‘Poz’ by @christopherink #LGBT #BlogTour

“Ten Songs I Wrote Poz To, Plus Five Bonus Songs Because I’m A Giver Like That”

Christopher Koehler

Thank so much for asking me about music and Poz, because the truth is music is an important part of my writing process. Sometimes I need a fast, thumping beat to get me going in the morning, something like Fallout Boy. I’m partial to “Centuries.” Other times I need something quiet and soothing to calm jangled nerves and virtually everything off Goldfrapp’s Seventh Tree CD fits the bill, but especially “Cologne Cerrone Houdini.”

Then there are the times I want to kill every goddamn thing that gets in my way and that’s why there’s “The Cellblock Tango” from the Chicago soundtrack or almost anything by the Sisters of Mercy. If I listen to the Sisters while I’m driving I become ticket bait, but that’s another issue. But I also have my Marina and the Diamonds and my Florence + the Machine moments. They’re easy to write to. Except for “Breaking Down.” That’s a cry for help, along with virtually anything by Morrissey.

I listen to a lot of alt rock (new bands like New Politics and Bleachers are favorites these days) but Remy Babcock, the protagonist of Poz? He likes 80s music, and Poz is full of references to it. In fact, at one point in time, Remy even says, “Why think when I could find a lyric to express an idea for me?”

So in no particular order, here are the songs that Remy likes that appear in Poz, as well as others that work thematically:

1) Madonna, “Like a Virgin.”

2) Depeche Mode, “Strangelove.”

3) Toy Matinee, “Last Plane Out.”

4) Toy Matinee, “There Was A Little Boy.”

5) Peter Gabriel, “In Your Eyes.”

6) Pet Shop Boys, “It’s a Sin.”

7) ABC, “The Look of Love.”

8) Peter Murphy, “Cut You Up.”

9) New Order, “True Faith.”

10) LaTour, “People Are Still Having Sex.”

Bonus Songs!

11) Bronski Beat, “Hit That Perfect Beat.”

12) Divinyls, “Pleasure and Pain.”

13) David Bowie, “Nature Boy.”

14) Ladytron, “Destroy Everything You Touch.”

15) Oingo Boingo, “Dead Man’s Party” or “Just Another Day.”

And finally, Michael gets one, too.

1) Wheat, “Closer To Mercury.”

Okay, obviously music is an important part of my life and I have no self-control.

Series: The Lives of Remy and Michael: Book One

Author: Christopher Koehler

Publisher: Harmony Ink Press

Publication Date: 8 Jan 2015

Cover Artist: Paul Richmond

Genre:  Contemporary, Gay, Young Adult

Blurb:

A Harmony Ink Press Young Adult Title

The Lives of Remy and Michael: Book One

Remy Babcock and Mikey Castelreigh are stalwart members of the Capital City Rowing Club’s junior crew, pulling their hardest to earn scholarships to rowing powerhouses like California Pacific. Just a couple of all-American boys, they face the usual pressures of life in an academic hothouse and playing a varsity sport. Add to that the stifling confines of the closet, and sometimes life isn’t always easy, even in the golden bubble of their accepting community. Because Remy and Mikey have a secret: they’re both gay. While Mikey has never hidden it, Remy is a parka and a pair of mittens away from Narnia.

Mikey has always been open about wanting more than friendship, but Remy is as uncomfortable in his own skin as he is a demon on the water. After their signals cross, and a man mistakes Remy for a college student, Remy takes the plunge and hooks up with him. After a furious Mikey cuts Remy off, Remy falls to the pressure of teenage life, wanting to be more and needing it now. In his innocence and naiveté, Remy makes mistakes that have life-long consequences. When Remy falls in the midst of the most important regatta of his life, he can only hope Mikey will be there to catch him when he needs it most.

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Christopher Koehler learned to read late (or so his teachers thought) but never looked back. It was not, however, until he was nearly done with grad school in the history of science that he realized that he needed to spend his life writing and not on the publish-or-perish treadmill. At risk of being thought frivolous, he found that academic writing sucked all the fun out of putting pen to paper.

Christopher is also something of a hothouse flower. Inside of almost unreal conditions he thrives to set the results of his imagination free, and for most of his life he has been lucky enough to be surrounded by people who encouraged both that tendency and the writing. Chief among them is his long-suffering husband of twenty-two years and counting.

When it comes to writing, Christopher follows Anne Lamott’s advice: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” So while he writes fiction, at times he ruthlessly mines his past for character traits and situations. Reality is far stranger than fiction.

Christopher loves many genres of fiction and nonfiction, but he’s especially fond of romances, because it is in them that human emotions and relations, at least most of the ones fit to be discussed publicly, are laid bare.

Writing is his passion and his life, but when Christopher is not doing that, he’s an at-home dad and oarsman with a slightly disturbing interest in manners and other ways people behave badly.

Visit him at http://christopherkoehler.net/blog or follow him on Twitter @christopherink.

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Tour links:

7 Jan – Prism Book Alliance

9 Jan – Cody Kennedy

10 Jan – The Novel Approach

14 Jan – JP Barnaby

15 Jan – Love Bytes

19 Jan – GGR Reviews

21 Jan – Hearts on Fire Reviews

22 Jan – MM Good Book Reviews

26 Jan – James Erich

28 Jan – Joyfully Jay

2 Feb – Rainbow Gold Reviews