Hello,
wonderful people! I am back with another author who accepted to be interviewed
by little me. And I particularly love this one. I had the honor to read all his
books, before they were even published. Yes, he’s that nice to me! So for those of you who may not know him as
much as I know him, I would like him to introduce himself.
So
Konrad Deire, who are you?
I am 48
years old man, half Italian / half German; I have a Ph.D. in economy and used
also to teach International Marketing in University. I speak fluently German,
Italian, French, English and Indonesian. Nowadays I run a few companies; one
consulting company (International Marketing) and other two are start-ups in
Asia selling equipment in the oil & gas industry. It is a boring job, but I
am good at it and it pays the bills. I have been living in Germany, Italy, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand and I have traveled half the world feeling ‘home’ wherever I
am (… and have internet connection).
The morning, you are tea or coffee?
Coffee! I
am a coffee addict, and having an Italian mother means that I started drinking
coffee from my earliest childhood on. Back home we had a coffee-pot called
“Napoletana”: which has served our family super strong morning coffee for more
than 40 years, the coffee-pot was obviously worn-out and finally we had to get
rid of it as the holes were hampering its functionality. I would love to have
it back now as a piece of modern art …
What kind of books do you write?
I write gay
fiction, most of it exploring borderline themes like incest and fetishes. … No
… that does not make me a pervert …; but my books are highly pornographic and
most of my characters are pretty young. I write about what touches me most and
what I love most. Coming-of-age is the most emotional period in the life of
each of us, our first love, our discovery of sex … that’s what I am most
interested in.
Why did you choose this genre?
I love to
describe love. Love comes in many forms and not all are ‘sanctioned’. My books
offer a rare glimpse for the confused and lost into a brighter future for gay boys. [We are all somehow confused and lost, so
really, my stories are for everybody]. Whenever I can I show the bright sides
of being gay, the beauty of it, and the perspective of a positive life.
When you write, are you keyboard or paper?
Keyboard/computer,
my handwriting is so bad that I myself fatigue in understanding what I wrote.
Are you more motivated to write when the sun shines or when the weather
is gray?
It doesn’t
matter … actually what happens is: when an idea grips me at any time of the day
or night it is like a swirl pulling me into the story and identification with
my characters, it is compulsive, it does not let me out … sometimes I type so
fast that my keyboard is burning hot …. and my heart beats fast and burns like
the hot plot in my stories (yes I do write with two hands, although the
temptation to use only one hand is high)
Where do you find your inspiration?
Everywhere,
I observe and see so many stories around me. I usually start with a setting, my
characters just spring to life all by themselves with all their beauty and their
flaws, I am merely describing what they do …
When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head,
or is it built progressively?
I rarely
know how a story is going to end when I begin… it’s the characters deciding,
but somehow I get always to a surprise ending. Not all my endings are happy
endings, but for sure the reader who makes the journey with me will come out
more enriched and happy.
How do you feel before the release of a book? Fear, joy? And after?
Well I am a
pretty seasoned writer; have published about 60 novels so far. My greatest
satisfaction is writing the story; the publication with today’s technology
isn’t a big deal. But I love to track my sales every day and it gives me a
boost of confidence when I see that a particular book has sold 10 or 15 copies
overnight. … No, the royalties we authors receive from our books are not
sufficient to make a living, so I do still have a day job (being a ceo of a few
international companies). I write for pleasure not for money. I would like to
give this advice to everyone: do what you
love and you won’t “work” a single day in your life! My dream, of course is
to be able one day just to write and no day-job anymore.
How do you know something you wrote is good, when are you satisfied?
I know
something was good, if, reading it again sometime later; it still makes me cry
and shudder with emotion. …and Yes, I do cry a lot, I am highly emotional
(sensitive), I always cry watching movies. My boyfriend makes fun of me, every
time we watch movies together, he turns around and watches if the tears are
already flowing… most of the times he catches me right there.
Between your first and last novel, do you feel a change? Do you write
differently?
OMG! yes,
absolutely, my career started with a mockup of the Harry Potter series
describing the gay side of Hogwarts and the intrigues of love and betrayal of
Harry, Ron and Draco. That first story got me 15.000 fans on Facebook within 10
days. However the English and prose were terrible and today I am mostly ashamed
about it. I am not a native English speaker; my English is constantly improving
(but still full of flaws). However I figured out that in my particular genre
the plot is more important than grammar and prose. Yes, I am aware that most of
my readers are pretty young and read my stories with one hand only. My readers’
satisfaction is the real reward I seek.
They say that writers project themselves into the skin and into the head
of his hero / heroine, is that the case for you?
Absolutely,
I am totally schizophrenic; my characters are taking hold of me 100%. Most of
my stories get anyway inspiration from my own sexy encounters. Sometimes, when
I push (or follow) my characters into more daring plots, I can’t help it, but
soon after I will end up in the very same situation or place I described in my
book, doing the same things and enjoying them both for me and my character.
