Wednesday Work in Progress…
I’m going to share a scene from a story I’ve been working on for a while. It’s the third story in the Rupert’s Legacy series. From Yesterday tells the story of Phillip and Carlos, two men searching for their way in the world.
From Yesterday copyright c. 2013 T.A. Chase
Excerpt-
Shoring up his emotions, Carlos pulled away and smiled. “You’re right, hermanito. I’m just tired. It was a long shift, and I wanted to visit you before I go home.”
“Sit.” Miguel motioned to the empty space next to him on the couch.
Carlos flopped onto the cushion with a huge sigh. He let his head drop back and stared up at the ceiling for a moment. Miguel reached over and squeezed his hand.
“You work too hard, Carlito. You need to get some rest or you’re going to get sick, and not be able to visit me.” Miguel’s concern showed on his face and in his voice. “You are my only visitor.”
Pain hit Carlos’s heart and he pressed his hand to his chest. God, knowing that his happy laughing brother was cut off from his family and friends hurt Carlos. Yet it wasn’t Miguel’s fault. Being gay wasn’t something Miguel chose, and he certainly didn’t decide to go out and get AIDS.
The only thing Miguel chose to do was be out and proud of who he really was, and while the consequences weren’t what either of them hoped for, it meant Miguel didn’t have to hang his head because of hiding. Carlos wished he had his brother’s strength.
Carlos had known he was gay since he was fifteen, but he still dated girls through high school and college. Oh, he’d gone out and had sex with men as often as he could, but it was a secret and something he didn’t talk about with anyone.
The girls were for his father, to convince him his oldest son was a man in every way. He was expected to set an example for his three younger brothers. Yet when Miguel came out, Carlos silently cheered.
“It’s okay. I know why they don’t come, and it’s their loss. When I’m gone, they’ll have to remember how they treated me. And when they get to Heaven, they’ll have to explain to Mama as well.”
Carlos snorted. “You’re right, and I think that would be the hardest thing to do. Mama always was protective of you.”
“I was her baby. Of course, she loved me.” Miguel leaned slightly into Carlos’s shoulder. “I never told you what she said to me the night she died.”
“No, you didn’t.” Carlos wrapped his arm around Miguel, holding him close.
“You and Papa had stepped out of the room to talk, and Julio and Paul hadn’t gotten there yet. I was sitting beside her bed, holding her hand. I didn’t know what to say or do. I mean I was only seven and didn’t really understand death all that much.” Miguel plucked at a string hanging from the hem of Carlos’s T-shirt.
“I’m sorry, hermano.” Carlos rubbed his cheek along the top of Miguel’s head. “It was a hard time for all of us.”
Miguel chuckled softly. “It’s still hard for Papa.”
He nodded. “You’re right. He’s never gotten over losing her.”
“Anyway, she looked over at me, and told me to climb on the bed. I did it, though I was afraid of all the tubes and machines. I didn’t know if I would hurt her in some way.” Miguel paused and Carlos stayed silent. It was his brother’s story, so they would take it at his pace.
“I laid next to her, and she put her arm around me. She could only whisper, and I could tell her soul was getting ready to leave. She just had a look about her.”
More silence. Carlos understood what Miguel meant. He’d seen more than his share of patients die, and they all had a certain look like their souls were ready to go on to whatever waited for them on the other side.
“She told me she loved me, and it didn’t matter to her if I was different from Julio and Paul. I was still her baby. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time. She died soon after and all I remembered for months was the sadness.”
Carlos drew a sharp breath. How had his mother known about Miguel and had she known about him as well?
“Somehow Mama knew I was gay, and I’m pretty sure she knew about you as well, Carlito. When I realized I liked guys, I panicked and freaked out. I knew Papa wouldn’t accept me at all, and I risked being banished from the family. Yet I’d dream of what she told me that night. I knew I couldn’t be a coward because she loved me.”
“Mama always loved you best,” Carlos teased.
Miguel grunted in agreement. “Sure she did, man. I’m pretty awesome.”
Carlos laughed, but his happiness slowly faded. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stand up with you, Miguel. I should be more of a man, and not let you be the only one Papa hates.”
His brother pushed out of his embrace and glared at him. In that moment, Carlos was reminded of his mother. Miguel was the only brother who took after their mother.
