Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Today: J. C. Owens – author of gay fantasy and romance!
I had my first book published back in 2007. Back then I was writing under the name J. C. McGuire with a story of Arthurian Briton, with “My Name is Aelida”, a m/f title that spanned four books. Then I wrote an Alexander/Hephaistion book, “Shadow of the Sun”. I loved writing their story so much that I switched to the male/male genre and have never looked back!
If anyone had ever told me that I would have 30 published titles in the new genre by 2025, I would never have believed them!
In 2025, I went into self publishing and now own the rights to all of my titles. It was a long, hard slog to get here, but in the end, I think it’s worth it. I learned a lot, and had some great people helping me through it! Thank you, Scott!
Now I can finally get back new stories. I love creating fantasy worlds where anything and everything can happen. My characters go through intense, often epic situations, reaching for strength – no fluff here! I jump around in genres, with dragons, centaurs, merpeople, contemporary, sci-fi, etc. Not even my muse knows where we will go next!
I love to hear from my readers!
Thanks so much, J.C., for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre?
J.C. Owens: Messy! I jump around all over the place, from supernatural, to contemporary, fantasy as in centaurs and mermen, but my primary genre is medieval type fantasy. I love creating worlds! It’s one of the reasons I chose fantasy. I hate researching. I want to create something unique, not have to worry about realistic historical facts. I found that research just took me away from writing and made me have to stick with certain images. Fantasy unleashes all my creativity and imagination. I love ancient history completely. I just don’t want to have to incorporate it into my books.
JSC: What was your first published work? Tell me a little about it.
JCO: My first published work, Gaven, was way back in 2009. Back then it was very, very difficult to write anything with depth and character development. Publishers wanted short, sexy and simple. Plot was not encouraged. I really had to fight to get more than sex scenes into my books. The m/m genre has come a long, long way since then are there are so many great LGBTQ+ titles now!
JSC: What is your writing Kryptonite?
JCO: 30,000 words. I reach 30,000 words and suddenly believe that my book is complete garbage, that I can’t write my way out of a paper bag. Every damn time. It’s ridiculous. Once I force myself up to 38,000 words, it’s all great from there. Makes no sense whatsoever, but then neither do I…
JSC: Do you use a pseudonym? If so, why? If not, why not?
JCO: I started writing under my own name, J. C. McGuire with m/f stories. When I veered into m/m stories I decided I wanted something different so I went with my mom’s maiden name instead and used J. C. Owens. It helps keep the two sides separate, so readers know what they’re getting. At least in my view… Also, I found a few readers can be a little too focused on you, and I like the anonymity.
JSC: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
JCO: At first, I took every review in completely. They can take you to the heights and then drop you like a rock. Once I got a little experience behind me, I started to realize that reviews, like everything you do in life, comes under a simple formula.
10% of people are going to go nuts over your books and love it to the ends of the earth. 10% of people are going to hate it due to their own issues and try to tear you apart, and then 80% are normal with normal reviews.
I know several fledgling authors who gave up because of a few bad reviews, convinced they had no abilities. I find that really bad reviews are kind of like on-line trolling – the people just have to find something to complain about, even if what they’re saying makes little to no sense.
I had someone give me a scathing review because they hated pirates and mine was a pirate book. It was clearly stated as a pirate book with pirate characters and attendant pirate experiences, etc. Why did she buy it? I’ve had a lot of those down through the years and I just shake my head and move on.
So I just toddle on with my writing. I just want to tell stories, not have to pander to other people’s expectations. If you write for you own satisfaction, then reviews don’t have nearly as much impact. I don’t listen to every person’s viewpoint on the street in my day to day living, so I don’t listen to every person’s opinion in my writing either.
JSC: What do you do if you get a brilliant idea at a bad time?
JCO: I try to make notes even if they are very basic. I find that an idea can be amazing…and then a day later it’s gone, completely. Just a few words to describe what you thought, to catch that idea all over again. It also helps when you are writing a book and a plot worm appears. Write it down!
JSC: Why did you choose to write in your particular field or genre? If you write more than one, how do you balance them?
