Watermelon, Man…

If you’ve flown at all in the last six days — and I’ve flown every one of them — you know that Summer Time is here.  Airplanes full of kids, crazy weather delays, and in my black uniform, it’s been hot hot hot.  And where there’s Hot, there should always be Watermelon.giant-watermelon-with-bathing-beauty

As I’ve told you before, my writing group is cobbling together an anthology all about food.  Memories, poems, recipes and other of our members’ favorite tasty morsels.  My poem of the month for June is a haiku about my hot summer love of watermelon.  I have waxed ecstatic about the joys of watermelon before; this poem  was inspired my my second Best Food Moment Ever.  Not my second-best, mind you; I have two Best Food Moments Ever, which is allowed because they both involve the same juicy and delicious fruit.  And here we’re gonna tie it all together: my other Favorite Watermelon Memory is of a day out in Korea, which is where the member of our group who’s curating this anthology is currently living.  (Thanks, internet!)  See how it’s all a rich tapestry?

So I’m driving to the airport the other day, in the middle of a six-day stretch, so hot in my black uniform and black car that I’m purposely driving practically in circles to only drive up shady streets, and my favorite local jazz radio station comes through, as they always do, with the perfect splash of musical refreshment. I’ve always felt a certain seasonal affinity with summer.   Ushered into this wide and wacky world on its first day, we’ll consider me, for the purpose of wrapping up this post, something of an expert on the topic of How To Enjoy Your Summer Time The Most:  1. Check out our yummy anthology as it comes together right before your eyes at Twelve Months of Tasty Morsels.  2. Listen to plenty of jazz. And 3. Don’t forget the watermelon.  I do love my watermelon, man.

New Release: A Model Romance

amodelromanceWhen Bridger Bradford chases the wrong guy to South Korea, he falls in love … with his fantasies about Kai, a model whose handsome mug is splashed across every subway station and bus shelter in the country.

Kai has a big career and big money, but what he really wants is a shot at big, blond Bridger, who can’t believe his luck when the man of his dreams seemingly walks out of the stack of souvenir magazines and right up to him in his favorite San Francisco bar.

Today marks my stand-alone short fiction debut with the eBook release of the story of one of my very favorite couples. At just under 7,000 words, A Model Romance is a quick-reading short story of how beefcake Bridger Bradford falls head over heels in love with a wild fantasy that could never come true, and what happens when it does.  My hope is that it just might be the most romantic thing you’ll ever read that refers to both Old McDonald and Tuna Surprise in its opening paragraph.

If you’re queer as a three-dollar bill, you’ll even get change — snag your copy here at JMS Books today for the introductory price of $2.39.

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Tempted?  Click on through and read an excerpt: Continue reading

Seoul: A Model Layover

seoul beautiesBefore I started flying, I knew next to nothing about Korea.  I knew there were two of them, and I kind of knew why, and everything else I knew I gleaned either from Margaret Cho’s stand up or from reruns of M*A*S*H.  I arrived in Seoul for the first time with few expectations, vowing only not to be taken in by the senior flight attendants who were trying to get me to make an ass of myself by walking into this back-alley restaurant and asking to be served something called Beep ‘n’ Bop, as if I don’t recognize a made-up food item when I hear one.  (Why don’t you order it, if it so exists?  P.S. – It does, and it’s do-it-yourself delicious, once you get the hang of flat chopsticks.)  I was immediately sold on Seoul, and it endures as one of my favorite layover cities (albeit one that I no longer see).

In A Model Romance, Bridger and Kai’s very different experiences in Korea eventually and unexpectedly bring them together in San Francisco.  To celebrate Seoul, and the upcoming release (Sunday, March 10th) of the story it helped inspire me to write, today’s Special Edition City Code Snapshot will feature five of my favorite things about Seoul. Continue reading