Jae's Blog, page 30

Interview & giveaway with lesbian fiction author Caren Werlinger

It���s time for another interview with a fellow lesbian fiction author. Today, I���m interviewing Caren Werlinger, who won the Sarton Women���s Book Award for her novel When the Stars Sang. Caren also had a new book out this year, A Bittersweet Garden, which is set in Ireland. I guarantee it���ll make you want to book the next flight to Ireland!

Caren is giving away three copies of A Bittersweet Garden ���winners��� choice of ebook or paperback! Don���t miss the giveaway at the end of this post.

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Welcome, Caren. Please tell us a little about your newest release, A Bittersweet Garden.

First, thank you so much for including me in this series of interviews. It has been fun to read the responses of the other authors you���ve interviewed.

A Bittersweet Garden is the story of a mid-30s American woman who longs to break free of the roles she has found herself trapped in: librarian, not-quite-ex-girlfriend, boring sister. She plots and plans and saves to get away to Ireland for an entire summer, thinking to re-invent herself. She has no idea that this summer will change her entire world.

 

In A Bittersweet Garden, Nora visits a town named Cong in Ireland, the home of her ancestors. Did you base Cong on a real place, and if you did, how did you research your setting and make sure your Irish places and characters are portrayed realistically?

Cong is a real village in western Ireland, north of Galway. It is where The Quiet Man was filmed (my favorite movie), and my wife and I did have a chance to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine in 2015 when we got to spend a few days there. So some of the research was easy. Nothing like being there to be able to paint a scene! But the real historic flashbacks to the time of the Famine, that took more research: old journals and newspaper accounts, immigration records, those kind of things. I���ve found that little (accurate) details can make a scene come alive, not only for me but for readers as well. I���m sure you know what I mean from your own historical fiction.

 

Returning home, either to the place of your childhood or, even further back, the place your ancestors come from, seems to be a common theme in some of your books. For example, in When the Stars Sang, Kathleen returns to Little Sister Island, the place where she spent summers with her grandmother as a child, and in Turning for Home���which I got to edit���Jules returns to her small Ohio hometown. Why is that a theme that fascinates you as a writer?

It���s funny to realize that it has become a bit of a theme for me. When I ponder why, I think it���s because so much of who we are is influenced by the things that happened to us as children���good and bad. We lived in the middle of the country while my father and mother���s families lived far away to the west and east, respectively. So, we never had lots of time with extended family. We also moved a few times while I was growing up, so I don���t really have one place I���d call my hometown. Maybe I���m projecting my own longing for that, but I think a lot of people are either running away from or running toward that idea of ���home������and either way, it can be a powerful influence on how they act. That makes home and family fertile ground to explore in a book.

 

I tend to think your book covers stand out among many other lesbian fiction publications. I especially love the covers for Year of the Monsoon, Cast Me Gently, The Standing Stones, and When the Stars Sang. Can you tell us a bit about how you approach having your covers created?

Thank you so much for that, Jae. Rightly or wrongly, I do tend to judge books by their covers as an extension of the quality to be expected inside. I almost always have an idea of what I���d like to see for my book covers. Sometimes, I look for stock images that kind of match what I have in my head, but I don���t want to take a chance that an image will appear on ten other books. I use that image as a starting point, and ask my cover artist to work from there. Several covers feature photos taken by people I know. When I have seen images I like, I���ve reached out to the photographers to request permission to use their images for my covers. They���ve been amazingly generous with their permission.

 

Congratulations! Your novel When the Stars Sang was named a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Book Award, a mainstream award that honors outstanding female authors. The reader reviews I read for When the Stars Sang are equally full of praise. What does it take to write an award-worthy book like this? What do you think makes a book���and this book in particular���resonate with both judges and readers?

Thank you. I know you���ve had recognition of your books by some mainstream awards as well, so you know how much it means. I love the lesbian-themed awards that I���ve been lucky enough to win: Golden Crown Literary Society and Rainbow Awards. But lesbian fiction is such a small niche within the larger literary pool. To be recognized by the Sarton Award judges meant a tremendous amount to me. For those who may not know, May Sarton was an American lesbian writer and memoirist. The Sarton Award is named for her, but it rarely has had lesbian books named as finalists or winners. They said that this past year���s field of entrants was the strongest yet, so that added to the feeling of accomplishment to have been named a finalist.

I���m not sure why exactly When the Stars Sang has resonated so much with readers. I think the island setting is one that draws many people in, that sense of belonging somewhere. And the islanders are a group that look out for one another as well as caring deeply about the island itself. There���s obviously something about those themes that have touched readers deeply.

 

You have recently made some of your books available as an audiobook. Did you have a say in your narrators, and if you did, how did you pick? Are you happy with the narration of your books?

That was a surreal experience. In late March, I was contacted by an Audible rep, asking about the possibility of producing some of my novels as audiobooks. At first, I was certain it was a hoax, but it turned out to be real. Audible has actually been great to work with. My rep got me permission to approve narrators, so they presented me with 3-4 choices of narrator for each of the seven books they produced. (When the Stars Sang was already being produced by Ann Etter) The narrators I chose were wonderful to work with, contacting me to verify pronunciations. Overall, I���m very happy with the entire experience. I haven���t yet had a chance to listen to each book in its entirety, but I���m pleased with the snippets I have listened to. And listeners are giving high marks to the narration as well.

 

For purely emotional reasons, which of your books means most to you and why?

Gosh, this is such a hard question to answer! I had a strong emotional connection to all of my books as I wrote them. When I think about each of them, those emotions come right back. But if I had to pick one, it would probably be In This Small Spot. For any of your readers who have read that book they���ll understand why I chose it. If they haven���t, what are they waiting for? It was also a Goldie winner for Dramatic Fiction in 2014, and it means a lot to have had that recognition for one of the first books I published under my own imprint.

 

I know that you work as a physical therapist and you keep fit. What���s your favorite workout?

I know I should do more cardio and yoga and stuff like that, but what I really enjoy is weight training. I���m not as lean as I used to be, but on the upside, I���m a whole lot meaner! The benefits of getting older! :-)

 

What are your all-time favorite books with lesbian main characters?

Another tough question, Jae! Curious Wine is a favorite for sentimental reasons. But I also clearly remember reading The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (although when I read it, it was published under her pseudonym of Claire Morgan). When I read that book, I thought, ���Yes! This is literature. This is what I want to write some day.���

It���s not an entirely happy book, but it���s so well written.

Another book not many readers know about is Louisa May Alcott���s An Old-Fashioned Girl. Little Women is, of course, her most famous novel. But if you read AOFG, there is an amazing amount of lesbian subtext in that story. I wouldn���t necessarily have picked up on it as a child, but I definitely noticed it when I re-read the book as an adult.

 

When���s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

I���m nearly done with a first draft of a new novel tentatively titled Invisible, as Music. It���s about a woman who is an artist, now in her mid-50s, who was afflicted by polio as a teen. She falls in love with a woman 30 years her junior. It���s also set in 1983/84, so a bit of an historical context to this one. I���m hoping to have it released before the end of this year.

Here���s a snippet:

Meryn bent to pick up her backpack and gave Henrietta���s shoulder a squeeze. ���Have fun at your flower show, Hank. See you this evening.���

The door banged shut behind her, but Henrietta sat like a statue, her shoulder throbbing as if it had been burned. No one touched her. Ever. The last person who had, had been her doctor, listening to her lungs last spring when she���d caught a cold.

This is dangerous. Why are you allowing this to happen?

Things had been so much better in the couple of weeks since this girl moved in. Meryn kept her door partially open in case Henrietta called out for her in the night, so that Henrietta was actually sleeping through the nights. She���d left little thank-you notes in her wing of the house on Wednesdays, notes that delighted Bonnie and shamed Henrietta, who had never thought to do something so whimsical and kind. She called Henrietta from her office to see what she was in the mood for for supper, in case she needed to pick something up at the market on her way home.

Home.

She called this house home. None of her other companions had ever done that. To them, this position had clearly been a job. Though Henrietta had never realized it, that arrangement had left her with an underlying feeling that she had to treat them as employees in order to not feel indebted. But when she tried to think of Meryn that way, the image just swirled away, like a dab of watercolor dropped into a bowl of water. The same way the girl was wriggling her way into Henrietta���s life, tinting what had been nothing but black and white and shades of gray, bringing bursts of color��� and joy. It was already difficult to remember what things had been like before she was here.

What happens when she leaves? You know she will. They all do.

Henrietta looked at her watch. Her ride would be here soon. She got to her feet to gather her things. She needed to regain control of this situation. Now. Before it was too late.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

Readers can check out my blog here:�� https://cjwerlinger.wordpress.com/

Or take a look at my website here:�� https://carenwerlinger.com/

And my Facebook Author page here:�� ��https://www.facebook.com/CarenWerlingerAuthor/

Here���s my Amazon page:�� https://www.amazon.com/Caren-J.-Werlinger/e/B002BOI2ZI

Jae, thank you so much for hosting me. This has been a lot of fun!

 

Book giveaway

Caren is graciously giving away three copies of her novel A Bittersweet Garden. The winner gets to choose whether they want an ebook or a paperback copy!

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, September 19, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I���ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I���ll notify winners via email. Your email address won���t be used for any other purpose.

The post Interview & giveaway with lesbian fiction author Caren Werlinger appeared first on Jae.

Interview & giveaway with Shira Glassman, author of f/f romance “Cinnamon Blade”

It’s time for another interview with a fellow author of f/f books. Today’s interviewee is Shira Glassman, whose f/f romance Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor is getting great reviews and is praised for its realistic, diverse characters.

