Yaoi Thought for the Day - Udon Bear

The next Cook Like a Uke is almost through with editing. Meanwhile, a thought for the day:

Power Exchange Between Seme and Uke

In the real word of Dominant/submissive relationships, there is an exchange of power between the Dom and sub. The exchange is done without coercion and with full knowledge of what to expect. To put an even finer point on it, the sub is also legally and mentally able to surrender power to the Dom. The phrase that covers this practice is no one unwilling, underaged or unbalanced. Unbalanced covers such conditions as being too drunk or stoned to give consent as well as the mentally unbalanced. Smart Doms – and I am a very smart practicing lifestyle Dominatrix http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominatrix – do this to avoid arrest or lawsuits. Smart subs adhere to these rules to avoid hospitalization, permanent injury or death. One of the most bothersome thing about how these relationships are portrayed in popular media is that the danger for either party is recklessly underplayed. This includes a lot of yaoi I've read that depict this kind of relationship. Sorry guys.

Now, I get that there is a deeply satisfying thrill in seeing a uke conquered by a big, dangerous Seme. But when you think about it, how much conquering is there? These Semes are usually twice or even three times bigger than the uke. They are physically and psychologically terrifying. Where is the seduction? Where is the prowess as a lover? Who wants to see Superman fight a human mugger? Where is that buildup of tension and desire in the uke until he can do nothing else but surrender – no matter what the cost? Where is the continuous seduction that gets the uke to the point that he can't be in the same room with the Seme without getting rock hard? Oh my! I've given myself palpitations.

Now, you're looking at the banner image for this page and saying, but there is the huge man looming over a smaller, more vulnerable man who is wearing a big collar. What about that? That is clearly a D/s relationship. But I always write fiction that upends what is typical in a genre.

That bigger man is Darius, Lord Galatea from Ensnared, Volumes 1&2. [Note, there are very mild spoilers ahead – nothing that would spoil the twists in the plot.] He is a full half a foot taller than his uke and 60 pounds of muscle heavier as well. Beyond being much more powerful physically, Darius is much more powerful in wealth and political power. He is, in fact, the most powerful being in a whole planetary system. He is one typical, scary Seme. His reputation is so fearsome, it's rumored that he eats babies. But there is a difference in Darius. He would never force himself on someone he desired. His pride demands an absolute surrender to his lusts. Darius rightfully believes that he has the looks, magnetism and sexual prowess to make him impossible to resist when he turns his focus on someone he wants. Darius has such an intense regard that he has had to take measures in her personal life to make sure that no one who works closely with him is even remotely attracted to men. There had been problems in the past with underlings attempting to cross the line with him. In his love life, Darius wants a love to not only surrender, he wants him to beg permission to surrender.

Andreas Hesper is younger and much slighter than Darius and his social status is far lower when they meet. However, Andreas has power in his own right. His underworld crew, Zed Crew, is respected for their skillful, efficient, non-violent work. He has enough money for his needs. He is happy with his crew mates and content with his lot in life. His incredible looks and cheeky, playful personality made Andreas very popular in his world. Andreas isn't a brawler, but he can be physically imposing when he needs to be. Andreas has never shown interest in any of the highborn citizens that frequent Club Zero, Zed Crew's lair. The frequent inquiries were met with a polite but firm rebuff. To all that knew him, Andreas would never bow to someone merely because that someone was powerful. Nor did he want any riches they had to offer. Andreas was just the sort of man that Darius desired – beautiful, smart, confident, cheeky. What none who knew Andreas realized was that he met his match in Darius the moment their glaze locked, and that it had nothing to do with wealth or social status.

