The ‘Dirty Dozen’ blog hop | 12 Authors * 12 Days * 12 e-book #giveaway | Q&A with @hockeyguynyc – Mr. Jeff Adams himself.

Yes, it’s that time of year again, time for the ‘Dirty Dozen’ blog hop & giveaway!

12 Authors * 12 Days * 12 E-book giveaway.

Today is Jeff Adams’ turn on the hot seat – read along for a glimpse into the inner workings of man & author, but be prepared to be amazed.

I was.

And I work here.

P.S. Check out the rafflecopter link at the end of this post to enter our e-book giveaway of one book from each author. So if you’ve been  following along, welcome, but if this is your first stop, I recommend visiting each of the blogs – after all, forwarded is forearmed…

Now, without further ado…..

Dirty Dozen Blog Tour – Jeff Adams

Are you looking forward to GRL? I am!

It’s one of the things I look forward to each year because it’s a long weekend to get immersed in gay romance. I love meeting readers and finding out what they’re into. I love talking with other authors about this crazy, creative thing we all do.

This year, I’m excited to to do a couple things at GRL I’ve never done before too. I’m on a panel for the first time this year. Stephani Hecht, Wade Kelly and I will be talking about the importance of the research we do for our books (make sure to come see us, we’ve got groovy prizes!). I’m also taking part in the Fun Fair this year as part of ten authors presenting “Daring Author Trivia.” We’ve got games and prizes and it’s going to be a perfect way to spend Friday afternoon.

Also, if you’re attending, make sure you find me and enter your email address in either my phone or tablet. I’m going to giveaway a 7” Fire tablet with all my ebooks loaded. All you have to do is get your email address into my device and you’ll be eligible to win. I’ll be notifying the winner first thing Sunday morning so you can take the tablet home with you.

Let’s get on to these twelve questions, shall we!

If you could spend the day with one of your characters, which one would it be, and why?
My answer to this is always the same. I’d hang with Simon from the Hat Trick series. Simon has always been near and dear to me since I first put him on the page. He’s always shown himself to be a good boyfriend, good friend and, over time, an amazing advocate and mentor for teens. He’s a cool guy and it’d be great to see a day in his life. Hopefully it’d be the start of a great friendship.

What are you working on currently and what’s it’s inspiration?
I’m writing the second book in a new young adult series (this series will actually debut a new pen name for me that will be exclusively YA). The Codename: Winger books follow the adventures of a young computer genius who works for a covert spy agency. In the first book (Tracker Hacker, due out in Fall 2017 from Harmony Ink), Theo is thrust into field work. In the second book (tentatively titled Schooled!), he discovers a threat to national security at a high school computer science competition.

The inspiration for the Winger series is a trio of things: the Disney cartoon series Kim Possible (all because I heard a ring tone from this show during GRL 2014), along with the shows Alias, CSI: Cyber and a touch Mr. Robot. Theo is proving to be a blast to write and I hope readers enjoy his adventures as he tries to balance high school, his boyfriend and being a secret agent.

If the lead character in your current novel were to read your other books, which one would be his/her favorite and why?
My most recent release is a novella called Make the Right Choice, which is a spin-off of the Hat Trick series and featuring a couple who got together in those books. I think both Matt and Leo would enjoy any of the books that feature hockey players, but I think the short Rivals would be a favorite because it features two hockey players who form a relationship and that would resonate with them.

If all of your MCs were thrown into a strange and dangerous world where survival relies on ingenuity, creativity, common sense who would come out on top?
Simon and Alex from Hat Trick would do pretty well because they’re smart guys and they always look for solutions to make things work out. The rest of my current characters are pretty much normal guys with normal jobs. It’d be interesting to see what would happen if they were suddenly in the middle of a disaster movie. Diego from A Sound Beginning has some project management and creativity going for him so that would help. Jake from Adventures of Jake #1 would probably try to adopt the superhero persona he portrays at work. The character that would blow them all out of the water is Theo from the upcoming Codename: Winger books. He problem solves at a high level and he’d be able to leverage technology and his secret agent skills to save the day.

What musician or album do you think people should listen to as they read your work because it fits the soul of your words (either a specific title or your writing in general)?
I listen to such a mix of music. Often I write with a weird shuffle of Broadway show tunes, rock, dance and pop songs so it’s hard for me to pin it down.

There’ve been a couple of times I’ve pinned certain songs to stories. For the first Hat Trick there were some key tunes that played into the writing (you can see my original blog post on this here). When The Dancer and Sexy Big Man came out in 2010 I published a playlist for the story (you can see my original blog post from Dreamspinner Press here). Dancer and Sexy Big Man has been revised and re-released as Dancing for Him (the ebook is free on my website and there’s also a paperback available on Amazon and other outlets) and I should probably do a new blog post to cover the additional music in the new scenes.

