How I Got Three Cats… By Jeff Baker. March 6, 2024.

Posted on March 6, 2024 by jeffbaker307

How I Got Three Cats

by Jeff Baker

First of all, I did not intend to get three cats. Just two. A little orange male and a calico female.

I’d better explain.

My house has felt empty and too quiet since Darryl died almost a year ago. Last June I was down at my Brother’s and his family for a week or so. And they had cats. Lots of cats. I eventually counted about fourteen.

What happened was the crazy cat lady who lived next door up and bailed this past spring and she had several cats. My Brother and his family took the cats in hoping to place them in good homes. Then, two of the kitties had litters. And then one of those two cats got pregnant and had another litter!

Three litter groups of kitties running around the house. Along with two little dogs and some grown cats.

Eventually, the little kittens got placed with other people. And I claimed two of them.

Yeah, just two.

I named them Camden and Ebbet. Baseball names after Darryl’s love of baseball. I planned to take them after the first of the year. Meantime, the kitties got spayed and neutered, and got all their shots. I went out there once a month for a week or two and got to know the kitties.

When the other kittens were almost all parceled out to families in the area, one remained. A black and tan female named “Little Miss Meow-Meow,” for the obvious reasons. She’s either the sister or cousin of the other two. She and Ebbet became playmates (yes, she’s been fixed too.)

We didn’t want to split them up, so I agreed to take Miss Meow-Meow.

And so, on Monday February 12th I made the drive back to Wichita, with the three kitties in their respective cat carriers. They had been fed “calming treats” before the ride so they snoozed covered-up for the trip. Once I got them home they set about exploring and quickly found the cat boxes in the hallway and in the basement. They felt at home very soon and so did I.

Camden has a few neurological issues; she has seizures sometimes and may need a little extra care but the three of them play together and groom each other and seem to enjoy their new home.

So, I have someone to come home to again as well as talk to and I’ve missed that. They hop onto the bed with me and snooze, and they may be getting used to my weird hours. I tend to be up until the wee hours of the morning.

There are a few inconveniences; I can’t leave my food laying around unattended on the table or even the stove. And I have to watch out that they don’t run out when I open a door. They are indoor cats now, but they had the run of the backyard back in Hugoton at the house where they were born.

I tend to use the back door a lot; coming onto the screened-in back porch and then using the back door to the kitchen. I call it “going through the airlock.” I grew up with cats, and this is not my first time taking care of them. And it brings back memories of twenty years ago when my Brother and his family were moving and I took care of their two cats “Stubby” and “Boo-Boo” for a couple of months. I called them “The Naughty Kitties,” because they were into everything. And when they went to their new home I missed having them around. So I guess I’ve come full circle now, with a house full of active, sweet cats. I call them “The Kitties Without Pity.” But they are sweet. They don’t tear things up but they do knock them over.

Like I have said, the house feels warmer now, it feels like a home again. And there is endless fun with the kitties playing, curled up to snooze on the couch or snuggled next to me in bed or demanding my attention.

It is a full life.

–end–

Posted in Kitties Without Pity, Non-Fiction | Leave a comment

Two Kings And A Jack–Flash Fiction Draw Challenge Draws For March, 2024, from Mike Mayak. (March 4th, 2024.)

Posted on March 4, 2024 by jeffbaker307

First, here’s the prompts for the March 2024 Flash Fiction Draw Challenge. Then my usual long-winded explanation:

A Crime Story

Involving a Comic Book

Set on an Outdoor Stage

Now, on to the details.

Hi! I’m Mike Mayak, I also write as Jeff Baker and I’m the current moderator for the monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge, which was started by ‘Nathan Burgoine a few years ago and carried on by Cait Gordon and Jeffrey Ricker. It’s a monthly writing challenge mainly for stress-free fun that anyone can play.

Here’s how it works: the first Monday of every month I draw three cards; a heart, a diamond and a club. These correspond to a list naming a genre, a setting and an object that must appear in the story. Participants write up a flash fiction story, 1,000 words or less, post it to their website and link it here in the comments. I’ll post the results (and hopefully have one of my own written!) the week of March 11th, 2024.

As I’m no good making videos I did the drawing offstage. So, the results were the Jack of Hearts (a Crime Story), the King of Diamonds (An Outdoor Stage) and the Seven of Clubs (a Comic Book.) So we will write a crime story, set on an outdoor stage involving a comic book.

