The Special Lure of the Non-alpha Male

If you have read my book, Genetic Attraction, or read my blogs, you know i have a special love for beta males, the men who seldom wear wife-beater t-shirts, have little chest hair, cry occasionally and have a vocabulary of more than 25 words. And since i write M/M and M/M/F menage romances, my beta males are sometimes quite noticeably gay. I love guyliner, a touch of jewelry, and even a bit of glitter. One of my favorite pre-readers commented on my hero, David, in the upcoming Volley Balls, "He seems a bit effeminate here. Did you intend that?" My answer was a decided "Yes!" Of course, he has two of the alphay-est alpha males around to offset him. My supermodel, Roan, in Genetic Attraction and The Scientist and the Supermodel (coming May 31) is beautiful and wise and strong, but not truly an alpha male. He is gentle and submissive by nature, and, for many readers, he is their favorite hero.

But i'm not alone in my love of beta males. I've learned from the best. Jet Mykles has made a wonderful specialty of the non-alpha male, even including a few cross-dressers and transvestites. My favorite of her books, The Sursein Judgement, stars a most blatantly gay hero beautifully balanced by a wonderful, almost oafish farm boy. Lynn Lorenz writes very alpha males mostly, but one of her best and most popular books is called Edward Unconditionally, featuring a flamboyant, effeminate hero who it's impossible not to love -- or to forget. You probably know how much i love Sloan Parker's book, More. And my favorite of her three heroes? Matthew, the gentle heart of the threesome and the book. Josh Lanyon and Ethan Day also create some wonderful betas.

Perhaps more woman like alpha males than favor my more gentle heroes, but i try to give a variety to choose from. Clearly, however, enough women like effeminate pretty boys to keep people like Adam Lambert and Bill Kaulitz very popular. Most of my heroes don't wear feathers -- yet!  LOL.

What kind of heroes do you like to read and write? Are you alpha all the way? Or like a little variety?

Kazaky "In the middle" (official video)

A friend sent this video to me. Don't we all wish we could dance so well -- in heels? As she said, "so ripped and so gay." Enjoy. : )

Creating Book Titles: Before or After-thought?

Titles. They are sooo important to a book. How often have you bought a book almost entirely on the strength of its title? Belinda McBride has some winners. I could not pass up An Uncommon Whore or Blacque/Bleu because the titles are so provocative. One of my dear friends, the great Suzanne Forster, is a master (mistress) of titles. Her first book was called Undercover Angel. Who wouldn't want to publish that book? One of my favorites of hers was The Devil and Miss Moody, and she's most famous for titles like Blush, The Lonely Girls Club, Shameless and The Private Concierge.

Writers create titles in different ways. For some, the title is a post-book creation and they consider a whole list of possibilities. For me, it's much more integral. I often think of the title of a book at the same time as the original concept of the story. Genetic Attraction grew right out of the basic idea, two geneticists have a secret yen for each other.The Scientist and the Supermodel was named practically on day one. I couldn't resist the alliteration and i've always loved titles that have a this AND that quality (The Devil AND Miss Moody). These books never had any other titles.

My current work in progress, a romantic suspense, had a brief  title misstep.The story is a M/M/M menage, and one key character is a male ballet dancer. I originally named the book Pas de Trois. This is actually a perfect title for this story. Pas de Trois means roughly "steps for three" and it is a ballet term. Now, i'm a ballet freak and i speak a little French -- but quickly i started to worry, if you don't know ballet and you don't speak French will this title be off-putting? I asked you all -- on Twitter and at a couple Yahoo groups -- and what i heard back was "better not". Fortunately, an even better title for the book is The Golden Dancer which is both the name of a statue that is stolen in the book and a description of my beautiful ballet dancer hero.

My summer romance always had two title choices and when i polled my editors Volley Balls was the winner. I like it a lot.  Do you?

Which brings me to my title angst! The sequel to Genetic Attraction,  a M/M/F menage that involves a beautiful man who looks like a woman and an adorable girl who looks like a young boy, always had a title from day one. It was called Androgynous Dreams. I love this title and would buy any book called this -- BUT, my editors do not agree. They think the title is not romantic and the more people i ask, the more people that agree with them. (Smart people those editors). So i am currently trying to find a title that we all like for this book. The funny thing is i realize that this process is AWFUL for me. The title is so much a part of the heart of a book in my mind that not having a title makes the book feel eviscerated. It's actually a source of anxiety! Which is weird! As i go along as a writer, i'm sure this will happen many times and i better get used to it., but for now my book feels like an orphan! I will keep you up to date and may get you involved in the final selection.

So tell me, seriously!  What kinds of titles capture your attention? What are your favorites? I am going to need to know in the near future!!!  LOL

Ode to Kissing!!

The following is a reprint of a recent blog post i did for The Paperback Dolls. I love this post, so in case some of you missed it, i am reprinting it here. Or you can hop over and read the original HERE. The Dolls are always fun, so visit often. Meanwhile, enjoy the most delightful kind of history, plus a short scene from Genetic Attraction where Roan kisses Em (YUM!). BTW, Genetic Attraction is now available at Amazon and Fictionwise among other major resellers!

An Ode to Kissing!

What better way to celebrate the coming of Spring than with an ode to kissing! Most humans do it, and even many animals kiss, lick and nuzzle each other. Not sure about the birds and the bees. But anthropologists don’t really know too much about when or how it started. Some say it’s instinctive. We know it allows prospective mates to taste each other’s pheromones for biological compatibility much more directly than sniffing. Those biologists do take the fun out of things!


