Alex Beecroft's LJ

Did I mention busy? ;)

Wed, 14 May 2008 19:56:54 GMT

This week appears to be insanely blog heavy :) There are also updates on The Macaronis

and on my GBLT character interview blog, In Their Own Words where Sharon Maria Bidwell, author of 'Uli's Comet' is interviewing her wetsuit clad hero Mani, from the m/m story 'Space, Man'.

Starting up a 'Britwriters' blog and yahoo group

Wed, 14 May 2008 12:43:05 GMT

After envying all the writers on my list who always seemed to be going to RWA meetings or RT conventions, I thought that it would be nice if we UK writers could get together and do something en masse :) Strength in numbers, and all that - not to mention that if there's a con in Newcastle it's easier to post some stuff to a local who is going anyway, than it is to book flights and hotels to go yourself. (And, of course, the same at the other end of the country.

So I've started a blog and a yahoo group for us to do a bit of mutual promotion.

If you're from the UK and you're a published author, and you're looking for a place to promote your books, then the new Britwriters Blog might be for you.

http://wulfwaru.wordpress.com/

If you're not from the UK, but you've considered writing a book set in Britain - whether a contemporary or a historical - then this blog should have something to interest you too. And if you're not a writer but you're just interested in our peculiar little country, I'm hoping this will also give you an occasional giggle ;)

We're looking for British writers who are willing to contribute articles of interest about British life, history, the publishing industry in the UK and USA, makes of cars in Britain, the 101 most misunderstood words in either continent etc - anything that would be of general interest. In return you can use the blog for judicious self promotion. The aim is to create a fun and interesting blog, which people come back to to read and enjoy. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then please join us on: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Britwriters/

(The blog is the public face of the group. The yahoo group is the place where the behind the scenes organization goes on. In the absence of a RWA in the UK, we're also hoping to use the yahoo group to organize some flesh and blood events at cons and booksignings next year, if we get enough interest.)

And if that's as clear as mud, do get in touch and I'll try to explain it better next time!

Interview and Review

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:41:57 GMT

Yesterday was a great day! I found out that The Witch's Boy had received a fabulous five star review from Teresa at Rainbow reviews :) Hee! This is my poor red headed stepchild of a book, so I love the fact that ,when I can persuade people to read it, they seem to enjoy it!

http://rainbow-reviews.com/?p=252

"Ms. Beecroft has fashioned an incredible saga that incorporates action, adventure, and passion with mythical beings in a time where magic still had it’s hold on the world... If you like a book that will hold you spellbound from the start with magical creatures and characters with compelling personalities that ensnare your emotions, then this is the book for you."

And I went on a virtual pub-crawl-come-interview with leebenoit, who is a m/m writer with something of Ursula LeGuin's facility for world building, and a very nice person. She made me talk and talk! I ended up going on for hours about Captain's Surrender, The Witch's Boy, 90% Proof, and my new novel, False Colors. Also my silly writing hat and the need to pack underwear if you go time traveling! That's at Speak Its Name here:

World's Longest Pub Crawl

False Colors second draft = 100% done!

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:46:15 GMT

Sorry I've had my head down and my fingers glued to the keyboard so much to this that I've built up a vast towering backlog of emails and posts to answer. I'll have a celebratory coffee and then get to that at once. But woohoo! I have another book finished (bar a bit of polishing). I swore I'd get it done by the end of this week, and I did (just!), so I'm feeling accomplished, but on the other hand also a bit rude for ignoring everyone to do it.

Right. Coffee. Then re-engaging with society... :)

The Perils of a Historical Novelist, part two

Wed, 07 May 2008 16:48:32 GMT

I had an interesting Bank Holiday weekend :) Spent Saturday being a Saxon and discovered that I honestly have lost any interest I had in the period. However, wandering around the multi-period show, we found an outfit called NFOE (New France and Old England). They reenact mid 18th Century America, when it was still a battle ground between French, English and Native American forces. Given Josh and Giniw, this struck me as wonderful. And it was even more wonderful to find out that they belonged to an umbrella organization called 'Lace Wars' So I contacted them and will be going to my first 18th Century show on the 17th of May, at Wimpole Hall just down the road from where I live :) Result!

