Feed the Fetish -- Cool Ass Hats

I look goofy in hats. Really, really goofy. Takes a special kind of guy to look badass in one. :)




Akabane by ~shinigaminightwalker on deviantART


Alucard by ~HATE-LOVE-FEAR-ANGER on deviantART


Urahara by ~Pablo-Oz on deviantART



3/7/10 ETA: Had to change out the Alucard pic because the original one no longer existed on DeviantArt.

Dragon*Con summary

I’m way late with this, but it turns out I took well over three hundred pictures at D*Con and it took a lot longer than expected to sort and resize them. :)

The convention was a blast. Met a lot of interesting people, attended some wicked events (Rave? Me? Nooo), and saw a lot of truly amazing cosplayers. The high points for me were The Mad Scientists’ Ball, the AMV showing, and the Exploring the Final Taboo writing panel. At the panel I got to meet a lot of authors I respect for the first time in real life, including Kayelle Allen, Kiernan Kelly, and Ally Blue. I also got to meet new-to-me authors Fiona Zedde and Sascha Illyvich.

I’d never had the opportunity to attend a writing panel before, so I was sitting in the audience, avidly taking notes as well as txting Katrina Strauss (who couldn’t attend this year) bits and pieces of the subjects covered. I was surprised as hell when Kayelle Allen spotted me and announced me to the room as “the best M/M writer in the world.” I’m sure the expression on my face was very deer caught in the headlights as I walked to the front of the room and told the audience a little bit about my stuff. A friend of mine told me I sounded calm and collected, but that’s what friends do so I’m unsure.

My favorite moment of the entire convention happened at that panel. When I stood up, Kiernan Kelly pointed to me and yelled “I’ve been looking for that damned hat all weekend!”

I still smile when I think about it.

Aside from that moment, no one spotted the Where’s Rowan hat. I did get to give away most of the prizes, though, so that was a lot of fun.

The entire weekend still feels like one long day, and as such is a bit blurry. The sweet-tea peach vodka I tried for the first time had nothing to do with that at all, I’m sure—oh my god I LOVE Georgia!—but luckily I took tons of pictures. Sharing a few below:

Kratos

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Dr. Manhattan

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A bishounen in leather

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The Question

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Mmm, Spartans

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Doctor Who

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Hatta

Cool, yeah? Those were just some of my favorites. If you'd like to view the public gallery I've created for more of them, click over to my flickr account. There, a lot of the images have captions. It's currently 5am and I *just* finished that project, so it'll be interesting to see if I'm as clever as I thought I was after I've gotten some sleep. lol.

Excerpts, Awards, and Opinions

I have an excerpt up for One Shot! You can check it out, along with the blurb and other good stuff, on the story's page on my site: http://rowanmcbride.com/stories/oneshot/. Let me know what you think. :)

Lone has a page now for the Recommended Read stickers it has received since its release, as well as the various screencaps I couldn't resist taking because I'm a digital packrat and {sigh} a geek (although, on a totally unrelated note, my geek card has been taken away, upgraded, taken away, and upgraded again several times over the past week, lol). Check out the brand spankin' new awards page at http://rowanmcbride.com/stories/lone/lone_awards.html.

Thank you to everyone who's read Lone. It's had an amazing response and it was a pleasure building an awards page for it.

I'm holding a poll on my Yahoo!Group (the platform I use for my newsletter) regarding Want Me. You have to sign up for the mailing list to vote, but it's a very low traffic list (news only, my record being five updates in one month) and you can always set your preferences to "no mail." Whatever option you decide, I'd appreciate your input. The link to my newsletter is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rowan_mcbride and the direct link to the poll is: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rowan_mcbride/polls.

I think that's it! I had a fab time at Dragon*Con. I'm planning on posting a more detailed update regarding the convention (plus pics!) on this blog in the next few days. W00t!

Where's Rowan? (Dragon*Con '09 Edition)

It's the return of the hat! Yeah!

Like it? Made it m'self—It's based on Urahara's bucket hat, and the first place I ever wore it for this game was an anime convention called Katsucon.

Been a very, very long time since we've played Where's Rowan. I think I was somewhat disheartened by the fact that no one ever found me, but really that's no reason to stop playing, right? So at this year's Dragon*Con (http://www.dragoncon.org/), it's going to be be game on once again.

The rules are pretty much the same as that time. If you'll be in the Atlanta area (specifically Dragon*Con, since it's highly unlikely that I'll be leaving the convention) over Labor Day weekend (September 4th - 7th, 2009), and you see someone wearing this hat—

—Then walk up to that person and ask, "Are you Rowan McBride?"

If it is me, I'll flash you a big goofy grin and give you a prize. Now, the prizes are a little different this time around, so listing them below:

• 8x10 print of my Boy Meets Bishie logo, designed by the fab Anne Cain.
• Autographed copy of Want Me.
• Your choice of any one of my ebooks that are currently available (to be delivered via email after I get home from the convention).
• An update to the serial of your choice. (Apparently waiting for new installments is torture for some people. Who knew?) A list of most of the serials can be found here. However, if you want, you can also request Michael Finally Grows Up.

