SERIES TOUR - NACHO MAMA'S PATIO CAFE NOVELS
Friends, fags, & fun in a little college town
Any Summer Sunday
Boys in the Band meets Le Cage in an Indiana drag bar
Who Plugged the Dyke?
Elections are hard. This one is Murder
The two books stand alone and can be read in either order, although Any Summer Sunday was written first and contains more background information. It is a more character driven story. Who Plugged the Dyke is a mystery.
Overall Heat Rating: 2 flames. Tawdry, but not dirty. Sex is described as part of a story, but not in detail. No sex scenes. Not romance. Not erotica. Think of gay friends in a bar who might describe a conquest (but not the specifics).
BOOK 1
Book Title: Any Summer Sunday at Nacho Mama’s Patio Cafe: Drag, Songs, Friends, Laughs, Lies, Danger & Redemption
Author: Steve Schatz
Publisher: Any Summer Sunday Books
Cover Artist: James at GoOnWrite
Length: 75 000 words/ 234 Pages
Release Date: June 21, 2019
Genre: LGBT Humorous Fiction
Trope/s: Reluctant hero, power of friendship, metonymy (Drag – the entire life around performance in a gay bar & Nacho Mama’s represents a safe place where friends gather, gossip, and support each other)
Themes: Friends, Small town gay, Drag and Performance, Lookin’ for love
It is a standalone story
Buy Links
How far should you go to save a friend from her own desires?
Blurb
TiaRa del Fuego is in love and that means trouble for her friends. Every Sunday evening we meet in Hoosier Daddy, our small college town’s only gay bar gather to watch TiaRa del Fuego’s Parade of Gowns drag show. Performance, love, betrayal, spies, and friendship fight to the fore every Summer Sunday.
However, this Sunday, dear TiaRa, thin enough to hate, yet broken enough to love, announces she has found love...yet again...and is leaving after that evening’s show to be with her new man. We know she is making a huge mistake...again. What can we do?
Any Summer Sunday is a celebration of friends, drag, and life. Come and join in the fun.
Excerpt from Any Summer Sunday
With few exceptions, the same group of reprobates gathered every week. We are no longer young, but all have spent our years wisely or wildly enough to hold one’s place when the conversation turns a bit too bitchy. We enjoyed our youth, are enjoying the years beyond youth without regret, and occasionally enjoy youths—when the opportunity arises, as it were.
All societies celebrate the young, but in gay circles, this celebration borders on idolatry. Twenty-somethings and now even teeny-somethings who celebrate their coming out are welcomed into a glorious disco summer camp with every conceivable need provided. For those of us who are years past the realization and/or announcement, being out offers far fewer invitations. We often find ourselves between worlds—not certain of a welcome in either gay or straight society.
In “normal” society, it is tiresome to yet again face the “ . . . and your wife?” questions in every new group and to worry if it is going to be an issue. If I have an urge to explore square dancing, must I find a gay square—hmmm . . . Mr. Lynde springs to mind. Sometimes it’s easier not to bother. Then there are those moments when it suddenly pisses you off that you are supposed to feel gratitude merely for being accepted or endured by the dominant pairing paradigm.
In the gay community, the adulation of youth and horror of aging can make one feel diseased. Even previously enjoyable activities can be snatched away. Take window shopping. I enjoy looking at a pretty pair of pants when it walks by, even if I know it will never fit, I can’t afford it, and the style is all wrong for a man of my years and shape. I look because it is pretty, and I enjoy looking at pretty things. But, if every time I go looking, the trousers, upon noticing my gaze, gasp in horror, turn away with a look of sardonic pity, and begin to whisper with their fellow couture, I eventually will give up looking.
So, when we find a group and an enjoyable activity where we can simply be, without the need to prove or explain ourselves, then it is something to be cherished. Not misty-eyed, bosom clutching cherished, but those people and enjoyments are simply too dear to give up without a care. Sunday afternoons were like that. That is why, when one Sunday, TiaRa del Fuego—dear, sweet, damaged TiaRa—announced that she had found love, yet again—this time on a dating site and was leaving town to be with her new man who was driving up that very day to help her move—well, we knew something had to be done and quickly.
