I have been vague about my next release, Olive Juice. But as people who have read it already can contest, it is for very specific reasons.
It can be frustrating, I know. There are expectations about what a story could be about (especially for an author like me who tends to bounce around to every single sub-genre I can lay my hands on). Blurbs usually give you a good idea. Pre-release excerpts. Reviews by people who have already read it.
But if you go to, say, Goodreads right now, you will see the reviews all say the same thing: don’t read spoilers. Go into this book blind.
And that sucks, right? Because what the hell could you possibly be getting yourself into?
This post is going to clarify a few things. No plot spoilers, though I do discuss a couple of things about the book. If you really don’t want to know a single thing, come back to this post after you’ve read the book.
Olive Juice, or the story behind it, has a purpose. I wrote it to bring attention to something I am very passionate about, something that I don’t think most people really understand.
But I can’t tell you why yet.
This book, unfortunately, has proven itself to be extraordinarily timely, even though I wrote it over a year ago.
And I can’t explain why yet.
This book does not deal with rape. It does not deal with sexual assault. I want that to be clear, since I’ve already seen some speculation on the subject matter of the book. If I ever wrote about such a topic (which, honestly, I don’t know that I ever will), I would warn about it in advance, as I know it can be triggering for a great many people.
There is no sci-fi twist. This isn’t about anything supernatural. This is a contemporary story.
There is a strong HFN ending.
No one dies.
What Olive Juice is, at least to me, is finding the last bit of hope when all seems lost. When you are drowning and and at wit’s end. Because I will always believe hope is a weapon that, once wielded, can be used to fight back against that darkness clawing at your chest. I wanted this book to be about just that: hope. Life isn’t always pretty. Sometimes, it can be downright vicious. But having hope for something greater, for something more means that you can fight back, even when it’s against something beautifully terrible.
As I’ve said previously, this book is written differently. There are no chapters, no scene breaks. It’s all in one go. My advice to you, if you can, would be to read it in one sitting. It’s meant to be read that way. You will be confused at first. That is intentional. But by the end, many, many things will have been made clear.
A few weeks after the release, I will come back and explain the hows and the whys. I will tell you some stories about what went into Olive Juice, the people that I interviewed to get things just right. As I said, gist of this story is important to me, and I had a duty to get the details as close to realistic as possible. You will hear some heartbreaking stories about what I learned while writing this story, but in the end, through it all, you will feel the hope from the people I talked to. That even though there is anger and fear and sadness, there is always hope.
This isn’t a traditional romance. It’s not boy meets boy, they fuck, and fall in love.
This is a love story, told the best way I know how, albeit a different kind of love story.
On April 26th, I hope you’ll be ready to discover the mystery behind Olive Juice.
tj
Olive Juice Pre-Orders:
Barnes & Noble
OK, TJ, you’ve piqued my curiosity! Good luck with the release, and the fact that it inspires strong pro-and-con feelings is a good sign!
Wow, what a way to sell a book. And how brave of you to break from tradition, of how to sell, as well as how to write a book. I am intrigued, and having read some of your other work and loved it, I have faith that I will love this one, too. It does bring up a couple questions. I know m/m rom has some set rules, so would you label this m/m rom, gay rom, gay fiction, queer fiction? Just as a general idea.
Also, and this maybe a strange question and hard to answer, how do you find the courage to take a risk, or if you don’t want to label it that, the ability to take a chance like this (at least that’s how I see it, as a little risky)?
You’ve got me. I’m very curious but I trust you to deliver so I’m more than willing to wait for you to tell us the story behind the book. I’m looking forward to giving it a read. Good luck and congrats on the upcoming book release!
You like taking your readers outside of their comfort zone! Please keep it up! I’m up for the challenge. Thanks for what you do Tj.
Ok. I did what you said. I didn’t read any reviews. No comments. Nothing. I just bought it and then sat down and read it. Read it all. In one go. Every f’n word. And ohmygawd. It’s raw. And special. And wonderful. And you’re wonderful. And incredible. You are amazing. Olive juice.