Jamie Freeman's Blog

I'm spending some time this year reading and thinking.  Nothing new on deck at the moment, but I'm starting to plan some larger projects for 2015.

Thirteen short stories of terror, mayhem, and destruction which offer something highly unique in a genre that demands certain characters be only heroes or victims... gay villains! Prose collection with an introduction by Lambda Literary Award winning editor Tom Cardamone. Includes stories by Charles "Zan" Christensen, Damon Shaw, Hal Duncan, Jamie Freeman, Jeffrey Ricker, Lee Thomas, Marshall Moore, Matt Fagan, 'Nathan Burgoine, Rod M. Santos, Stellan Thorne, Steven Bereznai, and Tom Cardamone.

My story "The Meek Shall Inherit" is included in this one.

Content Note:  Although I often write erotica, this anthology is not an erotic collection.

Available now in paperback or kindle format from amazon.com

 
This new anthology from STARbooks features my original story, "I Hate You. Bend Over."   Available now in Kindle format from Amazon.  This one's for my buddies Matt & Mario.  Love ya, guys.

Excerpt :


Mario and I shared a cubicle about the size of two McDonalds booths shoved together.  We’d been stuck together for about six months, ever since my former cubemate—Sharon “touch my titties” Fowler—was fired for sexually harassing one of the temps. 
 
For me and Mario it was hate at first sight.

He was infuriating: more handsome than he deserved, funnier than I’d like to admit, and sexier than I could stand.  He had a thick, muscular body that bulged in all the right places, stretching his perfectly pressed white shirts and charcoal gray slacks.  He had large, perfect hands and he shaved his head, which gave his face a feral, hungry look, his red power tie dropping from his chin like the lolling tongue of a wolf.

Despite his good looks and his suave demeanor, he was a total dick.  He was a braggart and a liar.  He stole credit for other people’s work, found scapegoats for his own fuck-ups, swiped lunches from the lounge refrigerator, took coins from the coffee kitty to use in the vending machine, and plundered people’s desk drawers after everyone else had gone home.  I once caught him stuffing his briefcase with boxes of staples and paperclips.  To be honest, the fact that he was stealing office supplies would almost have endeared him to me had forty bucks not gone missing from my winter coat the next week.

I hated him.  A lot.

After my first two weeks with Mario, I submitted a form to Facility Operations requesting a cube reassignment.  I was hopeful for a couple of days, but then I got hauled into my boss’s boss’s office where, with an H.R. rep named T.J. as a witness, I was accused of being a racist.  With no clear preamble, I wasn’t sure exactly where the accusation came from.  I listened for a while and then asked what had prompted the meeting.  T.J. handed me a copy of my transfer request.  “It’s not okay to hate Hispanics,” he said.

My head exploded.

“I don’t hate Hispanics!” I roared.  “What the hell are you thinking?”

Martin, my boss’s boss, leaned back in his chair, grinning and steepling his fingers like he was getting a big kick out of the process.

“This is not funny, Martin,” I snapped.

He shrugged.

T.J. inserted himself back into the conversation.  “I think the best way to handle this is to get you some training—”

“Oh, my God, T.J..  This is nuts.”

“Your Remedial Diversity Training starts at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday in the small conference room.”

“I don’t need Remedial Diversity Training.  I’m a half-Jewish, half-Catholic gay man from Alabama, for Christ’s sake—”

“Then you should be more adept at the whole Diversity thing, don’t you think?”  T.J. was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, projecting his talk show empathy in my direction.  “Differences make us stronger,” he said.

Martin was still steepling and grinning.  Fucking bastard.

I “accidentally” knocked a cup of coffee off Martin’s desk as I left the meeting, but I went to the class.

And I knew I would be stuck forever in that cubicle with Mario.

Nathan Burgoine published a great review of  Show-Offs (Cleis Press) at  Erotica Revealed.  

 





Read the full review here

Here's a taste:

When Richard Labonte collects stories for an anthology, I know that he’ll put together a collection that has a mix of tales that bring the expected – to settle the theme solidly before the reader – and the unexpected to just as quickly unsettle the reader and bring a fresh take on the idea. The idea of watchers and those who are watched has what at first appears to be a pretty narrow window that is soon cracked wide by the authors in the collection.

Here's what he had to say about my story:

“Vacancy,” by Jamie Freeman, doesn’t so much open the window as shatter it. Taking a vaguely guilty pleasure – watching a neighbour masturbate while he watches porn – and tying in something darker gives this story a real edge. Realizing that while he is watching his neighbour, he is himself being watched by someone who might be dangerous, the final few moments of the story leave a delightful shiver in the base of the spine.
Buy your copy in Kindle format or paperback.

I was doing some research of one of my WIPs and came across this image:



Souls on the Banks of the Acheron (Adolf Hirémy-Hirschl, 1898) potrays Hermes surrounded by souls of the dead imploring him for more time among the living.  

I remember seeing this painting on my last visit to the museum at Schloss Belvedere in Vienna.  It's a large, truly arresting sight.  I stood in front of it for a long time, drinking in the details and the decadent mix of hedonism, despair and beauty.

I can feel the neurons firing and the pieces clicking into place to incorporate this amazing painting into my work in progress, working title:  The Chronicle of Wasted Time.

My stand-alone ebook Quicksilver in the Hand will no longer be available after the end of September.  If you haven't purchased a copy, now's your chance.

An espisodic story told in 60 micro-scenes, this is the story of a love affair that blooms, grows and eventually withers.  Although it doesn't have a happy ending, I think there is something affirming about the final scene.  We've all been there, and sometimes the journey is worth it, even if the ending makes you cry.

 
Buy from Untreed Reads.Buy from Amazon.
See ratings, reviews and comments on Goodreads.
Excerpt (Chapter 24):
Julian looks up from his book and nudges Tony with his foot.
“Hey, listen to this: ‘Love is like quicksilver in the hand. Leave the fingers open and it stays. Clutch it, and it darts away.’ Do you think that’s true?”
“Who said that?”
“Dorothy Parker.”
“I dunno. Maybe.” Tony takes Julian’s foot in his hands, massaging the sole gently with his fingers. “Love is precious, but I don’t think it has to be fleeting.”
“Do you think you lose love when you hold on too tight?”
“Sometimes,” he says.
Julian can see Tony watching his own memories parade by like they’re being projected on a movie screen behind those wide, beautiful brown eyes.
“I want us to have space, but not too much. And I want us to be close enough not to feel lonely or incomplete, even when we are alone or even when things aren’t clicking.”
“Me too, baby.”
“Fingers open, Tony.” 

Thirteen short stories of terror, mayhem, and destruction which offer something highly unique in a genre that demands certain characters be only heroes or victims… gay villains! Prose collection with an introduction by Lambda Literary Award winning editor Tom Cardamone.

My story "The Meek Shall Inherit" will be included in this fantastic anthology, COMING SOON to a bookseller near you.


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The Jamie Freeman author page is here.

Richard Labonte's new anthology, Show-Offs (Cleis Press) is now available wherever fine books & eBooks are sold.  In addition to my own story, " Vacancy" this anthology includes stories by great authors such as Shane Allison, Rob Rosen and Jeff Mann.  I just got my author copies today, but you can order your own copy (and maybe one for a friend) now.

I was recently interviewed by Gavin Atlas for Out In Print.  We talked about revenge porn, Southern writing, music and more. 

Read the full interview here.