The Art of Collaboration

By A.J. Llewellyn

My fourth book to be released with Amber Quill Press is The House of Driscoll (Book 1), coming out on June 6. It's a spanky-new collaboration with the uber-talented (and mega-sexy too!) D.J. Manly.
My work with D.J. has been the highlight of my writing career.
People often ask how D.J. and I write together when he lives in Canada and I live in Los Angeles.
It's easy thanks to the Internet, phone calls and that hard-to-find symbiosis that is any artist's dream.
Ever since he first approached me with his idea of a collaboration on a contemporary M/M book Black Point, which became the first in a series of best-selling books, this has been a magical experience.
I mean this in many ways. After writing a few books together, D.J, asked me how I felt about a vampire book and I was excited to collaborate on yet another series.
Blood Eclipse surprised us both, I think. We began to realize more and more how much we like working together. From the start, D.J. and I have found we have our differences as well as our complementary styles and the lines have started to blur--deliciously so--to the extent that our readers often can't tell who wrote what.
There was even a funny incident where D.J. and I got confused over who wrote a certain sex scene (he did) but still, it meant the world to me that our styles mesh so well that even we get lost.
It was a thrill to me when I was invited to submit to AQP and after my first release with Deeper Blue, asked D.J. to co-write Fawnskin with me. I hoped he would not find the book too dark since it revolves around a man hired to sit with the dead in a funeral home. I was ecstatic when he loved it. I like to think we are both versatile.
I do know we are both extremely dirty-minded. I think our readers love that about us.
D.J. was the one who came up with the entire concept for The House of Driscoll, our latest creation and I felt a good vibe...the same one I always feel when we start to work.
Whoever starts the work usually writes a few chapters and emails the other. The other one reads it and starts to work. As our series have progressed, we have stopped writing only from one character's POV. We overlap, interject, add, subtract, you name it.
I think the key is absolute trust and a total lack of ego. I think we share the same viewpoint. The story and characters must feel true, regardless of genre. I would say this is essential in any collaboration and I've learned over 17 books (and counting) that D.J. and I just 'click' creatively.
I don't think I am telling tales out of school by saying this but I never like the names D.J. picks for my characters.
Marcus became Matt in the Black Point series and I think our readers love him. And his husband Thomas.
In The House of Driscoll, the lead character Max Driscoll is a vampire who has been on this earth since the time of the French Revolution and has been summoned to modern day New York City to destroy his former lover turned nemesis, the vampire Galien.
D.J.'s original name for this character was Graham, of course, I hated it. With a bit of research, I discovered the name Galien, which was fitting for a man during the French Revolution.
Together, we've cooked up what I think is a damned fine story.
And it is only the beginning since it's the first in our new series.
I think D.J. and I are both visual writers. We love the power of story and we both love to write.
The symbiosis I was talking about was there from the moment he pitched the idea to me.
I love Max, Blue, Galien...all the characters who define The House of Driscoll. We hope our readers do, too.
To check out more about The House of Driscoll, please visit the Amber Allure site:
http://www.amberquill.com/amberallure/AA_upcoming.html


Aloha oe,

A.J.

The Book and the Rose

By A.J. Llewellyn

The Book and the Rose, my next release with Amber Allure, the GLBT imprint of Amber Quill Press comes out on April 25, exactly a month from now. I am already jumping up and down with excitement.
I love the cover (I think Trace Edward Zaber is not only an awesome publisher but an incredible artist who puts his heart into our covers) but I am ecstatic because I asked especially for this release date - and I got it!
The Book and the Rose comes out on a day that may not be especially significant in the US but in Europe is celebrated as St. George's Day.
In Barcelona (where the book is set), it is an especially significant day. It is Diada de la Sant Jordi - a festival dubbed the Book and the Rose.
Last Thanksgiving, I met and befriended a wonderful couple, Marisa and Jason. When they found out what I do, they told me how they met in Barcelona 54 years ago.
I was agog when they told me about the wonderful tradition of the Book and the Rose. It is a bigger holiday in Spain than Valentine's Day and culturally, it is wonderful.
All the book stores open for a week, non-stop. It is tradition for women all over Barcelona to shop aggressively for the most wonderful, perfect book to give their men. The men meanwhile, shop equally aggressively for the perfect rose to give their women.
In a society where we are actively closing down our beloved brick and mortar bookstores, I am over the moon about anything that celebrates books.
Created over a hundred years ago by an innovative bookseller, this festival draws thousands of tourists to Barcelona every year.
I love that romance, the spirit of St. George, slayer of dragons and that books, beautiful books are celebrated. I also love that it is not commercialized, like Valentine's Day.
I learned so much from Marisa and Jason who encouraged me to 'borrow' their love story. Since mine involves too hot guys, a whole different world emerges.
Stay tuned next month for an excerpt of The Book and the Rose, but in the meantime, I will say this.
The Book and the Rose is about Evans McCoy, a Hollywood TV producer who meets a mysterious, hot Barcelona businessman, Mio Alejo-Cortez. Invited to spend Diada de la Sant Jordi with Mio, Evans soon learns that Mio isn't your garden-variety successful businessman. He's a recently retired gay porn star working has a high-priced rent boy.
Can their love survive The Book and the Rose?

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Watching the Dead

By A.J. Llewellyn

This is my first blog as An Amber Quill Press author and I'm thrilled to be talking about my second book with them.

Firstly, I owe it to the dangerously talented (and sexy, too!) author Rick R. Reed for suggesting to our publisher Trace Edward Zaber that he should invite me to submit a story for his approval. He did, and I did...and my first book, Deeper Blue came out at Amber Allure last October.

I have loved my whole experience here with AQP and as I pondered what to write next, I had a weird and wonderful experience.

I had lunch with a group of friends as we got hair cuts at our old movie studio. Though we were all laid off, we are all still close and we go to the hair salon on the lot and make a half-day of it. Being close to bald, I require little in the cutting department. I'm there for the donuts and the bagels. And the smears. I am all about cream cheese.

But I digress.

One of our pals arrived late and confessed his new job was beginning to affect him. Since he works nights, we made fun, teasing him about being a go go dancer or a rent boy. Nope. He's watching the dead.

I said, "What?"

Turns out it's an actual job in a very Orthodox Jewish funeral parlor. He is called a shomerim and he must stay awake guarding the dead...or else, the dead man's spirit walks, releasing a dybbuk.

I said, "A what?"

Now, I took notes. I am a relentless taker of anecdotes. A thief of ideas...and hey presto, there was my idea for Fawnskin!

I roped my frequent writing partner, the brilliant and yummy D.J. Manly into writing it with me. I told him my idea.

He said, "A what?"

And here you have it. Fawnskin comes out on the 28th, the first in our new series set in this actual California town. I chose the name Fawnskin because I love the textured idea of it, plus it's a warm and friendly sounding name.

The town, however, like our story...hides much that isn't seen. Located in the mountains of Big Bear, a couple of hours north of L.A. Fawnskin has a rich history of being a stagecoach town back in the day. I was really haunted by this one-time artist's colony that is making a gradual comeback.

So often in gay erotic romance fiction, the locales are exotic or glamorous. I liked the idea of this story taking place in a town effected by the economy...but one in which there is also hope. Knox and Rallus are two lonely men who arrive to start new lives, meeting just as weird things start happening in Fawnskin.

Because in our book...the shomerim sleeps. And the dead walk...dance...and they too, like their cream cheese.

For more information on Fawnskin, please visit Amber Quill Press: http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/Fawnskin.html

Aloha oe,

A.J.