I Do Two promo in Bristol

[jl_merrow]

Well, I'm back in the South-East now, but I had a fantastic time in Bristol on Saturday night, meeting up with fellow I Do Two anthology authors Bruin Fisher, Neil Plakcy and Sophia Deri-Bowen, along with fellow Necking co-contributor Josephine Myles.

We had a great time talking about writing m/m romance, and even selling the odd book or two! Neil, who's a seasoned pro compared to the rest of us book-signing virgins, is an absolute scream. He was telling us how much he preferred an evening in a gay bar to trying to promote his m/m mysteries in bookstores – because as he said, it's not that easy to just go up to people and say, "Hey, are you interested in mysteries? Yeah? How about mysteries with butt-fucking?"

Comments

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Well, I'd be interested in a mystery with butt-fucking. Got a recommendation?

[jl_merrow]

Well, if Neil's novels are anything like as entertaining as the man himself, they must be good! I haven't got around to checking one out myself yet but am definitely planning to!

I'm sure you already know about Josh Lanyon's books, in particular the Adrien English mysteries which are fantastic, and others are:

AM Riley's The Elegant Corpse
Katie Allen's Private Dicks (but not the sequel)
Tamara Allen's Downtime (also has time travel to 19th century London)
Victor J Banis' Deadly Series (I named a character in Angel after one in Deadly Wrong, I was so moved by him)
PA Brown's The Geography of Murder and LA Heat (again, the sequel was disappointing)

...is that enough to be getting along with? ;)

[storyfan.livejournal.com]

Oh, my yes! Thank you!

[josephine-myles.livejournal.com]

It was a great evening, wasn't it? Neil was fantastically entertaining, and I can see why he kept himself chained to the table because with that level of charisma I'm sure he would charmed the pants off a few of the punters had he "worked the room", so to speak.

I'm still floored by those rumours I shall not repeat about those "male" authors who are not quite who they seem...

BTW, read Snared today and really enjoyed it! I shall put a review on my journal in the next few days.

[jl_merrow]

I think tbh a lot of those rumours are open secrets - James Buchanan, for example, doesn't drag up to do book signings!
I think it's becoming a lot more accepted to be female in the genre.

Am so glad you liked Snared! *beams*

[josephine-myles.livejournal.com]

Shows how much I know! I remember going through the process of deciding whether to go for a male or female pen name, but in the end decided that I'm such a crap liar, I'd never be able to sustain a false identity. I guess it is more accepted. It was nice to hear from Neil and Bruin that they are so supportive of female m/m authors.

BTW, how many words was Snared? It always amazes me how quick these stories are to read, when I know full well how many hours of work go into them! Somehow it doesn't seem fair...

[jl_merrow]

Snared is 18k. I decided to go the initials route, because I didn't want people who'd never heard of me to judge my writing by my gender. But I've never made any attempt to hide I'm a girl - sounds like way too much hard work! ;)

[josephine-myles.livejournal.com]

It's a tricky one, isn't it? For every reader who would prefer to read something by a woman, there will be one who would prefer one by a male writer, and then no doubt a huge crowd who couldn't care one way or the other so long as the writing is good.

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

*is madly jealous*

Glad you had a fab time, hon - well deserved :)

[jl_merrow]

*hugs you* :D

[rachel-west.livejournal.com]

"Hey, are you interested in mysteries? Yeah? How about mysteries with butt-fucking?"

Ahaha, great line.

Hey, some of us are fine without the "mysteries" part...

[jl_merrow]

LOL! The poor boys have to have a rest and do something else occasionally, you know! ;)