Among the first mentions of kissing in literature was in four Vedic Sanskrit texts. Now that’s a kiss! They knew what they were doing in 1500BC. In Rome, couples announced their wedding by kissing passionately in front of a group of people including family. Today, we’d call that a PDA of the first order. Kisses were even used to seal legal and business agreements, leading to our idea of “sealed with a kiss”. Shakespeare sometimes portrayed kisses as dangerous or deadly when shared by the wrong people as in Romeo and Juliet and the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea led us to the idea that a kiss could awaken and breathe life into a sleeping beauty. 

In modern times, the first inter-racial kiss ever shown on television was between Captain Kirk and Uhura on the original Star Trek. Of course, they were enchanted at the time. I knew I loved that show. In our society, two women kissing is generally more acceptable than two men, although I think Adam Lambert may be single handedly changing that idea.

And we get a lot of our ideas about kissing from the movies. So to conclude our little paean of praise to osculation, here are some of my all time favorite kissing scenes. The incredible kissing prowess of Jude Law, who made Cold Mountain HOT. The indescribably sexy Hugh Jackman who can just kiss away forever and I’ll watch. Kissing in the rain from The Notebook, and, of course, the most famous upside down kiss ever.

We all have our ideas of who does it best. Who is your favorite kisser? In my novel Genetic Attraction, a M/M/F ménage, some very serious kissing of all kinds goes on. Here’s the link if you’d like to know more.http://www.loose-id.com/Genetic-Attraction.aspx

And here is a very short excerpt fromGenetic Attraction in which the heroine, an older, renowned geneticist, meets the supermodel boyfriend of her research partner. Here is her introduction (and ours) to Roan Black:

The doorbell sounded. Goose bumps erupted. This was it. She hadn’t even had time to think of what to say to the boyfriend of the man of her dreams.

Fighting a giggle, she hopped up, wobbled a little, crossed the entry, and yanked open the door.

Jesus. Was this what people meant when they said “your heart stops?” She stared.
The man standing under her porch light almost didn’t seem real. She looked up into clear green eyes so heavily fringed with lashes, they looked like they were lined with kohl. And that mouth? Looking at it had to be a mortal sin in at least three major religions. Like female beauty somehow architecturally carved into a male masterpiece.

He extended his long, slim hand and said simply, “Roan.”
His hand was so warm. “I know.”

He smiled. Did the sun just come out? Dimples. And one of those shining white teeth was crooked. Maybe nature could only endure so much perfection and had to fight back with a tiny cosmic joke.

Yikes. She flew off her feet, and breath whooshed from her lungs as he crushed her against the silky fabric of his tux and the hard, slim body beneath. She managed to get her toes back on the ground and looked up at that exquisite face framed by silky black hair.

He beamed. “Hello, darling.” He dropped his head and kissed her, full on the mouth.

Far from a “howdy” kind of peck, the kiss was soft and lingering, with the slightest hint of a warm tongue against her lips. She fought not to whimper.

Gradually, and it felt reluctantly, he pulled back. “I think I’m your date for tonight.”

Only one thing came to mind. “Holy shit.”

From a few steps behind Roan, Jake started to laugh.

2 WINNERS! Genetic Attraction

Thanks to all of you who joined in our drawing for free copies of Genetic Attraction. (Most people entered by email if you're wondering where the big list came from!  LOL) We have two winners!  

Suzette, friend and email follower, worked hard to bring in friends to the email group so her name would be entered multiple times, and it paid off! She WINS Genetic Attraction (or a book of her choice). Our new member winner is Michele's mom (mcalester1996). Welcome to the group and be kind and share your copy of Genetic Attraction with Michele!

Lots of exciting things have been happening in the world of Tara Lain, erotic romance. My new short novella, VolleyBalls, is in final editing and it will be coming out in June or July. I'll have a date soon. I'll also have a page on the website dedicated to it very soon. And, of course, The Scientist and the Supermodel is scheduled for May 31!! I'm already setting up blog tour stops for the event. If you liked Genetic Attraction, I think you'll love this boy/boy prequel that tells how the two heroes, Jake and Roan, met and fell in love. 

Genetic Attraction is now available at: Amazon and Fictionwise as well as at Loose Id.

Thank you all again for entering the drawing. There will be more exciting news coming soon!

CONTEST: WIN Genetic Attraction or Book of Your Choice from LI

Hi everyone --
A number of folks have kindly offered to tell their friends about my books and blogs and i'd like to offer a prize for doing that very thing! This will be a drawing for a copy of Genetic Attraction, my M/M/F menage that was just rated Best Book at Whipped Cream Reviews. Or, if you've already read it, you can select a gift certificate to Loose Id for a book of your choice from all their great authors. Okay?

What i'd like is people to join my email list -- that way they can receive updates on releases, special guests on the blog, contests and offers. Soooo --here's how it works:

• If you are not on my email list, please leave me your email addy by posting a comment here or email it to me at tara@taralain.com. That will count as 1 name in the contest drawing. If you are already on my email list, tell me so and that will still count as 1 name in the drawing when you send additional names.
• Post here or send me via email (tara@taralain.com) the email addresses of anyone you know who would like to be on the list also (be sure they really want to be on it.  LOL) You get your name posted again for every name you send. So if you sign up and send me five names, your name goes in six times when we draw the winner)
• Your friends names will go in a separate drawing for another copy of Genetic Attraction
• The drawing will occur next week, probably Wednesday, so you have a few days to send me names as you find folks who want to get my emails.   

Does that make sense?  Send me those email addresses and you may win. Regardless, you get to hear all kinds of fun stuff from MOI!  LOL. (BTW. You can also post names on my Book Blog, but duplicates don't count.)

Talk soon. :  )