So, get to writing and I’ll post the results next week! And I’m putting the 2024 Flash Draw sheet at the end of this message, again!

Thanks for playing, and I’ll see you next week!

And have fun!

——mike

Flash Draw Sheet for 2024 (“*” indicates prompt has been used.)

Clubs

A A Slippery Slide

2 A Rubber Duck

3 Warm Woolen Mittens

4 A Snow Globe

5 Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers

6 A Pepper Mill

*7. A Giant Mallet

8 A Giant Penny

9 A Box of Rubber Bands

*10 A Grapefruit

J A Cellphone

Q A Dumpster

*K A Comic Book

Hearts

A. Science Fiction

2 A Romance

3 Paranormal

4 A Mystery

5 A Thriller

6 An Adventure Story

7. A Bedtime Story

8 A Monster Story

*9 A Fantasy

10 A Horror Story

*J A Crime Story

Q A Melodrama

*K A Legend

Diamonds

A A Burger Place

* 2 A Herd of Horses

3 A Roomful of Hats

*4 An Empty Gymnasium

5 The Temple of Diana In Greece

6 A Field of Lettuce

7 A Haunted House

8 A Western Ghost Town

9 A Greenhouse

10 A Giant Teepee

J A Costume Shop

Q A Cake Shop

*K An Outdoor Stage

Posted in 'Nathan Burgoine, Cait Gordon, Jeffrey Ricker, Mike Mayak, Monthly Flash Fiction Draw Challenge | 1 Comment

Bruce Coville’s “Am I Blue?” Rainbow Snippets for March 3rd, 2024 from Jeff Baker.

Posted on March 3, 2024 by jeffbaker307
Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com

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 snippets this week are from a writer whose short-stories I read during the 90s when I was trying to teach myself how to write them myself. Bruce Coville’s story “Am I Blue?” was recently featured on the fine podcast “The Queer Book That Saved My Life.” https://thisqueerbook.com/am-i-blue/ The story is available in a lot of places. Here’s the original. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/708960.Odds_Are_Good

Vincent, our young High-School narrator is having a bad day. A guy punched him out calling him an anti-gay slur. Then he meets Melvin, a Gay guy who can do real magic and says he’s Vincent’s Fairy Godfather. Snippet one has them talking in a cafe.

“Do you know the three great Gay fantasies?” he asked.

“I don’t think so,” I said nervously.

He looked at me. “How old are you?”

“Sixteen.”

“Skip the first two. You’re too young”

Melvin explains that Gay Fantasy #3 would be every Gay person in America turning blue for a day, so all the straights would have to stop imagining they don’t know any Gays and that there are Gay cops, firemen, kids, parents. Melvin offers to give Vincent Gaydar for a while; he’ll see anybody who is LGBT as being blue. Here’s snippet two:

It was like seeing the world through new eyes. Most of the people looked just the same as always, of course. But Mr. Alwain, the fat guy who ran the grocery store, looked like a giant blueberry—which surprised me, because he was married and had three kids. On the other hand, Ms. Thorndyke the librarian, who everyone knew was a lesbian, didn’t have a trace of blue on her.

“Can’t tell without the spell,” said Melvin.

I’ll recommend anything Coville writes especially this story. https://www.brucecoville.com/

Next week; something else by someone else. —-jeff

Posted in Bruce Coville, LGBT, Rainbow Snippets | 4 Comments

“One Day In The Old Kingdom” Friday Flash Fics for March 1st, 2024 by Jeff Baker.

Posted on March 2, 2024 by jeffbaker307

One Day In The Old Kingdom

by Jeff Baker

“You can see a lot from up here,” I said. It wasn’t my first day on the job, but I’d never been on top of the Community Facility Building. Some people called it “The Big Flying Saucer,” because it was round, had a domed roof and was about 200,000 square feet. Movable walls inside and theaters made it perfect for conventions and concerts. It had been state-of-the-art when it had been built about fifty-six years ago. But now the state-of-the-art needed repair, especially on the roof and I was part of the construction crew putting in new tiles.

“My Granddad used to tell me about seeing them put this building up when he was in Grade School,” I said.

“Yeah, my Granddad worked on this building back when it was being built,” Andres said. “that was in, like 1969. Way back when.

Andres and I were two of the newer guys on the crew.

“But I get what you’re saying,” Andres said. “This must have been what it was like working on top of the Pyramids in Egypt back in the Old Kingdom.”

“What Old Kingdom?” I asked.

