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Are you dying in the weather where you are? It's well over 100 here, so I'm hiding indoors. What better way to beat the heat than enjoy my interview with Marty and discuss his story, Misunderstood, featured in this month's CSR? I could use some cold, even if it's just reading about it! Chocolate or Vanilla? I'm going to assume you are referring to ice cream here. So, if that's the only choice I am being given, I would have to choose vanilla (although raspberry would be my first preference). If you were an animal, what would you be? Apart from being a member of the animal species Homo sapiens? That's a difficult one, if only because it's something I've never really thought about before. I have no idea why, but I'm going to choose a unicorn as my answer to this question. What do you like to do when you’re not writing? I'm an avid reader and also really enjoying gardening. I think both of those have helped me keep sane during the past sixteen months or so of extended lockdowns due to Covid-19. I am also a keen amateur photographer, and love hill-walking and mountaineering. Unfortunately, due to travel restrictions, I haven't been able to get out on the hills and mountains much during the pandemic. Another of my favourite things is travel, particularly foreign travel, and that is something I am really looking forward to being able to do again as the restrictions start to ease. What’s the best part of being an author? That moment when characters suddenly take on a life of their own, and the words just seem to flow. Which is your favourite story that you’ve written? If you check my stories on GA you will see that I have very few actual completed stories to choose from. If I were forced to choose a favourite from all of them, I think I would have to choose my flash piece I Could Manage The Days from my story collection entitled: Marty's Shorts and Flashes. Part of the reason for choosing this is the fact that it came to me as a sudden flash of inspiration, and took less than fifteen minutes to actually write. Another thing I like about it is that the fact it is written from the first person singular POV, which leaves many readers wondering just what really happened right at the end. If I am allowed to include my poetry in my list of stories here on GA, my answer to this question would likely have been To All The Boys I've Loved from my poetry collection. This is one I struggled with for quite a while, mainly because the format I was originally trying just didn't seem to be working out. I was writing it for another online site that had a poetry anthology with the theme Lost Love, and I was originally trying to come up with a gay version of And A Bang On The Ear by The Waterboys. After many false starts, and finding myself getting absolutely nowhere apart from having lots of ideas for the various verses, I gave up on the Waterboys, and suddenly the poem seemed to write itself. What appeals to you most about the friends to lovers genre? I wouldn't say that I have any particular attraction to the friends to lovers theme, apart from the fact that it seems to be a common trope in a lot of gay fiction. How did you pick the setting for Misunderstood? The second level school that I taught in, in the North of England back in the 1970s and 80s, had an Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Snowdonia. Hence the location for the story, and partially the time period chosen. However, I also chose that time period to explain at least part of the reason why Simon was having difficulty coming out. Homosexuality had only been decriminalised in England and Wales for five years at that time, the law that decriminalised it still imposed lots of restrictions, and there was still a lot of misunderstanding, misinformation, and homophobia about at the time. The main reason for choosing a snowstorm as part of the setting of the story was simply because I wrote the story whilst confined to the house for seven days back in December 2009, due to an unusual (for where I live in Ireland) heavy fall of snow that had left the country road I lived on at the time completely impassable. Do you identify more with, Simon or Andy? Simon. Which I suppose is the reason that not only was the story written from Simon's POV, but it was written in the first person singular. Is there any theme or plot you’d never write in a story? To be honest, I'm not sure about this. I'll just say: Never say never. What’s your favorite line or scene in the story? It would have to be the conversation between Simon and Andy right at the end of the story as they are driving up to the Centre, where Simon realised that he had completely misunderstood what Andy had said to him the previous evening. Can you share something about your current or upcoming work with readers? As will be evident from the fact that most of my stories on GA are marked as being on Temporary Hold, I am currently finding the writing process difficult. I think the current pandemic probably has a lot to do with this. Just about the only new stuff I have come up with recently has been a poetry series in the haiku format, although purists would perhaps argue that most of them are actually senryu rather than haiku. The pandemic has become a theme in a number of them.

Happy Pride Month! You know I like to theme stories sometimes to holidays or special events, and what could be better than a coming out story for Pride month? We know this time of the year is a great one to reflect on what our personal identity on the spectrum of the rainbow can mean to us and how that has affected our lives... and the stories we read no less! I hope you will enjoy June's bite-size selection for the CSR! Misunderstood by @Marty Length: 3,120 Description: Simon flees to the mountains after telling his best friend how he really feels about him. But what is his friend going to do with the news? A reader said: Coming out is like the parting of the clouds after eons of darkness as our companion. This was a sweet story that relayed Simon's desperation, his hope, and ultimately his path to happiness. Thanks you, Marty... cheers... Gary.... ~headstall Don't forget to come back to share your thoughts on Monday, June 28th!