The Christmas Q&A!

It’s that time of year where we say “it’s that time of year” again, and we corner some of the fabulous UK lesfic authors to ask them about their favourite reads of the year. And because, let’s be honest, 2016 left a lot to be desired, we asked them about their hopes for 2017. Take it away gals…

 

 

 

Clare Lydon

Clare’s the author of the best-selling romcom series All I Want – Christmas, Valentines, Autumn, you name it her heroines have been there and entertained her readers all the way. Clare’s other novels include London Calling, The Long Weekend and her latest Nothing to Lose.

What was your favourite book of the year and why?

Can I choose three? I loved HP Munro’s Saving Grace, the follow-up to Grace Falls. It’s romantic, sexy and funny, and it was great catching up with old friends. I was also a fan of G Benson’s Flinging It – her easy style just wraps itself around you. Plus, Catherine Ryan-Hyde’s The Language Of Hoofbeats was just terrific – a family saga which was beautifully written and paced.

And what are your hopes for 2017?

I’d love to see a breakout lesfic book crossover to the mainstream – there’s so much talent around, it’s about due to happen again. On a personal note, my aim for 2017 is to release three novels including All I Want Forever and the third in the London series.

AL Brooks

AL Brooks’ debut has been causing a stirring this year with readers finding her erotic novel The Club a refreshing read. Her second novel, Dark Horse, is published by Ylva in February.

What was your favourite book of the year and why?

Favourite book of the year was Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan. Simply one of the best YA coming out stories ever – great characters, a genuine warmth and depth to the story, and moved me to tears at the end. Beautiful.

What are your hopes for 2017?

My hopes for 2017 are twofold. Firstly, a hope for us all: that the good people of the world, the ones with humanity and tolerance, come together to show the hate-mongering minorities that we will not stand for their destructive rhetoric any longer. Secondly, a personal hope: that this deluge of words that has taken over my soul the past eighteen months keeps on going and lets me continue to fulfil my lifelong dream to be a writer…

Wendy Hudson

Wendy Hudson is the debut author of romantic thriller, Four Steps, that has impressed readers as a work that could have been written by a seasoned pro.

What was your favourite book of the year and why?

I’m going to offer two titles for this because they are really one, wonderful story, that my 20 year old self completely identified with. A Story of Now and The Sum of these Things by Emily O’Beirne. I think Emily is one of the most skilled writers I’ve come across in lesfic, at writing those beautifully intimate moments between her main characters. I’d defy anyone not to fall in love with them and their story. It truly touched me.

What are your hopes for 2017?

For 2017 I’m hoping to be less of a pantser and more of an organiser when it comes to my writing. I even bought a whiteboard to help me plan! Okay, so I bought it four months ago and it’s still not up on the wall, which I admit isn’t a good start. But, you know, it’s not 2017 yet…

Book two will hopefully be published, it’s currently titled Mine to Keep but as always these things are subject to change! I’d also like to continue Alex and Lori’s story (and Frank’s!) with a follow up to Four Steps, but I don’t want to force it, so we’ll see what happens.

HP Munro

 Award-winning author HP Munro can turn her hand to historical novels as well as a romcom and this year followed up the popular Grace Falls with Saving Grace.

What was your favourite book of the year and why?

Clare Lydon’s Nothing To Lose – I loved the book when I read it. However,  I found myself thinking about the book more and having way more empathy for Scarlet and her predicament when I had two weeks to pack my life up for a move from Edinburgh to London. After the stress of doing that, I can’t imagine only having minutes.

And what are your hopes for 2017?

For time and space to write and a little less stress.

Jenny Frame

Jenny Frame loves her royals. From the Aristocratic Courting the Countess to the A Royal Romance. And wolves! Don’t forget Heart of the Pack.

What was your favourite book of the year and why?

Beneath The Waves by Ali Vali. I’m hugely interested in ancient myths, and alternative history. The themes in this book explored both of these subjects. It was refreshing to read these themes wrapped up with a lovely love story.

And what are your hopes for 2017?

2016 has been a tumultuous year, on both sides of the pond, and personally. Therefore I would be delighted if 2017 was a nice, boring, hum drum, year. I would just be absolutely fine with that. Here’s hoping we get it.

Jade Winters

Jade Winters is the popular and prolific author of both lesfic thrillers and romances with her books rarely out of the top 100. Her latest are Flirting with Danger and Christmas Kiss.

What was your favourite book of the year?

Four Steps by Wendy Hudson. This book had me gripped from the first page. I especially like thrillers with some romance thrown in and this book didn’t disappoint. I have a tendency to start reading a book, then get distracted and not go back to it for a while, but this one kept my attention throughout. Well thought out characters and a good pace made sure of this. I particularly liked the setting in the Scottish Highlands and could really visualise the scenes. It was really well written and I literally couldn’t put it down.

What are your hopes for 2017?

Aside from good health and world peace 🙂 I’m hoping to travel more and work less. From a writing perspective I’m hoping to concentrate on crime fiction in 2017 i.e The Ashley McCoy series, although I do have a romance in the pipeline for early next year.

Anna Larner

Anna Larner has been signed up by Bold Strokes and her debut Highland Fling, set everywhere from the Scottish Highlands to a gay bar in Leicester, is out in April next year.

What was your favourite book of the year?

During this tumultuous year, I found myself returning to the comfort of my favourite writers who have meant such a lot to me, such as Nancy Garden, Carol Ann Duffy, and Virginia Woolf to name a few.

But, of course, all favourites begin as exciting new discoveries. This year I read my first novel by KE Payne, her lesbian romance When I Knew You.

What I particularly enjoyed was the clever idea underpinning the story – let’s just say it involves a series of letters.  I also loved the contrast between the two main characters, and on turning the last page I felt sad that I would never get a trip on Ash’s boat or have my pulse taken by surgeon Dr Nat.

What are your hopes for 2017?

My hopes for 2017? That my debut novel Highland Fling becomes your new discovery and a favourite you treasure and return to.

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous 2017.

Q&A with Jane Retzig

Today we have Jane Retzig in the hot seat for a Q&A. Jane started writing in the 90s and published Boundaries – a tale of passion and turmoil between a young and older lover in 1970s Northern England. After a break in writing she has written three more novels – stories with a bit of a difference to keep her readers on their toes.

Her latest, The Wrong Woman, is a lesbian mystery romance set in the north. It features Kate, the rising star of the trauma therapy world, accused of a terrible crime and finding love when she least expects it.

Hi Jane. How would you describe your novels and please tell us a little about your new work The Wrong Woman.

I’ve always seen my novels as Lesbian Romantic Fiction. I’m interested in situations where something happens to take my protagonists out of their comfort zone… How they respond under pressure.

The Wrong Woman was inspired by personal experience of bullying directed against myself and several of my friends. While I was writing it, I jokingly referred to it as ‘my revenge novel’ but I don’t think it is really. It was motivated by a desire for the ‘baddies’ to get their come-uppance, but I hope I managed to capture the light and shade in all of us. The book pretty much wrote itself and took me by surprise on several occasions. It was a cathartic experience. I felt a lot better after I’d written it.

What have readers liked most about your latest novel?

It seems to be a bit like Marmite – people either seem very enthusiastic or they hate it. It’s got a big ‘cast list’ compared with my usual writing and the lack of chapters seems to have thrown and confused some readers. The people who like it seem to have enjoyed the fast pace, the twists and turns, and the fairly quirky characters. A friend who read it texted me at 2.30am with ‘Just finished your book, you ****! Thought you should be awake in the middle of the night too!’

You have a diverse set of characters. Who have you enjoyed creating and writing most?

I’m very fond of a lot of my characters, but in The Wrong Woman I’d have to say Saskia, my ‘shake-up cocktails girl’. I had a lot of fun with her.

How important is setting and region for your novels?

All of those things – region, season, period, time – they all vary in importance depending on how important they are to my characters.

Who has influenced your writing and which authors/novels have left their mark on you?

The Photograph – a lesbian mystery romance

There have been so many, starting with Enid Blyton as a kid. Then the great Northern writers – Stan Barstow, Keith Waterhouse. A whole swathe of American authors – Patti Smith, Kate Millett, Jane Bowles, Carson McCullers. American lesbian fiction – I think I worked my way through everything Silver Moon and Gay’s the Word had on their shelves. I also love the books of my Northern gay romantic fiction writing buddy Tim Bairstow. But probably if I had to name my two biggest influences I’d have to say Daphne du Maurier and Elizabeth Taylor for their brilliant characterisation and great storytelling.

Are you a fan of lesbian fiction and if so, which novels have tickled your fancy?

I love lesbian fiction and I’ve currently got five UKLesFic blog featured novels waiting impatiently for me on my kindle. Frustratingly, I don’t seem to be able to read when I’m writing though, and I’ve been writing fairly constantly for the past year.

So the last lesbian-themed novel I read was By Blood by Ellen Ullman. It’s brilliant, very creepy and compulsive and set in San Francisco in the 1970s.

