Orange by B.G. Thomas

Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Cover Photograph by Suntown Photography;

Cover Design by Paul Richmond

Available for Purchase at Dreamspinner Press

Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to host BG Thomas on tour for his new novel Orange. Welcome, Ben!

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I was asked once here at Scattered Thoughts about how much of myself goes into my characters. Well how is this for an answer?

Have you ever been the “victim” of a one-night stand? What I mean by “victim” is not abuse or a ruffee or being forced to do something you didn’t want to do and felt horrible after or anything like that. What I mean is when you meet someone and for some reason you find yourself right in bed the first night. Maybe he was just so darned hot you couldn’t say no. Maybe it was a magickal night, exciting and romantic, even though you’d just met him. Your heart soared thinking, “if this is only the first night, what is tomorrow and the next day and the next going to be like?”

Only to find out that you are a one-night stand. That he has no intention of giving you a next day and a next and a next. You’re lucky if he doesn’t leave (or make you leave) five minutes after he’s…well…finished (to say it delicately).

Happened to me! Several times. Especially when I was a young and naïve gay man, just first exploring my life as a gay man, discovering, finding the world of being gay. I remember this guy named Jack who went home with me, on the first night. I didn’t want to. I wanted to wait. He said, “Let me guess. You went out tonight promising yourself you would be a good boy.” I nodded. He said, “Well I went out tonight promising myself that I would be a bad boy.” What a line! I took him home.

He was so hot! OMG! And not only a good kisser, but a good everything. Did I say good? He was incredible.

And he left almost instantly after he was…done. He didn’t even want to make sure that I was…well…done. He did though. “So just f*ck him and leave him,” I said, and I got the song and dance about how he had to get up early in the morning and blah blah blah. When I asked for his number he said his phone had been turned off but if I gave him my number…. You get the picture.

Over thirty years later, I still think about that guy. How it could have been different. What life might have been like if he’d given me a chance. Not that I am unhappy. I am extremely happy with my love life. But as humans, we wonder sometimes. As a writer I can’t help but wonder.

And as a writer, I can sort of do something about it. I can create for myself a similar scenario (after all, I had more than one “Jack” in my day) and write a story. But since I write romance, I can give it that happy ending we all love. Where “Jack”—in this case Frank—does give his one-night stand a second chance. And as it turns out and third. And a forth, and a fifth and….

I had to explore what would make a man want only one-night stands. Not want more. Not want love. I had to explore what would make him change his mind. And most importantly, do it in a way that you—the constant reader—would not hate his guts. Not give him a chance to change and find out that love really is that answer.

I think I did that in my story, “Orange.”

And I hope you’ll give me a chance to prove it to you.

And of course, the other guy is going to get his happy ending. In more ways than one! *GRIN*

Here is the cover blurb:

Frank Sinclair believes only in the visceral, the real, what he can touch and taste. After all, his mother left him when he was five years old, so how can love exist? His next sexual conquest is what makes his world go around, not romance and happily ever after. The hot guy he sees working along the highway in an orange jumpsuit fuels his bad-boy fantasies. Coincidentally, the guy shows up at the gas station across the street from his apartment building, and you can bet he’s going to take his shot.

Roy Ingalls is his bad boy parolee in orange, and he’s ready and oh-so-willing to be Frank’s next conquest. But Roy isn’t quite the bad boy he seems—deep down he’s sweet, naïve… and the most intoxicating man Frank has ever met.

The sex is the best of their lives, but can a man who mistrusts love and another who isn’t ready to admit he’s actually gay ever move beyond friends with benefits?

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About the Author

B.G. Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade and their fabulous dogs Sarah Jane and Oliver. He is blessed to have a lovely daughter as well as many extraordinary friends. He has a great passion for life.

B.G. loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction, and even horror—as far as he is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to literature conventions his entire adult life where he’s been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He has made up stories since he was a child; it is where he finds his joy.

In the nineties, he wrote for gay adult magazines but stopped because the editors wanted all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. He submitted a novella and was thrilled when it was accepted in four days. Since then the romantic tales have poured out of him. “It’s like I’m somehow making up for a lifetime’s worth of story-telling!”

In 2015 he made and entry every day in his blog “365 Days of Silver,” where he found something every day to be grateful for. You can find it right here: https://365daysofsilver.wordpress.com/

“Leap, and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message. “It is never too late,” he testifies. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”

Website/blog: https://bthomaswriter.wordpress.com/about-2/