Top 100 Gay Novel: Captain’s Surrender by Alex Beecroft

When I was young I read a lot of classics and enjoy them very much. Strong stories with well written characters and able to take you awake till late and eager to read more. Sometime romance, cause there were a love story on them, but not erotic cause there were no sex on them. But I didn't miss the sex, cause I could imagine in my mind what happened behind the closed door of a bedroom, usually between a married couple. Captain's Surrender is a such story? in some way yes. In an epublished world where sex is the easiest way to drawn the reader (and I'm first in line to it, as I always say I like my sex scene...) Alex Beecroft has chosen the hardest way, writing a very good story, with wonderful but very human characters and giving us a lot of love but very few sex, barely some hints. I'm accusing her for it? Oh, no, not at all. Cause her book is right like it is and one of that book I will read again and again, to find every time something new in the very rich prose she has used.

Josh is a midshipman in a ship under the command of a crazy captain. A man who has no problem to beat to death a sailor who has spoken aloud his believes, unfortunately not the same of his captain, and who will have no problem to hang a man framed with sodomy (and in that time he has also the right to doing it). So Josh, who judge himself an abomination to crave the touch of another man, tries to do his work and not react to the captain's wickedness. But he knows that the captain has read into him and soon or later he will hang. And then Peter enters his life: a young lieutenant, third son of a nobleman, but with no money of his own, Peter his the epitome of grace and cavalry. To Josh's eyes he is like an angel, someone he can't dirty with his sin. But Peter his like a magnet, and soon Josh finds himself to surrender to this man, with body and soul.

Josh is a wonderful character. He is the real "noble" man, and even if he is younger, and less cultured than Peter, he is more wise and I think also more brave. He first of all thinks to the better of whom he beloved and then maybe to his desire. Peter instead is like you can imagine a nobleman and a spoilt son: sure he is good, full of his own idea of what is right and what is wrong in the world, but he is also sure that he is like a gift to Josh. He never say it aloud, but sometime his behaviour let me think like he is doing a favour to Josh. Oh, yes, he loves John, no doubt in it, but at what he renounces to stay with Josh? Nothing, and when he has to take a decision, what do you think he will do? So in the end I like a lot Josh and I think he maybe deserves someone better of Peter, and to regain my sympathy, Peter has to behaviour very good.

As you see, every book that manages to awaken in you such strong feelings is for sure a good book. Due to the matter, historical fiction setting in the sea world, I was exepcting it to be maybe a little bit demanding, and instead I have read it in a session, without grown tired neither for a moment, and eager to turn the page to see what would be happened to my heroes (yes even to Peter, cause I wanted to see if he made amends for his selfishness :-) )

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/captain-s-surrender

Amazon: Captain's Surrender

Amazon Kindle: Captain's Surrender

Alex Beecroft's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/534359.html


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Lessons in Discovery (A Cambridge Fellows Mystery 3) by Charlie Cochrane

I suspect that Charlie Cochrane is a little prude as her character Orlando; and since I like Orlando, don't take this as a complaint, it's only that Charlie Cochrane's books are not notorious to be overly erotic, but more subtly sexy. The first book in the series was almost chaste, with some hints here and there that something was happening between Orlando and Jonty, but not real explicit proofs. In the second book it was expected for them to move on in their relationship, to deepen it... now, don't think that they jumped in bed and replayed the Kamasutra, but well that time something happened.

And in the third book? It's not in the nature of these characters to be daring, or at least not from Orlando's side, and so Charlie Cochrane adopted a trick that Monopoly's players well know, the "start again" penalty. And so at the beginning of the book, Orlando opportunely suffers from amnesia and Jonty has to start all over again his seduction play. It's indeed a nice play, and I enjoyed all over again the very prim and proper behavior of both characters, not only of Orlando; also Jonty is quite conservative: for example, when he finally manages to have Orlando again in his bed, he lets himself being swerved from his seduction plan for a coughing attack... and all end with both of them in their respective beds in separate not only rooms but even buildings... not exactly the behavior of a man overcome by passion.

