Author Visit: Josephine Myles Q&A and Giveaway

Today we welcome Josephine Myles to the unipornian circles and wish her well with her new release, Merry Gentlemen, available November 12th. She's brought along a holiday gift giveaway, so read on for how to enter!

Hi to the Boy Meets Boy crew—it’s great to be here on the blog! I’m doing my best to start feeling Christmassy so I can talk about Merry Gentlemen, although I have to admit, I don’t generally start feeling festive until December. This year, though, I’m strapping on the flashing reindeer antlers and digging out the snowflake earrings a whole month early.

BMBR:  Your characters are all so unique, their basic human flaws make them so realistic. Are any of the characters in Merry Gentlemen based on real people? Please say Riley, I really want to go to an office holiday party with him.

Jo: Oh, I so wish Riley was real, but alas, no. That said, there is something of a bloke I used to work with in him. That campy flamboyance and touch of vanity are very much Paul, and he was great fun at the Christmas party ;)

I just don’t tend to base my main characters on real people. I might steal an aspect of their character, background or appearance though, and occasionally a minor character has been directly drawn from someone I’ve known in the past (I don’t use my current friends—too much potential for falling out!). For instance, some of the supporting characters in Barging In and The Hot Floor were drawn from people I knew when I lived in Bath. Stella (Josh’s downstairs neighbour in The Hot Floor) was based on a lovely woman I was friends with there.

BMBR:  What is your connection to the Christmas Market in Bath? Speaking as an American it sounds like the most magical Christmas place on the planet. What was your inspiration for setting Merry Gentlemen there?

Jo: Bath’s Christmas Market is just fabulous. It started up back when I lived there, so I was around for the very first one. These days it’s a massive tourist attraction and is heaving, so I tend to avoid it unless I’m feeling particularly masochistic and want to be crushed and trampled while draining my bank account. It’s based on the traditional German Christmas markets, and I find it utterly magical... before the crowds hit!

I also chose the Christmas Market because wanted to use an iconic Bath setting in a book. I’ve set many stories there, but have tended to shy away from the tourist hot spots, probably because as a former local I know of so many other, lesser-known yet fascinating parts of the city. However, I thought it would be fun to use a central location by the Abbey and the Roman Baths that readers from all around the world would recognise.

BMBR: I know you’re a fan of all things vintage and I’ve started looking for some kind of representation of the vintage love in your books. Riley’s musical moments were so great, what made you pick those songs for Riley and which is your personal favorite?

Jo: I’m not sure so much if the songs I’ve chosen were a sign of me loving vintage, or more of me being out of touch with what’s in the charts these days! I can certainly tell you a bit about why I chose them, though.

Voulez Vous by ABBA: I have mixed feelings about ABBA, and this is probably one of my least favourite of their songs, but it’s horribly catchy and will forever have a place in my heart simply from being featured in Steve Coogan’s spoof 90s BBC chat show, Knowing Me, Knowing You. As a consequence I can’t help but smile every time I hear this song, so it was perfect for Riley’s rooftop performance.

Shaft by Isaac Hayes: One of my all time favourite 70s tunes, with probably the funkiest intro in the history of music. I just adore Isaac Hayes, and was lucky enough to see him perform live a few years ago. I chose this for Riley because I was tickled by the idea of him singing a song with such a phallic title. Sometimes I have all the comedic sophistication of a twelve-year-old boy...

Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight & The Pips: Another of my 70s favourites. For some reason this one just popped into my head, and I went with it because I liked the wistfulness of the lyrics. I thought they were a great expression of Riley’s true feelings, generally kept well-hidden under his mischievous and slightly snarky exterior.

Santa Baby: I never specified which particular version of this popular Christmas classic Riley performs at the office party, but I was definitely thinking of Kylie’s uber-sexy, breathy version. Kylie is such a gay icon it seemed perfect, and I liked the idea of him doing a very slow, sultry strip-tease to it.

Riley does end up singing a couple of carols too. I chose God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen because I wanted to work a Christmassy reference into the title, and this seemed like a good excuse to make a connection. Also, it’s one of my favourites to sing myself. As for We Three Kings—I had Riley sing my childhood favourite version with the altered lyrics, because I can’t now sing this tune without thinking of a big cigar-chuffing Arab bloke on a moped :)

BMBR: You know we M/M fans love to picture our favorite characters. Who would you pick to play Stan and Riley in the movie adaptation of Merry Gentlemen?

Jo: Hmmm, this is a tricky one as I’m totally out of step with the current crop of popular young-ish actors, so I’m going to have to go with one from back in the days when I actually used to keep up with films and tv. I think someone like Heath Ledger would have been perfect for Stan—if he’d been able to master an Eastern European accent. As for Riley... it would need to be someone with great comic timing who oozes charisma and mischief. It’s got to be David Tennant. He was my original inspiration for Riley’s look, hence the various Doctor Who references and the pinstripe suit.

BMBR:  And who could say no to a pinstripe suit? Not any of us!  Thanks for sharing your inspirations and background for Merry Gentlemen, Jo. Happy holidays to you and yours!

Thanks for having me over on the blog, and wishing you all a very merry holiday shopping season!

 Jo x

Jo brought along goodies to give away. Yay!

Jo is giving away a title from her backlist to one lucky commenter. Comment here by the end of the day on November 18th to be entered in with a chance of winning. The winner will be posted on this site shortly thereafter.

Jo's latest story Merry Gentlemen is out from Samhain Publishing on November 12th, and is available for pre-order on the following sites:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Merry-Gentlemen-ebook/dp/B00EANAGO8/

Samhain: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/merry-gentlemen-p-73098.html

Barnes & Noble:  http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/merry-gentlemen-josephine-myles/1116323113

Keep an eye out for BMBR's review of this story later this week!

Blurb:

’Tis the season of goodwill to all men…even the one who dumped you.
Riley MacDermott’s ambitions are simple. Managing the annual Bath Christmas Market—which involves long hours in the cold and a whole lot of hassle—will secure the promotion he needs to afford to move out of his noisy, top-floor flat. Where not even his balcony is safe from an aggressive herring gull.

The last stallholder he expects to see is his ex. Riley never recovered from their break up, and five years on the old chemistry still sparkles. So does their habitual head butting.

Stan never wanted to leave the love of his life, but the pull of the woods was too strong—and Riley was firmly planted in the city. Reconnecting is painful, but Stan still jumps at the chance to stay with his old flame during the Market. And damn the consequences.

As the weeks pass, the two grow closer than ever. But despite scorching sex and cozy intimacy, they both know they face a cold and lonely future. Unless one of them can compromise.

Warning: Contains sex in a shed, a seagull with a grudge, glamping, awful Secret Santa underwear, misuse of an Abba song, and as many wood-related puns as the author thought she could get away with.

Author bio:

English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. She blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.

Jo is also one of the organising team behind the UK Meet, an annual event celebrating GLBTQ fiction. She publishes regularly with Samhain, and has also been known to edit anthologies and self-publish on occasion, although she prefers to leave the “boring bits” of the book creation process to someone else.

Website and blog: http://josephinemyles.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/josephine.myles.author

Twitter: @JosephineMyles

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3499509.Josephine_Myles

Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hrQ4s