As Andreas dances with Darius the first time, no one but Darius knows that the younger man is fighting being overwhelmed. They see Andreas calmly return to his mates when the song ends. Darius leaves Club Zero shortly afterward. In less than forty-eight hours, however, Andreas has pledged himself as a pleasure slave to Darius for at least a year. Andreas does beg for the collar and tag. Admittedly, Darius does knock the breath out of his uke as well as take his breath away with kisses. Darius does use his size to hold Andreas down during sex. He even chains him to the bed. Never once, however, does Darius cause Andreas pain. Everyone believes that Andreas was blinded by Lord Galatea's wealth and power or he was brutally compelled to yield. Neither is true. It was a skillful though brief seduction by Darius that caused Andreas to trust him enough to give in to the powerful pull when his life literally depended upon it. Later, Andreas begs for that collar and all that comes with it. Yet he is never weak, and he never loses who he is. Darius cherishes that in his exquisite one, despite a carefully honed image for coldness.

In Ensnared, vol 2, Viktor Stamos, Second in command of Zed Crew finally asks about what happened between them. (Very minor spoilers)

Viktor was gazing intently at Andreas as the servant left.

“Can I ask you something without making you mad?” He asked quietly.

“Probably,” Andreas replied. “What is it?”

“Is everything that is said about Lord Galatea wrong?” He asked. “Is he a lot nicer than everyone thinks?”

“No, Darius is the evil bastard that everyone says he is,” Andreas replied with a wry smile. “As scary as the average person believes he is, the truth is many, many times worse. He is cold, arrogant and brutal. That temper is for real. None of that has ever been aimed at me, Viktor. He has never even raised his voice to me.”

“But he took advantage of your situation to claim you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did,” Andreas admitted. “But he didn’t want to claim me that way. That first meeting...allowing me to call him by his first name...was all about seducing me. He wanted me to walk in to being his Dami without any pressure. He was actually very annoyed that he didn’t get to seduce me the way he wanted.”

“He was that sure he could get you to do that?” Viktor asked quietly.

Andreas looked at him levelly. “He wasn’t wrong, Viktor.”

His Second nodded.

“Okay, this makes more sense to me,” Viktor murmured. “I couldn’t see you wanting to stay with someone who had used your situation to take you.”

That awkward moment passes between the two long time friends, but a misunderstanding remains that reflects another belief about Dominant/submissive relationships. If a man enjoys submitting to one powerful lover, he is willing to be that way with any powerful person. All the interested Seme would have to do is use the right amount of force on him. This belief causes a series of tragedies that effects everyone Andreas holds dear. Alas, any more would be a major spoiler. To find out how Darius seduces Andreas into absolute submission and what the impact of their relationship is, read Ensnared Volumes 1&2!

 Ensnared Volume One, the Paperback is now  on Amazon.com HERE

 Ensnared Volume Two is LIVE on Kindle HERE
The paperback is available HERE
Ebooks for all types of players available on Smashwords HERE  
Ensnared Volume One Kindle Ebook Available HERE 
Check out full chapter excerpts for Volume One and Volume Two under Hot Links in the Menu on the right side of this page!

Cook Like A Uke Preview!

At last, the first Cook Like a Uke shoot is a wrap! We shot two segments that will go live on Youtube over the next few weeks. The first, Beef Curry and Beer features handsome and aloof Yuusei from Nabako Kamo's Again Tomorrow (Again Tomorrow - Ashita Kara Mouichido © Nabako Kamo. All rights reserved. Original Japanese edition published in 2010 by Taiyoh Tosho Publishing Co., Ltd.). He is showing his gratitude toward Shunya, who seems to be a cute stranger that kindly rescued him from the streets. In reality, Shunya is actually Yuusei underling at the firm where he is not only the Vice President but heir to the entire conglomerate. Yuusei claims to have no memory of his past life, yet he remembers how to make tasty beef curry. He seems to understand far more about Shunya than a stranger would. Shunya must know who he is, but why hasn't he said anything? You can find out the answers to these questions and be in on the fun of this cooking video by reading Again Tomorrow. It's available for Kindle HERE, for Nook HERE and other formats HERE.

