Ally – Page 16 – A. L. Lester

Ellie Thomas: A Midwinter Night’s Magic and a Midsummer Night’s Dream

This week Ellie is here to talk about her new release, A Midwinter Night’s Magic!

Thank you so much, Ally, for having me as your guest today! I’m Ellie Thomas, and I write Historical Gay Romance. In this blog, I’ll be chatting about A Midwinter Night’s Magic, my story for JMS Books’ Christmas submissions call.

While I was deciding whether to pick either the Naughty or Nice option for my seasonal story, for some reason, the impishly naughty Puck, from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, popped into my head. At first, I dismissed this as too outlandish even for me, but in the end, I couldn’t resist the storyline of mischievous Puck meets sedate Regency country house party. So the theme is decidedly Naughty!

In parallel to a typical Shakespearean comedy, my main character, Matthew Lewis, is an exasperated victim of circumstances. He mistakenly agrees to attend a Christmas country house party, only to be trapped there by heavy snow and with the former love of his life, Crispin Marley, whom he now loathes. If that isn’t enough, he is obliged to engage in a play reading of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be performed on Christmas Day. As you can imagine, he’s not a happy bunny!

It was a delight and indulgence to revisit the play as the research for my story. As I’ve been fortunate enough to teach it many times over the years, I could recall the key events sufficiently to rough out my plot based on my amateur actors’ rehearsals.

I had such fun casting my characters in the roles to reflect their romantic circumstances. Matthew, who has a heck of a temper where Crispin is concerned, is an obvious Oberon, King of the Fairies, as he rages at his Queen, Titania. In some modern productions, Oberon and Theseus, Duke of Athens, are played by the same actor to reflect the two contrasting sides of one person. Oberon embodies passion and drama, whereas Theseus is all chilly diplomacy. It seemed ideal for the seemingly controlled Crispin to be the detached Theseus to Matthew’s fiery Oberon, emphasising the couple’s former bond and their current emotional chasm.

Abigail, the bossy young lady of the house whose idea it is to perform the play, has a mild attraction for Crispin and plays Hippolyta, Theseus’ future wife, unaware of Matthew and Crispin’s past attachment. Ironically, she casts a woebegone neighbours’ son (who is secretly in love with her) as Lysander, one of the four Athenian lovers, with his sister to make up the pair as Hermia. The Boltons, a young disaffected married couple, are Helena and Demetrius. To echo the script, Mr. Bolton shows far more interest in Hermia than in his languishing spouse. Then we have the daftly comedic enchanted pairing of Titania and Bottom the Weaver, played by Mrs. Robinson, a neglected wife with an errant husband and Mr. Grace, the jovial local vicar.

How could Puck resist magically interfering with all these possibilities for romantic confusion?

However, any meddling proves to be benign, and as in the play, the silliest liaison lasts only as long as the effects of the love potion. But for the truly-matched couples, especially my star crossed lovers, Matthew and Crispin, magic can only trigger the spark for reconciliation. After the stardust has settled, the rest is up to them.

I hope readers find this a twinkly feel-good Christmas tale that reflects the happy ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And so to finish, I can’t resist quoting Oberon’s blessing,

“So shall all the couples three

Ever true in loving be.”

A Midwinter Night’s Magic

In late 18th-century England, when Matthew Lewis accidentally accepts an invitation to a festive country house party, he vows to stay only for as long as is polite. However, not only is there a heavy snowfall to detain him but also, the guests are expected to take part in a recital of A Midsummer Night’s Dream on Christmas Day.

If amateur theatricals are not enough to contend with, the unexpected presence of former lover Crispin Marley is sent to try his frayed patience. The pair has had no contact since Crispin abandoned him with no explanation four years previously. Matthew is determined to feel nothing but enmity towards his lost love. But the influence of the play can change everything. Can Puck sprinkle a little fairy magic to bring this warring couple back together?

