blackleatherbookshelf | Entries tagged with writing

I just was notified by my friend here, Nipper, that James Bond passed away on New Years eve. He was one of the best known photographers in the kink community, which is where most folks know him by his Nom de Camera, James Bond. Jim was also an expert in Railroading and trains, and I once accompanied him on a late night photo shoot in Los Angeles of an historic Steam Engine that was in a roundhouse for an evening.

James Bond got into the kinky photography field when he visited the New York Bondage Club, founded by Bob Wingate, who had an idea for a magazine to be called Bound and Gagged. Bond contributed photos to the very first issue of B&G, introducing rubber gear and wetsuits all combined with intense rope bondage. His work has appeared in B&G, Rubber Rebel, Vulcan America and on countless websites, feeding the kinky rubber/bondage community.

While Jim's pictures probably most seen by readers of Bound and Gagged magazine, his work often appeared in my publications Rubber Rebel and Bound and Gagged. Frankly, Vulcan would not have been nearly as interesting without his work. He also sat with me one evening at a Delta Run for a profile that appears in my book Skin Tight. We talked about his fetishes and his coming into kink as a photographer....and his cantankerously conservative politics.

Here's Jim in his own words from that interview in 2006.

What excites men who can come to me is generally the gear, and the idea of a good top that can tie them up and make them feel good, and they don’t have to worry. I am not a threatening image. There are men in the scene that could scare the shit out of you. I have seen this as a characteristic of a lot of leather tops; part of their sce

Skin Tight: Rubbermen, Macho Fetish and Fantasy

ne is to be intimidating. The people I play with tend to go the other way. They don’t want to be intimidated. There is a big difference between a top and a master. I am not a master, I don’t role play; I approach my bottoms one-to-one. It’s you and me and I’m here to let you have fun. I will use whatever skills I have to make you feel good. Now, if making you fell good means hanging you upside-down and being unable to breathe for a minute, well, that is your definition of feeling good.

I took that picture in (I think) 1997 and Jim told me it was one of his favorites of himself. I'm gonna miss you, you old grump....

Current Mood: drained
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Downbound Train" Bruce Springsteen

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here.

Instructions: Copy this list; bold those books you've read in their entirety. Italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read only an excerpt.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of The Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling (This is 7 books!!!)
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 1984 - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman (This is 3 books!!!)
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbitt - JR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie The Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazu Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare - again wasn't this covered?
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Current Mood: cold
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Book Lovers" John Hiatt

Heroes in The Past Tense
4 Out of 5 Stars

Those of you unfamiliar with Tim Kring's TV series "Heroes" will probably think this is a fresh and interesting book. However, those of us who were enthralled by most of "Heroes" run will find Kring's book with Dale Peck, "Shift," to be familiar territory.

A mere mortal everyman (Chandler Forrester) is bestowed unconventional powers. A dark and malevolent man (Melchoir) wants to claim those powers for himself, and will do anything to get them. And between them is a secret agent trying to track down both of them, unsure of who the bad guy is or what exactly he is trying to find. And while no cheerleader is around to save the world, Forrester has a woman that he is drawn to in an almost supernatural fashion. Sound familiar?

That said, Kring and Peck have still written a compelling and complex work. There's a multitude of colorful characters moving back and forth through "Shift," to where you really need to pay attention to the players. Plus, Kring and Peck have tapped into the Holy Grail of Conspiracy Junkies, The Kennedy Assassination, as their alternative history platform. (Alternative History being a genre that the authors themselves take a cheeky poke at early in the book.)

The period and theories are all teased out; there's Cubans, Mafiosi, Nazis, J Edgar Hoover, Timothy Leary, covert ops, etc. If I missed any here, trust me, they eventually make an appearance. It keeps readers of
"Shift" on their toes throughout. Given this is the start of a trilogy, I am once again hooked on Kring.

Current Mood: chipper
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "If I Could Talk I'd Tell You" The Lemonheads

Hellbox: Based on Conversations With Sean Delaney

The strange, sad case of Sean Delaney
3 out of 5 Stars

Sean Delaney was a linchpin in the creation of KISS, and has been slowly, quietly been deleted from the band's history. When Casablanca evaporated and Glickman-Marks allegedly stole his money, Delaney ended up broke and homeless. "Hellbox" was his attempt on beginning to set the legacy straight. Unfortunately, Delaney died in 2003 at the age of 58. His recorded conversations were then transcribed by Bryan Kinnaird.

