Thanks to Ally for letting me stop by! I’m so excited about this project – last year’s Naked Gardening Day collection was such fun that we definitely needed to get the band back together, this time for World Letter Writing Day! Holly, Ally, Nell and I have stories out this weekend, and Amy will hopefully join us a bit later!
“A Flowering of Ink” is m/m contemporary romance, 26,839 words, and it starts with Burne, a scientist on an isolated island, and Devon, a lonely architect in a thunderstorm house, and a piece of misdirected mail. And then someone writes back…
For this story, I actually did a lot of research into, er, research – that is, what kind of work Burne would be doing, as a scientist, out on a small island off the coast of California! I did a lot of looking into the work that’s being done on the Channel Islands (the ones near California, I mean – Anacapa, Santa Barbara, San Miguel, and so on): everything from studies of rare isolated ecosystems to excavations of Paleolithic rocks! The National Parks website for the Channel Islands is great for that; there’s even a lovely little 24-minute film about the islands! I’m not really a scientist but I come from a family of them; my father is a certified nurseryman (that’s plants, not babies) and gardener, so some of that’s in the background too – and it was a neat little carryover, thematically, from the Naked Gardening theme last year!
I can’t wait to see what we come up with next year – already looking forward to it! I’ve loved getting to see the stories my fellow authors have dreamed up—always so different and fascinating, despite the same starting-point! And, of course, full of romance.
I hope you enjoy our stories—and here’s an exclusive excerpt from mine, below!
A Flowering of Ink by K.L. Noone
One misdirected card…and a chance at love.
Professor Burne Cameron loves his job and his environmental research. Unfortunately, three months of field work on a tiny island can get pretty lonely, especially when even his brother forgets his birthday. That is, until an unexpected letter arrives…and Burne finds himself fascinated by the mysterious sender.
Devon Lilian lives alone in a house he’s designed, full of roses and ocean views. His architectural designs are famous, but Devon has reasons for not going out in public. But when a misdirected birthday card for a Professor Cameron turns up at his house, Devon has to send it on…and can’t resist adding a note of his own, a gift for a scientist who might be equally alone.
As Burne and Devon trade letters across the sea, they fall for each other in ink and paper—but now Burne’s research is nearly complete, so he’s coming home.
And Burne and Devon will have to decide whether they can write the rest of their love story together…once they finally meet.
Buy Links: Amazon : JMS Books
Excerpt:
The mail boat did not come every day, and even the first arrival, three days later, was a disappointment; Burne knew rationally that that was too soon, given that the post took time and Devon probably hadn’t answered immediately, but he nevertheless felt a pang in his chest, a drop of rain piercing inside.
He did some comparative growth rate analysis, grumpily. He went for walks along the pebbled beach, down to the harbor amid the sound of lapping water, up alone into the rolling summertime green-gold hills. He had meals with friends and colleagues, and chatted about research and family updates and plans upon returning home: in one case a baseball game, in another case a family reunion.
He looked at his art. He ended up smiling: even if Devon hadn’t bothered to write back and this whole odd pen-pal conversation had ended, he still had those sketches. A gift. Because someone had been kind.
He did hope Devon would write back. He’d understand if not. He’d asked questions and been intrusive, and Devon no doubt had a life and no time for a random letter-exchange with a random scientist who rambled about flowers and had sand in his beard.
But he liked Devon, or he thought he did. He liked the person who shared his sense of humor, who’d shared art with him. He wanted to spend more time with that person. Even if only on a page, in ink and words and shapes.
Three days after that, he was lying on some sun-warmed rocks and sticking a monitor into the bed of a tidepool when Mike materialized behind him. “Mail came.”
“What? Ow.” Burne hit his elbow on the rock, shooting upright. “That’s early!”
“Nah, you’ve just been busy. Put something on your desk. Looks like a book. Feels like a book.”
“A book?”
“There’s dried grass in your hair.”
“There’s what? Oh—thanks, it gets everywhere—oh, damn, that’s not properly anchored—”
“I’ll fix it. Go on.”
“Really?”
“It’s what grad students’re for. Being helpful. If it’s a book, can I borrow it later? I’ve read everything I brought.”
“Maybe. Thanks again—”
“Comb your hair!” Mike yelled at his back, laughing. Burne contemplated the relative dignity of PhD candidates versus associate professors, and finally just ran away.
He did try to run hasty fingers through his hair, in his office. And then he wondered why—not as if he were about to have a video chat—and cleared his throat and sat down. Professorial. In charge of the situation. His chair creaked, snickering at him.
The small box on his desk had a post-office printed label. But the name, the return address—
Burne shut his eyes, opened them. Knew he was grinning, ear to ear. Did not care whether anyone, grad students or dried roots or computer data, saw.
He opened the box. He found the book, which had a letter tucked inside, which he discovered upon picking up the book and hastily catching the envelope as it slid. Pages opened; a beautiful spray of illustrated purple needlegrass, Nasella pulchra, displayed hand-drawn antique color for him. Entranced, Burne drifted through a few more chapters, basked in a fifty-years-ago author’s love of California wild oats and lemonade berry.
Devon had sent him a book. A gorgeous book.
And a letter. He pounced on it.
About K.L. Noone:
K.L. Noone teaches college students about superheroes and Shakespeare by day, and writes LGBTQ+ romance – frequently paranormal or with fantasy elements, and always with happy endings – when not grading papers or researching medieval outlaw life. She also likes cats, a good dark craft beer, and the sound of ocean waves.
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