“That was back when they were building the Pyramids,” Andres said. “Some writer started calling it the Old Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom. Stuff like that.”

Andres didn’t like to show off but he had a degree in Egyptology. Couldn’t get a job, though. Me, I had a G.E.D. after I dumped High school.

“And you know what else?” Andres said.

“What?” I asked.

“Thousands of years from now there will be a couple of workers standing on top of a building they’re working on, looking out and shooting the breeze just like we are now.”

“And complaining about the Pharaoh,” I said. Andres laughed.

We kept at the work for a little bit longer. Fortunately, it was still late Spring and the heat of summer hadn’t kicked in yet.

“Whew! What time is it anyway?” I said.

Andres looked around. “Lunchtime,” he said.

“Good.” I said pulling my lunch pail over from where I’d stashed it.

And we sat there on the roof of the building eating our lunches, the view on all sides stretching to the horizon.

—end—

Posted in Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, Science Fiction, Short-Stories, Wichita | Leave a comment

“On The Busses.” NSFW From Skip Hanford. February 27, 2024.

Posted on February 27, 2024 by jeffbaker307

Saw this pic on Facebook and the story banged into my head. Wish I looked like him! Wish I was the narrator of this story! Enjoy! —-skip

On The Busses

by Skip J. Hanford

February 27, 2024

I was on the commuter train home when the two men sat down across the aisle from me. One in a robe, the other nearly naked except for gold-laced shoulder pads, a loincloth and studded sandals. He was young, tanned and muscular. I checked him out. He saw me looking at him and quickly looked away. Long enough for me to see his wonderful dark eyes.

I nodded over at the man in the robe who seemed to be his Master. He nodded back.

“You selling him?” I asked.

The near-naked man glanced up for a moment, then looked away.

“Only to get rid of him,” the man said. “I’m having to downsize. I inherited a bunch of slaves like him.”

“What’s your price?” I asked.

“He is yours if you will pledge an amount to the Empire,” the man said. “And address me as Master.”

“I am no slave,” I said.

“But you will be trading for a Mastership, to own this young man. He is paying for his crimes. You will remain free. He will never be free. Look at those muscles, those lips.”

I looked. My tunic was getting tight around my crotch.

“Yes, Master.” I said. “How much do I pledge?”

“His name is Marco,” the man said. “Here is what you pledge.”

Marco, the near-naked young man, had lowered his head the moment the man spoke his name, showing the full weight of being owned.

It was nearly an hour later after walking Marco, walking as subservient as he could, from the bus stop to my apartment that I locked the door behind the two of us.

That was when Marco collapsed on the floor laughing.

“Oh, my God! Oh my God!” Marco said laughing. “I’ll never forget that! ‘He is yours if you will pledge an amount to the Empire.’” Marco rolled onto his back and kept laughing. “I had no idea your Brother was anything like an actor!”

“Yeah, but the three of us earned third place in the costume contest,” I said, shucking off my makeshift toga. “You’re problem is you’re such a youngish-looking hunk!”

“Yeah, I am!” Marco said. “You know why I agreed to do that whole thing?”

“No, why?” I asked.

“We met on February 18th,” he said. “Our first official date was February 27th.” Sixteen years ago today”

“Oh, yeah, you’re right!” I said. I forgot that part!” I only remembered when we met and our wedding in 2016 after they legalized it.

“So, what do you want to do now?” Marco asked with a grin. “You did buy me on the bus, remember?”

“Let me help you out of this stuff first,” I said, kissing him. “Then we’ll see.”

“Yes, Sir,” Marco said with a smile.

—-end—

Posted in Fiction, LGBT, Romance, Short-Stories, Skip Hanford | Leave a comment

February 25, 2024 Progress Report (For Jan/Feb. 2024) From Jeff Baker.

Posted on February 25, 2024 by jeffbaker307

Progress Report from Jeff Baker

February 25th, 2024.

I guess I kept at it over late January through February 2024.

Wrote up a story I’d plotted out early in the pandemic.

Typed-up/revised a story I may have first written in a handwritten draft about fifteen years ago. The original typed draft is on the old computer but this new, revised version is better and it fixes a few plot holes.

Sent both stories off to a market. One got rejected, sent it elsewhere. And I submitted about three other full-length stories.

Wrote-up one QSF column, (I have three others already written!) and did the weekly Flash Fiction stories as well as the monthly Draw story.

Also plotted out a few other stories.

