…where the only thing you have to fear are the monsters.
The Cove is the setting for my new erotic—or rather, filthy dirty—horror novel Combustion. It’s the first book in a new series I can’t stop writing. I turn off the news, avoid the internet, and just write about the Cove. It’s a place that is real to me, as are the men who live there. It’s a place I want to go to again and again. I feel safe and happy there.
I want readers to as well. The Cove is a getaway from all the negativity in the real world. It’s a way to escape the constant fear and anxiety over being targeted by those you don’t know, those whose lives you’ll never even touch, but who are given the power to make decisions about your life, while you can only sit helplessly by, waiting to be assigned their determination of your worth.
Fuck them. Come to the Cove, where everyone is embraced (not true—he has to be gay and horny) and relieve all that pointless tension with a good gangbang, orgy, or monster hunt. See, the men of the Cove don’t spend their time targeting the happiness of others. They have their own lives. They’re never bored so they don’t need the distraction of making others miserable to establish self-worth. These men have their own problems…monsters.
In the community of the Cove, all the men know each other (intimately) and watch out for one another. It is a utopia of sorts, despite the monsters. Sure, some guys create conflict, go astray, get out of line, or mess up and summon the monsters, but there is no “us and them.” No man is better than another, no one attempts to elevate his status by taking another down. It doesn’t matter what your faith, socioeconomic status, race, job, age, size, education level, or path in life. Every man is uniquely beautiful and has value to the community, whether he’s adorable Asian stripper Maru or corpulent real estate mogul Milkman Stan. If you want a law degree, that’s great, but if you just want to be an auto mechanic, like sex pig and self-proclaimed grease monkey Otto, the Cove needs you, too. And all men are sexual beings. No one is repulsive. Flaws are encouraged because they help distinguish the humans from the monsters.
The wealthy men do not covet their money, don’t allow others to go jobless and homeless while they grow richer then contribute to charity for tax write-offs while complaining of lazy freeloaders. Power couples like television production team Hayes Lamond and Ben DuPont invest in the Cove to build it up and give everyone opportunity, because leaving some behind would breed crime, and the men need to focus all their time and energy on fighting monsters, not each other. Besides, more criminals means fuller prisons, which, while enticing in the thought of hot prison sex, inevitably leads to taxpayer money fitting the bill for “freeloaders.” The wealthy men of the Cove give back to those less fortunate than them and lend a helping hand to those in need, and not even in exchange for sex…most of the time (just like everywhere else). Plus, the businesses are savvy to the obvious fact that if men don’t have jobs, then no one will have money to spend at other businesses and the economy would collapse.
Because the constant threat of physical danger is high due to the influx of monsters to the Cove, business is always booming at the medical center, where you’ll find wounded studs having their temperature taken by hot professionals like red bear Nurse Steve and chunky-cute Guido Dr. Chandler. Considering every man is equally at risk of being harmed, it’s important that everyone gets the right treatment. No man thinks he’s immune to requiring medical attention, so he realizes that there may come a day when he’s the one who desperately needs to dip into the pool of resources to which everyone has been contributing, and would hope that his turn should not be forfeited due to unexpected circumstances beyond his control.
But why even argue over such matters? Chances are the Cove will be blessed in the future by someone with a very special gift that can make medical bills null and void. And that won’t be the only controversial debate avoided in the Cove. Naturally, the men keep out of the womb completely (eek!), so no one gets pregnant. Lesson for heterosexuals: Skip the morning-after pill. Screw your be-otch up the ass the night before.
What bothers the men of the Cove more because it actually affects them is why those who are most protective of their own rights to things like speech, guns, religion, eating greasy chicken sandwiches as an expression of their hate, and most importantly, life, are usually the first to demand that others’ lives must be lived exactly as they tell them; in other words, once we make sure you’re born, your life is ours! The men of the Cove stay clear of people who fight so hard for the rights of the unborn when they can’t even find it in their hearts and minds to give respect, dignity, and equality to those already living life.
