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 Gay 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 IÂ 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 …
