Cover Change & Movie Rec: Bound

I revamped the cover to His Sweet Prince, update here. I liked the idea of having an overlay spreading over the two figures like a communal tattoo.

Given that at the moment there's a schlocktastic TV show playing in the background which I won't bother naming but take a guess, historical, set in Italy, and the costumes are pretty, I'll be contrary & recommend a movie which I guess you could describe as noir/gangster, and I think may have been the first movie written and directed by the Wachowski's.

If you haven't seen or heard of Bound, check it out. It's worth it.

Here's the trailer…

Voting & Opinionating

*This should have been posted yesterday but I not only got wrenched away from the keyboard but didn’t have a chance to get back to this till now. So here goes:

I’ve been writing and rewriting furiously and am about to be wrenched from the keyboard in order to get out and walk the dogs. Or they get to walk us, better description. One of them weighs more than I do, sh+t!

Elections & voting. Hmm, yesterday we had the state elections and I voted, not only because in Australia, it’s a compulsory thing but because I really believe in it. And yes, the current crop of politicians are not inspiring (I’m talking Australian ones). And yes, I KNOW my vote won’t count, because while the area I live in, should, theoretically, be a 50/50 deal the boundaries were changed creatively some years back. Now hell would have to freeze over before any party but the one currently holding the seat gets kicked out.

What kind of thing do I think a political party should care about? Plain, simple stuff: the rights of all citizens, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religion to a decent education, decent healthcare and an equal opportunity in the workplace and in life choices. Equality. That’s pretty much it. Not much to ask for, and yet such a massive thing to ask for.

So yeah, I believe in getting out there and voting. And oh yes, I’ve voted even when I’ve thought every political choice on offer was crap. A real vote, not a donkey vote. Because if nothing else the simple act of casting a vote honors those that have fought so hard for that right, and may still be doing so.

Okay, off my soapbox now. Back to dogwalking and writing romance and a little dreaming.

This Tom Waits song seems incredibly appropriate for these dangerously interesting times. I think it also sums up my feelings about politicians well.

Gaultier Exhibition & New Stuff

Briefly, I pubbed His Sweet Prince (The Hellfire Vampires Bloodline 2) through Amazon last weekend, further info links in the His & His Sweet Prince Hellfire Vampires Bloodline + Titles & Outlets tabs in the header. Also check the previous, 8th November post: His Sweet Prince (The Hellfire Vampires Bloodline) 2.

Gaultier! I blather a fair amount about favorite films and television shows, I once threw in a link to a favorite artist of mine, Ray Caesar, but I’ll do a post here about the Gaultier retrospective which I saw last weekend.

Yeah, like everyone, I’m well familiar with the pointy bra/corset, and I’ve loved his film costumes – Besson’s The Fifth Element just would NOT be the same experience without his designs, but seeing around thirty years of work up close was extraordinary and amazing. And so, since I absolutely regard fashion design as an art, just as I would painting, film, music, writing, whatever the hell else comes along, and it all feeds the creative beast, not to mention soul, I was blown away and inspired and energized by the sheer genius and hidden hard slog of Gaultier’s work. It was wild, it was experimental, for some it would be “but where would you wear it” but there were very many exquisite and totally wearable items. I know I lusted after a pair of the sequined trousers a (mannequin) sailor was wearing, not to mention the leather jackets and wild shoes and boots.

I’ve included some photos here, taken on my phone, so excuse the quality. I was really bummed out that the one photo I really wanted to work, of his childhood teddy, complete with its own beta version cone bra, came out fuzzy, but I’ve included it just because it was so damned adorable. I’ve also included a link to a YouTube video of Gaultier being interviewed. For all I know he’s faking being funny, intelligent, endlessly curious and inclusive very well, but hell, he’s totally on my “Imagine The Best Dinner Party In The World” guest list. Catch at least a few minutes of it and see what you think.

Not to mention, about the only thing he and I have in common: we both had the best grandmothers going. His sounds pretty wild and I know mine was.

Ciao,

J… oh, and I'm currently midways through my hot rock star story. Hell yeah! Researching this one is a little different to Objects Of His Obsession :)

His Sweet Prince (The Hellfire Vampires Bloodline) 2

Hi all,

His Sweet Prince (The Hellfire Vampires Bloodline) Book 2 is now in the Amazon store.

