Author Lynn Charles is here at Love Bytes today with her blog tour for her book Black Dust.

Welcome to the blog, Lynn!

Author Name: Lynn Charles

Book Name: Black Dust

Release Date: April 7, 2016

Pages or Words: 312 pages

Publisher: Interlude Press

Cover Artist: Cover Art and Design by C.B. Messer

Goodreads 

Blurb:

Fifteen years after a tragic car crash claimed a friend’s life and permanently injures his then-boyfriend, Broadway musician Tobias Spence reconnects with his former love. As Emmett and Tobias explore their renewed relationship, the two men face old hurts and the new challenges of a long-distance romance. Will Tobias lose his second chance at love to the ghosts he can’t seem to put to rest?

Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, Romance

Today I’m very happy to be interviewing Lynn Charles author of Black Dust. Hi Lynn, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

I’m happy to be here! I’m an author, wife and mother living in Central Ohio. I’ve been writing—from lavish journal entries to fictional stories—most of my life. My first novel, Chef’s Table, was published in December 2014 with Interlude Press. Black Dust is about a couple who, fifteen years after a tragic car accident tore them apart, are given a second chance to heal and to love.

Was there a basis for your story? A previous experience or something else?

The foundational idea for this story came to me as our family approached the fifteen year anniversary of the death of a cousin of mine in an accident similar to what we see in Black Dust. I did not know the other two passengers in the car, and fifteen years later, definitely did not know how they had moved on in their lives from such a tragic event at such a tender age in life. I began to wander and muse and before long, a story developed.

What skills do you think a writer needs?

Oh my, I think it’s different for every writer, don’t you? My instinct would say “discipline,” but I can be one of the most undisciplined fools out there and yet, here I am with my second novel. Granted, the word “extension” factored in this time, but as I write book three, barring unforeseen circumstances, that won’t be necessary. I think you need a love of words, a love of character, a curiosity as to what makes people tick—or tock. A love of solitude seems necessary and an ability to see the world in a way that many might find off-kilter. But, none of these can be measured—we’re all wired differently, which is lovely really.

What for you is the perfect book hero?

Someone who is willing to reevaluate themselves, who they think they are when the story starts. That person might be pleasing and appealing, but by the end of the book, through growth and change, sacrifice and reevaluation, they’re a better person, and instrumental in helping others in the story become better people as well.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Well, I just mentioned discipline, so that would have to be #1. I have the mind of a caffeinated gnat at times, so I struggle with focus. I also struggle with confidence that what I had decided to do in this scene/chapter/story will actually work—to get it out there first and fuss with it later. I want it right the first time, and that is unreasonable and silly. Will certain things remain exactly as they were first typed? Sure, but many won’t—I need to trust they’ll be better at rewrite.

Tell us about your favorite childhood book.

As a child, I loved the classics: Winnie The Pooh, Charlotte’s Web, etc. But one of my favorite children’s books I found as a parent and still love to this day is Eric Carle’s Draw Me a Star. I’m a huge fan of Carle anyway, but this one always stuck with me. It’s basically plotless, instead a series of requests from the narrator asking an artist to draw something else relating to the previous creation. Community, creativity, and yes, if you want to see it, a parallel with the biblical creation story, but to me it’s more in depth than that. Each new creation implies the next—a sort of companionship and instant realization of its need for others. Plus, it’s fun to practice drawing his eclectic star—so different than the 5-pointed ones we’ve been drawing since childhood.

“I can’t, Emmett. I—can’t go back.”

“Then we are clearly not ready for any sort of commitment.”

“Wait. You won’t agree to—to us—unless I come to Indiana?”

“I won’t,” Emmett said. “It’s all feeling a little one-sided to me, and I’m not okay with that.”

“You don’t understand.”

“I do understand, Toby. I was there for everything that makes you afraid of that place.”

“Yes. You were,” Toby said, taking Emmett’s hand in his. “But my concerns about going back have nothing to do with you.”

