AUTHOR WEDNESDAY: Dan Stone

This week we put our five questions to Ice On Fire author Dan Stone.

1. Would you like to introduce yourself as a writer?
   As a writer I think that I really embody my Pisces with Gemini Rising self.  My writing emerges from and largely focuses on the stuff of dreams--the mystical, the magical, the romantic, the poetic--but I am also a genre hopping multi tasker who loves to play in different and diverse sandboxes and challenge myself in new and interesting ways.  Unfortunately it's one of the reasons why fans of my novels have to wait longer than they (or my publisher) would like for sequels or other new work:  As soon as something's finished I tend to bounce off in a completely different direction for a while.  Some would call that flighty or fickle.  I prefer ‘mercurial’.
2. Summarise your latest book from Lethe in five words! 
   Ice and Fire make magic!
   
3. What’s the secret to your writing? Locking yourself away and writing a disciplined word count, or waiting for inspiration to strike? (Or something else entirely, of course…)
   I never use outlines to write fiction and have generally not imposed daily word or page counts on myself. I do seem to need to write in a different physical space from where I do other kinds of work—and I always handwrite the first draft of my books in hardbound journals, then transcribe the manuscript to my computer as my first rewrite.
        I love the fun and adventure of not really knowing from one day to the next what’s going to happen in the story.  I try not to make it difficult and reject the notion that something only has value if we struggled to achieve it.  I do spend a great deal of time in the beginning of a book getting to know the characters who drive the story, making copious notes and creating more biographical and other detail than I’d ever actually use in the book, then make ongoing appointments to sit with them and listen to the story they want to tell.  They never let me down.  
   
4. If your house is on fire, what book do you rescue? (Forget about your loved ones, they can save themselves…)
   As much as I love hardback and paperback books, nearly everything I'm reading or have recently read is on my iPad/Kindle.  So that's what I grab.  I'm all about what's going on now, not what I need to save from the past.
5. Finally, let’s pay it forward. Recommend one gay-lit writer we should be reading right now. (Or any writer, if you prefer.)
   This will sound like a cop-out or blatant brown-nosing but honestly, any Lethe Press author.  And I say that not because I am one, but because the reason I am one, which is that Lethe Press is home to writers whose work, although genre-specific--is not generic in any way.  Lethe Press is an island of talented misfits who've found a place (and a publisher) who values unique takes on a diversity of aspects of the gay experience--and who at the same time, demands excellence of vision and craft.  If you want to read quality gay lit, open the Lethe catalog, close your eyes, and let your finger land where it may.  You can't go wrong.
   

Ice On Fire is out now from Lethe Press. Check it out. (Plus, buy it in paperback today and you'll receive a copy of The Rest Of Our Lives at no extra cost.)