Wednesday, September 10, 2014

LOVE'S LANDSCAPES THRICE

Every summer since 2010,  the Goodreads Group M/M Romance host an event denominated Don't Read in the Closet where members of the group write stories based on requests from members of the group ( I know it sounds repetitive but that way you don't get confused). It doesn't matter if you are a published author or just a member who wishes to dip your toes in the sexy waters of man on man romance. All are welcome and appreciated; it's for the fun after all.

These events celebrate all things M/M in all genres from Contemporary to Fantasy and SciFi, not forgetting all kinks from Vanilla to BDSM, and also including stories that are just sweet with no sex whatsoever (yeah, romance doesn't equate to sex, so there you have it). This year's edition is entitled Love's Landscapes.

Yours truly contributed with 3 stories, and this post is not just to let you know what they are about but to give you easy access to them through some very handy links.



WAND-LOSING AND OTHER THINGS YOU SHOULD'T BE DOING. 
(SciFi -o- Steampunk-ish)
A seriously long title but it summarizes the story in eight words. 
Here is the blurb.


The seven city-states of Aletta are facing their first encounter with an off-planet force. It’s up to Max Maitheas, governor of the city-state of Anatolia (closest city to the alien landing) to embark on a diplomat journey to find out the intentions of the interlopers. 

Captain Rezzu Ki Muselet leads the first Colviri-Human mission since Nova Gaia, a human planet, became part of the Colviri system. A recognizance mission to a remote planet where they hope to discover signs of life.

What Rezzu wasn’t prepared to discover was a thriving civilization and to become mesmerized by the eyes of the head diplomat in charge of receiving them. Green and wonderful like the sky of his home planet.

Both Max and Rezzu have secrets, and in their ability to surpass their deceptions, they might also find love.


You can dowload it here:
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/wand-losing-other-things-you-shouldnt-be-doing-by-gabbo-de-la-parra/

And leave a review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22654600-wand-losing-other-things-you-shouldn-t-be-doing

Rezzu Ki Muselet is the son of the characters of HOW I LOST IT ON PLANET X from 2012 Don't Read in the Closet event Love is Always Write 

You can read about his parents here:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/964061-gabbo-de-la-parra---how-i-lost-it-on-planet-x-7-21

And leave a review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15704843-how-i-lost-it-on-planet-x


CENOTAPH
(Time Travel -o- Near Future -o- Enemies to Lovers)

The member who requested this story didn't want a happy ending, so you have read the story to understand why and well, if I need to write more about these two later...

Here is the blurb:


In 2089, a man returns to his old team, annoying the hell out of his former partner. Time-traveling is not an easy business, especially if you cannot trust the man beside you. Now they have to work together again, awakening feelings that should have died with their separation but were just resting in a very uncomfortable coma. 

The fight against temptation, missions gone wrong, faceless enemies, and irritating teammates all conspire to make their lives a perfect postcard from Hades.

With their future at stake (talk about time-traveling mayhem), they only have one option. And that option is a cenotaph.


You can download the book here:
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/cenotaph-by-gabbo-de-la-parra/

You can leave a review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23051269-cenotaph


MERIDIAN
(Alternate Universe -o- Road Trip)

In this one, the requester didn't want too much sex, so there is just one sex scene at the very end, but I hope it's hot enough for all of you fans of smut. *wink*

Here is the blurb:


Dissenting with his destiny as a Vampire Courtesan, Kutra “K” Lapin resolves to flee Los Angeles in 2125. His ticket to Meridian, the only human controlled city in an otherwise suprabeing-ruled US, is a transporter known as Tiger, who —by the way— has decided to keep calling K “Bunny.”

Three thousand miles of free-for-all superhighway separates Los Angeles from Meridian. In this journey, the courtesan and the transporter will face clingy former clients; bar brawls; Werewolf, Fae and Warlock outlaws; invisible, firebombing hovercrafts; discover unknown powers, and survive spells and enchantments, all to reach K’s freedom.

And perhaps, in the meantime, find a love that is beyond appearances.


You can download it here:
http://www.mmromancegroup.com/meridian-by-gabbo-de-la-parra/

You can leave a review here:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23156255-meridian


There you have it. Three completely different stories celebrating manly love and those who love to read about it. I created all three covers, hope you like them. Cheers.

CROCHETING ('cause winter is coming)


So, I'm crocheting like a madman ('cause winter is coming), and I realize in the quite solitude of those crocheting moments that life and all good things are like crochet. If you do it right, it might become something beautiful, perhaps purposeful. If you don't do it right, it might end up all wonky and confusing.


Maybe you're following a pattern somebody else created (let's be honest, there's nothing new under the sun), but it's still yours because your actions are the ones entwining each previous deed with the next one.

Now, why am I thinking this while I crochet, because even when you're doing it right and beautifully, a single pull could unravel it and send the whole thing to hell and leave you with a tangled mess. 

