New author in this group

[Charles]

Hi to this group and thanks for having me. I'm a psychiatrist and author with a new mystery series--my first with gay protagonists. It's a darkly comic cozy where antique dealers, who've been preying on the elderly as they downsize and die, are getting murdered. The first--VULTURES AT TWILIGHT (Severn)--is being released now in the U.K. and the U.S. release is in May.

For anyone interested, as I try to market the new book(s), I've started to blog on writing and this psychiatrist's take on the creative process. www.charlesatkinsmd.blogspot.com

Best to all:

Charlie

[Doug]

Oh, I have ti try that Charles. I love a good cozy.

[Charles]

Hi Doug:

I hope you like it, it's a zippy read, and I'm just finishing the second in the series with a working title, CONNECTICUT'S BEST PLACE TO DIE.

Best:

Charlie

[Jack]

Hi there

My name is Jack Scott and I’m really pleased to have joined this group. My debut book, Perking the Pansies – Jack and Liam move to Turkey, was released through Summertime Publishing in December 2011. The book is a bitter-sweet tragi-comedy that recalls the first year of a British gay expat couple living in a Muslim country. The book emerged from a tongue in cheek blog that I started after moving to Turkey in 2008. It quickly became the most popular blog of its kind on that side of the Aegean. First reviews for the book are really positive and it’s selling well on Amazon. I was recently interviewed on the Writer’s Abroad Radio Show at the Women’s Information Network. On the 6th February I presented the book to the Polari Literary Salon at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

For news, reviews, information, promo videos and the chance to read the first five chapters, please check my website - http://www.jackscott.info

Thank you for reading this!

[Doug]

Will it be released as an epub on Barnes and Noble? I have a nook. it looks very interesting. Welcome to the group!

[Jack]

Hi Doug

Thanks for your welcome. I'm afraid a Nook version is on the cards at this stage. My primary audience is in Britain where the kindle is the dominant ebook reader. I hope this doesn't put you off!

Best wishes

[Doug]

Oh no. I usually like British authors better than the Americans! I can handle a "paper" copy!

[Jack]

I'd be delighted to know what you think. The humour is very British and some Americans don't really get it.

[Doug]

I love British humor! I watch a lot of British TV, too. I became devoted to Agatha Christie at a young age, and it all spiraled from there!

[[deleted user]]

Great list. I have a new book available at amazon in most all formats. http://www.amazon.com/Without-A-Testi...

And

Http://jerodkillick.com

[Jack]

Doug wrote: "I love British humor! I watch a lot of British TV, too. I became devoted to Agatha Christie at a young age, and it all spiraled from there!"
If you manage to get hold of my book I'd love to receive a review. Thanks

[Doug]

It is on my list of things to get. And then, on my list of things to read. I really need more organizational skills.

[Jack]

Thank you

[Jack]

I’m ecstatic to announce that London’s Gay’s the Word, Britain’s premiere LGBT bookshop, has added Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey to their illustrious shelves. If you’re in the area, pop in, browse and thumb (and buy the book, of course). To celebrate this latest achievement and whet your appetite, I’ve released the first five chapters. It doesn’t end there. On the very same day I found out about Gay’s the Word, I was also told that the Bookshop – Darlinghurst, Australia’s pre-eminent LGBT bookstore, is also offering the book for sale, just in time for Mardis Gras. The discerning readers of Sydney will have the opportunity to meet:

“…the oddballs, VOMITs, vetpats, emigreys, semigreys, debauched waiters and middle England miseries.”

For more information, news, reviews, chapters and promos, please check my website http://www.jackscott.info

[Bill, Moderator]

Welcome Charles! Vultures at Twilight, hmmmm. I'm sorry but I don't read anything with the word 'twilight' in the title—just kidding. It's just that teen vampires make me puke ;-)

Thank the gods it's coming out in hardcover! Like Doug, I seem to prefer British authors and humor to American as a group, and read along with Google maps if I have to for place names and such. I enjoy British TV—at least those on DVD—a lot more than American TV, esp the older more intelligent series. I do have trouble with some of the newer series, esp the accents now that everyone doesn't sound like they went to Oxford. Some I've had to put on the English subtitles to understand. And, is it my imagination or are the Britcoms and Dr. Who a lot noisier and faster than they used to be? Or, am I just getting old? Currently we are re-watching the Pertwee years and my favorite companion, Sarah Jane Smith, just came on board.

And gosh 2 psychiatrist authors in our little piece of the solar system!

[Bill, Moderator]

Welcome Jack! Is your book autobiographical>

[Jack]

Yes, it's the story of our first year as gay expats in Turkey and the extraordinary events that rocked our sun-kissed expat world. Really, you couldn't make it up.

As far as British TV goes, you're right on both counts. Programmes have got a lot faster and noisier AND we're all getting old. I think TV is trying to capture the younger audience and attract the computer games generation. Give me Miss Marple any day. John Pertwee was my Dr Who. People's ages can be determined by the Dr Who they watched growing up! Sadly Elizabeth Sladen, the actress who played Sarah Jane, died last year.

