“[a] midlife coming-of-age novel that is both piercingly accurate and sweetly hopeful.”—Booklist
When a car accident leaves photographer Burke Crenshaw in need of temporary full-time care, he finds himself back in the one place no 40-year-old chooses to be–his childhood bedroom. Complicating matters is the presence of 20-year-old Will Janks, the son of Burke’s high school best friend, Mars. Will makes no secret of his interest in Burke, who can’t resist his attraction to the handsome young man. The burgeoning relationship draws Burke out of himself and into the community he left behind. Exploring local history, he discovers an intriguing series of letters from a Civil War soldier to his fiancé. With the help of librarian Sam Guffrey, he begins to research a 125-year-old mystery that seems to be reaching into the present day. The more Burke delves into the past, the more he’s forced to confront the person he has become: the choices he made and those he avoided, his ideas of what it takes to be a successful gay man, his feelings about his mother’s death, and the suppressed tension that simmers between himself and his father.
Read Excerpt
 |
Buy the Book
|
What We Remember Wins the Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery
At the 22nd annual Lambda Literary Awards honoring the best in LGBT literature Mike’s novel What We Remember won the Lammy for Gay Men’s Mystery. This is Mike’s fifth Lammy, having previously won twice in the humor category and twice in the romance category.
What We Remember is out now in paperback.
For those of you who have never seen one, this is what a Lammy looks like.
Please note that I have cleverly photographed it against a bedsheet from my personal collection. Please also note that the Lammy is made of glass and engraved. Despite what some people might tell you, this is just about the most impossible thing in the world to photograph, with the possible exception of Great White sharks mating. So my apologies for the bad image. Despite my failings, I think you’ll get the general idea of the thing.
Jane’s Fame: An Interview
There’s a fantastic interview on NPR today with Claire Harman, author of Jane’s Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World. Take a listen here.
Many thanks to my friend Michael Calanan for alerting me to this entertaining piece.
JBB is #9!
How thrilled was I to open the latest Entertainment Weekly and see that Jane Bites Back is #9 on their list of bestselling horror novels? Well, so excited I just about peed, that’s how excited. I love that I’m on a list with Peter Straub. Ghost Story is one of my favorite novels, and it’s amazing to be included on a list with someone whose work I admire so much.
AustenBlog Loves JBB!
I am really pleased (and not a little relieved, I don’t mind telling you) that the delightfully wicked ladies of AustenBlog are very fond of JBB.
You can read the review here.
Hear! Hear!: Jane Bites Back is an Audio Book
For those of you who enjoy reading with your ears, I have a delightful announcement.
Jane Bites Back is now available as an unabridged, downloadable (don’t you love new words?) audio book exclusively from audible.com. The book is narrated by Katherine Kellgren, who also did the narration for my friend Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
So hop on over to audible.com and take a listen.
Catch Mike on KWMR on Tuesday, February 09 at 11:00 AM PDT
Mike will be appearing on KWMR’s “Lifequest” on Tuesday morning. The show runs from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and Mike will be talking about Jane Bites Back, his writing career, and what’s up next for everybody’s favorite literary vampire.
Those of you in Northern California can tune in to KWMR at 90.5 FM in the Pt. Reyes area and 89.9 FM in Bolinas.
The rest of you can listen online by going here: http://kwmr.org/listen_kwmr.html
A Fun Review from Booking Mama
How can you not love a review that starts off, “In the past year, I have read quite a few Jane Austen spin-offs, but none quite as original as Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford.”?
Read the rest of the review here.
The Boston Globe loves Jane!
Michael Thomas Ford’s campy tale with Jane Austen as a vampire, “Jane Bites Back,’’ goes way over the top. The narrator is the cool, wittily acerbic observer Elizabeth Jane Fairfax, a bookstore owner in upstate New York, and the latest identity of the undead, 233-year-old Austen.
It opens with a hilarious book signing at the store. Author Melodie Gladstone, so “birdlike’’ that she “might at any moment collapse under the weight of her own head,’’ humps her self-help book, “Waiting for Mr. Darcy.’’ In it she urges women to wait for their perfect mate. When her audience, many of them dressed Elizabethan style, has departed, Melodie dishes with Elizabeth: “It’s just my piece of the Austen pie. Everyone’s now in on it.’’ Her publisher, she says, has a massage book coming out, “Sense and Sensuality.’’ Elizabeth is horrified and quite literally makes a meal of her, bitter that for centuries she’s been collecting rejection letters for an unpublished manuscript, “Constance.’’
Crime fiction readers may need to skip past the occasional ravished bits, like a vigorously rendered flashback to when Jane was “turned.’’ (“ ‘They all think of you as a quiet afternoon,’ he said. ‘But inside you rage with passion, don’t you?’ ’’) The villain from the past who got to Jane shows up and threatens to turn Elizabeth’s young assistant named (what else?) Lucy, and a murderous rival appears to spoil Jane’s long-awaited good fortune.
This is a genre-busting and only occasionally bodice ripping romp that keeps us from taking crime too seriously.
JBB in the press.
There’s a new interview with Mike up on Austenprose. Find out how he came up with the plot for JBB, whether he worried about the response from Janeites, and how he got into Jane’s head.
More happy readers!
“A confection of a novel.”
–The Advocate
“Such a fun read. I especially love to imagine Austen duking it out with fellow literary blood-suckers, both literal and figurative.”
– BookBitch.com
“I must admit I started this story prepared to dislike it (too many Jane related novels), and then found I was enjoying it! It has a little bit of something for everyone. You will enjoy it, too.”
– Romance Reviews Today
Mike is a guest blogger at The Huffington Post!
Mike was asked to write about what it’s like turning a beloved literary figure into an undead bookseller.
Read his piece here.
More great reviews for JBB!
“A witty and entertaining read with just the right amount of bite.”
– Night Owl Reviews (Reviewer Top Pick)
“As a stereotypical Pride and Prejudice fan, I was initially a bit cautious; I had expected a trite, shallow story that obviously played off Austen’s historical novels. Fortunately, what I got was a well-cultivated tale with great character development that holds its own against the real-life history of its main character, Jane Austen.”
– Best Fantasy Stories
“Ford gives us an authentic, sympathetic and witty Jane Austen as a modern-day vampire complete with angst and emotion as she faces the challenges of a rediscovered career and love. An inventive mashup plot coupled with creative storytelling and amusing dialogue make this story a delightful read.”
— Romantic Times (4 out of 5 stars)
“Read with tongue-in-cheek and a full glass of suspended disbelief, you will chortle and guffaw until the last bite. This Janeite was truly ‘glamoured.’”
— Austenprose (5 out of 5 Regency Stars)
The reviews are in!
“Fang-tastic …Ford’s Jane is a very fun and funny heroine to root for as she endures the indignities of publishing and bookselling, fends off danger and (perhaps) finds love. Her hilarious smack downs with Violet hint of more madness to come in this first of a series.”
—Publishers Weekly
“In this clever paranormal tale…Ford has created warm, witty characters that will appeal to both Janeites and vampire fanciers. Literary humor and intriguing snippets from Jane’s book are the icing on the cake. Two more books are promised in this series, so readers who fall under Jane’s spell will be eagerly awaiting her next adventure.”
—Library Journal
Now in Paperback
What We Remember recently won the Lambda Literary award for Gay Men’s Mystery!
Every family has a hidden story–even the perfect ones. In this suspenseful and deeply moving novel, Michael Thomas Ford propels us beyond smiling holiday photographs and beloved anecdotes to explore the complex ties within one family–and between two very different brothers whom catastrophe will either unite or divide forever.
