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Month: March 2010

Book Trailer for The Obsession!

Whew! Am I tired… It took three days and two nights of less than 6 hours of sleep for me to pull this together. But anyway, I’m happy with the results. I used Corel Painter to mess with pictures I pulled off of Dreamstime (love that site for royalty free photos), plus just my own drawings that I used on the book cover. I edited the frames and such using plain old Windows Movie Maker and made an excerpt of the live English version of the song Kurenai from X Japan (which I’m pretty sure is legal as long as it’s an excerpt and they are credited – I guess we’ll find out 0.0).

But enough of the technical crap…This is a dramatic, angst-ridden book that tells the story of how a young gay man was rediculed and how he coped and I wanted the trailer to portray that. I swear, in the beginning it almost made me cry as I put it together;) Maybe that’s because the young Tristan pic looks a lot like my own son. He even asked me if that was a picture of him! Doh! Or maybe it’s just because I really got close to this charcter as I wrote the book. That happens sometimes… Okay, so here goes:

Yaoi versus M/M Romance: What’s the difference? Is there a difference?

*Pic courtesy of Homotography

So before I begin this discussion, I suppose I need to define what constitutes “M/M Romance” and “Yaoi”. Of course, by setting a definition I may very well answer my original question;) But here goes:

M/M Romance: This is usually defined as women writing homoerotic romances for women. It usually comes in book form – short stories, novellas or novels. The covers of the books are made up of largely  half nude, buffed men. The covers are also done with photo-manipulation. They are usually like hetero romances in there are genre’s like historical, paranormal with werewolves and vampires, contemporary, fantasy, steampunk, whatever. The main characters are everything from cops to cowboys to wealthy business men to military men and all in-between.

Yaoi: This is also usually defined as women writing homoerotic romances for women. It most widely comes in manga or comic form, although there seems to be a trend outside of Asia to produce it in regular book form. Many of them are also made into anime. The genres pretty much run the gamut of paranormal, contemporary and fantasy, except that many of the main characters are high school or college students and many are what we’d consider “underage” in the USA. A very popular theme in Yaoi is the older man/underage man.

I suppose if you look at my definitions (they are by no means all encompassing or exactly right;) ), I think there are some clear differences. In my experience, M/M romance tends to try and stick to real issues involving gay relationships way more than Yaoi does. But since it’s written by and for women  (and yes, I understand many men read it, but it’s still written for a female audience. Football ads target young men and I still watch them and find them amusing – sheesh) there is an element of romantic emotion between the two men that isn’t quite realistic and you probably won’t find written in a real, bona fide Gay Romance novel (written by and for gay men).

I tend to think Yaoi takes this romantic emotion thing a bit further. Maybe the men don’t really act like real men – but dang, we’re surrounded by real men all the time, can’t we just have some made up men that act how we’d like them to act for once? But the trick here is not to make them so farfetched that they’re completely unbelievable. It’s all about what we want, right? I think I’m off on a bit of a tangent, LOL.

Of course, there is what I write, a mixture of Yaoi and M/M romance. I take the sort of characters and situations you’d find in a M/M romance and give it a bit more of that Yaoi romantic emotion. At least, that’s what I try to do:) There are others like me who write normal books (not manga) and have anime-style, hand-drawn covers. Maybe if some of you other authors come across my ramblings you can pipe in:)

Anyhow, in my very short analysis, I think I’ve determined that yes, there is a difference between Yaoi and M/M Romance. But I believe the lines between the two are being fudged into gray and morphed the more popular these genre’s get outside of Asia. And I also believe it’s great for us women (and men) who love both genres.

What do you prefer and what do you want to see more of?

