castalie | Entries tagged with books: queer lit

Todays was finals' day and I survived! Last time I sat an exam was around six years ago (not counting the IT certificate exam I took last year) so it was a bit weird - though a good kind of weird. Now I have one last paper to finish and I'm almost done for the year. I say 'almost' because I'm planning (hoping?) on submitting my thesis in September. We'll see how that goes. In any case, I have one more year of classes to go before I can get my masters so, you know, I'm not done yet.

Unrelated #1: apparently True Blood has redeeming qualities, after all? And they're called Eric Northman. That's the name that came out of many TB talks and I'll admit it made me curious but until yesterday I wasn't curious enough to want to investigate. Cue my stumbling upon a nice vid featuring the guy, which made me go "hmm, ok, that could be interesting". Followed a little hunt on YT where I found a whole series of vids aptly named The Best of Eric Northman, ie vids which put together all the scenes with Eric per episode. How sweet is that?

Now, though, I'm facing a dilemma: do I want to download TB to see Eric in all his vampirious glory and in-context? The answer should be obvious but the problem is a) Sookie and b) Bill. They annoyed and/or bored me to death when I gave the show a go last year. Is Eric worth the aggravation of those two? *needs to think some more*

Unrelated #2: I just started The Kiss Murder (third?) novel in the Hop-Çiki-Yaya series by Mehmet Murat Somer. Said novel tells the adventures of "Istanbul's foremost transvestite detective, nightclub owner and computer expert" and I'm already enjoying the story and the characters very much. I also enjoyed the following praise "Istanbul's Miss Marple - although he prefers leather catsuits to tweed skirts". If you're looking for a thriller that has a different flavour than your usual detective stories, you might want to give that novel a try :-)

Hey, sis, me again! Thanks to the beauty that is technology these days, there're so many different ways to wish you a happy birthday! This time it's on LJ-land. So the happiest of birthdays to one hell of a woman and one hell of a friend, namely

turps33. Love you, sis *hugs*

Cookie and I had ourselves a little tv night last night. We started with the latest Being Human and continued with Hero Corp.

The former sorta traumatised us. ( Spoilers for 1x04 )

So after that, we needed some cheering-up, so to speak, and elected Hero Corp to do the job. And it so did! Captain Trois Rivières cracked me up! And when the whole gang was rehearsing their little gimmicks and stuff? Hilarious! The speeches! The little gestures that went with them! The utter non-sense of some of them - it was glorious!

Changing the subject now ; why do I love myself? Because I really know how to pick my novels. Here be proof; two little samples taken from The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon by Tom Spanbauer that I'm reading at the moment.

"C.H.A.S.T.I.S.E.M.E.N.T," Dellwood spelled, "means getting spanked for liking to fuck."

( and another one which technically contains a spoiler even though Shed, the main character, tells you about it right at the beginning of the story so it's not really a spoiler, imho. )

Seriously, wasn't that book meant for me? \o/

Hee! Today is the birthday of two lovely people from my flist -

spikedluv and

fangirl1981 - Happy Birthday, girls! I think it's safe to wish you both lots of slashiness on that special day and as far as personal wishes are concerned: lots of new challenge-communities for the former and lots of Sofia love for the latter *kisses*

Today has been real slow at work. So slow that I started and finished A Portrait of Phillip by JP Bowie - that should tell you how busy I was *cough* So. What did I think of the book? It was nice. Well, it read like a fanfic. No offense meant to fanfic, of course, but maybe it'll give you an idea. Actually, the sex scene? Was exactly the kind we read in fics. I mean, seriously, there was no difference. Not that there's anything wrong with that just... well, actually I don't know - I was suddenly brought back to Josh Lanyon's sex scene in his Adrien English series, which was shorter than short, not graphic as such, and it was - to me, obviously - ten times hotter and more powerful than JP Bowie's graphic one. And it was hot, of course... it just didn't have the same level of intensity or anything *shrug* So anyway, I did enjoy A Portrait of Phillip, but like I would a fic... and not one I would nominate in a fanfic award, either. But hey, like I said once, I don't expect to be blown away by each and every book I'm reading, so it's okay.

