Hop Against Homophobia

I doubt any gay, bi, lesbian, or transgendered person hasn’t encountered homophobia in one way or another.  It’s something we deal with – most of us in silence – while we go about our lives.

In 1999 I bit the bullet and came out to family and friends.  Reaction from friends was mixed and, yes, a few walked away.  The reaction from my family was worse than I expected.  They all walked away.  My mother, my brother, aunts, uncles, cousins… all of them disowned me.  For two years I had no contact with any of them, until finally my mother left a note on my car asking if we could meet up to talk.  I phoned her and, although it took her a while, she now deals with my sexuality and even adores my husband, Sam.  It hasn’t been the same way with the rest of my family.  Since 1999 I’ve been well and truly cast out.  My brother has three children; none of them know they have an uncle.  As far as he’s concerned, I don’t exist anymore. My name literally cannot be said in his presence.

In spite of the fact my mother held out an olive branch, she still doesn’t believe the rest of my family are acting unreasonably.  That hurts.  It would be nice if, rather than accept my brother’s homophobia, she tried to talk to him about it.  She won’t and never will.  In many ways I know my mother isn’t okay with my sexuality, but I’m her son and for that reason she dealt with it.  It doesn’t mean I don’t still feel the brunt of it, though.  The irony of all this is that my sexuality shouldn’t have been a surprise to anyone, least of all my family.  It doesn’t take a degree in homosexuality to assume I’m probably not straight.

A year or so after my mother walked back into my life, she asked if I could drive her to her friend’s place so she could drop off a birthday gift.  This friend of hers used to be our neighbour.  I’d known her since I was eleven years old.  I agreed to drive Mum there and, when I parked outside the house, Mum turned to me and said, ‘I shouldn’t be more than about half an hour.’  It was then I realised I was expected to wait in the car and I – rather huffily – questioned why.  The reason?  Because her friend didn’t like gays and I was no longer permitted inside her home.

This type of bigotry toward the GLBT community happens around the world on a daily basis.  Sadly, I don’t see it being wiped out in my lifetime.  However, the more people we educate away from homophobia the closer we get to a world where it no longer exists.

Thanks for taking to time to stop off at my Blog for this Hop Against Homophobia.  If you’d like to leave a comment, you’ll go into the draw to win a copy of my new release, The Statue.  I’m going to say upfront, so there is no misunderstanding, The Statue is a Gay Lit novella and not erotica. If your name is picked as the winner you’ll receive both the standard text .pdf and the graphic (Illustrated) .pdf.

Moving into graphic was a nerve-wracking decision, especially re-releasing stories that have been around for a couple years in a graphic version.  Readers have already imagined these characters and then suddenly there they are in full colour.  It’s quite confronting many ways.  I’ve been blown away by the response and people have been curious over the process.

I’m going to use Alec (Tyler Curtis) from The Curtis Reincarnation for this demo.  He posed the biggest challenge for me.  Quite a few have read his story and I felt if I didn’t get the graphic version right there could be a good chance I’d be lynched.  So, I’m going to set up a scene and show the steps it takes to get a character from a static, lifeless model in a 3D program to a book ready illustration.  You’ll see it’s not a quick process with many stages from start to finished product.  The version of Alec I’m using is the one for the sequel I’m working on, hence his hair is longer than it was in the first story.

Let’s pretend – for the sake of this demo – the illustration I need to create is an image of a young fan girl who happens upon her idol as he walks out of a room in a swanky hotel.

