The Most Beautiful Man in the World
Current mood: 
blissful
Category: Art and Photography
It’s my turn to blog at Sensual n Secret today and here is what I wrote:
Every erotic romance author I know is a cover whore. We really are. Each time we get a hot new cover, we share it with our readers, our fellow authors and sometimes…really, very rarely in my case, there is the shock of disappointment when the cover does not represent YOUR vision of the hero or the story.
I have been very lucky since day one with my gay erotic paranormal romance series, Phantom Lover. My cover artist Martine Jardin found the perfect photo for Kimo, my hula dancing Kahuna and I fell in love with him. Kimo rocks, except, with 15 books in the series now published, I wanted Kimo and his husband Lopaka to have FACES.
It’s time.
I wanted something different. Since most stock models are shot from the neck down, I approached a couple of gay porn stars I know. I figured these guys would love to be on the cover of a book and they showed great enthusiasm until it was time to make a date.
I confessed my frustrations to my good friend John Bruno, the director whose work on Falcon movies and his own Massive studios is wonderful.
“You need Adam Killian,” he said. “He’s the best there is.”
Boy is he.
I knew Adam was the hot new young thing in gay porn following his amazing first-time performance with Zeb Atlas late last year but in the weeks we have been organizing a cover shoot, I discovered he is smart, funny, sexy and very down to earth.
Yesterday, we got together for our shoot with the also incredibly sexy and smart Tom Nelson, photographer extraordinaire.
It was the perfect day. Tom’s Venice beach back yard had all the elements for a tropical backdrop. It was everything I’d dreamed of – and more.
I’d emailed both men the story breakdown for the three book covers we were shooting. Adam makes his first appearance on the cover of The Cannibal King’s Husband, which comes out on May 15. He is portraying the title character, who is, in my story the father of Lopaka and grandfather to the baby twins Kimo and Lopaka must protect from evil forces.
Adam read the breakdown and emailed me immediately: “I have grandchildren? How old am I supposed to be exactly?”
The emails went back and forth and I realized Adam has a fantastic sense of humor. He also understands story. He loved that the series is paranormal and that his character is an immortal warrior. The three books coming up in the Phantom Lover series have a complete story arc for Paden, the Cannibal King’s husband and I had a very clear idea of the images I wanted to convey.
Adam is a videographer for the Falcon movies and is selective about the movies he performs in. He knows lighting, he knows cameras and he knows how he looks best.
I was struck immediately by his incredible beauty. Believe me, he is more gorgeous off camera even than he is on it.
There was a moment, when Adam asked me about Kimo and Lopaka and how they came to have children and why Paden abandoned his young family (this story thread is revealed in my current #1 best-selling book, Diura) and then: Magic happened.He captured the essence of Paden and Lopaka so well, it gave me chills.
Adam has beautiful energy and gave us one hundred per cent. Tom was the perfect photographer. His garden came alive for us and I felt Kimo’s presence. There was a slender second where I had to shake myself: we’re all here for my books!
My friend Gustavo who has been on this ride with me since Phantom Lover was but a dream, came to the shoot and the moment when Adam became Paden, I will never forget.
Adam may have a career in the sex industry but he is destined for huge and wonderful things far beyond it. He is a gifted and natural Star.
We shot him under a spray of water from the garden hose and total pro that he was, he never complained about the frigid temperature. When Tom and his assistant Kenneth changed film, Adam darted off to an angel trumpet tree and ran to me, a naked Hawaiian God in the garden of Eden.
“A flower for A.J,” he said, handing me a beautiful yellow bloom.
He could not have seen it, but arcing over his head was a rainbow. Anyone who reads my books knows that the presence of a rainbow in Hawaiian lore, signifies ali’i, royalty.
How apt, I thought, for a rainbow to appear right over the most beautiful man in the world.
Aloha oe,
A.J.
|
