HOT NEWS
A NOVELLA BY: CHRISTOPHER HIEDEMAN
Secretly in love with his best friend Sam, Ethan takes a chance and gives him a kiss, setting into motion a wild series of events full of romance and chaos. Follow Ethan as he navigates the challenges and drama of high school, growing up, & coming out. Heartbreaking and happy, exhilarating and playful, Hot News is a roller coaster ride full of emotion, romance, and hope.
LGBTQ+ ROMANCE | DRAMA | NA/YA | MM ROMANCE
BOOK RELEASE DATE: MAY 09, 2025
KINDLE EBOOK (AMAZON) $5.95 (PREORDER)
PAPERBACK (AMAZON) $12.95 (COMING SOON)
HOT NEWS BOOK PLAYLIST
START LISTENING ON SPOTIFY
Music To Illustrate The Story With Sound
STORY BY: CHRISTOPHER HIEDEMAN #HOTNEWSBOOK
MEET THE STORY CHARACTERS
-Story Snippets-
IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER
(SEGMENTS HAVE BEEN 'BLOCKED' TOGETHER FOR VISUAL SEPARATION)
--I lay down on my bed and looked up at the ceiling. Glow in the dark stars still speckled across it from my youth. I had meant to take them down, but it was one of those things I said I would get to but just never did. I turned off the lamp beside my bed and watched them glow. Things were just so much simpler when I was younger. I wasn’t a kid anymore. It was my senior year of high school, and I not only needed to figure out “myself”, but I needed to decide what I was going to do after I graduated. It was an increasingly scary thought through the years that held so much weight. Even though I had just turned 18 a month ago, I didn’t feel like an adult in the way that I looked at other adults. I didn’t feel like a kid either. I just felt young, and burdened with an overwhelming amount of possibilities, and a pressure to figure it all out at once--
--I felt his leg nudge mine, and suddenly, all the focus in my body moved to where his leg touched. Was he doing this on purpose? Or was it just an accident? Whatever the intent, it held my attention--
--I undressed and quickly showered. He studied me as I stood in front of the mirror toweling my hair. I fought with my hair. It always wanted to lie the opposite way I wanted it to, and it always got so puffy. He walked up behind me, and with a grin, ran his fingers through my hair. “There,” he said. “Beautiful.” “Absolutely stunning,” he continued, his voice getting a little louder with each word. “Just gorgeous!” He shouted. “Stah-ha-hop,” I laughed, placing my hand over his smiling mouth. He did make me feel kind of beautiful. No one else had ever been able to do that--
--Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, we brushed our teeth. With a mischievous grin, He swooped in and kissed me firmly, getting toothpaste all over my face. “Oh my gosh!” I sputtered with a laugh. “Gross!” He grabbed me by the waist to pull me back to him. I held up my hand to his face. “Seriously,” I laughed. “And you need to shave — your face feels like sandpaper!” I secretly liked it--
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THE INTERVIEW
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER
Interviewer: Welcome Ethan. How are you today?
Ethan: I’m pretty good.
Interviewer: That’s great. Thank you so much for joining me for a few questions. I know that those interested in the upcoming book about you have a few curiosities about your story – you’re smiling, why is that?
Ethan: I don’t know…I guess I just can’t believe that people will be reading about everything that happened.
Interviewer: Not to embarrass you, but you are kind of blushing right now.
Ethan: (laughs) Well, wouldn’t you be with your romantic, uh, happenings being put out there.
Interviewer: I suppose so. (laughs)
Interviewer: So, without giving too much of your story away, what was your favorite part of your senior year of high school?
Ethan: Honestly, I – I don’t even know where to start on that. (laughs) There was just so much that happened. I guess one thing that was one of my favorites was the time that - um, I don’t think I can share that one.
Interviewer: If you are worried about giving away spoilers relating to names , just keep the names out and keep your descriptions more broad.
Ethan: Sure. Well, it’s hard not to pick my first kiss with, someone, as one of my favorite things. But I’ll never forget all the video game nights with my best friend Darla, and Prom. I never, ever would have pictured my Prom experience to go how it did. (laughs)
Interviewer: I’ve read the book and I agree, that is something that did not go how I thought it would. Somethings you just can’t plan.
