Characters from When Love Takes Over Interview Author Jacob Z. Flores

I’m excited to be here at Sid Love’s blog. This is my first visit, and I’m super nervous. Meeting new people always does that to me because I’m worried that I’ll say something stupid or fall on my face.

Believe me, I do that a lot because I’m kind of a mess. Hopefully, I won’t embarrass myself. At least too much.

Now just why am I here? Well, Sid has graciously agreed to be a stop on my blog tour promoting my latest release from Dreamspinner Press, When Love Takes Over.

To celebrate, I thought it would be fun to sit down with the two main characters from the book—Zach Kelly and Van Pierce. Instead of interviewing them, however, I figured it might be great fun to let them interview me. But before I turn the computer over to them, here’s the blurb for the novel that will tell you a little bit about Zach and Van.

Blurb: Zach Kelly’s life is a shambles. His boyfriend of three years dumped him, and his writing career is going nowhere. On a whim, he heads to Provincetown, Massachusetts, to nurse his broken heart and figure out his next step. He’s expecting to find rest and relaxation on the sandy beaches of Cape Cod. Instead, Zach meets a hunky porn star during a chance encounter at a leather shop he mistakes as a place to buy a belt that is definitely not for whipping.

Van Pierce is smitten when shy and inexperienced Zach crashes through a shelf of fetish gear. Though Van’s got an insatiable appetite for men on and off the set, his porn persona, Hart Throb, hides a broken heart. He’s struggling to find the reality the porno set doesn’t offer, and Zach is fighting to find the fantasy that will set his writing on fire. The odd goofball and the suave beefcake may either find love amid Provincetown’s colorful pageantry where summer never seems to end—or more heartbreak than either can imagine.

. ≈.:.≈.:.≈.:.≈.:.≈.:.≈.:.≈.:.≈.

Now, that you know a bit about Zach and Van, I shall turn the computer over to them.

Van: Yay! It’s our turn to talk. Finally! He can go on for hours without stop.

Jacob: Thanks a lot. I’ll remember that during edits of the next book in the series.

Van: That’s an empty threat, and you know it! You wouldn’t do anything to me. Didn’t you read the blurb? I’m a suave beefcake. Everyone loves a suave beefcake.

Jacob: I could make you gain fifty pounds.

Van: (gasping) You wouldn’t dare!

Jacob:  Try me.

Van: Like I was saying, your introduction to this interview was perfect. Right on the money. Not long winded at all.

Jacob: Uh-huh.

Van: I’m serious. I was telling Zach how eloquent you were and how you have such a gift with words. Now, Zach might have said something about your constant chatter, but…

Zach: Hey! How’d I get dragged into this?

Van: (whispering to Zach) Do you want me to gain fifty pounds?

Zach: (whispering to Van) Not really. But I’d still think you’d look pretty damn hot.

Van: Aww! You’re so sweet. Have I told you that lately?

Zach: Not in the last hour

Jacob: Um, aren’t the two of you supposed to be interviewing me?

Van: Give us a minute, will you? Zach and I are having a moment.

Jacob: You get fifty pounds heavier by the second.

Van: Right. Let’s get to the interview.

Jacob: Wise choice.

Van: So our book When Love Takes Over is the first book of the Provincetown Series, right?

Jacob: “Our” book? I thought I wrote it.

Van: Well, yes you wrote it, but you wrote it about Zach and me.

Jacob: Yes, you and Zach are the main characters of When Love Takes Over, which is the first book of the Provincetown Series.

Zach: How many books are there in the series?

Jacob: There are four books total. When Love Takes Over, Chasing the Sun, When Love Gets Hairy, and When Love Comes to Town.

Van: I better be in all four books. Tell me I’m in all four books. You know how much I love the limelight!

Jacob: (sighing) Yes, Van. You’re in all four books.

Van: I knew it! See, you can’t do anything to me. I’m the star of all four books!

Jacob: I said you were in all four books. I did not say you were the star of all four books. Each book in the series has different main characters. While you and Zach are the MC’s for the first book, you return as supporting characters for the remaining books.

Van: What! Me? A supporting character? I’m Hart Throb, porn star extraordinaire. Hart Throb is not a supporting character.

