'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 114

Sunday Shorts – “Threesome” and “The Biggest Lover” Q&A with Dale Chase

If you haven’t discovered Dale Chase yet, allow me to be the one to introduce you to your next book crush. Dale did something I thought no one could do: made Westerns enthralling. I say that with no malice toward the Western, but that my encounters with the genre in my bookselling and my lit-degree days left me completely unmoved. Turned out all I needed was to find someone who could make me feel the grit and taste the sweat. Didn’t hurt that the men involved were as hot as the often-seen sunsets. All that said, Dale is no stranger to other genres, other periods, and the most recent Chase collection I read, Hot Copy, was scorching, and all the stories were more-or-less contemporary.

I was lucky enough to sit down for a virtual chat about Dale’s stories in both “Threesome” and “The Biggest Lover.”

Few sexual fantasies are as potent or lasting as “the threesome” – as an adolescent, the first time you saw a hot couple walking hand in hand and you wanted to follow them back home and into their bed, as an adult when you discover that your partner has been fantasizing also about the bartender at your favorite club.

1+1+1 = sensual delight!

 

Editor Matthew Bright, no stranger to threesomes himself, has invited twelve authors to write stories that range from the sweet and romantic to erotic and playful and even a bit depraved.

 

We have all heard the term Rubenesque as a compliment for plus-sized women. The baroque painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens was fond of painting women of the day that were curvaceous and full-figured. The men in his art were not. What is the comparable term for men? Because not every gay man is obsessed with twinks who list the number of visible rib bones on their Grindr profile. Or men who can remember the number of reps at the gym but not their phone number. Some of us appreciate buying in bulk and that includes looking for love. Or just plain sex.  Thank goodness for Bear culture which embraces girth. During Bear Week in Provincetown the stores do not even bother to sell clothes smaller than an XL and a man’s virility is often like the potency of moonshine: the more Xs on the jug the better, so XXXL is a chub in high demand.

It has taken too long for an erotica anthology to feature such men. As Girth & Mirth founding father Reed Wilgoren stated, “Just as people are coming out every day—men and women realizing their sexuality—new Bears and new Chubbies and new chasers are also evolving in the world. There have to be people waiting to embrace them and show them the way, much as who helped me to become what I am and who I am today.” It is our hope that readers who felt denied of attention and affection will read these stories and realize that love has no weight limit, no threshold, and neither should self-esteem.

NB: You have stories in both Threesome and The Biggest Lover. You opened the door to enjoying gritty western tales for me, so I can’t help but wonder if we’re in store for some of your awesome western tales with either of these stories. What are we in for?

DC: Surprise! Neither story is a western. When Bill Holden and I heard about The Biggest Lover while at Saints & Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans, we immediately started talking on what kind of stories we’d do. Historical was kind of a given because we’re both comfortable in other eras, and at first I did consider a western. But the more talking we did, the more I started thinking otherwise. By the time we left our bench by the river, I knew I’d write a Victorian set in the theater in San Francisco. Turned out to be great fun. As for Threesome, the subject didn’t pull me toward historical so it’s a contemporary featuring a hot dentist.

NB: After years of dental reconstruction, I’ve got to say, I think you’re probably the only person I would trust to make me think of a dentist as sexy. I’ve lost track of how many of your short fiction pieces I’ve read and you have a way of drawing into the senses that I really find engrossing. Despite having written over 150 erotic shorts, your stories always strike me as unique and fresh, so you obviously don’t struggle with that, but does having more unique themed anthology calls help? The Biggest Lover has a theme we almost never see, and Threesomes might not be as uncommon, but did holding a threesome as the central theme spark a different idea?

DC: I too am a dental reconstruction veteran who once encountered a dentist of great appeal so it wasn’t a stretch to write a hot one. I do pride myself on originality in story writing. The first thing I think when looking to write for a new anthology call is what will others write. I then write something else. So I’m essentially trying to expand even the rather routine calls, most often by way of character development. Unique themed anthology calls are more fun because they give the writer a chance to stretch. Ninety-six of those 150 shorts I wrote were for men’s magazines and it was all contemporary, all young hot guys getting it on. Doing something different, whether historical or unique themed, is a refreshing change. Jerry L. Wheeler has done wonders in this with his Tented, Riding the Rails, and especially his Dirty Diner book of food themed erotica. I loved writing for that.

NB: Ohmigosh yes. “Cookie” was a great story.

DC: When Jerry L. Wheeler first mentioned a possible erotic food anthology, we were in New Orleans at Saints & Sinners (so many ideas are hatched there!) and he said to me, “I know you’ll write a western” to which I replied “Of course, a chuck wagon story.” I then had to read up on chuck wagon fare, finding it fascinating at how much can be done with a Dutch oven. The Biggest Lover was most welcome in its originality. Threesomes, on the other hand, was just the opposite. A fine theme and I enjoyed writing my story, but it had the familiar feel of simply putting some guys together to get it on.

NB: I’ve barely dipped my toes into novellas and novels (and find them very daunting) but you move between formats with apparent ease. Do you have a favourite format, or does one speak to you easier than another?

DC: I consider myself a novelist who also writes shorter works. Short story characters are like weekend guests while novel characters move in with you. You face them across the breakfast table and they climb into bed with you, nudging as you try to sleep. If you’ve created a lead character you really like, the novel can be great fun, despite the challenges of managing a large work. In writing my first novel, Wyatt: Doc Holliday’s Account of an Intimate Friendship, I lived with Doc Holliday which was the most fun I’ve ever had writing anything. I like the room of a novel, time and space to thoroughly develop characters while creating a multi-layered story. Writing short stories is an entertaining diversion from the longer work so I welcome new and different calls for submissions. I’m always writing something because I enjoy the process. If I’m between novels or need a break when in the middle of one, I write a short story. I’m always checking for new story calls and if one pops up that has appeal, I stop the novel and write that story. I’m two-thirds through my current novel about a pair of cowboy detectives but have stopped to write a couple western novellas as well as answer several calls. I like that the novel waits for me, characters standing in the wings, waiting for me to bring them onstage. I also think diverting myself allows me to return to the novel with a fresh eye. Sometimes a writer needs a vacation from his characters. It’s like leaving them the house while I take an excursion. As for one being easier than another, the short story will always be easiest, simply because it’s short and therefore quite manageable. Almost sad that this gets it relegated to second chair because it can be great fun.

NB: Absolutely, and I love the image of characters moving in. Thank you for taking the time for this!

For those of you looking for a copy of The Biggest Lover of your own, you can buy it direct from Bear Bones Books (an imprint of Lethe Press) at the website, here. Or, check Indiebound for your local brick-and-mortar. Or, as always, ask wherever quality LGBT books are sold. For a copy of Threesome, look no further than Lethe Press here, or Indiebound, or, again, shop local.

