Hey guys!

Check out the trailer I did for Orphan's Quest!

Hi Everyone!

by underdarkness

When I first picked up Orphan's Quest, it was out of sheer interest to find out whether a novel deemed a "gay fantasy" could possibly be a good read. Most novels I've come by that specify the main characters as gay often times end up being preachy and tedious to get through without snoring or yelling at the pages, though I figured I'd give Orphan's Quest a chance.

The story starts off with a young man, Rokey, going through his studies at a sort of boarding school called the Noble Contemplative. The hierarchy of faculty at the school is vaguely reminiscent of a Catholic institution, minus the religious rule. From the start, we see that Rokey is attracted to other young men.

We also come to find that the world in which Rokey lives is incredibly tolerant of gays (or Samers, as they're called in the story). Through an accident that Rokey is ultimately blamed for, he is sent away from the confines of the school and is told never to return. The night following, Rokey is attacked and is saved by a young elf named Flaskamper (or Flash). From there, Rokey is introduced to Flash's fellow misfits who make their way from town to town to get by.

Hi Guys!

So I have a new marketing team helping me to make the most of my meager advertising budget. One of them told me I should be as controversial as possible in my press releases because that would attract more free publicity. So I'm thinking - geez, I'm just a gay HIV+ athiest Republican who writes gay books marketed at teenagers. What is there about me that could possibly be controversial?

Hi Guys!

Hi guys,

Check out my latest blog entry for details:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=13365544...

I'm excited. Sal Sapienza, author of Seventy Times Seven, has offered to read Orphan's Quest and give me a blurb. Yay!!!

By Jeff Walsh

Pat Nelson Childs isn't a stranger to Oasis members.

He found the site when looking for avenues to promote his book, Orphan's Quest, but realized there was more he could do here in addition to book promotion. He's taken the helm of the Gay Like Me anthology project, and is an active member of the community here.

It did present a slight problem, though, as Pat happens to write in the small sliver of stuff that I just can't get into as a reader. I don't really do fantasy, sci-fi, comics, or anything like that. (I do have a small window available for sci-fi if it is about some dystopic future, but otherwise I can't read that sort of stuff.)

So, the workaround: we're going to get someone else to do the review at some point (there's already an excerpt available here). Pat and I had a chat about his planned trilogy of Orphan's Quest books, his coming out, his background, his being HIV-positive, and the ability to have sex with guys as a teenager without questioning your sexuality.

Hi Guys!

Well, I woke up with a better attitude today. Since I can't change the fact that I have to pay this money back before I can leave Maine, I'm just going to focus on the things that I can do while I'm here. Last night I thought of a whole new Firma novel, which I actually can't tackle for awhile since I've promised to write a lesbian series after this trilogy.

Well I sent out a copy of Orphan's Quest to Oprah today along with a letter telling her all about my battle with HIV and how the book came ultimately came about. I feel like a total publicity whore now, trading off my illness to try and get some attention.

Hi All!

I was chatting with Brent Hartinger, author of The Geography Club, yesterday. Ok, that's not precisely what happened. In fact, I wrote to him asking him if he would please read Orphan's Quest and give me some advice on how to get an agent and a real publisher. He wrote back and kindly offered to do what he could to help. He did however give me some discouraging news.