Zach: And what am I? Chopped liver?

Van: If you were, I’d still eat you up.

Zach: Then start eating.

Jacob: Good Lord! Will you two calm down? I’m going to have to turn the hose on you.

Van: That could be hot.

Jacob: What am I going to do with the two of you?

Zach: Not to be rude or anything, but you only have yourself to blame. You did create us this way.

Jacob: Don’t remind me.

Van: That brings up a good question. Why a porn star and a writer?

Jacob: Well, I wanted to write a story about two complete opposites who normally wouldn’t be attracted to each other. And how much more opposite could a shy and inexperienced author be from a confident, sex-crazed porn star?

Van: I am not sex crazed!

Zach: (to Van) Are you kidding me right now? What was the name of your last porn film?

Van: (looking away) Ass Pussy

Zach: We rest our case.

Van: It’s not like you’re the picture of innocence, Zach Kelly!

Zach: (sticking out his tongue) I never said I was.

Jacob: Can we get back to my interview? And you say I’m a chatterbox! As I was saying, I wanted to bring these two opposite characters together in Provincetown, where anything can happen.

Zach: And usually does.

Jacob: Correct. As you both know, there’s a certain magic in Provincetown. People who wouldn’t normally meet and/or get along with each other, somehow become lifelong friends in P-town. Or even lovers. There really is no limit to the possibilities. I don’t know if it’s the windswept dunes, the sunny skies, or the sparkling oceans, but once Provincetown casts her spell, well, look out.

Zach: I think the people in Provincetown play a big part as well. It’s no secret the reason I came to P-town was because I was dumped.

Van: By that awful Ben. I hate him more than I hate being a supporting character in the other books of the series!

Zach: But when I came to P-town, it was like the entire town held open its arms and gave me a big hug. I felt it almost from the moment I arrived. Then, when I met Gary and Quinn—

Van: Who are a riot by the way!

Jacob: I think so too.

Zach: —they didn’t hesitate to take me under their wing. They opened up their hearts and introduced me around. The Townies, like Gary and Quinn, who live there year round make Provincetown truly unique. You really don’t find people like that anywhere else.

Jacob: I’d have to agree with you, Zach. My husband and I have been vacationing in P-town for eight years now, and each year we just keep adding to our list of friends, who’ve become just like family to us. In fact, we plan to move there one day.

Van: To Provincetown? Really?

Jacob: Yes, really. Is there a problem with that?

Van: Well, don’t take offense, but you’re kinda bossy. Always telling us what to do and where to go. Are you going to be doing that twenty-four seven if you move here?

Jacob: You do realize you’re characters in a book, right? I’m not being bossy. You’re just doing what you were created to do.

Van: If we’re just characters, then aren’t you really just talking to yourself right now?

Jacob: Um. Maybe.

Van: Authors are weird.

Zach: Hey! I’m an author!

Van: Created by another author. That makes you extra weird and extra cute!

Zach: I like the way you think.

Jacob: Don’t you mean you like the way I think?

Zach: This is getting confusing.

Jacob: I agree.

Van: Then it’s time to bring this interview to a close. Until next time, Jacob, when you sit at your computer and bring us back to life!

Jacob: I can’t wait, Van. I miss you and Zach already.

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Before I go, I want to thank everyone who stopped by today for this rather unconventional interview. It’s been fun. I also want to thank Sid for allowing me to visit. Hopefully, we can do this again for the next book.

For those interested, I have included an excerpt below. Additionally, as part of my blog tour I’m holding a contest. All you have to do is leave a comment to this post, and your name is entered to win a free copy of When Love Takes Over. If a reader happens to follow all my blog stops, then she or he can leave a comment at the other sites a well. At the end of the tour, a winner will be chosen and announced.

Excerpt:

“Just let me know if you need anything,” the guy said before disappearing back into the dressing room he’d previously stepped out of.

Zach nodded and then realized he’d been left alone in the store with Mr. Tanned Body, who still stood silently staring at him. The realization urged his feet to move toward the back part of the store.

As he worked his way around the gas masks, he tried to forget about the fact that he was being watched. Maybe the guy worked security and had somehow pegged Zach as a potential shoplifter.

