Saffron Stains - out today!

[alexdraven]

I am so excited to finally see Saffron Stains in e-print.

I mean, any day you have a book come out, that's a good day, and something to get excited about, sure, but this one's extra special to me, because it features Kael and Jem who are the very first queer characters to have shown up in my head. I have been trying to tell their story for years, and finally, in Saffron Stains, I feel like I've written them a story that's good enough for them.

Saffron Stains is a British urban fantasy - Kael's an elf, Jem's half elf, half brownie, but they live in a medium sized town in the south of the UK, and neither of them have yet worked out how to use magic to pay the gas bill, or do the washing up.

There's a snippet of Kael and Jem from the opening to Saffron Stains at the Torquere website, and here's a little bonus snippet of Kael and Jem, which does not appear in the book.


*****

The air from the open window was still blissfully cool, but the light that crept past the curtains was starting to thicken and honey, and Kael did not need to look at a clock to know that soon Jem would wake and be about his business for the day, all energy and activity. For now, though, he was at peace, sleeping soundly, the long line of his side from shoulder to knees one elegant, bare sweep, their sheets tangled around his calves. The movement of his ribs was almost imperceptibly, and Kael reached out with one care filled hand, fitting it around the rise of Jem's hipbone, needing to feel the heat of him, to know that he was real. Jem stirred but slightly at the touch, exhaling and stretching, rolling slighty more to the front and drawing Kael in. Kael settled himself close behind his lover, hips to buttocks, chest to back, burying his face in the tangled mess of Jem's hair. A prickle of sweat started to form almost at once, where their skin touched, but Jem didn't pull away, and Kael breathed his own muscles lax and heavy, and let the light from the window creep so slowly towards them.

*****


I'm hosting over at torquere_social today, if you'd like to head over and join us?