Iâve joined the Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook. From their description: âRainbow Snippets is a group for LGBTQ+ authors, readers, and bloggers to gather once a week to share six sentences from a work of fictionâa WIP or a finished work or even a 6-sentence book recommendation (no spoilers please!).â Pretty cool, eh? Donât forget to âLikeâ my Facebook page and/or my Facebook profile while youâre over there checking out this fantastic group!
This week Iâm snipping from Weekend at Bigfootâs (see blurb, below the snippet), a 29,672-word novella. Itâs OUT TODAY at JMS Books both as an individual standalone and as part of a âLegendary Loves Trioâ together with by In My Arms Again by Nell Iris and The Murky Depths by Kassandra Lea.
I think of Weekend at Bigfootâs as a comedic paranormal romance with a flavor of mystery added. Itâs technically paranormal, but doesnât follow the usual formula of shifter story rules. Thereâs no fated love (although the MCs do experience a bit of insta-attraction), no MPREG, and no âpacksâ with alphas/betas/omegas/whatever. Itâs got a contemporary feel with a paranormal surprise (Well, Wilsonâs surprised. I donât suppose the reader will be đ).
Todayâs snippet is random and unrelated to previous threads from this story. But if youâd like a quick and easy review of Weekend at Bigfootâs snippets from earlier weeks you can click the spoiler tags, below.
Told from Wilsonâs 3rd-person POV:
THREAD #1 (Opening Scene)
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-August-10
Maybe Wilson Banks should have picked up on the life-changing aspect of his new assignment when Jerry first mentioned it to him. Life-view-changing, anyway.
No, it was ultimately life-changing. Or both.
Regardless, heâd never considered things like extra-sensory perception to be true any more than heâd believed in the reality of many of the articles he wrote. This assignment was an annoyance to be ducked in favor of somethingâanythingâthat wasnât such typical tabloid fodder.
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-August-17
âCome on, Jerry, I froze my ass off chasing quotes for that Yeti story eight months ago.â Wilson pulled out the pencil he had tucked behind his ear and pointed it at Sensational Newsâ (Never Fake! We Swear!) features editor. âCanât you give me something else?â
âYou want to interview all the victims of the chimney shitter in Boise?â
Wilson slumped. On the plus sideâdepending on oneâs perspectiveâat least that story was true. Bigfoot? Not so much. Considering the speculation about the sample one of the recipients of the malodorous deposits had saved (âThereâll be DNA in those droppings!â), he cringed at the thought of chasing down the chimney shitter story.
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-August-24
He let out a long sigh. âHow far back in the boonies is this hillbilly who says he trapped Bigfoot?â
âNah, youâll still be in civilization. Itâs a quaint tourist trap in Northern California. Iâll put you up in a nice little B&B.â
Wilson shifted, pushing back in his chair. One of these days he was going to get into this office when Jerry wasnât around and check out these damned chairs. It felt like Jerry had shaved down the length of the front legs to deliberately make reporters slither forward on the hard seat. The better to get them to agree to anything and rush them out of there?
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-August-31
âBesides.â Jerry tapped his middle finger on his desk calendar. âThereâve been multiple sightings over the years. Weâve tracked them down; you just have to sweet talk them. Get me some good soundbites and maybe a fuzzy picture or two.â
âA bed and breakfast, eh?â That did sound relaxing. He could deal with another round of interviewing looniesâŚerâŚconfused people who apparently couldnât recognize a bear for what it was if it happened to stand, in exchange for a little R&R in a pleasant setting during his downtime.
Jerry bounced back and forth against the tilt mechanism in the top-quality leather office chair in which he had his own rear parked. A slow grin spread across his face. âIn an updated Victorian with all the amenities.â
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-September-7
Wilson grimaced as his butt slipped forward again. âFine. Give me the Sasquatch story.â
It was doubtful heâd come up with images fuzzy enough to make a black bear look like Bigfootâhe shivered at the thought of getting close enough to snap a picture anywayâand he wasnât going to fabricate one. He had his standards. But maybe he could find a nice footprint? If nothing else, he could photograph a few witnesses.
