Following the resounding success of his Lambda Literary Award Nominated debut novel, The Scheme of Things, Tim Parks has announced the release of its sequel, titled The Best Laid Plans,which drops on February 24. Building upon the compelling storyline of Henry Dodge’s coming-of-age journey, the sequel delves deeper into the challenges that occur after the traumatic events of the first book.
In The Best Laid Plans, readers re-enter the world created for Henry Dodge, the protagonist whose life takes a pivotal turn when he claims his sexuality at the age of 16. The sequel picks up where the first book left off, offering a captivating continuation of Henry’s survival story.
Henry Dodge faced numerous challenges in the Summer of 1985, particularly during his time in Los Angeles. The sequel explores the aftermath of these events, with Henry grappling with the consequences of his encounters with King George and his minions, including his childhood crush Danny, who confesses to murder.
Author Tim Parks expressed his excitement about the sequel, stating, “Henry’s story resonated with a large number of gay men and women, and also straight men and women the first time around. Readers love my style of writing, how it turns from drama to comedy on a dime with engaging characters, both relatable and over-the-top plotlines, and that it’s so cinematic. So, it’s easy to conjure up people and settings in their minds. It was only fair I gave them another piece from Henry’s life.”
Indeed, The Best Laid Plans touches on the timely subjects of drug abuse, mental health, and suicide. And it’s populated with characters that readers came to love and hate in the first book while introducing a fresh batch of ones to cheer for, and a few to boo at. If The Scheme of Things was the how of Henry Dodge’s tale, then The Best Laid Plans is the why behind the previous book’s plot and stands alone as its own contained tale.
Tim Parks is an award-winning author and Lambda Literary Award Nominee; he’s a cancer survivor, pop culture savant, dog dad, and proud father of two novels. For 23 years, he’s been a freelance writer, contributing to publications like The Gay and Lesbian Times and The Rage Monthly and websites like AfterElton, Digital Spy, and Pop Trash Museum. As a columnist for 18 years, he’s given his take on Tinsel Town from his first column Gaywatch to his current one Hollywood. He also has upwards of 300 celebrity interviews under his belt.
Parks has also partnered with The Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that helps LGBTQ youth who are in crisis, as this is a major plot point in The Best Laid Plans, which is based on his own experiences as a teenager and attempting suicide. 5% of proceeds from the sale of the new novel on www.fawkupress.com will be donated to The Trevor Project.
Statement from the author, Tim Parks:
In writing The Best Laid Plans, I had to place myself back to a time, the 1980’s, and a place which wasn’t on a map; it was more of an emotional state. In puttingmyself back into shoes that were 35 years old, and subsequently into Henry Dodge’s, was a journey in and of itself, as he is based on me during my teen years. This included a suicide attempt, which is a pivotal plot point in the book. And this is why I partnered with The Trevor Project; if only there had been an organization like theirs available during my formative years, much strife could have been alleviated.
In getting The Best Laid Plans into the hands of readers was a journey of its own. During the time of its writing, I dealt with my first bout of writer’s block, a non-linear approach to crafting it, being diagnosed with, and treated for, prostate cancer, the death of my oldest nephew and his mother six months later, all within two years’ time.
These last three instances reminded me how fleeting life could be and I finished the first draft five years after I began telling a new tale about Henry Dodge.
And much like my fictional character, I had to face my fears and overcome what life had thrown my way. His methodology for doing so is finding solace in pop culture, and it reaches a fever pitch with The Best Laid Plans, as like myself he has much on his plate and is overwhelmed by the turns his life takes.
But no one would know of his lack of coping mechanisms if I didn’t get it published. I decided to first hire a copyeditor to have an unbiased person give it the once over for grammar and punctuation. What I got was nothing short of being verbally berated on the page and given unsolicited plot points.
Then after that experience, and rather than send out endless query letters, which I may or may not hear back on; I went with a self-publishing house who ended up not being on the up-and-up.
Frustrated and a bit disheartened, I decided to turn the negatives of those two experiences into one big positive by creating my own publishing imprint Fawk U Press – see what I did there?
Down the road, the plan is to help other authors avoid the frustration of self-publishing by using my trial-and-error learning lessons and get their voices heard.