"Pitch" and Ten Questions with Will Parkinson

“Pitch” by Will Parkinson

Teenage love, so sweet and so not easy

Highly Recommended

High school is so rough. And it’s especially tough on some kids. Young guys like Taylor. He’s the average guy—nervous about grades, feeling like he doesn’t fit in. A little on the chubby side, he thinks. Average looks, average student, average grades. The only thing that sets him apart, he thinks, is his skill in drawing. Oh, and the fact he’s gay and in the closet. His best friend, Benny, is the only person who knows. Benny the straight jock with a brain. They hold each other’s secrets.

When Jackson walks into Taylor’s sophomore classroom, it’s like lightening for Taylor. Only…Jackson is straight, a baseball jock and immediately starts dating a cheerleader. Still, Taylor can’t let it go. He goes to every baseball game, and secretly crushes on Jackson. Until the summer after their sophomore year, when Taylor and Benny act as counselors at a camp for abused kids. There both his and Benny’s lives are changed forever. He decides to give up on his helpless crush and maybe date someone else.

But will that decision backfire on him, especially when the boy he chooses to date turns out to be something less than a knight in shining armor? Will being out make things easier for Taylor, or totally destroy his life?

You will have to bear with me here. I am a little strange sometimes. But as I read Will Parkinson’s beautifully written and heartfelt book, I had a song that kept running through my head. Words from Dan Fogelberg’s “The Netherlands”.

I want a lover

I want some friends

And I want to live in the sun

And I want to do all the things

That I never have done

Taylor is the kid in all of us. And he’s the gay kid that was in me all those years ago. He wants so much to fit in, to have a boyfriend, to have the boy of his dreams. All the things that seems so impossible and out of his reach. Sometimes, he learns, the hardest thing is to have what you want in front of you every day, right within your reach, and you aren’t able to just reach out and grab them.

I’ve seen the bottom

And I’ve been on top

But mostly I’ve lived in between

And where do you go

When you get to the end

Of your dreams?

What I really loved about this book was how it captured the essence of how hard and easy it is to be a teen. How the joy you can feel one moment can change to despair at the drop of a hat. And how cruel other kids—because, yes, teenagers are still kids—can be, especially when you already feel different. It’s such a thin line between normal and outcast, and we see in graphic detail how it affects Taylor, then Jackson, then Benny and so on. Some might think it goes over the top. I am here to say, no it doesn’t. I’ve seen it. Worked with abused kids for ten years. Not only does it—bullying—happen, it happens more than we as adults like to think. And while some say suck it up, it will get better, to a child, all there is, is today.

There’s a quiet desperation, a taste of pain in this book which is so familiar. I think most of us have felt it. But then, there’s a hint of joy that comes and takes up to a happier place. And sometimes that’s what’s needed, in real life and in fiction. Someone to come in, hold us, tell us it’s okay and make it better.

Even if it’s fiction.

Well done, Will. I am very proud of you.

Tom

And now...

Ten Questions for Will Parkinson…

1.      So tell me, boxers or briefs??   Um….neither. 

2.      Who in “Pitch” are you most like? I’m most like Taylor. I suffered through a lot of the same things he did. I find that there is a little of me in most of my characters, but for the most part, yeah, I’m Taylor.

3.      Do you put people you know into your writings? Sometimes. I’d like to think not so much that people would be able to recognize themselves, but I do get an idea in my head, ‘Wow, this character seems so much like that person!’ and my portrayal of them makes me see them as the other person in my head.

4.      Why YA? Eden Winters said I had a ‘voice’ for it. I’m not sure how true that is, but I enjoy writing the stories. Especially working with Harmony. They were great and helped me not feel ‘too’ nervous about my writing.

5.      I loved the book. Talk to me about what it was like submitting a book for publication.  It was terribly nerve-wracking. I freaked out about it for days. It got progressively worse as I headed toward the two words everyone seems to enjoy ‘the end’. My friends encouraged me, though. They were amazing when it came time to do the deed, as it were.

6.      What do you want people to know about Will Parkinson I’m not the person I play on Facebook. I’m actually pretty shy (okay, fine, very shy) and don’t do a lot of public things. But I love talking with people on Facebook. I have made some amazing friends here, including KC Wells who I co-wrote a book with that just got picked up by Dreamspinner.

