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Bobby Michaels has been writing since he was 14 years old. A Gay male with a lot of romantic and erotic experience from his own life to draw on, he is a well known writer of Gay male erotica under another pen-name with a fan group of more than 3,000 members from around the world. Bobby lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Visit Bobby on the Web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobby_michaels_novels.
Interview with Bobby Michaels
1) Do you realize that you are a bit of an earthquake in the romance genre? Women who read M/M romance, I think they are still naivee, they like to read about manlove, but I think they face the genre with a woman attitude, instead you have a very male and explicit style.
I didn’t realize it at first, though I should have. The Editor In Chief of my publisher said in their acceptance letter for my first book that I had a unique voice and style. I had read a lot of romance novels but I just figured that they weren’t explicit because of censorship by the publishers. After all, except for porn novels I never saw a book that was sexually explicit. However, I started writing romance for other gay Males, and trust me when I tell you, they want the sex EXPLICIT!
I do think that oftentimes women do approach male/ male romance from too feminine a perspective. Guys like their sex down and dirty. They don’t want it pretty and tidied up.
2) Since you are published by Loose Id, I think you have a wide share of female readers. What do you think of that? Are you happy? And have you changed your writing style in comparison to the stories you publish on Nifty to meet a woman's taste?
I have always had women readers, even on Nifty. At least a third of my RimPig Yahoo group are women. And that was true long before I was published. Except for leaving out sex acts such as watersports I have not changed my style at all for Loose Id. I didn’t see any reason to. I was attracting women as readers already.
3) I know you have also a wide share of male readers. How they react to the romance part of your stories? Do they like it? Do they suffer it or do you think they want and need it?
I still have saved on my computer my favorite e-mail from a reader. It says, “I have a hard on and I’m crying. What do I do now?”
Personally I think that all Males, gay straight or bi, want and need romance. Even on Nifty, I have readers who tell me that they skip the sex scenes entirely to read the story.
4) Everytime I read one of your books, I "feel" you. I think you put a lot of you in your stories: Gay marriage, Coming of age for gay teens, Don't ask, don't tell policy, Desire to be parents for gay couple... are they all your first hand experiences? And do you want to give also a message writing your books?
Not all of them are. I never had children, nor did I ever serve in the military. I try to incorporate in each of my books an issue that I feel strongly about. And, yes, my books are full of messages. Mostly about l the intensity and beauty of male love. But also about social issues that I feel are important, like the issue of testicular cancer in Jock Dorm: Drew and Vince.
5) In the past few months there was a bit of controversy on M/M romance authors being male or female. I know you are a man (Am I right?). Do you think that a female author can rightly write a male perspective in a romance? Or do you think that only a man can do that? And do you think there is difference from a gay romance written by a woman or by a man? If yes, in which way they are different?
First of all, yes, I am male. A point my Editor In Chief likes to point out on a frequent basis. If a female author couldn’t write from this perspective of a male, Rhett Butler would have had a hell of a time. I do think that a lot of female authors (and I’m gonna get in trouble here) are like most females and don’t know Males as well as they think they do. If you asked 100 men if they understood women, you would get the answer, “NO!” From 99 of them and the one who said “Yes” would be delusional. However, if you ask 100 women if they understand men, you’d get 99 who answer “Yes” and they’d all be delusional. Women think they understand men, which is why I think there are so many divorces.
The biggest difference that I found in gay romance written by women is that the sex is nowhere near raunchy enough and that oftentimes it is too delayed in the book. Women like a long, slow build up to sex that men see no reason for. Males are entirely orgasm oriented. To a guy, the thought is, “if I’m not getting off what’s the use of all this work?”
A lot of this comes from a guy’s experience of going through puberty with the almost constant demand from his growing body to orgasm. From the women I’ve talked to over my life, that is not a female experience.
Jock Dorm Series:
1) Dar and Gregg (2006): If you think Jocks and Nerds have nothing in common, come to the Jock Dorm!
Cute, nerdish Dar has no idea what to expect when campus housing places him in the Jock Dorm. He certainly doesn't expect his Jock-God of a roommate, tall, hunky, muscular Gregg the champion wrestler. Nor falling head over heels for him. Workouts, friendship, a little hurt and comfort, and pretty soon Dar can't take being in love with his straight roommate.
