'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 92

Monday Flash Fics – A Bunny’s Voice

Of all the stories I’ve ever written, one of my top-five favourites is “The Psychometry of Snow,” (which you can read for free over at the Lethe Press blog, or find in Bears of Winter). It’s about a fellow named Luke, who has a gift for hearing voices in the things he touches, and who has turned that gift into a life, even if it is a bit lonely. Of course, by the end of the story, it might not be lonely after all, and just in case you wondered what came after, here you go.

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A Bunny’s Voice

I always feel small beside Rick Barritt, but I’ve grown to like it. For one, he has this habit of casual touch I’m fast becoming addicted to. The weight of his hand on my shoulder, or the brush of his fingers along my arm as he passes, or a tiny, unexpected kiss to the back of my head when he reaches over me for something at the cabin?

Well, I fall all over again for the big guy every time. I think he knows it, too, if the smug little smile he flashes beneath his beard is any clue.

That smug little smile is also responsible for this whole day, and I’m conjuring all the memories of those touches, brushes, and kisses because I have no idea what I’m doing. I find things. Children? Children are so not my area of expertise.

“Luke?”

I turn. Evelyn is behind again. In her thermals and leggings (and then a skirt over both, which I have to admit is a pretty nice nod to sartorial determination in the dead of winter), she’s having even less fun tromping through the deep snow than I am.

We should have brought snow shoes, I think again.

“We’re almost there,” I say.

She gives me a look that says, ‘You suck, and I hate you and everything about you,’ but she says, “Okay.”

I go back for her, and we re-trace my own footprints back to the beach, which, finally, we have reached. We’re obviously not the first to come this way, given the tracks, but we’re the only ones here now.

Rick is there already, looking out over the strait, and beside him, the elder of the two girls, Sienna, is smiling up at him like he’s the best thing that ever happened.

She’s a smart one, Sienna. Then she glances at me as we arrive, and her smile sort of wobbles.

Okay, it pretty much caves in entirely.

“It’s beautiful,” I say, in a cloud of breath. It’s a bit of a fib, because clouds are rolling in and the nice sunlight we had is starting to fade a bit.

Rick grins, and I keep a perfect smile on my face because he adores these girls and I adore him and maybe, if I’m really lucky, they’ll eventually deign to stand my presence in Rick’s life.

Rick unzips his jacket long enough to pull out a bundle of chocolate bars, and even Evelyn’s tired attempt at a smile gains wattage. We each grab one. Evelyn struggles in her mittens to open it, so I lean down beside her.

“You want me to?” I ask. I’ve already pulled off one glove.

She hands it over, and I unwrap it. Then I notice something on the ground. It’s almost covered by the snow, lumpy and half-hidden. I pull it free with my gloved hand.

A stuffed rabbit.

“Oh. Lost bunny,” Evelyn says. She sounds genuinely sad. Rick did say she was kind of a soft heart.

“Poor kid,” Sienna says. I hadn’t realized she was watching.

Rick meets my gaze. He raises his eyebrows. “Luke?”

I move the bunny to my bare hand. It speaks to me.

“Little boy,” I say. “Sleeps with it every night. Red hair, darker than yours,” I say, nodding to Rick. “More auburn. Tonnes of freckles.” I glance at the three of them. “Any ideas?”

“That’s Reed!” Evelyn says, eyes and mouth wide open.

Even Sienna is staring at me in shock.

“Reed Whitney. I know him,” Rick says. “We can drop it off on the way home.”

I put the bunny in my satchel.

The girls eye me on the walk back, but it’s not until the car Sienna breaks the silence.

“Okay, how did you do that?”

“I keep telling you,” Rick says. “Luke’s magic.”

They don’t buy that. At least, not entirely. But when Rick gets out of the car and hands the bunny to a little red-haired boy at his house and the kid dances in a circle and his mother gives Rick a giant, grateful hug, Evelyn reaches over and takes my hand and squeezes it.

That’s magic enough for me.

