Summary:
For the Robinson-Shae family, an annual charity walk means more to them than any expensive holiday abroad. After all, it’s where Elisha’s fathers met, and this year it’s even more important to her. Sammy couldn't make it this time, so she asks Charlie to share memories of how they met, and fell in love.
Excerpt from Our Walk to Remember:
Elisha looks back at me and pulls on our adjoined arms, giggling happily to herself while dancing her knee-length, yellow summer dress around her body so it moves with the warm breeze. I forget how much she loves this annual event. We’ve always done it together. She gets excited to see all the people she’s grown up around. I hope she never grows tired of this venture, never loses herself to the world of television and computer games when she could make a difference doing something small, yet huge.
Such thoughts make me shudder, thinking someone as delicate as little Elisha could ever be a slave to the mediocre. Not our baby, no way!
“Tell me again, Dad,” she interjects, turning towards me and smiling with joy. “Tell me about when you met Daddy?”
Her brown eyes sparkle when she looks up at me, lighting her porcelain face. Can a father ever refuse his daughter? How do you say ‘no’ to the product of your love, the person who found a home in your heart without trying and looks to you to lead them along the right paths?
“Again?” I tease. “You know this story so well, you can probably tell it better than me.”
Warmth fills my cheeks, bringing colour back into this aging man’s face while he toys with the light of his life, the only other person he loves without question. So many times Sammy and I have sat before a roaring fire while Elisha recounted our history like she’s reading a book. Her voice is always filled with such passion that we hang on her every word. One would be forgiven for thinking it’s her past she is detailing, but I guess my husband and I never get bored with sharing how we came to be the lovers we are today.
“I like it better when you tell it, Dad. Don’t worry; I will fill in any parts you miss,” she chimes in an assertive manner, and I know without a doubt she will.
“Okay, baby,” I commence, drawing her in close so I don’t have to shout too loud.
I don’t need unwanted ears to hear something that will forever remain unwritten, a story that’s stamped into my heart and is ours alone. Sammy has his own version of the life we share, but this is all from the very soul of Charlie Shae — this is how I found my love.
This shouldn’t be so hard to recollect, but I’ve never had to share our story without my counterpart sitting next to me, relishing my retelling. While the warm breeze runs through my free fingers again, I try to grab onto the emptiness and envision that Sammy isn’t very far away. Sadly, my mind isn’t that creative.
Swallowing the pain, I lose myself to the words flowing from me and find myself on auto pilot.
“It was the summer of 1996. I had just finished college. . .”
Please welcome debut author M.C. Rayne to the blog. As the only male author in this collection of six, I asked him to tell us about being the one man writing m/m amongst a group of ladies.
I love this question, and was really hoping someone would ask me this. Reading the lovely R.E Hargrave's guest post idea had me smiling.
When you’re a homosexul man, and a new author, you expect that all other M/M stories are written by other gay men. Well this is what I believed anyway.
Had someone told me that most of the stories I loved were written by hetrosexual woman, then I wouldn’t have believed them. Initially I found it difficult to comprehend that the books I were reading were by women, and that the majority of the M/M market was led by them. I would be reading a story and thinking how could a woman know something like this, how would they be able to tell how it feels for a man to be with a man, but they did. Granted, some of the authors I have read do stick to the stereotype of gay men jumping into bed with one another after the first five seconds, but these stories are few and far between - well the ones I read are anyway. I avoid books with half naked men on the cover, because I want something more than sex, sex, sex, this is something I don’t want to be reading about. I’m not a prude, I just like a good story and only like sex in a book if I feel its needed.
I have asked so many male romance authors how they get their ideas, and how they know what to write in an intimate scene and most of them agree - they watch a lot or gay porn! This was something which shocked me, that these mothers and grandmothers were watching more of it than I do, and were shocked by how little I do. Most of them were even suggesting websites to me for ‘research’ purposes.
Being the only man in the anthology is probably clear evidence on how females rule the M/M market, but its something I kind of like. I love the fact my story is surrounded by these great women, the ones who have produced such amazing stories that I know I will never get bored of. In fact, I don’t think my story is the best in the book, because there is so much talent to be envious of. Each offering by the other ladies is so different to the last, showing the reader love from both angles and I am proud to stand amongst them.
I may be the only man, and more importantly, the only gay man, but its probably me that is learning from them. Yes, I would love to have had more male authors in the anthology, but the book is about wonderful romance stories - it doesn't matter which gender wrote the thing!
There should always be equal opportunities, both in life and literacy. These ladies are showing just this to the world of readers how you don’t have to be gay, to write about gay love, you just have to love and feel loved in returned.
About the Author:
M. C. Rayne got into writing after the passing of his mother, and used it as an outlet to get through the difficult time. He never really thought about becoming an author, but since putting pen to paper he has never looked back
Currently he lives in Leeds with his two best friends Dae and Pete, and his guinea pig, Bean. He spends a lot of time reading and writing, and far too much time procrastination online.
Matt's Tour Schedule:
11/3:
11/4:
Great post!
ReplyDeleteLove this, thanks so much for hosting little, old me on your blog xxx
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