But maybe Gregg isn't so straight. He's been keeping secrets of his own, like a murdered first love and a family that's pretty much disowned him for being gay. Though he vowed never to fall again, he's not figuring on Dar and how the cute little nerd unfreezes his fearful heart.
For once, the nerd gets the jock, but different interests are the least of their problems. They can't keep their hands off each other, but coming out is the hardest part.
Review by Elisa: I read and re-read this book more time. The first time I was perplexed: what I have just read? a love story? a porn? a one hand read?
Dar is a virgin boy at his first experience with sex. He is naivee and innocent, but eager. Sometime I couldn't believe on what I read, some sex experiences they had seem almost impossible. But after closing the first time the book, I couldn't free my mind from it. I needed to re-read it; and the second time I notice something other than sex. This is a love story: Gregg is a big boy, but he is so defenseless when dealing with love. Instead Dar can be innocent, but he is the one who has the strenght, and the courage, to love, and to convince Gregg to love again, and to trust again.
Dar and Gregg are lucky: they live a story where they can build a future together, where a love born during teen years, has the chance to live and grew in a steady and real relationship.
2) Drew and Vince (2007): Gregg Halversohn brings his younger brother Drew to the university on a wrestling scholarship. Drew is running away from the same rejection Gregg had faced at home because he’s gay. Drew, at first, figures he’s made a terrible mistake by coming to the university when he ends up rooming with Vince Collucci, a wrestler Drew had seen at a tournament and was strongly attracted to. He falls in love with Vince and is just about to finally tell him how he feels, when Vince has a surprising announcement of his own.
Can two jocks find love together?
Review by Elisa: Drew is the little brother of Gregg and he is a wrestler, like his brother, and like his brother is gay. For this reason, when he is 18 years old he decides to leave home and their unlovely parents and join Gregg at University.
He is setting in room with Vince, another wrestler, and soon the two of them become lovers. Like for Gregg and Dar, they don't find problems among the College people, and very little problems with Vince's family, a very traditional italian family.
And here maybe there is the strong aspect of the book: one of the Vince's brothers is David, a catholic priest. Even if David is very supporting of Drew and Vince, the opinion on the Christian Church we can evince from the book is pretty hard. For this reason I find this book more strong than the other, Gregg and Dar. Here we can, maybe, read the real experience of the author (his or of his friend, I don't know). Like an Italian who live in the Pope's country, I must admit that much of these hard opinions are sadly true, but, fortunately, something is changing.
The book is pretty strong also in the love aspect: Drew and Vince, like Gregg and Dar, are young college jock, and at the beginning of the book, seems that sex is the most important thing (even if it arrives after a love proposal): they make sex very often and for them sex is a smelling and tasting experience! But the book grows with them after the college years and we can have a look at their adult relationship.
I found this book a lot more committed of what you can expect from a jock dorm tale...
3) David and Connor (2008): David, the oldest of the three Collucci brother’s introduced in Jock Dorm 2, finds himself in a dilemma he never expected. Like his youngest brother, Vince, he finds himself attracted to another male. Connor McMahon is a former marine and the sexton of the church David finds himself assigned to. To make matters worse, Conner’s mother is the church secretary.
The first day they meet Connor takes the risk of admitting to David that he’s gay. When the two young men discover that their budding friendship has much deeper feelings for both of them, it makes David question everything about his life, including his vocation.
Title: Jock Dorm 3: David and Connor
ISBN: 978-1-59632-653-8
Author: Bobby Michaels
Cover Artist: P. L. Nunn
Loose ID
Release Date: August 2008
This book is dedicated to all of my readers who waited so patiently for it and to all the athletes that I’ve known each of whom is somewhere in this series.
Visit Bobby on the Web at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bobby_michaels_novels.
Interview with Bobby Michaels 1) Do you realize that you are a bit of an earthquake in the romance genre? Women who read M/M romance, I think they are still naivee, they like to read about manlove, but I think they face the genre with a woman attitude, instead you have a very male and explicit style.