Let’s Go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No, relax, that’s not him.  A character’s facial features and body structure need to be sculpted.  The image above is the basic M4 3D male model most of my boys are built from.  The sculpting process is done by moving dials on a computer screen rather than, say, using your fingers on clay.  Nothing about the basic model holds any resemblance to Alec, except for the fact he’s male.  Everything has to be altered, including skin tone, eye colour, hair, and age.  This process can take two or three days and sometimes longer.  Before I even start sculpting, though, I have to make the model’s skin texture map.  The skin is the model’s uniqueness and no amount of work on their features is going to look any good if the skin is wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That IS Alec.  He’s not looking anything like he should look with that default skin, despite the fact the facial and body morph is the final product.  He’s too old, he’s too hairy, his eyes are the wrong colour, the eyebrows are wrong, and the skin tone is incorrect.  I always create the skin map first in Photoshop and then sculpt.  Skin maps are created from a merchant resource.  The problem with these is that everyone uses them.  To make them look unique takes a bit of Photoshop work and this is where I make changes like removing hair, adding freckles or beauty spots, adding scars, changing lips, adding new eyebrows, all that type of thing.  Skin tone usually has to be changed, as does sharpness to add realism, and shading to add depth.  Once the skin map is done, I need to create something called a Bump Map, which is a high contrast black and white version of the skin.  Bump Maps aren’t absolutely necessary, but they do add definition to things like wrinkles and skin texture.  This whole process can take a couple of days and longer if a character requires several makeup options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is exactly the same morph as the previous image, only this time with his new skin map. It makes a huge difference to how a character looks. I’ve also applied a Sub-Surface Scatter shader, which will give his skin extra realism when I render the scene.  Those of you who know the character of Alec Tyler may notice the colour of his skin looks, at the moment, too pale.  Alec has an olive complexion.  The Sub-Surface Scatter Shader will take care of that later on in the render, as will Photoshop postwork.  Custom amber/gold eyes have been made and applied.  Now we’re getting somewhere!  Of course, he still looks like a deer caught in headlights, but we have to overlook that stunned expression for the moment.  We also need to give the poor lad some hair.  As I said, this is the sequel model so gone is the short black spiky hair he used to have.  Let’s give him his new longer, dark brown hairdo…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah, sure, it looks like a mop has been turned upside and plonked on his head.  Like the stunned expression, we overlook that for the moment.  In the sequel Alec likes to take the Goth image into his everyday life rather than leave it onstage.  This means he needs some makeup.  For this I need to take his face skin map back into Photoshop to make a new one with makeup applied.  Why didn’t I do that in the beginning?  He can’t always wear makeup and needs both a clean face and a made up one.  Applying the makeup in Photoshop, depending on how detailed it is, can take anywhere from an hour to many hours.  Of course, I don’t need to go through this process each time I create an image using a certain character.  Once a model is made, they’re saved and any minor changes can be dealt without consuming too much time.  And, as much as I enjoy looking at him semi-naked, he needs clothes.  This is where it’s a bit like playing Barbie’s for grownups.  Let’s dress him up in something to match the richness of the hotel he’s in and apply his new makeup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, the pants are perfect but the shirt and waistcoat are definitely wrong.  I like the shape of the waistcoat, but it needs retexturing.  I also want to retexture the shirt and get rid of the frill on the front.  New textures for some 3D clothes models are available to buy from Daz 3D, Renderosity, or RuntimeDNA.  The problem with using these, especially for males, is the lack of different textures available.  This runs a risk of creating a finished image with a character wearing an outfit seen in other people’s artwork.  Not an ideal situation when illustrating a book.  Off I go back into Photoshop to overhaul the shirt and waistcoat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The image on the left is a jacket template.  It’s not the template for the Regency outfit Alec’s wearing because I can’t find that one.  Sorry!  But, it gives you an idea.  It’s kind of like a paper sewing pattern.  The template is as a map and used as a guide for your ‘fabric’ which is applied in layers over the template.  The image on the right is the new waistcoat texture.  As it’s a plain waistcoat jacket without many embellishments, aside from the new baroque style silver button, this took about thirty minutes in photoshop.  A more detailed texture can take several hours.  Once again a Bump Map needs to be made to add depth to the jacket fabric texture.  I went through the same process with the shirt, which also required an opacity map to be made to get rid of the frill at the front.  The new texture maps are applied to the shirt and waistcoat in Daz Studio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now he’s dressed, he’s got his makeup on, I’ve added a few piercings to his ears and brow.  He’s all set for.. hmm… maybe meeting Jordan for dinner in the hotel restaurant.  This is where I start setting up the actual scene now the preparation is complete.  Usually I’ll pose the models first and then add the set.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve loaded the young fangirl into the scene and selected a pre-made pose, which quite obviously needs a lot of work.   For a start, their heads are merged together, the arms are in the wrong position with Alec looking like he’s going in for a grope – in fact, it’s pretty much all wrong except for the basic stance.   Next thing to do is correct all the posing issues and get it looking as natural as I can.  Once I have them standing correctly, I need to work on their facial expressions.  Fangirl has to look up at her idol in awe.  Alec has to look friendly and charming.  After all, he’s the type of guy who’ll have a coversation with anyone and talk the leg off a chair.  At the moment he’s gazing off in one direction and fangirl is gazing in the other direction.  I also want to make fangirl a little smaller, to give the illusion she is in her early teens.

