Friend and fellow author, Allen Renfro discusses his new book, Ambiguity. As many writers (and readers) can attest, a novel in the making is often a testament to a life’s journey.
I think I speak for many writers who become inspired that sometimes a story simply won’t leave you alone. The words come to you as you try to sleep. Walking along the street you see the characters in the faces that pass by. You hear the voices of the characters as you’re sitting in a restaurant and quietly listening. Finally you surrender and began the process of putting words to paper. The story for my novel Ambiguity came to me in such a manner and I think the story resonates even more right now at this point in time than when I first became inspired.
If you’ve read any of my work you are very much aware that my characters often wrestle with the centuries old conflict between religion and sexuality. In my novel Ambiguity, this conflict erupts into all out war. I wanted to explore the horrors of religious hatred toward homosexuality and also show the repercussions on both sides of this hatred. I wrote Ambiguity more for myself than anyone else. I needed to delve into my own experiences with religion, to understand my own mistrust of people who claim religion as their sole purpose for condemning homosexuality. In my own cynicism I wanted to show that many times people use religion to hide behind, to cover up their own secrets. There are many closets to hide in and come out of. [Read more…]
Recently I was asked about the polarity in my writing. It stretches from erotic to emotionally devastating, and all places in between. Because of this, I have two very different reading audiences. On one side, I have my m/m readers who seek happy endings and hot sex, while the other readers look for less eroticism and more of a literary read, which often (with my novels) leaves them in tears. Today we’re talking about the more literary of my novels – 
So, I finally did it. I took the plunge and came out to visit a few of my fans. It was a pleasant experience. Humorous mostly. The ladies were so gentle, as if I was going to run away if the crowd got too thick. “You okay?” was a constant. And, other than a developing cold that had me running back and forth to the loo (to blow my nose) like a coke head, I was okay. The panels were informative. I got a chance to meet so many of the authors I know only online, and I got a chance to grab a few books too. I wanted more, but no one was manning the tables at times.
I wanted to write this guest post to discuss the future of LGBT characters in literature. I have to admit that we’ve come a long way; much further in books than in film and television. The explosion of new queer characters is amazing, especially in the male/male romance genre. And not only are droves of books being written, they also seem to be selling well, if Amazon sales rank is any indication. Now, there’s definitely nothing wrong with a good male/male romance (I’m currently working on one myself) and there’s nothing wrong with books that center around a character’s sexuality. I just wonder if we aren’t lacking in LGBT characters in mainstream books though. In almost every genre the characters are assumed, by default, to be heterosexual unless deemed otherwise at some point in the story. 
We humans evolve from broken relationships, we grow into the people we are, and are to become, from how, and how often, our heart is broken. The irony with this post is that not only is there an entire museum dedicated to broken relationships, but that it sits in Zagreb, Croatia the setting for my next novel, Summer Symphony. The new novel deals with… (drum roll please) a broken relationship, a broken man, a broken woman, a broken marriage and all the outside forces that conspire to shape how those inside the relationship should view themselves. 
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