How did they make Dracula seem so insignificant?

One of the shows that's been sitting on my DVR for me to try out is Dracula. I wasn't going to. It seemed too cheesy to me from the commercials. But then several people I trusted were enjoying it, so I decided to start recording and see for myself.

Cut to six weeks later.

I watched the first episode yesterday. So far, I'm...underwhelmed. I already have a negative bias on the actress playing Lucy. While Katie McGrath is beautiful and has certainly come a long way in her acting abilities, I find the smirking just a tad annoying, and I don't like the blonde hair. So going into it, that didn't help.

But I always liked Jonathan Rhys-Meyers before this. I loved The Tudors. And he's certainly easy on the eyes. But I finished the first episode wondering how it was they made their Dracula seem so insignificant.

Perhaps most jarring is the physicality of the role. Rhys-Meyers isn't the biggest guy to start out with, but he looks downright puny in much of the premiere, so unimposing that he gets lost even when he's the only person in a scene. His normally arresting eyes look too watery most of the time, so that he always looks like he's about to cry. Great for showing vulnerability, not so great for making me fear or be in awe of Dracula.

And let's not talk about most of the accents. Or the awful actress playing the ridiculous Lady Jayne (I realize she's done a ton of work, but I can't stand her.)

I'm not giving up. I'm hoping some of it will smooth over. I can forgive a lot of the inaccuracies and over-the-top-ness if the story and actors are good enough, so maybe they just need a couple episodes to warm up to the material.

Fingers crossed.

Anything is possible

Everyone gets discouraged. Everyone has off days. Frankly, writers work in a vacuum a large part of the time, so it's easy to lose our perspective in a lot of ways.

That's why I love getting slapped in the face with reminders that anything really is possible. Recently, news has come from the medical community about a new way of approaching cancer treatments where doctors reprogram our bodies fight cancer on its own, much like we're able to fight back against colds. Results have been incredibly positive so far. Cancer is insidious, and while it's hardly the only dangerous set of diseases humans can get, any progress that keeps people from dying is for the good.

These scientists never gave up. They took what seemed like an insurmountable problem and kept attacking it until they finally got results they wanted.

It's this kind of dedication and hard work that I fight to remember on bad days. It's something we should all remember.

What the Heart Thinks

On Tuesday, I got my novella in for the Viva La Difference pax coming out at Amber Allure in the spring. It's a rom com piece of fluff that makes me laugh every time I read it. The blurb is a little rough, but it'll give you an idea what it's about:

On a scale of one to ten, DJ Joe Salinas considers himself a four, five on a good day. Actor/part-time stripper Fess Kedley is definitely a nine, however, though Joe’s pretty sure that slides into a ten as soon as the clothes come off. So when the outgoing Fess recognizes a shy Joe at a bachelorette party from his midnight radio show and proceeds to ask him out, Joe turns him down, convinced he’s either crazy or stupid.

The only problem is, Fess takes rejection as reason to keep on trying.

The two become unexpected friends, so when the thought of trying a date comes up again, Joe decides to take a chance. Though he doesn’t understand what someone like Fess would see in someone like him, it’s hard to say no when everything else feels so right.

December giveaways at the pax blog

This month at the Amber Pax Collections blog, we're giving away three pax collections to our readers, as a way of saying thank you for all your support this past year. Leave a comment on any post made during the month of December, and you'll be up for the chance to win the pax collection of your choice.

For more details, just head over to the blog to check it out!

The Voice results

Yes, I watch The Voice. I love it for the judges mostly, since my favorites very rarely do well (and if they do make it to the finale, they never win, I'm looking at you Michelle Chamuel and Terry McDermott). I've learned not to overinvest in my favorites on this show, but I'll admit, it's tough this year.

See, for the first time in a long time, I really like nearly all of the top five. I have my favorites - James Wolpert and Will Champlin by a mile - but Tessanne Chin and Jackie Lee are both so talented in their own rights, I wouldn't mind if they win. The only one I can probably do without is Cole Vosbury, and that's not really his fault. He has a solid voice, but he gets overshadowed by the other four. Plus, in all honesty, he has never topped his blind audition for me. Because the ballsy, rocking version he did of "Movin' on Up" was too cool for words:



Where did that go? Blake completely homogenized him.

On the other hand, James still excites me every time he comes onstage. I love his range, his ability to go from theatrical to completely understated. Unlike Blake, he is still doing great things, too. Like the week he did "Somebody to Love:"




Do you have any favorites? Are you done because your favorite is gone?

Book recommendation: Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb

Recently, I've been reading Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century by Graham Robb because I wanted something more in depth and dedicated than shorter articles might provide. It doesn't cover much beyond parts of Europe and some of America, with an emphasis on the more well-to-do, but that's due primarily to the lack of good records for those sections of society to validate any of his research and others.

But let me say this. It is utterly fascinating. The tone is a tad dry, so it's not really fast reading at all, but the information it imparts casts new light on the period for me. Once you get past the beginning, which focuses on statistical analysis of crimes and punishments, you get more anecdotes that help bring it all to life. If you're not familiar with gay history, the constant barrage of names might be a little overwhelming at first, but honestly, for me, it just compelled me to do more research into those I didn't recognize.

At the end of the day, I highly recommend this to anyone with an interest in gay history and who is comfortable with prose that doesn't talk down to the reader. I imagine it's going to be a great resource for me in years to come. My only regret is that I didn't read it sooner.

Why does December come so quickly?

December 2. Wow. It's hard to believe this year has flown so quickly, though in all honesty, the next three months are always the fastest for me out of the year. It's not just Christmas, but the fact that both of my kids' birthdays happen as well, one in December and the other in February. I spend a ton of time preparing and making things special for them. The one thing I can guarantee them keeping is memories, so I want them to be as good as possible.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. My father-in-law arrived from the UK on Tuesday. He'll be staying with us until mid-February. But this was his very first American Thanksgiving (I did a half-assed version when we lived in the UK, but it was never the same), so he learned that yes, we really don't stop eating for three days. :)

Which means the next three weeks are detoxing in preparation for Christmas, lol.

Writing will be slowing down a bit, though not stopping. There are always deadlines to meet, most of which I actually hit. But I've decorating to do, baking, birthdays, the holidays...busy, busy, busy, but really, the alternative where I have nothing (or if you're going to go bleak, can't do it at all), isn't acceptable. Life is too short. Children grow up. I'm not missing those.