1--What is the title of your latest release?
LIKE SILK BREATHING
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Do you like the sound of a queer, character-driven, romantic, 1900s fairytale about a selkie and some witches? This one’s for you! It’s sensual, subtle, and a delight. Think along the lines of Neil Gaiman’s Stardust or Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
The characters said it should be Cromer. I lived in Norfolk for years and dearly miss it, so I said, “Yep.”
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Oh, yeah! Thing is, I’d hang out with any of the characters. I think Theo would be the most relaxed and urbane, so I’d gravitate toward him. We’d probably have to ditch David at some point because he’s kind of fussy. I have a theory David is often hangry and doesn’t realize it. Maybe I could bring some snacks for him, and he’d be less stroppy.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
Theo (selkie) – shrewd, protean, and peaceable.
Tom (not a selkie, but a witch) – loyal, imaginative, and rebellious.
And just for the record, I absolutely count Paul (witch, but more accurately a seer) as a protagonist! He’s an important part of the book and forthcoming series. So here are three coincidentally alliterative words for him: protective, pragmatic, and perceptive.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
The cathedral bosses we often call “green men” were first called “foliate heads.” I worked in a very wee, sly nod to it.
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
As I draft, but I don’t agonize over it. I also leave things alone for a few days before doing a final read-though, and I try not to touch the text much at that point. I have an insidious tendency to try to perfect, and there’s no such thing as perfection.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
I’m wary of calling any food an indulgence because it’s not good for my mental health, and I’m trying to set a good example for my teenage sister. (We have a sizable age-gap and I feel far more like a parent.) That said, the Vegan Triple Chocolate Swirl ice cream bars from Van Leeuwen are sublime!
9--Describe your writing space/office!
We plonked a nondescript desk in a multipurpose room. Someday it’ll be more interesting, but there’s not much to report yet. I’ve got two Tarot decks sitting on the desk at present… does that pique anybody’s interest?
10--Who is an author you admire?
Just for the sake of a theme, I’ll stick to authors who’re no longer with us. Nella Larsen, Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia Butler, and Mary Oliver.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Atticus Lish’s Preparation for the Next Life or E. M. Forster’s Maurice.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.”
Imagine you’ve been plotting a book and its series since 2017. Now, imagine you finished writing the first book in 2018, and you despised how it turned out! Nothing seems to work and the series now seems pointless.
“Sometimes you’re the windshield, sometimes you’re the bug,” I guess.
Then, years later, imagine someone – in this case, Tanya at Oliver Heber – is interested in your idea when you blather on the phone about it…
But you’re actually in the middle of overhauling everything from the location, to the time period, to the voice, to the characters. You’re not using 85% of what you originally wrote. I thought I’d lost poor Tanya.
It was, in fact, the opposite. I’m deeply grateful.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
Vernacular histories. Give me the stuff from a person who’s been overlooked, stigmatized, or excluded. And the stuff that’s been out of print forever.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Not to be dramatic… but I have 35 favorites because I have escapist tendencies and I love stories. Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting. And now that I’m thinking of Robert Carlyle, The Legend of Barney Thomson immediately became a favorite.
15--What is your favorite season?
If I have to pick, autumn or winter.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Smelling obscure perfumes, then having a nice dinner. I used to call or see my grandpa, too, but now that he’s passed, there’s a void. I want to figure out something to honor that prior tradition.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
For TV, Bob’s Burgers and Adventure Time. The newer longform episodes of Adventure Time had my wife and I sobbing!
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Vietnamese or Georgian. The flavor profiles are so different, then regions have their own variations, of course. But, in general, those are the favorites. Delicious.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Walk. Run. Walk some more. Watch TV or films. Swim. Scour eBay for my favorite style of jeans – they’ve been discontinued. It’s basically an extreme sport to find them, now.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
Two books are set after LIKE SILK BREATHING and there are satisfying conclusions to stuff raised in the first book. The third one is in its barest outline stage, but I know how everything ends! I’m also working on a Halloween novella set in Norwich, which will be released with Dragonblade in October.
When Tom Apollyon returns to Cromer to help oversee his uncle’s pub, it’s a difficult adjustment. Overwhelmed by his born ability to sense auras, Tom relies on constant drinking and drifting to function normally. Coming back is too much to handle and one night, he decides to end it all. He just doesn’t expect to encounter a bewitching stranger when he tries.
While on an annual seaside holiday with his lover, Theo Harper takes a solitary evening stroll near the water. He thinks it’s just the thing a landlocked selkie needs, yet instead of being soothed, he stops a troubled man from drowning. The earnest good deed sparks a romance that makes Tom and Theo hope for a happier, gentler life together.
While both need to decide to trust themselves and each other, they’re not daunted until an alarming problem presents itself. Theo’s skin — which can definitely be used to capture or kill him, to Tom’s horror — has gone missing.
To build the future they want, they have to get the skin back…
Romance LGBTQ | Fantasy Magical Realism [Oliver-Heber Books, On Sale: June 28, 2022, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781648392566 / ]
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