The Ubiquitous Bureaucrat…

Today I heard the Governor of Wisconsin, Tom Walker take cheap shots at state and local bureaucrats.  This is nothing strange.  Most of us have an “attitude” regarding government workers. Most of us forget who exactly government workers are and what they do.

State and municipal employees include the teachers who man our schools, the policemen who guard public safety. Who jumps into a burning building to rescue your family – a fireman, a municipal employee.

Who clears your roads, collects your garbage, works in the public hospitals, visits a home a crisis – sanitation workers, nurses, aides, health technicians, social workers, all state and municipal employees.

We, the general public, are very quick to notice when a public servant doesn’t do what we pay them to do. However, where are we when are public servants are fighting for a reasonable school budget to educate our kids, decent wages and benefits for school teachers.  We blame the teachers in the United States for the malaise that has hit our schools, yet, we refuse to spend the money to recruit the best and brightest for those positions and dismiss their requests for a living wage.  In truth, most anyone who goes into government service, just like our armed forces on a national level, get paid less than their contemporaries in private industry.  Yet we expect to draw from that same pool of college graduates competing with private industry for their service.

The same applies for nurses, nurse’s aides, and hospital techs. Public hospitals pay less and demand more.

We never remark when our municipal employees do a fabulous job, we always comment when they screw up.  This winter the huge accumulation of snow up and down the east coast caused overburdened sanitation departments to fail to clean up the streets in what the public considered to be an appropriate time frame.  The public did not consider that this was a centennial snow event, they only considered that  their cars were block and the streets weren’t clear.  They also never thought about the cutbacks in municipal service that helped to balance the budget.

Half the parents in this nation don’t attend teacher conferences for their children, Back to School Night, nor a single PTA meeting.  They place the whole of the educational burden on the school system, ie the teacher.  They will shake their fist at municipal meetings whining that their children are undereducated, yet they will not pay the price to hire and keep decent teachers and give those teachers a budget that enables a spectacular education.  I’m often amused when they compare the number of dollars that the US spends per student in comparison to other countries.  Other countries do not have our cost of living. When we demand to have our children educated to be the best in the world we should remember that we must agree to pay for it.

We make demands of all of our municipal employees.  On average they are overworked and severely unpaid.  Now the Republican Right in Wisconsin are busy union busting.  This is on behalf of the infamous Koch brothers again.  No one noticed that they went all out to support Governor Walker who proposed this claptrap in Wisconsin, now they got their payback.  Business received millions of dollars in tax breaks as soon as Governor Walker entered office (payback for the Koch brothers support) now, the Governor wants to take that money out of the pockets of the largely middle class government workers.

Shame on Governor Walker, shame on all of us.  We want top notch service, but

refuse to pay for it.  We let people who do not have our interests at heart lead us down a road of less, less, less for the average taxpayer and more, more, more for bigbusiness.  When are we going to stop leading with our chin.

Please stop by my publisher, Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com to purchase my books, Shattered Glass and the soon to be re-released The Sarran Plague.  My books are also for sale at www.amazon.com in both Kindle and print editions.  The good folks at www.allromancebooks.com also carry my titles. To learn more about The Sarrans stop in at www.thesarrans.com.  For more on Shattered Glass try www.shattered-glass.com.

In this scene from my novel Shattered Glass Milo’s unreasonable jealousy fed by drummer Bart Hedge led to an argument with Liam.  What follows is Milo’s apology and Liam’s reaction.


“Milo, we’ve had this discussion before. He’s no longer jailbait. What’s wrong with being with
the guy you love?”


“Everyone will know. It wouldn’t be good for the band.”


“Milo, Elton John is openly gay and it hasn’t affected his record sales. For Christ’s sake, he
does work for Disney. It’s not the band, Milo, it’s you. You have been fighting what you are for years
for no good reason. Your true friends already know. The roadies know. There are always rumors in the
media. Liam is obviously gay. We spent years trying to tone it down because of where we were raised,
but we’re not there anymore. The entertainment industry is a big tent, and no one is going to throw you
out because you and Liam are lovers. This is your macho bullshit talking.”


“He says I put him on a shelf and just take him out to perform or fuck and then I lock him away
again.”