Making Alec look friendly and charming means putting a smile on his face.  All characters have different traits and they have to be consistent.  Alec’s genuine smile – as opposed to a fake or strained smile – is wide, toothy, and slightly crooked.  His bottom lip drops further on one side.   These nuances have to flow through images or else people will notice the differences.  When people smile in real life their eyes squint a little, the lower jaw pushes back, and the top lip reduces in depth.  It’s important to try and recreate how a real face moves when expressing different emotions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They’re posed together nicely now and it took over an hour to get to this stage from the pre-made pose, with the expressions taking the longest time.  I’ve swept Alec’s hair away from his face rather than have it covering his eye and cheek. Now I’m going to take two wall sections from a large ballroom set and use them to create more of a hallway effect.  I don’t want to use the entire set because it will compromise the end lighting result.  A lot of digital art is about creating an illusion of something that may or may not really be there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve added the two wall sectionals and a floor.  I also changed fangirl’s skin map because I wasn’t happy with it.  I’m going to add a distant light into the scene now in a similar way a photographer makes sure lighting is correct on their models.  The light needs to cast subtle shadowing on both of them.  In real life there are always shadows, unless you’re nowhere near a light source.  To get the lighting and shadows perfect in the final illustration, I generally do anywhere from two to five seperate renders. Most 3D artists will only do one render with several lights instead.  I find the more lights added, the more realism you compromise.  Hence, I use as few as possible, and only one if I can get away with it.  This particular scene is going to take five renders.  Rendering the scene is kinda like processing a photograph.  I then take the different renders into Photoshop, merge them together, and take the best sections from each image.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s an example of one render.  You can see the difference already.  The work in Daz Studio is now done and I have to move all five of these renders into Photoshop for postwork.  My main goal in postwork is to adjust shading and tweak the skin tones.  I also want to get the background set looking more lush, bring out the colours and make the wood on the doors a better colour.  There are a couple of little things that also need to be cleaned up, like the odd way Alec’s waistcoat looks too thick on his shoulder, and the ordinary way the doorknob looks. These things are taken care of in postwork to create the final illustration.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there’s the final image after approximately one and a half hours in postwork.  Alec’s olive skintone is now how it should be, corrected by adjusting tone in Photoshop.  I’ve enhanced the colour of his waistcoat, along with enhancing his hair so it doesn’t look dull.  I’ve corrected the odd way his waistcoat sat on his shoulder and changed the tone/colour for the background set.  There was a little too much shine on his face, so I’ve used a Photoshop skin brush to bring that glow down a little.

From start to finish this image took approximately 7-8 hours to complete.   For a short story like Left of Centre, I think I illustrated about 15 images.  That adds up to quite a few hours spent on illustrations alone, especially when some images don’t comply in 8 hours and can take two or three days.  It’s a time consuming process… it’s a good thing I love doing it!

It’s been a long time – two years to be exact – since I’ve had a new release.  The Statue is novella length Gay Lit and project I started a while ago and then shelved when I took a break from writing.  It’s a story that had been in my mind for many years and now I can announce the release date for May 24th.

I’ll take this opportunity to clearly point out The Statue is not erotic fiction in the same way The Slayer’s Apprentice is not erotic fiction.  I don’t want anyone buying the book only to be disappointed when they realise this.  However, those of you who read my books probably already know erotic content is not a high priority for me.  Plot has always been my number one concern.

Thank you to everyone who’s patiently waited for me to release something new and thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support throughout the two year dry spell.

The Statue – Novella – $3.99
Available in both plain text version and graphic version.
Genre: Contemporary Gay Lit
Release Date: May 24th 2012

 

BLURB

Freelance journalist, Tristan Church, wants to expose Galloway Mental Hospital’s dirty secrets. Teaming up with broody photographer, Mark, promises other perks.  A ten year relationship with high school sweetheart, Eli, no longer offers Tristan the excitement he craves.  Mark made his intentions clear and Tristan is close to giving in to his advances.

One morning at ‘The Gallows’ leaves Tristan reeling.  He wasn’t prepared for the hell he witnessed and certainly wasn’t prepared to meet Zane.  Disarmed by Zane’s angelic manner, Tristan can’t believe anyone would stand him up.  He soon realises the tardy boyfriend only exists in Zane’s mind and the beautiful young man is not a visitor to The Gallows but a patient.