That’s about it for now!

———jeff baker, February 25, 2024.

Posted in Progress Reports, Writing | Leave a comment

Sit “On The Front Porch” with Rainbow Snippets from Jeff Baker. (February 25, 2024)

Posted on February 25, 2024 by jeffbaker307
Photo by Ben Mack on Pexels.com

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

The idea for this story came from a picture on a You Tube video from “Nemo’s Dreamscapes,” which are largely nostalgic scenes of White, Cisgender America accompanying a music playlist. Nonetheless, they are fun and sometimes sweet and romantic. The set up to this one was a picture of a young couple sitting on a front porch in the evening, drinking coffee at a vacation cabin by a lake. The setup read: “1949, sitting on a porch on a Summer night (Oldies playing in another room, crickets.)”

So here’s snippets from my story “On The Front Porch.” https://authorjeffbaker.com/2024/01/19/sit-on-the-front-porch-by-the-lake-for-friday-flash-fics-by-jeff-baker-january-19th-2024/

The music was playing soft and the radio and Doug was sitting on the front porch of his family’s lakeside cabin, watching the Moon reflect in the water when Scotty bounded up the steps.

“I got your message,” Scotty said. “Are you okay?”

Doug smiled, as usual, Scotty looked good in slacks, brown shoes and the white button down shirt with no tie. The shirt was sweaty; he’d run from his folks’ cabin nearby.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Doug said. “Just that Mom and Dad and Janie left this afternoon. I’m taking off in my roadster in a couple of days. So we got the cabin to ourselves for a day or so.”

A little over the six lines, but here’s a little more…

“Right now, I want you beside me on this bench, looking at the Moon, the lake, the stars, listening to the romantic music on the radio.” Doug paused. “We can hold hands.”

“Sure,” Scotty said, sitting down. He glanced around and kissed Doug on the cheek. Doug squeezed his hand as they settled down on the bench; the radio playing a fake Spanish romantic song.

“This is nice…” Scotty said.

Yes, it is, Scotty. I usually don’t do spoilers for any story here (or anywhere, for that matter!) but readers will be happy to know that Doug and Scotty get a happy ending!

And here’s a link to Nemo’s Dreamscapes. I have dozed to these playlists many times! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITcnr6T_8hk&t=5623s

Next week: Something borrowed and something Blue. Till then—–jeff

Posted in LGBT, Rainbow Snippets | 2 Comments

Reading Report January/February 2024. From Jeff Baker. (February 23, 2024)

Posted on February 24, 2024 by jeffbaker307

Reading Report for February 20th, 2024 (Covering Jan/Feb. 2024)

Most of my fiction reading has been short-stories from the middle of January through mid-February.

Read several of Fritz Leiber’s “Changewar” stories (many collected in the book “Changewar,” my paperback dating from 1983.) Started with “The Oldest Soldier.” A perfect story! With the feel of Leiber’s hometown of Chicago. Also read his “Knight to Move,” from the same collection. One of his many chess stories. Set in the future it references a long-distance way to sign a document. Clever ending.

Also read “Nice Girl With Five Husbands,” (from “The Worlds Of Fritz Leiber”) which Leiber said fit into the series and that he based the character on his friend Judith Merrill. Also read “When the Change-Winds Blow,” from “Changewar,” which was more poetic.

For my read of Leiber’s Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series I read the short-short “Bait,” also in “The Worlds of Fritz Leiber. So were the disquieting and brilliant “Waif,” and one of his cat stories “The Lotus Eaters.” As well as “Strange Doings At the Metropolitan Museum.”

Also read two Leiber stories not from “Worlds Of…” Namely “Cat’s Cradle” and “The Death Of Princes,” the latter one of his astronomy-related fantasy/horror stories, and a good one! Title from “Hamlet,” of course.

Also from “Worlds Of Fritz Leiber” (whose contents Leiber selected himself) read “Our Saucer vacation.” A riff on the Heinlein Juveniles and loads of fun! I could imagine the kid narrator’s voice as being in a 60s Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoon and the Dad’s voice as Mike Road.

But neither character is at all human!

Leiber and Heinlein knew each other, and if he read the story I bet Heinlein got the joke! I did!

Speaking of Heinlein, I’d been neglecting reading his “The Rolling Stones,” so I cracked that open and read some more.

The other novel I’ve been reading was recommended to me by a friend. “52 Steps to Murder” by Steve Demaree is a funny detective/mystery story, the first in a series.