Shira is giving away an ebook copy of Cinnamon Blade , so don’t forget to check out the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Shira. Please tell us a little about Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor.

Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor is a high-heat f/f romance between a snarky superheroine and the sweet, nerdy damsel in distress she keeps rescuing. Blade, alias Erica Horowitz, used to be a jewel and art thief until her best friend from Hebrew school, Captain Werewolf, caught her on the roof of the art museum in Palm Beach. Since she’d been there for him when they were kids, dealing with the whole werewolf thing, he offered her the chance to join him in superhero-ing instead of going to jail, and she accepted. Fast forward through aliens, terrorists, and other monsters and now she and Soledad Castillo are finally ready to act on their feelings for each other. However: those still aliens and other monsters are still out there, and they keep interrupting the love scenes! …the many, many love scenes.

One thing readers may want to know is that this book started out as the imaginary femslash fandom enjoyed by the main characters of my contemporary romance Knit One Girl Two, so it’s almost like reading fanfic of a series that doesn’t exist. But how could I make up a superhero/damsel in distress f/f pairing and then not write it?? It would be like baking rugelach and not eating them!

 

The title of Cinnamon Blade: Knife in Shining Armor does a great job at attracting readers’ attention and making them curious. How did you come up with it?

Knife in Shining Armor is supposed to be a play on how Cin’s the “knight in shining armor” to the perpetually harassed Soledad, but “knife” because of the Blade name. I agonized for days over that title, mainly because coming up with a title that comes close to deserving to go next to Knit One Girl Two was not easy. I still feel incredibly lucky that I ever thought of that one. I’ll never forget that moment, in my cover artist’s kitchen; I remember my face suddenly getting as hot as a cast-iron skillet. So that was the pressure I felt trying to name this one! I’m glad you feel that it works. I just wanted it to be clever, and also get across some idea of what’s happening in the story — especially since real superhero movie titles don’t give me much to work with. So I knew it couldn’t be just “Cinnamon Blade” (like “Black Panther” or “Iron Man”) because what is that, a cookbook? A title of a book written by an obscure niche indie author is her first best chance to communicate what’s inside the book.

 

You’ve been praised for the hot sex scenes in Cinnamon Blade. So what makes a good sex scene? Any tips for writers who struggle with them?

There is no one answer for what makes a good sex scene because everyone who likes sex scenes will have their own unique preferences for them! But I can tell you this. I owe some of the hotness of the CB sex scenes to author Xan West, who worked with me and coached me on turning the scenes I’d already written into more detailed ones by asking me to describe more specific sensations, both physical and emotional, for each one. I am not kidding when I say I actually went off to go amuse myself (yes, that) and took notes because I wanted to be able to fulfill Xan’s instructions and I wasn’t sure I’d have the words unless I thought of them in the moment, and overanalyzed. So, that’s one way.

But honestly, if you are struggling with writing a sex scene it’s okay just to mention a few things and let it be. Nobody said a story that contains, for example, a woman going down on her girlfriend, has to contain the play by play of tongue physics. Don’t think that your sex scenes have to follow a template or be a certain length or anything else.

 

The tagline on your website describes you as a “Queer Jewish feminist writer.” What role does being queer, being Jewish, and being a feminist play in your writing?

Being queer (specifically: bisexual, but I love the nonspecificity of queer inasmuch as I’ve definitely gone through periods where I’ve considered my label; there were entire years where the only men I was attracted to were a single cis celebrity and my not-out-as-a-man-at-the-time former husband, who is trans, but ultimately I decided that I was still going to identify as bi) means that I’m attracted to different genders of character, which is how I ended up with a fantasy series that stars a lesbian in a happy long term relationship with another woman, that also includes the m/f relationship of two other leads at center stage. That may not be for everyone and that’s okay. (I have other books that don’t have any m/f, such as Knit One and Fearless.) But my ability to enjoy both m/f and f/f in the same story feels like it’s connected to my bisexuality. After all, a m/f story that includes no queer characters is often an unsafe place for a lesbian or bi reader. I’ve read plenty of m/f romances that had homophobic elements or “tragic queer” subplots. Once, I read three m/f romances in the same week and two of them had tragic queer subplots. Yecch!

So yes, I focus on f/f, and sometimes write m/f, and sometimes the m/f involves a trans character. That’s how my queerness plays into my writing.

As far as Jewish… I really enjoy having the ability to tell stories that allow me to celebrate the happier parts of Jewishness. Jewish joy, if you will. Jewish characters who are thriving. That certainly isn’t the larger world’s picture of us, for some rather obvious reasons. It’s easy for that to get internalized and I like being able to counteract that, especially since I have such a positive experience overall.

Feminist: most of my fiction centers around women, for one thing. I love writing about women helping other women, and having agency, and working through things and coming out on top. A Harvest of Ripe Figs, for example, includes the idea that women celebrities don’t have to be pitted against each other. There’s a lot of focus on different types of consent in Cinnamon Blade.

 

Your stories always include a diverse cast of characters. You write f/f, m/m, m/f, and also nonbinary characters. Your characters come from a variety of ethnical, cultural, and religious backgrounds, and they cover the entire spectrum of the LGBTQIA+ community. For example, Soledad from Cinnamon Blade is a Catholic Costa Rican woman who’s questioning whether she’s a lesbian while Cinnamon is a bisexual, Jewish superheroine. How do you approach writing characters with backgrounds that are very different from your own?

Well, first of all, I have to recognize that if I don’t do my research and get a lot of help, I may make mistakes that I won’t even realize I’m making. For example, Soledad’s original last name, which I’d borrowed from someone at work, one of my Costa Rican friends pointed out was a bad idea because of some regionally specific controversy I never would have known about without recognizing my own need for guidance.

Many people in many groups write blog posts like “6 Asian character tropes we are tired of seeing” or “trans representation I wish I had”, and it’s in my advantage as a writer to read them and absorb them — many different viewpoints, because no one person represents their entire marginalized demographic and disagreements are normal. I have paid sensitivity readers as well. Often they can make suggestions for little details that add the kind of verisimilitude that says, oh, yes, Soledad is actually Costa-Rican-American, and not just “Shira slapped a demographic on a random Latina character.” At least, I hope I’ve achieved something close to that, and I understand if I have not.

And the very best piece of advice I can give is to read works by people within a group. If you are a gentile trying to write a Jewish character without ever reading Jewish literature, take a pause and find some Jewish lit in your favorite genre first. For example.

As for why Costa Rican, or why is Dr. Norman/“Connect the Dots” a beautiful chubby Black woman, or why is Satyr Taiwanese? Because I shamelessly put my friends in my books. Diversity is realistic. So why not just use the diversity from my actual world? So having Costa-Rican-Americans who are special to me is how Cinnamon Blade’s love interest ended up Costa Rican. The Taiwanese woman who helped create Satyr, a half-man, half-qilin wiseass superhero, ended up as the book’s dedication. The music colleague behind Dot Norman inspires me every day by being a total rock star at organization and efficiency.

Diversity exists and is real and if you’re writing a story where the sky is blue and trees are green then making sure your character demographics reflect the real world — or the real world for the specific setting, like having Jewish characters in South Florida — is just a continuation of that realism.

 

While you are mostly known for your queer fantasy novels such as the Mangoverse series, you have also written contemporary romance stories such as Fearless and Knit One, Girl Two. Can you tell us a little about them?

My contemporary romances so far have all been short meetcutes rather than full length stories like Cinnamon Blade or my Mangoverse books. Fearless stars two women in their forties — I used famous television personalities as my facecasts but I’m probably not allowed to name them! However, the femme, Lana, is “played” in my head by an actress who played a police detective — whose ethnic background is what determined the character being Serbian-American, if that helps identify her, and the dashing butch love interest Melanie was inspired by someone who let’s just say knows her way around cakes. Anyway, it’s about a band mom who is swept off her feet by a music teacher from her daughter’s school while everyone is snowed in together at the All-State hotel. I’ve played violin since I was four, and All-State was always the highlight of my year as an adolescent. It feels really sweet to bring some of that excitement to romance writing. I was often in love at All-State, but it never worked out as beautifully as it does in my story ;-)

Knit One Girl Two is my most popular and most successful story. Clara is a ray of sunshine, a chirpy little Jewish femme lesbian who works in the Broward Center for the Performing Arts box office and dyes yarn as a side “jobby.” She meets Danielle because Danielle’s paintings are going to be the inspiration for her next round of “sock club”, which is a monthly service some indie dyers provide where you pre-pay for a year’s worth of yarn and then get surprised by what fancy offerings they send you. Danielle is a loudmouthed, slightly abrasive bi feminist, also Jewish but actually goes to temple and skips pork in contrast with Clara’s casual secularism, and she’s eager to make friends — and more — with Clara but also dealing with depression, family drama, and heartache. This story is in some ways a love letter to the South Florida of my upbringing — their first meeting is in a real Jewish deli that I wish was still open, and their first kiss is in the science museum where I first realized I liked girls, as a teenaged volunteer. (She had the greenest eyes I have ever seen in my life. …Anyway,)

I was originally intending on writing more contemporary musician romances to go with Fearless but the only other one I’ve got so far is Lioness in Blue, which is high-heat m/f about first and second oboe getting together. The leading lady in this one, Lauren, is bi and was Clara’s first kiss in Knit One; she’s referenced as being “that band girl” that Clara made out with at a bar mitzvah when they were tweens. Also, the kids in Fearless and couple in Knit One are all into the Captain Werewolf fandom that Cinnamon Blade is set in. So, there’s some consistency!

