Hello Gallrious Readers and welcome to Author Chat! This week we have Jeff Adams. I’ve ‘known’ Jeff for a number of years, but really only talk to him the last year. He a funny, talented writer whose books I connect to. Maybe it’s he writes a lot of main characters who play sports, or maybe I just like his voice. I think you will too. Read the interview, leave a comment to enter the giveaway, and sign up for his newsletter. I on his email list and every week he shares a serialized story. They’re great fun to read.

Now, let’s Chat with Jeff.

ACwA Guest: Jeff Adams

• How did the first story you ever wrote influence your career as an author and how do you feel about that story now?
  
  My very first contract was for a short story called Adventures of Jake #1. It was for an anthology called Nerdvana. It was a new adult story about a guy who worked in the superhero part of a theme park as one of the heroes and a comic book store worker. Of course, they end up falling in love. I’ve revisited this story in 2012 when it published as a standalone and I saw the difference in how my approach and style had changed in three years. I’ll be looking at again later this year when I re-release under my own imprint.
  
  I’ve revisited a lot of stories over the past couple of years as I’ve needed to republish titles. Sometimes I simply see how I continue to hone and improve my craft. Other times I honestly wonder how it got published in the first place. This fall I’ll be taking on the first novels I published and that’s sure to be an interesting exercise because these books are six to nine years old.

• Which of your characters is most like you (or someone close to you.)
  
  The guys who are closest to me are probably Jason and Ben from Bicycle Built for Two. This is one of my first stories and I just freshened it up and republished it earlier this year. Jason and Ben meet on the Northeast AIDS Ride as they cycle from Boston to New York. I wrote it in 2010 after I’d done the real ride for the first time. While I didn’t meet my husband on that ride (we’d already been together more than a decade at that point), many of my ride experiences made their way into the story. I participated in that ride over six years and it’s a cause that remains close to my heart and why I donate all my royalties from that book to the ride, which benefits the HIV/AIDS services at the LGBT Center in NYC.

Looking beyond that story, most of my main characters have parts of me in them, whether it’s a love of hockey, of musicals, of computers and geeky things. Parts of me and my likes are all over the place!

• What is your favorite trope and why?
  
  I only get to pick one?

Second chance is near and dear to my heart. I love when two people who didn’t quite make the connection the first time get a do-over. While those characters have a shared history, it doesn’t mean that makes for easily sailing. That history could cause all kinds of drama, or it could help them see past drama to get to their HEA. Second chance done well can really make my heart soar—like in Sarina Bowen’s The Understatement of the Year. That one is likely a master class in the power of second chances.

• How many half-written stories are on your hard-drive and what do you plan to do with them?
  
  There actually aren’t very many. I’ve got a few that will probably never see the light of day because they don’t have enough actual plot driving them. I did start a Christmas story last year that I didn’t finish because my creativity got zapped. I’ve rediscovered my groove this year though and I plan to get it finished to release this holiday season (and guess what… it’s a second chance romance!)

• What are you working on next?
  
  First up is to get that Christmas story done. This fall I’ll also re-release Adventures of Jake. After that, I’ll be focused on the re-release the Hat Trick trilogy, which are my first novels. They’re getting refreshed and re-branded. The goal is to have those rolling out in early 2022. I’m also planning a series of romantic suspense romance that are based in the world of the Codename: Winger young adult series.

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Jeff Adams’s Upcoming Release

In June and July, the young adult series Codename: Winger comes out. All four books release between June 1 and July 13 in ebook, paperback and audiobook (with narration by Kirt Graves).

Book one is Tracker Hacker.

High school student. Hockey player. Computer whiz kid. Covert agent?

At sixteen, Theo Reese is the youngest agent for Tactical Operational Support. His way with computers makes him invaluable. He designs new gadgets, helps agents in the field (including his parents), and works to keep the TOS network safe. When a hacker breaches the system TOS uses to track agents, Theo is put to the test like never before.

Thrust from behind the safety of his desk, Theo must go into the field to put a stop to the hack. It’s personal too because one of the agents who has gone missing is his father. And just to make it more interesting, he’s got to keep everything a secret from his boyfriend and teammates.

Can Theo get the job done, save his dad, and make things good with his boyfriend?

| Universal Buy Link for eBook and Audiobook Formats |

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Free Book!

The Hockey Player’s Snow Day is a free novel available to anyone who signs up for Jeff Adams’s newsletter. The Hockey Player’s Snow Day is a forced proximity romance about Nick, a pro hockey player who gets stranded in a snowstorm. He ends up at Shawn’s isolated house. It turns out that Shawn’s a romance writer who used Nick as the inspiration for one of his stories—a story which happens to be part of one of Nick’s favorite books.

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Giveaway!

Since I love hockey, let’s do a hat trick of giveaways! Three people [who comment on either this post or the corresponding post at Andy’s Facebook group, Gallorious Readers] can select any two ebooks from my backlist.

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About Jeff Adams

Jeff Adams has written stories since he was in middle school and became a published author in 2009 when his first short stories were published. He writes both gay romance and LGBTQ young adult fiction…and there’s usually a hockey player at the center of the story.

Jeff lives in northern California with his husband of more than twenty years, Will Knauss. Some of his favorite things include the musicals Rent and [title of show], the Detroit Red Wings and Pittsburgh Penguins hockey teams, and the reality TV competition So You Think You Can Dance. He also loves to read, but there isn’t enough space to list out his favorite books.

Jeff is the co-host of the Big Gay Fiction Podcast, a weekly show devoted to gay romance as well as pop culture. New episodes come out every Monday at BigGayFictionPodcast.com. He’s also the co-host of the Big Gay Author Podcast, which documents Will and his efforts to become full time authors. New episodes debut every Saturday at BigGayAuthorPodcast.com.

If you’d like to drop him an email to say hello, or if you have questions/comments about his books, you can email him at jeff@jeffadamswrites.com.

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Where to Find Jeff Adams

| Website | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok | Big Gay Fiction Podcast |