[Bill, Moderator]

Yeh, I was reminding Chris that Elisabeth Sladen had died. We have been watching The Sarah Jane Adventures, just because of her. It's sad and she was almost exactly a year younger than I.

I think there is a big difference in comedy between American and British TV. There are few American sitcoms I like. The following Britcoms or comedy-dramas have been our favorites sort of in order of our rating:

Fawlty Towers
To the Manor Born
You Rang, M'Lord?
Waiting for God
As Time Goes By
One Foot in the Grave
Black Adder
Yes, Prime Minister
Keeping Up Appearances
Doc Martin
Are you Being Served
Red Dwarf
Sherlock
Two's Company
Mapp & Lucia
Dad's Army
Good Neighbors (The Good Life)
Bless Me, Father

[Nancy]

Welcome, Jack and Charles! Both of your books sound great. Cozies are usually not my favorite type of mystery, but antique dealers intrigue me. The lives of expats always fascinate me, particularly when the new home is vastly different from one's own.

Kernos, Fawlty Towers is #1 for me as well. I don't watch a lot of comedy, either British or American, but this series makes me laugh no matter how many times I watch it.

[Jack]

Kernos wrote: "Yeh, I was reminding Chris that Elisabeth Sladen had died. We have been watching The Sarah Jane Adventures, just because of her. It's sad and she was almost exactly a year younger than I.

I think ..."

Kernos wrote: "Yeh, I was reminding Chris that Elisabeth Sladen had died. We have been watching The Sarah Jane Adventures, just because of her. It's sad and she was almost exactly a year younger than I.

I think ..."

You've certainly picked some classics there and it seems like a mixed bag of gentle comedies that bring a warm smile to the ace (As Time Goes By), those that use English cleverly (Yes Minister/Prime Minister) and the eccentric (Dad's Army, Fawlty Towers). I would add a range of modern classic (if that isn't a contradiction) from the Office to Gimme, Gimme, Gimme.

Jack

[Bill, Moderator]

Office & Gimme, Gimme, Gimme are available and ordered. Thank you. Any other suggestions are most welcome.

[Jack]

Beautiful Thing (film) and Beautiful People (TV) - both from the talented pen of Jonathan Harvey - very gay, very funny, very British (just like my book! - that's the plug).

[Bill, Moderator]

I have seen Beautiful Thing and really liked it. Beautiful People I had not heard of probably because it is only available as region 2. Fortunately I have a region free DVD player for such things. This really looks good. I liked Skins also, esp the 1st season. I think Nicholas Hoult has a future.

[Doug]

I love beautiful people! It was a really good, but short series.

I am still awaiting your book, Jack. Amazon has it listed delivery by the 15th but still has not sent it.. maybe because I ordered two things and they are waiting to ship them together. I have no idea.

I am currently liking the show "Misfits" but it is a little rougher than the gentle fare. Teens in a reform center that get super powers. Interesting.

[Jack]

There were two series of Beautiful People broadcast and a third was commissioned but not made. Not sure why.

[David]

Hey everyone! I'm new, and I'm also a newly published gay indie author of Task Force: Gaea, a Greek myth/fantasy novel. I'm also blogging about writing in general, my book, and authors I'd like to promote (anyone is welcome, and I'd love to interview you if you're interested). The url is www.taskforce-gaea.com.

My novel has a few gay characters (sequel will have more), but it's not specifically GLBT, so I hope it fits well in this group. It's available on Kindle and Nook (as well as paperback).

I'm a high school English teacher who has spent about 30 years writing (27 of which on this one book). I'm also eager to meet readers as well as writers, so feel free to say hello.

Best,
David

[Bill, Moderator]

Jack wrote: "...Give me Miss Marple any day...."

I've enjoyed Miss Marple in her many incarnations. We are currently watching a Brit dramacom, "Pie in the Sky" with Richard Griffiths playing Henry Crabbe, sort of a male counterpart of Miss Marple. I am really enjoying this series.

Welcome David! I had trouble finding your book on GR, so here is a link: Task Force Gaea: Finding Balance. As a lover of ancient civilizations and their mythology, I am going to add it to my TBR mountain range.

How Gay is the novel? How many books do you plan in the series?

[David]

Kernos, this first novel has a few gay characters, although they're not as prominent as the gay characters in the second book (I am currently working on it). I'm planning on three books, but that could change and it might become something bigger.

I didn't want to make my book a "gay novel", per se, but one with characters of all types. I think some books do well when the majority of characters is gay (or lesbian), but some books benefit from a more universal approach, and the TFG series will be more of the latter, with a growing presence of gay characters in book #2 where I get to flesh them out.

I hope you enjoy it, Kernos! Thank you for posting the link :)

[Bill, Moderator]

Most of the time I prefer having Gay characters in novels that are not specifically Gay novels. This is especially true for historical fiction and mythic fiction genres.

[David]

Kernos wrote: "Most of the time I prefer having Gay characters in novels that are not specifically Gay novels. This is especially true for historical fiction and mythic fiction genres."

I agree! Gay, straight, bisexual, transgendered, straight people make up the world, so they should be in more than just strictly LGBT works.