Length: 55,220 words approx.
Cover Design: Ethereal Ealain
Up In The Air Series
Blurb
When Max flies out to Los Angeles, his patience is tested when he offers to help fellow air steward and rising drag queen, Dai Zee, with her costume changes at the best drag club in LA, Flamingos. While he watches Dai Zee perform, he catches the eye of a guy in the corner, but fails to find him when the performance ends. An ill-timed text message sends Max back to the bottle, and into the bed of a man he doesn’t know, and doesn’t want to be with.
The next night at Flamingos he finds the man he was searching for, but it’s not as easy as he’d hoped. Antonio Baldini isn’t interested in a drunken Max and rejects his advances until another drag queen, Miss Crystal, plays a hand in getting the two of them together. As Max and Antonio step past the initial confusion, they tread carefully with each other, neither one wanting to get hurt.
Even when Max is back in London, the late-night video calls don’t stop, but it’s when they are reunited in Las Vegas that things turn serious.
Max can’t shake his past, and someone is out for him and his job – trying to stop him from flying altogether. He’s worried about what it will mean for his new relationship if he can’t fly; and whether he can stay away from the drink long enough to be with a man who seems to care for him.
Thanks for having me today at Bayou Book Junkie, here I'm answering a few questions from my readers.
Which writers inspire you?
There are so many that I love and read anything that they write, but the two main writers for me are Sean Kennedy and Vicki Pettersson. Sean’s Tigers and Devils series was the one that helped me connect with a story being written about gay men and the lives they lead. I’ve read his book a couple of times over, because they are so good and I love the characters he created. With Vicki, she is an urban fantasy writer whose Signs of the Zodiac series gripped me for years. I’ve learnt a lot from her writing, and interviews, and love the world she created within Las Vegas.
When did you decide to become a writer?
There was always a desire in me to write. I wanted to publish a book, but I never did anything about it. It was when I was eighteen that I told a friend I wanted to be a writer, but it wasn’t until I was 36 when I did anything about it. A friend of mine told me to just write when I asked her about the approach to writing and what to do. I followed her advice and from there learnt how to polish up the rough edits I created.
Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?
I have used NaNoWriMo to get me motivated for a book, or a set time to get things done. I work best with a deadline, but not self-imposed deadlines. I tend to write scenes/chapters as opposed to words as that means I have completed something and can move onto the next part of the story. That said, if I am working and want to take a break I make sure I get up to a round number to make myself feel good. No point leaving it with 997 words when I can add three more.
Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer just see where an idea takes you?
I play with an idea, and then work out the details. For my latest book, Up in the Air 2: West Coast, I knew I wanted Max to have some kind of ‘happy for now’ story, and I knew the kind of guy he would like, but that was it. I spent time thinking about the things which would happen to him, and what would stop him getting what he wanted. Once I have the idea, I write out a plot and plan the chapters and then write. Sometimes I stick to what I have written, other times I have to revisit and replan as I go along. The characters do go on their own journey, and I enjoy letting them find their own way in the story too.
What is the hardest thing about writing? What was the hardest thing about writing your latest book?
I love the writing part, but I think the moment I’ve clicked published or sent it off worries the most. These are words, and characters I have worked with for some time and as much as I love them, I am hopeful that people will also enjoy them too. The only other part of writing that I am finding hard is that I don’t want to have used the same situations in different books. In the first Up in the Air book, James has a horrible ex. I did the same in On the Third Kiss, but I wanted to make sure they were different to each other so that I wasn’t rehashing the same scenario or character with a different name.
In Up in the Air 2: West Coast, the hardest part was what I put Max through. I am a problem solver, and I want to make everything good, and it was hard to see Max struggle with the things I put him through. However, he made it to the other side, and I can’t wait to see what happens next, or how I can screw up his life some more.
As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a teacher. That was my dream and I would spend playtime with my imaginary class giving them things to do. I didn’t do well with my exams and had to go straight to work when I left school at 16, but I did try and go back to do things, yet it wasn’t working out. However, it’s there as a dream and sometimes you let them go to have fun doing other things.
How long does it take you to write the first draft?
I can write the first draft really quickly, and it can be done in a month. I like a deadline and so if I have one of them it can be done even quicker. I use a word processor tablet that doesn’t have internet access, or solitaire, and can use it for just writing. I’ve found that this has helped me because when I worked in Word the red squiggly underline put me off. Now I can write everything out in the first instance and then correct the spellings when I upload it to the computer.
June 11 - Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words,
June 13 - My Fiction Nook,
June 15 - The Novel Approach,
June 18 - Bayou Book Junkie,
June 20 - MM Good Book Reviews
George was about eighteen when he told his friend that he was going to be a writer. It took him another eighteen years before he finally did anything about it and wrote his first short story. A typical Englishman, he drinks buckets of tea with milk—but no sugar, because he is sweet enough. His Nan told him so.
George lives just outside of London, but close enough to enjoy Soho and the West End, where you will find him in a bar with a pint, in a club dancing into the early hours of the morning, or enjoying a musical in the theater; but more than likely he will be in a coffee shop reading a book or writing a new story. Currently single, but taking applications for future husband position, George enjoys crafting romantic stories in which he hopes that one day, life will imitate art.
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