The End of Cheap Stock Photos?

Recently, I've painfully found that one of my favorite commercial stock photographers has erased all his stocks from various stock websites including DepositPhotos.  Ironically, I was just about to purchase a subscription there. His works are quite famous. If you read a lot of novels, you must have seen his photos adorning the covers. I myself used his photos for Adramelech and Bleak Woods. In DepositPhotos, he had reached the highest rank: Platinum, which gave him right to sell his photos more expensive. So why did he quit? I wasn't not sure why but vaguely got the idea that he quit because of subscriptions which hacked off his income. Other stock photographers complained the same thing.

Years ago, I dared NOT imagine the word "royalty free photo". The price was obscenely expensive! Nowadays, many cheaper stock websites appear which offer cheaper price but only if you agree to buy them daily. DepositPhotos for example offers daily subscription starting from $69/month which gives subscriber right to download high-res images. Images which normally cost from $5-15 are now available as low as $0.5. Apparently, many people prefer to subscribe rather than the expensive pay-as-you-go.

The only site which he doesn't leave is iStockPhoto. Want to know their subscription price? $995/ 3months with 35 credits/ day. For your information, a high-res image can cost up to 40-50 credit there, meaning you can only download 15 hi-res images/month! I'd rather buy a LAPTOP!!!

The Real Conjuring

I just finished watching a horror movie called The Conjuring. It's actually not really that scary, compared to Asian horror movies. But it got scary after I googled the movie out of curiosity over its 1970s setting because the story is real! So, to me, the scary factor is not the movie itself, but the real event.

THE REAL HAUNTING

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In December 1970 Roger and Carolyn Perron purchased a farmhouse in Harrisville, Rhode Island. Following events at their previous address, Carolyn decided she did not want to rear her children there and felt a house in the country would be a more suitable location for her 5 young girls to grow up. What Carolyn thought would be her dream home turned into a living nightmare.

The house they purchased was the old Arnold farm which was over two centuries old. Eight generations of families had lived and died in that house and some of these spirits never left. Previous residents of the farmhouse included Mrs John Arnold who at the age of 93 hung herself in the barn and Bathsheba Sherman who had an extremely hard life. She lost all of her children before the age of four. When she was a young woman, Bathsheba had a young child in her care (it is uncertain if this was her child or if she was caring for the child for a friend) that died. Upon examination of the baby’s body it was found that a needle had been impaled into its skull and the baby had died from convulsions. Bathsheba was charged with manslaughter but due to lack of evidence the case was dropped. However, in the court of public opinion she was found guilty. She was a very beautiful woman whom men loved and women envied. 

Following the death of the baby rumours began to swirl that Bathsheba had sacrificed this baby as an offering to the devil for eternal beauty. Due to the belief of the locals that she was a witch she lived a life of solitude. Eventually she married and it is unsure if she lived all her days at the Arnold farm or the adjacent Sherman farm. She died in 1885 and the coroner made a note in his report stating that he had never seen anything like it that it was like her body had turned to stone. The Perron family spoke to a man who knew Bathsheba and he said she was a very angry and bitter woman who would beat and starve her farmhands.

Vampire, Again & Again

Vampire? NOT AGAIN!

I just watched a new TV series called The Originals. Guess what? it's about vampire, again. Nowadays, it seems that vampires are all over the entertainment media. Anyone ever gets fed up with vampires? I know there are many vampire lovers out there. They are the real reason why our entertainment is constantly bombarded by blood-sucking creatures. Many love them, so producers and writers keep making them.

Before I start, I must state that I'm not a vampire-phobic (lol - I talked as if vampire had been real). I do love watching True Blood for example. But I'm just utterly BORED with this non-stop vampire trend. We need other supernatural creatures in our entertainment. Come on, writers and producers. Let your creativity flow! Find us other creatures!

It seems that Twilight is the main culprit. This trend also crosses over to gay community. We have countless M/M romance books about vampires, vampire gay movies/tv - including some gay porno.

My first ever "encounter" with vampire, as far as I can remember, is Forever Knight. It's a TV series in early 1990s about a vampire who worked as detective. It wasn't really exciting but there wasn't much choice on TV. Then of course, the 1992's movie Dracula (my favorite). Vampire then appeared regularly on TV along with Buffy.

Afterwards, I lost track of vampires until Twilight invaded cinemas. Suddenly, every female teenagers swooned over a sparkling vampire named Edward Cullen. Almost at the same time, True Blood was on TV. Since then, vampire keeps invading, esp in books and on TV.

Why vampires are boring?
1. There are too MANY of them, everywhere! I mean, come on. It seems like everyone is copying from one another.
2. Vampire is too PREDICTABLE. They always suck blood, even the gay ones!
3. Whenever a vampire shows up, WEREWOLF will always show up! See? How predictable the plot is?

