Author Zathyn Priest interview and give-away

Please welcome someone very special to my blog today, the one and only Zathyn Priest. I’ve been fortunate to become friends with Zathyn (is that okay to say Zath) over the past year and he’s helped me immensely in my writing and my website, as well as just being very supportive and encouraging. His writing always manages to move me, whether to tears or anger or just plain joy and I’m thrilled to have him here.

Welcome, Zathyn. How’s the weather in Australia? Are you getting some snow shipped in to play with?  I wish!  I despise summer.

1.     How did you get started writing m/m romance? Did you always want to be a writer?

 

I stumbled into m/m romance.  I’d finished writing a manuscript and was looking around for publishers.  I found the website for Torquere Press and decided I’d like to send them something for consideration.  The manuscript I’d finished didn’t fit the submission guidelines, so I wrote something else.  That something was The Curtis Reincarnation.

I always wanted to a published writer and it was my ultimate dream as a kid.  I was writing stories – albeit bad ones – from the time I could string a sentence together.  I worked with a mentor for a couple of years prior to writing ‘Curtis’. 

2.     What were your early influences either in this genre or any other?

I didn’t have any influences in the m/m genre because, to be honest, I didn’t even know how popular it was until I found the Torquere website.  It was an eye opener for me and surprising to know gay fiction had such a large readership. 

The one author I did love reading was Anne Rice and the vampire chronicles.  I loved her poetic style with description.  She was the one who always made me think, ‘Wow, I wish I could write like that.’ 

  

3.     What is the hardest part about writing for you?

Pretty much everything lately! 

4.     Does any one of your books hold a special place in your heart more so than the others?

At the risk of being predictable, probably The Curtis Reincarnation holds that spot in my heart.  Mainly because it was a joy to write, it flowed easily for me, and it was the first story I had published.  The main character, Alec (AKA Tyler Curtis), is also very close to my heart.  Even more so now seeing as I have him to thank for helping me break through my writing anxiety.   

5.     Tell us a little about what you’re working on right now. Rumor has it there will be a Curtis Reincarnation sequel?

I’ve always said there would never, ever be a sequel to Curtis.  Now there will be two more Curtis stories.  I’ve just finished the first draft of Fight or Flight, which is graphic novella.  That will be available before Christmas.  The Violin Player will be the third one, probably novella length, too.

I’m working on a few projects right now and trying to catch up on my writing since taking the last year and a half off.  There will also be a novella length sequel to Left of Center, which I’m about half way through writing.  I have a novel, Dystopia, on the backburner for the time being until I finish the other projects.  I’m writing a vampire story at the moment, Emrys Amara, and that’s posted on my Blog, Broken Pencil, as free serial fiction.   Hmm, what else?  Ah, also another short story work in progress called The Statue.  All of these new projects will be graphic novella/novels.

6.     Do you have any writing quirks? (ie computer has to be facing a certain way, cup of coffee on the left, certain music playing, etc)

Not really, no.  I used to need complete silence when I wrote, but now I like listening to music.  Other than that, no, I’m pretty boring.

7.     Do you have any writing or reading squicks? Things you don’t like to read and can’t see yourself ever writing?

Yes, but each to their own. 

8.     You do beautiful digital art as well as your writing now. Is there a co-relation between the two? Does one fuel the other or visa versa?

Absolutely!  Digital art has been the thing that rekindled my interest in writing fiction.  Fight or Flight - the sequel to Curtis - was inspired by one artwork I did just for fun.  I create 3D models for each one of my characters.  Bringing them to life in art is an exciting thing to do.  I had such a clear image of how I imagined Tyler Curtis to look and I wanted a reader to see him how I imagined him.  The same can be said for all my characters.  Emrys Amara came to life when I created the 3D image of the main characters.   Again, I did it for fun and it ended up sparking a plot idea.

Having said that, I understand some people want to imagine characters in their own way.  Even though I’ve moved into graphic novellas/novels, I’ll always make a plain text version of the stories as well.  It gives people the choice as to which they’d prefer.

9.     Finally – a few quick choices:

a.     Coffee or tea  Tea in the morning, coffee from then on.

b.     Dog or cat   Love them both.  I have a cat and a greyhound.

c.      Beach or mountains  Mountains

d.     Pecs or abs  Abs.  But nothing over the top.  Muscle men don’t do it for me at all.  In fact, I find it a major turn off. 

e.     Smile or eyes  Eyes.  But a pretty smile is lovely, too.

f.      Cowboys or rockstars  Cowboys don’t do it for me either.

g.     Who would win in a fight – vampires or werewolves? And why.  A vampire.  He could kill the werewolf any night that isn’t a full moon.

Zathyn has graciously offered up an ebook from his backlist to one lucky commenter on my blog.  The winner can choose from The Curtis Reincarnation or The Slayer's Apprentice. PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENT.

Be sure to check out

- Zathyn’s author website at www.zathynpriest.com

- his writing website http://zathynpriest.com/brokenpencil/

- and his stunning art at http://zathynpriest.com/artifex/