Jon Michaelsen's Blog: Ramblings, Excerpts, WIPs, etc., page 32

Responding to requests that I participate in the Weekly Saturday Author Interviews

After interviewing ten authors thus far for the Weekly Saturday Author Interview series, I’ve had several requests to participate as well – so, at the risk of appearing self-serving, this week I answer the standard questions (with some modifications) asked of previous interviewees. Hope you enjoy!

Where do you live?

I live in the beautiful city of Atlanta, Georgia, in a suburb about two miles north of infamous Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza.

What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

This may sound cliché or corny depending on your frame of reference but first and foremost what I am most proud of is being in a relationship – albeit not yet allowed legally to wed in my state – for 29 years. That’s ancient in gay years for sure. I met my partner, Rick, while in a bar in Midtown Atlanta, the Armory, when I was quite drunk and made a lewd gesture (I grabbed his crotch) to him. A bartender I knew had actually asked Rick to take me home to keep me safe. He tucked me in his bed and slept on the soda. We’ve been together ever since.

Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?

Well, I shared some about how I met my partner above, but to expand a little more, We bought our first home in nine years after being a couple, realizing we’d be together for the long haul. We anticipated being in our home for a few years before making another move. We’ve yet to move from our original home.  We have four monstrous terriers; one boy and three girls, of which two are mother and daughter.  In 2009 during the worst of the economy, I was laid off from a company I’d been with almost 20 years. We took a very big leap at that time and I began working with my partner to increase our business. We’ve managed not to kill each other.

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

My inspirations are varied, but I love to watch people in public. My previous corporate career required lots of traveling and I would often spend time much in airports awaiting connections, weathering cancelled flights while watching people, imagining their lives. Most interesting ones have become characters in my stories, so watch out! Challenges; they are too numerous to list, but some I mention may be familiar to many writers. I am very introverted. Writing is one thing, but putting myself out there to market and promote is far more challenging for me. One of the reasons I attended GRL this year was to meet and mingle with other writers and readers in a very open, comfortable environment.

 2013 GayRomLit, Atlanta GA

You’ve answered this question a lot of times, but please indulge our readers (and fellow writers): Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

I am a total puntster on short stories and novellas, but for longer works, I tend to sketch a minimal outline, create bios of main characters and build upon that as I go. Rarely do I outline detail until I’ve reached about fifty to seventy five percent mark of a longer story.

 You are a relatively new author, writing mainly in the gay mystery, suspense/thriller and erotica genres. How about an update?   

My goal is to spending more time writing in the gay mystery, suspense/thriller genre and finishing one of my current WIP, a paranormal romantic novella with strong mystery/thriller elements. This is my first paranormal-themed story, and the amount of research into the subject matter has been extensive to ensure I get things. I am also working to finish the sequel and final part to False Evidence: Murder Most Deadly 1, which I hope to have out sometime in 2014. False Evidence was released last spring, but just six weeks after release my publisher closed the doors. I spent a few weeks researching to find another publisher willing to re-release my backlist as soon as possible. The publisher who offered contracts to re-release the erotic thriller I co-wrote with Alex Morgan, Switch Hitter, is Wilde City Press. I’ve also signed a contract to re-release False Evidence with WCP, but waiting to re-release until I’ve finished the sequel. We feel it’s best to combine both False Evidence and the sequel under the title Murder Most Deadly. Wilde City Press just released my debut full-length novel, Pretty Boy Dead, a police-procedural, mystery/thriller featuring closeted homicide detective, Kendall Parker, the first in what I hope is a long series.

False Evidence: Murder Most Deadly 1

Do you have any guilty pleasures?

Absolutely! Haagen-Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Ice-Cream, neuromuscular massages and Tia Maria on the rocks.

Have had you ever had to deal with homophobia after your gay novels are released, and if so, what form has it taken?

Actually, no, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise considering I only began publishing since late 2008. Acceptance these days is far greater to most writers, if not all, of the gay mystery, suspense/thriller genre, I clamored to read twenty-thirty years ago the moment each of their novels was released. Ground-breaking novelist such as Victor J. Banis, Vincent Largo, Felice Picano, Michael Nava, Joseph Hansen, Richard Stevenson, Michael Craft, Mark Richard Zubro, among many more.

At the risk of “sounding self-serving” (a comment from Spock in Star Trek (2009)) can you share a little about your current release and/or WIP?

Earlier this month, I released a debut full-length novel, Pretty Boy Dead with, Wilde City Press, the first in my planned Kendall Parker Mysteries series.

Clink on the link below for a blurb and excerpt of Pretty Boy Dead.

http://www.jonmichaelsen.net/?page_id=97

Early reviews of Pretty Boy Dead:

“Pretty Boy Dead is a well-written police procedural with an engaging plot and well-developed characters. As an opening for the new series, it works perfectly – while this story is done, you want to know more about Kendall Parker. Hopefully, there will be much more.” – Reviews by Jessewave

Read the entire review: http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/2013/11/20/pretty-boy-dead/

“…early on the “who” and” why” in regards to the murder seemed fairly obvious. But then the author throws out clues that make the reader think maybe they haven’t quite gotten it figured out after all. This was the case for me for sure. There is one thing that I can say that I most definitely did not see coming. This is a good thing because for a while there, I was beginning to think that the story was a little bit too predictable. Thankfully that predictability flew out the window.” – On Top Down Under Book Reviews

http://ontopdownunderbookreviews.com/pretty-boy-dead-kendall-parker-mysteries-1/

Find Jon Michaelsen on the web:

www.jonmichaelsen.net

http://www.facebook.com/KendallParkerSeries

Now Available:  PRETTY BOY DEAD

Pretty Boy Dead - Reviewed by Jessewave

"Pretty Boy Dead is, first and foremost, a police procedural and a very realistic one at that..."

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
A review by LadyM

"...Pretty Boy Dead is a well-written police procedural with an engaging plot and well-developed characters. As an opening for the new series, it works perfectly – while this story is done, you want to know more about Kendall Parker. Hopefully, there will be much more..."

Read the entire review here:
http://tinyurl.com/Pretty-Boy-Dead-Re...

My Interview with the Author of the Taking The Odds series; Lawyer by day…Write at Night!

This week, my interview is with the author of the very popular Taking The Odds series, James Buchanan - lawyer by day and writer by night.

Where do you live?

I live in sunny Southern California.  Pasadena to be exact… I can walk to the Rose Parade route every Jan 1st.

Writers rarely like to toot their own horns; seriously! What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

Just getting published. Everything beyond that has been a roller coaster ride of fun.

Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?

It’s flipping crazy?  Seriously, a two lawyer family, one demon spawn in High School, another in Middle School. Cooking competitions and chef events for the eldest in between racing to practices and softball double headers for the younger.  Both are in bowling leagues where they earn scholarship money from competitions all over the state.

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

Time. It is my enemy and my friend. Lately, it’s just been my enemy. But, when I’m just busy enough with the evil day job, my jibe gets going and I crank out bits and pieces in the time I have.

You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge as our readers (and fellow writers) would like to know: Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

I’m a total punster. I don’t outline until half the book is “done”.

How do you deal with the constant distractions such as blogs, FB, promo and real life (like that dreaded daytime job)?

Not well these days. It’s slowed down my writing some.

You currently have a gay mystery/suspense/romance series known to fans as the “Hard Fall” novels. How do you sustain serialized, continuing characters, especially considering the romance?

