Author Spotlight Sue Brown

I'm very excited about this spotlight. She's my favourite author and Sheila was just the person to ask her in depth questions about her writing. Love this lady very much. She's so sweet and I hope to meet her someday. 

Please enjoy the interview with Sue Brown!

http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com/p/13th-author-spotlight-sue-brown.html

Sheila's Spotlight Johnny Miles

Good morning!

I'm so happy with Sheila's job on these spotlights. She asks some fab questions and really gets into the authors heads. Today's interview is no exception and she's featuring one of my fave people in the industry. Johnny Miles. 


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Here is Sheila's interview with Johnny Miles, one of fave people and authors.

SG:  You have an extensive list of writing. You began writing short stories for magazines. I’ve read a few of your short stories but not all. I did enjoy the ones I read. You’ve also written 3 novels, which I did read, and you recently wrote a children’s book under another name. Of the three types of writing, which was your favorite?

JM:  Thanks for reading my novels. I must confess I’m not sure I have a favorite. You see, I enjoy writing erotica because it’s fun and easy. I like the explicitness of it because I’m intrigued by the body, by the connection between people and the amazing energy created.

The romance stories? They seemed like a natural progression. I’ve enjoyed them immensely because they’re much more challenging than I originally thought. These are real characters with real concerns and problems. They have conflict and just happen to have sex every once in a while, in addition to resolving their issues and laying their baggage to rest.

As for the children’s book. Well, it really isn’t. At least, not for me. It’s far too heavy to be a children’s book. If anything, it’s more for first-time parents I think. And teens. Or anyone who’s ever endured verbal abuse because -- even though the book deals with sexual and physical abuse as well -- it’s the verbal that destroys far more than anything. The other forms of abuse will mess you up for sure. But words…they can cut and wound in ways none of us can imagine. You can’t see the damage. And we’ve recently seen proof of how bad verbal abuse is. Look at all the teen suicides. Anyone who can look me in the eye and tell me words are just words is someone I’d have to walk away from and probably someone with issues they haven’t confronted.

SG:  What is the difference in writing a short story compared to a novel? When you sit down do you know a work will be a short story or a novel or do you let your characters take you down whichever road they go?

JM:  The difference between a short story, as compared to a novel, is that with a short, you’re capturing a slice in time. Depending on the story and your intent, I think you have to capture a lot of nuance in a relatively short space without giving the story so much detail the reader gets bogged down in it. I find shorts to be more difficult because I don’t have the space to explore the characters. I have to know them now and condense everything I’d normally do in a novel, but do it in a short.

When I first sit down to write I have a pretty good idea it’s going to be a novel. Sometimes I have a simple synopsis but I’ve been corrected by the characters. They take on a life of their own and frequently let me know that, although they agree about where they should go, they don’t always agree with me on how to get there.

 “Casa Rodrigo” surprised me because it was much more involved and complicated than I thought it would be. “Learning To Samba” was the only one where the characters didn’t take me for a ride around the world. We only took some minor detours.

 SG:  You often have relationships between older men and younger men. What does that allow you to explore within those relationships?

JM:  We have a horrible view on aging in this country. We want to put old people away in homes and not look at them or hear them. It’s like we don’t want to see what we’ll become one day. We’re obsessed with youth and want to remain young forever; just take a look at Cher and Joan Rivers. I think there’s an easier way and I hope that through my writing, I can offer people a different view. That if we were to open up to one another, share our thoughts on the world, culture, music, movies, books, perhaps the younger generation might learn something rather than be repulsed by us “older” gents and we, in turn, might feel younger by remaining open to new concepts and experiences as well as reconnecting with that part of ourselves that once allowed us to live life impetuously and passionately.

SG:  In Lauderdale Hearts you have Blake suffering two heart attacks. What research did you need to do to get the heart attacks right for physical symptoms as well as the psychological aftermath? I thought Blake’s reaction the first time he gets close to having sex with Ricky after his heart attack was realistic.

JM:  I asked several people who’ve had heart attacks if they would share their experiences with me. I also read through the Mayo Clinic’s website for the psychological symptoms such a life altering events would cause. I wanted to know what it felt like, but also what to anticipate. I wanted to know how a heart attack would you change your life? Would you eat differently? What would you worry about? How would you alter your views on life and the world? On your relationships?

I even asked friends and family of heart attack survivors what it was like for them. Then I did what every writer does. I closed my eyes, stepped into their shoes, and used my imagination.

 SG:  While there were not scenes in Lauderdale Hearts showing Ricky being abused by his lover, there is mention of it and we see the aftermath of an attack. How prevalent is abuse within gay relationships? What can someone outside the relationship do to help someone being abused?

JM:  I’ve read that 1 in 4 gay men experience domestic violence. I myself was in a relationship with a man who was verbally abusive, domineering and controlling. He was never physically harmful but manipulated so many aspects of my life. And I never saw it until after I broke up with him.