Eli walks out and Tristan’s life falls apart.  A decision to meet with Mark almost ends in tragedy and Tristan finds solace in Zane’s company.  Before long Zane’s delusions begin terrorising him again.  While Tristan fights to save his own sanity and get Eli back, he knows someone must fight for Zane’s right to love a man no one else can see.  A man who scares away violent hallucinations, takes away Zane’s fear, keeps him safe, and is trapped inside a stone statue.

Working on the One of Those Days graphics got me thinking about bullies, the in crowd, and the fear some kids go through every day they go to school.

I used to catch a bus to and from school.  The bus picked up kids from three different schools, two private and one public.  Cool kids always sat at the back.  The kids who weren’t part of the in crowd knew their place and sat at the front of the bus.  There was one group of boys from the other private school who were ultra cool and, together with a few kids from my private school, they were like rockstars.  All the girls drooled over them, all wanted to date them, all wanted to be invited to sit at the back of the bus with them.  The leader of this group of rockstar cool boys was a kid called Lachlan – who looked as bad-boy as a private school dress code would allow – and his second in charge was his best friend, Ethan.

Every day I’d get on the bus, taking my seat near the front where I belonged, and sat quietly while I listened to laughter and chatter coming from the cool group.  I never knew these kids to ever cause trouble on the bus, apart from being noisy.  But, I’d heard they were not scared to get into a fight if someone else initiated it.  They were an intimidating group of gorgeous looking kids with a posse of followers.  They never acknowledged me and they never bullied me.  To them I simply didn’t exist.

A kid from the public school started to catch the same bus.  By the time he boarded the bus it was nearing the end of its route and was practically empty.  All the cool kids were gone, except for Ethan.  It didn’t take long before this new kid targeted me and started making the last 15 mins of my journey home a pure hell.  Ryan called me names, threatened to beat me up, etc.  I’d break into a nervous sweat the closer we got to that school, knowing he’d get on and humiliate me in front of the few kids who were still on the bus.

After about a week of this, Ryan was particularly abusive one afternoon and told me I’d better not be on the bus the next day because he was going to beat my faggot head in if I was.  Of course, I had no other way to get home from school.  The following day I was nervous wreck.  The bus stopped to let a kid off one stop before Ryan got on.  When I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I noticed Ethan pick up his school bag and walk from the back of the bus over to me.  Maybe he and Ryan were teaming up to smash my head in.  Ethan dropped his school bag and sat beside me.  Did I dare make eye contact with him?  I glanced sideways, met with Ethan’s stunning golden eyes, and waited for the insults to begin.

“Hi.”  He smiled.  “Let’s see how tough he is when there’s two of us.”

Knock me over with a feather!  Ethan reassured me nothing would happen to me while he was there and not to worry.  Ryan got on the bus, stopping in his tracks when he saw Ethan at my side.  He said nothing, looked away and sat down.  In the next instant Ethan started singing.  Loudly!

You ain’t nothing but a hound dog… la la la la.  You ain’t nothing but a hound dog… la la la laaaaa.  

Ryan turned his head to glare, eyes burning with fury.  Ethan fearlessly met his gaze and sang even louder.  The fact it was such a dumb song choice made me smile.

When they said you were high class, well that was just a lie.  You ain’t never caught a rabbit and you ain’t no friend of mine.

With a sneer on his lips, Ryan snarled, “Are you having a go at me, dude?”

Ethan widened his eyes and nodded.  “Well, yeah!  I’m looking at you, aren’t I?  Not for long, though, cos you’re so ugly you’re making me sick.”

That was the end of it.  Ryan didn’t push the issue and slunk into his seat to stare out the window.  Ethan turned to me and winked.  From that moment onwards my respect for Ethan never wavered.  Every single day, without fail, he sat beside me on the bus to make sure Ryan wouldn’t bully me.  Ethan’s beautiful personality shone bright.  He was a smart boy, easy to talk to, talented, friendly, and fought for the underdog.  I remember his lovely smile and the way he treated everyone – except bullies – with the same respect he showed me.  Ethan’s amazing golden eyes were a colour I’d never seen before.  I’d seen cats and wolves with gold eyes, sure, but never a person.  Those stunning gold eyes have since been immortalised in one of my book characters.  Tyler Curtis (The Curtis Reincarnation) has Ethan’s eyes.

