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