Blog Tour ~ Different Names for the Same Thing by Francis Gideon ~ (Review, Playlist, Excerpt + Giveaway)
Title: Different Names for the Same Thing
Author: Francis Gideon
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: October 31, 2016
Category: Romance
Genre: Contemporary
Sex Content: Explicit
Pairing: MM
Orientation: Gay
Identity: Trans
Length: Novella
Words: 23300
Pages: 54
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
COUPON CODE: Get 20% off preorder on NineStar Press website with coupon code “preorder”
* (Good until release day)
Book Blurb
The last time Joël Paquet was in New York City, he nearly died. Too distracted by his problems, he didn't look when he crossed the street and was nearly made into a pancake by a transport truck in the downtown core. The only saving grace of this trip, other than the cute person working as a living statue who saved him and then took him out for coffee, was the fact that his near-death experience finally gave him the courage to come out as trans.
Five years later, Joël Paquet is one of the most in-demand horror writers in North America. Going to New York City from his current Montreal home for the Black Markets Horror Con should be exciting, but when he gets an email that uses his birth name, he nearly cancels the trip altogether. The only thing that keeps Joël going is the thought of that living statue who saved his life once before.
Excerpt
Francis Gideon © 2016
All Rights Reserved.
“Joël,” Kathy said, snapping him back to their conversation. “Joël. Come back to me. Focus.”
“Sorry, I’m here. Just…thinking.”
“Yeah? About a new book?”
Joël laughed uneasily. “I always have a new book, you know that.”
“Yes, but I want stuff I can pitch and market for you.”
“Soon. I promise. I’m just…thinking about the last time I was in New York, actually.”
“It’s a big city. Maybe you can set your next book there. Not that I don’t mind the small pieces of Canadiana that you put in your current ones.”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” Kathy teased. “You know what’s good about big cities like New York?”
“What?”
“Everyone forgets. Even if you’ve gone here before as Violet, no one will remember. Don’t put yourself at the centre of the world in your own mind. People forget all the time, even things that happened fifteen minutes ago. Like that email. You’ll go to the con, and maybe you’ll have some awkward moments, but probably not. Either way, you’ll come back home to Quebec and everything will be fine. You will forget, too. Never underestimate the human mind’s ability to forget.”
When Joël glanced at the flyer with his old name, he knew what Kathy said about forgetting was true. Even though Kathy and Melissa from Aurora Press had updated Joël’s information, the Black Markets people had clearly forgotten. But Joël was still worried about what information people would choose to remember about him and where that would leave him at the end of the day.
“You know, I heard something else about New York City.”
“And what’s that, country boy?”
“Pfft.” Joël laughed. “I heard that no one could be sad in the city, because even if you were alone, there were so many other people around you. And they had stories. Everyone in NYC has a story to share. You just have to talk to them.”
“That’s nice.” From the distance in Kathy’s voice, Joël could tell she was back on her computer, possibly playing a game or maybe booking his flights for him. “The only story I’m interested in right now is yet another from my favourite horror writer.”
“Okay. I’ll get on it.”
“Good. And hey, maybe you can use whatever experience you have now—or in NYC—as inspiration. Curse of the Birth Name or something like that.”
“Maybe,” Joël said. “But I don’t think that’d sell well.”
“Just leave that to me. I’m emailing you plane tickets, and your finalized time table, okay?”
“Great. Thank you.”
“No worries. But Joël? From now on, just focus on yourself. Don’t look at the press releases or anything else. Just get yourself on that plane and then to Black Markets, where we can have lunch. Then, get yourself home.”
Joël imagined himself following Kathy’s plans like a video game avatar. It was how he’d envisioned most of his life anyway—like a male character from one of his books getting up and going through the daily life events in the body he was always supposed to have. Now he had that body, more or less, so his imaginings took on a symmetry they never had before. At least, Joël thought, there was that going for him.
“All right, bonne nuit,” Kathy said.
“Bonne nuit.”
4 Stars
*Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by the author/publisher for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.*
Joel knows who he truly is on the inside, but he hasn't yet voiced it to anyone, but himself. Joel is saved by a Statue of Liberty performer after almost being flattened like a pancake while attending a horror book convention in NYC. A brush with death puts things into perspective for Joel and he knows it's time to come out as transgender. He has to leave "Violet" behind and truly become Joel.