 

Dale Chase has written gay men’s erotica for eighteen years and is having a grand time. Retired from the business world, she’s free to fully indulge her creativity and when she’s not writing the westerns she’s come to favor, she’s pursuing her art, whether drawing, painting, papier mache, or her latest passion, magazine paper collage. Dale has two erotic western novels in print: TAKEDOWN: Taming John Wesley Hardin from Lethe Press, and WYATT: Doc Holiday’s Account of an Intimate Friendship from Bold Strokes Books. Her Victorian erotica collection The Company He Keeps from Bold Strokes Books won a silver medal from the Independent Publisher’s Association in 2012. Her first erotic story collection If The Spirit Moves You: Ghostly Gay Erotica was published by Lethe Press. Dale has story collections from Bold Strokes Books and Wilde City Press, all westerns, currently available as e-books. Her short stories have appeared in over sixty anthologies with more on the way. Dale’s earliest work was more than ninety stories published in magazines such as Men, Freshmen, In Touch, and Indulge, two of which were also translated into Italian and German. Prior to erotica, Dale wrote short stories for motorcycle magazines such as Cycle, Cycle World, and Motorcyclist. A California native, Dale lives near San Francisco where she’s at work on various stories, novellas, and her next novel Hot Pursuit which features a pair of cowboy detectives working out of a San Francisco agency in 1876.

Writing Wednesday – The Super Secret Awesome Thing Revealed

It’s snowing again, and it snowed a lot last week and I don’t even want to think about Drumpf, but I have a good news thing, so I’m going to talk about the good news thing and ignore the snow and the Drumpf.

The good thing? This.

Before anything else, can we just say “Yum?” Because Yum. Yowza.

Okay, what that is right there is “Three.” “Three,” some of you lovely readers may recall, is the short story that introduced Luc, Anders, and Curtis, the three fellows that make up the Triad in my releasing-in-May novel Triad Blood. “Three” originally appeared in Blood Sacraments, a collection of Gay Vampire Erotica edited by Todd Gregory for Bold Strokes Books.

That’s Luc on the cover, by the way. Hello, Luc.

Here’s the blurb: With three nights to satiate his blood thirst, Luc can’t waste time with rival demon Anders, but when both pick a strangely resistant prey, success requires the unthinkable: working together.

I had an idea that it might be neat to give anyone who preordered a copy of Triad Blood a free e-copy of “Three,” if that was something Bold Strokes Books could do, and I pitched it to them, and instead of that, the awesome publishing machine that is Bold Strokes Books did me about a dozen times better. Anyone who buys any e-book from Bold Strokes Books in the entire month of May will receive “Three” for free.

I cannot tell you how freaking happy this makes me. I love my BSB peeps so freaking much.

Even better, it looks like this will be a revisited marketing tool – the following month, you’ll be able to get Sandy Lowe‘s “Party Games” the same way.

But Wait, There’s More!

It’s not just Bold Strokes Books with the good news.

Lethe Press is celebrating its fifteenth birthday (in some states I think that means you can finally marry it) and to celebrate all the e-books, for the entirety of March, are $1.50 each (with a minimum purchase of three: that’s $4.50 for three awesome ebooks).

You totally need to take advantage of this. And, because I feel no shame in pointing out anthologies in which I have a story because that supports the editors and other authors as much as it supports me, I shall make list said anthologies below, in case you wished to stock up on those awesome books in which yours truly has a wee story despite the book being so awesome.

“Vanilla” appears in Threesome: Him, Him, and Me, edited by Matthew Bright; “A Slice of Pi” appears in The Biggest Lover, edited by R. Jackson; “Wind and Tree” appears in Tales from the Den, edited by R. Jackson; “Time and Tide” appears in The Touch of the Sea, edited by Steve Berman; “The Psychometry of Snow” appears in Bears of Winter, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler; and “Aiming to Please” appears in Tented, edited by Jerry L. Wheeler.

I didn’t turn those into links, because the deal is added to the cart from the home page (the link you’ll see if you click “Lethe Press” above), and you need to list the titles and formats you’re looking for. The instructions are all there.

Oh, And One More Thing!

I know, I know, I go on and on today, right?

I’ve got a “save-the-date” for the launch of Triad Blood now. It will be at After Stonewall, here in Ottawa, on Thursday the 12th of May. More details as they become available, but that’s the evening in question. If you went to my launch for Light, and you have any feedback, please, please say so. I’m a big boy, and I can take constructive criticism.

But I should point out I probably can’t arrange another collapsing audience member. I think I can’t repeat that particular incident, regardless of how exciting it was.

The Novel(s)

Hello March!

So, new month, new goal. By the end of the month, I want to be at least 30k into Triad Soul. I’m on track, and I’m loving being on track, but I know I’ve got some away time this month, so I need to be diligent.

 

Noise-making set up so far includes a blog entry for the release at QSF, the awesomeness that is “Three,” the BSB blog date (I need to write the darn blog, but at least my spot is booked), and the launch date is set.

Obviously, I’ve got more to put together, but I’m happy I’ve at least begun the process. Fingers crossed I can keep up the momentum as well as work on everything else at the same time. Woo-woo! All aboard…

The Short Stuff

I missed the last day of February for submitting something that month, so I’ll double-up this month and call it even. It happens, and I’m not going to beat myself up over it. The last couple of days of February just hit me with a whammy or two, and that’s okay.

The Q&As are still going strong, and the Matthew Bright one this last weekend was the most successful yet in terms of traffic and readership. I like this project, and I’m glad I took it on and left it to “one a week.” I’d originally thought about two or three authors a Sunday, but no. This is better.

Open Calls I Know About (and find tempting)…

Transcendent – Short, speculative fiction published in 2015 (ie: reprints) that features transgender characters, Lethe Press, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
The Alice Munro Short Story Contest – Short fiction, entry price, Deadline: April 1st, 2016.
Gents: Steamy Tales from the Age of Steam – Gay male erotica set during the Victorian/Edwardian era, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Survivor – SF/F anthology looking for stories of everyday trauma survival, Lethe Press, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Magic and Mayhem – Mage/cyborg or tattoo artist/soldier stories (very specific, but it’s for a charity anthology, details at the link), Gay Romance Northwest, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Novella Call – The Book Smugglers, Deadline: May 30th, 2016.
Animal Magnetism – Tales of men drawn together over their love of animals, JMS Books, Deadline: July 31st, 2016.
A Scandal in Gomorrah: Queering Sherlock Holmes – Queering the canon or something more transformational, Lethe Press, Deadline: January 1, 2017.

Don’t forget to check the Lambda Literary site for more calls, as well as the Queer Sci-Fi calls for submission page (always a trove!)

Sunday Shorts – “Threesome” Q&A with Matthew Bright

Matthew Bright is the editor of the upcoming Threesome: Him, Him and Me erotica anthology from Lethe Press. As a sit-down isn’t really possible (he’s from my native land of Britain) we had a back-and-forth e-mail discussion. If you’ve not “met” Matthew, you’re in for a treat. He’s funny, talented, and one of the best design artists I’ve met.

