I’ve joined the Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook. From their description: “Rainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fiction–a WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).” Pretty cool, eh? Don’t forget to “Like” my Facebook page and/or my Facebook profile while you’re over there checking out this fantastic group!
For today’s snippet I’m going back to From This Day Forward, a short story coming out in ebook format on August 6th.
For context, Henry and Sam have recently arrived at the home of their adoptive son Buddy/Aiden’s paternal birth-grandparents (Anton & Rosa), where the little boy has just had his first overnight visit. In the news that morning were some particularly terrible accusations from a right-wing activist. Aiden’s grandparents have just brought up that topic. This is told from Henry’s 1st-person POV.
How Sam managed to keep such a calm tone was a mystery to me. His leg stopped bouncing, and the hand he placed on my knee, applying light pressure, told me he knew how agitated my own emotions were.
Anton said, “We’re a little concerned.”
“You don’t seriously believe that fool, do you?” I fought to keep my volume under control, and Sam’s hand kept my body seated. Without it, I would’ve jumped up.
#RainbowSnippets
This story will release on August 6, 2016, and is available for pre-order in ebook formats now at: JMS Books, LLC.
It’s also available now as a bonus story at the end of the trade paperback format of the novel, ’Til Death Do Us Part.
Note: From This Day Forward is a direct sequel to my novel, ’Til Death Do Us Part, but will also stand alone as an individual story.
Blurb
Revisiting the characters from ’Til Death Do Us Part, Henry and Sam Miller-Greene are enjoying life in the summer after Henry’s rescue from a small South Pacific island, where Henry and three others were marooned.
Henry and Sam thought adopting Aiden—a child with whom Henry’d been stranded—would be smooth sailing. Matters are complicated by the public nature of their rescue that has turned the survivors into overnight celebrities. Anti-gay fueled animus rears its ugly head in the blogosphere, causing concerns over the the impact libelous rumors might have on Aiden.
Their nightmare separation behind them, Henry and Sam are anxious to renew both the intensity of their former intimacies—now hampered by having a curious and still apprehensive child sharing their home—and their commitment to one another.
Uh-oh. This doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a friendly relationship. (I’m curious as to how they adopted instead of him going to a set of grandparents, too.)
How that came about is explained in the first book. Looks like it might not go quite as smoothly as they’d thought, though. 😉
Oh, I remember this bit. I so wanted to punch that cretin who dared to suggest such a thing. 😠
Yay, you got it? The “tracking number” didn’t actually track. :-/
Weird. But yes, I got it and stayed up til 5am to finish it.
Awesome. Yikes…I hope you didn’t have to be too alert the next morning! 🙂
You’re ahead of most people for the story then, the ebook for this short doesn’t come out until 8/6. The print for the first book is the only way to read it for now.
Nah, our weekends are pretty mellow.
Poor lads. *hugs them all*
The worst thing is that I find this situation all too believable. 🙁
Great snippet, though!
Thanks! 🙂
Looks like things are going to be more complicated than they thought.
Just a bit. 🙂
Sounds like tense times are ahead.
Uh oh. I definitely have a picture in my head when you say “right-wing activists,” and it isn’t a nice one. Sounds like trouble ahead with the grandparents, unfortunately.
I say he lets him jump up and smush someone’s face in.
Sadly all too believable a situation.
Sounds like trouble is ahead.