Pardon The Dust- Blog Renovation In Progress!

The blog looks a little weird because I've decided to give it a make over. Scribal Love has looked the same since I started it back in 2008 or 2009-- I can't recall exactly which year it was but either way that's a long time!

During that time I'd remodeled the Clare's Blog The Haven at least five times- though I no longer use that blog because of spam attacks and other things. 

I am temporarily sharing a blog with Kara Paul but will move in here completely over the coming weeks. All of my posting will take place here!

Until then please pardon the weirdness and dust as I finish moving in!

Happy New Year and as always...

Happy Reading!


-Clare

Patricia Pellicane, Author of the Historical Romantic Erotica, 'Heat Lightening'

Scribal Love Welcomes Patricia Pellicane!


Patricia Pellicane is an author of both Contemporary and Historical Romantic Erotica.  Her newest work, ‘Heat Lightning’ will be available on November 9 from Resplendence Publishing.

Before we begin I wanted to thank you, Clare, for this opportunity.  It’s much appreciated.



Where are you from?


I’m from a town a half hour outside of New York City, on Long Island.  I live there with my husband.  My six kids and fifteen grandchildren live mostly in close or adjoining towns.



What inspired you to write this book?


This book is the third of a series set in the old west.  I like writing about cowboys, etc.  To me it’s a sexy time period.



Do you have a specific writing style?


I suppose I do.  Everyone who writes has their own style, but I can’t name it.



What is the name of your latest book?  And how did you come up with the title?


Heat Lightning is the name of the book. It’s part of Arizona Heat series.  I needed something with heat in the title.  The first two were Heat Wave and Heat Flash.  It didn’t take long to work out the three titles.



What is Heat Lightning about?


It’s about a young woman who just finished school in the east.  She’s coming home for her mother’s wedding and meets a man on a train, seconds before the train crashes.  The two are trapped together, unable to move under pounds of rubble.


The young woman is educated, delicate and very much a refined lady, while the man who ends up on top of her for the night is her total opposite.  


The softness of the lady beneath him and their altogether close proximity only stirs this man’s interest, while his impossibly brazen actions, during the long night, leaves the lady confused and disgusted at her shocking inability to say no.


Of course after being rescued, they are destined to meet again.  His interest only grows as does her aggravation.



What books have influenced your life most?


That is a hard question to answer. I’m not sure any books have influenced me.  I read for escapism.  I write escapism. There’s nothing very serious here.


The only influence I can say would be influence on my writing.  Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte’ influenced me there.  I’ve read their work a dozen times.



Did you find the idea of having your work published for others to read intimidating?  If yes, why?


Sure it’s intimidating.  This is your baby.  You want everyone to love it and when some don’t, it can hurt like hell.  After awhile a nasty comment or bad review stops bothering you.  A writer needs to develop a thick skin and realize everyone has their own taste, likes and dislikes.  The only thing that’s important is you like it.  If you don’t, then you’re doing something wrong.



If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?


I can’t choose one.  I enjoy many writers for a dozen different reasons.  In the beginning it was Kathleen Woodiwiss and her book ‘Shanna’.  No one person since then.



What books are you reading now?


At the moment, nothing.  It’s hard to concentrate on a book when you’re in the middle of something else.



What are your current projects?


Right now I’m writing another book for Total-e-bound.  A contemporary piece.  Very sexy.



Do you find your international audience is different from your home audience?


No.  Most of my readers are women and women love romance, no matter their color or nationality. 



Do you see writing as your career?


It is my career.



If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?


No.  Mostly I go over a book so many times that I grow sick of it.  If I need to change anything, that would be the time to do it.



Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?


I always loved to read.  One day after reading a particularly awful book, I said to myself, “Even I could do better than that.”  I tried it and was immediately caught.  Since that day I was a writer.  Certainly not polished at first, but a writer never-the-less.



Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?


Yes, the sex scene are difficult.  After twenty two printed novels and twelve erotic eBooks, you come to realize there are just so many words like ecstasy, tormented desire, savage heat, etc.  It doesn’t get easier when you try not to repeat yourself.   Also choreographing a love scene is tricky.  You can’t leave a leg wrapped around a guy’s neck and walk away.  Unless of course the lady has more than two legs.



Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?


The truth is I don’t learn much.  Some history here and there, but not much else.  Like I said before, my books are escapism, purely entertainment.