Ethan: I never really thought about it much growing up, but I think one of my other favorite parts of my senior year was just spending time with my Mom.
Interviewer: I’m sure if your Mom is listening to the show that she has such a big smile on her face right now.
Ethan: I miss seeing her as often as I did when I lived at home. I didn’t spend a lot of time with her my senior year, but I kind of wish I had. It was just so busy though. But yeah, she was a special part of my last year of school.
Interviewer: I think a lot of potential readers would like to know, who did you choose?! Don’t say it though – please. (laughs) Though I have the pleasure of meeting your boyfriend who is sitting right next to you today. I’m really happy for you both.
Ethan: Thanks. He is definitely on the top of the list of my favorite things to happen my senior year.
Interviewer: You two make a great couple, really. Do you ever hear from, the “other.”
Ethan: I, uh,
Interviewer: I’m sorry, I’m not trying to make this awkward, just asking what readers might be interested in knowing.
Ethan: I have heard from him online, but we are just friends.
Interviewer: And how about Darla?
Ethan: She actually visited me not too long ago. I dusted off the old gaming system and we played video games and had a good chat. It was a lot of fun.
Interviewer: Shared some 'Hot News" with each other you might say?
Ethan: You could say that, yeah. (laughs)
Interviewer: You know, it is really special to hear that you still have a good relationship with your best friend. I know sometimes when high school ends, everyone goes their separate ways, so I’m happy to hear you still stay in touch with each other.
Interviewer: Can we talk about “the incident”
Ethan: Mhmm.
Interviewer: If something like that ever happened to me, I honestly don’t know what I would have done. You really handled it very well.
Ethan: Yeah. Right away it was pretty bad. I think that was one of the lowest points of my life – I can’t really even describe how I felt.
Interviewer: But look at you today. That dark period in your life turned into something wonderful, didn’t it?
Ethan: Yeah – I wouldn’t change the past one little bit. It was rough, but it laid out the path that led me to this wonderful guy. I wouldn’t change a thing.
Interviewer: What advice would you give to someone else that is going through a rough time?
Ethan: Just hold on, I guess. If I’ve learned anything from the rough and wild winding paths of my life, it’s that sometimes it takes a fierce course to lead us to where we need to be, where we should be. And just because the path is wild, doesn’t mean it isn’t, um, necessary in getting us to something beautiful in the end.
Interviewer: Knowing your story, that almost makes me tear up, honestly Ethan. I’m sure your Mom, friends, family – everyone that knows your story has told you how proud they are of you, and how you navigated the obstacles and struggles during your senior year, but I’m proud of you too – well done.
Ethan: Thank you.
Interviewer: Well, there you have it! Ethan Holl everyone! Make sure to grab your copy of Hot News when it becomes available on Amazon this May!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christopher gained an interest in writing after joining a blogging site that allowed users to earn money for their content based on reader support and interaction. He began releasing stories one chapter at a time, & this fast-paced story telling style with cliff-hanger chapter endings became his regular writing style. Writing stories full of action, emotion, and love are his favorites.
Besides writing, Christopher enjoys crafting, drawing, decorating, & music composition, spending much of his time making creations for his online shop & filming videos for his YouTube channel.
THE MAKING OF HOT NEWS
Hot News is one of the first long-form stories of his that hasn't been released online (in whole) prior to its physical publication, & is the first long-form story he has written since Thomas in 2016.
Thomas focused on a masked main character - written this way to promote the idea that it doesn't matter what someone looks like or what gender they are, a love story is a love story. This writing style was quite difficult, and with it also being a ghost story, it took quite some time to write to navigate all the paranormal rules in the storyline.
With Hot News, Christopher wanted to simply, flat-out make a story that was a gay romantic drama - no tiptoeing around the subject - just making an unapologetically happy, emotion-filled, gay love story.
There is so much inspiration from Christopher's life in Hot News - right down to the title itself. The term "Hot News" was something his grandmother uses to refer to exciting events or happenings to chat about during their weekly phone conversations.
