My New Book 'Hot News' is here!
- Christopher Hiedeman
- May 9
- 4 min read
Updated: May 10
Happy 'Hot News' Day! My new book is officially available on Amazon, & signed copies are now available on my site! I couldn't decided what color to sign the books, so I signed them in all different colors including blue, pink, purple, green, and more! (Signature colors will be a surprise!) Signed copies purchased from my site will come with a Hot News paper bookmark (while supplies last)!
Hot News is one of the first long-form stories of mine that hasn't been released online (in whole) prior to its physical publication, & is the first long-form story I've 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 that kept the main character masked, 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, I 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 my life in Hot News - right down to the title itself. The term "Hot News" is something my grandma uses to refer to exciting events or happenings to chat about during our weekly phone conversations.
"Darla" is loosely named after a coworker-friend I had in the past, and Darla's bright personality pulls inspiration from another wonderful friend of mine.
The main character "Ethan" is 'loosely' based off of myself (from my 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. The main character, Ethan, is secretly in love with his best friend Sam. With it being senior year in Hot News, time is running out, and he must decide whether or not to act on his 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.
I had so much fun with this story. I love exploring deep emotions and find something so wonderful, warm, and uplifting about writing stories with romance. I think this story is special to me because, back in high school, I wouldn't have dared 'come out'. Nobody I knew came out in high school when I was in school. They waited until right after - some even taking a few years before allowing their hearts to go where they felt they needed to be. I was lucky to fall in love with the love of my life at 18, and that 'falling in love' helped me 'come out', as I had someone that loved me holding my hand.
So with Hot News, I wanted to entertain the idea of coming out in high school. What would it be like to come out in high school - especially with cellphones and social media? I don't think anyone will ever forget their high school days, for many reasons, but I don't envy the generations in high school today where bullying can continue online, beyond the walls of school.
With that, now the story sounds like strictly a drama, but I promise, it is full of playful moments, and lots of love. I found myself laughing with some sentences that landed on a few pages, & felt flutters from some of the cozy-cute moments between the characters.
Hot News is truly a heartwarming coming of age story about not only 'coming out' & romance, but also tackles the complexities of preparing for the end of the high school era.
Hot News was written to be down-to-earth and realistic - and with realistic comes some 'spice.' So what do I mean by spice? Spice is referring to a variety of things in the story, but mostly, the amount of romance and some language. Before you think you're reading about a story full of every bad word in existence, I promise you, it's not. I don't like to 'swear' - and I had a little bit of a hard time putting 'bad words' in my story, but if 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. So, 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. My story Thomas 'dipped a toe' a little heavier into the romance genre, and this story just went a little further - the writing following where the story led the characters :)
Overall, Hot News is a happy, heartbreaking, beautiful, sad, sentimental, exciting, playful, hopeful, and of course, romantic love story full of all the 'feels' that I hope you will fall in love with! Learn more about the Hot News book on the official book webpage here, including story snippets, story tropes, the Spotify book playlist, & more!
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Hot News Book Trailer
