Dylan Madrid is the author of the novels Mind Fields, Love in the Shadows, and Backstrokes. A California native, Dylan grew up in the Bay Area. He opted to backpack through seven countries before heading to college and spent a year living in Europe, primarily on the Greek island of Ios. When he's not dreaming about living on the Italian Riviera or running away to Belgium, Dylan teaches college courses in writing and the arts.
Aazon Author Page
Quintin Pearson, an American living in London, has spent the last two years working as a magazine staff writer and nursing a broken heart. Craving a change in his quiet life, Quintin accepts an invitation to an exclusive party hosted by Regina Bremington, the U.S. ambassador’s glamorous wife. At the party, terror takes over when the electricity suddenly goes out and the ambassador is assassinated.
In the safety of a dark bedroom, Quintin meets a mysterious stranger named Luca, an Italian spy. Even though the two men can’t see each other, a spark is ignited that soon becomes a mutual lust. Within days, Luca arranges for them to meet again at a remote seaside town in Belgium. There, Luca confesses his true identity and convinces Quintin they must team up to bring the ambassador’s killer to justice.
Q) What inspired you to write this story?
Love in the Shadows was inspired by a dream I had, but there’s a song with the same title recorded by E.G. Daily and also by a band from Belfast called Circuit 21 that I listened to while writing the book.
Q) How long did it take you to write?
Love in the Shadows required a tremendous amount of research. Overall, the novel took close to three years to write. The first chapter of the novel was work shopped at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans under the guidance of Jameson Currier.
Q) What is your favorite thing about writing?
I really love the research process of a novel. So often I discover something new and usually it inspires more creativity.
Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Writing is a wonderful part of my life, but it does take a considerable commitment of time and energy. Aside from the actual writing, there’s much more work required of authors including the editing process and marketing. However, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Writing is my passion.
Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
Tennessee Williams. I think he was a genius. I’d love to know what his creative process was like.
Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it?
There’s a bottle of salad dressing in there that I’m pretty sure is now a science experiment.
Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Love in the Shadows is the first book in a planned trilogy.
The second book, The Beautiful Lie, is being written now. In it, Quintin finds himself drawn into the life of Colette Marchand, the unfaithful wife of a French diplomat who's convinced her Spanish lover is an assassin who's been hired to kill her.
The third book in the series will be titled The Edge of Desire.
I’m currently writing a new novel, a gay romance called Backstrokes, about a classical pianist and a lifeguard falling in love. Backstrokes will be available in June from my publisher Bold Strokes Books.
