Anywho, please enjoy the review of Shelter! 

You can also check out his blog here. Thank you GCG!!!!

Released USA November 1997

This brilliant film is set in Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Featuring Ian McKellen in the role of Uncle Freddy, it is a deeply disturbing story about a gay man who denies both his sexuality and his lover when the two men are captured and taken to the Dachau concentration camp.

There he gradually falls in love with another prisoner named Horst - portrayed by Lothaire Bluteau, who won a Cannes award for this role. Their extraordinary relationship develops in what are truly the most bizarre circumstances and accelerates toward a heart-stopping outcome.

A word of caution: this movie contains scenes of extreme violence and is not suited for the faint of heart.

The incredible screenplay is written by Sean Mathias and the film is directed by Martin Sherman. The cast includes Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Wolf, Mick Jagger as Greta/George, Brian Webber as Rudy, with Jude Law in the role of Stormtrooper.

Bent - part 1
Bent - part 2
Bent - part 3
Bent - part 4

That's right! I have more first edition copies of STEALING WISHES, signed by me! Who wants 'em?

Just click here to be redirected to Amazon.com. Right next to the book cover, look for this information shown below. Click on the "8 used and new link" and look for the copies sold by MISTERYARBS. I'm currently offering them at $12.00 each, which is $3.00 off the cover price and .60 cents cheaper than Amazon (before shipping).

So add one of those to your cart, pay for it through Amazon, and they will shoot me an email letting me know to get a book out to you. Feel free to email me if you do buy one and would like for it to be personalized. I'll sign it and ship it to you within 24 hours!

THIS IS THE BLOG I WROTE ON MY MAIN MYSPACE PAGE THAT WAS REQUESTED AS A REPOST ON AN OPEN PAGE SO I PUT IT HERE....
I thought I had written a pretty sensitive blog (which follows) but it offended some people and I am not sure why.
The point that I was trying to make is that the right person for me (or you or anyone else out there who is still single, for that matter) may not have the courage or the access to try and meet someone due to their challenges – physical or otherwise.
I am sorry if I offended a few people who think I should be satisfied to try and find someone who hangs out in bars all the time.

But let me put my foot down and firmly disagree. I raised someone with disabilities and I know their fears and I’ve had to share their pain.
I remember my Mom crying when I was in 7th grade and a guy invited her to the lake and remarked on the boat that she had ugly feet, and returned her to the shore. Mom is missing two toes on one foot and one on the other.
And here is the bulletin that proved seven of my contacts are so self centered and self absorbed, that they can only think of themselves and not others…….

(PS- Sorry for sounding irritable but this kinda struck a raw nerve with me)

I sat down to waste some time this morning to avoid playing the piano to give my neighbors some peace.
I am in the mood for heavy tunes at the moment - my sheet music collection (in most people’s mind) sucks but there are some tunes that are still Jazz or Broadway that sound great with a loud sound. Others allow me to play softly, slowly, and gently and I enjoy that as well. The piano is the one thing I can do to express how I feel without feelings disappointed or frustrated.
But this blog is not about that.
I am writing because a friend of mine posted a survey and one of his questions was:

7. What actor/actress would you go gay/lesbian for?

Well, I had to think on that one and what came to mind was a bit surprising.....
I really can’t think of an actress that I would go straight for but I did think of a friend’s wife. Now, right there, stop. That is not like me and I would never ever consider pursuing that unless she were to get divorced. And even then I doubt that it would ever work.

Also let me preface this to my local straight peeps whom are married - this is not YOUR wife nor YOU and neither one of them are contacts on myspace.
She is sweet, attractive, talented, and handicapped. I don’t approve of the way her husband treats her at times - he is a personal friend - I knew him before they were married. She puts up with alot from him and I feel I have my hands tied in their presence. I know he is frustrated with her. The worst thing is when he makes her cry and I feel helpless. Sometimes I think she feels the same way.

