Episodes

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 13 – 2016 Goals & More

[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff and Will welcome everyone to 2016 to kick off the first episode of the new year. There was a lot to recap for the week. Jeff submitted Make the Right Choice on December 30 and it will publish in February. The guys also talk about why the title changed from Breakaway & Score. Jeff mentions that the 2015 Top Ten Gay Romance anthology released from JMS Books with his story Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp was included. Jeff also talks about the Goodreads M/M Romance Readers Choice Awards Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot was nominated for and Will joins in for a discussion of how the voting works. Prism Book Alliance gets a birthday shoutout and Jeff thanks Brandilyn for calling out the Hat Trick trilogy as one of the best  she’s read in the two years of reviewing for the site.

The multi-author giveaway to support Eric Arvin’s is discussed so listeners can add their donations and be in the raffle for great prizes. Dreampsinner’s Dreamspun Desires paperbacks arrived in the mail this week and are shown off. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is praised in a spoiler-free way. Last week’s Question of the Week responses were also read (you can see all the responses below).

The guys recapped 2015 and talked about goals/plans for 2016. Will talked at length about how he was approaching 2016 after coming off a bad 2015. Will’s approach to the year is based on things he’s learned from Todd Herman. Jeff also reviews his 2015 and lays out some of his goals for the new year.

The show wraps up with the Question of the Week: “Do you set reading goals? If so, what are your goals for 2016?” Jeff and Will give their answers in the episode and hope you’ll leave yours in the comments below.

You can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFMYouTube and audio file download.

See the full shownotes for Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 13 – 2016 Goals & More

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 12 – Poppy Dennison Interview

[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff and Will remind everyone of the multi-author giveaway going on to support Eric Arvin (the giveaway includes signed paperbacks for Jeff’s Hat Trick trilogy). The guys also give some listener responses to last week’s question (all the answers can be read further down this page). Dreamspinner Press’ Marketing Director and author Poppy Dennison is welcomed to the podcast to discuss the origin of the new Dreamspun Desires line, which debuts on New Years Day, as well as what readers can expect from the line. Poppy also talks about her latest book, Dogwood Days (book one in the Holly Creek series), and her plans for 2016, which includes writing a Dreamspun Desires book and continuing the Holly Creek series. She also answers this week’s question of the week about her favorite 2015 reads, and provides the question for this episode. Jeff and Will wrap up by answering Poppy’s question, which is “What is your favorite gay romance that has kids in it?”

You can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFMYouTube and audio file download.

Happy New Year!

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

[h2]Question of the Week Episode 11 Responses:[/h2]
While listeners can leave comments on the website each week, answers come in from various other platforms as well (and we can only read a few answers on the show). Here are all the responses we got to the question “What’s your favorite m/m book(s) of 2015 and why?” Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer.