I remember once telling him I wanted to go to massage school. He exploded with, “How can you give up a career where you make good money just to do something you’ve no idea how to do?” And that was just the tip of the iceberg. It escalated from there. Every time I brought something up he’d shoot me down or call me stupid. Do you know how debilitating that is? I grew to dread coming back home to him. Being with a loved one, straight or gay, should NEVER be like that. You should want to come home to the man or woman you love.

Domestic violence takes many forms; physical, psychological, sexual, verbal. The tough part is to recognize it for what it is. As for helping, if you’re outside of the relationship, that’s really, really hard. Especially because you might see it, you might recognize the patterns, but you’re friend might not. If you say something, how might your friend react? And how do you even bring it up? But if you say nothing you might still lose a friendship, or more than that. Then what? I know if someone had asked me what I was doing with my then partner, I would’ve been like, what do you mean? I don’t know that I could have been told anyway. I was losing friends and becoming isolated and wouldn’t have believed it if anyone said anything anyways. This was one of those life lessons I had to learn the hard way. It’s a tough call either way but I think that if someone is truly concerned about a friend in that type of situation, they might want to seek help from a professional before bringing it up.

 SG:  In Learning to Samba you have not only the age difference but also a cultural difference with Brian being American and Joao being Brazilian. What dimension does that add to the story? Brian has traveled extensively but he still comes home to his roots. You also have Joao coming from a wealthy family while Brian comes from a middle class family. How does that affect your characters?

JM:  This one is easy. The bottom line is that love is love. Like music, love transcends all…age, culture, sexual orientation, money. Our experiences, diverse cultures, religious and political views can inhibit us or allow us to transform into what we wish to be rather than what we think we are or what the rest of society thinks we should be.

In my stories, the diverse differences hopefully add conflict and allow the characters to put those things aside and go after what truly makes them happy and what feels right.

 SG:  In Lauderdale Hearts and Learning to Samba your older hero is alone. Even in Casa Rodrigo there is an air of loneliness over Bernardo. Blake in Lauderdale Hearts has no one. If not for his co-workers looking out for him, he probably would not have done his recovery the way he should and taken time off. With Brian in Learning to Samba he comes home to reconnect with his sister. How does the loner image add to the story?

JM:  I think the loner image is crucial to the story in order to get the reader to identify. Let’s face it, we’ve all been alone at some point. For many of us, the more people we’re surrounded by, the more alone we feel. Physically, we’re almost always never alone for long; unless we choose to be. But mentally? I think most of us go through life floundering because when it comes right down to it, the human condition dictates we be alone with our thoughts, fears, passions, desires, hopes and dreams.

 SG:  In theater and movies actors are told never to work with animals and children because they’ll be upstaged. You have a dog in Lauderdale Hearts and Brian’s niece and nephew in Learning to Samba. I thought in both cases they helped to lighten the stories at times. I thought the reactions of Kay’s children to both their mother’s romance and Brian’s romance was funny. Does that adage hold true in writing? Why or why not?

JM:  You really do ask some very interesting questions! I’ve heard of that phrase. Wasn’t it W.C. Fields who originally said that?  (SG:  I believe it was him.)

JM:  I really don’t know whether the adage holds true for writing. All I know is that I wanted Blake to have a dog because it was the only -- thing? person? -- he felt he could place his trust in. Bosco’s love of his human, just like every animal, is one of unconditional love. It felt right for this particular character to have a dog. He felt more real to me that way.

The same thing went for Kay. I thought about who she was, what she’d experienced and knew she had to have children because it rang true. The fact that Bosco, Allison and Harold J. could add levity to the stories was really icing on the proverbial cake.

 SG:  Casa Rodrigo is an historical. What drew you to that time period and place? How much research did you have to do to get the history and geography right?

 JM:  I’ve always been drawn to the mid-16 and 1700s. It’s steeped in drama and ripe for story telling. I did a lot of research -- which was excruciating -- but I also had a lot of help from Treva Harte, her resources, and our friend Bryan. My partner helped some, too. A lot of the details were positively horrifying and revolting, but that was the time and we can’t sweep history under a rug.

As for the geography, I used my personal experience having been to Puerto Rico and just modified it. There are differences but the culture and terrain are fairly similar.

  

SG:  Casa Rodrigo I found to be a novel of many layers. I was more drawn to Bernardo’s story than Alonso and Arbol’s story. There is the contrast between the idealism of Alonso and the reality of life that Bernardo has. Alonso is somewhat open in his relationship with Arbol especially at the end of the story while Bernardo has shame for his male/male relationships in the past and currently. Did Casa Rodrigo start out as a love story for Alonso and Arbol? What brought in the contrast of Bernardo’s life into the story?

JM:  Casa Rodrigo was originally supposed to be about one of Alonso’s sons, a horrible spoiled brat, and an accidental half-breed who was also Alonso’s son. That angle had to be removed although I was planning a twist. When it was considered for publication, the editor at Loose Id suggested I focus on Alonso and Arbol instead. So, in answer to your question, no. Casa did not start out as a love story for Alonso and Arbol but it became that.

