Something a little different today (because I’m probably running the ragged edge of what you can share of from a short story, and Once Upon a Time in the Weird West released yesterday, so exciting). Since we’re nearing the holidays, I thought I’d share a little of my holiday stuff. This is a snippet from The Light in Winter which was part of one of Dreamspinner’s advent calendars. I drew from my time in Wales doing a research fellowship on Neolithic sites for this (that and I sort of follow a druidic path). Gareth is a professor at the University of Aberystwyth and a Druid. Warun is a Christian doctor. Their schedules have put a huge strain on their relationship so for the holidays Gareth surprised Warun with a romantic trip to some of the historic sites he loves so much and the story ends with him sharing the Druid ritual of Alban Arthan (The Light of Arthur), the Solstice, with Warun for the first time. So we get to see a lot of this place, Bryn Celi Ddu, one of my favorite Neolithic sites in Wales (Granted, I’m pretty sure the powers that be wouldn’t be too happy if people spent the longest night of the year inside this passage grave, but I could be wrong).

They had traveled to Beaumaris Castle next, which had been a good choice. He pulled Gareth over to the moat, ticking a finger against his camera. “Selfie time.”
“You are so silly.” Gareth posed with him regardless. “It’s really a perfect castle.”

“Moats, turrets, concentric wall-in-wall construction:, you’re right.” Warun slipped his hand into Gareth’s as they headed inside. Aberystwyth Castle was only ruins, like so many others in Wales, but Beaumaris was perfect. Maybe he should plan a castle hop as a gift for Gareth next time, or a tour of holy wells. He was beginning to understand the importance of being in nature to the druids, why his lover went into ecology as a career. The look of peace on Gareth’s face as they had trekked to the holy well made it clear.

BlurbDr. Gareth Evans and his medical doctor partner, Warun Jones, are having trouble making time for each other between end of term craziness for Gareth and holiday-related injuries pouring into the hospital for Warun. Gareth has planned what he hopes will be the perfect recipe for relieving the tension and bringing them back together. While Warun wants Gareth to partake in Plygain, a traditional dawn service of hymn singing for Christmas, Gareth plans to take Warun to Bryn Celli Ddu and introduce him to the Druid ritual of Alban Arthan, the celebration of the winter solstice.

Buy Link here.

If you’d like to play along, Rainbow Snippets is a Facebook community where we post up 6 sentences of one of our LGBT stories every Saturday. It’s been fun and you can find it here. Be sure to check out all the offers! It’s been a great supportive group!