JCO: I started writing historical romance, with “My Name is Aelida”, an Arthurian story, then dipped into an Alexander/Hephaistion story, “Shadow of the Sun”. I really liked writing about m/m stories because there were so few of them at the time. I had several gay friends who bemoaned the fact that there were so few stories for them to read, so I decided to dip into that genre and have never left!
JSC: Do your books spring to life from a character first or an idea?
JCO: I will see something or read something and suddenly a plot jumps into my mind and just keeps going. It’s not coming up with ideas that is my problem. I could have a hundred books by now and not ever cover all the stories I envision, it’s buckling down and actually getting past the first two chapters! I am convinced that if I actually focused for more than a few minutes I could do anything on my wish list, but my thoughts fly all over the place like a demented squirrel. When I can catch it and actually get down to business, then I can write like a literal wild thing. Unfortunately, that’s few and far between.
I think I see the plot line first and then the character begins to emerge from that concept. At the beginning, characters are very formulaic and then they take over and their personalities begin to flesh out the plot, changing it to suit themselves.
It’s really difficult to describe the process and I’m sure every writer will tell you something similar. Writer’s brains are just wired different. Other people live in the real world. We live in our minds far too much!!
I have discovered it’s just best to give the characters free rein and let them tell their story. I’m just the poor smuck writing it down.
JSC: What is the most heartfelt thing a reader has said to you?
JCO: At a writer’s convention in Denver, 2017, a lovely fan came up to me and sat down to talk. She had been in the US military and been wounded badly in Iraq. She said that pain became her constant companion and she couldn’t find any strength to keep going. Then she read several of my books. The characters often go through extreme trials of mind and body to the point of giving up. I always try to make my stories realistic. Not suddenly getting better or magically healing. Just finding the will and taking it step by step with hope for the future, that you can and will make it.
She told me that it was those stories that made her believe that if my characters could fight their way through, then so could she.
I have never received a compliment that amazing in my life. It made every moment of struggle in my writing over the years worthwhile.
I cried. She cried. We hugged. She said I gave her a precious gift. She gave me just as powerful a one back.
JSC: What are you working on now, and what’s coming out next? Tell us about it!
JCO: My publisher closed abruptly on Mar. 3, 2025 and I have had to re-publish 29 books. That was a marathon of epic proportions, I can tell you! It was incredibly difficult, but the silver lining is that now I have complete control over all my books. I have gone through the closing of four publishers over the years, but never 29 books at a time!
Now that they are all re-published, I can start focusing on new titles at last!
I usually work on multiple books at a time. When one is giving me fits, I just switch over to another.
The main focus at the moment, which could switch at another moment, is “More Than This. It was supposed to be a tale of a dark, bitter man who the world fears completely. Within two chapters it completely changed and now there is an expired goat named Daisy and a water dragon haunting the lake, and numerous refugees in the supposedly “forbidden lands”. I have never had a story simply take off on its own tangent so completely!
I’ve always known I don’t truly have control over my characters, but this one is ridiculous! So I’m just going to go with the flow and see where this leads. I find I’m actually enjoying the journey rather than worrying about word count per day.
And now for J.C.’s latest book: Gaven:
When the Masarians attack Gaven’s people, they are defeated and Gaven himself is taken captive. By a man claiming to be his father. It turns out his entire life has been a lie, and now his ‘father’ will give him into the hands of another man to indoctrinate and train him. Gaven vows he will never shame his people by giving into the Masarians’ way of loving other men.
But Vlar, the legendary warrior to whom he has been given, has other plans. The blood-drinker is determined to have Gaven and to make him yield.
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, dubious consent, male/male sexual practices, violence, voyeurism.
LGBT Fantasy Paranormal.
Universal Buy Link | Amazon
Excerpt
Andar and I spent much time together over the next few days, and I gave him the courtesy of listening to his explanations of things as we walked the camp or sat at evening meals. I did not often answer. But I thought about what he said, and he knew it, did not push me to believe.
Vlar sat beside me at these meals but did not push either, though I felt his eyes on me constantly. I ignored him as best I could, though his presence was like a flame, burning into the edges of my consciousness.
The first time I saw my – the warlord – after the incident between us, I found myself staring at the bruises on his throat and looking away with a sense of discomfort, though I could not comprehend why I should feel shamed.