Do you have any advice for other writers?


My only advice is if you love what you do, keep doing it.  Never, ever give up.


I had twenty six rejections from my first book.  It never sold and I lost the manuscript somewhere.  But my second book sold the first time I sent it out.


You can’t win if you stop trying.


Thanks for dropping by Patricia!


You're Welcome, Clare.




Patricia Pellicane


For romance that sizzles find me at www.patriciapellicane.com
ppellicane@gmail.com
www.facebook.com

Taylor Kincaid, Author of the Paranormal Inspirational Novel, 'Why Angels Dance, Book One of Ashley's Waltz'

Scribal Love Welcomes Taylor Kincaid!


Taylor Kincaid is an author of fantasy, paranormal, historical, suspense, inspirational genre.  Her newest work, Why Angels Dance, Book One Ashley’s Waltz, is available from Red Rose Publishing. 

What inspired you to write this book?


This series is somewhat a fairy tale about guardian angels and the mortals in their charge.  But I use the term fairy tale loosely, as the mortals are faced with extremely difficult and sometimes seemingly insurmountable problems in their earthly lives.


I have always loved the thought that we all have a guardian angel who watches over us day and night.  I also think angels are beautiful and magnificent beings, and have always been fascinated by them.  I decided I wanted to write a fantasy series about these guardians and their mortals, imagining to the best of my ability what their jobs might entail, what a day in their lives might be like.  And I began to write the first story in this series, Ashley’s Waltz.  


Do you have a specific writing style? 


I don’t know if I have a certain style or not.  I love to write and enjoy creating characters, bringing them to life, characters who only live in my imagination until I start putting them on paper.  I also enjoy writing dialogue, and pay attention to detail.  I gravitate to stories of the paranormal and fantasy genre.  I enjoy writing romance, but also enjoy genres outside of romance, which is the case with my Angels series.  Although some of the characters may experience romance, this is not a romance series, but more of a drama series.  


What is the name of your latest book?  And how did you come up with the title?


Why Angels Dance, Ashley’s Waltz, is the first book to be published in the series.  The mortals in these stories are dealing with serious situations in their lives, and so are the angels who are assigned to their cases.  My angels needed an outlet where they could unwind from the intense drama of their time on earth with their mortals.  So each of the angels spend their free time posing as ballroom instructors in Heaven.  They all love to dance and are good at it. And when they have successfully completed their cases on earth, they have every reason for celebrating.  Hence, why angels dance…


What is Ashley’s Waltz about?


Ashley is a lovely four year old, who must repeatedly suffer physical abuse at the hand of her mother’s boyfriend.  The mother does nothing to intercede for or protect her daughter, and allows the abuse to continue.  Her guardian, Mary Lou, must attempt to find someone on earth who might care enough to get involved and try to help the poor child.


What books have influenced your life most?


As a child, I was so interested in fairy tales, the ones where the prince carries the princess off into the sunset, and they live happily ever after.  I’m older and wiser now, and I know that fairy tales are just that. But there is a tiny part of me that would still like to believe in them.  I suppose there is still a little girl inside who never wants to grow up.


The Bible has been a great influence throughout my life, as I have always been a Christian. My faith has become such an important part of my life in recent years.  It was by the grace of God that I survived, with my sanity intact, the three-year period when my husband, Dave, and I battled his colon and brain cancer together.  It was an incredibly difficult time, which ended in December of 2008 with Dave’s death.  I know God was with me helping me every step of the way.  And I have tried to be careful in writing this series, as I want to represent the Father in a respectful way.  Even though this is a fictional fantasy series, I want my representation of heaven to be as true to form as possible, considering my limited knowledge of a place I have never seen but only hope for.  I hope I succeed in portraying correctly God’s true loving nature. 




If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?


That one’s easy. Nicholas Sparks. His stories tug at the heart and always make you cry.  It’s best to have a box of Kleenex handy.  But that’s the kind of writer I want to be.  My goal is to touch the reader’s heart with my stories in such a way that she can’t help but cry when she reads them.


What books are you reading now?


I’m actually not reading any right now.  I’m focusing my time and effort on writing more books in this series.  


What are your current projects?


I’m constantly writing poetry.  But the story I’m currently working on would be the fourth book in the series.  Book Three features Anastasia, a lovely young woman who has spent her life in a wheelchair, and in and out of hospitals.  She is my favorite character in the series so far. Book Four will be her sequel, and will continue to tell her story.