We all spent Sunday with heat stroke from being outside on a field all day long on Saturday without drinking enough. Then on Monday we saw Iron Man, which is excellent! I want a suit like that! And if anyone fancies writing Stark/Jarvis slash through the medium of the suit, put me on the list of readers now :)

False Colors has hit a snag. Alfie threw a strop, and now Fitzroy's wife wants to talk to him about his relationship with her husband. Plot wise this is all very necessary in order for him to find out that John saved his life, but suddenly my confident 'oh yes, I'll have it done by the end of the week' is looking dodgy.

However, I did achieve something this week :) I did a follow on to my blog about research. Once you've got it, what do you do with it? How much is too much? And what do you do when research indicates that history was just plain nasty? You can find that over here at the Macaronis.

GIP and link

Fri, 02 May 2008 21:25:47 GMT

LOL! I'm just showing off my newest icon, made for me by erastes

For a fuller explanation (and more discussion of realism v. romance), check out this post: How do you solve a problem like smegma?

Secrets, title puzzlement.

Thu, 01 May 2008 19:24:07 GMT

Secrets - novel - first draft finished, editing:

Done 28th April - added new scene of 1,321 words, which doesn't show up as progress, but it is!

Done 29th April - added mostly complete new scene of 1,069 words - will try to finish the scene tonight.

Done 30th April - finished writing scene between Bentley + John, half way through edit of court martial.

Done 1st May - from court martial to Arctic voyage. Woo! Only a new scene with Lady Limerick to go and we're into the happy ending!

Done 2nd May - redid Arctic voyage, Alfie had an unexpected snit, but conversation with Isabella at least set up now. Still not finished though!

So given that the second draft of this will be finished either tomorrow or early next week (bar illness, accidents and other acts of God) I'm trying to think of a good new title. 'Secrets' doesn't really cut the mustard. Anyone out there inspired to name a gay Age of Sail novel on the theme of the damage homophobia does to society? It features one confused evangelical Christian lieutenant who discovers he's gay, one happy go lucky gay lieutenant who learns the need for caution, an unfortunate aristocratic Captain with a sinister doctor, white slavers, pirates, a love triangle and a happy ending. Any suggestions?

Quick round up so far.

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:07:40 GMT

Found some progress meters thanks to Writertopia

Secrets - novel - first draft finished, editing:

Done 28th April - added new scene of 1,321 words, which doesn't show up as progress, but it is!

Done 29th April - added mostly complete new scene of 1,069 words - will try to finish the scene tonight.

Done 30th April - finished writing scene between Bentley + John, half way through edit of court martial.

Done 1st May - from court martial to Arctic voyage. Woo! Only a new scene with Lady Limerick to go and we're into the happy ending!

Away with the Faeries - short - written:

Boys of Summer - novel - written:

Angelic Conversations - novel - written:

Plans for this year: finish 'Secrets' by beginning of August. Finish 'Away with the Faeries' by end September. Finish first draft of 'Boys of Summer' by end of November. Maybe I'm not doing as little as I thought!

Review of 'Insubordination'

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:55:35 GMT

Oh, squee! valkovalin has reviewed my short story 'Insubordination' on her wonderful review site 'Obsidian Bookshelf'. It's always a total delight when you read a review from someone who really gets under the skin of what you were trying to do with a book or story, and Val really has the gift for that. Not to mention that her reviews are like hearing a well informed and interesting member of the slash community deconstruct a book in that kind of meta-y way that makes you want to start a conversation.

If anyone's thinking of venturing into buying m/m books for the first time, I recommend her reviews (and not just because she likes my stuff!) because they really do give you an excellent flavor of the book before you buy it, and also because they're so interesting in themselves.

Val on LiveJournal

Val on Obsidian Bookshelf

OMG! Tolkien geekery squee!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:25:55 GMT

Passed on with thanks from eldritchhobbit. Help! I can't stop laughing!

Quick 'to do' list

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:17:58 GMT

Writing:

Continue edit of ‘Secrets’.

