Just a little background on Johnny, he has been writing gay erotica since 1985. After a long break, where he experimented with different careers – from graphic designer, to massage therapist, and a brief interlude with the adult industry – Johnny eventually got back to writing with a “it's now or never attitude.” He's self-published several erotic titles, as well as a dramatic work that focuses on the power of words and the damage they can cause. Johnny's also had three e-books published by Loose Id, the latest being LEARNING TO SAMBA, released August 16, 2011.
He's currently editing THE ROSAS OF SPANISH HARLEM, a trashy, smutty, yet romantic love story of a young cross dresser who discovers that you can find what you're looking for, even if it doesn't always look like what you anticipated.
He's also working on his next gay romance, HAVE BUCKET, WILL TRAVEL, a light, fun piece about a young man who starts his own cleaning business after losing one of his biggest scholarships, then winds up falling in love with one of his clients.
WHAT WE ARE DRINKING
Mojitos
10 fresh mint leaves
4 wedges of lime (half a lime)
2 tbs sugar
Smash in the bottom of the glass with a muddler
Fill glass with ice
Add 1 1/2 ox white rum and top off with club soda
Deanna: Jeesh, its a damn good thing you brought a pitcher!!! I don;t think I could make these one by one once I get my drink on! LOL
Now, without further ado, Johnny...Where are you and what are you wearing?
Johnny: I'm in bed, wearing a fresh, clean white tee-shirt and red silk boxers. (((extends legs and crosses them at the ankles)))
Deanna: Well, aren't you sexy...and me in my jeans and frumpkin t-shirt!!! So these mojitos, they are your poison, eh?
Johnny: I'm afraid I don't know how to make then, but I love Mojitos. It's a citrussy drink and very refreshing for these hot and humid South Florida days. I see you made a batch. A few of these babies and you won't give a damn about the heat.
Deanna: (((pours a round))) Don't mind if I do! Now that we’re comfy, I want you to tell me about your new book. BTW,I have to say you made me cry, dammit, and I hate to cry. LOL, but all kidding aside, LEARNING TO SAMBA was a real tear jerker!!! I didn't expect that, but I loved it! It was so beautiful! Bravo!
Johnny: For what it's worth, I am sorry you cried.
Deanna: (((holds up her glass in a toast)))DO NOT BE SORRY!, you goof! That means the writing was great and i cared about your characters. :) Who knew...a sweet, tear jerker, D/s story....but I digress...LEARNING TO SAMBA...you were saying?
Johnny: (((takes sip))) Ah, yes. LEARNING TO SAMBA. The book is about the things we lose alone the way and what we can gain by letting go. Brian Oliver, a romance novelist widowed seven years, returns home to reconnect with his sister and falls in love with João da Silva, a 25-year-old Brazilian bombshell who teaches Brian how to love again. It's about passion and lust, family and acceptance, sprinkled with some kinky sex throughout; rather explicit actually. There's voyeurism, exhibitionism, restraints and several other buttons that are pushed.
Deanna: But all done so romantically!!! Seriously!! (((refills their drinks...has no clue she has a mint leaf in her teeth)))
Johnny: Thanks, Deanna! I think ultimately the reader will get out of it what they wish, obviously. For me, however, it's also a huge love affair with one of my favorite cities in the world, the possibilities life can bring and learning to love yourself.
Deanna: Where did the idea for this story come from?
Johnny: Kayla Jameth posted a picture in her Facebook group “Inspired Writing.” The picture spoke to me for some reason and I couldn't shake the feelings it invoked until I started writing what was coming. I suppose the Muse just wanted to play with me.
Deanna: And look who I found! João!!!
Johnny: That's him!
Deanna: I can even see the little veins on his abdomen you described in your books...if i squint....funny how pics can become so real to us writers!
Johnny: I know, right? But....I just can't do this any longer...(((points at his teeth))) you have something...just there..
Deanna: (((pulls the mint leaf from her teeth))) Well, shit! Guess I'll just stick to the plain rum. You can drink the rest of the pitcher.
Johnny: (((grins as he pours himself a double))) Don't mind if I do!
Deanna: (((tosses back the straight booze))) What was the hardest part of writing this story for you?
Johnny: I think the hardest thing about writing this particular story was having to imagine myself without my life partner of 15 years. In order to make the story more real, to understand what Brian was experiencing, I had to force myself to look at the possibility that I could lose the only other person I love more than my mother. The man I'd lay down my life for. I saw myself calling his parents, his friends, our friends. I saw myself going through his things and getting rid of them. It broke my heart.
Deanna: Jeez, babe, no wonder the book made me cry! You really bore your heart!
Johnny: I know it was just an “imagining” – I mean, he was with me every night – but it was no less difficult because I just can't imagine my life without him. (((takes a huge gulp of Mojito)))
Deanna: (((wipes at her eyes, not sure if its her sentimentality she tries to pretend not to have or the rum))) Oh stop!!!! Lets get back on track, or I might blubber!!! What’s the easiest thing about writing this book?
Johnny: I'd have to say that the easiest thing about writing LEARNING TO SAMBA was that I based it where I was born and raised; Brooklyn, New York. The infrastructure was already there. The Big Apple has millions of untold stories. This just happened to be one of them.
Deanna: I could tell the setting came from experience. I loved all the rich layers about the city. I felt like I was there! Now, what is your dream story, your opus, if you will? The one you dream about writing but haven’t don’t it?
Johnny: Hmmm. I don't know that I can share that one yet because I'm going to attempt it and don't want anything leaking out. At least, not that anyway. (((wicked grin)))
Deanna: (((swats his arm))) Oh you are naughty! Here (((tops his glass off with straight rum))))You're not drunk enough, yet!
