I am excited to welcome fellow Tirgearr author Jeff Gardiner to my blog and to share his new novel with you all.
Mary Bradford: I want to ask you about your new novel, Treading On Dreams. Will you tell us about the theme behind it, and what were your thoughts on writing this book?
Jeff Gardiner: It’s the worst
thing in the world: being in love, or even obsessed with someone who doesn’t
feel the same way about you.
“Let’s just be
friends” or “I don’t feel the same way about you” are terrible phrases to hear.
There’s very little you can do about it whilst clinging on to your dignity,
unless you plan to provoke or bore them into eventual submission. The message
is pretty clear.
It’s not easy to
then ignore the images, emotions, thoughts and fantasies dominating your mind,
as those cruel words echo through it (usually when you wake up at 3am). But
just for your own sanity you’ve got to decide whether to continue with the
friendship and hope – risking serious hurt as you watch them get involved in
other relationships; or to give up on them entirely.
In Treading
On Dreams, Donny is obsessed with Selena who is engaged to the perfect
man. But Donny refuses to give up, and he bides his time. It’s a risky
strategy, which is very likely to go horribly wrong.
I wrote Treading
On Dreams in an attempt to explore how those feelings of hope and
desire mix with the jealousy and anger rising from romantic and sexual
rejection. Donny attempts to distract himself from his obsession by enjoying
other sensual and sometimes overwhelming new experiences, guided by his dubious
friend, Jaz. It’s contemporary fiction, with twenty-something characters
learning about love (or not).
Blurb:
Donny is obsessed
with his housemate, Selena – but his love is unrequited. He enthusiastically
accepts her willing friendship, which only fuels his deepening fantasies.
Jaz is their crazy
landlord who likes sleeping with women – lots of them. He takes pleasure in
educating the once innocent Donny in the hedonistic pleasures of sex, drugs and
rock’n’roll. It blows Donny’s mind.
Selena is engaged
to Melvin – the perfect man – but is also keen to befriend the ever-demanding
Donny ... until she falls pregnant and her wedding looms.
Donny expresses
his true feelings at the wedding, causing mayhem and anger. But there remains a
chink of hope: perhaps Selena’s marriage to Melvin is not quite as perfect as
it seems.
Now Read an Extract from TREADING ON DREAMS:
Donny sat in his room reading,
until interrupted by a light tap on his door.
‘Is it okay if I come in?’
Selena!
He jumped up and opened the door.
‘Of course. I always allow beautiful women into my bedroom.’ She didn’t respond
with her usual coy smile.
‘I need to have a chat with you,
Donny. Is now a good time?’ She sat on the corner of the bed and he sat next to
her, carefully cradling his drink.
‘Donny, I get this feeling you and
I have been getting quite close recently and I’ve really enjoyed your company
and friendship.’
Donny’s face went hot.
‘Yes, it’s been wonderful. I love
being with you.’
‘Well, I don’t think we should
spend so much time together.’
Blood pumped in his ears and it
almost deafened him. ‘Sorry?’
‘I only want us to be friends. I
don’t want any more than that, Donny.’
‘Oh… no, okay.’ However, it wasn’t
him speaking; he was a character in a corny film.
She walked out without looking at
him or saying another word.
***
The phrase haunted Donny’s mind, echoing
through the lonely darkness of each night: ‘I only want us to be friends.’ He
imagined Selena saying it to him with her face warped into a mocking snarl.
After a while, the tablets started
to lose their effect and waiting to drift into sleep was a tortured agony, but
the more he thought about sleep, the more awake he felt.
How stupid he was to believe he
ever had a chance with Selena. Scared of bursting into tears when meeting her,
he avoided her for a few days, until one day he walked in on her making a cup
of tea.
They both smiled politely but
managed to avoid a conversation. Once Selena had made her drink, she quickly
scuttled off to her room for the evening.
Donny struggled to put his thoughts
together with his mind a jumble of loss, vulnerability, and dismay.
Some interesting facts about Jeff and how to get in touch with him:
Jeff is a British
author and editor, born in Nigeria, now living in West Sussex. Treading
On Dreams is published by Tirgearr, and his other novels are Myopia
and Igboland
(both published by Crooked Cat), and he also has a collection of short
stories and a non-fiction work to his name. Jeff recently gave up teaching to
concentrate on writing, editing and performing, and has just signed a three
book deal with Accent Press for his ‘Gaia’trilogy.
TREADING ON DREAMS
purchase links:
Mary Bradford: I want to thank Jeff for dropping by and sharing his work with us and wish him great success with his novel.
