alex_beecroft

Today I’m welcoming a new author into the fold. Jessica’s first book, The Paladin’s Path, goes live today. I was lucky enough to be able to read an ARC copy and found it lively and unique, a real page turner.

I know some of you have enjoyed my blend of fantasy and sweet, low-key m/m romance. The Paladin’s Path falls in a very similar niche of the genre 🙂

I sent Jessica my now infamous pick and mix questionnaire so we could get to know her a little more, and now I hand over to her 🙂

How did you come to write The Paladin’s Path? What was your inspiration?

I was inspired to write The Paladin’s Path while binge watching a LOT of kdramas in 2017. The historical dramas all include at least one person who is a martial artist of some kind, and a lot of them have homoerotic subtext – brothers-in-arms, friends-turned-enemies, ride-or-die friends, and the like. So the basis for a group of warriors working to defend a prince/queen came from that. And because I was irritated at the lack of representation in the shows I was watching, I made sure every main character in my book was some form of LGBT.

How you’re feeling on the brink of being a new author?

I’m excited. I got excited once it was edited. I got excited when I gave out my ARC copies. The reviews from those ARC copies have been so amazingly positive so far that just thinking about them turns me into a creature of sunlight and sparkles. I know there won’t be a huge blowout of people reading my book, but getting it out into the world and having anyone read it, and enjoy it, and get something out of it? It’s invigorating.

Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?

I like to think I have an amazing imagination, but ironically I have a very hard time fully realizing who my characters are if I can’t pick a face claim. Even if, by the end of writing the book, my mental image of them no longer matches that face claim. So, while they aren’t based on real people in fact, I do base them on real faces. Their personalities, hopes and fears, likes and dislikes, and the rest are from my head.

Do you believe in Happily Ever After?

I love Happily Ever After endings, or at least Happily Ever After For Now. I like when stories end with hope.

What’s the one thing readers can always count on when they pick up a book written by you?

Readers can always count on relationships where characters are supportive of each other. I don’t write couples (or even friendships) where one character is abusive or cruel toward the other.

Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

Of my original characters, I think Kres is my favorite. He tries very hard at everything he does. He is very optimistic and supportive of his friends. He’s a problem solver. He never backs down from a challenge. I love him very much, and he’s not even part of the main couple in The Paladin’s Path.

What’s the funniest scene you’ve ever written?

I think the funniest thing I’ve written is one of my fanfictions for Teen Wolf. It’s based on a tumblr post about really embarrassing attempts at flirting. It’s an AU that covered several years of Stiles attempting to flirt with Derek and absolutely, utterly failing. Reviewers said it gave them lots of secondhand embarrassment but was also hilarious, and every time I reread it myself I laugh.

Do you have a day job?

When I’m not writing on my couch, I am living in my classroom, teaching Ancient World History to 11-year-olds.

Where can your readers find you?

                My twitter

                My tumblr

                My instagram

Thanks, Jessica!

Now for the all important info. Where can we get it? Fortunately you can get hold of whichever format you like at this link here 🙂

I’m blogging over on the LGBT Fantasy Fans blog today on a subject close to my heart – ritual dance.

http://lgbtfantasyfansandwriters.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/dancing-with-destiny/

Which was prompted by a great time at Mill Road Winter Fair at the weekend. One problem with playing music for one side while dancing for another comes when both sides turn out to the same event. Then who do you support? Crisis! Clash of loyalties! Woe is me! Who should I let down this year? Or can I figure out a composite kit and support both? I will give you a clue:

There seems to be no rule that the waistcoat you wear for the Riot can’t be black. So with a black waistcoat and a zebra blanket thrown around the shoulders for those chilly muso moments between dances, I mostly fitted with both sides at once. And boy did I need that blanket! It was perishing.

I must say, it’s excellent practice for your breath control – finishing a dance, then taking half a minute to throw on a hat and cloak & going out to play the whistle. I was out of breath most of the time, but I don’t think it showed.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Historical and Fantasy Fiction.

A bit of a round-up post today, mainly consisting of things which I think of as good news. First of all, thanks to everyone who commented on my branding questionnaire post. I’ve thought about it over the week and decided that I can’t really handle historical and fantasy under completely different pen names, because there will be many situations in which I’ll be doing something that’s historical fantasy or fantasy historical. So all three things bunch together.

I have, however, come up with a new tag-line to describe the sort of historical and/or fantasy writer I am, and re-vamped the header on my website to match. I like it more the more I see it. At least it’s not as grim as the old ones. What do you think?

The new historical, fantasy and historical fantasy header revealed

Other nice stuff for me – I’ve just sent in the final line edit of Under the Moon: Dogfighters. So now I can wrap and send presents with some hope of them arriving on time. Even better, Samhain tell me they will get Dogfighters available for pre-order just as soon as the cover art is OKed.

Under the Hill: Bomber’s Moon is already available to pre-order, which I think is astonishing and very cool, as it’s not out until April. It has a new blurb, rather better than the one it’s been using in the past -

The faeries at the bottom of the garden are coming back—with an army.

Under the Hill, Part 1

When Ben Chaudhry is attacked in his own home by elves, they disappear as quickly as they came. He reaches for the phone book, but what kind of exterminator gets rid of the Fae? Maybe the Paranormal Defense Agency will ride to his rescue.

Sadly, they turn out to be another rare breed: a bunch of UFO hunters led by Chris Gatrell, who—while distractingly hot—was forcibly retired from the RAF on grounds of insanity.

Shot down in WWII—and shot forward seventy years in time, stranded far from his wartime sweetheart—Chris has been a victim of the elves himself. He fears they could destroy Ben’s life as thoroughly as they destroyed his. Chris is more than willing to protect Ben with his body. He never bargained for his heart getting involved.

Just when they think there’s a chance to build a life together, a ghostly voice from Chris’s past warns that the danger is greater than they can imagine. And it may take more than a team of rank amateurs to keep Ben—and the world—out of the elf queen’s snatching hands…

Warning: Brace yourself for mystery, suspense, sexual tension, elves in space and a nail-biting cliffhanger ending.

~

On the free story front, thanks to Gaye who gave me the heads up that the link to Insubordination (the Captain’s Surrender tie-in) was not working on my website. I’ve fixed that, and – in the process – I’ve made the story into a .pdf with a nice new cover. It’s now back up and available for anyone to download to their e-reader or computer.

I’ve also fixed the link to Communion (the Wages of Sin tie-in) which is also available in pdf form suitable for your e-reader.

I’ll work through and give the other freebies their own cover art in due course. And possibly also put up Wildfire for anyone who wants it. Now I really need to get wrapping!

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Historical and Fantasy Fiction.