I didn’t realize it at first, though I should have. The Editor In Chief of my publisher said in their acceptance letter for my first book that I had a unique voice and style. I had read a lot of romance novels but I just figured that they weren’t explicit because of censorship by the publishers. After all, except for porn novels I never saw a book that was sexually explicit. However, I started writing romance for other gay Males, and trust me when I tell you, they want the sex EXPLICIT!
I do think that oftentimes women do approach male/ male romance from too feminine a perspective. Guys like their sex down and dirty. They don’t want it pretty and tidied up.
2) Since you are published by Loose Id, I think you have a wide share of female readers. What do you think of that? Are you happy? And have you changed your writing style in comparison to the stories you publish on Nifty to meet a woman's taste?
I have always had women readers, even on Nifty. At least a third of my RimPig Yahoo group are women. And that was true long before I was published. Except for leaving out sex acts such as watersports I have not changed my style at all for Loose Id. I didn’t see any reason to. I was attracting women as readers already.
3) I know you have also a wide share of male readers. How they react to the romance part of your stories? Do they like it? Do they suffer it or do you think they want and need it?
I still have saved on my computer my favorite e-mail from a reader. It says, “I have a hard on and I’m crying. What do I do now?”
Personally I think that all Males, gay straight or bi, want and need romance. Even on Nifty, I have readers who tell me that they skip the sex scenes entirely to read the story.
4) Everytime I read one of your books, I "feel" you. I think you put a lot of you in your stories: Gay marriage, Coming of age for gay teens, Don't ask, don't tell policy, Desire to be parents for gay couple... are they all your first hand experiences? And do you want to give also a message writing your books?
Not all of them are. I never had children, nor did I ever serve in the military. I try to incorporate in each of my books an issue that I feel strongly about. And, yes, my books are full of messages. Mostly about l the intensity and beauty of male love. But also about social issues that I feel are important, like the issue of testicular cancer in Jock Dorm: Drew and Vince.
5) In the past few months there was a bit of controversy on M/M romance authors being male or female. I know you are a man (Am I right?). Do you think that a female author can rightly write a male perspective in a romance? Or do you think that only a man can do that? And do you think there is difference from a gay romance written by a woman or by a man? If yes, in which way they are different?
First of all, yes, I am male. A point my Editor In Chief likes to point out on a frequent basis. If a female author couldn’t write from this perspective of a male, Rhett Butler would have had a hell of a time. I do think that a lot of female authors (and I’m gonna get in trouble here) are like most females and don’t know Males as well as they think they do. If you asked 100 men if they understood women, you would get the answer, “NO!” From 99 of them and the one who said “Yes” would be delusional. However, if you ask 100 women if they understand men, you’d get 99 who answer “Yes” and they’d all be delusional. Women think they understand men, which is why I think there are so many divorces.
The biggest difference that I found in gay romance written by women is that the sex is nowhere near raunchy enough and that oftentimes it is too delayed in the book. Women like a long, slow build up to sex that men see no reason for. Males are entirely orgasm oriented. To a guy, the thought is, “if I’m not getting off what’s the use of all this work?”
A lot of this comes from a guy’s experience of going through puberty with the almost constant demand from his growing body to orgasm. From the women I’ve talked to over my life, that is not a female experience.
Jock Dorm Series:
1) Dar and Gregg (2006): If you think Jocks and Nerds have nothing in common, come to the Jock Dorm! Cute, nerdish Dar has no idea what to expect when campus housing places him in the Jock Dorm. He certainly doesn't expect his Jock-God of a roommate, tall, hunky, muscular Gregg the champion wrestler. Nor falling head over heels for him. Workouts, friendship, a little hurt and comfort, and pretty soon Dar can't take being in love with his straight roommate.
But maybe Gregg isn't so straight. He's been keeping secrets of his own, like a murdered first love and a family that's pretty much disowned him for being gay. Though he vowed never to fall again, he's not figuring on Dar and how the cute little nerd unfreezes his fearful heart.
For once, the nerd gets the jock, but different interests are the least of their problems. They can't keep their hands off each other, but coming out is the hardest part.
