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Knives in her nylons. Guns in her minks. What film noir movie worth its salt would be complete without a bad girl (a.k.a. a femme fatale)? Yes, that’s what I’m binge-watching this weekend. It is fascinating to witness these deadly women in action in the movies of the 1940s and 1950s. We’re talking women like Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, Jane Greer in Out of the Past. Their macho leading men simply didn’t stand a chance. Using all the seductive charms of a black widow spider, they lured their prey (oops, I mean men) down the twisted path to death, destruction, or both. Oh–as a special mention, let’s not forget Audrey Totter in Tension.

Granted, given the climate of the times, film noir did show women who wielded a certain kind of power, and for actresses, the role of a villainess was usually the juicier part in such movies. These scheming women wanted something for themselves. Of course, by the end of the movie, the femme fatale winds up dead or in prison. If the production code hadn’t been nailed in place back then, a different ending could have happened in Double Indemnity: Fred MacMurray would have dumped Barbara Stanwyck and gone back to Edward G. Robinson on his knees, begging his forgiveness for cheating on him. That actually was the true love story in the movie, which required us to read between the lines.

On the romantic side, I had the pleasure of reading Ian Finn’s romance novel, Opposing Briefs (and yes, the MCs do get into each other’s briefs!). This is M/M romance of the enemies-to-lovers variety. Logan Daniels is an attractive, well-built man in his early thirties, an assistant district attorney for New York County, out and proud, cares about his friends, passionate about his causes, and advocate of justice for the everyman. His love life, on the other hand, leaves something to be desired. Given his track record with his last boyfriends, matchmaking guru Patti Stanger would most likely say, “Your picker is off.” Or could it be that, being a child of divorce, he is so afraid of getting hurt that he mentally sabotages himself?

On the other side of the courtroom aisle, we have Andrew Patterson. 6’5″, in his late thirties, practically built like Superman, cool, calm, confident in the courtroom.  Did I also mention jaw-dropping handsome? Alas, Andrew is a defense attorney whose clients are entitled, white-collar criminals who care only about money, themselves, and making things go away. Needless to say, losing a case to Andrew does nothing to endear Logan, and having Andrew’s law firm as a competitor in the New York City Marathon only makes the animosity worse.

A look behind the curtain, however, reveals Andrew’s personal life as a hot mess. A controlling, golddigging wife, a homophobic boss, emotionally distant and controlling parents. Put it in the oven, set for 350 degrees, and the result: a repressed man in a climate-controlled closet complete with a security code. That is, until he falls in love with Logan.

It’s true, in the course of true love a person has to “look under the hood,” be willing to be vulnerable, and examine themselves. In that process, they find strength. Ian Finn does this with heat (there’s an abundance of that), heart, and humor. Logan and Andrew certainly got by with a lot of help from friends like Matt, Brooke, and Amanda. The growth of the couple was satisfying, and I was rooting for them at the HEA. I also loved the fact that this was a couple who was thirty-plus.

So, all you M/M romance lovers out there, here’s another one to check out at your local Amazon/Barnes & Noble library.

Between writing two M/M romance novels and coming off homecoming weekend at my alma mater, I had the opportunity to revisit some of my favorite movies. Two are in my permanent collection, that I can watch again and again:  All About Eve and Dreamgirls.

I know I’m dating myself, but I ask my LGBT family: how many of you, at some point in time, have used Bette Davis’ famous line, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night”? The dialogue and the acting is priceless, and the character of Addison DeWitt comes across as the quintessential vicious queen. Then there is Dreamgirls. I have no doubt that many theaters out there were well represented by Black gay men in the audience when this movie was released. You know who you are.  Like me, you watched Jennifer Hudson, as Effie White, sing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” at the end of Act 1. You weren’t crying for her; you were crying with her. And given the standing ovations in said theaters after this performance, you may have been saying, “Forget the awards show. Just hand Jennifer that Oscar now.”

Included in this visitation was one other movie: Lady Sings the Blues. When it was released in 1972, I was yet a college student, and I have to give Diana Ross her props for her acting chops in this movie; after all, it garnered her a Golden Globe Award. However, there was another reason this movie was so memorable: Billy Dee Williams. Yes, straight men wanted to be him–straight women and gay men wanted to be with him. After that movie come out, the brothas on campus knew better than to badmouth Billy Dee if they wanted to keep on living.