When I finish my current novel, I’m looking forward to a massive lesfic binge (hopefully in the garden on a sun lounger).

You had a break from writing. What got you back in the saddle?

Lesbian tale with a hint of the supernatural

It was more the other way round. I’ve always tended to write when I have space. I just hit a period in my life that was quite turbulent – moving four times, looking after a poorly elderly relative, coping with the breakdown of a very long-term relationship – I’m much more settled now, so I’m writing again.

What’s next in the pipeline?

I’m about a third of the way through a new novel. Its working title is The Retreat, and it’s about a long term affair that’s on the verge of being uncovered.

Thanks Jane! You can find out more about Jane and all of her novels on Amazon.

Merry Christmas Q&A!

It’s becoming a bit of a festive tradition here at UK LesFic to corral a few of our finest (or drunkest!) authors and ask them to answer three book and Christmas-themed questions.

Our questions to round out this year were:

– What was your book of the year and why?

– What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

– And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

Here’s what they had to say…

 

 

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VG Lee is a stand-up comedian and novelist and, in the words of Stella Duffy, “funny, smart, clever, witty, not afraid to be honest and poignant at the same time.” Her first novel Diary of Provincial Lesbian is treasured by many, and Sarah Waters described her most recent book, Always You Edina, as “A real treat of a novel”.

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What was your book of the year and why?

I read Petite Mort by Beatrice Hitchman, published by Serpent’s Tail, when I was a judge on this year’s Polari First Book Prize and thought it was excellent. (The novel made the shortlist of five.) The heroine is Adele Roux, seventeen years old and the story is set for the most part in Paris in 1913. It is beautifully written, atmospheric and thrilling.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

I’m going to go backwards to answer this because I want to re-read Emma Donoghue’s The Sealed Letter which was published in 2008. Someone lent me a copy and I thoroughly enjoyed it but then had to give it back and I find I miss it. The story is set in Victorian London and based on a real-life scandal and it’s absolutely gripping!

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

As there are several people I would like to be the angel on the top of my tree, I shall be diplomatic and opt for my cat Lettuce. I can easily imagine her climbing up the tree, hanging from a branch, bringing the whole thing crashing down…

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Kiki Archer is the mistress of lesbian chicklit and all five of her novels have been massive lesfic best-sellers. She’s been quiet of late, working on a screenplay to that bestest selling of them all, But She is My Student.

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What was your book of the year and why?

I loved Melissa Brayden’s Kiss the Girl. It was smart, sweet, and really sexy. Plus there was a huge focus on snogging, perfect.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

My ‘to read’ pile is so high now, but top of the list is definitely Cindy Rizzo’s Love is Enough. I had the pleasure of meeting Cindy over the summer when she read on my Creating Chemistry panel at L Fest, and she was such good fun. I loved her debut book, Exception to the Rule, and I’ve heard this one is just as good.

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

I would love it to be Gillian Anderson, Stella Duffy from The Fall. I have a huge crush on her power lesbian vibe and her array of satin shirts!

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Catherine Hall is a Cambridge graduate who enjoyed careers in documentary-film production and international peace-building before she became a freelance writer. Her début, Days of Grace, was critically and commercially successful, and The Proof of Love won the Green Carnation Prize. Her latest novel is the vivid and intriguing The Repercussions.

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What was your book of the year and why?

I really loved Kerry Hudson’s Thirst – it’s easy to see why it was shortlisted for this year’s Green Carnation prize. It’s a love story with a difference that takes you from Hackney to Russia with complex, damaged, beautifully portrayed characters who really make you care and yearn for them to be all right in the end.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

My Christmas stocking is bound to be bookishly bulgy. Hopefully with Stella Duffy’s new collection of short stories, Everything is Moving, Everything is Joined. I’ve read a couple of them and they’re fantastic. If there’s also a copy of The Paying Guest by Sarah Waters to curl up with in front of a roaring fire and a hot toddy, I’d be a very happy girl indeed.

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

Laura Prepon, in her incarnation as Alex Vause in Orange is The New Black would be the perfect naughty angel to grace my tree. Hopefully she’d fly down and join me under the mistletoe for a bit of Christmas cheer…

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Bath resident KE Payne is an author with Bold Strokes Books. She has written five Young Adult novels, including the very funny 365 Days. She also writes short stories for women’s magazines. Her latest novel, Once the Clouds Have Gone, is her first adult lesbian romance, and she has been dead chuffed with its reception.

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What was your book of the year and why?

The book that stayed with me long after I’d read it this year was A Kiss in the Dark by Cat Clarke. It’s the kind of book that grabs you from the first page and doesn’t let go. I loved her flowing style of writing and the fact that the book is written from two different perspectives, which added a nice twist to it.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

Can I cheat and have two? I know I’m late to the party on this one, but I’m itching to get my hands on the latest Sarah Waters novel, The Paying Guests. I absolutely love her flowing style of writing, so that’s definitely on my list. I also hear rumblings that Kate Morton has a new book on the horizon too, so I’ll be keeping my eye out for that one. I love Kate Morton; I find her writing so beautiful and soothing. Reading her books is akin to snuggling on the sofa under a blanket on a winter’s night with your fluffy PJs on. Just lovely.

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

Who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree (and why)? Oh, this is going to sound cheesy, and he never did suit a tutu, but I’d like my father to come back and visit me again. He died a long time ago now, and I sometimes struggle to remember what he sounded like, so to hear his voice again just one more time would make my Christmas.

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Veronica Fearon was born in Hackney, in the east end of London to West Indian parents. She has a degree in psychology and has worked as a criminal lawyer in London for most of her adult life. Her début novel, The Girl with the Treasure Chest, was longlisted for the Polari First Book Prize.

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What was your book of the year and why?

My book of the year is called Mitchie by Catherine Blackfeather. It’s a story about a young girl forced to flee her home town, and make a life disguised as a boy. It’s full of reprehensible characters, which I love, and Mitchie’s voice is earnest and comical even in the face of some quite serious issues.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

Top of my wish list for next year is Always you Edina by VG Lee. She is one of those rare writers who can inject humour into every word or sentence she chooses.

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

As for the Angel at the top of my tree, I’d have Angelique Kidjo who could sing a mixture of crimbo, politics and just plain powerful songs.

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Jody Klaire hails from Wales, where she lives with a host of furry friends: her golden retriever, several gerbils, some sneaky house mice, and a neighbour’s cat. She loves writing, sport, music, art, and teaching herself new subjects. Jody is a proud member of the GCLS, and is delighted to be a part of the Bedazzled Ink family. Jody’s début novel, The Empath was a runner up in the recent Rainbow Awards.

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What was your book of the year? Why?

That’s a toughie if I’m honest. There’s been so many wonderful books out and so many awesome big hitters. We seem to have been planning a British invasion too if the Rainbow Awards are anything to go by. (Big cheer to UKLesfic’s own Cari.) I also got to see my début, The Empath get in on the act too and I’ve got Fractured to release in Nov/Dec.

All that being said, My favourite book of the year has to be The Midnight Moon by Geri Hill. She’s someone who I love reading. It doesn’t seem to matter where she takes me, what characters are there or what the topic is. As an author she makes me want to read anything with her name on it, I get excited when her books are due for release. She’s a master and The Midnight Moon is an effortless, feel-good romance with some witty, fun-filled dialogue. The characters are cool, the location is sunny and warm and well… it’s Gerri!

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

There’s a couple of novels I’m quite looking forward to. Obviously I’m always excited to read my fellow Bedazzled authors’ offerings and I’m also really looking forward to Melissa Brayden‘s book Just Three Words. (Bold Strokes folks are pretty cool bunch.) I guess it goes without saying that Gerri’s offerings will be a must-buy for me, right?

On the writing side of things, I am releasing three books next year, the second in the series, and follow-on’s of both The Empath and Fractured. (Blind Trust – Above & Beyond Book II and Blood Run – The Black Wolf Chronicles Book II.) I’m also set to release my first ever romance La Vie En Bleu around May time which takes a scatty Englishwoman and a suave French artisan and throws in a whole load of Notting Hill/Oscar Wilde humour. It looks set to be an exciting year on both reading and releasing fronts!

Who would you most like as the angel on top of your tree?

Not that my dear little puppy would fit on the tree (he’s ten weeks and already the size of a lion,) but my Goldie Fergus would probably be my pick. One, because if he’s on the tree, he’s not stealing tissues, my socks, chewing the couch, chewing me… And two, Fergus and angel in the same sentence seems as apt as the name Little John was. Failing getting the fluffy fiend to behave enough for us to place him on top, I’ll go for cake. Simply, because cake is always heavenly!

Have a peaceful, love and laughter-filled time. Merry Christmas!!

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Karen Campbell is the author of Little Whispers, a collection of short stories, and Violet’s Story. Her second novel The Knowing is a supernatural drama set in Glasgow. Karen is Scottish, grumpy in the morning, supports Arsenal and Rangers, and drink lots of Irn Bru. She is partial to a tattie scone and square sausage when she goes home. She likes music to be played loudly and is not keen on spiders. At all.