The other segment features a live action version of Mikasi Takahashi from Junjou Romantica earnestly making Tonjiru to bring to the man who will be his tutor. This Misaki is a bit beefier than the anime version, but he is as adorable, and he can really cook. I take a few liberties with the anime plot, but it is very funny. The cast and crew ate all of the results of this segment. The curry went pretty quickly as well. Junjou Romantica can be seen on Nozomient'sYoutube channel HERE.

Stay tuned for the videos here or subscribe to Draggontv's Youtube Channel here!

Cook Like a Uke - Updating Updates

Life interfered with the shoot last week. But, as always, there was a silver lining. I was able to meet and cast yet another gorgeous uke. Meet Kevin Chambers, an actor/dancer/stuntman who is intense in the kitchen. Like my other talented actors, he can portray most any type of uke or even a seme who cooks.

The new shoot is scheduled for Thursday. I'll post the behind the scenes here and set a date for the premier here on April 13. I've had some inquiries about doing recipes from different manga and anime. I think I have a pool of actors that can pull off those types of characters from the requests. I'm always open for more ideas! I can be reached via the comments section below. For you shy readers, the comments can be made anonymously.

Ensnared Volume One, the Paperback is now  on Amazon.com HERE

 Ensnared Volume Two is LIVE on Kindle HERE
The paperback is available HERE
Ebooks for all types of players available on Smashwords HERE  
Ensnared Volume One Kindle Ebook Available HERE 
Check out full chapter excerpts for Volume One and Volume Two under Hot Links in the Menu on the right side of this page!

Big Change for Cook Like a Uke -- Hot Actor Ukes!

I've been very pleased with the support I've received for Cook Like a Uke. One of the few criticisms – aside from the criticisms based on foreign Japan-o-files thinking that yaoi is something that the Japanese found offensive – is that there aren't actual Ukes cooking the food. I gave that some thought, and realized that this was a fair criticism. And there were things I could do about it. I am a filmmaker, after all. And I live in the land of hot actor boys. Thus, I've decided to use the itsy-bitsy marketing budget I have for the yaoi titles to do some shoots with actors cooking like a uke.And I had a logo done for some new aprons!

I had a casting call last week. It's the first one I've had in a number of years, and I worried that the low budget would limit the choices for the parts. I needed actors who were hot, had a presence on camera AND had credible cooking skills who were willing to work on such a modest budget. I was not very hopeful. Thus, I was very pleasantly surprised when I found four such actors to fill the roles of the various kinds of ukes. At lest, they looked good in their photos and had some very nice reels. But there is more to casting this sort of part than those basic requirements. I had to meet with them to see if they actually looked as good in person (I've been unpleasantly surprised during casting sessions when actors turned out to be a lot older than the photos and reels they post or they've had a few years of hard, hard living since their last head shot and reel was shot). Then, I had to find out if they were truly credible in the kitchen. There are many stories from beleaguered directors about actors who claim they can roller blade or ride a motorcycle only to end up in the hospital and markedly set back en entire film or TV shoot. I didn't want to have an actor or me in the ER from a knife wound, nor did I want my kitchen or me set on fire. The last thing I had could only gauge in a a face to face meeting is how comfortable the actors would be with the subject matter. That meant, explaining what yaoi is and why it has a rabid, mostly female audience. I basically gave them the history I wrote in a blog last November, Kitchen Supplies, Bromances and Other PicturePostcards. Just scroll down the middle of the blog for the Bromance part. Later, I sent links to episodes to Junjou Romantica and Sekai-ichi Hatsukoi that relate to cooking food.It was funny explaining all of this if the passers by were any indication. Ah well, it wasn't the weirdest casting meeting I've ever had.