Thank you, by the way, for getting that “Casa Rodrigo” was a multi-layered story. I wanted to reflect the generation gap, the point where we become rigid adults and adhere to “rules” and “the norm” versus the newer, changing thoughts of people who were progressive in their mindset.

SG:  I found it interesting that Bernardo says it is okay for Alonso to have his “friends” when he is younger but that he must put them aside to get married and have children, yet I did not see that Bernardo was happy with having done “the right thing” in marrying Adelina. When Bernardo is confessing and explaining to Alonso why he had entered into an agreement with Raul, their neighbor, I see Adelina’s influence very strongly in Alonso. Though she is not in the story long, how does her influence affect the story?

JM:  I loved, loved, loved Adelina and hope someday to come back to her. She was real and not prone to bullshit. I think Bernardo probably married Adelina because he had to, but grew to love her. It’s what was, and still is to some degree, expected of you in order to protect what you’ve built and created; if you want someone to pass things your wealth and land to. After all, back then it was about arranged marriages. Love had nothing to do with it.

I think Bernardo was unhappy in many ways because he did, once upon a time, love Raul. I think he felt guilty for probably still loving him, despite all the horrible things they’d gone through and the miserable person Raul had become. I suppose, in a way, Raul might even have blamed himself to some degree. And, since at the time Spanish society and the church viewed homosexuality as a sure condemnation, it only added to Bernardo’s guilt.

SG:  Raul is never a favorite character of mine in Casa Rodrigo but he does show a little piece of humanity when he lets Perez leave without inflicting a beating on him. That’s when I saw what he felt for Bernardo. How difficult is it to add a bit of humanity and vulnerability to a villain in a story? Raul was nasty but just that little scene gave me a bit (a very little bit) of compassion for him. He never seems to care what others think of him yet he sees Adelina, Bernardo’s wife, as a competitor for Bernardo’s affections. Why was that important for a reader to see?

JM:  That bit about Raul letting Perez go was actually Treva’s doing. Or was it the editor’s? I can’t quite remember. What I do remember is that after thinking about it, I realized Raul definitely needed that humanity because most people aren’t born wicked. We’re shaped by our experiences but also by how we choose to let those experiences mold us. Some just happen to have less guilt than others. Raul, in particular, was skewed because he was a self-made man exposed mostly to pirates and men with little scruples.

Remember, too, that Raul was the bastard son of a nobleman. Had he been accepted into the folds of so-called “civilized society” he might have been a completely different person.

SG:  By the end of Casa Rodrigo we see Bernardo changing. He becomes stronger in fighting to protect his son. How important to the story was Bernardo’s change? Alonso changes some but not as much as Bernardo. I definitely want to see what happens after the end of the story.

JM:  Alonso didn’t change much because I think he saw the world in terms of black and white; no pun intended. I think, too, he was still young. Bernardo, on the other hand, changed because he had to. I think he’d gone along with the rest of society and done what was expected of him for so long I don’t think he knew anything else. He needed to make a stand. After all, Alonso was his flesh and blood!

I think Bernardo also realized his son might have the chance to live the life he wanted, and be happy, rather than go down the same path he did. I think he might have also told Adelina she’d been right; certain things in life are morally wrong and creating an economy based on the exploitation of other humans is definitely among them.

The characters in this particular story intrigue me. Especially Raul, believe it or not. I haven’t ruled out writing a sequel because I, too, want to know what happened next! Not to mention, perhaps a prequel. So, who knows? You just might get your wish.

SG:  What new works are in progress?

JM:  Currently, a short story that I can’t mention yet. I’ll be editing a story for Untreed Reeds that will be coming out for the holidays. I’m also editing a trashy romantic piece about a cross-dressing young man’s self-discovery and I’m still working out specifics for a synopsis for “Have Bucket, Will Travel.”

SG:  Where can we find you on the internet?

JM:  I’m on Facebook but you can also visit my website or my blog.

The website is: http://johnny-miles.com.

The blog is: http://johnny-miles.blogspot.com/

SG:  Now some fun, quick questions:

Halloween or Thanksgiving?

JM:  Thanksgiving. Definitely Thanksgiving. Believe it or not I’m not the one that opens the door at Halloween. Not unless there’s going to be a hot, naked man standing there before me promising to fulfill each and every one of our desires. Which, sadly, would probably be to clean the house naked, do the groceries, then wash and fold our clothes. Damn, that reminds me. At the first sign of “real” money, must place an ad in the paper for a houseboy.

SG:  Favorite movie?

JM:  I have several of those, for various reasons. However, they’re way too many to mention. If I had to narrow it down, there are two that vie for number one position. Auntie Mame (with Rosalind Russell, not the other one) and Victor/Victoria.

SG:  Skiing or sailing?

JM:  LOL! Considering I don’t know how to swim and have enough trouble walking unless I’m caffeinated, probably neither. Unless cruising on a big ship counts!

SG:  Snowball fight or building snowman?

