking forward to starting on "How Did It Come to This?" this week. To make it up to you, here's a rerun of the clip that launched the whole story for me:

Would China Mieville really destroy the world?

That's the question I kept asking myself as I made my way through Kraken (If you missed my earlier post on the topic, here it is).On the one hand, the three previous Mieville novels I'd read were pretty grim; but on the other, Kraken started off funny and got even funnier as it went along. Really, would an author who gives his protagonist access to a working Star Trek phaser let that protagonist (not to mention everyone else on the planet) die a fiery death? Well, this is China Mieville we're talking about, so I just wasn't sure.

Now I have my answer, so the only remaining question is how much to tell you. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but some of you might feel like Lady K. She read Perdido Street Station at my recommendation and hated the ending so much that she was ready to swear off Mieville completely unless I told her Kraken was a safe read. So, Lady K, here's your answer: YES. By all means, check out this book.

When I blogged about the novel at the halfway point, I said it reminded me a lot of Neil Gaiman, especially Neverwhere and American Gods. I left Anansi Boys out of that post only because it seemed a little redundant to mention when I'd already name-checked American Gods. Now I feel like I have to include it, because Kraken ended up being more like Anansi Boys than American Gods. I say that for a number of reasons, but most of them involve spoilers, so all I'll tell you here is this: a) AB is funnier than AG, while still retaining plenty of horror; and b) Billy Harrow is a lot like Fat Charlie, both in personality and in character arc.

Hmm, I wonder if Gaiman has read much Mieville (I don't have to wonder the opposite, because it's just so clearly true). Maybe they even know each other. Wouldn't it be interesting to have dinner with the two of them together?

I know some hardcore Mieville fans look down on Kraken because it's more lightweight than his Bas-lag novels, so I guess that means I'm not a hardcore fan. But I'm okay with that because it means I got to enjoy a fun novel with real emotional weight, fantastic characters, terrifying villains, hundreds of geeky in-jokes, and "confirmation" of a personal theory I've always held about Star Trek's transporter technology. ;) So what if the ending didn't make me want to stick my head in the oven? Is that a bad thing?

P.S.: The picture at the top of this post doesn't really have anything to do with Kraken, but you didn't really want to see that boring old book cover again, did you? ;) I thought you'd appreciate a bit of stuntkid art instead.

Whew!

Well, folks, my newest story is in the pipeline. I just sent the first chapter off to Simon, so it should show up in the next EMCSA update. For some reason, this one took more polishing than most of my stuff, but it was worth it. I really like the way it came out in the end.

The story will have four chapters in all, and if you've been following my blog for awhile, you probably have an inkling of the plot already. In fact, if you've been following my blog long enough, you might even know who the (very thinly) disguised MC'er is. ;) But I'm not going to make it too easy for you to put everything together. I'll just say that I dropped my most recent hints in a May 2011 post, but the idea first occurred to me over a year ago. Yes, I know that's a lot of ground to cover, but if anyone is bloodyminded enough to try, keywords will be your friends. ;-)

For the rest of you, I'll just give you the title to look out for: "How Did It Come to This?", and the story blurb: "A hockey player signs on for a reality show and finds himself paired with a flamboyant figure skater."

You've probably figured out by now that the story is cyan, but I think most of my regular readers are fine with that. Besides, it's a damn funny story, if I do say so myself. ;-) I hope you'll enjoy it.