But indeed Orlando and Jonty are right like they are, the nice stereotype of the two English professors of the beginning of the XX century, clever and full of knowledge, but maybe too often with their heads on the clouds instead of the ordinary things of life. They are allowed to being in that way since they live in a quite protective environment, the walls of Cambridge. In this case for them those walls are not a "prison", but their shelter, Cambridge is like a natural reserve where people like Orlando and Jonty can thrive where instead, outside those walls, they would perish. Some of Orlando's behaviors made me want to knock him on the head, but then I realized that I was thinking with a XXI century mind, and instead Orlando, and all his reserves, is the consequence of his upbringing in a very strict late XIX century family; we have to comprehend him and allow him to live in his safe world inside those walls, that are not only the physical walls of Cambridge, but also the mental walls he erected to protect himself, and that maybe are also one of the reasons for his amnesia.

I like also the new mystery they undertake in this new book; if it was another real murder, I would have suspected that Orlando and Jonty were like some unlucky charm, and I would have suggested to people to avoid them to not ending dead... And instead this time their investigation is aimed to resolve a more than 400 years old mystery, an investigation that is led through papers and legends, deciphering codes and making assumptions, some of them during a Christmas holiday spent with Jonty's family, they solve a mystery like modern families play at Cluedo. The mystery this time is more playful and less angst, above all since regarding people long ago dead and not directly involved with the heroes.

The new Cambridge Fellows Mystery confirms to be a nice and enjoyable book, with a very sweet romance, and two endearing characters.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/lessons-in-discovery

Amazon: Lessons in Discovery (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 3)

Amazon Kindle: Lessons in Discovery (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 3)

Series: A Cambridge Fellows Mystery
1) Lessons in Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/417687.html
2) Lessons in Desire: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/506663.html
3) Lessons in Discovery

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Lessons in Discovery (A Cambridge Fellows Mystery 3) by Charlie Cochrane

I suspect that Charlie Cochrane is a little prude as her character Orlando; and since I like Orlando, don't take this as a complaint, it's only that Charlie Cochrane's books are not notorious to be overly erotic, but more subtly sexy. The first book in the series was almost chaste, with some hints here and there that something was happening between Orlando and Jonty, but not real explicit proofs. In the second book it was expected for them to move on in their relationship, to deepen it... now, don't think that they jumped in bed and replayed the Kamasutra, but well that time something happened.

And in the third book? It's not in the nature of these characters to be daring, or at least not from Orlando's side, and so Charlie Cochrane adopted a trick that Monopoly's players well know, the "start again" penalty. And so at the beginning of the book, Orlando opportunely suffers from amnesia and Jonty has to start all over again his seduction play. It's indeed a nice play, and I enjoyed all over again the very prim and proper behavior of both characters, not only of Orlando; also Jonty is quite conservative: for example, when he finally manages to have Orlando again in his bed, he lets himself being swerved from his seduction plan for a coughing attack... and all end with both of them in their respective beds in separate not only rooms but even buildings... not exactly the behavior of a man overcome by passion.

But indeed Orlando and Jonty are right like they are, the nice stereotype of the two English professors of the beginning of the XX century, clever and full of knowledge, but maybe too often with their heads on the clouds instead of the ordinary things of life. They are allowed to being in that way since they live in a quite protective environment, the walls of Cambridge. In this case for them those walls are not a "prison", but their shelter, Cambridge is like a natural reserve where people like Orlando and Jonty can thrive where instead, outside those walls, they would perish. Some of Orlando's behaviors made me want to knock him on the head, but then I realized that I was thinking with a XXI century mind, and instead Orlando, and all his reserves, is the consequence of his upbringing in a very strict late XIX century family; we have to comprehend him and allow him to live in his safe world inside those walls, that are not only the physical walls of Cambridge, but also the mental walls he erected to protect himself, and that maybe are also one of the reasons for his amnesia.

I like also the new mystery they undertake in this new book; if it was another real murder, I would have suspected that Orlando and Jonty were like some unlucky charm, and I would have suggested to people to avoid them to not ending dead... And instead this time their investigation is aimed to resolve a more than 400 years old mystery, an investigation that is led through papers and legends, deciphering codes and making assumptions, some of them during a Christmas holiday spent with Jonty's family, they solve a mystery like modern families play at Cluedo. The mystery this time is more playful and less angst, above all since regarding people long ago dead and not directly involved with the heroes.

The new Cambridge Fellows Mystery confirms to be a nice and enjoyable book, with a very sweet romance, and two endearing characters.

