This blog was originally published at On Top Down Under as part of their sixth anniversary. In it I talk about my new New Year’s Eve novelette titled Midnight Angel and discuss why some of my characters continue to appear in different stories.
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There are several reasons I’m excited about my new holiday read. The first is that I’ve be working with a new editor – the owner of NineStar Press, the publishing house it’s contracted to.
The second is that it is my first release in Australian English (like UK/Canadian English). When my first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, was released through a small Boston based company, my editor complained about the amount of spelling mistakes in the manuscript. When she went through it, she emailed it back to me. When I opened it, I had red squiggly lines under her corrected words.
Colour became color. Realise was now realize. We decided that, as it was being released through a US publisher, we’d change everything to US English to avoid confusion.
This is the case with all my work. When Drama Queens with Love Scenes made its way to other publishers, they too were American. And as this already-edited book had been Americanised, there was no point in reversing the spelling.
But the other reason I’m looking forward to the release of what is currently titled Midnight Angel, is that it combines characters from my Angels and Actors series, and the Nate and Cameron novellas.
This is not something new to my writing, but this will be the most obvious example of my fictional worlds colliding. A while back I noticed that when I named a minor character in a book, I’d unknowingly use the same name for a major character in my next book.
For example, I used the name Tayler for an incidental waiter in Nate and the New Yorker, after choosing it from a baby name site. When I wrote Social Media Central, I just happened to use the name, Taylor. So, I made this a thing. A subtle thing, but a thing nevertheless.
In Nate’s Last Tango, one of Nate’s best friends, Ben, starts falling for a guy named Fox. Fox also shows up in a sex club before he’s even met Ben in From Top to Bottom. Same character. Same description.
There is a scene in Drama Queens and Devilish Schemes where Adam and his guardian angel, Guy, are in a fantasy 
setting which is based on the wondrous city, Buenos Aires. Historic buildings surround them. People are dancing the tango, including a man with a blond curl who has a male partner.
In Nate’s Last Tango, Nate and Cameron are in Buenos Aires. Nate’s ex is named Elliot. Elliot has a blond curl. And Nate sees him dancing with another man at a gay tango lesson.
While it’s been fun adding these understated references to scenes from other books, Midnight Angel throws Guy, Nate, and Nate’s friend Lucy, together in the same narrative.
In it, Luke is waiting for Nate and Lucy to arrive for a New Year’s Eve dinner party. Luke likes Nate and is hoping to start a romance that night. When his guests don’t show up, Guy comes to the rescue.
For those who know my stories, this tale takes place before Nate meets any of his other love interests from previous books, and after Guy meets his boyfriend, Joshua. Guy has a lot of advice (and magic) for Luke around the nature of love and longing.
This will help put Midnight Angel in context.
kevin klehr 