It's my pleasure to
welcome AB Gayle to my blog. She's here to discuss her new release Just for
Fun.
I've read all your
m/m novels and novellas. One thing I've noticed is that you frequently write
stories with one or more American protagonists. While you have been to the US
more than once, you are a died-in-the-wool Aussie (pronounced Ozzie for us
Americans). But strange pronunciation is not the only challenge when crossing
cultures. Aussies seem to like to come up with obscure references and strange
nicknames for everything. Such as calling Americans yanks or Yankees. While
many Americans would just roll their eyes at such a "quaint" term,
southerners often take offense.
Tyler Knoll: Y'all mind if I
butt in here? Yankee and yank are mild terms to them. Dilbert tells me that back
home, we're often referred to as Septic Tanks or even Seppos! Apparently it's
rhyming slang (Hopefully I've spelled that right. Autocorrect switched my first
attempt to "rimming slang." At least it wasn't "rimming
tang" as that is something quite different. Musky. Yum.
Tyler, the main
character in Just for Fun, is not only an American, but a Texan to boot. He
wouldn't much care to be characterized as a Yankee. Would probably even set
anyone straight on that point.
Tyler Knoll: Yes, ma'am, I sure
would, and did on many occasions. Politely, of course. In the end, I said to
Dilbert, "How would you like me to call you a Kiwi?" He never
repeated the insult after that.
Care to share some of
the challenges presented by Tyler because you chose a southern boy for your MC?
Tyler Knoll: She didn't have
a choice. I am what I am.
A.B. Gayle: Shoosh! It's my
turn to answer a question! Can I just say for the record that it was a pleasure
and an honor to work with a Southern Boy; they are so genteel. Though I must
admit that at times he was a tad garrulous. Yet to his credit, he was always
guiless.
Tyler Knoll: Hey, enough of
the "G" words. You know I hate them, anyway, you have a typo, it's
spelled "gentle."
A.B. Gayle: It's a different
word. Look it up.
Tyler Knoll goes off muttering,
"I'm fixin' to."
A.B. Gayle: Quick, before he
gets back. If it had been written down exactly as he speaks, noone would have
understood him. Thank goodness there's no audio version. And are Southern Boys
always so d...?
Tyler Knoll returns Thesaurus in
hand. Genteel: polite, refined, or respectable. Well, it's better than
being a Johnny Reb running around in a jacked up pick-up with the southern flag
in the back window! And if you want to use big words, at least I'm not a
pernicious, petulant, prick full of platitudes.
A.B. Gayle: Are you calling
me a prick?
Tyler Knoll: Heck no ,
ma'am. I'm a Southern gentleman. I'm merely saying that it's lucky I'm not like
that.
What kinds of
misunderstandings did the differences in culture present the characters?
Tyler Knoll: The age thing
was the first one. See, back in Australia, they can go to pubs and clubs as
soon as they turn 18. Dilbert didn't know I was underage when he took me out
that fateful evening. Of course I didn't tell him I was using fake ID, because
he didn't ask, did he? Mind you, I wondered why he asked whether I was eighteen
or not. I mean I don't look eighteen, do I?
A.B. Gayle: It wasn't so much
a cultural problem. Dilbert did his best to avoid misunderstandings, but was
hampered by the fact that Tyler doesn't actually say much. Very little of what
goes through his brain comes out of his mouth. It needed a massive fracture of
the fourth wall to allow him to reach that conclusion and get to know his
friend better.
What was your
favorite bit of Aussie-ism that had to go because your POV character wouldn't
have understood it?
A.B Gayle: Knee trembler.
Tyler didn't know what it was.
Tyler Knoll: Hey, once you
explained what it was, I understood. I've had plenty of those. Not back then
maybe, but plenty since we got together. In the shower....
A.B. Gayle: Shoosh. I don't
think she wants specifics about your sex life. But we should thank, Kayla, at
this juncture for ensuring that you were only given terms and references you
would understand. Why she even spent hours helping me find a suitably sized
city with multiple story office buildings, no smoking bans, sports bars and
gentlemen's clubs that had penthouse suites to stand in for the real thing.
Tyler Knoll: Well, I told you
we had to be vague so people couldn't track me down!
What is your favorite
bit that remained? And what did you have to do to keep it there?
A.B. Gayle: "tickets on
himself" but more on that later.
So tell me, AB, what
American term did you find to be the strangest?
A.B. Gayle: Roomies or
roommates. We call them flatmates here.
Tyler Knoll: Hey, "flat"
"mates" sounds just as crazy to me. One of my roomies was quite
round!
Do you have an
excerpt that illustrates these differences?
Dilbert’s
normally happy-go-lucky expression disappeared as he commented bitterly, “But
you’d be nothing more than his personal slave.”
