Literary Nymphs Interview
Title:
Legally Wed
Author: Rick R. Reed
Publisher:
Dreamspinner Press
Genre:
Contemporary romance, m/m romance, gay romance
Release
Date: January 3, 2014
Blurb
Love
comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister,
Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan Seattle
has made gay marriage legal, Duncan Duncan
Determined
to settle, Duncan Duncan
Do you write in more than
one genre?
These
days, I mostly write contemporary love stories about gay men seeking their soul
mates. My last several books, Chaser,
Raining Men, Hungry for Love and Legally
Wed, have all dealt with gay men looking for love (sometimes in all the
wrong places). They also usually capture one or more character’s personal
journeys, so that they can arrive at a place in their hearts and minds where
they’re ready for love.
I
also sometimes write horror and psychological suspense. These are genres I love
to read and it’s fun to write about extreme emotion, which links both my dark
books and my romantic ones. But even in these books, there’s also always an
element of romance. My most popular darker titles include The Blue Moon Café, Orientation, and
A Demon Inside. New editions
of my earlier horror/suspense/love story works will appear in new and revised
editions from Dreamspinner in 2014: IM
and Bashed.
What if any, is the hardest
part of writing for you?
Characters
are the most important part of writing for me. Once I have an idea of who they
are as people, what motivates them, what makes them unique, the rest is easier.
Once the characters become real for more, they kind of tell me their stories,
as crazy as that sounds.
Editing
can be hard. You have to be ruthless and make sure that only what’s essential
remains in the work. This could mean cutting some things that you love, but in
the end, realize do not add to the story’s arc or progression.
What inspired the story?
Some
of the details were lifted from my own life and my own experience with what we
now call “gay marriage” but that I hope we will someday refer to simply as
“marriage.”
The book actually begins on
the first day same-sex couples were able to obtain marriage licenses in
Washington State. It was a special day for me personally—and yes, I would say
that this moment was the inspiration for the book.
Bruce, my
now-husband and I were one of the first couples in line down at City Hall in
the wee small hours of the morning to get our marriage license on the first day
we could. There was such joy at City Hall that morning, both from couples
getting their licenses and the employees and supporters who had come out to
witness this historic moment. I wanted to write about not just love, but
marriage. Here’s the opening and I think you can see what I’m talking about:
Same-sex marriage had just
become legal in Washington State and Duncan Taylor didn’t plan on wasting any
time. He had been dating Tucker McBride for more than three years and, ever
since the possibility of marriage had become more than just a pipe dream, it
was all Duncan could think of. He had thought of it as he gazed out the windows
of his houseboat on Lake Union, on days both sunny and gray (since it was late
autumn, there were a lot more of the latter); he had thought of it as he stood before
his classroom of fourth graders at Cascade Elementary School. He had thought of
it when he woke up in the morning and before he fell asleep at night.
For Duncan, marriage was
the peak, the happy ending, the icing on the cake, the culmination of one’s
hearts desire, a commitment of a lifetime, the joining of two souls. For
Duncan, it was landing among the stars.
And for Duncan, who would
turn 38 on his next birthday, it was also something he had never dared dream
would be possible for him.
And now, too excited to
sleep, he was thinking about it—hard—once again. It was just past midnight on
December 6, 2012 and the local TV news had pre-empted its regular programming
to take viewers live to Seattle City Hall, where couples were forming a
serpentine line to be among the first in the state to be issued their marriage
licenses—couples who had also for far too long believed this right would be one
they would never be afforded. Many clung close together to ward off the chill,
but Duncan knew their reasons for canoodling went far deeper than that.
The mood, in spite of the
darkness pressing in all around, was festive. There was a group serenading the
couples in line, singing “Going to the Chapel.” Champagne corks popped in the
background. Laughter.
Duncan couldn’t keep the
smile off his face as he watched all the male-male and female-female couples in
the line, their mood of jubilation, of love, of triumph traveling through to
him even here on his houseboat two or three miles north of downtown. Duncan
wiped tears from his eyes as he saw not only the couples but also all the
supporters, city workers, and volunteers who had crowded together outside City
Hall to wish the new couples well, to share in the happiness of the historic
moment.
And then Duncan couldn’t
help it, he fell into all-out blubbers as the first couple to get their license
emerged from City Hall. 85-year-old Pete-e Peterson and her partner and
soon-to-be-wife, Jane Abbott Lighty, were all smiles when a reporter asked them
how they felt.
“We waited a long time.
We’ve been together 35 years, never thinking we’d get a legal marriage. Now I
feel so joyous I can hardly stand it,” Pete-e said.
It was such a special
moment and it was all Duncan could do not to pick up the phone and call Tucker
and casually say something like, “Hey honey, you want to get married?”
What are some of your other favorite activities?
When I’m not writing, I still love to immerse
myself in stories. So, I’m a voracious reader and love movies and, yes,
television. Right now, I’m reading Boy Still Missing by John Searles and
really getting into the current seasons of Shameless, American Horror Story,
and am very much looking forward to HBO’s new series about gay men called Looking.
Rick R. Reed Biography
Rick
R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in
contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of
suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power
of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short
stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Caregiver, Orientation
and The Blue Moon Cafe). Lambda Literary Review has called him,
"a writer that doesn't disappoint." Rick lives in Seattle with his
husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever "at work on
another novel."
Where can we find your website?
Web:
http://www.rickrreed.com
Blog: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rickrreedbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickrreed.
E-mail: jimmyfels@gmail.com
Blog: http://rickrreedreality.blogspot.com/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rickrreedbooks
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rickrreed.
E-mail: jimmyfels@gmail.com
Buy Links
Dreamspinner
Ebook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4531
Dreamspinner
Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4532
Amazon
Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Legally-Wed-Rick-R-Reed/dp/1627982043/
AllRomance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-legallywed-1387389-149.html
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