Guest Post: Rick R. Reed.
My guest today is the lovely Rick R. Reed, talking about all kinds of things from books to food. Please make him welcome!
1. What inspired you to pen your first novel?
My first book was a horror novel about a serial killer who believed he was a vampire conducting a reign of terror on the women of Chicago called Obsessed. I think the idea for it came to me one night when I was driving in Chicago on the Eisenhower Expressway and something caught my eye about the rain-slicked pavement beneath my tires. For some reason, and because I admit to being very strange, I began to imagine a man having the same view. Except in his case, he was going home after committing a murder. Sometimes that’s all it takes to start a story-a simple image, a character, and some compelling fact. Here’s the opening to the book, so you can see how a single idea morphed into a novel:
Joe MacAree had just murdered a woman, and all the things he felt when he killed the other four he was feeling right now. How would he describe it? In his journal, he might call his feelings an “elevation of the senses” or “an ethereal quality bringing the world into sharp focus.”
After each killing the reaction was the same. There was a moment of sharp pain right behind his left eye, an instant where the pain was so intense as to block out the act he had just committed, the blood and the ripped flesh…then a moment where brilliant flecks of silver light swam before him, and he could not keep his eyes from rolling, trying to follow the patterns the stars made.
And then the clarity.
As he guided his light blue Honda Accord along Harlem Avenue just south of Chicago, everything seemed more alive, as if to contrast the death he had just brought about. He noticed things he never noticed: the shifting red, amber, and turquoise of the reflections the stoplights made on the rain-slicked pavement. He noticed how the color spread, muted, over the slick black roadway. Even his radio, usually sounding tinny tuned to WLS, seemed more vibrant. He heard the different instruments in “Hungry Like the Wolf” as if Duran Duran were in the car with him, playing. Although it was February and his windows were rolled shut, he listened to the sounds of the other cars, the hiss of their tires on the pavement, the bass of their engines. He felt each perforation on the cover of the steering wheel. He thought he could even sense the mechanical smell of his own and the other cars as they all made their way northeast, to the Eisenhower Expressway and the city.
And in his mouth, he savored a slight metallic taste.
2. What are you proudest of in your writing?
Lately, I would say the ability to touch my own heart and emotions with what I write and then (hopefully) transfer that touch to readers.
3. If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in any of your books?
Oh God, yes. What writer wouldn't? Whenever I go back, I always see ways I think I could have said it better, portrayed it better, gotten new ideas. The upside of that is that it show progress because I like to think I learn and improve with every book I write. When I stop seeing that growth, then maybe I'll stop.
4. How do you deal with writer's block?
I don't believe in it, so don't deal with it. In my opinion, it's yet another excuse. I have always had more ideas than I have time, so writer's block just doesn't apply. It's for sissies.
5. To someone who has never read your work, how would you describe it?
That's hard because my work ranges from mysterious to horrifying to comic to deeply romantic. I suppose since I am currently writing more romance than anything else I would describe it as universal--I try to make my love stories real and ones in which the reader can nod and say, "Oh, I certainly get that!" because they've been there before. I would hope that my work, above all, makes an emotional connection with my readers.
6. How do you deal with negative reviews?
Ah, it's part of the game. If I look at them at all, I try to see if I can learn anything from them. If not, I try to shrug and move on (easier said then done, my dear!).
7. What themes do you enjoy writing about?
First love. I really enjoy portraying that moment when two people just know they were meant for each other. I also like, as I alluded to above, adding a dash of realism into my stories. I have covered tough subjects like AIDS, child abuse, hate crimes and more in my fiction and I hope that stories with darker subject matter will not only open some eyes, but will also show that love can arise from tragedy. Love can heal.
8. What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted? And when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
Geez, that was over twenty years ago, so it's hard to say. I was thrilled, I'm sure. I also probably thought I was poised to be the next Stephen King (my first book, Obsessed, was published in Dell's groundbreaking horror line Abyss, which even Mr. King himself praised).