 

 

I Shouldn’t Have to Tell You Queer Bashers Aren’t Hot

Yesterday I clicked and read a freebie book on my phone, and it made me so very angry. I clicked it because the blurb made it sound like a “gay guy goes back to small hometown where he grew up and swore he’d never return” story, and I generally like a second-chance romance. I like the stories where the gay guy comes back to the place that made him feel small and wrong and shows them that he is neither, and falls in love along the way, probably with his “arch nemesis” (described in the blurb).

That’s what the book sounded like. But the blurb was way, way off.

It went to incredibly off the rails on nearly every level. If I’d just looked at some of the other reviews first, I might have avoided it (I say might because this book has mostly positive, gushing reviews about how lovely the romance was), but I was on my phone, I didn’t, and there’s a lesson learned.

Instead, I got a book where a former bully is a romantic lead, which… okay, that’s one way to consider an “arch nemesis.” The guy tossed him into garbage cans, for one example, but I’m supposed to buy him as the romantic interest, which is iffy enough.

It didn’t stop there. The book doubled and then tripled down on how it treated abuse survivors.



Give the main character an abusive, alcoholic parent who kicked out the queer guy but who deserves forgiveness and a second chance? Check!
Main character wasn’t just bullied, but was nearly beaten to death, including broken skull among other bones and long-lasting trauma over the past five years (including passing out at random)? Check!
The man who nearly bashed the main character to death turns out to be a closeted gay? Check!
Surround the main character with “friends” who constantly suggest he needs to check in with the abusive father who kicked him to the curb? Check!
Those same friends non-stop questioning the main character for not being over it (it was only five years ago he almost got beaten to death, but hey, get over it) and telling him the town has changed since then? Check!
Main character has a moment of “realizing” that tolerance has to go both ways? Y’know, he needs to be more patient with the “you are sin” crowd? Check!
Massive amounts of forgiveness to everyone all around—including inviting the closeted gay guy who nearly beat him to death to come live with them once he’s out of jail, and forgiving his father within moments of being given an AA chip and an apology? Check!

 

Now, I’ve talked before about the whole how reconciliation with a family that kicked out a queer kid is not a happy ending before and is such a misstep if you’re crafting queer characters, and I’m not going to reiterate it all again, but it’s here if you want to read it.

I should also mention that when we see, over and over, forgiveness as the only path to peace for survivors of abuse that we’re doing a massive, massive disservice to actual survivors of abuse. Moving to a peaceful, happy place and thriving after surviving violence does not require the forgiving of the abuser. Some people do. Many don’t. If only forgiveness is shown as the path, that’s a problem. Say that as many times as it takes until it sinks in.

But, back to the bashings. That’s right, plural, because this novella doubled down, but I’ll get to that in a second. First, let’s talk about the main character’s history—again, the blurb gives no mention of this, just “bad memories”—which has left him with trauma. He was so violently bashed he had multiple bones broken, including part of his skull, and has fainted a few times over the last five years since thanks to said trauma.

As someone who has bled on a sidewalk, I cannot tell you how infuriating it was to watch his friends be surprised he hadn’t “gotten over it” and how much of the narrative centred around the character himself buying into this narrative. He starts to berate himself as a coward for leaving town, for letting it chase him away. Are you shitting me? You do not stick around when people try to beat you to death. Especially when you’re kicked out by your parent. If you can possibly do it, you go, you find somewhere safe, and you never look back. Or at least, you do if you’re an actual, living, breathing queer person who has somewhere to escape to—and he did, he got away for school. But instead, by the end of the book, this character is written to consider that “tolerance goes both ways” and he should be more patient with the people who want to cleanse his soul.

Queer people do not have to tolerate the intolerant. It is not bigotry to oppose a bigot. For crying out loud, this is basic stuff. If someone calls queer people sinful, you don’t have to listen to their freaking beliefs and be patient about giving them a chance to “explain their side.” That’s not a free-speech moment or a rational debate, that’s someone deciding you are less than human because you are queer. That’s just wrong.

But I mentioned bashings plural. And this is the real point I wanted to make today, though it’s taken me way too long to get here, and I’m mad, and this isn’t coming across anywhere near as calmly as I’d like (but see the previous paragraph about not having to be okay with people treating you as less than human): I can’t believe I’m saying this, but: abusive hate, bullying homophobes, and violent bashings aren’t romantic lead fodder.