After my movie enjoyment, I came across this jewel by Dwayne Vernon: The Master’s Plan. As one who writes historical fiction, this novel caught my attention. Set in Maryland in 1852, the story centers around three main characters. Sabel and Jacob are slaves in their early thirties. Sabel is a field hand, who witnessed the death of his parents at the hands of white patrollers. Jacob is a house servant, the biracial product of the rape of his mother by the master of the plantation, before she was sent away. The third character is Abigale, enduring the pain of having her husband and children sold, the family she desperately wants back.

The draconian environment and the sheer oppression of the times has spurred Sabel’s determination to run away for good. Jacob’s ability to read and write, considered dangerous if discovered by white overseers, patrollers and plantation owners, is an asset in their plans. Over the course of time, Sabel and Jacob fall in love. Abigale becomes their close friend and comrade-in-arms in their bid for freedom; ultimately, to Canada.

In certain ways, this is a romantic thriller given the perilous times for African Americans and the dangers that lurked around every corner.  Indeed, there were plenty of plot twists as simple plans became more complex while Sabel, Jacob and Abigale navigated the Underground Railroad. A couple of reminders stood out for me: 1) there were many whites who opposed slavery and actively participated as stations on the Underground Railroad and 2) LGBT relationships are nothing new in history, and they existed even among slaves. Looking back from the 21st century, I wonder if I could have survived and endured what they did.

Yes, there is an HEA, and there is a spiritual component that plays out in the lives of the MCs. Dwayne Vernon skillfully weaves his storytelling skills and puts you there. So, you lovers of historical fiction and romance, check this out at your local Amazon/Barnes & Noble library.

Ah, National Coming Out Day. I came out in 1971, during my freshman year of college.  A whole different world in certain respects. Stonewall had occurred a mere two years earlier. The American Psychiatric Association wouldn’t remove LGBT from its list of mental disorders until 1973. Marriage equality was an “impossible dream.” There were modern families, but way under the radar. There were no television shows like Ellen, Will & Grace, Noah’s Arc or RuPaul’s Drag Race. The resources we have today were absent in those days. And far too many of us lived and died in the closet.  I wonder if that’s how it was for Flash Gordon, he of the serial cliffhangers of the 1930s and 1940s?  Perhaps Flash and Prince Barin were longing for a life together, but life on the planet Mongo made that difficult.

That being said, add a little nut brown flavor to the mix, and we have my latest read: Karma Kingsley’s Alabama Christmas.  Alex Greene is a 25-year-old, white Marine who has been living in California as an openly gay man. Having nowhere to go for Christmas, he signs up for the Home for the Holidays program. Of all the families he could have been selected for, his host family winds up near his hometown in Alabama, and he dreads the prospect of going back into the closet (I know, Alabama hasn’t had a reputation for being welcoming to its LGBT population).

Enter Trey Briggs.  Trey is a 22-year-old African-American man, socially awkward, unemployed, virginal, deeply closeted, living under his mother’s roof.  When Alex comes to their home for the holidays, it sets off Trey’s already massive bundle of insecurities. Alex needed the patience of Job in dealing with Trey; I mean, Trey put the S in skittish.  Granted, Alex’s parents had thrown him out after he came out to them, and there were communication and self-esteem issues on Trey’s part, plus Trey’s fear of what would happen after Alex’s leave ended.

I always like that go-get-your-man moment in these romance novels, where an MC realizes that he/she is behaving like an idiot after being called out by a friend/relative, whereupon the MC sets about making things right.  I like the way this GGYM moment is handled, which ultimately leads to an HEA for Alex and Trey.

Great strides have been made in a much more visible LGBT community, but in the character of Trey, Karma Kingsley reminds us that we still have a long way to go.  Trey has been locked up in that closet of his, a virgin, terrified to trust and reach out to people, putting himself down on a regular basis, which is frustrating for Alex.  How many, even in 2018, are yet living with those fears?  Fortunately, Karma demonstrates what the power of love can do.

For those who aren’t there yet, it’s OK. Coming out is an ongoing process, and it starts only when one is ready. But when you are, there is an abundance of support and love waiting for you, from sources you never expected.  In the meantime, all you M/M romance lovers out there, sit back and check out Karma Kingsley’s story of hard-won romance at your local Amazon/Barnes & Noble library.