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What was your book of the year and why?

The book I read this year which had the most impact on me was The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom. I know it’s not a new book but I only just came across it and it’s fantastic. I was trying to tell my girlfriend the story, once I had just finished it, and I broke down in tears because it was so beautiful and it had touched me so much. If I had to pick a LesFic book, it would need to be The Comedienne by VG Lee, as I have just re-read it for the second time. I love her turn of phrase, it totally appeals to my sense of humour. She’s a very talented writer.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

Next year, I want to publish two books. I want to get better as a writer. I want the world to be my oyster. Oh and Scotland to get independence. I can dream, can’t I?

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

I would like Siouxsie Sioux to be the angel on top of my Christmas tree, so that I could prod her with my finger and make her sing to me. “Dazzle it’s a glittering prize.” Then Robert Smith from The Cure would come to rescue her for the sake of old friendships and I would make them gig in my living-room. Then I would make them roast chicken and mashed potatoes, and serve intoxicating cider so that I could get them drunk and record all their stories. Before she left, I would ask Siouxsie to do my make-up.

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Beatrice Hitchman’s début, Petit Mort has been a bit of a stunner. Short-listed for the Polari Prize and Historical Writers’ Association Debut Novel Prize, and adapted on for Radio 4 as a series, Beatrice’s intriguing debut has drawn comparisons with the writing of Sarah Waters and Angela Carter and with films such as Moulin Rouge.

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What was your book of the year and why?

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves. I feel duty-bound to admit that it doesn’t feature any lesbians, but it’s a book about relationships in the most enlightening and unpredictable way. The narrator, Rosemary, a college freshman, has not one but two missing siblings…telling their story and her own, she’ll redefine your very concept of family. It’s such a funny, beautiful book.

What’s top of your wishlist for next year?

A film: Carol, the adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Carol was a 1950s landmark in fiction, daring to portray women differently at a time when most lesbian characters met a sticky end. The Blanchett/Mara combo will be absolutely boss, and Todd Haynes made Far From Heaven. O for Over-excited.

And who would you most like as the angel on the top of your tree?

Patricia Highsmith. She’d be hilarious! But she’d drop fag-ash on your presents (on purpose).

 

 

A big thank you to all our participating authors! And a Merry Christmas to everyone, from myself and Tig 🙂

Interview with Clare Lydon, author of the best-selling London Calling

Clare Lydon’s debut, London Calling, romped up the charts earlier this year and received rave reviews. She’s just published her second novel, The Long Weekend, and UKLesFic had a few questions for her.

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How would you classify your new book and what’s it about in a nutshell?

The Long Weekend is a lesbian drama with a healthy dash of romance. It’s the story of nine friends – four couples and a single – who rent a house in Devon to celebrate 20 years since they met at university. Tension, fine food, booze and revelations stud the weekend, leaving relationships in the balance and friendships on the line. Will they all come through unscathed? It’s in the balance till the final pages!

What grabbed you about the story and what have your early readers enjoyed most?

I think we’ve all been away on a weekend that didn’t quite go as planned, so I hope that this strikes a chord with readers. Also, I love a good drama with a mix of stories, so I thought I’d stray from the traditional format of girl-meets-girl-loses-girl-wins-girl-back.

My early readers have all described the book as like being dropped in the middle of a lesbian soap opera, which sounds good to me! They’ve also all liked the fact that it deals with women in their late 30s/just turning 40, and that it rattles along at a pace.

Plus, apparently one particular sex scene made one of my friends blush on the tube. That has to be a good sign.

Can readers expect the same kind of humour and characters in your new book as your best-selling London Calling?

While there is humour in the new book, this novel is far more tense than London Calling. Everyone’s a few years older and if you put nine people in a house together for five days, fireworks are bound to fly. But there are still a good chunk of one-liners because even in adversity, humour is a potent weapon.

As for the characters – yeah, I think they’re fairly similar as I like to reflect the world I see around me. The key change this time around is that everyone’s lesbian or gay – I’ve left the families at home.

How do you think your work differs from other lesfic works of the same genre?

My books are quintessentially British, but I hope they appeal across the board. My aim when writing is to reflect the world around me – I’ve no plans to write a historical novel or set one in space. I like realistic characters, realistic situations, a generous slug of humour and snappy dialogue. I hope all of those things make me stand out from the crowd.

Are you nervous about following up such a well-received debut?

Yes! When you release your first book, you never know how it’s going to do – mine did incredibly well and I’m thrilled that so many people bought it and enjoyed it. I’m hoping they enjoy The Long Weekend just as much – fingers crossed!

How’s life as a writer?

Writing is fantastic and frustrating in equal measures, but when you’re on a writing roll you do feel invincible. Self-publishing two novels has been a tremendous learning curve, but it’s also an awesome adrenaline rush when things work out. I don’t think I’ve had a better year in my life than 2014, releasing two novels and getting married too.

What I’ve learnt is that writing the book is only half the battle – it’s the marketing that’s the next step. I’ve done a book trailer for this book with the help of a friend, and am going to try a couple of other new things too – we’ll see what works.

One terrific surprise has been the fabulous community of lesbian authors and readers who’ve been very supportive. If I ever have a question, someone can usually answer it which is a fab bonus.

What’s next in the works?

So many people contacted me about my character Kate in London Calling – they all wanted to know what happened to her. So I’ve decided to write Kate’s story. It’s a follow-on from London Calling, not a sequel. Jess & Lucy and the families will be waltzing around the place, but the next book will concentrate of Kate’s search for love. I’m excited about it – I’m about a third of the way through it.

Where else can eager readers find your work in the meantime?

As well as my first novel London Calling, I’ve also got two short stories in two separate anthologies coming out this month too. Busy month, November.

First, my story A Champagne Christmas is included in Unwrap These Presents, an anthology from Ylva Publishing. Second, my story Once Upon A Caravan is included in L is For…, the charity anthology in aid of R U Coming Out which features oodles of UK lesfic authors.

Any readings coming up?

Funny you should ask! Myself, Angela Peach, Karen Campbell and Katie Bennett-Hall will be reading from the L is For… anthology in London on November 13th, so if you fancy coming down to Bar Titania on Charing Cross Road from 6pm, that would be awesome. If we’re not enough of a draw, there will be cocktails too. And possibly cake.

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Thanks Clare! Her new novel The Long Weekend is out now on Amazon. The paperback version will be available from Lulu.com from November 18th, and from Amazon in around four weeks’ time. You can find out more from her website.

The Great British Romance Q&A

With summer fading into autumn and shorter days just around the corner, thoughts of UK LesFic naturally turn to cheerier things. Romance, love, and smoochy stuff, to be precise. Bearing this in mind, we rounded up a pucker (hey, if you can come up with a better collective term, feel free to let me know!) of UK romance authors and asked them all to ponder these questions:

As a romance author famed for bringing passion to your pages, who is your favourite smoochy fictional couple – literary or screen – and who is your favourite romance author?

Have they (the author and/or couple) influenced your own romantic scribblings in any way?

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?

Here’s what they had to say:

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Clare Lydon (“writer, blogger, lover”) burst onto the LesFic scene in March of this year with her best selling début London Calling. She is a Virgo, a Spurs fan, a new convert to turkey rashers and a Curly Wurly devotee. A second book is currently “in the works.”

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My favourite lesbian romance author is Georgia Beers – she produces hugely enjoyable and readable books time after time – I particularly liked Too Close To Touch, Mine and Starting From Scratch. I also just read Melissa Brayden‘s Kiss The Girl and that’s a fantastic read where the chemistry from the two leads jumps off every page. And I have to mention K.E. Lane‘s And Playing The Role Of Herself which mixes the glamour of Hollywood with an at times absurd plot, but you can’t help falling for Robyn and Caid. They’re probably my all-time favourite lesbian romance couple. I’m also mainlining Lindsey Kelk right now to see what I can learn from her – she’s a hugely successful and funny straight romance writer.

For on-screen lesbian couples it’s slim pickings, but I think Bette and Tina from The L Word ticked a lot of boxes – their reunion was a thing of beauty.

Georgia Beers has certainly influenced me in how I try to build character development – she’s a master at it. And K.E. Lane wrote a book where the characters get together in the first half of the book – and I liked that a lot. It wasn’t a whole book of realisation dawning, followed by angst, followed by trepidation and finally, a climax. I think romance readers need a gamut of options in their plots, not for everything to follow a formulaic structure. Obviously, you can’t stray too far from the rules, but I’m all for breaking them a bit.

 

I can’t really think of any stories that have had me tearing my hair out. I read Geri Hill‘s Love Waits recently and although it’s smoothly written, my goodness, you have to wait forever till the pair get together. What can I say? I’m a very impatient woman, clearly.

