When I asked my gracious host, Michael, what I should write about, he suggested I discuss my main character. I decided to let Justin tell his story.

My name is Justin Corrin. I’m about 5’11”, the same height as Olympic figure skating champion, Brian Boitano. I didn’t set out to be a figure skater. I originally started in the world of hockey, where I was considered on the smaller side. Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins is 6’9”. Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks is listed at 5’11”, but that’s probably when he’s wearing his skates, so I had a shot at the pros.

My story started when I was around fifteen years old, when I took up figure skating on the sly. My sister had been mouthing off to me during her lessons, so I told her figure skating looked simple. After about fifteen minutes, I could do an axel. My sister was not pleased. Her coach was over the moon. My mother didn’t know what to think.

My mom and I decided to keep the skating lessons a secret from my dad. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a good idea, but he didn’t handle the ‘Hey Dad, I’m gay’ conversation very well and telling him I wanted to figure skate instead of play hockey would have been terrible. But my hand was forced, the day my mom died in an automobile accident on her way to pick me up at the rink.

My dad told me to give up skating. I gave up hockey. I chose picks over pucks and alienated my entire remaining family. The only thing I could do was run away to California to train. Unfortunately, my demons followed me. Now I’ve come home to face the demons. I didn’t know how many demons I carried until I flew home. Some had to ride on the wing of the airplane because there wasn’t enough room in the baggage compartment. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m going to beat them. Maybe.

Most of my demons involve my family, but a few I carry have to do with my terrible choices in guys. I have a nasty habit of getting involved with hockey boys. They’re lovely to look at, but horrible to date. My brother is a hockey player who thinks I’m a total waste of space for choosing figure skating over hockey. My dad is in his camp. It didn’t help matters that he’s a division one head hockey coach and I’d been getting looks from coaches since I was twelve years old. I do like the game of hockey, but figure skating is like a drug I can’t give up.

Picks & Pucks is available from Dreamspinner Press in ebook or paperback.

You can find me, Teegan Loy, on the Dreamspinner Blog on April 21, otherwise known as release day. Please come visit. I have no idea what I’ll be writing about but there will be give-aways! https://dreamspinnerpress.com/blog/

Thanks again, Michael, for having me on your blog.