JM:  Building a snowman. Don’t like getting whacked upside the head or feeling snow trickle down my back. Brrrr!

SG:  Favorite drink?

JM:  Coffee. Unless you mean alcoholic. In which case, I love sangria, red wine and mojitos. I also enjoy well-made chocolate martinis.

SG:  Favorite vacation?

JM:  If we’re talking about future vacations, I’d say Europe. Perhaps the U.K. France, Italy or Spain. As long as my partner is with me it doesn’t matter where I am. If we’re talking places I’ve been, I’d have to say my favorite so far has been San Francisco. Although, we’ve had some really good times at Disney, too!

SG:  Football or hockey?

JM:  I’m afraid neither. I’m not a huge sports fan. What I do watch, however, tends to be more contact sports with half-naked men sweating in a ring, like UFC or college wrestling.

SG:  Pumpkin pie or apple pie?

JM:  Oh, c’mon now. You don’t really want me to choose, do you? Okay, okay. How big are the slices? I’ll forego a huge piece of one for a sliver of each. Warm. With vanilla ice cream, please! With a piping hot cup of coffee.

SG:  New York or New Orleans?

JM:  New York was, is, and probably always will be the center of my universe. Sound familiar?

SG:  Donuts or cupcakes?

JM:  One of each, please! With chocolate milk, heavy on the chocolate.

Featured Spotlight Eden Winters

Sheila has done a great interview with Eden Winters.

I recently had the opportunity to interview the wonderful Eden Winters.  Come join us as I chat with her on her books, thoughts, and future works.

SG:  I had the opportunity to read six of your works this month. Each was of a different sub-genre.    When you start a new work do you know what sub-genre the story will be or does the story reveal what sub-genre it will be? 

EW:  Six? Wow! I'm a "seat of my pants" writer, so although I have a basic idea of the genre at the onset, it can change drastically. The Match Before Christmas wasn't intended to be humorous at first; that just sorta happened.

Duet started to be just the contemporary half of the story, written as a novella, until one of my betas asked, "Where's the other half? You say they're in love but you don't show it." Back to the drawing board and, voila! Aillil is heir to a Scottish laird and Malcolm is a Kentish tutor.

SG:  You are a prolific writer within the m/m genre compared to many who are writing within the genre today. You have five novels and fourteen shorts published. Do you find yourself running out of ideas or thinking that’s been done before? How do you keep your writing fresh? 

EW:  Plots just seem to find me. I worry about running out of ideas some day, but I currently have ten novels in process on my hard drive, so hopefully it won't happen anytime soon. Besides, an old teacher of mine once said that there are only three basic plots to begin with, it's how the author treats the plot that's important. Too bad I can't remember the plots he mentioned.

SG:  The novels I read are darker than your shorts. When I say your novels are darker I mean that, for me, they bring out emotions that cause me to cry. I needed Kleenex for a couple of your longer works. I’m not ashamed to admit it. As a reader I need to identify with a character in a book to enjoy it and when I do I start feeling what I think that character will feel. Do you find that as you write the darker stuff that you take on the emotions within your story? Do you find yourself identifying with a specific character within each story, thinking that character is you? 

EW:  That depends on the characters and the stories. In The Wish and The Angel of 13^th Street, there were multiple personalities and points of view that kept me from fully living in any one of them. In Highway Man, however, told only from Killian's POV, I had a hard time pulling out of the character, channeling him and seeing the world through his eyes for days. I may have been just a little bit cocky around that time too.

I did bond with Troy from Settling the Score, and Erica, his assistant. I wish I could channel her more often. She's tough, while Troy and I have very, very much in common. But yes, I've been drawn so far into my characters that I hurt when they do, and cried when they cried.

SG:  Like I said when I read some of your novels I cried. I cried as Michael grieved in Raff’s office for Jimmy in The Telling. Alfred’s dying made me cry during The Wish. The deaths during the scarlet fever epidemic in Duet brought me to tears. When you write these scenes how do you handle the emotions of them? Do you want to create an emotional upheaval for the reader as we read? Do you think, “I want the reader to feel the pain of these deaths and live it as the characters live it,” or do these scenes just become “this is just part of the storyline” and you do not think of giving the readers an emotional upheaval? 

EW:  I don't think I intentionally create an upheaval for the reader; my goal is to capture what the characters are experiencing and make it believable for the reader. For them to, maybe not feel Aillil's pain, but to understand it, know that he's feeling it and why. As a reader, I don't want to be told "So and so died," I want, "Tired, so tired. He reached up a trembling hand to cup his lover's face, dismayed when his fingers wouldn't do his bidding. With a raspy breath he managed to croak, 'Please don't cry.' Uttering those three small words left him exhausted. He lay back on the pillow, struggling for each tiny inhale. His hand fell uselessly to his side, warm fingers clutching his colder digits. He looked up once more into eyes the color of a summer day, willing Derrick's dear face to be the last thing he saw. Pain lanced his heart, sharp and hot, not for his own life slipping away, but for the man he'd leave behind to bear the burden of living alone. Gathering the pitiful remaining fragments of his strength, he whispered, 'I love you,' then closed his eyes and knew no more."

