Patrick Doyle's Blog

After hanging around with Pierre and Bill, I've decided to move on. New story. New characters. New genre. Same preoccupations: the ties that bind. Catching Hanif's Eye: a mystery, a romance, an ocular adventure. Coming fall 2025.

Anyone who's read the other books in the series will wonder how there can possibly be another. The answer is I tricked time. You can do that in fiction. When Pierre met Bill he was already mature. So I went back. What happened to make a runaway boy grow up to become the center of so many lives? This is his story. From boy to man. From the 70s to the 90s. From the backwoods to the whole wide world.

This book, like the others, is all made up. But there's a thread of reality running through all three. Pierre is real. I see him every day. But I didn't trail after him with a notepad or record his conversations. The plots and dialogs are all mine. But the character is all his. Pierre is the reason I keep coming back to the story — the one in the book and the one at home.

When I first started writing I didn’t write about sex. I wrote about love between men. No problem there. But when it came to describing the act of making love I backed down. There were so many reasons. As many as I could find. It would cheapen my work. It wasn’t writing to titillate. I didn’t know how. Why bother, anyway? It’s just the old in-and-out. Right?

By my third book, I made the leap. It came naturally. I found myself wanting more. More emotion. More discovery. More depth. How make a character whole without going all the way? What someone does in bed can be just as revealing as what they do outside of it. Sometimes more. And I write these scenes with both hands more or less on the keyboard. Not what I expected either. But I’m equally invested in whatever my characters are doing, whether arguing at the table or bent over it.

Then came the problem of how. What words to use? Do I use metaphors? 'A sturdy stallion. A staff of love. A purple pillar of passion?' Or should I watch porn and take notes. ‘Stick it here. Stick it there.’ Pretty prosaic. My solution? Follow the old adage: write what you know. So, I wrote from my own experience and in the words I use. A cock is a cock is a cock.

Now I’m writing a new book, a follow-up to 'Pierre and Bill'. In one scene two men come together. One man is cautious. Establishing himself hasn’t been easy and he’s fallen for a man he works for. Going any further could jeopardize his career. But he does, and when he does, he makes himself vulnerable. The scene is explicit. Not only do we know what he’s doing, we know why. He’s taking a risk and we can see that in his lovemaking.

The story, however, is about something else. One-handed writing will only take you so far. Trust me. I know.

Ulysses Dietz is a wonderful reviewer. He’s able to write about a book and not dissect the plot or reveal the ending. His reviews are so well thought out and so well-written, they stand on their own as reflections on writing. Of course, I may not feel this way if he’d given my book a bad review. But that’s the thing with Ulysses, he only reviews books he likes. There are no low-star reviews from him. And I don’t know if this is true for other authors, but in my case, he sees things in my books that even I didn’t see. But they’re there. It’s as if I do my best writing while unconscious.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Jordi’s Day: A Gay Tale of Intrigue, Fantasy & Love in Barcelona (An Introduction)

I wrote this intro when I published Jordi’s Day a couple of years ago but then cut it because I found it pretentious. The other day I was cleaning my memory (!) and found it again. This time I liked it. While it does set up the story, the thing that struck me was my own enthrallment. Yes, there was a man involved but Barcelona already had me by the balls. Many writers, all greater than me, have written about their infatuation with this beguiling place. Here's proof that even a common mortal can get sucked in.
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“If you have visited Barcelona you will know its splendors. Perhaps you’ve followed the Ramble’s undulating promenade from Plaça Catalunya all the way down to the thin ethereal bridge that leaps across the harbor like a brush-stroke. Or you’ve lost your way in the Barri Gòtic's maze of medieval streets that appear and disappear without ever seeming to begin or end.

If you’ve strolled on Passeig de Gracia, the elegant 19th-century boulevard, you will have admired the exuberant mansions that rise from its broad, blue sidewalks. You may have even stopped at the pastry shops that dot every corner, their storefronts as delectable as their goods.

If you’ve seen photographs, you will recognize the dizzying structures that Gaudi built, the dramatic architecture of the Olympic port, the monumental fountains of Plaça d’Espanya, and the blinding-white contemporary art museum that looks as if it has been surgically inserted into an ancient neighborhood. You will have seen pictures of fortresses and churches hovering over the city’s low discreet skyline like castles in a storybook plain.

This is the Barcelona of daring and imagination. A bold self-assurance can be seen in every aspect of public art and architecture, and heroic representations of nationalist ardor infuse everything from medieval iconography to modernist obsessions.

Yet, no matter the medium or era, one figure is always present, Sant Jordi. The ancient knight is celebrated in Catalan painting, sculpture, and song. Images of Sant Jordi can be seen throughout the city. Public institutions, cultural events, and even a national holiday take him as their patron. Some say he’s a localized version of Saint George, others that he's a modernized version of a medieval warrior-king. Whatever his origins, Sant Jordi is Catalonia’s face to the world and he is always subduing the dragon.


There is, however, another Barcelona and another patron saint.

Santa Eulalia was born into a wealthy family long ago. She lived in the fashionable town of Sarria, now Barcelona’s most exclusive suburb. Her first language was Catalan but, given the times, her Latin was undoubtedly perfect. A progressive young woman, she had been attracted to the new ideas circulating among her peers and had been an early convert to Christianity. She was, however, ahead of her time and was arrested, tortured, and killed by the Romans. Unfortunately, in the bad timing that seems to plague the city, all this occurred not too long before the Romans themselves became Christians.

Santa Eulalia’s bones have been often moved throughout the centuries but for now rest in the crypt underneath the altar of the Cathedral. For a few euros, you can flood the crypt with light — for thirty seconds flat.

When you walk the old city streets you have to look carefully to find traces of Santa Eulalia. Her icons exist but they’re either small or out of the way. She is not quite a secret — her sufferings are legendary — but martyrdom is a double-edged sword, winning her a place in heaven but taking away everything else. City records reveal that she, and not Sant Jordi, is the city’s patron saint but there are no public festivities dedicated to Santa Eulalia.

If you come to Barcelona, leave the beaten path. Go out at dusk when the sky’s dazzling light gives way to the shadows that inhabit every Plaça and Carrer. Look behind the brilliant ceramic façades to see the modest clay bricks underneath. Don’t trust appearances. Take nothing for granted. As you wallow in the glories of the past ask yourself why, in this two-thousand-year-old city, entire centuries have barely left a trace. If you can only read about Barcelona, read between the lines and get a second opinion. Inscrutable Barcelona has many mysteries. This is only one of them.”

This review of Seeing Sean is so layered and rife with cultural references that I had to read it several times just to find out if they even liked the book.

http://www.rainbow-reviews.com/book-r...

“Fascinating, strange, and intensely romantic sci-fi.”
“Sweet and edgy, tender and tragic.”
“Richer and deeper than simple entertainment.”
“Masterclass story-telling.”

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

A pre-release review of Seeing Sean (due April 21) from the one and only Ulysses Dietz:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

What to say about an author who announces a new book when the ink is barely dry on the last? That he’s prolific? That he devotes every waking moment to the creation of his oeuvre? Or that he’s desperate for attention and slapdash in his work? Talented or superficial? I guess we’ll see!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Van Alone is now available.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Readers say:
“Spectacular! What a mystery!”
"A story worthy of an Alfred Hitchcock film.”
"Wow, reading Van Alone was like riding a roller coaster.”
“An extraordinary tale.”