You define yourself more like a bookworm, a city mouse or a country
mouse?
Not sure if
I feel comfortable with the mouse thing. I love big cities; that’s where I have
lived my whole life, but I enjoy the beauty of nature very much. Being a
compulsive traveler, I have the tendency to move weekly from one place to the
other. I have homes in Europe (Italy and Germany) and Asia (Malaysia and
Indonesia) my day-job forces me to travel all the time (mainly in Asia).
Essentially I like to travel, but being every week on an airplane can be tiring
and not least it disrupts my social life; luckily I can keep in touch with my
many friends over Facebook and organize my social life easily.
Molière said: “Writing is like prostitution. First we write for the love
of it, then for a few friends, and in the end for money.” What do you think about
it?
Haha, well
I am still at stage one, however I can see Molière’s logic. Writing without
external approval (sales, compliments, royalties) is a sterile and depressing
thing. A good mix is healthy and satisfying. I am currently working towards my
life dream … to be able to pass my time writing and living wherever I want. In
order to get there, I need to assure a steady income, my royalties might not be
enough … so … maybe doing the right investments and maybe buying and managing a
few apartments and receiving the monthly rental will give me just the base to
do just this …
Your books have already been translated?
Nope, I
write in English because the world wide book market is 90% in English. I am
native Italian and German speaker, but it don’t think it makes sense to publish
gay erotica in German or Italian as the sales would be too low to justify the
enormous effort.
Do you pay attention to literary criticism?
I love to
receive feedback from my readers, it is extremely useful as it gives me ideas
for new stories and helps me to improve my flaws. I value very much an honest
opinion and I am not easily offended.
The days are 25 hours. You spend that extra hour in the garden or in the
kitchen?
I love to
cook, but, no, if I had that extra hour I would take a walk in the city, have a
cappuccino, watching people.
What is the book you would bring with you on a deserted island?
Thích Nhất
Hạnh “Old Path, White Clouds: Walking in the Footsteps of the Buddha”
If you read only one book on Buddhism, let it
be this one. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the world's great teachers, I have been
reading this book many times already, it’s a true gem!
In the evening, do you turn off the light directly or do you take the
time to read?
As most
men, when it’s time to go to bed it takes me mere seconds to fall asleep, no
reading in bed for me, too tired, but I do dream a lot and sometimes I wake up
in the middle of the night and start writing.
What are your best books and why?
Well that’s
a difficult story, it’s like asking a mother to choose to sacrifice one of her
children.
According
to sales, my all
times bestseller is “The Making of a
Pussy Boy” series that you can find on Smashwords or Amazon. It’s a wonderful tale of coming of age of Florian who is introduced into high end prostitution by his older brother Roy, their love story and the many adventures which lead Flo into the most diverse settings, from prison, to be the boyfriend of a Hollywood star foot fetish(modeled on Leonardo di Caprio), to become the lover of an archbishop and finally discovering true love …
According to critics my best is "Playing Rachmaninoff in my Heart", a sexy story about two young students, who over time create the perfect life and love of two souls. It is a wonderful coming of age tale of two students in Italy. "Playing Rachmaninoff in My Heart" first appeared in the anthology “I KISSED A BOY” (ISBN: 9781607773139) published by Ravenous Romance.
Of course I am most in love with my youngest and latest creations: which are the Hans 1.-5 “Adventures of a sexational teen”
I was too concentrated to catch the right train
on the right platform, therefore I only saw ‘him’ once we were boarding.
He was even taller than I had anticipated,
maybe 7 feet. All around him a group of giggling girls, like the fans of some
superstar. He was polite yet he kept his distance. We got off at the same
station.
Could it be? Could it be that we were in the
same school? I intentionally walked slower, intent to follow my angel wherever
he was heading. I paid no attention what stairs we went up, but when he entered
the school gate, I had a bounce of relieve. YES! We were indeed in the same
school.
I stole my way into the principal’s office and
got my class assigned. Of course I was disappointed that he was not…, that ‘I’
was not … in his class. I was totally distracted and little did I notice of who
was who and who introduced himself or herself to me.
During break time, I grabbed the first
available girl, Elisabeth I think she said was her name, “Who is that?” I asked
pointing my finger to the mysterious boy of my dreams.
Elisabeth just shot her eyes to the sky and
recited like she was telling me who George Washington had been: “Max Lipton,
rich, famous, handsome, captain of the baseball team, school champion for the
last 3 years, the most desired bachelor in school, there are at least three
girls who claim to be his girlfriends, but none can prove it. Why are you asking?”
My impression was right, he was a god, and as
expected I felt worth less than a piece of fresh dog-shit. “I think I saw him
in my neighborhood.” I replied diplomatically, however I did not miss
Elisabeth’s inquiring look and silent question: ‘is he a fag?’
I didn’t care. All I cared about was Max, … Max
Lipton, now my angel finally had a name.
You can find Konrad on Facebook.
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