“Carlos Mendoza, don’t say that. You’re more of a man than Papa and our brothers ever could hope to be. Just because you haven’t told Papa you’re gay doesn’t mean you’re a coward.” Miguel put his hand on Carlos’s chest. “It means you’re smarter than me. I should have waited until I could move out on my own. I knew how he was going to react.”
“Well, I’ve saved up enough money to get my own place. I’m going to look this weekend when I get off work. I was thinking I’d try to find someplace closer to here, so I can see you more often.”
“And so you can finally get a boyfriend,” Miguel commented with a gleam in his eyes.
“I’m not sure a boyfriend would work for me right now.” Carlos shook his head.
He’d never had a serious relationship with either sex. All of it was too big a risk when he was younger, and now he worked so much, he didn’t have time for anyone except Miguel.
“Oh, a boyfriend always works.” Miguel frowned. “I’m worried about you, Carlito. I’m afraid you’ll spend all your energy on me, and will be alone when I’m gone.”
“I don’t spend all my energy on you. I wish I could, but I just don’t have the money or the place to take care of you.” Carlos looked around the bright airy room they sat in. “That’s why I was so happy when a spot opened up for you here. This place’s got a great reputation, not only among charities, but among the medical field as well.”
Wishing for a Home is out now…
Wishing for a Home is available now at Total e-Bound, if you didn’t get it when it was available before. I did add some to it, but I don’t think there’s a significant amount that anyone would notice. 🙂 You can check it out at Total e-Bound here.
I finished Sharp Dressed Man last week, and submitted it to MLR Press. As soon as I get a release date for it, I’ll let you know. 🙂
I’ve been sick, so after I finished SDM, I haven’t done much, though I did start a new story at 1 am..lol. My mind wouldn’t let me turn it off, and I wrote the first chapter and part of the second before I forced myself to go back to bed.
I’ll be working on King, Remove the Space Between Us (which is the new title for my Billionaire story), From Yesterday, and the story I started the other night (which doesn’t have a title yet) this week. Hopefully, one or two will be finished by the end of the week. 🙂
Oh, and I registered for GayRomLit. So I’ll be seeing everyone in Atlanta in October. 🙂
It’s raining here, so it’s a good reason to stay inside, curl up on the couch and type away on some stories. 🙂
Have a great Monday, everyone.
New Cover….
Here’s the beautiful cover for Threadbare Gypsy Souls. Isn’t is gorgeous? Trace did a wonderful job getting all the components I wanted in there. The wolf and the motorcycle. 🙂 It’ll be out in April. Woo-hoo!
Also, thank you for making The Whore of New Slum the #1 bestseller at Amber Allure’s site, and making They Walk Among Us #5 on that same list as well. 🙂 You are awesome.
I’m planning on finishing Sharp Dressed Man today, and sending it off to my editor at MLR Press. I trimmed out the words I needed to on Fallen: Chicago to get it down to an acceptable length, and sent it to TEB. Have to go back and finish filling out the form to go with it though…lol. Forgot to double check and make sure I filled it all out. 🙂
The Fallen series is a M/F series I’d written a long time ago under my other pen name, Tiffany Aaron. I decided to get them republished instead of languishing on my laptop. So the first four books will be out this year, hopefully. I’m adding another four books to the series as well. (Because I’m a glutton for punishment apparently..lol) I’ll also be writing new stories as Tiffany, but don’t worry. I’m not going to stop writing TA stories.
My main focus will be on my M/M stories, but every once in a while, it’s nice to write something different. I hope you don’t mind me mentioning my M/F books here. I will have a separate website for Tiffany Aaron eventually.
So once Sharp Dressed Man is done, I’ll be working on Chasing the King of the Mountains, my book I’m co-authoring with Devon Rhodes, and adding to the short story I subbed to TEB for their Billionaire antho that didn’t get in. I’m adding more to it, so it can be a single title release. Woot! Once that’s done, I have a few other stories I need to look at and decide which I want to work on.
Well, I hope you all have a great weekend.
Wednesday Works in Progress
This week’s work in progress is titled Sharp Dressed Man. It’s a short story I’m submitting to MLR Press for their Mixed Tape call. Had to pick an 80s song, and use it as inspiration in some way. My story is about two men who were best friends in high school, then reconnect at their twenty-fifth class reunion. What neither one of them knew was that other had always been in love with him.
