R.A. Thorn's Blog

My novel My Baby Chased Away the Blues has been selected as one of the finalists in the gay romance category for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards!

Note: this post contains mild spoilers for a scene in my book My Baby Chased Away the Blues

Its true that legal gay marriage, in which both parties are recognized as male, is a recent thing. But that doesnt mean that queer people did not get married in the pastand often, public perceptions of those marriages were much more complicated than one might assume. In one scene in my book, Ev shares two newspaper articles with Del that discuss marriages between same-sex couples. I based this scene...

Note: this post contains mild spoilers for a scene in my book My Baby Chased Away the Blues

It’s true that legal gay marriage, in which both parties are recognized as male, is a recent thing. But that doesn’t mean that queer people did not get married in the past–and often, public perceptions of those marriages were much more complicated than one might assume. In one scene in my book, Ev shares two newspaper articles with Del that discuss marriages between same-sex couples. I based this scen...

My new book is now available! My Baby Chased Away the Blues is a m/m romance set in Los Angeles in the 1920s. The 1920s are one of my favorite historical periods, and I really wanted to explore working class sexuality at that time. It’s available on amazon and ninestar press, as well as other retailers.

My new book, My Baby Chased Away the Blues, comes out on July 8th, with Nine Star Press. Preorders start July 5th here.

It’s 1925 in Los Angeles, and motor patrol officer Del Randolph keeps making one mistake after another. Struggling to keep his job with the Los Angeles Police Department, Del is also lonely and heartbroken after his last lover left him.

But then he meets Ev, a gentle but cynical invert, and has his heart stolen again. Del knows he’s no great catch—he isn’t smart or particula...

Untethered is going to be translated into French for publication by Juno Publishing. Release dates still TBD.

I’ve just accepted a contract with Nine Star Press to publish my next novel, tentatively scheduled to come out in early November 2018. It’s set in Los Angeles in the 1920s and features speakeasies, jazz, and of course, a romance!

Untethered is on sale at Dreamspinner Press this weekend (May 12-14) for 99 cents! Get it here.

The 1920s are well known as a decade when automobile ownership in the U.S. skyrocketed, especially with the production of Henry Ford’s Model T. But an equally fascinating aspect of the story is how municipalities tried to cope with the sudden explosion of automobile traffic on the streets. All of the road signs and signals that we are so used to seeing today–a double yellow line down the center of the road, a white pedestrian crosswalk, the traffic light in the intersection–did not simply spr...

Using the correct slang for an era is absolutely key in capturing the feel of the time and making the characters’ dialogue sound right. There are a lot of slang lists floating around the internet already, but I thought I’d add this one to the mix. All of these terms are ones I have come across in primary sources from the 1920s and 1930s. I’ll be adding to it periodically.

awfully: very (e.g. “would you mind awfully?”)

beastly: terrible

blamed fool: an idiot

blue: sad/depressed

cake of soap

ch...