Please describe your whole book in ten words.

Heart-wrenching, dramatic, suspenseful, provocative, sad, happy, dramatic, mysterious, romantic, heart-pounding

Part of the excitement I have around your book is that it is a great book for the glbtq community.  What is your place in that community, if you don't mind divulging?

My place? I have never known my place...and it gets me in a lot of trouble. Seriously, I suppose if you're asking about how I live as a gay man, it's pretty quietly, with most of my life revolving around my writing, my son, my partner, and my dog.

Do you have a favorite GLBTQ author?  Who would you recommend to this community?

The first person who came to mind was Armistead Maupin. I remember being thrilled when I was very young with his TALES OF THE CITY books and devouring all of them. Last summer, I read his latest installment to those books, MICHAEL TOLLIVER LIVES...and was moved to tears. Maupin speaks to me. I would recommend people like Maupin, Jean Genet, Alan Hollinghurst, Patricia Highsmith, Patricia Nell Warren, Victor J. Banis, Felice Picano...I could go on, but the above are all innovators and trail-blazers and good authors to know.

Who are you reading right now?

Right now, I'm reading a book called GROTESQUE by a wonderful and quirkly Japanese author, Natsuo Kirino. It's a very odd little tale from the POV of a woman whose beautiful sister became a prostitute and was brutally murdered.

Where do you do most of your reading?  and your writing?

I read all over the place...on public transportation, in the back yard, in bed, and sometimes, dangerously, in the car (but only when stopped at lights, which sometimes get me an angry horn blast from behind). My favorite place is probably on the sofa in my office. I do almost all my writing at the desk in my office, from where I'm answering your questions right now.

What is your favorite GLBTQ book? 

Our Lady of the Flowers, by Jean Genet. It's dark as dark can be, dangerous, and ground-breaking.

Who is your favorite glbtq hero/ine?

Oh, I guess staying in vein with the above, I would say Maupin's Michael Tolliver. He's sort of a gay everyman.

What are you working on now and when can we expect it in print?

I just moved from Miami to Seattle and that move has been taking up a lot of time and allowing the writing projects to pile up. I have contracts for two ebooks novellas...one is a coming out story (a romantic tale), and the other is a gay take on Goldilocks and the Three Bears (go figure). I also have several ideas for a new novel and the one I'm most drawn to at the moment is one involving an infamous, late 20th century American serial killer. I also have my first young adult novel coming out just in time for Halloween (it's a horror story) called DEAD END STREET (Amber Quill Press). I also have a couple ebook novellas coming out soon, one is called FUGUE and it's quite racy and risque about a master/slave relationship, and PERSONA, a sweet little love story involving hidden identities and meeting online.

Many of your readers, and ours, are aspiring writers -- what advice do you have to help aspiring writers to break into print?

Persistence. Keep writing and don't give up. Today, more than ever, there are lots of options for new writers, including small press and ebook publishers. When you do have something polished and ready-to-go, be careful about submitting. Research carefully and make sure the publisher you're contacting is the right one and follow their guidelines to the letter.

Most people imagine writers lead a glamorous life.  What sorts of glamorous things you do?

Oh, I could never say, lest I arouse hateful jealousy among my adoring fans.

 
Do you have a color scheme?  What colors do you connect to?

Dark ones, mostly: blues, purples, deep scarlet.

What one question do you wish you had been asked in interviews past, but have yet to have been asked?  and your answer?

Would you accept one million dollars as a token of gratitude for doing this interview? My answer would be, "Absolutely!"

 
If you could give your book to one person, who would it be and why?

I would give a copy of IM, my thriller about a serial killer who meets his victims online, to the next gay man who arranges an online hookup and invites a stranger into his home.