Tag Archives: LGBT books

National Men Make Dinner Day – and “Benefits”

Did you know the first Thursday in November is also known as National Men Make Dinner Day?

Neither did I, until very recently. But it got me thinking about the household in my new novel “Benefits,” which normally consists of partners Ben and Jake. During the course of the book’s storyline, Ben’s natural son Logan moves in for awhile, as does Ben’s mother Margaret. Oh, and there’s always a few ghosts roaming around, including a ghost dog named Connie.

It struck me that every day is Men Make Dinner Day at the Brosseau-Schmidts, with the possible exception of when Margaret barges in and takes over.

Still, Ben’s not particularly epicurean. For a gay man, he’s not any stereotypical whiz in the kitchen, and struggles mightily with macaroni and cheese, even – which as we all know, comes in a box.

Also, there’s a reliance on chocolate chip cookies (not home-made either, store-bought) to placate the child Logan. At least Ben and Jake seem to be aware of the drug possibilities involving sugar.

Origins of National Men Make Dinner Day

It appears to have originated in Canada. There are “rules” – including a 4-ingredient minimum, no TV while making dinner, no secretly feeding the dog parts of said dinner, and also set up and doing the dishes after the meal are part of this.

It all seems to be a vestige from another era, doesn’t it? I guess I just know so many male (as well as mixed) households where every night is Men Make Dinner Day.

Ben Making Dinner in “Benefits”

Here’s a little snippet from the novel “Benefits” of Ben trying to figure out the macaroni method the day the child Logan comes to live at their house:

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Don’t speculate. Like worrying, a useless activity. A better project would be to start dinner, to pull out that box of mac ’n’ cheese and figure it out. Did we have butter and milk? Checkmark on the milk; I had just enough left over and no “calf” need be the wiser. I opened the refrigerator door to look for some butter when I caught Logan in my periphery, in the doorway.

“You had a little nap,” I said. “You doing OK?”

He blinked at me. Not fully awake, probably confused, strange house and all, and now it was dark.

“Is your little dog in here?” he asked. “It ran out of the room when I looked at it.”

Butter, butter, yes, there it was; back of the fridge behind the hummus. Grabbed that and the milk. An uneasiness in my guts and the familiar spark up my back.

“We don’t have a dog. You must have had a late afternoon dream. They can be quite realistic, you know.”

“No, Uncle Benny! It was a little brown wiener dog; it wagged its tail at me.”

To find out what happens next, you’ll have to read the book!

Working Biography of Character Tony Ochoa in “Benefits”

In “Benefits,” main character Ben’s partner Jake is caught fooling around with Tony Ochoa, who Ben recognizes as someone he’s seen in his work neighborhood! A younger man – thus, I had to concoct a working biography for Tony Ochoa.

What You Use a Character Biography For

A novel working biography is used as a resource for character development. The process I’ve used over and over again is to answer a series of questions about the character. Include as many facets of the fictitious person that you can – physical, emotional, psychological, practical and so on. Figure out their tastes, hobbies, loves and hates. The novelist won’t use all of a working biography – but it’s there to draw from down the line. It can help provide an answer to the question “What would Mr. X do in this situation?” Invaluable, because that question keeps popping up throughout a story.

Got my original list of character outline ideas from one of the great all-time writing bibles, The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri.

Working Biography for Tony Ochoa

SWEATER BOY, aka ANTONIO (TONY) OCHOA. Tony Ochoa. So, he’s Latino.

Sex: Male Age: 28 Height and Weight: 5-10. 175 or so.

Skin: light brown. Hair – black. Eyes: brown

Posture: lanky, slim. Body hair? Yes, some, very dark.

Appearance: He’s actually kind of slender. He looks young, maybe even younger than 28.

Defects: No defects, but I’m thinking that he has tattoos that he might regret, that might have been done in college under the influence. He wouldn’t regret them, tho. He has a rose on his ass.

Heredity: His father is from Mexico. His mother is from Puerto Rico. He was born in the U.S., in the Bay Area – say east bay, city of Alameda.

Class: He’s middle class now, he has a tech job.

More details . . .

Occupation: He has a tech job at a startup in SF that makes apps for financial concerns.

Education: BS, San Francisco State University

Home Life: starts out by living with some roommates in the Mission. It’s a bunch of people since the rent is so high. It’s a 3 bedroom type railroad flat, 15^th and Capp in the Mission. He has 1 male and 1 Female roommate.

Race/Nationality: Latino, Mexican and Puerto Rican heritage.

Place in Community: He’s not involved politically yet, too young. He wonders what all that is about, though. There may be some nascent leanings.

