SOLD!

Shadowfire Press presented me with the challenge of trying my hand at another Christmas story - and I guess it paid off, as they just took "The Last Noel" from me. After "A Christmas Caroler" (available via eXcessica Publishing on December 14th), plus my story from Torquere, "Deck the Balls," I thought this boy was out of Christmas stories for good; had no idea I had maybe one of the most romantic stories I've ever written still in me.

"The Last Noel" tells the tale of 33-year-old advertising executive Ryan, an ex-minor league baseball player so far unlucky in love. Not for lack of trying, mind you; his first love, at sixteen, left note only quite a scar, but also a "curse" of sorts that Ryan (even if only in the back of his mind) is sure has kept him from meeting the right guy in the seventeen years since.

Which makes things (and Ryan) all the more hard when, one evening in a gay club on the north side of Chicago called Pride of Chucky's, Ryan spots the most beautiful young god he's ever seen in his life. Instantly captivated and intimidated, Ryan is soon filled in on some 411 about the young man by the bar's owner, Chuck - and one factoid he's presented with convinces him the curse he's under has struck again.

That said, Ryan can't shake the 22-year-old club kid from his head; not that day, or the next. So soon he gives in, and embarks on one last try for the real deal - love at last, at Christmastime, when miracles are supposed to happen.

The story drops on December 4th, as part of the new "Cinnamon Sticks" Christmas series from Shadowfire - and if one tale of sex and love isn't enough, check out another personal, very sentimental holiday tale for me, "A Christmas Caroler," available from eXcessica, come (no pun intended) December 14th.

Ho-ho-ho! And no, I'm not talking about my last three dates ...

Kris