sapphic – Page 3 – A. L. Lester

Surfacing Again: Otters

Surfacing Again came about because I essentially decided I wanted to write a story with otters, for no other reason than otters; so I went looking for myths I might be able to adapt. There are quite a few otter-myths in the UK—I liked the Otter Kings of Scotland very much and might see if I can write something longer about them at some point. But I was also very drawn to St Cuthbert and his helpful otters on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

As I wrote in my previous post, Lindisfarne is a small island off the North East coast of Northumbria in England, and the first, wooden, monastery was built there by monks from Iona (in Scotland) under St Aidan in 635AD. St Cuthbert was the Bishop of Lindisfarne from 685AD until he died in 687AD, but he seems to have been ubiquitous to the area for a couple of decades before that. Bede wrote a ‘Life of St Cuthbert’ in the early years of the eighth century and that’s where the otters come in.

“…[St Cuthbert] went down to the sea, which flows beneath, and going into it, until the water reached his neck and arms, spent the night in praising God. When the dawn of day approached, he came out of the water, and, falling on his knees, began to pray again. Whilst he was doing this, two quadrupeds, called otters, came up from the sea, and, lying down before him on the sand, breathed upon his feet, and wiped them with their hair after which, having received his blessing, they returned to their native element.”

It all sounds extremely unlikely, as Lin comments in Surfacing Again…however, it also sounds extremely charming and I couldn’t not use it.

The UK’s species of otter is Lutra Lutra, the Eurasian otter. We don’t have sea-otters, we just have some colonies of otters that like to hang out by the sea. They’re part of the mustelid family, which also includes stoats, weasels, polecats, ferrets and mink…they’re essentially enormous aquatic weasels.

They live in family groups and stay with their parents until they’re fourteen or fifteen months old. Population is gradually increasing again in the UK where they have been very sparse in the last few decades due to river pollution. You can read more about them and their habitats at the UK Wild Otter Trust and there’s a bit more about Coastal Otters in Scotland on the Forestry and Land Scotland website.

Here are some Asiatic Short-Clawed otters from New Zealand, making their characteristic chirping noise:

Surfacing Again: A short contemporary lesbian romance

Melinda is staying on Lindisfarne for a Christmas break with her old friend when an unexpected argument leaves her alone for the holiday.

It’s the first Christmas since her mother died and the island’s peace and wild tranquillity bring balm to her wounded heart. Two chance meetings, first with a pair of wary otters and then with cafe-owner Rowan, bring her genuine joy.

Will her tentative relationship with Rowan survive the end of her holiday and the turning of the year?

A short sapphic Christmas story. With otters.

BUY SURFACING AGAIN

And finally, you may have realised my title is taken from the Seamus Heaney poem The Otter.

Surfacing Again: Lindisfarne

Surfacing Again came out yesterday and I thought today I’d give you some back ground about it’s setting, the ‘Holy Island’ of Lindisfarne, just off the north-east coast of England.

Map of northern Britain in the post-Roman period.

It’s a tidal island, accessible twice a day during low tide. These days there’s a causeway to drive across, but in days gone by you had to walk across the sands to reach it, along the ‘pilgrim way’. The path is marked by large stakes driven in to the sands and you can still do it today reasonably easily, so long as you don’t mind a bit of paddling.

The first monastery there was founded in 635AD by St Aidan as a daughter-house of Iona. That monastery was probably where the parish church stands today, but was made of wood, so no visible trace remains. It’s this monastery that was responsible for the beautiful Lindisfarne Gospels and where St Cuthbert was Bishop in the 680s. After his death it became a place of pilgrimage. Most of what we know about St Cuthbert comes from his ‘Life’, written by Bede, a monk at the monastery of Jarrow in the early ninth century. You can read a translation of his Life of St Cuthbert here.

The monastery was devastated by a Viking attack in June 793. There was a huge sense of disbelief across the continent that one of the largest and holiest foundation in European Christendom could be destroyed rather than protected by its patron saint. Subsequent attacks finally drove the monks out to Northam on the mainland in the 830s and in 875 they formally abandoned the island and eventually settled in the old Roman fort of Chester-le-Street seven years later. St Cuthbert’s remains ended up at Durham, where they became a good money-spinner for the abbey there.