His Sweet Prince is a shifter/witch novel linked but totally standalone to the Hellfire Vampire world, so if you are into shifter/supernatural action, this will be the one for you. Following is the blurb:::

Shifters and witches don't mix, no matter how combustible their sexual chemistry. Especially when one is an assassin, and the other a lycan prince he has been sent to slaughter.

Easton Caird is many things. To his Agency, he is codenamed Scarlet. Scarlet for blood spilled, Scarlet for the rentboy he impersonates. Damaged, dangerous, he trusts no one.

And when he reads his would-be mark, Grisha Vasiliev, a lycan prince who has turned his back on the shifter pack and crime empire headed by his ruthless father, he realizes that the intel he was given on the commanding male was comprised. Vasiliev is no Russian mobster, trading in drugs, guns, and human misery. But Vasiliev's father, a lycan king is.

The two of them will be thrown together and with death so close, the raw lust between them cannot be denied. With so much blood spilled the consequences of success or failure will be devastating.

Will Easton ultimately make the greatest sacrifice, the most eternal trade of all in order to gain a love, secure a bond he has never had before? Grisha may just be worth it.

xoxo,

J

Wild About Harry

“I have invited our little seamstress to take her thread and needle and sew our two mouths together.” Harry Crosby

My last blog post was about heroes, in particular, one of my favorites, Houdini. As one who believes that without personal freedom, there is nothing, the world’s most famous escapologist is naturally right up there for me.

This post … well, Harry Crosby, as you may have guessed by that quote, was the Jazz Ages answer to Lord Byron: mad, bad and most definitely, dangerous to know. There is a great biography of him, Black Sun: The Brief Transit and Violent Eclipse of Harry Crosby, which I first read in my teens and thus began my Harry fixation. He is not a hero of mine, but he does still fascinate me, because he is, ultimately, unknowable.

I’m not alone in that fascination. Lisa St Aubin de Teran wrote a novel based around Harry, Black Idol, wound around opium, orgies and death, and I don’t think she is the sole writer or creative intrigued by his elusive, no-boundaries life and personality.

He was from a blue blood Boston family but volunteered as an ambulance driver in France during World War 1 and survived Verdun. Whatever his natural eccentricities were, by war’s end he was also probably suffering – as a massive amount of those veterans were – from PTSD, which was scarcely even conceived of at that point.

Either way, he arrived in Paris at the perfect time, the nineteen-twenties, with his wife, Caresse (and yes, that was not her original name. Rather, it was Polly). They set up the Black Sun Press which they ran as a serious enterprise, publishing early, in exquisite editions, some of the literary superstars of succeeding years including James Joyce and Hemingway.

But what he, and to a degree, Caresse, were famous for, was their headlong dive into sex, drugs and rock and roll– before rock and roll. He was outrageous, pushed every boundary, broke every rule, was a complete arsehole, entitled, spoilt rotten in world of shattered postwar survivors, and yet had a ferocious personal charm, allure and spirit of adventure. Later, having survived Harry himself, Caresse Crosby became known as a patron of the arts.

It all ended in 1929. Harry and a mistress he named the Fire Princess were found dead in what was probably a suicide pact. It was the perfect time for Harry to have checked out. With the stock market crash, the expat party scene in Paris was over.

If Harry had not met that bullet, exactly what would have happened? So much of his legend revolves around his early death– he was 31. And so he stays enigmatic. Whatever promise he had, stays simply that. It is the force of his personality, an extraordinary life as art, that holds attention rather than a body of work as the poet he saw himself as.

For anyone interested in that era, especially Paris in the twenties, reading about him is essential. Along the way you’ll encounter, as Harry did, just about every known literary and artistic figure on the scene from Hemingway to Dali and Cartier-Bresson and many others. No small feat. And if you can work out just exactly what made Harry tick, kudos to you.

Heroes & Villains + A Taste of the Next Hellfire Vampires

As I was thinking of things to blog about, I thought one cool thing would be my heroes. One blog post at a time, lovelies! Ha! …If you asked me what quality I admire most in others, it would be guts. Or courage, if you want to be smooth about it. And the most important thing in the world: freedom.

That can be freedom to love who you want, be who you want, live the life you want.

That sole word can mean a wide range of things to each and every individual.