I'm also thinking A Portrait of Phillip suffered from my finishing Kirith Kirin just yesterday - the latter is so beautiful and powerful that the former had to pale in comparison - not that I would ever compare the two, mind - and maybe I was still in Kirith Kirin mode, I don't know *shrug*

Then I came home and realised I didn't have any more queer lit to savour, so I remedied that and ordered Murder In The Rue St. Ann by Greg Herren and The Tenth Man by E. William Podojil - they both sounded intriguing and I remember coveting them for some time - so I caved in...

Changing the subject now - though still on books. Well, BDs to be more precise. Do some of you read the Mafalda series? I was a big fan when I was a kid - though I kinda wonder why now, because most of the strips had to totally go over my head. So I don't know what exactly I understood and what I liked so much in that series even as a wee!Mouse. But anyway, I've been in a Mafalda mood lately and have been re-reading my Mafalda - l'Intégrale and I wanted to share some little gems.

( Mafalda - en français, sorry )

And I'll stop here, cause if I'm the only who finds those amusing... I don't need to share with myself lol

And finally, on a totally different note: let's welcome

sentinel_kink to our midst, yay!

I came home today to one of those wonderful little surprises that makes your life such a happy place - unbeknownst to me, the oh so wonderful

oceana_ had made a copy of the first two episodes of Farscape and had sent them my way - I thought it was a quid pro quo, but no, it wasn't! I now have Farscape home! I mean, the beginning *g* This is also one hell of a good - so good that it's almost freaky - timing because I was talking about it not two days ago with

yami_tai. Farscape is like Firefly, it had an urban legend status - ie, I've heard pretty much everyone talk and rave about the series but I'd never seen a single episode nor even a small excerpt. Nothing. After I got Firefly for my bday *hugs the hell of Tai once more* I only had one more urban legend to defeat... it's now done! I can't thank you enough

oceana_, that was a very thoughtful gift *g*

Sadly, I only managed to watch the premiere so far - I know what I'll do tomorrow right after I'm back from work though *g*

So. ( First Impressions )

That's an interesting introduction.

The problem with first impressions? Is that you usually don't get a second chance to make them. But! It's not always a problem as such, because I'm intrigued enough and despite all *waves hands* that, I certainly want more - I mean, I'm getting into it. I know that if I keep watching, I might, like, get into it.

oceana_? If I end up caving in and spending money on the DVD boxsets, I think I might hate you just a tiny bit. But damn, I've been peeking at aforementioned boxsets for the longest time now and didn't want to buy them because I had no idea whether I would enjoy the series or not and I couldn't allow myself to spend money on something I wasn't at least 80% certain about, and now... things might have changed. As if I needed new DVDs *rolls eyes*

Also I see everyone saying how much Vala and Cameron look like Aeryn and John? And I'm wondering, will I see it when I'm deeper in the show? Cause right now - and I know, I'm only one episode into it - I'm so not seeing it. Is it obvious? When you know those characters, I mean. I'm just curious *g*

Changing the subject now, and without the slightest segue:

Kirith Kirin is WONDERFUL! You know the point in a book when you know that you’re coming to the end, in a way you’re expecting to reach the climax of the story, you’re ready for it, and ready for the aftermath… it’s not that you can’t get any new surprise, far from it, but you think you know what to expect - to a certain extent, ie not plot wise as such but feeling wise, maybe. You're telling yourself, this is it - this is the end, they'll certainly make me feel things more deeply than before in the story because it's the end, but I'm ready for it, bring it on. Well, that’s exactly when Kirith Kirin totally blew me away - I was expecting a lot of things, but this? Never! ( Spoilers )

I'm not usually into stories about wizards and immortals and all, but since Jim Grimsley told the story, I decided to give it a try, because sometimes you love an author enough to trust him completely, even when dealing with themes you're not so keen to read. And I was right. ( I love the way he writes his magic ) Well, it's pure Jim Grimsley, in a way *g*

Now off to read the transcript of Farscape 1x01 before going to sleep, because aliens speaking English aren't always the easiest creatures to understand for me, and I don't want to miss out anything.