The result is a mess of a book with some tantalizing details. Delaney pulls no punches, saving some of his harshest allegations for Neil Bogart and Howard Marks. He has a love-hate relationship with his former proteges, in particular, Gene Simmons. But the books is so thin (I read it in roughly two hours) and riddled with factual errors and typos, it becomes difficult to accept Delaney's accusations. For instance, he repeatedly referees to "Dressed to Kill" as KISS's second album, and even gets his own albums by The Skatt Brothers mixed up.

Part of this can be blamed on Kinnaird, who could have edited and corrected the most glaring errors (Janice Joplin for Janis, etc), but that doesn't help ease the strain on Delaney's more incredible stories. On the other hand, Delaney's life story and tales of 60's New York City are wonderful, as are the road trip stories with the newly (and not yet famous) minted KISS. It's nice to hear some of the KISStory from a perspective outside the band, and "Hellbox" adds a much needed chapter to that legacy.

Current Mood: accomplished
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Walk The Night" Skatt Bros

The Slave Journals and Other Tales of the Old Guard

Tales and Time Capsules
5 Out of 5 Stars

There was a time when there was no Facebook, AOL or even Drummer Classified. You couldn't pop on your I-Phone and do a locater for the closest hook-up, soul mate, or buddy. Not even a hankie-code. You had to depend on your instincts. The tell-tale clues. The direct questions posed to you by men who had learned through experience what to look for in you as you prowled the bars and streets, looking for something you just couldn't quite define, but felt burning in your heart.

"Sir, why was I brought here?
"You Willed it. It was yourself who brought you here, we merely took you in."

"The Slave Journals: And Other Tales of The Old Guard" is Thom Magistar's terrific collection of stories about The Centurions, a mythical leather club that has existed since the late 40's and continues recruitment into the present day. While the stories are fiction, it is easy to feel the heat of each coal of truth that the stories themselves contain. The seventeen Masters who recount their lives and times show how The Old Guard, as it were, began as men in need of a safe place to bond and be themselves. No pretense, no sense that they were doing something that would eventually become embellished legend. Just being the men they knew they were.

Self-awareness is key in many of these stories, even if The Centurions continuously emphasize honor, trust, dignity, loyalty and discipline. The integrity never changes, even as the years roll by and the world changes. The men, the club, they all change as well, but not that set of key elements. The stories are hot in the hard-handed reading division, yet a message that kinship can be a virtue that overrides lust is the message brought home throughout Magistar's writing. Seekers will always seek, it is what they find and ultimately keep - and then give back - that makes a club, group, tribe or family worth belonging to.

Leatherfolk: Radical Sex, People, Politics, and Practice

Ask the Man Who Owns Him: The real lives of gay Masters and slaves

First Hand: An Erotic Guide to Fisting (A Boner Book) (Volume 0)

Some Dance To Remember: A Memoir-novel Of San Francisco, 1970-1982 (Southern Tier Editions)

Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Warning" Green Day

Kiss and Sell: The Making of a Supergroup

There's No Business Like Rock Show Business
3 Out of 5 Stars

If you were ever wondering why Gene Simmons was so mad about pursuing those Kiss Reunions and Kiss Reunion tours even without Ace and Peter, "Kiss and Sell" point the telescope of accountancy right to the target. As the book goes on, you see how an oblivious rock group turns into a phenomenon, then starts the inevitable decline. But the decline is something the band is utterly unable to grasp. And after the band begins the period post "Alive 2" (from "Dynasty" on), you read how accountant (and author) C.K. Lendt tries to reign the band's spending in, but as the band keeps repeating, "Let Kiss be Kiss."

It makes "Kiss and Sell" a fascinating read. The book is not really about Kiss as much as it is about the record industry in the seventies, with Kiss as the participating players. Lendt was a green college grad starting at a tony NYC firm when he was pushed into the world of rock as Kiss's on-tour account manager. He comes on board just as the band is exploding in 1976, and is on board until the 80's and up till "Crazy Nights." There's more here about the band's spending habits than anything else, but there's also the details of decline, like Criss becoming a drug addled gun fanatic, and Frehley's boondoggle of a home studio.

There's also interesting tidbits about things like "The Elder" disaster and Gene's celebrity dating. The less than savory international promoters. The revelation that Peter and Ace long ago had their contracts bought out, but Ace's departure was kept hidden from the record company to avoid contract problems (now you know why he was on the "Creatures of the Night" album art). As the money gets tighter and the problems mount up, the ultimate derailing is interesting (and sad) to read, essentially after "Crazy Nights" the band is broke.