Few sexual fantasies are as potent or lasting as “the threesome” – as an adolescent, the first time you saw a hot couple walking hand in hand and you wanted to follow them back home and into their bed, as an adult when you discover that your partner has been fantasizing also about the bartender at your favorite club.

 

1+1+1 = sensual delight!

 

Editor Matthew Bright, no stranger to threesomes himself, has invited twelve authors to write stories that range from the sweet and romantic to erotic and playful and even a bit depraved.

 

NB: You have an incredible visual talent as well as being a talented author and editor (which, if you weren’t also quite nice, would be really annoying, by the way). All the visual art I’ve seen you produce is stunning. I’ve spoken with poets before about how their sense of lyricism and musicality influences their prose writing, but I’m curious if the same holds true for you and your design talent?

MB: Ha, that’s very kind of you! And I’m British, so nice is in my blood, along with tea and gravy.

NB: I miss good gravy.

MB: Oddly enough, design was never something I thought of as my ‘thing’ until very recently. I always talk about my formative years stapling together stories I’d written into books as something that lead to me being a writer, but I probably spent as much time making bad photomontages of Harry Potter art, and somewhere along the line I learnt some things, I guess.

I very rarely approach stories with any related thought as to what design might accompany it later down the line, but I do tend to write – or start to write – with a strong visual image in mind. My story in Threesome spun out from one single image (three people naked on a woodland floor at night) and developed from there. After that there was lots of conscious writer-graft to fit that image into a cohesive story somehow. I’m quite thankful for that image kickstarting everything, because my story was an eleventh hour piece to fill the slot of a writer who pulled out, and the writing process was powered on that picture in my head. (Dreadful self-serving to put your own story in an anthology I know, but needs must in this case!)

NB: It’s not at all uncommon, at least in my readings of anthologies. I think you’re safe from the tar and feathers. I find the idea of starting with an image fascinating, though. I’ve only tried that once, for an anthology coming up from Beautiful Dreamer Press, and it was a completely different angle to approach writing for me.

MB: When I think back through most of the stories I’ve written, the seed of them is often one strong visual image from which everything has spun out. So maybe there is a connection between my design work and my writing… who knows? When I was a child writing stories I always drew the front cover first so maybe I’m still unconsciously doing that to this day.

(As a side note, the control that comes with being given the opportunity to do editing, covers and layout is a wonderful thing… until you don’t get to do all that and it’s like sitting in the passenger seat while someone drives your expensive car. These things cut both ways!)

NB: Speaking of that eleventh-hour story, Tom Cardamone posed a question I’m repeating with all the editors I’m chatting with. In collections the author (or for an anthology, the editor) has to select and order the stories, and it’s such an important part of the process, but we rarely discuss that process. I noticed with Threesome, you’ve very specifically broken the tales into groups. How did you approach the selecting and ordering of the tales in  Threesome?

MB: Oh man, this was a bit of a learning curve, and it gotta say this is a totally unappreciated art. The Myriad Carnival was my first experience of putting an anthology into an order, and editor extraordinaire Steve Berman gave me the benefit of his experience. (I didn’t ask, but y’know…) There are a few rules of thumb to follow – like, you should start with an easily accessible story, and keep similar stories apart, etc. Advice which was very welcome, and I promptly ignored completely and did my own thing.

NB: Ha! I wouldn’t have the guts. Or the slightest idea where to start. Well, now that I’m hearing answers from the editors I’m talking to, I’d know where to start, but…

MB: Threesome was different because, like you said, it is strictly split into three. I wish I could say it was a deliberate choice to fit the theme but actually it was just a fortuitous solution to a problem. The thing was, once I’d got all the stories together for the book they were quite eclectic, ranging from sweet character drama, through full-on filth, to surreal fantasy, and I worried that if I mixed them up that the contrasts would be jarring and a reader would feel constantly short-changed going from one to the other. So my solution was to divide it specifically into those three sections so that readers would at least have an idea what they were getting. (Alternatively, I planned this from the start. It’s called Threesome, of course it’s in three sections. Yeah, let’s go with that.)

So what we’ve got is a first section which are character-based stories about the implications and complications and thrills of a threesome, edging sexier into the second section which is, frankly, quite filthy, and winding up in our third section which all sorts – selkies, animated scarecrows, vampire bears and some story about a handsome chocolatier with odd powers. It’s by some guy called Burgoine – heard of him?

NB: I hear he has an apostrophe fetish. Hey, maybe there’s room for a grammar erotica collection someday?

MB: I’d call it Interrobanged. I just had line edits from Jerry Wheeler on a story of mine and according to him I have a fetish for em dashes, so that’ll be my story. The orgiastic scene of the lonely writer offering comfort to the hundreds of em dashes cut by the mercurial editor.

NB: Comma splices have never sounded so sexy. Or, y’know, maybe not. That said, gaslight Egypt, threesomes, dark carnivals… What’s next for Matthew Bright? Got an anthology theme you’ve always itched to attempt?

MB: Well! I always have lots of projects on my plate, so that if I procrastinate on one of them I usually achieve something on another one. So here’s everything that’s coming/is in progress (deep breath): as editor, Clockwork Cairo, a collection of Egypt-themed steampunk; Gents, a collection of Victorian-era gay erotica; and A Scandal In Gomorrah, a collection of queer Sherlock Holmes stories. As writer, I recently completed a steampunk detective novel I’m looking for a publisher for, plus I’m working on a short story collection of ten stories transposing 19th century gothic characters across the queer history of the 20th century, and a farcical bear-centric cosy mystery. PLUS, my dark carnival anthology The Myriad Carnival just came out and ARE TOU TIRED YET?

NB: Exhausted. I have no idea how editors balancing writing and editing projects do it. Truly.

 

You can find Threesome: Him, Him and Me directly at Lethe Press here, or—as always—check Indiebound for your closest brick and mortar. It should also be available wherever fine quality LGBT books are sold.

Matthew Bright is a writer, editor and designer who occasionally wonders what order those occupations come in. His short fiction has appeared in Nightmare Magazine’s Queers Destroy Horror, Queen Mob’s Teahouse, The Biggest Lover, and Revolutions: Manchester Speculative Fiction, amongst others. He lives in Manchester, England with his partner and a dog with a taste for valuable hard-back books.

 

 

Writing Wednesday – Ice, Ice, Rainy

 

As I write this, ice rain is doing that “clickity click!” thing all over the windows outside. So. There’s that.

Ugh.

How do you guys get out of your winter blahs? The lack of sun is one thing (and a big influence on me), but the biting cold definitely does a number on me as well. At least His Fluffy Lordship makes it somewhat more enjoyable because he’s so damn happy to be outside in the snow. Seriously, watching him bound through the snow is sort of a small slice of awesome.

Not a big enough slice to counteract February, mind.