Well, this led me to a lot of things. The first is the whole gay issue. I’m always going to be attracted to guys and I know that. But I honestly would give almost anything for a sweet, soft spoken person in my life. I can name three people who fit that bill and she is one, the other is too young (and I can’t deal with the age gap) and the final one is perfect but I am not his "type" so I just accept it.
But it also led me to believe that somewhere out there, there is a soft spoken, sweet, and gentle person. And that is what I want. Goodness knows I make enough racket and create too much excitement if I am left alone in a room with no one and nothing but a mirror - hehe - dangerous thought. I’m from the South and Southerners love to talk. And I am hyper and that only makes it worse. Close friends know they have to fight to get a word in. Strangers would never know this about me as I am very quiet around new people while I observe to see if the "real" (read in to this real goofy, silly boy who never grew up and it just a big kid) me would actually fit in.
Now add to all of this a disability. I raised a handicapped Mom in a home without a Dad. I’ve done things that most kids would never imagine doing for anyone - and at an early age. And I don’t mind. I was once my Mom’s best friend until I came out and that was the end of that. And that is for another blog on another day. I do still love her and yes am still renovating her house completely and making it more handicapped accessible and handicapped friendly. She is so afraid that we were going to put her in a nursing home and I think this proves to her that we are not.
Back to the dating thing. Just like I would love to adopt a special needs child (see www.myspace.com/grahamwish39 - my post from January), I wouldn’t mind having a special needs boyfriend. I really don’t care if a part or limb is missing. So what, no one is perfect. I have always been a personality person and as long as that person can accept himself and love himself for whom he is, that is all that matters.
Sure, I joke about not dating all the time. But the reality is that I am not getting any younger and would love to have that special person in my life.
I once dated a straight guy - yes, you read that right, he was recently divorced and not because he was gay. He had recently lost a leg and we had become quite close.
One day he was having phantom pains and when they stopped he cried and expressed his frustration and asked for a hug. Then he cried more, letting it out and to fast forward through probably TMI and boring stuff, we ended up kissing. He was very passionate and a damned good kisser, great personality but didn’t want another guy - nothing sexual ever happened but these times together were always passionate in that sense (kissing, holding, massage, back scratching). And he was deep in character and soft spoken.

When I moved I never said goodbye because I felt I’d never see him again and that if I did, it would only make things worse.
But what I remember is even though nothing sexual happened, I felt loved and still felt the magic of that first kiss - sort of like my high school dates growing up. I was never sexual but my heart raced just as fast and beat just as hard in the middle of a gentle yet very passionate kiss.
Weird that I think like this, I know. But I am also a very passionate person.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my times when I think from a sexually based perspective which is a common trait for all men. But passion is key and a prelude to sex in my book.

So, here is where I am going with all of this.......

I do have some good qualities and the right person can bring those out in me. Looks aren’t everything but personality sure is. I would say age doesn’t matter but it does. Too young is thin ice and too old makes me uncomfortable - more on that one later. After all, I am getting old myself.

I went out last night, again, alone and realized that while I go out to unwind, I never really want to meet someone in a bar. I always come home disappointed and alone but I arrive with the reality check of "That is not for you (me)"
I remember my first High School guy crush and it was a guy who had a red birthmark over about 50 percent of his face. He was still handsome and had great features and was the only Senior I knew that would be nice to a sophomore. I don’t recall his name (and local peeps if you recall, please let me know). But he was kind and generous and soft spoken and had an incredible smile. His picture, however, never appeared in our Yearbook and I think that was at his request.
Not everyone fits the bill in this department, but I am putting it out there because not everyone knows this side of me. Too many people want a Greek Adonis and I am one that doesn’t. I just want one person to share everything with and that is all. We will get through his hang ups (and mine).
So, if anyone knows of someone who may be of interest, let me know. Love is a grand and a glorious thing - as I recall from a song somewhere. It is also magical, mysterious, and rewarding. Sex is great, too, but in the end if it is only sex, it is shallow and has no meaning.

I have known this for years but for the first time I am just accepting that fact. Sex alone will never make one happy as there is no love there.
I want to elaborate more but that will have to be somewhere else in a myspace page that I keep saying I will create where these topics will be regular items - but on a platform that won’t offend people.
This was written quickly so please ignore typos - many of you know I have limited use of my left hand which has made typing and playing piano difficult and I do slip up at times. Especially when I type quickly.

More to you later. Send me your feedback on this one. Especially if there is a dating site for people with disabilities - I have yet to find one. Perhaps that is the direction in which I am supposed to be heading at this point in my life.
I know I have a calling out there somewhere - it is just still undefined at the moment. Maybe part of that calling is being the other half to someone who really needs it.

Graham ---=.0.=---
my regular myspace account is:
www.myspace.com/bestwings

THE URL TO THIS PAGE IS:

http://grahamkmem.wordpress.com/2008/06/25/graham-on-dating-someone-with-a-disability/

More about my writing here:

www.myspace.com/grahamwish39 (adoption)

www.myspace.com/rememberkeith (loss of best friend)

www.myspace.com/grahamusa (fallen soldiers)

(c) 2008 Graham Squared Media LLC

Over half the review is the entire blurb from the back of the book, followed by three quotes from the book that stood out to Brett the reviewer. The three quotes are then followed by the one paragraph that he wrote about the book, which he starts by regurgitating what's already been said in the last sentence in the blurb anyway.