“Do you? Ask yourself that question and answer it honestly for a change.”


“I don’t know.” Milo checked the door to make sure he was still alone.


“Milo, have you ever taken him out dancing? Do you go to dinner, or a movie?”


“I haven’t got a lot of time with the band—”

“Cut the crap. I played in and managed that band for years, and yet I had time to finish law
school. I only asked for a break to study for the bar. I passed the bar three years ago, opened the firm,
and yet even though Shattered Glass is one of my most important clients, you won’t let me do my job.


You insist on handling everything yourself. What the fuck are you really hiding from?”
“I think I’m afraid to lose him. He’s still so young. I’m scared he’s going to go out and find
someone else.”


“If you keep pushing him away, it will only happen faster. Fuck, you need to get the hell out of
the closet. Your father’s dead, he can’t do you any damage. If you still have issues with that, see a
counselor. You need to do something or you will push everything and everyone you love so far away
from you that you’ll never get them back.”


“I’ll think about it.”


“You better do more than think.”


Milo sat in the study and stared at the wall. Was Sam right, could it be him? But Bart had toured
with a few other bands and knew how much all of this took out of a man. He said Liam just didn’t
understand how much it took to keep it all together. Milo didn’t know, and his ignorance of his own
feelings had caused a rift between not only himself and Liam, but between him, Sam and Rick. He
wished it could be simple. All he wanted to do was love and take care of his baby in peace.
Milo went back upstairs to the bedroom. Liam lay on his stomach, with the cats sleeping on the
pillow above his head. Milo looked at him longingly. He had to stop running from his heart. He crossed
the bare wood floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He was determined to make it up to him somehow.
Lifting the covers, he slid in beside him.


“Baby,” he whispered as he began to stroke his back. “Baby, I need to talk to you.”


“You’re here. I dreamed that you left.”


“No, love, I’m right here beside you. Come into my arms, and let me love you.”


“You’re not mad at me anymore?”


“No, I’m mad at myself for being an unreasonable, jealous prick.”


Liam rolled over on his side and the sheet slipped down below his waist. Milo kept stroking his
skin.


“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Liam said. “I swear. I just needed to talk to someone. I know you
need to run the band. I don’t want to be another burden. I’m so lonely sometimes. Danny’s just a friend.
He’s as het as you can get. I didn’t want to spend the evening feeling sorry for myself.”


“You’re right. I haven’t been putting the time into our relationship that you deserve. I have been
taking you for granted. I promise, I’ll try and do better. You are still so young. The thought of you
finding someone else makes me crazy.”


“I keep telling you, you are it for me. There will never, ever, be anyone else. If you believe
nothing else I tell you, believe that.”


“I’ll try, baby.”


Milo’s hands moved down Liam’s torso, stroking him into arousal. He tried to be as gentle this
morning as he was rough the previous evening. He worshipped Liam’s body with his mouth, moving
down his chest to his now blatant erection.


Placing kisses on Liam’s long, slender shaft, he wrapped his mouth around the mushroomed
head and began to suck with a soft motion that caressed his lover’s organ in his warm mouth. He
fondled Liam’s balls, licked, and sucked around the head, deliberately avoiding his lover’s ass because
he thought Liam would still be sore from his rough treatment of last night.


Liam moaned, “Please, love, more.”


Milo worried at the tip of Liam’s erection with his teeth, building up the tension gradually,
making his lover feel every swipe of his mouth and tongue.


“Milo, I’m gonna—”


Liam spurted into Milo’s mouth. Milo swallowed all his lover had to give him.


“Come up here, love,” Liam begged. “I want to make you feel good, too.”


“No, baby, this time was just for you. Let’s get a shower and go out for breakfast. Then we can
shop for a bench for the garden. I haven’t spent any time there either, and I want to watch you play the
guitar as I tend the flowers. I want to do so many things, baby, but I only want to do them with you.”

Shattered Glass is available in paperback and e-format from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com. It is also available in paperback and for the Kindle at www.amazon.com.  If you wish to know more about my novels and views, check me out at www.ackatt.com.

Shattered Glass is now available in paperback…

Shattered Glass is now available in paperback from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com; Barnes and Noble at www.barnesandnoble.com and at amazon.com.