BOOK 2
Book Title: Who Plugged the Dyke?
Author: Steve Schatz
Publisher: Any Summer Sunday Books
Cover Artist: James at GoOnWrite
Length: 218 pages 67,000 words
Release Date: July 2020
Genres: LBGT Mystery, LGBT Humor, LGBT Fiction
Trope: Reluctant hero
Themes: Friendship, small town gays, detection, politics
It is a standalone story.
Buy Links
A gay mystery full to the tits with action and wit.
Blurb
Some Elections are hard … This one is Murder!
Get ready for Excitement, Laughs, Thrills and Fun!
In 10 days she’ll be the 1st in your face lesbian judge elected in homo-hating Indiana. But someone wants to kill her and her little dog too.
The friends from Nacho Mama’s Patio Cafe must put on their big boy panties, get out of Hoosier Daddy, the only gay bar in town, onto the streets and go hunting for the culprit.
Thrills, drag shows, danger, laughs and a kick line of drag queens in judicial robes as the anti-heroes dodge explosions, fire, guns, knives and terror, seek out the hidden mastermind and sashay to the rescue.
You loved Any Summer Sunday at Nacho Mama’s Patio Cafe. Now, the merry band from the small Indiana college town’s drag bar return. It’s an Indiana Election Mystery. Who Plugged the Dyke?
Excerpt from Who Plugged the Dyke?
I noticed that the big, bearded Tooth Fairy had moved nearly in front of me. There is something wonderfully wrong about a big ol’ hunka hunka in a pink tutu. I grinned at him. He didn't grin back. His attention was fixed on Deb. However, he was not smiling. He was just staring. Something in the back of my mind tickled. I started watching him more carefully. He was playing with his magic wand. It was about three feet long and trailed stars and strands of glitter. But he was pulling off the covering and it was looking less and less like a wand and more and more like a weapon. Recalling what I had been told, I looked for Roger or Petunia or one of Nacho's Twinks. I couldn't see Roger. Petunia was at the back of the stage, guarding the way in. I saw a couple of cute Twinks, but didn't know if they were Nacho's boys or not. I started to raise my hand and kind of gesture toward the Tooth Fairy. I was trying to be cool and not alert him that I had noticed anything untoward. He continued to pull away the spangles. He was looking down at the wand and then up at Deb, and I could see a look of menace grow across his features.
I waved my hands over my head and then pointed down at him. Some in the crowd saw what I was doing and waved, too. They thought it was a celebratory gesture. I began to wave my hands and point more emphatically. I nearly lost my balance, but no one seemed to get the message. No one was heading in that direction. I looked at he man, who was no longer looking fairy-like at all. He had finished pulling all the detritus off his wand and while I was not a weapons guy, even I could recognize that what was once a wand was now, very obviously, a weapon. A blow gun.
He reached into his bag and pulled out, not a handful of glitter, but a rather large dart with a very large and very sharp point. By this time, subtle was no longer on the table. I waved my hands wildly above my head, then pointed at the guy. I did not care if he saw. I had to stop him, and no one seemed to be coming to do anything about it. Deb was talking. The girls were dancing. And the Tooth Fairy dropped the dart into his blow gun.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Tell us a little
about yourself.
I grew up in New Mexico in the
early 60’s and was into music and boys from an early age. I wasn’t very quick
on the uptake. It never occurred to me that I was gay until years later. I
didn’t really know what gay was. I learned.
In the 80’s I moved to San Francisco,
managed some bands, became a concert promoter. In my free time, my sister and I
became clowns. I started writing our act – songs, skits, and stories. That was
the beginning of my writing career.
My stories led to a job both
writing and training clients with an educational software company that
supported the writing process for elementary school kids. That led to a
Master’s degree in education.
In the 90’s I met a man stupid
enough to fall in love with me and stupid enough to come with me to Indiana
where I earned my PhD. I learned to write for academic journals, but continued
to write silly stories and poems in my spare time. We moved to Connecticut,
which was the first state to pass domestic partnership, a euphemism for
marriage. We got euphemized. A friend who was a minor porn star (the basis for
Roger in my books) was visiting and took pictures. Several years later, when
homos were actually allowed to use the M word, we were the first couple in
Connecticut to change our euphemism to marriage.
