As an author, I often get asked why I wrote a particular book or where a specific character came from. I love that question because it is fascinating how I pull the different aspects of my life in creating a novel.

In my latest novel, Far Away, the story is so much a part of my own life that there is only a fine line between fiction and reality within the pages.

The story opens on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire. In the book it’s where the two main characters meet for the first time as teenagers. The lakefront grand home belongs to the character Noah’s, grandmother. This particular summer, is where it feels like life is just beginning for Noah, but for the visiting Spiro, it very much feels like the end.

In my own life, the characters Noah and Spiro, are bits and pieces of me during my own childhood, split into two characters. I have fond childhood memories of spending the summer with my grandmother on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee. My brother Kenny, and I would visit her during the summer without our parents. Although Kenny and I weren’t twins like Noah and Nathanael, we were extremely close.

The original draft of Far Away was called the Visitor. It was originally a short story, and the entire story took place on Lake Winnipesaukee. In the end, Noah and Spiro were split apart by their parents. I never published that story because it didn’t have a happily ever after (HEA).

As young adults, my husband and I took a long vacation to Greece. On the tiny island of Santorini, I remember falling deeper in love with my husband. I knew I loved him when we left the States, but there was something magical that happened between us during those weeks on the island. When we returned, I crafted a short story surrounding our Greece trip.

In writing Far Away, the challenge was how to combine those two stories, that wouldn’t work for my romance audience, into a love story they would enjoy reading. In doing so, I also wanted to stay true to who the characters were, so blending four characters into two was challenging. 

In Far Away, Noah is a very complex individual, fighting some dark demons. He is also this amazingly bright and gifted person that the world just doesn’t know what to do with. The scene where Noah returns home, after being kicked into a mud puddle by a bully, and tells his brother what happens, is not entirely all fiction.  In reality, this is me, sharing a moment with you of my early life and my relationship with Conrad, my big brother. Conrad, may you rest in peace and know that I am forever grateful that you were always my ally.

Just like my brother’s love, I cherish your support and always glad to call you my friend. So, until next time, please stay safe my friends.

Warmly,

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Yes, I’ve been missing in action in your mailbox. I know, I know, I know. I’ll try and do better in 2021. Like me, many of you can’t wait for next year. This has been a year full of surprises, ups and downs, and challenges all around. You are not alone if you are feeling lost in a desert of fear and anxiety, are out of work, or quarantining from family and friends this season.

Hello, my friends!

It’s been two months since my last blog and I apologize for not staying in better touch. I have to be honest and say, since March 18, 2020, my life as I once knew it, seems to have been forever changed. This is the day I went into quarantine in an attempt to escape this current pandemic.

About the only thing familiar about this June is the hot weather that has been ushered in these past few days. In a month that is usually packed with Pride events every weekend around the world, just about all of the parades and parties have been canceled for this year for safety reasons due to the Coronavirus. Without a doubt, there is no way of social distancing yourself at an event with thousands of people around you.

As the saying goes, “April showers, bring May flowers.” This has never been as true as it is this spring. With a ‘Shelter in Place’ order implemented around most of the world and the social distancing mandate due to the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic, March and April may have been pretty dark months for some. Let’s hope for the flowers in May!

From the multi-published Rainbow Award-winning author and a Lambda Literary and International Book Award Finalist, Bryan T. Clark comes the most anticipated book of the year!

My new book, FAR AWAY, is finished and set for release on May 1^st. Here’s a sneak peek at the cover for my newsletter readers ONLY.

I am absolutely positive you’re going to love this book! The story is of two boys, one summer, and a love so grand that, in their adulthood, neither can forget the day they met. An imprint made so strong on their hearts that, even with all that life threw at them, it kept their love alive.

As James A. Baldwin once said:

“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war, love is growing up.”

Once upon a time, I was a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. Some thirty plus years ago, when my husband and I first dated, we were just two young boys sitting on a rock along a river bank. I knew so little about love: the depths in which one can love, the complications of love, the power of love.

Wow, 2019 had to have been the longest year of my life! Good and bad, much has happened over the last twelve months in our household. I would have to say that my high may have been the most successful book release of my career. Escaping Camp Roosevelt, released in May 2019, has sold more copies in its first year than any of my other books during their first year. With 100% of the first year’s royalties being donated to Larkin Street Youth Services/Homeless Shelter, in San Francisco, California, I couldn’t be more grateful to everyone who purchased the book! One book can make a difference in someone’s life.

Last month my husband Brian (Yes, his name is Brian also) and I celebrated our thirty-five-year anniversary. I truly can’t believe we’ve been together for thirty-five years! It seems as if it was just yesterday that we were teenagers, sitting on a rock by the river, getting to know one another.