SG:  How much research do you do with your stories? Where do you do your research--books, on-line, talking to people? In The Telling you show Michael dealing with post-traumatic stress syndrome. In Duet you spend a lot of time in the late 1750’s and other periods of history. I had a writer of Regency romances tell me that readers with backgrounds in the Regency period will let her know if she gets her facts wrong. Do you worry about that as you write books that deal with illness, disease, or history? 

EW:  Oh, goodness yes, I worry. Duet required a lot of research. I researched castles, tartan patterns, and scarlet fever. I spent a good deal of time reading up on Scottish family names, for I wanted an authentic one, but not one that's frequently seen in Scottish themed novels. Ditto for time time-appropriate first names for my characters, and I even enlisted the aid of a friend across the pond for details, like the fact that Aillil wouldn't have heard a wolf cry in the grove (as I'd originally written), for they'd been hunted to extinction at that time, to what type of tree made up the grove. And I know there are a few history scholars who read and write this genre, so my facts had best be straight. I checked books out of the library, talked to people, searched the Internet. I lived and breathed Scotland for awhile. My editor was very helpful with the dialog, and I'm blessed with an amazing friend who also happens to be an amazing violinist.

The Telling took place in more familiar surroundings, and I'll confess that Michael's PTSD springs from first-hand experience. Settling the Score required less research for it's mostly based on places and people I'm familiar with. I did have to do a bit of Googling for the Hollywood movie part, however. 

By far the oddest research I did was joining a dating site to gain background information for The Match Before Christmas. Brrrrr… I let Barry off way too easy, comparatively speaking.

SG:  When you have to do research how long does it take to feel sufficiently educated on the research before you can put “pencil to paper” so to speak? What do you do when the research bogs you down and you begin to think you are writing a research paper for school instead of a novel? 

EW:  Actually, I write the story while the muse is willing, leaving myself notes like, "insert castle description here." Then I do the necessary research to bring the environment to life. When I'm not writing, I'm often reading books and articles on my subject as I have a tendency to become genuinely fascinated, so some of the research is incidental.

SG:  I just finished The Angel of 13th Street. There was a dark undertone to it. You did such a wonderful job describing the neighborhood where Jeremy lived and the rent boys worked, and where Noah’s bar/laundry was situated. That undertone was a much a part of the story as Jeremy and Noah and the others. As a writer do you decide you want readers to feel certain emotions/feelings as they read? Is it an unconscious side effect when putting a story in a seedy neighborhood with characters that are doing what they need to do to survive? For me the undertone of The Angel of 13th Street was the fear, the desperation of the lives of the rent boys, the abuse of the “big boys” towards the young men. Do you see your stories as readers do? Or am I reading too much into it? 

EW:  I simply lose myself in the world I'm creating, and bring the reader along with me. Sometimes I go too far and my trusted betas bring me back. I've always had an active imagination, and while writing, I envision far more than ever makes it to the page. I can picture the Tub of Suds from Angel clearly in my mind, as I can the Twelfth Street Bar and Grill.

SG:  I loved the covers of Duet and The Angel of 13th Street. They were perfect for the stories. With Duet there is the shape of the violin with the castle in the middle. The Angel of 13th Street is done in black and white--a good and evil contrast. Do you control what goes on the covers or do you rely on your art directors at the publishing houses? 

EW:  I'm very pleased that I'm permitted an input on the covers. A dear friend did a mockup of what I wanted to see on Angel's cover: basically, a gritty alleyway with a man leaning against a wall. I also wanted it in monochrome. I think Alessia Brio did an excellent job on the cover, and I cried happy tears when I saw the results of her efforts.

The Duet cover, also by Alessia Brio, is in keeping with my request of "two violins and a castle" however, due to a bad cut and paste job from Angel's are request form, I accidentally asked for monochrome for it too. Again, I love the results, although readers have commented on finding it a bit bland.

SG:  Even though your shorts were lighter than your longer works you deal with issues in those also. In Valentine Wish you deal with abuse within a gay relationship. In The Pirate’s Gamble you deal with older/younger man as well as an interracial relationship. What draws you to a subject and makes you write about it? 

EW:  To be honest, I just started writing. In The Pirate's Gamble, I had no idea what Ian's lover looked like until I wrote that scene where he enters the bedroom and sees David lying beneath the mosquito netting. As Ian stood by the bed and looked down, David is what I (Ian) saw.

As for Valentine Wish, I'd originally hinted at an attraction between Anton and Thierry in The Wish, but the scene was cut. Anton, however, didn't give up easily and kept prodding me to write his story. It's not often I read stories about bears, and I loved the idea of the buff Anton falling for cuddly Thierry.

