Hi guys, we have Josephine Myles popping in today with her latest release Einstein’s Peep Show, we have a great guest post, a brilliant excerpt and a fantastic giveaway, so enjoy the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

Einstein’s Peep Show

Josephine Myles

Nerdy by day, naughty by night!

Nathan Wright has a secret life. During the day he’s a dedicated student, working hard for his maths degree. But times are tough, and in order to make ends meet by night he becomes “Einstein”, wooing punters with his online solo sex show. Still wounded by his last dysfunctional relationship, Nathan’s happy being single. But when his highest tipping client demands it, Einstein has to overcome his social awkwardness to rope in some extra help.

Party boy Rory Jones has never given his geeky neighbour a second glance, but he’s not one to turn down the offer of a free blow job, even when Nathan tells him it’s going online. Once on camera, Rory discovers his exhibitionist streak and the two of them are so hot together, the one-off becomes a regular gig.

But being neighbours with benefits isn’t without its challenges. Nathan’s client keeps wanting more, and he finds himself pushed into a role he’s not prepared for. Meanwhile Rory’s growing affection leaves him worried his ultra-rational lover won’t ever be able to share his emotions. If he and Nathan can’t find something more than great sex in common, they’ll be left with the square root of absolute zero.

Josephine Myles & Fans!

For this blog post I asked some of my fans to come up with questions, and Jen and Glenn wanted to know all about my characters. In fact, they asked so many questions this whole blog post is basically an interview by them.

So, without further ado, it’s over to the readers!

Jen: Which were your easiest or hardest characters to write?

The easiest to write are always the gobshite ones: the ones who talk a mile a minute, exaggerate all the time and never take anything too seriously. Mas from The Bristol Collection and Riley from Merry Gentlemen are two examples. Riley and Mas just started talking in my head and then never wanted to stop! It’s odd, because I’m not really like that myself, but for some reason it feels like I’ve untapped something when a character like that gets talking. Maybe they’re my alter egos…

The most difficult characters are the ones who are negative. I’m an optimist myself (although hopefully tempered with a dose of realism), and I don’t particularly enjoy writing pessimistic, insular characters. However, when I do make the effort they can be the most rewarding. Jez in the First Impressions series of shorts is an excellent example of that sort of character.

Glenn: Do your characters derive characteristics from real people?

Yes and no. I’ve never based a character entirely on a real person, although I might “use” an aspect of them, like their personality or their looks or their life situation. I will freely admit I based Rod in Locked Out on my daughter’s swimming teacher, but only in terms of looks and job—his personality is all his own. I think the closest I ever got to reality was a couple of the minor characters in Barging In, who were all based on various characters who I’d known in the boater community. Smiler was very closely based on a man known as Digger who was my moorings landlord for a while, but the character in the book was actually much nicer than the reality. And I can say that now because Digger passed away recently. RIP, miseryguts!

Glenn: Do the models for the books actually resemble your idea of the way the character looks?

Yes, usually. I’m lucky to have had most of my covers designed by the talented Lou Harper, who is superb at tracking down cover models for me. What’s most important for me is that the character on the cover of a book has the right expression. For instance, Mas on the cover of Stuff isn’t exactly how I saw him in terms of looks, but his smile is absolutely perfect. What’s interesting is that often my imagination changes the character in my head to match up with the cover, so I can no longer remember exactly what they looked like while I was writing. That’s definitely what’s happened with the cover for Einstein’s Peep Show. That bloke is so perfectly Nathan—albeit Nathan when Rory has made him unwind!

Jen: Have you had your characters be difficult…like non-talkative at a critical point? What helps you when that happens?

Yes, and I know now that if that happens then it’s time to step away from the manuscript for at least a couple of days. Writers block can have many causes, and if it’s not down to stress in my life then it’s probably down to a problem with the plot. In that case, I go back and read the whole story on my Kindle and try to pinpoint the problem. Sometimes scenes need to be removed or completely rewritten. That’s not an easy decision to make, and fortunately it doesn’t happen to me very often these days. Most of my cases of block have been down to feeling stressed or unhappy about my own life. Once I get that under control, the writing flows again.

Glenn: Is setting and atmosphere in which the character lives or the story takes place based on real places?

Yes, usually. While sometimes I conjure up an entirely imaginary setting (Alasdair’s house in Screwing the System, for example), most of the places my characters live are based on places either I or my friends have lived. Maybe that’s laziness, but I like to think that if I can use places I know well then other parts of my imagination are freed up to take flight. Oh, okay, it’s probably laziness. The thing is, I’ve moved house so many times that I have heaps of different houses from all different eras to choose from, including a narrowboat (used that one in Barging In and Boats in the Night). The one I use most often is my old flat in Bath, though. That appeared in The Hot Floor, and also formed the basis of Rory’s flat in Einstein’s Peep Show.

Glenn: Are the characters real in your mind?