I had written a young adult
fantasy/adventure novel and was sending it to agents and publishers. I met with
one agent who said the book was great, but needed rewriting because I wrote
like a college professor (which I was), but she would work with me. Then this
lady with 20 years in the publishing industry vanished. After collecting over
100 rejections, a small publisher said yes and I was in print.
I had been working on Any
Summer Sunday for many years and had started collecting rejections when I
decided that would rather self publish. I formed a publishing company and
brought out Any Summer Sunday. A year later, I brought out Who
Plugged the Dyke. I’m currently working on a third Nacho Mama’s Patio
Cafè book. I’ve
retired from teaching and spend all my time writing and promoting my work.
What would people
be most surprised to know about you?
People who know me as a professor
and consultant would be surprised to learn I was a clown with a public access
TV show in San Francisco, Manhattan, and Los Angeles.
That won’t surprise anyone who
knows me or has read my books. What might surprise them is to find out that as
an undergraduate I majored in Political Science, with hopes of becoming a
political consultant. Thankfully, I got over that.
Do you have a
favorite quote (either from your own books or one’s you’ve read)?
I’ll give you two from Any
Summer Sunday:
1. You’re allowed to make a fool
of yourself in front of friends.
2. [Foxy explaining why we should
encourage sex over breeding (the verb, not the noun)] While procreation is
work, usually instigated by one and borne by another, reaction is is pleasure
for both involved.
Did you always want to be a writer?
No. During high school I had a
clear career path. I was a classical bass player and had already been assured
of a full scholarship to college. Then my family moved to Texas and that
promise fell away. My next interest was politics and I planned to go into
survey research. I was good at it, but I became disillusioned with how my work
would be used. It was in San Francisco that I got interested in writing – first
for performance and then for publication. That was over thirty years ago and I
still love it.
What are your
ambitions for your writing career?
I
very satisfied with where I am. I have five books out and a bun in the oven.
More important to me, I am pleased with my work. Chapter 17 of Any Summer
Sunday still chokes me up when I read it. It is as good as I hope to be.
From here, I hope to continue to write. I think I have a couple more Nacho Mama’s
Patio Café books in me. I’m working on a YA novel that plays with time
travel and features a gay teen couple and a character who comes out as trans.
I’m also working on a book of my silly kids poems.
The
only thing I’d like to change is to have more people will read my work. I’m
putting energy in that direction and if it happens, great. If not, it’s more
important that I’m pleased with my work.
What’s your
favorite part of writing?
I
have two. The first is when the story and characters are so in place that I can
ask them what is going to happen next. It happens with every book. I get stuck
and can’t see how all the threads will come together, so I close my eyes and
type and see what happens. I get to be the first one to find out.
The
second is when I record the audiobook. I like the writing to be heard as well
as read. As I write, I play with how the words will sound. So, when the book is
done, I record it. That is usually the third time I’ve read it out loud. As
part of editing, I read it out loud at least twice. It’s amazing how many
mistakes I find that my eye skims over, but are really obvious when I’m
reading.
What does your writing process look like?
I start with an ieda or several
ideas. Things that I want to see in the book. In Who Plugged the Dyke,
it was the kick line of drag queens in judicial robes. I do a bit of outlining,
but I’m not an author that plans everything out. It’s just a general direction.
Then I start to write. Almost
immediately, things go off in different directions. I like to play with time in
my writing. Any Summer Sunday happens over the course of an evening. Who
Plugged the Dyke is over 10 days. I like to have different threads that
seem to be going in different directions, but all come together at the end. To
do this, I’m constantly writing notes, revising the outline or the flow chart
on poster sized paper. I have stickies on my monitor.
My first goal is to get the
draft. I keep reminding myself during that writing, which is hard, that the
goal is to get from beginning to end. It’s not about it being pretty. It’s just
to get the different lines to lock in place and form a whole.
Once the draft is finished, I go
through a couple a major revisions. I move from computer to paper for this.