I have a mile-long list of my creative and life heroes (I can’t even begin to go near politics with this one, it would take forever!) Instead I’ll just list the person who has held my imagination ever since I had scabby knees and collected tadpoles.

Houdini … yep, the world’s most famous escapologist. An escapologist. What’s not to admire?

So yes, Houdini. Freedom, escaping from knotty (literally) situations, and just a little bit of magic dust thrown in there about the whole thing. What more could you want?

I won’t go into history and his bio here. There is plenty of stuff about him on YouTube and elsewhere, and I highly recommend checking it out. He died in 1926, almost a hundred years ago, and yet in certain ways, there is something so very modern about him. He'd be headlining in Vegas now, and I know I'd pay money to see him.

WRITING times: It’s looking like the lycan story, the second of the Hellfire Bloodline Vampires series, is going to be finished before the rock star contemporary I am also working on. I have a habit of working on two things at once, it keeps things bubbling. For some months my productivity dropped right back to near zero due to a nightmare of a job. That’s done and dusted and I’m writing like a fiend. It’s lovely. (For me at least).

So yes, the next Hellfire is close to completion and that makes me very happy.

*After the jump is a snippet, not for those under eighteen, which may or may not make the cut:

Missing Histories & An Exhibition Worth Seeing

I am shockingly bad at regularly posting, which, since it is nowhere near New Year’s (thank God), todays resolution to post twice weekly will have to count as a New September 21st one. So as I find blogging about me me me boring, I thought I’d comment on stories, film (as ever), books and people I’ve found intriguing, thought provoking or just plain funny.

That said, the me me me stuff out of the way: right now, I have two main stories on the boil (about the only cooking I ever agree to) after a near-absence from being able to write solidly of quite some months. I had a killer of a 9-5 schedule that was more like 7-7 and it nearly wiped me out along with any creative abilities. Yep, poor me, etc. I managed to get In The Flesh and Angel Angel done but that’s pretty shit productivity compared to my usual speed. Fortunately my mojo is back together with my word count. Hopefully it will wind up with some good things resulting.

Meanwhile … please, click on the link (I finally realised you could embed a tweet!), and read the article, because it’s pretty extraordinary and it really bears on this post. 

The black Victorians: astonishing portraits unseen for 120 years http://t.co/Ar13XRcgmp pic.twitter.com/fBC17VuDYd
— The Guardian (@guardian) September 15, 2014

I’m never going to know the story of the woman in this photograph, but what strikes me is how modern she looks. I want to know her story. I doubt ever will. Certainly I had never heard of Sara Forbes Bonetta, also represented in the photo exhibition (which I would love to see – anyone reading this in London, I am jealous), and that is amazing, as I've read enough histories, both of the art, social scene and general life, of Victorian London, and she should have merited inclusion.

What that article did was emphasise something well known– just how history gets rewritten, chunks get left out, and often, they are the parts that tell so much about the world in that instant of time. They are parts that it is so important to acknowledge, no matter how grim many of those stories will be.

Victorian England is a time and place that fascinates me, originally I think because I, early on, had such a love of the over-the-top art of the time and still do. The Pre-Raphaelites were an inspiration for the Surrealists, and little wonder. Take a look at any Rossetti or Burne-Jones, and you’ll be tripped out. The Victorians were conflicted, torn apart, I think, as our age is, by the incredible speed at which things were changing.

But none of the histories go into the stories of people like the woman in that first photograph. Not white, not male. A visitor from Africa. And other people of color were obviously living in Britain. What were their stories?

At the moment I am working on two books, one a paranormal, another a rock star contemporary. On the backburner I have thirty thousand words of a retro paranormal with one of the characters loosely based on Josephine Baker, that incredible jazz-age singer and entertainer. She had to travel from America to Paris to gain the recognition and fame she deserved. Even so, reading now what counted as praise then often sounds incredibly stereotyped if not plain offensive. I wonder what she truly thought of it. It would be fascinating to know, and is something I speculate about within the story and the context of the character.

Well, it’s Sunday morning here, still, just, and I need to get back to the paranormal. Blood has been spilled, and yet more will be. It’s fun to rule the world, if only a virtual one…

Xoxo

J

In The Flesh : Goodreads Love's Landscape's Shifter Darkside

There are shifters, and then there are shifters.