7.      Who do you most want to read “Pitch”? Who are you most afraid of reading it? I want people who enjoy seeing people succeed read the story. I like to think I did a decent job with it, and Benny steals the show. The people who take things way too seriously are the ones I’m afraid of reading the story.

8.      We both seem to agree SJD Peterson is a princess with pink crinoline and a girly tiara. Tell me, who’s scarier—her or me? She’s wearing pink. I really don’t think there’s much scary in that picture. (And you better damn well protect me when she reads this!)

9.      Who is your hero? I have a couple. You. Laura Harner. Mardee Burnett, and KC Wells. Each of you have spent way too much time bolstering me and comforting me when my brain goes a little (fine, a lot) haywire. I’m more grateful to the group of you than you can know.

10.  What’s next for Will? And are you still gonna write a BDSM story with me? Wild horses with whips couldn’t keep me away. I did a post where I asked about dream teams for writing. You and Parker were mentioned. And besides, I have learned a lot from you and look forward to learning more.

Thanks for having me, Sir. It’s been a real pleasure.

The pleasure was all mine, boy!

Tom

Memorizing You

"Memorizing You" by Dan Skinner

An Answered Prayer

Highly Recommended

So, usually I start with a recap so you get a taste of what the book feels like. Then I tell you what worked and didn’t work, and what touched me. Forgive me if I break a little from my usual style. This book has me all over the place, in a good way.

David is a regular kind of guy, and Ryan is a jock. They are both in high school in the sixties, when being gay was just not okay. They meet, the become friends, then more. Then life and hate and the times tear them apart. Life goes on. People move on. And yet…

Now here’s the beautiful sadness that grabbed me in the darkest and most hopeful and cynical places in my soul—life never takes you quite where you think it will. Yes, we are caught in the hurricane, but sometimes, just sometimes, it drops you in the most unexpected places. Sometimes, even after forty years, you look up and holy hell, there’s your second chance.

I don’t want to spoil anything for you as you read this incredible book. Dan Skinner, God bless him, has created characters that I know, that I lived with, played with, grew up with, loved, lost, cried over and still love. These are the people of my past. This story is mine, and probably in a lot of ways, Dan’s. Gay men of a certain age (and doesn’t that sound haughty, and is a simple way of saying, fifty-ish) have a very different experience of coming to terms with their homosexuality. It might be difficult now, but for those of us who discovered that part of ourselves in the sixties and seventies (and early eighties) lived a different life.

Here’s the thing, and I’m sorry I’m all over the place here. This book is a must read. It’s love, life, loss and joy, pain, sadness and…I am almost lost for words.

The lessons here? Life is bittersweet, take your happiness a day at a time, and hope is a fickle bitch that surprises you when you least expect it. It might take forty years, but sometimes, God gives you back that which you never thought you would see or feel or hold again.

What a gift.

Read this book. It’s a prayer answered.

Tom

Forever Promised

"Forever Promised" by Amy Lane

Beautiful and loving ending to my favorite series

Very Highly Recommended

There’s this bittersweet feeling that comes with completing something you love. Whether it’s a task at work, a knitting project, building a cabinet—for me it’s usually associated with reading or writing. One of the first books I ever read in the male/male genre was Keeping Promise Rock, and I became an instant Amy Lane fan. She’s who I want to be when I grow up, and now to be able to review the fourth, and last, Promise book overwhelms me.

I want to do it justice, and I know I won’t be able to, but here’s my best shot.

At my dad’s house, and I imagine at most family’s homes, there are two special seats. One is for the head of the family. It’s usually the patriarch, like my dad, but sometimes it’s the revered female also. At my house, it’s my dad. He’s ninety years old, and we—all eight of us kids and the grandkids and great-grandkids and now soon to be a great-great-grandson—look to him before we do anything. It’s how it should be, forever and ever, amen.

Then there’s the emotional head of the family. Since my mom passed away in 2000, that role has mostly been filled by my sister Diane. Not Big Diane, but Little Diane. See, I have two sisters named Diane. Remember, I am from the south, and everything we do comes with a story here. My mom and dad were both married before—my dad was divorced and has three kids from his first marriage, and my mom was widowed with three daughters before they married and had me and my younger brother. And they both had daughters named Diane, and yeah, the older was Big Diane and the younger Little Diane.

