Today I am so pleased to welcome Joe Cosentino back to Joyfully Jay. Joe is here to talk to us about his new release, The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland. He has also brought along a giveaway! Please join me in giving Joe a big welcome!

Interview with Prince Charming, the naked prince

 

You look pretty amazing on the left side of the book cover. Are you really that gorgeous?

Gorgeous and charming, hence my name. And pretty wealthy too. After all, I’m the prince. And I wear royal, form-fitting clothes, and live in a palace. But once I met Cinder, I realized there’s more to life than good looks, a strapping princely build, wearing royal garb, and living in grandeur with servants honoring my every whim. That leads to lots of humor, drama, conflict, and a perfect ending for us.

 

How did you get so buff?

From archery, fencing, and of course riding my royal stallion.

 

Why haven’t we seen a gay prince in mainstream fairytales or movies?

As a kid Joe’s older sister read him fairytales in bed every night before sleep. He was completely entranced by the beautiful stories of peasants becoming princes and princesses and finding true love. The gorgeous locations, wit, wonder, drama, and happy endings filled his young mind like beans in a counting jar. Joe wanted to live in those palaces, meet the charming princes, and bring financial equality to those kingdoms. Later as an adult, he wrote musical plays for professional theatre companies (Interborough Repertory Theater, Pegasus Productions, and TSF Productions) that toured to young audiences. Many of them were based on fairytales like Princess and the Pea, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, Aladdin, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Joe recently reread many of his cherished fairytales, and he was saddened to see no openly gay characters in any of them! So he asked himself, ‘Why aren’t there any gay people in fairyland? Why couldn’t a peasant boy fall in love with a handsome prince—like me? Wouldn’t a tired, hungry, homeless blond boy seek refuge in a house with three bears? What was Pinocchio’s growing appendage trying to tell him? Did Jack enjoy his time with the Giant more than he let on? Could the Snow Queen be a handsome, frigid prince? What’s the good of fairy dust without any fairies?’ Miraculously I and the other characters in The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland were born in four humorous, romantic, adventurous, touching, and magically gay tales from Fairyland. How lucky am I to star in the first tale!

 

What are the stories about?

“The Naked Prince” is a different take on the Cinderella story. Cinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods who turns out to be none other than me, Prince Charming. Will Cinder and I confront our manipulative mothers, bring equality to the kingdom, find ourselves, and find one another? I can give you a hint. We are still living happily ever after together in Fairyland. In “The Golden Rule,” when he is caught with nimble Jack, eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden is thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents. With nowhere else to go, he breaks into the home of three men living on Bear Mountain. Bo and Butch enjoy having a young roommate, but Ben isn’t convinced. Will Gideon and Ben make vinegar or honey? “Whatever Happened To … ?” takes place on Christmas Eve. A reporter living on Andersen Lane interviews a celebrity for the Queen Newspaper series, “What Ever Happened To … .” Friction ensues between the celebrity with the growing appendage who can’t tell fact from fiction, and the reporter who has a thing for giants. Eventually a romantic spark is lit between the two as Christmas Day arrives, and they realize they have more in common than living in Fairyland. Finally in “Ice Cold,” after losing their families during the great ice storm in the northernmost kingdom of Fairyland, young Gaelen and Kieran pledged their love for one another. When Isidore rides into Frost Village on his elaborate sleigh, Kieran follows the handsome prince to his castle in Arctic Kingdom, where Kieran becomes Isidore’s bewitched slave. This leads Gaelen on an amazing adventure to find his true love and melt his frozen heart. All four stories are terrific, but I like mine and Cinder’s best.

 

Who is your favorite character in THE NAKED PRINCE AND OTHER TALES FROM FAIRYLAND, besides yourself?

Cinder is so sweet, caring, warm, and wonderful. That’s him on the right on the cover. How lucky I was to find him. It was truly love at first sight when we met in the woods and later at the palace ball.

 

Will you be starring in more of Joe Cosentino’s books?

While I’m the first prince, Joe has a soft spot for writing about handsome, muscular, charming, gay young men in funny, romantic, touching, and theatrical stories. If you haven’t yet, also check out AN INFATUATION, A SHOOTING STAR, and A HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS from Dreamspinner Press. If you like mysteries, don’t miss out on DRAMA QUEEN and DRAMA MUSCLE Nicky and Noah Amazon bestselling mysteries from Lethe Press. And Joe told me he is working on a new series about a gay resort at the New Jersey shore, COZZI COVE: BOUNCING BACK and COZZI COVE: MOVING FORWARD coming soon from Nine Star Press. I wonder, is the New Jersey shore anything like Fairyland? Joe tells me it is quite different, but equally magically.