The Novel(s)

Work on Triad Soul is continues to be well. I had a backwards-then-forwards week (it happens) where I wrote a scene that I realized wasn’t right for the book at all, then deleted it, then rewrote a different scene and then crawled ahead another thousand words or so. I’m sitting at 19.2k on my goal of being at 20k for the end of the month. That does include making up all the ground I lost for falling short in January, so I’ve made my actual February target, now I’m playing catch-up.

Triad Blood is still doing it’s magic at the publisher, and I’ve booked a blog time for BSB’s blog and an announcement for QSF. Promotional stuff is underway. I need to line up reviewers, and as much as the very notion of blog touring makes me flinch, I daresay I should bite the bullet and see if anyone would have  me.

Call that the start of the noise-making.

The Short Stuff

Though I’ve yet to submit something this month, I’ve got five more days and a rough draft for the ‘Survivor’ call listed below. It put me in a very strange headspace while I wrote it, and I think that’s a good sign. We’ll see. I’ll give it some polishing, and send it off before the end of the month.

The Q&As are still going strong, and although this weekend I need to catch-up on a few I’ve received and send out more Q&As into the wild, I think I’ve got blogs covered all the way to Sunday, April 27th already set to go, and I still need to send out some questions, and I may try to squeeze in a few not from the four anthologies I’ve been featuring, as well.

Open Calls I Know About (and find tempting)…

Less Than Dead – Tales of zombies, be they the enemy, the ally, or something else entirely, Less than Three Press, Deadline: February 28th, 2016.
Men at Work – Tales of erotic gay workplace romance, JMS Books, Deadline: February 29th, 2016.
Behind the Uniform – Uniforms, sacrifice, fellas, Mischief Corner Books, Deadline: March 1st, 2016.
Transcendent – Short, speculative fiction published in 2015 (ie: reprints) that features transgender characters, Lethe Press, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Gents: Steamy Tales from the Age of Steam – Gay male erotica set during the Victorian/Edwardian era, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Survivor – SF/F anthology looking for stories of everyday trauma survival, Lethe Press, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Magic and Mayhem – Mage/cyborg or tattoo artist/soldier stories (very specific, but it’s for a charity anthology, details at the link), Gay Romance Northwest, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Novella Call – The Book Smugglers, Deadline: May 30th, 2016.
Animal Magnetism – Tales of men drawn together over their love of animals, JMS Books, Deadline: July 31st, 2016.

Don’t forget to check the Lambda Literary site for more calls, as well as the Queer Sci-Fi calls for submission page (always a trove!)

Sunday Shorts – “The Biggest Lover” Q&A with Jay Neal

One of the awesome things about doing this Q&A series is finally having an excuse to reach out to some authors I’ve shared table of contents with but haven’t actually met. Jay Neal is one such author, and by virtue of this wee project and the magic that is the internet, I was able to connect with him. Happily, he was willing to come aboard, so I can bring you our chat today, and talk about Jay’s story in The Biggest Lover.

We have all heard the term Rubenesque as a compliment for plus-sized women. The baroque painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens was fond of painting women of the day that were curvaceous and full-figured. The men in his art were not. What is the comparable term for men? Because not every gay man is obsessed with twinks who list the number of visible rib bones on their Grindr profile. Or men who can remember the number of reps at the gym but not their phone number. Some of us appreciate buying in bulk and that includes looking for love. Or just plain sex.  Thank goodness for Bear culture which embraces girth. During Bear Week in Provincetown the stores do not even bother to sell clothes smaller than an XL and a man’s virility is often like the potency of moonshine: the more Xs on the jug the better, so XXXL is a chub in high demand.

It has taken too long for an erotica anthology to feature such men. As Girth & Mirth founding father Reed Wilgoren stated, “Just as people are coming out every day—men and women realizing their sexuality—new Bears and new Chubbies and new chasers are also evolving in the world. There have to be people waiting to embrace them and show them the way, much as who helped me to become what I am and who I am today.” It is our hope that readers who felt denied of attention and affection will read these stories and realize that love has no weight limit, no threshold, and neither should self-esteem.

NB: Tell us about “He’s Five-One, He’s Beautiful, and He’s Mine.” What are we in for?

JN: I decided early on that I wanted to tell a love story about a big guy longing to be dominated, and his surprise when he discovered it could happen with a man much smaller than he is; the thought never crossed his mind. The story blossomed in my mind when, at once, the ideas arrived that 1) the boyfriend would be Mexican-American, and 2) the story could take place in a Wal-Mart in West Texas. These two guys’ personalities grew on me real fast. The hostage situation at the Wal-Mart with the open-carry advocate who helps them resolve their relationship miscommunication was just a bonus. I like happy endings.

NB: I love those magic moments when a story suddenly gels. And I’m a fan of the happy ending, too, in erotica as well as romance. Speaking of, you’re no stranger to the erotica world. We’ve shared a table of contents quite a few times now, in erotica collections with themes of food, circuses, trains, magic, and of course, bears. The Biggest Lover has gone somewhere rarely traveled, though, in exploring big guys and the fellows who admire them. Are there any themes you’ve not seen explored that you’d like to see?

JN: We certainly have, and each of them was an inspiration, usually a quirky inspiration, which is my favorite kind. I like to write in response to these unexpected themes, and I’ve been pretty happy with most of the results. That usually finds me wanting to see what will stimulate my next story, but it also seems to mean that I don’t have stories very often just wanting to be written on their own. I seem to need to have an outlet in mind to get my writing in high gear. Still, I’d like to see a science-fiction type of theme that would inspire me in that direction.

NB: You know, I’m not sure I can think of an SF erotica anthology off the top of my head. Good call.

JN: I also need to figure out vampires someday.

NB: I’ve been told this is a mean question, but I can live with that. Do you have a favourite child… uh, I mean story that you’ve written?

JN: Several, since I see different qualities in them. Since the question is so mean, though, I get to name more than one. When I want to introduce someone to my fiction, I usually start with “A Bedtime Story”, a classic fairy tale that gave me nothing but trouble in the writing but came out as near perfect as one could hope. “Confessions of a Failed Pervert” is probably my funniest story–I seem to have a bit of a reputation for screwball-comedy porn.

I’m fond of “The Lighthouse Keep” for the sadistic ghost who appeared in it, and a sex scene that turned me on more than I ever expected. “My Best Friend, Frank”, a sex farce involving an alien doing research on [human] bears, took me several years to find the right voice to tell it in, but it covered a lot of ground that I hadn’t expected and I was very satisfied with the result. There there’s the scandal of “Time Out” and the guy who stops time by farting….

I put all of them in my collection, Waking Up Bear, and Other Stories, by Jay Neal, from
Bear Bones Books / Lethe Press, along with all the other children I adore but was forced not to mention. You’re mean!

NB: Warned you.

 

You can find The Biggest Lover through Lethe Press’s website here, or, of course, you can check Indiebound to locate your nearest brick and mortar. Otherwise, you’ll find it wherever quality LGBT books are sold.

