Today I am so pleased to welcome Jacob Z. Flores to Joyfully Jay. Jacob has come to talk to us about his latest release, Being True. He has also brought along an amazing giveaway! Please join me in giving Jacob a big welcome!

Characters from Being True Interview Their Author, Jacob Z. Flores

Hi, everyone. My name is Jacob Z. Flores, and I’m thrilled to be back here at Joyfully Jay. I just love it here so much. Every time I visit, Jay parades around her best boys in tight tank tops and shorts, and one somehow always finds his way back to my place. I don’t know how that happens! [Because you STEAL them! Sigh.]

So besides being here to steal, um, talk to Jay’s hunks of man flesh, I’m also here to promote Being True, my latest release from Dreamspinner. This book is a sweet coming of age romance between Tru Cobbler, the awkward new kid, and Javi Castillo, the hot, popular jock with a kind heart.

To help introduce you to the MCs of this novel, I thought it might be fun to sit down with Tru and Javi and let them interview me. Before I surrender all control to them, here’s the story blurb to give you a bit of information on the characters.

Blurb:

Truman L. Cobbler has not had an easy life. It’s bad enough people say he looks like Donkey from Shrek, but he’s also suffered the death of his policeman father and his mother’s remarriage to a professional swindler, who cost them everything. Now dirt poor, they live in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. When Tru transfers to an inner-city high school halfway through his senior year, he meets Javi Castillo, a popular and hot high school jock. Javi takes an immediate liking to Tru, and the two become friends. The odd pairing, however, rocks the school and sets the cliquish social circles askew. No one knows how to act or what to think when Mr. Popular takes a stand for Mr. Donkey. Will the cliques rise up to maintain status quo and lead Tru and Javi to heartbreak and disaster or will being true to who they are rule the day?

Okay, now that you have some background information, I’m turning over the keyboard to the boys.

Tru: Hello, Mr. Flores. Thanks again for sitting down with Javi and me today.

Jacob: You’re welcome, Tru, but please call me Jacob.

Tru: (frowning) I don’t know if I can. You’re an adult and a teacher too. Calling you by your first name seems disrespectful.

Javi: I’ll call you Jacob. (nudging Tru) Lighten up. We’re here to interview our author not wait for a root canal.

Tru: I’ve never had a root canal. Unlike you I brush regularly.

Javi: Hey, I brush!

Tru: (grinning) Just not regularly. You ate two bowls of popcorn and almost an entire bowl of candy during our zombie movie marathon and afterward you went straight to sleep. No brushing. No flossing.

Javi: I was tired. Six hours of blood and gore took it out of me.

Tru: And how many cavities have you had?

Javi: (glancing at me) How about we start the interview?

Tru: How about you answer my question?

Javi: (sticking his tongue out at Tru before turning to me) So, Jacob, I noticed that your previous books were very different from this one. You’ve written about three guys falling in love, which sound weird to me but whatever. You’ve also had books about angels and demons, guys partying it up in Provincetown, which sounds like a cool place to visit by the way, and a novel that kinda reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 that we read in English class. Our novel is very different from what you’ve done before. How come?

Tru: Ooh. Good question.

Javi: I know, right? I’m more than just a jock. (He crosses his eyes and sticks out his tongue) Me has a brain too.

Tru: (sighing) You can’t be serious for very long, can you?

Javi: (wiggling his bushy eyebrows) Life’s too short to always be serious. That’s why I’m always telling you to lighten up.

Tru: We’ve talked about this, I—

Jacob: Do you mind if I answer the question?

Tru: (blushing) Of course, Mr. Flores. Sorry about that. Javi and I sometimes forget that other people are around when we’re together.

Jacob: So I’ve noticed. (To Javi) But to answer your question, this novel is a bit different from my others. After I finished the Provincetown Series, I had a period of time where I didn’t know what to write. My muse had either gone silent or I had so much going on in my personal life I couldn’t hear him through the windstorm.

Tru: I hate to interrupt, but the mythological muses were women not men.

Jacob: You’re right but my muse is a man.

Tru: How is that possible? Zeus and Mnemosyne only had nine daughters. I can list them for you if you’d like. There’s Calliope, Clio,—

Javi: (arching his eyebrow at Tru before looking at me) This is your fault. You made him this way. Did you have to make him such a brainiac?

Tru: —Erato, Euterpe—

Jacob: Tru, I’m not debating the point. I’m just saying that my muse is a man.

Tru: But that’s not possible.