Progress so far = not bad, but I think I need to set myself a target of getting the second draft/rewrite complete by the start of August.

Continue writing the fairy story

And it needs a name! Target word count = 10,000, so it should take about 4 weeks.

Blog posts to write:

On writer’s block

On my writing process - for the Macaronis

On the ‘historic realism/oh that’s just wrong’ balance in fiction

On the Muse.

Research:

Courts martial in 1763

~~Book review to write:~~

~~A Hidden Beauty by Jamie Craig~~

~~Post to my WP blog:~~

~~Interview with JK Coi - will do that today.~~ done

Research

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:45:28 GMT

I blogged in a serious sort of way over on The Macaronis, on the topic of research for writing historical fiction. The whys, whens and hows of research, along with a list of the wheres :) So if you're thinking your next/first book might be a historical, or if you're just interested in what goes into a historical novel - (or if, like fiona_glass's friend, you don't believe writing is hard work!) - check this out:

The perils of a historical novelist - research

Personality test - gakked from kitzen_kat

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:26:06 GMT

I have to say that this is worryingly accurate!

Leaving some space so my neuroticism doesn't obscure Ivanova's face :)

My Personality


Neuroticism	87
Extraversion	1
Openness to Experience	44
Agreeableness	37
Conscientiousness	12

You often resist any cravings or urges that you have, but sometimes you give in, however you tend to lack energy and have difficult initiating activities. People generally perceive you as distant and reserved, and you do not usually reach out to others. You tend not to express your emotions openly and are sometimes not even aware of your own feelings. You see no need for pretense or manipulation when dealing with others and are therefore candid, frank and sincere. People find it relatively easy to relate to you, however you do not particularly like helping other people. Requests for help feel like an imposition on your time. You are not an overly cautious person. You will think about alternatives and consequences but make up your mind fairly quickly.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report.

The best Buying Pet Gifts.

LOL!Ltr4ch00r

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:01:49 GMT

I was reading a thread on Making Light this morning which was, as usual, intimidatingly erudite and much too clever for me, in which people were translating poems into LOL! and Txt! speak. But I was too embarrassed to try it myself among so many works of genius. (Also I'd gone to make a coffee and lost the bookmark by then). So I thought I'd try it here instead. See if you can guess the book of which this is a summary:

GnlEI: oh hai
Strvn: hai
We can has golden ballz. Mad king is mad.
Strvn: *is Nigm4tik*
GnlEI: u suxxors

Monkd00ds: Nifty precognishun skillz, let us show you them.
Monkd00ds: Futur-knowing pwned. Ur nihilistic despair, we upgraded it.

Nu!Cntry: Opreshun; let me show you it.
GnlEI: DO NOT WANT

Awsum Strvn is awsum, gots ~~buket~~ GnLE
Snow: *has a flavor*
Campy tiems is happy tiems. Dont go b4k Strvn!
Strvn: *goes b4k*

Happy Ending: UR DOING IT WRONG!!!111!

o it wus m3ta4. LIEK THAT M4K IT OK?!!

crying Al3x is sad

Tell me again why this is my favourite book?

Utopia Dr Who extra guy?

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:44:14 GMT

*g* It’s been a productive day, for a change. Three chapters of editing on ‘Secrets’. 500 words on a new short story, which have enabled me to discover that I should have started it somewhere else - this is progress for me! And a blog post for The Macaronis

Is there anyone out there who has a screencap of the guy Jack Harkness flirts with during the ‘Utopia’ episode of Dr. Who? The guy has sandy spiked up hair and is wearing a knitted woolen tank top and (I think) a green shirt. I don’t think he says anything, but Jack says ‘and who are you?’, shakes his hand, and then is called to heel by the Doctor. He’s in this fanvid by fan_eunice which, unfortunately I can’t seem to load into movie-maker to get the component parts.

If anyone has a screen cap, can I please, please, have a copy? He’s my model for one of the guys in the short story (the one of the 500 words as mentioned above), and they do say that a picture is worth a thousand words

Still no writing done.