Well, in Amy Lane’s world, Deacon is the head of the family. He’s the one that the family turns to, the dad, the sun that all the planets of his collected brothers and sisters circle. He’s been the center of the series, and he’s my perfect man. Stubborn as nails and loyal to a fault, he puts the family first, always.

Then there’s the seat at the other end of the dining room table. And most would think it’s Crick, or Benny, but it’s not. In this book, it’s Mikhail. See, I can’t call him Mickey, because I don’t want my arms yanked off like a fly, and I’m not quite family, as much as I want to be. I know it will surprise many, but trust me, here, it’s Mikhail.

Forever Promised opens with Benny, and appropriately enough, ends with Benny. In between, we have love, life, death, marriage, and all the little things that form the fabric of our lives. And oh, have these things been woven into a tapestry that took my breath away. Every single player was represented here. All of this wonderful, beautiful family has their moment in the sun. But three stand out for me.

Deacon, as always, has my heart. His family gets to give back to him as they haven’t before. There is one scene with Jon—I had to put my book down and walk it off. It was that…transcendent.

Mikhail. Now I love the little man, and have since I saw his snitty little butt make an entrance on the second book. But here, oh God, he takes my breath away. I fell in love with him so hard, and I wanted to wrap him up in cotton and carry him away.

And Benny. It’s so clichéd, but our little girl grew up. In such a big, heart-stopping way. And I fell a little in love with her too.

I don’t want to give the plot away, since this book deserves to be savored. I will say, if it has to end, this was the way to do it.

Amy Lane has had my heart for a couple of years now, and she broke it a little, roughed it up, but then wrote this love letter to grace and care, love and family, and healed it. Such damned fine writing, and with her hand on the rudder, I’d sail to any port with her.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

Bolt Hole

Bolt Hole by Amy Lane
Two more fantastic characters
Very Highly Recommended

A bolt hole a funny thing. It’s used as a hidey place, somewhere you can run to and feel safe when the hounds are after you and you need to get away from the rest of the world. Terrell Washington—his whole life is a bolt hole. He’s the shining example of what is heard way too often. He’s black and poor: his mother left him to be raised by a grandmother too busy with raising her own kids and grandkids dumped off on her, working, and her church to have much love or attention for him. 

He’s too smart for his own good, going to college and getting a journalism degree that does him no good. And to top it all off? He’s gay in a culture where that can get you killed. So he crushes it down with all his other failed dreams and hides in plain sight. He becomes a bartender, has one-offs, and grows more and more bitter.

Until he meets Colby Meyers. The two men have absolutely nothing in common—Terrell is black, poor, embittered and gay while Colby is white, shiny and funny and straight—but somehow the two form an unlikely friendship that brings sunshine into Terrell’s life. Then he finds company in the little bolt hole of his life.

It all changes when Colby takes matters into his own hands and kisses Terrell. Right as their jerk of a boss is murdered, and he’s the center of attention. Suddenly, his deepest, darkest secrets are right there on the edge of being discovered. Is Colby worth taking a step out of the dark places he’s been hiding in? And if he does, will he be safe before the murderer strikes again?

This is a different Amy Lane book, and dammit, I like it. Terrell is cranky, funny, shy, bitchy and an all-around bear of a guy. Right up my alley! He’s on the edge of giving up on everything, including himself, and all it might take is one small push to take him over the edge. That’s where Colby comes in; the pushy little white boy that makes him—and me—smile. I love that it wasn’t instalove, and that these two men become friends first. Their very sweet friendship is wonderful to watch. Sometimes, all it takes is one person willing to reach out and connect to make all the difference for a drowning man.

And Colby. Like an onion, we get to see all the layers of what could be a cliché peeled back. Where he starts as the friend, he becomes so much more. We think he’s a surfer boy dude, but we see he’s so very much more. And he’s the perfect match and foil for Terrell’s rabbiting. He forces him out from the closet—another of his many bolt holes—and has grand plans for the two of them.

The murder mystery is an essential part of the story, and is fun to watch play out. The women in this book play a vital role, and we get to see solid, real females for a change. Once of the very nice things about this book is the realness of the characters; these aren’t the men and women you expect from Amy, and it’s great to see her take a different tact. A very successful one.

Overall, another great effort. I can’t get enough of these solidly drawn, complicated and accessible characters. Fantastic job.

A Bear's Thoughts on GRL 2013...