The big news reading-wise for this month was the long-awaited last story by the late Tom Reamy. “Potiphee, Petey And Me” was written about 45 years ago for Harlan Ellison’s unreleased “Last Dangerous Visions” and never published. It’s in the recent definitive Reamy collection “Under the Hollywood Sign: the Collected Stories Of Tom Reamy.” It’s perfect. Disturbing, funny, dystopian and probably rated “R.” Reamy was only getting better.

On a few different notes, I got a pamphlet with a Christmas story from Crippen and Landru Publishers of a story by Richie Narvaez; “Raul And Rita In It’s A Wonderful Wife.” Great fun.

Another Christmas story was “Nothing You Dismay” by Ellis Peters. Suspenseful with a twisty ending.

Re-read a few stories like G. J. A. O’Toole’s “Turn Down For Richmond” (which I’d read in “Twilight Zone Magazine” in college.) Also “Little Note Nor Long Remember” by Henry T. Parry, “Drawer 14” by Talmadge Powell, and “The Remember Service” by John Bennett.

All of those from a fine set of anthologies collecting ghost/horror stories from various regions of the U.S. The Kansas entry was Charles Wagner’s “Deadlights,” (set in Beloit!) Spooky, especially the last line! (Not sure if I’d read it before.) And re-read the creepy Wisconsin-set “Death’s Door” by Robert McNear (from “Ghosts Of the Heartland.”) A page turner about a basketball team and an iced-over lake that I read when the anthology first came out, standing there in the bookstore. Yeah, it’s that good!

I bought a crumbling, 80 year-old copy of “Thrilling Wonder Stories” (Winter 1944) After reading a blog post about three (!!!) Henry Kuttner/C.L. Moore stories in the issue and finding out there was a Robert Arthur story in there as well. “Swing Your Lady” (as by Kelvin Kent) was Kuttner’s last story about time-traveling Pete Manx who finds himself among Amazons. (Not the website!) Sort of a wacky Damon Runyon.

“The Hunter” (as by Scott Morgan) is a WWII tale with some racist lines directed at the main character, a Japanese officer, not only from the American character but the editor’s intro. It has a grim and clever twist that I kind of guessed!

“A God Named Kroo,” as by Kuttner. Some humor, a lot of magic, adventure and a sweet ending. The Kuttners in fine form if not up to the standards of “A Gnome There Was.” An unjustly neglected fantasy, maybe because of a few anti-Japanese bits. (It IS set in Burma during 1944, but the racism could have been much more overt.) An enjoyable story.

The Robert Arthur story, “Space Command,” is an okay stuck-on-a-hostile-planet sci-fi adventure story with some problem-solving typical of the sci-fi of the era and something of a character study thrown in for good measure.

Some very clever bits, if not up to Arthur at his best. The story moves along (maybe a bit too long, Arthur was probably being paid by the word and I think the brawl near the end of the story was unnecessary. ) In the story-behind-the-story bit (“Thrilling Wonder Stories” regularly ran them at this time) Arthur said he envisioned the story as taking place in 2011. Wow!

The issue included wartime advertisements, including one for razor blades that had a sign: Win the War in ‘44. The issue came out in early 1944—right before D-Day.

All-in-all, the crumbling magazine was worth the $15.

Also read (and blogged about!) an anthology for writer H. M. Wolfe (who is ailing) called “Love and Hope.” A bunch of M/M Valentine’s Day stories including one by Kaje Harper: “Toby, Doyle And the Cats,” set in her “Hidden Wolves” series. Sweet and fun!

Neglected my Edgar Allan Poe reading this time around, but I did start reading one more by Leiber: “The Terror From the Depths,” a story Leiber started in the 30s but didn’t finish until the 1970s! Got it read about halfway so far!

——-jeff baker, February 21, 2024

Posted in Reading, Reading Report | Leave a comment

Be Greeted By A “Nice Doggie!” Friday Flash Fics by Jeff Baker. February 23rd, 2024.

Posted on February 23, 2024 by jeffbaker307

Nice Doggie!

By Jeff Baker

“This is crazy!” I said.

“Shut up and hoist me over!” Pete said.

“Let’s call a cab!”

“Cabs cost money,” Pete said. “Besides, I’m your designated driver, remember?”

“I know! I know!”