  • Poppy Dennison (from this week’s interview): Rhys Ford’s Fish Stick Fridays. Rhys Ford…I would read her grocery list. I absoluety worship her. She’s an amazing writer. So Fish Stick Fridays is a definite favroite of 2015 for me.  Jordan L. Hawk had a new Whyborne and Griffin out this year (Hoarfrost and Maelstrom both released in 2015) and if you’re not a Whyborne and Griffin fan… why? Just go read them. They are stunning. I should out to Charlie Cochet’s Third series. She had a couple more books in that world this year. Dex and Sloane are probably in my top five gay romance couples of all time for me. A young adult title that I adored was Mad About the Hatter by Dakota Chase. Sort of a spin on Alice in Wonderland with Alice’s little brother. (Tune into the podcast to find out who Poppy gave a final shout out to for 2015…)
  • Trix: I don’t read much sci-fi, so I was really surprised at how much I loved Aidee Ladnier’s The Klockwek Kraken. The world-building is really intriguing, and a potentially off-putting aspect (one hero has tentacles) is treated in a way that’s tasteful, sweetly humorous, yet touching. The family relationships are surprisingly affecting, too!
  • Leigh: Fever Pitch by Heidi Cullinan!
  • Denise: A book that entertained, educated and inspired me was Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan. Great read showing that people with depression and autism are just that… people. They have hopes and dreams. Like it said in the book “there is no normal, no right or wrong. But there is belonging” I highly recommend it.
  • Melissa: Secret by Kindle Alexander–they just tell the best stories and this one was different for them. Deliver Me by Faith Gibson — it was her debut in m/m genre & it is a sweet story -can’t wait for her next book in this genre.
  • Mandy: There have been so many great books this year, hard to choose just a few. One that really stood out to me was Anne Gallagher’s Lead Me Not. Any one who has ever struggled with sexuality and religion should read this. Puts things in a whole new perspective. I’m also sure Kage by Maris Black will be very highly rated.
  • Gillian: The story I enjoyed most was Alex Gabriel’s Still Waters which was written as part of the Don’t Read in the Closet event the Goodreads M/M Romance Group runs every year. It’s free, it’s short, but it is full of stuff. Alex somehow managed to create an amazing, exciting world with characters that had me hooked at once, and it just ticked all of my boxes. I read it, then I read it again. It was that book for me.
  • Scott: My favorite book of 2015 was Axel’s Pup by Kim Dare.

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 11 – Holidays – Favorite Books of 2015 and More

[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff and Will recap the week, which included Jeff’s Breakaway & Score going to beta readers and a special Christmas bonus getting prepped for Hat Trick 3 readers. Jeff also gave a quick review to a Perie Wolford book he read. Last week’s question of the week listener answers are read and discussed. There’s a quick discussion of The Voice finale. The guys delve into Christmas movies of all kinds along with some Broadway for Christmas. Jeff & Will answer this week’s question of the week: “What is your favorite m/m book(s) of 2015 and why?” They also tease next week’s episode when author and Dreamspinner’s marketing director Poppy Dennison comes to talk about Dreamspun Desires. You can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcher, PlayerFM, YouTube and  audio file download.

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

[h2]Question of the Week Episode 10 Responses:[/h2]
While listeners can leave comments on the website each week, answers come in from various other platforms as well (and we can only read a few on the show). Here are all the responses we got to the question “What’s a story you want to read that you haven’t heard yet? Or, what’s that new thing you’re looking for?” Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer.

  • Cristina: What I’d like to read isn’t something that doesn’t exist, it’s something there isn’t enough of – novels with older MCs, there seems to be a plethora of YA or NA, not to speak of vampires and shifters and not so many stories of middle aged men who have a completely different POV, they’re working, having the normal day to day problems, maybe sometimes exes, m or f, maybe children.
  • Scott: I want to see some gay werewolf hockey playing romance!
  • Gillian: More International stories! Or stories where the MCs are not from the US or England — there is literally an entire world out there, and it is not reflected in our fiction and that makes me sad.

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 10 – Brandon Witt Interview

[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff and Will briefly updated on their week. Shoutouts to previous podcast guests Atom Yang for his Red Envelope story, which Jeff read and reviewed, and Wade Kelly who celebrates the release of No! Jocks Don’t Date Guys this week. The guys read some of the answers from last week’s question of the week (all of the answers are below). Brandon Witt is interviewed and talks about his Christmas story, Christmas Miracles of a Recently Fallen Spruce, as well as his plans for 2016, his thoughts on the #BlameBrandon hashtag and more. Brandon also answers Episode 9’s Question of the Week and provides the Question for this week. You can listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFMYouTube and  audio file download.

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

[h2]Question of the Week Episode 9 Responses:[/h2]
While listeners can leave comments on the website each week, answers come in from various other platforms as well (and we can only read a few on the show). Here are all the responses we got to the question “What was the first gay romance you read and what was it’s impact on you?” Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer.

