Author Christopher Koehler interview and give-away

Pleasewelcome the witty Christopher Koehler to my blog today. Christopher is an avidrower, a stressed-out parent (aren't we all??) and the author of 3 m/m romancebooks. His latest book, a holiday story called The Advent Calendar, came out a couple weeks ago at MLR Press.
WelcomeChristopher! I'm very happy to have you here. Are you ready for your grilling? J
Bringit!
J

1.    How did you get started writing m/m romance? Did you always wantto be a writer?
I'll start with the second half of the question. Yes,for all intents and purposes I always wanted to be a writer. My parents tell meI filled notebooks with looping spiral, which is what cursive looks like topreliterate children. I actually started reading relatively late, at age 7. NowI'd be in special ed, but I attended an "alternative" private school that letme go at my own pace, and within a month I went from Dr. Seuss books to readingnovels like Watership Down.I found m/m romance quite by accident. I can't evenremember what I'd been looking at on Amazon to bring up such an ad, but it wasfor two of JL Langley's books, WithoutReservations and The Tin Star. Iloved having romantic stories told about my people, as it were (yes, I'm aranching werewolf, I admit it). They were like crack, and thank goodness fore-books, because they're cheaper. All it took was reading a few abysmal storiesfor me to say, "Is that all the higher the bar is? I can do that." And I did.2.    What were your early influences either in this genre or any other? In fantasy/sci-fi, my influences were Katherine Kurtzand David Eddings. In fact, Eddings is probably why my dialogue tends to snapand crackle. In m/m romance, I'd say ZA Maxfield's entire oeuvre, as well as afew treasured books by other authors, like Urban and Roux's Caught Running and Isabelle Rowan's A Note In The Margins. When I wasstarting out, I actually analyzed what it was about Crossing Borders and CaughtRunning that made them work as stories, and set out to include those kindof structural elements in Rocking the Boat.   3.    What is the hardest part about writing for you? The benefits?Hmmm, the hardest part of writing. I'm notactually sure how to answer that. I work hard at writing, but I'm not sure anyof it qualifies as "hard" per se. Since writing is what I'm supposed to bedoing with my life, it's as natural for me as breathing. That's the benefit—thebone-deep knowledge that this is how I'm meant to spend my life.4.    Tell us a little about your Christmas story. Did you somethingspecific inspire you to write it?Kris Jacen posed a challenge this summer on ZAMaxfield's Cybercafe about making mud sexy. For some reason I flashedimmediately to the tree farm at Apple Hill in the Sierra Nevadas my family'sbeen going to since I was two and how muddy it is. The debate about havingchildren was also drawn from my life.5.    Do you have any writing quirks? (ie computer has to be facing acertain way, cup of coffee on the left, certain music playing, etc) Music always helps. Certain novels have "soundtracks"in that I listened to a particular album or albums a lot while writing them. First Impressions, which is even now inthe hands of beta readers, was written while listening to "The Cellblock Tango"from Chicago on a loop, as well asFlorence+The Machine's "Ceremonials" and "The Family Jewels" by Marina and theDiamonds. Tipping the Balance waswritten to "Projekt Presents: A Dark Cabaret" and various songs by the DresdenDolls. My choice of music probably tells you something about my psyche, too.;-)6.    Do you have any writing or reading squicks? Things you don't liketo read and can't see yourself ever writing?I don't see myself writing much in the way ofparanormal or horror, since I don't like to read them. I don't see myselfwriting m/f, either. Women are even more of a mystery to me than they are tostraight men. ;-)    7.       Do you find you put a lot of yourself into your characters or isfiction just fiction?While my stories are just fiction, I'd say that all ofmy characters—certainly all of my main characters—have some shard of my personalityat the root of theirs. I'm extremely aware of my internal emotional states, soit's fairly easy for me to answer the question, "How I would feel if…" and thengive that to my characters. But people shouldn't read too much, as it were,into my stories. They're only fiction.   
8.       What's next on your plate? What are you working on? I'm taking a short breather from m/m romance. I'vewritten three novels and a short in 18 months and I feel stale. So while Iresearch firefighting to tell Owen's story in the CalPac world, I'm working ona steampunk fantasy I've been picking at for years. It's set in an Edwardianworld and deals with the clash of a technoculture with ancient barbarism. Oddlyenough, it's the closest thing I've written to my dissertation since I graduated.9.    What's your favorite part of Christmas?It honestly used to be getting the Christmastree up in the hills. But last year I finally had to face the fact that I'msufficiently allergic that I can't have live trees in the house anymore.Frankly, I don't enjoy the holidays like I used to. They're just work.10.  Finally – a few quickchoices:a.    Coffee or tea - Tea—white, green, or black in that order.b.    Dog or cat - Cat.c.    Beach or mountains - Beach.d.    Pecs or abs - Pecs, especially hairy ones. I seem to have a thing for bearsgoing these days.e.    Smile or eyes - Smile.f.     Cowboys or rockstars - Neither.g.    Who would win in a fight – vampires or werewolves? And why.Preternaturals!Seriously, I don't like paranormal.
Christopher has generouslyoffered up a copy of his holiday story, TheAdvent Calendar or one of his backlisted titles, to one lucky commenter onmy blog. PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOURCOMMENT.
CONTEST CLOSES ON DECEMBER 20.
If you don't win, you can pick up, The Advent Calendar, at MLR Press MLR Press and be sure to check out Christopher's other books on his website Christopher Koehler