Blog Tour ~ The Year Of The Cock by Shane Morton (Giveaway)
Hello Bayou Book Junkie readers! I am excited about my new novel The Year of the Cock finally getting released today. It is a story that has been playing in my head for quite some time. Before I began writing books, I was a playwright and a musical theatre actor. The beginnings of this novel began when I was 21 years old and hopelessly miscast in a musical at my college.
I don’t know how many of you out there in the cyber world are musical theatre fans but I am obsessed and always have been. Wouldn’t life be beautiful if we all sang our feelings with perfect pitch and rhythm! I sometimes forget that it isn’t and belt it out at inopportune times… like grocery shopping! HA! My husband finds it endearing at least.
Anyway, I digress, so I was cast in the lead of a musical called Company by Stephen Sondheim. It is an amazing show about a straight man named Bobby who surrounds himself with married couples and cannot commit to a real relationship himself. I was 21 and naïve. I had never had my heart broken or even truly understood what it meant to fall in love with someone, so I did not grasp the fear and loneliness of the character. I thought it was a comedy. I was horrible. HA!
I did get a chance at redemption though. I got to play the part again when I was 30. This time I understood what the character was going through, the pathos and insecurities that made him tic and made him human. I think I was pretty good… At least that is what I tell myself!
The concept of someone truly alone, even when constantly surrounded by those who love him stayed with me. It was a haunting thought. That idea, or story nugget as I like to call them, swished around in my brain and I never did anything with it. Instead, I wrote a book about drag queen supernatural detectives called The Trouble With Off-Campus Housing. It was loosely based on some incidents that happened to me in my small college town. Then I wrote about a man who couldn’t get over the failures he had accumulated in his life called Private Waterloos. After that book, I wanted to write something light and airy and fun. So, of course, this little nugget of an idea crept into my dreams and tortured me until I decided that this would be my next story.
A tale about a gay man afraid of letting go and allowing himself to fall in love instead of always just searching for the easy way out, or the easy lay. The couples that I created to be a part of his life fall into many categories, straight, lesbian and gay. They are of all ages, beliefs and life experiences. They are the glue that holds the main character, Jon, together.
I didn’t want this book to be just a narrative told from Jon’s perspective. I approached the book through the calendar year, and each chapter is a holiday, some of them are really weird holidays too! Did you know there is a bisexual day? There is! Holidays have always been a gathering point for me and it seemed to be a natural way for my characters to come together and be present in each other’s life.
Because the book was about a character that had clear issues, it made me think about gossip. You know, we all have that friend that we all love but cannot seem to stop talking about with our other friends. Gossip is something that most of us love to share! A juicy tidbit of information that spirals out of control until it takes on a life of its own. So, each of the chapters is told from the perspective of Jon’s friends. I decided that Jon would be the focus, but the chapters would mainly be told from the people that are in Jon’s life; his friends, lovers and confidantes. Don’t worry, Jon has a few chapters of his own too!
Flaws are what makes us human and I really relished delving into these characters. I think that you will find a piece of yourself in there and can relate to the drama of living a normal life. It gets kind of steamy too… I hope that you enjoy the book!
And remember that 2017 is the year of the cock! So strut babies!
October 24 - Bayou Book Junkie
October 28 - RJ Scott
November 1 - Alpha Book Club
November 6 - Love Bytes
November 10 - The Novel Approach
Cover Design: Ry Higdon Photography
Add to Goodreads here.
Blurb
He is that magical being that no one chooses to be, the third wheel. He has filled his life with happy couples, in various states of married bliss, that fills the hole in his heart with the acceptance and understanding he secretly craves.
Told by the people who know him best, The Year Of The Cock, is a year in the growth of their best friend, Jon. Can he learn to love, to open himself up to the messy truth of relationships? Will he finally become the person he has tried to repress his entire adult life or will the year-end with him stuck in the status quo of his gay bachelorhood?
Author Bio
Shane K Morton lives in Studio City, CA with his husband Jody and their fur baby Slayer. His first novel, The Trouble With Off-Campus Housing was published in 2016. When not writing, Shane can be found at a film festival or performing cabaret somewhere in a dark dive bar in LA.
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