THE ALLURE OF YOUTH

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I didn't realise until yesterday when the topic cropped up, but I obviously have a thing for young men!
Okay, so I'm probably not alone. But oddly enough it's not the obvious thing... I'm much more attracted to the more mature butch types - Paddy McGuire being my idea of the perfect man, not his cute toy Dylan Sinclair. But I do write about young men quite a lot, and was shocked when I did a quick run through the Tom Farrell books, that almost all are written from the perspective of the young lad in the story. The only exception being 'Beware Macduff' which is seen through the eyes of a revenging father.
Of course I'm at it again with 'The Sparky Alpha'. I'm writing it in the first person, and the narrator is an eighteen year old lad. And it's not just a feature of Tom Farrell - it's pretty much the same with Fergie Boy books - most are narrated by a teenager. It is only when I write as Jack Brighton that I grow up a bit and see life through more mature eyes.
So do I need to see a shrink? Am I trying to relive my youth and be a teenager again. Is that what it's all about? Or do I think that's what the public want - to relive their youth - and I feed it to them.
It's one to think about.
Doing a blog can be scary at times - you drag up all sorts of stuff that might be best left in a box. Oh well. Not to worry. There must be worse things in life than wanting to be eighteen again, if that's what's going on.

Jack

PEN NAMES

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I was left a little disappointed this morning, and somewhat confused. The first couple of days with ARe have been going really well. It took two days to get all the Jack Brighton titles loaded onto their site, but the effort has been rewarded with quite a few sales - more than I had expected to be honest.
Then yesterday the Tom Farrell collection was added along with about half the Fergie Boy books. And this morning I find there has been no take up whatsoever of books under either pen name.
Strange!
Early days, and I'm sure it will get sorted. It can take time for a 'new author' to be discovered by a new group of potential readers. I do find this though - but not always in Jack's favour - that certain retail sites seem to perform better with one particular pen name.
It has given me cause to wonder about the latest book I'm working on. I have my Tom Farrell hat on, and am using his style - but it is still me who is writing it, so if Jack is the more popular author, should I not put it out under his name.
Oh, the lure of commercialism!
But I must resist. It is an experimental work, and better not to confuse the Jack Brighton brand with something the core readership might not like. I will stick with Tom even if it means less sales.
It would be nice if some came through though!

Jack