The four actors chosen fit the requirements for the roles, and they embraced the spirit of the webseries. I have four different types of guys who will cover some of the various types of ukes, or, in some cases, the very serious, buttoned down Semes who are cooking for ukes. The plan is to make dishes from yaoi anime and manga (this includes a dish from Nabako Kamo's Again Tomorrow that I worked on with a team of localizers for the Digital Manga Guild). The first shoot is scheduled for April 2^nd. I'll post behind the scenes photos of the shoot that day. The first video from that shoot are slated to be posted on April 6^th. The actors who will appear during the run of the series are:

Ryohei Watanabe

Ryohei Watanabe, a Japanese actor/dancer/director who has been in the US for five years. He is an avid cook who has his own recipes for many of the dishes on the schedule. You can find out more about him at ryoheiwatanabe.com.

Kyle  Valle

Kyle Valle, an actor who is also an avid anime fan and foodie who is a talented, self taught cook.

Donal Thoms-Cappello

Donal Thoms-Cappello, an actor/comedian who is a trained cook.

Edward Swimgler

Edward Swingler, an actor/dancer/cinematographer who loves to cook.










As you can see, they are very easy on the eyes. I can't wait to see what they will bring to this fun and irreverent little series.

Banned for Yaoi Content and Working as a Yaoi Editor

 A book I edited was banned this week. It was only banned for 24 hours, but it was banned in Boston and everywhere else Amazon.com services. It was a sudden kerfuffle with Digital Manga Publishing over explicit content that was quickly resolved after a whole lot of hell was raised from all quarters of the manga community. This comes on the heels of Paypal demanding that certain erotic content be pulled from Smashwords.com. This, too, was reversed when the policy ignited a firestorm of protest. I am not a fan of rape, incest or bestiality as content. However, the wording of the policy would have affected classic literature like Lolita or any shape shifting fantasy that involved werewolves. It was also loudly pointed out that Paypal had no problems accepting money from Craigslist and other sites that sell porn and facilitate prostitution. Likewise, Amazon is in a glass house where content is concerned selling everything to 'inflatable friends' to toys that even I've never heard of before. I'm not going to link them here. Just search the site for any sort of kink, and there is a book, DVD and/or product that caters to it. I always thought I'd be banned or stoned by Trek fans because of The Secret Logs of Mistress Janeway, not for a sweetly sexy and funny collection like Again Tomorrow [Now available on Amazon Kindle at  http://amzn.com/B007FN03L6;
On Barnes and Noble Nook at:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/again-tomorrow-nabako-kamo/1109212837 and And On EManga at: http://www.emanga.com/books/Again_Tomorrow]  that was legally published in another country and properly licensed here. I'm glad that the issue is resolved for DMP. I'm really glad that I didn't have to battle to keep my books widely distributed. It would be hard for Sylvia Beach to champion banned authors in an era where one or two companies control so much of either online payment processing or actual content distribution.

Manga Editing – What DO You Do?

The book banning brings up the question of what does this company do and what do I do for it. I know my gentle and curious readers. Digital Manga Publishing is a US distributor of manga, light novels and soon literature from Japan. The Digital Manga Guild is a group of translators, editors and typesetters who work in teams called localizer to convert Japanese title into English. My team consists of LW Hubbard, an ex-pat professional translator who lives in Japan, Hentai Tenshi, an independent music producer who lives in the LA area and little ol' me. Our team works under the name Haven's Blade. I thought that we would be working largely independently of each other save for proofing the final pages. It has been far more collaborative, and it calls on skills and knowledge that are far beyond the manga stories on the pages. There needs to be a broad knowledge of past and current Japanese culture and pop culture. We've had instances where we've had to figure out what to call a product mentioned that is a parody of a wildly popular snack food in Japan. In the last week, we've come across popular TV shows and a catching hit song that had to be factored into the translations. Then we had to figure out what would be a stateside equivalent for those things while not making them too American. The author or mangaka http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangaka has to recognize the work. That was why I was listening to the RubberDucky Song earlier this week. What's been more challenging is making the dialogue sound natural and realistic when the characters are 20-something guys. Though the audience is certainly not 20-something guys, the characters have to sound as real as their Japanese counterparts. Since none of us are members of this demographic, that takes a bit of effort and all three of our brains. Among this weeks puzzlers was whether or not young punks would use the term German aphrodisiac and what could be used in its place. I couldn't find any reason for the substance coming from Germany, and I really looked hard.