 

 A Jay Neal BioPoem

I sing the body hirsute and husky,
The legions of those I love have girth and I engirth them,
They will not let me off till I go with them, write of them.

The expression of the well-made bear appears not only in his beard;
It is in his walk, the carriage of his neck, the flex of his knees,
The curve of his belly, the volume of his chest.

This is my story: Mouth, tongue, lips, nose, eyes, ears,
Strong shoulders, manly beard, hips, inward and outward round,
Man-balls, man-root, strong set of thighs well carrying the trunk above.

To see him pass conveys as much as the best poem, or more,
I linger to see his back, his ass, the hair on the back of his neck.
Examine these limbs—they shall be stript that you may see them.
I bear witness.

Eating my Words

But First, A Word from My Sponsor (A.K.A. My Husband)

Before I begin on what I hope is both a funny and maybe a little bit enlightening post, I want to make sure I’m clear about the incredibly privileged position I’m in.

Seriously, though. This guy.

In September of 2014, I was able to make the decision to step away from my decades in retail—I managed a bookstore—and dive into writing Triad Blood. The reasons were many, not the least of which being that my first novel took me three years to write while working full time, and I wanted to (and was contracted to) deliver Triad Blood in a year. There was a lot more to it than that, obviously (it had a horrible commute that didn’t show any signs of ending and was affecting my already tenuous sleeping habit, etc.) but that was a kind of tipping point.

I do have a (very) part-time job as well at my local LGBT bookstore/gallery, but for the most part, I can (and do) devote daily time to writing. Laundry, dishes, the dog and other chores take up the rest, and I cannot tell you how amazing it is to finally, after a decade of marriage, actually have time with my husband on the weekends to spend together.

The biggest thing, though is this: my husband has a job with income enough to keep us both afloat, and our fluffy lordship in kibble. This is huge. I could never have afforded to not work a full-time day job without him, and I am freaking blessed to have him. My writing pal Jeffrey Ricker talked about this recently, and after a couple of online interactions with Jeff Mann, Sassafras Lowrey, and Jeffrey, I realized how many of us were discussing how various writerly income translated to “a meal out” and I jokingly referred to it as “eating our words.”

Which brings me to this post.

What if I did eat my words?

Tastes like psychic fluff.

I’m very much a beginning writer. I have one novel, one novella (in a collection of four novellas), and a few dozen short stories out there in the world. A second novel is on the way, a third is being written. These are products I’m selling. So far, that’s not a whole lot. I have had what I’d say is a very lucky start in that my first novel, Light, was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award (which was fantastic and an amazing honour to boot), as well as a helping to make me a finalist in the Saints & Sinners Emerging Writer Award (also awesome and also an honour). Happily, both of those things generated noise, and one is always hopeful noise turns into sales.

If you don’t know how writers get paid in traditional publishing, here’s the (very) short and simplified version: You pitch a book. Assuming the publisher likes it, you get a contract. Said contract comes with an advance, and in most cases you get half upon delivering the manuscript, and half upon publication of the novel. You earn royalties on the sales of the book—first, against the advance. When you have earned enough royalties to offset the advance (for a truly large advance, that becomes an “if” a lot of the time, rather than a “when”), you start seeing quarterly royalty payments. It’s called “earning out.”

Generally speaking, in short fiction, this is not the system at all. Instead, you get a flat rate (sometimes X cents a word, sometimes a lump $50 or $75 or some other set amount). That’s a one time payment, though you also generally can then go on to re-sell the story elsewhere, which is something I haven’t explored yet personally. I have a dream of releasing a collection of short fiction, and I’m constantly dithering on which previously published stories to include in said potential collection. I didn’t have any short fiction income in 2015 – I’ve got some heading my way for contracts I signed for stories sold in 2015, but they didn’t arrive in that calendar year.

It is also possible for other income to occur from writing. In my case, in Canada I qualify for the Public Lending Right I was talking about yesterday. 2015 was the first year my first novel had been in the library system for the full year and thus qualified. I got a check from that.

I was also paid an honorarium to speak at a Pride event in Montreal. I count that as writerly income because the entire reason I was there was writing related.

So, if I tucked all those payments into my wallet, what will I be eating?

First, I’m sure not dining out or ordering in. I’m heading straight to the farmer’s market and the grocery store, and I’m definitely eyeing what’s on sale, in-season, and what can turn into filling (and fulfilling) meals without a big price tag. I’m going to aim for a week, and then take a tally.

(I’m already having student life flashbacks.)

How Long Can I Eat My Words?
Breakfast

I’m a pretty boring breakfast guy. I’ll generally have cereal or toast. A bowl of granola or two slices of toast with butter and jam is a typical breakfast for me. I’m going to go with the toast and jam, though, because I know I can measure out a loaf of bread (14 slices) to last me the full week of breakfasts. I’m not going to assume I already have margarine or jam, though, so into the cart they go. Bread, Margarine, Jam. No-name, of course. If it turns out I have free cash at the end of the week, I’d probably add a box of cereal, but not for this run-through.

With breakfast, I drink tea. Specifically, I drink a decaf tea, because it turned out the caffeine in tea was one of the triggers for my headaches, so I try to avoid the caffeinated teas more than once a day. I take milk in my tea, and honey. Milk (1%), Honey (no-name), and Typhoo go into the cart. (Honey, by the way, is freaking expensive. I’m always hoping it’s on sale. Right now? It’s not.)

Lunch

I have a couple of different “go-to” lunches, and I’m not often a big eater at lunch, either. It’s more often leftovers from previous dinners, and I’m really bad for eating the same damn thing for a whole week in a row, but let’s pretend for a moment I got my act in gear and actually made different (and decent) lunches for a week.

What are seven typical lunches for me? Let’s go with: A grilled cheese sandwich; Beans on toast (it’s a British thing); Roasted beetroot hummus with baby carrots; A beetroot and cheese sandwich (what? I like beetroots); a box of Mac and Cheese;  and, let’s say, Cream of mushroom soup (from a can, because: lazy. Also probably with toast).  I’ll drink more Typhoo tea, as that’s my usual go-to. Sometimes I might have a glass of milk instead, and I’ll follow up lunch with a banana. The Mac and Cheese will repeat, because I can never finish a whole box, so if you’re counting and saw only six lunches, that’s why.

Into the cart goes another loaf of bread, a block of no-name cheese (mmm, taste the orange!), a can of beans, a bunch of bananas, beets, tahini, chickpeas, a lemon, salt, a three-pack of garlic bulbs (on sale, woohoo!), pepper, olive oil, a bag of of baby carrots, a box of no-name KD equivalent, and can of cream of mushroom soup.

