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!

Home of the Flat Pack

[photo by Jackie McGuinness of Junk Boat Travels]