These revisions are big hacking at the thing. Looking for holes and repeats.
Then, I’ll do a read out loud. I
catch a lot of problems that look ok on a silent read, but are clumsy or just
plain wrong when read out loud.
I wait a couple of weeks and do
another read through. Those weeks away really change my perception. Lots of
changes. Then I’ll send it to my beta readers. Based on their feedback, I’ll do
a couple more revisions.
Then I send it off to a copy
editor.
Then it’s layout. Then record the
audiobook.
And still, once the book is
published, after all those eyes and all those read throughs, I have always
found a couple of errors. However, by the time the book is in print, I’m
generally happy with the prose and that’s what is most important to me.
When/where is your
favorite time/place to write?
I spend my days writing or avoiding
writing or thinking about writing. When COVID hit, I joked that sheltering in
place didn’t make any difference to me. I did the same things I always did.
Write, avoid writing, cook, clean house, write, sleep. I try to work out to
keep the jiggles down to a minimum.
I write in a small office with a big
window and a big computer screen, so I am looking at the screen, but around the
edges, I see the seasons. I particularly like Spring and Fall, so I can have
the windows open.
Why did you choose to write GLBTQ romance/fiction?
I
don’t write romance. It’s too formulaic for my taste. I can’t read it or write
it. My attention span is too short. I write fiction because I like to play with
time, people, and places. I can do that in fiction. There is much less
opportunity to do that nonfiction. I’ve written several academic articles. I
have a PhD in instructional design and have published in the field of
education, but this is more fun.
Why
GLBTQ? Two reasons. It’s what I know. The life I’ve lived. I find the people
more varied and interesting and the situations I can spin out in fiction are
more rich. The other reason is that there are still places and people that hate
us for who we are and I think it is important to clearly state that we exist.
I’m not focused on the stars or heroes. I’m glad we have them, but there are so
many just plain folks who live just plain lives who happen to be GLBTQ. We
exist. That’s good. There should be a record. There should be acknowledgment.
There should be celebration. During Pride marches, attention is paid to the
flamboyant, the cute, and the people riding at the head of the parade. I try to
shine a light on the people further back or who are not even at the event,
because they are at work or at home, just living their gay old lives.
Do you write any other genre?
Yes. Any Summer
Sunday is LGBT character driven. Who Plugged the Dyke is LGBT
mystery. I have a middle grade ghost story. My first two published books were
YA fantasy/adventure. I’m working on a YA historical fiction and a third in the
Nacho Mama’s Patio Cafè series.
Describe a scene in your writing that has made you laugh or cry?
In Any Summer
Sunday, the friends are facing the loss of their dear friend TiaRa, who is
the biggest star in their little world. This is to be her last performance
before she leaves. It is the end of the show and the last song is usually
upbeat, but her accompanist dives into Bowie’s Heroes. It is an emotional
moment. All the performers come out and sing with and everyone in the crowd
joins in. An amazing thing is that I wrote it and then, for the book release
party, I prepared to read it and I discovered that the passage was exactly the
right length to fit the song. Reading it still brings tears to my eyes. I won’t
put the whole thing here, but here’s the last paragraph.
All the performers streamed on
stage as we sang. This was no sad
farewell. This was no slinking
away. This was not going quietly into
that dark night. No, this was all
the rage and passion and joy and
fear of leavings and arrivals and
dreams and gambles for no good
reason than we must occasionally
leap to risk the fall to know that
we still can leap and if we fly, it
will be amazing and if we crash and
burn, in the pain, we will know we
are still alive! Together, we
testified. We were. We are. We will
be!
Give the readers a brief summary of your latest book or WIP. What genre?
Who Plugged the
Dyke is a mystery. Many of the same folks from Any
Summer Sunday. I loved the people and the bar and the interplay, so I
wanted to see if I could put them in another situation. Southern Indiana is
very conservative. Magawatta is a college town, so a cultural oasis. Deb, a
lesbian candidate for judge who has been a defense attorney is about to be
elected judge, but someone is trying to kill her. Suspects abound, including a
developer, an evangelical preacher, and her opponent. The folks from Nacho
Mama’s Patio Café
must find the killer and keep Deb alive. It’s fast moving and funny, with some sweetness and spice
thrown in for good measure.