 

Could you name one thing that is on your personal bucket list?

I know I would have gotten there faster already if I hadn’t let it slide in favor of all my other hobbies, but I’d really like to be able to competently blow a shofar one day. On Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah = literally the “head of the year”) and then again on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement a week and change later, the sound of the shofar is a stirring, thrilling signal of our celebration and contemplation. You’re allowed to use the horn of any kosher animal that isn’t a cow — because of the golden calf story, I believe — but most of the time we use ram or ibex. The one my temple has loaned out to me is a simple little ram’s horn. The technique for playing it is very similar to the way brass instruments are played, other than the lack of mouthpiece. Which is great if you’re a euphonium player like the gentleman who usually does it at my temple, but not so easy for a lifelong violin player like me! Luckily, I somewhat improbably have a number of friends who play low brass, so maybe they can encourage me to indulge this obscure intersection of religion and career.

 

I heard you’re a bit of a foodie. If you were a food item, what would you be and why?

If I were a food, I’d be a guava rugelach. Rugelach are little rolled-up pastries with filling that feel very familiar from my Ashkenazi (northern European Jewish) background, and the guava filling harkens back to my tropical South Florida upbringing. The smell of fresh guava is a familiar comfort to me and makes me smile. Anyway, guava is not a conventional choice for rugelach filling, and I wish that were easier to find. (My preferred flavor from the readily-available choices is apricot.) But yes, I am definitely a foodie with a passion for interesting proteins and fresh produce.

 

Other than your own, what are your favorite fantasy novels featuring women-loving women?

I love recommending Heather Rose Jones’ Alpennia series (Daughter of Mystery is the first one and it’s a fully contained story; while the first couple’s adventures do continue in the second book, the second book introduces a new main couple, too, etc.) It frustrates me greatly how much signal boosting is necessary to get the word out about them. Women and other interested people long for costume drama starring lesbians that get a happy ending — and this one has magic and an amazing plot full of political intrigue, too! Maybe now that Gentleman Jack is a thing, someone will pick them up and do a miniseries.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

In November 2017, an imprint of Ylva released an anthology called Queerly Loving vol. 1. My story in that collection, “Gifts of Spring”, will be republished independently this fall. It’s the story of Rosamund, a naïve young trans woman with magical powers, and Elias, an older cis Jewish man who performs as a street acrobat. She’s lonely and on the run from cranky royalty whose dispute she accidentally wound up involved in, until she saves him from an angry mob. They stroll through a made-up German city in the 1700’s before returning to her inn for naked cuddles. It’s the first time I’ve ever set any fiction in Germany, where my family was from. It’s also a meta discussion of the interaction of “real” magic and stage magic in a fantasy setting, since that fascinates me. In other words, her charms and his circus antics. I plan on opening preorders after the high holidays (in other words, some time before Halloween), with a release in late November.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

Right now, my books are on Amazon and also on Gumroad. The plus side of Gumroad is that they pay the authors far more than Amazon does, for the same cover price. But I realize buying from Amazon is more convenient for most people so I understand if that’s the way people want to go. Socially, I have a twitter I haven’t used in a long time (@shiraglassman) but I’m more frequently on Tumblr and Facebook.

If what you’re after is the official commissioned illustrations for my books, usually you can find it by checking my Tumblr for the tag of the book’s title (in cases like Knit One Girl Two, that would be http://shiraglassman.tumblr.com/tagged/knit-one-girl-two for example ) or checking this tag for images about the Mangoverse fantasy series. It was really important for me to commission all those pictures; growing up surrounded by Disney princess stuff because of living in Florida means that half the appeal to even write them in the first place was to make my own imagery that would fit that aesthetic but include my background and attractions. That’s why the visual component was such a big part of the creative process. If you, too, want to see cutesy cartoonish images of queer Jewish fairy tale life, that’s the first place you should click :)

 

Book giveaway

Shira is giving away an e-book copy of Cinnamon Blade.

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, September 5, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

The post Interview & giveaway with Shira Glassman, author of f/f romance “Cinnamon Blade” appeared first on Jae.

Interview with lesbian romance author Georgia Beers & a giveaway!

Are you ready for another interview with a fellow lesbian romance author? This week’s guest hardly needs an introduction because she’s one of the most popular authors in f/f romance: Georgia Beers.

Georgia just published her twenty-third novel, Fear of Falling. She’s giving away an ebook copy, so don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Georgia. Please tell us a little about your latest book, Fear of Falling.

Fear of Falling is my first celebrity romance. I laughingly call it my “Celine Dion Fantasy.” I’ve been a fan of hers forever, and I was always amazed that she became famous so young. Then my writer brain took that situation and ran with it, wondering how somebody in her shoes, someone always in the limelight, might handle a struggle with her sexuality.

 

I know some readers shy away from celebrity romances because they think they won’t be able to relate to the celebrity main character. How did you make sure Sophie, a famous singer, is a relatable character?

I just did my best to keep her down-to-earth. She came from modest beginnings, so doesn’t take her wealth for granted. And I also made her somebody who has always longed for family, a girl who, despite being constantly surrounded by people who adore her, has pretty much been alone since she was a teenager. I think that helped make her both sympathetic and relatable.

 

Can you share a favorite line or snippet from Fear of Falling?

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’ll just say that I loved when Sophie found her backbone and stood up for herself.

 

In the unlikely case that someone has never read one of your books, which one do you suggest they start with?

You’re very kind. I have a lot of people ask me where to start and it’s always a tough one to answer. I think my biggest request is that they don’t go backwards. LOL. Like all writers, I feel like I have improved with each book. I have grown as a writer, I have gotten better at what I do. So, when I think about somebody reading Fear of Falling and then going all the way back to my first or second book, I cringe! I can give you reader favorites, though: Starting from Scratch and Too Close to Touch are the earlier ones that people seem to love the most. So, I think I’d suggest starting with Too Close to Touch and going forward from there. Or not. LOL.

 

If I counted correctly, Fear of Falling is your 23rd novel. How has your writing and your writing process changed over the years, and what has stayed the same?

You are correct! The book I am currently writing as I participate in this interview is #25, and I can hardly believe it. My writing has changed so much, as has my perception as a writer. I have become more disciplined and also more relaxed (if that makes sense). I’m more aware of my capabilities (for example: I know I can usually write more words in a sitting than I think) and I am also more apt to give myself a break, take an afternoon off and go to a movie or something, if I’ve hit my word count for the day. My writing process has stayed the same in that I am still a very routine person and I still need some things to remain steady (where I work, what time I’m most creative, things like that). Also still the same: I love, love, love what I do!

 

If you could have a “do-over” for any of your books—meaning you could go back and change anything you wanted—which book would it be and what would you change?

I thought hard about this question and you know what? I don’t think I would change any of them. I mean, I know for a fact I could alter a lot of parts of a lot of my books, but I wouldn’t want to. That’s not to say I think they’re all perfect; they’re far from it. But those books got me to the place I am today as a writer. They were all stepping stones and learning opportunities that helped shaped my writing career, and changing any of them would change who I am as a writer now. So, as cheesy as it might sound, I wouldn’t change any of them.

 

I know you enjoy a good glass of wine. If you were a wine, how would you describe yourself?

Oh, my God, I love this question! Wow, this is a tough one. My favorite wine is a Pinot Noir, but it’s kind of light and I think I’m more complex than that. I’d go with maybe a good red blend. Generally full-bodied and complex, but can also be a little sweet, a little fun, and kind of sassy. A nice mix of several different qualities.

 

If you could go back in time and tell your younger writer self anything, what would it be?

The same thing I would tell my younger dating self and my younger physical reflection in the mirror and the younger version of me that always wanted to play the piano: Believe in yourself. You can do this, and you are almost always better at things than you think. Have confidence. Take chances. Smile more. Worry less. Be kind. Be happy. You’re a good, kind-hearted person, a good human, you’re talented, and you are more than good enough to be all the things you want to be. (I wish I’d gotten that pep talk when I was about sixteen years old…it would have helped future me tremendously!)

 

Do you have time to read, and do you read lesbian and f/f romances? If you do, what are your all-time favorites?

I make time to read. First of all, I love reading and I always have. When I was five, the library became my favorite place in the world and books have been part of my life ever since. Secondly, I don’t think you can ever be an exceptional writer if you don’t read books. You don’t have to read the same genre that you write (though I think you absolutely should), but I can’t identify with a writer who doesn’t read. It makes no sense to me. It’s like being a chef and never trying anybody else’s cooking. So, yes, I read a lot. My favorite genres are romance and thrillers/suspense. I do read lesfic and f/f romances. I also read a lot of mainstream books, so I don’t get to as many lesfic books as I’d like (my To Be Read pile is enormous!). A couple of my all-time lesfic favorites are Sandra Moran’s Letters Never Sent, Radclyffe’s Provincetown series, Melissa Brayden’s Kiss the Girl, Katherine V. Forrest’s Kate Delafield series, Sarah Waters’s Affinity, just to name a few. And I just returned from a lesfic literary conference and met a slew of new writers whose work I can’t wait to dive into. It’s never-ending and I love that so much! I will never not have new lesfic to read, and I don’t think that could’ve been said twenty or thirty years ago.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

My next book is called One Walk in Winter. It takes place in a small resort in the Adirondacks and it releases, I believe, in November. I am currently working on Flavor of the Month, which is about a young woman who returns home to the small town she left in the dust as a college student, only to find that little has changed, including her attraction to her very first girlfriend, whose heart she broke. That will be out in the spring of 2020.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

It’s hard to get away from me, really. LOL. I’m everywhere. I am on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I have a Tumblr account, but I don’t know how to use it. I’m on SnapChat because it’s the only way I get to see what kind of trouble my nieces and nephews are getting into.  I also have a website: georgiabeers.com. I’m really not hard to find, as my name is pretty unique and unless you’re a brewery in Atlanta, I’m likely to be one of the few Georgia Beerses you find online.