As a cautionary tale, "Kiss and Sell" is a good read, but as a history of Kiss, it's a bit soft. Lendt has a habit of discussing minutia that feels utterly irrelevant (OK, we get it, you like food and restaurants) and the whole Diana Ross chapter could have been dumped. But overall, a good read about the business of music.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Shout It Out Loud" Kiss

Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life: A Book by and for the Fanatics Among Us

Oh, the perils of Music Geekdom
4 Out of 5 Stars

I picked up "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" after hearing author Steve Almond on some NPR show giving a hilarious interview about the lifespan of, in his words, a rock and rolling "drooling fanatic," and how one becomes one, lives as one, and eventually writes about being one. The salient points of the interview readily established him as a man roughly my age (likely younger) and his on-air self profile rang eerily close to my own musical maniacism. Indeed, he was a fellow traveller! I had to have this book.

Which makes it hard to recommend it to anyone but a middle aged fellow traveller. On a personal scale, I give it 5 stars, but for those for whom musical hero worship is utterly alien, "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" is more a 3 star book, so I rate it 4 to split the difference. Almond's musical journey is intensely personal and oft-times extremely snarky (and even for a lefty like me, the constant Bush-slaps got in the way when they should have been edited away).

His snark occasionally turns back on himself, and that gives the book a few of its best moments. His exegesis on why Toto's "Africa" is genius is a riot, and the secret confession of being a Styx addict and loving "Paradise Theater" in spite of his older brother is almost worth the price of the book. On the other hand, Almond falls into the trap most rock writers fall into, and that is believing your favorite obscurity is Godhead.

In this case, the object of his desires is one Bob Schneider, a Texas singer songwriter. Almond takes this to an extreme, tracking the man down at his home and engaging him in a sadly painful dialogue, revealing another pitfall of artist worship, when your idols break your heart. Sadder still, they break your heart because you've jammed them into a corner that they can never work out of. I actually felt sorry for both Schneider and Almond by the end of the chapter. (And just as geekifically, I promptly went out and bought Schneider's "Lovely Creatures" after. Very Sneaky, Mr Almond.)

Which underlies the attraction and distraction of "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life." Unless you're the kind of "DF" who would be naturally stoked to find out what Bob Schneider (or Joe Henry, Aimee Mann, Nil Lara and a series of other artists Almond is hot for) does to merit such magnificent praise in this book, you might wonder what the commotion is all about. Not me. Because as Almond himself accurately predicted, as soon as I saw the words "free CD" in the introduction, I put the book down and hit his website as fast as I could. Because I am that kind of person.

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Too Much Time On My Hands" Styx

It's

mudcub's birthday!

Get Dirty! have Mud cake!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Waist Deep In the Big Muddy" Pete Seeger

Deadly accurate, amusing and loaded with factual references. Great bit of work.

x-posted from

bigbear4xl

Current Mood: amused
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Blame It On Love" Hall & Oates

This month has been a crusher. Between losing the bulk of my Part Time job hours, getting the bills for the January surgery and my ongoing IRS issues, I'm getting clobbered financially.

So if anyone was thinking of maybe getting a new toy from Amazon (click here),

TLA video (click here)

or something from my dirty book site (click here),

...now would be a really really helpful time!

Thanks.
TB

Current Mood: anxious
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Busted" Cheap Trick

Lambda Rising announces plans to close their flagship DC store.

Click HERE.

Current Mood: gloomy
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Two Cowboy Waltz"

The Lambda Literary Foundation & Giovanni’s Room Present a Read-a-thon fundraiser.

Nineteen authors will read including: Me, Radclyffe, Paul Russell, Mark Merlis, Rob Byrnes, Bob Smith, Scott Sherman Malinda Lo & more
7:30 pm, Saturday November 21, 2009 -- Giovanni’s Room, 12th & Pine St, Philadelphia, PA
Suggested donation $25 (any donation is welcome;from $.01+) -- Tickets at the door

1st floor reading schedule

Mark Hardy -- 7:30
Scott Sherman -- 7:45
David Carter -- 8:00
Paul Russell -- 8:15
Rob Byrnes -- 8:30
Mark Merlis -- 8:45
Bob Smith -- 9:00
Ken Harvey -- 9:15
Bill Konigsberg -- 9:30
Perry Brass -- 9:45

2nd floor reading schedule

Thom Nickels -- 7:30
Livia Llewellyn -- 7:45
Victoria Brownworth -- 8:00
Steve Berman -- 8:15
Radclyffe -- 8:30
Malinda Lo -- 8:45
S. Renee Bess -- 9:00
Bobbi Marolt -- 9:15
Tim Brough -- 9:30

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "Boy With a Coin" Iron and Wine

Sat, November 21, 2009
7:30pm - 10:00pm
Giovanni's Room [345 S 12TH St, Philadelphia, PA]
Cover: $25 suggested
ALL AGES