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Edinburgh-based author H.P. Munro has had a pretty good year, with Grace Falls and Stars Collide both romping up the amazon charts, and her first novel Silver Wings scooping a Goldie award for best Historical Fiction. The least said about the L-Fest pirate outfit the better, however…

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As a romance author famed for bringing passion to your pages, who is your favourite smoochy fictional couple – literary or screen – and who is your favourite romance author?

I have been pondering this since you asked me a couple days ago and I can’t settle on one for either question, I think I’m too fickle to choose…However there are some fictional relationships that have resonated and stuck with me.

Sunset Song – Lewis Grassic Gibbon. I first read it as a fifteen year old and hated the story, then while doing my Higher English I re-read it and fell in love with the book that tells the story of a young woman growing up in Aberdeenshire in the early 1900’s. Thanks to the main romance in the book, it was the first book to break my heart and I had to sit quietly in class wiping tears as the book ended. I have re-read the book about a dozen times since then and it elicits the same response now as it did to my seventeen year old self.

Not quite as literary is the relationship of Helen and Nikki in Bad Girls, it was the second mainstream TV portrayal of two woman falling in love that I saw and connected with (the first was Beth and Margaret on Brookside, which prompted me to tell my best-friend that I was gay, her response was ‘no you’re not.’ It was another twelve years before I finally got to say ‘told you so’)

I adored Helen and Nikki, the show took the time to show the friendship and subsequent relationship develop and it was my first foray into fanshipping. My penchant for getting overly attached to TV characters resulted in me writing so I guess it makes that first time special.

As for romance writer – I have a few that will make me do a happy dance when I see a new book from them. Robin Alexander, Melissa Brayden and LT Smith.

Have they (the author and/or couple) influenced your own romantic scribblings in any way?

I definitely think so, they all are able to create an organic relationship despite how strange or unusual the meeting circumstances and they’re great at dialogue. I try to make sure my characters speak the way that I do with my friends (minus the Scottish accent). I think having a relaxed dialogue helps show the chemistry between the characters. The other thing that I like about them is that they all write with humour. I definitely try to make sure that humour is part of my work, I think the best way to a woman’s heart is being able to make her laugh (even when she’s ready to wring your neck – it’s a tactic that I find useful, if not lifesaving!)

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?  

Almost every book I read I end up almost yelling “Will you just speak to her!” the lack of ability to communicate honestly and openly is a plot device often used in books – mine included – but that doesn’t lessen my fury when if one or both of the characters would just use their words, they could live happily ever after sooner. Although that would probably make for a crap book. They meet, fall in love, talk…the end!

So with that in mind LT Smith’s latest book Still Life, falls into that category, but I wouldn’t want to change anything about it.

Given ten minutes with Harry Potter and I’d definitely have Hermione cop off with Harry though!

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Jenny Frame lives in Motherwell with her partner and a very spoiled dog. An Academy of Bards fan fic author, her début novel A Royal Romance will be published by Bold Strokes Books in 2015.

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My favourite fictional couple has to be Mr Darcy and Miss Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I love the book, and the dynamic of their relationship. There have been many actors who have represented them, but I think the two who captured them best were Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle in the BBC adaptation.

For my favourite Romance author I would have to say both Ali Vali and Radclyffe. They were the first lesfic authors I discovered, and the ones whose characters I could relate to the most.

Have they (the author and/or couple) influenced your own romantic scribblings in any way?

Absolutely. As a relative newcomer to the world of writing, I think each new book you read teaches you something new about the process, building characters, building worlds etc. So a big influence I would say.

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?

Emm… I don’t think there’s been a fictional couple who have made me want to rewrite their story, as I’m not a big fan of angst ridden romantic fiction. I’m more a happily ever after type of girl. In saying that, probably Mr Darcy and Miss Bennet are the ones who would make me tear my hair out in a good way. They have so many false starts and misunderstandings, but that’s what makes it all the more romantic in the end. Well…I think so anyway!

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L.T. Smith is “a late bloomer when it comes to writing”, who didn’t begin until 2005 with her first novel Hearts and Flowers Border. She soon caught the bug and has written numerous tales, usually with a comical slant to reflect, as she calls it, “my warped view of the dramatic.” Her latest novel, Still Life, was published by Ylva this month.

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Smoochy fictional couple?  Really? Smmmooooochy? Hmmm. Okay.  I will focus fully on the tasks ahead of me and try, yes try, to be as honest as I possibly can.

When asked who is my favourite ‘smoochy’ fictional couple I actually felt every thought in my head disappear as if it’d been written with a dry wipe pen and the question had acted like a white board eraser.  No. It wasn’t the word ‘smoochy’ that did it, even though the term does make the soles of my feet itch with want of running.  The main reason is because I just can’t make a decision.  There are so many couples out there that I have loved, lived with, lost over the course of a book or length of a film – and, in some cases, over a span of a series, to just choose the one.

Gut reaction? Still buggered over.  I loved the characters in Kyss Mig – the delectable and edible Frida with those gorgeous blue eyes loving it up with the serious and seemingly distant Mia. But then I think of Tala and Leyla in Sharmim Sarif’s I Can’t Think Straight (for me, the book is better than the film – just saying) and the jury is out once again.  So many to choose from, Rebecca and Paris (A Perfect Ending), Elena and Peyton (Elena Undone) and many many more that I doubt you want to hear about from me.

OMG! I am expected to pick just one author from the many brilliant writers I have read? Which one of these authors has tickled my proverbial fancy with his or her construction of believable romantic figures? Each author has created people that have crawled beneath my skin and lived there for a long and beautiful time.  These characters have been part of my life for longer than it took me to read the book. That is the key to it all. If their memory echoes, if I look for them and miss them, then they are keepers.

If I had to choose one writer it would have to be Sarah Waters.  Susan Trinder and Maud Lilly will forever be my ‘look for’ ladies and Fingersmith is still my all-time favourite book.

So, has Ms Waters and the brilliant Fingersmith (not me, I hasten to add) influenced my writing?  Too damned right – the name’s a giveaway for a start.  However, it is the dual narrative found in my ‘fave’ book that gripped and grabbed and held me.  Experiencing the love and romantic dabblings between these two women from different perspectives was one of the main reasons why I penned my story Miracle in the same style.  I loved how the couple in Fingersmith relived the moment so differently but with the same love and passion. How, ultimately, this sexual joining of two women in love could hold so much yet break apart straight after.  I won’t go into detail in case you have not read the book, but for me, the point of their not getting together at this point, will press me forward and onto my next point …

This is the tearing my hair out part.  Why couldn’t Sue turn in Maud’s arms and nibble her lover’s lily white throat before whispering, ‘For all my sins, my Maud, I love you completely’ instead of pretending everything was the same as before they’d made love? But I wouldn’t change it for the world and could never rewrite it to be any better.  The only thing I would change would be the ending. I want to see more, experience more, and feel it thrum through me just like it thrummed through them.

But then again, maybe this is just me not wanting to let them go.  I’d do anything to keep them with me just for a little while longer.  That’s because even after all this this time, I still miss them.

Yes.  I am a sad git.

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Andrea Bramhall writes romances with an appealing difference, whether it be scuba diving in Florida Keys for Ladyfish or love across cultures in Nightingale. Her last novel Clean Slate won this year’s Lambda Award for romance and Swordfish, her follow-up to Ladyfish, will be out in January.

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As a romance author famed for bringing passion to your pages, who is your favourite smoochy fictional couple – literary or screen – and who is your favourite romance author?

Hmm…tough one. I think I’d have to admit that I don’t have a single favourite. Depending on the mood I’m in I find different dynamics attractive. Some days it’s got to be Reese and Tory, other days, it’s Dar and Kerry. Catch me on another day and its Eve and Selene. Fave romance author? Again, depends on the mood, ladies. *Shrug* What can I say? I’m fickle.

Have they (the author and/or couple) influenced your own romantic scribblings in any way?

Undoubtedly. But I think the couples I don’t have that much affinity for affect my writing even more. I can look at those more critically and figure out the parts that I see reflected in my own writing and help to eradicate them. Everything we read, good or bad, can have a massive influence on our own writing. That’s why the biggest tool in a writer’s arsenal is their own reading.

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?  

Oooo…I’m pleading the fifth on this one. I won’t give reviews to other writers and I won’t insult someone else’s work or effort by going down the route of this should have been done like this, that, or the other. I’m sorry. I don’t think it’s fair or ethical to do so. Gran always told me, if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.

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Jade Winters has a knack for finding an appealing plot. Her novels, including Faking It and Say Something, shoot to the top of the charts and have their ardent fans. Her next book, Second Thoughts, is out in October.

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As a romance author famed for bringing passion to your pages, who is your favourite smoochy fictional couple – literary or screen – and who is your favourite romance author?