So, in this book, the main character—who survived a violent bashing, as I mentioned—has one real good gay friend in school. That friend is an athlete and studying to be a teacher, maybe phys-ed or something. Near the end of the book, said friend is bashed nearly to death. His hip is so damaged he will likely never walk again without a cane, and—wait for it—the hero of this book berates himself because it’s not the first time this friend has maybe hit on someone he shouldn’t have, and if only the hero of this book had been around to make sure he didn’t do that.

Did we really just blame the guy who might die from brain swelling, the guy with the shattered hip, the guy who was nearly beaten to death by some random homophobic sociopath for being nearly beaten to death? Yes. Yes, we did.

But wait, there’s more!

The hero of this book asks if his friend can come live with them for recovery, and of course his redeemed bully of a lover agrees and that in and of itself would be decent (because, again, this man’s family has also disowned him), but then we find out that the man who beat the hero of this book nearly to death is also going to come live with them because, after he went to jail/came out, the redeemed bully character said he could come stay with him once he was out of jail.

And his victim is okay with that. Because forgiveness.

If I had only bumped into this “former homophobic bully/abusive asshole” redemption-as-love-interest notion once, I’d maybe have tossed it aside. But I keep bumping into it in book blurbs. And after reading this one? I just… I just need to ask.

Why is this okay?

Why is this a trope in romantic fiction about gay men? It makes zero sense, it certainly isn’t respectful of queer men, and personally feels like someone going out of their way to punch me in the stomach and say, hey, that trauma of yours? It totally made me think sexy thoughts.

A man nearly beat another man to death. He is not a hero. That is not sexy. And when he shows up in book two, he’ll be paired with the best friend from college who has been beaten just as badly as this man beat the hero of the first book. The storyline next time is about a survivor of a hate crime hooking up with a person who went to jail guilty of the same damn hate crime.

I’d like to take a moment to discuss how many fellow survivors I’ve met and how many of those survived at the hands of someone who later came out as a gay person and turned their life around. Respectfully? Dozens, and none. Do closeted queer people make the worst homophobes? It’s up for debate—there are studies out there where arousal responses correlate with more vocal homophobes, but whether or not they make for the most violent homophobes isn’t known, and anecdotally, I can’t think of a single instance, like I said, where after a violent bashing someone (a) came out, and (b) turned their life around, so why is this such a propagated falsehood in what’s supposed to be a romance?

And that’s key. This is supposed to be a romance. I’m supposed to want this man to have a happy-ever-after. I’m supposed to look at a man who was beaten nearly to death by a man because he was queer, and want him to spend the rest of his life happy with someone who beat another man nearly to death because he was queer.

That’s… I don’t even know what that is. But I do know what it isn’t. It’s not romantic. And it would never fly if it wasn’t queer men.

I mean, I can’t imagine this storyline would ever, ever hold up in a heterosexual romance: a woman is nearly beaten to death by a man who can’t control his feelings for her, and the next book in the series is about him finding love with another woman who has survived nearly being beaten to death by a different man, all while they stay together in the same house while this second woman recovers from her assault and the man just got out of jail? Do you see how ridiculous that is? How harmful and hateful and not romantic? No chance. Not redeemable as a romantic lead.

But somehow it’s okay—not just okay, but romantic—because… why? Because it’s gay men?

There is so very much wrong with that I don’t even know how to begin.

 

Friday Flash Fics – No Grand Gestures

Today’s Friday Flash Fics image had me immediately thinking of a character I left at a moment of happiness, Chris, who’d had a run of odd luck and an encounter with a self-professed psychic, Lightning Todd (no, really), who said he could help people find their bliss ever since he’d been struck by lightning. Chris navigates the worst week of his life and ends up finally kissing the burly security guard, Liam, at the mall where he works. If you want to know how they began, their story is “Struck,” included in Foolish Hearts from Cleis Press (and also available in audio at Audible and, frankly, performed to perfection by the narrator, who does a brilliant Lightning Todd).

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No Grand Gestures

“No grand gestures,” Liam said, once they’d scratched the ticket after that first dinner weeks ago. “No going beyond our means.”

Chris, who’d been surprised even though he’d known the ticket would be a winner, agreed. His mother went bankrupt after his father died, and he’d been helping keep her afloat ever since.

