I know I owe comments for last week. I’ll get right on that. Between Nano and the last week of the semester, I was swamped, sorry about that. I made nano by the skin of my teeth but there’s still plenty of story left to write there. I’m not sure I’ve survived the semester. I was in a bar where several former students work their way thru school. We were all lamenting how much finals week is going to suck.

I’m switching to my holiday short story Purrfect Holiday (OMG I can’t believe I went with a punny title!) for Dreamspinner’s Warmest Wishes advent calendar. A quick word of introduction since I’m dropping you in in media res, Tony was a veterinarian who can’t practice because of progressive (rapidly) blindness who is living in Saint Augustine Florida (my favorite town in FL) with his grandmother. He’s naturally a bit depressed over this derailing of his life’s dream and oh he and Grandma are HUGE Star Trek fans. Spock is one of his Nonna’s cats. (and ha, original Trek is airing as I post this!) It’s a tiny bit over so it’s not just random lines out of context.

A minute later Nonna, in a bright blue robe, collected Spock. “I have something that might interest you.”

It was a far cry from what he’d trained so hard for, but he loved helping animals. He’d take any scrap he could get. “I would love that!”

Blurb – Tony Gatti had his life planned: get his veterinarian license and go to work with his dad and uncle. Soon after achieving his goals, he learned the shadows and blurriness in his vision went beyond needing glasses. Retinitis Pigmentosa is a genetic mutation with no cure. With his sight almost gone, he moves into his grandmother’s St. Augustine, Florida home with his guide dog, Raven, to start life over. Nonna Concetta thinks she knows the perfect job for him. Her vet is looking for someone to destress the cats at a local rescue.

Javier didn’t plan to hire a cute former veterinarian to fill the role of cat cuddler, but Tony couldn’t be more perfect. Worried his attraction is inappropriate and knowing the holiday season always depresses him, Javier wonders if he should ask Tony out, or if he’d just be spreading the gloom to someone who already has enough of his own. But if he takes the plunge, could it turn out to be the best holiday ever?

You can order it here at DSP

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!