Other Relationships

Happy Saturday! It’s recital weekend part 1. Dress rehearsals today, then the big shows tomorrow. Tap, jazz, ballet, and hip hop. It’s a long and exhausting weekend, but the shows are always wonderful. Their dance studio does a good job with these shows. There’s a group of littles (maybe age 6-7?) all dressed up as villains and doing a tap dance to Despicable Me. So cute and fun. My 11yo’s class is dancing to Super Mario Brothers. It’s adorable.

And now for this week’s snippet. Last week, Nate was out with Rocco the Jerk. This week, he’s…well. You’ll see. And yes, it’s relevant.

The minute Nate opened his eyes, he knew something was wrong. The gritty, sandy feel when he blinked; the headache spreading down from his forehead; the fire under his skin. He was positive he had a fever, though he didn’t own a thermometer to check. It wasn’t surprising he’d picked up a bug, since he’d already sent multiple cast members home with illnesses. Working in close proximity made fertile ground for passing things around. He’d been feeling tired and a little off for a couple of days already. Still, he’d hoped he was wrong and he would escape the germs or at least meet them in weaker form. Apparently, no such luck.

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!

Happy Saturday! It’s almost the end of the school year. I can hardly believe that in a matter of weeks, my “baby” will have finished middle school. Since we’re in the final push before summer, this might be my last snippet for a while. I’ll have to see how things go due to a band competition and two recitals.

For today, I’m still snipping from Nightsong. Izzy and Val have now picked up their cargo (the dinosaur skeleton) from the creepy scientists and are on their way to the hospital with it. For some context, a yenta/yente is a busybody. Yente is the matchmaker from Fiddler on the Roof. (Nightsong has a lot of references to opera and musical theater.) And yep, Izzy has two moms who are a couple.

“Did you get a seriously weird vibe from those people?”

“Oh, yeah.”

She shuddered. “Should I have stayed in back with our ‘patient’?”

“Nah. I’m sure it’s fine. Long as I drive carefully and don’t go flying over a pothole or something.”

She shrugged. “You’re probably right. So, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah—my skills as a matchmaker.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Yente,” Izzy said with a snort. “You’re worse than my mothers.”

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!

Happy Saturday! My kids are at the Teen Book Festival, getting their books signed by authors. They went with a group from their school. I’m a little envious that they’re meeting a few of my faves today!

Meanwhile, I’m busy plowing through the last of my stack of books for review. I’m taking the summer off to regroup and decide how I want to handle book reviews in the future. Stay tuned.

My snippet today is still from Nightsong. Val and Izzy have been on their way to pick up an unusual patient, and they’re passing the time listening to a Christian radio hit that wasn’t quite about Jesus. Six lines of dialog.

“You learn something new every day,” Val quipped. “I grew up on that shit. I still like some of it, and this song is so great. Made even better after the guy singing it came out.”

“He’s gay?” Not that Izzy wouldn’t have guessed, given that it was a man singing longingly about sucking off another man.

“Nah, he’s bi.” She grinned at Izzy’s arched eyebrow. “And spoken for, unfortunately. Wonder if it’s the guy from the song?”

“Hopefully.” Izzy chuckled. “Why’s it bad he’s taken? Since I know you have no interest, were you planning to call the station in hopes of setting me up with him?”

“Shut up. I’m not that bad. Am I?”

“You are. But I love you anyway.”

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!

Happy Saturday! It’s been a great week here. My kids’ school participated in the local competition for the National High School Musical Theater Awards and walked away with multiple honors, including Outstanding Musical Production. Four of the high school students were selected to compete for a shot at the national competition in June.

On a much smaller scale, I’m still plugging away at my various projects. My paragraph above may give away a clue about why so much of what I write is music and/or arts-driven. I’m continuing to snip from Nightsong this week, part of my Notes from Boston series in which the performing arts feature heavily. Last time, EMTs Izzy and Val were sent to pick up a dinosaur skeleton. Here, they’re on the way. With no other emergencies to worry about, Val’s got the radio on. The song referred to here is central to the plot of the first book in the series. 6 (very short) paragraphs, mainly dialog, instead of 6 sentences.

Some song with a guy singing about what sounded like a hell of a blowjob came on. Izzy glanced at Val, who shrugged.

“What are you listening to?” he asked.

“It’s like an off-brand Top Forty.” She snickered. “They used to play this one on Christian radio, but now it’s a mainstream hit because it’s definitely not about the Good Lord.”

“I can hear the lyrics. Did you just say this was on Jesus Radio?”

Val laughed harder. “Yes! It was popular in the spring. Pretty sure no one had a clue.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they did.”

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!