This post about my Bi/Ace/Trans poly love story, Torque, first appeared on Elin Gregory’s blog. You can see the original (and her lovely blog) here.
Torque is a ménage but it’s a little different than most of the poly Romances I’ve read. I’ve read MMM, MMF, and FMF, but the books I’ve found have featured three (or more!) cisgender players. Torque is MMF with a bisexual man (Mick), a man on the ace spectrum (Scotty), and a trans woman (Mercy).
I didn’t set out to write this exact story. Torque started out as Mick’s story. I liked the idea of a mechanic and a welder getting down and dirty together but had no idea Mercy would drive her truck into a scene and become such an important character. In fact, pretty much everything that happens in her first scene surprised me. I love it when that happens!
However. My first impulse was to force the story back in the direction I originally thought it would go—Mick and Scotty finding their Happily Ever After with each other. Except once I got to know those two I realized how difficult that would be. Neither of them had ever been in a real relationship and neither are big talkers. If I’d left them to their own devices they might still be circling each other trying to figure things out. Or worse, they easily could have butted heads enough to set Mick back on the road. As much as I wanted it to be true, Mick and Scotty didn’t make a believable couple on their own.
Once I got that far I considered giving Mercy some POV time, letting her have her say on the page. Mercy is such a charismatic character she could have easily taken over the story (and Scotty had already come close to doing that). I love Mercy, but had to consider whether putting readers inside her head would make Torque a little too different for many LGBTQ+ Romance readers. I love pushing boundaries with my fiction but there’s no value in that if nobody is interested in reading the stories once they’re written. My incredible editor helped me find a middle ground—at least I think so! I’m anxious to find out what readers think, so if you take a chance on this unconventional ménage I hope you’ll let me know!
(ETA: And if you’d like to work with a crackin’ editor, she’s available freelance. I can hook you up. :))
Sometimes letting things get complicated is the best way to figure it all out.
Mick Randall is on the run, from the biker culture he grew up in and his impossible vision of love. Alaska should be far enough to escape his old life—until he rolls into a wrecking yard and gets lost in a pair of pale, bottle-green eyes.
Scotty Bell has spent years learning to channel his fiery temper into the heat of a welding torch. His sexual heat has always been slower to ignite, but one look at Mick rouses confusion alongside desire. In all his life, he’s only been attracted to one other person—his best friend, Mercy Taylor.
Mick lands a temporary job at the yard, and finds an uneasy crash pad at Scotty’s place…where the ragged ends of his emotions get tangled up in Scotty and Mercy’s relationship.
But when Mick hears a Harley engine from his past bearing down on him, his first instinct is to go back to the half-life he’d been living. Lest his secrets destroy the only two people who’ve ever made him feel whole.
Warning: Contains references to abuse, subversive ideas about sexual identity and gender expression, and a free-range bisexual on a mission.
Read a steamy excerpt at the Samhain store, or any of the usual distributors.
Torque by Charley Descoteaux
Charley Descoteaux 