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Guest author - Liam Livings
May. 20th, 2014 10:30 amAh, Liam. Ridiculously youthful looking pin up boy of UK Meet. So glad he's my guest again.
So, old bean, when you were last here we chatted about watching your first book fledge. What does it feel like with the second?
Although Best Friends Perfect Book One is my second book to be published, after Christmas Serendipity (CS), my novella published in December 2013, it is the first full length book to be published. Because the Best Friends Perfect series was the first manuscript I wrote, with a view to getting it published, I am much more nervous than I was with CS. Also, Best Friends Perfect has been split into a series of three books, which has meant some serious content edits to ensure each of the books is self contained. This has been hard work, but fun. I am nervous about whether people will like the stories I’ve written. Writers always/often/usually take from their own life experience to write their stories. When Jarvis Cocker, from Pulp, was asked about how much of Disco 2000 was true, he said ‘the only bit that isn’t true is the woodchip wallpaper.’ I think Best Friends Perfect is my Disco 2000 ;-) ( Read more... )
Best Friends Perfect Book One is out 4 June 2014.
Kieran, 18, comes out and meets Kev and Jo. Now Kieran has his four best friends, it’s all set to be perfect. Will Kieran find his perfect Prince Charming boyfriend? Will Jo get on with Hannah and Grace, Kieran’s old best friends? Will Kev spend less on outfits and vodka and more sensible things?
We were like Thelma and Louise—Kieran and Jo. His real name was Jonathan, but he didn’t like anyone calling him that, and would only answer to ‘Jo’, specifically spelt that way. Jonathan Davis. We did everything together, we were best friends. We weren’t boyfriends, more like girlfriends, or maybe brothers, if we were feeling a bit less camp.
It’s amazing what you can get over: death, betrayal, loneliness. No matter what life throws at you to change your plans, to stop you as you try to make your perfect life, somehow you pick yourself up and continue. I survived all those things, because I’m here, happy in my life now.
Only it isn’t what I thought my life would be; when I was eighteen, taking my first steps into the whole new world of being gay, my idea of perfect wasn’t anything like what I have now.
Back then, I thought I had it all worked out. I’d find my perfect Boyfriend––capital B; my perfect new gay friends Jo and Kev would join my two other best friends, Hannah and Grace, to complete my perfect life. How wrong was I?
Instead, life came along, and it wasn’t nearly that simple. Only now, that part of my life is an ancient memory, along with the music, combat trousers and sleeveless tops. Now I’m ready to tell you my story.
Cover art by Adrian Nicholas. (And lovely it is, too.)
So, old bean, when you were last here we chatted about watching your first book fledge. What does it feel like with the second?
Although Best Friends Perfect Book One is my second book to be published, after Christmas Serendipity (CS), my novella published in December 2013, it is the first full length book to be published. Because the Best Friends Perfect series was the first manuscript I wrote, with a view to getting it published, I am much more nervous than I was with CS. Also, Best Friends Perfect has been split into a series of three books, which has meant some serious content edits to ensure each of the books is self contained. This has been hard work, but fun. I am nervous about whether people will like the stories I’ve written. Writers always/often/usually take from their own life experience to write their stories. When Jarvis Cocker, from Pulp, was asked about how much of Disco 2000 was true, he said ‘the only bit that isn’t true is the woodchip wallpaper.’ I think Best Friends Perfect is my Disco 2000 ;-) ( Read more... )
Best Friends Perfect Book One is out 4 June 2014.
Kieran, 18, comes out and meets Kev and Jo. Now Kieran has his four best friends, it’s all set to be perfect. Will Kieran find his perfect Prince Charming boyfriend? Will Jo get on with Hannah and Grace, Kieran’s old best friends? Will Kev spend less on outfits and vodka and more sensible things?
We were like Thelma and Louise—Kieran and Jo. His real name was Jonathan, but he didn’t like anyone calling him that, and would only answer to ‘Jo’, specifically spelt that way. Jonathan Davis. We did everything together, we were best friends. We weren’t boyfriends, more like girlfriends, or maybe brothers, if we were feeling a bit less camp.
It’s amazing what you can get over: death, betrayal, loneliness. No matter what life throws at you to change your plans, to stop you as you try to make your perfect life, somehow you pick yourself up and continue. I survived all those things, because I’m here, happy in my life now.
Only it isn’t what I thought my life would be; when I was eighteen, taking my first steps into the whole new world of being gay, my idea of perfect wasn’t anything like what I have now.
Back then, I thought I had it all worked out. I’d find my perfect Boyfriend––capital B; my perfect new gay friends Jo and Kev would join my two other best friends, Hannah and Grace, to complete my perfect life. How wrong was I?
Instead, life came along, and it wasn’t nearly that simple. Only now, that part of my life is an ancient memory, along with the music, combat trousers and sleeveless tops. Now I’m ready to tell you my story.
Cover art by Adrian Nicholas. (And lovely it is, too.)
