My First Time: Anne Barwell

Thanks for hosting me today, Andy.

My first book was published by Dreamspinner Press seven years ago this May. Although I now have thirteen titles published, Cat’s Quill will always have a special place in my heart. I wrote it while I was studying for my teaching degree, then submitted it to a couple of local publishers who turned it down with letters saying it wasn’t what they were looking for. In hindsight, it’s very difficult to get published in New Zealand, especially given the fact I was writing gay romance, and fantasy to boot. Looking back, I think it was serendipity that those publishers didn’t want it, as Dreamspinner Press is a much better fit, and I enjoy working with them.

I’ve learned a lot over my writing and publishing journey so far. I’m now at the point where I can give something back to the community which has been so welcoming and supportive, which is one of the big reasons I host other authors and write book reviews. One highlight last year was co-founding the New Zealand Rainbow Romance Writers group with Gillian St. Kevern.

Cat’s Quill is also the first in a series of a story within a story. I love portal fantasies and exploring ideas that what we think of as fantasy might not be. After all, all good stories have an element of truth to them, right? Each story in Hidden Places is a little different, although they all advance the overall plot. Book 1 introduces the characters, and Cathal’s world, and is set partly in each although the entire story is told from Tomas’s POV.

Book 2—Magic’s Muse—is entirely set in our world, although the reader learns more of Naearu, as the events of the first book catch up with Tomas and Cathal, both of whom get a point of view.

One Word, which was published last year, is more of a contemporary mystery detective story apart of the prologue and epilogue bookends. I ended up adding those as the action in this one takes place while Tomas and Cathal are having their own adventures in Cat’s Quill, while the ‘bookends’ catch up with the characters about eighteen months after the events in Magic’s Muse. I wanted to write a story for Donovan and Ethan—who are side characters in the first two books—as they will play a much bigger role in book 4—Dragon’s Price—which will come full circle and take place mainly in Naearu. I’ve deliberately left loose ends in the previous books, including a brewing rebellion, a price to pay, and a missing child.

Unfortunately I’m not as fast a writer as some and other characters have wanted their stories told too, so it’s taken me longer to finish this series than I originally intended.

My characters tend to roll their eyes at this point of my blog posts and ‘blame the vampire.’ He still has another book to come too, so I figure that makes them all about even. That’s the problem with writing stories and having limited writing time—I end up with series in different stages of completion although I didn’t quite intend so many at the same time! I’m working through that slowly, and trying to complete what I’ve started.

I seriously need a TARDIS or a time turner or something.

On a side note, Cat’s Quill wasn’t the first story I wrote that I knew was going to be a novel, but Shadowboxing, the first book in my WWII Echoes Rising series, took a while longer to write, although I finally finished that series last year.

As we’re on the subject of first times, I’m sharing an excerpt from Cat’s Quill, which is also a first time—Cathal and Tomas’s first kiss.

Cat’s Quill – Hidden Places Book 1

Tomas Kemp has two successful novels to his name and the true belief that a successful sequel is only a matter of a little inspiration. When Tomas meets a mysterious stranger under the branches of an old oak tree, he feels compelled to tell him about a book he holds dear and the sequel he wants to read. But Cathal doesn’t share that deep belief that the sequel Tomas seeks ends happily. Cathal has seen enough of a world where stories are real to know that happy ever after is sometimes the dream that won’t come true.

But stories have never let Tomas down, and as he follows Cathal across the reality shift between their worlds, he learns that Cathal is right: Happy ever after is never just given—but sometimes, it can be fought for and won.
Buy Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/cats-quill-by-anne-barwell-2457-b

Excerpt

Cathal wiped his palms on his trousers and then turned the page of the journal back and forth, his eyes scanning the words again. “Maybe I could help?” he suggested. “Can you tell me what the story is about so I can get more of an idea of what this kiss should, er… involve?”

“Involve?” Tomas’s voice sounded strained to his own ears. He coughed, clearing his throat before speaking again. “Umm, it’s about a writer who meets someone he thinks might be a muse.”

“I see.” Cathal nodded slowly. “Why does he think that?” He edged closer to Tomas, the book still balanced carefully on his lap.

“He’s drawn to this person he’s not long met.” The explanation sounded somewhat weak now that Tomas had to actually explain it to someone else. “It’s like they have a connection….”

“Like Alan and Roger in your other book?” Cathal frowned. “That doesn’t explain why—” He checked the name. “—Deimos might be a muse though, but then I haven’t read enough.”
Tomas opened his mouth to explain more, how Deimos seemed to appear and disappear out of thin air, how he seemed otherworldly, how Mark kept thinking about him all the time. Cathal placed one hand on Tomas’s knee, his breath warm against Tomas’s face. “Cat? What are you doing?”

“I’m getting into character.” Cathal reached over and brushed Tomas’s hair from his face.
“You’re a writer, so you need to be Mark. That leaves me the role of the muse.” His voice was barely a whisper. “This scene is too good for it to be abandoned like the other one.” His eyes dropped to the page and back again. He licked his lips, his fingers tightening on Tomas’s knee. Tomas’s breath hitched.

“Yes, it is.” He swallowed again, reaching out his own hand to caress Cathal’s cheek, echoing Mark’s actions in his book. “I don’t want you to leave,” he whispered, his words following the script, his heart speeding up.

Cathal closed his eyes as he followed Tomas’s cue, slipping into a role that could have been written for him. “I think I’m in love with you,” he murmured.

Their lips brushed together, tentatively, awkwardly. Tomas pulled away, unsure, his breathing growing ragged, Cathal’s skin warm under his fingers, soft but for the slight stubble across his lower cheek, blond facial hair almost invisible. Tomas leaned in again, his lips parting this time in invitation as he pressed their mouths together. Cathal moaned softly, opening his own lips, leaning into it, his fingers threading through Tomas’s hair.

Wet skin, soft and inviting, tasting of coffee and something else Tomas could only describe as uniquely Cathal. It felt right, better than anything Tomas could have imagined. He whimpered, pulling Cathal to him, convincing himself for that moment they weren’t play acting, that this was real, that the man in his arms was someone who loved him.

The need to breathe drove them apart. Cathal’s eyes opened with a start, searching Tomas’s.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“Don’t be.” Tomas traced Cathal’s lips with his fingers, committing the scene to memory, allowing himself a photograph he realized he wanted frozen in his mind forever. “I’m not.”

About Anne Barwell

Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing “discussion,” and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning.

In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra.

She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as “too many.” These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of “spare time” is really just a myth. She also hosts other authors, reviews for the GLBTQ Historical Site “Our Story” and Top2Bottom Reviews, and writes monthly blog posts for Love Bytes. She is the co-founder of the New Zealand Rainbow Romance writers, and a member of RWNZ.

Anne’s books have received honorable mentions five times, reached the finals four times—one of which was for best gay book—and been a runner up in the Rainbow Awards. She has also been nominated twice in the Goodreads M/M Romance Reader’s Choice Awards—once for Best Fantasy and once for Best Historical.

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