Charli asked us about what’s magical for us this week. Me having internet for the first time in a MONTH! That’s totally magical for me (in a week that was personally exceedingly hard). I’ve missed Rainbow Snippets but not having home internet would have made it nearly impossible to read anyone’s stuff so it wouldn’t have been right for me to use the limited internet I did have to post and run. I’m glad to be back!

The other magical thing is I’m going to use this space to do a cover reveal for my upcoming holiday short story, The Glow of Luminiferous Aether on Tinsel with Ninestar Press! It’s a steampunk Christmas story (as if aether in a title wasn’t a dead giveaway). It’s set here where I live in 1899. I’ll be sampling it for the next few weekends. And can I say I love the cover. Blue and silver is a favorite color combo.

Let’s meet the airman, Jacob, as he’s freezing his way across the continent trying to get home for the holidays.

Jacob wished he could wear a third set of pants to keep out the cold, but he’d never be able to move in them. A union suit and woolen uniform trousers should have been enough to keep out the December chill, except his metal prosthetic leg, a miracle of spring-work technology, conducted the cold straight through his stump, up into his jewels, and even made his bladder ache. His slow path around the ship’s deck as he kept watch did little to warm him.

He had one sure way to feel warmer: thoughts of a certain Dr. H. Alphus Troyer waiting for him back home. Theirs was a strange and beautiful relationship. He’d never understand why a man as smart as Al would want to be with an air corps man like himself. Al argued that Jacob, as the onboard tactician, possessed intelligence in abundance

Blurb As Chief Tactician for the airship DeGrasse, Jacob Scarberry has spent the last six months on a wearying tour of duty. He’s missing home, and his prosthetic leg is conducting the December cold straight to his core. But with the holidays coming up, he’s looking forward to a well-earned leave, sharing some Christmas surprises with his lover, Dr. H. Alphus Troyer, and welcoming in the dawn of the 20th century.

A professor at Ohio University, Al is already on Christmas break, and his unconventional household is in a festive frenzy. Al is a bit less joyous, his anticipation of Jacob’s return warring with uncertainty over the special gift he had commissioned for him. Would Jacob appreciate it, or will it put a strain on their relationship?

Suddenly Al’s worries become trivial when the newspapers report an attack on the DeGrasse. With Jacob fighting for his life miles away, Al is left to wonder whether Jacob will return at all, or whether the planned festivities will become holiday heartbreak instead.

Pre-order Link find Glow 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!