Rainbow Snippets: a painted wagon

As I mentioned earlier today, my sweet 1950s set m/m romance Run Wild, Run Free is on special offer from JMS Books all this weekend. So for my #RainbowSnippets offering this week, here’s a teaser from soon after Joey has met his new traveller friend. Of course, things don’t quite go to plan after this, but you’ll have to grab a copy of the book to find out why!

He knew the man was teasing him but he didn’t mind, not like he’d minded the taunts from the kids at school. The stranger’s smile was kind, and those wonderful eyes twinkled mischief at him, and he found his tongue at last. “Have you got a painted wagon? With steps that let down at the front?”

It had seemed like the most important question to him, but the gypsy stared at him for a second. Then he grinned. “Yeah. Want to come and see it sometime?”

“Oh, yes please.” He’d heard the tales, and seen the wagons in the distance in previous years, and couldn’t imagine anything more romantic. The thought of living in something as impermanent as that, of being free to go wherever you chose, whenever you chose, sounded like heaven compared to the family’s squashed little house. “That would be amazing.”

The gypsy’s grin faded, although his eyes still twinkled. He leant forwards and brushed one finger down Joe’s cheek. The tip was work-roughened and caught against his new beard-growth, sending a wild thrill through his nerves that he didn’t yet understand. “We could go now if you like.”

If you like that, pop along to JMS Books to get the book for only $1.64 (until Monday). And don’t forget to check the Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook for more lovely rainbow-y excerpts!

Rainbow Snippets: a discarded broom…

This week’s offering for the #RainbowSnippets Facebook group is from my dystopian time travel m/m romance Just Visiting, which I’m also featuring on today’s #silver #agegap feature on the Small But Mighty FB group. The excerpt is from where Madoc first meets time traveller Josh, as Josh trips over his discarded broom!

Here’s a reminder of what’s going on: “Down-trodden dock worker Madoc expects trouble when a traveller from the future trips over his discarded broom. What he doesn’t expect is to fall head over heels in love with a man who insists he’s only visiting. But Josh’s arrival is the spark Madoc needs to fight the terrible discrimination in his world. When he finally catches up with his own future, will Josh be waiting there for him?”

And if you fancy trying the book, it’s available on Kindle for only $1.20 or 99p, or free on Kindle Unlimited.

Madoc didn’t even stop to think. That was a caste member floundering around down there. A caste member who’d tripped over his discarded tools. If anything bad happened, guess who would get the blame? And the penalty for causing the death of a caste member? He couldn’t remember offhand, but it wouldn’t be good. He kicked off his boots, laid his glasses on top of them and leapt straight in. The water was freezing. The cold cut through his clothes so fast he could feel the shock setting in. He couldn’t succumb to it, though. He was used to these conditions. The stranger might not be so hardened to the elements. He took a deep breath, thrashed his way to the man, then supported his head while he paddled both of them awkwardly back to the dock.

By the time he got there the overseer had hurried over to help. Between him and Madoc they hauled the stranger out onto the dock, where he stood dripping and shivering so hard Madoc could hear his teeth knocking together. The overseer took one look at him and ran, mumbling something about alerting the proper authorities. Knowing the way things worked, Madoc thought it was more likely he was putting as much space between himself and potential trouble as possible. Something he himself would quite like to do. It was tempting to simply grab the broom and hide out in one of the store-rooms until someone else took control or the stranger took care of himself.

Rainbow Snippets: a misplaced broom

I wasn’t sure I’d get around to a Rainbow Snippets today as I’m feeling a bit under the weather with a bug. But I’ve been tweeting about my time-travel romance Just Visiting lately so it made sense to post a few lines from that. Don’t forget to check out the Rainbow Snippets Facebook group for more of this week’s excerpt fun!

And if you like the sound of this excerpt, you can find Just Visiting for only 99p on Kindle (or free on Kindle Unlimited) here. It’s set in a dystopian future and features a man, a visitor from the future, their impossible love, the fight against discrimination, a bittersweet ending – and that misplaced broom. Phew!

Can love follow someone through time itself?

By the time he got there the overseer had hurried over to help. Between him and Madoc they hauled the stranger out onto the dock, where he stood dripping and shivering so hard Madoc could hear his teeth knocking together. The overseer took one look at him and ran, mumbling something about alerting the proper authorities. Knowing the way things worked, Madoc thought it was more likely he was putting as much space between himself and potential trouble as possible. Something he himself would quite like to do. It was tempting to simply grab the broom and hide out in one of the store-rooms until someone else took control or the stranger took care of himself. For once, though, there was nobody else about. The stranger’s lips were turning blue. If he didn’t want a disaster on his hands, he’d have to deal with this now.

‛You’d better come back to my room. You can warm up and clean yourself there.’

‛Th-thank y-you.’

‛It’s nothing. Just doing my job.’ Or not doing it. If he’d been paying attention… if he hadn’t left that broom lying about… The fewer people who knew about that, the safer he’d be. ‛This way.’

Rainbow Snippets: Embers of Bridges

It’s the middle of another Saturday morning which means it’s time for a new Rainbow Snippet. Don’t forget to check back on the Facebook group for loads more lgbt excerpts from all your favourite authors.

For a complete change this week I’m focussing on one of my non-romance (but still lgbt) books written under my other pen name, Tess Makovesky. Embers of Bridges is a breathless comedy noir set in Birmingham and featuring hapless robber Mickey, who just happens to be falling for the irrepressible mischief of his best friend Gaz.

In this particular snippet, they’re hiding out in a hot tub, with some rather unfortunate (for Mickey’s peace of mind at any rate) results…

            He dared to let out the breath he’d been holding since time began. ‛Phhff. Think we lost them?’

            ‛Maybe. Give it another few minutes, eh?’      

The water might be cooling, but Gaz was a warm presence at his side. And now the immediate danger had passed he was aware of a reaction of a different kind. An unwanted reaction, totally inappropriate. It must be the heat. Or Gaz’s snogging jokes. Or the adrenalin, or the relief. It couldn’t, under any circumstances, be linked to Gaz. He couldn’t—the horror—have a stiffie, sitting right here next to his mate. He couldn’t want to throw his arms round Gaz’s neck and kiss him on those endlessly laughing lips.

There’s plenty more where that came from as the rest of the book is written in the same tongue-in-cheek style – although it gets a lot darker towards the end. If you like it, why not check out Embers of Bridges, which is available on Kindle for only $4.74 or free on KU.

Rainbow Snippets: love and a hooting owl

Another Saturday, another Rainbow Snippets post. I swear these come round so fast I barely have time to blink *grins* but it’s lovely to be able to share a few lines from one or other of my books. Don’t forget to check the Rainbow Snippets Facebook group for more snippets from LGBTQ books from all kinds of authors.

This week I’ve chosen another snippet from my latest book Run Wild, Run Free. The book is on special offer at JMS Books over Easter with a big 40% discount. So if you like the sound of the excerpt and fancy trying the book, now’s your chance! You can find the book here.

“He hit you? Christ, mate, you shouldn’t let him get away with that.”

Joey wanted to explain that it was his own fault—that he’d disobeyed the rules and this was his punishment—but he didn’t think Billy would understand. “It’s nothing. Doesn’t really hurt any more. I’d forgotten about it. Go back to what you were doing. Please? It was nice.” But the mood had changed. Billy drew him close again, kissing his shoulder and hugging him, the way Joey would hold a sparrow that had hurt its wing. And when they finally made love it was slow and quiet and comforting, and afterwards they lay together on the narrow bed and Billy wouldn’t let him go. And when the owl started hooting near dawn it was the perfect end to the night.