My guest today didn’t just contribute stories to the anthology but also edited it, so we owe her a great vote of thanks. Please join me in welcoming Julie Bozza.
Hi Julie, thank you for answering my questions.
What inspired you to write your stories for the anthology?
I was very interested in exploring the differences in how the war affected GLBTQI people. Of course many of their experiences would have been the same as anyone else’s, such as food shortages, and so on. But there must have been impacts on them that the ‘general’ population wouldn’t have felt, or not in the same ways.
Could you tell me a little about them?
I ended up being greedy and writing two stories! One is about an intersex person who has been raised as a man, and strongly identifies as a man – and he is keen to enlist, not only for patriotic reasons but to prove himself. His lover knows what a difficult time he would have of it, but then it would also be difficult to stay at home for no obvious reason.
The other story is about a woman who is enjoying the freedom and independence of being able to work while the men are away at war – but she’s also taking advantage of the lonely wives left behind. I wanted to explore how the war allowed women to spread their wings in taking on greater responsibilities – though my main character is guilty of perhaps taking that a little too far.
Could you please tell me about your other work?
Thank you for asking! I have 10 novels published now, and one anthology of my own, as well as A Pride of Poppies. They are a bit of a mixed bag, in that some are very much romances (Butterfly Hunter) while others are more gay fiction (Mitch Rebecki, Albert J Sterne), with one alternate history thrown in for good measure (about the poet John Keats and his last months in Rome). My focus has mostly been on male-male relationships, ever since I started writing about thirty years ago. I am feeling the need to spread my wings a little wider, though, to include more letters from the GLBTQIA quiltbag in my writing. I’m probably the person most interested to see where that takes me!
What are you working on at the moment?
I have just started a sequel to The Apothecary’s Garden – which I hadn’t planned. I was sure I had told their whole story! But Hilary and Tom have stayed with me all this time, and I can see there are still many things to explore about their relationship as they start ‘coming out’ as a couple.
Please could we have an excerpt?
This is the start of story about Lena, the ‘Lesbian Lothario’, in the Poppies anthology.
Lena flew along the lane on her bicycle, knowing just what strength was needed to maintain her speed, just how fast she could take that next turn. The air was bracingly fresh in her face, tugging strands of her hair loose as it always did no matter how carefully she pinned it up in the grey light of early morning. She wore trousers, close-fitting and cropped short around her calves so she didn’t have to worry about them catching in the chain. There were still eyes in the village that looked askance at this despite her boots and socks demurely covering her ankles. Lena grinned to remember old Mr Bailey staring at her with a thrill of disapproval only yesterday – as if he hadn’t had months to get used to her doing this work and dressing accordingly. As if he hadn’t known her and her family’s tendency towards contrariness all the days of his life.
The woods on her left veered towards the road as she sped along, thickened, loomed and then leapt across it with overarching branches. Lena coasted through the tunnel of green shade, and then followed the road around the curve, steering with little more than a perfectly-judged lean to the left. Then she stood on the pedals to power down the last straight and back into the sunshine, before taking a sharp turn down a side road and at last arriving at Amy’s gate.
— Author Bio:
Julie Bozza is an English-Australian hybrid who is fuelled by espresso, calmed by knitting, unreasonably excited by photography, and madly in love with John Keats.
A Pride of Poppies – an anthology from Manifold Press
Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Ten authors – in thirteen stories – explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people?
A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
WYNN woke up with a start, splayed on his living room floor, gulping for air and feeling hot, sticky fluid all over his boxer briefs. “God damn it! It felt so real,” he yelled, a fresh wave of tears washing his face. He dragged himself to the bathroom and shed all his clothes.
Before throwing it into the laundry bin, he smelled his T-shirt. It held a trace of spicy cologne and male. Wynn’s hand flew to his mouth, covering the gasp. No, it was impossible, his brain was just making up scents that weren’t there. He threw it away with a huff, removed his now very sticky boxers, and went into the shower room, turning on the water and all the cleansing agents his mother insisted were added to the mix.
