Announcement - Winner of my contest - Like My Facebook Page!

Good evening/morning, everyone. It all depends on where you are I suppose! :)  First I want to say thank you to everyone who liked my page for the contest. It is great to see so many new people! I put everyone's name into an excel spreadsheet in the order of who liked my page. Then I found a random number generator and popped in the min of 1 and the max of 166 as there were that many participants. The picture I'm attaching shows the random number it generated. I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of how the winner was chosen and it wasn't anything more than random.

The winner of the contest is Cherish H. as she was the first to like my page and the random number generated was number 1! Congratulations Cherish! ^.^  Please send me a private message with what you'd like out of the choices available.

I really appreciate so many participants and I hope to offer more contests in the near future!

Kisses,
J.R.

Contest: Just Like My Facebook Page and Be Entered to Choose Your Own Prize!

Hi, everyone!


As a way to celebrate my upcoming trip to Tennessee and my newest upcoming novel, His Salvation, and to mix up the ordinary, I am going to have a bit of a contest between now and September 1st. All you have to do to enter is 'LIKE' my author FaceBook Page J.R. Loveless FaceBook Page . How easy is that!? Just click the link and then click on LIKE. ^.^  The easiest contest in the world right?

Want to know what the prize will be? Well why don't you decide on that? You can choose from:

• A cell phone charm - your choice of charm (cowboy hat, snowflake, unicorn or feather) and color. *Refer to previous posts to see charms*
• A pair of custom handmade (by yours truly) earrings - your choice of charms (cowboy hat, snowflake, unicorn or feather) and color. *These will be made with glass beads of your color choice and the charm of your choice. Similar to the cell phone charms except doubled with earring wires*
• A J.R. Loveless poster featuring the hot silhouette of a gorgeous man. ;) 
• A beige canvas tote bag with the J.R. Loveless book cover of your choice ironed on.
• A handmade Bottle Cap Necklace with the J.R. Loveless book cover of your choice
• OR!   Your choice of any eBook copy of one of my novels! .

Now how many authors give that sort of choice? :)  So hurry over to my page on FaceBook and Like me now for your entry into the contest! Link: http://www.facebook.com/authorjrloveless

Saturday, September 2nd, I will choose the winner and notify by mail. *NOTE*: As I will be leaving September 4th for my retreat and will not be returning home until September 10th, I will not be shipping any of the physical prizes out until after I return. If you choose the eBook copy you will receive your prize immediately.

Happy 'Liking', everyone! :D 

Kisses,

J.R.

Manga and Romance Blog Hop Contest Winner(s)!

The blog hop was a wonderful success in my opinion! I think everyone had a great time reading on a subject they love or were just learning about! Maybe even turned a few more readers to a genre loved by a lot of people the world over. :D

Thank you to Hayley B James for hosting and working like mad to promote the hop as well as bringing in so many wonderful companies to assist in directing new readers to our blogs. ^.^ She deserves a huge round of applause and lots of hugs from everyone! 

Congratulations to Amilyn for winning the overall Grand Prize! Enjoy all of the wonderful prizes! :)

As for the winner of my small contest on the blog, I wish I could offer a prize to everyone who commented. I enjoyed reading all of your comments and replied to as many as I could. Alas, only one prize is available. I've already emailed her off list but the winner of the cell phone/purse charm is Erica (eripike at gmail dot com). Congratulations, Erica! Please email me when you have a chance with your choice of charms, the color and your mailing address. 

 Let's keep spreading the  Yaoi love!


Kisses,

J.R.

Manga and Romance Blog Hop: Yaoi & Where did J.R. Loveless come from?

Manga and Romance: Yaoi

"What is Yaoi?"

Yaoi, also known as Boys' Love, is a Japanese popular term for female-oriented fictional media that focuses on homoerotic or homoromantic male relationships, usually created by female authors. Source: Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaoi

My m/m romance influence actually came from yaoi anime and manga. I started out with a slightly less 'risque' branch of it called shounen-ai in the form of the cat-eared anime Loveless. After I finished the series, I became voracious for more of the boys' love anime and started hunting through websites looking for others, eventually stumbling on a forum dedicated to everything yaoi, Aarinfantasy.com/forum.

Aarinfantasy is actually where I started writing my own original yaoi fiction (screen name LovelessSoubi). I started posting stories on their forum and receiving feedback, motivating me to keep going. Eventually I submitted Touch Me Gently, originally posted on their original fictions section, to Dreamspinner Press and from there you know what happened! :-)

 

Yaoi also is distributed in the form of manga. Popular yaoi manga distributers include DMP (Digital Manga Publishing), June (Digital Manga's imprint for yaoi manga), and DMG (Digital Manga Guild). Of course there are many others, but these are the biggest distributors.

Western m/m romance differs from Yaoi in a significant manner, at least from my own personal perception. Yaoi usually has an older, more masculine seme or top with a younger, slightly more feminine uke or bottom. There are exceptions to that fact, but in most cases it tends to be masculine/feminine characters. Western m/m romance novels lean more toward masculine characters and plot lines. My first novel Touch Me Gently was written along the lines of yaoi as that was the major influence of my writing at the time. Yet my latest WIP His Salvation, which is still pending acceptance, is written more in the western m/m influence.

  

Most readers of western m/m romance tend to be overly critical of novels written with a yaoi influence as the uke/bottom tends to be more feminine. One of the reviews I read for Touch Me Gently basically said I should stick with heterosexual romances because of how feminine Kaden appeared in the novel. It was obvious that person had never read yaoi manga or watched a yaoi anime. When I subbed Swift's Temptation to Silver, I had to explain to the editor I worked with at the time what yaoi was and why Xavier was such a prick toward Fagan, and why it was okay! LOL.