I’d had a couple of beers and we’d ordered breaded something-or-other and played a couple of video games at Heroes Sports Bar down town. It was Pete’s and my day off the next day so we stayed until dark. It was Wednesday and the downtown wasn’t too busy. Pete had parked his old VW in a parking lot by a warehouse with the date “1917” carved at the top, a ways away from all the other cars. Now the gate was closed and locked.

“Get down there and cup your hands under me,” he said.

“That’s breaking and entering!”

“We’re not breaking,” he said. “And I’ll only be there long enough to get the car out.”

“How are you going to…” I asked.

Then the large German Shepard ran up to the gate barking and growling. I jumped back.

“Cab,” I said. “Call a cab.”

“Not with this guy!” Pete said, bending down to the fence. “Hi, Kerney!”

The dog wagged his tail and so help me smiled!

“This is Kernel Klink,” Pete said as the dog licked his face through the fence. “My Uncle owns this warehouse. I used to work here in the summer. I’ve known this bad boy since he was a puppy!”

“You could’ve told me that!” I said.

“In between making out on the weekends and playing bar trivia I couldn’t find an opening,” Pete said. “Hey, Kerney! This is my friend Mason! Here, let him lick your fingers!”

“I’m not gonna…oh, hell.” I held my hand up to the gate and the dog sniffed and licked me through the wire gate. His tail was still wagging.

“See? He likes you!” Pete said.

“Yeah,” I said smiling. I hadn’t had a dog since I was a kid. “Does he know how to unlock the gate?”

Pete stared at me and stared at the dog. He shook his head.

“Call a cab?” Pete asked.

“Call a cab,” I said pulling out my cellphone.

“At least we know the car will be safe!” Pete said, glancing at Kernel Klink who was watching us quizzically, his tail flopping on the ground.

—end—

Posted in Fiction, Friday Flash Fics, Friday Flash Fictions, LGBT, Short-Stories, Wichita | Leave a comment

Rainbow Snippets: “Toby, Doyle and the Cats” by Kaje Harper. Posted by Jeff Baker, February 17, 2024.

Posted on February 17, 2024 by jeffbaker307

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 snippets this week come from an anthology that is literally just out. “Love And Hope” is a charity anthology with all proceeds going to the writer H. M. Wolfe who is ailing. 26 M/M authors donated stories “filled with love and hope.” https://www.amazon.com/Love-Hope-Anthology-H-M-Wolfe-ebook/dp/B0CQLF41ZT/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2M4LF9AL8PIBY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._Pq4KqeE99YYL3Ld_Ej_WABTEmCTrFUGx8EeVIj-xgQFQUZ9Sfs4jHkUItEfURi-jcAmqTX4l7IvYw0dshMSCDCt_ZI7ctnho7SIbVhGV2N5VCoS-5WUb24bwdCBTx5vi5gLop7bSvz3PXTDpuYifDy56OOv-1Kjxveb3XyBlHWLxbvqUHeX0BA4GTEzwJ_7bD6Zfo_ov_a8vi6Pdkl6hyEe5_EW44aa1h3zi6HjJFA.kxEulxNkBW7bcTSgsR5rxT_LOWbk1RfKvNYs0yWI5wI&dib_tag=se&keywords=Love+And+Hope&qid=1708223721&s=books&sprefix=love+and+hope%2Cstripbooks%2C290&sr=1-1

In Kaje Harper’s story “Toby, Doyle and the Cats,” two guys who are attracted to each other open up when one of them discovers three abandoned, scrawny kittens that need care.

Did I mention that Toby and Doyle are part of a pack of werewolves?

I stepped closer and peered down at them. “Shouldn’t they be fatter? Other than their bellies?” Kitten photos online showed rounded little fuzzballs.

“Yeah. He sighed again.

Here’s just a little more:

My wolf rose up in me, sniffing around, noting a packmate in distress. I shoved him back down. The last thing I needed was my wolf getting involved.

I was already way too obsessed with Toby. I’d lived all of my forty-five years in this pack, pup and man, hunkered down, quiet, moving up in the ranks and not standing out for anything except my swift fangs and my ability to think outside the box. Then, three months after word came down from the Council to tolerate and protect our gay wolves instead of killing them, there was Toby.

Here’s a link to Kaje’s own site https://www.kajeharper.com/ where you can read more of her “Hidden Wolves” series. I can recommend them as well as the stories in (and the cause behind!) “Love And Hope.”

Next week, a little more romance. —–jeff

Posted in Kaje Harper, LGBT, Rainbow Snippets | 4 Comments