I have to preempt my planned blog to
have a flailing fit over a photo I spied in a web magazine called
Gaytwogether.com. This image appeared on Friday. Maddeningly, there
is no name for the model. There is no listing even for an agency!!
Anyway, feast your eyes on the embodiment of Andreas Hesper from Ensnared. He would
have no beard or mustache, but that's him! I was distracted most of
the day trying to find out who represents this dreamboat. I was
hoping to hire him to do some photos for posters and the like. Alas,
there was no info on him to be had from the website or the photo. At
any rate, it isn't often that I've seen an near perfect
representation of a character in real life. I thought my readers
might enjoy looking at that face as much as I did.
Now, where was I?
Naughty Freebies
I'm planning on doing a few convention
appearances this year. Thus far, there is The West Hollywood Book
Fair in September, Yaoicon in October and Bent Con in December. For
those occasions, I am planning on giving away some fun merchandise
that is in keeping with the themes of my yaoi books. This has made
for some entertaining things turning up in my search history. I'll
bet you never thought about how many kinds of key words it took to
find novelty packets of mini lube. The right word is pillows.
Pillows??!! I found them on Amazon, believe it or not. Little did I
know that putting them on my wish list or favoriting something on
Etsy like the 'Pocket Sadist' mini flogger would end up on my
Facebook page. Not that I hide my interests or the nature of my
writing, but an image of a big bucket o' lube (really, amazon?) or an
image of a mini flogger is waaaay more 'in your face' than I ever am.
Ah, well. On the plus side, I did find a lot of really cool things to
give away at these events. And no worries if you aren't planning on
attending any of them1 I'm planning on contests that will coincide
with the events where my readers can get a chance to win some or all
of these items. Along with the naughty things, there will be fun
stuff like illustrated short stories featuring my yaoi men and an
illustrated cookbook by Vincent Greven and a Dami ear tag and collar
from Ensnared. I'll have more details and images of all of the
freebies closer to the events.
Onto my original topic of the day!
Protective Ukes
I've talked a lot about possessive
Semes, because I adore them. What's the point of being a Seme if it
isn't to be crazy possessive? I've also talked about the headstrong
uke. There is another type of uke that I adore reading and watching
and writing. I really adore the protective uke. That trait seems to
be counter-intuitive. The definition of being a uke is being
submissive to a dominant partner. Such dominants are powerful people.
How could a uke think his Seme would need protecting? The Seme's I
like the best are very complicated. As powerful as they really are,
there is always some vulnerability in the Semes I like to follow and
most definitely in the ones I like. Let's take one my very favorite
yaoi couples, Akihiko Usami
and Takahashi Misaki of Junjuo Romantica. Usami or Usagi is a very
powerful man. He is wealthy and successful and well regarded. His
confidence is so absolute that it often drifts into arrogance. Yet,
from the beginning of their relationship and before they were really
lovers, Misaki sensed that Usagi was fragile emotionally. He is
protective of him even from his own brother's insensitivity. Later,
he is vehement in defending Usagi against anyone who had a bad word
against him – even if those words were true. I adore the complex
interplay between these two adorable men.
My own ukes are very protective of
their Semes. Darius Galatea of Ensnared Volumes 1&2 is literally the most
powerful being on the planet. Yet even he is vulnerable if he has a
perceived weakness or eccentricity. His choice of Andreas Hesper as a
lover alone could endanger his life. Andreas is sensitive to this
concern from the start of their relationship. He is very protective
of the image Darius presents while they are together. Though Andreas
cannot bear the thought of being apart from Darius, he is consumed
with the concern that their relationship will cause his lover's
downfall or even his death. Many of his actions during Volume Two,
including cutting himself off from his oldest friend, are about
protecting Darius from forces that are almost as powerful as he is
seeking to take his position and his life. In the Soldiers books (A
Soldier's Choice and A Soldier's Fate), The physically powerful
Colonel Rik Heron is vulnerable from forces in the military that
helped create him and he is emotionally fragile. Upon his return from
oblivion Vincent has two purposes in life – loving Rik Heron and
protecting him from all threats. Vincent is also willing to protect
his lover from even those closest to them. In both cases, the ukes
biggest fight in protecting their respective Semes is with the Semes
themselves. Often, it is their own behavior that causes the biggest
problems. For Andreas, this is a very delicate dance he must do with
his Seme. Darius was literally bred to lead. His words are like laws
– they must be obeyed. It is difficult to get him to accept that he
even needs protecting let alone allow others to act on his behalf.
Vincent, on the other hand, can be much more direct. He makes sure
his lover eats and rests. And everyone knows that to cross Rik means
that Vincent's powerful anger and his dangerous abilities will be
aimed squarely at the threat. This facet to these love stories makes
them more compelling for me as a reader and a writer. Hopefully my
readers will feel the same. For links to excerpts from these books or links on where to purchase the books, see the MENU to the right.
Next time, an exciting preview to the
next yaoi manga I worked on for DMG. It's Sakira's white hot Wild
Boyfriend!
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