I look for how they have to navigate the various things that life throws out at them. Especially when you set up a hard life for them.

Have had you ever had to deal with homophobia after your gay novels are released, and if so, what form has it taken?

I haven’t had to particularly deal with homophobia, at lease in an overt fashion. Disbelief, raised eyebrows, a little shocked look when someone reads a back cover and then quickly sets the book down on the table. Most of the time when I’m shilling my books, its in gay friendly venues. And I haven’t twisted any hater’s shorts so much that they’ve gone after me online.

On behalf of the Facebook Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Group, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre really want to know.

Last question; can you share with us a little about your current release and/or WIP?

I’m currently working on book 4 of the Deputy Joe books, Requiem in Leather. It will follow Joe and Kabe to Northern California where they will have to track down a missing man.

Excerpt:

We got to a small meeting room that might have been in any Ward hall. A circle of folding chairs took up most of the floor space. Craig grabbed one and snapped it shut. Following his lead I closed up two. As I came up next to where he stacked them, Craig asked, “So how did you know Jack?” Kabe pitched in as well.

Didn’t want to lie even if right now Craig didn’t go off as skittish as he did on the phone. “Never met the man.” I admitted. “But my ah…Kabe did.” I pointed towards him.

Focusing in on the little bit I’d hesitated on, Craig prodded, “Partner? Significant other?” He kept at stacking the chairs while we talked.

“I don’t know as we’re at that stage yet.” I shrugged and got another couple of chairs squared away.

“Boyfriend works.” Kabe snapped.

I kinda dodge the weight of that title. “That always sounds like high school or something.”

That got me a smile offa Craig. “It does, doesn’t it?”

I paused. How to put it? From what Ryan said, Craig knew what Jack and Mike were into. “Anyway, Kabe, he was with Jack for a while.” Left out the part about it being in prison and all. “Not long.” With my thumbs hooked over the back, I drummed my fingers on the backrest of one of the metal chairs. “But Bill, a good friend of Kabe’s grandma is, I guess, informally administering Jack’s estate.”

Kabe punctuated his observation of, “Like the Feds left an estate,” by folding a chair with a bang.

Craig sat down in one of the remaining seats. He rested his forearms on his thighs and his chin on his balled up fists. After studying me for a while, he asked, “And why are you involved?”

I didn’t sit. “Long story short?” Just stood there massaging the metal in my hands like I could turn it to putty in my grip. “I’m a deputy sheriff in Utah. Detective.” Felt kinda odd, me being on the receiving end of an interrogation, but I didn’t have the instant authority that a uniform instilled. “Bill asked me to help him out.” I had to establish why people could trust me with what they knew. “Because he’s done by Kabe in the past, I said I’d give it a go, see if I could track Mike down.”

“Okay.” Craig relaxed a little, sitting back up and dropping the death grip his hands had on each other. “And how does Mike fit into that?”

I flipped the chair around and sat down on it backwards with my arms crossed over the spine and my knees out to either side. “You knew about Jack, right?”

Now he offered up a little defensive dip in his shoulders. “Depends on what you think I might know.”

“That he and Mike were into some interesting activities.”

“You mean into leather?” That was delivered with a pinched up face, like he thought I might be either stupid or leading him along on something.

“Yeah, and I’m not really trying to dance around things.” I really wasn’t. “I’m just kinda new to it all and sometimes the words fail me.” Managed a small snort of laughter on that.

“Seriously he isn’t.” Kabe hoisted himself up onto a table, swinging his legs in the air and grabbing the lip with his hands. “There’s about half part shy and half naive mixing up in someone who doesn’t talk a whole fucking lot anyway.” One of his sly smiles lit the room. “Luckily he’s only shy and naive with words and not every thing else.”

I shot him a glare. “Watch your language.” Wasn’t sure if it was mostly because of the tease or the cursing in a church. After a moment of not being able to cow Kabe in the least, I gave up and returned my attention back to Craig. “That’s why my boy knew Jack, back when.” Although I’d never give personal information to a suspect in an interview, I had to learn a different set of steps for this kind of thing. “Kabe’s teaching me quite a few things.”

“That’s an understatement.” Kabe sounded smug.

I ignored him and got back on track, “Jack’s dead, like I said, and his friends, with the same interests, are trying to organize a memorial service.”

“Okay.” Craig massaged his face with his palms for a bit then let out a deep breath. “So yeah Mike was into that scene: whips, chains, ball gags, Mike liked it all.” He seemed to relax a hair too.

“Like I said, Jack’s dead and there’s a memorial service. I guess Jack wanted to have all of his boys come together, least those that are still with us and Bill’s been trying to make that happen.” I held out my hands like there weren’t nothing in them but air. “We’re coming up empty when it comes to Mike.

“You can’t find Mike?” Again he sounded surprised by that. “Didn’t Jack leave a way to contact Mike? I mean, they were really close.” His tone was almost more insistent that his words. “Closer than a lot of guys into that kind of lifestyle get.”

“From what I gather Jack was so sick by the time he realized Mike was in the wind that there weren’t much he could do.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my hand. “I’m pretty sure Mike was still in the Marines as of maybe six-eight months ago. Jack tried to find him through the service and was brushed off.” Realized I’d wear my skin off if I kept at it and moved my hand back down to the lip of the chair. “And what he did know of Mike’s past, Jack wasn’t able to tell Bill. From what I’m understanding, Jack just wasn’t with it enough to be helpful, the cancer got him pretty quick.”

Find James Buchanan on the web:

http://james-buchanan.com/

http://www.amazon.com/James-Buchanan/e/B002BMIYJO/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1384621354&sr=1-2-ent

 

 

Thrills, Chills, Mystery, Suspense…and Romance; OH MY! Sitting Down With Rick R. Reed

Four years ago if you had asked me would I envision myself interviewing writers of GLBT fiction to publish weekly, I would have laughed out loud. However, that is exactly what I have been doing now since the advent of the online social group I created and moderate: Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction. This week, I get the chance to interview a writer I greatly admire as a gushy fan of his writing, and who I finally got to meet personally when attending GRL 2013 in Atlanta this year; Rick R. Reed.

 Where do you live?

Seattle, WA. More specifically, we live in the lower Queen Anne neighborhood, just above Lake Union (and, for the movie buffs, directly above the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat).

Writers rarely like to toot their own horns; seriously! What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

Oh, I toot my own horn all the time and get a lot of enjoyment out of it. Every man should toot his own horn at least once daily, don’t you think?

But seriously, folks… My greatest accomplishment? The promoting, horn-tooter in me would like to point to this or that book and count the reasons why it’s so special. But actually, my greatest accomplishment is raising a wonderful son and seeing him happily grown up and married to an amazing man. Right along with that is my own marriage to my husband. Even as recently as just a few years ago, I might not have believed I could ever write those words I just did. I guess the word family would be my answer when asked what my greatest accomplishment is.

Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?

Well, I just did. At our house, we are all Cancers, even our dog, Lily (an adorable Boston terrier) so we are all very much into home life. I just was talking on the phone to my son the other day and I told him that I thought a great measure of success is when you realize there’s nowhere else you’d rather be than home. I feel that way. I love nothing more than hanging out with my husband, Bruce, cooking a terrific meal (I love to cook) and maybe just staying in and watching a movie. When we do go out, it’s usually to explore Seattle’s restaurant scene, to see a play or a movie, or to enjoy the abundant nature that surrounds us here in the Pacific Northwest. I also spend time at the gym and running outdoors when the weather is nice.