The Obsession

The Obsession
A Yaoi, M/M Contemporary Romance
© Copyright Christie Gordon
All rights reserved, eXtasy Books
ISBN: 978-1-55487-494-1
Blurb:
As a senior-year art student at a Santa Barbara university, Tristan is caught in a mental prison of his own making. Sexually repressed and emotionally abused by an oppressive mother, his preference for men leads him into sexual addiction. Then a new roommate appears in his dorm – Collin, a stunning psychology major from class he’s fantasized about since the start of the school year, a young man Tristan’s fallen in love with from afar. Collin uses his charm and knowledge of psychology to pull Tristan out of his self-destructive existence and into a tumultuous affair. But Collin has a secret, a secret that could potentially further damage Tristan and send him plummeting farther into isolation and desperation than he’s ever been before. Will Collin’s secret emerge? And will Tristan move forward and find the love he’s always craved or will he fall headlong back into addiction and lose everything he’s worked so hard for?
Available at: eXtasy Books
Available May, 2010 at: Amazon, Fictionwise, All Romance eBooks, Mobipocket

Excerpt:
Collin closed the door and walked up to Tristan‘s bedside with a mischievous grin on his lips. He placed his hands on the bottom hem of his shirt and slowly, sensually, lifted.

He tilted his head toward Collin, his gaze roaming over the taut abdomen peeking out from under the t-shirt. “What are you doing?”

Collin licked his lips, glanced at Tristan‘s groin and focused on his face. “Trying to decide what the best position would be for you to draw me.”

Tristan lurched up to sitting on his bed. “What?”

Giving a quick tilt of his head, Collin tugged the shirt up and off and threw it to the floor. “You heard me. Naked, partially clothed, or maybe just some sheets wrapped around me?” His hands fell to unfasten his belt and jeans. The jeans dropped to the floor. His cock stood up hard and ready under the thin cotton of his boxers.

His breathing grew shallow and his own cock swelled at the site of Collin‘s erection. “Um, um…”

“Naked, yeah.” In one quick movement, Collin stepped out of his tennis shoes and jeans and brought the boxers down and off with his socks. He straightened. A smirk ran across his lips. His hand came up to cup his sac. “How‘s this?”

“Uh…” Tristan‘s hardened cock ached in his jeans and he adjusted himself, squeezing the head of his erection. It pulsed as a wave of pleasure washed over him.

Keeping his gaze affixed to Tristan‘s eyes, Collin backed up to his bed and lay across it, placed one arm up, bent, and behind his head like a pin up in a magazine. His free hand came up to rest on his erection. He gave it one long, slow stroke and hissed, closing his eyes and thrusting his hips. “Just like this, Tristan. Capture me touching myself, thinking of you. Thinking of your mouth on my cock. Do it.” He slid his hand up and down his shaft in an agonizingly slow motion. His brows furrowed and his mouth opened in obvious pleasure.

Tristan‘s body shook with need. His cock grew painful, aching for release at the site of Collin. “O-kay, um, let me get my things.” His voice wavered. Gulping hard, he crouched down and retrieved the charcoals and drawing pad from the portfolio. He sat back up on his bed and set the pad in his lap to draw. He looked at Collin.

Pre-seed glistened at the tip of Collin‘s cock. His fingers ran over it and swirled it over the head of his erection. His hips thrust up and a throaty groan released from his mouth.

Tristan‘s sac tightened and felt full. Even the slightest movement might send him over the edge. “Oh shit, Collin. I-I don‘t think I can do this.”

In a husky voice, Collin said, “Yes you can. I want my picture to be the only one you need. The only one you can‘t sell or even show to anyone because it means so much to you.” His fingers slipped down his shaft and ran circles over his sac. Gasping, his body shuddered.

Holding his breath, he forced himself to focus on the perfect curves and lines of Collin‘s body, the contours of muscle and tendon, the beautiful arc of his thick cock and rounded buttocks. Desire jolted through him, making him raw with need. He shut his eyes tight. Shit, focus, Tristan. His eyes opened. He blew out a breath and drew with an artist‘s eye, seeing shapes and shadow and light.

Lifting his hips again, Collin‘s palm stroked hard over his erection and circled the top. He let out one soft moan after another. “Lick me, Tristan. Just once.”

Tristan‘s hand stopped over the drawing. His cock twitched in his jeans. “Uh, just once?”

“Yeah, come on. Just once.” He stroked his swollen cock down and up with his thumb and index finger. “Hurry, I‘m close.”

Tristan set the drawing pad and charcoal stick on the bed, stepped over to Collin and leaned over his waist, resting on his elbows. Collin‘s erection was a mere inch from his lips. How he hungered for it.

“Come on, Tristan. But just once. I don‘t want to cum yet.” Collin‘s fingers released their hold on his cock.