“Go back to school,” Liam said. “Finish your degree. I keep working.”

“But start looking for a job you’d like better,” Chris said. “That’s non-negotiable.”

“Okay,” Liam said. “You don’t have to share this with me.”

Chris had already crushed out on the big guy, but at the offer to turn down half a winning ticket that was going to pay out every week for the rest of their lives? He’d launched himself at Liam, and Liam had caught him. By the time they’d come up for air, Chris learned that Liam’s butt looked even better out of his uniform pants. Also they needed a shower, which they’d taken together, and then they’d needed another shower and…

*

“What are you smiling at?” Liam asked, carrying in a box. Their new place together was empty, but they still had their own places for two months. It was nicer than Chris’s old bachelor by a measure of ten, and at least twice as nice as Liam’s.

“Memories. Hey, we should paint before we move in.”

Liam shrugged. “All yours. Won’t make much difference to me.”

Right. Liam was colour-blind.

That was when Chris decided “No grand gestures” needed flexibility.

He started collecting paint colour cards and taping them up in the bedroom like they were decorations. By the time the package arrived, the wall was pretty much full.

*

The plan had been simple, but the execution went off track. Liam came out of the shower in just a towel. Chris couldn’t be expected to control himself in view of those shoulders, or Liam’s big chest, or the way his arms did that thing they did when he stretched.

So, naked now, Chris decided to wing it. He got his glasses, and slid off their impromptu bed.

“Going somewhere?” Liam snaked one arm around him.

“Be right back,” he said, slipping free.

At the door, he heard a click, and turned around in time to see Liam lowering his camera.

“Did you just take a shot of my ass?”

“I’ll take another when you come back in,” Liam said, wagging his eyebrows.

Chris shook his head, blushing, and ducked out of the room. The box was hidden in the kitchen. On the way back, he remembered Liam’s warning, and grabbed a book to strategically place in front of him.

Liam laughed when he saw. “Cheater.” Then he smiled. “Model for me. Give me your best sexy librarian.”

Chris put the box down, and held the book just-so, and even miming a “Shh!” The little clicks of Liam’s Nikon thrilled him.

When Liam lowered the camera, Chris scooped up the box. “For you.”

Liam frowned, reading the label. “Enchroma?” He opened it, then he looked at Chris. “Oh wow.”

“I’d really like you to help pick out the colours for the apartment,” Chris said. “Ready?”

Liam pulled out the lenses with a shaking hand.

“Close your eyes,” Chris said.

Liam did. Chris put them on him—he looked good—and then turned him around to face the wall of colour.

But Liam turned his head.

“No,” Chris said. “It’s that way.”

But Liam was already looking at him.

“Oh my God,” Liam said. “Your eyes.”

Chris bit his lip. His chest tightened. “Wait until you see the wall.”

“Give me a minute,” Liam said. “I’m not done looking at you.”

Oh yeah. This guy? This guy was it.

 

 

 

 

 

“Handmade Holidays,” ‘Nathan Burgoine’s new Christmas story. Review by Jeff Baker.

I should probably stop re-blogging these reviews, but I swear I’m basically floating around in a happy daze because of them.

authorjeffbaker

                     ‘Nathan Burgoine’s new Christmas story “Handmade Holidays” may well be an instant classic. Drawing on some of Burgoine’s own personal experiences as well as a tradition involving Christmas ornaments, it tells the story of Nick Wilson; on his own for the first time after his homophobic parents throw him out of the house. With the holidays approaching, Nick buys a cheap tree and decorates it with a friend’s improvised ornament. Thus starts a tradition which the story follows through fifteen years as Nick’s life and the lives of his chosen family of assorted friends change and grow through successes, tragedies, births and deaths, all the while adding ornaments, each with a special significance to their lives at the time.

Telling the story in the form of the story of successive years (skipping over a few) is a masterstroke, offering readers…

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Book Review – Handmade Holidays by ‘Nathan Burgoine

And I’m just going to bask in the glow of this lovely, lovely review from Elizabeth Lister for a while.

