| FEATURED AUTHOR An interview with RP Andrews, author of "Adrift in the Land of Plenty" |
1) What inspired you to write "Adrift in the Land of Plenty?"
A few things, actually. First, gay life is a microcosm of straight society – we have our
winners and losers, those who are ambitious and driven and disciplined, and those who
work at menial jobs just so they can buy that new outfit and get high at life’s next unending
White Party. We’ve all met dozen of Joshs, the main character in my book, in our lives, you
know the guys who at 25 like to take the easy way out and at 45 suddenly wake up and
wonder what happened. “Adrift” is about them.
The other thing that inspired me was the cover photo of that endless pier going out to
nowhere. I live in Lauderdale and took the picture on a long weekend in Key Largo. There
was outdoor restaurant on the water attached to the pier and there I ran into young,
boyishly handsome waiters, quick on the draw, and wondered where they had come from,
what had brought them here. Their “stories” became the inspiration for my main character.
2) Tell us about the lead character, Josh, in your book. What propelled him into the
life of a drifter? What direction do you think his life may have taken him if he had
not met Bishop?
Josh was brought up with no values, may have even been born amoral, and while he
protests he wanted to make something of himself, he was always looking for the easy way
out, the path of least resistance. For all his evil acts, Josh is never repentant, though at the
end of the book when he’s lost everything, there is a crack in that door of redemption.
Had he not met Bishop or someone like him, I think he would have just continued playing
hustler. While I don’t think he would have gotten into drugs – he hated his druggie-turned
alcohol parents who he, very matter of factly, kills at the beginning of the book, I imagine
he would have eventually drifted into some kind of life of crime. Unlike in the book, I think
the law would have caught up with him eventually.
3) How do you think you've grown as a writer during the time between writing Adrift
in the Land of Plenty and your first book, Basic Butch?
Basic Butch is a series of edgy short stories about very aggressive characters who got
what the wanted and then found their whole world fall around them because they did. With
Adrift I was able to develop the characters much more fully than you can in 5,000 or 8,000
words. In fact, part of the fun I find in writing fiction is that, while certainly I have my
characters and plot line in mind, once I’ve given my characters birth, I let them lead me
down their own paths of discovery, destiny, and sometimes self-destruction. It’s fascinating
where they take me.
4) Can you tell us a little about your next writing project?
Adrift is the first in a trilogy of short novels I plan to publish singly and eventually as one
book. “Not In It For The Love,” which is about fifty percent complete, also involves a young
man, this time college-educated and responsible, living on Long Island, whose uncle
suddenly dies in Lauderdale His father asks his son to go down and handle his estranged
brother’s final affairs. What the main character’s family doesn’t know is that the young guy
loved Uncle Ted who brought him out in gay life, and in the process of settling things, he
finds a flash drive where Ted tells his story – kind of a novel within a novel - and how he
became “The President of the Cynics of America.” His story is a slice of gay history from
before Stonewall through the AIDS crisis and beyond.
The third short novel, “Season,” is the escapades of two gay brothers from a small town in
Pennsylvania who lose their blue collar jobs and decide to mine their fortunes as male
escorts in sunny Florida during its winter season, hence the title. A deep family secret,
however, eventually threatens their all-too-close relationship.
A few things, actually. First, gay life is a microcosm of straight society – we have our
winners and losers, those who are ambitious and driven and disciplined, and those who
work at menial jobs just so they can buy that new outfit and get high at life’s next unending
White Party. We’ve all met dozen of Joshs, the main character in my book, in our lives, you
know the guys who at 25 like to take the easy way out and at 45 suddenly wake up and
wonder what happened. “Adrift” is about them.
The other thing that inspired me was the cover photo of that endless pier going out to
nowhere. I live in Lauderdale and took the picture on a long weekend in Key Largo. There
was outdoor restaurant on the water attached to the pier and there I ran into young,
boyishly handsome waiters, quick on the draw, and wondered where they had come from,
what had brought them here. Their “stories” became the inspiration for my main character.
2) Tell us about the lead character, Josh, in your book. What propelled him into the
life of a drifter? What direction do you think his life may have taken him if he had
not met Bishop?
Josh was brought up with no values, may have even been born amoral, and while he
protests he wanted to make something of himself, he was always looking for the easy way
out, the path of least resistance. For all his evil acts, Josh is never repentant, though at the
end of the book when he’s lost everything, there is a crack in that door of redemption.
Had he not met Bishop or someone like him, I think he would have just continued playing
hustler. While I don’t think he would have gotten into drugs – he hated his druggie-turned
alcohol parents who he, very matter of factly, kills at the beginning of the book, I imagine
he would have eventually drifted into some kind of life of crime. Unlike in the book, I think
the law would have caught up with him eventually.
3) How do you think you've grown as a writer during the time between writing Adrift
in the Land of Plenty and your first book, Basic Butch?
Basic Butch is a series of edgy short stories about very aggressive characters who got
what the wanted and then found their whole world fall around them because they did. With
Adrift I was able to develop the characters much more fully than you can in 5,000 or 8,000
words. In fact, part of the fun I find in writing fiction is that, while certainly I have my
characters and plot line in mind, once I’ve given my characters birth, I let them lead me
down their own paths of discovery, destiny, and sometimes self-destruction. It’s fascinating
where they take me.
4) Can you tell us a little about your next writing project?
Adrift is the first in a trilogy of short novels I plan to publish singly and eventually as one
book. “Not In It For The Love,” which is about fifty percent complete, also involves a young
man, this time college-educated and responsible, living on Long Island, whose uncle
suddenly dies in Lauderdale His father asks his son to go down and handle his estranged
brother’s final affairs. What the main character’s family doesn’t know is that the young guy
loved Uncle Ted who brought him out in gay life, and in the process of settling things, he
finds a flash drive where Ted tells his story – kind of a novel within a novel - and how he
became “The President of the Cynics of America.” His story is a slice of gay history from
before Stonewall through the AIDS crisis and beyond.
The third short novel, “Season,” is the escapades of two gay brothers from a small town in
Pennsylvania who lose their blue collar jobs and decide to mine their fortunes as male
escorts in sunny Florida during its winter season, hence the title. A deep family secret,
however, eventually threatens their all-too-close relationship.
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are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or
broadcast without the prior written permission of Chances Press.