 

Book giveaway

Georgia is graciously giving away an e-book copy of her lesbian romance Fear of Falling.

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, August 29, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

The post Interview with lesbian romance author Georgia Beers & a giveaway! appeared first on Jae.

Interview & giveaway with Fiona Zedde, author of lesbian erotica & romance

 

It’s time for another interview with a fellow author of lesbian and f/f fiction. Today’s guest is Fiona Zedde, who is best-known for her beautiful descriptions and her hot love scenes.

Fiona is giving away five e-book copies of her steamy short story “The Magical Femme,” which is a prequel to her upcoming novella Femme Like Her. Don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Fiona. Please tell us a little about your novel Femme Like Her and the short story that goes with it, “The Magical Femme.”

In Femme Like Her, my workaholic, self-identified femme gets her thong panties in a twist over another femme, something she never thought would happen. Overall, the story is about the assumptions we make and the necessity of telling the world to kiss your butt and mind its own business where your own happiness is concerned. The novel wasn’t supposed to happen, but after the short story “The Magical Femme” came out, a surprisingly number of people asked what happens next between the two main characters. Femme Like Her is this next.

 

What does being femme mean to you, personally?

For me, femme is being pretty in whatever way I feel. Lip gloss, swaying hips, summer dresses, the pleasure of occasionally having a door opened for me. All this, while being comfortable in my own skin.

 

The main character in your novel The Power of Mercy and its sequel A Lover’s Mercy is Mai Redstone, a meta with superpowers. What kind of superpowers did you give her, and why do you think superheroes and superheroines are so popular right now?

My Mercy is basically a shapeshifter with semi-impervious skin, super strength, and speed. aka kick ass. She also has a big, soft heart which is surprising for someone who’s gone through as much as she has. This heart of hers is its own superpower.

Why are supers popular right now? Aside from the way Marvel movies have pushed super heroes to the forefront of our culture right now, I think part of the reason for that popularity is because now, during these particularly challenging political times, many of us feel helpless. I know I do. We feel that it’s nearly impossible to make large and necessary changes to a society that seems intent on elevating and rewarding the “bad guys” while stepping on everyone else. We want to see change, we want to turn things around. When laws and the institutions that are supposed to protect the people fail us, it seems like the only thing that can put things right is a supercharged hero with a conscience and the desire to do good.

 

The Power of Mercy is being turned into a graphic novel by Ylva Publishing, which is really exciting! Can you tell us a little about the process of turning a novel into a graphic novel? When and where will readers be able to buy it?

It is very, very cool that I’ll soon be able to see Mercy in graphic novel form. Some days, I can hardly believe it’s actually going to happen! About the process itself, so far it’s been about distilling the intense excitement scenes of the book into short, potent lines of text that go with the images. It’s been challenging but also a great exercise for me into terms of seeing where the really powerful moments in the book happen. 

The graphic novel will be out November this year (2019) and available online at Ylva, my website (fionazedde.com), and your local bookstore.

 

You are known for your beautiful, almost poetic descriptions and your hot love/sex scenes. Who would you say is your greatest influence in terms of your writing style and why?

It’s great to be known for something good! Growing up, I read a lot of Anne Rice. I can’t tell you how many times I copied sentences from The Vampire Lestat, trying to figure out how she was able to create the magic that kept me glued to every single page. Between Anne Rice, romantic poetry I couldn’t get enough of, and my mother’s Harlequin novels that I thought shut the bedroom doors too soon, I was doomed.

 

You are one of the lucky—and hard-working—people who write full-time. What would you say does it take to make a living with your writing nowadays, especially as a writer who writes queer books?

I’d say it takes adaptability (you have to shift to keep up with the latest and most effective ways of reaching an audience) paired with productivity. I publish at least two books every year, but I still need some schooling on the marketing front.

 

How many different places have you lived in during your life? Which is your favorite and why?  

I haven’t lived in very many, actually. So far, Jamaica (where I was born), San Miguel de Allende in Mexico and Paris for a few months each, Atlanta, and now Madrid, where I am now.

 

Imagine you could have any superpower you would like to have for a day. Which one would you pick?

Is being able to successfully market your own books a super power? If it is, that’s the one I’d love to have. Boring, I know…

 

Do you have time to read, and do you read lesbian and f/f books? If you do, what are your all-time favorites?

I don’t have time to read, but I make sure I do it anyway. Usually for an hour or so just before bed. I absolutely LOVE Jewelle Gomez, Karin Kallmaker, Melissa Good, and Nicole Dennis-Benn. They write the kind of lesbian/queer women’s fiction that makes me want to do better as a writer.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

My next book on the horizon is Femme Like Her. It’ll be out this November.

As for what I’m working on right now, I’ve been back and forth between the 4th novel in my How Sweet It Is series (called Just Desserts) and a book I started years ago about the impossible romance between a university professor and her old college girlfriend who’d left her for her brother years before.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?  

Readers, new and seasoned, are always welcome to find and chat with me on-line and in the real world. I’m at www.FionaZedde.com and across social media as @fionazedde.

 

Book giveaway

Fiona is graciously giving away five e-book copies of her erotic short story “The Magical Femme.”

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, August 15, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

Great giveaway and interview with Georgia Beers coming up! 

Check back later this month for an interview & giveaway with Georgia Beers—or subscribe to this blog so you won’t miss it.

 

The post Interview & giveaway with Fiona Zedde, author of lesbian erotica & romance appeared first on Jae.

Interview with f/f romance author Melissa Brayden & a book giveaway

 

It’s time for the next interview & book giveaway! This week, popular f/f romance author Melissa Brayden took time out of her busy schedule to answer my questions.

Melissa has just published her fourteenth romance novel with Bold Strokes Book, and she’s giving away an e-book copy of her small-town romance Beautiful Dreamer, so don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post.

 

Welcome, Melissa. Please tell us a little about your latest release, Beautiful Dreamer.

Oh, I’d be happy to! Beautiful Dreamer can best be described as a small-town, homecoming romance. Devyn is a big shot corporate real estate broker in Philly. Elizabeth is the owner of an odd-jobs company in the tiny town of Dreamer’s Bay on the shoreline of South Carolina. Devyn, who rejects her past as a closeted, overly popular head cheerleader, is forced to return home to “The Bay” for a family emergency. She and unassuming Elizabeth connect in a big and very unexpected way! Expect fireflies (lightning bugs), town carnivals, lots and lots of kissing, and a little drama on the side. Did I mention the cute dog named Scout?

 

Beautiful Dreamer is set in the quaint little town of Dreamer’s Bay. I’ve never heard of it, and neither has Wikipedia, so I assume it’s a fictional town? How did you come up with the name?

It *is* a fictional town. You are correct. I went in that direction because it afforded me a lot of creative freedom. Kind of a like an unmanned playground all to myself where I can make up the culture, the vibe, and the feel of the town’s inhabitants. As for coming up with the name, I struggled a bit. I had a few other town names I was working with when I started the book, but they didn’t feel authentic to the setting I was constructing. Then one day, I took a look at the title of the book, and the already designed cover, and it hit me like a two-by-four. Dreamer’s Bay fit perfectly (The Bay, for short), and I never looked back.

 

Some of your other novels, including Strawberry Summer and How Sweet It Is, are set in small towns too, and they also deal with returning home. What’s the appeal of small-town romances and the homecoming theme for you?

You do your research! I love, love, love the trope, and I have a feeling you’ll see it from me more in the future. First of all, the small towns. I think there’s an element of romance already built in to a slower-paced lifestyle that comes with them. In a small town, there’s not a lot of glitz, glamor, or flash. There’s also not a ton to do. In essence, people have to focus on each other more, and that lends itself to characters connecting on a deeper level. Plus, the quaint quality of old buildings, mom-and-pop businesses, and everyone knowing everyone else’s business adds to the charm. Second of all, the homecoming feature is another fun element. I’m  a big fan of the “There’s No Place Like Home” motif. I loved it in The Wizard of Oz, and Home for the Holidays,  The Family Stone, and every one of those films where the main character is reminded of the beauty of where they came from. They can go off into the larger world and learn so much, but their heart remains with their family, their original home, and that just warms my heart. It speaks of loyalty and love. I never tire of those kinds of stories.

 

You have a family, including the cutest little boy, Everett. How did having a child change your writing routine?

Oh, thank you! I think he’s pretty cute, myself. This week he began saying “Mama” with intention, rather than just babbling it. *End of Mom boasting*

Yes, I would say having a little one certainly had an impact on my job and my writing life. Because writing became my full-time job in 2016, I was used to a certain amount of freedom when it came to hitting my word count. I could write a little, play around outside, write a little, shop a little, write a little, and so on and still make my goal. Not the case anymore! Everett goes to school for half a day so during that time I have to force myself to buckle down and get serious to achieve my word count because once he’s back, it’s the Everett show until bedtime. Sometimes that means I have to have some firm words with myself in the mirror. They might involve pointing and finger shaking and a little talking back. But that clock is ticking, and I have to be the toughest boss I’ve ever had and implement a firm structure to my writing day. I write, lately, in three sections. Today for example? I need to write 1,850 words before 2pm and will shoot for 620 words a session. Each session is generally around 45 minutes.  I need to get going!  LOL.