Our two schools were linked due to certain classes available in one school but not the other.  Older students would either swap schools depending on what they wanted to study.  This meant our schools also combined for sporting and social events.  I hated going to school dances.  I felt like such an outcast but it wasn’t negotiable.  You had to attend the dances.   Not long after Ethan swept to my rescue on the bus our schools had another one of these nightmare dances.  I went and stuck to the shadows where I’d less likely be seen.  From the corner of my eye I saw Ethan wandering away from his rockstar popular friends and toward me.

“You look like you’re having fun,” he said, a wry smile on his face.  “Come sit with us.”

What?  No!  No, I’m not sitting with the rockstar group.  Maybe you’re nice, but I doubt they are!  Besides, Lachlan scares me.  He’s way too cool and bad boy looking.

I politely said no.  Ethan ignored my refusal, grabbed my sleeve and the next thing I know I’m standing with the rockstars and their stupid, giggling, bimbo female fans.  I remember Lachlan’s piercing blue eyes spearing into me when Ethan introduced us.  He had an uncanny resemblance to 80’s icon Billy Idol.  A very uncanny resemblance, complete with the sneer, bleach blond hair, and attitude.  Of course it was a dance, we weren’t in uniform, so he was dressed the rocker part as well.  Lachlan knew he looked like Billy Idol and I’m sure he played on it.  Probably practiced the sneer in the mirror at home while he sang White Wedding into a pretend microphone.  Good Lord… the boy was hot!  Hot with a bad reputation for smoking, drinking, getting into trouble, and everything else fifteen year old bad boys did.  He had a different girlfriend every week.

“Hello,” he drawled, smirking at me with a well practiced sneer.

That was the end of my conversation with Lachlan.  I stood around with them for a little while, spending most of the time talking to Ethan.  I didn’t know at that stage that it wouldn’t be the last I saw of Lachlan.  But that’s for another Blog post.

Skipping ahead… I left school and occasionally would see Ethan at a shopping centre or somewhere else.  He always came over, we’d talk for a while, catch up, and then wave each other goodbye.  There was a light around Ethan and you couldn’t help noticing it.  An aura that followed him wherever he went.  You could almost imagine a pair of wings unfolding from his back when you spoke to him.  He was one of those people who, when he talked to you, made it seem as if you were the only one in his life at that time.  If there was anyone in the world who deserved all his dreams to come true, it was Ethan.  Anything less than that wouldn’t be good enough for a young man with a heart as golden as his eyes.  He wanted to be an actor.  Wanted to be in the movies and dedicated his time to acting classes and studying to reach his goal.  I could imagine him setting Hollywood on fire.

One night I received a phone call from a friend.  Ethan had been in a car accident with two friends.  They were hit by a drunk driver.  His friends escaped with broken bones and bruises.  Ethan was dead.  He was only seventeen.

I can’t describe the grief that hit me when told the news.  Why him?  Why did the drunk driver survive and a beautiful soul like Ethan was taken from the world?  I remember Lachlan’s notice in the deaths column of the newspaper.  ‘If any of us would have made it in this world, it would have been you.  How can you be gone?  I can’t stop crying and I never will.  You’re my best friend.  I love you.  I miss you.  Rest in peace, Ethan.  Don’t forget me.  I’ll never forget you.’

It tore my heart out.  By the time Ethan died, I actually did know Lachlan quite well.  I knew he adored Ethan and much as Ethan adored him.  I never saw Lachlan again after Ethan’s death.  A horrible gut feeling told me it may have been the end for Lachlan as well.  I hope I’m wrong.

Ethan gave me faith in human nature at a time of my life when I’d lost faith in humanity.  He showed me being one of the cool kids didn’t automatically mean they were heartless.  He taught me an important lesson on judging others on face value.  He took away my fear and made sure my journey home from school was a safe one.  He cared about me, he cared about his friends… he cared about everyone.  He sure as hell didn’t deserve to die before he had the chance to live his life.  And that taught me another very important lesson.  I’ve never got behind the wheel while drunk.  I will only drive if I know I’m stone cold sober.  I’ll take this opportunity to say please, please do not drink and drive.

To the beautiful boy with the beautiful golden eyes… thank you for your kindness.  Thank you for taking me under your angel wings and making my school years a safer, less frightening place to be.  Thank you for being you.  Heaven certainly got one of the best when you left us to go there.  When it’s my turn to walk through Heaven’s gates, I pray your face is one of the first I’m reunited with.  Until then, Rest in Peace, sweetheart.