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:14:54 GMT

End (I hope) of a two day migraine and I am shattered. I managed to write 300 words today, but have now decided that they were rubbish and I'll be starting the story (a faerie tale, I hope) again from scratch next week. Another wasted week! This is beginning to get ridiculous.

If I owe anyone a reply to an email, I'm sorry. I'll get onto it as soon as I'm not falling asleep/feeling sick/finding it hard to focus :)

Get to work, dammit!

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:02:55 GMT

Note to self. OK, the holidays are over. No more writing Torchwood fic - back to the day job! :)

Torchwood - Exit Wounds

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:50:48 GMT

He’s not the Messiah, he’s a very naughty boy!

My overall reaction to this episode is massive squee. That was good! It messed with my expectations in the best of ways.

I honestly did buy the idea that John was the bad guy until he explained otherwise. I honestly thought, when Ianto said he was going to try and shut down the nuclear reactor from the inside, that that was the end of him in a ‘going out as a hero’ season finale way. So when Owen went instead I was like ‘oh yes, of course, cos he’s already dead! Even Owen’s mysterious control over the weevils was used in a way that made loads of sense.

I think this episode had the strongest plot I’ve seen in an episode of Torchwood yet. Things worked - the aforesaid Weevils; Jack coming up through Torchwood’s floor not in one of RTD’s usual deus ex machina coincidences but in a carefully set up subplot that made time-travelling sense! I squeed, I honestly did

Of course it made no psychological sense whatsoever. Is there anyone out there who seriously believes Jack would still be sane after being buried alive for a thousand years? He’s falling into the trap of New Who - the trap of making the hero such a ghastly Mary Sue that you hate him. And why has Jack come back speaking like the Bible? Redemption? Atonement? ‘I offered you absolution’? Yes, yes, you were drawn alive out of the grave and now you live forever. Seriously, Jack, you do not make a good Christ figure, and you do not want to make a good Christ figure because someone else has already done that, better. You were more amusing as a messed up con-man trying to become a decent human being than the cut price deity you’re in danger of becoming.

Ahem, but on to other things…

While I’m ranting, can I say that the ‘hero’s evil brother’ thing has been done to death. It had been done to death when Robin of Sherwood revealed that Guy of Gisburne was Robin’s younger half-brother - and that was 20 years ago. If Jack is going to be saddled with mythic archetypes (which frankly don’t suit him) they could at least try to do it differently, or well!

Grey turning out to be evil has got to be the only ‘plot twist’ that can’t have surprised anyone at all. I was honestly hoping that Torchwood would not go there. But it did.

Still, where it didn’t go, though I thought it would, was killing Ianto. So I’m a happy camper. The fact that they killed off Tosh, who is my second favourite character is made up for by the fact that she had one hell of a death scene. Tosh saves the city! And then she saves Owen’s sanity and she does it all while dying from an abdominal wound in extremely well acted agony. Yes, it made me cry, but it made me elated too, because the writers had been consistently letting Tosh down in terms of storylines this series and she at least went out in such a way as to demonstrate to everyone that she was a big damn hero.

Owen - I fully admit that when he got locked in the reactor my thoughts were ‘oh, thank god, they’re finally going to get rid of him properly!’ But he claimed my affection with his wild, honest panic - something so human that you don’t often see from TV heroes. They finally made me believe, too, that he and Tosh might have worked after all, if they’d been given time. So that was bitter sweet and really well done.

Can I say on a shallow level that Ianto storming in and shooting everything in sight gave me a fangirlish squee? Gwen was also awesome with her take-chargeness, though I still find her behaviour with Jack inappropriate considering Rhys. LOL! But it’s amusing that the only people left standing are Jack and his harem. Probably a very good decision, ratings wise, too - since most viewers want to see Jack end up with either Gwen or Ianto, though from what I can tell there’s also a faction who are fine with him having both - and they’re pretty happy too.

To sum up; everything except for Grey and Jack’s overly epic battle = squee. But Jack? You’re not the Doctor, and you’re not any kind of deity, OK? It’s just no fun. (And frankly the Doctor used to be more interesting when he was just a well intentioned time traveling alien and not the messiah too - but that’s a different rant.)