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

Creating characters that I care deeply about. If I care deeply about them, chances are my readers will as well. Getting to the emotional truth of people in fiction is paramount in my goals as a writer.

You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge as our readers (and fellow writers) would like to know: Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

As I said above, for me writing a good story is all about finding my characters, making them real, and understanding their truth. What that means, to answer your question, is that I am more a seat-of-the-pants kind of writer. I like to take a journey when I write a book and I like to be surprised at what my characters say or do. Their truth informs me and the story, which means things can go off on a completely different tangent from what I intended. Of course, I have a general idea of where I’m going and what I want to say, but I am totally a pantser.

Early in your publishing career, you quickly earned a name (and some awards along the way!) for gay horror, suspense and thriller titles, such as “IM”, “The Blue Moon Café”, “A Demon Inside” and “Dead End Street” (and many others in mainstream fiction) – to name a few. More recently you’ve moved in the direction of gay romance. Can you share with us what influenced you to shift genres?

This is the question I really get asked a lot these days! I don’t think I’ll ever completely abandon suspense/horror, but I do think that if and when I write it again, it will be couched within a love story. I think I made the switch to romance because I found writing about the most important human connection we can have incredibly satisfying and universal. Personally, I think because I have found the love of my life (eleven years together, legally married for going on one year) and am no longer seeking that out, it’s easier to write about love than it was when I was so preoccupied with finding it for myself, if that makes any sense. I am enjoying the light over the dark right now.

Can we expect the return of gay mystery/thriller/suspense fiction novels from you?     

As I said above, I don’t think I’ve left it behind, it’s just that it will be part of a love story. In fact, if you look at almost any of my work, even the stuff that’s considered thriller/horror/suspense, the love story is still at the heart of it. But yeah, I have a short coming out November 17 from Amber Allure [www.amberquill.com] called “The Ghost in Number 9” that has the ghost of a closeted married man coming back to haunt a trysting couple in a no-tell motel. And planning is in the works with my friend and very talented writer, BG Thomas, to write a book together. Who knows? There may be a supernatural or thriller element to that.

Two of my all-time favorite gay thriller/suspense novels you wrote are “Tricks” and the sequel, “Rent”. Will fans of Wren and Rufus get another story featuring them? What inspired you to write their love story amid the backdrop of go-go boys, sex and murder?

I haven’t really considered a sequel, but I never say never. If anything, I would be more likely to write something with new characters but set in the “Tricks” universe—the Chicago stripper bar that is central to both books. I think a gay bar has so many stories to tell because of all the different personalities that walk through the doors. Each person has a unique tale. Hmmm…this is getting the ideas flowing….

Have had you ever had to deal with homophobia after your gay novels are released, and if so, what form has it taken?

I have, sadly, had to deal with homophobia, but rarely in the context of my books. Most readers are well aware that my books are liberally peopled with gay characters and that’s what they want to read, so I really haven’t had that experience. What does make me sad is that I know there are people out there—straight friends and family—who are thrilled with my work and interested in it, but don’t read it because it’s “gay.” Little do they realize that gay themes are also human themes and they just might get an enjoyable read out of it if they’d concentrate more on the human part instead of being put off by the gay part. After all, if I was put off by “straight” fiction, I would have so much less to read!

On behalf of the Facebook Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Group, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre really want to know.

Thank you for having me, Jon. Wait. That sounds dirty, doesn’t it? (Jon: not in the least!)

Last question; can you share with us a little about your current release and/or WIP?

Oh yes! Legally Wed comes out in January and I’m so excited. It’s kind of my nod to same-sex marriage being legalized in my home state of Washington last year (my husband and I were married on the very first day it became legal and look forward to our first wedding anniversary on December 9). Anyway, here is the blurb for Legally Wed (and the gorgeous cover is by cover artist extraordinaire, Anne Cain).

 BLURB

Love comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister, Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan wants—a happy life with a wonderful husband. Now that Seattle has made gay marriage legal, Duncan knows he can have the same thing. But when he proposes to his boyfriend Tucker, he doesn’t get the answer he hoped for. Tucker’s refusal is another misstep in a long line of failed romances. Despairing, Duncan thinks of all the loving unions in his life—and how every one of them is straight. Maybe he could be happy, if not sexually compatible, with a woman. When zany, gay-man-loving Marilyn Samples waltzes into his life, he thinks he may have found his answer.

Determined to settle, Duncan forgets his sister’s wisdom about love and begins planning a wedding with Marilyn. But life throws Duncan a curveball. When he meets wedding planner Peter Dalrymple, unexpected sparks ignite. Neither man knows how long he can resist his powerful attraction to the other. For sure, there’s a wedding in the future. But whose?

And while I’m at it, I might as well give you the blurb and cover for “The Ghost in Number 9” as well.

BLURB

For Tony and Carter, room number 9 in the Galaxy Gold motel on Seattle’s seedy Aurora Avenue is a refuge. There, the two young lovers have found a place to hide away from a world that would condemn them for their love. Within the darkened, summer-hot confines of room number 9, Carter and Tony can explore their love and lust for one another, free of the burdens of the outside world.

But room number 9 holds a terrible and tragic secret–one that dates back to the Galaxy Gold’s opening back in 1962, when Seattle was hosting its World’s Fair. There’s a ghost in room number 9 and he has a message for Tony and Carter, a message about the consequences of shame and hiding love behind a closed motel room door.

Will Tony and Carter listen to the ghost’s message and have the courage to bring their love out into the open? Or will this long-ago story, one eerily similar to Tony and Carter’s, be ignored?

The answer awaits in room number 9.

Rick R. Reed Biography and Contact

Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). Lambda Literary Review has called him, “a writer that doesn’t disappoint.” Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever “at work on another novel.”

Visit Rick’s website at www.rickrreed.com or follow his blog at http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/. You can also like Rick on Facebook at www.facebook.com/rickrreedbooks  or on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rickrreed. Rick always enjoys hearing from readers and answers all e-mails personally. Send him a message at jimmyfels@gmail.com. To find any of Rick’s books mentioned above, visit www.amazon.com and search for Rick R. Reed or visit his author page at http://www.amazon.com/Rick-R.-Reed/e/B000AP5H2G/

My Interview This Week is a Stylist of Diverse,Gay Literary Fiction – Author Anel Viz

My guest interview this week is Anel Viz, author of many diverse literary fiction, by his own admission claims, “As a writer, I am first and foremost a stylist. I agonize over finding the right word…”

Where do you live? City, town, island, country?

I’m planning to move to Minneapolis in the next year or so, but for now I own a home half block away from the Mississippi River (but I can’t see it because the hospital is in the way) in small city in the center of Minnesota.  Although here in the Upper Midwest most people would probably describe it as medium size, it still has a small town feel to it.  Still, the population has more than doubled since I moved here some 38 years ago.  Mind you, now, where I live has just about zero connection with who I am.  I grew up in New York City (Bronx, Queens, Manhattan) and have lived over one-fifth of my life in French-speaking countries, mostly France itself, half a block away from the Mediterranean with a clear view of it from my balcony.

