Q: What costume
would you wear that would truly show your hidden personality?
A costume of
Dan Skinner.
Q: Why the
lycra/spandex fixation? I know there’s a story there…
First guy I
saw at my local pool was wearing one and I thought I’d die.
Q: In no more
than two sentences, can you describe yourself to a complete stranger?
I’m the one
the extraterrestrial abducted and threw back out. And as the spaceship doors
were closing you could hear them screaming, "And for God’s sake, clean the
Probe!”
Q: What is the
most sentimental thing someone gave you that you cherish to this day?
The answer to this question has been sealed in a
document.
Q: How much do
you run on an average day?
I average no
more than 10 miles a day. When I’m stressed that number goes up.
Q: Do you have
a plan to gain the weight you’ve lost lately? Does it include cheesecake?
If I like
the way I fit in clothes, I stay with that weight. If I want to gain weight it will be with some
Old Vienna Hot Corn chips. lol
Q: What is your
favorite guilty pleasure food? The one your trainer would highly disapprove of?
See answer
above.
Q: Your top
five recommendations of gay films please.
Shelter
Prayers For Bobby
Brokeback Mountain
Beautiful Thing
Eating Out (original)
Q: What is the
meanest thing you've done to someone in an argument or fight?
Broke a
coffee table over them.
Q: What song do
you have to hear only once to get stuck in your head for an entire day?
Any friggin’
Gaga song.
Q: I'd empty my
bank account and take out a loan to have sex with____. Why?
Prince
Harry. Because he’s mine anyway. Everyone knows that.
Q: If you could
wish one celebrity into the cornfield, who would it be and why?
Sarah Palin.
Don’t even get me started why.
Q: Your models
all look like they have so much fun during your shoots. Do they? And do you?
Them, yes.
Me. No. I sweat bullets.
Q: Has it been
difficult to stick with your recently adopted NBW (no bad words) policy?
Explain a little bit about what NBW is.
NBW stands
for No Bad Words. My trainer believes that bad words create bad events. I don’t
speak them But I think them. I purge them on my runs.
Q: Do veggie
sausages really taste as good as the real thing?
Better.
Q: What is the
largest, um… attribute you have seen on a model?
Enough that
I would never even attempt it.
Q: On a scale
of 1-10, ten being a completely controlling perfectionist, how would your
models rate your determination to get every little thing perfect in every shot?
1000
Q: I’ve seen
one black model in your past work. Why haven’t there been more?
I try to get
them. But there are very few in the Midwest. When I search the model sites I
see tons of black and ethnic models on the east and west coast. I’m always
looking tho.
Q: It is said
that every traumatic event in life has the potential to make you bitter or
better. You seem to have made a conscious choice to make yourself better
through this difficult past year. Do you struggle with that sometimes? And how
do you get yourself back on track after a bitter moment?
I still
struggle. I’m not so much bitter as I am disgusted. Probably more with myself
than anyone. I feel very duped.
Q: During the
2012 Presidential election, you were pretty vocal regarding your beliefs and
opinions. You have a bigger platform now that you have two successful books and
more photography work than ever. Do you plan to be as outspoken in 2016?
Always. This
country needs to continue to move forward. As long as we have a party that
lives and functions in a repressed past we have to make certain they never have
a voice in lawmaking again. If they can’t move forward they need to get off the
train.
Q: What is the
largest group of models you have had in one shoot?
Eight. Will
never do it again. Too ADHD to put up with the scramble.
Q: Why Cerberus
as a company name? (This is the mythical three-headed hellhound who guards the
entrance to the underworld)
It was one
of the first sketches I ever made as a child that was pretty decent. The other
was Dean Martin. So Cerberus it was.
Q: If you could write a letter to your 18 year
old self, what would you say?
Don't get
married twice. And check out the guy next to you in history class in 11th
grade!
Q: Where can
readers find you on the internet?
facebook D.w
Skinner
twitter @
DanSkinnerArt
Here's a quickie (PG-13) excerpt for those of you curious about The Price of Dick:
He began by telling me how much he admired me. That’s always a good opener if getting someone’s attention is your goal. He liked that I was my own man; that I could be myself without worrying what others thought of me, and said that made me seem very strong in his eyes. I was liking me better and better the more he talked. It didn’t hurt that every time I looked at him I had some kind of teenage-like hormonal surge. Amazing how a confluence of praise and lust can just make your defensive barriers collapse like Jell-O on a hot stove.
I asked him what was wrong. People who tell you they need space usually want you to invade it and ask what’s wrong. Otherwise they wouldn’t have invaded your space. And I ain’t going to lie. When he started rambling on with the redundant details of his job and how he was struggling to get ahead, I was still picturing that one night in my bed, pushing my aching dick through the crack of his ass, laying quarter-sized pearlescent droplets of myself all over those flawless mounds. I wanted to bite those muscled buns while he was telling me his problems. Oink.