Did I blink? Or was it really 26 years ago, when I met the late E. Lynn Harris?  It was at his first book signing in Atlanta, with his first and newly published novel, Invisible Life.  Prior to that, the only other author/novelist who sat at the intersection of Black and gay, that I knew of, was James Baldwin.  E. Lynn went on to become a New York Times bestselling author, and many of us were inspired by this man of warm heart and spirit.

One such author is Terrance Dean.  He is the author of Hiding in Hip Hop and Mogul, both of which deal with gay men of color in the entertainment industry.  My favorite of his works is The Intern, his contribution to the anthology Visible Lives, a tribute to E. Lynn Harris.

Upon reading The Intern, I would describe it as a romance novella, one of the few at the time that featured a gay, African-American couple.  Chase Kennedy is a 38-year-old, vice president of production at GBS Television in New York.  Burned a few times too many by other men in his quest for love,  he chooses to go on a moratorium and immerse himself in work.  All well and good–until he meets his new summer intern, 22-year-old Quincy Thornberry, a college senior at Stanford University by way of Brooklyn.

After months of doing without, Chase is too through.  Quincy is the total package, the stuff his dreams are made of.  The conflict within Chase builds as the blows to his self-esteem and office ethics war with his desire for Quincy, plus his doubts that someone like Quincy actually wants him.  Of course, his free-spirited best friend Ashley doesn’t make the situation easy for him.

Once Chase chooses love with Quincy over loneliness, it’s time to “bring it on.” But not without a few little surprises along the way…

The romance novelist in me loves Terrance’s work, his writing style, and his humor.  I loved the supporting character of Ashley Colby.  She’s bright, quick, confident, down to earth…I can easily see why Chase valued her friendship. Since this work was a tribute to him, I appreciated the way he incorporated E. Lynn Harris as a character in the novella.  Quincy was hot, adorable, and sincere.  He was comfortable in his own skin as an openly gay Black man, who knew what he wanted and went after it. Chase, for all his status and successes, had to face the real challenges of his life–those from within, stemming from his own sense of self-worth.

Me?  I would love to read a sequel to The Intern, to learn more about Chase and Quincy’s journey of love and a HEA.  That being said, to all of you M/M romance lovers out there, give Terrance Dean his props and check him out at your local Amazon/Barnes & Noble library.

Today, I enjoyed watching a marathon from Season 1 of Perry Mason.  Being a child during the days when cars had fins, I loved Perry’s 1957 Cadillac convertible, all gleaming chrome and polish.  The other thing I loved was where my imagination went.  It was quite easy for me to picture rewriting Erle Stanley Gardner’s novels, featuring Perry Mason and Paul Drake as a couple.  In the era of the 1950’s, they did make a good-looking couple on TV.

But, I digress.  I also finished reading Wounded Pride, by Remmy Duchene and B.L. Morticia.  Since I am African-American and Native-American, this was a M/M romance I could not pass up. Brian Daystar is a twenty-something Lakota man who spent his life in Montana, a victim of physical and emotional abuse.  Renford Kline is a self-made, African-American billionaire living in New York, struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’s gay at age 38.  Of course, Brian is a major factor in this discovery.

After reading this novel, I later discovered that Wounded Pride is a sequel to Wounded Hearts, which featured the characters of Zane Ashford and Cyrus Abrams (now you know I must buy that book).  As the story unfolds, it seems as though Brian and Renford couldn’t be further apart, geographically or otherwise.  Brian has a good heart in wanting to help other LGBT youth.  Renford has enjoyed the hard-won trappings of success.  Ultimately, the story comes down to the most important question.  What is more important–the fears, insecurities and denial we hold onto, or the power of love (for ourselves and another) that is waiting for us to reach out and embrace it?

Not only did I enjoy this story (I finished it in three hours), but I also had a hearty appreciation for the authors’ incorporation of MCs of color and cultural diversity.  In the world of romance, there is still plenty of room for stories such as these, and they need to be told.

To Remmy and B.L., here’s some peace and love–keep writing.  To those M/M romance readers out there, this is one to check out from your Amazon or Barnes & Noble library.