Anniversary Shenanigans: Author Visit and Give-Away: Jo Myles

Today the unicorns are inviting into the house a firm favourite. Jo Myles writes wonderfully eccentric characters in stories with verve and flair and a fantastically British feeling. From hoarders to bossy bottoms, no two books are alike - excepting that they are a guaranteed a good read. We settled her down with a nice cuppa and some ginger biccies and started the questioning.

What are your favourite M/M themes?

I’m pretty eclectic and enjoy writers surprising me and showing me something a bit different to anything I’ve seen before. That said, I really enjoy reading erotica, so have a weakness for stories about rent boys and anything that attempts to show BDSM in a realistic light.

What books do you consider Desert Island Keepers?

I’m a huge fan of Jordan Castillo Price’s PsyCop series and KJ Charles’ A Charm of Magpies series. I’d also want Anne Tenino’s Frat Boy and Toppy and KA Mitchell’s Collision Course to keep me company on a desert island. There are many more DIKs among my collection, but those sprang to mind most easily!

What's your go-to tasty beverage?

It’s got to be a good ole English cuppa. I make it in the mug with a teabag, because I don’t stand on ceremony. That and if I need a caffeine fix, I need it fast.

That said, at the moment I’m not drinking much tea because I’m preggers. Vanilla milkshake has become my “go-to” drink, although I am very fond of plain old still water.
A good old cuppa tea...pass the hob-nobs someone....

Do you have any secret talents? Inquiring minds want to know!

I can do a wicked impression of an enraged chimp, but it makes my throat sore.

If you had to choose to be one magical beast, what would it be and why? (You don't have to say unicorn...but we won't say neigh either). 

I’d love to be a Chinese dragon, like Falkor the Luckdragon in Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story (one of my all-time favourite books). Basically, I’ve always wanted to be able to fly, and Luckdragons are superb at this. They don’t have many other magical properties, but they are extremely lucky, which has to be a good thing. And they can sing beautifully. What more could you need?!

Who's your favourite porn star?

Honestly? I don’t have one. I find porn incredibly repetitive and boring to watch. I can manage for about fifteen minutes, max, but then I have this incredible urge to fast forward to the “good bits”. I actually prefer looking at dirty photographs or reading erotica, which allow me to go at my own pace.

That said, I do have a favourite couple of vintage porn stars—they were two Victorian lads who did a fabulous  cross-dressing erotic photo-shoot. I don’t suppose I’ll ever know their real names, but a fellow  vintage erotica enthusiast christened them Ambrose and Laurence, and you can find all the pictures we’ve hunted down so far over on my blog at: http://josephinemyles.com/2013/11/10/vintage-smut-sunday-the-return-of-ambrose-and-laurence-gay-erotica-nsfw/

I am also a huge fan of tattooed, 50s style pin-up girls like Sabina Kelley. I’d much rather go to a burlesque show and watch glamorous women stripping down to their stockings and nipple tassels than watch a gay porn film. I realise that probably makes me something of an anomaly among the female writers/readers of gay romance, but there we go. Since I’m in a relationship with a man, my bi side has to come out somehow. He doesn’t generally complain when I drag him along to burlesque shows, either!

Do you have author envy? Whose words do you read and think, "GAH, I wish I wrote that!"?

All the time! I’m particularly envious of authors who marry superb verbal skills with a mastery of plot—particularly mystery and suspense plots. Jordan Castillo Price and KJ Charles are two of my writing heroes in that respect. And in terms of writers of contemporary erotic gay romance, you can’t beat KA Mitchell. She’s had a huge influence on my writing, and I was embarrassingly starstruck when I met her at RT this year!

Any new projects you're currently working on? 

I’m currently working on the novella-length sequel for Tailor Made, but as I’m now eight months pregnant I’m finding my ability to concentrate is waning, and I need naps during the day. Whether I can get it finished in time to self publish in February, I really don’t know right now. I shall just have to hope I find more energy next week!

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. Jo 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 publishes regularly with Samhain, and now has over ten novels and novellas under her belt. She has also been known to edit anthologies and self-publish on occasion, although she prefers to leave the “boring bits” of the ebook creation process to someone else. She loves to be busy, and is currently having fun trying to work out how she is going to fit in her love of writing, dressmaking and attending cabaret shows in fabulous clothing around the demands of a new baby.

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

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

Twitter: @JosephineMyles

A huge thank you to Jo for dropping by - and the Unicorns would like to take this opportunity to wish you the very best of luck with your last month of pregnancy and the birth.

Josephine is offering the chance to win an e-book from her backlist to one lucky commenter. Leave your comments below along with a way of contacting you (e-mail, twitter, facebook etc) and a name will be drawn at random one week from today, and informed no later than 06/12/14. Good luck everyone.