As far as issues, I began The Angel of 13^th Street after reading an article on teens that'd aged out of foster care. At the young age of eighteen, they're turned loose on the world. How many of us were prepared to live on our own at that age, without guidance and the occasional financial assistance from family? The percentage of those youth who end up homeless is staggering. While I don't want to be preachy in my novels, I do like to raise awareness of issues that some folks may not be aware of. And yes, many of these "aged out" individuals had not yet finished high school.

In an upcoming installment of The Angel of 13^th Street, a character deals with meth addiction. My hope is to do the topic justice, and show the man's struggle in a way that readers can relate to, even though his character may do things they'd never dream of. I read the issues in newspapers and magazines, and before I know it, a story is unfolding in my mind.

SG:  Have any of your stories taken on a life of their own? Have any fought with you to go the way they want to go, never mind your thoughts on the subject? Or do they all behave perfectly and go the way you want them to go? 

EW:  Yes, sometimes my stories do take on a life of their own. In The Angel of 13^th Street, Noah wanted to get back with Billy. He absolutely refused to fall for Jeremy. I discussed this with my writing partner one night, who came up with a simple solution. "Kill Willie," she said. I hated to, but it worked. Noah snapped right back in line. Kill a character and the rest behave.

SG:  What are you working on now? I read that you have a sequel coming on The Telling and The Angel of 13th Street. When will they be available? 

EW:  I have two works coming out this month: Galen and the Forest Lord, a fantasy/shifter/humorous novella, due out on the 10^th  from Torquere Books, and Summer Boys, a short story that's part of Torquere's Annual Charity Sip Blitz to benefit the It Gets Better Project. Look for that story to release on the 17^th.

The Telling sequel is slow going, and I've been working on it for three years so far. It will feature Ryan, who, if possible, is hurting even worse than Michael. I've no idea when it will release, for I'm taking my time, hoping I adequately capture his love for Jimmy.

The first sequel for The Angel of 13^th Street: Fallen Angel has been drafted and will be in the hands of my beta next week. My goal is to have it submitted by the end of October at the very latest.

Believe it or not, I'm also working on a het, BDSM spoof that began as a challenge I entered on a fellow writer's blog. I lost the challenge, but the short story I'd written just keeps growing. Isn't it ironic that I write M/M loving on a regular basis and have never written a het scene? This will be a bit of a departure for me.

SG:  Where can we find you on the web? 

EW:  My website: www.edenwinters.com

At Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3247006.Eden_Winters

The GLBT Bookshelf: http://bookworld.editme.com/EdenWinters

Let’s play 10 questions for fun since we’re way over 20 questions anyway with the top part ;) 


Favorite dessert? I love Rocky Road! (Sung to the tune of Weird Al Yankovic's song by that name.)

Favorite music and group/singer of it?  I love everything from Ambient to Zydeco, but am a Bob Seger fan from way back.

Spring or fall? Fall


Morning or night? Morning


Favorite color? Bright, shiny bronze


Favorite vacation spot? Anywhere but at work.


Favorite accent? Scottish, followed closely by Australian

Favorite TV program of the past? I don't watch TV now, but back in the day it'd be a toss up between Quantum Leap and Bakersfield PD.

Favorite comfort food? Vegetarian lasagna


Favorite horror movie? I don't do horror movies, but laughed my way through House 2: The Second Story.

Thank you, Eden, for being with us this month.  I cannot wait to read the rest of your books.  Good   luck with your current WIP.  I’ll be looking for your sequels and new writings.

Author Spotlight Valentina Heart

Today, Sheila makes her spotlight debut. She did an awesome job!

Her virtual guest is the well respected and talented author, Valentina Heart

For my first Author Spotlight I had the honor of interviewing Valentina Heart from Croatia.  She has five books out at this time.  I love her prose.  It is so lyrical and elegant, very beautiful.  So now on with her interview:

SG:   I read that you were born in Croatia and currently live there.  What was it like to grow up in Croatia?  How did you discover writing?  How did you choose to write m/m romances?  What is the attitude in Croatia towards gays and lesbians?  Does your family support your decision to write m/m romance?

VH:   This country is not perfect, far from it, but I really love living here. I like the mentality, diversity, nature and the overall approachable feel to it.  I've never lived anywhere else, but through books and television I got the impression that in the scary world things are on a much wider scale.   Bigger cities, more crime, larger distances... Croatia is a small country and it made growing up here pretty great :)

I guess I've been writing since I was a kid. Silly interpretations of movies I've seen, then school assignments connected to books, but it only got somewhat serious in my teens, when I had a blog and wrote short horror stories. No happy endings in those :)

First I discovered m/m books, and then one day, after reading a few unsatisfying stories, I decided to try and write something of my own.  It was first published on GoodReads but later on I tried making an actual book out of it.   I'm still trying to edit that one enough to publish it :)

Uh, attitude in Croatia toward GLBT individuals is very conflicted.  While it is somewhat accepted and there are gay prides organized every year, not a lot of people will come out openly about their sexuality. There is still a lot of judgment and the general attitude would be – don't push it in my face and I won't care. Not very encouraging as you can't always say what someone will consider  pushing in his/her face.

