Author Interview - Wendy Unsworth

I'm joined today by Wendy Unsworth, author of The Palaver Tree.

 Berriwood village, Cornwall, England: quiet, uneventful, like the pace of schoolteacher Ellie's selfless existence.

One fateful night, one tragic event...and one chance to do something meaningful with her life.

LIAW - The Rest of Forever

I finished my little story for the Love is Always Write project, and submitted it a couple of weeks ago. The Rest of Forever will be released in the summer, firstly through the Goodreads M/M Romance Group, then (hopefully!) in an anthology of the stories from the project.

I intend to release the story independently once it's been published through Goodreads, but for the impatient among you, here's a little teaser of what to expect:

Author Interview - Noel Farrell

Today I'm joined by Irish writer Noel Farrell, author of Booker's World and Sonny Strange.

Author Interview - Jennifer Quail

Today I'm interviewing Jennifer Quail, a first-time fantasy author. Her book Strange Roads is the first in a planned Omens in the Night series. Set in contemporary Washington DC it features reluctant mages, a vampire or two and a race against dark forces for a lost magical artifact.

Author Interview - Karina Kantas

Karina Kantas is the author of several cross-genre thrillers including Huntress, an urban thriller about a journalist who takes on the most feared motorcycle gang in London.

Author Interview - IE Castellano

I'm joined today by IE Castellano, author of fantasy novel The World In-between.

Hidden from our prying eyes is a world known only to those who have been there. Going through the portals scattered around our world, one finds a once wondrous place where lore, myth and fairytales converge. The magic does not flow freely from the trees anymore. Unrest has settled inside the hearts of the people. And lying deep within a forgotten corner, a centuries-old dark secret hides.

Author Interview - Katsura & Yuramei

Something a little bit different today, I'm joined by Katsura and Yuramei, a writer-artist duo who have written a series of illustrated m/m novels called Big Deal, influenced by a heady combination of Yaoi tradition and Scottish heritage. Big Deal is a unique and captivating series, filled with small-time gangsters, brothel madams and flamboyant bisexuals. The characterisations are raw to the point of brutality in places, and many a reader has been left puzzling who the "good guys" really are. With more than one love triangle and shades of light and dark running through all the men in the books, picking a favourite from this motley crew was never going to be easy!

Author Interview - Kat Halstead

I'm joined today by Kat Halstead, author of Secret Fantasy and Hello Again.

David Grayson and Lexie Kramer were co-stars a little over five years ago on the now cancelled daytime soap opera Heaven and Hell. Now they'll be starring in a new primetime pilot. They had always been friends, but was something more simmering beneath the surface? Not if David's ex has anything to say about it. How far will she go to get him back? 

Dharun Ravi Trial: Justice or Witch-hunt?

On September 19th, 2010, a student at Rutger's secretly filmed his roommate engaging in a sexual encounter with another man. He live-streamed the footage. Two days later, he tried to do the same thing again. That night his roommate, Tyler Clementi, jumped off the George Washington bridge.

Author Interview - Jack Murphy

Jack Murphy is the author of the young adult fantasy Tazmand, book one of the 'Bloodstone of Cardemont' series.

Tazmand is fourteen years old. He has a settled life working in the Great Library as a slave of the Kareshian Empire. He feels lucky: he is looked after, fed and sheltered and has the prospect of advancement through the ranks. He asks no more from life other than to learn to read. That is until he turns fourteen and his life turns upside down. Horrific dreams start to disturb his sleep: scenes of a land under military occupation where torture, brutality, murder, child abduction and even sorcery are the norm haunt him relentlessly.

Author Interview - Rachael H. Dixon

Today I'm joined by Rachael H. Dixon, author of the urban fantasy novel Slippery Souls.

Author Interview - Al Place

I'm joined today by Al Place, author of Towers of Enlightenment, which traces the battles of the Word against the Game Lord. As the members of the 'Towers' try to spread the Word against the background of the risk of exposure, living on the outside of towns and cities with little help from anyone, they have to choose the times for raids as well.



Al is also writing the end to the second Pat Canella storybook, Witchborough Hell. This takes Patti into the turf wars of a local gang boss where she has to fight to bring Law back to a town overrrun with hoodlums and gangsters.

Epistemology of the Homophobe

Homophobia seems ubiquitous at the moment, doesn't it? Here in the UK the P.M. is desperate to push through an act legalising gay marriage, rather than the shoddy 'civil partnership' deal we have now (hurrah!), which has brought every right-wing idiot out to put their twopenneth in, while Stateside it seems I can't go onto the internet without someone spewing bile across my computer screen. Homophobia is a term I'm seeing bandied about all over the web at the moment, accusations and denials flying thick and fast. What is a homophobe, how does one spot one, and are they a protected species or are they considered vermin that can legally be killed???

Okay, too far. This isn't going to be a rant, there's enough of them on the net already.

Gay Marriage (Again)

It never goes away, does it? I thought I'd share a poll that's been on the Telegraph newspaper's website this week.

Gay For You and the Fluidity of Sexuality

If I had a pound for every GFY romance I've read...well, I'd be a very wealthy woman. As a genre it's pretty popular, oddly enough especially with the female readers, who, one would think, would like that least. After all, what they're cheering on is a straight man realising that he doesn't need a woman to make him happy. That actually the feelings he has for one particular man are enough to override his natural inclination towards the fairer sex. From a straight woman's point of view, surely that can only be threatening?

From the gay side of the fence, GFY is both the ultimate fantasy and, in reality, a total nightmare. I've been there. Trust me, it's surprisingly easy to talk a straight man or woman into bed with someone of the same sex given the right set of circumstances. And no, I don't mean get them blind drunk. Most people are far more persuadable than they even realise themselves. For a one-nighter, or even a fling, it's great. There is a certain sense of pride attached to being able to 'turn' someone, however briefly.

Love is Always Write

For those of you who don't know, this is the Goodreads M/M Romance Group's 2012 storywriting event. Each member has been encouraged to write a 'Dear Author' letter, and then the authors have swept in and claimed them. I have submitted a letter and claimed one. Here's the one I'm writing (after hovering over it pressing F5 repeatedly during the countdown to claiming!!)