Buy A Midwinter Night’s Magic

Extract

Before going upstairs to prepare for the evening, Matthew made an excursion into the dining room on the far side of the main hallway to fortify himself with a glass of port. He approached the substantial sideboard where trays of glasses and an array of decanters were placed for guests to help themselves. So he was not surprised to hear the door open and close behind him, assuming it was another gentleman with a similar intention.
But the voice that spoke his name had him whirling around so fast that the port nearly spilled over the rim of the glass onto the expensive carpet. Crispin stood before him, tall, dark, and slightly forbidding, his expression neutral.
“Firstly, I wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about your father’s passing last year,” he began. As Matthew stared at him in shock, Crispin took a deep breath before carrying on. “And I thought since we are obliged to be guests here together, to avoid an unpleasant atmosphere, that we should have a talk.”
“I have nothing to say to you,” Matthew spat out, finding his voice, incensed by Crispin’s presumption.
“We have not seen each other for a long while and I thought...” Crispin began.
Matthew's temper began to build. “What? You thought that I would oblige you by making amends? You thought that enough time had passed so I was sure to have absolved you for walking out on me without a word?”
The expression on Crispin’s face froze. “I wanted to explain...”
“Now?” Matthew’s voice almost rose to a shout. He controlled his tone with effort, continuing in a fierce whisper, “You want to apologise to me now! After four years of complete silence, you assume you can walk back into my life and all would be forgotten?”
“I beg your pardon. I have made a mistake,” Crispin said, backing away from Matthew, his voice glacial.
Matthew took a combative step forward, “Too damned right you have,” he hissed. “We were in love, we planned a future together and you left me without any reason. Oh, of course,” he said, his voice thickening with sarcasm, “I forget. You left a note. What were the words? Let me recall. I’m sorry but I can’t do this. After more than three years of being inseparable, that was all the explanation you gave me, you total bastard!”
Matthew was beside himself with rage, all those painful, long-buried memories stirred up by Crispin’s ill-timed intervention. He was almost ready to fling his drink into Crispin’s face, only held back by the reservation that it was a waste of good port.
His adversary did not rise to the raging words and searing emotion, his countenance remaining expressionless. Cold-blooded bastard, Matthew thought furiously.
“As I said,” Crispin began in that cool, contained tone that made Matthew want to punch him, “This was an error in judgement. If you’ll excuse me, I will leave you now.”
Undisturbed by Matthew’s ire, he had the presence of mind to perform a bow before making a swift exit, shutting the door quietly behind him.
Matthew was shaking with fury. He turned around to place the glass on the tray before his fierce grasp snapped the delicate crystal stem. He put both hands on the surface of the sideboard, leaning over, fixing the port decanter with a glare, muttering, “bastard, bastard, bastard,” under his breath. The fact that Crispin-bloody-Marley had the gall to approach him expecting clemency fuelled his agitation to boiling point.

Buy A Midwinter Night’s Magic

About Ellie

Ellie Thomas lives by the sea. She comes from a teaching background and goes for long seaside walks where she daydreams about history. She is a voracious reader especially about anything historical. She mainly writes historical gay romance.
Ellie also writes historical erotic romance as L. E. Thomas.

Find Ellie on Facebook : Ellie’s webpage

Nell Iris: Santa in Sweden

Today I have a post from my friend Nell Iris for you–and I need to apologise to both Nell and you, because it should have gone up yesterday and I forgot. Nell Iris, everyone…with The Santa Emergency.

Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, and happy random day in December for everyone else. A huge thanks to Ally who’s always so kind and generous and invites me when I have a new book to talk about.❤️ And I do have a new book to talk about: The Santa Emergency. It’s out today, and it’s perfect if you wanna buy yourself a little gift. And speaking of gifts, I’m here to talk about the Swedish Santa, and I’m kicking it off with a poem.

Midwinter’s nightly frost is hard,
Brightly the stars are beaming;
Fast asleep is the lonely yard,
All, at midnight, are dreaming.
Clear is the moon, and the snow-drifts shine,
Glistening white, on fir and pine,
Covers on rooflets making.
None but the Tomte is waking.
Poem by Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg, originally published in 1881, translated to English

Traditionally, the Swedish Santa, or tomten, wasn’t a jolly fella with a white beard who gave kids presents at Christmas. No, he was short and old and dressed in plain wadmal, gray clothing. He was the protector of the farms, he was rumored to be ill-tempered, and a sure way of angering him was to disrespect the farm or mistreat the animals. He was offended by rudeness and didn’t like changes, so it was important to follow traditions. When angered, his retributions ranged from small pranks all the way to maiming and killing the animals he was protecting.

But at the end of the 19^th century, the image of tomten changed, thanks to the poem above, and the illustration that accompanied it. Swedish painter, artist and illustrator, Jenny Nyström got the assignment to illustrate the poem, and it led to a long and successful career. She’s often referred to as the mother of Santa in Sweden, and with pictures like these it’s not difficult to understand why.

