Tag Archives: LGBT literature

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!

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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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!

Spooky homo-centric for Hallow’s Eve at Stories, Echo Park

Valley Village Matron after a rough night.

Last night Hank Henderson curated a great (and sometimes scary) evening of gay writers at his monthly reading series homo-centric, one of the few (is it now the only?) regular local L.A. events celebrating LGBTQ literature.

One of the things I like best about Hank’s series is that he champions both the emergent writer as well as the better known. It’s thrilling to be both a reader there (I’ve done it a couple of times) but also a listener, discovering the enormous amount of writing talent we have in our town.

Hank Henderson reading at homo-centric, 10/18/12

Hank started off the evening himself, reading the short story “Peekaboo” by Bill Pronzini. It’s in a compilation named Graveyard Plots (also available here) which, for me, had me on the edge of my seat with the accumulated anticipation of being really scared shitless all of a sudden. Don’t read it alone. (Queer connection: this story was read by a homosexual. Content is neutral!)

Next, Philip Littell spun a tale from the perspective of two ghosts anxiously awaiting a visit from the realty people. One of the humans is “sensitive” to the presence, one is not. Likewise, one of the ghosts is more assured in his role, the other, not so much. I really liked that this was told from that perspective, as in my usual forays into the realm of the ghostly world (OK, I admit it, reality shows Ghost Hunters, Paranormal State, Ghost Adventures, My Ghost Story, Paranormal Witness, blahdy blahdy boo!) it’s always told from the human POV. Here, we had ghosts who were at times lonely, scared, confused, controlling and funny! (Queer connection: I’ll go ahead and assume the assertive ghost was gay. Either that, or it was Philip’s cool sexy t-shirt with the orange stripes.)

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