MEDIA ALERT! I sat down with Vance and Baz to talk about Slashed and Mashed, mythology, diversity in queer lit, cultural appropriation and a whole bunch of other things. Those two guys run an amazing podcast, which is now up to episode 243. Pretty darn impressive. They both have an awesome sense of humor too.
So take a listen either at their website or better yet subscribe to their show on Apple Podcasts or iHeart Radio or wherever you listen to ‘casts. If you read LGBTQ+ fiction, you’ll likely find an interview with one of your favorite authors. And let me know what you think of my interview.
Seven gayly subverted stories from around the world in one neon pink-slashed collection.
Get into your comfies, set your cell on vibrate, and curl up with it on the surface of your choice. My preference is our living room sofa next to the radiator. Our cat Chloë likes that too.
Here’s what you can expect.
What really happened when Theseus met the Minotaur? How did demon-slaying Momotarō come to be raised by two daddies? Will Scheherazade’s hapless Ma’aruf ever find love and prosperity after his freeloading boyfriend kicks him out on the street? Classic lore gets a bold remodeling with stories from light-hearted and absurd, earnestly romantic, daring and adventurous, to darkly surreal.
The collection includes: Theseus and the Minotaur, Károly, Who Kept a Secret, The Peach Boy, The Vain Prince, The Jaguar of the Backward Glance, Ma’aruf the Street Vendor, and A Rabbit Grows in Brooklyn.
Award-winning fantasy author Andrew J. Peters (The City of Seven Gods) takes on classical mythology, Hungarian folklore, Japanese legend, The Arabian Nights, and more, in a collection of gayly subverted stories from around the world.
I’ll be sharing some behind the scenes scoop all this month, and for today, I thought I’d talk about a song that inspired the mood of the last story in the collection: “A Rabbit Grows in Brooklyn.”
It’s about a Puerto Rican guy in his late twenties who leaves his Pennsylvania hometown to move to New York City for a job as an assistant professor at a community college. He’s also dipping his toes into living his life as an openly gay man.
Then an encounter with a strange vagrant in the neighborhood leads to a series of mystifying and surreal events.
One of the story elements is that vagrant character Rabbit plays a haunting song on his beat up guitar that becomes a darkly romantic backdrop. I found it searching for Brazilian folk songs and fell in love with it. “Nesta Rua,” sometimes called “Se Esta Rua Fosse Minha” (“On This Street” or “If This Street Were Mine”) has been re-arranged and performed widely, but the original song writer is unknown. It’s a traditional Children’s rhyme or folk song. Anyway, give it a listen. What better version to share than openly gay songwriter and actor Jay Brannan playing it in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Hey folks! I spilled the news about my upcoming short story anthology to author R.R. Campbell on his Writescast podcast.
You’ll be hearing a lot more about that story collection. The title is Slashed and Mashed: Seven Gayly Subverted Stories and the release date is November 11, 2019. I haven’t talked much about it while it’s been working its way through production at NineStar Press, but I’ve been busy behind the scenes with the editing round.
Campbell gets the scoop on what it’s all about along with my experience with anthologies. He runs a great ‘cast on all aspects of being a writer, from plotting and character development to marketing and promotion.
My short story “In a Wine Phase” was chosen to be published in Wilde Oats Issue 14. The issue features the editors’ favorite submissions over the e-zine’s past six years.
Many thanks to Stanley Ridge and his editorial staff!
“In a Wine Phase” is a contemporary, realistic story (yeah, I write realistic stories every now and again). It’s a quick peek into the life of thirty-something Ryan who has a surprise encounter at a cruisy bar that rattles his notions of loyalty and family. The story is really short so saying more would give it all away. You can read it on-line for free here, and check out the entire issue. There are stories ranging from historical fiction, sci fi,, romance and plenty of contemporary fiction.
