Stealing Life
Stealing Life is about two outcasts who are trying to survive in a very hostile environment. Rue was abandoned by his mother at a very young age, and turned to stealing to survive. The government that runs most of the universe has used Vlatko as a pawn for all of his life until he took a stand and got away. They meet under questionable circumstances, yet can’t help their attraction to each other. So while they’re coming to terms with their past, and fighting for their future together, they’re falling in love.
The book has been compared to Eden Cole and Lynn Hagen, so how does this make you feel?
Really? Wow, I’m thrilled. Those ladies are marvellous authors and to be compared to them is an honour.
When you are not writing you watch movies, so which is your favourite?
I have several movies that I watch all the time. But my two all-time favourite movies are Mr. Smith Goes to Washington starring Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur. Jimmy Stewart was such a handsome man and a great actor. He portrayed the idealistic innocence a lot of people feel when first being chosen to serve their country. I adore Jean Arthur. She was beautiful, funny, and so very talented.
My second favourite movie is The 13th Warrior starring Antonio Banderas. It’s based on Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, and while I enjoyed the book, I love the movie. I can repeat every line, that’s how many times I’ve watched it. There’s comedy, adventure, battles with enemies and with superstitions. It also shows how one must always think outside the box to find solutions if one doesn’t seem readily available. Plus Antonio Banderas is gorgeous.
Who do you most like to read?
I have a couple favourites. For Fantasy, I’ll read Mercedes Lackey and Tamara Pierce. They both tend to have strong female characters which I think is important, but also they don’t hide that there are other ways to love out in the world, even if it is a make-up one. For Romance, I read Amy Lane, who writes some of the best gay romance out there today. Her characters are often broken in some fundamental way, but by the end of the story, they’ve found a way to patch themselves up so that they can continue to survive.
Why is it important to live life to the fullest?
It’s so important to never turn your back on adventure and life because you never know when it might end. No one knows the exact date and time of our death. I don’t want to get there, look back on my life, and be saddened by all the things I could’ve done, but was too afraid to do.
You are fascinated by what makes us all unique, so what makes you special and one of a kind?
Yikes! That’s a difficult question. I’ve never really thought about it, but one of the things that makes me unique is how I see the world. I tend to have a very Zen outlook on things. I don’t hold grudges, because I don’t have the extra energy to expend on those kinds of emotions. Hate and anger can be very poisonous to a person’s physical and mental health.
To me, the world is painted in shades of grey. Rarely are there any points of solid black or solid white. No one is completely good or completely bad. That outlook tends to show up in my writing as well. Look at Stealing Life for instance. You have a thief and an assassin falling in love, and trying to find a way to survive, even though neither one of them are particularly honest.
Why is it important to you as a writer to capture the beauty in a different kind of love?
I want people to look at the differences in the world, and celebrate them. Life would be terribly boring if we were all alike, wouldn’t it? There are exotic and beautiful flowers out there, and none of them are exactly alike. I like to believe humans are like that as well. We each bring our own personal experiences to relationships, and I like to shine light on those differences. What makes one person special or unique isn’t necessarily the same thing for another person.
For so long in my country, the LGBT community has been looked down upon as second class or something perverted. I want to open the door and let people see that those couples and individuals are just normal people like them. They just happen to love a person of the same sex or both sexes. They have the same wishes and dreams as heterosexual people. They deserve to have the chance to make them come true.
And as a writer, I have the opportunity to give my readers a chance to see how beautiful love can be, no matter what kind of package it comes wrapped up in.
What is your writing background?
Like most writers, I started writing when I was quite young, but I never finished a book until 2004, when I finished my first erotic romance. It was a M/F romance between a mortal and a fallen angel. It was published in 2004 as well, and I never looked back. Then my first gay romance came out in 2006, and I’ve been focusing on that writing path for the seven years since. But I’m getting back into the M/F side of romance again, so I can have even more stories to distract me from what’s going on in the world outside of my apartment.
Where did the inspiration for the story come from?
If I remember correctly, it came from watching The Chronicles of Riddick. Riddick was a murderer and escaped convict. There was no way anyone would consider him a hero, and yet he ended up saving the universe in spite of himself. He wasn’t doing any of it to be a hero. He was trying to save the one person he loved, even though you wouldn’t think a monster like Riddick could love anyone. But he loved her, and to save her, he’d defeat an entire army.
I wanted to write a story about two men who weren’t on the right side of the law. They stole things and killed people, and they would continue to do it to stay alive. But they ran headlong into each other, and found their missing piece. They fall in love, and the reader gets another chance to see all the grey area of the world. No one is completely good or completely bad.
What is next for you?
My next up-coming release is titled Chasing the King of the Mountains co-authored with the awesome Devon Rhodes. It takes place during the Tour de France, and is the second book in our International Men of Sports series.
Next up to write, is a short story about a Coast Guard rescue diver and the crab fisherman he falls in love with. It takes place on the Bering Sea up in Alaska.
Of course, that’s just one of the many stories I have on tap to work on in the up-coming months.
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