 

How can your readers contact you?

Joe will get any messages to me. He loves to hear from readers. It gives him a break from hearing from characters like me. They can contact him at: http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com.


Excerpt

I couldn’t help but notice the dazzling twinkle in his eyes and the bulge growing between his legs. I could tell he was enjoying checking me out too. “Are you telling me the truth?”

“No. I was lying… about the blue wand.”

People whom I had interviewed had lied to me in the past, but none of them came out and told me they were lying, especially in such a direct and, I’ll admit it, captivating manner. “Why?”

“Why did I fabricate the blue wand?”

I nodded.

He took another sip of eggnog, which left a charming white mustache over his upper lip. I watched in curiosity as he slowly and sensuously licked it off. “I told you. It’s my father’s fault that I lie”

I felt my dark eyes cloud over. “It’s your father’s fault that you lie?”

He nodded and his hair fell over his forehead. I felt as if I were going mad, stopping my fingers from touching it.

“My father created me. In an Italian family, the father is the boss.”

I was confused but taken with this tantalizing man who seemed so self-confident and at the same time so in need of affection. “Let’s take a step back. What happens just before you start to tell a lie?”

“My nose itches, and it feels like it’s going to get bigger.” He blushed. “But something else gets bigger instead.”

“How do you feel after you tell a lie?”

He thought a moment. “First it feels really good, like I’m building up to something wonderful. I explode… but then I feel guilty.”

I noticed I was also sporting an erection. Pinocchio noticed it too, and it seemed to please him. I crossed my legs. “And this is your father’s fault because…?”

“After I ran away, he never found me. So I had to find him.” He spoke as if every word out of his mouth was totally logical and above reproach.

As he looked up at me, I had difficulty concentrating on anything other than those two pools of clear blue. “Where did you find your father?”

“I’m sure you’ve heard the story.”

“I’d like to hear it from you.”

He seemed to enjoy my fascination with him. “I found Dad in the belly of a whale, during my near-death experience, when I rescued him.”

Again I noticed the twinkle in his eyes and the bulge growing ever larger in his shorts. “Are you lying again?” I asked.


Blurb

The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland by Joe Cosentino, published by Dreamspinner Press, cover art by Paul RichmondCinder, a poor and beautiful young man who designs clothing, makeup, and hair for his stepmother and stepsisters, offers his clothing and slippers to a naked stranger in the woods who turns out to be none other than Prince Charming. Follow Cinder and Prince Charming in this twist on the classic “Cinderella” tale, as they discover their inner strengths and find their very own happily ever after. Enjoy “The Naked Prince” and three other reimagined Tales from Fairyland, each with a unique spin on stories we all know and love, including “The Golden Rule,” where eighteen-year-old Gideon Golden, after being thrown out of his home in Fairyland by his homophobic parents, breaks into the cottage of three burly men on Bear Mountain, “Whatever Happened To…?,” in which friction ensues between a celebrity with a growing appendage and the reporter who has a thing for giants, and “Ice Cold,” where young Gaelen must save his love Kieran after a handsome but evil prince freezes Kieran’s heart and bewitches him into being the prince’s slave.


Bio

Joe Cosentino at a book signing for Drama Queen (the first Nicky and Noah mystery published by Lethe Press) at Barnes & Nobles BooksellersAmazon Bestselling author Joe Cosentino wrote An Infatuation, A Shooting Star, A Home for the Holidays, The Naked Prince and Other Tales from Fairyland (Dreamspinner Press), Drama Queen the first Nicky and Noah mystery (Lethe Press), Drama Muscle the second Nicky and Noah mystery (Lethe Press), Paper Doll the first Jana Lane mystery (Whiskey Creek Press), and The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, Charles Keating, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming releases are Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back, Cozzi Cove: Moving Forward (Nine Star Press) and Porcelain Doll the second Jana Lane mystery (Wild Rose Press releasing March 15). http://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com


Giveaway

An Infatuation by Joe Cosentino published by Dreamspinner Press Joe has brought a copy of An Infatuation (published by Dreamspinner Press) to give away to one lucky reader. Just leave a comment at the end of the post to enter. The contest ends on Tuesday, February 9th at 11:59 pm EST.

  • By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
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