Right, without a doubt, my favourite fictional couple would have to Tala and Leyla, in I can’t think straight. The characters have great chemistry and appeal that I found myself falling in love along with them. The fact that Lisa Ray is drop dead gorgeous is totally beside the point 🙂

My favourite romance author apart from Barbra Cartland (joke!) is Sarah Waters – although her novels always have a lot more than just romance, which is what really appeals to me.
Have they (the author and/or couple) influenced your own romantic scribblings in any way?

I have always loved the work of Sarah Waters and find her writing inspirational. Her language is so poetic. She manages to add such charm to her books, such a sense of being there that you can’t help but fall in love with her characters. That to me is the ultimate goal for a romance writer – you want the reader to fall under the spell of your romantic heroines too. That’s what it’s all about – making the reader ‘feel’. I think she does that incredibly well and that’s what I aspire to do in my writing.

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?

Definitely Nan and Kitty from Tipping the Velvet. They were so obviously right for one another. It would be nice to see them in a straightforward romance. If I was to rewrite it I would make it into a coming out story for Nan during the Victorian era and their fight to stay together despite facing adversity.

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When Clare Ashton isn’t being a blog mistress on here, or attempting to corral two lively toddlers, she somehow squeezes in the time to write a book or two. Her twisty, sumptuous novel After Mrs Hamilton won a Goldie award, and her first foray into the RomCom genre, That Certain Something, shot to the top of the Amazon LesFic charts and stayed there for quite a while. 

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The book that I could re-read ad-infinitum, and would never fail to be captivated by the roller-coaster romance, is Pride and Prejudice. Fiery, intelligent Elizabeth Bennet and rich, unattainable Mr Darcy – classic and difficult to beat. And on the silver screen it’s a romance between two actors I find completely unappealing (so this really says a great deal about the script) and that’s When Harry Met Sally. I will try very hard not to endlessly quote lines from it. Very hard. Really very hard. But the impassioned speech that Harry gives Sally on New Year’s Eve that ends “I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” makes me well up every time.

I think I must have a soft spot for romcoms, and Jane Austen did write awfully good ones, and hate-at-first-sight romances.

My favourite lesfic romance writer is Diana Simmonds – and funnily enough her latest (Silver Lining) was witty and had that hate-at-first-sight beginning. Diana writes with such flair. There’s never a lazy sentence or mundane line of dialog. She could make the menu of a chip shop entertaining. And she makes writing seem like the easiest thing in the world. God she pisses me off.

Have the above influenced me? Oh undoubtedly, but with my own writing I tend to go for the love-at-first-sight archetype. I do love the heaving passions and emotions that burn as the couple so right for each other are kept apart, especially when one is an older woman.

Which couple or heroine made you tear your hair out, and how would you rewrite their story?

The book would be Monica Nolan’s Lois Lenz Lesbian Secretary – “Her soul was pure. Her desires were sinful. Her typing was impeccable.” It’s a fantastic 50s style pulp romance – a steamy lesbian version and very funny in places. I know Netta was the right girl for Lois. And I know even through Pamela, Paula, all the others that it would only ever be the serious, smart, beautiful-behind-the-glasses Netta. But I really wanted Lois to have the wrong girl. Which reminds me, I still need to read Monica Nolan’s The Big Book of Lesbian Horse Stories.

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So, do you agree with our authors? Who are your favourite couples and writers and which duo drove round the bend?

Q&A with Karen Campbell (and bonus Giveaway!)

Today it’s our pleasure to welcome Karen Campbell to the site. Hailing from Scotland, and a keen fan of Glasgow Rangers and Irn Bru, Karen is the author of Violet’s Story and the short story collection Little Whispers. Her new novel The Knowing – a Glasgow-based, supernatural crime thriller – is due for release on June 30th.

We also have two signed copies of The Knowing to give away – see the end of the post for more details.

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First up, tell us a bit about yourself. Are you really as grumpy as your bio says you are, or is it all for show?

I am quite grumpy in the morning, especially if I feel that I have been woken up before I have had about twelve hours sleep. (Which I never get with three dogs and an annoyingly chirpy girlfriend from the moment her eyes open.) I get better once I have had a cup of tea, but it’s touch and go some days. I’m joking, I think. I am generally quite a cheerful soul, I just swear too much, and with the Scottish accent it makes me sound grumpy!

Your new novel The Knowing is out at the end of June. What inspired you to write a “gritty, supernatural crime novel set in Glasgow”?

As a Scot, I think it is important to show Scotland in my writing. I lived in Glasgow for a bit and it has a gritty feel about it. Saying that, I love Glasgow, it has a great vibe and I will always have a softness in my heart for the city. The novel itself came from a short story I wrote and kept going back to, adding another chapter and another until it finally dawned on me that I had a book.

With British lesfic on the up and up, how important is Glasgow as a setting for the book? Would the story have worked as well in another city?

The story could work anywhere but I don’t love other cities as I love Glasgow. It was important for me to have Scottish characters in a Scottish city because I am very proud of my country. Glasgow is a wonderfully vibrant city but it also has a dark underbelly and a colourful history, which makes it perfect for a bit of creepiness.

The Knowing is the first part of a trilogy, and you’re currently writing its sequel, A Love Like Ishinnie. Do you have the series completely mapped out, or are you adapting it and developing it as you go along?

I know how the second book ends and I almost know how the last one ends, but there are a lot of in-betweens, and the fun I have with writing is that I like it to take me along on the ride and see where the story goes.

Your debut novel Violet’s Story was a first-person account of mental illness. Were there particular issues that you wanted to address with the novel, and was it difficult to get inside Violet’s head?

This was my first serious dabble into writing, which I started when I was about 21 and went back to over the years. I wanted to show that love was the cause of her madness, and it wasn’t hard for me to get inside Violet’s head (maybe I shouldn’t admit that). I think there is a bit of madness in everyone and, as writers, we can tap into that side of us to make a character credible. Or maybe I’m just doo-lally.

There’s quite a gap between Violet’s Story in 2001 and the publication of The Knowing. Was it a case of getting back into writing, or are you sitting on a big stash of unpublished stuff?

I never stopped writing, but it was mostly short stories, nothing to grab me. After recovering from two episodes of cancer, I thought I only have one shot at this life and I need to be doing what it is that makes me happy, and so I knuckled down a bit and got a bit more serious about it. I got plenty of ideas for more books, from this hiatus, and now I just need to get around to actually writing them down instead of having them flying around the recesses of my mind.

If you had to choose between Irn Bru and Rangers getting back up into the Scottish Prem, which would it be?

Rangers every time. There are other drinks but there is only one Glasgow Rangers!

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Many thanks to Karen for letting us peck her head with our questions, and to Lily at Austin Macauley Publishers for setting up the Q&A. You can find out more about Karen and her novels by heading here to her Facebook page.

And now for the GIVEAWAY! If you fancy getting your hands on a signed copy of The Knowing, we have two up for grabs. To be entered into the draw, just leave a comment in this thread or email us at uklesfic @ gmail.com (take out the spaces when you use the address). Closing date for entries is  July 3rd at noon BST. Good luck!

Q&A With Sky Croft

Under the UK LesFic Q&A spotlight today is Sky Croft, Regal Crest author of the Mountain Rescue and Amazonia series, lover of wilderness and women, and 2014 Goldie nominee. With two novels set for release later this year (Amazonia: An Impossible Choice in August and Mountain Rescue: On The Edge in December), we’d like to thank Sky for finding the time to let us pick her brains…

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First things first, congratulations on the Goldie nomination for Mountain Rescue: The Ascent. How did you feel when you saw your name on the shortlist? And who would you thank most in an acceptance speech?

I was over the moon when I first saw my name on the shortlist – though I re-read it umpteen times, thinking I must’ve misunderstood somehow. I never imagined I’d be a finalist among such big-name authors!

In an acceptance speech (which is really getting ahead of myself!) I’d have to thank my parents the most. They always believed in me, and their support allowed me to realise my dream of becoming an author. Also, I’d like to thank the readers for their kind words regarding Mountain Rescue: The Ascent, as I never would’ve had the courage to enter the awards otherwise!

Tell us a little about yourself. How would your nearest and dearest describe you?

Hmm…let me think. Most people say I’m funny, though whether they’re laughing at me or with me I can never tell! I like to think with.

I love nothing more than a long walk in the countryside or down at my local beach, followed by an evening at the cinema. I’m an avid film buff and my DVD collection takes up half my home! When I’m not writing or working my way through another TV box set, I’m usually enjoying the rare few minutes of free-time with my fiancée and our pet budgie.

My family would say I’m caring, overly sensitive and talk way too much.

Personally, I think a comical, hypersensitive, non-stop talker is quite an apt description of me.

Your work is very varied: the supernatural Shadowstalkers, the adventure romance Mountain Rescue series and the fantasy Amazonia series. What, if anything, links them? Do you feel there are common themes?

Both the Mountain Rescue and Amazonia series are romances at heart, so the obvious theme there is love, and how it enriches our lives.