Writer’s rarely like to toot their own horn; seriously! What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

Tell me about it.  I totally suck at promo, and I mean that literally.  (I mean the “totally”—“suck” is a figure of speech.)  So I will take your statement as a challenge and toot away. My greatest accomplishment?  Hasn’t happened yet.  That would be having someone not merely review one my books (something that doesn’t happen a lot to begin with) but write an essay about it or about my work as a whole—real, honest-to-goodness literary analysis à la  “Graves of Academe”.  (Yep, I’m one of those, by training and profession.)  Of course it will be a cold day in hell before that happens, so I’ll take advantage of your invitation and do a little literary self-analysis. Please don’t stop reading.  Let me explain.  I’m a writer of gay-themed fiction who aspires to be a literary mainstream author but lacks either the talent, the experience, or both.  I fully realize that, like “liberal” (and just as undeservedly), “literary” has acquired pejorative connotations in some circles.  If a book is boring, flowery or pretentious they call it literary.  That, however, is pseudo-literary.  Lord knows my books have been slammed, especially on Goodreads, but to the best of my knowledge nobody has ever called them boring, flowery or pretentious.  A truly literary work is beautifully written, meaty, and makes you think.  Now, there is no reason a gay romance can’t be literary, but let’s face it—most of ’em ain’t.  There’s no lack of great gay poetry, and I can think of a number of excellent gay-themed novels (Mary Renault and Alan Hollinghurst immediately come to mind) and a few classics with gay subtexts (Gide, Musil, Wilde, etc.), but off hand only three in-your-face gay novels I’d call masterpieces.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were more? Bet everyone’s wondering what those three in-your-face gay masterpieces are.  Jean Genet’s Our Lady of the Flowers, Marguerite Yourcenar’s Hadrian’s Memoirs, and Manuel Puig’s Kiss of the Spider Woman.  Just my opinion, of course.

Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?

My wife and I separated 23½ years ago but we’re still legally married.  Why (both why we split and why we haven’t divorced) would be getting too personal.  We have two grown (but not grown up) sons.  I’ve been with my only ever boyfriend (not telling his name) for ten years, and he moved in with me four years ago.  He’s been divorced twice, has a son plus three step-children, and is the reason I insist that “gay for so-and-so” really does exist.  (Pace, ye naysayers.)  We got our current dog (Steve—his name you can know) two and a half years ago.  I’ve always had dogs.  Anything else?  Oh, yeah.  “Only ever boyfriend” emphatically does not mean only ever male sex partner.  Going into more detail on that one would be getting too personal and might even result in FB closing down your group.

Where do you write?

Here, at my laptop in front of the living room window, with a six-story brick hospital blocking my view of the river.

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

The craft.  As a writer, I am first and foremost a stylist.  I agonize over finding the right word; I read every paragraph aloud to make sure it flows; I endlessly tweak the narrator’s voice; I make use of and develop recurring motifs and fret about their placement; I strive to come up with realistic dialogue while making every word count; I’m always asking my betas if I’m belaboring a point or sound preachy; I work and rework the arc of the story, putting in glimpses of what will happen later (in the words of one reviewer “just enough to tweak your curiosity but not give anything”) as well as surprising twists that in the words of another “seem inevitable in hindsight.” Yet for me the greatest challenge by far is creating authentic, multi-dimensional characters.  I write psychological fiction.  (Literary fiction I only aim at; psychological fiction I actually do write.)  In order to make my characters real, I make them the product of their culture (not the reader’s culture), individuate them (the stereotypes in the Kaleidoscope story Roomies only play at being types), and take pains to tell the reader less about them than s/he needs to know.  As I say in the preface to Kaleidoscope, “Every human mind is unique, a jumble of ever-changing ideas, assumptions, emotions, desires, conflicts, intentions, certainties, doubts and, yes, fears; a personality too complex to be seen as a whole. We never truly know another person; we do not truly understand ourselves.”  Let me add to that that no amount of therapy, psychoanalysis or blinding flashes of epiphany will ever reveal the totality of any person’s unconscious thoughts or subconscious.  Real people do not conform exactly to textbook definitions, nor does any psychological study, however exhaustive, lay out a complete person.  So when I come across a neat explanation of a character’s motivations in a work of fiction, that character immediately loses some depth.  When an author tells me exactly what makes his or her tick, they flatten out entirely.  There are some things even an omniscient narrator cannot know.

You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge as our readers (and fellow writers) want to know: Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

Both and neither.  With shorter stories, I often (but not always) get an idea, start at the beginning and write straight through, plotting by the seat of my pants.  For longer stories, novellas and novels, I start with characters in a situation and work out from there in both directions but not chronologically and still undecided which, if any, of those characters will be my protagonist.  By the time I’m about half done, certainly by the time the work is 80% finished, I have a fairly good idea of a more or less complete plot, but well before figured out what that plot is going to be, I had carefully worked out the arc and structure of the story line.  I know the pacing of my books before I know everything that’s going to happen in them or how they will end. For example, in City of Lovely Brothers, I decided on a four part structure within a narrative frame and having the historian-narrator introduce each part in the first person, and that the four parts would be Caliban’s from birth until he fractures his hip, from Caliban’s return to the ranch until Nick moves in with him, Caliban’s and Nick’s life together on the ranch, and the fourth after they leave the ranch—all that before I knew exactly what would happen in any of the parts except for the sections scattered around the novel that I had already written, before I got the idea for many of the crucial secondary characters, including Amanda, Hester, Calvin Jr., Jake, Logan, and Troilus Pardoner, to name a few.  But you want to know about my thrillers and suspense, not my historicals. So your answer is: Yes, I do plot, but I don’t plot plot.  And I’m most “seat of my pants-like” when it comes to my characters, which I never plan.  I delve into them and discover what’s there.

How do you deal with the constant distractions such as blogs, FB, promo and real life (like that dreaded daytime job)? I don’t.  I retired a little over a year ago, I’ve already said I suck at promo, my blog is moribund, and FB sends me into sensory overload, causing my brain to shut down.

You have proven yourself a master and many genres, including Drama, Thriller and Suspense. How do you prepare shifting your muse to tackle a new genre?

You left out historical and humor (for two), and I’ve written more of each of those than the three you mention put together.  Thing is, though, I don’t think in terms of genre except insofar as I’m a genre bender.  Why worry about shifting my muse when my muse is going to shift the genre? I love to toy with my readers and to do it in subtle ways so they don’t realize I’m constantly playing push-the-genre-envelope games.  Here’s an example I don’t believe anyone has picked up on.  One of the so-called challenges of first person narrator romance is how to work in a description of the main character.  The cliché solution is to have him look in a mirror.  In P’tit Cadeau, which is on my mind because I read an excerpt from it at GRL, the narrator is an artist and I describe most of his paintings in elaborate detail with particular focus on color.  In the course of the novel, he does a self-portrait.  I give the composition, the setting, how he’s posed, what he (isn’t) wearing, etc., but not a word about what he looks like.  No eye color, no haircut, no complexion, no toothy smile, no shoe size—nada.  In the end, the only physical attributes we know for sure are his age, that he’s circumcised, and what little we can infer about his build from how he fits together with his model and lover, whom I describe repeatedly.  But here I am again, going on and on about a genre other than the one this interview is supposedly about.  On the other hand, given the mind games I like to play, is it any wonder I’m drawn to drama, thriller and suspense?  (Make that non-traditional drama, thriller and suspense.)

