Here's what coming up in my obscure little corner of the m/m romance universe.
1. Mobry's Dick, a two-part novel in which history collides in unusual ways with a duplicitous rentboy, his ruthless sugar daddy, and a decent young man who's just beginning to grope his way out of the closet. (Coming from Loose Id.)
2. Jude in Chains, a novella that centers on the ex-gay movement and a ho-doggy journalist's odyssey back to his social conscience and his heart. (Coming from Dreamspinner Press.)
3. The Prayer Waltz, a novella in which the mysterious death of a gay ex-priest raises more questions than it answers and leads to a peculiar kind of closure for the men he left behind. (I have no idea who'll want this one.)
4. Skeep and the Magical Tops (working title), a kind of short, light-hearted fairy tale featuring my man Skeep from the U-X series. This could change eighty different ways before I get seriously rolling on it, since it comes after edits for the first two books and completion of the third (but I'm close!)
The first three are primarily contemporaries and all are stand-alones. For some reason, I've lately been fascinated by flawed heroes, how difficult and ambiguous redemption can be, and the confounding nature of so many issues and situations.
If I had a dick, I guarantee it would get caught in some kind of wringer over at least one of these books. That's probably because I've given up trying to figure out what people like and why they like it -- something I've never fully grasped as a reader or a writer. So I guess I'm in the mood to throw caution to the wind. It's not like I have a reputation to lose. ;-)
12 comments:
That's a very impressive calendar of releases!
"I've given up trying to figure out what people like and why they like it ... throw caution to the wind."
I'm guessing that's the best way to do it -- write what interests you most!
You come up with the weirdest and most imaginative titles, KZ
Many writers tell me that they write to please themselves because at least they know that their books have at least one fan. :)
I'm impressed at the range of plots in these books and I'm looking forward to finding out about the characters. It sounds like the stories are all character driven which is what I love.
Y'know, there's sure to be something for everyone in all of that! Your breadth of interest impresses. :)
Val, only the first two are under contract. But I'm optimistic!
Jeanne, I have a peculiar relationship with titles. They often come to me first and the stories follow. It's as if they're seeds within which stories are lurking, and they just drop into my mind.
Hiya, Wave. A strange evolution took place from the first through the third books -- a need to dig ever deeper into characters' psyches. I found I couldn't abandon humor, though. Wry, self-effacing, bawdy, or sophomoric, it always helps my boys get through what they need to get through.
Writing what interests me doesn't always serve me well, but honestly, I don't know how else to proceed. "Writing for the market" is a concept I've never quite grasped. *sigh*
Thanks, Chris. Guess I've been getting into heavier stuff lately. I hope it doesn't put too many people off.
It all sounds good KZ. I shall look forward to reading those.
Thanks, Jen.
"Writing for the market" is a concept I've never quite grasped.
Thank God for it, mate. Just because the genre is the catch all 'romance' does not mean that readers don't want to read challenging and interesting themes. There are a whole bunch of us out there who love flawed and complex heroes. The popularity of books such as 'Zero to the Bone' and 'Cut and Run' are examples of that.
I for one am really looking forward to reading these, especially 'Jude in Chains'. Have been ever since you mentioned it when I did the mini review of 'Thinking Straight'. :)
Uh, Kris, you just kind of made my point for me. Those two books are very much "for the market" -- tense, action-packed, gritty, edge-of-the-seat thrillers with some mystery and an alpha male thrown in.
That's isn't what I've been writing, kiddo. ;-)
KZ, I agree to a point, but the characters in Cut and Run in particular are exactly what you are talking about in terms of flawed and complex heroes whose past and present behaviour make them pretty unlikeable and who are also conflicted by their attraction to each other and what it may mean. It was barely a HFN let alone a HEA.
Seems like you have a lot of good stuff coming up.
Okay, this is just a curiousity question, do you write more than one book at a time? How do you do that? I'm obviously not an author but it seems to me I'd only be able to work on one idea/concept at a time. Otherwise I'd either get confused or lose interest in one never to return (which could quite possibly happy even with focussing on one story).
As for what the public wants? Who the hell knows, it probably changes from one day to the next and you're always playing catch-up.
Yo, Tam!
I don't usually tackle multiple projects at a time -- it's very distracting to me to have more than one world or set of characters in my head (that's why I can't listen to music while I'm writing; it's too much like getting lured into another world) -- but the exception was InDescent. That book was written over a long period, with many "simmering" breaks during which I did work on other stuff.
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