These days, our Swedish Santa looks a lot like jolly old Santa Claus, but there are a few differences:

• Tomten lives in a nearby forest, not at the North Pole,
• he has a family,
• he doesn’t come down the chimney at night, but knocks on the front door,
• he delivers presents directly to the children on Christmas Eve before the children go to bed, just like the yule goat did;
• before he hands over presents he asks, Finns det några snälla barn här? (Are there any good children here?),
• he normally walks with his sack, but if he rides in a sleigh it is drawn by reindeer across the snow – they don’t fly,
• he likes a bowl of porridge, not a mince pie and a glass of sherry

(list borrowed from here)

Since we’re all grown-ups, we know Santa isn’t real, but since the presents are hand delivered in Sweden, we need someone to play Santa for us, wearing masks like these. When I was a kid, my beloved uncle always went to the store to “buy a newspaper” every time Santa arrived. When my daughter was little, her uncle went to visit his friend who lived next door to “say hi” and sadly it collided with Santa’s appearance every year. One year, the last year she believed in Santa, she confided to us before Christmas that she was pretty sure that Santa wasn’t real, that it was in fact her uncle. And since we were mean and devious parents, we asked someone else to be Santa that year, and our daughter was very confused. 😁

Kristian in The Santa Emergency was tasked last minute to host his family’s Christmas celebrations, and he pulled it together nicely. With one tiny little problem: he forgot to ask someone to come play Santa. So when it’s less than an hour before Santa is supposed to knock on his door, he rushes over to his new neighbor with a plea. I have a Santa emergency and I desperately need your help.

The Santa Emergency

I have a Santa emergency and I desperately need your help.

Sigge isn’t exactly a grinch when it comes to Christmas, but he’s not a fan of the holiday either. So when his new neighbor Kristian shows up in a panic, begging him to help by donning a Santa suit, Sigge’s gut reaction is to say no. But Kristian is cute and funny, rendering Sigge powerless against his heartfelt plea—especially after a promise of spending more time together—so he agrees.

The instant connection deepens as they share mulled wine and conversation as easy as breathing. But is it just holiday magic swirling in the air, or is it something real? Something that will last into the new year and beyond?

M/M Contemporary / 13 816 words

Buy The Santa Emergency: JMS Books :: Amazon :: Books2Read

About Nell

Nell Iris is a romantic at heart who believes everyone deserves a happy ending. She’s a bonafide bookworm (learned to read long before she started school), wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without something to read (not even the ladies room), loves music (and singing along at the top of her voice but she’s no Celine Dion), and is a real Star Trek nerd (Make it so). She loves words, bullet journals, poetry, wine, coffee-flavored kisses, and fika (a Swedish cultural thing involving coffee and pastry!)

Nell believes passionately in equality for all regardless of race, gender or sexuality, and wants to make the world a better, less hateful, place.

Nell is a bisexual Swedish woman married to the love of her life, a proud mama of a grown daughter, and is approaching 50 faster than she’d like. She lives in the south of Sweden where she spends her days thinking up stories about people falling in love. After dreaming about being a writer for most of her life, she finally was in a place where she could pursue her dream and released her first book in 2017.

Nell Iris writes gay romance, prefers sweet over angsty, short over long, and quirky characters over alpha males.

Find Nell on social media:

Newsletter :: Webpage/blog :: Twitter :: Instagram :: Facebook Page :: Facebook Profile :: Goodreads :: Bookbub

Excerpt from The Santa Emergency

“My mom broke her leg two weeks ago. We always do Christmas at her house, and she wanted us to this year, too, despite her injury. But she’s not the kind of person to sit idly by and let other people do all the work, especially since she doesn’t let anyone into her kitchen. She’d insist on business as usual, and she’d exhaust herself and risk re-injuring her leg. So my sister came up with the idea of Christmas at my house since I’m the only one in the family besides Mom living in a house and not an apartment.” He rolls his eyes. “Because Santa would surely strike us down with a mighty hammer if we celebrated Christmas in an apartment, right? I know I’m mixing my metaphors, but I’m trying to say that I’m sure the world wouldn’t end. I love my sister to death, but she has the weirdest ideas.”

He speaks with his whole body; he gestures with his hands and his face is lively and animated, and I can easily read every emotion as he experiences them, even after only being in his presence for a few minutes. All that makes him even more irresistible. In a society where everything is about hiding the truth behind a pretty surface, meeting someone open is refreshing.

“Anyway,” he says, “that gave me two whole weeks to unpack my stuff and plan a party. Dammit, Sigge, I’m a copywriter, not a party planner!”

Holy crap. He’s paraphrasing Star Trek, too? Is he perfect?