 

Your books regularly make it onto recommended reading lists for mainstream (m/f) romance readers. Why do you think your books appeal to such a broad audience, and do you have any tips for LGBT+ authors who want break into the mainstream market too?

I wish I knew! Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to see that inclusion happen, and I do hear from lots of straight men and women who read the books, in addition to my more standard LGBTQ audience. So, while I know those readers are there, I don’t know how they came upon my books. I do think I lean more heavily to standard tropes, and in the end, as humans, we all respond to basic things like love, humor, and a happy ending. Maybe that’s me staying in the safe lane and not experimenting too much, but those are the kinds of themes and stories that I grew up reading, and I guess I just wanted to see similar themes play out with two women and explore how those kind of stories change and shift (because of course they have to be based on the characters). Women are more emotional and forge very strong person-to-person connections, which is so different than the aloof alpha male featured in straight romances so often. I feel like I’m off topic. HAHA. Welcome to Melissa. In short, looping back, I think I present some very comfortable tropes and themes that are universal and recognizable. Maybe? Possibly? I’m not sure.

 

Unfortunately, biphobia and bi-erasure are alive and kicking in our society, even within the LGBT+ and the lesfic community. Do you ever address this issue in your books?

I have a couple of times, yes. As a bisexual woman myself, I just had to. The first was in Just Three Words on Samantha’s journey. In one scene, even one of her closest friends in the world (Hunter, a lesbian)  takes a shot at her sexuality in a moment of anger. I’ve had that happen myself and think it’s such an important topic. Strawberry Summer, also deals with sexual fluidity in the character of Courtney, who is attracted to who she is attracted to, but prefers to avoid labels. That particular choice was inspired by my niece and her friends in their early twenties, who while very confident in their sexualities, reject being labeled. I think we’ll see that more and more as younger generations come up.

 

You’re not “just” a writer; you also star in plays. Recently, you’ve been in The Little Foxes. Does your stage experience influence your writing in any way?

While I do have a lot of onstage experience as an actress, I’ve swapped caps to director in the past decade (I directed The Little Foxes earlier this year), and honestly those two things (writing and directing) are so very similar. To break it down, they’re both storytelling. I think my directing experience influences the pacing of my novels quite a bit, as well as understanding character objectives and tactics. Having that foundation before ever writing my first book truly helped steer me in the right direction in crafting a more interesting story.  At least, I think so.

 

I know you love wine, and somehow, you seem to also have a reputation for enjoying donuts. If you were a wine, what kind would you be and why? If you were a donut, what kind would you be and why?

This is the best questions ever, and I fully accept this reputation with pride! I adore both things!  Wine: I’ll go with Pinot Noir. It’s mellow, but a little fruity (translation, fun). It doesn’t take itself too seriously and is the most accessible red, even to those who don’t drink wine.  (I think I’m pretty approachable).  Donut: Oh, I’ll take glazed with chocolate frosting. Glazed is classic, and I think I’m pretty much an everyday, girl next door type. I added the chocolate because I hope I’m whimsical enough to seize the day on occasion, and c’mon, I can’t resist chocolate…ever. Now I need both!

 

What types of books do you like to read? Any favorites you can recommend?

I love to read and lament strongly that I don’t have more time for it. I grew up reading like crazy. The Baby Sitter’s Club and Sweet Valley Twins were my favorite. Did you know they recently released a Sweet Valley Twins novel where they’re adults? Blew my mind! I enjoyed seeing how their lives panned out so much. Spoiler: there was a twin rift! Sigh.

I stay pretty solidly in the romance lane, when reading. My first love. But I veer on occasion to general fiction and intrigue. Some favorite lesfic books include Playing the Role of Herself by KE Lane, Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran, and Starting From Scratch by Georgia Beers. For straight romance, simply anything by Judith McNaught. After that, Jill Shalvis, Nora Roberts, and Kristan Higgins. For intrigue: Anything by Chevy Stevens but start with Still Missing because that one rocked my world and had me cowering in a corner.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

Great questions. At any given point I have my hands on four different books. One in pre-writing, one being written, one being edited, and one being marketed. So, I always stop and scratch my head when asked that question and get my tiny little ducks to march in a row. Aha! The answer is Back to September is next out in November – making its debut at Women’s Week in Provincetown. It’s about a bookshop owner who falls madly for a very famous romance author.

I’m currently writing To the Moon and Back – the story of an actress and stage manager at a regional theatre in Minneapolis.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

For news on what books are next and what appearances I have ahead, check out my website at www.melissabrayden.com. Social media is big for me, too, if you want to get to know me outside of the books. So, if you’d love to see what writing struggle I’m in the midst of or what my child’s crazy hair looks like today, hit me up on one of those platforms. I’d say I’m most active on Instagram (@mbraydenbooks) and Facebook (Melissa Brayden) – but I’m trying to be more present on Twitter and tweet and retweet and reply and get into GIF wars whenever possible. All the appropriate things. You can find me on twitter at @melissabrayden.

 

Book giveaway

Melissa is graciously giving away an e-book copy of her new release, Beautiful Dreamer.

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, August 1, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

More giveaways & free books

There’ll be more author interviews, giveaways, and free books every month. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, please subscribe to my blog.

 

The post Interview with f/f romance author Melissa Brayden & a book giveaway appeared first on Jae.

Book giveaway, free book & an interview with lesbian romance author Cheyenne Blue

Today’s interview guest is fellow Ylva Publishing author Cheyenne Blue, who is best-known for her tennis romance Code of Conduct and her Girl Meets Girl series of lesbian romance novels set in Australia.

Cheyenne is giving away an ebook copy of her latest release, opposites-attract romance A Heart This Big, and she’s also offering a free collection of romantic short stories, so make sure you don’t miss the giveaway and the freebie at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Cheyenne. Please tell us a little about your latest release, A Heart This Big.

A Heart This Big is the story of single mum Nina who runs a farm on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. Banksia Farm allows city kids to experience a taste of rural life. But when a child is hurt, and a lawsuit looms, Nina seeks out the best legal assistance she can.

Leigh is a partner in a major Sydney law firm. She’d love to help Nina, but Nina doesn’t have the money to pay her. But something about Nina—and her twelve-year old daughter Phoebe—is very hard to refuse.

If I had to slap labels on A Heart This Big, I’d say it is an opposites-attract, rich-girl/poor-girl romance, split between the city and the country. There are animals and kids, an accident-prone paralegal, and a battle to save a special farm.

 

I know you always put little pieces of yourself into your characters. What do the characters from A Heart This Big have in common with you?

I would say I have most in common with Nina. Nina’s one of those people who always tries to take on too much—and that would be me too. She’s also too busy to be a very neat housekeeper. That’s definitely me! Nina and I share the same dress sense too: practical, old clothes and zero dress to impress.

The character in A Heart This Big I have the most in common with is Grizz, Leigh’s paralegal. Mostly because my day job is basically Grizz’s job. In addition to that, Grizz loves her childfree state, refuses to act her age, and is rather accident-prone. I own those traits big time!

 

I loved the hilarious scenes at the beginning of A Heart This Big, when big-city lawyer Leigh tries to help out on Nina’s farm. What was your personal favorite scene in A Heart This Big?

Can I pick two scenes? The first is chapter 2, where Nina comes to see Leigh to try and persuade her to take on the case. Nina is so woefully unprepared—both for what the lawsuit is going to mean for her, but also for the rarified atmosphere of a swanky law firm.

The second scene is one that got added in the editing process. Leigh volunteers to assist with a group of kids with Down syndrome who come to ride the ponies at the farm. The scene shows the community that is Banksia Farm and how much it means to so many people. It’s also where Leigh first begins to really feel the pull of the farm for herself.

Back when I was a teenager, I worked at a stables that also taught riding to children and adults with Down syndrome. It was one of my favourite times of the week. I drew heavily on that experience for the character of Edwina, but also had two experienced betas who weighed in on Riding for the Disabled and Edwina’s characterisation. Thanks, Kat and Sophie.

 

Congratulations! Your tennis romance Code of Conduct is a finalist for a Golden Crown Literary Society Award in the contemporary romance (long novels) category. For those readers who haven’t read it yet: It’s a story about forbidden love between a professional tennis player and a very sexy Spanish official. Cheyenne, if you had to play a doubles match against Viva and Gabriela, which of the main characters from your other novels would you pick as your doubles partner and why?

What an interesting question. First up, in any tennis match against Viva and Gabriela I would battle to gain a single point against those super-fit tennis professionals! If I got slapped onto the court to play the match, though, I’ll pick Felix from Fenced-In Felix to be my partner. She’s probably never picked up a racquet in her life, but her outdoor lifestyle means she’s fit, and as a six-footer, she’s got a great wingspan. Between us, maybe we’d get lucky and manage to get a few balls back.

And, yes! I’m pretty stoked to be a Goldie finalist.

Pre-release giveaway & interview with lesbian mystery author Anne Hagan

Today’s guest is indie author Anne Hagan, who is probably best known for her lesbian mystery novels, especially the Morelville series.

Anne is about to publish her f/f thriller Steel City Confidential, which can already be pre-ordered on Amazon. She’s giving away two ebooks and two signed paperbacks of Steel City Confidential, so don’t miss the pre-release giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Anne. Please tell us a little about Steel City Confidential.

