 Hello and welcome to Reader Corner! Ever since my very first book was published a highlight for me has been interacting with readers. I love learning about others and giving them a place to tell us about themselves. If you're interested in joining the fun email me at[email protected] or use the contact link at the top of the page. Today I'd like to welcome batchelorboy55! He's a pretty neat guy and I was delighted he shared some of himself with me. Jumping right in, would you tell us a little about yourself? I am: a gay man a hubs a father a grandfather Australian retired but most of all I am. What are your hobbies? duh! Reading with a lifelong quest for trivia, interrupted by our garden haven (http://thebatchelorpad.tumblr.com ) Elizabeth's note: batchelorboy55 modestly dropped that link in without much explanation. I followed the link. I won't spoil the surprise, but suffice to say it's amazing. Do you have pets, and if so tell me about them?  Why were you drawn to this genre? Snatching covert reads as I tried to identify why I was interested in reading MM and subsequently more about myself. I continue to search & read first-time authors, good action/mystery and different locations with a bias for anything set in Australia/New Zealand, Hawaii and Wales/Cornwall. Why do you like this genre? It so often affirms my presence as a gay man, but also fills in for some of the years in denial/unbeknown. How did you discover MM romance and gay literature? I originally read this as when? Answer: 1970s, as I said covertly through until I came out in 1994. How? As a librarian we just know these things. As a cataloguer I had access to books before they went into the public library network. What are your reading habits? I’ve been known to snatch some pages while in the drive-thru of McDonald’s. Simply; anywhere, anytime. Do you prefer paperback, hard cover or eBooks? I love paperback/hardback and have cherished print collection of 1500 gay fiction. I embraced reading in the digital age in 2007 when my job as Information Services Librarian allowed me the opportunity to explore emerging technologies and promote/demonstrate/instruct staff & students at a multi sector Indigenous learning Institute. After medical retirement my kindle & tablet have become a lifeline as I can read an adjusted font size. I can’t manage 8pt paperbacks very well anymore. But have been known to purchase the print release in a continuing series. If you’re an eBook lover tell me about your favorite devices? Tricks and recommendations welcomed! Started with Kindle, long before they were available in Australia. I steadfastly cling to AmazonUS as it serves my needs better than .com.au. Having said that, I also strive to purchase where the author gets the best bite of the biscuit/cookie. This means I have taught myself tricks like calbire – which not only reformats files (into .mobi or whatever) but also has the capacity to correct the metadata. It’s amazing how much easier it is to finding documents when they have been corrected. send to kindle – which allows you to upload to your kindle .azw, .mobi, .prc files from your desktop. epubor – which can strip most encryptions and then convert to .mobi (or whatever) LibraryThing – is where I chose to data manage my collection. Yes I looked at Goodreads, but I find LT comfortable as its file structure is more like traditional cataloguing. After all it was 1967 when I catalogued my first book (ouch, 50 years) https://www.librarycat.org/lib/gsc55 or http://www.librarything.com/profile/gsc55 feedly – to monitor sites using RSS feeds rather than signing up for newsletters. twitter – I use only for giveaway entries What’s a favorite recipe? Black Forest Pavlova, but my yuletide fave is Wassail. What’s your favorite TV show and/or movie? Film: Latter Days TV: anything crime/mystery, but I will admit to being a Whovian before it was fashionable. What music do you listen to? I was a (mediocre) keyboard player up until the hand/eye coordination (or lack there-of) became embarrassing. This meant I was more inclined to play than listen, and then more likely to listen to music TV shows like Bandstand, Countdown (Aus), even Name that tune (go ahead and laugh UK mob). My fondest memories are of playing keyboard for church services & events. I would draw on poignant music from movie soundtracks, often generating a puzzled request for what was the tune it sounded familiar. Ennio Morricone The Mission, Elton John Song for Guy, The English Patient, Schindler’s list, Stairway to Heaven and Whiter Shade of Pale (using the understory of notes rather than the melody line), Enya. Yep, even snuck in I dreamed a dream after a sermon based on Acts 2:17. Even got a chance to play the pipe organ at the church where Mum & Dad grew up & married (they came to the TopEnd of the Territory as Methodist missionaries from Brighton, Sth Aust. during the 50s). Addendum: As I re-read I have missed out on the years as a passable tenor with the Darwin Chorale, a chorus boy for several local productions, and some years as Stage/Production/Asst.director when hearing loss prompted a move off stage. Why did you decide to do this interview? I don’t really know, although I do have a psych report labelling me as narcissistic. In reality though, it’s about why I read MM fiction. We have so many stories in our real life and our escapes, that it is always great to share them. What is your favorite type of romance plot or trope? Once I was on a pension I had to start budgeting, something I occasionally abandon. I am mainly focused on must-have authors and continuations of series. SO Charlie Cochrane, Julie Bozza, RJ Scott, Josh Lanyon, Anthony Bidulka, Mark Abramson, Geoffrey Knight, Jeffrey Round, Max Vos, Greg Herren, James Lear, Mark Zubro, Michael Jensen, Scot Pomfret, Gyles Brandreth, Neil Plakcy, Tal Bauer, Harper Fox, AJ Llewellyn, Brent Hartinger etc, etc, etc. Most re-read I own is The Front Runner, by Patricia Nell Warren. Do you ever go to conventions to meet authors? Do you like to interact with authors on social media? Conventions & meets both fascinate me and terrify me. I too easily throw myself under the bus in crowded spaces and the anticipation of saying the right/wrong thing. However, I relish the opportunities social media allows me to effuse and swap stories with authors (& publishers) What other types of books/magazines do you read? Not even the daily paper. I use RSS sources online for news (my professional background helps me to declare a site fake news). I’m not in a glasshouse, but I am content with a lifestyle of reading (anywhere in our garden), social media exchanges and tending said garden. What do you like in a book’s cover art? Ah, a telling question. When I decided to create a facebook page to share from my collection (now almost 7000 titles of gay fiction) I realized I needed something simple where I could maintain my momentum. I have never been comfortable reviewing, in fact the joke is that for a librarian I have always had poor reading comprehension skills, to the extent that I had to re-take my high school finals to get university entry, and then 3 years of “remedial” English to get my degree. So it came to pass that I chose Judge a Book by its Gay Cover. Cover art so often gets me into trouble with the book budget. What are your favorite flowers? Gerbras are a connection I have with my mother. Gingers and heliconias are the connection I have with the tropics. Grevilleas and natives are the connection I have with the hubs. The love of a garden is the connection I have with my father, and his father. What’s your favorite drinks? Above I mentioned Wassail. But Southern Comfort on ice has been a consistent fave. These days a glass or three of bubbles, red or coffee somewhere about the garden (not bad for a no-longer Methodist, LOL)  batchelorboy55 manages a Facebook page, Judge A Book by Its Gay Cover.
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