Hi everyone! Today I am so excited to welcome back the fabulous J.A. Rock to the blog. She is here as part of the The Big Gay Wedding Tour sponsored by a group of Loose Id authors releasing books as part of Loose Ids I Do…Unless I don’t collection. J.A.’s book is The Brat-tastic Jayk Parker, sequel to the fabulous Wacky Wednesday. She will be giving a copy away, so be sure to leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. Welcome J.A.!
Bad Grad Student: How P.G. Wodehouse Got Me Thinking Dirty
My second year of grad school, I had to read a P.G. Wodehouse novel for a class. Amazon had been recommending Wodehouse to me for years, pretty much every time I made a purchase. Insistently. HEY, WE REALLY THINK YOU WOULD LIKE P.G. WODEHOUSE. SERIOUSLY. THIS SHIT IS RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY, ROCK. And I kept saying, “One day. I’ll get to it one day.”
So school finally required me to get to it. I could list a lot of reasons I fell in love, but I think this quote from Right Ho, Jeeves will do:
“He looked like a pterodactyl with a secret sorrow.”
With that one line, I knew I’d found a writer to whom I could soul bond myself.
Wodehouse’s books are farces. They’re super-British and incredibly hilarious. The protagonist of the Jeeves series, Bertie Wooster, is hapless, jobless, kind of a dick but still somehow charming, and full of hare-brained schemes that get him into trouble. His butler, Jeeves, is entirely logical, highly intelligent, and capable of solving any problem. The real joy in Wodehouse is in the language. I’ll be reading, and a sentence like the one above will hit me so hard and suddenly that I’ll cackle and scare the dog.
It was during this semester, the semester of Wodehouse, that I got it in my head to try writing erotic romance. And one of the first ideas that occurred to me was the plot for Wacky Wednesday…about a hapless brat full of hare-brained schemes and the steadfast, levelheaded Dom who keeps him in check.
And about how they switch bodies, which has nothing to do with Wodehouse.
Okay, WW maybe has more direct parallels to Freaky Friday than to the Jeeves books, but Wodehouse is definitely an influence on the WW series, as is my theater background. I love the five-door farce. Love it. I want everybody all the time entering and exiting and dressing in disguises and lying and trying to cover up their lies and running in circles trailing thread until they’re all tied up in a big ball of craziness that someone has to unravel.
WW was my chance to dip my toe in those waters. The plot’s not too elaborate, the cast isn’t unmanageably large. I wanted a book that could be short and sweet, funny with some grounding moments. And then, once I’d dipped my toe in, I started thinking I might like to cannonball. With The Brat-tastic Jayk Parker, I got to explore more of that Wodehouse territory of mistaken identities, plans gone awry, “please won’t you do me this favor,” “don’t tell ANYONE about this,” gun in the first act must go off in the third, etc.
Except in this case it’s more of a bath brush in the first act.
The challenge lies in the balance of farce and realism. The grounding moments need to be there, because it’s romance and the characters come before plot. But this is a world where you can suspend some disbelief. Where things can get crazy out of control, but everything turns out okay. Getting to pull all the strings of the plot puppet was fun but also a challenge, because these characters need to make the worst choices possible—believably, and without readers thinking they’re totally stupid. It’s often about the distribution of information: who knows what about the situation at any given moment, and how can a character’s knowledge gaps be exploited so that he or she ends up compounding the problem through ignorance?
It’s a marvelous game to play as a writer, and I have to thank Wodehouse for inspiring me to try to play it. I should clarify here that I am not comparing myself to Wodehouse by any means—merely citing a much-loved influence. Maybe someday I can aspire to be the poor man/woman’s gay spanking sexy-time Wodehouse. And even that’ll be giving myself too much credit.
But I love to experiment as a writer, and it’s a pleasure to practice the game with two characters like Jayk and Amon, who can create, exacerbate, and ultimately fix any disaster.
And apologies, school, for what I did with my education.
The Brat-tastic Jayk Parker is part of The Big Gay Wedding Tour! This month, Loose Id is releasing its I Do…Unless I don’t collection, and several m/m authors have books coming out in the next two weeks. Join us as we tour the m/m romancesphere, talking about the books and giving away prizes. There will be big group giveaways at our last two stops as well.
The Books
June 4:
- Kate McMurray – Save the Date
- J.A. Rock – The Brat-tastic Jayk Parker
June 11:
- Cassandra Gold – Always a Groomsman
- Dev Bentham – Bread, Salt, and Wine
June 18:
- Dominique Frost – The Bitter Rednesses of Love
The Tour
- Joyfully Jay: 6/4
- Purple Rose Tea House: 6/5 and 6/12
- Flirty Author Bitches: 6/7
- Armchair Reader: 6/11 and 6/18
- Tara Lain 6/14 and 6/15
- Romance Lives Forever: 6/18
- Kay Berrisford 6/19-6/21
Giveaway
J.A. has brought a copy of the Brat-tastic Jayk Parker to give away to one lucky winner. The contest ends Friday June 7th at 11:59 pm so be sure to leave a comment to enter.
- By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- Winners will be selected by random number. No purchase necessary to win. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning.
- If you win, you must respond to my email within 48 hours or another winner may be chosen. Please make sure that your spam filter allows email from Joyfully Jay.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Readers may only enter once for each contest. Duplicate entries for the same giveaway will be ignored. In the event of technical problems with the blog during the contest, every effort will be made to extend the contest deadline to allow for additional entries.
