I’m just going to leave this here.
Huh
I’m just going to leave this here.
Morning!
This is a lovely shot for contrast of skin. The stark white is a great background and the tones of gold on his skin are highlighted by the deep blacks of the shot’s shadows. The off centre of the subject is nice.
Joe Cosentino Is At My Place! Welcome Mat Out!
Please welcome Joe Cosentino to the blog! Joe is an author with Dreamspinner Press and has written a fantastic story! Everyone please give a warm welcome to Joe. I’ll have you know I resisted the urge to use that last exclamation mark there.
JOE COSENTINO ANSWERS READERS’ QUESTIONS
Rhys Ford, thank you for hosting me today on your amazing blog. Via Facebook, I asked my readers to post questions they would like me to answer on your blog. They came up with some really interesting questions. It was great fun answering them. Enjoy!
When you were an actor, which director did you get along with best? Have you remained friends with any or your costars?
I am still friends with the writer/director of CIRCUS, a musical I did at the Cubiculo Theatre in NYC in 1975. I played Rodo, the clown. I looked adorable in my clown outfit and makeup. Hah. We are all still friends! We have reunions at each other’s homes. We literally have grown up and grown old(er) together sharing career changes, location changes, marriages, divorces, births, and deaths. Our story would make a great movie. I want to play me!
Over the next few years I also acted opposite Nathan Lane (ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT in dinner theatre), Rosie O’Donnell (AT&T Industrial), Bruce Willis (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM in regional theatre), Holland Taylor (MY MOTHER WAS NEVER A KID ABC-TV movie), Jason Robards (Commercial Credit Computer commercial), and Charles Keating (NBC-TV’s ANOTHER WORLD) as well as with many many other gifted actors, writers, and directors. After our roles were finished, we moved on to other things and did not remain friends. That is one of the reasons I cherish the CIRCUS group so much.
Where do you get your inspiration for creating your characters? Which of your characters most resembles you?
Each of my characters is a composite of a few people I’ve known. The exceptions are Harold and Stuart in AN INFATUATION (Dreamspinner Press), which started as my one-act play and morphed into the novella. Harold is based on me, and his husband Stuart is based on my spouse. Harold has my sense of humor and ability to forge on despite amazing obstacles. Since it spans a twenty-year period, Harold matures throughout the novella as I did in my life. I love Stuart’s devotion to Harold as well as Stuart’s over planning of everything. My spouse makes lists of the lists he needs to make. He plans the itineraries for our vacations to the minute. Finally I love how Start isn’t jealous of Harold’s infatuation with Mario, because Stuart has the utmost faith in the strength of his and Harold’s relationship. Mario is a composite of a few studly guys I knew as an actor. They took it for granted that everyone was infatuated with them, and they were!
Jana Lane in the Jana Lane mysteries was born with PAPER DOLL by Whiskey Creek Press. She is based on a number of child movie stars like Hayley Mills, Shirley Temple, Patty Duke, etc. I cringe when my students tell me they’ve never heard of them!
The Nicky and Noah comedy mysteries (releasing this summer from Lethe Press with DRAMA QUEEN) take place at a college. Since I am a college theatre professor and department head, my colleagues tease me that if they tick me off I will kill them in one of my books. In actuality, the characters are conglomerations of many people I’ve known. I think that makes the characters more interesting and bit larger than life—which I like! Continue reading “Joe Cosentino Is At My Place! Welcome Mat Out!”
No April Fools’… All IN-STOCK Dreamspinner Paperbacks 50% Off
This is NOT an April Fool’s Joke. Dreamspinner Press is REALLY having a 50% off Sale on all IN-STOCK paperbooks. Time to raid the couch for pennies!
Down and Dirty is now $7.50. I think there are some Dirty Kiss and Sinner’s Gin there too.
I’ll have to check to see if you get the ebook as well when you purchase the paperback. For some reason that sticks in my head but I could be wrong. I need clarification there… LIKE BUTTAH!