“Maybe they should have something to do with me.”

“That’s—” Toby pulled his hand away. “That’s not fair.”

“It really is,” Emmett said. He reached across the table for Toby’s hand again. “Please?” Toby took his hand and Emmett squeezed, holding on as if he might never let go. “We experienced a great tragedy together. And while Scotty’s parents lost their son, no one felt the things we felt. No one else woke up screaming and sweating when we heard the sounds of the crash in our sleep.”

“Emmett—”

“No one else knew the fear of maybe never walking again. No one else lost weight and a semester of school because he might get thrown in jail. No one else felt the things we felt together. That’s all ours. As much as you want to, you cannot take me out of the equation.”

“But, that’s just it, Em. I don’t want to feel those things again. I cannot walk back into that—that darkness.”

Emmett pulled their joined hands to his lips and kissed Toby’s knuckles. “You already have. You have been so enamored—you’ve practically spent this entire week making love to my scars. You’re there. And it’s not so dark anymore.”

“No, because you’re whole again. You’re not broken anymore.”

Emmett saw it, then. He saw in the way Toby had almost obsessed over the ridiculous tattoo and Emmett’s scars, as if begging for them to also bring him the powers that Derek had wished upon Emmett’s body those years ago. He saw it in Toby’s insistence that they start all over as if the accident never happened, as if the years of silence weren’t strung between them like a rope and plank bridge connecting two separate lands.

So he said it. To give it power. To make it a truth they shared—like their shared tragedy. “And you still are. Broken.”

Toby nodded, grasping at Emmett’s fingers like a lifeline. “I’m so—” He took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m so exhausted making sure no one knows.”

“Oh, Toby.” All the more reason “trying again” was a bad idea. Unready to let go, Emmett kissed Toby’s fingers again. “Then come to my home,” Emmett offered, trite as it sounded in his own ears. “I’ve remodeled the master and made a party room in my basement for the kids.”

“You’ve never told me—”

“It’s beautiful, really. It’s on a couple of acres, and the back of the property is lined with a stream you can hear from the kitchen when the windows are open. It’s very peaceful. It sounds like you need some peace.”

“You deserve a beautiful life.”

“So let me share it with you. At least think about it?”

Toby nodded and began to clean up. “Will you still come see me in San Francisco after school’s out?”

“I don’t know. I’d really like an answer before I agree to see you again.”

“Okay. I’m sorry it’s not as easy as it should be.”

“I am too, Toby. Being with you was always so easy.”

Buy the book:

Interlude Press

Amazon

ARe

Apple iBookstore

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Book Depository

Indiebound

 

Lynn Charles earned her degree in music education and for many years performed and directed choral music. When she’s not writing, she can be found strolling through local farmers markets near her home in Central Ohio in search of ingredients for new recipes. Her novel Chef’s Table was published in 2014 by Interlude Press.

Where to find the author:

Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Website

Tour Dates & Stops:

7-Apr: Love Bytes, 3 Chicks After Dark, Elisa – My Reviews and Ramblings, Hearts on Fire, Jessie G. Books

8-Apr: Happily Ever Chapter, Bonkers About Books, My Fiction Nook

11-Apr: BFD Book Blog, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Oh My Shelves

12-Apr: Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews, Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance, Divine Magazine

13-Apr: Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents, Velvet Panic, Book Lovers 4Ever

14-Apr: Louise Lyons, Unquietly Me, Havan Fellows

15-Apr: MM Good Book Reviews, A.M. Leibowitz

18-Apr: Alpha Book Club, V’s Reads

19-Apr: Butterfly-O-Meter, Three Books Over The Rainbow, Bayou Book Junkie

20-Apr: Up All Night, Read All Day, Outrageous Heroes, Molly Lolly, Mikky’s World of Books, Inked Rainbow Reads

Rafflecopter Prize: $25 IP Gift Card Grand Prize + 5 eBooks editions of Black Dust

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