I have an e-book of Touch Me Gently in the Hop's grand prize package,

but I also am offering up my own blog prize of one of my cell phone/purse/whatever you want to use it for swag charms. Your choice of charm and color. I have a cowboy hat for Touch Me Gently (not pictured), a unicorn for Fragments of a Unicorn's Soul, a snowflake for White Rain, and a feather for Chasing Seth. I will be randomly choosing a winner from the comments on my blog so please leave your email address for me to contact you! 

I hope this was an informative post for those who have never heard of yaoi, heard of it but didn't really know what it is, and might even start reading the mangas or books related to yaoi! 

Be sure to stop by the other blogs and read what others had to say about Manga and romance. :D

Kisses,

J.R.

Blog Hop Opportunity: Manga and Romance - Hayley B. James' Bee-Hive

If you're a brand new author or a veteran of m/m romance, you'll find a great opportunity to share your novels, novellas and short stories to a whole new readership when you join in on Hayley B. James' Manga and Romance blog hop. The focus lies in the YAOI side of manga, which for some who may not know is the eastern equivalent of m/m romance.

I, myself, received my introduction to the world of m/m romance through YAOI and shounen-ai. There is quite a large following of YAOI and YAOI eventually will lead to the western style of m/m romance as it did for me.

Hayley's blog hop is a wonderful chance to broaden your horizons along with those of the YAOI manga readers. Her rules for the blog hop are simple and easy to follow. She's going to have at least two YAOI manga publishers promoting the hop and possibly participating!!! That is a great opportunity in itself for everyone who writes m/m romance to potentially gain more readers!

And of course for the readers, it's a great chance to learn more about western m/m romance and find authors who may tickle your fancy! So be sure to join us all for the upcoming hop June 22 thru June 24th!

Link to join the blog hop and find the other participants: Hayley B. James' Blog Hop - Manga and Romance

Head on over today to sign up and join in on the fun! :)

Kisses,
J.R.

Swag Winners and Successful Hopping

Hi, everyone! Sorry for the delay in the post. I didn't have much chance to get online last night. I'm here to announce the two random winners and the winner for the best quote. I've already contacted them off list so if you're one of the winners make sure to check your email and let me know what your favorite choices are!

Random Winners: 

• Sylvan65
• Lilly Jones 

Best Quote:

• Judi (Arella3173)

Congratulations to you three and I look forward to hearing from you for your choices! :D

I think the blog hop was a smashing success! I saw so many participants and quite a few numbers increased on my page counter. I am so happy to see that so many people joined in, whether to comment or just to read the different posts. So many touching stories and wonderful inspiring posts. Let's keep spreading the word even without the Hop!


Going to head off to do some writing! Only one chapter left to go and then it's editing time! Have a wonderful night everyone and congratulations again to those who won!

 Kisses,

~ J.R. ~

Hop Against Homophobia: What is Homophobia?

Recently there was a blog post discovered where the author of said blog post flat out called the Hop Against Homophobia blog hop a means to sell more books. Anyone who joins in on this hop, reader and writer alike, knows that isn't the real reason behind the hop. It's to raise awareness in others at how much prejudice, hatred and homophobia still exist. Although many who join in on the hop know this to be true, there is hope by participating in the blog hop that it will impact others who may not realize what homophobia truly is and what it represents in the gay community.

"Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards homosexuality or people who are identified as or perceived as being LGBT. Definitions refer variably to antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, and irrational fear. In a 1998 address, author, activist, and civil rights leader Coretta Scott King stated that "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood."" ~ Wikipedia
It has never been said better. There is no difference between being prejudiced against someone for their sexual preference and someone for their race or religion. We are all born equal. We are all born beautiful. Who is anyone to sit in judgment of someone else for being who they are?

But what some may not know is that in a lot of cases it goes beyond using words to hurt someone. It goes to the depth of physical violence and can often lead to the victim being brutalized until their life is taken from them by someone who's intolerant. How can such hatred exist and how can the people who feel that level of contempt actually take an innocent person's life?

Stop Homophobia... Live and let live. Stop worrying about things which don't affect your life or your happiness. Discrimination is discrimination no matter how you twist it or speak it or think it.
I'm going to post links to my books, M/M Romance because I love seeing two men together, and if anyone is interested in reading an excerpt or looking at my books please do so. If not, thank you for stopping by to join our Hop Against Homophobia and make sure to spread the love, not the hate.
Dreamspinner Press Releases:
Chasing Seth
Touch Me Gently
Silver Publishing Releases:
Fragments of a Unicorn's Soul
White Rain
Swift's Temptation
**************CONTEST************
2 bundles to win!!
Here is a chance to win a couple of my newest swag/promo items! (See previous post).
Feather (Chasing Seth) or Unicorn (Fragments) Charm - They are cell phone/purse/jeans charms or zipper pulls. Hang them from your rear view mirror even! Always have a reminder around of your favorite J.R. Loveless novel. Your choice of color and charm! I have every color of the rainbow and even crystal. So just tell me your favorite color if you win. :D
I'm also going to be making some with snowflakes for White Rain and cowboy hats for Touch Me Gently but the charms haven't come in yet so unless you want to wait for one of those, I can only offer the feather or unicorn at this time.

I will also be including one of my new posters! Your choice of color, Blue or White.

You'll also be receiving one of my previous book marks, signed by yours truly :D
All you have to do to participate is leave a comment about my post and include the name of at least one other participant in the Hop Against Homophobia. (Please be sure to leave your email address in the post so I know who to contact if you win!) I'll be putting all the names in a hat and drawing out the two lucky winners who will be notified May 21st and I'll be posting the winners of the contest on my blog.

***Side contest***
If you leave me a really awesome and inspirational quote against Homophobia I'll throw in a third bundle for the quote I like the most!
Kisses,
J.R.