Carolyn
Sohier, the Greta Garbo of divas, is giving a once in a lifetime concert that
Tim can’t afford to attend. Tim—an overweight, twenty-something virgin—regrets
lending the hunky bag boy at the grocery store money that could have bought him
a ticket. Tim needs to call in his debts, but money isn’t the only thing
holding him back.
The
first time Tim met Javier, he was blown away by the attention. He didn't
often—actually ever—get a guy, let alone a hot one, pay attention to him. The
problem, Javier is straight; yet he gives Tim mixed messages. Tim can’t get
Javier off his mind, unless he is pursuing his love for theater—or talking with
his best friend, Julia, about the “unattainable” crushes they share on some of
the guys back home.
With
the Carolyn Sohier concert fasting approaching, Tim struggles to get tickets.
If he hadn't lent Javier the money to, well, have his way with him in the beer
cooler at the store they worked at together, maybe Tim wouldn't have lost his
job, and would be able to see Carolyn perform. But Tim’s learned his lesson
from all this…or so he thinks.
The
entire first episode (over 70 pages) is available for free at Amazon
Excerpt:
Chapter
1: America’s Got Divas
I
put down my doughnut, picked up my iced coffee and took a sip. The extra-extra
cream and extra-extra sugar gave me a nice little rush. It wasn’t quite as good
as Starbucks’ but being unemployed I had to make the best of my homebrewed pot.
I
had my cell phone cradled in the crook of my shoulder, talking to my best
friend Julia. “With my Kindle,” I said, “I can read them without people staring
at me on the subway.”
“I
still can’t believe you like girly romance books,” Julia said. I could hear her
slurping her own coffee, probably an iced Double Mocha Grande, being that she
was at our old Starbucks in Salem. “You’re the only guy I know who has every
Chippendale Publishing book ever released.”
I
didn’t really but I didn’t want to quibble over details. “Oh my God,” I said,
as a bit of powdered sugar sprayed from my mouth and landed on the blanket I
had covered over me. I was getting ready to watch TV. “I almost forgot to tell
you.”
She
slurped some more of her coffee. “What?”
“Guess
who’s doing a comeback concert?” I brushed the sugar dust off the blanket.
“Who,
Cher?”
“No,”
I said, raising my voice.
“I
don’t know. You got me,” she said, and from her muffled speech, I could tell
she was eating, probably a slice of carrot cake or a blueberry scone. I know
what Julia likes. When she eats desserts, she usually goes for something that
has a vegetable in it or some antioxidant fruit, because, of course, they’re
healthier than my powdered doughnuts.
I
pulled the blanket closer to me. “Carolyn Sohier,” I said. “She’s finally
coming out of seclusion and doing a concert.”
Carolyn,
who?” I heard the clinking of the fork against the plate. Carrot cake, I bet.
“Carolyn
Sohier― you know, the singer who was in Witches of Salem, that movie we saw the
night I slipped on the ice in Danvers? And she was also on Broadway in―”
“Oh,
her. That movie was terrible.” I could practically hear her nose wrinkle in
disgust. Julia was brutally honest. “Well, I liked it,” I said. “She’s an
amazing singer.”
“She
didn’t even sing in that movie,” she said, with her voice trailing off at the
end.
“Well,
it wasn’t a musical. But she did sing the theme song. Remember, we saw her on
last year’s America’s Got Divas. She was the guest judge.”
“I
suppose you’ll want me to go with you,” she said.
I
clicked the remote control. “We’ll see. Tickets are expensive. She’s decided to
come out of seclusion, out from her Greta Garbo cocoon. It’s a one-night only
performance up in Bar Harbor.”
“Maine?
Who the fuck gives a comeback performance in Maine? Bar Harbor, nonetheless.
What, is she going to come out on stage riding a moose?” She laughed.
My
neck was beginning to ache. I rubbed it. “I guess that’s where she lives. It’s
a benefit of sorts.”
“So
are you going to take the train or bus your ass up here to see her?”
By
here Julia was referring to New England, where we had both grown up.
“You
wanna go?” I asked.
“You
mean will I go?” Julia wasn’t a huge fan of divas like I was, but she knew I
had no one else to go with and wouldn’t travel alone.
“C’mon,
you like her,” I said. “You even said her rendition of that Barry Manilow song
was better than his.”
“Is
that the song she sang when she shit herself on stage?”
“Whatever,”
I said and tossed the remote onto the seat cushion next to me. Julia was
referring, of course, to Carolyn’s fairly well-publicized stage fright. Carolyn
had suffered a particularly bad spell several years back and, well, embarrassed
herself on live television. It was pretty sad. Julia thought it was funny.
I
turned as an ambulance’s siren rang out from the street below, followed by a
blare from its horn. I hated the sound of ambulances. I got up to shut the
window as it took a turn down Charleston Place.
“Five
floors up and it sounds like the cops are right next door,” she said. “I don’t
know how you can stand living in New York City.”
“It
was an ambulance and I’m in Brooklyn.”
“Whatever.”
I
looked at the wall clock, a gift I bought myself. It had logos from nearly all
the big Broadway shows over the past two years. “Shit. It’s almost time for
America’s Got Divas and I haven’t even set the DVR.”
“Alright,
I’ll let you go. Besides, I should check the dryer.” She was at our old
Starbucks across from the Laundromat. “Oh and how are you going to come up with
the money to buy tickets for this reclusive diva? Didn’t you just get done
telling me you’ve already spent this week’s and next week’s unemployment
check?”
I
didn’t want to get into it. “Javier,” I said. “This week, he’s finally going to
pay me the money he owes me.”
“Oh,
God. Not Javier.” I knew her well enough to know that she was probably rolling
her eyes as she said it.
“Shut
up,” I said, with no real force behind it. Julia could be such a bitch. She was
always reminding me of the things I did wrong, which were plenty, and the
things I should be doing to better myself, which, quite honestly, were spilling
out of my inbox.
I
didn’t want to be reminded of the humiliating experience I had had with Javier,
the bagger at the Good Barn, my former place of employment. In short, he got me
fired. “He’s getting money from his student loan,” I said. “He is going to pay
me back on Wednesday.”
“We’ll
see about that. Didn’t I tell you not to give him that money? Didn’t I tell you
you’d probably never see it again? But no,” she said, holding onto the vowel a
bit longer than necessary. “You still went off and gave it to him after giving
him a BJ in the beer cooler behind Produce. He’s going to ruin your wholesome,
good-natured reputation.”
Thanks so much for stopping by. So, why
don’t you tell us a little about yourself?
Oh, thank you.
I’m glad to be here.
A little bit about myself…the dreaded job interview question.
Somehow here it doesn’t seem as bad.
Well, for starters, I come from Massachusetts. I recently moved
to Florida to pursue writing—and an easier lifestyle than what I had in crazy
Boston.
Here I am almost a year later and am busier than I ever thought
of being up North. But I wouldn’t change a thing. I love it here.
I’m also openly gay and have a wonderful husband. Oh, I should
also mention that we’re both owned by a twelve year old dog named Bandit. I
think he’s more famous than I am. He’s even got his own
blog.
How did you get started writing?
From a professional standpoint, I started looking at it more
seriously when I started blogging back in 2005.(The site above that Bandit has
since taken over.) It was early on, before blogs were big and I was fortunate
enough to catch the wave—albeit a small one.
I wrote every day and with some positive feedback I was
encouraged to dust off a novel I had written a few years prior. That novel has
yet to be published, but it got me working on other works.
What was the inspiration for your book?
Music. I am forever finding a song that strikes a mood, creates
a scene and launches a story.
For Tim on Broadway,
there were several songs that inspired me. The most notable was probably the
finale from the Bette Midler film called The Rose. I’m a huge Bette fan. There’s something about her energy
in The Rose, especially that
last song, which I wanted to capture in writing. Tim’s fascination with Carolyn
Sohier is The Rose come to
life.
What’s the one genre you haven’t written in
yet that you’d like to?
I haven’t written a sci fi piece. However, I have an idea I’ve
been bandying about with a friend. Something about a gay
astronaut…aliens…saving Earth from environmental disasters. I don’t know. I’m
still letting the idea marinate. I guess the song hasn’t come out yet that
would inspire me.
Are there any genres you won’t read or
write in? Why?
I’m pretty open. But, you probably won’t see me writing the next
werewolf or shape shifter series. Nothing against them. For me, I have to be
grounded in reality. It takes a special writer to do that for me. That being
said, one of my favorite TV shows is Once
Upon a Time—talk about straying from reality—but what I like about that
show is how they weave in “real” characters and settings. Plus, I have a huge
crush on Prince Charming.
So, what are you working on right now? Got
any releases planned, or still writing?
Right now I’m finishing up a short story for a Christmas
anthology called Boughs of Evergreen. My
piece in it is under the working title of One Nightstand, which is a tender story about a college guy
searching for love in a casual hookup he has on Christmas Eve. The story was
inspired, by Sam Smith’s “Stay with Me”. I love that song. The publisher is Beaten
Track. It should be out right before Christmas. There’s some great
talent in that anthology. So be sure to check it out. Plus, we’ll be donating
proceeds to an LGBT youth charity. The project is very exciting to be part of.
Plus, Beaten Track is a dream to work with.
Alright, now for some totally random, fun
questions. Favorite color?
Teal. (Sorry, this is
the closest I could get to the color teal)
Favorite movie?
The Rose, go figure.
Book that inspired you to become an author?
Oh, s#@t that’s a tough one. I’d have to probably say Tales of the City by Armistead
Maupin.
Alright, you have one superpower. What is
it?
Flying. I think that would be so much fun. I occasionally do it
in my dreams—real vivid lucid ones. I almost feel like I already know how to.
You can have dinner with any 3 people,
dead, alive, fictitious, etc. Who are they?
Bette Midler would definitely be at the table. I’d then probably
ask my mother to go; she just died a few months back and was a big Bette Midler
fan also. My mom would be pissed if I didn’t conjure her up to see The Divine
Miss M.
Who else? Let’s add God to the table. In whatever fashion he or
she decides to show. Since I’d be resurrecting a dead spirit, I wouldn’t want
Bette Midler to freak out and get all Hocus
Pocus on me. I think God might be able to calm her down.
Last question: Which of your characters are
you most like and how/why?
Oh, boy. From Tim on
Broadway it would probably be Tim. I had a weight problem when I was a
kid. Being fat really made a difference on how I saw the world, and,
unfortunately, how the world saw me. I tried to bring that feeling of being an
outcast into my book. In a way, we are all outcasts. That’s why I think so many
can relate to the story.
September 15 - Sharing Links and Wisdom
September 16 - Pembroke Sinclair
September 17 - Fang-tastic Books
September 18 - Zipper Rippers
September 19 - Lisa’s World of Books
Monday, September 22, 2014 - Live Radio Show 11 p.m. Eastern
September 23 - Author Karen Swart
September 24 - Shut Up & Read
September 25 - The Creatively Green Write at Home Mom
September 26 - Eclipse Reviews
September 29 - KayDee’s Place
October 3 - Accepted Wisdom
October 6 - The Word at My Fingertips
October 7 - Sizzling Book Blog
October 8 - Sapphyria's Book Reviews
October 9 - Books Direct
October 10 - Darkest Cravings
October 13 - Roxanne’s Realm
About the Author:
A few
years ago, Rick was adopted by a Cairn Terrier named Bandit. Recently, Bandit
moved Rick, and his husband of several years, to Florida to escape the New
England winters and avoid being engulfed by snow drifts when going about their
business.
When
Rick is not being walked around the block by Bandit, he might be found working
on a story about an underdog character triumphing over adversity. Or you might
catch Rick watching The Walking Dead or Once Upon a Time, reading something
like Running with Scissors or some personal development book, or writing to a
group of folks on his mailing list.
In
addition, Rick enjoys theater, art, old postcards, and amusement parks. He also
loves to hear from his readers.
You can
follow Rick on Twitter @rbettenc or subscribe to his mailing list at www.rickbettencourt.com
Twitter:
@rbettenc
Love the teal! Thank you.
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