QSFer Andrea Speed has a new paranormal book out:
Peek behind the curtain with Roan McKichan and the various characters who make up the Infected universe in this sometimes serious, sometimes humorous collection of short stories centered around the holidays.
There’s Kevin, who reflects on how lonely his life in the closet is. And Fiona and Tank, who go on a surprisingly good first date. Roan himself finds his Halloween celebration at Panic interrupted by loose cats and obnoxious frat boys while Paris contemplates his mortality on their impromptu honeymoon. Dropkick deals with her new marriage and male egos on the job, Roan meets Connor at the scene of a drunken fight, and Holden contemplates his future as a street kid. These stories and many more will be told, centered around more holidays than you can shake a dreidel at.
Excerpt
“TELL ME again why we’re doing this?” Roan asked as he set up the dining room table. They’d just bought it at a thrift store yesterday, and Roan had to shift the couches, chairs, and end table in the living room to make room for it there.
Dylan sighed at him before turning away to pull the lasagna out of the oven. “Because you’ve never had a proper Thanksgiving, and I wanted to give you one.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. I’ve had a couple of ‘proper’ Thanksgivings, and that’s why I hate it so much.” Roan shook out the green tablecloth Dylan had dug up somewhere, because even though he thought it was silly, he knew he had to play along or there would be hell to pay.
“See, that’s exactly what I mean. Hellish Thanksgivings with foster families are not what the holiday is about. I want to reframe it, give you a good holiday. What did you and Paris do around Thanksgiving?”
“We generally went out and had a nice dinner on Canadian Thanksgiving. On the American one, we’d just sit at home and watch our own Mystery Science Theater 3000 marathon. I liked it.”
“Oh I’m sure you did. But you can do more than that.”
“I’m still watching my copy of Night of the Blood Beast, damn it,” Roan said, pretty sure the tablecloth was straight. Or at least straight enough. He just couldn’t care.
Dylan now had some plates and gave Roan a couple before starting to put them on the table. “Come on,” he said. “This must be self- explanatory.”
Roan sighed but started laying out dishes as well. The funny thing was, the plates didn’t match. There were some elegant, square, dark blue ones, which Dylan had bought, and Roan’s older ones, which were round, green, and pretty utilitarian. Roan hated to think the plates they had reflected their personalities, but they kind of did, if you thought about it. That was sad.
Buy Links
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Author Bio
Andrea Speed was born looking for trouble in some hot month without an R in it. While succeeding in finding Trouble, she has also been found by its twin brother, Clean Up, and is now on the run, wanted for the murder of a mop and a really cute, innocent bucket that was only one day away from retirement. (I was framed, I tell you – framed!)
In her spare time, she arms lemurs in preparation for the upcoming war against the Mole Men.
Viva la revolution!
IN ABSTENTIA BY ANDREA SPEED: http://andreaspeed.com/
WRITER OF STUFF (TUMBLR): http://notmanos.tumblr.com/
8TRACKS: http://8tracks.com/notmanos