Tuesday 30 September 2014

If I’m odd, then I’m going to revel in it.

I have my first ever blog post up on the Totally Bound site!
                               http://www.totallyboundpublishing.com/?p=3868

I've been told I'm allowed to post it here as well, so I will. :-)

This is my first post here so I wanted to start out by saying hello and introducing myself. My name’s Faith Ashlin and I’ve written m/m romance for as long as I can remember.

Have you ever thought you were odd?

Picture the scene; about 10 years ago.

Over custard tarts and a cup of tea, I was telling my mum about my imminent weekend trip away to meet some ladies I’d got to know online. Mum looked totally scandalised.

Mum: What if they’re axe-murdering lesbians?

Me: Why would they be lesbians and why would they axe-murder anyone?

Mum: Isn’t everyone online a lesbian and a murderer?

Me: Even the men?

Mum: Oh yes, especially them. Why would you want to meet these people?

I tried to work out if she was teasing me – how does anyone get to be 71 and not know that it’s quite hard for a man to be a lesbian? – but she appeared deadly serious. It was then I realised that I couldn’t explain to her why these ladies and I had become friends.

These were the first people I’d talked to that also liked m/m stories. Ever since I was a kid I thought I was odd because I was the only one I knew who wanted the hero to run off into the sunset with his best friend, rather than the heroine. Not only were there very few stories for me but I also felt I had to keep it a secret because no one would understand.

Here were some lovely ladies that seemed to be just as odd as me and I adored them for making me feel normal and at home. I decided then that it was rather nice, being odd.

I like to write stories with beautiful young men falling in the kind of hopeless, life-long love that I dream of. I adore a happy ending but I don’t like to make things too easy for them. I like to put them in difficult situations and make them work for their love. It’s so much fun being in control.
Another thing that I always thought made me odd is that I get obsessions about weird things. I’ll be deeply interested in a subject and spend ages researching it. A few examples; Samurai, circus trapeze, the Tour de France and WW2 planes.

Yes, I know, it’s odd. Although, I’ve started to realise that I’m not the only woman that loves WW2 planes. After all, what’s not to love?

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That’s a Lancaster, one of only two still flying in the world.

How about a group of Spitfires?

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If that doesn’t make your insides go a bit wibbly then you just aren’t as odd as me!

I like to use things that interest me in my books and WW2 planes have to be a good start. But the Lancaster has too big a crew for things to get ‘interesting’ and the Spitfire only takes one man. Then my uncle told me about the Mosquito plane he’d worked on just after the war and I fell in love.

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The Mosquito has a crew of two, who were pressed close together in a small cockpit (at least they were in my mind), dressed in gorgeous RAF uniforms or flying jackets, under constant threat while they fought a war that had to be won… My heart went pita-pat and my brain started whirring with all the possibilities.

That’s the great thing about writing; you can take whatever fires your imagination and use it in a story with heroes that do whatever you want. Oh I love the power of being a writer!

So, if I’m odd, then I’m going to revel in it. I’ll wallow in my oddness because it makes me happy and that has to be a good thing. I’m all for celebrating being odd!

The book inspired by the Mosquito is Pathfinder. It’s available now from Totally Bound and Amazon.

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https://www.totallybound.com/pathfinder

Bobby is fighting fervently amid the planes and bombs of World War Two when events take a passionate turn with the arrival of a new pilot. Can Lewis offer him more than he thought possible?                            
During the Second World War, two airmen from Texas join the Royal Air Force, while America is still neutral. The attraction between them is immediate. Bobby, a navigator, has given up on thoughts of relationships, concentrating instead on the war he fervently believes in. Lewis, his new pilot, is full of life, and passionate about planes and playing his part in the war.

They connect immediately with intense, but furtive, sex. Their bond grows during many tough raids and passionate nights, until Lewis pushes Bobby to admit how he feels. Bobby didn’t think love was a possibility. But now Lewis is here, real, and offering everything he could never admit he wanted.
Can they have a future together during the war?

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