Harpers Island finale comments, for anybody who watched it

( spoilers for the show.. )

FROM THEDA: working on a werewolf story

It's for a GLBT anthology coming to eXtasy. I have no timetable for its release, but I'm guessing the end of the year or beginning of the next. It's sort of a southern werewolf tale, two men trapped and one of them going wolf for the first time, called "Beneath the Neon Moon" - my best friend came up with the neon moon bit thanks to an excerpt she read, and I loved it. Here's a small bite, a flashback bit:

When he was seventeen, he and his dad had stayed the summer in some boggy little town in Florida, Spanish moss dripping off the trees. There were plenty of empty, sandy spots in between the boiled peanut stands and the gas and beer marts off the lonesome stretch of US 231. The air was hot and wet and still, and the bugs so raucous up in the trees at night you could hardly hear yourself think. One night Zach heard his dad cursing and yelling outside, then heard something like a car backfiring, cracking loud and decisive. He scrambled up off the sagging old couch, heart pounding, and ran outside. His dad was drunk, flinging firecrackers into the branches of the two trees in the front yard and yelling goddamn bugs shut the fuck up fucking driving me crazy—and Zach stood there and watched, mouth open and eyes big. Then he leaned against the railing of the ramshackle wooden porch and laughed until he was nearly sick. His dad looked over at him and laughed too, bent over and thwacked himself on the knee.

The next night his dad went out, just like always. No big deal. He just never came back. Zach woke up the morning after that with a bad case of flu that only got worse as the day went on. By the time evening came around he was sweating buckets, then freezing, out of his head with fever. He huddled up on the squeaky, narrow bed and waited for his dad. He didn’t come.

When the fever broke at last, Zach couldn’t manage to walk all the way to the bathroom, had to crawl the last few feet. His head felt weird, floaty, and he kept worrying fretfully about his dad. He didn’t know how much time had passed since he’d left, but it felt like a long time. Too long, even for him.

The next morning Zach finally felt up to heating some chicken noodle soup on the stove, then managed a shower by sitting on the cheap plastic floor of the stall. He dressed in a baggy tee shirt and some jogging shorts and went back to bed. That same afternoon the landlord came to tell him his dad was dead—shot right outside of the Lobster Bar. Nobody knew exactly why—the local who’d killed him was so drunk he barely remembered getting into the argument to begin with. The cops had come to the house twice to tell him the news, but nobody ever answered the door. The landlord figured Zach had already skipped out. He was awful sorry, but he had to have the rent. He couldn’t afford to run a charity. Couldn’t be helped.

two new (good) reviews

Jim at Rainbow Reviews has reviewed After Anna (4 stars) and Touch Like Breathing (4.5 stars):

Quote from the AA review:
"After Anna" is told in short, staccato-like chapters that lend an urgency and intensity to the story that is reflected in the actions and dialog. The author does an excellent job of getting into the main characters' psyches and giving them valid reasons for the way they feel and act.

and a quote from the TLB review:
There's a lot of angst and drama in this story, but some lighter moments too ~ one quite hilarious episode where a drunken Tyler tries to give Will head when he's driving in heavy traffic. Ms. Black shows a real flair for comic writing in this part, and once again got my undivided attention as the two men share their hopes, doubts and fears as the story unfolds. Sometimes sequels can be a bit of a let down, but I found this one to be even more gripping than the original story. Highly recommended!

I'd like to thank Jim for the wonderful reviews, and I'm so glad he enjoyed the stories.