Jacob: Some would say that the idea of invisible deities such as the gods is not possible as well. Can we just take it on faith that I know my muse better than anyone and he is a man?

Tru: (sighing) If you say so. (under his breath) Even though it’s not in any way possible.

Jacob: As I was saying, after my Provincetown Series, I had no idea what to write and one day, I started thinking about my high school life. I can’t remember why really, but there was this boy who I had a crush on. Oh my, he was a hottie. And as I reminisced about our times together as friends, I thought, what would have happened if he had been gay too. Would we have gotten together? How would we have handled that in high school and how would our friends have reacted? And that was how Being True was born.

Tru: So this novel is based on an alternate version of your life then?

Jacob: I guess you could say that.

Javi: That would mean parts of this book are based in part on your real life experiences?

Jacob: Somewhat.

Tru: (studying me) Didn’t you go to Burbank High School in San Antonio just like Javi and I do?

Jacob: Well, yes.

Tru: And if I remember correctly, you lived in the barrio, had a single mother who worked hard to raise you, and made some pretty good grades.

Jacob: That would be true as well.

Tru: Am I supposed to be you?

Jacob: To an extent, yes. Your character represents how I saw myself for many years. The outcast, the loser, the smart boy no one really liked.

Javi: That’s awful.

Jacob: It is, and that’s mostly because I never really knew who I was and that’s where you and I differ, Tru. Despite everything you’ve been through, you’ve always been true to who you are. That was a lesson I had to learn, and it took me many years to learn it.

Javi: (jumping up and yelling) OH MY GOD!

Tru: (wincing) Good Lord, Javi. You scared the bejesus out of me. No more caffeine for you.

Javi: Sorry, but I just realized something. If Tru is you, then that means I’m supposed to be the boy you had a crush on, right?

Jacob: (blushing) Maybe.

Javi: (laughing) I knew it! (wiggling his eyebrows) So does this mean you have a crush on me?

Jacob: (blushing even redder) Well since Tru is based on me, I think the answer is obvious.

Javi: Awww!

Tru: So since I’m pretty close to being you, that must mean Javi is pretty close to being this guy? Was he a baseball player too who everyone on campus loved?

Jacob: Maybe.

Tru: (looking at Javi) That means yes.

Javi: (nodding) How about I change the direction of our questions?

Jacob: Please do.

Javi: You said that unlike Tru you had to learn how to be true to yourself. Is that what you want readers of this book to learn? How to be true to themselves?

Jacob: Yes. Being true to who we are is important to our growth, no matter when that happens, and it’s a lesson many people in the book learn. There are so many characters who are simply playing the part life has handed to them or reacting against the roll of the die instead of simply being who they are. When we embrace and love ourselves, anything is possible.

Tru: I couldn’t agree more. One final question before we go. I have to admit I was surprised at how you ended the book. I won’t give anything away, but why did you decide to close out the novel that way?

Jacob: Honestly, you and Javi made that decision for me.

Javi: We did?

Jacob: (nodding) I had a completely different ending in mind when I started writing the book, but after creating your world, I just had to end the book the way I did. I think it gives the reader hope. Plus, it also leaves the book open to a follow up book.

Javi: I’d love to be a series.

Jacob: How did I know you were going to say that?

Tru: Well, thank you, Mr. Fl—. I mean, Jacob. We’ve enjoyed sitting down and talking to you.

Jacob: Thank you. It’s been a pleasure. I hope to see you boys again soon.

Javi: Like in a series!

Jacob: (laughing) You never know.

Before I go, I want to thank everyone who stopped by today. I had a blast. I also want to thank Jay for allowing me back and for always turning the other cheek when she loses another man servant.

For those interested, I have included an excerpt below. Additionally, as part of my blog tour I’m hosting a giveaway.

 

You can buy Being True here: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5440

And I urge readers to visit me at any or all of my social media sites:


Excerpt

“Take it easy,” Javi said. He placed his hand on my chest and gently nudged me back onto the grass. The weight of his hand sent shivers across my flesh. “You still look a little shaky.”

That was no lie. My breathing had increased, and my blood pounded in my ears. If I tried to stand now, I’d likely resemble a newly born fawn unable to find his footing. But it wasn’t the fall that had caused these reactions. It was Javi.

For a few moments, I said nothing, and neither did he. He sat cross-legged in the grass, gazing around the neighborhood. Every now and then, a car passed by. Sometimes, the driver honked and shouted a greeting at Javi, who raised his hand and waved in reply. Javi’s popularity apparently followed him beyond the hallowed halls of Burbank High, which wasn’t all that surprising.

