Casey Cox, author of The Rise of Alec Caldwell joins us today for this weeks Author Spotlight. Sit back, take a sip of tea and get to know the rising star.
Where do you call home?
West of England. I live right on
the border between England and Wales, where the Severn Vale meets the estuary
of the Bristol Channel.
What other hobbies do you have?
I’m a hobby junky. I’ve had a go
at most things over the years from furniture restoration and upholstery to
quilting to collecting fountain pens and inks to making paper. Anything to do
with crafts, textiles and art, I’ve probably gone through a phase with it.
How long have you been writing?
In fits and starts since I was a
kid. I had a few things published back then, mostly poetry, some shorts.
Writing has always been a way for me to survive, break out of the everyday and
escape to a happier place – even when the world I’m creating isn’t always
happy.
This latest phase of writing fiction
began about three years ago. I’d predominantly been an academic writer for a
number of years at that point. I penned a pretty mammoth MF series that opened
up a new avenue in writing for me. I’d always been a fantasy/paranormal writer
but this was contemporary and I liked the change of pace. I decided to take
writing fiction more seriously this time around and signed up for a few writing
courses at university to investigate the craft from the roots up. One of my
characters from that series was questioning his sexuality. I started to read MM
to see how the scenes I’d written compared and I’ve been here ever since.
How did you get your start in the writing world?
Which time around, the MM world?
I wrote a cross over fan fiction piece for the Aleks Voinov Group. Special
Forces meets The Administration. People liked it so I started on a few original
MM projects including Be My Boy for HSD last year.
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| Read Here |
What projects are you working on?
My WIP file is like a bottomless
pit of scenes and ideas that rarely make it past a few thousand words. The
stronger projects at the moment are a paranormal piece for LiAW, a sequel for
Be My Boy, a sequel for a novella currently with a publisher for consideration,
Alec… oh, and a novella I’m working on for an open call. Wow, that’s a lot.
Alec Caldwell...tell us how you came up with his story!
Ah, my lovely Alec. The series
was born from a very enjoyable daydream. A single scene that played out in my
head over a lazy Sunday afternoon.
The first outing of this world on
paper was for an MF erotica piece a few years ago. Alec’s little afternoon
fantasy fitted into it so well it made sense to set it there. This time around,
things are more fun and less political.
Once established with the first
few scenes, Alec grew very rapidly as a serial adventure. At the time, I was
working on an open call and completely stressed out. It was a conscious
decision from the very beginning to let Alec’s story run without the usual
constraints. I wanted it to be fun, an escape for me when other WIP’s weighed
heavy, a space to let the muse run wild. The story breaks naturally in a
handful of places so it made sense to package episodes as Volumes. Some people
prefer to download a whole novel rather than wait for the next chapter.
What can fans of the series look forward to?
I’m not sure how much I should
say. Alec has a lot more to discover that’s for sure. The third Volume is about
Alec putting together the pieces of what he wants out of life. Up to this point
he’s been caught up on a fast train and swept along for the ride. As he gains
more life experience he’s sorting through the things that work for him and
those that don’t. Hamilton is also going through a transformation. The question
is whether their needs will continue to be in alignment as they change and
adapt to new situations.
The fourth and final volume will
answer the big questions – who ends up with whom – and whether their current lifestyle
is sustainable. I’ve already made promises
that Sebastian gets his HEA so that’s a given. Whether it’s with Alec, remains
to be seen.
It’s funny talking about the
final volume. I still can’t imagine, at this juncture, there being a time when
I’m not writing Alec.
Favorites:
Ice Cream: Chocolate,
mint and coffee. Uh, together would be nice.
Wine: Red. Malbec or Grenache are
favourites though a good Merlot wouldn’t go amiss.
Vacation Destination: What’s a vacation? I travel a lot of work so don’t really go on holiday.
I love Cornwall, Finland and South Africa. My dream holiday would be either
Iceland or New Zealand (nothing to do with finding Dan and Vadim, honest) –
somewhere with glaciers and live volcanoes as I’m a bit of a geology geek.
Genre: MM, MMM, MMMM, MMMMM – you get
the idea.
Season: I grew up in a seaside town where the population trebled during the summer
so it has always been autumn – the season of descending peace and being able to
walk along the pavement without being pushed into the path of oncoming traffic.
Snack Food: Chocolate,
chocolate flavoured things, chocolate covered things (including cheese – no
really, you should try it)…
Bell Jar Memory as an author you will cherish forever?
The first squeeing email from a
reader that just loved, loved, loved something. It’s that defining moment where
you say to yourself – ‘people I don’t know are actually reading my stuff and
hey like it – wow – I’m an author’.
I would like to thank Casey Cox for stopping by! I can't wait to see what else this talented author brings to our bookshelves:)
You can also read the complete series of The Rise of Alec Caldwell...here
Thanks again, Casey!
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