Everyone truly can find something to relate to in the story; although the set up of the character of Blaine took a bit long it was worth the effort to get to the halfway point in this story. The slow climb leads to a rapid descent that although cliche in some places is still a good read.

So basically this review is two sentences. Oh well....I'd probably be more offended had I not read some of Brett's other reviews and found them to be just as simplistic.

Brett has given 4 books a 5 star rating, out of the 16 reviews he's written, but 2 of those books were written by the person who created the review site anyway. LOL

Am I upset? Not in the least. Am I disappointed? Yes, but not in the rating. A good rating is great, and it is only one person's opinion, no matter how minor his view may be. I guess after writing professional book reviews for well over 8 years and now currently running my own book review blog, I expect more. If I'm going to take the time to read someone's book, I'm going to spend just as much time on reviewing it rather than filling up the space with quotes.

But that's MY opinion.

Click here to read the whole review!

Flight of Dreams

Comments on the story are welcome. Comments are also welcome on any broken code on the page, as I'm still getting to grips with CSS. :-)

A bawdy love story set on the Texas plains. Longhorns ranges from hard riding action and sex as hot as the blazing Texas sun to lyrical descriptions of the Old West.

As I said in my post down the ways it is so nice for my inner bibliophile to have an actual book in hand. Victor J. Banis has written a grand story and although I did throughly enjoy it sometimes the utopia that was the ranch was a little hard to suspend the disbelief about. But, as is suggested in the introduction, that it is a response to BBM? I'll take this any day thanks.

Les the, foreman of the Double H ranch, is out on the range bringing in the herd when young Buck, a part Nasoni Indian cowboy rides up looking for a job. He proves himself very capable right from the get go and becomes a well liked member of the ranch through hard work, skill at roping, riding errr...horses and his sunny nature. Les is a constant lure to Buck and he does not hold back with the provocative comments and lingering looks which drives Les just a wee bit crazy. Les finds dealing with Buck's attraction for him rather difficult, and tends to do much stomping around and surliness which made me smile.

The smexin is hot and you're so ready for it to happen you might find yourself cheerleading on the sidelines like I did. Loved the angst, fightin words and pretty much the whole book and apart from the utopia meh, it was a cool historical m/m read. The cowboy feel of washing outside in the trough, eating biscuits and riding off into the sunset was vivd. As I was reading, I could not help but think of my absolute fav cowboys from J.L. Langley and am just a bit tempted to do some re reading. This was such a pleasure to become absorbed in and the inner covetous, geeky, bibliophile is seriously content... and maybe there was purring! 

Get the goodness here. 

ADDED>>>

I perused through Victor's site last night and sent him a hi hello, as you do! Imagine my delight (and ok, fan girl squeeing) when I got a reply. I just saw this post at his site and it is definitely worth a look, an article via Publishers Weekly.

Have no idea what to read next. Just know whatever it is I must go to bed early!!

When I was not being lured by the call on the blogs or internets I went shopping. I am a bit of a crap shopper, I go in, I get, I go. Not into too much browsing around, unless it is a bookstore. Now there I could happily spend an hour or so.

Todays mission was to find two books suggested by Jenb after posting here. Book shops here can be pretty crap here but the beloved and I hiked around several blocks and through a whole 3 book stores today in the city. The man has stamina!

I finally found a good GLBT section in the last store and was thrilled to find Longhorns by Victor J. Banis. I don't have many of my m/m in print really, most are in ebook format. So, to have something in print is kinda great as I have serious coveting issues only another true bibliophile would understand!

Then I had a pretty cool time at the counter. I took the book up and handed it over and this gorgeous young guy (glasses, curly hair, about 1000 yrs younger than me, glasses) said, Hey, this is a really cool book, AND then the girl next to him said, Yeah it is, I loved it. It was so cool and I felt less of a geek than I usually do buying yaoi manga or mooching in the GLBT section. He then took me back over to the table and suggested another couple of books I might like and we then talked about books. He was so passionate about his reading and I am so going back! He gave me good book! The beloved watched on with eyebrow raised, he is such a god, and he did not tell me once to get my ass into gear. A god I tell you!

So, happy with my purchases and settling in for a good weekend of reading and anticipating my online order arriving of this and this. Thanks Jenb! Anyone read The Back Passage? Think I saw that, so might have to whip into the city next weekend and pick it up... :o) Good night for rain on the roof reading.

