Will NATO Survive American Treachery?

Heated Rivalry, Part 3 -- The Steve/Bucky Connection

As mentioned in Part 1 of this post, Heated Rivalry's author Rachel Reid is no stranger to the M/M fanfiction world. In fact, one of the love stories told in Heated Rivalry began its existence as an actual Steve/Bucky Hockey AU on the popular fanfiction site Archive of Our Own!

In the fic, closeted pro hockey player Steve Rogers fell hard for twink barista Bucky Barnes, much drama and angst ensued, Bucky's best female friend Natasha Romanov had to give Steve "the shovel talk," Steve smartened up, and the angst-ridden pair finally had a happy ending.

Yes, it became the SCOTT/KIP subplot in Heated Rivalry!

And the series just couldn't resist, it seems, giving a few sly nods to the characters' original identities. Check out Captain America's and Scott Hunter's running gear in these gifs from the Marvel movies and the series, respectively --

And how about when both characters make an effort to pass incognito in public?

Even Cap's star spangled blue uniform gets a coded reference in Scott's USA Olympic Hockey Team jacket --

There's no costume coding for Bucky Barnes' doppelganger (after all, it's not easy to subtly reference the Winter Soldier's silver metal arm). Instead, the coding occurs in names. Both characters have a kind of goofy little nickname somehow derived from an otherwise dignified full name -- James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes and Christopher "Kip" Grady. Oh, and take note of the good-luck smoothies' name that Kip always makes for Scott -- "Blue Moon Over Brooklyn."

Anyway, this amuses me no end and I hope you watch for the coding in Episode 3 of Heated Rivalry.

And hey, if you're still hanging in with me after THREE P0STS, thanks for reading, LOL!

[P.S. Speaking of the free-to-use Archive of Our Own, it now has a new category specifically for Heated Rivalry fanfiction, if you just can't get enough of the boys' antics. At the moment, there are nearly 9,000 fics already posted to the site. And here's the link to the list, you animals. You're welcome!]

Heated Rivalry, Part 2 -- Women and M/M Fanfiction

Fans of famous novels, movies, and TV shows have been writing "fanfiction" for decades, essentially creating their own new stories and plot variations using their favourite characters from them. However, because those characters are subject to copyright, fanfiction cannot be legally published for profit. In ye olden days, even free copies of fanfics had a limited audience because there was no easy or viable way to circulate or distribute them on a large scale.

But then the internet was invented.

Fanfiction EXPLODED.

Although men write fanfiction too, of course, the vast majority of it is written by women, particularly if the fanfic focuses on relationships (friendly, romantic, or sexual) between favourite characters. This is true even where the relationship is between two male characters. And so arose the phenomenon of M/M (male/male) fanfiction about characters who, in their original source material, are actually or ostensibly straight but in fanfics are recast as gay/bi.

Women fanfic authors have become extremely adept at writing gay male sexual romances. The ins-and-outs (so to speak) of gay male sex are no longer a mystery to anyone with access to porn videos. And women are as observant as anyone else. But what makes M/M fanfics more than "simply porn" is their equal and invested emphasis on exploring deep emotional issues and complex love stories between the characters. "The female gaze" is brought to bear on these characters and situations. Women have been socialized since birth to focus on the analysis and understanding of emotions and relationships. This has even been called a "critical survival skill" for us. In any event, women authors bring the full force of this ability to fanfiction.

Fictionalized M/M relationships are also attractive to women, I believe, because of the absence of gender issues between the two males involved. Gender issues between men and women are always and inevitably present in any heterosexual relationship. Many women like to explore what it would be like to relate to someone without those particular issues skewing intimacy and roles. M/M fanfiction offers that freedom to explore.

Heated Rivalry is very much in the M/M fanfiction tradition. It is absolutely rife with standard, favourite tropes of the genre, all of which have their own specialized terminology, references or abbreviations. One such trope is precisely . . . wait for it . . . The Hockey AU! (AU means "Alternate Universe"). And yes, I've personally read quite a few hockey AU fanfics involving Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes on skates, LOL.

Speaking of my Captain America/Winter Soldier fanfiction obsession, Heated Rivalry actually has its very own Steve/Bucky connection!

I'll tell you about it tomorrow in this post's Part 3 finale.

Heated Rivalry, Part 1 -- He Shoots, He Scores!

So have you seen the Canadian-made streaming series Heated Rivalry yet? It's currently taking the world by storm with its winning romance story about pro hockey players in love with each other. But the true sensation is the abundance of hot and pretty darn explicit gay male sex scenes in this mainstream-targeted series. I just watched all six episodes last week and LOVED IT!

(The show is carried in Canada on Crave TV, in the USA and internationally on HBO Max, in New Zealand on Neon, and in Spain on Movistar Plus+). 

The main story follows two rival players on different teams in a fictionalized NHL setting, Canadian Shane Hollander and Russian Ilya Rozanov, whose on-ice animosity conceals a passionate, secret romance. A sub-plot also involves an older closeted player Scott Hunter and his romance with Christopher "Kip" Grady, a smoothie shop barista.

The series does a great job of depicting the pressures of homophobic "alpha male" hockey culture and internalized homophobia, with all the standard fears about career derailment, financial loss, parental and family rejection, social exclusion and punishment, etc. The series does an equally great job of juxtaposing the competing human needs for love, intimacy, connection and an authentic life. And the story will continue in the series' just-announced second season.

Although the series was created, written and directed by Jacob Tierney, a leading light of Canadian film and TV production, it is in fact based on a series of gay male romance novels written by Canadian author Rachel Reid.

Wait . . . what? A woman writing gay male romance smut? WTF?

And this brings us to tomorrow's Part 2 of this post -- the cultural phenomenon of "M/M fanfiction" and why literally thousands of women are so involved in (and so good at) writing gay male romance focusing not only on hot sex but also deep emotions.

Oh, and P.S. -- this series has done wonders for the Ginger Ale market.

Sunday Selections & Sunday in the Art Room -- My Art Space

This post is for both:

Sunday Selections, a blog hop party of photography

hosted by River of Drifting Through Life

and

Sunday in the Art Room, a link party

about art issues hosted by Nicole of

DVArtist, Art, Food, Gardening.

Nicole's challenge for us this week is:

"Show us your art space."

I don't have a separate art room per se.

I just work at my dining area table.

I need to use a lamp because my place

has very harsh track lighting

which throws terrible shadows.

But I do have a kind of "art space"

specially dedicated to keeping all

my art supplies in one place

for ease of storage and retrieval --

this IKEA bureau beside the

sideboard close to my table.

It also serves a dual purpose

of being the location of

my monthly Full Moon Altars.

And here are the art supplies

in each of its four drawers

in descending order.

First Drawer:

watercolours --

Second Drawer:

coloured art pencils,

pen-and-ink,

graphite drawing --

Third Drawer:

miscellaneous art and craft supplies --

Fourth Drawer:

sketchbooks, portfolios,

stands and portable easel --

[Photos © Debra She Who Seeks, 2026]

Rabbits, Cute and Otherwise

All Hail The Bitch Goddess!

Well, what can I say?

I learned from THE BEST.

And you ALL know WHO THAT IS!