Dinner

Now, anyone who knows me knows I am not a chef. I love baking, but I’m not a good cook. The two require different skill sets, and I definitely come down on the “follow instructions” side of kitchen work. But I have a few good meals I’ve learned to cook and I like my slow-cooker a lot. I generally make the same meals over and over (much to the chagrin of my husband, who often sighs when he asks me to cook and I ask him which of my three memorized meals he would like). I’m also a firm user of the freezer. Things you heat on a tray in the oven or shove into a microwave? That’s totally my speed. But, again, let’s argue that I’m going to make meals more often than I usually would because in all honesty it’s generally cheaper (and leaves you with leftovers).

Dinners, then, will include: that Chicken stir fry I make; that Hamburger casserole I make; Chicken breasts with rice and (frozen) sweet corn; Chicken burger, oven fries, and (frozen) peas; Potato ash (basically a potato stew with ground beef and carrots); Meat lasagna (the from the freezer-to-the-oven kind because, again, lazy), and because I know myself way too well, we’ll add a microwave dinner. Probably butter chicken, because yum.

Into the cart goes: Chicken breasts (sometimes they’re on sale, like right now, which is a win, so I’ll nab one of the big packs and freeze some), two green peppers, two onions, a red pepper, rice, ten mushrooms, no-name chicken broth, ketchup, corn starch, brown sugar, soya sauce, curry powder, two tomatoes, two packets of ground beef, a can of diced tomatoes, another can of cream of mushroom soup, egg noodles, frozen chicken burgers, oven fries, frozen corn, frozen peas, bag of potatoes, three large carrots, frozen lasagna, and a microwave butter chicken.

Snacking

I snack. Part of the reason my breakfasts and lunches are generally small is that I munch while I write or edit, and I have wobbly blood sugar, so it’s better for me to eat more often and less than it is to have big meals. Most of my snackage would be covered by some of the meals I’ve listed above. The baby carrots are a go-to, as is the block of cheese (I have been known to just spread margarine on warm bread and eat a chunk of cheese for lunch and shut up like you have no bad habits), and the beetroot hummus. To round out my snacking, I’ll add a box of gingersnaps (because I’m human, damnit).

And..?

At the end of that first week I’d have eaten 60% of my writing income. Now, if I look at the meals I make, the next week I could likely skip half the lunches, since some of the dinners make leftovers, and I wouldn’t need some things I bought the week before (like tea bags or honey or ketchup or soya sauce), so I’m willing to say the rest of the 40% would likely cover me through the next week. I’d very likely get a box of cereal, too.

So, my answer to “Eating my words”?

Two weeks.

And damnit, now I want gingersnaps. Time to go write a short story.

 

 

 

 

Writing Wednes…uh, Thursday – Calling all Canucks

I’m totally on track on the writing front, but yesterday got filled up by shovelling snow, a few random errands, playing find-the-actually-helpful-Samsung-representative (way better hider than Waldo, by the way) and arthritis (see earlier, re: shovelling snow). I completely blanked on coming here to be publicly accountable.

Which worked out. Because this morning, when I went to walk his fluffy lordship, I checked the mail (which I also skipped yesterday) and ta-da!

To the left there is the Public Lending Right payment for last year. If you don’t know what the PLR is, and you’re a Canadian author, you really need to take a moment here.

The short version, from the website, is this: “The Canada Council for the Arts distributes annual payments to Canadian authors through the Public Lending Right (PLR) Program as compensation for the free public access to their books in Canadian public libraries.”

The longer version? Go to the website, get the form you need, register all your books, and send it in. Right now registration is open (it opens every year from February 15th to May 1st). Every year, the books you’ve registered carry over (you have to add new ones as they come, obviously) and when the sampling is done to see the distribution of your books through various libraries, you can earn a check. So far, I’ve gotten a check every year from Light.

This is one of the reasons why, in Canada and other countries with PLR programs, it’s so important if you’ve loved a book you’ve read to champion it for your local library. Most library accounts let you suggest titles. Take a second and do so, and you’ve honestly helped out an author in a big way.

So, Canuck authors. Go sign up. It’s a little bit of paperwork, involves photocopying some stuff from the copyright pages, and then boom. The rest happens automatically. Totally worth it.

Even more importantly, this year marks the beginning of the inclusion of e-formats, which I need to sit down and figure out, but the check for last year came with instructions for what to do.  At least my backlist is small. I can’t imagine the fun for authors with a tonne of backlist titles who have e-books available through libraries. But it’s worth it.

The Novel(s)

Work on Triad Soul is moving so well. I had a 4k week, and I’m sitting at 18.2k on my goal of being at 20k for the end of the month. That includes making up all the ground I lost for being a bit short in January.

Waiting on line edits yet for Triad Blood, haven’t done much prep-work for promotion, but I’ve got a super-secret-so-can’t-wait-to-talk-about-it thingy happening that took a chunk of my time yesterday. So. Excited. Gah.

Can’t wait to start making noise.

Also, I need to get my butt in gear for swag (buttons, I think), and get the bookmarks ordered and printed. Hey – that can be what I use my PLR payment for. Guilt-free spending is always the best kind.

The Short Stuff

Still haven’t sent off something for February, and I’m closing in on the end. Need to get my butt in gear.

The Q&As are going apace for my Sunday Shorts series. I have a small backlog I need to format and post, and if you’re waiting to hear from me, I do apologize. I had a bit of a rough couple of days, and I’ll get back on that horse in a day or so. I’m really pleased with how they’re turning out, and it makes me happy to be able to chat about short fiction with so many awesome authors.

Open Calls I Know About (and find tempting)…

Less Than Dead – Tales of zombies, be they the enemy, the ally, or something else entirely, Less than Three Press, Deadline: February 28th, 2016.
Men at Work – Tales of erotic gay workplace romance, JMS Books, Deadline: February 29th, 2016.
Behind the Uniform – Uniforms, sacrifice, fellas, Mischief Corner Books, Deadline: March 1st, 2016.
Transcendent – Short, speculative fiction published in 2015 (ie: reprints) that features transgender characters, Lethe Press, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Gents: Steamy Tales from the Age of Steam – Gay male erotica set during the Victorian/Edwardian era, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Survivor – SF/F anthology looking for stories of everyday trauma survival, Lethe Press, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Magic and Mayhem – Mage/cyborg or tattoo artist/soldier stories (very specific, but it’s for a charity anthology, details at the link), Gay Romance Northwest, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Novella Call – The Book Smugglers, Deadline: May 30th, 2016.
Animal Magnetism – Tales of men drawn together over their love of animals, JMS Books, Deadline: July 31st, 2016.

Don’t forget to check the Lambda Literary site for more calls, as well as the Queer Sci-Fi calls for submission page (always a trove!)

 

Sunday Shorts – “The Biggest Lover” Q&A with Hank Edwards

Though I’ve managed to share the table of contents with Hank Edwards quite often, I can only aspire to be as prolific. Hank is another of my Saints & Sinners group of authors, people I’ve met through that wonderful festival, and I’m always glad when I get to catch a moment to chat with him. Though, it being New Orleans, I might not always have a full recollection of what it was we talked about.