“But I did all right. The food, the decorations, everything is perfect. Or you know…everything except that I forgot to convince someone to come play Santa. When my sister found out, she lectured me in her scariest hissing voice until I was overcome with the urge to run away from my own house. She said I must not love my nieces and nephews since I forgot about a Santa. Her blame game is on point.” He grimaces.

“I’d say.”

“It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa always comes after Donald Duck is over. I can’t believe I forgot. The kids reach meltdown level if someone needs to go to the bathroom after the TV is turned off, so I have exactly—” he looks at his watch and gasps “—thirty-five minutes until my sister declares me the worst uncle ever. You must help me. Pretty please with sugar on top.”

His eyes are wide and pleading, his eyebrows slumping sadly, and I swear I can detect a hint of a tremble in his lower lip. I reach out and ease the cup out of his hands and pour more mulled wine into it before handing it back to him. “Drink this.”

He nods and tosses it back like it’s a shot, and I hope he doesn’t choke on the almonds or burns his tongue. “Thank you,” he says, then slumps back on the couch, the corners of his mouth drawn down, his lower lip pouting a little.

“What do you need from me?” I ask.

“I need you to be Santa.”

I blink. I really should’ve seen that one coming, but I didn’t. “Huh?”

“I need a Santa or the kiddos will be heartbroken. You’re my only hope.”

“I can’t be your only hope. What if I hadn’t been at home?”

“I would have been seriously fucked. Everyone I know is knee-deep in their own celebrations. I could probably convince my best friend Anton to do it because he’s too nice for his own good, but he’s a new dad and I don’t want to tear him away from his baby girl on her first Christmas.”

“I don’t even know how to be Santa.”

“Of course, you do. Everyone knows how to be Santa. All you have to do is be jolly, say ho-ho-ho, and ask if there are any good children in the house. Then you give presents to the kids whether they say yes or no. But if my sister says she deserves a gift, don’t believe her. She doesn’t. Not after the lecture she gave me.”

Of course, I know how a Santa behaves. In theory. There was no Santa when I was a kid, rarely any presents, so all encounters I’ve had with him come from TV and movies. I know it’s not like he’s asking me to do an in-depth interpretation of a complex character, but my instinct is to say no. I have little experience with kids, I’m awkward around people, and I don’t do Christmas.

“Oh.” He sits up straight. “Are you…religious? I mean…did I offend your religious beliefs with my request? If so, I’m sorry; I didn’t think before barging into your home. I mean, you haven’t decorated, and—”

“Kristian, please.”

He snaps his mouth shut and looks at me with his eyes full of concern.

“I’m not religious. That’s not why I’m hesitating.” It’s because you’re cute and I don’t want to look like a fool in front of you, my brain adds, but luckily I’m able to stop the words from spilling out of my mouth.

“Whew.” He relaxes his stiff posture “I don’t want to get off on the wrong foot with my new neighbors. And you’re really cute.” His eyes widen and he sucks his lips into his mouth as though he’s trying to stuff back the words from whence they came.

Cute? He thinks I’m cute? No one’s ever called me cute before. Scary or intimidating, yes. Even hot. But not cute. “Thank you,” I say, unable to fight a smile taking over my face.

“Thank you?”

“Yes. I’m…uh…flattered you think so.” Flattered is an understatement, but I don’t want to tell him about the tickle in my belly caused by his words.

“Flattered?”

I nod.

“Okay.” He looks at me from under fluttering eyelashes, a content smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Okay.”

A quick glance at his chunky watch snaps his focus back to where it belongs. “So…Santa?”

Buy The Santa Emergency: JMS Books :: Amazon :: Books2Read

The Amazing Year of Ofelia Grand and Holly Day

Hi! Thank you so much, Ally, for letting me drop by again 😊 (Any time!)

It’s been quite a year, hasn’t it? I know many say that and mean it in a bad way, but that’s not what I mean at all. It’s been a really good year for me.

During a weak moment back in 2020, I decided that writing under two names was a brilliant idea, and Ally did absolutely nothing to talk me out of it. Quite the opposite, actually.

So we started this year by releasing Holly Day’s first story – Hop Hop, Carrot Top which is a low heat contemporary gay romance I wrote to celebrate Kiss a Ginger Day.

Then February came, well… I wrote a Valentine story – Be Still, My Heart, a contemporary M/M romance.