But while Javi studied his surroundings, I simply watched him. His long onyx hair fluttered about his forehead whenever the humid September breeze stirred the early-evening air. Every time, he heard a bird chirp, he’d scan the trees and whistle back. Sometimes he’d receive a response and carry on a conversation with his new feathery friend. And the whole time, a big, cheesy grin lit up his face. As if speaking bird was the coolest thing he’d done all day.

“Are you a bird whisperer or something?”

Javi laughed before tearing his gaze from the cardinal he’d been chatting with in a neighboring pecan tree. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve just always been able to mimic birdcalls. Just one of my stupid childhood talents I’ve never outgrown.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid,” I said as I sat up. “It’s neat.”

“My friends don’t think so. They used to give me a hard time about it. So I really don’t do it as much as I used to when I was a kid.”

“That sucks.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, but what can you do? High school’s tough enough without being known as the weird bird boy.”

I couldn’t help but stare at Javi as if a third eye had suddenly opened in the middle of his forehead.

“What’s that look for?” he asked.

“I find it hard to believe that high school, much less anything, would be tough for you.”

Javi’s eyes caught mine. “Yeah, well, you’d be surprised.” The confident, carefree boy I’d met earlier today vanished almost entirely even though his half grin still blazed a trail across his lips. The guy who sat next to me now seemed lost and alone. The smile couldn’t hide that. But as suddenly as some unseen barrier had fallen, it immediately rebuilt itself. The lighthearted sparkle returned to his gaze before he glanced away and surveyed the trees again.

“You never answered my question.”

“What question is that?” he asked before sending a bird whistle out to the neighborhood and receiving another enthusiastic reply.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, that’s a silly question. I live around here.”

“I’d already guessed that,” I said. “What are you doing here with me?”

Javi danced his bushy eyebrows across his lightly tanned forehead. He wrapped his sculpted arms around his knees and pulled them to his chest. Although he still wore his baseball shirt from class that morning, he’d abandoned his jeans for gym shorts. “Now you’ve gone from silly to strange. I’m here because you almost killed yourself. First with the train, and then when you learned you couldn’t fly over the rock you hit on the other side.”

“I don’t understand why you care,” I admitted. No one outside my family had ever showed this much interest in my well-being. Why was Javi taking the time to be nice to a loser like me?

“Jeez, kid,” he said. When he raised his hand, I flinched. I’d grown accustomed to quick hand gestures ending in a punch to the face or gut. I certainly hadn’t been prepared for Javi to rub my shoulder. “You must be having a really tough time, huh?”

Tears welled in my eyes again. This time, it wasn’t because I was in pain or being bullied. They were falling because someone had finally noticed me.


Blurb

Being TrueTruman L. Cobbler has not had an easy life. It’s bad enough people say he looks like Donkey from Shrek, but he’s also suffered the death of his policeman father and his mother’s remarriage to a professional swindler, who cost them everything. Now dirt poor, they live in the barrio of San Antonio, Texas. When Tru transfers to an inner-city high school halfway through his senior year, he meets Javi Castillo, a popular and hot high school jock. Javi takes an immediate liking to Tru, and the two become friends. The odd pairing, however, rocks the school and sets the cliquish social circles askew. No one knows how to act or what to think when Mr. Popular takes a stand for Mr. Donkey. Will the cliques rise up to maintain status quo and lead Tru and Javi to heartbreak and disaster or will being true to who they are rule the day?


Bio

Jacob Z. FloresJacob Z. Flores lives a double life. During the day, he is a respected college English professor and mid-level administrator. At night and during his summer vacation, he loosens the tie and tosses aside the trendy sports coat to write man on man fiction, where the hard ass assessor of freshmen level composition turns his attention to the firm posteriors and other rigid appendages of the characters in his fictional world.

Summers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, provide Jacob with inspiration for his fiction. The abundance of barely clothed man flesh and daily debauchery stimulates his personal muse. When he isn’t stroking the keyboard, Jacob spends time with his husband, Bruce, their three children, and two dogs, who represent a bright blue blip in an otherwise predominantly red swath in south Texas.

You can follow Jacob’s musings on his blog at http://jacobzflores.com or become a part of his social media network by visiting http://www.facebook.com/jacob.flores2, https://twitter.com/JacobZFlores, or http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5142501.Jacob_Z_Flores.


Giveaway

Jacob is offering up an amazing tour wide giveaway for one lucky reader –  a Sony Nook!  Just follow the Rafflecopter link below to enter. 

Rafflecopter giveaway

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