Had a lovely moment at work. There was this pacs'ed couple - the PACS [Pacte Civil de Solidarité] is a civil contract which basically binds two people in order to organise their lives together as a couple, be it a straight one or a gay one - it makes no difference. And I know I'm simplifying. Anyway, I know it's not that exceptional or anything but see, the problem they had? ( Was the exact same one as any other married couple. )

Changing the subject - or not, this is supposedly queer lit - I love working at reception. It gives me the opportunity to catch up with my reading - albeit at a slower pace than if I did it on my free time. But whatever. That way, I have no other choice that savouring the stories *g*

I started Kirith Kirin - again, granted, but this time I won't have to stop - and boy am I ever the Jim Grimsley fan! It's not exactly a revelation, mind. I fell in love with his work the first time I read one of his novels, namely Winter Birds, and hunted down his books right after that one because I needed more - to this day, Comfort and Joy is one of my favourite novels ever *g* Kirith Kirin is proving to be as good as the others.

It also filled me with glee because I was waiting and waiting for ( Spoilers ) - it made my heart glad *g*

Something else that made me squee was ( the following passage )

I'm having a blast - it's so very subtle and sweet. From the very first moment, actually. It's almost more intense because it's barely at the surface. Don't know if it's going to be more graphic than that, but seriously, I don't need anything more *g*

And changing the subject completely this time, I'm apparently reading het. For real, that is. And I mean, it's not as if I never shipped a het couple in canon, but I never ever read het fics - apart from In Another Life but that fic is like the grand-mother of exceptions so it doesn't count *cough*

So anyway, what is this het I'm speaking of? Daniel/Vala. Not even kidding. At first I just read one - you know, out of curiosity - and before I knew it, I'd read, what, five? In a row. Yeah. So

auster? If you're still looking for more, why don't you try Interlude by

cedara, which actually is, let me think, Vala/Daniel, Daniel/Cameron, Vala/Cameron - as well as Daniel/Vala Snippet #2 and Daniel/Vala Snippet #3 by

piratelair. I'm not exactly sure how the latter works, like she's apparently writing bits and pieces, but what the hell, there was a little bit of smut and all *g* So hey, since you're searching?

Jack/Daniel is mocking me, but they know they're still my SG OTP so they're not worried. At all. And they're right not to be *loves J/D* See, I'm forced to mention my undying love for J/D for fear that the fandom kills me or something *quivering lower lip*

And I'll stop here before I make even scarier confessions ;-)

Current Music: Une Nounou d'Enfer

My love for s9 is certainly growing exponentially. And I think being able to see the episodes as they air - I mean, practically - has a lot to do with the excitement - being there when everything is new is definitely compelling.

Anyway. On with ( SG 9x03 - Origin )

Changing the subject - I don't know if it's old news but I just discovered that Josh Lanyon is working on the third novel of his Adrien English series and this made me squee because I'm madly in love with that series! Can't wait for The Hell You Say to be released. Don't think I saw a date, but hopefully I actually got the news so late that it's about to be finished? And in case someone knows what I'm talking about - apart from

katikat, or

crazybutsound now that I think of it - here's a little excerpt of The Hell You Say.

Finally, and because turns out I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, I joined the Very First Numb3rs Slash Ficathon created by - and it won't come as a suprise, I'm sure - the ever so inspired

audrarose,

sori1773, and

spikedluv. And not to brag or anything, but I was the very first to join - well, the creators of the ficathon don't really count, do they? - let's see if I end up being the first one to cry like a baby because my Muses suddenly went AWOL, shall we?