He massaged his body carefully, relaxing his muscles, tight and a little sore from sleeping on the floor. Every touch seemed to bring his body to life, more than ever before. Within minutes, he was panting, hard as a rock, and clear fluid dripped from the tip of his cock. He closed his fingers around the base of his shaft and started stroking lightly, tip to bottom and back again, just how he liked it.
“Doctor Miller is here for an unscheduled medical visit,” the central computerized system announced, the metallic voice making Wynn jump. He groaned, pushing down his frustration and turning the water to ice cold. He rushed through the rest of his shower and dried off quickly, walking into his bedroom to put on a pair of white sweats and a loose hoodie of the same color.
“What are you doing here, Doctor?” he asked in a sharp tone, not bothering with any niceties. “You shouldn’t be here for a few more days.”
The good doctor gave him an understanding smile and a nod, getting right on Wynn’s nerves. “Your mother ordered an emergency checkup. I hear you were not feeling well yesterday,” he explained in a honeyed voice, smiling as he took out scanners and other gadgets from his bag.
“I was angry she broke her promise again. I am perfectly healthy, and you should just pack your bag and get out,” Wynn said in an even voice, plopping down on a chair and eyeing the doctor with murderous intent.
“Your mother decides these things, not I.” The doctor shrugged and continued to arrange everything. Wynn stood as non-threateningly as he could, walked to the coffee table now filled with medical instruments, picked up a scanner, and threw it. He laughed as he watched it break into dozens of pieces against the thick glass of his window wall. The light buzzing of the maid bot hover propulsion was the only sound in the suddenly quiet room. Maud cleaned everything quickly and retreated to the kitchen.
“Doctor, unless you want me to break your stuff, all of it, and then punch you in the face, I suggest you pack up your bag and get out of my house.” Wynn turned swiftly and walked back into his room, giving the door a strong push to make sure it was loud when it closed behind him. He leaned against it, sticking his ear to the wood, listening for the sounds in the living room. Without a word, the doctor did as instructed.
About the author
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and she has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm. Born and raised in Romania, she finds her inspiration in books of all genres, in movies, and the occasional manga comic book. She is a proud geek who needs her fast Internet and gadgets more than she needs air.
A Tiger Moth releasing 20,000 poppies over the Light Dragoons barracks at Swanton Morley. Pic from Norwich Evening News
Today’s guest is Lou Faulkner. Welcome, Lou and thanks for answering my questions.
What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?
A memory of a joy-ride in a Tiger Moth, and seeing the earth fall away under me while becoming immeasurably bigger. A book on the work of reconnaissance airmen in the Battle of the Somme. A line in that book saying that pilots and observers had to have complete trust and confidence in each other. Looking at the cover illustration to that book, and realising that yes, they really did fight their aircraft with the observer standing on the rim of his cockpit without safety harness of any kind, while the pilot had no guns of his own. No kidding they needed to trust each other.
Could you tell me a little about it?
It’s the last twenty-four hours before the Battle of the Somme begins, and as always, the airmen of the Royal Flying Corps leave the ground not knowing whether or not they will return alive – or whether their greatest risk comes from the enemy, or from the uncertain technology of their own aircraft.
Could you please tell me about your other work?
I write mostly military history. The built-in conflicts are legion, between nations, and between honour, duty, and common humanity.
What are you working on at the moment?
A novel set during the mid-eighteenth century. France and Britain, as so often, are slugging it out, this time for the rule of the high seas, while the scientific discoveries of the Enlightenment gather pace all over the known world.
Please could we have an excerpt?
From the Pride of Poppies story:
They sat for a moment in silence, drinking in the stillness, the lack of vibration, and dear God, the safety of home. Then Mitchell took off helmet and goggles, half-stood and shrugged out of the bulky jacket and chucked it onto the concrete. Vince’s joined it a moment later.
The air was warm and damp on Mitchell’s face, after the chill of the upper air; somewhere high above, where they’d been just a few minutes ago, a skylark was singing.
“You’re landing’s improving,” said Vince judiciously.
“Thank-you, O gracious one.” And Mitchell sketched a half-bow before clambering out onto the wing-step, from where he jumped to terra firma.