I'm not quite sure how to process this posting as yet. I attended last year as a reader, since I wasn't published at the time I registered, and there really wasn't a Reviewer slot. But my novel was published the day before GRL started, and I had another out co-written with another author.

The event itself was fun. I got to fan-boy and meet all my heroes. And that's what the event is about, right?

But now I am on the other side of the table. I am a published author and was considering registering as one this year. When I read this, though, I thought, will I be welcomed? I am an amoeba in a fishpond compared to hundreds of other authors, and will my "ranking" be enough to get me in as a writer?

The fact the event is in my home town makes me think I may, for several reasons. But I am seeing a lot of commentary from my peer group who are upset about the turn of events. And I can't blame them. I am too. But I like to take a longer view of it, and will make my decision to attend based on my personal ethics and beliefs when the time comes.

I am concerned however. This tastes and smells and feels like something I don't want to think about - elitism. It's very well reasoned and rolled out, but so was "All pigs are equal. Some are more equal than others, though..."

High school, for me, was over in 1979, and I choose not to revisit it, especially in this arena. I wasn't in the "Cool Kids" group then, and sure as hell am not now. And I can say, I have heard almost the same sentiment from at least ten other authors whose opinions I respect.

I just don't know.

I DO know that I have seen way too many instances where, in this small community of personalities, a tiny spark erupts into a flashfire, and oftentimes it's ridiculous and over the top. I couldn't write some of the drama that occurs in real life on Goodreads, or if I did, it would get one star. And TPTB may be counting on this announcement burning off before the website is opened to the public and slots sold.

And have no doubts, it WILL sell out.

But who will be there? And will it it be the best line-up for the fans, the readers, the reviewers?

Guys and gals of the committee, I hope it doesn't blow up in your faces.

One last thought...is this now a RWA event? Because I don't have my Little Orphan Annie decoder ring yet, so where does that leave me?

Wishing you a happy week.

Tom

PS  Here's the link to the GRL posting...

http://us2.campaign-archive2.com/?u=2f9594b419e354dd7c4130b97&id=6e12844973

If the Stars Fall

"If the Stars Fall (Making of A Man)" by Diane Adams

Warm, electric tinglies to my heart

Very Highly Recommended

Alex Ross has loved Jared Douglas from almost the moment he met him. He was fifteen and Jared almost twenty, but the gap was, to him, nothing. But to Jared it was the difference between consent and abuse, and he made sure Alex was nothing more than his friend for the first year of their relationship.

Now, sixteen years later, the two are partners in all sense of the word. Happily together, living in the home Alex designed for them and happier than Jared ever thought possible, a horrible accident strikes. One that almost takes Alex from him and which rocks both men to the core.

Jump ahead nineteen more years, and it's Alex's turn to be shaken at the potential loss of the other half of his soul. Jared hospitalized and ill, and even thirty-five years of loving the man isn't enough. He is Alex's for all time, until the stars fall from the sky...

Both incidents spur introspections by these two incredible men. Will they get through the pitfalls of health scares intact? How will their lives change? Is their love strong and enduring enough?

In this sentimental, stunning little book, Diane Adams had me on the edge of what Dolly Parton calls smiles though tears (her favorite emotion) from damn near the first page. I've been reading this series since "Our December (Book One)", and have read all five books plus some other smaller stories. I thought nothing could match Clark's Story. God, was I wrong.

There is a purity grounded in real life that makes these tales of love, care and family so very accessible and memorable. Alex and Jared are soulmates, yes, but they are not without their challenges. Alex is a dreamer, apt to jumping in with both feet before he looks. Jared is so self-secure and solid, but also righteous and rigid. Together, they make their friends sick with their never-ending passion and love for one another.

But Ms. Adams doesn't stop with them being a sappy couple. No, that would be selling them, and us, so very short. Alex's mother, for years and years, won't accept her son's homosexuality, and it's like a thorn in his heart for every singe minute of those years to him. All he wants is her love, and she withholds is so very, very cruelly.

And Jared, his whole persona and identity is built on an image he's carried of his father, and how a man should be. But that base is not quite as solid as an outside observer can see; Jared was sexually abused and raped as a teen, even though he refuses to call it that. And it's made for some lonely, harsh days for him. He is a class act, though, trying to be the rock for others when his feet are on slippery ground so much of the time in his head.

