A warm love bytes welcome to author Hans Hirschi who visites us today to answer some questions about his new release “Jonathan’s Promise”.
Welcome Hans 🙂

TITLE: Jonathan’s Promise

SERIES: Jonathan Trilogy: Book Two

AUTHOR: Hans M. Hirschi

PUBLISHER: Beaten Track Publishing

COVER ARTIST: Natasha Snow

LENGTH: 214 Pages

RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2016

BLURB: Jonathan made Dan a promise – a promise that will affect the remainder of his life. But what does he have left to live for?

When their grandson Parker and his fiancé Cody move in with him, the three of them embark on a journey to shed light on Dan’s roots.

A heart-warming sequel to Jonathan’s Hope, Jonathan’s Promise deals with aging and the ultimate consequences of wedding vows. Are we entitled to a second shot at happiness? When is ‘for worse’ too much to handle?

In this trilogy:

Jonathan’s Hope (Book 1)

Jonathan’s Promise (Book 2)

Jonathan’s Legacy (Book 3)

Welcome to Love Bytes! I apologize, but I’m personally not that familiar with your writing or with you as a writer. Is there anything you would like to share about yourself with your fans on our blog and potential new fans that might be reading this interview?

Thank you for having me. To share about myself… Not the easiest task. I am a writer of gay fiction, and I’ve been doing this since 2013, when my first novel was released. Back then I really had no idea what I was getting myself into nor how many writers of LGBT fiction there are. I’ve been called the Queen of Unconventional Happy Endings for some of the ways my books end. I’m not a romance writer, my books are not about how two people meet, not primarily. My stories deal with modern gay life, family, life, relationships, but also really big an difficult questions like our environment, racism and even child abuse. They all share that there is always a hopeful ending, happy even. Hence my nick name.

It had been several years since Jonathan’s Hope was released. What prompted you to write a sequel to a book that many thought was a standalone?

Jonathan’s Hope is my biggest success, and there are so many people who read that story. I’m a stand-alone author in a world where almost every book released is part of a series. For many reasons, personally, I dislike them and I doubt I’ll ever write one. But all the reader feedback, the questions about “what happened?” etc. probably led to my subconscious to wonder, too. Last summer, they boys came back to me, in a dream, and I began to write down what they told me.

I was intrigued by the time setting of the new book, following closely on the end of the epilogue of the first one. How difficult was it for you to pick back up the story and keep going?

The epilogue is central to Jonathan’s Hope, and most readers understand that. Six decades separate it from the rest of the novel. So yes, people have been wondering what happened. Even I caught myself every now and then wondering, what happened when Jonathan was in college? How did they start their family? Where do the kids come from? In the end, when I started writing again, the picture in my mind was set at the time of the epilogue. When you read it, you will understand. But we do get answers. I asked the boys, and they answered. Some of them. But I still don’t know how their relationship made it through Jonathan’s college years. Instead I learned that they had much more challenging times, much later

I’m sure that you will agree that you are NOT a romance writer. I see you more as an author of gay fiction who isn’t afraid to take a story where the characters want to lead, no matter how dark a place that might become. Is that who Hans is? And if so, how does it affect your stories and your characters?

LOL. Yeah, that is not an understatement. See, I write stories I want to read. I’m the first one to read my stories. I never plan, I never know (with the exception of The Fallen Angels, a book that starts with the end) how my stories will end, where they will take me. With Jonathan’s Promise, I had a hunch “how” it would end (and I can’t say), but how to get there? When I finally got there, I felt so bad that I had to write another book, and I started the day after finishing book 2.

I would say that my stories are about questions that pop up in my real life. Jonathan’s Hope was about the age difference in a couple, would that work? It is something that still is very much a reality in my own life, and in Jonathan’s Promise, I’m looking at the repercussions of second chances, and the ultimate consequences of “for better or worse”. What does that really mean? And is there a time when we can release the one we love from that bond. It’s something that had been on my mind for a while after a couple I knew broke up

I would like to compliment you on including characters with disabilities in your books. Could you tell us a little bit, if you can, about why you feel those characters are important to your storylines?

As a gay man, diversity, inclusion, equality are three words that mean everything. Without them, I can never truly be who I want to be. There is no LGBT equality without strong, equal women. Hence, you’ll see very strong female characters in my books. People with disabilities are even weaker in today’s society, and I feel that I must make sure that they, too, are given a break, given a chance to blossom, and as they are part of real life society, I feel very strongly that they also be part of the world of fiction. We all deserve stories to be told about us. To be LGBT is challenging enough, to be female makes that even more difficult, and disabled is another challenge. I’ve written an entire novel about that, showing that disability is only physical, that you can live a happy and complete life no matter what.