The first time he had come into this airfield after his initial familiarisation flight, he had made one of the worst landings that ever a man walked away from. A sudden gust of wind, an up-draught from the line of trees that had not yet been felled, as the airfield was then so new; the squadron’s old BE2c had been tossed up thirty feet and he’d tried to side-slip the height off instead of going round again.
“Bloody Australians!” his flight-commander had roared as he scrambled out from the twanging wires and creaking undercarriage of the all but undamaged machine – “D’you always have to fly upside down?”
~
Author Bio:
I live in a small house (full of books) with a big garden, in Australia. Writing is the only way I know to stop the ideas from bugging me.
~
A Pride of Poppies – an anthology from Manifold Press
Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Ten authors – in thirteen stories – explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people?
A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
If you know the name of this terrific artist please let me know so I can add credit.
My guest today is Jay Lewis Taylor, a historical novelist whose works are shouldering their way to the front of my TBR list. Can’t wait to get stuck into them.
Welcome Jay and thanks for answering my questions.
What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?
I am proud to have two stories chosen for the anthology: my thanks to the editor!
‘At the Gate’ was inspired, first, by a brief memoir written for his professional journal by a naval surgeon; second, by the poem which is quoted in the epigraph; third, by someone whose portrait I found online.
‘Break of Day’ was inspired by Julie Bozza’s comment that there was surprisingly little Western Front / poet material in the anthology so far; and by the poem which is quoted in its epigraph.
Could you tell me a little about them?
‘At the Gate’ – The details are as accurate as I could make them – and you won’t believe how many times I called back the “completed” version of ‘At the Gate’ to amend it the smallest bit more … I almost used the writer of the real memoir as a character; he certainly had a sense of humour, and went on to become a famous anaesthetist and a detective story writer, of all things. What I aimed to do with the character who eventually came to me was to portray shipboard life in time of war, and how perhaps the “normality” even of something as abnormal as war may enable a man to work through his grief when it can’t be expressed.
‘Break of Day’ – I came across the “queer sardonic rat” from Rosenberg’s poem ‘Break of Day in the Trenches’ long ago, and using it as a link between the stories (there is also a rat – a real rat – in ‘At the Gate’) was too good an opportunity to miss. What I wanted to show here (apart from bringing two characters together) was the range of good and bad chances of war, and how poetry can be going on at the edge of things, like Icarus falling into the water unnoticed in W.H. Auden’s poem ‘Musée des Beaux Arts”.
Could you please tell me about your other work?
Historical fiction seems to be my métier. I have two books with Manifold Press:-
‘Dance of Stone‘ is set in the late twelfth century, the great cathedral-building age of England. Its two main characters are a Norman/English mason and an Icelandic/Irish trobador. I’ve always been fascinated by the collision of cultures and by how people on the margins in one way or another learn to cope and to cross the borders.
‘The Peacock’s Eye‘ shares its launch day with the e-book of ‘A Pride of Poppies’, I’m proud to say. This one is set in the last years of Elizabeth I’s reign and a few years after it – in other words, Shakespeare’s London and James VI’s Edinburgh. It features two actors from a company rival to Shakespeare’s who become entangled in Sir Robert Cecil’s plans for the changeover of monarch.
What are you working on at the moment?
At the precise time of writing, I am not working on anything, as ‘The Peacock’s Eye’ went to the proof-reader two nights ago! However, next on the list is ‘Across your Dreams’, another historical novel, set during and after the Great War, which tells the story of what happens to Lew and Russ from ‘Break of Day’ and to Alan from ‘At the Gate.’ Somewhere in the gap between finishing ‘Dance of Stone’ and ‘The Peacock’s Eye’ I wrote about 1,800 words of it.
Please could we have an excerpt?
Almost in slow motion the beam, with the wall behind it, tilted, gathered momentum and crashed down.
He was underneath, his face crushed into the mud, pain exploding like star-shells inside his hip, the fire of it crawling up his back and legs, flaring again in his right shoulder where something was wrenched and torn. With an effort Lew turned his face sideways, whooped air in through nose and mouth, then closed his teeth on the scream that was trying to burst out of his lungs.
