A warm welcome to Robert Winter joining us today to talk abotu new release Asylum.
Robert talks in a guestpost about sensitivity readers, shares an excerpt and there is a giveaway to participate in!
Welcome Robert 🙂
Title: Asylum
Series: Pride and Joy book 2
Author: Robert Winter
Publisher: Robert Winter Books
Release Date: April 2, 2018
Length: 120000
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
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Synopsis
Death threats drove him from his country. Can he ever find asylum from his past?
Hernán had family, college, and a future in El Salvador. Until a vicious gang targeted him as gay. Threatened with murder, he braved a nightmare journey toward a new life. Now, haunted by his trek, he hides from immigration trouble as well as his enemies. He prays to pass in Provincetown unnoticed.
But a handsome man with a secret like Hernán’s is vulnerable to predators.
Colin is in town for a wedding when he falls into the harbor. The man who rescues him is dark-haired, dark eyed and gorgeous. He’s also a target because of his immigration status. Colin owes a debt, and wants to repay it by helping his savior escape the monsters who would exploit him.
Hernán yearns to trust the kind man who offers him sanctuary. Will his demons destroy his chance at a future with Colin?
Asylum is a standalone gay romance novel but contains spoilers for the prior novel, September. Trigger warnings for brief references to off-page sexual abuse of a child and adult.
Working With Sensitivity Readers
I’ll tell you a secret…publishing Asylum has terrified me. Even before the recent fallout over a particular publisher, I was nervous about what reaction I’d get for an interracial romance. Many voices rightly clamor for greater ethnic and racial diversity in M/M romance, but there is also resistance to white males producing it. Hence my nerves at releasing Asylum, with a main character who is a Latino from El Salvador.
I had a significant advantage when I began to write, in that my friend Elías shared freely his experiences growing up gay in El Salvador, coming to the States without a visa to escape gang violence, and ultimately getting permission to stay legally through the asylum process. His stories about the journey he undertook fascinated me, and I wanted to share them with readers.
Because of the multicultural aspects of the story, my developmental editor strongly suggested that I ask sensitivity readers to review it and comment on the Latino characters and situations. After I did my level best with the manuscript, I shared it with three avid readers of M/M romance who are themselves Latina. The comments they came back with were helpful as well as humbling.
As beta readers, they corrected my Spanish and pointed out inconsistencies or logical flaws. They went deeper, however, just as I’d requested. They identified areas in which my story seemed disrespectful to Latin culture or to the realities of immigrants. Where my research hadn’t reflected the reality of life in a Latin American country as experienced by my readers, I made changes to address their valuable insights. One point particularly resonated with me. The Chicago Manual of Style dictates that non-English words should be italicized, at least at their first use. A humorous and pointed video by José Daniel Older, suggested to me by one of the readers, explains very well why foreign languages should not be italicized. Accordingly, I decided not to italicize any Spanish words except for emphasis, just as I would for English.
One reader suggested that I put too much emphasis on the negative side of life in Latin America by focusing solely on gangs and people out for their own financial benefit, while painting too rosy a picture of the United States. I understood her point. To address the concern, I asked Elías to share with me some of his happy memories of growing up in El Salvador. Those informed Hernán’s reminiscence about his own childhood. I also revisited the cast of characters that Hernán meets on his journey to the U.S., and thought about their interactions with people trying desperately to get across the border. Where it jibed with Elías’ real experiences, I gave the supporting characters individualized motivations and actions. I explained more about my fictional gang, which is heavily based on a real and well-known gang that actually has its origins within the States. Those changes—I hope—made Asylum a richer and more nuanced story.
Another reader feared that I resorted to stereotypes. For example, originally I had Hernán introduce Colin to telenovelas, and he wasn’t able to cook because women had done that for him in El Salvador. She also pointed out that the telenovela I picked was unlikely to be one that Hernán would actually enjoy, given his gang-related experiences. With that feedback in mind, I went through Hernán’s background and actions to weed out choices that unintentionally promoted a stereotype of a Latino man.
I wasn’t able to fix all of the identified problems. For example, Asylum is unabashedly pro-immigration but late in the book I have one character—a Latin-American whose mother emigrated from Columbia – express a contrarian opinion about undocumented people. All three sensitivity readers expressed unhappiness that I included this view. I thought I needed to include at least one such example, though. The reality is nearly thirty percent of the Latino vote in the 2016 presidential election went for Donald Trump despite his bigoted statements about Latino immigrants, his rhetoric about building a wall, and so forth. In the end, I kept the character’s statements but I expanded Hernán’s response to incorporate some of the reactions of the sensitivity readers themselves.
I also received comments that the readers were uncomfortable in general with the story of a man fleeing gang violence in Latin America, and getting involved with a white man who has money. These are major plot points, however, that I could not abandon without scrapping the entire book. The part about escaping gang violence comes directly from Elías’ experiences and is the reason I wanted to write Asylum in the first place. Bringing Colin and Hernán together, finding their connections despite their economic differences and life situations, letting each man find ways to support the other, is the core of the romance. I adjusted the narrative as much as I could, but ultimately I knew I had to stay true to my story.