Sharp Dressed Man copyright c. 2013 T.A. Chase
Excerpt-
“He’s coming, Daniel.”
Dan held his phone away from his ear as his sister squealed. “Who’s coming where?”
She’d have to forgive him for the question since he was standing in the middle of his flat in London, trying to figure out what he needed to pack and what he could leave behind.
He still didn’t have a place to stay in New York, but he wasn’t really worried about that. He had a few friends there who would let him crash with them until he found an apartment.
The important thing was he had a job doing what he loved, and he wouldn’t have to worry about money. If he was a little lonely? Well, that was his fault. He’d dated a lot of guys since college, but none of them stuck. Or maybe he should say he didn’t stick with any of them.
“James Stanton is coming to the class reunion.” Sandy squealed again, and Dan imagined her jumping up and down like she’d done when they were kids.
He chuckled. “Why are you so excited? From what Mom told me, Jim’s gay. You’re definitely not his type.”
“True, but I’m sure you are, and this would be so romantic. High school best friends meet up later in life, and realize they’ve always been in love with each other. They fall in love again, and live happily ever after.” She sighed.
“My dear Sandy, you’ve been reading too many romance novels again. Life doesn’t happen like that. For all I know, Jim might have a boyfriend or a partner he’s bringing to the reunion. Or maybe he likes big hairy guys wearing leather.”
“Ugh!”
He burst out laughing. “I know. That’s a rather disturbing thought, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Mostly I just don’t want to think of James like that.”
“As gay?” Dan spun around in a circle, searching for the one box he knew was going with him. It held all his memories from high school, and he suddenly had the urge to pull them out to look through.
“Oh no. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised when either of you came out. No, I don’t want to think about James with a leather daddy.”
To be honest, Dan didn’t want to think of Jim having a leather daddy or a partner either. He wanted to believe that Jim had waited years for Dan to get his head out of his ass, and come looking for him. Of course, he knew better, but still he could dream.
“And you can’t tell me you want to think James might have a partner,” Sandy called him out on that.
He sighed. “I’m trying not to think about it, Sandy. I can’t wait to see him again, but what if he’s forgotten about me? What if he left Michigan, and pushed me to the back of his mind as just a fond memory of high school?”
After admitting his worse fear to his sister, Dan sat on the floor of his empty flat and frowned. “I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
“Oh honey, no you aren’t,” Sandy reassured him. “You’re a hopeless romantic just like me, and you can’t help hoping that the man you’ve always loved will love you. You know what? I’ll bet you your entire Fall line, that when you meet up with James at the reunion, you’ll find out he’s been thinking about you since high school.”
Dan thought about it for a second. “All right. And if Jim treats me the same as he did back in high school, or acts like he barely remembers me, I win, and you’ll be giving me Apollo for a year.”
“Apollo?” Sandy sounded like she wasn’t sure about the bet. “How do you know the place you get in New York will let you keep a tortoise? And why would you want Apollo anyway?”
“Because he was mine until I went to college. I want him back.”
Sandy hemmed and hawed for a few minutes, then finally agreed. “All right. We have a bet, and I can’t wait to be the only person in Freeland wearing haute couture designed by her famous brother.”
“You’re an evil woman.” Dan laughed.
“No. Just sure that I’ll win. I don’t know if Mom’s ever told you, but James’ mother always asks about you.”
“That doesn’t prove anything except that Mrs. Stanton is a nice person. We don’t know if Jim ever asks about me.” Dan wasn’t hinting for disagreement or anything. He simply pointed out the truth.
“But he does. Mrs. Stanton told Mom that James asks about you every time they talk, which is why she asks Mom whenever they see each other.”
He could tell she was grinning. He spotted the box with his memorabilia, and reached out to grab it. After tugging it to him, he opened it and grinned when he saw his ZZ Top albums on the top of the pile.
“That doesn’t mean he wants to date me or anything like that. Hell, I don’t know. I thought it was a good idea to go to the reunion, but maybe it’s not. Maybe I should just chalk it all up to a high school, and move on.”
“Don’t you dare do that, Daniel Allen Perkins. Don’t you run away from this. It might be turn out the way you’re imagining, or maybe-just maybe-you’ll get the best surprise ever,” Sandy ordered him.