Politics: votes Democratic. (because that’s what everybody Suffering silently has been a type of case which men follow as they end up being shy to the medical expert as sildenafil levitra they feel unwanted level of awkwardness during the medical process.Kamagra supports quality erection mechanism of the penile system or nerves connected to erection enabling muscles. Areas of usage outside the research field include: anti-aging, arthritis, and osteoporosis; sleep, mood, and performance; and hair loss, menopause, virility and libido; its properties are also considered in cholesterol control and fat-burning processes. buying that cheap cialis There are a number of aspects that must be kept out of children’s reach, because it may turn fatal. cheap super viagra dig this The medications viagra in österreich are: Oral Tablets: Tablets made of nitric oxide are boosted. does in SF)

Amusements, hobbies: He does play some video games. He likes older guys! So he looks for them where they hang out.

Some hobbies – he likes going out to Ocean Beach. Plays an instrument – the guitar. But not well. He tries to play Spanish guitar. (like flamenco?) He has taken lessons, maybe he still does.

And the personal, very personal . . .

Sex Life, Moral Standards: he’s gay, has been around quite a bit. First experience was with an older guy and he’s just stayed there. With that group. He’s versatile, but likes to top more. Unlike Ben or Jake, he did start out living a “straight” life.

His personal premise: He wanted to find a husband, so he was surprised when he found 2. He’s probably more conventional than either Ben or Jake in that he wants a solid home life.

Frustration, disappointments:

Temperament: Somewhere between Jake (who’s very chill) and Ben (who is very dramatic) – so generally easygoing, but he’s deep and you can’t always read him.

Attitude toward life: an optimist, rather than a pessimist, and this is one of the main things that attracts Ben and Jake to him. He’s fun. Definitely has quirks of youth and his specific generation that Ben and Jake don’t/or no longer possess.

Complexes: He doesn’t like cats. Some minor symptoms of OCD – like closing open drawers and cabinets, other “checking” type stuff. Afraid of fire, always checks stove before leaving and unplugs appliances, the small ones.

Abilities: there’s the guitar. He might be handy – that is something Jake in particular would feel comfortable with. Can fix minor things. Would make him handy around the house.

Qualities: kind to kids – Logan in particular will love him. He might giggle. LOGAN might like him more than he likes either Jake or Ben.

IQ: high.

Photo Inspiration for Tony Ochoa

Here’s a few random images of guys (stolen from you, the Internet!) that I think of when I dreamt of Tony Ochoa. Plus, it’s fun to look at pictures of cute Latino-looking guys and beardos, is it not?

Workplace Crime Ghost Employees – “Benefits” Backstory

Benefits subplot: Workplace Crime Ghost Employees

One of the subplots in Benefits concerns (the main character) Ben’s worry that there’s a “ghost employee” at his place of employment. “Refuge” is an outpost of an imaginary boutique office furniture chain. I named the ghost employee Mehrdad, after a sexy Persian guy I knew back in the 1980s. He wasn’t a criminal of any kind, I just liked the name and somewhat exotic background.

Workplace crime ghost employees are fictitious person(s) put on the company’s books and the official payroll. Their compensation checks are diverted an account controlled by the person behind the scam, whether it’s the suspect branch manager (as in this case) or another executive.

Famous “Ghost Employee” Examples

In this way, it’s a variation on the classic scam of using a false identity as a way to steal. It can be actual cash, as here, or an identity, as in concocting a fake ID for someone who died as an infant. Sometimes it involves using real individuals’ names and identities to mask an enormous land scam (as in the movie “Chinatown.)” In that film, elderly residents of a 30s nursing home were used as pawns in such a venture.

Here’s a definition from the Internet:

Fraud Magazine Article
which goes into more detail about how workplace crime ghost employees are set up and used. It also lists the four essential factors bad actors must have to perpetrate a successful ghost employee scam. One often reads about these scams in the back pages of newspapers. They’re quite common – but at least anecdotally, they don’t seem to last very long!

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National Boyfriend’s Day – Character Biography of Jake Brosseau from “Benefits”

National Boyfriends Day is October 3, 2019, so it’s a perfect time to clue readers in on the working character biography I wrote and used when constructing Ben Schmidt’s sexy boyfriend/spouse Jake Brosseau.

This morphed over time as I wrote the first book where he appeared as a sexy neighbor (Benediction) and then, they became a couple and time passed and as it is in real life, the fictional character changed a bit and grew. There is no real-life Jake in my life, though there was a sexy person in San Francisco that provided an initial “spark.”

