Hey gang, thanks for stopping by!

On the home front, same-sex marriage is on again, off again, who-knows again in California. It's really sweet to watch a bunch of religious fanatics and pseudoscientific bullies get their comeuppance in a courtroom, less so to see queer marriages being put off till at least December. And just when my sweetie and I finally decided, "Oh, what the hell. Let's get hitched!" Those jerks who think they're saving marriage - you know, pitbulls like Bristol Palin's mom - just can't, apparently, accept the bitter truth that they're full of bull, and now our wedding is off. At least for the nonce. The full story of that can be found here.

Course, same-sex marriage is probably just a matter of time, even in these Benighted States of America. Internationally, Portugal and Argentina have now officially okayed same-sex marriages, sending the Catholic Church into yet more hissy fits. First gay marriage in Spain, home of the Inquisition, and now this! And same-sex marriage is legal, too, in South Africa, a country that already has gay rights enshrined in its constitution, as well as in Norway, Canada, Belgium, and the good old hash-smoking Netherlands. Civil unions and gay adoptions are okay in Mexico, too, and amazingly, even the Supreme Court of Nepal has decreed that Himalayan homos should have full equality. If Katmandu can approve of queers, can Kansas be far behind? Today Iowa, tomorrow the world!

Wedding or no wedding, I'm fabulously pleased to announce that my brand-spanking-new short story collection, Sodomy!, is now out, and it looks beautiful. I think it's the best of my three collections, but then, I'm hardly an objective source. I hope you have a look and let me know what you think.

I'm also having a spectacularly great time writing my column, "Notes of a Cranky Old Fag" for the spiffy website CarnalNation.com. It is, as the website's slogan has it, political, personal, and perverted, touching on such hot topics as same-sex marriage, the "God Hates Fags" bunch, hustlers in the Vatican,the politics of spanking, and whatever else strikes my fancy, It's one of the most enjoyable gigs I've had since writing the column "Perv," and I'm really hoping you folks enjoy it, too. Check it out!

My award-winning first short-story collection, Hotter Than Hell, has, thanks to the good folks at Lethe, been given a new life, and is now available, both in hard copy and digital download.

And since you're futzing around online, check out my serialized cliffhanger story The Dirty Boys Club, is still going strong on outpersonals.com. It's the story of three young men hired as - um, erotic entertainers in San Francisco, and the sexy situations, suspenseful scrapes, and related trouble they get into. Go have a look. It's part of the OutPersonals Magazine, and all you need is a free membership to read it.

Them there's the ongoing joys of Perverts Put Out! Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the Cultural Water, the hypocritical bluenoses on the right have gone after my sweet little Perverts Put Out! And on mega-evil Fox News, no less! Reprehensible jackasses. Ah well, they've only increased interest in the show. The Spring edition was a smash hit, and the next one is scheduled for July 24th.

And speaking of right-wing jerks, you can always check out my down-and-dirty, cheap-shot Sarah Palin porn, you betcha! And then there's my hot, forbidden Glenn Beck fantasy. Gee, it's so hot it makes me want to cry...just like Beck.

From elections to erections, HOMOSEX: Sixty Years of Gay Erotica has won the Lambda Literary Award - the most prestigious award for queer writing - for Best Erotica Book of 2007. Woo-hoo! I'm really proud of the book - it's the first time that I know of that someone has put together a historically-oriented collection of American gay erotica. It's been a blast to put together, and I'm hoping it 's good, sticky fun to read, too. It includes everything from some rarities from the World War II era, to classic tales by Aaron Travis, John Preston, Jack Fritscher, to some great stuff by up-and-coming masters of the genre - and, as they say, much, much more. I'm hoping it will be both of scholarly interest and worthy of getting its pages stuck together on the john. It's fun, significant, and hot - take my word for it. Better than taking my word for it, why not buy a copy and have a look for yourself? Hell, why not buy two? After all, it's an award winner!

There's also the kinky anthology I edited, Leathermen. It's a great book (hey, I can say that, since I didn't write most of it), with hot, smart, twisted stories by such terrific authors as Aaron Travis, Jeff Mann, Bill Brent, Shaun Levin, horehound stillpoint, and more. Yeah, it's leatherporn, but I did my best to insure it was thoughtful, ferociously well written, and, yes, masturbation-worthy.

And then there's Wikipedia. I'm gratified that someone - not me, I swear it - saw fit to write me an entry. Now I feel like a Real Person. On the downside, it appears that I share my name with a particularly odious English racist, homophobe, and anti-Semite. Ah, the things you'd never know if not for search engines. Oh well, perhaps God has, as Depeche Mode suggested, a sick sense of humor. And on the downside, Google has led me to discover some rather harsh criticism of my Gay Sluts article. You can read my bitchy-but-witty response here.

Still in print and plugging along is my how-to book, Sex Parties 101. It is, as far as I know, the very first book of its type, a guide covering everything from what kind of food to serve at an orgy to how to get laid at a dungeon party. I'm hoping it's useful, amusing, and will get at least a few of you laid. And it's been made a selection of the Insight/Out queer book club. So check it out, and get it on.

Hey, maybe you'd like to have a look at my second book of short fiction, In Deep. It contains some of the best of what I've published lately, also includes a lot of brand-new stories, and features a novella about horny miners in the Old West that gives new meaning to the phrase "rough riders." Yes, writing queer porn is an awesome responsibility. The Erotic Authors Association chose Hotter Than Hell as its first-ever Best Single-Author Collection of the Year, and I'm hoping that folks will think In Deep is at least as good. And hey, I hope the book gives you a woodie.

Or how about checking out Kinkorama: Dispatches From the Front Lines of Perversion? Part autobiography, part theory, part confession, part rant...I'm not sure just what the fuck Kinkorama is. I've been thinking of it as a sort of travel book, only featuring spanking and verbal abuse instead of Rome and Vienna. I've discovered that being both honest and amusing for 250 pages is a challenge, but I hope readers will find it entertaining, hot, and true.

A long while ago the San Francisco Bay Guardian asked me to put together a Field Guide to Pervs for their annual Sex Issue. Dealing with such exotic species as the Red-Rumped Spankee and the Greater Dildo, I hope it provides guidance when you bravely go Stalking the Wild Kink.

One thing about being an author, though, is that, outside of audiences at readings, I have very little idea of who's reading my stuff and what they think about it. I do get feedback regarding my column, but I'd be especially interested in hearing from folks who've read my fiction, so why not drop me some e-mail? Just please be gentle...well, maybe not that gentle...

And, oh yeah, have a look at my Sri Lanka snaps from way back before the tsunami. What good, after all, is having a Website if you can't force strangers to see your vacation pictures May your future be one filled with peace, eco-friendly prosperity, a winding-down of this murderous war...and more and better sex, love, and rock and roll for us all.

Peace and Queer Love,
Simon
8/17/2010