Eli Cain is the most powerful, and fractured, of his shifter pack. A blood junkie, his identity is as fluid as water, his life blurred by jags of amnesia. Hours, days, weeks are lost never to be regained. Only his lover and fellow pack member, Stas, enigmatic, ruthless, eases the darkness. But even Stas could not protect them against the loss of their closest friend and fellow pack member, Vincent. Vincent, despised by the pack for his humanity. 

Vincent, who Eli protected, watched over. Vincent, who has gone missing.

Just where is Vincent? And how will Eli find a way through the darkness to the answers he needs?

In The Flesh is a 12, 500 word short story available as part of the Goodreads #LovesLandscapes event. It is a free read, so click on either of the links below and enjoy :)

For free download as an ePub, mobi or pdf:

http://www.mmromancegroup.com/in-the-flesh-by-jae-t-jaggart/

To read online at Goodreads.

Horror Cheesy, Classic & Decadent & Debauched

Listening to one of the best movie soundtracks ever … Queen Of The Damned, made me think about my first movie love, horror :)

Queen Of The Damned is, natch, the movie adaptation of the Anne Rice novel. It got one hell of a bad rap when it came out and was filmed, lord love us all, in Melbourne. Exotic? Ha! I do like Stuart Townsend in it as Lestat and even though he’s not a Lestat I or anyone else could EVER have imagined, whatever he’s doing is working, it has Aaliyah in it and Vincent Perez and … hell, it’s just cheesy fun.

Cheesy fun is also a good pretty description of the old English Hammer horror vampire flicks, usually set in Regency Wherever.

If you want to try one, see if you can catch The Vampire Lovers. It’s an adaptation of an old Sheridan le Fanu story Carmilla and is a gas. A sexy lesbian vampire works her way through the local population of virginal young ladies. Naturally, she has to be staked at the very end.

Talk about Freudian.

And to more serious horror flicks … mmm, Dario Argento for the ick factor has to win. Suspiria, anyone? You cannot say you love horror movies if you haven’t caught at least one Argento flick.

More classically, Rosemary’s Baby, The Shining, Halloween. I’ll even throw in John Carpenter’s The Thing.

The last horror movie that really truly stayed with me was the vampire film Let The Right One In, a Swedish film of an amazing book by John Ajvide Lindqvist. It’s like no other horror movie I can think of. Nothing pretty, nothing beautiful, it’s ugly, dingy and has a fresh quiet horror of its own variety in the ending. There is a great American adaptation of it, but truly, stick with the original one.

And if you can find it, Lars Von Trier’s The Kingdom TV series. It is just so damned weird and wonderful. It also stars the hospital from hell!

Okay, last but not least, in no particular order, Alien (sci-fi horror), Chronos (Mexican vampire horror), Constantine… not really horror but I loved it.

I’ve left out so many fabulous films, so bad they’re good and some just plain fabulous, but there you go. My short list of recs. Watch at your peril.

And so, right now … a vampire movie I really, really want to see that’s been out since earlier this year, Only Lovers Left Alive, directed by Jim Jarmusch with Tom Hiddleston (Loki!) and the excellent Tilda Swinton (who was the BEST androgynous angel in Constantine). Peak at the trailer, oh, and um… Is that a blood popsicle she's clutching? Carmilla didn't have the only phallic reference in this post:

Looks fabulous, here’s hoping it is,

Ciao my lovelies,

J

Oh, and the track list from Queen Of The Damned:

1. "Not Meant for Me" Wayne Static of Static-X
2. "Forsaken" David Draiman of Disturbed
3. "System" Chester Bennington of Linkin Park
4. "Change (In the House of Flies)" Deftones
5. "Redeemer" Marilyn Manson
6. "Dead Cell" Papa Roach
7. "Penetrate" Godhead
8. "Slept So Long" Jay Gordon of Orgy
9. "Down with the Sickness" Disturbed
10. "Cold" Static-X
11. "Headstrong" Earshot
12. "Body Crumbles" Dry Cell
13. "Excess" Tricky
14. "Before I'm Dead" Kidneythieves

Video Post & Review at Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews

Subtitle: My Circus Life

I had a giggle over at #SinfullySexyBookReviews with a guest video chat. Yes guys, zip over to Sinfully Sexy to watch me blather about Objects, Ben and Evander, those gorgeous guys (yeah, they've still got a chunk of my heart), and writing stuff.

