Larry Benjamin. Wordsmith. Writer. Author.

This week, I'm catching up with author, Ashavan Doyon who started out writing fan fiction and who has a new release from Torquere Press. Thanks for having me today, Larry. I'm here to talk about Steven's Heart , my new release from Torquere Press, but perhaps it'd be best to start with a bit of an introduction of myself first, and then the book. I've been writing for a long time, almost all my life. I started on an old portable manual when I was just a little kid, writing Smurfs fan fiction. I always loved to read, from a very young age. I won't talk so much about my influences, because I did that earlier in the blog tour, but I will say they were seriously bent toward fantasy and science fiction.    I grew up as a kid in Georgia and Texas, moving around a lot. Shortly after I reached my teenage years I moved to Massachusetts. It could not have come at a better time for me. I had reached a crisis point dealing with my sexuality, and as hard as the struggl...

If you read this blog regularly, you know that I recently married my longtime partner (see Musings Stanley (left) and me with Stacey Thomas of a New Husband, June 29, 2014 . Ever since I was a kid, I dreamed of marrying some bright prince. And as a writer of gay romance, I’ve written gay weddings into two of my books, brilliant, extravagant affairs both. The wedding in What Binds Us ,  included a groom on horseback and “Ten thousand pale pink roses—an entire crop from Holland flown in that morning,” while at the comparatively simpler wedding in Unbroken “it seemed everyone in the world was there” including a flock of startled peacocks. Yet, when it came to my own wedding, panic set in. I didn’t know where to start. I knew I didn’t want to get married in a church and I knew there wouldn’t be hundreds, or even dozens of guests in attendance. In desperation—at that point we only had two weeks to get married on our 17 th anniversary—I goggled “weddings in Philadelphia.” The P...

I've been invited to answer these questions by Debbie McGowan, author of contemporary fiction. Her current titles include the series, “Hiding Behind the Couch,” "Champagne," and "Checking Him Out." Further info and download links can be found on Deb’s website . What am I working on? I’m working on a short story for an anthology of Christmas stories due to be released in November. I don’t want to give too much away but I will say it’s a holiday love story but not a traditional Christmas story. Understanding the difficulties many of our gay youth are still facing, despite the strides we’ve made in recent years, I wanted to respect that experience. The story, “The Christmas Present,” reintroduces a character from my most recent release, “The Wheelbarrow,” which is part of an anthology from Liphar Magazine , Liphar Short Stories Vol. 1 .   How does my work differ from others in its genre? I suppose every writer likes to believe his or her writing is ...

Today, I’m catching up with Jon Keys   writer of erotic male/male fiction, whose latest release is Showstring . Hi John, I’m so happy you could join me today. Hello, Larry. Thanks so much for letting me visit. But, surprise, surprise, this is Ben, not Jon. I’ve taken over the blog hop from Jon. I’m having so much fun that I told Jon I would just take over. He thought that would work. Showstring is about how Jayden and I met. It’s coming out as part of "Rode Hard" anthology from Torquere Press . It’s about hot cowboys, but not the kind who ride horses across the Montana range. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!) Jayden is a city kid and has a big heart but a lot to learn, about showing cattle, and other things. Since Jayden told his story to Jon, I thought I’d fill in a little on my side. I thought I’d share something a little more personal this time, my first kiss. Raine asked about an important incident in my life and I told her about figuring out I...