Sure, my family supports my writing.  I'm certain they wished for my topic to be something else in the beginning, but they are used to it by now.  Maybe they would think differently if I actually wrote in Croatian, but with the language barrier and the general disinterest in books, they don't really care.   Just happy about each book.

SG:   Your prose flows so elegantly across the page.  It’s very lyrical.  Do you write in Croatian then translate your stories to English or do you write in English? 

VH:   God, no.  Croatian has too many words which English doesn't, and too many grammatical rules that clash with English.  Besides, if I were to translate the exact sentences it would sound completely wrong in English.  It took me a while to handle the transfer and I think you can see that in my first books.  These days I use English more than I do Croatian, both in writing and certainly in reading.  Sometimes I even have to pause to think how a certain thing/expression is called in Croatian :)

SG:   Each of your stories are done in a different sub-genre?  How do you decide which sub-genre you will set your books?  How difficult is it to write in the different sub-genres?  Is there one you prefer to the others?

VH:   Yes, so far each of my books has been very different from the previous ones.   I do hope it stays that way.  As for sub-genre – there's just so many of them, so eventually there will be repeats :)

I don't think there is a real decision behind the setting.  Mostly I write in a direction the book carries me.  For example – Sebastian's Wolves was originally a contemporary. Funny how things change :)

The easiest books to write are fantasy/paranormal ones. I can change the rules, set my imagination loose and make the characters as crazy as I want them. The most difficult for me is contemporary, because it's hard to write something if you haven't experienced it first hand, plus there is the culture difference which is significant. But I do love contemporary.  LOL

SG:   In Sebastian’s Wolves the subgenre is wolf shifters.  I love the ferocity of Sebastian’s and Eshan’s first mating followed by the tenderness and caring shown to the submissive by the dominant of the mating.  How much research did you have to do on wolves to portray them realistically in this story?   I loved the cover.  Everything on your cover is shades of black, white, and gray but then there is a golden brown eye which stands out because it‘s the only color in the monochromatic scheme.  How much say do you have on your covers?  When will the sequel to Sebastian’s Wolves be available?

VH:   Unfortunately, most of my research came from other books.  I do read a lot, and shifter books already have a set of rules to them.  Differences are usually small and often not even noticeable.  I did do some research on wolves, specifically their behavior and physical characteristics, and I watched a lot of videos on how they move and interact.  It was important for the descriptions because I couldn't really make up those.

I loved the cover too, and the whole concept behind that one was very different when compared to my other covers. Basically, Justin James said, I think you'll like this one, as soon as the book got accepted. He did the cover for my first book, Eyes of an Innocent, and followed the same idea – black and white cover with eyes in a color important for the story. But when it comes to covers in general, my input depends on the publisher.  Mostly I express my wishes and when the cover is done, I check if everything is okay and ask them to correct details which don't match the story or just aren't good enough.

I'm not sure about the Sebastian's Wolves sequel.  I did start it and I have six chapters so far, but the book is on hold.  Right now I'm working on too many other stories and that one requires a certain mood.  It's very funny, the beginning at least. Besides, I'm finishing another shifter story, completely different from Sebastian’s Wolves and I would like to be done with it first. The shifter details were mixing in my head which just wasn't good. 

SG:   I loved Eyes of an Innocent.  Your words painted a beautiful portrayal of Reji’s loss of his virginity then the fear he felt.  Shen’s philosophy of love is wonderfully stated.  How much of yourself comes through your books?   This story is a sci-fi fantasy.  How difficult was it to switch to sci-fi fantasy?  I know you are working on a sequel.  Can you tell us anything about it? 

VH:   Thank you :) To answer your question – it depends on the book.  I think the two that have the most of me in them are Looking for Adventure and Sebastian's Wolves. In different ways, of course.  The other three were based on an emotion or an idea from something I'd seen or read. I wrote them pretty quickly.

Eyes of an Innocent was my first published book.  Before that I only wrote one other book which is a contemporary and is not published.  So when it comes to a transfer, it wasn't really difficult. I watched a lot of anime when I wrote it and I was completely immersed into that world. I actually partially wrote two other stories set in the same place, but never finished them.  Maybe when Teacher Plus Two comes out, who knows. That is also the name of the sequel.  It will come out in September/October of 2011.  It is double in word count when compared to Eyes of an Innocent and it's not about the same characters.  These three have more of the alien in them and some rules set in the first book have exceptions.  It is very different from Eyes, certainly not as sweet.

SG:   Looking for Adventure is a contemporary.  I have to admit I was afraid to pick this one up since Jonathan was dying.  I figured the ending would be just too sad to deal with.  How much research did you have to do into inoperable brain tumors?  I loved Looking for Adventure though.  I liked how a man so absorbed by work finally decides to open up his life to fun and adventure.  Nino was beautiful.  I liked the climax of the story when Nino finally is told by Jonathan that Jonathan is supposed to be dead.  I wasn’t happy with Jonathan right then but I liked the anguish Jonathan went through, not about the illness but about his treatment of Nino.  I don’t want to spoil the ending for anyone but how difficult was Looking for Adventure to write?  Did you know how it would end or did the story take on a life of its own and go differently from what you originally planned?