In between dogs running in and out barking at the fence-fixing neighbours (cos that's what makes them happy - the dogs not the neighbours), people wandering about and birds going wild outside, it was a mad circus. It took a few attempts before I managed to get the viddie done. I also wound up with laryngitis! It was great fun though.

More importantly, I loved the review and would love for you guys to check it out. Oh, and incentives! I also have an eBook and #AmazonGiftCard #giveaway going there, so enter the draw!

Have a fabulous weekend, it's Friday morning here! 6.30 in the a.m. … aaaargh! Bring on the weekend!

xoxo

J

Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews, Dorian is a Rock Star

Firstly: Objects Of His Obsession is being reviewed on the fabulous Sinfully Sexy Book Reviews site, appearing on the 7th August. Today! Or tomorrow, depending on your time zone... I also do a video guest post! Yes, you can get to watch me opine and generally blather. That was a lot of fun, although I wound up with laryngitis trying to get it right! For anyone who watches it, apologies for the husky voice, I’ll post properly about it once the post is up on http://sinfullysexybooks.blogspot.com.au. Thanks again to everyone at Sinfully Sexy for allowing me the opportunity to talk about Objects, it was a giggle and I really enjoyed it.

Otherwise … aargh! Crazy busy, with a hell commute to the 9-5 I have taken on for the last couple of months – optimistic as ever, I’d thought it might be a three, three and a half hour drive a day max, but nooo! I’ve hit gold and it’s edging towards four.

Why drive, you say? Ask any Melburnian about our public transport system ;-) (Don’t get indignant and start yelling fellow Melbs, you know what I mean.)

So I’m gathering forces and squeezing in writing when I can, as in, not zombied between crazy work and crazy mad traffic, which is a situation I truly hate. I want to get back properly to writing, dammit!

In the meantime, watching the fabulous Penny Dreadful and loving it. For those who watch it, here’s a quiz: who would you rather be, Vanessa or Dorian?

I think Dorian. All the actors in that wonderful show are brilliant, but Dorian is a bad bad boy Victorian rock star. I’d happily be him for a day or two … or decade or many.

Speaking of which, I’m listening to lots of Iggy P and classic late 70’s and early 80’s stuff, writing about a rock star with a love life as complex as … hell, what can I say. I fall for my characters but do have fun torturing them with the angst and drama ;-)

Just because, I thought I’d throw in a photo of the dogs of the house. I think I may have put this up on my Twitter feed before, but we're lazy photo takers here and they’re adorable and a great start to this Thursday morning (6.30 am here, bloody hell).

Ciao my lovelies, I’m running late to start my hell commute!

J

New Writing Stuff, Vintage Punk, Movie Stuff & DBML

It’s been aaaages or so it seems since I last posted…

If you are a Goodreads member, you may be interested in checking out the #DBML program (you will have to be a member of the M/M romance group) where you can score a read for review copy of Objects Of His Obsession.

https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/935390-dbml-65-object-of-his-obsession-by-jae-t-jaggart

I think I'm still a little in love with the guys in Objects, and I wrote it! Ha! Anyways, I'm aiming for that level of emotional intensity and more with the main project I'm working on.

I’ve finally got back to writing solidly after a wicked long break and some not fun life events. I did get Angel Angel written though! Timing wise, it’s all coincided with a new job & a ton more travel time. Hell, there are worse things! Either way, this story is full-on emotional intensity, pedal to the metal, my lovelies! So hopefully heartstrings and other vital organs will be tugged!

And since I always seem to post about movies, welll… Cloud Atlas is playing (again) as I’m writing, and I am still in a state of awe and astonishment at that movie. When I can give it the care it deserves, I’ll post about it.

One of my favorite actors, Ben Wishaw is in it, an amazing cast altogether, but the Frobisher/Sixsmith storyline is a heartbreaker.

Give it a try. Even if you hate it, you’ll have experienced something astonishing and rare. Or you too may fall in love with it, and what could be better?