I could tell there was something more; something deeper going on with him and he was having difficulty spitting it out. I asked him to grab a beer for both of us. That seemed to be exactly what he wanted to hear. We sat, and cracked beers together. He took off his jacket and tie, unbuttoned his shirt and gazed off into the corner.
It was nothing I didn’t expect. Mommy. He faced the same dilemma every night at the dinner table, every morning over breakfast before his mandatory appearance at Mass. He was coming unglued having to deal with her every day. The only reprieve was when he was at work, when she wasn’t calling him there. He rubbed his eyes as if there were tears there. I didn’t actually see any, but the idea of it was oddly endearing.
With a mixture of fascination and dread, I had a feeling I knew where he was headed.
“You’re absolutely the only person I have to talk to. My friends wouldn’t understand some things about me. I can’t talk to anyone at work. You’re the only guy I feel safe to tell my feelings to.”
Yep. Knew where this was heading.
“I don’t know how to ask this but I haven’t got anyone else to go to, and I was wondering if I could stay with you? Live with you for a while. Be a roommate.” he looked at me, his face all knotting like he was still near tears. “I can sleep on the couch. I don’t have many clothes. I’d never bring anyone back. I can help pay the utilities...I can help you with your shoots...”
I almost had my denial figured out before he uttered that last sentence, and then the wheels in my brain went spinning out like I was a NASCAR driver. It pushed everything else right out of my head. A hot, good-looking guy living in my apartment willing to help me with my shoots. I could have someone available any time for any shoot just by turning around and saying... “Hey there!” His face didn’t have to be in any of them if he didn’t want. A million covers were nothing but torsos. And he had one helluva torso.
It was a matter of weighing the conveniences against the inconveniences of two grown men living in a two-bedroom apartment where one bedroom was used as a studio/office. One bathroom.
And there was another thing. After my last relationship, I vowed to live alone because I just liked the freedom of it. A lot of thoughts went racing on perpetual left turns through my mind. Don’t think I wasn’t thinking of the possibility of a few more drunk sucks or even fucks with him if he became a roommate. Everyone was teachable.
So I said the words that would change pretty much everything about my life for a long, long time.
I had a roommate.
Blurb: His name is Richard but he'll say, "Call me Dick."
He's a big, butch, brainy guy in an executive suit, hotter than spit on a
skillet. The type of guy you can see fully dressed and imagine buck naked in
the throes of an orgasm - every six-feet-two, muscular, sexually intoxicating
inch of him. He's an ambitious freshman in a prominent brokerage firm who's
figured out he can use more than his smarts to get ahead. He's perfected a
surefire method to drive home a hard deal. No one can resist him. And he's got
one really big secret. But that will cost you.
For photographer J.J. Johnstone, the price of Dick just might cost him everything.
For photographer J.J. Johnstone, the price of Dick just might cost him everything.
You can find The Price of Dick at these retailers: Amazon ARe Barnes & Noble
About Dan Skinner:
I'd already
been in the photography business for too many years to count, shooting covers
for hetero romance covers when I had my epiphany (ten years ago now) to shoot
gay book covers and make them as acceptable and mainstream as the hetero ones.
It was a big risk and I was told by many people, especially people who advised
me financially, that it might not be a profitable thing to do, and could quite
possibly ruin my reputation. But I was tired of seeing the proliferation of
covers featuring a man and woman, the cologne and perfume ads featuring a man
and a woman... every ad under the sun - only featuring a man and a woman, and
knowing that only one side of life was being spoon fed to us by the media as
the acceptable aspiration and ideal. In fact, it made me angry and crazy, and
determined to do something about it. We were here... didn't anyone see us?!!
I had several things working against me.
The m/m fiction genre was just beginning to come into its own, but television
and the entertainment industry were slowly allowing us into their vision as
folks who existed right alongside them, and I knew the flux and flow of gay
literature was going to eventually change. Will and Grace helped that.
Brokeback Mountain helped that. So I had hope and crossed my fingers that I
made a good choice as well as a conscientious one.
Along with that, I had to find guys daring
enough to pose with each other in photos mimicking the same love and adoration
as was seen in every Harlequin cover since time immemorial... They had to
embrace and kiss and portray romance… between two people of the same gender. So
finding the guys was going to be a chore... and finding guys in the Bible belt
of the country, the Midwest, was going to be even tougher. But I did it.
Revenge is
mine… the dbag’s bed has been christened by the models during a shoot!!
And now...for the giveaway!
Giveaway Details: Dan has kindly offered an ebook copy of The Price of Dick to one lucky commenter! Woop woop!
How to Enter: Please leave a comment on this blog post and include some means of contacting you (e.g., email address, Twitter handle, Goodreads profile, etc.). The contest is open until 10PM (Pacific time) on Monday, June 16th, and the randomly-chosen winner will be contacted shortly thereafter. If you win, please respond within 48 hours or else we'll have to choose another winner.
Thanks for stopping by, Dan!
