News from Suzanne Brockmann
Hello and happy summer!
I know you’re busy, so a coupla quick updates (with a long, long story at the very end, for those who want to get into the weeds!):
1) I FINALLY finished writing the next book, and it’s old-school Troubleshooters! It’s not All or Nothing (the book I was supposed to be writing for the past two years…). Instead, this now-complete, yet-to-be-named novel is set near the naval base in San Diego, and it features a SEAL officer and BUD/S instructor named LT Peter “Grunge” Greene—who happens to be a friend of Izzy Zanella’s. The heroine is a romance author who is struggling to write. (cough cough) Cue drama and passion—and a great deal of laughter! There’s even a whisper of a WWII subplot for you history buffs! New cover art is coming, along with that new title. I’ll keep you posted. As of right now, the release is still scheduled for Summer 2017. A long way away, I know… But this book is a fun one! I promise you it’s worth the wait!2) You’re gonna have a chance to meet Pete (His SEAL nickname is Grunge, but he thinks of himself as “Pete,” so now I do, too…) and spend more quality time with Izzy Zanella in Ready to Roll, a Troubleshooters novella that’ll be coming at you in the near future. (Again, I don’t have a date, but I promise it’ll be soon!) Ready to Roll was supposed to be a short story, but it came out more than twice as long as I’d intended, so it’s a full novella. (Whoops!) I’ve got a new blurb up on my website. Pop on over and check it out!
3) While you’re waiting for Ready to Roll and Pete's Book, take a peek at Creating Clark, an m/m romantic comedy, written by Jason and Ed! (Yes, MY Jason and Ed!)As many of you know, I got my start writing category romance. My backlist includes about a dozen books (mostly romcoms) that were originally published by Bantam Loveswept. Now, over the past few years, Jason (my son) and Ed (my husband) have worked together writing screenplays and producing movies. Recently, they’ve been in post-production for our yet-to-be-released LGBTQ thriller, Russian Doll. Movie post-production includes a great deal of downtime, and Jason started talking to Ed about an idea he had to write an m/m romance novel. Jace wasn’t finding much m/m rom-com out there, so he decided to write one himself. At this point, I got involved in the conversation, because the type of book that Jason was describing sounded EXACTLY like category romance.And as we talked, we all got really excited about the idea of an m/m category romance line. So we decide to create one of our own called Suzanne Brockmann Presents.The books are not erotica (not that there’s anything wrong with erotic, it’s just personally not my cup of tea). Yes, there’s sex, of course—these are category romances, after all. They’re lighthearted, quick reads that are both sweet and spicy—with a hero and a hero. Jason had another request: He wanted to write books that were set in his world. A world where LGBTQ people are accepted, respected, and loved. So don’t expect any closet-comedies or angsty coming out stories. Just boy-meets-boy and highjinx ensue!Jason and Ed sat down and wrote Creating Clark (a gay man and his father writing m/m romance!!) and I signed on to edit.Jason and Ed are both funny, funny men. And there are quite a few moments in Creating Clark where I laughed out loud—even on second or third reading.If you loved Robin and Jules, if you like lighthearted romantic comedy that can make you smile, check out Creating Clark, available in both ebook and print-on-demand. Creating Clark is the first book in Jason and Ed’s “California Comedy” series. They’ve written a number of stories, all romcoms, set in Southern California. Their second book, A Match for Mike, will be available soon.Creating Clark at Amazon Creating Clark at Kobo Creating Clark for your Nook Creating Clark at GooglePlay (Watch for the NookPress printed edition in both hardcover and paperback. We’re also working on CreateSpace paperback edition, along with the iBooks ebook!)Last but way not least: Congratulations to my favorite author, Alexis Hall, whose m/m romance For Real won a RITA last night! If you have not yet read this fantastic book by the author of Glitterland, you must! (And pick up Waiting for the Flood while you're at it! It's a personal favorite of mine!)That’s all the news. Thank you for your time and attention!
But for the detail-hungry who want the whole, long, gritty story, an answer to an FAQ that I know will be coming:Q) What about All or Nothing, which was supposed to be a sequel to Do or Die and Martell Griffin’s book?I'm not sure. I started writing this book and just couldn’t get it done. And I’m talking YEARS spent trying to write it. I tried all sorts of things. I tried writing Berto’s book first. (Remember Berto from Do or Die?) I even outlined a different story featuring Martell that included roles for Sam Starrett and Jules Cassidy. Not even THAT got me writing. It wasn’t until I forced myself to write SOMETHING/ANYTHING by signing on to donate a short story to Way of the Warrior a charity anthology supporting veterans, that I wrote Home Fire Inferno. And that story came to me as part of an Izzy-centric trilogy. I wrote Free Fall surprisingly quickly after that, with Ready to Roll outlined and ready to write. But I set aside Ready to Roll as I attempted to return to AoN, which again, was agony.It’s funny, really. For several decades and over fifty books, my mantra was “Writer’s block does not exist.” There’s no such thing, right? “When people bring up writer’s block, I don’t know what they’re talking about.” Hah.Apparently, after all those years of saying shit like that, writer’s block had to make me its bitch.Sometime last fall, when I gave my long-suffering editor the dreaded news that I was—again—going to miss my deadline, she told me with infinite patience that I needed to take the time I needed and stop stressing. She suggested that I stop pushing, and write something else. Anything else.So I turned back to my outline for Ready to Roll. And I started to write. Slowly. Painfully. And then slightly less slowly. Still not Suz-speed writing, but okay.In the course of writing RtoR, I met LT Peter “Grunge” Greene. And I thought, Hey. You’re interesting. What if I wrote YOUR book?Pete said, “Jesus. Don’t.”Izzy chimed in with, “It’s okay, man, I’ll be at your side.”And I thought, Hmmm.So I finished RtoR (still slowly), and immediately outlined Grunge’s book. I even wrote the first few chapters and sent it to my editor with a “How about I write something completely different?” note. She said, “Keep going.”So I did.And then, in late December last year, Bill, one of my best friends in the entire world was diagnosed with stage IV nonsmoking lung cancer. It was in his bones and brain, too. Ed and I rushed back to Massachusetts and suddenly writing or not writing was the least of my worries.Turns out Bill has a “good” mutation, and so far it’s responding well to a one-pill-a-day type chemo. We all know, though, that that could change at the drop of a hat. But really, we’re all moving into that uneasy part of life where we recognize that no, we’re not immortal after all…In March, Jason and his now-husband Matt got married in a gloriously awesome, long-planned destination wedding. But four days before Ed and I were set to fly to California, Ed had a 90% blocked coronary artery incident—and a life-saving stent-placement procedure. Again, writing or not-writing was the least of my worries. The wedding was beautiful and wonderful. Bill and his family were there, along with my parents and other family and friends. Matt’s family is amazing, and they ALL were there, too—and oh, how they adore Jason! I danced my ass off celebrating Jason and Matt’s love for each other—and Ed and his newly improved heart danced, too. The entire week was one of pure joy.And when we got back home, after the wedding, I sat down to look at Pete’s book—I was still just a few chapters in. But something clicked. And I started to write.And write and write and write.I finished that mofo in under two months.So, what’s next?I’m not sure. But I promise to keep you posted.
Love and hugs to all, and thank you, as always, for your friendship and support!