I still owe some comments from last week. Finals got in the way but they’re over and I’m in for some much needed time off.

This week’s is from another of my holiday stories, The Light of Winter which is set in Wales and encompasses both Druidic and Christian holidays. It’s also about the only contemporary story I’ve ever written. It was for DSP’s advent calendar.

When Warun had said his good-byes, Gareth felt a little better. Warun was as ready for a holiday as he was. Gareth worried what he had planned might just be the wrong thing. It was a risky trip, but he hoped the high-end hotel he’d chosen would offset the rest of his planned surprise holiday gift for Warun. He’d be nervous about it until it happened. There was nothing to do for that. Even if he and Warun hadn’t been so waspish lately, he’d worry about this trip.

Blurb Dr. 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.

Link find The Light of Winter 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!

I’ve finished (and won) nano with These Haunted Hills which naturally still isn’t finished. I’ll probably pick up with it in a few weeks. Since it’s that time of year let me highlight some of my holiday fiction. I’ll start with my favorite The Darkest Midnight in December. It’s not sweet holiday fic. It’s an urban fantasy with a Krampus-like creature (the French version of this to be precise) killing kids outside of Pittsburgh in the 30s.

I’m being bad. It’s a few sentences longer than 6.

Snippet “How many babies have gone missing?” Li asked.

Caleb tapped the briefcase holding a stack of files given to him by General Taglioferro before they left their headquarters in Pittsburgh. “Three and several couples. The local priests and police think it’s all the work of demons.”

“I was too busy packing.” Temple patted the box that held his Tommy gun and ammunition. “I didn’t get a chance to check out what the Order already knows about what’s going on here.”

“Once again, Li, your partner was napping.” Agni leveled a look at Temple who wrinkled his nose.

“We’ll bring him up to date once we get there.” Li pulled his coat tighter as the truck taking them from train station to hotel lurched down the road. “I just want to know why we have to ride in the bed with the luggage.”

“We all wouldn’t have fit.” Caleb shrugged. “And the driver they sent didn’t want any demon hunters in the cab with him, like we’ll infect him with our ability to see the demons or something.”

“Idiot. Who does he think is going to save this dumb town?” Temple grumbled.

Blurb The year is 1930, and something is hunting infants and young couples in Economy Village, PA. When a local priest begins to suspect a demon may be the culprit, the sheriff calls in a team of Soldiers from the Sun.

Caleb, Agni, Temple, and Li specialize in demon hunting, but they can’t rule out an old religious sect as the true culprit. Prejudice, distraught parents, and angry townspeople don’t make the team’s job any easier. And if something goes wrong, they’re on their own, because by the time their backup arrives, it will be too late.

Link find the Darkest Midnight 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!

Running quick today. Trying to get the last 10K of my nano novel and family is coming out tonight.

I’m sharing a bit more of my Steampunk Christmas story (It releases tomorrow!) This snippet takes place on the airship which was ambushed by airship pirates over Cincinnati.

Jacob gritted his teeth as the DeGrasse dived. Dager—one of the ship’s sharpshooters—shouted at him. Jacob turned, catching a flash out of the corner of his eye. The wooden side rail exploded, and something burned against his arm.

“Jacob, are you all right?” Dager raced over and tugged Jacob around so fast, he nearly twisted out of his prosthesis.

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!