If you could be one of your characters and live their life, who would it be and why?
Simon from Hat Trick. I admire social workers that work with young people. It’s not easy to be a teen these days, and I know many social workers who take situations and turn them—and the young person—around. Plus Simon’s got a wonderful man in his life just like I do.

If you could be a fruit, any fruit, which would you be and why?
An apple. It’s such a tasty and versatile fruit that it’d a great choice.

What is the thing you enjoy most about gatherings like GRL?
Talking to readers about books! I could talk books all day and it’s always fun to get recommendations. Networking with other writers and talking about author related things is also a great time.

What is the most vivid romantic moment from any film that has lingered the longest and meant the most to you…. and why?
It’s romantic, but it’s also very sad. At the end of Brokeback Mountain when Ennis reveals that he’s got the shirts he and Jack wore their first summer hanging in his closet, together, after all those years. It represents what they were never able to have. It’s romantic and crushing at the same time. I know it’s not an HEA, but it says so much about love that it resonates so much for me.

If you could take any fictional couple or character (television, movies, real-life, books) and add them to one of your books, who would it be and why?
I would love to have Graham and Rikker from Sarina Bowen’s The Understatement of the Year guest star in the Hat Trick universe. I envision them as fierce competitors on the ice against Simon and Alex, but the four would quickly become best of friends off. They’d swap stories about being out on their college teams. Simon and Alex would no doubt get the guys to be guest coaches for the Rainbow High youth team. And Rikker would get the guys up to Burlington too to check out the place he calls home.

What kind of quirky habits do you have before or during the time you write?
I don’t think I’ve got any. When it’s writing time, it’s about turning off Facebook, email and such so I can set the timer and do word sprints. Sometimes those happen with music and sometimes they don’t. But I can’t think of any actual quirks.

When you write, do your characters hijack the story, or do you keep a tight grip on the reins?
When I started writing I was very much a pantser. These days, however, I tend to plot things out chapter to chapter. It doesn’t mean the characters don’t go in unexpected directions sometimes but it happens less often now. When characters go rouge, it’s usually fun though since it means I didn’t explore some ideas before I locked my plot down. It only gets to be gnarly if I’m pushing against a deadline. Luckily, the project manger in me doesn’t usually let deadlines get away from me.

That’s it for me. Feel free to leave comments below or ask me questions and I’ll come back and respond over the next few days. And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Dirty Dozen blog tour! Hope to see you at GRL.

Featured Book
Hat Trick Box Set

Simon Roberts and Alex Miller could never have known that from the moment of their first kiss that they were embarking on the love of a lifetime. The Hat Trick Box Set is their story, as told by Simon, from their senior year of high school through college graduation and beyond.

This box set includes all 6 stories in 1 ebook download!

The box set includes Hat Trick, Hat Trick Overtime: A Classic Winter’s Night, Hat Trick 2: Playing the Rebound, Hat Trick Overtime: Summer Camp, Hat Trick 3: Penalty Shot and Hat Trick Overtime: Reunion.

Buy Links:
All Romance: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-hattrickseriesboxset-2041460-166.html
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Hat-Trick-Hockey-Romance-Books-ebook/dp/B01AKRWOQK/
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hat-trick-series-box-set-jeff-adams/1123824221?ean=2940158447983
iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/hat-trick-series-box-set/id1115892211?mt=11
JMS Books: http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=29_204&products_id=1712
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/637566

Bio

Jeff’s written stories since he was in middle school and became a gay romance writer in 2009 when his first short stories were published. Since then he’s written several more shorts and novels, including some in the young adult genre, and he plans to keep writing as long as wonderful readers keeping picking up his books.

Jeff lives in rural Northern California with his husband of twenty years, Will. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and [title of show], the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance. If forced to pick his favorite book it would be a tie between Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and David Levithan’s Every Day. Jeff is also the co-host of Jeff & Will’s Big Gay Fiction Podcast.

Website: http://www.jeffadamswrites.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorJeffAdams
Twitter: https://twitter.com/hockeyguynyc
Jeff & Will’s Big Gay Fiction Podcast: http://www.BigGayFictionPodcast.com

Rafflecopter direct link:

Dirty Dozen Rafflecopter

All the authors are unique and commenting can increase your chances, or at least warn you to walk the other way when you see us. Here’s the schedule…

October 1st – TM Smith hosts Wade Kelly
October 2nd – Morticia Knight hosts Tempe O’Riley
October 3rd – AE Via hosts K-Lee Klein
October 4th – Jeff Adams hosts Jordan Hawk
October 5th – Alexa Land hosts Jake C Wallace
October 6th – Wade Kelly hosts Brandon Witt
October 7th – Tempe O’Riley hosts LE Franks
October 8th – Jordan Hawk hosts TM Smith
October 9th – Jake C Wallace hosts Morticia Knight
October 10th – Brandon Witt hosts AE Via
October 11th – LE Franks hosts Jeff Adams
October 12th – K-Lee Klein hosts Alexa Land
Dirty Dozen Rafflecopter