Jaguars!!

Cats are a source of inspiration for my writing. The jaguar in particular plays a major role in my upcoming Werecat: The Rearing.

Thus, I couldn’t resist some recent news and pics.

Jaguar cub

Photo retrieved from Zooborns.com and courtesy of Brevard, FL Zoo

This jaguar cub was born on January 26th, and is pretty damn adorable. All jaguars are born with spots and blue eyes. Even those that grow up to be “black”  retain spots on their undercoat that can be seen in certain lighting. As jaguars mature, their eyes may become coppery brown, orange, yellow or green. You can read the full article on Brevard’s jaguar cub here.

Jaguars are the only New World cat that roars. In terms of ancestry, they have more in common with Old World cats like African leopards and lions than the American cougar or ocelot.

Their habitat in the South American rain forest has been greatly reduced by deforestation, and the jaguar is considered an endangered species.

Here’s a short video from international news group AFP about jaguar conservation in Brazil.

Embedly Powered

I tried to find video of the short news segment I recently saw with footage of a trap, collar and release of a 210 pound jaguar named Xango. It doesn’t appear to be on YouTube. If anyone has a link, please share it with me.

Here’s an article about the operation from Agence France Press: “Mission to save jaguar exposes big cat’s plight in Brazil.”

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Sighted in the Blogosphere

I thought I’d share some interesting stuff I landed upon recently while bouncing around the blogosphere.

Bold Strokes Books Authors’ Blog has the prolific and multi-awarded mystery and romance author Radclyffe talking about her latest release Crossroads (Bold Strokes Books, November 2012).

I’m a big fan of gay mysteries, and Drewey Wayne Gunn’s weekly GunnShots column at Lambda Literary picks out Gunn’s Ten Favorite Gay Mystery Series and Ten Favorite Stand-Alones.

The titles span six decades, and the list includes my all time favorite: Michael Nava’s Henry Rios series, as well as R.D. Zimmerman’s Todd Mills series, which I enjoyed a lot.

Finally, writer Melissa Deluca is recounting her travels and her work with girls forced into sex trafficking in Kolcata, India through her blog: “Finding my ‘I’ in India.”  She shares beautiful and profound photography and journal-entry style posts.

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Pay It Forward

Fantasy author Joshua Rigley has launched a project to help writers raise the profile of their online projects.

It’s called Pay it Forward 2011.  You go to his website, drop a comment, and he guarantees to ‘like,’ ‘tweet,’ or ‘share’ what you’re doing.

Giving a plug to fellow participants is encouraged—and good manners—but not required.

You can also check out his fantasy series The Dread Chronicles after you peruse his campaign.

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Twitter Pitch Contest!!

Author Chanelle Gray is holding a contest at her blog Beyond Words.

It’s called the Twitter Pitch contest, and to enter, you just have to submit a 140-character pitch about your book plus the first three sentences.

The prize:  a winner or winners will get the opportunity to have their manuscript(s) reviewed by agent Michael Carr of the Veritas Agency.

Contest details and submissions accepted here.  Good luck everyone.  I just may enter myself.

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Follow me on Twitter!!

If it’s working for Sebastian Bach, I figured, maybe it could work for me.

Sebastian Bach being the heavy metal blond ultra-hottie of Skid Row fame.  Few people get my infatuation with him, since—among his self-destructive public antics—he once wore a t-shirt on stage with the slogan:   AIDS Kills Fags Dead.  Pretty outrageously offensive for sure, so why do I still dig the guy?   I’m not self-loathing, and I’m not particularly forgiving of celebrity homophobia.   For example, I wasn’t especially impressed by retractions from Shia Labeouf and Andre Agassi when each of them committed similarly hateful PR.   Call me a hypocrite, or shallow.   But to Bach’s credit, he has repeatedly apologized for having made a dumb decision—metal heads do grow up—and he’s made good by donating money to AIDS charities through his participation in Broadway Cares.

So you can now follow my hypocritical, or shallow, musings on Twitter, where it’s a race to see who can come up with the most to say.   Or, more to the point, it’s a race to see who can come up with anything worthwhile to say.   I make no promises about my own tweets.

I’m following about three dozen tweeters.   Some are related to my literary interests or the publishing biz.   Others keep me informed about my favorite not-for-profit organizations like the ACLU and Amnesty International.   I try to keep my celebrity crushes in check, but I couldn’t resist following Criss Angel, Trent Reznor and Dr. Drew plus, of course, Sebastian Bach.  Back next Wednesday with (hopefully) a more substantive post.

For now, I will leave you with some inspiring lyrics.

Tequila in his heartbeat,

His veins burned gasoline,

It kept his motor running,

But it never kept him clean.

They say he loved adventure,

“Ricky’s the wild one.”

He married trouble and had a courtship with a gun.

Bang Bang Shoot ‘em up,

The party never ends.

You can’t think of dying when the bottle’s your best friend.

~

from “18 and Life” by David Sabo and Rachel Bolan Soundworth

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