This month's book club selection featured Accidents Happen by Comicfan. The story is a bit longer than our usual, but with 5 weeks to read it, I hope that everyone is ready to discuss! The most votes for our feature today was for an interview with Comicfan, so I hope you all enjoy learning a bit more about our resident prompt guru and Hosted author!

First, the hard stuff!

Who do you like best, Jerry or Tom?
I’m always rooting for Jerry.

Are you a person who makes their bed in the morning, or do you not see much point?
I need a nice neat bed. I make it every day and clean those sheets too.

Chocolate or Vanilla?
Oh God, of course chocolate. (my kinda man! lol)

What are you wearing?
A pair of blue shorts and an old grey shirt with the front cover of Superman from issue number one on it.

With a nickname like Comicfan, which comics are your favorite?
From the comic strips it is comics like Peanuts, Ziggy, and Garfield. If you are talking comic books well it is more like Justice League, Teen Titans, Flash, and of course Wonder Woman. (Ahh, now the shirt makes sense, lol Makes me wonder though... is he wearing shorts in the US sense or the British, )

Let's talk a bit about writing!

Do you have any writing rituals?
I like to get into comfortable clothes, put in some nice music and start to write. I can’t create though in silence. I need to be comfortable and relaxed.

Do your characters try to make like bunnies and create ever more convoluted plots for you? Or do you have to coax them out of your characters?
Okay, most of the time the stories are convoluted enough. I mean I don’t have space ships landing in the middle of an everyday story, but there are enough problems swirling around them to keep the story interesting and moving along. I never have to coax them, although I have tried to gag them to keep them quiet every now and then.

What sort of coffee would your characters order? Simple coffee, complicated soy-non-fat-extra-espresso-half-caff-nightmare?
Most of my characters are pretty straight forward. Light and sweet would be the drink choice. I rarely have a diva amongst mine.

Name one entity that you feel supported you outside of family members.
I have a very close knit group of friends that I met in college. They have supported me and offered another set of eyes on some of my projects over the years. It is basically because of that support I felt comfortable enough with my own work to begin to look for outlets for it. Thus, I finally began posting on GA.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?
I’ve been lucky to work with some really great people on the site. I am always open to learning from all of them, but I have worked most often with Renee Stevens. She has shown me a few things when writing.

Are there any new authors that have grasped your interest?
Considering I work on the prompts and help with the anthologies, I see a lot of new writers. Sometimes the prompts entice someone to finally venture forth and put out their first piece of writing here. I’ve enjoyed the works of Myiege, Joann, Kitt, and Never Surrender as they have all been active participants in the prompts. Hopefully people will read their work and encourage them to keep writing.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?
Like anyone else you will have people love and hate your work. I don’t know if I am rare or not, but I do post an email for people to contact me if they wish to. Knowing that others will not see a comment offers the reviewer a sense of privacy and sometimes they take advantage. I’ve been told by one person after they read End in the Beginning for an anthology that I write sentimental crap, with unbelievable dialogue, and I should consider just leaving the work to those who could write.

My response to that was The Escape of John Doe. It seemed to end the idea that I am just not able to write. I’ve also had someone write to me telling me that they enjoyed my stories and share them with their friends. Knowing my work is appreciated and shared makes writing them worth the rewrites, aggravation, and problems any writer faces when looking at a blank sheet of paper or screen.

What inspired you to write Accidents Happen?
Like the main character, Charlie, I was going through a lot of changes in my own life. I had just lost my mother the year before, while she was having heart surgery. My father’s health had taken a nose dive and I had just moved back to Long Island. I had found Gay Authors and been reading the works of many authors, but finally decided to I wanted to comment so I joined. After talking to some people in chat, I figured if I wanted to write again, this seemed to be a fairly supportive environment to do it.

So I began to think consider the last time my life had gone through so many changes and realized it was just as I was getting out of college. Within just a few minutes Charlie was born and I then wrote out a character sheet for Charlie and all the main characters. Wasn’t much longer till it began to appear each week and while not perfect, at least it was well accepted by those here at GA.

Whew! Comicfan answered a lot of questions. Thank you so much! I appreciate you letting us in and telling us more about yourself. Now let's share some of that feedback all authors love so much. If you enjoyed reading Accident's Happen, let him know. Share you thoughts, a review, or questions for Comicfan.

If you haven't had a chance to read the story yet, check it out here.

Options for October:
In the Shadow of the Dragon
Skeletons of the Future
Marcus and the Slave
Wrangler Butts
Don't forget to vote for your reading choice!