Torchwood finale

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 21:29:15 GMT

Two Torchwood posts in one day? Yes but that finale was GOOD. Ooh, I love this show! Sometimes they really do it better than you feared :)

Caution, almost certainly spoilers in comments!

Torchwood - 'Fragments'

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:42:40 GMT

As tonight is the finale of season 2, I thought I’d better attempt to write something about Fragments before tonight’s episode swept all that away. But despite enjoying Fragments best of all the episodes this season, I don’t seem to have coherent thoughts about it. In fact I have - appropriately enough - just fragments of reaction.

1. Jack

Not particularly pleased to see either John or Grey back. The whole ‘lost brother’ storyline for Jack seems one crisis too many. I mean, being an intergalactic time travelling con-man, who saw his best friend killed at age 16, was totally amoral until redeemed by true love in the form of the Doctor, was subsequently made immortal and then abandoned by the Doctor, spent a couple of hundred years of serial suicide only in order to be rejected by the Doctor again… was this not *enough*? Isn’t an absent (possibly evil) brother and psychotic ex a little tiny bit of overkill? Seriously, do we need to know any more about Jack’s tragic past, when there are aliens to hunt and the world to save on a regular basis?

This is my resistance to heroes coming through, probably. The piling on of ways in which Jack is special only risk making me dislike him for an attention grabbing tosser.

Of course, being an attention grabbing tosser is part of Jack’s charm, but I would hope that the writers themselves were aware of where they were in danger of going over the top. However, I seem to be the only one I know who doesn’t find Jack’s tragic past fascinating, so perhaps it’s just me.

2.Owen

On the subject of tragic pasts; it really says something about how obnoxious Owen used to be that it’s taken being dumped by a potential true love, being killed, being brought back as a zombie and then being given a tragic past in which he was a much nicer person to make him even remotely likable. It’s almost become touching, the fact that even after all of that, he’s still a git

3. Toshiko

I’m afraid I was too busy being horrified at UNIT to notice whether this told us anything new about Tosh. We already knew she was a technical genius and a simultaneously strong but fragile person. I suppose it puts a new slant on her relationship with Jack, though sadly (yet again) casting him as the big damn hero. That ’silhouetted in the light of the door’ shot was so unsubtle it made me want to throw things. Yes, I get the message, thanks!

But really, UNIT as some kind of Guantanamo bay? Tosh with marks on her face that indicate she’s been beaten up?! ‘Your rights as a citizen have been revoked’? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so chilling. Have I missed something, because this is not the Britain I live in - or if it is, I want to know so that I can make it stop! It adds an ugly note to the fact that Martha is working for these people, and it makes Jack’s ‘I am your saviour’ entrance deeply distasteful, because it’s quite clear that he works with these people too.

4. Ianto
But now onto the squee. What can I say about Ianto’s backstory that hasn’t already been said by the hoards of other people who were totally delighted by it? It’s certainly tipped me over from watching Torchwood with mild liking and interest to being completely invested in the Jack/Ianto relationship, because Ianto is so cool!

I’m not one of those people who thinks that Ianto was born in a suit - I look on his appearance in Countrycide as being his normal mode of dressing, so seeing him in jeans didn’t immediately make me go ‘oh, Ianto’s trying to seduce Jack’. If anything, I thought this was normal, pre-Torchwood, casual Ianto, who had thought that getting himself into a position in which he could rescue Jack from life threatening peril would be enough to earn him a job. Then when it wasn’t, he tried appealing to Jack’s sympathy - ‘I’m emotionally damaged and I’ll work for nothing.’ When those two approaches didn’t work, however, he finally resorted to appealing to Jack’s baser nature by making himself pretty - putting on a nice suit - and moving the low key attraction that had been there from the start right out in the open. (Seriously, who puts on a suit to go pterodactyl hunting if they don’t have an ulterior motive?)