I’m so happy to be able to share Milo and Liam’s love story with all readers.

I’m very late blogging. (Blush and apology). The reason is twofold.  The third week of November I went back to visit my nine grandchild scattered over New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  They sent Grams home with hugs, kisses, gifts and bronchitis. Up until today I was coughing, wheezing, had chills, shakes, fevers.  Today I’m finally promoted to the chair with cough and wheeze.  Thank you doctors and nurses at the Presbyterian Health Center in Rio Rancho, ER.  Until they took care of me my husband feared I would cough hard enough to bring up a toe!

Today is a special day for the Southern United States.  It is the day that South Carolina seceded from the Federal Union.  Today there are parades celebrating States Rights as the issue that caused the war, despite the fact the the secession document mentioned Slavery nineteen times.  Hmmm – history re-write?

Another interesting piece of news, the survey from the members of the US Military came back overwhelmingly positive in favor of gay soldiers and the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.  Despite the fact that the courts have spoken, the joint chief of staff has spoken, the congress and the president has spoken and the service members themselves have spoken, John McCain is calling for a do-over.

Since the Senate is still braying for us to wait to,  despite the majority of the voting public really want the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the senate is merely braying their own bigotry out loud. Didn’t their mothers’ teach them how to play nice with other children. Or did Mr. McCain and company spring straight from the head of Medusa like snakes in the grass.

A Scene from the Re-Release of The Sarran Plague…

The deadly rash snaked up her left breast. She felt the destruction of each cell as it fell to the intruder.  She had no reserves left to fight the virus. Pain slowly took control of her mind and heart. Despite her upbringing and her supposed strong moral fiber, she longed for the end. Tears ran down her blotchy cheeks, the saltiness stinging her abraded skin.

Her body would jerk in constant spasm, not allowing even the slight respite of sleep. Her throat hurt, parched and sore from the respirator Her mouth contained an abundance of sores. No one came for Anya; the tubes in her mouth muffled her sobs and screams. She would die alone, unloved by anyone, save an orange cat. She dare not close her eyes again; she did not want to go unto the dark alone.

Wait . . . what was that? A sharp spike hit the forefront of her skull, the pain struck like lightening. Then voices began to murmur in her head. The conversation, though muted, sounded intense and masculine. It was like a constant buzz, almost as if there was a fly in her brain. Her path was inescapable, she walked toward a blue light, yet the outline of the moon — no, three moons — at her back called her name causing her to stop despite the light’s gentle promise. But the buzz, she couldn’t shake the buzz, it kept getting louder. She turned toward the moons. She heard the voices, they were closer now. Anya almost understood the words. Then, the buzzing ceased.

Curiosity, one of her besetting sins, kept her following the path towards the light. The blue light called her forward; it pulled at her and promised peace. Bits of conversation began to surround her. The strange moons and the pain stood to her back.

She lifted her face toward the sky; the voices rained down from the heavens. Tenderness bathed her body. Her imagination began to overpower her; fantasies paraded through her innocent mind. Lust ran through her body like a fresh breeze caressing her skin. She felt a masculine presence. Two, she thought. Gentle fingers brushed against her nipples, and wet, soft kisses flowed across her collarbone to the back of her neck, and then, a bite. Both nipples pushed erect against the soft, thin cotton of the hospital sheet. She needed more. She felt the blood moving to her labia as the lips engorged, becoming heavy. They opened outward, throbbing.

Rational thought intruded on her arousal. Anya, you’re dying here, in pain, breathing your last. You’re a physician. You know the score. What the heck is happening?

The thought fled, and her concentration shifted to the sensation of tender touches and butterfly kisses between her legs. Her body tensed, climbing, climbing the precipice. Then there was a burst of white light, blinding in her brain. Her lower body pulsated in rhythm, leaving the hospital linens damp.

She heard a whisper, a tendril of hope, and then formed thought drifted into her consciousness. “We’re here with you,” the voices said. “We are one, BondStirred; you will never be alone again.” The thought gave comfort even as she turned from the light and headed back into the pain.