Steel City Confidential is a novel I wrote as the result of a challenge from a Twitter follower and Sheena Lemos Ebersohn of The Lesbian Review. It’s not ‘just’ a legal thriller. To meet the challenge, I also had to include women over 40, families with children, outlaws, investigators and action/adventure.

It’s written backwards. The big reveal is right there in the first chapter, then we go back in time to find out how everything got to that point. I think the reveal will be appealing to my faithful women loving women (WLW) readers and, I hope, to many women.

 

If I’m not mistaken, Steel City Confidential is your first legal thriller. How was writing a thriller different from writing a mystery novel? Did you run into any challenges?

A legal thriller is similar to a mystery. The client is either innocent and we find out whodunnit during the trial, or guilty after all, but proclaiming her innocence all along. My challenge was in  getting the details right. I’ve always been a reader and a fan of the genre, but I’m not a lawyer. There was a lot of digging for me into how the courts run in Pennsylvania and in Pittsburgh in particular.

 

The main characters in Steel City Confidential are women over 40. Characters over 40 seem to be quite rare in lesbian fiction. Why do you think that is, and what made you decide to make your characters more mature women?

Lesbian fiction really started to find an audience – with lesbians – with fan fiction, a free and accessible electronic medium. FanFic appealed to a younger demographic than the women who came to WLW fiction by way of printed books. I’m 52. I write characters of all ages, but even in my primary mystery series, the lesbian couple are in their late 30’s. I like to read and I wanted to write something that is more representative.

My lawyer, ‘Ro’ is in her 40’s in this book and her wife celebrates her 40th birthday in the story. They have children. Ro’s client is in her late 60’s with a wife that’s over 70. Her client has a daughter in her 20’s they raised together.

 

We met at the GCLS conference for lesbian fiction last year, and I know you’re planning on going again this year, as well as going to Bouchercon. What do you enjoy most about literary conferences? What would you say to introverted readers and writers who are not sure about attending an event like that?

With GCLS, I feel like I’m among friends. I know many of the authors personally after a couple of cons, and I’m getting to know a lot of the readers who go too. It’s a great, supportive and affirming environment.

I’m what you’d call an introverted extrovert. It’s hard for me to take those first few steps into a con environment and after a full day, I need to be away from people and recharge. For an introvert who’s never been to a con, a small, intimate one like the GCLS con is a good place to start. If you’re on social media, you’ll feel like you already know half the people there. And, a big plus for GCLS is their Con Virgins group which begins on Facebook and goes live at the con.

 

You do a lot for the community of lesbian fiction authors, including putting together a list of currently writing lesfic authors. Let me be the one to say thank you in the name of all other lesfic authors. Have you had anyone wondering why you would help out “the competition”? (That’s a question I got when I did Lesbian Book Bingo). What’s your view on the “other authors are the competition” argument?

Thank you! I get more thanks than I do questions about helping ‘my competition’, actually. I take the Sallyanne Monti view: Readers can read a lot faster than we can write. We’re colleagues not competitors. I think about the Mega Sales I’ve been involved with – Thanks T.B. Markinson at IHeartLesfic. You would think having so many books to choose from would dilute sales, but it has the opposite effect.

 

You’re probably best-known for the Morelville series—a series of an impressive length! How many books are there in the series? How do the Morelville Mysteries relate to the Morelville Cozies? And where would you suggest readers start if they want to get into the series?

The Morelville Mysteries series stands at 11 books. The 12th is in process. There are two Morelville Cozies out and a third one to be released later this year. The cozy mysteries feature the 60+ aged mothers of my two lesbian main characters in the Mysteries series.

In the Morelville Mysteries series, each mystery stands alone, but because all of the characters grow and change over time, it’s best to start with Book 1, Relic.

 

What’s the most useless talent you have?

I don’t have any talents besides writing. It took me 45+ years to finally find something I’m decent at.

 

Image you discover a beautiful, remote island and you decide to build your own society, where you make the rules. What would be the first rule you put into place?

Honestly? That four letter ‘F’ word would be banned from public use. I hear it so much – far too much – from the younger generations I’m surrounded by.

 

Do you have time to read? If you do, what types of books do you like to read? Any favorites you can recommend?

I make time to read. I schedule it in the morning, and I try to read a little before bed. I’ve been a mystery lover since I learned to read and I read widely in the genre, both from mainstream and lesfic authors. I also love legal thrillers, most of which are in the mainstream. Carson Taite is the only WLW writer I’m aware of who consistently combines legal drama and romance. For mystery and suspense in lesfic space, you can’t go wrong with works by Ellen Hart, Kim Baldwin, Gerri Hill, JM Redmann, RE Bradshaw, Cheryl Head, Jessie Chandler, Katherine V. Forrest, Penny Micklebury, Claire McNab, Radclyffe…there are so many. I maintain an ever-growing list of lesfic writers, and I try and note the genres they write in. It’s on my website.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

Steel City Confidential is about to be released. I’ve started edits on the 12th Morelville mystery. Look for that in August. I write a bit of romance too. Readers can look for a new edition to the Loving Blue in Red States short story series in late July.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

Website: https://AnneHaganAuthor.com

Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/AnneHaganAuthor

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAnneHagan/

Twitter: @AuthorAnneHagan  https://twitter.com/AuthorAnneHagan

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/annehaganauthor/

 

Book giveaway

Anne is giving away 2 e-book copies and two signed paperbacks of Steel City Confidential.

Anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog.

Entries close on Saturday, July 6, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

For more giveaways and free books, make sure you subscribe to my blog

I’m posting several author interviews with giveaways and free books each month. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, please subscribe to my blog.

 

The post Pre-release giveaway & interview with lesbian mystery author Anne Hagan appeared first on Jae.

Interview with lesbian romantic suspense author Carsen Taite & a giveaway

 

This week’s interviewee is veteran lesbian fiction author Carsen Taite, who is best-known for her award-winning romantic suspense novels. She just published her twenty-second novel, Practice Makes Perfect, with Bold Strokes Books.

Carsen is giving away two ebook copies of her newest release, plus a signed paperback, and she’s willing to send it worldwide, so don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Carsen. Please tell us a little about Practice Makes Perfect.

Practice Makes Perfect is the first book in the Legal Affairs Series, a trio of contemporary romances centered around a group of friends who attended law school together. After a few years grinding away at big law firms, completely sacrificing their personal lives to line other people’s pockets, they decide to form their own firm in Austin, Texas.

Here’s the official synopsis:

Meet law school friends Campbell, Abby, and Grace, law partners at Austin’s premier boutique legal firm for young, hip entrepreneurs. Or, it will be as soon as they score a victory for their first big client.

Campbell Clark wins the big pitch, and lands the client, or so she thinks, until the internet start-up insists her firm work with the legal counsel Campbell thought they’d be replacing. Wynne Garrity has never been second best, and she’s not going to let anyone screw up her chance of making partner, but to do so she needs to hang onto her client and prove to everyone her firm isn’t stuck in the stone age.

Reluctant team players, Campbell and Wynne would risk everything by giving in to the attraction that flares between them. In the boardroom and the courtroom, only one can win, but the price of victory could mean losing at love.

Legal Affairs: one law firm, three best friends, three chances to fall in love.

 

Where did the inspiration for the main characters Campbell and Wynne come from? Did they surprise you during the writing process, and if yes, how?

I practiced law for many years before transitioning to a career as a writer. While I never personally worked in Big Law (the huge firms that rely on young associates to crank out tons of billable hours) like Campbell and Wynne, I have lots of friends who did, and I drew from their experience for perspective. Like Campbell, I was fortunate enough to be a partner in a small boutique firm where each of us had a say in the types of clients we represented and the work environment we wanted to cultivate.

As far as surprise, I definitely enjoy the process of figuring out who the characters are by putting them into particular situations and asking questions like “What would Campbell do?” The scene where Campbell uses donuts to illustrate her point to the Leaderboard board of directors was one of those instances that came to me while I was writing, and I remember thinking – “that’s so Campbell.” Plus, if you can fit donuts in a book, it’s always a good thing.

 

You mentioned that It Should Be A Crime is your most popular title. What do you think makes it so popular with readers?

A couple of things come to mind. First is the high-risk drama of the student-professor trope (Morgan is a law professor and Parker is her student). Bridging the lopsided power dynamic creates a threat to Morgan’s career and Parker’s education, but the chemistry that started between them before they knew their respective roles cannot be denied. Second, both are strong, complex women, and isn’t that always appealing?

 

If a reader has never read one of your novels, what can they expect? What sets your books apart from other lesbian fiction novels, and which book would you suggest they start with?

I write both romantic suspense and contemporary romance, and most of my novels feature a legal setting which, based on my personal experience, has a unique level of authenticity. If you like a dose of crime with your romance, I suggest you start with It Should be a Crime, but if you’d like your legal affairs on the lighter side, Practice Makes Perfect is a great place to begin.

 

If I counted correctly, Practice Makes Perfect is your twenty-second novel. How did your writing process change in between your first book, Truelesbianlove.com, and novel #22, Practice Makes Perfect?

Some things change, some things stay the same. I still figure out the plot as I go because the fun part of the process for me will always be putting together the puzzle of how to solve the crime or wrap up the case and find a happily ever after. But nowadays, I have a much better sense in advance of the beats I want to hit in the book, and it doesn’t take as long to hit my stride once I get going.

 

I know you’re a fellow fountain pen fanatic. Do you write your manuscripts or research notes longhand? And what pens would I find on your desk right now?

