Thursday 27 September 2012

GOODBYE SUMMER AND Q&A


Summer is over, autumn is with us and the curtain has risen on The Sex Cabaret. I can't quite believe how quickly 2012 has gone so far. It's been a busy one for me; writing The Sex Cabaret, self-publishing my short story collections, getting to grips with on-line promotion etc; it's been a real whirl so far.

Thank you to everyone who has bought and downloaded the new novel. It's a thrill to have that instant connection with readers. The publishing industry has changed so much since the publication of my last novel The Chain back in 2003. There is a lot more work involved as an author these days, especially if we chose to go down the self-publishing route, but the rewards are exceptional.

I'm taking a short break over the next month; doing Best Man duties at my brother’s wedding and taking a very late summer holiday. When I come back its full steam ahead with the next book - a M/M romance novella and then in 2013 I'll be writing the first of a trilogy of books set around the 1960s music scene. I can't wait to get started.

Below you will find a short Q&A relating to The Sex Cabaret.

Enjoy

 
Your last novel was in 2003. What made you return to novel writing after almost 10 years?

I didn't intend to leave to so long between The Chain and The Sex Cabaret but there were many different reasons. Firstly the publishing house who committed to my third novel went bust in 2004. I spent a year or so trying different publishers with no success. This was before the boom in ebooks and erotica and for a long period it looked like erotic fiction was a dead genre, existing only on free forums. Then I decided to do some study and spent three years working on a diploma in creative writing. After the diploma I took a little time out to recharge my batteries, by which time the digital boom had taken off. I had a lot of unpublished stories in files and decided to collect some of them together in a couple of ebooks; mainly this was an experiment to see how the ebook process worked and whether I was capable of editing, designing and publishing a book myself. I was very happy with the results and am immensely proud of both Bedtime Stories and Body Language.

So it was late in 2011 when I started to think seriously about writing a new novel.  Once I had the idea and the story I went into lockdown until the book was finished.


How would you describe The Sex Cabaret?

I think it's a fun, sexy page turner, full of intriguing characters and situations. I'm not really sure where The Sex Cabaret sits in the current market or trends for gay erotica. It couldn't really be classed as a M/M romance, though there is a strong M/M relationship between the characters of Clive and Alfie. It has an ensemble of characters with Daniel and Dietrich and I think the sex scenes are more explicit than any of the current books I've read. If anyone has read any of my short stories they'll know the strength of my sex scenes.  I like it to get pretty hot.  Maybe too much for some readers?  I hope not but we’ll see.


What is your writing process and where do you work?

I like to write at the kitchen table with music playing. I recently redecorated my study but find it difficult to get creative in there. The study is a place of business - emails, taxes, blogging etc, so I like to write in the kitchen, preferably with something tasty cooking in the oven. The Sex Cabaret took longer than either of my other novels to write. The first draft took about six months. I don't work on anything else when I'm completely a first draft. I like to focus on one project and work straight through to completion. I spend a couple of evenings a week writing and try to complete 2000 words across them, then I spend one full day at the weekend writing, aiming for around 3000 to 4000 words. There's no real secret to it - just sitting down and completing the book word by word, page by page.

I like to have a pretty detailed outline of the novel prepared in advance, around 5 to 6 pages. I don't always stick to the outline but find it much easier to finish a book when I know what I'm aiming for.  This book changed considerably from the outline, especially in the second half, but I still like to have that outline to hand for those moments I get lost.

It took about four weeks to heavily revise the manuscript for my second draft and then the third draft took about two weeks. It's an intense process. A writer also has to learn when to stop and let go. I could continue through 10 drafts, constantly revising if I didn't enforce a cut-off point.


What have you been reading?

Josh Lanyon's Adrian English series, Sylvia Day's Bared to You, some old James Herbert and Stephen King novels. I've been rereading some of the original James Bond novels and have a whole load of other goodies on my kindle ready for my holiday next month. Like most other people I did start reading the Fifty Shades trilogy but gave up early into the second book.

What can we expect next?

Well there won't be another 9 year wait for my next book. I've already completed a short novelette and am about to start writing a M/M novella called Feel The Benefit. My plan for 2013 is to start a new novel in January - the first in a 3 part saga set during the 1960s and 70s. Researching that project has been so much fun.  I can’t wait to get started.  I've written some horror/ghosts stories that I hope to publish under a new pseudonym at some point next year.  I’ve also got a few new stories in my folder, so there will definitely be a third volume of shorts in the next year or two.

THE SEX CABARET IS AVAILABLE NOW AT AMAZON.

Monday 24 September 2012

BODY LANGUAGE - FREE EBOOK

Hi

Thanks to everyone who has bought The Sex Cabaret so far.  I do hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think.

If you haven't already got your free ebook of my short story collection Body Language then hurry over to Amazon.  The promotion is due to end at midnight on Tuesday so don't miss out.

Thom

Thursday 20 September 2012

THE SEX CABARET LAUNCHES & BODY LANGUAGE FREE EBOOK


My brand new novel, the first since The Chain in 2003, is published exclusively on Kindle this weekend.  The Sex Cabaret is 75K words and approximately 240 printed pages.

Check it out:

Amazon USA

 
 
 
The celebrate the launch of The Sex Cabaret my short story collection Body Language is being made available free on Amazon this weekend. Enjoy. If you download the book, don't forget to leave your reviews - they all count.

Love Thom

Thursday 13 September 2012

THE SEX CABARET - 21ST SEPTEMBER 2012


 

 
Announcing The Sex Cabaret.

I’m pleased to announce that after many months of hard work and drafts my new novel The Sex Cabaret is ready to launch. Following the short story collections Bedtime Stories and Body Language this is my first full length novel since The Chain in 2003.





Young and naive, Daniel Higgins, is drawn into a world that will challenge his inhibitions and ideals.  Taking a job at The Viaduct, he is introduced to The Sex Cabaret -- a spectacle of erotica and exhibitionism like nothing he has seen before.

Clive Bronsan is a successful lawyer, happy with his family and achievements, until a visit to the cabaret reveals what has been missing from his life.  When the curtains rises, everything Clive holds important will be changed forever.

Alfie Garcia's drop dead looks have made him the biggest gay porn star in Europe and the cabaret's reigning show boy.  Men travel from all over the country to see him perform, but are any of them really interested in the man behind the visage?

As the lives these characters intertwine sex, love, desire, jealousy, fame, ambition and violence all play their part in a highly charge novel of eroticism and sensuality.

Three fates collide when the curtain goes up on The Sex Cabaret.



T
he novel is really a celebration of things I love: cabaret, theatre, erotica, movies. I’ve been working on the project full time this year but it’s genesis goes back over a decade. Following The Chain, I was due to write another novel for Prowler which was going to the called The Sex Cabaret. Unfortunately Prowler ceased publishing and the book never happened. The Sex Cabaret was a title that never really left me, though the new book shares little in common with the original other than a title and a few themes.

The Sex Cabaret will be published exclusively on Amazon Kindle on 21st September 2012 with other formats to follow.

Saturday 8 September 2012

BEDTIME STORIES/BODY LANGUAGE TRAILER

It's been a busy couple of months again, finishing off the third draft of my new novel, writing a new novella, planning my next book and trying not to panic about the Best Man speech I have to write very soon.  Yikes.

I've just uploaded a combo trailer for my two story collections and thought you might like to check it out.