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-September-14
âGreat.â Jerry was all business, sliding a manila envelope across the desk and leveling his patented squint at Wilson before turning to his computer. âSee Mark on your way out. Heâs got your travel itinerary.â
Wilson let out a long breath and heaved out of the chair. If Mark had his itinerary, then his airline and lodging reservations had already been made. He hadnât really had the option of talking Jerry into giving him something less deceptive. LessâŚquintessentially low-brow sensationalism.
Not that it mattered. It all paid the same.
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-September-21
He scowled at the thought of facing Mark, but letting Mark get to him wouldnât help anything. The differing ways they each dealt with their post-breakup relationship only emphasized how hopeless their affair had been in the first place.
Wilson should have known from the beginning that Mark wasnât ready for the kind of commitment Wilson wanted. But no, Wilson had been unable to pick up on the clues over the roar of his biological clockâdid men have those?âticking in his ears. However he labeled it, Wilson wanted to settle down.
He would never verbalize it because it was too basic. Cheesyâhell, it had become a downright cringeworthy memeâbut he wanted the full âlive-laugh-loveâ package with someone who could be his best friend, all the while making his skin tingle with a glance.
As it turned out, after spending too many months convincing himself they simply needed more time, Mark did not share his hopes and dreams.
There was nothing wrong with having an open relationship, not as long as both parties were in agreement. But ultimately Wilson wanted monogamy, and Markâs resistance had gone beyond it simply being too early in the relationship to commit to that.
THREAD #2 (Wilson is interviewing Harold Clayton)
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-September-28
âMy storyâs never changed.â Harold lifted his chin and tightened his jaw. âIt was Bigfoot that I saw walk into the rows yonder. I never saw Ida. Not until she was already goneâŚdead, that is.â
Wilson straightened and peered over the berry field. The rows were angled so he couldnât see down the length of them. But depending on how dense the bushes were at the time and how many rows back whatever Harold had seen had enteredâŚâWere you able to see Bigfoot at all once he entered the row?â
Harold shook his head. âNot really. Not much, anyway. The occasional glimpse of the top of its head.â
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-October 5
Wilson leaned forward. Harold had referred to Bigfoot as âit,â not âhe.â âWere you wearing your glasses when you spotted Bigfoot? Were there any distinguishing characteristics?â
âI was wearing them. And it was a new prescriptionâonly about two months old, anyway. I could see clearly enough.â He shook his head again. Wilson sensed this was going to become a familiar gesture. âNo, nothing stood out.â
According to Emma, certain features couldnât be missed. Not surprising that fifty years later, the con would be perpetrated by someone wearing a completely different costume. Who knew how many Bigfoot costumes were floating around?
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-October 12
âWould you say Bigfoot looked strong? Muscular?â
âNo. It looked kinda saggy.â
So a lower quality costume than the one Emma had seen. Wilson nodded. âItâs fairly common for people to refer to Bigfoot as âheâ.â A misogynistic default, to be sure, but it was fairly standard nonetheless. âI noticed youâre using âit.â Any particular reason for that?â
Harold gave a low-energy shrug that still managed to look like it had sapped his strength as he wilted in his chair. âNot sayinâ it appeared too much like a woman, just that it didnât stand out as manly. I suppose thereâs got to be both of them out there. I guess âheâ just feels wrong, but Iâm not comfortable calling it âshe.ââ
Possibly in part because a woman had ended up in his trap. In Haroldâs favor, he did appear regretful.
PREVIOUS RANDOM SNIPPETS
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-October 19 - RANDOM SNIPPET
It was as if Wilson had the proverbial angel and devil on opposite shoulders bickering back and forth.
Weekend fling. Itâs just a weekend fling. Enjoy it for what it is. So said the little devil whose smirk looked disturbingly like Markâs.