Do you see writing as a career?


I would love to think I could make enough money doing what I love to make a living at it.  But I don’t know how likely that is. So for now, I just consider it more of a hobby, and also a stress reliever.  It’s hard to think about the stress in my own life, when I’m so involved in my character’s lives.  After all, their lives are literally in my hands.


If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?


At this point, no, not anything I can think of.


Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?


I have always loved the English language and words.  I started writing fictional short stories in high school.


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?


Oh, there are always challenges in writing.  They can range from the simple, things like spelling and punctuation, proper grammar…to more intense challenges.  Am I being true to my character’s personality? 


And writing in a realistic manner is important to me.  I know… being concerned about realism when you’re writing fantasy or paranormal?  But my paranormal and fantasy characters are constantly inter-acting with real humans, and the humans need to be realistic and believable.


Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?


Yes…that we are always in need of angels watching over us. We humans can quickly make a mess of things, of our own lives and of others.  That’s why we need to be guided by a Higher Power, like our Heavenly Father, and His angels who are among us.


Do you have any advice for other writers?


If you love to write, then do it.  Don’t do it to please others.  Do it for yourself.  It’s truly a great way to relieve stress.  Write your stories, proofread them and perfect them.  And then submit them to a publisher.  Be prepared for rejection.  It goes with the territory.  But shrug it off and keep going.  There is always another publisher on your list.

Thank you for dropping by Taylor!

You are welcome.


You can buy her book at:  


http://redrosepublishing.com/books/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=193&products_id=826

British Paranormal Romance Author- Kristal Mckerrington

Scribal Love Welcomes International Author Kristal McKerrington!  

Kristal McKerrington is an author of the first book to be done in the Hip Hop genre in Canada.  Her newest work The Highlander With The Ink is available from XOXO Publishing. 


Hello, its a wonderful to be here and to have the chance to meet your readers today.


So where do you hail?  


I come from Glasgow Scotland. 


What inspired you to write this book?


The stories and legends of the original town I came from. 


Do you have a specific writing style?  


I don't, I write every genre and I love the idea of writing in every single one of them.


What is the name of your latest book?  And how did you come up with the title?


'The Highlander With The Ink' is apart of the Tattoo Anthology that is coming out at XOXO Publishing. I came up with the title when I knew that I was writing about Highland people and they had tattoo's.


What is 'The Highlander With The Ink' about?


Its about the Norse Gods looking for their soulmates in our modern times and how they are adjusting and how their tattoo's are so important. 


What books have most influenced your life most?


Rachel Caine's Morganville Series, Catherine Cookson and Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter series is the latest ones to really influence them. 


If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?


Either Sherrilyn Kenyon, Rachel Caine and Drea. 


What books are you reading now?  


Sherrilyn Kenyon's No Mercy,  A Nordic Research book and The Highlander Series by Karen Marie Moning.

Hip Hop Fiction

What are your current projects?


I have a 22 book series am working on, a wrestling contemporary romance series and working on some single projects. 


Do you find that international audiences are different than your home or native country's audience?  


Yes, they get more excited and more addicted to what am doing. 




Do you see writing as a career?


Yes, I can safely say that I do now see it as my career.






If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?


Nope


Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?


Yes, I didn't have a ways of means of making my Aunt a pressie so I wrote her a story and I wanted to do it to save my ideals careers.


What's a pressie?


It's the Scottish word for present.


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?


Long dialogues and my grammar. 


Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?


Yes, I did I learned that sometimes action pieces are harder to write then love scenes. 


Do you have any advice for other writers?


No matter what keep your head held up high and read plenty from the Company you want to sign with.  Start small and get bigger as you go. 

Thank you Kristal for dropping by!  


You are welcome!  


You can find Kristal on the web at:  


Blogspot for my latest updates:- http://kristalmckerringtons.blogspot.com
Author Site:- www.kristalmckerrington.webs.com
Twitter:- www.twitter.com/@K_Mkerrington
Facebook Fan Site:- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristal-McKerringtons-Offical-Fan-Page

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Author of 'Voice on the Waves,' Jessica Chambers

Scribal Love Welcomes Jessica Chambers

Jessica Chambers is an author of contemporary women’s fiction. Her debut novel Voices On The Waves is now available from Red Rose Publishing.

