Featured Author AF Henley

Featured Interview With AF Henley

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born a poor boy, in a poor country, on a poor street… wait… That’s not true at all. Let me try that again.

I was born in Vancouver, B.C. but only lived there for a short time before my family moved out to southern Ontario. I’ve been here since, and while I can’t say that I love it in the winter, I do take a great amount of pleasure from living here in the summer months. I reside in St. Catharines, quite close to the lake, and while Lake Ontario’s beach is no North Carolina shoreline, it still makes for a pleasant place to spend one’s time.

After an unexpected move back in 2013, my plethora of animal companions are gone, however, I do still share my apartment with a tiny little bit of an almost-dog (a Chihuahua) named Penny, and a introverted hedgehog named D.J. In time before now, though, I played foster-parent to just about everything from mole to fawn, including a sassy raccoon, a variety of fresh and salt-water fishes, an opinionated cockatiel, and an evil squirrel.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books has been strong since time before memory. My mother couldn’t read to me enough to keep me satisfied. (Darn life and it’s constant pressure for people to do things like work and clean and cook.) I have no clear idea of when I started writing, but it’s been just about forever. I was published for the first time when I was eight, in a religious circulation wherein I wrote a poem on how awesome the country of Canada is. I couldn’t tell you the title of the poem if my life depended on it, but I do recall that it won me twenty dollars. I was pretty sure that made me all kinds of important.

It didn’t. But it did fuel a desire in me to keep going, and keep going I did. I started writing boy-loves-dog stories that I would punch and bind myself, complete with hand drawn covers. (I have no doubt that my mother still has some of them tucked away someplace safe.) I had what my teachers called a “creative mind” in “constant need of stimulation” which, I’m pretty sure, means that I was a pain in the you-know-what if I wasn’t immersed in something that held my attention, and novels and writing were about the only things that managed that. I was lucky, schoolwork was never a challenge for me and I had no trouble maintaining good grades, so rather than truck me off to a counselor and stick me on a prescription to settle my brain down, I was more often than not excused from the tedious and given “special projects” to work on. Thank the heavens for teachers that see potential instead of problems, because that’s where I feverishly practiced the art of writing. I knew I was going to be an author before I knew anything else about myself.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Stephen King and Chuck Palahniuk are, and probably always will be, my favorite authors. I’m in love with the way their imaginations work, and in awe of they way they lay words on paper. They are both storytellers of epic proportions. That doesn’t mean I’m solely a horror and shock fan, though. I still have my entire collection of Dr. Seuss books, and I wouldn’t give them up for the world. I like William J. Mann, Lewis Carroll, and Oscar Wilde, and I’m a huge fan of Kelly Wyre. And I suppose that list blows the heck out of the favorite genre question. I like a good novel, with strong writing and relatable characters, regardless of the genre it rests in.

As for inspiration, there is very few whos and much more whats when it comes to answering that question. I’m inspired by connection beyond the understandable, divine intervention, and the concept of lifelong romance.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest novel, “Road Trip” is an erotic, gay, contemporary romance that tells the story of Boyd Matthis, a thirty-five year old mechanic who finally gets to realize his dream of road-tripping across the United States in his very own ’69 Road Runner. Boyd’s at a point in his life where he’s resolved himself to the idea that he’s not going to meet his Mr. Perfect and probably not even a Mr. Perfect For Now. During a stopover in Las Vegas, Boyd meets up with a young man named Oliver who’s desperate to get out of the city and get back home to Towson. Against his better judgment, Boyd offers to let Oliver hitch a ride with him, and they take the trip together. All is not what it seems with Oliver, however, and there’s more waiting in Towson for the the two of them than either man could have suspected.

I started this novel back in 2013, but it got shelved for a whole pile of reasons — the strongest one being I wasn’t really sure that I was interested in the main character anymore. They probably would have stayed locked away in their unfinished file on my desktop if it wasn’t for one of my amazing friends who kept reminding me of “Road Trip”‘s existence. When “Road Trip” started coming up in conversation, another one of my friends suggested I take my own road trip (something I’d never done but always wanted to) in the name of inspiration. I decided that was a great idea, if not for the novel itself, than as a chance to stroke something off of the old bucket list.

During the four weeks it took to plan the trip, “Road Trip” got taken out and dusted off (figuratively, of course), the main character was revamped into somebody that I could work with, and Boyd and his new friend Oliver went on my road trip with me. Less than a month after returning home, “Road Trip” was done and ready for submission.

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