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Talking with author Pat Henshaw
What inspired 'What's in a Name?"?
Your guess is as good as
mine. Really! My head is constantly filled with the little
things I see happening around me. When I
sit down to write, these bits and pieces fall onto the page. My guess is that this time I was probably
listening to "Bad to the Bone," one of the songs I have on a car CD I
made for myself. I've always been intrigued
by given names. As a teacher, I came
across some completely awful ones. So I
was probably thinking how ironic it is that the anthem for bad boys is sung by
a guy named George (not a bad boy name).
This is compounded by his last name Thorogood. Not only is he good, not bad, but thoroughly
good.
The second factor is that one of
my good friends lives in the Sierra Foothills area and has told me some of the resistance
the older residents have shown to the influx of queers from the San Francisco
Bay Area who've moved there. I think
that's a problem that needs to be addressed.
How long did it take you to get your rough
draft finished on your latest release?
I started writing the story at the
beginning of 2014 and sold it to Dreamspinner Press in the summer. So the rough draft probably took me a couple
of months.
If you could be any paranormal creature
what would you be?
A good vampire like the one in my
self-published novel, "The Vampire's Food Chain."
What do you do when you’re not writing?
Reading, reading, reading. Oh, yes, I also like to make quarter inch
miniature houses and furniture.
Are any of your characters like you?
In "What's in a Name?",
no. In "The Vampire's Food
Chain," yes, the protagonist Shawn.
What genres do you write in?
Gay romance (emphasis on romance),
paranormal, and mystery.
Is there anything you will never write
about?
I think all writers have something
they won't write about, usually because they aren't interested in the topic or
the type of writing. I'm no different. I'm tired of writing non-fiction
interviews. I'm no good at writing literary
fiction. I refuse to write about a
protagonist who deliberately harms others either physically or psychologically.
Do you have a favorite quote from your
book(s)?
Yes.
From "What's in a Name?" when Jimmy and Guy are out riding on
Guy's motorcycle:
"As we took
a corner and I leaned with him into the turn, I saw the instinctive move as a
reflection of our relationship. We moved together as one without comment or
discussion. We knew ourselves and we knew each other."
From "The Vampire's Food Chain":
“So many things
are lost in the dark. A slight misstep and we lose our footing. A quick hand in
a pocket and we lose our money. A coat hanger in a womb and we lose a fetus. A
swift puncture and we lose a life.”
Is there anything you would tell aspiring
writers?
There's no great author
"secret." Writing is
work. Like any other form of work, the
hardest part is sitting down and doing it.
The glorious upside is that in fiction writing, you can be as creative
and wacky as you want. All readers'
really need is a beginning, middle, and end, and something happening at each
step along the way. And even that isn't
absolute necessary--take author David Markson's novels, for example. His books bend the fiction model and are
great fun to read. So anything's
possible. Be yourself. Be unique.
What's in a Name? by Pat Henshaw
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover
Artist: AngstyD
Blurb(s):
Barista Jimmy
Patterson thinks it's a good idea to get rip-roaring drunk on his birthday
after he’s dumped by his boyfriend. When the burly owner of Stonewall’s Bar
rescues Jimmy, the night starts to look up.
Now Jimmy just wants to know the bartender's
first name since he's worn a different name tag every time Jimmy's seen him.
"Guy" Stone gives Jimmy seven guesses, one for each night he takes
Jimmy out on a date.
While Jimmy’s trying to come up with his name,
he's distracted by the destruction of his coffee shop and what looks more and
more like a hate crime.
Categories: Contemporary, Fiction, Gay Fiction,
M/M Romance, Romance
Excerpt:
Stonewall [Saloon]
was chaos when I got there. Guy and another bartender were mixing drinks as
fast as they could. I squeezed in at the end of the bar near the hatchway and
sat on an abandoned stool there.
I didn’t
think Guy had seen me come in, so when there was a lull in the frenetic pace
and he was nearly within arm’s reach, I called out, “What’s a guy gotta do to
get a drink in this place?”
Guy looked
up, grinned at me, and yelled back, “Fuck the bartender.”
A slim man
sitting next to me perked up, gave Guy the once-over, and yelled, “Okay!”
Guy’s
startled gaze met mine, and we broke out laughing.
The man next
to me sighed and slumped over his beer. “I knew it was too good to be true,” he
mumbled.
I patted him
on the shoulder.
“Maybe next
time,” I commiserated with him.
“Right,” he
answered glumly.
Tour Stops: Parker Williams, Amanda C. Stone, Molly Lolly, Fangirl
Moments and My Two Cents, Multitasking
Mommas,
Kristy's Brain Food, Love Bytes, My Fiction Nook, Christy Loves 2 Read, Wicked Faerie's Tales and Reviews, The Fuzzy, Fluffy World of Chris
T. Kat,
MM Good
Book Reviews,
Velvet Panic, Havan Fellows, Charley Descoteaux, Wake Up Your Wild Side, The Hat Party, Fallen Angel Reviews, Andrew Q. Gordon
About the Author
Born in the
Heartland of Nebraska, Pat Henshaw has made America hers by living in Texas,
Colorado, Northern Virginia, and Northern California. She has found joy in visiting Mexico, Canada,
Europe, Nicaragua, Thailand, and Egypt, and relishes trips to Rome, Italy, and
Eugene, Oregon, to see family.
Pat has
spent her life surrounded by words:
Teaching English composition at the junior college level; writing book
reviews for newspapers, magazines, and websites; helping students find
information as a librarian; and promoting PBS television programs.
Two of her
fondest memories are touching time when she put her hands on the pyramids and
experiencing pure whimsy when she interviewed Caroll Spinney (Big Bird and
Oscar the Grouch). Her triumphs are
raising two incredible daughters who daily amaze her with their power and
compassion. Her supportive husband keeps
her grounded in reality when she threatens to drift away writing fiction.
Where
can you find the author?:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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