With Horror, Dark & Lite, the two-volume parallel structure preceded all the stories in them except for the first and last.  I got the rights back to two of my earliest publications that had appeared in multi-author anthologies—a scary vampire novella and a comic shifter short story—that I wanted to revise and re-release.   Both of them already pushed the genre envelope: a first person narrator who doesn’t know what his own story is about (to wit that his lover is a werewolf) and a vampire story without vampires.  (By the way, The Frenchman, a free read accessible in the archives of Wilde Oats online magazine, is a shifter story with no shifters in it.) All seven stories in the horror collection twist their traditional genre in a different way.  Val uses vampirism as a metaphor for obsession and domination in a piling up of graphic sex scenes parallel to what is going on in the characters’ lives outside of the bedroom.  On the surface, the surfeit of non-stop sex seems gratuitous, but as one reviewer pointed out when they finally “come up for air, their lives have been irrevocably changed” so clearly it does advance the plot. Slasher resembles Photographic Memories in my Kaleidoscope anthology in that it is best described as a non-whodunit except in this case they catch the perp.  I throw in enough red herrings along the way to open a seafood restaurant, including some that cast suspicion on one of the main characters a couple of pages after a scene that provides him a watertight alibi.  On top of that, it contains a handful of episodes that are variants of scenes from my favorite scary movies. The Matador is an historical novella that gradually moves from realistic social commentary to paranormal shifter, then back and forth between the two, so structurally the work itself is a shifter.  As vampirism is a sexual metaphor in Val, bullfighting works allegorically in The Matador: Goading the bull is a kind of foreplay, goring stands in for anal intercourse, the estocada a muerte for orgasm, etc.  And vice versa.  So one can’t call it a metaphor because which element is the image and which the reality are constantly shifting. Similarly, each story in the “lite” volume draws on a different type of comedy.

You have published Anthologies and short story collections; including the suspense/thriller horror anthologies, Dark Horror and Horror Lite. Which of the stories in the collections frightened you the most and why? (I’ve read Slasher, which opens at a helluva pace – what could be scarier than a brutal murder in a gay bathhouse!)

This interview.  (Just kidding, though it wouldn’t surprise me if all this literary self-analysis has scared most of your readers away.) None of the “lite” stories are scary.  The part in the vampire story where the Viet Bloedrank returns to the hotel room after feeding comes closest, but there’s no real feeling of threat, in my opinion.  The stalker story has plenty of creepy moments, but that’s all they are—creepy.  In the dark volume, Slasher has the highest concentration of scary scenes, one of which you mention.  A sensation of dread permeates the opening, although no one is in immediate danger.  But for the reader, I think the dark alley with the cloned vampiric hustlers lurking in the shadows in Val (although that scene has its origin in a tongue-in-cheek bit of wordplay) or when Soledad encounters the bull in a deserted street in The Matador are more frightening.  Or the scene in The Matador where…  But that would be a spoiler. Curiously, what was most frightening for me would be the least frightening of them all to read: Bryce Olson is Pregnant, the aliens story in Horror Lite.  Once I was working on it, jumping from scene to scene in random order as usual, the writing process terrified me because I had no idea how I was going to end it right up until I wrote the ending.  It had become apparent that the ending had to be the punch line, but, while I was sticking jokes in right and left, I wasn’t sure what the joke was.  How’s that for seat-of-your-pants writing?

After your book(s) come out, have had you ever had to deal with homophobia, and if so, what form has it taken?

No, never.  But very few people know that I’m Anel Viz, and Anel Viz only surfaces as a living, breathing person at conventions like GRL.  And when he’s just a virtual author noodling around on line, he pays as little attention to personal homophobic attacks as he does to negative trolling reviews on Goodreads.

On behalf of the Facebook Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Group, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre really want to know.

My pleasure, and I hope I haven’t overstepped the boundaries of self-promotion in the process.

Last question; will you share with us a little about your current release and/or WIP? Huh?  You’re asking for more horn tooting?  Okay, here goes.  I have too many Ws IP to count, so I’ll push my most recent release (last May), which finally came out in print a month ago, is a Rainbow Award finalist, and you yourself generously and enthusiastically reviewed on Alan Chin’s Gay/Lesbian Fiction Book Reviews blog, for which I thank you again. We’ve all heard some readers complain about a book because they don’t like the main character.  Well, the main character in Alma’s Will is a homophobic woman with no redeeming qualities I can think of off-hand.  Livia Redding was one of those characters who take over a story that wasn’t meant to be hers, and I rank her as one of my most vivid, real and complex creations.  She’s is the kind of person you “have to” feel sorry for but don’t because she’s so vicious.  But while the gay characters in the book have been hurt by bigotry and their wounds have not entirely healed, at most Liv’s homophobia complicates their lives, pisses them off and upsets them.  Although a generation earlier her interference would have been devastating, in spite all her bad-mouthing and machinations, she inflicts no real damage.  The gays are the survivors; Liv is the victim, destroyed by her own hatred and used by the fundamentalist Christians who don’t give a damn about her and only adopt her to further their cause.  In the end she learns nothing except her own powerlessness, which makes her no less dangerous as a source of contagion.  Unfortunately, there are plenty more like her. (Can I go now?)

Where on the web to find Anel Viz:

https://wildeoats.wordpress.com/anel-viz/

http://bookworld.editme.com/AnelViz

Author Interview – Erastes

Title: Author Interview – Erastes
Location: Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction facebook group
Link out: Click here
Description: My interview with the author of historical gay romances, Erastes
Date: 2013-10-26

Lambda Award Finalist and Gay Historical Fiction Author, Erastes

This week I had a chance to speak with Erastes, a writer who has established herself as a solid gay historical fiction author. Her first novel Standish (Regency) was nominated for a Lambda Award and her second, Transgressions (English Civil War) is part of the ground breaking line by Running Press and was a 2009 Lambda Award for gay romance.

Where do you live? City, town, island, country?

I live in the country – about ten miles from the nearest which is Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England.

I was raised in towns and always longed to live in the country and feel incredibly lucky to now be living in an area which would have made me jealous when I was a kid. Open farmland, black skies with a billion stars, wildlife everywhere and a short ride to fabulous beaches.

Writer’s rarely like to toot their own horn, but could you share your greatest accomplishment?

Honestly I think getting published in the first place was a massive achievement considering that gay fiction was nearly entirely written by men at the time and the “m/m” genre hadn’t started but I’m so happy that my first publisher gave me a chance.

Hmm – I assume you mean writing one?  If so – I suppose I’d have to say it was “Junction X” my last but one novel set in the sixties.  I think the reason my writing has sort of hit a barrier is that I consider that the best thing I’ve written and don’t know–in fact am scared that I might not be able–if I can ever write anything half decent again!

Where do you write, and in what format? (computer, tablet, paper, recorder)

I write on a laptop. I’d love to be able to dictate – the dictation software has improved a LOT in the last few years but I’m a complete seat of your pants writer and I simply don’t know what the next sentence will be let alone the next chapter. My fingers simply take over and if I try to dictate it I just sit there and go …”.er…..”  Occasionally I’ll resort to paper if I’m hit by a muse when I’m away from the computer – I was in a traffic jam for three hours once on the way to work (this is hugely rare in Norfolk where the idea of a traffic jam is a sheep in the road) and wrote the first 3 chapters of “Transgressions”

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

I’m inspired by many things, things I hear on the radio, a chance sentence I hear in the street, a photograph found online, or conversations with friends will send me off for my notepad making notes for a project that may never coalesce.  My Mother – who died a few years ago – was my greatest inspiration as she was a real matriarch, someone who had achieved everything she had set out to do (except living till 300) and encouraged me every step of the way.