In the meantime, there’s evidence from gravestones on the island that a small Christian community remained on Lindisfarne; but the priory wasn’t rebuilt until after the Norman conquest of 1066 as a daughter-house of Durham. That’s the ruins that are visible today. The monks were turned out and the priory abandoned during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid-sixteenth century. You can read more about the history of the priory here. With annotations!

The castle, at the opposite end of the island to the priory, began life as a fort in the mid-1500s with stone robbed from the abandoned priory. At that time England was still very much threatened by Scotland. However when Elizabeth 1 died in 1603, the two countries became ruled by the same monarch and the threat disappeared.

By 1900, the fort was in ruins. It was bought by Edward Hudson, who employed Edward Lutyens to turn it into a little castle, where the nobility of the day came to socialise. He also employed Gertrude Jekyll to create a walled garden for him.

You can visit Lindisfarne for the day or you can book accommodation. If you can’t manage that, I recommend the magic of Google Street View. You can visit the priory ruins, walk along the beach where Lin meets her otters, see the ruins of St Cuthbert’s monastic cell on the additional tiny, tiny island and even walk across the sands on the Pilgrim Path.

And as a final note, I was at Ofelia’s blog yesterday with the ginger biscuit recipe that Rowan uses in her café. Find it here!

Read on for more about Surfacing Again and an excerpt.

Surfacing Again: A short contemporary lesbian romance

Melinda is staying on Lindisfarne for a Christmas break with her old friend when an unexpected argument leaves her alone for the holiday.

Will her tentative relationship with Rowan survive the end of her holiday and the turning of the year?

A short sapphic Christmas story. With otters.

Buy Surfacing again

Chapter 2: Christmas Eve

“You look like you could do with a hot drink. Your lips are blue,” the small woman wrapped in the huge green apron said. She was sweeping the windswept grey pavement outside the little cafe on the corner in the village as Melinda peered through the window at the menu, wondering whether they were open.
“Are you serving?” she asked.
The woman was about her own age, with a geometric blonde haircut and an impish expression as she looked at Lin over her broom.
“I’m not actually open for another couple of hours,” she said, smiling and leaning the broom against the wall. “But come inside while I set up. You must be frozen. It’s a bitter wind.”
Melinda smiled at her. “Why are you bothering to brush the pavement then?” she asked.
The other woman smiled again. “Habit,” she said. “It’s habit. I like my routines. Come on, come in. I’ve lit the log burner already, so it’s toasty inside.”
There were a couple of sofas set at angles in front of the log burner and a few small tables squeezed in around them. It really was a tiny cafe, probably converted from someone’s front room that had been knocked through into the room behind at some time in the past.
“Here,” her saviour said. “Sit down, take your coat off. “What would you like to drink? I’ve got…well, anything really. Tea? Coffee? Hot chocolate?”
“Tea would be wonderful, actually,” Lin said. “I haven’t had any yet this morning. I got up early to watch the sunrise.” She was determined to make the most of her stay on the island of Lindisfarne, despite the drama of the last couple of days.
She sighed.
The other woman flashed her another grin before she could get too lost in her thoughts. “It was beautiful this morning,” she said. “I’m Rowan,” she said in a friendly fashion, going behind the counter and putting a kettle on.
“I’m Lin,” Melinda said. “Is this your place?” She hunched forward and stretched out her frosty hands to the fire.
“Yes. Me and my girlfriend started it a couple of years ago, but it’s just me now.” She shot Lin a sidelong glance.
Melinda smiled back. “It’s lovely,” she said. “Very cosy.”
“It’s tiny, but it works. I live upstairs.” She nodded toward the back of the cafe where there was a closed door beside the one that led out to the kitchen, presumably leading to some stairs. “We only do drinks and cakes, and soup and sandwiches and breakfast rolls; a very limited menu. But it’s all people need if they’ve come over to the island for the day. No-one wants to waste time with a full sit-down lunch.”
She put a tray with a pot of tea, a jug of milk, and two mugs down on the low table between the sofas, sinking into the one opposite Lin.
Lin nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. It’s quieter at this time of year, though?”
“Yes, very much so. Although it can get busy now for a bit, around Christmas. And people stay in the self-catering properties and guest houses all year round, obviously. If I didn’t need the income to live, I’d say I prefer it when it’s quieter.” She said that with an open smile. “Present company excepted, of course!”
She leaned forward and poured them each a cup of tea. She seemed to have all the time in the world to chat to a random stranger she’d rescued from the freezing morning.