Outside in the distant light was a turmoil of noise, a horse screaming, a shot, silence for a moment. ‘Number off!’ someone shouted.
His heartbeat hurt in his chest. He was sweating. His hair had fallen across his forehead, and tickled; the small, infuriating sensation dwarfed by the pain but still pin-prick clear.
‘Who’s missing?’ A voice nearby, impossibly far off.
‘Greenhalgh. Allred. Lieutenant Lewry.’
He tried to call out – ‘here!’ – but wasn’t at all sure if he’d made himself heard. Couldn’t raise his head to get his mouth free of the dirt. Could hardly get enough breath, dammit … He’d been here before. When he met Russ …
—
Author Bio:
“Despite having spent most of my life in Surrey and Oxfordshire, I now live in Somerset, within an hour’s drive of the villages where two of my great-great-great-grandparents were born. Although I work as a rare-books librarian in a particularly abstruse area, I am in fact a thwarted medievalist with a strong arts background.
I have been writing fiction for over thirty years, exploring the lives of people who are on the margins in one way or another, and how the power of love and language can break down the walls that we build round ourselves.”
A Pride of Poppies – an anthology from Manifold Press
Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Ten authors – in thirteen stories – explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people?
A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
My fourth interviewee is ‘new to me’ author Ellie Musgrove. Welcome, Ellie, and thanks for answering my questions.
~
What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?
When I saw the call for submissions, it caught my interest. What was it like for LGBTQIA people in the First World War?
Two particular stories leapt out at me – the story of people like my own great-great-grandfather, who spent time in a British internment camp for having a German father, and the possibilities the changing roles of women might present for those who didn’t quite fit other people’s expectations of their gender.
Once those got lodged in my mind, I just had to write them, especially knowing that my stories would make a difference to current and former service members in the here and now, as well as commemorating LGBTQIA people from a hundred years ago.
Could you tell me a little about it?
‘Inside’ is the story of a British man with a little too much German blood in him, who starts questioning everything he thought he knew about himself while he’s stuck in a civilian internment camp, and a German who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and now has to find his place in his new surroundings.
‘The Man Left Behind’ follows Henry, a farmhand who feels like the only man in England who’s not in the trenches fighting for King and Country.
Could you please tell me about your other work?
Usually, I write short slice-of-life stories (many of which I post for free on my blog) while working on longer novels. I’m in the middle of a series called ‘The Perfect Garden’, which is romantic literary fiction, I suppose, I’ve got a horror novella in the editing process, and I write high fantasy stories for an exciting new project called Caladria. I’ve also been published in a previous charity anthology, ‘Lupus Animus’, which is about wolves.
What are you working on at the moment?
Right now I’m taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo, which means writing an adventure novella, in this case. I’m also working on a couple of stories for Caladria at the moment, which I can’t say too much about, but I can tell you that in among the goblins and dragons I’m currently writing a very lovely couple I think ‘A Pride of Poppies’ readers would enjoy meeting, when their debut story is published later in the year.
Please could we have an excerpt?
“Stiorax had every right to be worried, Varjan supposed. After his most recent battle, he’d been sent to a healer – more accurately, Stiorax had had to carry him to a healer – and told that it was time to stop fighting altogether.
‘But I’m a soldier,’ he’d protested, ‘I can’t stop fighting. It’s what I do.’
‘Well, you can fight, or you can live. You’re in no condition to keep battling.’
‘I don’t mind dying on the battlefi-‘ Stiorax had accidentally poked him right in a bruise, turning to the healer while Varjan was busy trying to catch his breath.
‘He understands. He’ll be taking things slowly from now on. Fortunately he has an excellent servant.’ Well, he couldn’t argue with that – most of the time – but when the healer had left he’d glared at Stiorax, waiting for an explanation.
‘Since when do you give the orders?’
‘Since I’m the one who’d lose you.’ Varjan had wanted to fight his corner, but he was weary to the very bone, and one look at his devoted servant’s face convinced him that it would be kinder to let Stiorax have his way in this matter.”