CHARITY: 50% to Lambda Literary Foundation, 50% to Giovanni's Room

On Saturday November 21, 2009, Giovanni’s Room and the Lambda Literary Foundation will be hosting a Read-a-thon fundraiser at Giovanni’s Room bookstore in Philadelphia. On the two floors of the historic bookstore, twenty LGBT authors will read from their works, answer questions and sign books. Authors to read include: Steve Berman, S. Renee Bess, Perry Brass, Tim Brough, Victoria Brownworth, Rob Byrnes, David Carter, Cheril N. Clarke, Jim Gladstone, Ken Harvey, Livia Lllewellyn, Bobbi Marolt, Mark Merlis, Thom Nickles, Radclyffe, Paul Russell, Eddie Sarfaty, Scott Sherman, Brian Sloane and Bob Smith. (While all the authors have confirmed; this list is subject to change.) “For those who love reading, the art of words and books, this will be an evening to remember.” said Scott Cranin, Lambda board member and event organizer.

100% of the proceeds from tickets sales will be donated to the two sponsors. The suggested donation is $25 and tickets are available at:
Giovanni’s Room, 12th & Pine Sts and all four TLA Video stores (15th & Locust, 4th & South, Chestnut Hill & Bryn Mawr). The event begins on Saturday November 21, 2009 at 7:30PM and is expected to run till 10pm. Wine and snacks will be served.

The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives. The Foundation sponsors the annual Lambda Book Awards and an annual writer’s workshop, now entering its third year. Visit www.lambdaliterary.org for more information.

Giovanni’s Room, located at 12 & Pine Sts in Center City Philadelphia, is the oldest LGBT bookstore in the US. The store is faced with a financial challenge as the front wall of their historic structure is being replaced. The queer community of Philadelphia, rather than lose their cherished bookstore, is organizing fund-raising events through the fall to ensure the store’s survival. Visit www.giovannisroom.com for store information and other fundraising events.

For more information contact: Scott Cranin - scranin@tlavideo.com - 215-622-3141

The Lambda Literary Foundation & Giovanni’s RoomPresent aRead-a-thon fundraiser
Nineteen authors will read including:Radclyffe, Paul Russell, Mark Merlis, Rob Byrnes Bob Smith, Scott Sherman Malinda Lo & more
7:30 pm Saturday November 21, 2009 -- Giovanni’s Room, 12th & Pine St, Philadelphia, PA
Suggested donation $25 (any donation is welcome;from $.01 ) -- Tickets at the door

1st floor reading schedule

Mark Hardy -- 7:30
Scott Sherman -- 7:45
David Carter -- 8:00
Paul Russell -- 8:15
Rob Byrnes -- 8:30
Mark Merlis -- 8:45
Bob Smith -- 9:00
Ken Harvey -- 9:15
Bill Konigsberg -- 9:30
Perry Brass -- 9:45

2nd floor reading schedule

Thom Nickels -- 7:30
Livia Llewellyn -- 7:45
Victoria Brownworth -- 8:00
Steve Berman -- 8:15
Radclyffe -- 8:30
Malinda Lo -- 8:45
S. Renee Bess -- 9:00
Bobbi Marolt -- 9:15
Tim Brough -- 9:30

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Philadelphia
Current Music: "When I Write The Book" Rockpile

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Page Summary

Passings: Photographer James Bond
Books, Books, Books (Score of 16)
My Amazon Book Reviews: "Shift" Tim Kring and Dale Peck
My Amazon Book Reviews: Bryan J Kinnaird and Sean Delaney "Sean Delany's Hellbox"
My Amazon Reviews: "The Slave Journals" Thom Magistar
My Amazon Reviews: "Kiss and Sell" C.K. Lendt
My Amazon Reviews: "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" Steve Almond
It's a Muddy Birthday
An Open Letter To Conservatives
Ain't too Proud to...
Lambda Rising to close stores in DC and DE
Tonight! Join me for Philadelphia's GLBT Read-a-Thon
Join me for the Philadelphia Read-a-thon This Saturday

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Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

All Purpose Multi Function Combat Wombat

Entries tagged with writing

Passings: Photographer James Bond

Books, Books, Books (Score of 16)

My Amazon Book Reviews: "Shift" Tim Kring and Dale Peck

My Amazon Book Reviews: Bryan J Kinnaird and Sean Delaney "Sean Delany's Hellbox"

My Amazon Reviews: "The Slave Journals" Thom Magistar

My Amazon Reviews: "Kiss and Sell" C.K. Lendt

My Amazon Reviews: "Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life" Steve Almond

It's a Muddy Birthday

An Open Letter To Conservatives

Ain't too Proud to...

Lambda Rising to close stores in DC and DE

Tonight! Join me for Philadelphia's GLBT Read-a-Thon

Join me for the Philadelphia Read-a-thon This Saturday