Captain’s Surrender

By Alex Beecroft

Publisher: Linden Bay Romance

ISBN: 1602020892

 Kenyon and Andrews Under Full Sail!

I must say right off that I have always lived smack-dab in the middle of corn-and-soybean country in the US. I have never seen, smelled, or heard the sea except in films and I’m scared to death of water and I’ve never been a particular fan of adventure stories. Plus I’m addicted to long, fat books. So why am I am enamored of this little book (less than 200 pages) filled with raging seas, heaving decks, booming cannon, salt spray and decks awash in blood?

Mostly because it’s a really terrific read. For another, the protagonists, 20-year-old red-haired Josh Andrews and Lt. Peter Kenyon, are well-drawn, intelligent, and sympathetic young men who just happen to be hotter than a cannon barrel at Trafalgar. And each has a secret that could get him hanged in the King’s Navy. The author has a facility for description that lets you taste the salt air, feel the pain of a flogging, hear the wind screaming through the lines in a storm, feel the deck, slippery with blood, lurch beneath your feet. Either Beecroft’s research has been incredibly thorough or else we have a two-hundred-year-old author in our midst.

Under the best of circumstances life was brutal in the closed-in, isolated world of a ship at sea. And when the captain is a vicious man who enjoys blood sport—especially if the blood is that of one of his men—it’s unbearable. (That captain, by the way, is not the surrendering captain of the title!) On the first page a young sailor is hanged for being a “sodomite.” So it is that from the opening sentence we know what kind of captain Andrews and Kenyon are sailing under. And when red-haired Joshua is nearly undone by his fierce attraction to the lieutenant, Peter Kenyon, we know what potentially deadly secret he carries.

This is a book packed full of excitement; when Josh and Peter finally get together the sex scenes are graphic without being overwhelming the story. The course of love does not run smooth, especially with a potential bride thrown into the mix. And as a bonus you’ll probably learn a great deal about sailing vessels. For instance, I didn’t know that after a battle the blood literally poured down the sides of the vessel from channels created for that purpose. See what I mean about the research?

It’s not fair, I suppose, to pick on the cover because authors almost never get anything to say about it. But the cover is the only thing I didn’t care for. With its ho-hum six-pack abs it’s a tad cheesy. This book deserves better, not to mention you’d want to hide it from your mother and maiden aunt.

The story is highly recommended and I’m looking forward to Beecroft’s next book. And after you read it, if you find yourself suddenly addicted to movies like Mutiny on the Bounty, Master and Commander, Moby Dick, etc., you can blame Alex Beecroft.

Standish

By Erastes

Publisher: P.D. Publishing, Inc.

ISBN: 1933720093

Superb Storytelling

One of the characters in Standish does nothing—doesn’t move, doesn’t speak, doesn’t think. And yet this character controls emotions and actions and passions just by existing. It is a house called Standish. Like the Rochester mansion in “Jane Eyre” or the cliffs in “Wuthering Heights” Standish is a place so important to the story that it almost takes on life.

Standish is the vanished patrimony of Ambrose Standish, impoverished grandson of the man who lost the place to Gordian Goshawk in a gambling game and lost his life in a duel soon after. Ambrose is studious, intelligent, and bitter at a fate which has him toiling as a tutor to support himself and his two spinster sisters.  The house, Standish, is his obsession, his dream, his torment.

When Rafe Goshawk, who inherited Standish from his father, returns from many years abroad to take up residence there his life is set on a collision course with Ambrose. The Goshawk family’s reputation is that of “venal, predatory raptors” and Rafe himself is a cold-eyed man, as bitter as Ambrose but for a different reason. He was born in Paris, raised as an aristocrat, and was a young boy when the Terror sent his mother to the guillotine, destroyed his world, and sent him and his father fleeing to England.

.

Ambrose hates the Goshawks without ever having seen one of the infamous breed who ruined his family. And then through circumstances or fate, he finds himself hired as tutor for Rafe’s son; for the first time he sees the house he has obsessed about, up close. It is everything he dreamed it would be. It’s a given that Rafe and Ambrose will end up in each other’s arms but if you expect roses and violins and a predictable ending…surprise!

I won’t go further with the story because it has so many twists and turns and I don’t want to write a spoiler. The writing—descriptions, dialogue, everything about it—feels real and authentic. Erastes is an author who must research and research and research. And yet the research never overwhelms the story. It never intrudes. The author handles violence and sex with equal ease and knows the fine line at which to stop.

It’s superb, well-crafted storytelling at its best.