Make Me A Morgan Winner!
The winner is CASSIE!
Cassie’s name was selected from among the hundreds of people who donated, mentioned and passed the link along. I had to create a spreadsheet. Math is hard. Just saying. Cassie will become a Morgan in the next Sinners book after Sloe Ride (Yes there will be a one-off).
Cassie, your name was pulled from the GOFUNDME page. Your entry was:
Cassie
Donated Hidden Amount
Saturday, January 31, 2015
So sorry to hear about your family’s struggles. My prayers and best wishes for strength of body, heart, and purpose, and of course health and well-being. I heard about your fundraiser on Rhys Ford’s blog, and I hope my small drop in your bucket is part of a much larger tidal wave of good will and support. God bless.
Please know every drop in the bucket goes to support a lovely man and you are a doll for being there with us. His road is a bit smoother because of you. And every one of you.
Cassie, please email me at rhysford [at] vitaenoir [dot] com and let’s talk about how you’re going to be in the next Sinners book!
Congrats to Cassie but most of all, thank all of you. Truly. Warms the cockles. *HUGS*
Dirty Huhs
I get twitchy about my desktop. For better or for worse, I like to have shortcuts to series I’m working on lined up on the left side along with a master file.
A few seconds ago, I was kind of… damn I wish I had room to put a shortcut marked One Offs under here but there are too many folders.
That’s when I realized in about six months or so, I’ll begin the end of Cole and Jae’s story arc…
And that shortcut will leave my desktop.
A shortcut that’s been there for years…through a few laptops and thousands of cups of coffee.
Huh.
It’s a very weird feeling.
And….
And I ALMOST forgot….
SLOE RIDE! Done.
Sausage!
I’m rounding out the end of Sloe Ride and I know I’ve not spent a lot of time here. On Facebook I’ve posted links and photos of stuff. And really should post more here. So, pull up a chair and maybe let’s spend a few minutes.
Got a photo from a reader named James Thomas. It’s a picture of my books in his college’s library. I got all awwwwwww… mostly because it is a library! Not even so much as MY books but a LIBRARY!
I have such a special place in my heart for libraries. Back when I was a zoglet, monies were scarce. They didn’t have to be but that’s a story for another confessional…and not really my story to tell but combined with the lack of money was a…dismissal of reading as anything important.
Actually it was less of a dismissal and more of an aggressive dislike and reading was discouraged.
So… I found solace in libraries. And also garage sales. To this day, I love swap meets, garage sales and street markets because for a few quarters, I could stock up my brain for a couple of weeks. Libraries meant being responsible and having to find a way back, not an easy thing to do when one is under 10. And school libraries didn’t really let you borrow five books at a time—go figure. But public libraries were great and back then, they forgave a lot of fines, especially when you’re a grubby child obviously hungry for anything with words in it.
I read everything. Hell, I spent an entire day in the back of a truck reading a tutorial cookbook about making sausage… I still to this day wonder how a plum and duck meat sausage tastes. I’ve had the apple and chicken.
So libraries… so much like a temple where one can find pieces of peace and enlightenment.
There you go. Libraries.
Sloe Ride… ah, the monkey on my back… this is a different read. Aren’t they all? The romance between Rafe and Quinn isn’t a fiery one. No, it’s a slow-burning joining. I’ve not written that before so the challenge is laying down a good solid foundation of their friendship first and then slowly layer on love.
Much like applying a really good butter cream onto moist cake.
So that’s where I am today. The cat is a cat. Tam the Diabetic went in for a check up and yep, all the tests came back positive…he’s a cat.
Oh and I was going to tell you something and now just TOTALLY forgot. Really. It was semi-important or cool. OH! Yes.
NOH8 shoot tomorrow. WOOOOT! I take horrible pictures but hey, I shall do my best!
Morning
I’m going to leave this here. I’ll be back for coffee in the morn.
How many people actually come here? 10? 12? We should have a tea party 😀
Rhys Ford 