ELIZABETH LISTER

Before I begin, I want to give a huge shout-out to NineStar Press for the beautiful cover they had designed for their holiday shorts this year. For me, the beauty of winter is about the blue and white of the sky and snow on a winter’s day or at night lit by street lamps, so I think this is just lovely!

Now to the story. I’ve only read ‘Nathan’s paranormal stories (which is a bit of a departure for me) so I was eager to read a good old-fashioned contemporary short by my friend and fellow-author. Knowing a bit about ‘Nathan’s past and his strong belief in the power/importance of chosen families, I wanted to see how he managed to convey this in his story.

Well, he did it beautifully and, presented in such an original way, the lives of his characters became a yearly check-in to see what had…

View original post 533 more words

Easter Eggs

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Now that Handmade Holidays is out and about—thank all of you who pre-ordered or snapped it up right away, I actually hit the top-10 in my little “two hour read” category!—it turns out my next challenge was viral. I’m fighting off a cold, and it’s a doozy, and so I’ve not been doing much in the way of creative writing. I’m going to skip Writing Wednesdays today, because it would just depress me and my head hurts.

But. Today, Melissa Brayden (who you need to check out if you’ve not checked her out) posted about her latest tie-in (I call ’em “Easter Eggs”), but whatever you call the little cameos or nods to previous stories, I adore them, and I try to make a habit of them, too.

So it occurred to me that instead of sitting here under a blanket feeling woozy and sad for myself, I could sit here under a blanket feeling woozy and sad for myself and maybe do a blog about some of my tie-ins/Easter Eggs/cameos.

Easter Eggs for Christmas

I’ll start with Handmade Holidays because it’s the most recent, but I have a feeling it’ll get all snarled up in no time and there’ll be no chronology to the blog. Also, I’m on cold meds and so really, I should consider myself lucky I’m still speaking in English at this point.

Okay. So. Handmade Holidays starts with Nick on his own, coming home from his shift at Book It, where he’s been picking up shifts from other staff as Christmas approaches. His boss, Tracey, knows she can count on him for this.

That would be the same Tracey who is Chris’s boss in the short story “Struck” from Foolish Hearts, working as the assistant manager at the same Book It. She’s on maternity leave when “Struck” happens, though, and by then, Nick is at another store, which adds to Chris’s misery, as he’s the only queer guy remaining to face off against the homophobic maternity-leave replacement put in her place.

By the second Christmas, Nick meets Matt while they’re both in line at a small, local-chain coffee shop, Bittersweets. Bittersweets is mentioned in “Struck,” too, but it really debuted in “Vanilla,” included in Threesome: Him, Him, and Me. Pete Marlin, the manager of one of the Bittersweets, shows interest in making a cross-promotional deal with Avery, the new owner of the candy store in the Village (among other things he’s interested in doing with Avery).

By the fifth Christmas, Matt brings a boyfriend to the yearly Christmas parties: Johnny.

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Johnny doesn’t get a lot of presence in Handmade Holidays, but it is mentioned he can be somewhat campy, and those of you who read “Line of Sight” in Love Between Men might have recognized him as Cameron’s energetic friend, who was so upset by a particular request from his then-boyfriend that he ended the relationship and started dating someone else. (It didn’t work out with him, either, but now he’s with Matt and those boys are going to make it for the long run, I’d say).

In the sixth Christmas, Haruto is called back to Oneida. His father is a teacher at the high school there, and needs him. Oneida is a fictionalized version of one of the many places I grew up, and that high school (and town) appears in a few of my stories, but the first time is in “The Psychometry of Snow” from The Bears of Winter. Luke and Rick first met each other there. I don’t think either of them hung out with Haruto, unfortunately, as Luke was too addled most of the time, and Rick was a burly jock-type, and older than them both.

But Wait, There’s More!

There are also references to stories yet to come.

The Stephen Bees, Erik’s somewhat obnoxious friends, feature in an as-yet unpublished erotic story of mine called “The Rear Admiral,” hosting one of the very wine tastings where Nick remembers being made to feel so unwelcome.

FunkArt, the gallery in the Village where Phoebe purchases a glass ornament, is one of the businesses I’m visiting in my Village series of novellas that I’m working on. I’ve gotten two of them written out of the five I’ve planned to have ready to release within close range of each other, but there’s no release date for them as of yet.