Last we played, that hat was on my head the ENTIRE TIME. This round, it'll either be on my head, or hooked to the back of my laptop bag, so you'll really need to keep an eye out. I know, the game actually sounds harder, but there is one big advantage.

I'll be tweeting my locations in real time. My page is located at http://twitter.com/RowanMcBride. Follow me (easiest) or check in frequently at the page (effective, if you're dedicated).

Got all that? Sounds like fun, yeah? I would really, really like to be found this year, so let's the flash that hat one more time:

If you know people who dig my stories, tell them it's game on. Let's play!

Things that keep writers up at night.

I go through a lot of revisions. Before even submitting a story to a publisher, it’s quite possible that I’ve combed through it at least ten times before sending it in. This does not include the rather complex system of beta readers I have, each with their specific purpose in vetting my story. Does the concept make sense? How are the characters? Does everyone remember to take their shoes off with the rest of their clothes during sex? Did I use that semicolon correctly?

Overkill. I know this.

Yet there are still errors.

My editors at all my publishing houses are excellent. They find stuff that no one before them found. They spot plot holes I hadn’t even considered. I may grumble and grouse about how they want me to butcher my work of art, but after the first few minutes I get over it because they’re usually right. I make those edits. I start to feel good. Comfortable, even.

Yet…

Below are two short passages from two different novels. Non spoiler, but both containing pretty horrifying typos. Typos that were caught in the late stages of editing--in the case of Lone, the final pass before the manuscript was set to go to the printers.

From Lone:

He grinned and walked around to the side of the house, where an older man was shopping wood. He had the same Dirisio jet-black hair, with shocks of white at his temples.

Should have been:

He grinned and walked around to the side of the house, where an older man was chopping wood. He had the same Dirisio jet-black hair, with shocks of white at his temples.

From One Shot my upcoming novella:

Riley touched our noses together. “And, for the record, I don’t think you’re sexier than me.”

Should have been:

Riley touched our noses together. “And, for the record, I don’t think I’m sexier than you.”

Two TOTALLY different meanings there, gaw.

Now, let me just say that I like to think of myself as pretty good at catching my own mistakes. I know my beta readers rock, and my editors are amazing. Still, though it was no one’s fault, the above errors were a last minute catch, and every time something like that happens I ask myself compulsively “What if we hadn’t…?”

Which, of course, inevitably leads to “I wonder what else we didn’t…?”

And suddenly I’m staring up at my ceiling fan at four in the morning.

Part of being a writer is letting your cherished story go. For me, “letting go” means not looking at the book months (if not a full year) after it’s out there. Even now I suspect there’s a spelling error in Lone but I refuse to look. At this point there’s nothing I can do about it and who needs the stress?

By the time a story of mine goes to publication, I’m so sick at the mere mention of the title that my stomach twists. But eventually I always go back, read through it again. I can honestly say that even though I sometimes cringe at a turn of phrase or grammar error, I’ve never been ashamed of any of my stories. Now that I’ve gone through this process with five releases, it’s a comforting thought, despite my tendency to freak out.

So that’s one of the things that keeps me up at night. I’d wager I’m not the only writer out there who goes through it. As usual, there’s no real point to this post. Just thought I’d share that a part of me lives in a constant state of fear. :)

"One Shot" has a cover!

The art was done by P.L. Nunn. :)

Feed the Fetish – Megane

I must admit, I do have a thing for guys with glasses. I associate the look with intelligence, even though there’s no actual correlation between the two (I should know—I wear glasses and there are days I’m as dumb as a brick). At any rate, smart is sexy.

And let’s not forget the anime/manga factor. There, if you have a bishie wearing glasses, chances are he’s pure sadistic seme when he takes them off, and I live for that moment. In western pop culture, the nearest thing I can liken it to is the Superman/Clark Kent example. Everyone knows that Clark is a mild mannered reporter, but a crime-fighting ass-kicking reporter-macking super hero when he takes his glasses off.

So, without further ado, here are a few hot guys with glasses:

Karasu remains a good guy (more or less) whether he's wearing his glasses or not. When he takes them off he sprouts wings and kicks ass, so hawt.

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Haruhiko - Is Frikking Here by ~TheRedLightning on deviantART

I don't think I've seen Haruhiko from Junjo Romantica take off his glasses yet, but I have a feeling that the day he does is going to be a good day.

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CHARLEY by *Ecthelian on deviantART

Charley, from Vassalord. Vampire. Cyborg. Works for the Vatican. The glasses are just icing, really. :)

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Kyoya by *poisondanny on deviantART

Mmm. Kyouya. Shadow king from the Ouran High School Host Club. He's definitely a sadistic seme when the glasses come off. :)