Special Guest Post By Rick Bettencourt.
I’ve always been fascinated with things that cross genres. Cross dressers…cross culture…cross walks. No, wait. That last one. Never mind.
I’ve always liked to mix things up a bit. For instance, I’m not a country music lover, but I like Carrie Underwood’s music—and, of course, what gay man doesn’t love Dolly Parton?
When it comes to reading, I’m also diverse. My Kindle is packed with everything from sci fi to romance to personal growth to books about books. Oh, and you’ll even find some straight novels in there. “Well, of course,” you might say. “Most books involve heterosexual characters—mirroring life. Why shouldn’t it?” But, what about the other way around? Straight people reading gay books? Here are a few reasons why you don’t have to be gay to read gay fiction. [Read more…] about You Don’t Have to Be Gay to Like Gay Fiction
In July 2012, with an early draft of my debut novel tucked under my arm, I pitched the story to agents interested in crime fiction at ThrillerFest in New York City. I always began the same way: “Amsterdam. Summer of 1995. I’m homeless, living in my jeep with my dog, Calvin. True story.” The rest didn’t seem to matter so much. “You were actually homeless?” they interrupted. A flicker of excitement appeared in their eyes. Could be a strong marketing tactic. Homeless author pulls himself from the gutter… But when I told them the homeless protagonist in the book was a young gay man, interest appeared to diminish. The agents politely asked me to send a submission, and several weeks later I received a series of encouraging rejections. 
Solemn Contract began life as an image I had of a young man in his thirties; he was handsome in the Celtic way with dark-hair and blue eyes, wearing a white shirt. Nothing unusual in that except he was a blacksmith and spent his day with smoke, soot and fire, shaping metal like Wayland Smith of legend.