But the most immediate Easter Egg of Stories Yet-to-Come? One of the guys who helps out Nick after the disastrous revelation of the Sixth Christmas is Morgan, who gets mentioned a couple of times in Handmade Holidays. He has his own novella on the horizon for next year, which I co-authored with Angela S. Stone. It’s called “Saving the Date,” and it’s going to be a part of the 1Night Stand series. I wrote the Morgan POV chapters, and Angela wrote the Zach POV chapters, and I’m sure I’ll be making lots of noise about that later. Also Phoebe returns in “Saving the Date,” as Morgan’s boss at The Urbane Myth, her consignment clothing shop in the Village.

 

 

Handmade Holidays is Officially Released!

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Five friends, fifteen years, the best gift ever.

It’s November 20th, and that means I get to wish a happy birthday to my queer-chosen-family-holiday novella romance, Handmade Holidays!

At nineteen, Nick is alone for the holidays and facing reality: this is how it will be from now on. Refusing to give up completely, Nick buys a Christmas tree, and then realizes he has no ornaments. A bare tree and an empty apartment aren’t a great start, but a visit from his friend Haruto is just the ticket to get him through this first, worst, Christmas. A box of candy canes and a hastily folded paper crane might not be the best ornaments, but it’s a place to start.

A year later, Nick has realized he’s not the only one with nowhere to go, and he hosts his first “Christmas for the Misfit Toys.” Haruto brings Nick an ornament for Nick’s tree, and a tradition—and a new family—is born.

As years go by, Nick, Haruto, and their friends face love, betrayal, life, and death. Every ornament on Nick’s tree is another year, another story, and another chance at the one thing Nick has wanted since the start: someone who’d share more than the holidays with him.

Of course, Nick might have already missed his shot at the one, and it might be too late.

Still, after fifteen Christmases, Nick is ready to risk it all for the best present yet.

To say this one is near and dear to me would be an understatement. Anyone who has known me even a little bit knows how often I talk about “chosen family” and anyone who’s suffered through my presence during the holidays knows how much of a struggle it can be for queer people. So an opportunity to tell a love story over fifteen years with a queer chosen family centred around the holidays?

I hope you enjoy Nick, Haruto, Pheobe, Fiona, and Matt as much as I loved writing them.

Handmade Holidays is available from NineStar Press, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords, and pretty much everywhere else you can get purchase an e-book.

Monday Flash Fic – Post Show Critique

I have to admit, this Monday Flash Fic picture stymied me for quite a while because it’s Archie from the new Riverdale show, and that was all I could see. Eventually, I just went with it. The three characters in today’s piece are from my upcoming YA novel, Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks, and takes place a year earlier or so.

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Post Show Critique

“His eyebrows don’t match,” Lindsey said. “They didn’t die his eyebrows.”

Cole nodded, but he was still back at the scene with the wiping of the face with the shirt and the revelation of those abs.

“He doesn’t look young enough,” Rhonda said.

Cole nodded again. They were amazing abs, though. A guy could forgive a lot for those abs.

The three of them had come to eat lemon squares and drink hot chocolate and dissect the new show, and so far, Cole thought he was the only one willing to give the faux red-head a chance.

“And the girls,” Lindsey said, leaning back in her chair. She was frowning. She’d been the one who’d organized the Rainbow Club viewing of the show—mostly because of Jughead and Kevin Keller, she said, though Cole had a theory it might have had something to do with the actresses who played Veronica and Betty, too. And maybe Cheryl.

“I thought they did a good job with the girls,” Cole said, finally speaking up.

“Veronica rocked,” Rhonda agreed.

On that point they all seemed to be in synch.

“Kevin didn’t get to do much,” Cole said. Then he shrugged. “This is my surprised face.”

“I’m sure they’ll give him more to do as the show goes on,” Lindsey said.

Cole had a bite of his lemon square. Only Lindsey and Rhonda had been willing to come with him to the board game café he loved so much after the show. It wasn’t a huge surprise. It was possible they were all getting a little tired of his suggesting the place as a hangout.

Though Lindsey was proving to be a Settlers of Catan shark.

Speaking of which…

“Settlers?” he said.