In Jonathan’s Promise, Cody’s disability is a pre-requisite to discuss the main point of the book. Cody is a very interesting character. He’s strong, wise, despite his youth, and he’s stubborn, which will lead the story where it has to go…

Is there anything you would like to share with our readers about future books? Do you have anything in the pipeline that you can tease us with?

I have a couple of projects in the pipeline. First, we can look forward to the final book of the trilogy, which will be released in late September. That story, Jonathan’s Legacy, was written for pure therapeutic reasons. Readers who’ve read books one and two will understand what I mean… http://www.beatentrackpublishing.com/?ref=jonathanslegacy

I also have a book with a whole bunch of short stories with my editors right now, but it has no release date as of yet. Short stories are fun to write, you get to explore an idea, a picture, and you get to really warp it. There is a story about witnessing a rape, there are stories about old people, boring people, there’s one about a trans doctor, teens, immigrants, gypsies, beggars, mothers etc. Some are almost novella length, some barely a thousand words.

“Jon?”

“Yes, Hon, what is it?”

“I’m tired.”

“I know. Just rest. You need your strength for tomorrow.”

“I’m not sure I want to…”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just not sure it’s worth it, Jon…” Dan started to cough. Jonathan rose from his chair at his husband’s bedside to offer him some water, gently lifting and holding Dan’s head while he took down the cool, soothing liquid.

When the coughing eased, Dan patted Jonathan’s hand. He waited until Jonathan was seated before he spoke further. “Thanks. I’m old, hon. And I’m tired. I’ve lived a long and rich life, and you know what the doctor said. There’s only a very small chance the surgery will help. The tumor’s already metastasized, and even with chemo I’ll die sooner rather than later. Maybe it’s better to just get it over with.”

Jonathan began to cry, tumbling forward in his despair. His head came to a rest on his husband’s chest. They’d been a couple for so many years―six decades. How would he go on without Dan’s strength? How could he survive without the man who’d saved his life?

“Hon, don’t worry about me. I need you now, probably more than ever. I need to know you’ll stay strong for the kids. They need you.”

Dan’s words began to slur and his eyes closed. Even talking took so much effort. When he was sure Dan was asleep, Jonathan left their bedroom and went downstairs, out to the back patio, where he left the crisp, fresh fall air to dry the tears on his face. He was tired, too. Dan’s cancer had come back. They’d thought he’d beaten it, but the last screening showed the dark shadows in his bones and his lungs. After three years of clear results, it had come completely out of the blue, and the doctor said that it had also spread to other areas of the body.

That was just a few days ago, and Dan had accepted the news with equanimity. He had made peace with himself and the world around him when the cancer had first been diagnosed in his prostate. Back then, there was still a sparkle in Dan’s eyes, a determination to fight this, a will to survive. But at ninety years of age, Dan was tired, and Jonathan knew―or rather he felt―that his husband was done. And he understood, but that did not diminish the pain, the despair. Yes, he’d be strong for the kids, the grandkids, but who’d look after him? Who’d make sure he survived?

 

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I’m an author. I write books. I write about things that are important to me: family, parenting, children, our environment, our world. Contemporary, fresh fiction with happy endings. It’s what I like to read myself. I write because I don’t have a choice. There are so many stories in my head, constantly forming, constantly trying to get out. Feel free to have a look on the other pages to learn more, listen to me narrate from those stories, and – if you like what you see or hear – follow the links to buy the books. I’d greatly appreciate that, as this is how I try to make my living.

I’m an author. But I’m also a forty something male who clings to the illusion of still being twenty-seven, despite my body’s daily reminders to the contrary. I’m married to the most amazing man, and together we have a beautiful son, Sascha. I consider myself a citizen of the world, having lived on two continents and traveled extensively through another three. I have friends all over the world. When I’m not writing, I like to do public speaking or training (where I have my professional background) to actually earn some real bill-paying money. Not sure this author thing is ever going to get me there…

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Winner’s Prize: $50 Amazon GC

Runner Up Prize: 5 e-copies of Jonathan’s Promise (Book 2) / Jonathan’s Hope (Book 1) –- Winner’s Choice

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