The other thing we had to be really careful of was trying to be too current with the slang. The readership has a really wide range in age, and dialog that is too set in a particular time gets dated and looks sill in just a few years. The slang has to be something that has passed into the general lexicon of speech. My rule of thumb is whether or not the Hubs uses the slang. He is so square, he's a cube (that's his description of himself). If he uses it, the term has been around for some time and is likely to stay in use. Overall, the team is aiming at a loose, informal way for the characters to speak that reads as natural to anyone that may pick up the book. I'll talk about the joys of sound FX translation and proof reading on another day. This is just a taste to show that our work is challenging but above board despite the occasional banning. It's also cool to work with some really interesting people that I wouldn't have known otherwise. We all enjoy sharing creative energy and solving each new and often amusing puzzle.

If you haven't yet, consider buying some of my yaoi fiction before it faces threat again! :)

  Ensnared Volume One, the Paperback is now  on Amazon.com HERE

 Ensnared Volume Two is LIVE on Kindle HERE
The paperback is available HERE
Ebooks for all types of players available on Smashwords HERE  
Ensnared Volume One Kindle Ebook Available HERE 
Check out full chapter excerpts for Volume One and Volume Two under Hot Links in the Menu on the right side of this page!

Cook Like a Uke -- A Seme Breakfast

Cook Like a Uke -- A Seme Breakfast is LIVE (click the title)!

A gentle reminder that his series is a PARODY. This episode was certainly a comedy of errors (technical problems abound). My sound mixing software seems to be possessed by an annoying demon. There are sound FX that I didn't record and some things I did record are missing. I fogot to put in my transition FX and I know there are some captions missing. But the sucker is up and still chocked full of really good info and techniques. 

As I said in the earlier blog, This video is based on a breakfast made by Misaki Takahashi from Junjou Romantica episode two. Misaki-kun is the epitome of the cooking uke. He always has the apron and cleaver ready to keep his Usami fed despite his crazy hours. This reminds me that I need to try some of Misaki's salmon recipes at some point. I did not do two dishes from the breakfast. I've never cooked with natto beans, so I didn't think a video shoot was a good time to start. Also, my own Seme (or actually, my husband who THINKS he's my Seme) doesn't do fish in the morning. I like to make meals that we'll actually east, so we aren't wasting food. So, I substituted those with pork sausage!

Here are the recipes and the links to more information and equipment from the video. As always, thank you for your support and patience.

Dashi Soup

4 cups of cold water

approx. 3x5 inches of Kombu Kelp

3 oz of Benito Flakes

Miso Soup

2 cups of Dashi Soup

1 tbs of white miso paste or any kind you like

cubed firm tofu

green onions

Tamagoyaki

2 eggs

½ tsp soy sauce

1tsp mirin

salt to taste

oil for fray pan

Basic Japanese Rice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DovkRLdU_DE&feature=colike

RunnyRunny999's Typical Japanese Breakfast

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KopkrEA66sA&feature=colike

Tamago Pan http://amzn.com/B000HS0SHA

Onigiri Molds http://amzn.com/B0033RRTLA

Cooking Chosticks http://amzn.com/B0000CDHN8

  Ensnared Volume One, the Paperback is now  on Amazon.com HERE

 Ensnared Volume Two is LIVE on Kindle HERE
The paperback is available HERE
Ebooks for all types of players available on Smashwords HERE  
Ensnared Volume One Kindle Ebook Available HERE 
Check out full chapter excerpts for Volume One and Volume Two under Hot Links in the Menu on the right side of this page!