Perhaps 'agonise' is too strong a word. You see, I've gone back to work on the fifth draft of The Midnight Man, a novel I need to get right. I haven't been this obsessed with perfection since my first book. It's currently novella length and tells the story of Stan, a middle aged man in an …
For the hundredth time, I don’t write porn!
Okay, I've written one. That was as a dare from my friends and it always sells. But apart from that, all my books are, well, books. But there seems to be a misconception from the mainstream. Unless you're published by a major company then the novel with gay content you're writing must be dirty. This …
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How Gay does a GLBTQI book need to be?
Some time ago, author David Pratt wrote a novel named Bob the Book. In the story, Bob is a gay book. At a literary festival we both attended, David talked about the absurdity of a book being deemed gay. That's why he questioned the notion and came up with this character. This came to mind …
Getting what you most desire and Getting it now – Guest blog by Rian Durant
My guest blogger today is fellow NineStar Press author, Rian Durant, author of a new novella titled Midnight Twist. The story sounds whimsical. It's a short read about a contract made between Jaydon and a cheeky demon. Throw in an ever increasing number of demons in Jaydon's apartment and a gay relationship that needs some …
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‘A Face Without A Heart’ by Rick R. Reed
I have a confession. Although this story is set in modern times, I kept picturing it set in the late nineteenth century. This is, after all, a retelling of an Oscar Wilde classic. When a modern prop like a g-string was mentioned my mind re-adjusted, but just as quickly all the characters were back in …
The Multimedia Author
Three things happened in the past weeks. One involved film making, the others involved the challenges of social media. After much badgering from my younger work colleagues I finally joined Instagram. The odd thing is, I'm enjoying it more than I thought. My high school teacher friend groans about how we have several social platforms …
‘London Triptych’ by Jonathan Kemp
I don't rave about books on my blog, yet there's been quite a few I've loved. So I decided I'm long overdue in sharing what I've been reading. Several books ago I picked up a copy of Jonathan Kemp's London Triptych. I'd read some reviews in the past, so when the novel was begging me …
The characters who wouldn’t shut up!
I never intended to write a sequel to Nate and the New Yorker but it wasn't up to me to make that decision. Somehow, Nate and his friends demanded a second outing. Originally I wrote the first novella because my publisher at the time pointed out that, regardless of the books many of us like …
Editor, take a bow.
Back in 2011 I worked with my first editor. It was my book, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, which had not only been professionally assessed three times when I scored my initial publishing contract, but had been developed over eight drafts over as many years. This is not uncommon for first novels. I was assigned erotic writer and …
Plotter or Pantser?
I was asked this question for an author interview recently and had to look it up, even though I worked out what it meant without quite knowing how pantser worked into the concept. For those still uninitiated, a plotter plots their books before they type a single letter, and a pantser flies by the seat of …