Johnny: You are quite the alcohol pusher, aren't you?
Deanna: (((shrugs))) Calories don't count at the cyber bar! Tell, me Mr. Miles, when did you first discover you were a writer? Were you like sitting on the toilet and just said, “Ya know, I think I’m gonna write a book.” Or was it more profound?
Johnny: (((spits drink out his m=nose))) LMAO! Thanks for making me spit my drink up. OMFG! What a waste of alcohol. Now who's gonna suck this all up?
Deanna: I could get my dog, but she prefers beer. Guess you have to sit there all wet and glisteny in your red silk boxers (((wicked grin)))
Johnny: All licking aside, it feels like I've known I was a writer a very long time. I just never really did a whole lot about it. I mean, I wrote porn stories back in the '80s but they were the only things that were published.
Deanna: (((raises her glass in a toast after refilling Johnny's glass))) Here's to porn!!!
Johnny: (((clanks glasses, shaking his head))) You're not right.
Deanna: I know, I hear that all the time
Johnny: Everything else I have written, the “legit” stuff, has never seen the light of day. However, the funny thing is that most of my life, I've sent stories out and always got rejected. I don't have a very strong ego. I'm easily discouraged and immediately start believing that I'm no good. So, when I was laid off two and a half years ago, I'd pretty much decided I was going to give my “dream” one last shot. I'd decided that if it didn't work this time, I would give up. I mean, to keep dreaming something for more than 30 years and hanging on to the possibility when it was likely I'd choke? Not wise. Sooner or later you have to give up certain dreams and find others. However, I'm grateful to the Universe, or whatever is out there, because it stuck. This time, it really happened and I've never been happier. I'm not looking back and I'm going to keep on writing until my fingers can't move anymore.
Deanna: What helps you when you are stumped on a scene in a manuscript? I usually have a cocktail … or three…LOL But that’s just me.
Johnny: (((pours another Mojito...which is mostly rum by now... and takes a slurp))) Yeah, I'm with ya, doll. Want another one?
Deanna: (((holds out her glass))) Does the Pope shit in the woods?
Johnny: Don't you mean a bear?
Deanna: Nope....he's the Pope he can shit wherever he damn well pleases!
Johnny: (((laughing))) How about a stiff one?
Deanna: Fill 'er up, hoss!
Johnny: There ya go. A good stiff one never hurt anyone. Much.
Seriously, though? I try to step back from what I'm doing and ask myself why I'm stuck. I ask myself, what don't I like that's keeping the story from moving forward or taking it down a path that doesn't make sense? Did the characters make a decision I don't like? Did they meet someone who will pull them away from the path? Am I being safe in the events happening to the characters? Am I taking risks? Are they? Usually, something has just gone terribly wrong and I either have to go back and review what I'm unhappy about that doesn't make sense, or I step away and leave the story alone. That's not easy to do, sometimes it can take a while. So, I clean house, pay bills (yes, they frequently go unpaid because I forget to)
Deanna: (((sits up excitedly))) Oh my god! I do that too! I thought I was the only flake writer!
Johnny: Nope! You're in good company. (((clinks glasses))) Sometimes I just do something else that takes my mind off the problem at hand with my latest book. But when that block blows, watch out! It's like racing for the john cause you really gotta pee or you'll wind up pissing yourself; which is a totally different fetish I'm not sure I want to explore at the moment.
Deanna: (((spits up drink))) Sorry, Johnny! Just was having a moment where I am seeing a musical number about dancing in golden showers.....I swear to god, whoever is the first to guess the name of that movie I will give away a free copy of one of my books.....LOLJohnny: Do I get to guess?
Deanna: Sure, why not....drip drop, drippity drop! But only if you answer my next question!
Johnny: Deal!
Deanna: Most of my stories have a theme song, do you do that for your characters?? If so what is it?
Johnny: That, I'm afraid, I don't. Which is interesting because I listen to a lot of music when I write. The only one that I suppose had a theme song, if you will, was LAUDERDALE HEARTS. I kept hearing Bette Midler's “Do You Want To Dance” over and over and that's how the ending came about actually. I played that song repeatedly until the final scene was done!
Deanna: (((eyes him sternly))) Bette Midler? Oh Johnny, so cliche!!! But I love it! Now tell us about a scene that you have written then afterwards, when you read it, you shocked yourself? You know I want a dirty answer (((hint hint)))
Johnny: I'd have to say that the scene that really shocked me was the scene in LEARNING TO SAMBA, which takes place in the men's room of a Manhattan restaurant with Brian and João. I can't tell you more than that but I will confess I had a hard-on throughout the entire scene. (((takes a long, savory gulp)))
Deanna: You old dog!!!! I love it! And I always say, if you don;t get hot from the sex scene you are writint...YOU AIN'T DOING IT RIGHT!!!!
Now all you readers out there, If you wanna find out more about Johnny, you can check out his links here:
LooseId
Johnny Miles
Blog
Yahoo Groups
And you can buy his books, here:
Lauderdale Hearts
Learning to Samba
Casa Rodrigo
Deanna: Thanks so much for coming to the cyber blog today...in your undies...and telling us a little bit about yourself and your latest book!
Johnny: Thanks for having me Deanna! I hope you enjoyed the Mojitos.
Deanna: They were great! Tell your 'bartender' thanks for sending along a pitcher!
Johnny: Will do! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go and…uh…thank my bartender. Yeah. That's it. Thank him.
Deanna: Yeah right.....