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/lessons-in-discovery

Amazon: Lessons in Discovery (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 3)

Amazon Kindle: Lessons in Discovery (Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 3)

Series: A Cambridge Fellows Mystery
1) Lessons in Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/417687.html
2) Lessons in Desire: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/506663.html
3) Lessons in Discovery

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Top 100 Gay Novel: Captain’s Surrender by Alex Beecroft

When I was young I read a lot of classics and enjoy them very much. Strong stories with well written characters and able to take you awake till late and eager to read more. Sometime romance, cause there were a love story on them, but not erotic cause there were no sex on them. But I didn't miss the sex, cause I could imagine in my mind what happened behind the closed door of a bedroom, usually between a married couple. Captain's Surrender is a such story? in some way yes. In an epublished world where sex is the easiest way to drawn the reader (and I'm first in line to it, as I always say I like my sex scene...) Alex Beecroft has chosen the hardest way, writing a very good story, with wonderful but very human characters and giving us a lot of love but very few sex, barely some hints. I'm accusing her for it? Oh, no, not at all. Cause her book is right like it is and one of that book I will read again and again, to find every time something new in the very rich prose she has used.

Josh is a midshipman in a ship under the command of a crazy captain. A man who has no problem to beat to death a sailor who has spoken aloud his believes, unfortunately not the same of his captain, and who will have no problem to hang a man framed with sodomy (and in that time he has also the right to doing it). So Josh, who judge himself an abomination to crave the touch of another man, tries to do his work and not react to the captain's wickedness. But he knows that the captain has read into him and soon or later he will hang. And then Peter enters his life: a young lieutenant, third son of a nobleman, but with no money of his own, Peter his the epitome of grace and cavalry. To Josh's eyes he is like an angel, someone he can't dirty with his sin. But Peter his like a magnet, and soon Josh finds himself to surrender to this man, with body and soul.

Josh is a wonderful character. He is the real "noble" man, and even if he is younger, and less cultured than Peter, he is more wise and I think also more brave. He first of all thinks to the better of whom he beloved and then maybe to his desire. Peter instead is like you can imagine a nobleman and a spoilt son: sure he is good, full of his own idea of what is right and what is wrong in the world, but he is also sure that he is like a gift to Josh. He never say it aloud, but sometime his behaviour let me think like he is doing a favour to Josh. Oh, yes, he loves John, no doubt in it, but at what he renounces to stay with Josh? Nothing, and when he has to take a decision, what do you think he will do? So in the end I like a lot Josh and I think he maybe deserves someone better of Peter, and to regain my sympathy, Peter has to behaviour very good.

As you see, every book that manages to awaken in you such strong feelings is for sure a good book. Due to the matter, historical fiction setting in the sea world, I was exepcting it to be maybe a little bit demanding, and instead I have read it in a session, without grown tired neither for a moment, and eager to turn the page to see what would be happened to my heroes (yes even to Peter, cause I wanted to see if he made amends for his selfishness :-) )

http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/captain-s-surrender

Amazon: Captain's Surrender

Amazon Kindle: Captain's Surrender

Alex Beecroft's In the Spotlight post: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/534359.html


Cover Art by Anne Cain

Two winners

Last week QueerEdFiction offered a copy of their last Horror Anthology, Blood Fruit. The winner is:

aileenfan 

The next day, I was on the Blog Tour. The winner of the coupon of 10$ is:

caitymack 

Thank you to all of you!

Two winners

Last week QueerEdFiction offered a copy of their last Horror Anthology, Blood Fruit. The winner is:

aileenfan 

The next day, I was on the Blog Tour. The winner of the coupon of 10$ is:

caitymack 

Thank you to all of you!

The Letter Z by Marie Sexton

It was not easy to like this novella, at least for me: it goes against what is my personal belief, but as usual, I would like to highlight that it’s MY attitude and not the right one, we are all different and the beauty of life is exactly that diversity.

Actually in the story there is one couple that behaves like me, Matt and Jared, and one that approaches life, and love, in a different way, Angelo and Zach. During a New Year’s party at Jared and Matt’s house, Angelo meets Cole, Jared’s former buddy friend, and Matt’s nemesis, since he was Jared’s previous lover. As soon as Angelo sees Cole, sparks fly between them, but Angelo at first doesn’t want to follow his instinct since he is with Zach, he loves Zach and doesn’t want to ruin that. To his, and my, surprise, the same Zach tells Angelo that is right if he wants to have a fling with Cole, provided that it will be only a sex thing, no feeling involved, and that he will be back home to him as soon as it will be ended.

