Moonlight's totally not-gay vampires (Jason Dohring and Alex O'Laughlin)

In a continued effort to bring you all that is important in the world of gay entertainment and ensure that you are being spoon-fed images of gorgeous, commoditized manflesh, we present the newly-minted AfterElton Briefs. Following the usual assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• We've been mooning over Moonlight as of late (sexy men biting each other ... what's not to like?!), and it looks like they're on to us. In the recent "Beautiful People You're Not" issue of TV Guide, lead Alex O'Loughlin's co-star Sophia Myles notes, "The young girls love him, the older ladies love him, and the gay guys love him." So ... work well done, men.

• Moviefone is is running a feature on the 25 Sexiest Movie Couples, and were considerate enough to include two same-sex pairings in the bunch. (The Brokeback Mountain fellas are #13, and the ladies from Mulholland Drive make a much-deserved appearance as well.)

• Hey Clive Barker fans: if you're in or around NYC, the Sloan Gallery will be showing some of his latest artwork (including conceptual artwork from the upcoming Midnight Meat Train movie) for another week. Check it out!

• Maybe Neil Patrick Harris should never have clarified those misinterpreted anti-Britney remarks after all ... no good deed goes unpunished, Neil!

• Gay geek alert! Renowned out comics artist Phil Jimenez was at the recent NY Comic Con and this site has a lengthy interview with him regarding what he's up to.

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

With the gay geeks finally getting representation on Beauty and the Geek thanks to Gregg, I've been thinking about openly gay men in pop culture as well as the visibility of gay themes in the realms of science fiction, comics and video games. Overall, these are realms where gay fans frequently feel left out, but things are getting better. Here are six openly gay men working in those areas who have also helped improve visibility for those of us who'd like to have a superhero, space captain, or time-traveling immortal of our own.

Russell T. Davies

Davies became a well-known name when he created the original Queer As Folk, a series that was groundbreaking at the time for prominently featuring gay characters including Doctor Who fanboy Vince Tyler. Davies was a longtime Doctor Who fan himself and was eventually tasked with reviving the franchise. Davies' Who run brought queer characters to the franchise. While most gay characters were a part of the world's background, Davies' first season of Who gave us Captain Jack Harkness, a charming and roguish, time-traveling con artist. Captain Jack was a popular character who got his own spin-off series (we've discussed it occasionally) giving us the first bisexual male heroic lead on a mainstream sci-fi program.

One of the interesting tendencies of Davies is to reuse names, something that Davies says helps him flesh out a character. His Queer as Folk everyman Vince shared a name with the first companion in Davies' Doctor Who run, Rose. (And the Tyler name continued in a show that Davies didn't work on when the creators of Life on Mars named their time-traveling protagonist, Sam Tyler, after Rose.) He's introduced two smart and capable women named Jones (Prime Minister Harriet Jones and medical student Martha Jones) as well as Torchwood's super capable office assistant Ianto Jones. However, the character that has the geekiest lineage is Captain Jack who is named after Agatha Harkness, a popular character among gay Marvel readers. Naming your influential character after the tutor of a d-list comic book diva, that's geek cred.

Phil Jimenez

Jimenez's artwork first hit the comic shops in 1991, his amazingly detailed and realistic style quickly made an impression. Over time, his consistently strong work has built him a following that has made him one of comics' marquee names who publishers court for an exclusive contract (he's currently exclusive to Marvel and is working on the flagship Amazing Spider-Man, with his first issue hitting the shelves earlier this month).

Jimenez became a role model for gay comic fans in 1996 with an editorial that appeared the last issue of the Tempest mini-series that he wrote and pencilled. In the editorial, Jimenez publicly came out and touchingly remembered Neal Pozner the man who first hired him to work for DC Comics who became a mentor to Jimenez, as well as Jimenez' partner. Pozner died in 1994 and the eulogy was powerful not only for increasing gay visibility among comic creators but for bringing a gay relationship into the dialogue.