Author Bio:
Eleanor Musgrove has done many things in her life, but writing has always been one of her great loves. She recently graduated from university, and now lives with three other humans and a grumpy old cat, who happens to be an excellent model for when she’s writing about dragons.
A Pride of Poppies – an anthology from Manifold Press
Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Ten authors – in thirteen stories – explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people?
A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
This is the first of a series of interviews with the authors who contributed stories to the Manifold Press anthology, A Pride of Poppies.
My first guest is Adam Fitzroy.
What inspired you to write your story for the anthology?
I know very little about military matters so it was obvious I wasn’t going to be writing anything technical with a battlefield setting. Much of my family history revolves around a particular small English village (in Suffolk, as it happens), and I started wondering what life in such a place would have been like with all the young men away at war. Initially the idea was to look at four families of different social classes, but that turned out to be a grandiose idea which needed to be pruned severely in order to fit the required word-count!
Sergeant Liam Jacks is the security chief of transport vessel, The Santa Claus. He travels the planetary cluster with Marc Danverse, his best friend and captain, seeking to escape his tortured past and find some peace of mind.
Having been through a civil war together, Danverse and Liam are close. Maybe too close?.
All that changes when mysterious stranger, Hadrian Jamison, an escaped Adonirati, books passage to Alpha Centauri. Can he be trusted? Can the stories of his past be believed?
As Liam’s fascination with Hadrian grows, jealousy threatens to tear apart his friendship with Danverse.
When Hadrian’s owner shows up, Liam is forced to go against orders in order to launch a rescue mission to save him.
The ensuing conflict may be more than any of them expected.
Cold sweat rolled off Liam’s body as he sat upright in bed, sheets tangled around his legs. His deafening pulse drowned out the soft whirr of the environmental systems and the mechanical hum of the ship’s movement. There was a hollow quality to the titanium hull of his private quarters that seemed to amplify the resonance of the dream.
?Pull it together, Marine. You’re not a child.? The horror refused to recede even now that he was awake.
Liam looked around his room as his reality began to settle. The windowless room was nearly pitch-black; the only illumination came from the data screen on the wall, its soft cyber-green time code proof that he was not lost in the abyss. Yes, he was aboard the cargo vessel the Santa Claus. Yes, they were en route to Luxorian from Alpha Centauri Prime for a supply delivery and pickup. Yes, he was the security chief of the thirty or so men employed on the ship. Yes, the dream was of a harsh memory, but still just a dream.
“Mrs. Claus. Status report please.” Liam spoke in quiet, shaken tones while his unsteady hands threaded through his hair. A synthetic voice, sounding like a middle-aged woman, hummed back in response.
“It is zero three seventeen, Sergeant Jacks. We will be docking at Luxorian Spaceport Alpha at approximately eleven fifteen. System sync to the Luxorian environment is in progress and will be complete in two hours and twenty-five minutes. Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“No.” His reply was brusque, but Mrs. Claus’ feelings couldn’t be hurt; she was artificial, after all. Normally, Liam found Captain Danverse’s penchant for ancient Earth history – including the ship’s name and the computer’s voice identity – endearing. Marc was his best friend, after all. But tonight there was no comfort in it.
Even without the nightmares, it was hard to sleep well when forced to acclimate to a new planet’s environment and timeline every time you came into port. The ship’s systems were designed to gradually shift the sleep cycles of everyone on board to match up to the active hours for each destination. Add the dreams into the equation, and his rest was as fractured as his self-esteem.
“Lights. Low,” he commanded. Twin light panels on opposite sides of the small room began to glow. The undecorated metal walls were nothing more than panels hiding the storage spaces within. The large bed looked out of place in the three-by-four-meter space, but was required for any chance of a comfortable night’s sleep. Not that he’d seen many of those in a long time. A lone desk sat in the corner with a basic chair on wheels, covered in dirty clothes. Several recessed shelves held stacks of paperwork, but the entire room was devoid of anything personal.