Family is a central theme throughout my books. In Shadowstalkers, the Valentines are an incredibly tight-knit family. Amazonia displays the bonds of sisterhood, with both the twins, and the ties of the tribe as a whole. Mountain Rescue shows how friends (the rescue team) can become family without needing the connection by blood.

Loss is also a recurring theme. Mountain Rescue and Amazonia both have the loss of the family home, while Shadowstalkers has the loss of a parent. Over the course of the stories, the characters have to come to terms with those losses and move forward with their lives. They have to find hope again after tragedy.

All three of my books explore heroism, without it being overly contrived. I’m a big believer in female empowerment, so my stories tend to have feisty, strong-minded women at the core.

The sequel to Amazonia is out in August. What can readers look forward to in book two?

There’s a wedding in store for the main couple (which I really enjoyed writing), and an Indiana Jones style treasure hunt with lots of trials for the Amazons to overcome. The women also have to face extreme weather, predatory animals, and deadly foes. They’re certainly kept busy in this book! Oh, and the past resurfaces in an unexpected way.

I was always fascinated by the idea of putting Shale into a situation where she had to choose between her twin or her love. I know I’m morbid, but I like to challenge my characters, and I felt that dilemma would be the biggest of her life. So naturally I took the story there in book two. You’ll have to read it to see what happens!

You say on your bio that you’re an “avid film buff”. Which of your books would you most like to see up on the big screen, and who would you cast in the leading roles?

I would love to see Shadowstalkers as a TV series. I think there’s lots of scope within that world to make numerous stand-alone episodes, as well as a bigger story arc for a season. Cassie’s such a conflicted heroine, her story would be fascinating to watch on-screen.

For the matriarch of the family, Eve Valentine, I would pick Lena Olin. Not only is she beautiful, she portrays strong characters without losing her femininity. She’d be ideal for showing both sides of Eve – the protective mother, and the lethal qualities of a shadowstalker.

Summer Glau – lovely lady, but she does have an unfortunate habit of starring in doomed TV shows…

As the lead, Cassie Valentine, I see Summer Glau playing the role. Cassie is written as exceptionally attractive, which Summer certainly is, and I could easily picture her kicking ass (witnessed when she was the terminator in The Sarah Connor Chronicles). Despite Cassie’s physical prowess, she is vulnerable mentally, and I think Summer would be wonderful at portraying that aspect of the character (she did a fantastic job playing the damaged River in Firefly/Serenity).

I could easily envisage Evan Rachel Wood as Vicki Valentine. I loved Evan’s depiction of the spoilt Queen Sophie-Anne on True Blood. Vicki’s self-importance causes quite a few problems for the Valentine clan, and sometimes you love her, sometimes you hate her. I think Evan would be more than capable of taking on such a misunderstood character.

Where do you get your ideas and how do you start developing stories?

I love to daydream. I can sit for hours thinking over different characters and scenarios. When ideas emerge, I focus on those that have enough merit to hold my interest, and I begin to ask questions around that subject. An obvious example would be: What’s the main character’s background? What led them to be in the scenario they’re now in? Etc. These questions lead me deeper into the original idea, and from that a plot begins to take shape.

What has surprised you most about the feedback on your books?

I’ve been surprised by how many people are committed to the series of Mountain Rescue, and their loyalty to the characters and the story. They really want to see what happens next in the lives of Sydney and Saber, where they’re going as a couple, and what adventures they have next on the mountainside. I certainly hoped there’d be a following for them (to allow me to write many follow-ons!) but it’s exhilarating to realise so many people relate to the characters, which, as I mentioned in an earlier question, is what pushed me to enter the book into the Golden Crown Literary Society awards.

A lot of people seem surprised that I vary my work genre-wise, and that in turn surprises me. I’ve never understood why an author needs to be boxed into one area of writing. Even from a young age I’ve always crossed the genre-lines. For me personally, I feel it helps to keep my work fresh – it stimulates my mind to create other worlds, and other scenarios for the characters to contend with.

What’s up next?

I’d like to revisit Shadowstalkers and write the sequel for that, as I’ve already got quite a bit of the story planned out. Another Mountain Rescue is definitely on the cards, and after those I have a sci-fi tale I’d like to tell. I’ve also got my own wedding to plan 🙂

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Cheers, Sky!

For more information on Sky and her novels, her blog is here, and her official author page at Regal Crest is here.

 

 

Q&A with Clare Lydon

Today on UK LesFic, we welcome new Indie author Clare Lydon, whose début novel London Calling shot to number one on the Amazon Lesbian fiction chart on the day of its release and has been sitting pretty there ever since. A tale of one woman’s search for love in modern-day London, London Calling is littered with ladygays, a vat of tequila and a colourful array of Converse. We put some questions to Clare about her new novel…

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A warm welcome to the UK LesFic hot seat! Please tell us a bit about your novel  London Calling. What inspired the characters and the story?

London Calling is the story of Jess and her journey getting her life back on track, as well as her search for new love back in her home town of London. She’s just returned from three years in Australia heartbroken and broke, and we follow her as she reconnects with the city, her family and friends, new mates and lovers, and dodges bullets from her past.

I dreamt up the bones of the story while I was in Sydney on holiday with my partner who’s from there. I was sitting in a coffee shop on Oxford Street (gay central) and just started writing. I love cities and found Sydney inspiring too, so I knew I wanted to work it in somewhere. Most of what I wrote about it fell onto the cutting room floor though, so maybe I’ll release the Director’s Cut of the book sometime soon with all that detail back in. Now there’s an idea…

Would it be true to say that the city of London functions as one of the novel’s characters? What it is that makes London such a great place to write about?

London is the greatest city in the world – only New York comes close to it. There’s always something happening in London, which means it’s rich pickings for a writer: art, culture, architecture, scenery, cuisine, sport – you name it, it’s here. I’ve lived here for 15 years and grew up only 30 miles east, so the city’s always played a starring role in my life.

I’ve read so many lesfic novels set in America and I wanted to write one set in London, with its energy springing from the pages. My aim was to write a novel true to the world I live in, a modern world with technology and culture rippled through it and brimming with lesbians.

The synopsis for London Calling places its protagonist Jess Sharp “at a crossroads – back in London, living in her parents’ spare room, jobless and single.” Knowing a little something about the price of housing in London, is this scenario something you or your mates can relate to?

Absolutely. Housing prices in London are crackers and landlords have to be one of the most discussed topics across the city. It’s tricky to find a job that pays the bills and gives you enough to work and play too, as Lena Dunham so beautifully depicts in Girls.

I know a lot of people in Jess’s situation, wondering how they’re going to get on the housing ladder while paying extortionate rents. She’s lucky she gets a place so central for the price she does, as her friend Kate is happy to cover her costs and nothing more. Housing is always a hot topic of conversation for 30-somethings, and for many Londoners having stairs or a garden is a scenario that’s never going to happen.

LesFic is a genre that has been dominated by American writers, but the Brits seem to be storming up the charts at the moment. Any thoughts on why that might be?

Firstly, because we’ve got some brilliantly talented writers! Sure, the Americans have the publishing clout and the history in lesfic, but the Brits have got great things to contribute too. Secondly, seeing as there are no lesbian publishers in the UK, the rise of self-publishing has helped many UK authors get their voices heard, which is great. And lastly, I hope it’s also because the lesfic word is getting out among the UK’s lesbians, and they’re enjoying seeing their lives reflected in print.

Speaking of storming up the charts – did you do anything outrageous to celebrate when London Calling hit number one in the LesFic chart on its first day of release?

I was out having dinner with my friend who designed my cover, that night. We had dinner, went to a bar, and I was on the bus home when I got a text from two of my mates telling me I was No.1. I couldn’t believe it. I got chatting to a very gay man on the short walk from the bus stop to my house and told him – I couldn’t keep it in. His name was Gordon and he was wearing a straw trilby with flowers in it. He gave me a massive congratulatory hug and told me to remember the moment. We’re now BFFs, obviously.

You’ve said previously that London Calling took four years to complete. What gave you the kick up the bum to get it finished?

I’d had it half-written for ages but was too busy with life to finish it. However, last May I got made redundant from my job and decided to use the money to take some time off and throw myself into writing. I spent the first few weeks at my mate’s house in Spain writing in the morning, sunbathing in the afternoon – hard life – then came back to the UK and finished the first edit. It was a beautifully hot summer to have at my mercy, and the writing flowed. Then I went to LFestive last November to meet some other UK authors, and once I’d told them I was going to do it, I figured I’d better follow through.

If you could be the godchild of any two authors, whom would you choose?

JoJo Moyes and Jeanette Winterson. JoJo’s books are always heart-breakingly beautiful and Jeanette’s work speaks for itself. Oranges is probably one of the best debuts ever and her recent memoir about her mother was so raw it bled off the page. I’d also like Armistead Maupin and Nick Alexander as my godfathers – both fantastic writers and I’m particularly pleased that Nick Alexander is finally getting the acclaim he deserves.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve completed the first draft of my second book, and now I just need to knock it into shape. It’s a completely different book to London Calling, dealing with a slightly older age group and based in the country – but I’ll probably return to London for the next one. I’ve learnt so much over this past year doing my first book, so I hope editing and publishing the second will be a breeze. Time will tell!