Clive Barker

Barker quickly made an impression as a horror writer, particularly after Stephen King praised him as "the future of horror". Barker has had a long and varied career that has included film (which includes the horror series Hellraiser as well as producing the film Gods and Monsters), comic books (Barker has an original series comic soon from IDW, who've previously published adaptations of his The Thief of Always and The Great and Secret Show) and video games.

One of the challenges in holiday gift giving comes when you've got someone who's passion is one you don't share -- how do you avoid embarrassing yourself with the gift of a slickly-marketed and badly-reviewed new item that will get you that thank you that just tries too hard to sound sincere? If one of the people on your gift-shopping list is a gaymer, GayGamer.net has assembled a helpful list of gift ideas, with suggestions for the most popular gaming consoles. It's a solid list that increases your chances of finding the game that's on their wish list.

Some games, justifiably, get mentioned in several spots like Puzzle Quest, with its addictive combination of puzzle game and fantasy RPG (it's available for the PSP, Nintendo DS and Windows). The Simpsons Game (which also got a thumbs-up from our own Marc and Lee) also gets multiple mentions for its Wii, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and XBox 360 editions.

Some of GayGamer's other interesting recommendations include Clive Barker's horror game for Windows, Jericho, on the Wii MySims (which avoids gender limitations) gets a nod, Janne D'Arc for the PSP (which I can't imagine being anywhere as cool as its TV ad) and the latest installment in the campy Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney series.

The instant-classic (among gaymers, at least) sandbox game Bully gets a recommendation for the Playstation 2. You might remember that Bully featured the possibility that your character may be gay. Even better, Bully's now priced as a "greatest hits" title, making it a bargain buy for the procrastinating gaymer on your list.

They also recommend the latest Neverwinter Nights expansion. So far, I don't think NWN2 has gay content, but the game allows you to create your own NWN2 adventures that can be shared with the NWN2 community. Here's your chance to share a little joy with your fellow gaymers ... or, at least, the ones who enjoy fantasy RPGs. While you're at it, you should sign up for Dwiz' LGBT friendly guild and help increase the visibility of the game's queer audience.

That's just a sample of what the GayGamer crew have to recommend: check out the list for the full selection. And for more general gay holiday gift ideas keep an eye out for AfterElton.com's holiday gift guide, coming soon.

• That's apparently Neil Patrick Harris under all that clownery. As though I needed reason to love him any more than I already do...

• Gay horror legend Clive Barker has a new video game, Jericho, coming out for the XBox ... and the homophobes aren't happy about it, even though there's nothing gay about it in the least.

• A historian on the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade shares his thoughts on how the gays have been instrumental in making the holiday more than tricks and treats in this radio interview.

• Brothers & Sisters' gay exec producer Greg Berlanti is signed on to a Green Lantern movie. Break out the tights!

• Early images and art for the new film adaptation of the gay-but-not-gay classic, Brideshead Revisited.

• I don't know which is more alarming: the fact that Ann Coulter was spotted dining in a gay-owned West Hollywood restaurant, or the possibility that she has moved on from living strictly off the blood of cattle.

Even folks not into horror know the name Clive Barker and some of his more popular creations (Hellraiser, Candyman). But many folks don't realize that the horror author and filmmaker is a gay man who is also responsible for a number of wildly successful children's and young adult books (The Thief of Always, among others) and served as executive producer on Gods and Monsters, the groundbreaking biopic of gay horror director James Whale that brought both Sir Ian McKellen and director Bill Condon (Dreamgirls) to a broader American mainstream audience.

Next week Barker will release his first grown-up horror novel in seven years, Mister B. Gone, a classic horror novel about a cursed book inhabited by a medieval demon. But as a special treat for his gay horror fans, Barker will be making a pre-release signing appearance this Saturday at the A Different Light LGBT bookstore in West Hollywood.

Folks interested in getting the book before it's available to the general public (including personalized, signed copies) or in meeting the master of horror himself can head on over to the store's website. If it weren't thousands of miles away, I would so be there! If anyone makes it to the signing we'd love to hear about it.