Closing his eyes, Dan touched the album and took a deep breath. As odd as it sounded, he took courage from it, since it was at a ZZ Top concert where he first realized he loved his best friend, then spend all of senior year trying to make sure Jim didn’t know about it. He hadn’t been worried about being gay or anyone else finding out he was gay.
All he worried about was that Jim would find out about him loving him, and not reciprocating. Dan’s fear was losing Jim as a friend, and yet after graduated, he still did. They went their separate ways, and Dan hadn’t seen Jim in twenty-five years.
It was strange that they’d never been home at the same time, but from the moment Dan got out to California, he immersed himself into college and the fashion world, knowing what he wanted to do from the beginning.
Over the years, he’d heard about Jim thru his mom talking to Jim’s mother. He knew Jim was successful at his accounting job, and that didn’t shock him because Jim always liked numbers. The one thing he listened the hardest for was when his mother talked about Jim’s boyfriends, and hid a burst of relief each time she said that he’d broken up with one.
Quick Post
this is just a real quick post before I head out for most of the day. 🙂 Just wanted you all to know that a lot of progress is being made on the short story I started a few days ago. So much in fact, that I ended up changing the name…lol. No longer is the title Pray for the Thunder. It’s now Sharp Dressed Man. The title change doesn’t affect the story, so I didn’t have to go back and rewrite anything. Which makes me happy.
Oh, and Chasing the King of the Mountains has been started as well. Devon and I have the prologue done, and I’m working on the first scene in Chapter One. 🙂 I also have Final Line Edits for Home Sweet Home to finish today. So I’ll be busy once I get back home…lol
I hope you all have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.
Wednesday Work in Progress…
Better late than never…lol
Okay so my snippet for today’s WIP comes from Pray for the Thunder. It’s a short story I’m sending to MLR Press when it’s finished. It’s for their Mixed Tape sub call. 🙂 It’s about two men who were best friends in high school. They drifted apart after graduation, then twenty-five years later, they meet up at their class reunion. 🙂
Pray for the Thunder copyright c. 2013
Excerpt-
His phone rang, he grabbed it then checked the id screen. “Hey Andrea, what do you need?”
Danny winced as his assistant started screaming in his ear. What is it with women screaming in my ear? “Andrea, take a deep breath, and repeat what you just shouted.”
“That red silk you ordered from Singapore hasn’t arrived yet, and we need to get the client’s dress for the BAFTAs.”
He could hear the panic in her voice, and he shook his head. “Andrea, what did I tell you?”
“Not to freak out,” she said.
“Right. The silk will be here in the next day or two. We already have the measurements and the patterns set. As soon as the silk gets here, we can knock that dress out within a day. We still have three weeks before the awards ceremony, and she’s not even in town yet.” Danny tried to soothe Andrea’s fear. “Have we ever missed a deadline?”
“No, but there’s always a first time for it.” Andrea took a breath, and Danny interrupted.
“This won’t be that time, honey. I talked to our supplier, and he told me the fabric shipped out last Tuesday. It takes a week to get to us, so we should be getting it tomorrow or Thursday.” Danny lay back on the floor to stare up at the ceiling. “I will work day and night until the dress is finished, though you know she’d look beautiful in a gunny sack.”
Andrea snorted. “Maybe we could start a new fad.”
Danny laughed. “Only if we get to dress her all the time because she’s the only one in the world who could make a sack look good.”
“True, and her husband. We could make a gunny sack tuxedo for him.” Andrea sounded like she was starting to calm down slightly.
“I don’t make men’s clothes, though,” Danny pointed out.
“Not that you’re not doing enough all ready, but maybe you should think about looking into designing a new line. There are a lot of guys out there who would kill to have you dress them.” Andrea paused for a second, then continued, “Didn’t last year’s Oscar winner practically beg you to design a suit for this year’s ceremony?”
“Yes, but I told him I like to undress men, not dress them.”
Andrea gasped. “You’re didn’t tell him that?”
Danny rolled his eyes. “Of course I did, Andrea. It’s not like it’s a big secret or anything.”
“I know, but still to just blurt it out like that? How did you know he wouldn’t beat you up or something?”
“Seriously? He’s not going to risk his reputation as a good guy by beating the snot out of me. Anyway he laughed at me, then said if I ever decide to go into men’s clothing, he’d be the first one to endorse it. Also, he’d be willing to walk the runway for me.”
