A very warm welcome to author Shae Connor stopping by Love bytes today to talk about her new release Wayward Son.

Shae talks to us about “the layers of drag” and she brings with her a giveaway everyone can enter!

Welcome Shae 🙂

 

TITLE: Wayward Son

SERIES: Sons #2

AUTHOR: Shae Connor

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

RELEASE DATE:  May 11, 2015

GENRE:  Contemporary, Romance

Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

BOOK LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | Goodreads

BLURB:

Sequel to Unfortunate Son

Sons: Book Two

After his move to Atlanta and away from the influence of his conservative parents, Mikey O’Malley finally feels free to be himself: art student, aspiring animator, and out gay man. He has friends, a new job, and not one, but two men interested in him. Cory Lassiter and Jimmy Black have been a happy couple for years, occasionally bringing a twink into their bed, but only for a brief roll in the hay. When Mikey meets the pair, the attraction is immediate, and it runs three ways. Mikey just can’t believe they’d have room in their lives for a permanent addition.

When Mikey’s newfound life is shattered by a lawsuit that accuses him of molesting a child years earlier, he’s determined to face his troubles on his own, but Cory and Jimmy are just as determined that he not have to go it alone. To reconcile his need for independence and his desire for love, Mikey has to learn that being a man isn’t just about standing on your own two feet. It’s about letting yourself lean on the ones who love you.

Layers of Drag

By Shae Connor

 

Thanks so much to Dani for having me over today! 🙂

 

The idea to have one of the characters in the Sons series be a drag performer came from a real-life friend on whom the character of Cory Lassiter is loosely based. He doesn’t do drag himself, but he told me that if he did, he’d use the name Coco Lamé, and I immediately asked if I could use that. He said of course, and Coco was born.

 

In Unfortunate Son, the character Mikey is introduced when he attends Coco’s first headlining performance with her drag troupe, the Stilettos. Mikey is immediately taken with Coco, and when he meets Cory afterward, the attraction between them only grows. Add Cory’s boyfriend into the mix, and things are sure to get steamy.

 

The research I did for the drag performances in Unfortunate Son and Wayward Son came primarily from attending drag performances myself. Atlanta drag troupe the Armorettes (http://www.armorettes.com), on which I based the Stilettos, used to perform regularly at a local gay pub that my friends and I visit regularly. I’d seen some performances there mostly by chance, as well as a few others at other events I attended, but the first time I went to a full drag show was in Dallas. We were in town for a friend’s birthday and went to The Rose Room, where we watched an amazing show and had a fabulous time. The drag queens at the events I’ve attended have been universally talented. Some are gorgeous, some camp (the Armorettes are also known as “the Infamous Camp Drag Queens of the South”), and most funny, and all put equal effort into their performances as they do interaction with the crowd.

 

I won’t try to get into all the different layers involved in the question of cross-dressing. It’s a topic that could easily fill an entire college curriculum. I know drag queens who dress as a woman most of the time, those who only put on drag for specific performances, some who’ve created specific characters or character types that go beyond the usual (like the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, http://www.thesisters.org), and all points in between. For this post, I’ll stick with the type of drag that applies to the character that appears in this series. I’ve done my best to make Cory/Coco’s story clear and respectful.

 

In the Sons series, Coco Lamé is Cody’s drag queen persona. She’s a character he plays, albeit one that he developed, so he feels a closer affinity to her than if he were filling shoes created by someone else. Cody becomes Coco by putting on flashy dresses, makeup, wigs, padding, and “evil Spanx.” For Cory, drag is a creative outlet, a chance to shine, and a way to indulge his love of shiny things. It’s also a way to participate in something that’s a big part of gay history and to do good in his community. The Stilettos are modeled after the real-life Armorettes, who use the tips they collect to raise funds for charity. Coco doesn’t keep any of the cash her fans give her. It all goes into the pot to help local organizations. (The books don’t give specifics about the Stilettos, but the Armorettes have raised over $2 million for HIV/AIDS-related charities over the past 36 years.)

 

When he’s not performing, though, Cory dresses and lives a male persona. Drag is something he enjoys doing, but only occasionally, not every day. He isn’t transgender and doesn’t have an interest in dressing as a woman on a regular basis. He also doesn’t get any particular sexual fulfillment from being in drag—though it’s pretty clear in the series that Mikey enjoys it quite a bit.

 

I will admit that I had a lot of fun writing the scenes of Coco’s performances. I got to choose the songs, design the outfits, choreograph the routines, and even incorporate the reactions from Mikey and Jimmy. I’d never have the nerve to dress up in a sparkly dress and boots and lip-synch to Reba McEntire, but that’s okay. Coco is more than happy do it for me. It’s one of the benefits of being a writer. I get to do all sorts of things I’d never get to do otherwise!

 

 

Shae Connor lives in Atlanta, where she’s a lackadaisical government worker for a living and writes sweet-hot romance under the cover of night. She’s been making things up for as long as she can remember, but it took her a long time to figure out that maybe she should try writing them down. She’s conned several companies into publishing her work and adds a new notch on her bedpost each time another story is unleashed onto an unsuspecting universe.

A member of the Romance Writers of America and the Rainbow Writers chapter, Shae was first published in 2010 and has a lineup of short stories, novellas, and novels available from Dreamspinner Press, Wilde City Press, MLR Press, and Amber Allure.

Shae is part Jersey, part Irish, and all Southern, which explains why she never shuts up. When she’s not chained to her laptop, she enjoys cooking, traveling, watching baseball, and reading voraciously, and she’s an annual volunteer for the Dragon Con on-site publication, the Daily Dragon. You can find her hanging out on Twitter most any time @shaeconnor, but for the more direct route, you can email her at shaeconnorwrites@gmail.com or visit her website at shaeconnorwrites.com.

 

 

Rafflecopter Prize – $25.00 Dreamspinner Press Gift Card and a Backlist Book

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to check out Cindy’s review on Wayward Son that will be posted later today !

 

TOUR SCHEDULE:

5/11 – The Novel Approach

5/12 – Sinfully Sexy

5/13 – Love Bytes Reviews

5/14 – M/M Good Book Reviews

5/15 – Prism Book Alliance

5/16 – Joyfully Jay

5/17 – Because Two Men Are Better Than One