Current mood: amused
Hi everyone,

A funny thing happened...which can only happen to writers. I think. I have a wonderful friend named Andy who is a Scottish writer of hard boiled thrillers that have won awards and he even won a book contract, but the company went under and despite a fantastic repertoire of books, he cannot get a deal.

Now I have never met Andy. We used to belong to the same internet writers group, but we have always remained in contact, for years now. Anyway, I recently confessed my straying to what he calls "The Dark Side." He ridiculed me for writing gay erotic fiction, yet admitted he was intrigued that I had found some success. I encouraged him to try it. He balked.

Anyway, he was always a great supporter of my work and he asked if he could read Phantom Lover - the first book I had published and he said he would skip over the naughty bits.

"I will never be caught dead reading gay erotic fiction," he told me. "I will hunch over the keyboard and read it in the dark of night, with a flashlight."

Emails shot back and forth last Saturday night between Los Angeles and Glasgow and then - nothing.

It didn't worry me. People disappear online all the time due to work and time constraints. I also wondered if I'd shocked him. But he did resurface this morning and I never expected Andy's excuse for his long absence.

Turns out his car was stolen on Saturday night and used in a rather violent robbery. Forget the fact that he reported it stolen earlier in the evening. The cops came to his house, woke him, dragged him out of bed and hauled him to the pokey, interrogating him for hours about his whereabouts on Saturday night.

And guess what! I was his alibi!

Andy told me that after he got over his shock and embarrassment, he had to confess he'd spent the evening read GAY EROTIC FICTION!!! Ha ha ha!

He had to confess he dwnloaded my very naughty book and all the email exchanges that were time stamped by our ISP servers backed up his statement. He is still mortified that his local coppers think he's "some kind of pervert" but he tells me he enjoyed my book.

"Underneath all the male-male bum sex is a very tender love story," he told me. He was a little mortified when one of his interrogators winked at him and slipped him his phone number, but hey, I think it's wonderful.

Kimo, Lopaka and I came to his rescue...and m/m erotic romance fiction might just have won a new convert. Welcome to the Dark Side, Andy.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

Currently listening : Stranger Than Paradise (1984 Film) And The Resurrection Of Albert Ayler Release date: 1999-11-16