Lindsey smiled at him. If she wanted to play, he knew Rhonda would. She was like that. They were such a cute couple. He was glad they’d started coming to the Rainbow Club. Lindsey added a real social quality to the place. The rest of them were loners.

When they were all done their lemon squares, Cole took the plates, got the Settlers of Catan box, and brought it back to their table. He set up the game while Lindsey listed off some of the other changes the writers had made to the show she found troublesome.

“I feel like I need to admit I’ve never read an Archie comic in my life,” Cole said.

Rhonda raised her hand. “Also guilty.”

Lindsey blinked. “Neither have I.”

Cole laughed. “But you know everything there is to know about it. You gave us an Archie crash course, and you set up the whole night and everything.”

“Research,” Lindsey said, and shrugged.

Cole shook his head, and they set up the game. They were only a few rounds in before Lindsey already had a new settlement. It was official. She was totally a Settlers of Catan shark.

“Veronica is hot,” Lindsey said.

“Totally,” Rhonda agreed.

“Maybe Kevin will get to make out with Archie,” Cole said.

 

Friday Flash Fiction – Where it Began

Today’s Friday Flash Fiction prompt made me think of Matthew Stirling, one of the wizard characters in my Triad books, who also appeared in “Bound,” a short story in Not Just Another Pretty Face. There, Matthew is trying hard to get a gift for prescience under control—and is led to a handsome werewolf named Jace for the solution. Since the two got together, Matthew’s got his gift under control for the most part, but sometimes it still pops up without being asked. And he’s learned to pay attention when it does.

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Where it Began

The snow was more wet than cold. Matthew raised his umbrella. It was still snow, though. It was definitely snow.

In London.

“I feel like maybe I should order beef chow mein.”

Matthew turned. Jace walked up to him holding two cups that steamed in the cold air.

“What?” He took one of the cups, grateful for the warmth and the coffee. Jet lag sucked.

“Beef chow mein? From Lee Ho Fook?” Jace wagged his eyebrows.

“I don’t know it,” Matthew said.

“Children today,” Jace said. “No ear for the classics.”

“A-ooo!” Matthew howled quietly, and poked Jace in the chest. “A werewolf in London.”

“You had me going.” Jace wrapped one arm around him. “So. Where to next?”

Matthew exhaled a small cloud into the air, a huff of frustration. “I’m not sure. It’s…” He bit his bottom lip. “This is exactly what I saw, but…”

Jace squeezed him. The big man regarded him for a few long seconds. “We should have dinner.”

“Beef chow mein?”

“Nah. Something local. Fish and chips, right? That’s a London thing.” He grinned. “And some good stout. I’ve never been out of Canada, and I know we’re not here for fun, but why not?”

Matthew nodded. “Good idea. Although I have no idea what time it is in my head.”

“I’ll go ask where the food is good,” Jace said, and with a quick kiss to Matthew’s forehead, he stepped away from the umbrella, walking back to the stall where he’d gotten their drinks.

Matthew took a sip, and stared back across at Big Ben.

Exactly as he’d been dreaming it, the snow that was almost slush. The few people. The umbrella.

Why here? He knew the Stirlings could trace itself back to London. Hell, most of the Families could. But why a vision of London? It almost never snowed here, and yet here he was, with Jace, coming all this way just for a weekend in December because his dreams—his gift—had shown him this.

Water was his element. Snow and rain. Matthew Stirling closed his eyes, gathered his thoughts, and then opened again to look.

“It started here,” Matthew said. The words were out before he even knew he was going to say anything. His gift was like that sometimes.

Now he just had to figure out what it was.

Jace waved. Matthew turned, smiled, and lowered his umbrella.

This was a long way to come just to figure out he needed to dig through history to figure out what was coming. Still. Jace had a point.

As he walked over, Matthew admired the wideness of Jace’s shoulders beneath his jacket, and the way he moved his hands when he talked to the guy in the coffee stand.

They’d fly back on Monday. After that? He could start trying to figure out what dark thing had begun here that was sneaking its way into his dreams.

And in the meanwhile, he was with a werewolf in London.

“A-ooo,” Matthew said.