I type my manuscripts, but my notes are all in longhand. I find that I brainstorm better with a pen then by typing. By the time my manuscript is done, I have a notebook full of handwritten notes that often consist of me working out various plot and character issues. I save all of these in a box so someday someone can read my scribbles and wonder what in the world they mean!

On my desk right now I have a Visconti Rembrandt (purple), a Pilot Vanishing Point (orange), and several of my favorite Kaweco pens (AL sport in stone-washed blue, a Night Edition AL sport, which I had to order from Europe since they didn’t have it for sale here, and a Lilliput Fireblue).

 

If I’m not mistaken, you’re a writer who bakes. What was your biggest screw-up in the kitchen?

I’m much more adept at cooking then baking, but I do love to bake, or I should say, I love having homemade baked goods on hand. I don’t have any epic fails, but I do wind up with lots of not so great finished products, mostly because I apply my writing style of throw it all in and then go back and take out what doesn’t fit, which doesn’t usually work well with the precision required in baking.

 

Imagine you have been cryogenically frozen and wake up 200 years in the future. What’s your first question?

Has anyone invented a way to download story ideas directly from our brains onto the pages of a book? Seriously, I do wonder how technology will continue to change the way we read and write. I remember when we didn’t have the internet (yes, I’m dating myself), and had to physically go to the library to do research instead of sitting at home in pjs, typing search terms into Google. Now, I can sync my manuscript from my desktop computer to my iPad Pro using Dropbox, and use Scrivener writing software to both compose my story and track all my notes and research. There’s no telling what magical writing tools we’ll have 200 years from now.

 

Do you have time to read? Any favorite books you can recommend?

I always make time to read, not only because I enjoy reading, but because I think it’s one of the most important tools writers can use to improve their craft. I’ve learned so much about complex point of view (Gone Girl), fierce and compelling prose (Bastard Out of Carolina), and fantastic dialogue (anything by Melissa Brayden) by reading, which is a total bonus because while I’m learning, I’m also being entertained.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

My next release is Leading the Witness, a romantic suspense novel, and it comes out in October. Right now, I’m working on the second book in the Legal Affairs series, Out of Practice, Abby’s story, which will be out in early 2020.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

Visit my website at www.carsentaite.com,  my author page at boldstrokesbooks.com, or you can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter – @carsentaite.

 

Book giveaway

Carsen is giving away two e-book copies and a signed paperback copy of her latest novel, Practice Makes Perfect.

Since Carsen is willing to ship worldwide, anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog.

Entries close on Thursday, July 4, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

I’m posting several author interviews with giveaways and free books each month. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, please subscribe to my blog.

 

The post Interview with lesbian romantic suspense author Carsen Taite & a giveaway appeared first on Jae.

Interview with fellow lesbian fiction author Lynn Ames & a book giveaway

This week’s interviewee is veteran lesbian fiction author , who writes everything from romance and historical fiction to thrillers and suspense.

Lynn is giving away two e-book copies and an audiobook copy of her latest release, Chain Reactions, so don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, Lynn. Please tell us a little about Chain Reactions and its prequel.

The idea for Chain Reactions and Secrets Well Kept was born from my wife, Cheryl, dropping a non-fiction book on my desk with a post-it-note on top that read, “I think there might be a story here.” The book was The Girls of Atomic City, by Denise Kiernan. I read the jacket copy and was sold on bringing to life, and shining light on, these real-life heroic women whose story has been largely untold. If you believe in signs, I sure got one that I needed to write this book. That same day that Cheryl dropped the book on my desk, it turned out that Denise Kiernan was appearing at the local independent bookstore! We went to see her, and the rest, as they say, is history.

These incredible women—young girls, really—all traveled to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a secret city, to do something for the war effort. They did not know what they were doing, they only knew that it would supposedly help the Allies win World War II. I started thinking about the moral and ethical dilemma that must’ve ensued when they learned that what they’d been doing was creating the fuel for the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. On the one hand, what these women did helped win the war. On the other hand, that bomb killed more than one hundred thousand people, many of them innocent civilians. How would I have felt if I was one of those women? How conflicted would I have been? And that’s what I wanted to explore in these two books.

 

Diana, the main character of Chain Reactions, is a scientist. Was it hard for you as a creative person to tap into a scientific mindset?

Great question. While I’m notoriously horrible at math (particularly word problems), I always loved science. As a result, I was able to tap into my natural curiosity about how things work, and the science behind it, in order to create Nora’s mindset.

 

The plot of Chain Reactions intertwines the present with the past, in the form of the long-held secrets of Diana’s great-aunt. History plays an important role in many of your other books too. What draws you to history and historical fiction, and what is your favorite era to write about?

I was a history major in college, so I’ve always been drawn to history. I also have a passion for telling stories about women who may have been overlooked in history books. We must know and celebrate these stories. So, I’m passionate about telling these stories and illuminating these pieces of our forgotten and/or ignored history, recognizing that in many instances, my fictional work may be the first and only place where a reader learns about something historic. It’s incumbent upon me to get it right. I find I often gravitate to the early/mid 20th century, particularly World War II.

 

You’ve done a lot of really fascinating research for your novels, which often includes meeting the pioneering women who lived lives similar to your characters. Can you tell us a little more about your research process?

I began my career as a broadcast journalist, so my first inclination is always to go directly to the source whenever possible. There are things you simply can’t find online, or in books. How does an avalanche sound when you’re in the middle of it? What do you smell? To answer questions like that and to make the story come alive off the page, you have to ask someone who’s experienced it. So, I interview primary sources as a first line of research.

I also immerse myself in their world, reading everything I can get my hands on. If the sources are dead or I can’t reach them, then I do the next best thing and read what they’ve written on the topic. When I wrote a book about the Women Airforce Service Pilots called Eyes on the Stars, I went to meet four of them, and I found a working World War II airplane museum where I could talk to people who flew those planes. I visited the airfields, etc. For Chain Reactions and Secrets Well Kept, I interviewed one of the “Calutron girls,” who worked in Oak Ridge on the fuel for the atomic bomb. I also spent a lot of time with the official Oak Ridge historian and toured the facility where the fuel was produced, as well as the town and the museum.

For Bright Lights of Summer, the novel I wrote about the heyday of women’s softball, I spent years interviewing the real ball players, going through their scrap books, newspaper articles, pictures, etc.

And for my thrillers, either I tell stories in which I played a personal role, or I interview experts in their fields in order to create authenticity. I also make sure that experts read every section of my book that pertains to them and/or their areas of expertise. I always ask: “Is what I’ve written plausible and possible? If not, why not and how can I fix it?”

 

Your award-winning novel All That Lies Within is set in the glamorous world of movie star Dara Thomas. What role do movies play in your own life? If I’m not mistaken, you and Cheryl have regular movie dates. Have there been any not-to-be-missed movies lately you want to share with us?

I L.O.V.E. the movies—I always have, as watching old movie classics was one way our family connected. You are quite right, Jae; my wife, Cheryl, and I try to see a movie premiere every Friday, then we review it live on Facebook. You can’t go wrong with The Avengers: Endgame, and Captain Marvel, of course, and we loved The Best of Enemies.

 

As an indie author, you’re not just a writer, you’re also an entrepreneur. What advice about the business side of writing would you give writers who are just starting out?

I get asked this question A LOT. First, learn your craft. I mean REALLY learn your craft. Hire yourself a reputable editor. Second, build your brand. YOU are your brand. Everything you do and say becomes part of your brand. Third, think carefully about your publishing options. If you aren’t someone who wants to spend any time marketing your work, I strongly urge you to consider finding yourself a traditional publisher. Finally, write what’s in your heart. Worry less about what sells, and more about what your heart wants to write. If you write authentically and with passion, you’ll find your audience.

 

What personality trait has gotten you into the most trouble and why?

Honestly? My shyness has gotten me into the most trouble, largely because people are shocked to learn, and often reject, that I’m really painfully shy. Because my careers have required me to be “situationally extroverted,” many people, when they meet me one-on-one or in small groups, mistake my shyness for aloofness. Me, aloof? Nothing could be further from the truth.

 

If I’m not mistaken, you live with several cats. If you could ask them three questions, what would they be?

We live with three cats and a dog. I ask Harper, Bart, and Darwin (whom we’ve dubbed the three meowsketeers) questions all day long. In true cat fashion, they never answer. Still, if I could ask them only three questions, I guess I’d ask: a.) When you’re busy studiously ignoring me, is it because you’re messing with my mind, or have I truly offended your sensibilities? b.) What does “meow,” said with five different inflections, really mean? c.) What is the meaning of life?

 

What types of books do you like to read? Any favorites you can recommend?

I read widely. I enjoy everything from classics, to non-fiction (especially biographies and history), to lesbian fiction. My favorite book of all-time is Edith Wharton’s The House of Mirth, I’m a big Charles Dickens fan, as well. For history and biographies, you can’t go wrong with a Doris Kearns Goodwin, and, every lesbian should read Katherine V. Forrest’s Curious Wine.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

Secrets Well Kept will be released in the beginning of July. In the fall, I will sit down and write the official biography of Dot Wilkinson—widely recognized as the greatest catcher ever to play the game of women’s softball. In 2015, I produced and directed a documentary about Dot titled, . And I wrote a factually based historical fiction novel about Dot and her Phoenix Ramblers titled, Bright Lights of Summer. Dot is like family to me, and I’m very much looking forward to telling her real-life story.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

I encourage readers to check out my website: , friend me on Facebook (authorlynnames), and follow me on Instagram and Twitter.

