Please welcome this week’s guest author, Alex Draven. Thanks for joining us Alex.

Q: To start, please share which genre you write in…
A: I write queer romance, and within that, I have two main groups at the moment. The first group are urban fantasy - unrelated stories about elves and shape-shifters in the real world. The other group are my Tawnholme stories - contemporary stories set in a fictional UK town called Tawnholme. These stories centre around the many alternative subcultures in the city - goths and hippies and gamers. Mostly goths, though.

Q: How long did you write before you received your first contract for publication?
A: The very first story I sold was called Fall, which is an urban fantasy story with centaurs. (It’s up on my website as a free read now) I think I’d been writing for about three years when that came out? I’ve always been a story teller, a story weaver, but I didn’t write anything down for years.

Q: So, if you don’t mind sharing, would you tell us about your latest work in progress?
A: I probably have about ten stories on the boil at the moment, it’s just that sometimes it’s a very slow boil! Right now, I’m typing on a netbook on a train, and I’ve got this interview file open, and a Tawholme story about two guys - a ‘regular joe’ and a goth - who literally bump into each other in a fast food restaurant and from there have to work out if they have anything in common.

Q: Out of all the stories you’ve written, which is your favorite?
A: It’s really hard to choose! I have a real soft-spot for Fall, and of the ones that are still in ‘print’, maybe Staytape, the corset-guys’ story?

Q: Do you need to be in a specific place or atmosphere before the words flow?
A: Not really. Trains, coffee shops, and at home with the music going are perennial favourites, but when inspiration strikes I’ll write anywhere and on almost anything. The right music definitely helps, though, as does talking about writing. I always come home full of ideas and energy for writing when I’ve been spending time with my writing-friends.

Q: What’s the strangest source of inspiration you’ve found for a story?
A: I am such a magpie! I take inspiration from all over. I guess maybe one of the weirdest was the bet that led to the infamous necrophilia plushy gang bang story…

Q: If you could offer one tidbit of information for new writers, what would it be?
A: There is no ‘right way’ to do this. Read the advice, try out the thousand and one methods and rules and suggestions, but remember that the ‘right way’ is whatever works for you. Just write. Tell your stories.

Q: Do you have an evil day job or do you write full time?
A: I have a day job, but it’s not evil. I enjoy it, and it provides me with many opportunities for people watching, which I think almost all authors get something from, and many opportunities for random research, which always seems to come in useful for something down the line.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time?
A: Write! I’m also addicted to reading, music - I love gigs, and going clubbing - dancing, baking, and being daft with my friends.

Q: Name one thing readers would be surprised to learn about you.
A: I’m so bad at knowing what might be a surprise! I can milk a goat? I’m dyslexic?

Q: What’s your favorite dirty word?
A: Fuck. It’s just so flexible.

Q: What’s your favorite holiday, and why?
A: Holiday in the American sense? It’s a toss up between Christmas Eve and Halloween.

Q: Do you have any tattoos or piercings?
A: No tats, yet, but multiple piercings. I’d have more if it wasn’t for the day job.

Q: If you could be intimate with three people (not necessarily all at one time *g*) without getting in trouble with your significant other, who would they be?
A: I already have standing permission for Alicia Moore (aka Pink) and a bunch of fictional crushes … how about Byron Stroud (Strapping Young Lad / Fear Factory) and Joaquin Phoenix?

Q: If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want with you?
A: Fresh water, sunscreen, and a way to contact the rescue services.

Q: If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you spend the money on?
A: Buy a big old rambling house and set up my creative benign dictatorship. It’s like a commune for writers and artists and musicians and people who make stuff, but with me as the final ruler of stuff like ‘is person x being a disruptive waste of space who needs to move on now’.

Q: Which household chore do you abhor and why?
A: All of them? I just plain won’t iron, unless it’s a wedding, a funeral, or a job interviews, which leaves cleaning the bathroom as probably my least favorite endless chore.

Q: What’s your favorite comfort food?
A: Cream of mushroom soup, with peas in it.

Q: Do you have any guilty pleasures you feel comfortable sharing?
A: I try not to buy into guilt for pleasures. Life’s too short to do things that make you feel bad, or to feel bad about things that are good.

Q: Do you have a favorite book or movie?
A: Shelves of them! I really can’t pick just one.

Q: Anything else you’d like to share?
A: I really do love traveling by train. Road-trips are fun, but trains have the edge - better views, more room on the move, plug sockets for my laptop, coffee shop that travels with you - it’s good stuff!

Q: In closing, tell us a bit about your latest release (& share a yummy excerpt for those who aren’t yet familiar with your work)
A: My latest release is Saffron Stains, part of Torquere Press’s Spice It Up line. It’s a British urban fantasy story, and, really, it’s all about trusting someone who’s let you down before.

Jem is tired of watching Kael come and go from the fae court, tired of wondering whether his beautiful lover needs him more than he needs his family. He waited patiently the last time Kael disappeared, but he’s not sure he can do it again, and when Kael doesn’t come home one night, Jem wonders if it’s all over for good.Kael would much rather be home with Jem than be in the fairy court with his mother and sister, but he has obligations. Obligations that lead to him neglecting the one thing he truly cares about. Can Kael find a way to convince Jem that he wants to come home?

Excerpt:

Jem was really quite irritated with Kael.

Really, really quite annoyed, in fact.

Fucking incandescent would be another way of pronouncing it, but that
wasn’t really something he felt comfortable saying to his boss, so
he’d settled for ‘bit of a rough night’ when Katie had asked him if he
was okay earlier.

Now he was stuck out here on the counter, being polite to the retired
ladies in search of sewing sundries who made up most of Browne’s
Haberdashery and Fancies’ weekday morning customers. People looking
for magical supplies tended to come in later, or on weekends.

His smile probably wasn’t that convincing, but at least he hadn’t
sworn at anyone, not even when old Mrs. Haslet changed her mind for
the fourth time about which color wool she wanted for her
grand-nephew’s new pullover.

The bell above the shop door rang, and Jem looked up from the now
unwanted balls of wool.

“Oh, fuck,” he murmured to himself, too quietly for Mrs. Haslet to
hear, but loud enough that Katie whipped her head around and glared at
him.

Jem rolled his eyes, and grimaced back at his boss. The very last
thing he needed this morning was Lizabeth Anderson.

Lizabeth Anderson was just about Jem’s least favorite customer –
worse than little old ladies who couldn’t make a decision if the whole
world depended on it, worse than the faie who thought Browne’s was
good enough to buy supplies from, but that Jem wasn’t good enough to
talk to; worse, even, than the wanna-blessed-be human teenagers with
their idiotic ideas about magic.

Lizabeth Anderson had spent fifty years being the adored darling of
the High Court, dripping with glamours from her lovers, and Sky, but
the woman could whine for England. So the queen had finally tired of
little human Lizabeth. It probably would be a shock to look into a
mirror and all of a sudden see an old lady instead of a fresh-faced
beauty, but really! Just seeing her was reminding Jem of all the
things he was angry and hurt and pissed off about.

*****
To learn more about Alex Drave, please visit his website: www.alexdraven.org.uk