Thanks, Clare. It’s great to be here for my final stop on the Voices On The Waves Blog Tour. .

And it’s great to have you. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

Clichéd as it sounds, I’ve harboured an ambition to be a writer ever since I was old enough to think about my future. Even when I was seven-years-old and wrote my first novel, a 30-page piece Entitled The Mystery Of The Strange Telephone Calls, I knew that was how I wanted to earn my living. So, ever since completing my education, I’ve been working towards making my dream a reality.

Tell us about Voices On The Waves.

It’s a sweet women’s fiction novel set against the stunning backdrop of rural Cornwall. The idea for the book came from my fascination with people and the ways in which they interact. What would happen, I asked myself, if you forced a group of strangers together in one place for a set length of time, and then left them to their own devices?

Well, this is precisely what happens in Voices On The Waves, where nine individuals from all walks of life win a two-week holiday in a beautiful farmhouse retreat. Having gathered such diverse personalities under one roof, all I had to do was let my imagination flow and the sparks fly! With new found love, illicit affairs and the sharing of long-buried secrets, Voices on the Waves really does have it all.

What is your writing process? Has it changed since writing your first book?

Very much so. When I first began Voices On The Waves, I felt I had to have every little detail planned out beforehand. Since then, though, I’ve discovered that too much planning dampens my creativity. Now, I tend to have the main plot line worked out, but let the characters and sub plots find their own way.

Do you ever suffer from writer's block? If so, what do you do about it?

Believe me, writer’s block is the bane of my life. In the early days, this used to terrify me. What if I woke up one morning and could never write again? Now, though, I accept it as a natural part of my writing process. All I have to do is take a break, go for a walk or read another author’s novel, and I’m able to return fresh to my computer the following morning.

Do you have any suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?

Study your craft. Most of us, unless we happen to be a literary genius, won’t become a best-selling writer overnight. Read every book you can lay your hands on about creating believable, unforgettable characters and how to weave page-turning plots. Join a writing critique group, whether online or face-to-face, to get feedback on your progress that will help you improve. Most of all, write the sort of novels you would enjoy reading.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve just started work on a novella, which will be written as part of a series with a group of my fellow authors at Red Rose. The idea is that we each write a book based on a reality TV show, and I’m taking the inspiration for mine from talent shows such as American Idol and The X Factor. It’s shaping up to be really great fun!

I’m also in the throes of editing a novel called Painting The Summer. More of a mystery than Voices On The Waves, Painting The Summer centers around a wealthy English family whose lives are torn apart when they invite a handsome young artist into their home to paint their portraits. All is going well, I’m hoping both novels will be published some time in 2011.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

Of course. In this scene, my heroine struggles with her heartache.

     After rereading the same passage for the fifth time, Leah admitted defeat.   Normally, losing herself in a novel was an unfailing means of escape, but not today.   In her present mood, the author's humorous style held no charm for her, and the budding romance between the reclusive writer and the heroine, who reminded Leah poignantly of herself, simply caused her a pang.   With a leaden heart, she continued to stare at the page until a shadow fell across it.

    “Thought I might find you here,” Anjum said, joining her in the arbor.  “Not disturbing you, am I?”

   
     Leah shook her head and laid her book aside. They sat in silence for a while, gazing out over the sun-dazzled grounds.

      “You going to tell me what’s happened between you and Will?” Anjum asked at length.

      “What makes you think anything’s happened?”

      “Hmmm, the fact that you’re both behaving as if the world’s about to end is a bit of a giveaway.”

      Leah blushed.   “Okay, say we did have a row, Will doesn’t seem too bothered about it.”

      “Are you kidding?” Anjum said. “It was a close call to say which one was more miserable yesterday, Will or the weather.”

       Leah didn’t answer.  Will may have been hurt to begin with, but he had certainly got over it by this morning.   Doubtless Tiffany was comforting him at this very moment; her stomach twisted at the thought.   She knew she should be relieved Will had been so unaffected by the quarrel.   She wasn’t vindictive, after all.  Why then did she find his indifference so hard to bear?

     Without warning, anger welled up inside her.  This was all Alan’s doing.   Everything was his fault.   It was Alan who had made her bitter and mistrustful, so different from the easy-going person she’d once been.    It was Alan whose eyes perpetually spied over her, taunting her by day and filling her dreams by night.   And it was Alan, with his ensnaring smile and silver tongue, who had tricked her into a situation from which she could see no way out.