This conversation, though, happened digitally, so happily it’s all here for you. Hank’s story, “Furball,” opens The Biggest Lover. So, without further ado, let’s get started.

We have all heard the term Rubenesque as a compliment for plus-sized women. The baroque painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens was fond of painting women of the day that were curvaceous and full-figured. The men in his art were not. What is the comparable term for men? Because not every gay man is obsessed with twinks who list the number of visible rib bones on their Grindr profile. Or men who can remember the number of reps at the gym but not their phone number. Some of us appreciate buying in bulk and that includes looking for love. Or just plain sex.  Thank goodness for Bear culture which embraces girth. During Bear Week in Provincetown the stores do not even bother to sell clothes smaller than an XL and a man’s virility is often like the potency of moonshine: the more Xs on the jug the better, so XXXL is a chub in high demand.

It has taken too long for an erotica anthology to feature such men. As Girth & Mirth founding father Reed Wilgoren stated, “Just as people are coming out every day—men and women realizing their sexuality—new Bears and new Chubbies and new chasers are also evolving in the world. There have to be people waiting to embrace them and show them the way, much as who helped me to become what I am and who I am today.” It is our hope that readers who felt denied of attention and affection will read these stories and realize that love has no weight limit, no threshold, and neither should self-esteem.

NB: Capers, vampires, fluffer erotica where you’re laughing as much as you’re engaging… You have so many different tones and voices. It’s a good thing you’re so nice, or there’d be a tonne of jealousy aimed your way, you know. Was it fun to play with such a rarely seen theme with The Biggest Lover?

HE: Thanks so much for the kudos! I’m a fan of bears, and many of the characters in my stories are hairy, so that part of the story was a fun and comfortable fit. I tend to write longer fiction, so the word count limit was really the biggest challenge for me. I had to balance characterization, dialogue, plot, and, of course, the sex. After a few books with darker themes, I was in the mind space of something lighter and sweet. Hopefully I pulled that off!

NB: You definitely did. Also, there’s a kitty-cat, so you know I’m on board. And speaking of longer fiction, you revisit characters quite a bit in short fiction (and in your novel series). Do you go into a story intending there to be more tales, or do you have no idea if the character will make a comeback?

HE: For some of my longer works, like my crazy vampire/zombie/witch/Old West gay cowboys mash-up Venom Valley series, I knew it was going to be a series. I had a lot I wanted to do, but no idea just how long it would be. Sometimes the characters drive the series, like my new Critter Catchers humorous paranormal series, with a straight-gay friendship-to-possible-relationship that kind of just dictated several books. Sometimes, though, I do come up with a standalone story idea, and once it’s done the characters fall silent, so I know it’s time to move along to the next project.

NB: Like Dale Chase and Jeff Mann and Jerry Rabushka, you have a great deal of range in your format, too: novels, novellas, and short fiction. Do you have a favourite format? What comes first: the story, or the format?

HE: The story most often comes first, unless I’m writing for an anthology such as with The Biggest Lover. Story ideas are kicked off by a number of things: a line of dialogue might come to me, or the title of a story, or a scene. Once that happens the story will spin itself into a ghost of what it will become, and I’ll try to fit in all the elements in my head.

NB: Well, it definitely works. I love your writing. Thank you so much for dropping by!

 

For those of you looking for a copy of The Biggest Lover of your own, you can buy it direct from Bear Bones Books (an imprint of Lethe Press) at the website, here. Or, check Indiebound for your local brick-and-mortar. Or, as always, ask wherever quality LGBT books are sold.

 

Hank Edwards has over a dozen books published in a host of genres, from humor to paranormal to suspense to time travel romance. Like him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter (@hanksbooks) to become a true “Hankie.” You may also visit his website at www.hankedwardsbooks.com.

He also writes a young adult series beginning with The Midnight Gardner, The Town of Superstition: Book One under the name R.G. Thomas, which you can learn about on Facebook.

 

Folks, I also want to add that in putting together this post, I read the description for the Critter Catchers and now I need it. Here it is (with a link to Wilde City Press):

Terror by Moonlight: Critter Catchers Book One

Cody Bower and Demetrius Singleton have been friends for over twenty years even though they are polar opposites. Cody is tall, handsome, athletic, and straight, and Demetrius is average height, more of a thinker, and gay. They have started an animal control business together and have to figure out how to be business partners without letting it affect their friendship, but that’s the least of their problems. When one of their first clients ends up brutally murdered in what appears to be an animal attack, the two realize something big and dangerous is stalking their tiny town of Parson’s Hollow, and it’s up to them to catch it before it kills again.

Writing Wednesday -Writing in a Winter Wonderland

Oh, winter. We have such a complicated relationship. Happily, it snowed this week, so the layer of glass-like-ice that was making things difficult earlier is now mostly safe (except for when it’s randomly a stunningly hidden trap), and the dog is much, much happier to go outside. He has four legs that grip way better than my two, it’s worth noting.

Writing-wise, I am way more on track this week than the last, and very, very happy about that. I’ve also been getting three or four Q&As out most days to the various authors coming up for Sunday Shorts, and that’s been fun. I think I’ve got twelve sets of questions left to send out, so a few more days and I should be done with that half of it. It’s been fun.

What hasn’t been fun is my head. Headaches aplenty this last week. Again, I can blame most of this on winter. Stupid winter. Air pressure being up and down at the drop of a hat generally screws me up. I’ve been writing pretty much the moment I get out of bed, though, so happily by the time my head aches, that’s already done.

The Novel(s)

Work on Triad Soul is moving along well. I’m at about 14k right now, and my goal of 20k by the end of the month is in line with that, which also makes up for what I was a bit short in January.

I haven’t gotten the line edits yet for Triad Blood and I’ve done diddly squat in prep work for promotion, so that’s got to be on the table before the end of the month. Bookmarks and buttons, I think, from the world of swag, but beyond that I need to figure out who’d be willing to chat about it in the interwebs.

Time to start making noise.

The Short Stuff

I haven’t submitted anything for February as of yet, but I have a story idea to begin, and another I’m polishing up that I’ve got hopes for. Even better, I’ve been revisiting the novellas I wrote last November during NaNoWriMo, and I think I’ve come to terms with them being romances with next to zero smut content, and whatever that ends up meaning, it ends up meaning.

Onward!