As I thought, I didn't have time to read more

sentinelsecrets stories yesterday - the Gang stayed until late and when they were gone, I went to bed to watch some more TV before finally going to sleep around 1.30 am - since you know, I'm back to being a student and all that, I try to at least be a bit reasonable with my sleep pattern. As long as I have more than five hours of sleep, I'm all right and functional. I actually was a bit afraid to go to sleep because having watched Secrets d'Actualités on the little Gregory's case, I had the feeling I would have some nightmares, which didn't happen, so that was nice.

Anyway, woke up, went to the uni and am back home - yay! My program this afternoon? Stay home and surf! I don't want to do anything else, so there *stamps foot*

Speaking of the uni. I was re-reading A Dangerous Thing on the bus and I was at Adrien's awaited sex scene with Jake - which incidentally I was rather impatient to see as well, let's be honest here - and it made me think of the sex scenes we write in our own fanfics. Don't know about you - though I know about some of you - but writing sex scenes is a chore for me. I don't like writing them. I don't always do it mind, sometimes the story just doesn't demand any, but when I write a little PWP or when a longer/longish story suddenly 'requires' one for whatever reason, the writing suddenly becomes 'work' as opposed to purely 'fun'. And yes, writing dark stories is fun too - I'm not talking about the content of the story but how we write them *g* So to me, dark and intense situation writing is pure fun whereas sex scene writing is... yes, a chore. I usually like the result and I'm even more thrilled when some of my readers agree, but it doesn't change a thing.

Anyway, I always think that there's one way to write sex scenes that would be just perfect for me but somehow, I always end up writing something longer and with more details than I previously wanted. One could say it's my damn fault since, hey I'm the writer, but I'll argue that stories have a life of their own, and I'm just their slave - I don't always have a say in it. But Josh Lanyon knows how to write the kind of scenes I'd like to write myself when I'm working on a longer/longish story where the focus isn't on the sex anyway - I just need to learn how to be concise and short and believe me when I say it's not an easy concept for me!

( Josh Lanyon's A Dangerous Thing - Jake/Adrien )

This scene? Is just great! You know what is happening and how - and the mood has been set perfectly, though since it's taken out of context you can't really appreciate it here, and it's just nicely hot to me because... well because it just is - Adrien and I were both looking forward to when Jake would decide to do his lovely companion and granted, considering the story, it wouldn't have been interesting nor exactly IC for Jake if it'd happened before but it was finally the right time and it was perfect this way. So yeah.

[ETA: I'm afraid I wasn't clear enough, so in case you're curious, the book I'm referring to here is A Dangerous Thing by Josh Lanyon. It also happens to be a sequel to Fatal Shadows.]

Anyway...

Oh hey, I read somewhere it was Coming Out Day today? I won't really be able to appreciate it because I hate coming out with a passion, but just because I don't like it doesn't mean I can't pass the news, right? *g* It always amuses me how it seems there's a Day for just about everything. Though hey, technically I recognise how important Coming Out Day can be - like among other things, the affirmation of what you are without being ashamed and whatnot, and considering how society still stigmatises homosexualiy that's indeed a serious issue, I get that. But I just hate coming out - the way it usually feels like you're admitting some crime or something, how you're more or less telling the world that the perception they had of you isn't true and you're not what everyone thought, except in your head you're still the same you. You didn't change, it's only - eventually - the way the others will now see you that may be put in jeopardy. I hate how you're full of hope that everything will work out just fine and nothing won't change with the person you're coming out to mixed with that sense of dread that maybe you're going to lose someone, because in the end, there's always this slight probability that your homosexuality will make them see you differently - and for the worst. And sometimes it's not a 'slight probability' but a 100% one.

Me? It happened like in a dream. Well practically, I mean. I did trust my family not to react badly and I was right to do so but the feeling you may be disappointing your parents, your aunts, your uncles etc isn't a nice feeling - definitely a feeling I could have done without, seriously. So in the end, I was so lucky, and I'm aware and grateful - but I still hate the whole process.

