HOT…OR CLICHÉ?

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I had a lie in this morning and stayed in bed till seven. As I had awoken several
hours earlier, to pass the time whilst forcing myself to rest, I cast my mind
back to my bygone youth when, for a few weeks, I worked on a building site. I
suppose quite a few gay men lie in bed in the morning thinking about building
sites and the hunky guys that work on them, but I had a reason beyond the
obvious.
I’m not ready to start a major new project at present, so I decided to write a few
short stories which I will do wearing my Tom Farrell hat, and I thought I’d base
the first one on a building site as I do actually know a little about them. And
here’s the first myth I’m going to blast out of the water – most of the guys who
work on them aren’t gorgeous muscular hunks with rippling six-packs and
impossibly well filled jeans. Most are pretty ordinary, some I’d class as slobs,
and none that I came across had latent gay tendencies that had to be expressed
as soon as they saw my youthful body!
Ooops!
Did I spoil the fantasy? But you knew that anyway. And don’t worry, when I write the story, the guy in question will be a five star hunk with strong gay tendencies that he happily expresses.
But as I lay there and thought up an outline scenario, it occurred to me that it might be a little cliché. It probably is – a bit of The Village People kicking in. And when I consider my back catalogue, there are quite a number of cliché characters about. You just have to look at a few titles to see that I’m at fault:
Burning  Fire – Well that would be about Fireman Farrell.
Dirt! – The star of this book is obviously a mechanic.
The Captain’s Deliverance – He’s a German soldier.
The Vorinov Trilogy – Alexi Vorinov just happens to be the Chief of Police.
And  it doesn’t stop there. I’ve done truckers of course, and professional rally drivers; rugby players feature in quite a few books (as Bruce Forsythe would say... They’re my favourite!), and a professional footballer as well. In the Wild Side where everything is fantasy, I can really go to town on the ‘Hot’ imagery or ‘Cliché’ with endless amount of cameo appearances. It’s the only place where I dare do a cowboy, and isn’t Mr. Charles the ultimate cliché? There is even a Canadian Mountie in the latest Christmas offering, and why should I be ashamed – I think they’re sexy as sin!
So why not do a construction worker. If the Village People can have one, then I sure as hell can. He’ll be hot, and plausible, and perhaps a cliché. It’s what I write...
And now a little blush as I do the corniest one of all... I am what I am, so I might as well be proud of it.

 Jack

INSOMNIA

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Five o'clock yesterday. Three-thirty today. This is not a good sign - my insomnia is clearly kicking back in.
I do suffer. Normally it's because my mind is too active, which is usually at peak times in my writing - getting to the end of the book or an important part. But the latest book is all but done, so there must be something else.
There are quite a few things that are on my mind at present, so it could be a combination. But the mind has its way of relieving pent up stress, and it came to me in a dream the most likely cause... I'm worried about the cat!
There is no date set at present, but sometime early December, I plan to return to Brighton (where have I heard that name before?) for the winter. Normally when I'm away, the cat stays here. He 's fine for a couple of weeks with someone popping round to feed him. But three months is different. There's no way I can leave him for that sort of time. So he's got his pet passport, rabies injections etc. There is an airline that will fly him back to Gatwick as hand luggage. It sounds quite straightforward... and I'm dreading it! A trip to the vet is a trauma, and that lasts an hour at most door to door. But the best part of a day trapped in a cage! It's starting to sound cruel.
In the dream he had trapped his claw in some cloth and I tried to help. The things are retractable, but he still does this - pulls at it instead of retracting at times - dumb or what! Anyway, instead of pulling it free he kept pulling the claw out, getting longer and longer, going on and on, curling around. It ended up over a foot in length and needed to be cut off. I held him as he fought. Then my mum took some scissors to it (she's dead by the way). The cat was screaming as she cut the claw off. He was crying like a baby. It was awful. I woke up with cramp hitting both my calves. I was in quite a bit of pain. And there at my feet was the cat, curled up... sending out subliminal messages. 

It's now after four. I've taken over half an hour to write this.
What is going on?
So tired.
Need some sleep.

Jack

A NEW DAWN

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It is shortly after six in the morning and I've been up and about for almost an hour. I can hear a cockerel in the distance doing it's thing, so a new dawn will be with us soon.
Perhaps you can guess that this morning's blog hasn't come as a natural flow - I'm not sure what to write, but then it's not just with the blog that I'm asking that question. My Christmas book is finished, so what do I tackle next? I thought I was sure - there was a plan in place. But recent events have given me cause to question my priorities  going forward.
First a piece of good news (beyond finishing a  book which is always good). God's Mighty Spear has been restored to a certain retailer's ebookshelf. A toning down of the description appears to have
pacified. Thank you for all the messages of support, and comments regarding similar problems. It's always nice to know you are not alone with such things.
But the backdrop hasn't changed. There is still much anxiety over what might happen to my erotica catalogues, and that is one of the factors that have given me cause to reassess a strategy going forward. It should be safe enough to continue as planned. My intension was to do another Wild Side
book - 'Trouble at The Wild Side', and they tend to be quite light without obvious traps to fall foul of. I also thought about another short story collection by Tom Farrell - go into first person for something much lighter, and that would be safe as well.
Listen to the wording though... SAFE! Is it right to have to worry about safety so much? My characters in the books don't wear a condom - but am I being conditioned to put a rubber round my work so it doesn't infect the pure minds out there - people who profess that what I write is disgusting and ought to be banned - people who apparently don't want to read it yet somehow know it well? It's tricky! You see, I don't write purely for fun. This is my job as well as my passion, and my job has to pay. I've spend much of this year working on marketing so that I have a good platform to move forward, but l fear that despite all the efforts, I could loose everything at the snap of some moralistic fingers.
There is an alternative that was never in the plan until very recently. I'm J.K. as well as Jack - a little side line that I do in the field of gay romance (yes, that's right - I can actually string two paragraphs together without someone having filthy sex)... J.K. is safe. And oddly enough, the recent, and only, books that were released seem to be doing quite well.
It's Sunday - supposedly a day of rest. That's why most people are still in bed having a lie-in whilst I'm at my keyboard dumping down thoughts. So I'll take a rest and enjoy the new dawn... and then decide what to do.