On his behalf, he seemed not at all put out by the attack, seemed almost proud of it in some twisted way I could not understand. He brought it up now and then when asked about the bruises, and he would laugh, saying the males of his line were strong.
I could not understand him at all. Sometimes I would watch him surreptitiously, trying to see me in him or him in me. I could find nothing. He was confident, powerful, with a natural air of a leader. I could find no similarity in my lean form, in my tense surety of insult and resulting pain. Or in my ever-present consciousness of my inferiority that had been so drilled into me. I felt like I was a fraud, sitting at the ornate table, dressed in borrowed clothing much finer than I had ever worn before, eating an opulent repast full of things I had never tasted before. I felt like I should be with the servants, serving the food, not eating it.
When the meal ended, Andar came to get me and we walked through the camp once more, watching the sun set and the torches being lit at the onset of dusk.
He steered me to large rocks that sat high on the riverbank, and we watched the water swirling below for some time before he spoke.
“There are many things about our culture that you do not understand, Gaven, many things that will affect you. I would explain them the best I can, if you would like.”
I looked at him in silence, then nodded warily.
“I know that you were raised by a very superstitious, backward group of people, Gaven, and that has given you some ideas that are going to make things difficult for you.”
I listened without comment, but he knew I had heard and was mulling his words over, as usual.
“We are warriors, Gaven. We often spend our whole lives amongst other men. It is not so strange then that we pick our closest companions, our lovers, from those around us. We have not time to court women or spend time being their husbands. Often marriages are made for the begetting of children and, once those children are born, the man and woman may well never see each other again. Ours is a very military society, and we are surrounded by other very warlike people; we are never at peace long enough to raise families. Yet we are but people, Gaven. We need love, we need caring in our lives, and it is totally accepted that men can love men with great intensity, even onto a lifetime. This is not strange to us, and indeed it is encouraged and expected. When a boy comes to the army, he is given to an eraman, an older warrior who will introduce the boy into being a man and lover, and also be his trainer and mentor as to the arts of war. It is considered an honor, and a ceremony is held when the boy is taken as lover. It is the beginning of his new life, a symbolic giving of himself to his mentor in all things.†He paused then, gave a small smile that made me look at him more closely. He turned his head and met my eyes squarely. “I am your father’s lover, Gaven. Have been for many years. We are bonded, which means a true commitment as great as any marriage.”
I stared at him in disbelief, then flushed and looked away, shifting uncomfortably on the stone. The thought of these two strong men, naked in each other’s arms… It made me think of Micael and the occasional thoughts that had crossed my mind. I flushed more deeply and bowed my head. Thank the gods that Micael, in his innocence, had never known of those thoughts. Now I knew why those terrible things had crossed my mind, though I had always cast them aside in haste and horror.
“Gaven, there are things you need to know.” Andar’s tone was serious and I looked at him in trepidation.
“Vlar is your eraman.”
I stared at him, though without great surprise. Vlar’s words from before now made sense. My father had given me into his second-in-command’s training; according to Andar, a great honor.
I shuddered, looked down at my clenched fingers.
“I do not want this, Andar. Surely there must be another way.” My voice was low and pained.
“There is not, Gaven, though I understand your reluctance. You are your father’s son and someday may hold a position of power. You must be seen to hold to tradition, to be one of us. It is important that you train with the army, let them see your abilities, your progress. This is your chance for a better life than you have known, Gaven. You have been told you are nothing. This is your chance to prove otherwise.”
I looked at him, fighting to remain calm and reasonable. “I am too old, Andar. You said boys go through this ceremony; I am almost eighteen. It would be a farce.”
“No, it would be proof to the army that you accept Vlar and will be respectful to his training. They will see nothing strange in that. It would be strange if you did not.”
My fingers clenched tighter. “I hate him,” I whispered fervently.
“You fear him; that is quite different, my boy. Whatever it is you feel toward him, it is fierce and bright, and that in itself can lead to other emotions.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “I could never feel anything for him but disgust and revulsion. To suggest otherwise is madness.”
Andar smiled. “You are innocent in this, Gaven. You know not of what you speak. You will see.”