Anniversary Shenanigans: Author Visit: Lyn Gala

Today BMBR is pleased to invite Lyn Gala back into the clubhouse. Another firm favourite,  Claimings, Tails and Other Artifacts divided the clubhouse when we picked it as our March book of the month, and as all good books do, inspired discussion between us. Not every book is to be loved by everybody - but you know you're doing something right if readers are passionate about citing their views. Thank you for joining us Lyn, now over to you and the questions...

Happy birthday to everyone at the website, and thanks for inviting me to be part of your celebration.  With so many long-time review sites closing their doors, it’s wonderful to see new sites find support and acceptance.  So, since you guys had some questions, I have some answers.

What are your favorite M/M themes?
I know a lot of authors have favorite themes in books, but I like a wide range, both in M/M and in mainstream literature. I am the strange person that will read Shakespeare (and mentally make new romance stories for Sebastian and Antonio from Twelfth Night) and then go to Lisa Henry’s Dark Space.  I will go from Dusk Peterson’s Main Street Leather, which is BDSM in small town America to Brad Vance’s more stylized “reluctant submission” stories.  I like it all.  I like M/M that has almost no sex, like A.M. Riley’s Son of a Gun to Joey’s Hill much more sexual books (M/M and F/M).

I guess that’s a long winded way of saying that I’m a reading whore, willing to sell myself to the nearest good story. I think that’s one of the reasons why I write in so many different genres.

Any new projects you're currently working on?
I always have more ideas than I have time to write.  Most of my writing is done in summer, which is why you see my releases come out in waves. Right now I have two projects coming up. Dreamspinner has their new DSPP press that focuses on gay genre stories.  I’ve rewritten my science fiction Desert World Books (which needed tightening up) and added a third. Shan and Temar are softer characters.  Shan starts the series as a priest, and Temar is a nineteen year old naïve kid.  In the course of the first two books, they both grow up and grow closer.  Book three is going to focus on two much harder characters who have suffered more.

Loose Id has one more manuscript that is coming out.  Right now it’s called Clockwork Pirate.  Beche is a pirate, a lover of technology, and an escaped slave who had been forced to work on a Caribbean plantation after slavery was technically outlawed (but no one paid attention to the law). He has a grudge against the upper classes and goes out of his way to capture one and ends up with Margrave Alex, a second son who never expected to inherit anything.  Because Alex is homosexual and the younger son, he wasn’t trained to handle the business of a failing noble family. Add in lots of clockwork technology, not one but two engineering geeks, Beche’s “found” family in the form of his two brothers in arms, Alex’s birth family in the form of two sisters who don’t fit the Victorian mold, and finish up with Beche’s traditional African beliefs about gender where whether one is a man or woman doesn’t depend on genitals, and it’s a mixed up epic of over 100K words.  I might even blow up a few things.  What’s the point of having engineering geeks if you can’t blow stuff up?

What books do you consider Desert Island Keepers?
Oh, I have too many to count.  I could never limit myself, so I either have to take a whole library or avoid getting stuck on any desert islands.  My only limitation is that I really don’t enjoy the Russians.  I mean, I can appreciate Dostoevsky, but I sure don’t enjoy him.  Anything else I can enjoy, even if I’m enjoying having a MST3K moment making fun of it.

What's your go-to tasty beverage?
Hot chocolate with cayenne pepper… hands down! In New Mexico, we like everything hot.

If you had to choose to be one magical beast, what would it be and why?
Unicorns are pretty awesome, but honestly, I’ve always felt myself drawn toward the fox.  I love the Teumessian Fox and the kitsune shows up in a number of my fanfic stories, with one original character in my NCIS/Atlantis crossover choosing the name for herself.  I would have used Plathubis, but as much as I love the story of the storm fox that teaches hunters to have some respect for their prey, that’s just a horrible name.  Really horrible.

Do you have any secret talents? Inquiring minds want to know.
I’m pretty handy around the house.  Shoe molding, stucco repairs, painting… I’ve got that shit down. 

Who's your favourite porn star?
Here is where I hang my head in shame.  I don’t watch any.  Sorry.  Whether it’s two guys or a guy and a girl, watching porn is very low on my list of things I ever want to do, and f/f porn is generally written in a way to appeal to men… not women.  It just doesn’t rock my boat.

Do you have author envy? Whose words do you read and think, "GAH, I wish I wrote that!"?
I admire a lot of writers, but I can’t say that I ever wish I had written any of the books I love.  I have so many of my own ideas rolling around in my head that I don’t have room for anyone else’s.

Thank you Lyn so much for coming back to visit us. I'm definitely going to have to try hot chocolate and cayenne pepper!

To find out more about Lyn Gala, visit her Goodreads page.