May Flowers Blog

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cain berlinger, erotica, holiday, writing

Hey there fellow writers and fans o’ mine! As always I beg your forgiveness on the tardiness of my blog but hopefully you will forgive me when I tell you of all I have been doing while gathering up inspiration for my writer’s inspiration.

In a quiet nod to my sexual self I decided to host one of my parties on a Sunday afternoon in response to those who claim Sunday is their day of “joyful reckoning”. (My words not theirs, of course.) Was busy, work and great fun all the same.

Enough of that “dark side” of me. A friend and I decided to take ten days off and visit Hanoi, Vietnam for a few days and continue on to Bangkok. Both cities were crowded, hot, humid, and a complete cultural shock. In a good way of course. Vietnamese food was pretty interesting while Thai food was a little spicy for my taste. It seems the natives dumb down the food for westerners while the real adventurers enjoy all the fine variety of flavors such a culture has to offer.

A communist country like Vietnam seems to have embraced new rules that allow the Vietnamese to strut their capitalist feathers, and indeed they do, to the point of an aggressive sales approach that would put any New Yorker to shame! Whatever you may have heard about the infamous traffic in Hanoi is true. Crossing the street is a life threatening adventure.

The beauty of Bangkok is in its freedom and ability to still save Bangkok of the 60’s and merge it with the growth of the new millennium. The “land of a 1000 temples” is extraordinary and photos don’t capture the beauty and craftsmanship of many of the temples inside and out.

It is no surprise that much of my writings include diverse cultures and a kind of off beat sensibility, the kind that one develops when traveling and exposing yourself to new ideas. The more travel expands your imagination the broader your fantasies reach.

The last of my May travels was to Chicago for the annual International Mister Leather, a convention of over 20,000 men and women into leather, kink, and fetish. Yes, dear reader I can pretty well write about these topics because the practitioners of said kink etc etc is MY family. I get many of my ideas from being with my “family” and sharing some of their stories as well as my own, with you, the reader. Visually the convention is a an amazing mix of “you-name-it” and it’s represented here and fuels every man or woman’s fantasy from Borg-style leather gear to giving yourself over to your animal spirit puppy and farm animal style (I bet you really want to know more now don’cha?) If you remember ‘Daddy’s Boy’s’ you may remember the hot tattooed ‘daddy’ on the cover. That picture was taking at the convention market place and the gent was asked if we could put him on the cover to which he kindly consented. Sometime, the story just walks up to you!

See you next installment. What did you think of this one? Visit my guest book and let me know, your comments are important to me.

Beautiful Weather Everywhere

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cain berlinger, erotica, holiday, writing

Found this picture of a totem in old San Juan, nice eh?

Spring springs eternal? Just back from a fascinating time in of all places Cleveland, Ohio, which also happens to be the place of my birth. Cleveland hosted an event known in the leather community as CLAW (Cleveland Leather Awareness Weekend) which is a weekend of shopping, networking and workshops. The event beat me out years ago for a community service award, but I have to admit it is still well deserving, and continues to be one of the foremost of leather events.

A few leather icons were present and its scary how the passage of time can ravish the most sturdy of us. I always find it odd how everyone seems to be aging but me. Oh well, good genes I guess.

It was also notable for a writers’ panel that featured Tim Brough, Gloria Braeme, Race Bannon, Guy Baldwin and Jack Rinella. All of the panel are well known and respected fetish and kink writers who have been in the forefront of kinky literature for many years. The panel seemed to agree that e-books are definitely the wave of the future if not what’s happening now, as book store after book store closes and E-readers rise in popularity. Since I wasn’t invited to be on this year’s panel (next year I’ve been asked) I missed the first half of what seemed to be a really informative discussion.

My creative process these days seem to come in spurts. The last month has seen me really producing such soon to be classics (if I do say so myself) Bewitched, On the Downlow, Gang of Brothers and The Contest. The stories are my attempt to display a lighter approach to my writing (happier endings), only time will tell whether I’ve succeeded or not. All I know is that I am constantly presenting Dawne, cover artist extraordinaire, with challenging cover ideas and she returns the serve with brilliance! Some of my stories are inspired by wondering what Dawn’s artistic view of my tales will be. I’ve given her a Pakistani drag performer and a transgendered body builder and a demon from beyond! I try to keep it interesting for my reader and my artist. I try…

I have several ideas brewing even as I write my ever late blog. I’ll be turning off the phone and television and digging in soon enough. Come the summer I intend to start working on my series of meditation books highlighting the seasons. I like to impress my readers with my diversity, not just in the characters I create but the genre of books I write as well.

Some of you may remember how last year a freak infection curtailed my travel activities for many months. This year I’m determined to make up for lost time. My next planned trip is for Hanoi and Bangkok, no doubt a rich mine of creativity waiting to be mined.

Meanwhile here’s hoping everyone has a wonderful season and download a ton of my books onto your kindle, iPad, Nook, and whatever else you may be using to make your travel rides more fun! And please don’t forget to visit my guestbook and sign in with your comments and ideas. I look forward to hearing from you!

Best. Cain Berlinger

Spring Has Sprung!