But before you go, have a listen to this. Still outrageous, right? It’s one of the songs kicking about as background while I’m driving. Considering my current subject, it’s inspirational :)

Xoxo J

photo credit: * raymond via photopin cc

Iggy Pop & Lust For Life + Movie of The Week: Fight Club

I'm binging on rock stars and blood-letting at the moment … somehow the two go so well together.

So hitting a few RS bio's, but one I haven't but should is James Newell Osterberg Jr's, AKA Iggy. I saw him waaay back when and he was just as fabulous as you'd think and then some. Talk about punk aerobics! Something tells me he'll still be bending brain cells when he's wheeled onstage at 90!

So it's a short post, cos I'm tired and it's Monday night here :(

Have fun, my lovelies, & thank you for taking part in the Blogger Girls guest post & giveaway.

Now, one last thing: binge on this & my fave nominated movie for this week, Fight Club, with the fabulous Mr Pitt, Mr Norton & the f+k off brilliant H Bonham Carter.

Well, hell, I posted about some Audrey Hepburn sixties greatness  

the other week. Chick flick stuff. This week, well … all I can say about Fight Club is, WATCH IT…

Oh, and hit http://youtu.be/jQvUBf5l7Vw for some classic Iggy goodness.

xoxo

J

photo credit: losol via photopin cc  / photo credit: CEBImagery.com via photopin cc

Guest Posting & Giveaway Goodness @ The Blogger Girls

I'm guest posting on the 15th June at The Blogger Girls, chatting a little about the back story to my #mmHistorical romance, Objects Of His Obsession, set in 1898/99 and also along the way, my obsession with the Victorian era.

The Rafflecopter draw includes an #eBookGiveaway of a copy of Objects Of His Obsession, and an Amazon $20 gift card.

So if you love #mmRomance, enter to win and read some historical heat, plus get a little Amazon goodness :)

If you'd like to read a little more about Objects Of His Obsession, click on the page link on the bar above for the blurb, and if you haven't grabbed a freebie copy of Cash: Angel, Demon, Rock Star yet, click on the Freebies link there for further info.

Happy reading,

xoxo

Jae

Movie Comfort Food … & Which Would U Be? Buffy Or Drusilla?

We’ve all got our own personal comfort food. Mashed potato, mac and cheese, whatever.

Comfort reads, too. Books you go to because you love them, and you know that once you sink into that world, you may find new things but there is a wonderful familiarity there as well.

Comfort TV shows? Well, we had a Buffy marathon here over the weekend. And then of course, there is Angel, which, gotta confess, I like even more. Although for power couples nothing betters Spike and Drusilla, the Sid and Nancy of the vamp world. I’d like to think in one of those ‘which character are you?’ quizzes I’d come out as Buffy. Something tells me I’m a little more Drusilla! The traces of Goth still linger...

But comfort movies ... well, right now, I’m writing and there is a classic Sam Peckinpah/Steve McQueen movie playing, The Getaway. I love tough guy movies, action flicks, Vin Diesel (although that could be The Voice) and Jason Statham is a riot in the Transporter movies through to Revolver, a Guy Ritchie number that is one addictive, truly underrated mindf*ck.

But the subject WAS comfort movies ... which leads me to two sixties classics and Audrey Hepburn. And these ARE chick flicks, I happily admit :) The first would be Charade, a great movie she made with Cary Grant. The second would be How To Steal A Million, co-starring Peter O’Toole.

The sixties seemed to burst at the seams with caper movies (as these two could be classed, I guess). I don’t know why, maybe it was a spillover from all the James Bond flicks hitting the screens. But those two movies, I promise, are guaranteed to make you feel that in some corner of the world (namely Paris, where they are both set), it is possible that once upon a time everyone was beautiful, chic, witty and wonderful.

And while you watch one of those films, that’s exactly the world you’ll be living in.

Delicious. For an hour and a half, two hours, feet up on the couch and chilling with your friends or honey after one tough bastard of a day or week, what more could you want?

Enjoy,

Xoxo

J

photo credit: Thomas Hawk via photopin cc

Guest Post @ The Blogger Girls

Hey,

I'll be guest posting at the fab The Blogger Girls on the 15th June with #giveaway goodies!

Here is the link to their review of Objects Of His Obsession http://thebloggergirls.com/2014/06/01/book-review-objects-of-his-obsession-by-jae-t-jaggart/

Have a great week!

xoxo

J