Interview: Thorny Sterling, author of 'Splinters'

I've been following Thorny Sterling's blog for a few years and I adore his voice. He has a way of engaging you no matter what the topic is. He wrote his first book, Splinters, in first-person present tense, which suits his raconteur style perfectly. It felt like he was telling me the story as I was reading it, and it enriched my experience. I felt like I was there in person. I can picture the scenery, hear the sounds of a working ranch and smell the fresh air.

In the opening scene, Allan wakes up in a strange place under even stranger circumstances. This big-city, androgynous model is naked and tied to a wooden plank in the middle of nowhere. In the achingly bright sunlight, he surveys his surroundings. His internal musings show his panic and bewilderment. He doesn't remember anything from the night before and has no idea how he got there. His waist-length hair is gone. A gorgeous cowboy on a horse rescues him. It's Duke, and it's his ranch where Allan ends up. As Duke cuts him free, Allan realizes all his body hair is gone, too. This adds to the mystery.

This awkward meeting does nothing to diminish the chemistry between these two. Duke coming along to rescue Allan is a dream come true in more ways than one. Rugged Duke is so Allan's type. Allan is funny, has a smart mouth and is the perfect foil for Duke. Together with the local law, they try to solve the mystery behind Allan's predicament. While staying at Duke's ranch to recover, Allan has a chance to spend time with Duke and their chemistry sizzles! Allan realizes that Duke isn't just a cowboy stereotype. One of my favorite quotes illustrates this:

Before now, cowboys were just sexy like denim and strength. This man beside me is so much more than any of that. I'm staring at the land, but I'm seeing him. All my life, I've been the leaves on this tree, shaking in the wind, trying to hold on. Duke is the roots.

Even though Allan is a fish out of water on the ranch, he wants to be with Duke, see what a typical ranch day is like. When Duke takes Al out for a horse ride, the horse gets a little frisky. Allan's mouthy sarcasm makes me laugh:

Pushing my hat back into place, I turn a glare on the hyena formerly known as Duke. "That was not funny. Your horse is defective."

I love these two together. While they meet under mysterious circumstances, they are so right for each other. I never thought their relationship advanced too soon. I just wanted to see more. When Duke confesses that he knows who Allan is and loves his modeling photos, it cements it for me that they're meant to be. Duke loves Allan's androgyny, and Allan finally finds a guy who accepts all of him. Their lovemaking gave me some melty moments and so did Thorny's words.

Duke's groans merging with mine, like two notes in the same song…

The course of true love never does run smooth and an additional mystery frightens Al away. While you may or may not figure out the perpetrator, their reasons for it all will surprise you. I like the way that aspect of the story was handled. Their time apart shows Duke and Allan what is important and you'll be sighing happily by the end.

This book is charming, funny and poignant with a bit of mystery that adds to the spice. I have so many phrases and paragraphs highlighted. Thorny writes with a spare style that has maximum impact. He epitomizes my love of the written word. I loved having a chance to talk to him about his writing and everything else fascinating about him …

Mary: I love your style of writing and chatting. When did you know you could write? When did it click that your engaging style could translate well to the written word?

​Thorny: Thank you! :) I think the only reason I knew I might be a good writer was because people told me. Back when my blog was young, like 2011, I would just sit down and babble through my fingers and people would reply and tell me they laughed or cried or thought hard about something. I think seeing the responses to what I wrote made me want to keep going and do it again. Before the blog, I didn't do much writing except for school assignments. Now I might be a little bit addicted to the way writing evokes reactions. It's pretty amazing ​when something you say impacts someone else.

Mary: You're very open and honest on your blog — no fear of sharing. Although you are so adept at writing sexual tension, you don't have many sex scenes in Splinters, and they are not too explicit. What dictated that?

Thorny: ​I'm totally blaming the characters. ; ) I had ideas for sexual situations they might find themselves in and I wrote some down — there's even one on my blog as sort of a deleted scene now. I have no problem with stories that have sex in every chapter. But! It has to be there for a reason. When it came to writing Splinters, there were only three instances where sex made sense for Allan and Duke. I could've dropped in more, but it felt wrong to do that. As to the explicitness of them, it was the emotion that mattered more in both scenes. The first was a celebration of acceptance and the acknowledgment of the instant connection between them. The second was for saying goodbye to that connection, even though neither wanted to part. The final sex scene was a reunion where both men were desperate to stake their claim and never let go. What they did physically was a lot less important to me (and, I hope, to the reader) than why they did it.

Mary: Cowboy stories are hot right now, but you started this a few years ago. Why cowboys? Where did the inspiration come from?

Thorny: In the fall of 2011, I wrote a flash fic kind of thing based on a photo, and Al and Duke were born. ; ) It wasn't until spring of 2012 that I got at all serious about expanding on that idea and really learning about writing. But the cowboy part was easy: Who would I want riding to my rescue if I was tied up in a field? Cowboy! I've always had a place in my heart for Hollywood's cowboys, and studying up on the real-life modern-day version just made me love them even more. They've been romanticized forever, but even though I did that a bit with Duke, I also hope I gave at least a nod to the hard-working men out on the range right now.

Mary: You designed and painted your cover. I love it! You've sold paintings and you're starting to design covers now. You're so talented at writing and art. Do you have a preference or do they both feed your soul?

Thorny: Thank you! : ) It was a struggle to find just the right image for this book, but once I hit on it, I fell in love with seeing that tree on the cover. As for a preference, they really do two different things for me. I've been bitten by the writing bug and I want to keep doing that, but sometimes it's a lot of work. When I need a break, or I get stuck, I turn to painting. Whether it's digital or traditional acrylic, I can lose myself completely in shapes and colors. Sometimes painting gets me unstuck and I can go back to writing again. Seeing both types of my work out there is incredibly awesome :)

Mary: What's coming up next?

Thorny: I'm taking my time writing something new, just for my own peace of mind. I've been working on Splinters for a long time, and letting it go now that it's published has been a weird sort of mourning period for me. I'm told it happens to a lot of authors and that I'll be back at the keys very soon, so I'm letting it run its course. In the meantime, I've been working on paintings as well as doing cover art for various authors and painting commissions, too. It's dream-come-true stuff to be able to do something I love and make a bit of a living at it. My husband definitely likes the higher-quality date nights. ; )

Find out more at thornysterling.com.

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Mary Grzesik got her start reading cereal boxes. She loves tennis, reading books, talking about books and writing about books. She can't decide which is her favorite thing: her e-reader or her tennis racket.