The cover was an original painting and was really dark and, I think, mesmerizing, so I was quite happy with it.
9. If you could meet anyone from your life living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why?
I don't want to meet any dead people, on account of the smell. I'm not sure how to answer this because you say "from my life" but then I haven't met them. How can I meet someone, not a celebrity, who is from my life? If they're from my life, I assume I would have met them already. That question is too tough for me, Star! I'm just a simple boy from Ohio.
(--LOL! XD -L. J.)
10. One of my favourite questions to ask and to answer - fantasy casting! You've sold the movie rights to your latest novel and have total creative control on casting. Who do you cast as your leading characters?
For Legally Wed, I would cast Jake Gyllenhall as Dylan and perhaps Jesse Tyler Ferguson as his love interest (he already has the red hair and beard). As far as the best friend, Marilyn, I'd love to see what Melissa McCarthy would do with the role.
11. Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us?
I have a new book coming out next month from Dreamspinner called Dinner at Home. It combines my two greatest passions, romance and food (and...it includes recipes!). Here's the blurb:
It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn’t have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real passion-cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it takes off.
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a street-wise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.
12. What is your favourite room to write in? Do you have any little rituals or quirks that you do while you write/prepare to write?
I write in my home office and have my desk positioned so I can turn my head and look out at Seattle's gorgeous Lake Union and beyond, the Cascade mountains. Rituals? Procrastinating until I can no longer make excuses for not getting down to it!
13. What do you do to unwind and relax?
I love stories. So movies, plays and book all are a huge part of my life. Other than that, I do love to cook and nothing makes me happier than being in the kitchen with a glass of wine, some good music, and the ingredients for a great meal.
14. What dreams have been realised as a result of your writing?
Just the fact that I can at last call myself a professional writer...and mean it.
15. Finally, the question I ask everyone I interview - if you were a plant in the next life, what would you be, and why?
Cannabis, so I could help people relax...and laugh.
Bio:
Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). Lambda Literary Review has called him, "a writer that doesn't disappoint." Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever "at work on another novel."
Web: http://www.rickrreed.com
Blog: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rickrreedbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickrreed.
E-mail: jimmyfels@gmail.com
Dinner at Home -- Pre-order Now! eBook and paperback.
Blurb:
It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn’t have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real passion-cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it takes off.
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a streetwise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed, but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.
Legally Wed
Blurb:
Love comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister, Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan wants-a happy life with a wonderful husband. Now that Seattle has made gay marriage legal, Duncan knows he can have the same thing. But when he proposes to his boyfriend Tucker, he doesn’t get the answer he hoped for. Tucker’s refusal is another misstep in a long line of failed romances. Despairing, Duncan thinks of all the loving unions in his life-and how every one of them is straight. Maybe he could be happy, if not sexually compatible, with a woman. When zany, gay-man-loving Marilyn Samples waltzes into his life, he thinks he may have found his answer.
Determined to settle, Duncan forgets his sister’s wisdom about love and begins planning a wedding with Marilyn. But life throws Duncan a curveball. When he meets wedding planner Peter Dalrymple, unexpected sparks ignite. Neither man knows how long he can resist his powerful attraction to the other. For sure, there’s a wedding in the future. But whose?
Buy Links for Legally Wed
Dreamspinner Ebook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4531
Dreamspinner Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4532
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Wed-Rick-R-Reed-ebook/dp/B00HNXIT5U/
Amazon Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Wed-Rick-R-Reed/dp/1627982043/
AllRomance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-legallywed-1387389-149.html
1. What inspired you to pen your first novel?
My first book was a horror novel about a serial killer who believed he was a vampire conducting a reign of terror on the women of Chicago called Obsessed. I think the idea for it came to me one night when I was driving in Chicago on the Eisenhower Expressway and something caught my eye about the rain-slicked pavement beneath my tires. For some reason, and because I admit to being very strange, I began to imagine a man having the same view. Except in his case, he was going home after committing a murder. Sometimes that’s all it takes to start a story-a simple image, a character, and some compelling fact. Here’s the opening to the book, so you can see how a single idea morphed into a novel:
Joe MacAree had just murdered a woman, and all the things he felt when he killed the other four he was feeling right now. How would he describe it? In his journal, he might call his feelings an “elevation of the senses” or “an ethereal quality bringing the world into sharp focus.”