Perhaps that's the meaning of life; to prepare us, not for the "well done," or "how cute," but for that unexpected unraveling, to be able to pick up that mess and make it something wonderful, again and again.

By the way, the picture doesn't have anything to do with my point, but it's very nice to look at. Cheers.


Saturday, April 19, 2014

I DON’T WANT A WEDDING * I WANT RIGHTS.

Since the beginning of time, homosexuals have been trendsetters and trailblazers. One out of five great names in history belongs to someone who was inclined toward their own sex. Then why do we insist on imitate a ceremony that is inherent to people who despise us?

We need to find a different way to express our jubilation for being able to tie the knot and have legal rights. The imitation of something heterosexuals consider their God given gift is what repulses them toward the idea of homosexuals having equal legal rights.

Speaking with someone that is very dear to me, I realized that the problem is not the legal issue, but the concept of marriage. In everyday people’s mind the ceremony and the law go hand in hand; thus, the word ‘marriage’ brings this whole vision of a clergy person invoking supernatural deities to seal a pact between a man and a woman. A pact, many happily use to wipe their behinds by marrying and divorcing and marrying and divorcing ad nauseam. But that's okay: it's a man and a woman doing it...

Handfasting ceremonies exist since the beginning of time, and in more than one culture they were (and are) independent of gender. The concept of marriage come from a time when women were property moving from fathers to husbands in a binding contract which sole purpose was to keep assets within range, and rarely based on love. Troubadours and poets inculcated this romantic notion of a love marriage in the collective mind of the people as a gateway from the daily frustrations of the rough life of the Middle Ages. Some would say that this concept existed in Ancient times and put Rome and Greece as examples, but I will simply remind these hecklers that the Roman and Greek gods had both male and female lovers thus their believers would take their cue from them.

Some would say the Bible narrates how God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam (or Steve, Evan, or whatever male name you think rhymes better), but in that moment, if we chose to take it literally, the idea was procreation not commitment. You need different parts to create life; that is Biology 101. However, I think that is the weakest reason (or the oldest and more cliché if you may) because nowadays (an actually always) people procreate without marrying one another, and sterile people get marry knowing that they will not bear children.

And t(h)rust me, it’s not that I don’t believe in a Supreme Being beyond us that created all. I do believe. My problem is with US humans thinking that WE have the absolute truth. Because this same people who believe in the God of the Bible and swear that Creation is perfect and all humans are created in his (?) own image want to say that some humans are less perfect than others because of their sexuality.

If you want to use something as a manual, you don’t get to use only the parts that are more convenient to your agenda. It should be all or nothing. This same book from where they base all their rightful anger toward a different sexuality is full of things that today are considered against the law: killing, stealing, raping, slave-owning, and another myriad more. And I know I’m going to get a lot of trolling for this but I’m gonna write it anyway: It’s like trying to use a manual for a VCR on an effing iPod.

We’re talking about the same people that believe their god is paying attention to a football game to favor them. I mean, that is so freakishly pagan they have no idea how stupid they sound. It’s the Athenians all over again believing Athena would indulgence them over any other city because she was their patron.


Once again, I don’t understand why we, the extraordinary gay people, don’t find a different way to celebrate our (legal) unions. I get the blessing of friends and family and blah blah. But I’m absolutely sure that if we stopped the damn gay weddings for a year or two, the collective consciousness of our non-sexually-fabulous fellow humans would change, favoring rights and not rites.


Friday, February 14, 2014

ROYAL BLUE VALENTINE


Around this time of the year, everything is red, red, red, and I wonder, why instead of passion red we don’t try to make happiness blue. Because sometimes, we’re looking for the right thing in the wrong places, and others, we’re a looking for the wrong thing in the right place. We want everything to be about sexual attraction and desire and hardened body parts. But it happens that many times what we want it’s not necessarily what we need, even if that famous song says “All you need is love.” 

I’m a firm believer that what we need is HAPPINESS, which is a completely different place, a very distinctly mythical animal.

We have been raised to believe that LOVE equates HAPPINESS. And you believe it until you watch Fatal Attraction, The Crush, Disclosure, and many other movies that teach you that not all LOVE is HEALTHY. On the other hand, there’s no such a thing as Poisonous HAPPINESS. 

If you’re happy you want —no, you need everybody around you to be happy too. When you love and you’re not loved back, you get depressed. If you’re happy and those around you don’t want to be happy, well, you sprinkle some rainbows and fairy dust on them, and if that doesn’t work you don’t cut your wrists, you look for a happy solution.

I’m not saying that LOVE is bad. That —more than silly— would be plain stupid. What I’m saying here is that LOVE shouldn’t be the end goal. Your ultimate goal must always be HAPPINESS, and if it comes with a yummy side of sexy love, even better.


So spread the happy and top it up with (good) love.