Meredith Shayne

New release day: Charity Sip Blitz

Today sees the release of the Charity Sip Blitz stories from Torquere Press. Every year during their birthday month, Torquere release a clutch of stories on a particular theme, benefitting a particular charity chosen by Torquere authors. All the royalties from the stories sold get donated, and Torquere match the donations as well. Past charities chosen for the Sip Blitz include the Matthew Shepard Foundation and various GLBT legal organisations. This year’s Blitz charity is Doctors Without Borders, and so the theme of this year’s Sips is Healing Hearts. 🙂

I’ve posted an unofficial blurb for my story, Eyes Wide Shut, before, but here’s the official one:

Adam Taylor liked working for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. He didn’t even mind the tiny outback town in Western Australia where he was based. If the downside was doing the regular clinic at the Mount Keith nickel mine where his mining engineer ex-boyfriend Chris Barker worked, well, he’d coped with worse. When a visit from Chris leads to an unexpected encounter, Adam can’t help but hope for things to get back on track.

If Chris couldn’t keep away from Adam, the least he could do was make sure that his redneck workmates never found out. It was better for everyone that way. At least, that’s what he’d thought, until Adam got caught in a mine cave in and Chris thought he was dead. After that, being outed didn’t seem so important anymore. Chris just hoped he’d get a chance to tell Adam that.

Now that it’s out, I can post an excerpt too:

Adam stared at the door for a long moment in silence before looking up at Chris, who was standing just inside the doorway still, hard hat clutched so tightly in his hands his knuckles were white.

That made Adam feel a little better, but his heart was still threatening to beat out of his chest. He cleared his throat. “Hi.”

Chris attempted a weak smile. “Hi.” He hesitated a moment, then walked toward the desk, sitting down in the chair next to it and gently laying his hard hat on the desk. He was dressed in the fluorescent yellow safety vest and worn blue shirt and trousers that all the mine workers wore. His red-blond hair was sweat-damp and flattened to his head, the line from the band of the hard hat still visible. As Adam watched, he ran a hand through it, making the short strands stand up in spikes. He hadn’t shaved in a while, his red-gold whiskers almost a full beard, with no grey to speak of, even though he was closer to forty than Adam was. Chris’ neck was damp with sweat; Adam wanted to lean forward and lick it.

I’m glad to be able to contribute to a great charity like Doctors Without Borders. It looks like the Blitz webpage is still being populated at the moment, but you’ll be able to find all the Blitz stories here later today, if you’re so inclined. 🙂