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Cheers very much, Clare!

London Calling is out on Kindle now, with other digital versions following soon. The paperback version will be out at the end of April. Find out more about Clare and her writing here at Clare’s website.

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A Q&A with RJ Samuel

RJ Samuel has a fascinating background. She was born in Nigeria to Indian parents but succumbed to the allure of Ireland where she completed her medical studies and continued to live for thirty years. She also had a few years sojourn in France, and now she plans to move to Texas.

Her novels reflect her varied life with settings from Galway to Kerala and a compelling mix of genres. Her debut, Heart Stopper, was a medical thriller which she followed with two magical realism tales, Falling Colours and Casting Shadows. A Place Somewhere will be published in March and is a tale of online deception.

Over to RJ:

I want to start by thanking Clare Ashton and Cari Hunter for the opportunity to write this guest blog post and for their great work with this site. I’m in awe of their energy and their willingness to put in this effort alongside their own author work and busy lives. Thanks to Clare for taking the time to ask the specific questions that made me organise my thoughts.

Aw shucks. Thanks RJ. Now stop procrastinating and answer the questions 🙂

Please tell us about your latest novel A Place Somewhere. What’s it about in a nutshell and what was the inspiration behind the characters and story.

‘In a nutshell’…this is the part I find the most difficult. To summarise the months of searching, writing, scrapping, re-writing, thinking, pretending to write etc. into a neat little shell.

How far would you go? Would you lie to protect the innocent? ALEX HART risked everything to be with her online girlfriend of two years and moved from Ireland to America. But the unthinkable happened and she is emotionally and financially ruined. Devastated, she turns her anger and betrayal into a mission to root out those who deceive the innocent online. When a mother pleads for Alex to protect her daughter from an online predator in Ireland, Alex must become what she hates. How far will Alex go before losing herself in her own web of deception?

The inspiration for this story came from a personal experience that shattered my view of the world. It may not have been much of a thing in the grand scheme of things, but it changed me. A friend helped me in the immediate aftermath and advised me to try to write a story. So I did. A short story called The Alleyway (which ended up being shortlisted for the 2013 Over the Edge ‘New Writer of the Year’ competition). And then, as usually happens with me, the seed of a novel sprouted in the ruins, and it grew into a different story, not a personal one, and yet so personal.

To actually answer the question – The novel, in a nutshell, is about love and deception and the destruction of belief. It is about how the effects of being deceived change a person until for them there is no black and white anymore, and while that might be a good thing in many ways, it leaves them seeing in grey.

After your last novel, you had some trouble writing. What grabbed you about this book to get you going again?

I had trouble writing after the last novel because it was my ‘muse’ for that novel that had deceived me. But not just my external muse, my internal muse as well. In some ways, the betrayal by my internal muse was the part that rocked me the most. If I could not trust myself to ‘know’ the truth then I might never be able to see what was real and what was fake. I retreated into a cave and if there hadn’t been that one friend who refused to let me be alone there, I might have given up. It was a struggle to emerge from the experience at the same time that I was forcing myself to write about similar experiences. Perhaps I should have taken a complete break from writing. I did, in a way. In the last year, I have not been able to write any short stories or other fiction apart from that short story which was an immediate reaction to what had happened, The Alleyway, and the novel, A Place Somewhere. I think, though, that fictionalising and therefore growing a completely new story from that initial ‘bad’ seed has helped me on a personal level to grow in a more healthy way than I would have stuck in a cave with no light.

I had fully intended, as a challenge to myself, to attempt to write a romance as my fourth novel, but my genre-breaking-marketing nightmare-fusion thing got in the way again (as it did in Heart Stopper, which started out as a pure medical thriller and grew to become a story that was also about belonging and culture and love). It felt wrong to be writing a ‘romance’ when I did not believe anymore. It took quite a few months for me to let go of the idea that I would be failing if I couldn’t write a romance and I just wrote what felt right to me.

How does A Place Somewhere differ from your other novels?

While this novel is different in style to the other three novels (actually, each has a different style as I change and grow), it still reflects my voice. I think the most surprising thing for me was I found that the most difficult part (apart, of course, from the daily ripping open of wounds), to be that I didn’t have the backup and comfort of writing from the POV of an Irish-Indian or an Indian. Before I started this novel, I didn’t think that would be a problem because I had written short stories from many different perspectives, a young straight white guy, an older white male, a young white female, a middle-aged Indian woman…. In fact, at one of my first readings in Galway, I read out a story from the POV of a straight older white male who loved a younger woman, and the organiser of the event told me that an older white man had come up to her after and expressed amazement that the story had been written by a young (ahem), Indian, lesbian woman. I thought that if I could experience love for a woman then I could write that believably from the point of view of anyone who loved a woman. However, with the novel, I found myself struggling to write from the point of view of someone who was meant to belong to the society in which they lived. I did ask a white Irish woman born and brought up in Ireland what it felt like to belong somewhere and I got some interesting thoughts because we couldn’t communicate exactly what the issue was, as from her point of view, the default was being from somewhere. I eventually let go of the need to get it ‘right’ and just wrote from the point of view of human beings growing up with the struggles that shaped them. The writing got a little easier once I had found out what those individual struggles were for my characters.

You are known for having wonderful Irish settings in your novels. What kind of mood and setting does this one have?

I think this novel is not as descriptive with the settings as the other three novels were. I write descriptions of setting as an extension of the character’s feelings about a place. So for Kiran in Falling Colours, even nature conspires with her emotions on seeing Ashley for the first time. I wrote the first section of A Place Somewhere (set for a few days in New York, Boston, and Cape Cod) before I went to Provincetown in October, thinking that I would use my visit to enhance the descriptions of the settings. But I ended up leaving the text alone.

This was a conscious choice because the main character, Alex, is seeing the world from a barren place. Parts of the story are set in the Burren in County Clare, which is a stunning place and full of magic, but I have restricted the description to how Alex feels about being there. I had to enlist the help of another writer who lives in another setting in the book (Washington State, thanks Tonie!) to get a feel for that area, as the budget did not extend to crossing America.

The majority of the novel is set in a ‘ghost estate’ on the outskirts of Galway. This is probably a setting that many of my readers from outside of Ireland will not see or hear about, though there was a recent article in the New York Times about these estates that are now dotted around Ireland. Similarly, many readers might not realise that people, young and old, never got to live in their homes, have lost their homes or are struggling to survive in these estates. There have been many suicides in this country as a direct result of the corruption of the banks and government. However, my setting is not a true description of the difficulties of ghost estates as it just happened to be a setting and not the reason for the story. I don’t write about these things as issues and I definitely do not presume to speak for anyone because I do not feel like I have the necessary detailed knowledge for political or social commentary. I write stories about fictional people in fictional situations and if they happen to be in circumstances such as these, then a wider audience may learn that there is something going on in this corner of the world and make a choice to learn more about it if it interests them.

This particular story could have spread in so many different ways, but I made a decision to focus on one person’s journey through deception. In one way, the ‘place’ is not important and while there are a lot more places in this novel than in the other three, I wanted a sense of dislocation, of displacement, to get across the sense that where you are physically sometimes does not really matter when it comes to how you feel.

I have to say that no matter how hard I tried to keep the mood dark because the subject matter is dark, I found that there were elements of humour and lightness peeping out. I think the mood shifts over the course of the novel (as it did for me over the course of the nine or ten months I spent writing it). And there is a kid and a dog in it. (Yes, I’m deliberately leaving that hanging there).

What elements of your writing have your readers loved and are common across your work?

I did a quick check with a tiny wee sample of readers and this is what I got back… Can I just say I love that I can email some of my readers (at all hours of the day/night) and they come back with these responses off the top of their heads. I might just shut up from now on and let my readers speak more for me. These responses are from my first/beta readers of A Place Somewhere, so they are including the fourth novel in their views.

“No two stories of yours are the same, characters that I can identify with (i.e. get to like or not), consistently well written and edited books, your style is unique, you write what your muse tells you and not what you think people want to hear, you don’t write inside the box and put out books full of sex, but you make your books a nice comfortable easy read, books I would want to read again and again.”

“Great character development, even the secondary characters are well developed… self effacing humour, it’s a little thing, but when the subject matter gets heavy and angst levels begin to rise, your natural turn of phrase brightens some pretty dark scenes. Your ability to draw the reader into the scene… Through your characters, you voice what many of your readers cannot. You are not afraid to express deep and sometimes profound feelings. Your prose turns your books from everyday Lesfic into literary Lesfic. Your writing is a pleasure to read.”