After February comes March, and with March comes aliens. Extraterrestrial Abduction Day is in March, and it was one I couldn’t ignore, so There Will Be Aliens came to be. While HHCT and BSMH are quite serious tales, this is silly through and through LOL

With April comes bad weather, and I wrote Blown Away to celebrate Big Wind Day. It might be my favourite of Holly’s stories… maybe. It has a bear shifter who constantly thinks of cakes 😁

Next up was Plant a Vegetable Garden Day which is in May, so I wrote The Hunger Gap. It’s low heat, dystopian, and it turned out darker than I’d first planned, but I enjoyed writing it.

In June, we have Best Friend Day, so I wrote Just to Breathe, which is a friends to lovers, contemporary, mystery sort of story.

After having written contemporary, I figured we’d need us some vampires, because why not? So I wrote Bring Him Back, Jack which has a main character with heterochromia since we’re celebrating Different Coloured Eyes Day

In August we have Be An Angel Day, so I wrote The Bear Claw which has a pretty obnoxious alpha character who thinks he acts like an angel – he doesn’t 😆 It’s paranormal and one of the characters is a baker who can put emotions into baked goods.

With September came the dragons – no real dragons in this one! The Dragon Next Door is a contemporary story I wrote for National Neighbour Day. It’s about a sunny guy and his grumpy next-door neighbour. This might be my favourite, I know I said Blown Away might be, and maybe it is, but who doesn’t like a grumpy neighbour?

Call Me Charles. October is a cold month, here at least, but October has Motorcycle Ride Day, so I wrote another contemporary story about a knight in black leather… who owns a candy shop 😄

When November rolled in, I figured it was time for real dragons, so I wrote How to Soothe a Dragon. Only… as so often, I started writing thinking I was gonna write a cool sci-fi story with scary aliens. I wrote a paranormal dystopian romance about dragons who are allergic to lemons. Yes, I know… lemons 🙄

And then here we are! In December, and you all know what December is all about. The Scent of Pine is a contemporary mystery-ish story I wrote for Christmas Card Day. It was meant to be cute; it isn’t. We have creepy Christmas cards and a stalker. But, there is a Christmas tree that smells of pine 😊

So that’s Holly’s year. I’m quite proud. (Ally: And so you should be!)

You’ll find blurbs and excerpts for all these stories here.

While I’ve written stories for Holly, I’ve also written stories for me (the schizophrenia is rearing its pretty head). I won’t give a story-by-story list because I’ve had both new releases and re-releases, and to be honest, it’s all spinning in my head. If I could sleep for a month, I would 😊

But what I do know is that I have a release on Christmas Day. The Ruby tooth is a low heat, paranormal, holiday story that I wrote for an in-house call for JMS Books named Naughty or Nice. We were to pick one or the other and write a short story for it.

I wrote a Nice story.

There is a bar called The Ruby Tooth and it’s split in two – nice, pure, wholly good people go to one side, and bad people to the other. It’s a fated mates story, but Ilya is shown to the good side and Ulric to the bad. And it’s dress-up night.

I feel like I’ve talked forever now, so I’ll leave you with an excerpt. It’s up for pre-order over at JMS Books 😘

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

The Ruby Tooth

Ilya Lewis is gonna kill his best friend Vera. She not only persuaded him off his couch and into the creepiest nightclub in the city, she also didn’t show. When Ilya learns the bar is split into two halves, and he’s been let into the wrong side, it doesn’t make things any better. Once the doorman determines which half to let you into, he won’t let you into the other.

Ulric Moon hates the Ruby Tooth. But as a bounty hunter, he must go where the trails lead him, and tonight it’s landed him in the worst nightclub in the universe. All he wants is to catch the vampire he’s hunting, but despite trying to convince the veritas doorman examining his soul that he needs to be let into the good side of the club, he’s shown to the bad. As if that wasn’t enough, his destined mate somehow manages to sneak into the bad side where he doesn’t belong. Ilya finds a way to the other side of the bar, but one look at the patrons there has him regretting ever leaving his apartment. When he tries to leave, a scary-looking man who does nothing but growl follows him.

Ulric knows he’s freaking Ilya out, but Ilya has inadvertently caught the interest of the vampire Ulric is hunting, and he has to protect him. How will Ulric keep Ilya safe when he doesn’t believe Ulric is a bounty hunter? And how do you tell someone they’re your mate when they don’t believe you’re a werewolf?