Title: Husbands and Wives: GWM Wanted

Author: Amanda Young

Genre: Contemporary, GLBT (M/M)

Publisher: Loose Id

Publisher URL: http://Loose-id.com

Reviewer: Jessewave

Rating: 4 LYRES

Mark loves his husband Sam very much but lately everything seems to have become a little stale, old and jaded. He and the much younger Sam had been together for 15 years and had gotten married 5 years ago. Their marriage is in the doldrums just like a union between a straight couple after a long time together and now they hardly spend time with each other. When they make love it is always a rather hurried affair because they have too much “stuff” to do. Recently he began to notice Sam checking out other men

Sam loves Mark but feels that he no longer has time for him in his busy life and he is at a loss over what to do to get things back on track. He and Mark don’t seem to be able to talk to each other about the important things and each feels constrained because he can’t find a way to close the widening chasm in their relationship. Sam’s friend Dev suggests bringing someone else into their lives might do the trick but he’s not so sure. Then Mark decides enough is enough and puts his fear of rejection aside to talk to Sam because nothing is more important to him than his husband but Sam drops a bombshell and suggests they look online for someone to share their bed. Mark is devastated and fears that this is the beginning of the end. He agrees with a heavy heart to share Sam’s body as long as he retains his heart but his premonition that this will not end well is proven right when the situation blows up in their faces!

Although I would have liked a more substantial plot, Husbands and Wives: GWM Wanted beautifully illustrates the value and importance of open and ongoing communication in any relationship. Mark and Sam love each other very much but don’t talk because of fear of rejection – they prefer not knowing if the love they once shared is now one sided. They internalize the pain and desolation it would cause if they separated and they both think that their partner is on the verge of moving on. Mark is so busy pumping up in the gym to be attractive for Sam who is gorgeous and 12 years younger that he doesn’t have the time to find out what Sam wants. Sam only wants the one man he has ever loved but fears that Mark is getting bored with him and suspects that he is meeting someone at the gym, but he never asks Mark because he doesn’t want to know. Then life smacks them in the face and they wake up to the realization of what is really important and how much they have to lose if they no longer have each other.

I loved the characterizations and I think that Amanda Young did an amazing job on Mark and Sam; as another writer said, “strong characters can carry a weak story”. When they come together the sex is awesome and the love is palpable; the fact that they were willing to do anything, even having a threesome with someone else which is something neither one wanted is evidence of how much they loved each other. I definitely recommend Husbands and Wives: GWM Wanted to anyone in a relationship and to new readers and fans alike of this author.

loveyoudivine has been a dream to work with both as an author, and as an editor for the upcoming anthology I am putting together for them, so when the opportunity was offered to me to handle the entire His & His Kisses line, I simply couldn't turn it down.

In the coming weeks we will be unveiling a brand new website that will showcase the His & His imprint of LYD, stay tuned here for more details. 

If you are a reader or author who enjoys m/m erotica and romance, I invite you to come visit with me soon at His & His Kisses! 

Normally, I wouldn't be all that fascinated by male/male romance. Add that this one has an Incubus with magical powers and I shrug my shoulders. But Dayna raved about Rowan McBride and how awesome his stuff was that I read the excerpt at Liquid Silver Books.
I was hooked. He's brilliant. Here's the blurb.

Paul Graham is content with his life. An up-and-coming lawyer, he has no time to dwell on the mazes, puzzles, and riddles he solves while asleep. He has no interest in dreams, or anything that might derail his career.

Until Kian shows up. Sensual, playful, he claims that Paul rescued him four years ago. Now he's determined to repay him with the one thing he knows best: sex laced with ... magic.

Kian is unlike any man Paul has encountered. He won’t go away, for one. The fact that Paul doesn’t remember him doesn’t deter his mission of seduction in the least. But soon enough, Paul finds that this strange, carnal creature has the ability to melt his ice with a touch, to bring out a sweetness Paul didn’t even know he had.

As Kian becomes a part of his life, Paul finds himself more and more attached. Forgotten dreams, buried memories, and the dangerous obsession of another conspire to tear them apart. Is he strong enough to endure a trial by fire in order to keep them together?

This book surprised me. Not only is this a beautiful romance with great sex (but if you're offended by anal sex it's not for you) but it also gave a complex, rich plot. The emotional nuances of this book overwhelmed me and I couldn't stop reading it. I read all 138 pages in about two hours.
I LOVED LOVED LOVED this book and I am NOT usually one who buys m/m or f/f romance. This man is freakin' amazing. You can read and excerpt HERE and decide for yourself.

*raises shot glass* Way to go, Mr. McBride. You rock.