Buy Surfacing Again

#Am Reading

This week a sweet, sapphic holiday romance set in Victorian Scotland by Meg Mardell, and two gay romances… Astounding! by Kim Fielding, and the audio of Shattered Glass by Dani Alexander.

A Highland Hogmanay by Meg Mardell

I really enjoyed this sweet sapphic novella. It’s a Victorian Christmas delight, a seasonal hug with just a nip of whisky. The two main characters are Sharda, an heiress who is just beginning to realise she is her own person and doesn’t have to run around after her terrible relatives; and Finella, a woman who’s taken over her father’s job as the manager of a Scottish estate. The contrast between them is very marked at the beginning of the story. Sharda has never had any agency and has been content to drift along trapped in the web her family have woven around her in their hopes of getting access to her fortune. Finella has had entirely too much put upon her by her scapegrace employer and is constantly weighted down with the responsibility of looking after the castle, farms and people in her care.

Initially this is a case of mistaken identity; but the two women move through that to cement first a friendship and then a romance. I really liked both of them and wanted them to sort their misunderstanding out. They are well drawn, well rounded characters and the secondary characters are charming, particularly Finella’s brothers! The period detail is nicely researched and held up well for me. I felt there was enough dialect speech to give a flavour of the period and the location, but not so much it overwhelmed the pace of the story. Recommend for a comforting holiday read! (Also the cover! It’s gorgeous!)

Astounding! by Kim Fielding

This is an homage to the golden age of science fiction magazines as well as a very satisfying, sweet love story. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything by Kim Fielding I haven’t loved, in particular her science-fiction and paranormal stories. This is no exception. The golden age of the science fiction magazines is over and Astounding! is dying. Carter, its founding editor, is a purposeless, broke and depressed borderline alcoholic. He writes a snippy rejection letter to a writer who persists in sending him terrible, terrible submissions and then in a fit of remorse drives to his house to apologise. The guy, John, is a) gorgeous and b) bonkers, as he claims to be an alien wanting to send a message via Astounding! to his people to come and take him home. They’re both lonely and they quickly make a connection despite Carter’s reservations. It’s a really satisfying read with the well-rounded, complex characters you’d expect from this author. There’s also a road-trip with Carter’s super-star-writer friend (who I pictured as a cross between George R. R. Martin and Arthur C. Clarke) and his husband, which is a delight. Recommend!

Shattered Glass by Dani Alexander (audio)

This is another favorite I suddenly realised I could get the audio for with Whispersync. And again, one of those stories that definitely allowed me to pick up further detail and depth in the audio. Contemporary USA. Austin Glass is a rich boy playing at being a Detective. He’s very good at it and wants to segue into the FBI. He’s got a society marriage lined up, he tumbles through life without much touching him. The reason for that is…revealed as the story goes on. He finds himself unexpectedly attracted to a male witness/suspect in a people trafficking ring. This is not something he’s prepared for and once that thread gets pulled, all sorts of things in his life begin to unravel. That’s the main focus of the story, but the thriller plot is very respectable and kept me interested, with another two books clearly being set up in this one. These haven’t happened yet, but I still check occasionally to see whether they have because this one is so good. The narration is great. Adds depth and clarity to the story and makes it really enjoyable.

That’s the lot for this time!

Meg Mardell: The Time Before Christmas

Meg Mardell is visiting today to talk about her new release A Highland Hogmany and the time before Christmas was widely celebrated in Scotland. Welcome, Meg!

‘For weeks before the great morning, confectioners display stacks of Scotch bun — a dense, black substance, inimical to life — and full moons of shortbread adorned with mottoes of peel or sugar-plum, in honour of the season and the family affections.”

Robert Louis Stevenson only lets us press our faces to the glass of the sweet shop for a moment on his whirlwind tour of Victorian Edinburgh. But, for me, one glance was enough. I could practically smell the holiday scents wafting out the bakery doors and mingling with the hint-of-snow December air. Add in the long Northern nights brightened by gas-lamps and I was salivating to set a holiday romance in late nineteenth century Scotland. After all, there are few places in the world I’d prefer to celebrate the season!

Inspired by the Highland castle romance tradition, I quickly sketched out a mistaken identity romp: English heiress Sharda follows feisty Scotswoman Fin back to her Highland castle – only to discover she’s not the owner. And then they’re stuck for Christmas! One slight problem: “the great morning” Stevenson describes? Turns out it wasn’t Christmas morning! What were the mottos Edinburgh’s confectioners spelled out in candied peel? “‘Frae Auld Reekie,’ ‘A guid New Year to ye a’,’ ‘For the Auld Folk at Hame’.”