Err… *glances around shiftily* Yes and no. I mean, I’m not insane but honestly, a good character really does start to take on a life of their own and talk to you. Mas from The Bristol Collection has been one of the most persistent in that respect. I still hear Mas’s opinion on all kinds of things. He was only ever meant to be a very minor character but he kept stealing scenes in Junk so I wrote more with him in, and then he got his own book (Stuff). Sometimes I find myself considering giving him a regular guest posting spot on my blog. Mas’s weekly current affairs round up, or similar. If only there were more hours in the day…

Excerpt

The sound of somebody clearing their throat startled him. Rory assumed a more respectable pose—I wasn’t groping my bum, honest—but when he saw it was just Nathan Wright, his weirdo neighbour from across the landing, he wished he hadn’t bothered. “Hey, Natey-boy. What’s up?”

Nathan’s brow furrowed. Hard to tell in the bad lighting—the landlord still needed to replace the bulb on their floor—but Rory could have sworn there was a hint of a blush. The touch of colour suited the bloke, who was otherwise all washed out with his pale skin and blond hair. Looked like he wouldn’t know a sunbed from a sandwich toaster, which was a shame because once you got past the nerdy dress sense, he was kind of attractive.

If you liked your men geeky, that was.

“I, uh. I’ve got something I need to…” Nathan trailed off and gave him a desperate look, which with his skinny face and big, bespectacled eyes made him way cuter than he had any right to be.

“Fire away, mate,” Rory muttered, while searching his jacket pockets. Ah, there were his keys! He pulled them out and found the one for his front door. Nathan followed his hand with his eyes and bit his lip.

“You’re gay, right?” Nathan blurted out. “I mean, you must be. That equals sign tattoo on your neck. And the earrings. And the men you sometimes come home with late at night.”

Seriously? “What are you getting at?”

Nathan crossed his arms and glared. “Nothing. I mean, I wasn’t spying. Just, you know, I like to know who’s outside when I hear voices. In case it’s burglars or something, and I need to call the police.”

“Wow, you’re a one-man Neighbourhood Watch squad,” Rory deadpanned.

“But you are gay, aren’t you?”

“Yes, fine. I’m a flaming homo. And I’m about to go into my flat and do outrageously queer things, possibly involving the contents of my salad drawer.” Not that any cucumbers lurked in there at the moment, but it sounded kinkier than using a plain old dildo.

Nathan tsked. “There’s no need to get defensive. And have you got at least six inches?”

“You what?” Surely he hadn’t heard that right. “Did you just ask how big my knob is?”

Nathan stuck his chin out. “I need to know.”

“Why does it matter to you?”

“B-because I need to perform fellatio on someone with an above average sized penis in the next ten minutes.”

“You what?” Rory rubbed at his ears in case they were playing tricks on him again, but he was pretty sure he’d caught that right. “You want to give me a blowjob? Why?”

“Do you need a reason?” Nathan was tapping his foot, his embarrassment seemingly given way to defiance. There was something about that pose and the way his eyes flashed that was kind of a turn on, come to think of it. “And I need to know you’re big enough. And you still have your foreskin. That’s of paramount importance.”

Whoa, fetish alert! Rory cupped his groin. “You’ve got no worries there, mate.”

“That’s all satisfactory, then. All relevant criteria met.” Nathan sounded relieved. Really, this was one of the strangest conversations Rory had ever had.

Rory opened his front door. “Okay, come on in, then.”

“No, it has to be my place. I need to get it on camera.” Nathan pulled his door wide open and took a step back. “That’s okay, isn’t it?”

On camera? “Is this a dare or something? I mean, not that I mind, but I’d rather you weren’t doing it just to prove a point.” What was he saying? Rory’s knob reminded his brain hello, potential blowjob action? “Are you even gay?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Yes it’s a dare, or yes you’re gay?”

“Yes, I’m gay. Look, do you want this blowjob or not? I’m pretty good at them.” Now his initial nerves had passed, Nathan was showing a different side. An arrogant side. And strangely enough, Rory liked it.

“Go on, then. And I’ll be the judge of how good you are.”

Nathan huffed and disappeared into his flat, but he left the door open behind him.

Rory locked his own door and followed.

About Josephine

English through and through, Josephine Myles is addicted to tea and busy cultivating a reputation for eccentricity. She writes gay erotica and romance, but finds the erotica keeps cuddling up to the romance, and the romance keeps corrupting the erotica. Jo blames her rebellious muse but he never listens to her anyway, no matter how much she threatens him with a big stick. She’s beginning to suspect he enjoys it.

Jo publishes regularly with Samhain, and now has over ten novels and novellas under her belt. Her novel Stuff won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Bisexual Romance, and her novella Merry Gentlemen won the 2014 Rainbow Award for Best Gay Romantic Comedy. She has also been known to edit anthologies and self-publish on occasion, although she prefers to leave the “boring bits” of the ebook creation process to someone else. She loves to be busy, and is currently having fun trying to work out how she is going to fit in her love of writing, dressmaking and attending cabaret shows in fabulous clothing around the demands of a preteen with special needs and an energetic toddler.

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Giveaway!

Jo will be giving away two backlist ebooks to one commenter!

Readers, who are your favourite characters, and why?