The above scene is Anya Forrester’s first encounter with the Sarran WarriorPair, Jonal and Tonas.  Read more about the Sarrans in future blogs and in The Sarran Plague which will be re-released from Captiva Press late fall, early winter.

In the mean time don’t forget to read my m/m rock n roll romance - Shattered Glass, from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.  If you like this blog please follow and visit my website at www.ackatt.com.

Today I noticed that I have 1,647 comments on my blogs, the great majority of them compliments on my writing.  My blogging activity is dependent upon the sale of my books which cover the same subjects in fiction that the blogs cover in fact. So here it comes, the sales pitch.

How can love survive

the unforgivable…

Liam O’Shea can never remember a time in his life when he didn’t love Milo Stamis.  From the first time he lifted his eyes from the moving boxes to see twelve year old Milo on his bicycle offering to help he and his mother move.

Liam didn’t understand those feelings until he was twelve when he finally realized that what he felt for Milo was love.  That love took six long years to finally consummate. When it happened Liam felt that nothing could ever go wrong in his life again. That is,   until Milo began accusing Liam of infidelity with a man who had never been more than a good friend. With another member of the band pouring poison in Milo’s ear, Milo’s trust in Liam evaporated as did their relationship and the band.

Liam was left with nothing.  How does a man rebuild his who world when half of it is missing? Find out in Shattered Glass available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.  Read more about Shattered Glass and my other works on my website, www.ackatt.com.

Ambition…

Sam Stein was the drummer for the band, Shattered Glass. Although the band was successful, Sam had only one a

mbition, to be a lawyer. He wanted to specialize in representing artists in the music industry and as soon as he passed the bar, Shattered Glass would become his first clients.

Although Milo was the band leader, Sam managed the group from the very beginning.  When Sam left to study for the bar, the guys were left with hiring a new drummer.  Even after Sam passed the bar, and he opened his offices, he let Milo continue doing for the band the things that Sam, in his capacity as manager and representative should have handled.  Because of Sam’s inattention, the group, who were once as close as brothers, began to drift apart primarily due to the deliberate machinations of the new drummer, Bart Hedge, Sam’s replacement.

Shattered Glass tells the story of the men who formed and played in the band.  Throughout the book, each member of the band bears some semblance of responsibility for the breakup of both the band and the love affair of the band’s leader and lyricist, Milo Stamis and his lover, the band’s composer and lead singer, Liam O’Shea. Milo and Liam are the focus of the book, yet every member of the group played their hand to the detriment of their brotherhood.  Sam became so wrapped up in himself and his new vocation  that he failed to notice Bart’s poison and his own brother, Rick’s descent into alcohol and drug addiction.

Even when Liam desperately needed help the first time, Sam convinced himself that it wasn’t his place to interfere between the lovers.  It wasn’t until Sam finally faced Rick’s addiction that he woke up and discovered what was going on right underneath his nose.

All of us get lost in our own concerns to the detriment of those we love.  Sometimes we wake up soon enough, sometimes it’s too late.  Sam’s ambitions cost him a price he couldn’t afford. All the money and power in the world can’t bring back that which you’ve thrown away.

Shattered Glass is available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com and from Amazon.com in Kindle format at www.amazon.com.  To find out more about Shattered Glass and my other books, visit my website at www.ackatt.com or my blog at www.ackattsjournal.blogspot.com.  Additional information on my world view can be seen at www.ackattspolitics.blogspot.com.  I can also be found at ackatt.livejournal.com, twitter, MySpace, Google Buzz and Facebook.

Look for the re-release of my first novel, The Sarran Plague, sometime this fall from Captiva Press.

I always like to hear from readers.  I can be reached at ackatt@ackatt.com for your comments.

Lily O’Shea met Professor Frank O’Shea as a student in his Contemporary American History Class at Princeton.  Frank had fifteen years on Lily, being in his mid thirties to Lily’s twenty-one.

Lily conceived Liam when she was twenty-five and they had Frank for six years before he died in a hit and run car accident that was deemed to be suspicious by the Princeton Police.  Frank adored Lily and and son, Liam.  His dabbled in black and white photography and took many pictures of his lovely wife.