My challenges are to do better. Just do better. I’m not satisfied with writing the same book with the same plot every time – although I know I could and would probably sell more of ‘em if I did, especially in the hetero market, LOL – each book has to really excite me, each sentence has to be a challenge in itself, and I constantly want to put my characters in situations that I have no clue how they are going to resolve – and I learn something about them if and when they do. I find the process endlessly fascinating, but as you can probably see – not easy.

You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge as our readers (and fellow writers) must know: Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

Ah, Oops – I’ve already answered this. Very much seat of your pants. I may have a glimmer of an idea – such as a character, or a location or an event (such as a ball or a wedding or a hanging or something) but that’s it, I have no idea what’s after that. I love – LOVE – getting to know my characters because it’s an entirely organic process and it happens on the page as I type. In fact my readers get to know the characters/locations at exactly the same pace as I do – perhaps that’s why my writing has been described as “immersive”

How do you deal with the constant distractions such as blogs, FB, promo and real life (like that dreaded daytime job)?

One word: Procrastination. I think I can blame Humphrey Bogart in the African Queen which I must have watched at a very very young age, and he says he is someone who puts stuff off. Well that’s me. Never do anything today that can’t be put off till at least tomorrow–or often next week. I’m distracted by the merest cat’s whisker, let alone the 3 whole cats I have vying for my attention (plus one very bouncy dog). However when writing does hit me I obsess on that and nothing else – I have a bit of an obsessive personality, and will concentrate on one thing (at the moment it’s knitting) for any length of time. I’ve learned to live with it. My muse has buggered off right now, but I’m sure it will be back and the knitting can be put to one side. At least I’ll be warmer this winter.

Which would you say of your books falls most into the mystery/thriller genre?

I’d say it was Mere Mortals which Lethe published. It’s close to my heart because I set it in Horsey Mere which is one of the Broads (local word for lake) around where I live. It’s an amazing evocative place and unchanged for centuries. My protagonist is adopted by a stranger for reasons he does not know and finds himself taken to a wonderful gothic house on an island in the middle of a lake – and when he’s there he finds three other young men also adopted by his benefactor. set in Victorian England when life was extremely cheap, especially for orphans who could fall through the cracks of society far too easily, my protagonist finds out why he was adopted and what purpose his benefactor has for him and his 3 new friends.

What are your guilty pleasures?

I don’t know if I have any these days. I am of the opinion that if you fancy something then you should do it and not feel guilty. I videogame a lot and have done since the first days of “Pong” way back when, I knit, cook, watch a LOT of tv and, as I live alone, apart from pets, I am lucky that I can please myself as to what I do and when I do it. I suppose I’ve grown horribly selfish about that kind of thing!  But I’d rather regret the things I did rather than the things I didn’t do. As it is, I regret nothing!

After your book(s) come out, have had you ever had to deal with homophobia, and if so, what form has it taken?

I wouldn’t say homophobia as such–although my ex-workplace looked a bit askance at my work and hardly encouraged me–but I have faced a lot of strange reactions from both the gay community and the straight community and the writing community as to “why would a woman be writing about gay men” some people even going to so far as to imply that I was betraying my own sex because I should be writing about women’s issues. It’s a thorny subject that raises its head every time some new quarter of the media “discover” the genre and they always seem to think they were the first one to raise it.  I’m a bit baffled by the whole thing–I don’t, and never have, been in the slightest bit interested in the sexuality or gender of any writer. To me they were always just names so it never occurred to me wonder who or what they were – it still doesn’t. We are all people and anyone has as much right to write about any topic they please.

On behalf of the Facebook Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Group, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre would like to know.

Thank you so much and if anyone wants to ask me anything, I’m contactable by email on erastes@erastes.com. My website is www.erastes.com

Last question; will you share with us a little about your current release and/or WIP?

My next release will be “I Knew Him” which will published by Lethe in 2014. It’s set in the 1920′s and is VERY loosely based on Hamlet in parts. It’s written in first person from the point of view of “the Horatio” character in Hamlet. Harry, the protagonist is best friends with young Holland who he accompanies back to Holland’s family home in the summer to attend his mother’s wedding to her brother in law. as the book progresses, we learn much about Harry and his wants and the way he gets what he wants and it’s not all pleasant! I think Harry is probably the most amoral character I’ve written about and very, very sarcastic. Like a deadly and much, much cleverer Bertie Wooster, he has been described.  I hope you’ll try it when it comes out.

 

GayRomLit 2013 – Experiencing My First-ever Gay Writer’s Con in Atlanta

(Volunteering at the Wilde City Press table during the Massive Book Signing Event)

Let me first say, my experiences attending my first-ever GayRomLit 2013 convention in Atlanta are by no means comprehensive. Many more author readings, sponsored evening dinner and party events, and discussion panels took place during the four day event, but I tended to concentrate my time with the gay mystery, thriller and suspense sub-genres. After all, the con was dedicated to Gay Romance.

I spent most of my limited time at GRL utterly star-struck and often forgot to have photos taken with many of the writers I sought out to meet, like T.A. Webb, author of the incredible City Knight gay romantic mystery/suspense series set in my town, or that of native Atlantan Max Vos, who writes mostly gay and erotic romances, but his latest P.O.W., is an a gay military romance, dramatic thriller novella from MLR Press; or Anel Viz, whose tome The City of Lovely Brothers, (which I just had to purchase and get autographed) is an old west, historical family saga chronicling the lives of four brothers who own the Caladelphia Ranch, the youngest of whom has a love affair with Nick, one of the ranch hands; or Lloyd Meeker, whose latest release with Wilde City Press is Enigma (A Russ Morgan Mystery), already queued up on my iPad.

 

 

 

 

 

(L-R; Meeting author JP Bowie)

(Fans crowding around featured authors for autographs)

And how ‘bout them authors of the super-hot, mega-hit Zombie Boyz? When I say hot, I mean HOT; mega chills, thrills and sizzling gay zombies, the perfect read for this Halloween season. The writers of the collection of three novellas (penned in pairs) had folks standing in long lines at each of their tables; the writing teams are Ethan Day & Geoffrey Knight, Eric Arvin & TJ Klune, Daniel A. Kaine & Ethan Stone (unable to make the event); needless to say, the print-books were snatched up well before the Massive Book Signing Event was over Saturday afternoon. In fact, as I walked up to the table to purchase the novel from the only author who had a copy of Zombie Boyz left, Daniel K. Kaine was signing the last one. I should have purchased a copy earlier in the day, but just got too busy with finally meeting people I’ve known for years online but never met face-to-face. Judging from the event, I’d predict print novels will be around for a very long time.

Speaking of the Massive Book Signing Event, the three hour affair featured seventy registered authors perched behind tables with their wares; books, swag and eager pens, awaiting the long line of excited fans for the door to finally open, a reported four hundred and fifty attendees (including writers who came as patrons). The scheduled authors were spaced throughout a large ballroom and surrounded on the perimeter by the sponsoring publishers; Samhain Publishing, Dreamspinner Press, MLR Press, Totally Bound, Wilde City Press, Extasy Books, Riptide Publishing, Stiff Rain Press and supporting publisher, Dark Hollows Press.

