A.J. Truman Guest Post

Gay Book Reviews is pleased welcome A.J. Truman with a guest post about his new book Out on a Limb.

5 Things in Out on a Limb that Happened in Real Life

Art imitates life, or so they say. For my books, that’s more than true. The character and plot details that flesh out the world of my books come from real life. I’m always keeping my ears open for a conversation I overhear between strangers. Or my eyes are peeled for a character quirk I see at a party. Out on a Limb had more than average real life inspiration, as I based it off my time working in Hollywood and at a media agency. Some of my favorite moments of Out on a Limb have inspirations from real life. People I know. People I’ve read about. Inspiration is all around us, especially for these five moments.

1) Meeting at the end of college.

2) The boss who won’t stop emailing. Walker is stuck with a micromanaging boss who sends emails only a sentence long, or that just have the subject line filled out. This is based on one of my old bosses, who would send email after email in stream-of-consciousness, and would love to have meetings about meetings. I actually liked her a lot personally, just not her management style.

3) Naked Twister. When Walker and Cameron first meet, Walker claims Cameron got so drunk that he ripped off his clothes, jumped on his bed, and yelled “Naked Twister!” Shockingly, this is based on a true story. In college, my friend did this same exact thing. She had a little too much to drink when hanging out with a guy and whalla, “Naked Twister!” To this day, she still doesn’t know where “Naked Twister” came from, just the deep recesses of her subconscious mind, apparently.

4) No writing. Cameron is offered a job in Hollywood working at a top movie studio. The catch is that he’s not allowed to do any type of writing on the side, because of conflict of interest. While this may sound extreme, I was offered a job at a production company with these same terms. They discouraged any type of outside creative endeavors among their employees. Just in case your script was similar to something they were developing, they wanted to avoid any legal murkiness. And I suspect they wanted their employees to be focused on their work at all time. I wound up turning the job down.

5) Major script rewrites. Cameron is appalled to find a gritty script he loved get turned into a hackneyed romantic comedy. If you think something like this can’t happen, consider the script 3,000. It was a dark, edgy drama about a heroin-addicted prostitute who spends a week with a businessman, sees what life is like as a member of the 1%, and then is cruelly dumped back on the street. Disney bought the script and rewrote it, and we now know it as the sweet rom-com Pretty Woman.

Have you seen something in real life that seems stranger than fiction? Share in the comments!

Title: Out on a Limb (Browerton University #2)
Author: A.J. Truman
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: April 18th 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 400 pages
Reviewed by: Lili
Blurb:

No looking back.

That’s the motto of college senior Cameron Buckley, whether he’s kicking his latest hookup out of bed or plotting out his future as a hit screenwriter. With only a few weeks until graduation, he’s ready to put Browerton University in his rearview mirror and start the life he’s been dreaming of ever since he was a kid. But a chance meeting with a sexy stranger in a bar throws a wrench into his Hollywood plans.

For Walker Reed, no looking back is hard to do when you work minutes away from your alma mater and share child custody with your college sweetheart. Almost fifteen years after graduating from Browerton, he can’t stop wondering how he got here. He has an ex who can’t stand him, a five-year-old son he can’t connect with, and a dead-end job he can’t escape.

When Cameron and Walker first meet, they know the rules. They know their friendship has an expiration date, yet it begins changing them in ways they never expected. As graduation looms, they both know things can’t go anywhere, but they can’t keep denying the feelings pulling them closer, even as an offer from Hollywood threatens to tear them apart forever.

OUT ON A LIMB is a gay new adult romance filled with humor, heart, and hot guys. It’s the second full-length book in the Browerton University series, but can be read as a standalone. The book is intended for readers 18+.

OUT ON A LIMB comes out April 18, 2016. Want to see what else A.J. is up to, as well as get exclusive updates on his upcoming books? Became an outsider. Sign up at ajtruman.com/outsiders.

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Author Bio

A.J. Truman remembers his college days like it was yesterday, even though it was definitely not yesterday. He writes books with humor, heart, and hot guys. What else does a story need? He loves spending time with his pets and his partner and writing on his sun porch.