There couldn’t be any other reason that Zach could fathom, so he gave the guy his back and inspected the leather harnesses along the far left wall. They were obviously different styles, but he had no clue what the smaller ones that looked like holsters were called. He entertained the idea of trying one on just for show, but that would mean taking off his shirt. He definitely didn’t want to do that.

People typically poked fun at how white he was.

Instead, he worked his way past the harnesses and approached the back wall, where the dressing room was located. There, he found a cardboard display spotlighting a tub jam-packed with lube of assorted varieties he’d never even heard of—Boy Butter, Elbow Grease, Spunk, and FIST Powder.

The last brand name made him shudder. The thought of someone shoving an entire fist up his ass caused Zach’s hole to clench tightly shut. No matter how much being here excited him sexually, fisting had never turned him on, and the unpleasant image of some guy elbow-deep up another man’s ass calmed the raging waters that had churned so vigorously inside.

In fact, he was certain his asshole wouldn’t relax until he left this place that sold objects whose sole purpose seemed to be destroying the elasticity of a part of the body he preferred to remain tight.

He made his way around the tub of lube and stood studying the latex wrestling suits and leather aprons that covered the far wall. He could understand the fascination with the wrestling singlets. Muscled guys rolling around in skimpy gear turned him on too.

However, why would anyone purchase a leather apron?

It resembled something a sadistic butcher might wear in a horror movie.

As he pondered what the aprons were used for sexually, the door to the dressing room fell open, and Zach gasped.

The store employee struggled to help a rather obese man shove himself inside a full-body rubber suit. Talcum powder spotted the interior of the room and the outside of the outfit. It had also gotten on their faces. There was so much powder everywhere that Zach figured this must be what a coke den looked like. At least one that had imploded.

Turning around seemed the politest response, but the spectacle proved too much of a train wreck.

The large man, who resembled Jabba the Hutt trying to squeeze inside a Hefty bag, cursed as he attempted to force every roll of fat inside. His constant struggle caused sweat to drench his body, turning the powder that caked his pregnant, hairy belly into paste.

The poor employee, who knelt before the sweating crotch from which hung a tiny Vienna sausage, attempted to hike the suit farther up the man’s meaty thighs. When that failed, he stood and yanked with all his might as the rotund fellow lifted his left leg in a vain attempt at assistance. The slick material, made even slicker by the man’s perspiration, caused the employee to lose his grip.

The rubber snapped back quite unexpectedly for the big guy who already teetered precariously on one bulky limb. Unbalanced, he toppled backward onto the dressing room floor, causing the layer of powder to explode upward and resulting in a momentary whiteout in the small room.

Before he could help himself, Zach broke out into laughter.

The customer didn’t appreciate Zach’s sense of humor and called him a fuckwad.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he backed up.

Zach needed to get out of there before he embarrassed himself further, so he turned around and bolted forward, completely forgetting about the display behind him. He struck the lube bin, which began a rather horrifying chain of events.

The display fell over, causing bottles of lube to roll throughout the store, some of which he squashed open with his large, blundering feet. When Zach backed up in surprise, he collided with the wall, which contained the aprons and rubber wrestling suits. The force of the impact caused the top row of hanging garments to fall from their perch and rain upon his head.

“Need some help?”

Zach looked up from amongst the aprons and crushed bottles of lube to find Mr. Tanned Body standing before him with a humorous twinkle in his steely eyes.

The roiling passion within Zach reluctantly surged forward once again.

About the Author:

Jacob Z. Flores lives a double life. During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator. At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hard ass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.

Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse. When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his husband, Bruce, their three children, and two dogs, who represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.

You can follow Jacob’s musings on his blog at http://jacobzflores.com or become a part of his social media network by visiting http://www.facebook.com/jacob.flores2

http://twitter.com/#!/JacobZFlores , or

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5142501.Jacob_Z_Flores.

Giveaway:

Jacob is giving away a copy of his book When Love Takes Over to one lucky winner at the end of the tour. Click the link below and enter yourself:

A Rafflecopter Giveaway

The ones who can’t access the link above, can instead leave a comment here and enter themselves.