Coming out to people who are new to your friends circle isn't a problem, because it's not 'coming out' as such to me. Since they never knew me before, they don't have any real expectation. They assume I'm straight because people always assume you're part of the Straight Club, but it's not the same because from the word go I sorta mention my being gay and if they listen, they'll realise soon enough that they're wrong in their assumption - I don't flaunt it but I don't hide it. I talk about girls and I talk about homosexuality and it's usually subtle and just... in passing, as something normal, which for me, it is anyway. So that's not coming out to me and I don't mind it. But when it's with people who always knew you, well damn, that's a different story altogether.

Oops, okay so I rambled again, didn't I? lol Well, that'll show you that coming out isn't a simple concept to me *g*

Current Music: Iris - Goo Goo Dolls

Just watched the man's team epée final and it was great - the match was beautiful, sure enough, but the comments were totally brilliant too, man they cracked me up! lol And I know, it didn't hurt that we won *eg*

Hey, I prettied up my info page a bit this evening. I changed one of the pics - I went from a Daniel pic to a Jack/Daniel one, which you'll agree is a worthy change *g* I did it with my little hands, too! And I added a brand new banner, made by

babycakesin this time, which is just beautiful. It's a QAF one and boy does it look good *sigh*

yami_tai made me a 'This Journal is NOT Friends Only' gorgeous banner some time ago too, and I'll keep it for later use - having talented friends is really nice lol

*peeks at the telly* Ohhh c'est le podium! *waits until the medals have been given away and -* Et La Marseillaise, woohoo.

Yeah okay so uh where was I? Ah yes, my info page! Is all pretty and I'm a happy camper *proud*

I wasn't such a happy camper today though, since I actually caught a cold and it made me feel icky all day. We even know the exact place where I caught it; ie the hospital. Yes, my sister caught it too and more serious, my granddad as well - we're hoping it's not going to be a repeat of last month but it didn't start well, there's nothing we can do though, apart from hoping it won't get too bad and the antibiotics will kick in soon *sigh*

I also thought it was pretty typical that the cold decided to show its annoying head today. I mean, I was so impatient to get the house back to myself - Godmother and Co left early this morning - and surf all day, and in the end? I had to stay a big part of the day snuggled in bed, typical! lol But I'm not complaining because a) I love being all snuggled up in my bed and b) I had A Dangerous Thing to read which I'm enjoying like you wouldn't believe *g*

I think I found another character I like as much as Daniel Hood, namely Adrien English. He's a little pain in the ass and he's sweet and smart and funny and geeky and witty and assertive too and yes, I just love him to pieces *g* Something else I love in this book? The Jake/Adrien storyline. Oh yes did I forget to mention it was queer lit? Jake Riordan is a great character too, really interesting. Reminds me a bit of both Jack and Jim - only a Jack who wouldn't do his dumb routine all the time, yes the dumb act that gets on my nerves so much. So yeah, I really love this Jake tough guy ;-)

Anyway, I'm glad I picked this series even though I'm going to have to order Fatal Shadows - the first volume - again because the Caiman store 'forgot' to mention they were out of stock *sigh* And now? I really need to read the prequel because I want to see when Jake and Adrien met!

Okay I'll stop the cryptic comments, though wait, are there some Adrien English fans over here?

*frowns* I thought I had something purely fannish to say but it apparently left my mind... typical - though that was fannish enough when you think of it, just a different type of fannish. Oh well.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Olympics on the telly

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Page Summary

Teacup humans!
Frais comme un gardon, chaud comme une tornade
Rambling
Farscape!
Confession Time.
SG 9x03 - "Origin"
Sex Scenes and Coming Out - don't look for any logical link.
Jake/Adrien - yet another OTP

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Her Life is a WIP

You Don't Go to Hell for a Being a Lesbian or a Slasher. Only for Being Lame

Entries tagged with books: queer lit

Teacup humans!

Frais comme un gardon, chaud comme une tornade

Rambling

Farscape!

Confession Time.

SG 9x03 - "Origin"

Sex Scenes and Coming Out - don't look for any logical link.

Jake/Adrien - yet another OTP