Review by Elisa: I read and re-read this book more time. The first time I was perplexed: what I have just read? a love story? a porn? a one hand read?
Dar is a virgin boy at his first experience with sex. He is naivee and innocent, but eager. Sometime I couldn't believe on what I read, some sex experiences they had seem almost impossible. But after closing the first time the book, I couldn't free my mind from it. I needed to re-read it; and the second time I notice something other than sex. This is a love story: Gregg is a big boy, but he is so defenseless when dealing with love. Instead Dar can be innocent, but he is the one who has the strenght, and the courage, to love, and to convince Gregg to love again, and to trust again.
Dar and Gregg are lucky: they live a story where they can build a future together, where a love born during teen years, has the chance to live and grew in a steady and real relationship.
2) Drew and Vince (2007): Gregg Halversohn brings his younger brother Drew to the university on a wrestling scholarship. Drew is running away from the same rejection Gregg had faced at home because he’s gay. Drew, at first, figures he’s made a terrible mistake by coming to the university when he ends up rooming with Vince Collucci, a wrestler Drew had seen at a tournament and was strongly attracted to. He falls in love with Vince and is just about to finally tell him how he feels, when Vince has a surprising announcement of his own. Can two jocks find love together?
Review by Elisa: Drew is the little brother of Gregg and he is a wrestler, like his brother, and like his brother is gay. For this reason, when he is 18 years old he decides to leave home and their unlovely parents and join Gregg at University.
He is setting in room with Vince, another wrestler, and soon the two of them become lovers. Like for Gregg and Dar, they don't find problems among the College people, and very little problems with Vince's family, a very traditional italian family.
And here maybe there is the strong aspect of the book: one of the Vince's brothers is David, a catholic priest. Even if David is very supporting of Drew and Vince, the opinion on the Christian Church we can evince from the book is pretty hard. For this reason I find this book more strong than the other, Gregg and Dar. Here we can, maybe, read the real experience of the author (his or of his friend, I don't know). Like an Italian who live in the Pope's country, I must admit that much of these hard opinions are sadly true, but, fortunately, something is changing.
The book is pretty strong also in the love aspect: Drew and Vince, like Gregg and Dar, are young college jock, and at the beginning of the book, seems that sex is the most important thing (even if it arrives after a love proposal): they make sex very often and for them sex is a smelling and tasting experience! But the book grows with them after the college years and we can have a look at their adult relationship.
I found this book a lot more committed of what you can expect from a jock dorm tale...
3) David and Connor (2008): David, the oldest of the three Collucci brother’s introduced in Jock Dorm 2, finds himself in a dilemma he never expected. Like his youngest brother, Vince, he finds himself attracted to another male. Connor McMahon is a former marine and the sexton of the church David finds himself assigned to. To make matters worse, Conner’s mother is the church secretary.
The first day they meet Connor takes the risk of admitting to David that he’s gay. When the two young men discover that their budding friendship has much deeper feelings for both of them, it makes David question everything about his life, including his vocation.
Title: Jock Dorm 3: David and Connor ISBN: 978-1-59632-653-8
Author: Bobby Michaels
Cover Artist: P. L. Nunn
Loose ID
Release Date: August 2008
This book is dedicated to all of my readers who waited so patiently for it and to all the athletes that I’ve known each of whom is somewhere in this series.
( Chapter One )
Interview with Bobby Michaels 
1) Dar and Gregg (2006): If you think Jocks and Nerds have nothing in common, come to the Jock Dorm! 
2) Drew and Vince (2007): Gregg Halversohn brings his younger brother Drew to the university on a wrestling scholarship. Drew is running away from the same rejection Gregg had faced at home because he’s gay. Drew, at first, figures he’s made a terrible mistake by coming to the university when he ends up rooming with Vince Collucci, a wrestler Drew had seen at a tournament and was strongly attracted to. He falls in love with Vince and is just about to finally tell him how he feels, when Vince has a surprising announcement of his own. 
Title: Jock Dorm 3: David and Connor 
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Summer Love by A.J. Llewellyn
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The Forbidden Island by A.J. Llewellyn
Summer Love by A.J. Llewellyn