Where Zach and Angelo are perfectly consistent in their agreement, Jared is not of the same disposition, and a curtain of cold descends between them; at first I thought it was jealousy, even if Jared is no more interested in Cole, maybe he doesn’t want to see him with someone else; then I thought it was Jared’s closed mind, that maybe he was not able to see that the agreement between Zach and Angelo could work. In the end I think it was some sort of insecurity, that Jared feared something like that could happen to Matt and him, and he was not sure to be able to accept that.

The story is told in two point of view, from Angelo and Matt; I like that it weren’t the main characters, Angelo and Jared to tell it, since in this way we had an “insight” and “outsight” point of view, Angelo totally involved, and Matt more a spectator. I like also that we were able to see two different couples and their different approaches to a relationship: in the end, the author proves that both of them are right, there is not bad and good, only different way to see sex and love, and both of them are right for the couple who chooses it.

Actually this novella is like an essay on gay couples, as they see a relationship between two men, as they see themselves in relation to the outside world, what they find sexy and what is absolutely out of question.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1821

Amazon Kindle: The Letter Z

Series:
1) Promises: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/937139.html
2) A to Z: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1005738.html
3) The Letter Z

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

The Letter Z by Marie Sexton

It was not easy to like this novella, at least for me: it goes against what is my personal belief, but as usual, I would like to highlight that it’s MY attitude and not the right one, we are all different and the beauty of life is exactly that diversity.

Actually in the story there is one couple that behaves like me, Matt and Jared, and one that approaches life, and love, in a different way, Angelo and Zach. During a New Year’s party at Jared and Matt’s house, Angelo meets Cole, Jared’s former buddy friend, and Matt’s nemesis, since he was Jared’s previous lover. As soon as Angelo sees Cole, sparks fly between them, but Angelo at first doesn’t want to follow his instinct since he is with Zach, he loves Zach and doesn’t want to ruin that. To his, and my, surprise, the same Zach tells Angelo that is right if he wants to have a fling with Cole, provided that it will be only a sex thing, no feeling involved, and that he will be back home to him as soon as it will be ended.

Where Zach and Angelo are perfectly consistent in their agreement, Jared is not of the same disposition, and a curtain of cold descends between them; at first I thought it was jealousy, even if Jared is no more interested in Cole, maybe he doesn’t want to see him with someone else; then I thought it was Jared’s closed mind, that maybe he was not able to see that the agreement between Zach and Angelo could work. In the end I think it was some sort of insecurity, that Jared feared something like that could happen to Matt and him, and he was not sure to be able to accept that.

The story is told in two point of view, from Angelo and Matt; I like that it weren’t the main characters, Angelo and Jared to tell it, since in this way we had an “insight” and “outsight” point of view, Angelo totally involved, and Matt more a spectator. I like also that we were able to see two different couples and their different approaches to a relationship: in the end, the author proves that both of them are right, there is not bad and good, only different way to see sex and love, and both of them are right for the couple who chooses it.

Actually this novella is like an essay on gay couples, as they see a relationship between two men, as they see themselves in relation to the outside world, what they find sexy and what is absolutely out of question.

http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=1821

Amazon Kindle: The Letter Z

Series:
1) Promises: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/937139.html
2) A to Z: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1005738.html
3) The Letter Z

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Anne Cain

The Inside Reader: Charlie David

Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends - Silas Weir Mitchell

Charlie David was the first LGBT celebrities with whom I had a contact; when his first book, Mulligans, was released, he contacted me through Amazon; after that he also forwarded my post on A Four Letter Word to Jesse Archer, and this lead to another nice friendship. Not only that, Charlie volunteered for being  judge in the Rainbow Awards and to do this list, despite the busy and international life, television host, writer (Shadowlands is just out now), actor (more or less 10 days to the filming of Judas' Kiss), always hopping back and forward between Canada, US, South Africa and Europe. So I'm really glad to be able to "catch" him for a day, enjoy his list!