Preorder The Ruby Tooth from JMS Books – Preorder Elsewhere

Excerpt from The Ruby Tooth

Ilya stepped away from the table before Vera could talk him into staying. If he stayed, he might crawl up on the man’s lap—so unlike him.
He needed to leave, and he wanted pie. Maybe he could buy a slice of pie on his way home and eat it once he’d gotten out of this ridiculous outfit.
“Ilya!”
He ignored Vera’s call and took aim at the door he believed was the exit. Now that he was moving, he didn’t want to get pulled back in, and Vera had a knack for making him do things he didn’t want to do.
Right as he reached out to push at the door, it was yanked open from the other side. He came face to face with a fine-limbed man with sharp features and skin so pale it looked like he hadn’t left his house in a decade.
“Oh, sorry.” Ilya stepped out of the way only to bump into someone. “Shit, sorry.” He tried to turn to see who he’d collided with, but a strong arm crossed his chest pulling his back against a warm, strong body. For a second, he struggled, then he recognized the worn leather sleeve and the scarred hand. It was… the man.
The heat of him made Ilya’s heart speed up—not good.
“No problem.” The pale man gave him a predatory smile which had Ilya suppress a shudder. “Can I buy you a drink?”
Before Ilya could decline, the man—who he needed to ask the name of if he was gonna keep hugging Ilya—growled. It had the hairs on Ilya’s neck stand on end, not only because he growled straight into his ear, but because it sounded real. Had he heard it when out walking in a forest, he’d have assumed he was being chased by wolves.
“Why is it always you ending up in a man sandwich?” Vera rolled her eyes which made the pale man grin—or maybe it was her words making him grin.
“I’m sure we can all play, pet.”
“No!” Ilya pushed at the arm around him. “No. I’m leaving.” Three pairs of eyes were watching him. “You have fun. Man-sandwich her—” He gestured at Vera.
The doorman poked his head in. There was nothing strange about his eyes, and yet it was as if they could see into his soul. “You’re on the wrong side.”
The pale man’s gaze whipped around to Ilya, making him flinch.
“I’m leaving.” He spoke as much to the doorman as he did to the others before focusing on Vera. “I’m going to bed. Alone.”
“Ilya.”
“No.” He held his hands up. “This was a bad idea. I want to go home, I want to have pie, and I want to put on my pajamas and watch some TV.” He tumbled out the door, ignoring the doorman’s narrowed eyes, and hurried out into the December cold.
He walked with rapid steps, unable to shake the unease building in his chest. The Ruby Tooth was the creepiest bar he’d ever been to—not that he went out often.
“Ilya.”
Ilya jumped as the man with the weird contact lenses appeared by his side. “I meant it; I’m going home. You should go back to Vera.”
“You want pie?” The man smiled, and it looked genuine.
“I… eh… What’s your name?”
“Ulric Moon.”
Ilya frowned. “Ulric Moon? Are you joking?”
“Nope. It’s a family name.”
“Ulric or Moon?”
Ulric grinned. “Both.”
Ilya shook his head, not sure if he was being played or not. “I’m sorry, but I’m not good company. I lost someone dear to me recently, and I’m still mourning. Vera dragged me out tonight because she thinks trips to random bars will cheer me up, but they never do.”
“I’m sorry.”
A lump formed in Ilya’s throat. “Thank you. He meant the world to me, and now the apartment is so empty, you know?”
A frown settled on Ulric’s brows. “A boyfriend?”
“What? No! My cat.”
The way Ulric stopped mid-step for a few seconds had Ilya regretting telling him.
“You’re mourning your cat? Vera… is living with you?”
Ilya shuddered. “Living with Vera? No, I love her, but no.”
“Love her?”
“Of course. She kept me safe through school, not an easy feat, considering.” He gestured at himself and realized how true it was. He was walking the street in an elf suit. Wouldn’t his bullies love that? Groaning, he sped up his steps.
People never understood why he and Vera were friends, but they didn’t know her as he did. She might come across as harsh and reckless, but there was no one he trusted more to have his back.
“Ilya.” Ulric grabbed his arm. “Listen.”
Ilya stopped, but Ulric didn’t let go of his arm. “This is gonna sound insane.”
Ilya waited. He didn’t know if he had the energy for insane, but he waited anyway.

Preorder the ruby tooth

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Am Reading

This week, a touching YA by Suki Fleet with a young homeless man who finds his way to security, the return of Catherine Lundoff’s menopausal-werewolves and another lovely ray romance by R. Cooper in the Familiar Spirits collection.

Foxes by Suki Fleet

Suki Fleet is a relatively new author to me. This is a YA story set in London. It’s told from the POV of Danny, a young homeless man. He is looking for the person who murdered his best friend Dashiel.

Dashiel was a rent boy and was very wary of certain men he called ‘sharks‘. In the course of his travels he meets Mickey, a young American who’s selling himself on the streets. He falls hard for Mickey. I love the way Danny’s spectrum issues are framed in this book. ‘He needs to keep his world small in order to survive‘ is a perfect description of someone who becomes overwhelmed by input.