      At a gentle touch on her arm, she raised her head to find Anjum regarding her with concern.

    “You okay?”

      Leah nodded.   As suddenly as it had arisen, her rage evaporated and she slumped against the bench, depressed and exhausted.

      Anjum continued to study her, clearly unconvinced.   Finally, he said, “Listen, I know what it must look like, Will going off with Tiffany, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

      Leah shot him a skeptical glance.   How did he expect her to believe Will wasn’t besotted with Tiffany?  What man in their right mind wouldn’t be?  No, just as in the legend the mermaid had captivated Matthew Trewhella, so Tiffany had cast Will under her spell.

      “Trust me,” Anjum urged, “there’s nothing going on there.   If you would just talk to him…”

      “No,” Leah said, and her voice rang with a stubbornness that brooked no argument.

End Excerpt...

Buy Voices On The Waves now from Red Rose Publishing

http://redrosepublishing.com/books/product_info.php?products_id=853

Thank you Jessica for stopping by.

Thank you again, Clare, for having me, and to all of you for stopping by. Anyone kind enough to leave a comment here, or at any point during my blog tour, will automatically be entered into the draw to win a $15 gift voucher for either Amazon or Barnes & Noble, so don’t forget to provide an email address in case I need to contact you. I’ll be announcing the five winners tomorrow over at my blog

http://www.jessicachambers.co.uk/blog so good luck and hope to see you there!

Marian Allen, Author of 'Eels Reverence'

Scribal Love Welcomes Marian Allen.  


She is an author of fantasies, mysteries, comedies and recipes.  Her newest work EEL'S REVERENCE is available from Echelon Press. 

What inspired you to write this book?


I read Matthew Arnold's poem "The Forsaken Merman" and was taken by his image of a merman on land.  I started thinking, "How would that work? How would he have to built in order to move on land? How would he breathe? How far inland could he go? Into the desert?"  A couple of scenes came to me, one of him alone and one of him with a human friend.  But the scenes never went anywhere.  Then a scene came to me of some sort of cleric surrounded by hostile wolves, and I started playing with that.  Suddenly, as often happens with me, those scenes snapped together and, from nowhere, a totally different character started telling a story from her point of view that would include those other scenes, or variations of them.  I suppose the base inspiration was an impulse to explore people out of their comfort zones--what they suffer and what they contribute because of that displacement.


Do you have a specific writing style?  


Try to tell each story in the "voice" that tells it best, whether the work is in first person or third person.  The work, itself, has a voice, in addition to the main character's voice.  I try to make my own voice as transparent as possible.  If I do have a general tone, it would be what my husband calls "smart-ass".  I like wise cracks and snappy lines.  I think I watched too many '40's movies when I was growing up.


What is the name of your latest book?  And how did you come up with the title?


The title is EEL'S REVERENCE.  The area of the fictional world where this takes place is called The Eel, and one of the things it's about is various kinds of reverence--for a faith, for life, for people we admire, and how we choose to express that reverence.  The book was previously e-published by another publisher under their title of EEL'S REVENGE, which I didn't like.  I'm very happy to have the "real" title back.


What is EEL'S REVERENCE about?


The plotline is: An elderly woman, a priest of Micah (a religion that preaches inclusivity, compassion and peace) leaves her parish in a huff because her parishioners prefer to go to a "reaver" priest.  Reaver priests pay lip service to Micah, but are in it for the money.  Some people prefer that.  Aunt Libby wanders into The Eel and is ordered out by a coalition of reaver priests who have hired armed guards and are running, essentially, a protection racket, with people who don't pay their tithes targeted for violence.  Against her will, she becomes a pawn in a power play between various factions, but her greatest challenge is her supporters, who are willing to instigate a bloody revolt.  What it's about is, as I said, the meaning and expression of reverence and faith.  There are also some wise cracks and snappy lines.


What books have most influenced your life most?


The King James version of the Bible, because I grew up with that poetic and powerful prose. Andrew Lang's Rainbow Fairy Books.  Walter R. Brooks' Freddy the Pig books, because his characters are so quirky but so real, even if they are animals, and they make mistakes and they have flaws that are part of the plot.


If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?


Ursula K. LeGuin, because her imagination goes off every which way.  She can make ANYTHING work.


What books are you reading now?  