Inside Reader – Top Ten Books – Charlie David

I’d like to thank Elisa for inviting me to take part in her Inside Reader! I certainly find this blog extremely entertaining and informative about what’s happening in the gay fiction world. A top ten is definitely challenging to narrow down. This is not necessarily my definitive list but an insight into some of the engaging reading I’ve been up to lately.

1) The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer. I received this book as a birthday gift and to be honest I wasn’t instantly excited about reading a ‘Western’. On my friend’s urging I began to read and instantly became immersed in the world of the Old West. Shed’s story was heart breaking, beautifully woven, and incredibly moving. One of the finest and most enjoyable books I’ve ever read.

Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (January 6, 2000)
Publisher Link: http://www.groveatlantic.com/#page=isbn9780802136633%20
ISBN-10: 080213663X
ISBN-13: 978-0802136633
Amazon: The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Set around the turn of the twentieth century, The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon provides a vision of the Old West unlike anything seen before. The narrator, Shed, is an orphaned half-Indian bisexual boy who lives and works at a hotel and brothel in the tiny town of Excellent, Idaho. Despite being surrounded by a loving, if eccentric, surrogate family at the hotel, Shed finds in himself a growing need to find an identity among his mother’s Indian tribe. Setting off alone across a haunting and unforgiving landscape, Shed encounters a rich pageant of extraordinary characters along the way. Although he learns a great deal about the mysteries and traditions of his Indian heritage, it is not until Shed returns to Excellent and witnesses a series of brutal tragedies that he attains the wisdom that infuses this exceptional and captivating book.

2) Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. The super nova novel by Anne Rice sang to ever fiber of my being as a fifteen year old boy attending a private Catholic school. The angst of searching for love and the meaning of both a mortal and immortal existence has continued to haunt both my perspective of the world and my writing ever since. The love between Lestat and Louis was in fact my first glimpse into the M/M world and as their relationship swept across the sliding sands of history so too has it colored my quest for an ever-lasting love.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 18, 1997)
Publisher Link: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780345409645
ISBN-10: 0345409647
ISBN-13: 978-0345409645
Amazon: Interview with the Vampire

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force--a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write....

( books from 3 to 10 )

About Charlie David: Charlie David has been a host for E! Television, NBC, OutTV, LOGO, here! TV, Pink TV, EGO, Fine Living and Life Network on such shows as FYE!, SpyTV, Crash Test Mommy and his travel series Bump! which now airs in over 10 countries worldwide.

He has appeared as musical guest on VH1, BBC, CBS¹s The Early Show, and dozens of radio shows.

His recent film and television credits include A Four Letter Word and Kiss the Bride, Bravo!¹s Godiva¹s, Showtime¹s Reefer Madness, Sundance Channel¹s award winning Terminal City and starring in a 4th season of the gothic gay soap opera Dante¹s Cove.

Charlie¹s writing has been published by Instinct, National Youth Ambassador, Adventure Women, Outlooks and BoyCrazy! magazines and AfterElton.com. The latter culminated in a guest appearance on NBC¹s The Other Half with Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce, and Mario Lopez.

In 2009 he had his first two novels, Mulligans and Boy Midflight, published by Palari Publishing.

The Cold Reading Series in Vancouver awarded Charlie ŒBest Feature Screenplay¹ for Mulligans and ŒBest Short Screenplay¹ for Narcissus, a story featured in his new anthology, Shadowlands released in 2010.

In 2005 Out Magazine recognized Charlie in the ŒOut 100¹ at their gala in New York for outstanding contributions to LGBT Arts and Culture. In 2007 the Philadelphia Film Society awarded Charlie with their Rising Star Award. In 2008 the Festival del Sol in Gran Canaria awarded their Best Male Actor Award to Charlie and the male cast of A Four Letter Word.

Charlie is co-owner of CTM International Enterprises Inc., a Canadian Talent Agency representing actors for film, television and commercials.

In 2007 he started Border2Border Entertainment Inc., a production company whose film credits include the award winning Mulligans and Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride.

He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts and currently resides in Victoria, Canada and Capetown, S. Africa.
 
http://www.charliedavid.com  

Shadowlands by Charlie David
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Border2Border Entertainment Inc. (August 9, 2010)
ISBN-10: 0982767609
ISBN-13: 978-0982767603
Amazon: Shadowlands

Charlie David's celebrated collection of short stories explores the heartfelt, and sometimes heartbreaking passion and pain of gay sexuality. Ancient myths are re-imagined with an exciting queer twist masterfully depicting the charged, fragile relationships of urban life today.

