The way I found out about Jo shows the power of extracts! My book, due out soon with Samhain, has an extract from her book - Barging In - at the back. I spotted it when I read the galley proof. I liked the extract, bought the book and loved it.
Jo has graciously agreed to answer a few questions!
1. Can you tell us a little about you and your writing?
Hi Barb, and thanks for inviting me over. I write m/m romance (that’s gay romance, for anyone unfamiliar with the term) and had my first novel published in September with Samhain, although I’ve been publishing short stories for the last couple of years. I mainly write contemporary erotic romance, but I enjoy dabbling in other subgenres in short stories, such as paranormal, science fiction and BDSM erotica. They’re all about men loving men, though. I tried my hand at stories involving women in the early days, but for some reason my muse just didn’t get excited in the same way.
I live in Somerset in England’s beautiful West Country, and have a cheeky six-year-old daughter and a wonderfully supportive husband. He is starting to pester me about when the royalties will start coming in, though!
2. Five words to describe yourself?
Eternal optimist and shameless smut monger. Sorry – I know that’s six words but I figure the “and” doesn’t count!
3. How long did it take you to get published?
I’d been writing for my own amusement for about six months when I submitted my first short story to Scarlet magazine. It was a short and steamy piece of het erotica, and it was accepted two weeks later. I then spent the next year working on Barging In while simultaneously writing and submitting lots of shorts. I’m glad I did this, as the experience of working with all those different epublishers gave me the courage to submit Barging In to Samhain when I’d finally finished it.
4. Where did your most unusual plot idea come from?
I think that may well have been the short story, Insta-Love™, which is set in a cyberpunk future where you can buy drugs that make you fall in love for a few hours. I was bitten by the idea when I first started hearing book bloggers refer to the phenomenon of insta-love, and I thought it sounded an awful lot like a brand name...
5. What kind of books do you read for fun?
Honestly, I only really find time to read at the beginning and end of the day right now, so I’m generally very tired when I do so. I can’t concentrate on anything that involves intricate world-building, so I mostly read m/m contemporary romance and erotica. That said, I can always be persuaded to read something by the wonderful Terry Pratchett!
6. What do you feel is your strength as an author?
For me, stories are all about the characters, and they tend to be the thing most readers and reviewers comment on as being particularly strong. I’ve known an awful lot of strange, characterful people over the years so I have some great real-life case studies to draw from.
Also, the most important aspect of my writing for me is seeing how the men develop as they fall in love. I like to see them struggle with their fears and overcome them, growing into better people as they learn how to make their relationships work. And if showing all that involves explicit sex scenes, so much the better!
7. What's next for you? What are you working on?
I have a novella called Tailor Made out with Amber Allure on the 22nd January and have a couple of self-published short stories slated for release in early February. I also have my next novel with Samhain out on 20th April: Handle with Care. Those are all m/m romances.
I’m just starting on my next novel, which is going to be a bawdy romantic comedy set in Bath. A young man starts obsessing about the gay couple living in the flat below him, but little does he expect to welcomed into their bed! Yes, it’s my first go at writing a longer ménage romance, and I’m feeling really excited to get going on it.
9. Favorite food, favorite TV show, favorite drink?
My favourite food would have to be bruschetta smothered in goat’s cheese, basil, rocket and sundried tomatoes – I just can’t get enough of those wonderful flavours! My favourite drink is far less exotic, though: tea. I am horribly addicted to tea and drink it almost constantly.
My favourite TV show at the moment would have to be Mad Men. Not only is it superbly written with a wonderfully talented cast, but it gives a fascinating window into a bygone era when women were just starting to make waves in the workplace. Also, I am hopelessly in love with Don Draper and Peggy Olsen...
Jo’s bio:
English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.
For more about her published work, saucy free reads and regular blog posts, please visit
josephinemyles.comBarging InWhen the boat's a rockin’, don't come knockin’! Out-and-proud travel writer Dan Taylor can’t steer a boat to save his life, but that doesn’t stop him from accepting an assignment to write up a narrowboat holiday. Instead of a change of pace from city life, though, the canal seems dull as ditchwater. Until he crashes into the boat of a half-naked, tattooed, pierced man whose rugged, penniless appearance is at odds with a posh accent.
Still smarting from past betrayal, Robin Hamilton’s “closet” is his narrowboat, his refuge from outrageous, provocative men like Dan. Yet he can’t seem to stop himself from rescuing the hopelessly out-of-place city boy from one scrape after another. Until he finds himself giving in to reluctant attraction, even considering a brief, harmless fling.
After all, in less than a week, Dan’s going back to his London diet of casual hook-ups and friends with benefits.
Determined not to fall in love, both men dive into one week of indulgence…only to find themselves drawn deep into an undertow of escalating intimacy and emotional intensity. Troubled waters neither of them expected…or wanted.
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/barging-in-p-6461.html