After each killing the reaction was the same. There was a moment of sharp pain right behind his left eye, an instant where the pain was so intense as to block out the act he had just committed, the blood and the ripped flesh…then a moment where brilliant flecks of silver light swam before him, and he could not keep his eyes from rolling, trying to follow the patterns the stars made.
And then the clarity.
As he guided his light blue Honda Accord along Harlem Avenue just south of Chicago, everything seemed more alive, as if to contrast the death he had just brought about. He noticed things he never noticed: the shifting red, amber, and turquoise of the reflections the stoplights made on the rain-slicked pavement. He noticed how the color spread, muted, over the slick black roadway. Even his radio, usually sounding tinny tuned to WLS, seemed more vibrant. He heard the different instruments in “Hungry Like the Wolf” as if Duran Duran were in the car with him, playing. Although it was February and his windows were rolled shut, he listened to the sounds of the other cars, the hiss of their tires on the pavement, the bass of their engines. He felt each perforation on the cover of the steering wheel. He thought he could even sense the mechanical smell of his own and the other cars as they all made their way northeast, to the Eisenhower Expressway and the city.
And in his mouth, he savored a slight metallic taste.
2. What are you proudest of in your writing?
Lately, I would say the ability to touch my own heart and emotions with what I write and then (hopefully) transfer that touch to readers.
3. If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in any of your books?
Oh God, yes. What writer wouldn't? Whenever I go back, I always see ways I think I could have said it better, portrayed it better, gotten new ideas. The upside of that is that it show progress because I like to think I learn and improve with every book I write. When I stop seeing that growth, then maybe I'll stop.
4. How do you deal with writer's block?
I don't believe in it, so don't deal with it. In my opinion, it's yet another excuse. I have always had more ideas than I have time, so writer's block just doesn't apply. It's for sissies.
5. To someone who has never read your work, how would you describe it?
That's hard because my work ranges from mysterious to horrifying to comic to deeply romantic. I suppose since I am currently writing more romance than anything else I would describe it as universal--I try to make my love stories real and ones in which the reader can nod and say, "Oh, I certainly get that!" because they've been there before. I would hope that my work, above all, makes an emotional connection with my readers.
6. How do you deal with negative reviews?
Ah, it's part of the game. If I look at them at all, I try to see if I can learn anything from them. If not, I try to shrug and move on (easier said then done, my dear!).
7. What themes do you enjoy writing about?
First love. I really enjoy portraying that moment when two people just know they were meant for each other. I also like, as I alluded to above, adding a dash of realism into my stories. I have covered tough subjects like AIDS, child abuse, hate crimes and more in my fiction and I hope that stories with darker subject matter will not only open some eyes, but will also show that love can arise from tragedy. Love can heal.
8. What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted? And when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
Geez, that was over twenty years ago, so it's hard to say. I was thrilled, I'm sure. I also probably thought I was poised to be the next Stephen King (my first book, Obsessed, was published in Dell's groundbreaking horror line Abyss, which even Mr. King himself praised).
The cover was an original painting and was really dark and, I think, mesmerizing, so I was quite happy with it.
9. If you could meet anyone from your life living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why?
I don't want to meet any dead people, on account of the smell. I'm not sure how to answer this because you say "from my life" but then I haven't met them. How can I meet someone, not a celebrity, who is from my life? If they're from my life, I assume I would have met them already. That question is too tough for me, Star! I'm just a simple boy from Ohio.