Steve Callahan in ABRUPT DECISION

ABRUPT DECISION is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of ABRUPT DECISION are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

After losing his career job in midlife, Denis must figure out what to do next.

He never dreamed his life would go to the dogs.

Starring Steve Callahan and David LaDuca, ABRUPT DECISION is the fifth feature film from director Paul Bright (Angora Ranch, Altitude Falling) and is about a man who has struggled to make the ‘right’ decisions his entire life. Now faced with unemployment and no prospects in his computer career field, he begins rescuing stray dogs – who like him are displaced.

His new obsession to save those who are abandoned threatens to ruin his marriage and lose his home. He struggles to find a balance that will please everyone, but ultimately must make the toughest decision of all when his mother has a serious medical emergency.

Advocating both spay/neuter programs for pets and adopting animals from overcrowded shelters, this film will be seen around the globe. The filmmaker hopes this film will influence communities to reduce unwanted pet breeding and take greater responsibility for the animals living in our streets.

Please help spread the word by sharing this project info with your friends.

The production cash budget is $25,000. The project has already received over $12,000 in-kind donations, with additional in-kind donations pledged. Pledges for cash donations to date are $8,000. We are seeking $17,000 additional cash donations to complete the film shoot.

Filming begins in early August in a small town near Austin, Texas. The cast and crew are scheduled and eager to begin another exciting project.

This film is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501©3 non-profit arts organization. With the changing dynamics of film distribution, it is no longer possible to recoup production costs. Audiences expect to see media at little or no cost, and the only way to make these movies is with donations from people who agree important stories like this must be told.

Paul Bright’s unique perspective connects with audiences craving stories about their lives in a primarily straight world. His films are quirky, funny, honest and compelling.

Fans of his films live around the globe and speak many different languages but identify with the commonality of yearning for understanding and acceptance.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Silly-Bunny-Pictures?i=shlk

Steve Callahan in ABRUPT DECISION

ABRUPT DECISION is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of ABRUPT DECISION are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

After losing his career job in midlife, Denis must figure out what to do next.

He never dreamed his life would go to the dogs.

Starring Steve Callahan and David LaDuca, ABRUPT DECISION is the fifth feature film from director Paul Bright (Angora Ranch, Altitude Falling) and is about a man who has struggled to make the ‘right’ decisions his entire life. Now faced with unemployment and no prospects in his computer career field, he begins rescuing stray dogs – who like him are displaced.

His new obsession to save those who are abandoned threatens to ruin his marriage and lose his home. He struggles to find a balance that will please everyone, but ultimately must make the toughest decision of all when his mother has a serious medical emergency.

Advocating both spay/neuter programs for pets and adopting animals from overcrowded shelters, this film will be seen around the globe. The filmmaker hopes this film will influence communities to reduce unwanted pet breeding and take greater responsibility for the animals living in our streets.

Please help spread the word by sharing this project info with your friends.

The production cash budget is $25,000. The project has already received over $12,000 in-kind donations, with additional in-kind donations pledged. Pledges for cash donations to date are $8,000. We are seeking $17,000 additional cash donations to complete the film shoot.

Filming begins in early August in a small town near Austin, Texas. The cast and crew are scheduled and eager to begin another exciting project.

This film is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501©3 non-profit arts organization. With the changing dynamics of film distribution, it is no longer possible to recoup production costs. Audiences expect to see media at little or no cost, and the only way to make these movies is with donations from people who agree important stories like this must be told.

Paul Bright’s unique perspective connects with audiences craving stories about their lives in a primarily straight world. His films are quirky, funny, honest and compelling.

Fans of his films live around the globe and speak many different languages but identify with the commonality of yearning for understanding and acceptance.

http://www.indiegogo.com/Silly-Bunny-Pictures?i=shlk

A Hidden Magic by Angela Benedetti

I was really interested in reading this novel, Angela Benedetti is one of my oldest online friends and many time we shared our preferences in old fashioned romances, and often we agreed on them. So yes, I knew even before reading it, that the romance part of this story would have been good, and it was. What probably I was also expecting is for the book to be clever. I wasn’t probably expecting for it to be funny.