“Slave?” I
sprang to my feet and strode over to the window. Reaching it, I turned and
leaned back against the glass. There wasn’t anything to see anyway: a parking garage
and sunshine that I hadn’t felt on my face for ages. “What’s wrong with being a
slave? Half the PAs in this building seem to fulfill that function in one form
or the other. You always hear them complaining that they’re tied to a desk all
day.”
At least I
wasn’t an intern. They didn’t even get paid for the privilege!
Dilbert
stared at me without speaking. Probably as astounded as I was by this atypical
burst of emotion. “Anyway,” I continued. “What about the guy you work for?
You’re always complaining that he fucks you around.”
Dilbert
always maintained Toby Metcalfe had tickets on himself. As you could imagine,
I’d been a bit confused as I’d never seen him walk around with little pieces of
cardboard stuck to his suit. But Dilbert had explained that it was a figure of
speech back where he came from. It meant his boss had an overinflated opinion
of how great he was. As far as Dilbert was concerned, if Metcalfe did have
tickets on himself, they’d read: Out-of-date stock. Must go.
Dilbert
gave a snort of laughter. “Not literally. He wouldn’t dare. I’ll grant you that
he’s an idiot, but so are most of the guys in middle management around here.
Having to fuck someone should never be part of your job description.”
I wish I
hadn’t told him now. But when I arrived at work on the Monday following that
unforgettable Funtastic Friday, I’d told Dilbert about the role Gareth had
“interviewed” me for. His subsequent outburst of fury had taken me by surprise.
Then he started apologizing, saying it was his fault. He shouldn’t have left
without me, but I’d taken so long in the bathroom, he’d figured I’d bailed
because I was bored. It turned out that Rupert had told him I’d gone home.
Mind you,
it took me ages to translate everything into English. There’d been lots of
bloody this and bloody that, even though I’d stressed the fact that Gareth
hadn’t actually drawn any blood. I’d even peeled down my trousers to show
Dilbert. I’m not sure why he went bright pink. The red welts had faded by then.
Shame.
In the end,
I didn’t get the chance to tell him the whole story, as he went nuts when he
discovered I shouldn’t have even been there because I was underage. His rant
switched to the stupidity of a system that allowed people to vote and be killed
while fighting for their country, but didn’t consider them old enough to drink
alcohol.
I’d never
seen that side of Dilbert before. Usually he was laid back and ultra cool.
Almost as polite and law-abiding as a properly-brought-up Texan boy. It was
lucky there was no one within earshot. I’d never heard anyone swear as much as
he did. It was awesome.
Blog Tour – Tyler
Knoll’s Just for Fun by A.B. Gayle
Title: Tyler Knoll's Just For Fun
Series (Books 1-4)
Author: A.B. Gayle
Genre: Satire, humor, gay, gay romance,
LGBT
Length: Novella
Publisher:
Wayward Ink Publishing
Synopsis
Tyler Knoll
was born one wild, stormy night in April 2013.
Of course,
Tyler might tell you he was born twenty years earlier, but should we believe
anything he says? That’s for you to decide.
In Tyler’s
first adventure—like many a gay man before him—he was SNARED by gay porn, wallowing
in tales of bigger, stronger, harder….
Then his
fickle mind was seduced and SHREDDED by the prospect of BDSM and slavery.
When a Big
Misunderstanding SLASHED at Tyler’s sanity, almost costing him his life, he
turned to another genre for his salvation. But even this encounter proved
potentially hazardous—not from freezing temperatures, but at the hands of irate
fans.
Finally,
tired and SCREWED by his all his trials and tribulations, he discovers—like
many storybook heroes before him—that sometimes Mr. Right is closer than we
think.
Buy links
Everyone who bought SNARED gets a 20% discount
at buying the Just for Fun composite from the WIP website! Check the website for details.
ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-tylerknoll039sjustforfuncompositebooks14-1839904-149.html
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tyler-knolls-just-for-fun-ab-gayle/1122175760?ean=9781925222548
Book trailer
Rafflecopter Giveaway
Prize: $20 WIP Gift Card and 1 ebook copy of Tyler Knoll’s
Just for Fun
a Rafflecopter giveaway
About the author
Unlike many authors, A.B. Gayle hasn’t been writing stories
all her life. Instead she’s been living life.
Her travels have taken her from the fjords of
Norway to the southern tip of New Zealand. In between, she’s worked in so many
different towns she’s lost count. A.B. has shoveled shit in cow
yards, mustered sheep, been polite to customers, traded insults with politicians.
Sometimes she needs to be forgiven as she get confused as to who
needs what where.
Now living in Sydney, Australia, A.B. finally has
time to allow her real life experiences to morph with her fertile
imagination in order to create fiction that she hopes
her readers will enjoy.
A.B. values feedback on her writing, both negative
and positive.
A.B. Gayle can be found at:
Website: https://abgayle.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abgayle.writer
Twitter: https://twitter.com/abgaylewriter
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/abgaylewriter/
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