Open Calls I Know About (and find tempting)…

Theory of Love – Pocket protectors and sexy nerds? Sci-Fi (and/or geeky) Romance, Torquere Press, Deadline: February 15th, 2016.
Less Than Dead – Tales of zombies, be they the enemy, the ally, or something else entirely, Less than Three Press, Deadline: February 28th, 2016.
Men at Work – Tales of erotic gay workplace romance, JMS Books, Deadline: February 29th, 2016.
Behind the Uniform – Uniforms, sacrifice, fellas, Mischief Corner Books, Deadline: March 1st, 2016.
Transcendent – Short, speculative fiction published in 2015 (ie: reprints) that features transgender characters, Lethe Press, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Gents: Steamy Tales from the Age of Steam – Gay male erotica set during the Victorian/Edwardian era, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Survivor – SF/F anthology looking for stories of everyday trauma survival, Lethe Press, Deadline: May 1st, 2016.
Magic and Mayhem – Mage/cyborg or tattoo artist/soldier stories (very specific, but it’s for a charity anthology, details at the link), Gay Romance Northwest, Deadline: March 31st, 2016.
Novella Call – The Book Smugglers, Deadline: May 30th, 2016.
Animal Magnetism – Tales of men drawn together over their love of animals, JMS Books, Deadline: July 31st, 2016.

Don’t forget to check the Lambda Literary site for more calls, as well as the Queer Sci-Fi calls for submission page (always a trove!)

Sunday Shorts – “The Biggest Lover” Q&A with Ben Bauchlein

As far as I’m concerned, one of the best things about anthologies is the opportunity they present to find a new (or new-to-me) author. Today I’m having a chat with a new (and therefore also new-to-me) author whose first short fiction publication appears in The Biggest Lover. Ben Bauchlein (or Big Belly Ben as he’s known online) debuts with “What the Hell?”

The Biggest Lover: We have all heard the term Rubenesque as a compliment for plus-sized women. The baroque painter Sir Peter Paul Rubens was fond of painting women of the day that were curvaceous and full-figured. The men in his art were not. What is the comparable term for men? Because not every gay man is obsessed with twinks who list the number of visible rib bones on their Grindr profile. Or men who can remember the number of reps at the gym but not their phone number. Some of us appreciate buying in bulk and that includes looking for love. Or just plain sex. Thank goodness for Bear culture which embraces girth. During Bear Week in Provincetown the stores do not even bother to sell clothes smaller than an XL and a man’s virility is often like the potency of moonshine: the more Xs on the jug the better, so XXXL is a chub in high demand.

It has taken too long for an erotica anthology to feature such men. As Girth & Mirth founding father Reed Wilgoren stated, “Just as people are coming out every day—men and women realizing their sexuality—new Bears and new Chubbies and new chasers are also evolving in the world. There have to be people waiting to embrace them and show them the way, much as who helped me to become what I am and who I am today.” It is our hope that readers who felt denied of attention and affection will read these stories and realize that love has no weight limit, no threshold, and neither should self-esteem.

NB: Can you tell me a bit about “What the Hell?”

BB: The main character is also named Ben (so lazy, I know) and he’s a tech guru who travels a lot. The main premise is that Ben’s feeling like he’s in a bit of a rut, including his sex life, and it tells the reader how he breaks out of that. With help, of course!

NB: I’ve yet to use the name Nathan in any of my stories. I’m a little in awe of your courage, frankly. Where did the notion of “What the Hell?” come from?

BB: I haven’t read a lot of chub/chaser erotica, but I’ve seen a fair number of videos. One thing that always confused me was that many of the porn clips seemed to be exclusively from the perspective of the chaser. In some cases it was almost like some straight videos I’ve seen where you don’t ever see the guy, just some girl bouncing on a faceless dick! The chubby dudes in those videos were always big bubba types, or you know, the Dan Conner from “Roseanne” blueprint.

Those are awesome things to be, awesome for chasers to appreciate, and I understood why most of the content was like that, because there was so little out there that did frame fat dudes in a sexy, positive light. But I also thought, hmm, I don’t really see myself in those particular representations. So I wanted to have a big dude as a central character whose experience was a little closer to my own.

I also wanted to explore a bit about power, about perceptions with size and power, in the story. Some of that came directly from my dating life. Guys would see my photo on Bigger City, or Bear411, and make assumptions based on my size or my photo that I was this extremely dominant uberdaddy that was going to toss them around. And I’m a pretty versatile guy, but I’m not that kind of growly, intimidating porn dude they were always seeking. I’m a nerdy guy, and that usually meant I had a lot of nice coffee dates and made friends, but that didn’t always translate into getting laid, you know?

NB: I get it. When I first came out and explored the bear community, my experiences were not at all great (I’m a little guy, even though I’m a fuzzy little guy). I wasn’t “bear” enough for the first crowd I met. Happily, I later met a more inclusive group, but there are definitely “you look like this, therefore we expect you to act like this” preconceptions out there.

That’s one of the things I’m really loving about The Biggest Lover: the exploration of themes we don’t often see (especially in erotica). This is your first fiction piece, and your first erotica piece, and it’s in a very unique anthology. What was it like seeing your first piece come to fruition?

BB: It’s great to see it in print!

I’m a published writer in other media, other platforms, but it’s really different writing fiction. The pacing is really different, and the structure is obviously very different. But I’ve written feature stories for newspapers and magazines, and the structure in those stories aren’t so radically different. You have to weave a narrative, capture the reader’s attention, and try not to bore the shit out of them with the details!

The biggest challenge was to think of language in a different way. In a magazine story, the prose can be somewhat simple and unfussy, newsy and direct. I had to adjust the vocabulary and try to make it flow, without getting too ornate or bizarre. I didn’t want to be a nominee for the Bad Sex In Fiction award — not even for my first time out!

As for the anthology, it’s really rewarding to be a part of it. I was in my mid-20’s before I knew the bear community even existed, and it was a few years after that before I met a guy who was an out-and-proud chaser, so to see this in print, to see so many stories and so many perspectives all together like this? It’s pretty amazing.

NB: As is your story. I really enjoyed “What the Hell?” and how it played with the roles and preconceptions (and stayed sexy—I daresay you have nothing to worry about for the Bad Sex in Fiction award). It’s fun, too. Does this mean you’ve been bitten by the bug—can we expect more short fiction from Ben Bauchlein?

BB: I hope so! I’ve just launched a Tumblr site that I hope to use as a space for ideas and practice. It’s probably not a surprise to any writer that my work seemed to get better, that the building of a story seemed to run more smoothly, when I’m writing every day, doing something to get my mind working and my fingers moving on the keyboard!

I’d definitely like to do more, whether it’s erotica or mainstream fiction. Hopefully, I can write about people we don’t always see or hear about, just as I did with my work as a reporter.

NB: Well, consider me one of the first fans. I look forward to more.

 

You can find The Biggest Lover through Bear Bones Books (an imprint of Lethe Press) right here. Or, of course, you can visit Indiebound and find your closest brick and mortar store. Or you can find it wherever high quality LGBT books are sold.

 

Ben grew up in the Rust Belt, meeting a lot of interesting characters along the way. He’s a journalist by trade, covering a variety of beats, including faith and religion, technology, and the LGBT community in local and national press. While he’s written some erotica for himself – and for a few lucky friends – this story is his first in print.

Ben Bauchlein—or Big Belly Ben—can be found online on Twitter at @BenBauchlein and on Tumblr at BigBellyBen.