About HD:
Author HD Hatcher is no newcomer on the literary scene.
He is author of In the Heart of the Closet, a
piece nominated for both the 2006 Stonewall Book
Award and the 2005 Lambda Literary Award. He is
an avid supporter of gay and lesbian causes, suicide
prevention programs, as well as Animal Rights.
Hatcher currently resides in the Grand Strand area
of South Carolina, near his hometown of Conway,
with his Life Partner of ten years, Jerry.
K.S. Hello and welcome to the blog. I am very excited to have you here. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself. Share with us any interesting writing quirks or stories.
H.D. I love to interject humor into my work. Humor keeps the story from bogging down and helps give comic relief to a highly charged situation. If you read something in my work that you get a little chuckle out of, it is because I am about to hit you with something that is mentally intense.
K.S. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
H.D. I never wanted to be a writer per se. Writing has always been a healer for me. Honestly, I don’t know where A Cold Dark Place came from. When I was writing it, it was like someone was reading it off to me and I was just getting it down on paper for them. For whatever reason, I started pecking away at the keyboard until the story was finished telling itself.
K.S. What genre do you write?
H.D. I am identified as a gay writer. I am fully aware of the stigma that surrounds gay themed literary works. I am sure that a lot of people assume that between the cover lies nothing more than a rehashed drug habit, a promiscuous adventure with countless faceless strangers, and a two hundred page circuit party that never seems to end.
I have read gay themed stories such as these, and the one thing I wanted to do, was create something completely different. I am not a fan of most gay works for this very reason. I am not saying that all gay writing is this way. But, the vast majority of it is. I am not naive enough to think that readers will rush out and buy a copy just to see what the difference is. I am however, hopeful that if someone that has never been exposed to a gay literary piece in the past, will be able to read A Cold Dark Place, and find themselves forgetting that this is a love story between two men.
K.S. What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career? Or, who is your favorite author and why?
H.D. I would have to say that life in general has been my inspiration. The people in our lives can either be a healthy compliment to us, or they can be a toxic drain. Trust me, I have witnessed both and some of them are represented in my writing in one form or another.
K.S. What does your family think of your writing?
H.D. Well, they seem to like it. My family has always been really supportive of my writing. They maybe blinded by biasness, but that’s okay, I’ve put up with them for the last 38 years and the least they could do is blow some smoke. Just kidding, My family is wonderful.
K.S. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?
HD. I learned that I have a truly twisted sense of humor. That’s okay though. I think that humor has a place in every aspect of our lives. This comes through in my writing more than I realized. But hey, sometimes laughter can be an anesthetic for a broken heart or a frazzled nerve.
K.S. What inspired you to write your novel?
H.D. I wrote A Cold Dark Place because the market place is currently crammed with thousands of gay themed books and movies that are filled with anonymous and meaningless erotic encounters. I wanted A Cold Dark Place to focus mainly on the emotional side of being gay. I wanted to write a story that would enlighten, entertain, and break stereotypes.
K.S. Can you tell us a little about your novel?
H.D.
On a chance meeting, (at a mutual friend’s house) Luke finds the love of his life. Andy is what Luke has been longing for all of his adult years: the perfect man. But, this perfect man is not only straight—he is married to a woman who is more devilish than Satan himself.
In a bittersweet journey that will change his life forever, Luke must reach deep inside and find the strength he never knew existed. A Cold Dark Place is the story of a man who must pick up the pieces of his broken heart after a lifetime of heartbreak and betrayal.
K.S. Where can we find your novel?
H.D. A Cold Dark Place can be found at online retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes and Nobles, as well as the publisher itself: www.passionatewriterpublishing.com
K.S. Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?
H.D. I most certainly do. Readers are more than welcome to stop by www.hdhatcher.com (which is currently being revamped. So, please pardon the mess). I also have a Facebook page, a Twitter page, and a Myspace page.
http://www.facebook.com/hdhatcher#!/profile.php?id=1091919710
http://twitter.com/HDHatcher
http://www.myspace.com/HDHatcher
Feel free to stop by and say, hey!
K.S. Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers?
H.D. Let me offer writers this tidbit of advice. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Everyone is not going to love your style of writing, and not everyone is going to give your book a “stand on their head and clap” review. So be it. But, in the same breath there is someone out there that will. This is who you write for.