I had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer my time and help out at the Wilde City Press table during the booking signing event. As you may know, I currently have an erotic thriller novella (co-written with Alex Morgan) out from Wilde City Press, Switch Hitter, and a forthcoming full-length mystery/suspense novel releasing Nov 2013, Pretty Boy Dead. For an introvert like me, this chance presented the perfect forum for

meeting new people, readers and writer’s alike. I found it incredibly exciting when buyers approached the table with wide eyes and excitement seeing the print books available for purchase, at a discount no doubt. Also thrilling for me personally was when someone recognized my name which hung around my neck, all attendees wearing the badges to identify each other. I was recognized more for moderating the Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense group on Facebook and for the weekly author interviews I’ve been posting to the site, which I’m excited about as it shows my efforts for self-promotion are starting to make an impact. For a relatively new writer on the scene, the overall experience was immeasurable.

Several members of the Facebook Group I moderate (Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction) had asked me to share my thoughts upon attending the con what was “selling”, what readers seemed to clamor for and/or what were readers looking for they were challenged to find at the event. Clearly Gay Romance was in hot demand, but when looking even closer within the niche market, I noticed a great deal of interest in all things sexy, erotic and zombie! That’s right, anything and everything that featured zombies and/or demonic plots with gay romance was in great demand based on my unscientific analysis upon attending the Author Signing. The Zombie Boyz collection from Wilde City Press clearly sparked the delight in many, as well as Bad Idea from Damon Suede, and most mainstream gay romance, such as Jordan Castillo Price’s very popular PsyCop series and gay erotica, which made up a significant portion of featured authors.

One affair close to my heart was the charity event to benefit Lost-n-Found Youth, Inc, an Atlanta-based nonprofit corporation whose mission is to take homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youths off the street and transition them into more permanent housing arrangements. The event was the body-painting of authors who graciously displayed their nearly-naked bodies as canvasses for fans and other writers to “create” and to help raise money for Atlanta’s LGBTQ homeless youth. If you would like to support this critical organization (of which I support through donations, volunteerism and monetarily), this year Featherweight Press published Lost & Found, an anthology of stories about gay teens and young adults that will tug at your heartstrings, but ultimately end in HEA; where writers donated their royalties for the compilation to benefit Lost-n-Found Youth; the donating authors were Dakota Chase, DC Juris, Jeff Erno, Tabatha Heart, Caitlin Ricci, Diana Adams, DH Starr, Michele Montgomery, MF Kays and T.A. (Tom) Webb.

(L-R; Geoffrey Knight and Ethan Day, Wilde City Press)

I would be remiss without thanking my gracious WCP hosts while volunteering my time at their table for the event. Thank you so much Geoffrey Knight, Ethan Day and Dolorianne for making my experience not just a great time, but also fun.

(Author, Publisher Geoffrey Knight)

(L-R; Lynn of MANtastic Reviews, Dolorianne Morris & Geoffrey of Wilde City Press)

 

GayRomLit 2013 in Atlanta – Thrills, Spills, Mystery, Mayhem & Things That Go Bump in the Night

As most of you know, I attended a few events GayRomLit 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia this week. Since I live in the city commuting back and forth Friday and Saturday was easy. I had family commitments in the evenings, so wasn’t able to attend the nighttime gatherings. This will be the first posting of two planned about my experiences at GRL 2013.

The first author panel discussion I attended was Storyteller Spotlight – Thrills, Spills, Mystery & Mayhem, hosted by Geoffrey Knight, EM Lynley and JP Bowie where the authors discussed writing in the mystery, thriller and suspense genres with romantic elements. After all, GRL is focused on gay romance. 

Attendees also got the opportunity to ask questions of the panel, which proved to be very focused on specific series penned by the authors and questions about future releases. I found it personally interesting when JP Bowie described while writing the books in his Portrait series of mystery and mayhem with protagonists Peter Brandon and Jeff Stevens, how secondary characters introduced later in the series grew larger than life and demanded their own series, thus Nick Fallon Investigations was created and now spans four wonderful novels.

One aspect attending GRL as a participant I enjoyed the most was being introduced to authors of the genre I enjoyed reading the most; gay mystery, suspense/thriller novels. Though clearly the event’s main focus is gay romance, lots of sub-genres were included. Already familiar with the works of Geoffrey Knight and JP Bowie, I was so excited to get an introduction into the romantic mystery/suspense novels written by EM Lynley. She shared her thoughts of writing the Precious Gems Series, which she describes as “Indiana Jones meets Romancing the Stone, only gayer!” The first novel is Rarer Than Rubies, the second Italian Ice and the forthcoming third book, Jaded. I plan to ask EM Lynley to participate in my weekly author interviews. One question I asked of the panel is how they feel about cliffhangers. All but one steered clear of their enjoyment of them. No surprise, author Geoffrey Knight loves to use them, as exampled in the wonderful mystery, suspense/thriller novel, “To Catch A Fox”, which he co-wrote with Ethan Day.

Another author panel discussion I attended Saturday morning was titled Storytellers Spotlight – Things That Go Bump in the Night, hosted by authors Ally Blue, Rick R. Reed and Marquerite Labbe, aptly asking “What makes your heart race and your pulse pound?” Is it Romance or horror…or both? It was interesting listening to the writers share their ideas of genre, how they go about plotting out their novels (Rick R. Reed is a total pantster!) and how they feel about mixing gay romance in stories involving ghosts, werewolves, malevolent demons, ancient curses…that creepy house at the end of the lane.

All read from their books, each as thrilling and terrifying as the next. Reed read from his “The Blue Moon Café”, which is chilling tale about a serial killer werewolf let loose on Seattle’s gay men. He read from the novel where the werewolf is first introduced as he waits patiently for the perfect moment to taste blood. I can tell you from first-hand experience having read the novel, you will be chilled to the bone, as was the audience rapt in Reed’s soft, sexy voice as he read from his novel.

I can also attest to the scary prose author Labbe spoke of her novel “Ghosts In The Wind”; the discussion and subsequent reading of the terrifying “Jackal Wraiths that devour souls” almost sent me scurrying for the door, it was that scary!

However, I did manage to ask a question of those sitting on the panel; “Do any of your books scare you?”; all answered “no” and Ally Blue added (and I’m paraphrasing here) that knowing what is about to happen removes the fear, but she gets a thrill out of knowing “what” is about to happen, challenging her even more to build that suspense to a point of terrifying the reader.

In part two of my experiences attending GayRomLit 2013 in Atlanta this year, I’ll share some of my personal thoughts about attending my first gay writers convention, my impressions of what seem to be selling most in the market today and of my experience volunteering behind the Wilde City Press table on Saturday during the Massive Author Book Signing.

And photos, lots of photos (once I figure out to resize them)! Stay Tuned…

 

The Author of “Captain Harding And His Men” takes a moment to chat about his books

My guest this week is the multi-faceted Elliott Mackle, author of the very popular Captain Harding series, among other fine novels.

Where do you live?

I moved to Atlanta 40-some years ago for graduate school at Emory University and never left the neighborhood.

Writers rarely like to toot their own horns; seriously! What would you say is your greatest accomplishment?