(--LOL! XD -L. J.)
10. One of my favourite questions to ask and to answer - fantasy casting! You've sold the movie rights to your latest novel and have total creative control on casting. Who do you cast as your leading characters?
For Legally Wed, I would cast Jake Gyllenhall as Dylan and perhaps Jesse Tyler Ferguson as his love interest (he already has the red hair and beard). As far as the best friend, Marilyn, I'd love to see what Melissa McCarthy would do with the role.
11. Are you working on any books/projects that you would like to share with us?
I have a new book coming out next month from Dreamspinner called Dinner at Home. It combines my two greatest passions, romance and food (and...it includes recipes!). Here's the blurb:
It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn’t have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real passion-cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it takes off.
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a street-wise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.
12. What is your favourite room to write in? Do you have any little rituals or quirks that you do while you write/prepare to write?
I write in my home office and have my desk positioned so I can turn my head and look out at Seattle's gorgeous Lake Union and beyond, the Cascade mountains. Rituals? Procrastinating until I can no longer make excuses for not getting down to it!
13. What do you do to unwind and relax?
I love stories. So movies, plays and book all are a huge part of my life. Other than that, I do love to cook and nothing makes me happier than being in the kitchen with a glass of wine, some good music, and the ingredients for a great meal.
14. What dreams have been realised as a result of your writing?
Just the fact that I can at last call myself a professional writer...and mean it.
15. Finally, the question I ask everyone I interview - if you were a plant in the next life, what would you be, and why?
Cannabis, so I could help people relax...and laugh.
Bio:
Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation and The Blue Moon Cafe). Lambda Literary Review has called him, "a writer that doesn't disappoint." Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever "at work on another novel."
Web: http://www.rickrreed.com
Blog: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rickrreedbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickrreed.
E-mail: jimmyfels@gmail.com
Dinner at Home -- Pre-order Now! eBook and paperback.
Blurb:
It only takes a few days for Ollie D'Angelo to lose his boyfriend, his job, and his home. Instead of mourning what he doesn’t have, Ollie celebrates what he does: the freedom to pursue his real passion-cooking. He begins Dinner at Home, a home-catering business, and it takes off.
Late one night, Ollie catches Hank Mellinger, a streetwise hood down on his luck, about to rob his car. Ollie soon discovers that appearances aren’t necessarily what they seem. Hank isn’t a criminal caught red-handed, but a hungry young man trying to make a life for himself and the four-year-old niece he’s trying desperately to take care of.
Instead of calling the cops, Ollie offers Hank a job and a way to pull himself up by his bootstraps. Together, they discover they can really cook... and that their shared passion for food just might lead to a passion for each other.
Legally Wed
Blurb:
Love comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister, Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan wants-a happy life with a wonderful husband. Now that Seattle has made gay marriage legal, Duncan knows he can have the same thing. But when he proposes to his boyfriend Tucker, he doesn’t get the answer he hoped for. Tucker’s refusal is another misstep in a long line of failed romances. Despairing, Duncan thinks of all the loving unions in his life-and how every one of them is straight. Maybe he could be happy, if not sexually compatible, with a woman. When zany, gay-man-loving Marilyn Samples waltzes into his life, he thinks he may have found his answer.
Determined to settle, Duncan forgets his sister’s wisdom about love and begins planning a wedding with Marilyn. But life throws Duncan a curveball. When he meets wedding planner Peter Dalrymple, unexpected sparks ignite. Neither man knows how long he can resist his powerful attraction to the other. For sure, there’s a wedding in the future. But whose?
Buy Links for Legally Wed
Dreamspinner Ebook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4531
Dreamspinner Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4532
Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Wed-Rick-R-Reed-ebook/dp/B00HNXIT5U/
Amazon Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Wed-Rick-R-Reed/dp/1627982043/
AllRomance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-legallywed-1387389-149.html