Interview with Mel Keegan
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Interview with Mel Keegan |
| Interviewer: | Red Haircrow |
| Interviewee: | Mel Keegan, a pseud for a well-known slash fan writer |
| Date(s): | February 17, 2011 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | |
| External Links: | here, Archived version. Originally posted to Queer Magazine Online (apparently offline) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Mel Keegan was interviewed in 2011.
The focus of the interview is "gay fiction," marketing, and the changes in publishing.
Excerpts
Out of the many books you’ve written, which one is your personal favourite? Why?That’s a tough question, and the answer will change from day to day, depending on the mood I’m in. But it’s true to say I have an especially soft spot for several books. Fortunes of War is very close to my heart, and from week to week I’ll either cite this one or Dangerous Moonlight as the best of my historicals. I’ll usually choose The Swordsman as my best fantasy, though the one that’s perhaps the least well known of all my books is a candidate for this rank. The Lords of Harbendane somehow slipped through the cracks, coming along at a time when there were such rafts of new works, it was literally impossible to get it a review. And then of course, when I’m in a science fiction mood, I’ll almost certainly choose Death’s Head as a personal favourite.
Why would I choose any one of these as my personal choice of the moment? Because it will strike a chord at some level. They’re very different books. Fortunes of War is the closest to being a classical romance. Death’s Head is the closest to being legitimate SF, in which the gay themes and characters are absolutely integral to the futuristic setting. The Swordsman is classic fantasy in every detail, with the exception of the gay romance (and I have an especially soft spot for it because it’s been my best seller in recent years).
What was your first published work? When was it written and/or published? Was it in the gay fiction genre?My first published works were not in the gay genre, and were not on the Mel Keegan by-line; they go back to about 1980 – they’d be of no interest to anyone reading about Mel Keegan. To go into those credits, I’ll also have to disclose two or three of my pen names, and I’d rather not do this. Professional discretion!
My first professional gay fiction credit, now – that’s a whole ‘nother question! It was ICE, WIND AND FIRE, which was written some time in the late 1980s, contracted by GMP in 1989 and published in 1990.