Interview with Drake LaMarque
It’s my pleasure to welcome, Drake LaMarque, author of Cabin Boy to Two Men. Drake answers some questions and shares some details of the book.
How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing since I was a kid, on and off. Through my teenage years it was a lot of poetry and comic strips mostly, as well as long in depth paper and pen fanfiction roleplaying conversations with my friends. Then I shifted to short stories in my twenties and then to novels, and novels are my preferred format now.
Describe your writing space.
Currently my writing space is my couch, with my laptop on my lap and a bunch of notebooks. We’re hoping to move house soon and I’ll have a dedicated space to have a desk and everything, but for now it’s my couch, with my cat leaning against my legs and no real privacy.
Is writing your full-time career?
Or would you like it to be?It is at the moment, but that’s sort of through a series of unfortunate events. My dream job was restructured and I was made redundant, and I’m working casually for a consultancy now. But I’m working hard to publish fast so that it can become my main source of income right now.
On a typical day, how much time do you spend writing?
Three to four hours. I’d like it to be more, but I do find the process quite mentally draining. I work in one hour sprints where I try my best to focus on just that thing for the hour, and then take a break.
What was your favourite part, and your least favourite part, of the publishing journey?
My favourite part is having the book out there and finished, out of my hands as it were. Once it’s published I can sort of stop worrying about it, if I still have it in my hands the temptation to edit and alter things can be too high. My least favourite part is right before I publish, where I have this horrible wave of doubting myself and wondering if I was wrong and the book is terrible and I should keep it hidden forever. It can be real work to overcome that inner critic, but I just remind myself it’s coming from a place of fear and I can be afraid and do the thing anyway.
Where do you get your inspiration?
The age-old question. I actually get a lot of my inspiration from my dreams. I’ve always had vivid and bizarre dreams and I’ve learned to turn some of those situations and images into proper stories. For example, I had a dream this week which formed my basis for the next series I plan to write in the pirates universe.
What are you reading now?
Takeover by Anna Zabo which is a steamy hot MM contemporary romance and the Life-changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck by Sarah Knight, which I’m not too far into and not sure if it’s useful or just a gimmick…
How many bookshelves are in your house?
One huge floor to ceiling shelf of ‘to be read’ books, a slightly smaller shelf of ‘read and like enough to keep’ books, then a four scattered shelves with ‘misc’ on them – some books from my childhood and University, some to be read, some reference and how to write books. Then I have a few crates of books in storage as well. And the stack of books next to my bed.
If you could choose celebrity parents, who would you choose?
I would choose Karamo Brown and Tan France, because although they are not married they would be such loving and awesome parents, and they’d encourage and support me to be the best version of myself possible. And then I could be friends with the rest of the Fab Five and it would be amazing.
About the Book
I’ve never been what I was supposed to be. Wealthy sons of Port Governors aren’t supposed to be ejected from the British Navy after less than a year, they’re not supposed to like pulp romances or daydream about the handsome heroes of the stories instead of the heroines.
When my Father issued me an order to marry a woman, I knew I had no choice but to make my own way in the world, and I found a berth on the first ship out of Jamaica.
I didn’t mean to join a pirate ship, and I certainly didn’t intend to find myself the cabin boy to an incredibly charming Pirate Captain. Or that I’d also be attracted to the mysterious First Mate, or that both of them would show me all sorts of unspeakable and salacious pleasures while on board. How can I choose just one of them when I want both?
In addition to confusion on board the ship, there’s also enchanting genderfluid merfolk, a cat which seems to understand a lot more than it should, an unseasonable storm and a sea witch with a serious grudge… and with all these complications, I am definitely in over my head.
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Come and meet the crew:
Gideon: an innocent with a lot of forbidden desires and a lot of love to give
Tate: a huge, muscular ship’s captain with a sweet side
Ezra: a dominant and closed off first mate
Ora: a genderqueer, curious and affectionate merman
Cabin Boy is a male/male paranormal gay harem romance featuring a naive hero with a gigantic heart (and anxiety) and one very smart ship’s cat. First-person pov. This book is the first in a series and is not standalone. HFN, with a HEA at the end of the series No cheating, high heat, lots of love.
Author bio:
Drake LaMarque is new in steamy gay romance, and has published two books so far this year in the His Piratical Harem series. Drake is genderqueer non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns. They live in Auckland, New Zealand with a wife and a cat. They love to write steamy scenes and happy endings for their gloriously queer characters, and have never had as much fun as they have with the wonderfully supporting MM Romance community.