There’s a well drawn supporting cast, from Flower Lady, who gives Danny food and flowers and medical care; to Milo, the disabled army veteran who shares Danny’s derelict swimming pool home; to Diana, a cafe owner who helps young homeless people. They young people who are working the streets are well characterised and realistic. Oh and there are foxes…real life foxes. The contrast between them, surviving around the periphery of human society and Danny and his friends is not a co-incidence, obviously. This is an emotional story told in an almost stream-of-consciousness way from Danny’s POV. I really recommend it.

Blood Moon by Catherine Lundoff

This is the sequel to Silver Moon, also colloquially known as ‘that brilliant book with menopausal werewolves’. It’s just as good as the first, with a nice solid murder-mystery wrapped around a tentative lesbian romance, and a central premise of middle aged women saving their community. That the inner circle of their community happen to be werewolves called by the residual magic in the valley to protect the town when they hit menopause just makes it perfect.

I love the colourful background in these books. The way Becca worries about her day to day interactions with the rest of the pack, how she doesn’t like all of them but realises they have to work together regardless and how the older retired ladies live in what’s essentially a rest-home for elderly werewolves and also take art class. There’s a richly characterised supporting cast, excellent baddies and very good trans representation. I recommend!

Nothing More Certain by R Cooper

Emery has come home to live alone in his big empty house and take care of the cemetery. He’s been avoiding his school friend Ezra for a year since he returned. Ezra’s waiting for him. This is another R Cooper book I got tied up in and lost sleep over. Her prose is wonderful, sort of emotional and flowing…and this story is very closely tied in to the land and life and death and growing things, which suits it perfectly. Its a lovely read.

Jackson Marsh: Researching and Portraying a Deaf Character in Victorian Fiction

This week we welcome Jackson Marsh to talk about his lead character in the Larkspur Mysteries. Welcome, Jackson! Take it away…

Hi, I’m Jackson Marsh, author of the 11-part Clearwater Mystery series set between the years 1888 and 1890. I am now writing the follow-on series, the Larkspur Mysteries, and one of my main characters is deaf. I’m here to tell you why I chose to write a deaf lead character, what research I did to help create him, and how I write him into the romantic, MM mysteries.

Why Write a Lead Character who is Deaf?

My interest in the deaf world began several years ago when I worked as the composer for a deaf/hearing children’s theatre company. Recently, I was watching ‘The Amazing Race’ and found myself fascinated by the team of Luke Adams and his mother, Marj O’Donnell. Seeing Luke, who is deaf, compete in the race and work his way through triumphs and frustrations is what (and who) gave me the idea to create Joe Tanner, my 19-year-old, deaf-from-birth character in the Larkspur Series. I’ve since written to Luke and thanked him for his inspiration—it was the first time I had ever written fan mail.

Most stories I had read that featured a deaf character had him/her portrayed as a victim. Someone to be helped by others, someone to be pitied, and, particularly in historical fiction, someone who was stupid. My mission was to reverse those misconceptions, and create a young, gay, deaf man who would not only be heroic but would also become educated. Joe’s story starts with an abusive father, takes him to seven years in a workhouse, and on to become one of the Clearwater men at the Larkspur Academy. It is a story of survival through MM love.

What Research was Involved?

For Joe’s initial story, ‘Guardians of the Poor’, I had two main areas to research. Firstly, and easiest, was the history of the Hackney Workhouse in London, and life in workhouses in the late 19^th century. Books, online research, the National Newspaper Archives… I was able to use my usual resources, as well as my memory, as I had visited the actual buildings many years ago when I lived nearby.

Secondly, more challenging but infinitely more practical, was learning sign language. I researched the history of British Sign Language (BSL) as best as I could and used that to inform Joe’s wider world. Joe is a deaf character who speaks, but because he’s never heard words, he can only imitate lip movements, and that’s why people think he is, in Victorian wordage, an imbecile. However, he signs, and so that I could understand what that entails, I took a course in basic BSL. My husband joined me, and now we can communicate in sign if we choose to. It’s great fun talking about people without them knowing what you’re signing. Seriously, though, it gave me a massive insight into how to write Joe’s thought process.

How do I Write a Deaf Character?

