Welcome to the blog of Sid Love. I feel very honored to have you stopping by here.

Thanks for having me. 🙂

We don’t often see an interview or guest post from you, though you are a fervent blogger with an very active website and reading group. Is there a reason you usually don’t do interviews?

The biggest element is time: I never have enough. So I have to pick and choose carefully what I can fit into my schedule.

Talking from experience I can say that your blog is a true pleasure to follow because it’s smart, interesting and funny but yours is quite special because of the phenomenal photographs you’ve taken and posted there. How come you are such a fantastic photographer? Did you study for it? And where does the passion for it come from?

Thanks for the compliment. 🙂 I try to keep it interesting.

I’ve been studying photography most of my life. When digital became relatively cheap and common place, I took that as my cue to dive in. It’s far cheaper to download pics to a computer than take film in for developing. Over the years, I’ve developed my style, which is generally color-saturated and detailed. I like rich, deep colors in my pictures. As I was developing my photographic skill, I was also learning how to post-process in Photoshop. Taking a picture is only the first step. It’s what you do with it afterward that makes a photo special.

I spend much of my days immersed in words, either writing them or editing them. Turning to a purely visual hobby is restful and exercises a different part of my brain.

You have written quite a few different novels/stories. Do you have a preferred genre to write in?

My preferred genre is m/m, but if other characters start yelling in my ear, I tend to listen. I never want to limit myself in any way.

On top of being a writer, an amateur photographer and still working a day job, you are also known as a very good editor. How are you able to keep up?

Honestly? I have no idea. 🙂

You newest release ‘Blue River’ is coming from Dreamspinner Press on October 9th as a re-release. Why is it released anew and can you tell us something about it?

A much shorter version of Blue River was published by MLR Press a couple years ago. However, it was released as part of a mass presentation of holiday stories and got lost in the crowd. I thought the story deserved a wider audience, so I got my rights back, revamped the story, almost doubling its original length, and offered it to Dreamspinner. I’m very glad they accepted it. Here’s the blurb: 

Photography genius Ethan Mars is out and living the fast life in Los Angeles until a mysterious mist in Topanga Canyon sends him back in time. There he meets Quinn Parker, a farmer who has hidden his homosexuality from everyone, even Margaret, his fiancée. Falling in love is the last thing Ethan expects, and the last thing Quinn can allow—in 1863, being gay can get him killed. When Ethan is unexpectedly offered a way home, he faces an impossible decision: go back… or stay?

I did a lot of research for this one. It seemed I was stopping every other sentence to check things out. Did they have toothpaste? What about toilet paper? How did they preserve food for winter? How did they kill a chicken for dinner? It was endless! And I loved every minute of it.

If I look at your blog I see another book coming this month called Transgression, another totally different book from what I can tell so far. Is there something you can or are willing to share on that one?

This is a case where I had two other stories already started, but a character insisted I stop work on them and tell her story. In Transgression, you meet Sky Kelly, a pre-op trans woman living in Los Angeles. You also meet Zach Fox, Ricky Giraldi, Liza Dabrowski, Gus Fischer, and Ethan Stonebridge. All of them are interesting, and half are hiding something. 

This is different from anything I’ve written before. I loved writing this story, and I’m excited to hear what readers think.

Some of your books are published by a publisher ( dsp and mlr) while others you choose to publish yourself at Voodoo Lily Press, the publishing company you have with author, A.J Rose. How do you decide what to publish where?

I like Dreamspinner, so I hope to place a story there once in a while. But I also like the discipline of self-publishing. I’m kind of a control freak, and being able to handle or oversee every step of a manuscript from start to finish appeals to me a great deal. 

Transgression will be self-published because it contains characters or storylines publishers may not want to accept. I am not limited in what I want to write if I self-publish. AJ and I take our self-pubbed works very seriously and release a professional product. It’s important to us that readers’ enjoyment of our titles is not lessened by bad covers or editing. To that end, we take great care to offer them the best book we can produce.

And do you find it hard for you and AJ to work so closely together, considering you’re both authors with strong personalities?

When AJ and I are writing, we’re in our own little worlds. Once in a while, we’ll share something about our story or ask for an opinion, but mostly, we save that for when neither of us is immersed.

Time to do the shorties 🙂

Favorite food? King crab. It’s expensive, so I don’t get it often, but I love it.

Favorite color? All the colors of the rainbow. 🙂

Favorite author? Oh, no! Not going there. I enjoy too many to choose only one.

Favorite book? Impossible to choose.

Favorite way to spend a day off? In bed. ‘Nuff said.

Favorite movie? Can people really choose only one?

Favorite music or song? I have many, but lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Hurts. Theo Hutchcraft has an incredible voice. 

Favorite clothes? Anything comfortable, and the fewer, the better.

Favorite season? Summer. It will always be summer.

I’m curious to know who your biggest influences are. Not just writers, but others as well. Is there a particular teacher or family member that made a big difference in your life that you could tell us about?

My Uncle Dan is a big influence. I’m talking about life things. You know, the importance of being honest with yourself and others, and the value of friendship and having a strong sense of ethics. Whatever “goodness” is in me was nurtured and encouraged by family and close friends.

Do you have any other hobbies that people might find interesting?

I enjoy astronomy. Uncle Dan has a large telescope, and we use it whenever I’m at his place. I taught myself to play guitar years ago, and I sing fairly well. AJ is the piano player in the family, but I can play by ear. I’m pretty much interested in everything!

What can we expect from the author Theo Fenraven? What is in the works?

Another Precog book is in the works, though I might not get that out until next year. I have a couple of SF books in mind, and AJ and I are finally coming around to the idea of writing something together.

At the end of this interview I would like to ask you if there is anything else you would like to mention or share?

I want to thank my readers. Without you, there’s little point in getting published. I appreciate all of you, and I want to send special thanks to those of you who’ve sent me email or otherwise found a way to tell me how much you enjoy my stories. I love hearing from you.

Thank you so much for doing this interview !

~ As told to Danielle

GIVEAWAY

Besides participating in this interview Theo kindly offered a give-away of his new release “Blue River”

If you want to enter leave a message below answering why you would like to read this book

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CONTEST WILL END ON 13th October, 2013 @ 11:59 PM Central Time!!