And speaking of life (and death), as life-threatening as even the Cove can get at times, the men don’t understand how anyone can think the world would be a safer place if everyone carried a gun anywhere. Doesn’t seem like the most logical way to protect the precious lives of spared children. Believe me, everyone in the Cove would love to carry guns around to use on the monsters, but unfortunately, a lot of times guns have no effect. And really, who wants to accidentally shoot and mar his husband because he panicked and mistook hubby’s dick for a demon serpent?
While the men may not have to worry about demon serpents or dicks slipping into the wrong hole and impregnating anyone, they will have to worry about children popping out of women’s va-jay-jays anyway. The population of the city never stops growing since young gay men in the outside world are constantly banished from their homes, rejected by the society that vowed to protect them. And so they come for refuge to the Cove. Who knows? Eventually, the men of the Cove may have to take on a whole different kind of daddy role, nurturing and caring for children who have been betrayed by the people they trusted the most in the world with their lives: their parents.
These men are well aware, sometimes from firsthand experience, that bullying often begins in the home. So even though they chose not to be parents themselves, they are the ones who will become the most concerned about the welfare of unwanted and scorned children; their paths are not dictated by society, so they don’t suffer from a selfish need to create children exactly in their own image. If they welcome children into their lives, it won’t matter where those children came from, it will only matter that they have someplace to go. And yes, even with all its monsters, the Cove is still a safer place than the homes in which these children lived. Besides, the men will eventually learn that neglected children have ways of coming back for revenge….
The men will also understand the importance of listening to planet earth when it’s telling them that it’s sick and abused. They won’t pretend that tycoons aren’t destroying it and sucking it dry for greed’s sake. They can’t fathom why those who claim to care so much about their children’s futures deny that the earth needs serious help, thereby ensuring their children will inherit a much worse-off planet. These men are not rocket scientists, but it’s pretty obvious when they step outside into the city that things are bad with the planet…especially when unusual natural occurrences may open up long forgotten caves and unleash hideous creatures like sea monsters or aliens.
The Cove community will learn many ways in which to ward off all kinds of monsters. Hunky interracial cops Soloman and Bembury will instinctively reach for their useless, fully licensed guns. Occult shop owner Quest and paranormal detective Deck Waxer may turn initially to tools like crystals and amulets. However, they will all quickly learn to turn to religion, ignoring the wielding of it for hate and use it instead for good. Of course, they aren’t at its mercy, nor are they helpless puppets to their specific definition of God. And most importantly, they don’t FEAR God. They are their own earthly beings who will trust that a higher being has got their back when lower beings come crawling up from hell. No single religion will take precedence; all will be embraced and appreciated for the assistance they can lend depending on the monster in question. After all, you don’t want to be holding a crucifix and suddenly realize it’s not going to work on a vampire because you have no faith in Christianity. It’s simply not beneficial to anyone in the Cove for any man to assume himself holier than thou.
And finally, whether holy or not, the Cove will be blessed with the joy of marriage as the stories unfold. All the man-on-man sex is charged not only by lust, but love. Partnerships are never sparked by a nurtured desire to conform, always by a natural desire to genuinely love another. There are no lies lived in the Cove. The only people marrying gay men will be other gay men, which is how it should be. No man will pretend to be something he isn’t, doing what others expect of or want for him, leading him to eventually tear apart the lives of his forced family when he fully realizes himself. That simply isn’t a way to strengthen any community. It is the nasty side effect of a self-destructive delusion and there’s no place for it in a community that prides itself on being a united front against misery.
Sound like your kind of place? Then delve into Combustion and get lost in the Cove, where horny gay men are allowed to live their truths but are constantly having their existence threatened by evil outside forces. Are the monsters just a metaphor for heterosexual haters? Hell no. That would be way too obvious. Combustion is just straight up horror fiction. And lots of filthy dirty sex. Can’t forget the filthy dirty sex.