Liam peeled himself from the dampened sheets, the fabric refusing to release from the tackiness of his salty skin. He knew he couldn’t sleep anymore, even if the bed weren’t already cooling and saturated. The ship ran warm, but he couldn’t suppress a slight shiver as the air hit his bare skin. Even the dense pelt of hair that covered his chest, arms, and legs provided little warmth at the moment. He slid into a pair of cargo shorts and sleeveless shirt that were piled in the corner, too shaken to care if they were clean enough to wear. A pair of thick-soled sandals waited for him in front of the room’s exit. Out of habit, he picked up his communicator from the random pile on the desk and put it in his ear.
He placed his hand on the plexiglass palm reader embedded in the hull and the door slid open with a loud hiss. From the outside, he slapped the matching panel to close the door and trudged out into the hallway.
His footsteps gave a soft metal echo as he wandered in no particular direction through the dimly lit tunnel. This was no luxury liner; a subtle vibration could be felt at all times from the tech and mechanicals hidden behind the scuffed and weathered walls. The Santa Claus was sturdy, but not designed for creature comforts. Captain Danverse had purchased the decommissioned cargo ship nearly a decade ago and offered Liam a job when the pair had left the military following the Centauri Prime civil war.
Intelligently, Danverse had populated the Santa Claus with a crew of men who could stand the long distance between stops and could appreciate the company of their fellow men. Ports were few and far between, and it was a small world to live in for an extended span.
About the Author
Like many gay men, when Mann Ramblings grew up, there weren’t any heroes he could relate to. The world held him back while he tried futilely to hide the real person inside. So much has changed since those hollow days. He finally found his voice, the voice that says it’s all right to revel in the so-called inappropriate joys, laughs, and loves that storm inside a man’s head. It took a long time to find that courage and now that it’s here, he plans to use it well.
While spending years more focused on visual arts, he never let go of his innate passion for storytelling?he wanted to write and draw comic books when he grew up. Once he discovered M/M fiction, a whole new world opened with new possibilities. Why couldn’t you have fantastic and dynamic tales with an M/M cast? He started reading the online tales of authors like, Night Tempest, Rob Colton, and Alicia Nordwell, which only fueled within him the need to create. Eventually he found GayAuthors.org, and with a little coercive nudge from Night Tempest, started sharing his tales with an unexpected level of positive response. That experience and support gave him the courage to cross his fingers and aim for the world of M/M publishing.
Born and raised in Michigan, Mann Ramblings continues to type away, wishing it was practical to use a noisy, old fashioned keyboard that clacks with each strike, if only to annoy his loving partner and spoiled miniature dachshund.
It’s always great to see a new book from Sue Brown and I’ve been anticipating this one – the next in the Little Mowbury series Left at the Crossroads.
Here’s the blurb:
Little Mowbury is a sleepy English village deep in the Cotswolds. The kind of village where you’re only a local if your lineage can be traced back to the dinosaurs. Where you can find everything in the single village shop from morning newspapers to dry-cleaning, and getting your shoes mended. And, of course, where everybody knows everybody else’s business. It’s easy to find… you can’t miss it… just ask anyone and they’ll tell you… “It’s left at the crossroads.”
Eighteen months ago Jason Havers lost the love of his life and it’s time to move on. Applying for the position of chef in a sleepy country pub, a million miles away from his previous life, may well be the fresh start he needs. His new employers immediately take him under their wing and before long he finds himself with a passel of new friends and a job he loves. What he doesn’t expect is Tom, a gorgeous midwife, who stirs up feelings he’s not ready to deal with.
But when someone from his previous life turns up in Little Mowbury, will Jason be able to keep them from revealing the secret he’s been keeping from those he’s come to love?
I really enjoyed the first in the series, Un-Expected by Lisa Worrall, and had been wondering who would be the hero of this story. I hope there are very many more episodes.
Author Bio:
Writer, traveler, and coffee addict, Alina Popescu has been in love with books all her life. She started writing when she was ten and she has always been drawn to sci-fi, fantasy, and the supernatural realm. Born and raised in Romania, she finds her inspiration in books of all genres, in movies, and the occasional manga comic book. She is a proud geek who needs her fast Internet and gadgets more than she needs air.
About the Author
It’s always great to see a new book from Sue Brown and I’ve been anticipating this one – the next in the Little Mowbury series Left at the Crossroads.
Elin Gregory 