AM Arthur is visiting today. Please help me make her feel welcome!
Thanks for visiting, AM! 🙂
What inspired The Truth as He Knows It?
A photo that I stumbled across on Tumblr. It’s this gorgeous photograph of two men hugging. The embrace is so intimate. Very much an “I want to hold you until all of the hurt goes away” kind of hugs. It smacked my muses upside down and I had to know who these two men were. Why were they hugging like that? What had hurt the dark-haired man so badly? All of the pieces started falling into place very quickly after that.
What was the hardest thing about writing this book?
The emotional roller coaster I put Shane through. The book in general was incredibly easy to write. It kind of poured out of my brain over twenty-three days. I’ve never written anything that quickly in my life. But the emotions were difficult. Shane carries a lot of guilt for things he’s done, some of which weren’t really his fault. But he blames himself and shoulders the burden. He goes through a lot of the different stages of grief, but I hope he comes out a much happier, positive man in the end.
How would you describe this book to someone who has not read any of your books?
My elevator pitch is “hot cop meets sexy stripper.” But a reader might need a little bit more than that. It’s an emotional romance novel of self-forgiveness and the power of real love to overcome any obstacle.
What are you working on now?
At the moment I am about 1/3 of the way into writing Restoration #3 for Carina Press. It’s sometimes crazy to think I’m on book three and book one doesn’t release until March. After that, I’ll either be getting back to a standalone novel for Samhain, or new idea I started fiddling with last fall. We’ll see.
What book are you reading now?
I am about ¾ finished with Bad Influence by K.A. Mitchell. She’s one of my favorite m/m authors, and I love her Bad in Baltimore series. I hope to finish this soon, then jump over to Three the Hard Way by Sydney Croft. So many books, so little time.
Excerpt:
“I want to see you again,” Shane said.
Noel grinned, flashing those dimples. “I’d like that too. My work schedule is pretty weird, though. I’m first shift, which is eleven at night to seven in the morning, five days, starting tomorrow.”
Shane worked that one around. It gave them daytime hours, and evenings on Wednesday and Thursday. He worked at the deli tomorrow, and Saturday was off the table. Probably Sunday too, for good measure. “When do you sleep?”
“Usually when I first get home, from about eight to two or three. Sometimes longer, depending on the night.”
“So you’re usually free dinnertime until like ten?”
“Pretty much.” Noel cracked an unexpected yawn. “Sorry, my schedule is a little off after spending the day with Tristan. I try to keep similar sleep times on my days off so I don’t get too screwed up.”
Shane stood, surprised. “How long have you been awake?”
“About thirty hours.”
“Shit, why didn’t you tell me that?”
“Because I wanted to do this tonight. I’ve been thinking about you all week, and I’m glad I saw you at Mineo’s today. Really glad.”
“Me too.” Shane draped his arms around Noel’s waist. “And since this has been a fantastic night, I’m going to go before you pass out from exhaustion.”
“Do you want to get together tomorrow?”
He considered it for about two seconds. “My weekend’s pretty booked with work and stuff. Monday? We could maybe go out for real this time?”
“Sounds good. I’ll call you when I get up Monday and we can hammer out the details.”
“Okay.”
Shane collected his clothes and dressed, taking his time because Noel was watching. The opposite of a striptease, and Shane kind of loved the novelty of it. He meant his good-night kiss to be soft, quick, but Noel held him tight and devoured his mouth until Shane was breathless and half-hard. God, he could kiss Noel for hours and not get tired of it. But he saw the fatigue in Noel’s eyes, and it was time to leave.
“See you soon,” Shane said. “And thanks for dinner.”
“You’re welcome, cowboy.”
Shane strolled back to his car with a bounce in his step, positive he’d never be able to hear the word “cowboy” again without thinking of Noel Carlson.
Buy Truth As He Knows It:
Samhain: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5326/the-truth-as-he-knows-it
Rafflecopter Prize: E-book of ‘Truth As He Knows It’ plus an additional book from A.M. Arthur’s Backlist
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Because Two Men Are Better Than One
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Author Bio:
A.M. Arthur was born and raised in the same kind of small town that she likes to write about, a stone’s throw from both beach resorts and generational farmland. She’s been creating stories in her head since she was a child and scribbling them down nearly as long, in a losing battle to make the fictional voices stop. She credits an early fascination with male friendships (bromance hadn’t been coined yet back then) with her later discovery of and subsequent love affair with m/m romance stories.
When not exorcising the voices in her head, she toils away in a retail job that tests her patience and gives her lots of story fodder. She can also be found in her kitchen, pretending she’s an amateur chef and trying to not poison herself or others with her cuisine experiments.
Where to find A.M. Arthur:
Contact her at am_arthur@yahoo.com with your cooking tips (or book comments). You can also find her online (http://amarthur.blogspot.com/), as well as on Twitter (http://twitter.com/am_arthur), Tumblr (http://www.tumblr.com/blog/am-arthur), and Facebook (A.m. Arthur). A.M. Arthur’s work is available from Samhain Publishing, Carina Press, Dreamspinner Press, and Musa Publishing.
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Cover Artist: Lyn Taylor
Charley Descoteaux 