About Aubergine
by CB Potts
36 pages
/ 10000 words
SIBN: 978-1-60370-868-5, 1-60370-868-5
Available file types - html, lit, pdf, prc, Sony-optimized pdf, epub
A career-ending review. A small child caught up in the throes of a pandemic. Joseph and Lee have a lot on their plate. Stress piles on stress until it's all almost too much for them, not to mention their relationship!
Can love conquer all? Both men need shelter from the storms of the world, but are reluctant to turn to each other for fear of being a burden. They must choose wisely when seeking comfort, or nasty reviewers and the swine flu will be the least of their problems.
Sample
Joseph growled at his laptop.
Lee looked up from the stack of homework assignments he was grading, red pen poised in mid-air. Joseph didn't notice, so after a moment, he went back to work.
That lasted until Joseph growled again. This time, the growl was accompanied by some muttered profanity.
"You all right, babe?"
Joseph didn't answer. Instead, he set the laptop, none too gently, down on the couch and stalked across the narrow apartment into the kitchen. There, he poured himself three fingers worth of whiskey, the amber liquid sloshing into the glass violently, no doubt surprised at its own velocity.
"Bad review?"
Half of the glass disappeared in a swallow. "You're not going to believe this shit," Joseph said. He went back to the couch, making his progress in slow, heavy steps. "And of course it's getting linked all over the place."
"What?"
"Tavish's latest offering brings us more of his hyperbolic prose in lieu of plot, shot through with obscure references of interest to only the most determined reader. One hesitates to deem the writing purple. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it aubergine."
Lee winced. "Ouch."
"Ouch my ass. You know who wrote this?"
"Daniel."
"Of course it's fucking Daniel." The rest of the whiskey was gone now. "It's always fucking Daniel. I don't know what the hell I ever did to that guy, but he trashes everything I write."
"He trashes everything everyone writes." Lee shook his head. They'd had this conversation before. "That's what he does."
"Not everyone. He gave Katie Lastone's latest a rave review."
"Everyone gave Katie Lastone a great review. She knocked it out of the park. You said so yourself."