VH:   Just to ease your mind – I don't think I have it in me anymore to kill one of my characters. So you shouldn't worry :)

For this one I did quite a bit of research, but I focused on people who were miraculously cured, the most.  Brain tumors are very unpredictable, but I did try to follow the most basic symptoms and tried to figure out what I could put in the story and what just wouldn't work.

Looking for Adventure, was one of those stories that flowed.  Usually I just write as the inspiration strikes me, without a set plot.  Basically I drive blind.  But for Adventure I knew exactly what I wanted from the start.  The places in the book are real. Some of the events have happened to me or people close to me; but what was most important, the overall feeling of the island and the way time just flies by while you're free of constrictions, I wrote from personal experience.  Everyone should feel that way, even if it's only for two weeks every summer.  So, yes, I did know how it would end :)

SG:   I just finished Resisting the Temptation.  I liked the older-younger man combination.  Resisting the Temptation is an interracial story.  It also dealt with abuse.  What research did you have to do for the abuse and how prevalent is abuse within gay relationships?  How did you decide to make your characters of Mikey and Kyle different races?  I liked both men.  I loved Kyle’s handling of the abuser  but in his way he was also guilty of abuse by denying what he felt for Mikey.  Did you decide how Mikey and Kyle interacted or did they write themselves?

VH:   For this one I focused on abuse against men.  It's very different because men are less likely to report such a thing and dealing with something like that on your own is another level of hell. Like with everything else, I tried to focus more on people than simple facts, but those helped too.

The character is Kyle.  LOL  Different races came from a movie and both Kyle and Mikey were actually based on two hot guys I saw on screen.  They were adorable :)  As for their interaction, that was based on improvisation mostly.   Some things I had set in my head, but others were likely to change based on an expression, a sentence or even my mood that day. Those two led the story on their own.

SG:   I have not yet read your newest book is Memories.  I know it’s about a transgendered man.  Can you tell us about the story line?  How did you decide to write a transgendered character?  What challenges did that give you?

VH:   The story is about an established couple who spend a day together. It is a lot like any one of us would do with a that special one.  You remember things from the past, both happy and sad, talk about trivial things, participate in some activities together and, of course, spice it all up with some hot sex.  I think the story is sweet, because I really wanted to show how some things can last, despite obstacles and the level of unconventionality, some things are perfect just the way they are.

I think I did the most research for this one.  I spent hours upon hours on different forums, reading about experiences and little things I wouldn't have even thought of.  But just like with my other books, it was mostly about the feeling. It's anything but easy, knowing that everything about your body is wrong.  It was certainly a challenge to write without getting into things I had no idea about.  Like I said – a lot of research :)

Honestly, I don't remember how I decided to write Memories.  I think I talked about something similar with my boyfriend and the idea just came.

I wish I had the courage to write a story about cross-dressing.  I love reading them.

SG:   What else are you working on now? 

VH:   Right now, I'm working on a few things.  I'm editing a contemporary, the first book I wrote (very nervous about that one).  I'm writing that shifter/vampire story I've mentioned before. I'm also writing a sequel to King's Conquest – mpreg (male pregnancy) story due to come out in the beginning of 2012.  And there is also another contemporary, but I'm not sure where that one is going yet.  All other projects are currently on hold, and there are a few of them :)

SG:   How can we reach you on the internet?

VH:   Well, your best bet would be Goodread or Facebook, but you can also visit my web site – http://www.heart-valentina.com  or write to me on my email.

Now for some fun since our inquiring minds want to know:

Favorite sweet?                       

Chocolate and ice-cream

Favorite color?                        

Not sure about this one, maybe red and black

Favorite vacation spot?          

Okay, that depends:) In winter that would be Therme Olimia in Slovenia – love going there, and in the summer, any of the islands in the Adriatic sea, preferably Hvar or Brač.

Favorite season?                     

Definitely summer.

Hobbies?                                 

Used to have a lot of those, but these days I mostly read and sometimes paint. I love watching movies if that counts?

Favorite music?                       

Metal and rock n' roll

Favorite book?                       

For anyone who reads a lot that is an impossible question. How do you pick just one book? Even if I were to go by one for each genre it would be impossible.

Favorite beverage?                 

Not sure what to write here, I like juices, I guess

Favorite sport?             

Sport climbing

Favorite movie?                      

Another impossible answer :) But here are some I could watch countless times – The Fifth Element, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Postman, Dirty Dancing, Bed of Roses, Die Hard, Demolition Man.... Even now, I can't chose just one ;)

Thank you, Valentina Heart.  It is wonderful to learn and chat with this talented writer.  I cannot wait to read Memories and her sequel to Eyes of an Innocent.  Here’s to a long and prolific writing career.  Looks like there are some good books coming in the future for us to enjoy.