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: Just Visiting

It’s that time of the week again – Rainbow Snippets calling for six lines from one of my books and a link back on the Facebook group. This week, having just had a super new review on the book (see yesterday’s post), I wanted to share Just Visiting, my m/m time travel romance set in a dystopian future where people are discriminated against from birth.

Here’s a brief excerpt from near the beginning, where Madoc first meets Josh, the mysterious traveller who will change his world.

The traveller, though, had other ideas. Maybe he wasn’t lost at all. Instead of stopping and looking around or even calling for help, he headed straight for the spot where Madoc stood. He had his mouth open—to ask for directions, perhaps, or more likely to yell at Madoc for not moving out of the way. Whatever it was, Madoc never knew, because at the last minute the man tripped over Madoc’s discarded broom, wavered on the dock edge, then swooped arse-over-elbow into the greasy waters below.

Like it? The book is a longish short story, available on Kindle for only 99p (or your local equivalent) and free on Kindle Unlimited. Get it here!

And why not visit the Rainbow Snippets FB group for more snippets from lgbt books aorund the world?

Time for Another Lovely Review?

I’m resorting to puns here, because I’ve just discovered a super new review for my time-travel romance Just Visiting. For those of you who don’t know, the book is set in a dystopian future where people are segregated according to their birth, and focuses on the forbidden relationship between Madoc, a “low caste” worker, and Josh, the apparently higher caste man he rescues from a watery dock-side slip.

But there’s much more to Josh than Madoc realises, and even though the two are soon separated, their love becomes a catalyst for change. It’s bittersweet, but also quite optimistic. I must have been in a good mood that day!

You can find the lovely review on Goodreads here. And if you like the sound of the book and would like to try it, it’s available on Kindle (and free on Kindle Unlimited) here. Can love follow someone through time itself? You decide!

Just Visiting excerpt

Those nice folk at Stonewall Writers & Readers have posted another excerpt for me, from my latest book Just Visiting.

This is the gay time-travel romance I published a few weeks ago. Rather appropriately (and completely accidentally) it features a fight against inequality and outright racism, as well as mention of a Great Plague!

You can read the excerpt, which is from the very beginning of the story, right here, absolutely free. I hope you enjoy it.

 

Just Visiting out now!

I’m delighted to announce that my latest book, Just Visiting, has gone live on Amazon overnight.

No vampires in this one – instead it’s a short time-travel romance set in a dystopian future where people are divided into caste and non-caste by the colour of their hair and skin. When non-caste dock-worker Madoc meets Josh for the first time he assumes he’s caste but falls head over heels in love with him anyway. But nothing prepares him for the way Josh will change his world, or for the time he’ll spend searching for him again. So, can love follow someone through time itself?

Just Visiting is based on my short story The Visitor, which was originally published in the Queer Dimensions anthology from QueeredFiction. It also appeared, briefly, in the charity Being Me anthology, now out of print. However, I realised when I re-read it that it missed out on much of Madoc’s story so I’ve expanded it considerably to include more of his own journey through time.

Although it’s around three times longer than it was, it’s still very much in ‘short story’ territory so it’s available on Kindle for only 99p. And, of course, it’s completely free on Kindle Unlimited.

I designed the cover myself and am rather proud of it! Credit goes to Marco Lastelli, Gerd Altmann and ArtTower on Pixabay.com for their gorgeous images: the young man, the large clock face and the smaller clock, respectively.

You can find the book on all versions of Amazon including UK here and US here. If you grab it, I really hope you enjoy it!

Lost in Time review

This is the first gay romance book I’ve read for quite some time (probably since Patrick Gale’s A Place Called Winter). As soon as I saw the blurb for this I thought it sounded like my sort of thing – and I was right. It’s a quirky mix of magic, monsters and mystery with a hero who goes back in time to find his missing sister and accidentally introduces something he shouldn’t have into 1920s London.

One or two reviews have been critical of the romance but I loved the slow-burn relationship between the two main characters, which developed nicely from initial mistrust and antagonism into something much more tender and supportive.

My only slight criticism is the ending, which was rather abrupt. Just for myself I’d have rather had some sort of resolution followed by a cliffhanger to get me to read more. I will read more, though, as I really enjoyed the characters and the plot. A very nice re-introduction to a genre I used to love!