- Void where prohibited by law.
So now I want to read both of these & I’m off to investigate Wodehouse. My TBR is truly out of control. I loved The Good Boy. Thank you for the post and the giveaway!
Hi Allison,
Thank you for stopping by. So glad you liked The Good Boy, and yes, check out Wodehouse! Too funny.
Yes, read both! Wacky Wednesday is fabulous and I just finished Brat-tastic and it is equally as good
I think I need to quit my job so I can read all the books! Ha, wish that was possible.
This sounds like an interesting premise. Please count me in.
Thanks for stopping by, Courtney.
Please count me in. Thanks!
Hi Gigi, thanks for participating.
This sounds interesting, so please put my name into the hat as well. Thanks
Thanks for coming by, Dianna!
Please count me in. Thanks.
Hi Karl. Thanks for stopping in.
Hmm maybe I really should read that one Wodehouse book – I think it’s from a library book sale … too many books to read and not enough time. And now my list just got longer by 2 books ..
So yes – please count me in.
Haha, I also had a Wodehouse book on my shelf from a library sale long before I had to read the book for school. I wish I’d read it sooner! Thanks for participating.
sounds very interesting, please count me in.
Thanks for stopping by, Erica.
I love Wodehouse, too, and manlove was the one thing his books were missing! Can’t wait…
Woohoo! Glad you feel the same. Thanks, Trix.
I loved Wacky Wednesday, so please count me in. I think it’s time for a Wodehouse reread too. Right Ho, Jeeves is available free from Project Gutenberg or from Amazon and probably other e-book vendors for anyone who wants to give him a try.
Thanks, Geri! You’re right, it is on Gutenberg.
I just saw this book in an email. It looks so good. I want to read the first one first though.
Thanks for stopping by, Debra.
Sounds great. Please count me in. Thanks!
Hi, Antonia. Thanks for coming by.
I discovered Wodehouse as a teenager, at the home of a family I babysat for. She was British, he was an artist, the boys were… FREAKING adorable & the sweetest kids ever. & they had the most amazing bookshelves full of the most amazing books. I’ve been amassing used paperbacks ever since (I think I have everything except most of the Blandings books, sadly — but what I don’t have in paperback I’ve -mostly- been able to find on Project Gutenberg).
Please oh please count me in! (Oh, and there goes the wishlist… again. Bloated like a tick! POP!)
Ooh, I’m missing the Blandings books as well. I’m really glad he was so prolific–there’s still plenty of his work I haven’t read yet. And I want your babysitting experience! My one go at it was not nearly so pleasant.
Thanks for participating!
I love the idea behind this one, and if it lives up to that, it should be a great read. Thanks for sharing with us, J.A.
Thanks for participating, Carolyn!
xD Please count me in!
This really sounds good. ooh~~ I need to get the first one now to get all in the mood. LOL
<3 thanks for the giveaway. I hope I can follow along the blog tour~
Judi
arella3173_loveless@yahoo(dot)com
Hi Judi, thanks for stopping by. We hope to see you on the rest of the tour!
Loved Wacky Wednesday!
Always found tv J&W with stephen Fry (Jeeves) and Hugh Laurie (Wooster) hilarious!
Yes! Author Katey Hawthorne introduced me to the series last year, and it’s delightful. Love me some Stephen Fry.
Please count me in. Thanks.
Thanks for coming by, Kim.
Sounds wonderful. Please add my name to the mix. Thank you.
Thanks for participating, H.B.
Thanks for the giveaway! Please count me in.
schan26 dot wisc at gmail dot com
Thanks for coming by, Cynthia.
Both books sound great and I want to read them.Please count me in,thank you.
Thanks for stopping by, Cornelia.
Oh yes, please count me in as this sounds awesome.
Thanks for participating, Nancy.
Hi, J.A.
This post definitely makes me want to check out your books.
Please count me in too,
Sue
Thanks, Sue. Glad you stopped by.
I’ve read Wacky Wednesday (and everything else you’ve written) and would love to read the sequel. I tried to buy it a few weeks ago but it hadn’t been released yet. Please count me in for this contest because I’d love to win the book.
Hi Andrea,
Thanks for participating, and I hope you enjoy it!
Please, please, please count me in, thank you….
Hi Loren, thanks for stopping by!
Being that you are a new to me author, I’d love to get the chance to read one of your books. Where should I start? Thanks for the chance at your giveaway!!!
~Rush~
Hi Rush! Hmm, where to start? Wacky Wednesday and Brat-tastic are lighter, as is Calling the Show, and the others are a bit darker. So depends what you’re in the mood for 🙂 Hope you enjoy if you do read, and thanks for participating!
Rush, I have reviewed all of them here and loved everything. My favorite is Calling the Show and it stands alone really well. It is definitely a good taste of J.A.’s lighter stuff. I also adored both WW and Brattastic, so they are a great set and also very light and funny. The Good Boy is fantastic, and a little bit on the heavier side, so a good choice if you want something a little more intense. But there are still lots of light moments. And By His Rules is amazing but very intense with some very dark moments that occur before the two heroes meet. Excellent story but a harder read, so you have to be in a really different mood.
If you want more thoughts, check out the reviews or feel free to email me.