 

 

 

Avery Embue is a 3D model I’ve created and has been cast in ‘The Violin Player’ (WIP sequel to The Curtis Reincarnation).  I originally created him to sell on the Renderosity marketplace, but I fell in love with him and decided to use him in a graphic novel instead.  These images are of the eight makeup options I’ve done for Avery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the winner is Elizabeth!

Thank you to everyone who took part in this Blog Hop and hope you all had a great Easter

 

 

The Blog Hop Spot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Happy Easter!

There are a LOT of Blogs to visit on this hop, so I’ll keep it short and not take up much of your time.  If you’d like to win a copy of my  short story, Left of Centre, simply leave me a comment on this post.  It’s as simple as that!   I’ll choose one winner from the comments left and notify them via email.

Left of Centre is graphic fiction, meaning it’s illustrated with digital art.  You will receive a zipped file with two versions of the story.  One plain text .pdf and the graphic version .pdf.

LEFT OF CENTRE

Short Fiction
Winner of Book of the  Month
Cover Art by Zathyn Priest
$2.99 USD

When self-confessed player Brandon Faulkner arranges to meet three different Goth guys over the course of one weekend, he isn’t expecting to meet someone like ‘Enigma’. Enigma isn’t like anyone Brandon’s met before. He’s unpredictable, volatile and… well, downright weird! To make matters worse, the gorgeous Enigma isn’t at all impressed with Brandon and is unafraid to crush the man’s ego at every opportunity. For the first time in his life, Brandon has to work hard to win the guy. Will Brandon agree to Enigma’s left of center, bizarre requests, or is the player about to get played?

 

Purchase Link on THIS page

 

 

 

 

I wrote One of Those Days back in 2009 when I was trying out short story telling techniques.  It was very much a precursor to Left of Centre and, like I said, a practice run that I then made available as a free download.  Once it was on my website I pretty much forgot about it until recently when I decided to turn it into a free graphic eBook.

I began reading through it, fixing up a few editorial and format errors, and I started to realise this was a story with two characters who have a whole lot more to tell.  There’s more to Alex and Ric’s pasts, to their future, and far more to their personalities.  This is especially true for Ric Saunders, who has decided to divulge much more than he did when I first wrote One of Those Days.

What to do about this?  I’ve spent the last few days thinking over the dilemma.  One of Those Days, as it stands now, has been read by quite a few and recently was book of the week on Hearts on Fire Review’s site.  Part of me says to ignore the characters speaking to me and just put the story back out for free download as is but with illustrations.  However, if I do that, it’ll basically erase the angle I’d like to move the sequel/s in.  Another part of me is saying to run with the changes and set the first story up for more to come.

My decision is this.  I’ve already removed the download links of the original and it is currently unavailable.  The version I’ll replace it with is going to be a little longer, slightly different, and be the first in what I hope to be a series of graphic shorts stories featuring these two boys.  It started out as a freebie and will remain so, no matter how many instalments of their story I write.  Alex and Ric have far too much to say for me to push them aside as unimportant to me, even though they were originally invented as – and I hate to say it – throw away characters.

I’m sorry if this messes up reviews that have been done of the original story.  As it stands now, I can’t bring myself to simply re-release it and forget about it again.  I like the lads too much and I feel I owe them the chance to tell their stories properly.   I’m going to be perfectly honest here.  Alex Bell and Ric Saunders are my boys.  They were never ever invented with the intent of me submitting the story to a publisher.  Therefore they were never really invented for the purpose of review either.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for the positive reviews and feedback, and super surprised it was a book of the week.  Their story is something I want to tell to myself.  I want to see where their lives go and what they tell me.  So I guess what I’m saying is this a project primarily for my own enjoyment and something I’ll offer to readers if they want to take that ride with me.

Unlike the work in progress novel ‘Emrys Amara’, which is free serial fiction currently running on this Blog and intended for publication once its done, the One of Those Days series will be separate illustrated eBook short stories.  It won’t be in chapter instalments.  It won’t be written on a personal deadline.  It will always be offered free.

One of Those Days will be back on my site – with the changes – within a month.

I’m doing a series of gay erotica portraits in black and white.  Rather than post this on FaceBook, where it’s likely to get reported and have my account banned, I’m putting it here instead.   The portraits in the series all feature characters from my books.  This one is Alex Bell (Doing the licking!) and the cute arse belongs to Ric Saunders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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