Let be sincere, when speaking of alien invasion, even if the “aliens” are not from a far away galaxy, but from the fey world, well, funny is not the exact term to describe a story. Especially if the fey creatures, trolls, fairies, incubi and a lot more of other mythical creatures, feed on humans killing them.

But this group of fighting hero is not exactly your special squad: Aubrey, apparently the boss since he is the strongest and oldest, looks like a barely legal pretty boy; his boyfriend Cal is a restaurant owner; Manny is a bookstore owner and former nurse and Paul, the baddest of the all, is a paranormal romance writer! Not exactly the men you are expecting to save the world, right? But they are doing their job fairly, and are not against the idea to include someone else in their group.

I didn’t understand if Manny was inviting Rory to lunch with them since he understood he was a possible candidate or if he was only gentle; in any case, Rory is a “blaze”, basically an huge reserve of magical power fey people want for themselves. All his life Rory believed to be psychopathic since he was seeing “things”, things other people were not able to see; he spent most of his life taking drugs to dull down his sight and now, suddenly, he is not alone in seeing those things. Problem is that now the things are after him and the only shelter against them is Paul.

Paul, the paranormal romance writer, is also a big man with too much piercing and with a passion for the hard rock style. All the opposite of Rory, who, for all his life, has tried to avoid stimulation, like strong colour, strong emotions and strong passions… Near Paul he is having an over flooding of them, and he is not able to stop it. Even if outside there are bad things waiting and hunting for Rory, inside Rory’s house, Paul and him are playing “boyfriends”, sharing a coach, a passion for sci-fic movies and pizzas; the sex is something both of them want, but like two good teenagers at their first experience with passion, they are willing to wait and know each other better.

This is another aspect of the book I liked; aside from a scene almost at the beginning of the book, when an incubus attacked Rory, sex is always there, simmering underneath, but not the main dish; sex here is more like a dessert you need to wait to fully favour it.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2648

Amazon Kindle: A Hidden Magic (Sentinel Series)

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

A Hidden Magic by Angela Benedetti

I was really interested in reading this novel, Angela Benedetti is one of my oldest online friends and many time we shared our preferences in old fashioned romances, and often we agreed on them. So yes, I knew even before reading it, that the romance part of this story would have been good, and it was. What probably I was also expecting is for the book to be clever. I wasn’t probably expecting for it to be funny.

Let be sincere, when speaking of alien invasion, even if the “aliens” are not from a far away galaxy, but from the fey world, well, funny is not the exact term to describe a story. Especially if the fey creatures, trolls, fairies, incubi and a lot more of other mythical creatures, feed on humans killing them.

But this group of fighting hero is not exactly your special squad: Aubrey, apparently the boss since he is the strongest and oldest, looks like a barely legal pretty boy; his boyfriend Cal is a restaurant owner; Manny is a bookstore owner and former nurse and Paul, the baddest of the all, is a paranormal romance writer! Not exactly the men you are expecting to save the world, right? But they are doing their job fairly, and are not against the idea to include someone else in their group.

I didn’t understand if Manny was inviting Rory to lunch with them since he understood he was a possible candidate or if he was only gentle; in any case, Rory is a “blaze”, basically an huge reserve of magical power fey people want for themselves. All his life Rory believed to be psychopathic since he was seeing “things”, things other people were not able to see; he spent most of his life taking drugs to dull down his sight and now, suddenly, he is not alone in seeing those things. Problem is that now the things are after him and the only shelter against them is Paul.

Paul, the paranormal romance writer, is also a big man with too much piercing and with a passion for the hard rock style. All the opposite of Rory, who, for all his life, has tried to avoid stimulation, like strong colour, strong emotions and strong passions… Near Paul he is having an over flooding of them, and he is not able to stop it. Even if outside there are bad things waiting and hunting for Rory, inside Rory’s house, Paul and him are playing “boyfriends”, sharing a coach, a passion for sci-fic movies and pizzas; the sex is something both of them want, but like two good teenagers at their first experience with passion, they are willing to wait and know each other better.

This is another aspect of the book I liked; aside from a scene almost at the beginning of the book, when an incubus attacked Rory, sex is always there, simmering underneath, but not the main dish; sex here is more like a dessert you need to wait to fully favour it.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=2648

Amazon Kindle: A Hidden Magic (Sentinel Series)

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle