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Going Places with Dev Bentham

12/21/2014

7 Comments

 
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Joining me this week is author of the Tarnished Souls series, Dev Bentham.

Dev is celebrating the re-release of "Sacred Hearts" during Hanukkah by offering it through Amazon and Barnes and Noble for just 99 cents.

Last blog, I reviewed the first book in the series, "Learning from Isaac" but I wanted to know more about the author whose books are great but seems to be slipping under the radar.

Hi Dev, thanks for joining me. Reading your books is like eating a box of chocolate. Once you reach the end, you check time and time again in case somehow you missed one because you don’t want the good times to be over. So please keep writing. To me your stories are much more than traditional mm romances. They’re journeys to love and often redemption.

The settings are often unique and the protagonists’ professions are not your traditional cowboy, policeman, firefighter. How much time do you spend researching your stories?


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DB: Hi A.B., it’s great to be here. Thanks for your very kind words. As far as research, it depends on the book. My most research intensive was August Ice since it’s set in Antarctica. Probably my least researched book was Learning from Isaac, which I wrote right after August Ice with the expressed intention of a research free story. To make that happen I gave Nathan my old job at a fictional school and set it in an area of Chicago that I know relatively well. I suppose I could frame my answer the other way around, though, since in some ways I spent years researching the life of a university professor from the inside out and only a few months learning about Antarctica.

I have a long and checkered professional life and have lived in far too many places. While that hasn’t made for a very stable life, my diversity of experience turns out to be useful in writing fiction. So in that way, my whole life has been about research.


AB: August Ice was fascinating. It felt like you'd been there. Have you?

DB: I haven't been to Antarctica - but I saw lots of Youtube videos. Check it out - everyone who's ever been there seems to have posted a video of their experience.


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AB: Have you been to all the other locations you use? Or, again, is it just research? For example, “Driving into the Sun” involves a long car trip along highway 94 and 90 ending up on a ferry in Puget Sound (which resonated as I had done a similar thing earlier this year) and “Painting in the Rain” beautifully captures places like Bandon, Oregon another place I recently visited.

DB: The Oregon Coast is amazing, isn’t it? A friend of mine once said being there was walking around inside a postcard. I lived in Newport, Oregon for a while and Seattle for much longer. I made that drive when I moved out here to Wisconsin. Fields of Gold is set in Madison, where I lived for a few years.

PictureOregon Coast
Moving in Rhythm and Nobody’s Home take place in a fictionalized version of my current hometown. I’ve spent some time in Puerto Vallarta, where most of Sacred Hearts happens. August Ice (Antarctica) and Bread, Salt and Wine (Los Angeles) are my only books with settings I don’t know well. As I said, I’ve lived lots of places and had tons of jobs - not good for my credit rating or stability, but great for writing.

PicturePuerto Vallarta
AB: Mexico features vividly in Sacred Hearts. Have you spent much time there? If so, how long ago?

DB: In spring 2011, I got the chance to spend a week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a gay friendly paradise on the central Pacific Coast. I’ve always wanted to write “on location”. I started the novel before we left and worked on it between visits to the beach, the market and great local restaurants. The story, which is the MOST romantic thing I’ve ever written, naturally grew out of that sensory feast.

AB: No wonder the setting feels so real. Were you thinking of somewhere like Yelapa when you described the resort where they end up?

DB: Shhhh. That’s a secret. Yelapa’s a great place to visit, have you been there?


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AB: No unfortunately, maybe one day! Your Goodreads MM group free story Breathing Snow also mentions a few different countries. Your blog mentions holidaying in Alicante, Spain. Have you travelled much overseas?

DB: I’ve been lucky and have been abroad a few times. Not to any of the locations in Breathing Snow, though. I forgot about that – you can add that story to my short list of heavily researched settings. I watched tons of YouTube for that one, too. I cross-country ski but not at anywhere near the competitive speeds of those guys. The closest I’ve come to that was watching the local high school ski team race.

AB: Do you have a good memory for places? I love your descriptions of Mexico in Sacred Hearts. The chicken bus, the resort he ends up going to. How do you manage to get those details right?

DB: For Sacred Hearts, I took a lot of notes while I was down there. That helped. But I think I do have a good memory for location. I really love to travel, and I love learning new places—either as a tourist or a resident. I think place is one of my strengths as a writer because it’s something I truly love.


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AB: Given all this travel and what sounds as if it was a very peripatetic lifestyle, how did you end up in a backwoods place like Minocqua, North Wisconsin?

DB: This is the time of year when I wonder about that myself. It’s early November and there’s already snow on the ground. It’ll be here until late April. My only excuse is that moving here was one of the many foolish things I’ve done for love. It’s a good place to write, though. Not much else to do during the long winter months.

AB: Tucked away in your stories are ongoing themes that seem to resonate with you, care to share why?

DB. One of my strongest ongoing themes is the possibility of redemption. Forgiveness, of ourselves and others, seems to me to be one of the most important things we can accomplish in our lifetime. And sometimes it takes our whole life to get there.

AB: I love the cover of “Learning from Isaac” by the way. The guy looks so right for Nathan. But why a series in which at least one of the pairing is Jewish?


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DB: I’m Jewish. I loved getting to explore Jewish holiday themes in the Tarnished Souls series. There was plenty to write about, too, since we’ve got a ton of holidays. I limited myself to a few well known ones (Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Hanukkah), plus the gayest of all holidays—Purim, the celebration of a bedroom farce starring a queen. Purim’s a funny holiday and yet Bread, Salt and Wine, might be one of my most serious stories. What can I say? I’m a contrarian.

AB: Post graduate studies and the cost of education?

DB: I worked in academia and one of the hardest things to see was students graduating with a mountain of debt that they’d be struggling to repay for years. Guess it got to me, since you’re right, it shows up in more than one story.

AB: The cost of pharmaceuticals in the US?

DB:
Appalling, right?

AB: Homeless people and the down and out feature in a couple of stories, particularly “Bread, Salt and Wine”?

DB: Homelessness and hunger shouldn’t be part of our modern world, much less common. I don’t understand why food and shelter aren’t seen as our unalienable right.

AB: I get the feeling at one time you may have been a hippie/free spirit?

DB: I’m not sure people who know me would use the past tense about that.


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AB: Chuckles. Now I want to meet you in person! Alcoholism and staying clear of it is mentioned in a couple of stories. Sacred Hearts and August Ice. Is that subject close to the bone?

DB: Alcoholism and staying clear of it ---- yeah, that’s a thing. Alcoholism has certainly been a big part of my life, one way and another, so it shows up a lot.

AB: Sharing rides online?

DB: Never done it. Isn’t that funny since it shows up a few times in my work. I did hitchhike a lot as a teenager, which was crazy and dangerous, but cheap.

AB: Ah, another thing we have in common. I hitchhiked from the top to the bottom of Germany back in the seventies and even did some in Canada, plus picked up hitchhikers. I do not have one bad experience to relate. Maybe I was just lucky. You also have three books (so far) in which dogs feature heavily, but no cats. Nobody's Home was a great example. Did you have a dog in those days you were always travelling around?


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DB: Yes. I love dogs. I’ve had cats as well and they’re wonderful, independent, interesting creatures but I’m a much better mother to dogs than to cats. I respond well to enthusiasm.

AB: I love the variety of men in your stories. You’re not afraid to have shorter men. Some are even bald because their hair is thinning on top. You have older men. Non Caucasians. Please keep that up. Were you consciously trying to fill a gap?

DB: Thank you. I write men I find attractive and I’m much more drawn to interesting men than to pretty ones. I also don’t want to write the same characters over and over, so I need to mix it up some in terms of their backgrounds, ages and life experience. David in Sacred Hearts, short, bald and Jewish—he might be my most unusual romantic hero, but I think he’s hard not to love.

AB: Very true. I loved both of the men in that story. So glad they found a way to connect properly. Do you read much? What was the first MM book you read?


DB: The more I write, the less I read, which is unfortunate but it’s a matter of time. I wish I could somehow expand the hours so I could do both as much as I’d like. I’d read gay fiction before I encountered m/m. One of my favorites was The Mysteries of Pittsburg by Michael Chabon—the ending’s disappointing, but up until then it’s a great story. I also loved The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst. It’s devastating but gorgeous. Perhaps the first actual m/m romance I read was Life after Joe by Harper Fox. It’s a lovely read.

AB: The Beauty of Men by Andrew Holleran was one of my first reads. Your bio says you have a background in writing. Poetry, short stories, what (or who) made you start writing mm?

DB: I tried my hand at a few straight romances and they felt flat to me. I stumbled on this genre and fell in love.


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AB: You mentioned you're re-releasing the Tarnished Souls series when their contracts run out and this often entails re-editing them. Why are you rewriting them? What was wrong with them? What lessons have you learned since 2012 or whenever it was your first book was published?

DB: Each book I write teaches me something new. The edits as I rerelease my early work are a reflection of that. My newer work reflects the ways I’ve grown as a romance writer and with the rereleases I’m trying to bring my more mature romance writer sensibility to the older work. 

AB: Where do you get your inspiration from? For example, you mention a halfway house in Chicago. Did running across that play a part in the plot for Sacred Hearts?

DB: I don’t know where I get my inspiration from. Really. I think it’s magic.

AB: What would you change in Sacred Hearts? Hopefully not much as I think this is my favorite book of yours. A reformed alcoholic left penniless because he loved a gambling addict meets a defrocked priest! One thing that struck me while reading was this concept of David “coming down” because he would be earning a lot less. Isn’t it sad that people judge our worth/status in life by how much money we earn.

DB: I’m so glad to hear you say that. I love Sacred Hearts and I probably won’t change very much. I do plan to write a short from John’s point of view to go with the rerelease.

AB: Why do you think some readers can’t “feel” these guys? Is it because they don’t fit the classic MM mould? Are more cerebral? One reviewer even commented that they felt David was “too detached” whereas I found that detachment was to have been expected. Anyone who has gone through what he has would have built a wall around themselves. If anything it made him feel more real for me.

DB: Reading is a very individual activity and we bring to it our whole selves. It makes sense that readers connect better with some characters than with others. 


AB: Sacred Hearts is light on the "Jewishness" which was strange as the other half of the couple was a practicing Christian even if no longer a priest. Were you tempted to use that difference as a point of conflict?

DB: Over 50% of Jews in this country are in interfaith relationships. Clearly we need to figure out how to do that right. Most of my Tarnished Souls books also have mixed marriages. I did think about including some conflict between David and John about religion, but it didn’t fit with either of their characters. David is a pretty secular Jew and John feels strongly about respecting other people’s faith. I also really try not to make religion too big a part of the stories.

AB: I loved the way John rationalized his gayness in the end. And their hot sex while waiting for the ex to turn up.
Some of my favourite sentences:
  • “But I’d like us to spend more time together without sex.”
  • “I might scream it, but for John, falling asleep beside me was his own quiet declaration of love.
  • “I passed my hands through the light, letting the colors drift across my skin and decorate me with our separate and shared beliefs, and feeling how we meshed, John in me and me in him.”
It also picks up on the strange way that practicing Yoga is seen as being wrong for Christians. I understand that they see it as worship, but it’s a pity that they can’t see the difference between respecting something and worshipping it. How does Judaism perceive yoga?


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DB: You know the old joke, two Jews, three opinions? There are some Jews who think that yoga is a different religion and therefore we’re forbidden from practicing it, and on the other hand there are some synagogues that sponsor yoga classes and even further along the spectrum there are Jews who identify as Jew-Buddhists. Me, I don’t worry about the theology—I just like yoga.

AB: Have you found writing easier or harder as you get more books under your belt?

DB: You’re asking this as I spend the morning answering your questions rather than write the first sentence of my next story, so clearly I haven’t gotten entirely past procrastination. However, I do think it’s getting easier, especially during the dreaded middle slump, since I now know for sure that there’s light on the other side.

AB: In your blog, you mention that you usually “binge write” for a few weeks then “fix it up”. Do you always write that way?

DB: Yep.


AB: Which book did you find hardest to write?

DB: August Ice. I had to look up the smallest things, like in Antarctica how do they get from their room to the dining room and what’s for breakfast? It was crazy how often I had to stop writing and look something up.

AB: Your author notes often thank Jordan Castillo Price. How did you meet up with her?

DB: I love her work. So when Moving in Rhythm came out, I sent her a copy as a thank you for all her great stories. She responded graciously and we’ve been talking ever since. I’m in awe of her many talents. She’s amazing.

AB: Your books rarely use dual POV. Any reason for this? Many are first person POV? Do you find writing one easier than the other?

DB: Nobody’s Home is in dual POV and the story I’m working on now is, too (I think, we’ll see how that works out). Outside of romance, dual POV is an unusual form and I think I’m simply not comfortable in it. I find it tricky to keep up the suspense when I’m inside both guys’ heads. The Tarnished Souls books were all written in first person but outside of those books, I mostly stick with close third. It all depends on the story, really.

AB: Is it a conscious effort or do you deliberately strive for difference between your characters. Different professions, places, different tastes in music. Even their attitudes to things like BDSM. Is this deliberate?

DB: I’m not sure how conscious it is, but I think differences are important. Each character’s individual strengths and weaknesses are more apparent in contrast with another character.
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AB: In January, you posted an excerpt of a new WIP “A Fish Story” on Facebook. How is that going?

DB: I’m just starting that one again. I got sidetracked by Driving into the Sun. 

AB: What else can we expect from you? Another series? More standalones?

DB: I’m working on standalones right now, but I wouldn’t rule out a series again in the future.

AB: Thank you so much for giving up so much of your valuable writing time to answer all my questions. I'm looking forward to your next book. 

DB: My pleasure! And in the spirit of the season, one lucky person who leaves a comment before the end of the year will receive a book of their choice from my back list. 
7 Comments

Some great reading from Dev Bentham

12/19/2014

0 Comments

 
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Book 3 of the series: "Sacred Hearts" has just been re-released.

For a limited time during Hanukkah (the Jewish holiday mentioned) this is available from Amazon and
 Barnes and Noble for just
99 cents!

I talk more about Sacred Hearts which was probably my favourite of the series in my upcoming interview with Dev, and she will have a free copy of one her books to give away to a lucky commentator. In the meantime, here's my review of the first book in the series.


This has another stunning cover by Jordan Castillo Price.

Learning from Isaac (Tarnished Souls, #1)Learning from Isaac by Dev Bentham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In this era of endless series and sequels, it's refreshing to find a whole swag of standalones.
It means the author has to come up with fresh characters, plot and setting each time. Not easy. But very rewarding when it is done well.
While on the surface this is a series because at least one of the heroes is Jewish and the observance of religion at some point touches on the story, the only other connecting link is that the world they live in is loosely interlinked. So if characters from other books make a cameo appearance, it's more wondering how they got together as a couple or what their story is. Hence the books can be read in any order. In fact, the last in the series actually began first.
They are not cut and paste jobs either. Each story is unique and the characters are quite different.
There are no MM stereotypes or cliches.
Sure older professor and student has been done before, and if that is all you see in a story then you might not agree with me, but I love the detail the author has painted around that central premise.
These feel like real people, not story book characters. I liked the way the author took her time to establish their personalities, because this is what makes each rendition of this religious holiday theme different.
Nathan, a professor of ecology, is painfully aware that his youth is slipping away and fears that he is destined to spend the rest of his life alone. At first, the constant attention of a young good looking student is flattering, but Nathan is a stickler for the rules so he ensures lines are not crossed. Isaac is smart. He keeps pushing at this barrier, feeling correctly that they can meet each other on equal terms one day.
But they're not equals in other ways. Isaac is a student having difficulty paying for his education. Nathan is comfortably off.
Isaac was thrown out by his family when he came out. While Nathan comes from a supportive family. He even noted that Isaac, being Jewish and attractive was exactly the sort of boy his mother woud approve of.
Then something happens that neither can prevent, and the attraction that had been simmering explodes to the surface. Once there and acknowledged, they need to work through the ramifications as it pertains to their lives.
As the author states in the acknowledgements, the religious context comes from Passover, and the fact that it celebrates the freedom from bondage.
Religion per se isn't so much present as an observance of religion. This mirrors Nathan's observance of the rules pertaining to relationships with students and men much younger than himself. It also allows us a glimpse into the lives of others. And isn't that one of the reasons we read?
Dev is gradually re-editing these books as they come of out of contract and reissuing them. Chronoligically, it was the second book she ever wrote and like most authors, her skills have developed since then, allowing her to see flaws and places where it could be improved. I have only read the latest version and it is more than fine.
And for another example of her talent, here's my review of her latest book which
features a road trip
Driving into the SunDriving into the Sun by Dev Bentham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This makes it two out of two for this author's books so far for me. The character's backgrounds form an important part of her stories. They have affected who the character is and the issues they are dealing with.
Perhaps an expert in the field may be able to find an error or two, but from the point of view of a novice in the subject, her dealing in this case with a Native American seemed respectful and informed.
The complexity and gradual, realism of forging a strong bond won't satisfy the readers who love insta-lurv and perfect characters, but boy does it make a welcome change because of that.
The last scene on the ferry at Seattle was extra good as I did that on my long road trip there earlier this year. She got that part spot on. Right down to the clunking as cars rolled into place. Magic.
Now to see if she can make it three from three.

View all my reviews
0 Comments

Tales of Love in Ancient Greece

12/7/2014

6 Comments

 
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I've kept tabs on Kayla Jameth's career ever since she showed me her first short story. I could see that she had talent and her interest in history would add another dimension to the genre. Most MM historicals have been Regency era with only a few tackling earlier times. It's understandable, because it's much harder to empathise with people whose culture is so different from our own. Doesn't mean to say a very touching love story can't be written.

Now that her first book with Dreamspinner Press, A Spartan Love, is about to be launched, I asked her along to give us some background. As I beta read the story, I know most of this gets covered in the plot, but I thought it would be a good opportunity for us all to take a little history lesson to get us in the mood.

Hi Kayla, welcome to my interviewing chair!

KJ: Hello AB! I'm glad to be here.

AB: Historical gay romances are always a challenge because the prevailing attitudes of the day concerning  men having sex with other men has changed over time. Authors wanting to be true to an era have to educate as well as enthrall . Because I beta read for you, I know the effort you put into ensuring "A Spartan Love" is an enjoyable HFN MM romance while still remaining as true as you could to history.

What, to you, was the most basic difference between ancient times and now?


KJ: That Greek men had sex with whomever they pretty much wanted. The concept of consent is a modern standard. Fidelity was only for a man's wife. Meaning she was his property/chattel and would keep herself pure for him. He was under no such constraints.

Women were kept secluded in their homes to ensure this. Most were married at thirteen to men older than they were, merely changing ownership from their fathers to their husbands.

However, a man could have as many lovers as he wanted. There was no shame attached to visiting any of the many brothels in his city. Brothels were "staffed" with women and young men.


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AB: So it wasn't unknown for men of that time to have sex with boys?

KJ: Many city-states allowed the institution of pederasty. The original meaning of the word was mentorship not the connotation of "sex with boys" that it has developed over the years. An older male would mentor a beardless youth. It was a form of social networking that allowed for a sexual relationship.

AB: According to Wikipedia: "The ancient Greeks did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social identifier as modern Western societies have done. Greek society did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender of the participants, but rather by the role that each participant played in the sex act, that of active penetrator or passive penetrated. This active/passive polarization corresponded with dominant and submissive social roles."

KJ: Exactly, however, even then, the sexual aspects were strictly codified. The youth had to be beardless (not yet a man) because he was in the submissive role. They couldn't be equals. A man choosing to be subordinate to another man was considered womanish.

There was no penetration because penetration was for inferiors: woman and slaves. So any sexual activities were intercrural. Literally between the thighs, not a euphemism for penetration.

AB: It sounds like there were pretty narrow guidelines when this could happen then?

KJ: Yes. The relationship was intended to end when the youth grew a beard and became a man. But sometimes the relationship would continue and was tolerated. However if one partner allowed penetration, he was often ridiculed for making himself a woman.



PictureThe Greek World during the Persian Wars 500 - 479BC
AB: We use the term Greece but in those days what we now know of as Greece was a number of smaller countries and city-states governed by kings which were really little more than walled towns and the surrounding countryside. Was the situation the same everywhere?

KJ: No, Sparta was different. Lycurgus the Lawgiver made many changes to the laws of Sparta and set the city-state apart from the rest of the Hellenic world. There were no brothels in the polis. In his opinion, in order to breed a strong race, if the men had time for sex, they needed to be fathering sons. Women were not chattel. They could own and run their own households. And they were not permitted to wed until they were twenty as they needed to bear strong sons.

The Spartans probably once practiced pederasty, but Lycurgus outlawed the previously allowed sexual aspects. Some Greeks didn't believe this because it was a fundamental social practice in their poleis. But Xenophon, who sent his sons to take part in the Spartan education system, refutes this. He states clearly that the relationship in Sparta was of a foster father or older brother to a son/younger brother. And thus was not sexual.

AB: I gather you researched this pretty thoroughly. I've done some Googling and see that translations still survive of many texts of writers from this era.

KJ: No one will be able to say I didn't do my research, sometimes at the expense of my writing time. For example, Xenophon in his Constitution of the Lacedaimonians Chapter 2 Section 14 said the following about pederasty in Sparta, (quoting Lycurgus’ teachings): “But if, as was evident, it was not an attachment to the soul, but a yearning merely towards the body, he stamped this thing as foul and horrible; and with this result, to the credit of Lycurgus be it said, that in Lacedaemon the relationship of lover and beloved is like that of parent and child, or brother and brother where carnal appetite is in abeyance. I am not surprised, however, that people refuse to believe this. For in many states the laws are not opposed to the indulgence of these appetites.”

As he is the only ancient author with firsthand knowledge of the Spartan system, his statements carry more weight than other writers with their anti-Sparta sentiments who had never traveled to the city-state. He was also an Athenian and thus raised within the pederastic system so would see no reason to downplay the sexual side of things in Sparta.


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AB: It gets tricky when researching history, doesn't it, because you have to look at who wrote it, when, why and what axe he had to grind.

KJ: You're not kidding. Everyone has an agenda. Some are just more subtle about it.

But the one thing all the city-states held in common was their belief that the social status of the various men played a role. One reader of the Apollo's Men series commented that the "sex was political". I had never thought of it in that fashion, but he was correct. Who could do what to whom is all based on their respective social status.

AB: What do you mean by political?

KJ: An adult male (citizen) outranks a youth (soon-to-be-citizen) who in turn outranks a free woman (non-citizen chattel) who outranks a slave (non-citizen chattel). While a woman outranks a slave, the slave enjoys more real freedom than the free woman does. A slave can leave the house and be seen by men other than their father, brother, husband or son.

So the adult male can "penetrate" anyone below him. Although the youth, as a future citizen, can only be figuratively penetrated, ie intercrural.


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AB: Now to put all this into the context of your stories. You've already showed this difference in "Alexios' Fate" which features a prince, Alexios, and his slave, Galen. Tell me about this kind of relationship.

KJ: Prince Alexios as a youth was permitted to play around with pretty much anyone he wanted, as long as he was the "dominant" partner. The sole exception being he couldn't even have intercrural sex with just any adult male citizen. He was expected to choose one man to be his mentor. Being the plaything of multiple men was frowned upon and in some city-states could cost him his citizenship. Being a kept boy was shameful.

Galen was a slave, chattel. When it came to free men, he had no say in who might use his body. In fact, because of his beauty, Alexios' father King Demetrius often sent Galen to warm his guests' beds.

Alexios discovers this and takes Galen to his bed. Then the prince does something completely unacceptable, he starts to fall for Galen. It was socially acceptable to screw your slave, but not to love him.

AB: Once Galen became a free man, the whole situation changed didn't it?

KJ: Yes, once he was no longer a slave, he couldn't be treated like one. He still wasn't Alexios' equal, but he wasn't an inferior to be penetrated.

The change in their relative statuses placed a lot of strain on their relationship initially. Galen no longer had a framework from which to understand how they should interact. Before, he had belonged to Alexios in every meaning of the word. When Alexios freed him, it was like being cut adrift. Galen lost that sense of belonging and had to discover a way to regain it. Which was further complicated by Alexios' reluctance to penetrate him now. So he felt abandoned as well.


PictureShort story 496 BC
AB: Having a mentor complicated things, didn't it?

KJ: Yes, when King Lykos claimed his rights as Alexios' mentor, it drove an even bigger wedge between the young lovers. Galen was exceedingly jealous of any time Alexios spent in Lykos' embrace. Alexios' behavior was socially correct. His relationship with his mentor involved sex and as a man the concept of fidelity was completely foreign.

It required an outside threat to help pull them back together. But Alexios' desire to protect Galen overcame much of this.

AB: Tell me a bit more about that often misunderstood mentor relationship.

KJ: Erastês is the title for the older man (mentor) in a pederastic relationship. It means "lover". Erômenos is the title for the youth and means "beloved". But not every pederastic pair were lovers. Statistically speaking, the numbers of couples who would now be considered gay would have been low. Even with bisexual individuals and the probably more prevalent "bi-curious" men thrown in, the sexually active pairs would likely have been less than half of all pairings.

So even though the terms lover and beloved were used, they didn't necessarily mean any given couple were in love.

When the pair was sexually active, penetration was not officially permitted. All such activity would have been intercrural. The older man would have placed his penis between the youth's thighs and rubbed off on him. Remember penetration was degrading and only for women and slaves. I'm sure that it happened, but it wasn't condoned.

Because Alexios is a prince and future ruler, he couldn't be treated in that fashion. His mentor King Lykos behaved like a gentleman and only practiced intercrural sex with him. However, Apollo as a god could—and did—demand more of him. The god is the only one who penetrated the prince.


PictureFree at Smashwords click on cover
AB: In your free short story, "Body Language" you have depicted a different relationship again. In this one, a young man would have ended up a sexual slave if it hadn't been for intervention of Prince Lykos.

KJ: The brothels of the ancient world were staffed by slaves. Slaves who had no say in how their bodies were used. Young men as well as women could find themselves in a brothel, satisfying the cravings of the men of that city. The young men often—willingly or unwillingly—shaved to prolong the illusion of youth. After all, even the Greeks thought men with hairy faces and limbs were abhorrent.

When Prince Lykos (later King Lykos in Alexios' Fate) comes across Kas, bandits are trying to capture him so they can sell him to a brothel. Lykos with the aid of his Persian guide defeat the bandits and rescue Kas.

Kas has always been attracted to men. When Lykos comes to his aid, Kas is smitten. While treating the young warrior's wounds, Kas allows his desire free rein and plots how best to find his way into Lykos' bed.

In the end, they learn more about each other and true affection draws them together.

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AB: Now we get to the unusual pairing of a Spartan warrior in training and a helot. As helots are not traditional chattel slaves, rather more like indentured servant/farmers, the politics of the sex is different again isn't it?

KJ: Think natural born enemies like Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and Nag from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

The sexual politics here are even more convoluted. Andreas as the older man should play mentor to Theron, the beardless youth. But due to social status and natural inclination, Theron would never allow this.

Thus they are forced to define themselves and their "relationship" outside the norms for their era.

AB: But what about the well known examples?  Achilles and Patroclus, Alexander the Great and Hephastion?

KJ: Achilles and Patroclus may or may not have been lovers. There is a fair bit of debate over that. You may have noticed that Achilles was prone to fits of drama. He gets all pouty and sits back while the rest of the heroes fight at Troy because Agamemnon took a girl away from him. So might he go all berserk because Patroclus was killed? Yes, I think he would have. Regardless of if they had only been childhood friends instead of lovers.

Alexander the Great was a Macedonian. But he would have been strongly influenced by the neighboring Greeks; even the Romans copied much of Greek society. Even going so far as to steal and rename their gods. No one doubts Alexander had male lovers.

But as with most Greek men, Alexander took wives and fathered at least one heir as was his duty.


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The Spartans had their own examples of pederasty. The Spartan Prince Hyacinthus was courted by Apollo and Zephyrus. The prince became Apollo's lover. This is why, even though later such a love was not permitted, I believe that at one time it was accepted in Sparta.

AB: So within one country and the surrounding areas it was all political. But what about the outside world in that era? Sounds like there was a huge variation in acceptance of men having sex with men, wasn't there?

KJ: Very much so.

In Athens, men prayed that their sons would be beautiful and draw many suitors.

In Crete, men sought the father's permission to "kidnap" their sons and carry them off. In this island kingdom, a sexual relationship was more common than elsewhere. Perhaps to keep horny teenagers from bothering the girls or even to limit population growth.

In Sparta after Lycurgus' constitution, the relationship loses its sexual overtones and become more acceptable by modern mores.

AB: This then brings us back to the problematical aspect that history belongs to the conquerors. There were even differences of opinion about the Spartans back then. Which source did you use to base your world building on?


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KJ: For a while, Sparta was the conqueror. Even then, many of the other Greek city-states spoke ill of them. No one liked the polis that they thought of as the local bullies. Propaganda is by no means a modern concept.

The only ancient author I could find that had firsthand knowledge of Sparta, and wasn't anti-Sparta, is Xenophon. His sons grew up in the harsh Spartan educational system known as the agōgē. As none of the other ancient authors whose works are extant had visited Sparta, I took their writings with a grain of salt.

AB: I'm impressed that you took all this to heart and didn't just have two guys fucking like rabbits. Why didn't you?


KJ: I minored in Classical History so I had enough background information to know this was unlikely. I remembered that helots and kryptes had no common ground. They lived in the same city-state, but that was the extent of it. Plus the most offensive forms of cursing/obscenity involved penetration.

So I thought if I could manage to make something out of a situation like that, I would have historical bragging rights.

Of course, this resulted in ungodly amounts of research before I could even start. A bonus, in and of itself—I love the ancient world and research. I've made this story as historically accurate as I could because I hate to be wrong.

Please don't anyone take that as a challenge.


PictureRuin of Temple of Apollo at Delphi
AB: Put up or shut up, I say. Where's their book!?

You've just done an extended blog tour and dropped snippets of information about other facets of the story, so I encourage readers to check them out. But the overarching theme between all your books and the world you are building is their belief that gods rule their lives. In "Alexios' Fate" Apollo's attention was drawn by a boast the prince's father made. In the next short story, "496 BC" they're taking a prophet to Delphi on Apollo's orders. In "A Spartan Love" Apollo becomes aware of Andreas when he calls on him for help. In all cases, you've written in the god as if he existed. Why?

KJ: Because that is the world Andreas believes he lives in. Read the Iliad and The Odyssey. The gods and goddesses march across the pages larger than life. They are an integral part of life and the world.

I couldn't write an epic and leave them out.

The Greeks had a very different vision of what the gods were. The gods were anthropomorphisms of important concepts or forces of nature. They were frequently prone to all the flaws that plague humans—anger, greed, lust. They were not omniscient. They only knew what they had seen or been told, allowing mortals to sometimes escape their wrath or even trick them. They were bound by the same social rules as the humans who worshiped them.


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The modern concept of deity usually involves omniscient, omnipotent, benevolent beings. So modern readers are often surprised to find out how very human the Greek gods were. As a group, they were petty, grasping, and often vengeful.

Many cultural responsibilities derive from the fact that the gods move at will through the world. Failure to offer hospitality to the stranger at your door might result in offending a god in disguise.

AB: So, they were always a little fearful that the people they interacted with could be gods in disguise. Even if they asked them if they were and were told they weren't, they were never sure, because a god would say that, wouldn't he? It must have had a lot more impact than doing things because of where they might end up in the afterlife if they didn't treat people right.

That's probably a big difference to get our heads around.


How difficult did you find researching the day to day details of life in those times? I remember we spent almost a day discussing whether the door hinged in or out and ended up with it on a pivot.

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KJ: I've spent hours researching hinges, pottery, Greek fire, local geography, foreign deities, just so I can use one word in the story. All hinges of that time period were pivots and which direction they swung was dependent on where they were placed in the wall. Only folding door panels had leather hinges.

Very few authors wrote of their day-to-day life. It's a subject that was taken for granted by both the author and any contemporary readers. The Spartans were even worse than the rest of the world when it came to writing anything down. They were laconic by definition and only made records of the truly important stuff. Needless to say, I’ve found it difficult to find written proof of certain aspects of the Spartans’ lives. Wherever possible, I’ve stuck to verifiable facts. However, that has left a lot to speculation. If I needed to fill in some gaps, I chose to follow the practices common in the rest of the Greek world.

Most of what is known comes from cities and city-dwellers. Andreas is a rural, agrarian slave so very little is known about what his life would have been like.


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AB: The landscape has even changed over time. I remember reading about how the 300 held off the advancing Persians by blocking their access point. Yet today, thanks to siltation, the coastline has changed so much that feat would be impossible. What things did you learn while researching for the book?

KJ: That GoogleEarth is your friend! I was able to look at the terrain from practically ground level. There were also numerous blogs and travel sites for additional views of the landscape/geography.

Andreas would have lived in a wooded area of the foot hills leading up to the Taygetos mountain range. He and his ancestors would have cleared land where they could. Over the centuries, the land has become less fertile. But goats can eat pretty much anything.

AB: What sparked your interest in Ancient Greece and Sparta?

KJ: I've always loved ancient history. I read the myths of the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians as a child. Then when I attended Case Western Reserve University, I had to take some humanities as part of my curriculum and I chose to minor in Classical History.

There is something amazing about listening to your instructor read the beginning of the Iliad in the original Greek. And he had a flair for it, proclaiming the bard's words in a booming voice.


AB: I believe you have other books planned in your Apollo's Men series. Can you tell me a bit about them?

KJ: Well, first there is Alexios' Fate and 496 BC as well as a third book, Tempting Fate, in that story arc.

A Spartan Love is the first story in a new story arc in the Apollo's Men series. The following books, A Tested Love and A Shared Love, have already made it to the second draft stage. The subsequent books follow Andreas and Theron as their relationship evolves.

I can't say much more than that without giving a major spoiler for A Spartan Love.


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AB: Now let's talk about Ictis. When we meet Andreas, the ferret is his only companion. You can tell how lonely he is by the way he treats him, almost like a person. What made you include a ferret in your story?

KJ: Andreas needed someone to talk to. He doesn't speak to Theron until Chapter Seven. No one could expect him, or a reader, to go that long without significant dialog.

Of all the possible pets a Greek might have kept, a ferret offered the most opportunities for interaction as well as being quite the character. Plus we had one when I was a teenager, so I had some idea of how they would act, smell and move.

Besides Ictis is just too cute for words.

An interesting side note: Ictis more or less means "ferret" in ancient Greek. I guess Andreas wasn't feeling imaginative the day he named him.

AB: Well, I for one am interested in seeing where this story leads. I really enjoyed being part of the two men's journey so far and hope readers agree with me. It's been fascinating learning a little more about the background to writing your series. Thank you for your time.

KJ: Thank you for inviting me to join you today. I hope everyone enjoys A Spartan Love. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Author.Kayla.Jameth

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KaylaJameth

Blog: http://kaylajameth.blogspot.com/

E-mail: KaylaJameth@hotmail.com
Kayla has kindly offered a copy of the eBook version of her latest release.
All you have to do is leave a comment below
and the winner will be drawn on 22nd December.

6 Comments

Three Tales of a Greek king

12/2/2014

2 Comments

 
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My beta reading buddy, Kayla Jameth, is next on my list of authors to be interviewed to coincide with the Dreamspinner release of "A Spartan Love". In preparation, I thought I'd revisit her previously published books, set in the same universe.

One character Prince , later King, Lykos, appears in all three.

Chronologically, her recently released free short story "Body Language" comes first. This can be downloaded from Smashwords here.

Body Language takes place in Lydia—a kingdom in Asia Minor (now part of modern Turkey) that was conquered by Cyrus the Great during the 6th century BC and became part of the Persian Empire.

Years later, Lykos, the son of the king of the Thracian city-state, Aenus, is travelling incognito through the conquered province. To avoid arousing questions as to why he is there, he is only accompanied by the Persian, Narses, a friend of his father. Hearing cries for help, the two men intervene. They are too late to save a merchant and his slave, but they arrive in time to prevent bandits slaying the third member of the party.

Kas recently lost his family and was grateful to be travelling under the protection of Tahmasp. Now the merchant is dead, his future is once more under threat. He would like nothing better than to remain with the handsome warrior, but how can he explain that to a man who speaks little but Greek?

By the time we see Lykos in "Alexios' Fate" (review below) he has inherited Aenus after his father's death. Along with two other nobles, he has arrived in the city of Dicaea to determine which of them will be chosen as the mentor of young Prince Alexios. Before this happens, fate in the form of the God, Apollo, intervenes.

How Alexios' escapes is wonderfully depicted in the book along with the love he has for his slave Galen.

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"496BC" also deals with King Lykos and is included in the MLR anthology "Lust in Time." This  covers an episode a month later when Alexios, Galen and King Lykos are  conveying a prophet to Delphi on Apollo's orders.

All of these are stand alone stories, but they do add into the wonderful world that Kayla is creating. A world that has, at its heart, the God, Apollo. 

This world will be further enriched by the release of "A Spartan Love" the first of a trilogy starring Theron, a  dreaded kryptes (think trainee Spartan warrior) and a local helot (type of peasant farmer)  called Andreas.

Kayla takes her world building seriously and uses the books to explore the different relationship between men in that era. Galen is a slave and is basically the possession of Alexios. Andreas, as a helot is slightly above the rank of a slave in that his body is not owned by anyone, however his services are. Kas, the star of "Body Language" is a youth without a family and without protection. He is vulnerable in other ways. Alexos is an Erômenos (beloved pupil) but he also has to serve his Erastes (mentor), Lykos.

The world these men live in, their standards and beliefs are all skillfully woven into tales of love and devotion. While none of these three stories need to be read to appreciate "A Spartan Love", the books do give you a feel for the world building and Kayla's writing.

She may only be a relatively new author, but she sure has created some wonderful characters.

Kayla is participating in a Blog Hop to celebrate her upcoming release over the coming week, giving readers a chance to win a Gift Certificate from AllRomance eBooks valued at $15.

A copy of "A Spartan Love" will be given away in conjunction with her interview here on December 8th.

Alexios' Fate (Apollo's Men #1)Alexios' Fate by Kayla Jameth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Kayla Jameth may be a new author but she writes the best sex scenes.

Reading this was a welcome change from my normal contemporary m/m reading as I was transported to Ancient Greece where sex between men was a normal part of society.

The author has done a great job of recreating that time, using just enough imagery to make you feel you are indeed back in that age without being overwhelmed. What's more I have it on good authority that the facts are correct.

The story also includes that other element so often present in Greek mythology, the intervention of Gods who interfere with the world and treat humans as their playthings.

The sex scenes are hot and fall naturally into the story line. The plot is good. All in all, I found it a very enjoyable read and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys m/m.

The book is the first of a series, but is very much able to be read as a stand alone. I'm looking forward to see what happens next.

View all my reviews
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Don't forget to catch next week's interview with Kayla when a copy of
"A Spartan Love" will be given away to one lucky commentor.
2 Comments

    A.B.Gayle

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