Jay Bell Books

Falling in love again

I’ve been working on a new contemporary romance novel and I’m struck by how similar creating a new character is to going on a first date. At first everything is awkward, the conversation stilted, and I’m a little more focused on how the person looks than who they are. Then words start to flow, some trivial, others revealing the truth about the person in front of me. As time passes, and if everything goes as it should, I begin to fall in love. This may sound odd, since we’re talking about people I make up in my own head, so I feel it’s important to explain just what kind of love I mean.

As I get older, I notice just how beautiful youth is. I mean more than just the physical. Being the terribly nostalgic person I am, when young people catch my eye I think back to how wild, stupid, dreadful, mysterious, and wonderful life was back then. For me, it also meant a lot of romantic adventures. When I look at these hot young guys, I’m not undressing them in my mind. Nor do I have any desire to see them in my bed. Instead I’m thinking of all the opportunities they have, all the fun waiting for them, and I hope they find someone their own age to experience this journey with. This is my wish for my characters too. I adore them, enjoy being in their heads or seeing them from the outside, but I want them to find their own way in the world. I love them, but they aren’t for me, so the most I can do is admire them from afar and try to guide them in the right direction.

As crazy as all of this might sound, the infatuation I feel for people that don’t exist is a good omen. If I write a joke that doesn’t make me laugh, chances are you won’t laugh either. If I don’t fall head over heels in love with my characters, then why would you? The days I’m too busy to write, I have a nagging feeling that tells me to call these characters, to check up on them and make sure they’re doing okay. With a little luck, you’ll feel the same way when you set the book down for too long. Speaking of which, just wait until you meet Connor. It’ll be awhile before you do, but believe me, you’re going to love him!

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Goodbye Cat in the Cradle

Farewell Kio, Dylan and Tyjinn. It was nice knowing you, but your story will no longer be told. *wipes tear from eye* Actually, I’m being a little dramatic. You may have noticed that The Cat in the Cradle is no longer on sale at all the usual places. Don’t panic, because Kio and company are only going on vacation. The rights for this book recently reverted back from my publisher to me, and instead of just republishing it as is, I’ve decided to give it another rewrite. I’ve learned a few tricks since writing this book and wanted to polish the prose. I also want to get those chapter illustrations worked into the Kindle and Nook versions. I have even bigger plans than that, but for now, rest assured that The Cat in the Cradle will be back. With a vengeance.

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Two Interviews and a Free Book!

Wanna get inside my head? There have been two interviews with me as of late, one of which that gives you the chance to win a copy of Something Like Summer. The first is here at Curious Queer, where I talk about homesickness, future releases, and being gay in Germany.

The second can be found at Taboo Indeed. There I chat about explicit sex scenes, Something Like Summer, and famous people coming out. Leave a comment on Taboo Indeed’s site, just below the interview, for a chance to win a print or eBook copy of Something Like Summer. Have fun!

*Update* A winner has been chosen.  Congratulations Carmen, and thanks to all that left a comment!

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The Evolution of a Book Cover

My third novel, Hell’s Pawn, is nearing release. Rather than just reveal the cover art like I usually do, I thought it would be fun to show you all the stages we went through to get to the final product. Hell’s Pawn is a story that takes place completely in the afterlife. Not just Heaven and Hell, but the realms of many major religions, past and present. Most of the characters are contemporary, souls that lived in our time, but there’s one character that’s different. Rimmon is an incubus, a handsome male demon and sort of the love interest of the main character. Some time ago, Andreas was doing character sketches for fun and asked me for an idea. I slyly described Rimmon, and Andreas came up with the drawing below.

As fun as it was to see one of my characters come to life on the page, Andreas didn’t draw this with a cover in mind, but this piece did end up influencing the direction we took. I liked the idea of Rimmon being on the cover, since he’s not only sexy, but intriguing. I don’t like to pin Andreas down creatively, so I described Rimmon vaguely, mostly only stressing his attractiveness. The first result is below.

Yeah, that’s hot, but it’s also a lot younger than I expected. Naughty Andreas! I asked him to age Rimmon up, since his character is both mature and intelligent, which isn’t quite conveyed by such a youthful appearance. A little bit of magic, and Andreas had finally done it. We had found Rimmon.

Now that we had our centerpiece, it was time to set him on stage. In the novel, Hell isn’t depicted as fire and brimstone. Instead Hell is based on a modern European city, so the bar scene could still work. Andreas came up with this rough concept, which we were both very excited about.