Lily was one-quarter Vietnamese and passed to Liam the slight slant to her eyes along with her ebony hair.  Liam pale skin came from his Irish father along with his blue-violet eyes.

After Frank’s death, Lily packed up her and Frank’s huge Victorian house in Princeton and moved into a blue collar neighborhood in Hazlet, New Jersey.  She made certain that none of her former friends with the exception of their lawyer and friend Walt Cheever knew where they went.

Lily and Liam met Milo and Sam the first day they moved to Hazlet.  Lily, as well as Liam, became fast friends with Milo and Sam.  Lily’s acceptance of who and what Liam was mystified Milo who own father would have beaten him to death had he found out Milo was gay.  In return for Lily’s unconditional acceptance of both Liam and Milo, Milo adored Lily and would do anything for her,  even to accepting Liam’s guardianship as Lily lay dying of cancer.

Liam, because of Lily, was as open to life as Milo was closed off.  His  trust of Rick and the others in the band brought him heartache.

You can read more about Lily and Liam in my novel Shattered Glass, a rock and roll love story, from Captiva Press atwww.captivapress.com or you can download the book at Amazon.com to read on your Kindle.

Additionawl information on AC Katt books is available on my websitewww.ackatt.com, my blogs www.ackattsnips.blogspot.com,www.ackattsjournal.blogspot.com and my new blog on current events and politics atwww.ackattspolitics.blogspot.com.  As always, I welcome comments and suggestions from my readers.  Follow me on Twitter, Buzz, fan me on facebook or friend me on Live Journal.

Conflict in Writing Romance

The use of conflict in writing a romance novel is essential. Without conflict, there is no plot. Plots are made up of obstacles which the characters must overcome to find the HEA.   There are several types of conflict.  In brief they can be:

• ·         An actual state of war as existed in my novel The Sarran Plague in which the Sarrans were fighting the insectoid menace, the Zyptz.
• ·         A state of disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or interest that clash.  In Shattered Glass, the replacement drummer, Brad, hated Liam, one of the main protagonists.

·         Psychology – a psychic struggle, often unconscious, resulting for the simultaneous functioning of mutually exclusive impulses, desires or tendencies. In Shattered Glass, Milo has conflicted desires.  He loves and wants Liam but is inwardly at war with his homosexuality and does not want to leave the closet and live an openly gay life.

These types of situations move a novel forward.  Conflict, then resolution is what brings suspense, intrigue, the hopelessness of doomed romance, all to be resolved somewhere in the plotline by the writer.

In any novel as well as in life, there is major conflict and minor conflict.  Who gets control of the remote can set up a comic scene but doesn’t move the plot unless it shows the symptoms of a serious underlying problem.

In GLBT novels, especially those set in contemporary and historical time periods there is a black cloud of disharmony that provides essential conflict, an overriding battle without arms.  That battle is bigotry and prejudice.  Whether it is Milo’s fear that the band, Shattered Glass will not sell records if the fans know that some of the members are gay, or the gay bashing of Brian Murphy in A Matter of Trust that puts him in the hospital this compelling theme shades every GLBT novel written.

One of the reasons I write GLBT novels is because I believe in the equality of all human beings under the law.  I despise prejudice and ignorant bigotry.  If one of my novels is able to move someone to understand that love comes in relationships, gay or straight and that it is something to be respected, not disdained, because it is precious, then I feel I have accomplished something in this lifetime.  Knowledge fights the bigotry that ignorance breeds.  All citizens are equal under the law and no gay couple should have to beg for what is guaranteed to them by the United States Constitution.  Until that happens, I’ll be writing GLBT novels in hope that someone out there “gets it.”

Research for this article came from the Websites I Speak of Dreams – The Uses of Conflict and Hub Pages – The Use of Conflict in Novel Writing 71.

To find out more about me and my books,  please visit my website, www.ackatt.com and my blog at www.ackattsjournal.blogspot.com. I love to hear from my readers.  I can be contacted by leaving comments on my webpage and blog or by writing me directly atackatt@ackatt.com.

Shattered Glass is available from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com.  A Matter of Trust is available from XOXO Publishing at www.xoxopublishing.com and The Sarran Plague will be re-released by Captiva Press in the fall of this year.