Jack

BLASPHEMY

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Stomach churning moment this morning. I got one of those dreaded e-mails. If you're not a writer in my genre then you may never have received one, so let me show you how they start:
Hello,
During our review, we found that the following book(s) is in violation of our content guidelines (see list below for details):

Thankfully the list was brief - only one book - God's Mighty Spear, with the note - 'Description, Title, Cover Image' beside it.

So what's the problem? Are all three suddenly wrong after two years on the site, or is it the combination that has tripped a wire? The book is a tongue in cheek ridiculing of the Spanish Inquisition? Should we be banning Monty Python from TV, because they did the same in their famous sketch? Or would it be better to ban a different modern day inquisition - a witch hunt wrapped up in noble minded bollocks that stinks to the high heavens?
Whatever!
I changed the description, and resubmitted. I was pleased to see that the option was there to do this, which wasn't the case in the past. I can appreciate that some of the words used might be seen as blasphemous, and hope that the revised description will do. I doubt it, but we'll see. In the meantime, if you are interested in the book, it is still available in all formats at Smashwords, and in specific formats at some other vendors.   

Jack

OBSESSION

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I had cause to ponder the subject of obsession this morning. I do another blog, wearing another hat - well I'm a Gemini you see, so split-personality comes with the territory. Anyway, the topic of the blog was obsession, and I dealt with it there by referring to the character in the book I'm blogging about. Easy stuff - writing about someone else. But of course he is my character, and in a way that makes him me...
So am I obsessive? Well, I'm writing these blogs every morning, so I guess I must be. Why else would I be sitting here spilling out all this stuff?
Oh, and here's another angle... I was asked yesterday for a rough number - How many books are in the various collections. A quick tally came to over 60!  More than 60 freakin' books in the space of a few years! Am I obsessive? Well Duh!
I'm going for a walk and to re-appraise my life... and then I'll be back to work on the next book. I love what I do, so I don't give a toss. If I wasn't obsessive then I wouldn't be...

Jack

THE POWER OF FREE

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I'm feeling a little smug this morning, although not getting too excited. My monthly sales report from Apple has shown a pleasing improvement over previous months, and I'm glad to say that iPad readers seem to be discovering 'The Wild Side' books at last!
I've always wondered why some of my books prove quite popular with certain retailers but not with others. The Tom Farrell collection for example does quite poorly on Amazon, where Jack Brighton does pretty well. With Apple it's been the opposite to date, even though it's the same author under different pen names, something which I make clear in the books. But September showed a big turn around, and it was mainly 'Wild Side' books that sold.
Why?
The Power of FREE!
It is a strategy I have been using to good effect this year, and I have to thank Mark Coker at Smashwords for the idea. Where there is a series, such as 'His Nemesis', I make the first book free for a period of time, and by doing so attract new readers to my work, some of whom then go on to buy the rest of the series (other sadly give me hideous reviews and want to see me burned at a stake, but you can't please everyone!). It worked very well for His Nemesis, and now I seem to be reaping rewards by making a 'Wild Side' book free - 'The Unchained Slave'. It's not quite the same. There is no first book in a series as such. 'The Wild Side' is more a collection of related tales. But 'The Unchained Slave' is a good introduction, and it kicks off the series within the collection i.e. Dylan Sinclair's story. He is introduced in 'The Unchained Slave' and then his story continues in 'Made for Auction' . After that he appears in all the other books, and will once again be a star in 'The Wild Side of Christmas' (coming soon).
I'll be keeping the offer running through to the end of the year, so if you haven't grabbed a copy of 'The Unchained Slave' then click on the book cover and it will take you to the page where you can link to your vendor of choice where it is listed free at present.

Thanks everyone for your support (especially those nice iPad users who are coming to me at last!)

Jack 

RELEASING FOR CHRISTMAS

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So yesterday I wrote those happy words 'THE END' at the end of my Christmas book. The last two chapters still need polishing, then it will go to proof reading, but by next week it will be ready for release.
I won't release it though!
Given the current climate of censorship, it's probably not the best time to submit a BDSM book to certain retailers, even a Wild Side book, which tend to be pretty light compared to some of my other stuff. But that aside, I think it's way too early for a Christmas theme book to hit the market.
When is the best time though?
The 'think tank' that meets informally most evenings for a pre-dinner drink was of divided opinion yesterday - the beginning of November being one view, the 25th of November being the other. I tend to favour the latter, but who knows. Shops start promoting the Christmas Season earlier and earlier each year, so I'm not too sure.
All suggestions will be much appreciated.

Jack