The front cover would be an outside view of the bar, with Rimmon visible in the window. The back cover would wrap around to an alley, where an old Gurney steam coach is parked. Er… It makes sense if you read the story, I swear. The best part is that the book’s title could be the bar sign, an idea that I still love.

Unfortunately, this new mockup began to worry us both. If Rimmon was behind a window and realistically placed further in the interior, he wouldn’t be nearly as visible to the viewer. Besides, who stands in a bar facing the window? Andreas suggested we keep the concept but turn the entire thing inside out.

I’m pretty sure I jumped up and down in excitement at this point. Not only could we see Rimmon better, but there was now room for another character. Rimmon had someone to seduce, rather than staring forlornly out the window. In this case, I decided it should be John Grey, the novel’s protagonist. John has a rough time adjusting to the afterlife, but things get a lot more interesting for him when he meets Rimmon. John’s a sharp dressed man though, so the figure in front needed to change.

Obviously Andreas really ran with the concept at this point, turning his full attention to the background and fine detailing. Now, with a full blown piece of art, all that was left was formatting into a book cover. This means setting the title, placing the back blurb, working in the bar code and tons of other things. The end result can be seen below:

I couldn’t be happier. Andreas really outdid himself this time. Is it any wonder I’m head over heels in love with him? A proof copy of the book is winging its way to Germany right now so we can see it in the flesh. Once we do, there might be some other small changes, but we’re more or less there. Once my early readers give me the green light, Hell’s Pawn will be ready for release, hopefully by mid summer. No matter what the critics make of the insides, thanks to Andreas, I can’t imagine anyone complaining about the packaging.

If you want to see more of Andreas’s art, stop by his website or his blog.

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Inspiration – Something Like Summer revisited

A reader recently wrote me (hey Daren!) expressing an interest in other songs and images that inspired Something Like Summer. I have a previous blog entry about some of those inspirations, but there are indeed more sources not listed there. Let’s start with another hot image of Tim Wyman. Well, model Bruno Santos really. The photo you see to the left was the one I kept looking to during the college years. I gave him a haircut for the book, because I’ve always loved spiky hair, but that’s Tim all right. For me at least. Unfortunately I still haven’t stumbled on photos that truly remind me of Ben or Jace, which is especially frustrating in Jace’s case. I can see him see so clearly in my mind that I must have seen him somewhere, but I don’t know where.

As for other songs that inspired me, my descriptions of them get spoilerish. If you haven’t read the book yet, turn back now if you don’t want to know!

The first is Do You Sleep by Lisa Loeb, which gets me every time. This was the background tune to the end of Ben and Tim’s time together in highschool. There are a couple of scenes that are transparently taken from this song. Some lines I imagine Ben singing, some are Tim’s, but I feel it really resonates with how their relationship was falling apart.

The next song is sort of Jace’s theme. To me it’s about Ben needing him, and later missing him. The music itself reminds me of Jace’s character, kind of ritzy, classy, and offbeat, but also a little sad at times. “I have this picture hanging in my room, and I refuse to take you down…” This one is by Duran Duran and called We Need You.

Finally, we have another song by The Fold. The first inspiration article has a song by them as well, Faster Still, which was sort of the anthem of the novel. The song below, I Know You Well, represents the end of the story. No, not that part, but afterwards, when Tim is driving Ben home from the gallery. In the song Faster Still is a line “As I look into your eyes, I don’t know you any better” which is a doubt Ben shares at the end of the college years. This song is Tim’s answer and promise, as they cruise away into their happily ever after.

So there you have it, another set images and sounds by talented artists that helped fuel my words. I’m not sure if these resonate with you like they do me, but it’s safe to say that Something Like Summer wouldn’t have been the same without them. On that note, let’s end with one more photo of Tim Wyman. Just because.
 

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Free short story, sexy and sweet!

Language Lessons is here! This short story is a contemporary romance, and although not related to Something Like Summer in any way, fans of that novel will find much to enjoy here. At least that’s my hope. Grab this story while you can, because it will only be free for the next week. Here’s the blurb:

Love doesn’t come easy. For Joey, he didn’t care if it ever came at all. He was much too busy adding notches to his bedpost and preparing for life as an adult. But when a causal fling waxes nostalgic about the one that got away, Joey starts to wonder if he isn’t missing something after all, if there really is something to be learned from the language of love.

Update: I’ve decided to make Language Lessons free from now on. If you like the story, you can return the favor by sharing it with your friends, or recommending other books of mine that you enjoyed. Language Lessons can be found on Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook, as well as iPad/iPhone. For other formats (PDF, Mobi, Epub, Sony eReader and Palm) please visit Smashwords.

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