About Fall Down the Mountain
by PD Singer
247 pages / 62000 words
ISBN:
978-1-60370-283-6
Available file types - html, lit, Adobe and Sony optimized pdf, prc, epub
Ski patrol Mark McAvoy dug Ulf’s body out of the avalanche, and the
dead man haunts his dreams. Mark needs someone to wake him from the
nightmares as much as he wants someone to share his days. He gave up the
fleeting encounters with vacationing skiers who don’t remember his name
later, but he’s aghast at the well-meaning friends who are trying to
round up potential boyfriends.
Chef Allan Tengerdie cooks dinner for seventy skiers every day, delivers
it to their condos, and eats his own meals alone. A chance invitation to
a pot-luck at Mark’s home is his perfect opportunity to captivate a
hungry, lonely man. Mark’s ready to be there for him, even after he gets
hurt on the slopes, until another man’s shadow falls across them.
That man is dead, and now the grand jury wants Mark to explain his role
in the avalanche that killed him.
Review
Alexa Snow,
author of Clear Cut, writes: Mark McAvoy is still recovering from the
emotional trauma lingering after an avalanche at the Wapiti Creek resort
killed a fellow employee when his casual work-related relationship with
Allan Tengerdie turns into something with the potential for more. Mark
is the kind of person who instinctively takes care of others, so it
shouldn't come as a surprise that it's hard for him to move beyond the
guilt he feels following the avalanche; neither is it a surprise that he
wants to take care of Allan, although Allan's feelings on the matter may
complicate things. Can Mark step out of the past into the present? Will
Allan be waiting for him when he does?
This story is another in the series that started with a focus on
different characters and has now moved on to explore others. There's
something so comforting about a series of novels that stays within the
same universe - it's nice to know that one's favorite characters aren't
being totally abandoned, and just as nice to delve into the lives of
those who've been on the periphery. The writing is solid, the world
well-developed. Parts of the novel are told from Mark's point of view,
an excellent way of allowing the reader to get inside his head and
really get to know him. The post-traumatic stress Mark experiences is
handled with care - it feels realistic, not overblown or underplayed,
and gives Mark a depth that characters in gay erotica sometimes lack. A
quality read!!! Definitely recommended.
Sample
I watched a skier in a burgundy patrol jacket, twin to
my own, swing expertly around the chain barrier to the lift line. I’d been
about to yell, “Single!” to collect a partner for the chairlift, but Kim
would ride with me and we could talk patrol business on the ride to the top
of the West Peak. She waved at me and skied up to the front of the line. The
patrols didn’t wait turns -- we were needed on the slopes.
“Hey, Mark! I just came off Sundance.” Kim named an intermediate run once we
were seated in the chairlift. “A couple of snowboarders are riding kind of
wild -- cutting back and forth in front of each other, possibly they’ve been
drinking. I think one of them is that guy from the robot action flick that
opened right before Christmas, Cal Somebody-or-other. Black and silver
jacket, his buddy’s in some loud blue Hawaiian print pants.”
Great. We patrols loved inebriated celebrities. I had liked this particular
celebrity a great deal, one wine-fueled evening last season. So he’d brought
a companion this time. Cal probably didn’t remember my name.
“So, how did Cereal Bowl look?” Kim pulled her fleece headband off and tried
to bring some order to her curly brown mop. I held her poles as she waged
the losing battle.
“Not bad, I only had to rescue one loose ski for some guy who’d done an
eggbeater.” I shook my head -- he’d gone down in a whirl of arms, legs,
skis, and poles about a third of the way down the easy slope. “He said he
wasn’t hurt, though he managed to get the inside of his goggles full of
snow.”
“How far did you have to climb to get back to him?” Every patrol chased
equipment down the mountain now and then. Kim got the headband back on and
retrieved her poles. She didn’t look much different than when she’d started.
“About twenty yards. He was grateful.” I’d gotten a blinding smile and a
genuine thank you when I’d pulled him up off the snow to put the errant ski
back on, not the muttered politeness of wounded machismo.
“He should have been. You could have made him come down to you.” Going down
a mountain on one ski was beyond a lot of people’s skills, though I’d seen
Jorey Taylor do it in a race -- and win. Kim grinned slyly. “So, was he
cute?”
“Kim!” I did not want another assault on my social life, or lack of, from
her, and I was stuck on this lift for a while yet. “I don’t flirt with the
skiers.” I used to, but I’d been cured of that when Rudi Gernsbach tried to
hire me for Alpenschlossl. What a wake-up call that had been. I didn’t need
any more one-night-stands or fly-by-night relationships, and I was sick of
being used like a ski lift or hot-tub, just another resort amenity. That was
all gone with last season’s snows -- I was ready for something, someone
real.
“More fool you then,” she shot back, as if she understood. “Was he cute or
not?”
“Well… not cute, really.” The smile was wide, the cleft chin strong, and the
brown eyes under straight dark brows were warm, if a bit shy, as he cleaned
the snow out of his goggles. Good looking, more like, but I wasn’t going to
tell her that. Also probably someone I wouldn’t see again, a stranger met
once. “And leave the social life alone.”
“Nuh uh, not any more.” She made a face at me. “Mark McAvoy, you are
officially being tossed back into the dating pool. Julie, Chelsea, and I are
sick and tired of you mooning around. Your social life has been nonexistent
except for us. You’ve been alone and unhappy, and even if Jake perked you
back up for about a day and a half…” She trailed off. “Anyway, he’s not an
option, so we’re going to find you someone who is.”