“incredible twists and turns…keeps me guessing, engaging characters – with human/realistic strengths and flaws, enchanting descriptions of Ireland (makes me want to travel), captivating story and character development, beautifully written sentences and dialogue, warmth and subtle humour, main characters are women on compelling journeys, challenging and thought-provoking…sometimes it is good to be taken beyond your comfort zone!, I love reading a book that entertains, challenges, explores my emotions, teaches me new things, leaves me satisfied, but impatient to read your next! All your books do this…”

My readers seem to be quite a diverse group. I have readers who are from completely different backgrounds and are varied in terms of their sexuality, race, beliefs, cultures. I write for myself, but I write also for that perfect reader, the one who connects to something, anything, in my writing and my words make them think and feel something different, even for a moment. I guess therefore, all my readers are my perfect reader because I’ve heard from them that my writing has affected them in some positive way. (I know that’s a skewed sample 🙂 but so what, it makes me happy and shouldn’t what can sometimes be a painful job bring some happiness?)

What are your plans now?

I hope to do some work on the Vision Painter series (graphics and re-branding and packaging etc., maybe a book trailer).

And another type of hard work starts now with the publishing and post-publishing process of getting the book out there, where I will have to begin a conversation about things that still have the power to hurt.

I haven’t even mentioned that one of the characters in A Place Somewhere is a musician/songwriter and she writes a song (well, I wrote the words) and I’ve been trying to get it put to music and recorded to release with the book. I got great background on the creative process for musicians from another author who is also a singer/musician (thanks Jodie). I really wanted the singer for A Place Somewhere to be local and Irish and lesbian and I’m delighted to have the possibility now of working with a singer whose voice and guitar-playing I have loved from the first moment I heard her perform here over 20 years ago. I’m waiting to see this week if the words work for her. If they do, I hope that the song will be ready to release in the middle of March with the book. Note how positive I’m being 🙂 This is not an impossible task. After months of procrastination, I finally asked her yesterday and sent the words to the poor woman and now she only has a week 🙂

My real plans, however, are to avoid talking to anyone or doing anything that might sow the seed for another novel. I said after I published Casting Shadows that my mind needed a break. That might have been courting disaster. I had two weeks of calm before my world blew up and that seed landed in the ruins.

Though…I am moving to a strange land with my wee dog after 30 years in Ireland…. Sounds like fertile ground…Nooooooooo….

So why the devil are you moving to Texas?

God knows! 🙂

Christmas Q&A

UK LesFic is turning in for the year. But before we put up our feet for a couple of weeks, there’s time for a festive Q&A with several lovely authors. Here’s what we asked them:

Which book do you want for Christmas?

What was your book of the year?

We’ll be back early in 2014, until then we’ll leave you with these great recommendations, and a Merry Christmas and wishes for a happy new year from Tig (Clare) and Cari!

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VG Lee

The book I’m hoping to get for Christmas is The Summer Book by the late lesbian author, Tove Jansson who also created the Moomin books. I only found out about her recently and this novel, about a relationship between an aging woman and her grand-daughter has some resonance for me, now that I’m getting older myself!

Having been one of the judges for the 2013 Polari First Book Prize, I was fortunate to read many novels by lesbians over the summer.  Our winner was Mari Hannah’s, The Murder Wall and I think I would choose it again for best lesbian fiction. The author is lesbian, the main character, a detective, is also a lesbian. Yes, we do have a few lesbian crime writers but I feel there is room for many more and I was pleased that genre fiction won.

Merry Christmas!

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Amy Dunne

Books make amazing presents. As always, I’ve made sure we’ve purchased lots of books as gifts for our family and friends. When asked what I would like I’ve listed lots of books. But the book I’m most excited about is Katherine V. Forrest’s new Kate Delafield story, High Desert. I cannot wait to snuggle down and read this.

Choosing just one book of the year is way too difficult because there were some really fantastic reads. My top three are: Shadows of Something Real by Sophia Kell Hagen, How Sweet It Is by Melissa Brayden, and finally Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

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Cherry Potts

My most wished for book for wintermiddle, which has been pointed out very clearly to a certain person who I believe has taken note, is Nicola Griffith’s Hild. Firstly because I’ve read everything by Nicola I can lay hands on, but also because I think Hilda of Whitby is a superb role model – a woman in medieval England with real power. She’s one of my heroes. So of course I want to read it!

Most of what I’ve read this year has been submissions, so actual published books haven’t had much of a look in, however I would recommend Mary Ackers’ collection Bones of an Inland Sea. It is a beautifully written clever and thoughtful series of connected stories, and working out the connections is half the fun. One strand involves a female to male transsexual which is handled with great tenderness. One of those books that go into the ‘I wish I’d written that’ category.

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Kiki Archer

I always seem to get a biography for Christmas and this year I’m hoping it’s Miranda Hart’s Is it just me? I love her show and find myself laughing loudly throughout each episode, even if she’s just looking into the camera and saying the words: “I thank you.” She calls the book her Miran-ual and I’m sure it would provide a lot of laughs over the Christmas period. Plus I’m not sure I could cope with Katie Price’s sixteenth biography. The other fifteen are already taking up too much room on my bookcase.

My book of the year was Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. The tag line was: “They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose,” and I was hooked. The book was a deeply emotional, unconventional, romance, with a very sad, yet bitter sweet ending. Chick lit with depth!

My lesfic book of the year was Cindy Rizzo’s Exception to the Rule. I had the privilege of reading an advance copy over the summer holidays and I immediately knew I’d see it at the top of the charts. Fast paced, intelligent, engaging, and very hot. Exactly what I like in a good read.

Happy Christmas everybody.

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Orla Broderick

A Girl Is A Half Formed Thing by Eimear McBride – Finally I find a novel to challenge. With language like no other, with heart rending passion displayed on every page. Here’s a new voice. Here’s a woman’s tale of love and vulnerability. It is not an easy cozy little fireside read. It is not for the faint hearted. It is raw and honest. It is terrible and beautiful all at once. I was shocked by this book from the very first page. I was horrified. A girl loves her brother. He has a brain tumour. His life, his well being is infinitely more important than hers. Her pain is of no consequence to anyone, even herself. To her, pain is life, is love. I would urge anyone to purchase at least four copies directly from the publisher Galley Beggar Press and distribute widely. This book is going to change the way we write – and hopefully what we read.

The book(s) I would like for Christmas: I would like The Guga Stone: Lies, Legends and Lunacies from St Kilda, by Donald S. Murray and Douglas Robertson because I love a beautiful book and I know this one will be truly gorgeous in every way. I would like The Others by Siba Al-Harez because it is a new story and there have been wonderful reviews and I am curious. I would also like a copy of Orlando by Virginia Woolf because (I am ashamed to say) I have never read it.

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Cari Hunter

I actually know which books I’m getting for Christmas, because I ordered them and – at the moment, until my darling gives me some cash – paid for the bloody things! I love getting my teeth into a decent crime series, and a friend recommended Chelsea Cain to me this year. She’s a fun writer, who can be a little too outrageous (the culprits in one of her books were tiny killer octopi) but is consistently entertaining. So, I’m getting her new one, Let Me Go, in my stocking, along with Autumn Bones, the latest from Jacqueline Carey,  one of my favourite authors.

My book of the year is Rose Under Fire, Elizabeth Wein’s splendid companion novel to Code Name Verity. While it didn’t quite reach the heights of CNV (how could it?), it was still a book that stayed with me long after I’d finished reading it and was possibly even better the second time around.

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Rachel Dax

My book highlights of the year are Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran and Out Late With Friends by Suzanne Egerton which I am currently halfway through and loving. Next to read is Careful Flowers by Kieran York – which I am really excited about.

I am hoping to find Hild by Nicola Griffith in my Christmas stocking. I am particularly interested to see what Hild is like because St Hilda gets a mention in my trilogy The Legend Of Pope Joan and I am keen to find out whether Nicola Griffith and I are exploring similar ideas in our writing.

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Andrea Bramhall

Okay, the book at the top of my Christmas list this year is Bonkers by Jennifer Saunders. That woman cracks me up so much and just reading the blurb had me in stitches. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into that one as I’m sure it will be one of those laugh out loud books for me.

My book of the year…seriously? You want me to pick ONE? That’s got to be against the Geneva Convention or some thing. Torturous, cruel and unusual punishment…do you know how many fantastic books there are out there? ONE? *Gulp* No need to resort to threats. I can’t babysit, Tig. Kids hate me. *sigh* Fine, I’ll do it. Just take that light out of my eyes, okay?

I’ll have to say…Secret Lies by Amy Dunne. I usually have to be in the mood for young adult titles but this particular debut novel didn’t fall into the same category. It is rather on the gritty side and it won’t be a book everyone can read as it deals with subjects that are both provocative and heartbreaking. It touches on the subjects of child abuse and self harming, and I think it does so in a way that is realistic, compassionate, and yet doesn’t shy away from the darkness each bring to a very different young adult novel. Dunne has managed to capture the innocence and excitement of young love against the pain and angst of two girls struggling through difficulties that most ‘grown ups’ would flinch at dealing with. This author is definitely one to watch.

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