Ianto is very desperate to get into Torchwood for Lisa’s sake, and I think that he would not have refused to sleep with the boss if that’s what it took. But I don’t tend to read this as that sort of an offer. A woman who makes herself pretty in order to get a man to do something is not necessarily offering sex, not even if she flirts as well - she’s just improving the man’s mood; improving the odds. So I see it as Ianto making himself pretty merely in order to make Jack feel more receptive to him. The real message is ‘look how useful I am at catching pterodactyls (also I look good in a suit), not ‘give me a job and you can have me.’

Why do I think this? I think partly because the director says the segment was intended as a romantic comedy - and to me it comes across as too amusing and lighthearted for something that says ‘and Jack recruited Ianto as his personal whore.’

Also, I think it’s pretty obvious that Ianto is taken by surprise by the sexual spark between him and Jack. He’ll do flirting, he’ll do wearing nice clothes for the boss, but put in a perfect position to offer more he doesn’t do so. He walks away, clearly distressed. At his moment of triumph he’s clearly thinking ‘oh shit, what have I got myself into?’ as well as ‘God, I quite like him and now I have to betray him’, as well as ‘God, I want him and how can I stop myself from betraying Lisa?’

But Ianto’s distress also points out his strength - he’s in absolute mental anguish, but he’s still planning, still making sensible on the spot decisions, still calmly going through what has to be done, and persisting until he gets what he wants. This man is no poor, unfortunate woobie whose love Jack is using and abusing. If there was a character in this series who could put up with Jack and his issues, it would be Ianto.

And I think that’s why this segment made everyone squee so much; it showed the Jack/Ianto relationship was in place from day one. There is no way that these two are mere indifferent fuckbuddies. It makes the emotional meltdown of both characters in Cyberwoman suddenly make total sense; they each felt betrayed by the other and that hurt because they each cared about the other.

It even makes sense of why Ianto spends Countrycide in civvies. If he wore a suit to go dinosaur hunting, it wasn’t practicality that made him dress casually on the field trip. It was a mute dig against Jack.

So it turns out that this was a relationship that began on the first day they met, survived Ianto using T3 (and by extension, Jack) to try and save his girlfriend, survived the real Captain Jack, and Jack running off to the Doctor without saying goodbye, and is now stronger than it ever was. After bringing Owen back and unleashing Death on the world, Jack can hardly claim any moral superiority in the matter of ‘foolish things I did to save someone I loved’. And now it only remains to be seen whether the relationship can stand up to Jack’s psychotic ex-boyfriend.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Ianto isn’t doomed. It would be very like me to have fallen in love with an awesome character just in time for the show to kill him off. (I managed it with Qui-Gon Jinn, Marcus from Babylon 5, One-Eye in Elfquest, both Norrington and Gillette in PotC and numerous others whose names escape me for now. I have a long track record of this!)

It would also be very like the show to get rid of Jack’s boyfriend in a horribly tragic way in order to give Jack something new to angst over.

But I’ll cling to the thought that when has Torchwood ever done anything expected? And hope that Jack/Ianto carries on strong into the next season. It is at least 76% of why I’m watching the show at all

Witch's Boy now on Amazon - and with a great review

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:54:54 GMT

After what's seemed like an interminable slump, I have news again, and lo! it is good :) The Witch's Boy is finally up on Amazon.com HERE
currently with no blurb and no cover picture, but I'm pretty sure that will come once they get their act together.
It's also had a lovely review from reader Christian Otto and, call me sentimental, but there's something really special about getting a review from someone who doesn't know you, who you haven't asked for a review, but who has just done it because they liked the book. It makes me get all teary eyed and proud :)

Christian says: I just loved this book. I would have read it in one session, if there weren't those stupid needs like eating and sleeping. This book definitely is a must-read.

If anyone is still unsure as where to categorize this book, even though it doesn't fit easily into categories, I can offer my personal impression that for me it feels like a mixture of Sara Monette's Doctrine of Labyrinths and Lord of the Rings, while still having it's own character. So I'm quite sure that anyone who liked those books, will also like The Witch's Boy. But to everyone else I would also strongly recommend to give it a try. Read more

And woohoo, I get mentioned in the same breath as Tolkien and not in even in a sentence that starts 'this book isn't a patch on...' ;)
Behold me squeeing and deciding that Christian is a man of great and praiseworthy taste :D SQUEEE!