 

Book giveaway

Lynn is giving away two e-book copies and an audiobook copy of Chain Reactions.

Anyone can enter, but if you want to win the audiobook, you need to be able to access Audible.com (US). To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog.

Entries close on Thursday, June 20, 2018, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

I’m posting several author interviews with giveaways and free books every month. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, please subscribe to my blog.

 

 

The post Interview with fellow lesbian fiction author Lynn Ames & a book giveaway appeared first on Jae.

Giveaway of lesbian romance novel “Alone” by E.J. Noyes

This week’s interviewee is fellow lesbian romance author E.J. Noyes, whose debut novel Ask, Tell is one of my favorite f/f romances.

E.J. is giving away two paperback copies of her latest book, Alone, sent worldwide, so don’t miss the giveaway at the end of this post!

 

Welcome, E.J. Please tell us a little about your newest release, Alone.

I’ve spent so long calling Alone “The Weird One” while trying not to give too much away, and it’s really hard to wean myself off just describing it with those three words! I suppose the first thing I can say about it is this is a novel I’m incredibly proud of, weirdness and all.

Celeste Thorne has been living in isolation for the past three-ish years as part of a four-year psychological experiment, and if she sees it through to the end she’ll get half a million dollars. Sweet deal. On paper, the experiment is designed to test people’s mental stamina for colonization of other planets, so the main and most important part of the experiment is that she’s totally alone. No voices or faces in any way shape or form, and her only human contact is via daily text logs with the people monitoring her. Celeste does have visitors—hallucinations of people she knows, which means she can at least have a conversation, even if it’s a rather one-sided one.

Unsurprisingly, she’s starting to be worn down by her isolation, when she encounters an injured Olivia Soldano. Olivia’s arrival sets off a chain reaction of moral and personal dilemmas regarding compromising the experiment, and also Celeste’s own needs as a woman who’s literally seen nobody for the past three-plus years. They’re forced to co-inhabit Celeste’s dwelling for a little while and, well, I write romance so…

As well as morality, I think Alone raises some interesting points about trust – trusting a stranger but also how much can you trust your own emotions when it’s possible they’re just a result of your upbringing and current circumstances.

 

I just have to ask: How on earth did you come up with the idea for Alone? I don’t think I’ve ever seen a novel with a similar premise.

Daydreaming, as usual. I’m not sure what exactly triggered the original thought, but I remember thinking about two scientists being forced to live in really close quarters while they monitored some boring experiment like How do plants grow in this xyz scenario, and how initial antagonism would (of course) turn to love. As all my thoughts do, it unraveled pretty quickly. What if only one person was isolated and someone just appeared one day. What if the person was isolated for years, and how would they feel suddenly seeing a human again. What if they weren’t a scientist at all, but just a regular person who wasn’t really equipped to be alone for so long. What if they couldn’t leave until the experiment was done, and maaaaaybe went a little off the rails mentally.

Everything else, all the background and characterisation, was really easy once I figured out what kind of person would participate in such a thing.

 

If someone offered you the same deal Celeste got in Alone—half a million dollars for four years in total isolation—would you take it? Why or why not?

If you’d asked me fifteen years ago, I would have said unequivocally yes. Casual job, no steady partner or wife, crappy car. Easy, right? I think four years of isolation with no internet or television or people distracting me sounds like the perfect set up to crank out a whole bunch of novels. But I’d miss my current life too much and I’d probably suffer some serious mental health issues as a result. Now I’d have to lean towards not taking it, though the “You could quit your job and travel around skiing with all that money!” part of my brain is screaming at me. Oh, yeah, and I guess life with my wife is worth more than half a million. (Psst, offer me $600,000 and I’ll consider that much time apart from her).

She read this and indignantly told me she’s worth more than $600k. $750k maybe?

 

Your book Ask, Tell was one of my favorite lesbian fiction romances of the past two years. It was hard to believe that it was your debut novel. Was it really the first book you ever wrote, or have you written other things before?

Ahh, thank you! And yes, it was the first book I ever wrote. Previously, the only things I’d written longer than a few paragraphs were—this is so embarrassing—short fictions I posted on Tumblr for my World of Warcraft roleplaying character. The Tumblr account is long gone, in case anyone is going to rush off trying to find my drivel.

 

One of the things that sets your books apart from many others in lesbian fiction is your choice of point of view. What do you enjoy about writing in first-person point of view, and could you ever see yourself writing in third-person POV?

Writing in first feels incredibly immersive, which suits how I construct stories in my head. I like to experience things as the character does, and have the same constraints that we as humans have trying to figure out what other people think and feel. I tend to get rather empathetic regarding my characters, so it’s almost—and this always sounds so lame—as if I’m writing something I’m experiencing. But like all POVs it has limitations (see above re: not knowing what other characters are thinking) which I try to work around – sometimes with success, other times not so much.

I have written some third person! I feel like I need a pat on the back… Lena, my historical fiction WIP, is split with “present time” in third person, then historical portions in first person as like a retelling of experiences from the character’s POV. I’m also in the process of turning a novel from first to third which is a new experience—it usually goes the other way when I vow “I am so totally writing this one in third!”, start in third and then realise Wouldn’t it be nice to really know what this character thinks? and change it to first.

When I write in third, it always feels really distant to me, which as a storyteller I don’t like. That said, it is something I would love to master, but I’m still growing and learning as an author so it’ll take some time to get there.

To clarify – it’s only writing in third that I struggle with. I read and love all POVs and tenses.

 

Your books typically revolve around raw experiences and complex pasts—the main character of Ask Me Again, for example, is suffering from PTSD, and Aspen from Gold hasn’t quite dealt with the physical and emotional consequences of the crash that ended her career. If you are working on a book like that, does it affect your own emotions? How do you make sure your writing doesn’t affect your emotional well-being?

It absolutely affects me, especially being the kind of get right inside the character’s head writer I am. While I’m researching and reading about other people’s experiences it really presses my empathy button, so Ask Me Again was incredibly difficult. It’s hard to make characters you love suffer, and I’ll be honest – I did cry a fair bit while writing it and definitely got a little down at times.

As to how I keep it from affecting my emotional well-being… Frankly, I can’t. Empathy aside, I work fulltime, have six horses, a needy cat, and a wife. I also try to have some sort of life (ha-ha), so my writing time is quite limited. I often find myself in a situation where I could really use a decent break to relax and “un-depress” myself but can’t take one because I have a deadline to meet. So I charge through as best I can. When I find myself close to my emotional limit, I make myself take short breaks to do something else or just get outside for some air, talk to my wife, force the cat to be cuddled. Or I just have a massive teary and then get on with it.

 

If you could turn any activity into an Olympic discipline, what would you have a pretty good chance at winning a gold medal for?

Standing on the deck yelling, “Stop wrecking your feed bucket/water trough/the fence/your sibling!” at horses.

 

If animals could talk, what would your cat say about you?

Oh geez, something really embarrassing like… “Mumma E is the best mumma, but needs to stop calling me Precious Purrpurreeni, and telling me that I have the cutest beh-wee and pawpees. My name is Smudge, and the correct words are belly and paws.”

 

What are your three “if you don’t like this, you can’t be my friend” books in lesbian fiction?

Choosing only three is agony! Especially if they have to be “pure lesfic” which means I can’t really choose The Traitor Baru Cormorant and its sequel The Monster Baru Cormorant which feature a queer female lead, but to me aren’t classified as lesfic. Oh, whoops, I just did mention them… Cough cough, sorrynotsorry.

For real though:

Benny Lawrence’s Rabbits of the Apocalypse – because the humour hits me square on the funny bone, the character voice is fabulous, and the book is a really interesting take on the post-apoc genre.
Meghan O’Brien’s Wild (especially audio) – a fabulous plot, sexy as hell, and so well executed.
Jessica L. Webb’s Trigger – such an interesting concept, and I have a huge character crush on Andy Wyles.

 

When’s your next book coming out, and what are you working on right now?

Sometime late in 2019 – If the Shoe Fits which focuses on Jana, Sabine Fleischer’s sister from Ask, Tell and Ask Me Again. Instead of books where my characters are already set in their lady-loving ways, I wanted to write a novel about an adult woman realising for the first time that they might be into ladies. Jana nudged me to say maybe there’s a reason she’s so fussy about every guy she dates. I’m also flipping between a bunch of different projects, including my historical fiction, a post-apocalyptic novel, a humorous romance, a dramatic romance, and whatever else pops into my head as an ‘OMG, must write’ like this spy/assassin series that I keep thinking about.

Help, I don’t have enough time.

 

Where can your readers find out more about you and your books?

The Bella Books site is the best place to check out my work: www.bellabooks.com/category/bella-author-ej-noyes/

If anyone wants to chat and help me procrastinate, I’m always around on Twitter (probably too much…) @zgrokit

Or you can message me on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/ejnoyes/

 

Book giveaway

E.J. is graciously giving away two paperback copies of her new release, Alone.

She’ll ship worldwide, so anyone can enter. To be entered into the drawing, leave a comment on this blog post.

Entries close on Thursday, June 13, 2019, 10 a.m. CET, when I’ll draw the winners using a random numbers generator. I’ll notify winners via email. Your email address won’t be used for any other purpose.

 

There’ll be more author interviews, giveaways, and free books every month. If you want to make sure you don’t miss any of them, please subscribe to my blog.

The post Giveaway of lesbian romance novel “Alone” by E.J. Noyes appeared first on Jae.