But when these two found each other, they truly became more than the sum of the two. Ah, and when they looked outside the two of them and built their lives with their families, both blood and of the heart, they truly shine.

So when we get to this jewel of a book, and see the two of them struggle, we know it will be okay. They have each other, they have Clark, Stevie, their families.

And they decide to marry. 

Let me tell you a little story. I love to read, and I hate to drive, so I use my Kindle speech function, with ear buds, when I drive back and forth to work and to run errands. So here I am, near the end of this damn book, struggling already to hold my emotions in because it's just so damned beautiful to read (and you should hear it, trust me) and I get the the scene where Alex and Jared exchange their vows.

I had to pull off on the side of the road. I couldn't see to drive through my tears.

And that's the whole series, to me. Seeing two men fall in love, weather life's storms and come out the other end whole and complete and better for the wear. How can that not move you? Isn't that all of our dreams?

It's not perfect, but it's darned close.

Trust me, read these giant-hearted stories back-to-back. Not many do it better than Ms. Adams.

Tom         

Under the Rushes

"Under the Rushes" by Amy Lane

Steampunk meets Batman and HOLY COW!

Very Highly Recommended

How do you break a man? You take away the things most important to him. Destroy them, or give them back broken.

Ten years ago, Dorjan allowed himself to believe in his country, his leaders, and his duty. That childish way of life lead to his leaders betraying him, using him to hurt and kill innocent persons, and almost to his own death. Injured, he is used as a scapegoat and barely escapes with his health and sanity. Unfortunately for his best friend Areau, the same can’t be said about him.

Dorjan has loved Areau like a brother for his whole life, and while his friend isn’t gay, they two couldn’t be closer than most lovers. When Dorjan’s father risks everything to return Areau home, stealing him from the very men who hurt and used his son, Dorjan again knows the bitter taste of betrayal.

Now Dorjan is working from within the system, trying to affect change. By day, he’s part of the government. But at night, he’s…something more. Someone who prowls the night, costumed, helping those who most need him and battling to keep the streets clean. It’s there he meets Taern. Funny how fate throws people together again and again, until they get the message. This time, Taern is a young man working the streets, proud, funny and strangely hopeful.

As Dorjan, in concert with his old friend Areau—now…broken and in a strange, horrible relationship with Dorjan—strive to take down the cancer killing their country, Taern is added to the volatile mix. Will it help? Or will it be the final piece, the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Dorjan? Will he be forced to pay the ultimate price?

I’m not normally a fan of steampunk. I find it a little…too much, too noisy and busy and just plain weird. But, damn it, Amy Lane has taken the genre by the short, curly ones, thrown in a liberal dash of Batman and Robin, added a dash of hot gay lovin’ and given us a dashing, entertaining and oddly moving and deep tone poem on love, duty, sacrifice and good old fashioned derring-do.

I was by turns laughing and gasping at shocks to my heart with these characters. Dorjan, whose sense of honor runs so deep he is willing to give and give to the last drop of blood in his body, was the perfect hero. He has a heart so huge, and a will to match it. Faced with loss and heartbreak at every turn, he keeps plodding, one foot in front of the other, resigned to his fate.

Then we have Taern, the perfect foil to Dorjan’s seriousness. Sensual, fun, sexy and stubborn, he is reluctant and wary to give his heart, but quickly and completely falls for Dorjan. He takes it upon his young shoulders to carry the extra load of Dorjan’s burden, and makes it his mission to ensure the big man succeeds, but survives. He is the perfect companion for the seriousness that is Dorjan.

But it is Areau that captivates me. As beautiful inside as he is on the outside, he is brutally treated by those in power, broken physically, mentally and spiritually. Dorjan makes it his mission to cobble Humpty Dumpty back together, but the man that is left…he’s just not the boy Dorjan knew. What he does, what he has become, broke my heart.

Ah, but his redemption; glorious. I think he stands among Amy’s most memorable characters. I adored him, and grieved for him every moment of the story. What he went through, what he became, the potential — just heartbreaking. But then…ah, I can’t ruin the story for you.

And that’s the sign of a wonderful story. It makes you want to grab everyone you come in contact with, and force them to sit and listen to you rave about it and insist they read it. Kind of like I am doing with you right now, as I think on it.

So quit reading now, go to your friendly bookseller, and buy this epic. Now! What are you waiting for?!?

Tom