Torchwood vid rec

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:55:59 GMT

Not much writing goes on when the children are at home, so I've been spending the day mostly watching this vid by fan_eunice" because MPreg is canon in Torchwood - though perhaps not in this exact form:

Jack is keeping his baby

Though possibly you may need to read this first, just to make everything clear: What baby, for crying out loud?!!
All I can say is LOL! Also 'best vid I've ever seen' :)

Man Oh Man

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:03:34 GMT

Just a quick review of 'Man Oh Man: Writing m/m fiction for kinks and cash' by Josh Lanyon

Though 'review' might be putting it too strongly - 'squee' might be closer :)

If you go back through my posts on this LJ you're bound to come across one where I gushed mightily about how wonderful Josh Lanyon's Adrien English series of mysteries was. Josh combines a strong mystery plot, with a more subtle but equally nuanced romance plot between bookseller Adrien and homicide detective Jake Riordan. A romance that is tragically hampered by many things, but chiefly Jake's reluctance to come out of the closet.

Given that Josh's books are high on my list of 'my favourite m/m fiction ever' it was extremely exciting to find out that he was writing a 'how to' book about just that; how to write m/m fiction in such a way that publishers will want to publish it, and readers will want to read it. It's always good, with these sort of books, to know that the author can practice what they are preaching.

I have to admit that I haven't even finished reading the book, which may seem like a bad time to review it. It might be with a fiction book where a poor ending could let down the promise of everything that's gone before, but in this case I don't think that's likely to happen. Three quarters of the way through and nothing is likely to take away from what's been an amusing, witty and eminently sensible book so far.

I've got to admit too that I'm not exactly un-biased. Josh includes quotes from numerous authors, publishers, readers and reviewers, and among them there are quotes from me - and what a thrill that is! Squee! I get cited as some sort of expert! Behold me spouting my mouth off about such topics as 'sex or plot?' and the perennial 'why do women read m/m fiction,' in a loud and aggressive know it all way ;)

Speaking of knowing it all, to be frank, there isn't a lot in here which would be unfamiliar to people who read metafandom on a regular basis. The fanfiction community has pretty much thrashed out the questions of 'why slash?' and 'what constitutes good writing?' and 'why shouldn't I write my men like teenage girls if I want to?' etc But this is possibly the first time those questions have been raised in the m/m publishing community, and Josh has done a very good job of pulling together most of the answers. He has also realigned the emphasis, from writing fanfiction to writing profiction which has a chance of being accepted by a m/m market which is growing, vibrant, and already beginning to become more choosy about the quality of the stuff it's taking on.

If you are interested in writing m/m fiction professionally, coming out of the fanfiction community, I think that's a new perspective that makes a big difference. Maybe there is such a thing as too much realism? Maybe worrying too much about your sex scenes is counterproductive when you should be concentrating on your plot?

I'm certainly finding that although I haven't yet found a lot that's new to me, the specific slant, and Josh's evident enthusiasm and respect for m/m writing has got me working again on a better, tighter plot for 'Boys of Summer' - and any book that sends me back to my own writing with renewed purpose has got to be a good buy!

Anthology cover!

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:54:22 GMT

Woohoo! The anthology which contains my story '90% Proof' now has a cover, and I really rather like this one! Kudos to Freya's Bower for the Classical theme.

Wonderful review of 'Captain's Surrender'

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:36:47 GMT

Eeeee! I have a fantastic new review for 'Captain's Surrender', and it's from Ruth Sims, author of 'The Phoenix', which is one of my favourite m/m books. It's extra specially wonderful to get a review from someone whose own writing I admire so much; I get to be honoured as well as squeeful! :)

the protagonists, 20-year-old red-haired Josh Andrews and Lt. Peter Kenyon, are well-drawn, intelligent, and sympathetic young men who just happen to be hotter than a cannon barrel at Waterloo.

LOL! I love that! The whole review is over at Ruth's LJ here and I will be shouting about it all day :D