But he says he wants to move to a big city. He says he canât stop thinking about that web designer position. In Chicago! Look at all the potential! The angel with the eternally optimistic romantic gleam in his eyes did have a point. Maybe. Then again, so did that devil. Wilson blinked and landed a brief, light kiss on those tantalizing lips before forcing himself to stand and gather his clothes.
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-October 26- RANDOM SNIPPET
The hair on the back of his neck rose. This wasâŚweird. It wasâ
He sucked in a breath, and his hand flew to his chest as a familiar sound floated across the clearing. It made no sense at all. UnlessâŚunless the Hughes clan was behind the Bigfoot sightings. Their businessâat least the one he knew ofâdid depend on a heavy tourist flow. So they had the motivation.
But what was going on here? Practice? Setting up Wilson to become another fervent claimant?
Because that sound still echoing in his mind wasâŚChewbacca.
Well, meant to sound like Chewbacca, anyway. Obviously not actually Chewbacca. And just as obviously, not a real Bigfoot making it.
THIS WEEKâS (RANDOM) SNIPPET:
Weekend at Bigfoot's - 2019-November 2- RANDOM SNIPPET
Wilsonâs gaze traveled lower, and if possible, widened further. Because holy mother of Sasquatch, Yeti, and the Abominable Snowman, Emma Pearson had not been exaggerating when sheâd insinuated that Bigfoot was well-hung. If anything, sheâd underplayed it.
Bigfootâthatâs who he had to beâsquawked again with a noise that had an admonishing tone, as if calling out Wilsonâs rudeness for gawking at his junk, then covered said junk with his massive hands.
âSorry,â Wilson muttered. It was reflexive and seemed weird in the circumstances to be calmly apologizing to Bigfoot. Why the hell wasnât he freaking the fuck out? Most normal people would be.
A vision of Mark screeching, âI donât think Iâve ever once seen you get worked up over anything,â flashed through Wilsonâs head. Apparently Mark had a point.
Blurb & Links
It wasnât supposed to be REAL! Bigfoot doesnât actually exist. Yetis, shifters, creatures of the nightâŚnone of those exist. Right? Right?
Thereâs nothing about perkyâsome might even say twinkieâOliver Hughes that would make a skeptic like Sensational Newsâ (Never Fake! We Swear!) reporter Wilson Banks think otherwise. But while pursuing soundbites for a tabloid story about Bigfoot, Wilson witnesses something he wasnât meant to see.
In Wilsonâs new reality, is there room for love with someone whose dreams are as big as hisâŚerâŚfeet?
This fun novella has a paranormal twist, a hint of mystery, and a flavorful dollop of romantic comedy. Mix it all together for a satisfying HEA!
Out Now!
Weekend at Bigfootâs:
Publisher | Kindle | Books2Read | Bookstrand | BAM! | Hoopla | Overdrive
Legendary Loves, Volume 2:
Publisher | Kindle | Books2Read | Bookstrand | BAM! | Hoopla | Overdrive
Review Snips
âThe â⌠something he wasnât meant to seeâ from the blurb comes at the end of the book and even though you easily guess what is going to happen, it was fun and funny. I liked the book, an easy, fun trip through the tabloids.â
âLucy, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
âHow I loved this story. How I laughed. I hadnât reached the foot of the first page before I was cackling away to myself like a crazy olâ cat lady on the subway.â
âZakarrie Clarke
âAddison Albrightâs story is funny and her characters, Oliver and Wilson are so fun together. Itâs a wonderful story that made me smile throughout.â
âValerie Ullmer
âI loved this. It was so much fun. I adored the set up and the âBigfootâ headlines. The two leads were endearing and really cute together.â
âLillian Francis
âWilson and Oliver are so cute and lovely together. Undeniably connected and sweet on each other. And then a surprise⌠Brilliant story.â
âAnabela M.
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