After I had revised the manuscript, I asked Elías to read it through. Specifically, I wanted to know if the portions of the final book that are based on his journey remained authentic to his experience, and if the discussion of Salvadoran life felt right to him. With a few more tweaks to address his feedback, I had done as much as I am able – within the limits of my writing ability and the story I want to tell – to present my Latino characters and situations respectfully.
I hope you will give the final result a try, and let me know if you think I succeeded. You can find out more about Asylum on my website by clicking here.
Brandon noticed as well and turned to follow Rudy’s gaze. He sighed. “Gerald. Of course. David ’n I managed to avoid him all summer. Guess my luck ran out.”
The newcomer was not as tall as David, but probably broke six feet. His silvering hair swept back dramatically, and he wore a fisherman’s sweater and jeans that looked too tight. His face was a bit jowly; Colin would place him around fifty-five or so. He had presence, though. He surveyed the restaurant like he owned the place, spotted Rudy, and walked over.
“I assume he’s working today,” Gerald said to Rudy, oblivious to the presence of customers.
Rudy flushed. “Yes, working. As in busy. Just like every time you come in here.”
Gerald looked down his nose at Colin, and then did a double-take when he focused on Brandon. “Oh. We’ve met.” His gray eyes narrowed in concentration. “Bradley, wasn’t it?”
Rudy said, “It’s Brandon. He came to the party you had last year, with David Something-or-other.” A glint of malice twinkled in Rudy’s eye as he added, “I remember how often you talked about David after that. Too bad he’s off the market. He and Brandon just got married yesterday.”
Gerald’s eyebrow twitched. “Married?” A flash of regret, confusion and longing crossed his face. Blankness covered it all quickly as Gerald turned to sneer at Rudy. “Well, I guess Brandon here knew how to play the game better than you.”
Rudy flushed and Brandon turned red. Colin saw he was about to do something rash. He picked up his fork and said loudly without looking at the asshole, “Thank you for stopping by, but we’re just about to eat. Rudy, could I get another tea?”
Gerald was clearly unused to being dismissed. Before he could say anything, Colin focused on Brandon. “So, David is off sailing with your sisters?” Rudy tittered and disappeared, and Brandon’s color returned to normal. Gerald stood there a few seconds longer before stomping off to a table in the corner of the restaurant.
“Nicely done,” Brandon said. “I almost lost it, but you kept cool.”
“Hey, I learned how to cut from the best hostess in Bergen County, New Jersey. You should see my mother working the room at a charity event. Icicles trail in her wake if anyone displeases her.”
“Charity events?” Brandon asked curiously. Colin realized his slip. He usually tried very hard not to mention his parents or anything about his family, so it was no wonder Brandon would take the opportunity to ask.
“Sometimes. Anyway, sailing?”
Brandon waited a moment, but then nodded. “David rented a boat to take Jo-Lynn, Suzanne and Matt out on the bay. I think Terry was goin’ with ’em too.” He chuckled. “Joe says the Lord may have walked on water but he prefers dry land.”
As they chatted, Colin noticed Gerald wave Rudy over to him. Rudy looked around the restaurant, but apparently could find no way to refuse without Gerald causing a scene. The restaurant was quiet enough he heard Gerald order Rudy in a peremptory tone, “Tell him to come out and talk to me.”
Rudy shook his head. “He’s working. He can’t take a break.”
Gerald snorted and gazed over the menu. “I could always have a chat with Claude. You know Claude, don’t you, Rudy? The owner of this restaurant? I think he might be shocked to find out what’s going on in his kitchen.”
Rudy flushed and pursed his lips. He looked around nervously, and then disappeared to the interior of the restaurant. A few moments later, he returned, accompanied by another man. He was slightly shorter than Rudy, and looked a few years younger, but the family resemblance between the two was strong.
That was why Rudy had looked familiar to Colin—he was clearly related to the man he led out. The man who had saved Colin the previous night.
The angel of his imagination.
Purchase
Robert Winter Books | Amazon
Robert Winter is a Rainbow Award-winning author who lives and writes in Provincetown. He is a recovering lawyer who prefers writing about hot men in love much more than drafting a legal brief. He left behind the (allegedly) glamorous world of an international law firm to sit in his home office and dream up ways to torment his characters until they realize they are perfect for each other. When he isn’t writing, Robert likes to cook Indian food and explore new restaurants. He splits his attention between Andy, his partner of seventeen years, and Ling the Adventure Cat, who likes to fly in airplanes and explore the backyard jungle as long as the temperature and humidity are just right.
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Haven’t read September, book one in the Pride and Joy series yet? While Asylum can be read as a complete stand alone, you won’t want to miss David & Brandon’s story.
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