Here’s what I used for Jake Brosseau:

Jake Brosseau Character Biography

Jake (Ben’s boyfriend) Sketch character biography:

He wants to keep Ben as his life partner
He wants to sell some of his paintings, gain some notoriety as an SF artist.
Jake is 39, a few years younger than Ben. Afraid of turning 40. He’s HIV positive, and has been for 10 years or more. He’s about 5-10, reddish brown hair, green eyes, tan, hairy body, naturally muscular, very, very attractive. Family was French Canadian who came to California for Gold Rush, so he grew up in the foothill area, a very redneck area where his family still lives. He did not fit in. LAST NAME IS BROSSEAU.

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His job is as a display and window dresser for a Wilkes Bashford type place (I call it Sloane & Bradford), the tony men’s store in Union Square. He’s also a freelance interior designer, and he hopes someday to have his own business doing that and stop the store work. He’s got a very interesting style, it’s unusual so he gets unusual clients.

Jake is quite artistic and has a really good sense of himself, which is what attracted Ben to him overall. He’s like a rock. Although at times, he too can be temperamental and just blow up, which always comes as a surprise.

He’s afraid of the HIV and that he may someday get really sick although the meds have worked so far. Sometimes he has reactions to his meds. Perhaps initial SIDE EFFECTS of protease inhibitors. (i.e., choose from lipodystrophy, nausea/vomiting/diarrhea, neuropathy, high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides)

His mother is dead. His father lives on a small farm and is an alcoholic. He doesn’t grow anything, he collects social security. He has two sisters, one lives in Santa Cruz, the other lives in the Philadelphia area. He talks to them on the phone a lot, he’s quite close to them. He’s the youngest.

Jake, being so attractive, has had many men in his life. He moved to the Castro when he was still a teenager and has really grown up there, through the AIDS crisis of the 80s and is a survivor (perhaps he heard the siren song of Harvey Milk, who famously said, that if you live in a homophobic area, you can “always move to San Francisco”). He also projects that survivor’s strength and wisdom through his quiet demeanor which attracts people to him.

On the street, he knows everybody. That both fascinates Ben and makes him jealous.

10 years later, for “Benefits” – Jake finally does have his own gallery. It’s called Jake Brosseau, just his name, because, you know, he does know everybody. It should be in SOMA, somewhere trendy. Let’s put it on Utah Street, near where Dolby was, near 16^th and Utah. Where there are bow & truss buildings that house art galleries. He has a car now. It’s a black Prius.

So that’s what I worked from – obviously it’s a sketch, and didn’t use all of it but it’s there to mine if necessary. There’s a lot more to Jake, I hope to let that get out in another “Ben” book.

Goodreads Giveaway:

Goodreads Giveaway active until October 14, 2019. Enter here.

Goodreads Giveaway for “Benefits”

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Benefits

by Jim Arnold

Giveaway ends October 14, 2019.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

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Hello Readers! I’m giving away 10 paperback copies of my new book “Benefits” via a Goodreads.com Giveaway. Please hit the link in the ad to enter the drawing. For those of you who don’t know, Goodreads is a great site for readers to find out about new books and interact with other readers and authors, and yes, to get free books!

“Benefits” Locale: Duboce Triangle

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The text to the Instagram post reads: Ben Schmidt often walks through the pleasant Duboce Triangle in his way to the Haight in my novel “Benefits.” (I also loved that are when I lived in #SF) Link in bio. #novel #lgbtq #gayhumor #gayfamily

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Benefits locale: Buena Vista Park

I snapped this photo in Buena Vista Park in San Francisco, a location I used in my new novel Benefits, as well as in its predecessor, Benediction. It’s a cruisy space that Ben Schmidt has frequented over the years, and as he’s grown and aged a bit, his relationship with this beautiful place has also changed.

Link to Benefits on Amazon.

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KEPT Blog Tour, March 21 – 25, Day 3

Kept

More blogs featuring KEPT! On Wednesday, March 23, blog stops include:

Steamy Book Momma (facebook page) and Steamy Book Momma (blog)

Bloggers From Down Under (facebook page) and Bloggers From Down Under (blog)

Booklover Sue (blog) and Booklover Sue (facebook page)

Possibly more later today, I’ll update.

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Top of the Tram observation area

The Palm Springs Tram gets some top billing in KEPT – check it out!

KEPT Blog Tour March 21 – 25, Day 2

Kept

Day 2 of the week long KEPT blog tour. Stops today include:

Books Are Love (with review)

The Bookworm Lodge

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Check ’em out.

The Dinosaur Park at Cabazon makes an appearance in KEPT.

KEPT Blog Tour, March 21 – 25

Kept

KEPT launched yesterday, and today (March 21, 2016) the one-week blog tour (arranged via BookEnthusiastPromotions.com) begins.

Today’s stops are:

Maari Loves Her Indies (facebook page)
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Here Is What I Read Blog

Diana’s Book Reviews

There’s book excerpts and other information about the book (and many other books) at these sites. Take a look! Back tomorrow for the next stops on the tour.