"Darla" was loosely named after a coworker-friend he had in the past, and Darla's personality pulls inspiration from another friend of his.
The main character "Ethan" was, again 'loosely' based off of Christopher himself (from his high school days). From the "unruly wavy blond hair" and skinny build, to the characters ability to overthink.
The idea of 'coming out' in high school can be such an uncomfortable thought for many. With it being senior year in Hot News, time is running out, and the main character must decide whether or not to act on their emotions.
Exploring the complexities of taking a chance, Ethan navigates the many events that unfold - thrilling, devastating, hopeful, heartbreaking, romantic, happy, and everything in between.
Hot News was written to be down-to-earth and realistic - and with realistic comes some 'spice.'
What do we mean by spice? Spice is referring to a variety of things in the story, but mostly, the amount of romance and some language. Profanity is used lightly in the storyline to align with strong emotional outbursts only, and is not used extensively throughout the story. Sexual themes are described in a romantic nature, mentioning the intimate acts without specifically describing the acts in vivid detail.
With the want for the story to be 'real' in feeling, 'spice' felt necessary to accurately depict the high school experience as it is a time when many already know 'bad words' (that can sometimes slip out in moments of heightened emotions), and when many begin to explore romance, and tackle questions about self identity, and sexuality.
For these reasons, we give the book a Spice Rating of 2/5
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the hot news blog
April 16, 2025
Hot News will be available not only as a paperback, but on kindle too! Pre-order for the kindle version will be available prior to the book release!
April 14, 2025
A special interview with Ethan, the main character of Hot News is available to read! No spoilers :)
April 12, 2025
Story "tropes" or themes have been added to the Spoilers page! If you are interested which tropes were used in Hot News, you are welcome to check them out!
April 8, 2025
In anticipation of the upcoming book release, chapter titles will be released one at a time as a little story teaser under the "Spoilers" section! Just be aware - the chapter titles are short & might not mean what you think! Though they will be released under the Spoilers section - they really don't give away the entire story, just a glimpse into certain moods and broad events that take place.
April 6, 2025
The Hot News Playlist is available to listen on Spotify! Listen to the curated playlist (of mostly indie artists) to get a feel for the emotion in the story!
Listen Here
April 4, 2025
The Hot News cover is revealed! Ethan graces the front of the book along with...I can't say :)
April 2, 2025
A release date for Hot News has been decided! In celebration of Pride Month, the book will be released on May 9th, a few weeks before June!
March 15, 2025
I've decided to edit Hot News myself. Here's why.
I've written and released multiple books over the last decade including Beatrix Percival, Thomas, The Little Book with a Big Voice, Helga the Witch, & Mildrid The Mouse's Halloween Adventure. Working with copy editors has been a little challenge for me as when I write stories, especially those told in first person, I sometimes have felt that the proper English that is imposed onto my writing by the editing process, can sometimes change the way the story feels. Much of the time, editing rules like to remove extra words, simplifying sentences. This, though, can remove feeling by getting rid of things that emphasize emotion.
Also, (and I know this is my opinion), I don't think most people think and speak in perfectly proper English all the time. I've had it happen in the past where what my characters say or think was edited to be so proper that it sounded like it came out of a literary text book. It just didn't sound realistic or believable, and it felt like the special "stamp" my writing had on the story had been erased and that the editing turned something colorful to something that was stark white and plain. I've decided to instead, look at writing as if it were art.
Stories, like paintings, are crafted with creativity & imagination. They are made to convey a message and/or tell a story. With art, people say there is no right or wrong way to create it, and to an extent, I think the same should be said about telling a story. If the story is riddled with spelling errors and major punctuation mistakes that are distracting or make the story impossible to interpret, that is one thing. But I think moving past some of the rules that have trapped writing into one specific style, could really unleash passionate, realistic, one-of-a-kind writing voices. So with Hot News, I broke some of these rules. Probably more grammar rules than I even know - but in the end, the story sounds the way that I want it to, and it got to keep its heart.
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