Elves, by Kir-Tat

Recently I commissioned Kir-Tat to illustrate one of the Elves stories. She chose this one, and… well, her results blew me away. I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect painting to accompany the series. It’s gorgeously atmospheric, to the point that the scene almost soaks up the characters themselves. When I saw it, I literally started babbling about how amazingly well it came out. I’m not even going to talk about it anymore; I’m just going to let you see for yourself.

First and Last and Always

For Hannah, because she made a difference.

Even with his heart pounding in time to the DJ’s command, a hundred and twenty-six beats per minute, Jamie could feel the one it skipped. Someone was watching him; he’d felt it, uncoiling a tight, nervous desire from the base of his spine, sliding it up his back until it made the hairs on his neck stand on end and his knees go weak, made him excited and just a little scared.

For months he’d walked past the door here, stolen glances past the curtain at the slender, pretty boys dancing together here, taking each other home, but he’d never dared step in before. Now he wasn’t sure whether he should have come. Someone would notice him; someone would tell; people would know; they would be polite of course, nothing overt. It was the twenty-first century after all, but he would hear their whispers, notice their sideways glances in his direction, and he would move again, unable to cope, unwilling to be that token friend, unwilling to be treated so differently. It wasn’t his fault he’d been born this way.

But there was that look. It promised so much.

Elves

Love is blind and knows no gender. There are four versions of this story.

Real People, Real Life, Real Sex, Real Rights

Here in California we have an proposition on the ballot that would constitutionally revoke the right of homosexual marriage. I’ve given up arguing with the scaremongering that’s going on to promote it. Other writers have dissected it, but I’ve found that people who believe it usually are not playing with the same deck of cards that I am. The legal construct of marriage and its “protection” don’t matter, except on the surface; the Proposition 8 crowd is selling fear and morality, and it’s hard for people – on any side of any political fence – to change their perceptions of morality, especially when they’re afraid. People want to believe in an Enemy.

In this case, it seems important to remind them that there is no Enemy. Nobody wishes them harm. There are only real people, real lives, real concerns, and real relationships, seeking legal recognition. That’s all.

On a tangentially related note (you’ll see how in a moment), I’ve been meaning to check out Comstock Films for a while now. When they created the “Real People, Real Life, Real Sex” series, they named their company after the historical Anthony Comstock, which has to be one of the smarter up-yours gestures I’ve seen out of the industry. From their trailers and the reviews, it looks like they go out of their way to show off the emotional chemistry and relationships behind the couples in their films. Naturally I approve of this.

Today, though, I especially approve of them, because they’re running a pre-election home-stretch special:

It’s going to be from Tuesday, Oct. 28, 12AM Eastern to Oct. 29 3AM Eastern. For 27 hours, 100% of the purchase price on our erotic documentary DVDs (excluding S&H) is going to the No On Proposition 8 Campaign to preserve marriage equality in California.

So get your blog on. Get your Twitter and your Facebook and your MySpace on. Text a friend, e-mail a loved one. Tell them that if they buy any Comstock Films DVD on October 28, 100% of the purchase price will go helping stop Ballot Measure 8 in California.

That’s not “100% of the profits“; that’s 100% of the sales. It’s a totally selfless gesture. If you’re interested in checking out the Comstock films, or just want to pitch a few dollars into the campaign against Proposition 8, now’s your chance to do both.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Ann Barnett, the County Clerk down in Bakersfield, has decided that, rather than perform civil wedding ceremonies for homosexual couples, she will end civil wedding ceremonies in the county entirely. The Californian is a fine paper, and I admire the way it investigates her claims without editorial.

The whole situation reminds me more than a little bit of the Massive Resistance policy that Virginia implemented for Brown v. Board of Education, and of Prince Edward County’s extreme steps in particular.

I don’t think I need to say much more than that.