 

Writing Wednesday – Husky Hearts and Holidays

It’s Wednesday again (already!) so here I am checking in.

The outside temperature has been falling for a while, and while we were in Toronto this weekend, there was snow. His Fluffy Lordship is so very happy with this turn of events, and we’ve had a couple of walks now where the dog has made it clear that, if I wanted to, he’d totally do the whole thing over again right away.

The plus side to that is I’ve started my re-listens on audiobook, in an attempt to fill the upcoming season with something other than loathing. I’ll probably blog about that in December, but I started already.

Anyway! On to the writing front!

Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks

Slow and steady wins the race, and given that I’m sewing bits of the novel together now, that’s where I’m at. I have two weeks left before my deadline, and not much stress about it. Cole has morphed into the kind of YA character I used to love to read: not entirely self-assure, but willing to try, and possessed of a not-so-under-control gift of some sort. Teleportation is a real problem.

Handmade Holidays
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To be released by NineStar Press, November 20th, 2017.

It’s officially past November 11th, so I’m going to start being louder about Handmade Holidays now. I’ve gotten some great reviews, and I’m really excited about how the novella is being received. Ellie Reads said “Oh, this was so lovely, a bit nostalgic a lot of hopeful, just the perfect holiday read for me.” Jamieson Wolf said “I loved this story. No, that’s not right. I heart Homemade Holidays. ‘Nathan Burgoine has penned a Christmas classic. My meagre plot summary isn’t doing Homemade Holidays enough justice. I haven’t captured the heart and the love that emanates from the pages. I haven’t managed to tell you how beautiful the book is, what with it’s themes of chosen family, of togetherness and of love.”

I couldn’t ask for more.

Open Calls for Submission

On Writing Wednesdays I also track open calls for submission I’m keeping an eye on, as well as keeping honest how I’ve done thus far for the year in submitting things for publication myself.

Previously this year: January was: 6 submissions (4 reprints, 2 new), 1 acceptance; in February was bare minimum: 1 submission (1 new); March brought 1 rejection, and 1 submission (new); April saw 1 submission (new) and 1 acceptance; May: 1 submission (new), 1 acceptance. June: BUZZ! (Let’s not talk about that). July: 1 submission (1 new). August: 1 submission (1 new). September and October: While I was more or less offline here, I did manage 2 submissions (2 new), and I had 1 acceptance, but all that pretty much happened in October. November has been 1 submission (1 new). For those keeping track, I did have to write a flash fiction piece this weekend for the NYCMidnight Flash Fiction Contest while I was at Naked Heart.

And now, the open calls:

Chicken Soup for the Soul—Various titles, various themes, various deadlines, 1,200 word count limit.
Mischief Corner Books—Open to submissions for various themes, including Legendary Love, Everyday Heroes, Cowboys and Space; these are open rolling calls, so no deadline.
NineStar Press—Open to submissions for various length prose, paranormal, science fiction, fantasy and horror; Click “Currently Seeking” header for details; word count limit variable.
Spectrum Lit—This is an ongoing patreon flash fic provider, 1,500 hard word count limit; LGBTQ+ #ownvoice only; ongoing call.
Apex Magazine—Super-short flash fiction, theme of “Valentine’s Day Invasion.” 250 hard word count limit; deadline November 30th, 2017.
Quantum Shift—Annual celebration of quantum-inspired call for flash fiction; 1000 word count limit; deadline December 1st, 2017.
Best Gay Erotica for the Year, Volume 4—Cleis Press; 2,500-5,000 word count limit. Original stories strongly preferred; deadline January 5th, 2018 (but the earlier the better).
Fantastic Beasts and Where to F*** Them—Circlet Press; Erotic short stories with magical beasts and shapeshifter tropes; 3,000 to 7,000 word count limit; deadline February 1st, 2018.
Lost—NineStar Press. LGBTQIA+ romantic pairing. Both HEA and HFN are acceptable, Click “Lost” header for the theme. 30k-120k word count limit; deadline April 30th, 2018.
Happiness in Numbers—Less than Three Press; Polyamorous LGBTQIA+ anthology, non-erotic polyamorous stories that explore the idea of “Family”; 10k to 20k word count limit; deadline April 30th, 2018.