Laura Bickle's SPARKS, John Shelby Spong's RESURRECTION: MYTH OR REALITY? and Dick Francis' 10 LB. PENALTY.


What are your current projects?


Echelon is also re-issuing FORCE OF HABIT, a sf farce, and SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING, also science fiction.  I'll be editing and marketing those in the coming months.  I also plan to rough out a mystery during National Novel Writing Month. I blog every day.  I'm writing a short story set in the world of FORCE OF HABIT, which I'll post on Smashwords for free, as I did "Line of Descent" for EEL'S REVERENCE, and I'll do one for SIDESHOW when that one is about to be released.  I have some short stories I'd like to write for various anthologies.


Do you see writing as a career?


It's a way of life.  I write.  I just do.  I always have.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?

No.  That book was that book.  I can think of many, many other ways the story could have gone, and I'd like to write every one of them.  The hardest part of writing, for me, is having to ignore all the possibilities you can't pursue, because you have to choose.  You have to open Shcroedinger's box and see if that cat is alive or dead.  Well, actually, if I could change anything, I would have less stop-and-describe.  I would leave out discriptions of characters' appearances, or work them in more casually.


Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?


My mother took me to see a re-release of Bambi.  In one scene, Thumper, the rabbit, is told to recite a poem.  He does, then adds a line of his own.  When my mother told me somebody wrote the whole movie, that they weren't just Received from the Past but written by people alive today as a living, I knew that was what I wanted to do.  And I've been doing it ever since.


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?


Plotting.  There are so many branches from each moment.  It's so hard to decide on a story arc.  Following one is relatively easy, but choosing one is hard.


Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?


This was my first completed novel, so the main thing I learned was that I could do it!


Do you have any advice for other writers?


Read.  Write.  Repeat.  Don't give up.  Respect your work.  Listen to criticism, but respect your own talent and instinct.  If you realize a critic was right and you were wrong, correct yourself and write some more.  Love it.


Thanks Marian for dropping by!


You are welcome.


You can find Marian Allen on the web at www.marianallen.com

Erastes, Author of 'Tributary' from the Anthology 'Last Gasp'

Scribal Love Welcomes Gay Historical Fiction Author Erastes.


Erastes is an author of gay historical fiction.  Her newest work TRIBUTARY is available as part of the four novella anthology LAST GASP from Noble Romance Publishing.  The other authors in the anthology are Charlie Cochrane, Jordan Taylor and Chris Smith.

What inspired you to write this book?


I had a vision of an Italian landscape a windy road, leading up and up into forested hills and a little grey sports car moving along, seen from above, until it reached the top.  It started there. I wasn't sure who was driving that car, or what he'd find in the hotel he'd stopped at, but I knew I wanted to find out. 


Do you have a specific writing style?   


Hmm. I'm probably not the person to answer that. I'm probably more descriptive than is usual, I like to try and immerse the reader in the era, as if the book was written IN the time, rather than ABOUT the time. Only the reader will be able to say whether I've succeeded in that, though.


What is the name of your latest book?  And how did you come up with the title? 


Tributary is the last book released. The title came from the idea that the person has been meandering through his life for a long time, as if he was drifting down a river, and he reaches a parting of the river, a tributary—a choice to be made.


What is Tributary about?


It's about a man called Guy Mason.  It's 1936 and World War One has been over for a good while, but Guy—like many other men of that era, are still suffering the after effects. In Guy's case, it's survivor guilt. He never actually fought at the Front, despite having thought that he wanted to, he had a job in the War Office and feels that he was safe while so many of his friends died or come back half-whole. He's also lost a lover and he's just drifting through Europe, unable to settle—hardly even really aware that Europe itself is rolling its inexorable way towards more war. 


In a remote hotel in the middle of the Italian landscape he meets Professor James Armstrong and his secretary Louis, and he finds an instant attraction to Louis, who—he finds—is not only James' secretary, but also his lover.  


It's a story of loss, and guilt, and of choices made and choices not made.


What books have most influenced your life most? 


I'm a bookaholic, my house is filled with more books than I have space for and I never (or very very very rarely) dispose of books, even ones I don't think much of. So it's hard for me to pick books that have influenced me.  I spent most of my life reading the Classics, so I suppose Austen and Dickens and Thackeray are my main influences, but there are probably tons of others.  More recently, and in keeping with the genre I write, I find The Charioteer by Mary Renault, At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill, A Strong & Sudden Thaw by R W Day,  As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McAnn, Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale and False Colors by Alex Beecroft—all these are writers who have such a tremendous "voice" and superb skill that I wish I could have a voice as distinctive.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? 


