If you’re looking for a Christmas read, my short story The Faller is out today from Dreamspinner Press. Here’s the blurb:

The Faller cover

Being caught with another man sends Charlie Young fleeing his family to the forests of southwestern Australia to scrape together steamer-passage to the big smoke of London. But life as a timber faller isn’t easy and it’s made worse when the men he works with are brash, bigoted, and often brutal. All except Jack Tapper, who’s the kind of gentle giant that sets Charlie’s heart racing.

While the other men head into town for Christmas, it’s just Charlie and Jack and acres of forest. But trees tell no tales and a few days alone is the perfect opportunity to indulge a bourgeoning passion. When the men return and find things not as they once were, Charlie and Jack have to make the hard decisions about whether to stay where they are or run for their lives.

Set in 1912 in south-west Western Australia, it definitely wasn’t an obvious choice for a Christmas story. I decided to write it when I read that Dreamspinner was looking for submissions to its 2018 Advent Calendar anthology. I’d spent the better part of a year doing research on the timber industry in Western Australia, I decided to put it all that knowledge to good use.

I’d learnt all about the conditions that led to significant changes in the industry in the early part of the 20th century where sleeper-cutters were some of the best paid manual labourers in the country at the time. Without timber, the fledgling state of Western Australia would likely have collapsed. I’d also found a few photos of some extremely well-built men who’d spend weeks out in the forest cutting down trees, one of who was the inspiration for Jack Tapper.

But throughout the research there wasn’t any mention of gay men, which wasn’t surprising. There must have been some but their secrets were well and truly kept. Therefore, my Christmas story imagines what one of those relationships might have looked like at the time. I hope you enjoy it.

The Faller is available from Dreamspinner in pdf, epub and mobi formats.