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!
Snipping from (unedited) Closets Are for Clothes featuring Mike & Wes. In this thread, Mike’s brother, Greg, has driven cross country for a surprise visit.
Told from Mike’s 1st-person POV.
Click to toggle open refresher scenes from this thread:
This Week’s Snippet:
My jaw dropped, and I stood staring at him with wide eyes. “Me?”
“Yes, you.” He snorted a short laugh. “You’re my brother.”
I closed my mouth and stilled. Greg wanted me to be the best man at his wedding? My cheerful, outgoing brother who I knew damned well had a whole posse of friends was bestowing that honor on me? And I couldn’t even work up the nerve to be honest with him. And why the hell not? I had no reason to think Greg wouldn’t accept me. He was college educated, at an age that tended toward acceptance, and my concerns regarding my father were not rooted in religion. My family wasn’t religious, so my brother wouldn’t be fighting any mental battles predisposing him against acceptance of LGBT people.
I blew out a quivering breath as my stomach lurched, and I blurted, “I’m gay.”
Dream On – Book 1 – Closets Are for Clothes
43,199 words
Coming in February, 2018 to JMS Books, LLC
Mike’s life is carefully compartmentalized. He’s deep in the closet to his family back in Kansas, but lives life honestly and openly in Austin. He’s unnerved when Wes, his old university crush, turns up at his door in answer to a roommate advertisement, but quickly sees the potential…benefits of the arrangement. Wes has never doubted nor denied his sexuality. With the support of his family he’s an out and proud LGBT activist.
On the scale balancing his self-esteem on one side, and the love of his family on the other, Mike has to decide which weighs more. Is Mike being fair to his parents by not giving them the chance to know his real self? When the delicate balance of his life is disrupted, he decides he’s tired of living a lie. Will Wes understand his concerns, or will their fledgling relationship crumble under the strain of Mike’s uncertainty?
NOTE: Closets Are for Clothes is a from-the-ground-up comprehensively rewritten and reedited version of A Dream Come True. While the theme of the original story is the same, and many important scenes remain (albeit retold), much of the story’s background has changed. The earlier editions were told in alternating 3rd-person POV. Closets Are for Clothes is told entirely from Mike’s 1st-person POV.
#RainbowSnippets
Not to be a bitch or anything, but right now I’m soooooo much more eager to read more about Larry and Marty!! 😉 ❤️
Hahaha…well, you’re going to get Princes Marcelo and Efren before you get any more Larry and Marty!
Hence the castle 😉 And I’m SO okay with that!! 🙂
It’s coming along. I hope to finish it this weekend. 😁
ROFL! Okay, so I may have had a blurt-it-out coming out myself, so this made me laugh my butt off.
Hahaha…I had a little fun coming up with this scene. 🙂 I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you! <3
Looking forward to Greg’s reaction.
🙂 Thank you!
Now that’s what I call a CLIFFHANGER!!! I hope Greg is a good guy…but we’ll see. Either way, this is going to prove to be amazing reading! 😀
Thank you so much! I think I’m gonna be a big meanie and leave that cliffhanger hanging. Probably moving on to snipping from a short story I just finished next week.
Oops. I’m sure he didn’t mean to blurt it out that baldly. I mean, it isn’t as if being gay stops you from being your brother’s best man…
Right. Mike’s blurt was more about feeling bad about hiding his truth from his brother who was now honoring Mike by asking him to be his best man.
Way to clear the air, or thicken it, depending. Can’t wait to hear what happens next.
Hahaha! Thank you. I decided to go ahead and give another snippet from this thread tomorrow, so you’ll find out. 😉
Yay!
That’s one way of telling him!
LOL. Gets the job done. 🙂