  • Brandon Witt (from this week’s interview): That is so easy. I’d read a whole bunch gay novels before and every single one ended with suicide, HIV or both. The first book I read that wasn’t that  was Eric Arvin’s Woke Up in a Strange Place. I love all of his stuff, but it’s my favoite of his. (Check out Brandon’s interview in this week’s show to hear more about why he loves this book and it’s impact on him.)
  • Linda: Double Full by Kindle Alexander and I haven’t read a straight book since.
  • Anna: Handyman by Claire Thompson. I still love that book. So sweet. Funnily enough, it turns out that coming out late in life is one of my absolute favourite tropes of the genre, I wonder if I am biased due to the first book I read?
  • Max: Boy Meets Boy by David Levithan. I didn’t really like it. I just thought the drag queen quarterback was far too over the top, and everyone was gay. But I have read it again and enjoyed it more the second time around with a different perspective. Now, what really got me started loving M/M romance was the Cut and Run series by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux.
  • Liliana: Hot Head by Damon Suede.
  • Robert: My first gay romance was The Front Runner by Patricia Nell Warren. To this day, it resonates with me. It explores so much of the joys and pains of real relationships, especially for the era.
  • Janice: Him by Elle Kennedy and Sarina Bowen.
  • Denise: I came to read gay romance first by reading Tymber Dalton’s Love Slave for Two (which is a MMF) the relationship between the 2 men was well written and intrigued me so I went looking for a MM romance. Between Sinners and Saints by Marie Sexton was the first MM romance I read. It hooked me. The characters were well written, the story line kept me hooked, and it felt real. Something I was finding MF lacking in. I really liked how she wrote about gay romance and religion but didn’t bash the religion or the followers. I have a tendency to judge all books with religion based on that book.
  • Mandy: I’m not sure if it counts but way back in 1987 I read Maurice by E. M. Forster, which was released in 1971 after the author died. It was later made into a film, and is still one of my favourite gay films.
  • Robin: My first MM was S.E. Jakes Bound By Honor. It blew me away!! I never thought it would be so smokin hot reading about two men! Whewww it just did it for me & now reading MF is like a huge yawn! LOL Once you go MM there’s NO going back! LOL
  • Rachel: Magic’s Promise, by Mercedes Lackey. I was fourteen and it blew my mind, how right it read.
  • Robin: Try by Ella Frank followed by the Cut & Run series by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux.
  • Joseph: Poppy Z. Brite’s book Drawing Blood. I’d read some of the depressing AIDS stories and the coming out stories back in the early 90s, stories that were often pretty heavy-handed. Brite’s book showed me a story that was different. It was a horror novel, of course, but it was gay people in a leading role that wasn’t all about getting sick. Sex wasn’t the main focus of the story either, even though there was a strong romantic subplot and a couple steamy sex scenes tossed in. It was a book that I truly appreciated at a time when M/M didn’t even exist as a genre yet.
  • Zam: Not a book, but a film. My Beautiful Launderette. I think that ends happily for now, doesn’t it? That was probably the first love story between men I remember seeing that didn’t end up tragically. Or am I just rewriting it? There’s a scene where Daniel Day Lewis is cleaning blood off his face from a beating, and splashing water on Gordon Warnecke was so tender. I will never forget that, even if I’m imagining it, LOL, because back then, even the romantic stories seemed to all end tragically. That’s one of the reasons I write. I keep wanting to rewrite stories where the characters ended up apart.
  • Kara: Dana Marie Bell included an M/M book, Howl For Me, into her M/F series, True Destiny. I read it and found it awesome.
  • Mary: Bear, Otter, and the Kid. TJ Klune. Then it was the Matter of Time series by Mary Calmes. I was hooked from then on.
  • Wendy: Gray And Harrison by Tracey Michael. It made me want to become a M/M author to tell my stories of two men in love.
  • Amy Jo: The Robin & Jules arc in Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooters series, then the followup story, When Tony Met Adam. I was madly in love with those characters. Then Amazon rec’d a Carina box set to me with Josh Lanyon, Ava March, KA Mitchell and Harper Fox, and I was hooked for life.
  • Sarah: My first gay character was Lord John from the Outlander series. Was hooked on M/M from then on.
  • Duine: The Front Runner by Patricia Warren. I was pleasantly surprised that any local bookstore in Greenville, SC, carried anything Gay positive.
  • Jenn: Mine was Sarina Bowen’s The Understatement of the Year. Graham and Rikker embodied what I’d seen on the news, or vaguely heard about, but Graham’s hate for himself helped me leave ignorance behind. I am Christian, I am not passively Christian. Graham reminded me that love is far more important than anything else. My heart broke for that fictional character, and I have been an advocator of love since then. Thanks Sarina.
  • Kenn: The Lord Won’t Mind by Gordon Merrick. I was stunned to see this book in a bookstore in the general area. I grew up in a very small town in MS. On a trip to the capital city of Jackson, i found this book and bought it. This was longer ago than i care to admit, but it was well before anyone dared say gay/queer in public. It reaffirmed to me that there were others out there somewhere.
  • Gillian: I think it was my first year of University. I had a pretty sheltered upbringing, and when I stumbled upon a translation of a Roman writer who was romantically involved with his male slave, it blew my mind. I don’t remember what the book was, and the relationship was played for comic effect, but the fact that it happened at all was amazing to me. At the same time, I’d discovered fanfiction and stumbled into the slash side of things. My part of New Zealand was incredibly conservative, and I didn’t have any out gay friends, so just seeing same-sex desire acknowledged and treated as a positive thing (in the fanfic more than the Roman novel) was a huge relief. How did it impact me? Well, I started writing my own fanfiction, and just recently started writing my own original stories, so I think it had an impact!
  • Kim: Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michael, my friend eased me in nice and slow to the genre LOL.
  • Ruby: When I first came out, I went for the classics! The first I remember reading is The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (F/F).
  • Kathleen: My interest in MM romance/gay fiction started in an MFM romance series that included an MMF story. I was totally intrigued. I don’t remember the first MM story I read, but it was sometime in late 2010 and I know that one of my earliest reads was Fatal Shadows (AE Mysteries) by Josh Lanyon. And I LOVED it, and the entire series. The real effect on me was the development of real caring about the LGBT community in real life. And that has continued to grow over the years to staunch and vocal support.