I was lucky enough to have R W Day as a mentor during my formative years—she's a stunningly good author and much overlooked. She kept me working hard, and by exposure to her writing, it spurred me to up my game. I'm pretty lucky, actually, that I have a lot of author "internet friends" who are madly talented, and I think we all encourage and mentor each other.


What books are you reading now?   


I'm reading "The Glass Minstrel" by Hayden Thorne for review on Speak Its Name (www.speakitsname.com) and "Making Money" by Terry Pratchett.


What are your current projects? 

I'm currently writing something tentatively called "I Knew Him" which is set in 1921 in England. It's a little bit murder mystery, a little bit romance, a little bit this a little bit that. Gay romance of course, as usual, but it's interesting writing about the 20th century, rather then the 17th or the 19th!


I have a new book coming out in Spring, that's with Lethe Press—called Mere Mortals--and that's a gothic mystery/gay romance set in 1840 on the Norfolk Broads in England, where I live. 


Do you see writing as a career? 


I do. I'm not self-sufficient just yet. I'm my father's Carer—he has Alzheimer's—and so I get a little bit of money from the state to do that.  My dad is a great supporter, so I write at his house in the mornings, and then we go out somewhere nice in the afternoons. It's a tough job, sometimes, both the writing and the caring, but both very rewarding.


Some professional author (and I can't remember who it was) said that to consider yourself a writer you should write 1000 words a day, and that's my goal. I don't always manage it, but that's what I am for.

If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book? 


No, I don't think so. I'm pretty happy with Tributary. Some reviewers have said it's a bit sparse, and a bit remote, but that's exactly the feel I was going for, that "no man's land" between the wars when nothing really felt real. There was a generation who hadn't experienced war and longed for a fight to break out so they could have some glory, and a generation who were still suffering from the horrors of the last one. It was all very brittle.


Do you recall how your interest in writing originated? 


Absolutely. I came out of fan fiction, and I'll never deny that.  Although I always knew I wanted to write, I never had any original ideas or plots – and the couple of books I had started, one kid's book and one YA just foundered because I didn't know what I was going to do with them. Then in 2003 I discovered fan fiction, literally hadn't heard of it before, and also slash (again, something I hadn't heard of.)  I found them fascinating and inspiring and immediately started writing a Harry Potter novella.  When I finished it, I was so pumped up with adrenaline it was unbelievable, but I realised that I couldn't DO anything with the book—I wanted to SELL books I wrote, so I started to write Standish, and the rest is history!


Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing? 


The research. I live in fear of getting something wrong, and it's so easy to trip yourself up.  The research involved in writing a sequel to Standish (USA specifically in the 1820s) is putting me off from getting on with that book—and I want to write about Roman Gladiators and getting THAT right is going to be a challenge.  


I'm also the world's best procrastinator—the gleam off a bald head is enough to distract me from writing. Hence me doing this instead of writing this morning!! I need that mentor to be standing behind me with a big stick. Or a cattle prod. WRITE! WRITE!


Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?


Oh, I learn something with every book I write. I often think that I know a bit (or sometimes even a lot) about the era I'm writing, and it ALWAYS turns out that actually, I don't know hardly anything at all! For example, when I was writing "Transgressions" (which is set in the English Civil War, 1642 onwards) it was quite hard to find any details online.  There are pages and pages of battles and uniforms and generals and musters and ambushes and everything concerned with the war, but very very little about everyday life in the time.  I had to seek it out in other places, Living History groups etc who were so informative and so helpful, that I learned far far more about the 17th century than I ever needed to know. Did you know that it took 40 different movements just to fire a gun?  Well, I do!


Do you have any advice for other writers? 


Believe in yourself. That's it pure and simple. Take advice, yes, listen to others, but don't try and automatically follow all these so-called RULES that you read all over the place.  OK one editor says he hates descriptions of weather, or prologues or that your characters should meet in the first chapter—but if that doesn't work for YOUR book, then don't try and copy other people.  Believe in your product. 


Thank you Erastes for dropping by!  


It was my pleasure.  




You can find Erastes on the web at www.Erastes.com