Friday May, 17^th, 2024.

Every week we post six lines from a work of ours, a work-in-progress or published or a recommendation of someone else’s work with at least one LGBT character. Posted at Rainbow Snippets here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/963484217054974

My friend J. Scott Coatsworth is writing and posting https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/serial-down-the-river-chapter-two/ a sequel to his 2018 novel “The River City Chronicles, which was originally serialized on his blog.

In celebration, here’s a few snippets from the original, https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/book/the-river-city-chronicles/ set in a version of Scott’s adopted home of Sacramento, CA. Matteo and Diego are an Italian couple who moved to Sacramento from Italy and opened a restaurant. So far, business has been underwhelming. So self-taught chef Diego has started a cooking class at Ragazzi, the restaurant they own.

Diego glanced at the clock. It was almost two, and the lunch rush (which today had been four people) was over. His new students should be arriving soon. If there were any. They’d printed up five hundred green fliers after Matteo had helped him with his English, which was terrible. He knew he should learn more, but there was so much other work to be done—sourcing ingredients, preparing the daily menu, cooking. He hadn’t realized what a big job this restaurant was going to be.

Here’s a little more.

Dave reached toward the doorbell, but he hesitated. Usually he would come in the back way, but since Arthur had passed away, it felt…intrusive to presume such familiarity. And truth be told, he’d been keeping more and more to himself in general…

It had been months since Carmelina had tried to play the matchmaker with him. Their cat-and-mouse game had been put on hold by her husband’s death. But apparently it was game on now.

He was glad to see her coming out of her own seclusion. But did it have to be at the expense of his own?

That ran over six lines but it was so true-to life, I couldn’t resist! And I’m hungry for Italian Food, now! Oh, and the book includes recipes from Fabrizio Montanari and his mother and grandmother.

Next week, something a bit newer! Till then, take care! —-jeff