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cain berlinger, erotica, leather, writing

Writing a blog with any regularity is hard. Doing the stuff I’d think you’d want to read about is what’s keeping me from writing a regularly-timed blog. Writing a book or short stories takes up a lot of time, time I could be writing a blog but then I’d have nothing to say. Confused? Don’t be. Just making excuses and trying to keep my apology humble. Don’t worry, it will unfortunately happen again. As a favorite television detective is fond of saying : “Just bear with me”.

My last blog told of my adventure to Puerto Rico and the wonderful town of Old San Juan. In all that time I was still using my cane, reluctantly, but when the occasion called for it…. some of you may recall my unfortunate foot infection which had me laid up for most of 2011, so what I saved I’m trying to make up for in 2012. With that in mind, please note the foot is still healing, but healing none the less. Thanks to many of you for your notes of support! Diabetes is the culprit here so blame my life long fascination with chocolate and junk food for my foot’s slow return.

Nevertheless I rarely post my travels until I return from them so I’ll have something interesting to say but this time I have to announce my journey on one of the longest trips (with time changes 24 hours) for anyone, especially me. I am off to Hanoi and Bangkok! I may actually post pictures on Facebook for this one. I told my travel planner that I’m in it for the food and sex and maybe an ‘attraction’ or two. My traveling companion was stationed in VietNam during the war and for some reason is very anxious to return to what can only be described as a makeover. Yes, I’ll keep you posted.

As many of you know, I am also a Leatherman for many years. Much of those years experiences went into several of my books. As the weather gets warmer there are events I attend with my wonderful partner and my boy-in-training. Nothing like seeing old time events through the eyes of a newbie. After 26 years of International Mister Leather it will still seem fresh and new as seen through the eyes of my boy.

There’s more to tell about this coming year, but for now what I’ve disclosed so far should hold you.

In my publishing house is an author whom I am very very much a big fan of, and he, as he says is of me. He is an extremely prolific writer as I can be as well. Recently I’ve been burning the midnight oil trying to match his phenomenonal output and it seems in my zeal I’ve created three very memorable pieces. On the Downlow, Gang of Brothers, and Bewitched, I Fucked With a Porn Star. I have been told that to develop discipline I should set aside an hour every Monday to do my blog. A writer can’t dictate when he/she is going to be in the mood to write. Sometimes the prose flows, writes itself, or just lays on the keyboard DOA. All three stories came from my “idea” file. Things I thought would be a good idea at the time but never acted on them. On the Downlow is about a gang banger who gets hung up on a Pakistani drag queen. I try to be different and try to include everyone in my stories. I promise you the other two are just as broad-based. Unlike the current Masseur, which is just about a nice guy caught up in an ‘interesting’ profession.

According to my editor, they were all swift butt kicks for me to get into motion and write more. Another thing suggested to me is that if I want to get more paperbacks out there, I might want to soften some of my Hitchcock endings into something lighter and less grim. I guess some of you need a happy ending, so I’m working on it. Be sure and tell me how ah’m doing!

In light of a recent attempt to silence some of our more edgy writers by some over zealous distributors, we were forced to kind of rethink, if not our stories at least some of our our titles ( I Fucked With a Porn Star is fine, nothing to do with ‘boys’ or ‘daddies’ in the title). It’s clear some of the pencil pushers have never had a ‘daddy’ or been in love with a ‘bear’. Education, it’s needed everywhere. Anyway, I’m on a bit of a roll so I’m going to cut this short and say I love that your following me (MrCain on Facebook and Twitter) and I hope many of you will write me and tell share what’s on your mind. “Enough about me. What do YOU think of me?” Please leave a few words in the guestbook so I can reach out to you as well. I remain….

I’ve Been Nominated!

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cain berlinger, erotica, writing

Hello my friends, seems like it’s been awhile since I posted last. As usual I have no excuse other than life is what happens when your making plans to sit down and write a blog. For starters I’ve just returned from: Puerto Rico, the Island of Enchantment

Puerto Rico is 100 miles long and 35 miles wide. Close to 4 million people live on the “Island of Enchantment,” with more than a million in the greater San Juan metropolitan area alone. It is a vibrant, modern, bilingual, multicultural society, one that has been molded by Spanish, African, Native American Tainos with influences from the United States. The weather was gorgeous, the beaches pristine. The highlight, of course, is always a visit to old San Juan and a visit to El Morro fort. If you get a chance, google it. Fascinating.

While strolling the many shops, I saw this amazing sculpture in the window of an art gallery. It was several heads on a coil. When you’re a writer your inspiration can come from anywhere. In the course of the week with few distractions, I churned out ‘The Calendar Club’, which is a pseudo mystery, loaded with an ample amount of man on man encounters. I’m really happy when I can practically write it in my head and translate it online before I forget. Twists and turns complete this really cool tale I hope you’ll enjoy. Returning to New York is always a cultural turn around from wherever you’ve been.

I also returned home to some good news. I’ve been nominated for a “Gaybie” award.

AND THE NOMINEES ARE…here!