This was a quick and enjoyable read. I've been very curious about books with trans characters and just with the subject matter in general. It's fascinating, but very confusing as well. There are so many questions I have about the matter, but it's such a delicate subject, I can't just ask the questions I really want to know. I'm not sure if this book alleviated any of my curiosity or if I walked away a bit more curious and with a few more questions.
What I do know is It took a long time for me to work up the courage to read a book on the subject matter, but I absolutely loved both Joel and Theo. We only see the very beginning of their relationship, but they had a really good chemistry and connection. The story is well-written, I just wish it had been more detailed and explained a bit more. Neither Joel or Theo have had bottom surgery, and during the sex scene I couldn't picture it really, so I had to google it. I'll admit my co-bloggers tried to help, but the information on post-hormones, pre-surgery seem to be very limited or maybe we just aren't looking in the right places. Haha
The ending is left pretty open. If the author had explained things in a bit more detail and given me a few more chapters, this could have been a solid 4.5-5 Star read. As it is, I'm giving it a very recommendable 4 Stars!
Book Playlist:
Playlist
Hello readers! My short novella Different Names for the Same Thing comes out at the end of the month. It's a contemporary m/m erotic romance, but both protagonists are trans men. I'm really excited about this work because it managed to combine a lot of things in my own experience--transness, being a horror writer, being bilingual (at least a little bit), living in Canada and experiencing NYC for the first time--but one thing in particular that I was able to explore through both characters is a love of music and poetry. So for this stop on my blog tour, I'd like to show you all a playlist I've created for the story. There are only 8 songs total and I've divided it into two parts. Each one is meant to correspond to a different time period for the main POV character Joël.
Joël's first NYC Trip:
Death Cab for Cutie - Marching Bands of Manhattan
HIM - Wings of a Butterfly
30 Seconds to Mars - The Kill
Regina Spektor - Us
Joël's Second NYC trip:
Regina Spektor - Small Town Moon
Sufjan Stevens - To Be Alone With You
Listener - Wooden Heart
Death Cab for Cutie - Stable Song
As you can tell, the first list contains a lot more angst-y songs like 30 Seconds to Mars and HIM. Joël borrows a lot of his aesthetic (both personal and stylistically in his horror writing) from these bands, and the angst he experiences in this section is meant to represent his gender dysphoria. The second list, though, is a lot mellower. He's come out officially, and he's looking for love. The Listener song, along with the Sufjan Stevens, are both extremely intimate songs to me and in place to represent that love he looks for (and obviously finds). Regina Spektor and Death Cab for Cutie appear on both lists, and to me, represent the feeling of exploration he gets in NYC.
I really hope you enjoy this playlist! And if you check out the book, I hope you enjoy that too! Thanks for reading.
Giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Author Bio
Francis Gideon is a writer of m/m romance, but he also dabbles in mystery, fantasy, historical, and paranormal fiction. He likes to stay up late, drink too much coffee, and read too many comic books. When not writing fiction, Francis teaches college English classes and studies for his PhD. He has published several critical articles on everything from the Canadian poet and artist, P.K. Page, transgender identity in the YouTube community, and character deaths in the TV show Hannibal. He writes his novels using his middle name, so that his students don’t Google him and ask too many questions.
Follow me on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/francisgideon88
Favorite my Smashwords author page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/francisgideon
Visit my website: http://www.francisgideon.wordpress.com
Email me: francisgideon88@gmail.com
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ReplyDeleteCongratulations on your new release Francis the book sounds fab and I wish you many sales!
ReplyDeleteCongrats and best wishes on your newest book release, Francis - looking forward to read the book!
ReplyDeletecongrats and book sounds great
ReplyDeleteHi Francis! Congratulations on the release of Different Names for the Same Thing and looking forward to reading it!
ReplyDeleteHi Francis! I'm always unreasonably excited to see a Canadian character in a book!
ReplyDeleteFor those who follow my facebook page know that the cover is a good start. Having read the blurb it goes up a notch or three, so getting this through the giveaway would be just about right.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new book.
ReplyDelete