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!
This week I’m snipping from Of Rats and Cats, a comedic short story that’ll be coming out at JMS Books sometime in November.
Blurb (tentative):
All he wanted to do was retrieve his newspaper, but Raymond is panic-stricken when a rat dashes through his open apartment door. No worries, though. Pandy is on the job! Except Kevin doesn’t want Raymond’s cat to eat his beloved pet…mouse.
Can Kevin rescue Corky before Pandy gets to her? Will Raymond’s upturned box of…um… personal toys and videos drive Kevin away, or will the pile of filigree undies Corky has burrowed into turn Kevin on?
No context needed, these are the opening lines. Note, the story is unedited at this time, so everything is subject to change.
Told from Raymond’s 3rd-person POV.
“Okay, already.” Raymond Gardner yawned, opened his eyes, and gave the short-haired tortoiseshell cat a scratch behind her ears to take the edge off the grumble in the tone he’d directed at her. Clearly, he wasn’t going to be able to ignore the wet nose determinedly nudging him, let alone the piteous caterwauling. He rubbed his neck where she’d been kneading and gave himself a mental kick in the ass for not trimming her claws when he’d thought of it yesterday.
He rolled to check the time on his phone, then flopped back onto his pillow with a groan and what his ex-boyfriend, Leon, would have called a drama-queen maneuver—although frankly, Raymond didn’t consider throwing a forearm across his eyes to be all that theatrical.
“Daylight Savings Time has been over for a month, Pandy. Get with the program.” But Raymond sat and stuffed his feet into his slippers anyway, because once Pandemonium decided it was feeding time, she wasn’t going to let up until the deed was done.
Of Rats and Cats is a short story, meet-cute, detailing the humorous get-together of two otherwise regular guys, leading average lives. The story ends with a solid happy-for-now where we are left to imagine them continuing their relationship as they traipse, without further issue, toward their eventual HEA.
#RainbowSnippets
Nicely done. I enjoyed it. Cute title and graphic!
Thank you! I have varying degrees of success/failure with my graphics, but I have fun trying! 😁 💞
Raymond’s Pandy and my Cinnamon have a similar idea about the Way Things Should Be. 🙂 Adorable snippet!
My kitties were like that, too. 😁 Thank you!
We have a dog with a similar persistent attitude when he thinks it’s time for someone to get up and let him out. Forty six pounds of solid muscle can be really hard to ignore when it head-butts you.
LOL. Even harder, I should think! 😄
This is such a fun story. Can’t wait to read the finished version!! 🙂
Thank you! Quite a bit of tweaking happened since your read through, but no significant plot changes. Regular edits still pending. 💕
Love! Haha great description of how a kitty vies for attention. The name is adorable too.
Thank you! ❤️
Love Pandy (and what a name for a cat)
Thanks! ❤️ It’s short for Pandemonium. 😁 She lives up to her name.
Fun snippet!
Thanks! 💕