I grew up reading my mother's Harlequin romances, and even tried writing one myself, long before I really new what a novel was.
I was browsing the shelves at the Barnes & Noble in South Miami (now long since gone) and discovered a gay romance on the shelf. I bought it immediately, and tell in love with this subgenre. Since then I've written many of these books myself.
One note: I consider "gay romance" to be romance novels between two men written by a gay male author. MM romances (male/male) are those written by straight women, aimed at a female audience. There's certainly a great deal of crossover, and I market my romances regardless of reader gender or sexual orientation.
When I was younger and single, I spent a lot of time on South Beach, the southern tip of Miami Beach. When I moved to Miami in 1986 the area was just beginning to come back to life, and much of that activity was spurred by artists and gay men. I met my husband there, and we often went to movies and restaurants there. So it was logical to me that when I began writing romances, I'd set them there.
Check out my South Beach romances.
From reading authors like K.J. Charles, Joanna Chambers, Cat Sebastian, and others, I developed a love of historical romances and decided to try my hand. That's the genesis of the Ormond Yard romances.
Learn about Ormond Yard.
I've also written other romance novels that don't fit into a series. I'm particularly interested in adventure stories, so I consider my Have Body Will Guard series as romances, as well as others like The Big Race and Driven Together.
The Have Body, Will Guard series
My other adventurous romances
I cut my writing teeth on erotic short stories, which were published in the 1980s and 1990s in gay magazines such as Mandate and Honcho. I went on to edit nine collections of short erotic fiction based on tropes, like construction workers and models.
Read my erotic fiction.