Yep. Happy New Year. Not Happy Christmas. Because, for around 400 years, Christmas wasn’t popularly celebrated in Scotland. The Scottish Parliament abolished the festivities in 1640, which in the 17^th century would have been the Twelve Days of Christmas, as part of their clean sweep of the Catholic Church. “The kirke within this kingdome is now purged of all superstitious observatione of dayes.” The Puritans in England also banned Christmas at the same time, but the feasting and dancing of the Twelve Days came roaring back when the Monarchy was restored in 1660. You have to wonder if Christmas would have stayed cancelled in Scotland if they hadn’t had New Years to fall back on. Instead, all the holiday baking and bustle in December neatly lead up to Hogmanay, the traditional Scottish celebration of the New Year.

As an historian, I find this all fascinating. But, as a fiction writer, I had a dilemma: how was I going to add Sharda and Fin’s story to my queer Victorian Christmas series? Could I still do it? To answer that question, I sat down and made two lists. First, what makes a great holiday Romance for me? Next, could I still tick all these boxes in Sharda and Fin’s queer castle romance with Hogmanay at the centre of the celebrations?

Home for the holidays – Hogmanay was absolutely a time when all Fin’s family would descend on the castle. So Sharda gets all the awkwardness of meeting her not-quite girlfriend’s family for the holidays. Yes.

Eating everything – Those shortbread full moons of Stevenson’s definitely make an appearance! And I updated the traditional haggis dinner to some tasty fish pie with all the trimmings because I wanted something on the table I would eat.

Roaring fires – One of most memorable features of Hogmanay is the torchlight processions. Why couldn’t my book have its very own parade right up to the castle gates?

Surprise snow – What Highland castle would be complete without a sugar-sweet dusting of snow? One of Sharda’s requirements for her holiday visit is seeing the hills of North-East Scotland transformed by the first snowfall. No prizes for guessing if she gets her wish.

Poignant presents – Gifts are an essential ingredient of Hogmanay. Particularly the ceremonial presents carried by the first person over the threshold at midnight: bread for plenty, coal for warmth, and whiskey for cheer. But obviously I wanted something a bit more sentimental and schemed for ways for our lovers to make a private exchange.

Finding family – This one might seem like a gimme at the holidays. Find your family? You’re practically tripping over them! But I’m taking about the ‘gets a family for the holidays’ trope. It’s one of my absolute favourites. Could I deliver it without a Christmas tree? I figured, as long was I’d got all the other holiday romance ingredients at my fingertips, I’d give it a go.

This checklist was a real confidence boost that I could give Sharda and Fin the holiday romance they deserve at Hogmanay. I also discovered the Scottish new year is simply awesome. I love its emphasis on clearing old debts and starting the new year with a clean slate. It almost made me sorry not to live somewhere that Christmas got cancelled. The 25^th of December became a public holiday in Scotland in 1958, but it’s still overshadowed by the pageantry of Hogmanay. Now I understand why!

A Highland Hogmanay

The daughter of an Indian raja and renegade Englishwoman, Sharda Holkar, was gifted with a magnificent dowry but little say in her future. Until now. She must endure one more depressing holiday season with her controlling cousins, then she will be free to begin her emancipated life. But her discovery of a plot to marry her off to the preening son of the house has Sharda wondering if her new start should begin at once. When Sharda meets the intriguing owner of a Highland castle at a Christmas Eve masquerade, she wastes no time in forming a plan—she will escape across the Scottish border!

Finella Forbes cannot imagine why a sophisticated heiress like Sharda would even associate with someone who manages a castle for a living, let alone accompany her all the way back to the Highlands in time for the raucous celebration of Hogmanay. But a wealthy buyer is just what Balintore Castle needs. Fin is determined to prove she is just as good an estate manager as her father, but with the negligent lordly owner refusing to do his duty, she needs help fast. When mistaken assumptions jeopardise their initial attraction, Sharda and Fin will need all the mischief and magic of a Highland holiday to discover the true nature of their feelings.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

About Meg

Meg moved from the US to England because she fell in love with the Victorians’ peculiar blend of glamour and grime. After a decade of exploring historical excesses in a prim scholarly fashion, she realized that fiction is the best way to delve into that period’s great female-focused and LGBT+ stories. Weaned on the high-seas romances of the 1990s, Meg’s lost none of her love for cross-dressing cabin boys but any tolerance for boorish heroes. She’s delighted to now have a whole raft of quirky and queer characters to cheer for on their quest for Happily Ever After. She frequently breaks off writing for an Earl Grey tea (milk not lemon). She’s trying to learn Polish and Portuguese at the same time. She plans to escape Brexit Britain.

