I love short fiction, and Sunday Shorts is the feature where I get to blog about it. Posts will range from flash to novellas. At some point, I might delve into individual stories/episodes of anthology formats in other media, like television and comics, but for the time being, I’m sticking to prose in print and audio.
In the past month I’ve read a trio of m/m romance novellas that really warmed my heart, so with Valentine’s Day coming up, I thought this Sunday would be a good time to tell you a little bit about them.
The Christmas Accomplice by Hank Edwards
The set-up: Welton Monroe, notedly not a winter sports enthusiast, ends up on vacation at a ski lodge after his break-up with former boyfriend Dean leaves them having to decide who gets to keep the vacation. On his arrival at the resort, Welton has an awkward meet-cute with Reece Donaghy, a front desk employee in the process of vying for a promotion to assistant activities director. Of course, Dean shows up even though he’s not supposed to, throwing a wrench in Welton and Reece’s attempts to get to know each other better. This novella clicks on all cylinders: likeable and relatable lead characters who you really want to see get together for either a HFN or HEA (look, guys, I’m learning romance fiction acronyms!), just enough stumbling blocks in the path of the couple we’re rooting for to cause complications (the ex-boyfriend’s presence, the workplace promotion tests) without slowing the story down or adding too many layers of angst, and just enough sub-plot for the equally likeable (except for that one guy, because there’s always one – and this time it’s not the trope-y ex-boyfriend!) supporting cast. Bonus points for the “week before Christmas” time frame (we all know that I’m a sucker for stories set at Christmas and New Year’s).
By the Way, I Love You by Seth King
Speaking of New Year’s Eve… The set-up: college student Evan Ruiz is waiting for his roommate Tom to return from a holiday visit to family so that Evan can reveal a secret that’s been torturing him almost since they were assigned to live together: that Evan, despite thinking himself straight all his life, has fallen for Tom. Most of the story is narrated by Evan, revealing the history of their relationship while at the same time ratcheting up the drama of how Tom will react. I found Evan’s self-awareness regarding his history of little moments that might have indicated he wasn’t as straight as he thought he was to be pretty realistic as the heart of the story. This is not one of those “I’m gay but only for you” type stories (which I find pretty offensive; bi/demi/pan-sexual erasure is a real thing and I don’t tolerate it). Most of what we learn about Tom is through Evan’s perceptions of him, but we do get a little bit of Tom first-person narrative eventually, fleshing out his personality and his own insecurities. The New Year’s Eve setting works mostly as metaphor (new beginnings and all that), since most of the book takes place in flashback.
Defensive Play by Jamie Deacon
The set-up: Seventeen-year-old British soccer player Davey is deeply in the closet, aware that while his family would support him there’s a very real possibility his teammates would not. Then, at a multi-school tournament, he lays eyes on Adam and is captivated and terrified in even measure – especially when he hears his teammates talking about the “poofter” on the other team. Of course, since Davey is a defenseman and Adam is a striker, they end up face to face on the pitch, with disastrous results. But that’s just the start of the story. I seem to have developed a “thing” for m/m sports romances, and this one scratched that itch very well. Both Evan’s fear of coming out and losing the one steady thing in his high school career (saddled with crippling social anxiety, he doesn’t have many friends outside of the team) and Adam’s hurt when that closet door locks him out at a key moment were both recognizable. Deacon’s writing in those moments is emotional without being manipulative. Because this is a coming out story, there is of course at least one homophobic team-mate to put that outside stumbling block in the way of Evan and Adam’s relationship developing. I also thought Deacon’s descriptions of Evan’s social anxiety and Adam’s experiences with coming out were touching.