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 9 – Dreamspun Desires – Musicals & Music Week

[h2]Episode[/h2]
Jeff talks about his week in Toronto. Will gives a shoutout to the Dreamspinner authors who have books in the inaugural month of Dreamspun Desires, which were written up in this month’s Romantic Times. Congratulations to Atom Yang, who was interviewed on episode #3, on the release of his Red Envelope holiday short story. Last week’s Question of the Week’s listener answers are revealed. The new QoW is asked: “What was the first gay fiction/gay romance book you read and what was its impact on you?” Jeff & Will also talk music and musicals this week too with The Wiz Live!Diana Ross Sings The Wiz, the Broadway revival of Spring Awakening and The Voice. You can  listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFM or direct download the audio file.

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

Big Gay Fiction Podcast – Episode 8 – NaNoWriMo Wrap Up – Interview with Tammy Middleton (T.M. Smith) – Question of the Week Debuts & More

[h2]Episode[/h2]
NaNoWriMo wraps up plus an interview with Tammy Middleton, who writes as T.M. Smith, about her new book, How To Deal. Question of the Week debuts with this week’s question: “Do you like to give and/or receive books as holiday gifts?” (we hope you’ll answer that in the comments). We also talk about this past week’s Dancing with the Stars finale and Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 movie. You can also listen and subscribe to the podcast anytime on iTunesStitcherPlayerFM or direct download the audio file.

[h2]Show Notes[/h2]
Here are the things we talk about in this episode:

First up, here’s the Rafflecopter giveaway for Tammy’s How To Deal blog tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Plus links to the books and websites we talked about with her:

And here are the other things we talked about this week: