Author Name: Zane Riley
Book Name: Go Your Own Way, Book one
Release Date: May 5, 2015
Blurb:
Will Osborne couldn’t wait to put the roller coaster ride of his public education behind him. Having suffered bullying and harassment since grade school, he planned a senior year that would be simple and quiet before going away to college and starting fresh. But when a reform school transfer student struts into his first class, Will realizes that the thrill ride has only just begun.
Lennox McAvoy is an avalanche. He’s crude, flirtatious, and the most insufferable, beautiful person Will’s ever met. From his ankle monitor to his dull smile, Lennox appears irredeemable. But when Will’s father falls seriously ill, Will discovers that there is more to Lennox than meets the eye.
Pages or Words: 326 pages
Categories: Contemporary, Erotica, Fiction, Gay Fiction, M/M Romance, New Adult, Romance
Excerpt:
Lennox leaned forward until Will could smell the peppermint on his breath and the smoke on his clothes. He shivered again and tried to make himself back away. But his body didn’t seem to want to cooperate any more than Lennox. Will met his eyes—could see himself reflected in them. They looked like a pair of pennies, bright and bronze as if they were sitting in a shallow, sunlit fountain. It was a beauty Will didn’t want to think about.
“You don’t have to tease so much,” Lennox whispered. That smile stayed on his face, and Will had to look away. His eyes fell on his hands gripping his chair and the white knuckles under his skin. If he looked in those eyes again, he would do something stupid. Like slap Lennox—or kiss him.
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About the author:
Zane Riley wrote his first work of fan fiction in the fourth grade, a Star Wars story in a notebook recently unearthed from the back of a closet.
Zane is a transgender writer and recent recipient of a degree in English: Creative Writing from the University of Mary Washington. Go Your Own Way is his first novel.
In his spare time, Zane is a musician and frustrated fan of the Baltimore Orioles.
Q: So tell us more about your one-eared kitty…name, what happened to the ear, how did you get him/her, etc.
A: His name is Mouth or Mouthy. He’s got a long list of nicknames actually, gains a new one every week. Originally, he was a stray that showed up at our house one evening. We put food out and he kept coming back. After about two years, we had a routine with him and another cat (who we also brought inside when we realized he was declawed) where we’d give them wet food in the morning and the evenings. A lot of times he showed up late, so the bowl would be empty when he arrived outside in the middle of the night. He used to sit outside my window and cry until I came out to see him—hence the name, Mouth.
His ear was from a fight—he was a tomcat so he fought anything that moved. We had him inside for about four months trying to heal an abscess on it, then it turned into a hematoma, and finally it drained and closed, but his ear was permanently scarred. His inner ear is closed up and the rest is folded over the opening. He was surprisingly good at being inside, once he got past his fear of a house having multiple floors, so we decided to keep him inside after that. Now he hangs out on my desk or in the fluffy chair in my room.
Q: Where did you get the idea for your first story – tell us about your inspiration? (and I LOVE the cover!!)
A: Go Your Own Way has been in the works for years. I originally wrote it about four years ago, and then rewrote it this time last year into the novel version. It was so long I actually cut it in half, so this first book is the first seventeen chapters of the original. The idea, however, came in several parts from a lot of different times in my life. Lennox’s story has puzzled itself together since I was around thirteen. Little parts of his life have come to me for a long time, and his character was always sort of there, floating around and waiting for a chance. The bigger story evolved once I was in college. I had the idea of this “bad boy” type arriving in a new town and causing havoc for another boy he had an eye for, but for each of them to learn a lot more about themselves and life in the process.
Q: What made you finally bite the bullet and produce your first book? How hard was it to pull the trigger on it?
A: It was really a matter of timing and luck, I think. I was working my way through in my last year of college (I took the long route to a degree by living at home and working to pay my tuition every semester) with a lot of hopes of being published someday, but no idea of how to do it. Then Interlude Press started up and got into contact with me because of stories I’d written online. It’s not an opportunity you come across every day, and I weighed my options before agreeing to work with them. I figured it’s better to dive in now and see what happens than to keep putting it off and putting it off until one day I wake up and realize it never happened. It’s been a wonderful experience so far, a little nerve-wrecking at points, but that’s more of a personal anxiety about being new to the entire process.
Q: What is the degree you recently earned?
A: It’s a B.A. in English: Creative Writing. Very fitting, considering where I am right now, but when I entered college I had no expectation of coming out with the degree I did. I started as undeclared, went through four others—Psychology, Biology, Latin, and Anthropology—before transferring universities and finding myself best as an English major.
Q: Your BIO leaves me wondering more about you. Can you sum you up in a paragraph for us?
A: My first instinct is always to say, “I’m just some kid”, although at twenty-five, I’m not much of a child in terms of years anymore. I’m working a retail job still and trying to find something outside of that field now that I’m not paying my way through college. It’s made more difficult since I’m looking anywhere but near where I live now. I’m looking near Seattle for a job, so fingers crossed! I’m a huge Harry Potter nerd, I love baseball and soccer (both playing and watching), and I wish I could control the impulse I have to buy more books when I’ve got over eighty that I still need to read.
Where to find the author:
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/zanenebula
Twitter: @ZaneNebula
Goodreads Link: goodreads.com/Zane-Riley
Publisher: Interlude Press
Cover Artist: Cover Art by Colleen M. Good; Design by BuckeyeGrrl Designs
Tour Dates & Stops:
5-May
Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words
6-May
Wicked Faerie’s Tales and Reviews
7-May
Because Two Men Are Better Than One
8-May
11-May
12-May
13-May
14-May
Sinfully Addicted to All Male Romance
15-May
18-May
Rafflecopter Prize: $25 Interlude Press Gift Card