Give us a little insight into your main characters. Who are they?
TiaRa del Fuego is a damaged
diva – thin enough to hate and damaged enough to love. She is a wonderful
performer and the MC of the weekly Parade of Gowns drag show at Hoosier
Daddy, the only gay bar in a small Indiana college town.
BB Singer is the
storyteller. A middle-aged anti-hero.
Beau is a sweet, Southern
lush with little motivation, but a dear friend of BB.
Aunt May is Beau’s aunt
who was moved up from Louisiana when her reminisces of past affairs with now
married citizens became too embarrassing.
Roger plays the all-knowing
Mr. Nasty, but when the chips are down, is a rock to turn to.
Nacho Mama is a gruff
restaurateur of uncertain gender with a penchant for muumuus and cigars, who is
secretly a field commander for a clandestine organization that works to bring
down public figures who publicly rail against and privately roll against anyone
outside the dominant pairing paradigm.
Will we be seeing these characters again? Is this book part of a
series?
Definitely. In the beginning,
there was Any Summer Sunday and ye verily, it was good. Seriously, it
took nine years to write Any Summer Sunday and I loved the place and the
characters and the way they interacted. I wanted to see if I could craft
another story in that world. That goal spawned Who Plugged the Dyke. I’m
in revisions of the third book in the Nacho Mama’s Patio Café series. I hope there will be
more, but time will tell.
What genre/s do you enjoy reading in your free time?
I mostly read
mysteries that have a good dose of humor and sarcasm. I read a lot of non
fiction that range from learning theory to marketing to spiritualism. Then I
have well worn copies of Twain and Douglas Adams by my bed.
What was the last book you read? What did you like about it?
Hiaasen’s Squeeze Me. I
love his crazy villains and plot lines. That he pummels developers in general
and, in this one, the ex-pres who shall not be named in particular is a
delight.
Have you held any interesting jobs while you worked on your books?
I started writing the series
while I was on the education faculty of the University of Hartford. It provided
a break from my serious day job. Over the years I’ve had a bunch of
interesting/weird jobs. Some, but not all, include comedy traffic school
instructor, party clown, manager trainee for several chains, manager of a Radio
Shack, instructional designer, organizational communications consultant,
software trainer … there’s more, but you get the idea – variety is the spice.
Through it all, I’ve been a writer. I had jobs, not careers. Writing is neither
– it’s what I do.
How do you relax?
I read a bit. I watch old movies,
youtube videos, and re-watch South Park. I spend a lot of time on the
computer, chasing whatever strikes my fancy. Mostly, I write – that’s pretty
relaxing.
What hobbies do you have outside of writing?
I play guitar – badly and sing –
worse. Recently I’ve expanded my chord knowledge from 5 to 6 chords and
branched into playing the uke. My cats allow me to be a lap occasionally.
About the Author
Steve Schatz writes with a crazy mashup of laughs and excitement and humor. Readers can’t stop reading, but don’t want the story to end. Each book is an adventure where endearing anti-heroes struggle against this crazy world and triumph using the twin forces of intentional, creative action and friends helping friends. Schatz draws on a lifetime of varied and fascinating experiences, from instructional designer and college prof to party clown and nightclub owner.
His series of adult fiction highlights a group of middle-aged gay friends who gather every week in a small, Indiana college town. Mixing drinks, snappy repartee, and the humor and joy of long-time friends, in one book they rescue the fair drag queen from an obvious miscreant. In another, they ride to the protection of a lesbian candidate for judge who is being targeted by mysterious evil-doers. The excitement reveals itself against a backdrop of drag performance and efforts by anti-heroes. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll beg for more. Steve Schatz offers a new voice and a smile for the LGBT community and their friends.
Author Links
Blog/Website | Twitter: @AnySummerSunday
Giveaway
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win
one of three ebook copies of Any Summer Sunday,
one of three ebook copies of Who Plugged the Dyke?,
or an audiobook of either book.
Total of 8 giveaways
Comments
Post a Comment