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Edale Lane: Conceptualizing the Night Flyer

Today Edale Lane/Melodie Romero is here to talk about her Night Flyer series and the release of the fourth book, Missing in Milan. Welcome, Edale!

Missing in Milan is the fourth book in the Night Flyer Series, and while it can stand alone, you may enjoy reading the previous adventures of our heroines, Florentina and Madelena.

The Night Flyer Series by Edale Lne. Merchants of Milan, Secrets of Milan, Chaos in Milan, Missing in Milan.

But where did the idea for the series come from?

After my success with Heart of Sherwood, I wanted to create an entirely unique historical action/romance. So I thumbed through all the best-selling historical lesbian romances and found plenty of Victorian Era, some medieval, some World War 2 period, and a scattering of others, but nothing from the Renaissance. I also checked for settings: England, France, Scandinavia, North America, but no Italy. Then I remembered Leonardo da Vinci, one of my favorite people of all time, and that sealed it.

I also wanted my leading woman to be an action hero, kind of like Robyn had been only different. I imagined, “What if Batwoman had lived in the 1500s and met Leonardo da Vinci?” With vast enthusiasm, I set out to create a 16^th century female superhero. She needed motivation—enter the Italian vendetta. When Florentina’s father is murdered and she has no male relative to enact the vendetta, the responsibility falls on her. But how will she accomplish such a thing as a woman? By using a secret identity, of course. And because her father had worked with the great Leonardo during his years in Milan, she grew up under the tutelage of his genius. Add she is also brilliant and athletic, and the Night Flyer is born!

But she needed a love interest, someone sweet and beautiful, maybe older, and let her have kids. Florentina’s role as tutor allows for me, the author, to teach my history and art lessons throughout the series. The fact that Maddie’s brother is extremely rich and they live in a mansion is just a side bonus. Neither character is perfect. Florentina is lacking in social graces and more confident with weapons than people. Maddie’s occasional display of temper matches her red hair, and she worries far too much. But just how does a children’s tutor masquerading as a vigilante end up in a passionate love affair with an older woman worlds above her social class? Read book one, Merchants of Milan to find out.

Missing in Milan

When all credible avenues have been exhausted, then one must consider the incredible.

Vanishing thieves, disappearing athletes, and an inventor who is nowhere to be found; can the Night Flyer solve a mystery that seems impossible? While Florentina puzzles over the missing people, Maddie’s ex-lover turns up in Milan, claiming she is not there to cause trouble while doing little else.

The Night Flyer must use every resource available, including a memory from her childhood to discover how the thieves escape, who abducted the Calcio players, and whatever happened to the inventor. Could they all be connected? Death awaits as Florentina descends into the depths of an ingenious plot; can she thwart a mysterious criminal, or will he deal her the final blow?

Missing in Milan is the fourth book in Edale Lane’s Night Flyer Series, a tale of power, passion, and payback in Renaissance Italy. If you like action and suspense, rich historical background, three-dimensional characters, and a ff sweet romance, then you’ll want to continue your adventure in a world where anything is possible. Order your copy of Missing in Milan today!

Buy Missing in Milan, book four of the Night Flyer Series

Read an Excerpt!

About Edale/Melodie

Edale Lane is the alter-ego of author Melodie Romeo, (Tribute in Blood, Terror in Time, and others) who founded Past and Prologue Press. Both identities are qualified to write historical fiction by virtue of an MA in History and 24 years spent as a teacher, along with skill and dedication in regard to research. She is a successful author who also currently drives a tractor-trailer across the United States. A native of Vicksburg, MS, Edale (or Melodie as the case may be) is also a musician who loves animals, gardening, and nature, and is in the process of moving to beautiful Chilliwack BC, Canada.

Amazon author page : Website : Sign up to Edale’s Newsletter! : Night Flyer Series

When all credible avenues have been exhausted, then one must consider the incredible. Missing in Milan by Edale Lane, book 4 of the award-winning Night Flyer Series.