2012 TLA GAYBIE AWARDS, Are honoring what they feel was the very best work in gay-themed literature and movies from the past year. This year’s nominees were hand-picked by our TLA staff and the gay public for favorite movies, books, actors, television shows, blogs and festivals. The winners will be announced April 15th. Follow the link above then scroll to e-books (my category) highlight the book (Prison Boy Toy), then scroll to the bottom of the page and click the large VOTE button at the bottom of the page to record your vote. “It’s just an honor to be nominated” but I’d love to win!

There are several good offerings from me coming your way, “Exhibitionists and Voyeurs” is a cool tale about the men who like to watch and be seen. And this is actually a romance! “Cowboys and Indians” is one from the vaults. Simple tale, Cowboy meets Indian, Indian fucks Cowboy, blah blah romance, the end. It’s a fun tale like you’ve imagined the west might have been. “The Black Masseur” is a fetish tale on more than just one level. If you’ve never had a massage this will give you a blow by blow description written by this former massage therapist (me)! Quite an eclectic offering when you consider moving from the old west, to a massage room, to America’s corporate offices “Corporate Game” is the first of a series of what happens behind all that glass and steel.

On a more serious note: Our literary genre is under siege like anything fun and personal in an election year. Paypal and a few of our distributers of erotic literature are attempting to regulate how we chose to spend our personal time. They’ve released a list of what we can and cannot write about (or what YOU can’t read about). Not so long ago my book “Daddy’s Boys” was pulled by Amazon and others because ‘boys’ in the title, to them represented underage activity within. Nothing being further from the truth. Daddy’s Boys is about an older man rescuing young men around the world and bringing them to America to be a part of his extended family. Practically a Disney tale. Alas, the powers that be are out of touch with not only current rhetoric/jargon but aren’t bothering to take the time to learn. Apparently anything with “boy” “daddy” “bears” (beastiality oh my) in the title is suspect. There is a grass roots movement to stop, educate and get them to release the attempted stranglehold on our imaginations. We are adults, we write for adults, and expect to be treated like adults.

Thanks for hanging in here with me, till next time! Don’t forget to sign into my guestbook and share your thoughts.

Turning 59, Or Is It 60?

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cain berlinger, erotica, writing

Already into the second half of the first month of the New Year and guess what? I turned 59 years old on January 24! For years I used to add an extra year to my birthdate so when the real age came around it wouldn’t seem such a shock. This year I honestly couldn’t remember whether I was 60 or 59. The good thing is that as a gay black man, black don’t crack and, oh did I mention that I’m gay? IMHO I still look good! Just a few touch ups here and there, nothing a gym stint won’t fix and tighten up.

Recently I discovered “writers’ block”. Working on one story for the last couple of weeks now and just can’t seem to ‘work’ it but I won’t give up till it’s done. Let me tell you the tale as it is: The story started out as two guys in a department store getting it on while security watches. The End. Needs a story. So it morphed into a tale of exhibitionists and voyeurs. No longer about a person or persons, but about the apartment building that houses them. So now a nice ending and onto the editor. Some tales need a lot of prodding.

I told you I’d give you a little more detail about my recent cruise past South of the Equator which was a trip of a lifetime. When stopping at Christmas Island, passengers were taken to the Island by ‘tenders’ (life boats), smaller boats that could carry passengers safely over the corals and to the beach landings. The island was poor and kind of looked like a trip through the backwoods of a southern backwater with palm trees rather than a tropical Pacific island. I explored the island while my partner went swimming. (I don’t swim) I passed a house that resembled an old but roomy cabin. The man inside was a 75 year old New Zealand sailor who had met his wife (65) on the island many years ago and he stayed. He invited me inside to meet his family which included his wife, his children and their children. They told me they had little water and were struggling to maintain. Meanwhile the tide had shifted and the tenders could not get back to the boat for fear of damaging the tenders until the water was high again. So passengers were stuck on the island. The ship sent us water, sandwiches and potato chips. One passenger offered sandwiches and chips to the children who watched us from the pier. Another passenger made a big fuss over sharing with non-passengers and got into a fist fight with yet another passenger over it. Luckily the fight was broken up and the children enjoyed their chips. More about my trip later.

Yes, I have a new boy that I am training, mentoring and bringing into the Leather community. He is also getting in touch with his body and learning more about his own sexuality. He will learn about his limits and how far the journey will take him. Not just sex but learning about what makes up a ‘community’ and the importance of being socially responsible. When training your sub, be sure he/she supports the community any way they can and then get it all on paper and you’ll have your next novel.

And now VENGEANCE, a cool tale about a troubled kid who is abused at home, runs away to the big city, finds his first daddy and goes on to be a hot New York model. To flaunt his success he goes home to confront his dad. After that the tale takes on a surprising turn and introduces a few intriguing characters.

So that’s what’s in my life for the moment. Went to the theatre to see MEMPHIS and JERSEY BOYS – both were really great. Every time I go to a show I wonder how I can turn it into a tale of hot eroticism, you’ll soon be seeing the results of what that kind of thinking can do to a man.

Please sign my guestbook and let me know what you think of my ideas and my books! Ciao