If this vampire trend keeps going on, to my horror, I may find myself writing a book about gay vampire! LOL


VAMPIRE TRIVIA
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1. Many scholars argue the word “vampire” is either from the Hungarian vampir or from the Turkish upior, upper, upyr meaning “witch.” Other scholars argue the term derived from the Greek word “to drink” or from the Greek nosophoros meaning “plague carrier.” It may also derive from the Serbian Bamiiup or the Serbo-Crotian pirati. There are many terms for “vampire” found across cultures, suggesting that vampires are embedded in human consciousness.^b
2. A group a vampires has variously been called a clutch, brood, coven, pack, or a clan.^f
3. Probably the most famous vampire of all time, Count Dracula, quoted Deuteronomy 12:23: “The blood is the life.”^f

Women Love PORN!

"Mmm... Gay porn. Yummy!"

When I started writing explicit gay erotica back in early 2000s, I didn't expect to get fan emails from women. Later, when I decided to write gay erotica commercially (with more non-sexual plots), surprisingly 99.99% M/M readers I met (mostly women) stated they disliked reading explicit sex scenes a.k.a. porn. I honestly don't know what women want, especially after reading the article from Daily Mail UK. It states that women LOVE PORN! Hmm...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2376737/Women-seek-hardcore-porn-says-Belle-De-Jour-writer-Dr-Brooke-Magnanti.html

David Cameron announced on Tuesday that every householder connected to the internet will have their access to online porn blocked unless they ask to receive it. And while many people are heralding the 'opt-in' porn restrictions as a success, Dr Brooke Magnanti- research scientist, and writer, who, until her identity was revealed in November 2009, was known by the pen name Belle de Jour - has shed some interesting light on the new development.

Writing on The Telegraph, she said: 'One big assumption seems to be that only blokes will opt-in to porn, because the widespread myth is that only men watch it. But women seek out hardcore content too.'
Belle De Jour writer Dr Brooke Magnanti says Cameron's internet porn 'opt-in' system won't stop women watching sex online

"I love porn. Do you?"

She goes on to explain that women don't just seek hardcore content in erotic fiction such as Fifty Shades Of Grey but also online. She revealed that Google search terms such as 'porn,' and 'Playboy' are more likely to be entered by men than by women, however, generic words such as 'sex,' are equally as likely to be entered by women and they are actually more likely to type 'adult sex,' 'free sex,' and 'cyber sex' than men are.

Soundtrack For Books

When we watch movies, we'll notice that background music/score is always there. Depending on the scenes, the right background music can drive us to delve deeper into certain emotional state. Without background music, movies will feel static and emotionless. However, in textual stories, music is absent. Readers have to create their own imagination.

For me, as a writer, music helps me write better. The right kind of background music puts me into emotional state, to help me picture my own scene better. Many times, background music inspires me to write new minor plots which originally weren't intended to be written. I heard, other writers use the same musical method when writing. Someone I know also says he likes to paint with loud music for inspiration.

While other writers choose sexy jazzy vocal songs, I go for instrumental music. To me, vocal songs with words are simply distractions. It's akin to someone talking to you while you need to concentrate. It simply doesn't work for me.

Biako06's Arts

The first artist to get featured in Himeros Blog is Biako06. From his profile in Deviant Art, it's said that his name is Eric and is from US. Biako06 is a 3D artist specializing in male. Most of his arts revolve around super heroes and warriors. Some arts involve male frontal nudity. Below are some of his artworks. For more arts from Biako06, feel free to visit his Deviant Art page: http://biako06.deviantart.com

Knight-Captain Garamiah

Adult Blog No More

Loyal readers of Himeros Blog must have noticed that this blog used to be marked as adult blog. However, from now on, Himeros Blog will become adult blog no more. Why? Some of you may wonder. There are several reasons which underlie my decision to change this blog's format.

1. Blogspot's new policy regarding adult blogs
Today, I receive an email from Blogspot. After June 30th 2013, they will erase all adult blogs which display ads to porn sites. When I started this blog, I filled it with my original adult-rated stories accompanied with cover arts featuring gay porn stars. The ads/links I placed were a part of agreement with the studios which owned the models. To be honest, I make NO money with my ads! I haven't cashed out a single cent from all my adult web affiliations. However, Blogspot's new policy makes it impossible for me to maintain the blog without breaking either's rule. Thus, I finally decide to erase all my adult stories, covers, and links. With that, my blog is practically no longer an adult blog. 

2. My commercial writings
Writing free adult stories is fun but it gives me no income while I have monthly bills to pay. Since February 2013, I start writing commercially by self-publishing. Although my stories are still erotica, they are not entirely porn stories with the heavy addition of non-sexual plots.

Therefore, from now on, Himeros Blog will no longer display adult-rated stories. Instead, it will display excerpt, review, promotional materials from my commercial gay ebooks. I'll also begin posting stuff which are non-related to my stories because it seems like a trend for writers.

Loyal readers who miss my free adult stories, you can still find them at http://www.himeros2013.tk Please keep supporting me by purchasing my commercial ebooks. Help me to support myself. Thank you for reading. And thanks for understanding.