It’s not only Joe’s thought process that I needed to consider when writing ‘Guardians of the Poor’ and the books that follow. Joe is the hero in book two of the series, ‘Keepers of the Past’, and as half of the narrative is from his point of view, I had to be in his head for much of the time. Sign language is constructed differently to spoken languages, and if I wrote purely as Joe would have thought and signed, it would be hard to read. For example, his dialogue would be, ‘You me go London when? Before me London rubbish, now, so-so.’ (When are we going to London? I used to hate the place, but now, it’s alright.)

Another consideration was understanding how Joe would have thought. When hearing people think or read, we hear the words in our head, but what if you’ve never heard words? What then? Joe, like many deaf-from-birth people, thinks visually. Again, I had to cheat to a certain extent, because otherwise the text would be impossible to read. It would be a jumble of memories and images that would only make sense to Joe.

More importantly, behaviour was a consideration, and for that, I remembered Luke’s frustrations on The Amazing Race, his, to us, over reactions, his use of body language for emphasis, other people’s reactions, and his heroism through daily adversity. All those trains have informed the character of Joe Tanner.

One day, I’d love to speak, sorry, sign with Luke, and give him a copy of the books, as a thank you for the inspiration. He’s become a bit of a hero of mine, and Joe can be yours if you follow the Larkspur Mystery Series.

The Larkspur Mysteries : The Clearwater Mysteries

Guardians of the Poor: The Larkspur Mysteries Book 1

“The greatest gift one man may give another is his trust.”
Barbary Fleet, 1890.

Standing stones, messages written in symbols, and the language of the deaf. It falls to Lord Clearwater to unlock the mystery of Dalston Blaze and his deaf friend, Joe Tanner, two young men arrested for committing ‘unnatural offences’ at the Hackney workhouse.

Dalston hopes for a prison sentence. It’s the only way to save his life. Instead, he is bailed to the Larkspur Academy on Lord Clearwater’s Cornish estate, where there is only one rule: honesty above all else. For Dalston, this means confronting his past, learning to trust, and admitting his secrets. Joe is the key, but Joe is missing, and his location is locked deep inside a memory seen in sign language, and clouded by eighteen years of workhouse life.

If Dalston remains silent, the immoral workhouse master and his sadistic schoolteacher will continue to inflict pain and suffering on all inmates of the Hackney workhouse. If he tells the truth, he and Joe will die.

The Guardians of the Poor is a combination of mystery, adventure and male romance, set in 1890. It draws on first-hand accounts of workhouse life at the time, and is the first of a new series of mysteries set in the Clearwater world.

The Larkspur Mysteries

Beginning in 1890, The Larkspur Mysteries follow on from The Clearwater Mysteries series of 11 novels. It’s not necessary to have read the Clearwater books before you embark on the Larkspur series. However, if you enjoy mystery, romance, adventure and a mix of historical fact and fiction, then begin the journey with ‘Deviant Desire.’ (Or the non-mystery prequel, ‘Banyak & Fecks.’)

Lord Clearwater has created a unique academy for disadvantaged young men. The Larkspur Academy is, ‘A non-academic institution with the aim to provide deserving men the opportunity to expand talent, horizons and knowledge for the betterment of the underprivileged and general society.’ It’s not a school. There are no lessons, no teachers, no schoolboys and no rules. The series exists in the established Clearwater world of the late 1800’s where homosexuality is a crime everywhere but on Clearwater’s country estate in Cornwall.

The series is ongoing. Each story involves male bonding, bromance, friendship and love. Mystery, adventure and a little comedy play their parts, and every story is inspired by true events from the past.

Buy The Guardians of the Poor

About Jackson

Jackson Marsh was born in 2017 as the pen name for James Collins so I could publish my new gay fiction independently from my other writing work.

I was born on the south coast of England during a blizzard in 1963, but now like to warm thing up with MM romance novels, gay mysteries and some occasional erotica. In 2007 I was awarded an EGPA award for my erotic short stories, and I have won three Best Screenplay awards for my film scripts. I am a diverse writer with thrillers, comedies and horror stories under my James belt, and now romance and mystery under my Jackson belt.

Although I spend most of my time researching and writing, I do have other interests. It’s a strange collection of playing the piano, building classic horror model kits and, when I can, travel. Past interests, which I still follow but no longer pursue so much, include rock climbing, musical theatre and genealogy. That’s probably why my books tend to involve characters who are musicians, writers, mystery-solvers and rock climbers; there’s a bit of me in each one of them.

I live on a Greek island with my husband, and we have been here since 2002.

You can keep up to date with my monthly newsletter and be the first to know about my publications. The isn’t one of those newsletters that simply advertise other people’s books for sale, it’s more personal than that, and you can unsubscribe anytime.

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