Never taking myself, my writing or my influence too seriously.  Back when take-no-prisoners restaurant reviewers were the newest best thing in journalism, I became dining critic for a major daily, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. We had a circulation of something like 600,000. My editor instructed me to rate Atlanta restaurants against the best in New York, Miami, San Francisco and Rome and not against the tired traditions of the past.  Guess what? I broke some windows and shut down a few grease shacks, but the restaurant scene in the ATL heated up, people took notice and the level of food, service and sophistication soared. One local magazine called me the most powerful man in town. Horse douvers, I replied. Cox Communications has the power and merely delegates it to me. As for the novels, I’ve been fortunate enough to draw many favorable reviews, win a few prizes and attract fans from Australia to the U.K., with California evidently my best market. But I’m no Tom Clancy. Which is fine by me. Clancy is R.I.P. and Mackle’s still around.

You just applied to be a critic and were hired? No way.

I started cooking at the age of eight. My family owned hotels and restaurants so I knew the culinary back stage. I served four years as a food service officer in the Air Force. After grad school, I did PR for the State of Georgia’s child nutrition program and gradually picked up food-writing assignments with small local and state journals and magazines. Eventually, I was offered a column on what was then the region’s most influential alternative newsweekly. People (though not necessarily restaurant owners) liked what I wrote. When the reviewing slot at the AJC opened up, I gave it my best shot.

Without getting too personal, can you share a little about your home life?

We’re the typical gay family on the block. I work at home, pay the bills and breed and show miniature schnauzers with a veterinarian partner who lives in North Georgia. That takes me to dog shows around the region every few weekends.  My life partner is much older and frail. His role is caring for the retired dogs here at home.

I have a small group of friends, none of them writers, who get together for lunch or dim sum at least once a week. We chew through whatever’s happening or bothering one of us. It’s been noted that a lot of the action in my novels takes place over food and drink. That’s no accident; that’s how many people operate day-to-day. I didn’t plan it that way, but it’s a useful narrative device that seems to have carried over from restaurant reviews to fiction.

What inspires and challenges you most in writing?

Once I get a set of characters talking I pretty much take dictation. That leads to two problems:  Cutting conversations down to the essential elements and crafting just the right transitions and scene-setting descriptions without slowing down the action.

Inspiration? The dialog I’m carrying on both with readers and other writers; the sense that my fictional entertainments give pleasure to people who are unfamiliar with, say, the dangers of being homosexual or a war-widowed party girl in small-town Florida in 1949 and the ways in which men and women of that period – or the Vietnam era – managed to escape prosecution and build lives together.

You’ve probably answered this question a hundred times, but please indulge as our readers (and fellow writers) would like to know: Do you fly by the seat of your pants when writing or plot out your storylines?

At heart I’m an essayist so I plot everything out. I start with an outline of about 50 pages that includes the first and last grafs of the book. I usually hand it to one or two of my beta readers, follow up by making the suggested changes and get to work filling in the blanks.

In 1996 you worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and wrote about the Olympic Games, the basis of your novel, Hot off the Presses. What was it like to work for the premier newspaper of the South during the Centennial Games and how did your experience influence your corresponding novel?

It would take a stronger man than I not to be caught up in the excitement of a world-class event such as the Games.  It would take a much stronger stomach not to be sickened by the commercialism, selfishness, rudeness and stupidity displayed by the organizers and sponsors as well as some of the participants and athletes. I’d been a fan of televised Olympics and “Wide World of Sports” since college and seeing some of the events on site was unforgettable. I’m thinking of cross-country horsemanship, diving and javelin, the latter seldom featured on TV because it doesn’t photograph well.

For various reasons (including deference to my former employers who gave me the ticket to ride) I didn’t want it to come off as a memoir or reportage. Rather than tell the story through the eyes of a reporter for a daily, I created a narrator, Henry Thompson, who is editor of the local LGBT weekly and who pulls strings to get a reporter’s credentials. Well before the Games he becomes involved with a closeted bisexual athlete favored for gold medals. Partly through his connection to Henry, the jock, Wade Tarpley, comes apart during the competition, losing all chance of a medal, and blames Henry and a mutual friend for the disaster. Henry’s dilemma: whether to report all aspects of the story or pull punches because of his personal involvement.

This was and is the dilemma of many sports and political reporters. To gain access and retain face time, the reporter must often soft-pedal the grittier aspects of what they witness on their beat. Nowhere in my career was this more apparent than at the Centennial Games.  Henry is lucky enough to find a mentor who helps him find his way. I left the AJC the next year, though not entirely for reasons related to filing “make-nice,” dumbed-down columns.

You currently have two series going; “Dan-and-Bud” and “Captain Harding”, both gay historical mystery/suspense/thrillers. How do you sustain serialized, continuing characters?

This may sound crazy, but when I’m working on one of the narratives, I essentially live in it, inhabit the room or car or boat, listen to the dialog and smell the roses – or the camel burgers. It’s a trick I learned doing reviews.  Of course I’d make notes immediately after the meal, and sometime have press kits, menus or photographs on hand as references. But when I began to compose I’d will or imagine myself back in the restaurant, with the food in front of me, a server refilling my water glass and a woman at the next table talking loudly about her ex-husband’s multiple deficiencies.

As far as I’m concerned, Joe Harding, Dan Ewing, Henry Thompson and Elizabeth Boardman are people who inhabit alternate versions of my life. Within the next few days I plan to slip away to Fort Myers, Florida, during the early months of 1950. Dan and Bud will be there waiting, along with a couple of men who drowned under mysterious circumstances.

What was your inspiration for the incredible, multifaceted Captain Harding?

Men and women who don’t follow the rules laid down by white Christian family men and their prophets have always taken sexual and emotional risks.  In Joe Harding, I wanted to create a military man who takes every risk this side of shoplifting canned hams at the commissary. His sexual partners include an under-age boy, a prize fighter, a medic, a fighter pilot and a CIA thug. He beds the boy on government property. He allows himself to be picked up by the pilot in the base gym’s steam room and by the thug in the bar of a public casino.  The boy’s powerful parents learn of the affair, but Joe finagles a sort of acceptance. The thug and the boxer are unlucky, but Joe eludes serious trouble until he encounters a series of events beyond his control.

 

After your books come out, have had you ever had to deal with homophobia, and if so, what form has it taken?

Not to my face though, it’s hard to judge. A few months after the publication of Hot off the Presses, the Atlanta Press Club asked me to participate in their annual holiday sale and signing for local writers. Hot has a fairly racy cover. Not one of my former colleagues even picked up the book, much less bought a copy.  I haven’t been invited back, nor have mainstream local publications paid much attention to the success of my work.

On behalf of the Facebook Gay Mystery-Thriller-Suspense Fiction Group, thank you for giving us a little of your time today, answering questions fans of the genre really want to know.

Last two questions; can you share with us a little about your current release and/or WIP?

Although personal matters forced me to break off work a couple of months ago, I’m trying to get back to a third Dan-and-Bud tentatively titled Sunset Island. The action happens between the time covered in It Takes Two and Only Make Believe so it’s tricky going. One of the principal subsidiary characters introduced in It Takes Two comes to a bad end. Keeping track of the various guests, staffers and party girls at the Caloosa Hotel and Club requires the mental equivalent of a spreadsheet (I actually did create paper spreadsheets for Harding #2 and #3). The action centers on a wealthy and powerful family of local landowners and a series of men who drown under suspicious circumstances.  The explosive last scene is written. I can’t wait to get it into print.

And where can readers buy your novels?

At local GLBT or independent bookstores, on-line vendors such as B&N and Smashwords, or by hitting the Buy the Book tabs on my website: www.elliottmacklebooks.com. The latter will direct you to a choice of booksellers and prices.