“Then why don’t you do it?”
Danny shrugged, even though she couldn’t see him. “I just haven’t gotten inspired by any guy I’ve met yet.”
“I understand.” Andrea changed the subject, and they talked about other designs for another hour before hanging up.
After that, Danny packed a couple more boxes while listening to GNR, whose record Appetite for Destruction had been the soundtrack for his entire junior and senior year. His favorite song, Sweet Child O’ Mine, was the one song he’d listen to over and over again because it took him back to the most important moment in his life. The instant when he looked over at Jimmy, his best friend, and realized he was in love with him.
He’d never thought about being gay or liking men. It wasn’t anything anyone talked about, aside from teasing and joking about being someone being a fag. Suddenly to have a light blub go off in his head about why he hadn’t been attracted to girls before was like getting hit by lightning. It had thrown him for a loop, though he tried to act like there wasn’t anything different going on. As far as he knew, Jimmy never figured it out.
Danny headed to bed, knowing he’d probably dream about Jimmy that night like he’d had for most of the twenty-five years since they said good-bye.
Happy Monday
The weekend was productive. I finished The Occasional Prostitute and sent it in. I also did forms for three of my MF stories that are going to be contracted soon. I started a new story, Pray for the Thunder, which will go to MLR Press when it’s done. Also, I opened From Yesterday, which is the third book in the Rupert’s Legacy series. I stopped working on it because I needed to get some other stories done sooner. Well, I’m so close to finishing it, that I decided to see if I can get it done. I’d like to have both books finished and in to MLR Press by the middle of March.
Also, I have to add 15-20k to one of my short stories, filling it out so it’s around 30-35k when I’m finished. Remove the Space Between Us will be the first in a six book series titled Rags to Riches. Woo-hoo! Like I needed more series/books to write…lol.
I’m juggling a lot of stories, and hoping I get them all done in a reasonable amount of time without driving myself crazy…lol
Have a wonderful Monday, everyone. 🙂
New cover and contest….
I realized I haven’t shared this with you yet. This is the cover for the first book in the International Men of Sports series I’m co-authoring with Devon Rhodes. I totally love this cover, and can’t wait to see the rest of them…lol. Of course we have to write them first. This will be out in May. I’ll let you know when it’s up for pre-order, and VIP download. 🙂 I hope you enjoy these men.
Also, I posted a new excerpt from The Whore of New Slum at the Amber Allure Pax blog. Click here to go and check it out. We’re running a contest, and if you comment, you’re entered for a chance to win the entire Steampunk PAX. They’re drawing the winner on Saturday. The whole week has been posts from the authors in the PAX. Should be some interesting posts. 🙂
For those of you who have asked, I do plan on writing a sequel to The Whore. Not right away since I have some other books to finish up, but there will be more to their story at some point in the future.
I hope you all have a great weekend and stay warm.
Wednesday Work in Progress..
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to add anything to my current Work in Progress…the last bit added was the scene I shared with you last Thursday. 🙂 But I’m hoping to change that today…after I get the first set of edits done for Home Sweet Home, and the next installment for the blog story done. Then I’ll start working on The Occasional Prostitute. Yay!
Stealing Life final edits were done last night, and turned into my editor, so those will be finalized. It’ll be a while before it’s up on the coming soon page because it doesn’t come out for general release until July. 🙂 But as soon as it’s up, I’ll let you know. To be honest, nothing’s been added to the story, and some scenes have been deleted, simply because they didn’t really further the story.
Oh, and I’ll be dipping my feet back into the M/F waters again. That’s where I started my publishing career, then I discovered M/M books, and at the time, I found them far more interesting. But now, I want to branch out and start writing both. My M/F will be under a different pen name, so when you see TA Chase, you’ll always know it’ll be guys touching guys. 🙂
I’ll reveal my M/F pen name when the contracts for my series are signed and it’s all official. For those of you who still read M/F stories.
I hope you all have a great Wednesday, and I promise to have something new to share with you next week. Oh and I have a new cover to share with you on Friday.
A Slight Delay…
The next installment will be up by this afternoon. I had some minor difficulties yesterday, so I couldn’t finish it. But don’t worry. I’ll get it done at some point today. Please keep checking my blog. 🙂
