A warm welcome to author J.R. Gray joining us today to talk about new release “Forsaken”.
Welcome J.R.
Forsaken by J.R. Gray
Release Date (Print & Ebook): February 26, 2018
Length (Print & Ebook): 72,000 words
Subgenre: Contemp m/m romance
Book blurb:
Titus has lived and breathed religion his entire life, tucked away from the rest of the world in a compound in northern Wyoming. He’s destined to be the next leader of the church, deemed so by the Prophet.
God spoke and with His word He created. But God made a mistake. Titus isn’t worthy. He was born sick and it’s solidified when he rescues the most beautiful man he’s ever seen.
Torn between fidelity to his faith or his soul, Titus must reconcile the two parts of himself before he’s discovered hiding among the chosen.
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Forsaken was far from my usual writing. Well, far from anything I’ve released in the past. I enjoy writing angst, that fact is impossible to deny, because my queer experience hasn’t been an easy one. I like to write about tough situations with happily ever afters queer people deserve. I’ve always used writing as a form of therapy. I put my feelings into characters and work them out that way.
Forsaken was more of this, but it went in an entirely different direction. Most of my readers know I write a lot of BDSM. Suspense sprinkled with kink as my tag line says. Kink is a big part of my life so it’s natural to me to put it into my work. This book took a completely different direction. It had been months since I wrote anything when I started writing this book for NaNo.
This book was more own voice for me than anything else I’ve written and it doesn’t scratch the surface, but to me it wholly came from a personal place I’m not used to writing from and the book poured out of me. Like I’d been holding on to it too long and it was going to force it’s way out. I think it was the fastest I’ve ever written a book save for one and I wrote nearly every day in November, surpassing my word goals. Something I’m not the best at, even when trying to hold myself to a vigorous schedule.
Religion is such a personal thing, I try not to touch it with a ten foot pole on social media. Everyone has an opinion, and most are willing to fight you for their beliefs, but most of my characters are religious. I think it’s important and makes characters more human when they are religious, as most people are, even if it’s loosely based. So I wanted the over all religious undertones of the book to come off positive, but still to be able to portray the cult experience Titus deals with in it’s true form because his issue isn’t with God but with the way God is being used against LGBT people.
I took a lot of Titus’ experience from what I dealt with growing up, and the feelings I had throughout my childhood of feeling different, and ‘wrong’ but not knowing how to put those thoughts and feelings into words. Gay and lesbian when I was growing up were derogatory terms, and didn’t have actual meaning. Gay didn’t mean to be with someone of the same sex, it mean un-masculine and lesbian meant un lady like or butch. These terms had nothing to do with romance. I had no words for my attraction to the same sex and I’m sure it was entirely purposeful. I also had no contact with the world outside of my religion until I was in high school. Every interaction was carefully guarded to ensure we had no tainting.
I have no regrets because all of this has made me into the person I am today, and I think my upbringing gave me compassion and understanding for those like me and kids who need books like Titus’.
Titus’ head was pounding but so was his heart. He was cursed to replay the kiss in his head, possibly for the rest of his life. The fall had jarred his brain and lodged it in his mind. And therein was the problem with sin. Once you had a taste, it was hard to stop. Men were addicted to sin.
Angel looked up at him. Those big dark eyes. He didn’t want to keep staring but he did.
“How are you feeling?” Angel looked back at his book, but his eyes weren’t moving, so he wasn’t really reading.
“The Advil is starting to work.” Titus closed his eyes, fighting back every emotion in his body. He didn’t know what he felt. A little of everything, and it was overwhelming his ability to function.
How could God have made him this wrong?
“You don’t look so good.”
“There is way too much in my head.” He was really tired of all his emotions showing on his face. He needed to learn how to lie better. More so now that he knew what he was. What if he was asked outright? Another wave of anguish crossed his face, and his eyes sprang open when another hand grabbed his.
Angel tugged on him. “Come down here with me.”
He relented to the tug and slid onto the floor. Angel was dangerously close, again. Bad things happened when he was this close. But Titus didn’t move to put space between them. Maybe he wanted bad things to happen.
About J.R. Gray:
When not staying up all night writing, J.R. Gray can be found at the gym where it’s half assumed he is a permanent resident to fulfill his self-inflicted masochism. A dominant and a pilot, Gray finds it hard to be in the passenger seat of any car. He frequently interrupts real life, including normal sleep patterns and conversations, to jot down notes or plot bunnies. Commas are the bane of his existence even though it’s been fully acknowledged they are necessary, they continue to baffle and bewilder. If Gray wasn’t writing…well, that’s not possible. The buildup of untold stories would haunt Gray into an early grave, insanity or both. The idea of haunting has always appealed to him. J.R. Gray is genderqueer and prefers he/him pronouns.
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Join the Forsaken Giveaway: prizes include 2 e-copies of new release, FORSAKEN
