More free fiction!

The excellent Cheyenne Holiday Sampler is back. (With 2 new stories!)

Why not download it right now? It has a free Jonty/Orlando short story and snippets from lots of other works, including Home Fires Burning

December 1915, behind the lines

“More wine?” Nicholas tilted the carafe towards Phillip’s glass.
“Seems a shame to waste it.” The little pension where they sat had a certain shabby charm; were it not for the sound of the guns in the distance, one could imagine oneself taking a little winter tour of Northern France prior to a proper Christmas at home. No such luck on that front—they’d been moved back here for re-training and amalgamating some “fresh from England and wet behind the ears” recruits into their company ranks, but they’d be back in the line by Christmas Eve at the latest. Still, the dispensation of one night’s leave and somewhere clean and dry to spend it felt like a blessing.
“I’ve not tasted wine this good since…” Nicholas stopped just in time. “Since we were in that cottage” would have risked opening old wounds which seemed to have healed successfully weeks ago. “Since I can’t remember when.” He smiled. Life was good, if only for a brief while. His initial reply to Paul had brought another cleverly written response, “the lad on the estate” being grateful for his employer’s understanding and Paul himself willing to act as broker in ensuring things were sorted out to everyone’s satisfaction the next time he was home on leave. More code. More seeds of hope.

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The Charioteer read on Radio 4

It's the book of the week, read by Anton Lesser. If you can get to listen, it's well worth it.

New release - Authors off the Shelf

Lazy Beagle's Charity anthology is now available on Smashwords and various other places, rolling out over the next few days.

25% of proceeds go to The Trevor Project, 25% to It Gets Better Project, 25% to The Humane Society of the United States and 25% to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Authors include: Patrick Wendling-Markwell, Rondal Markwell, Jeff Adkins, CJ Baty, Larisa Biyuts, Andrea Boyde, Charlie Cochrane, Ayla L.A. Coleman (DragonSoul), Tena Coleman-Dupree, Jennifer Dante, Matt Drabble, Matthew Dupree, K L Elix-Kinsey, Harper Fox, Sara Bengston Gauldin, Cassandra Giovanni, Novelist Roberta Goodman, Heather Greenis, J.A. Harmon, Phoenix Hell, David Hughes, Patricia Logan, KL Mabbs, Susan Mac Nicol, Theresa Markwell, Angel Martinez, Jon Michaelsen, John L. Monk, Eva Moravek, Jason Nichols, Simon Oliver, Arianna Paige, Pamela Pelaam-One, Johanna Marie Rae, Caitlin Ricci, Joel Savage, Andrea Speed, Raymond Tullett, Robert Walker, Melanie Whitlock and Karl Wiggins Writing.

My contribution features Jonty, Orlando, Dr. Panesar and a certain Alan Turing...

By the time Panesar was making any sense, Jonty was almost dry and they’d each consumed a large glass of sherry.
“So, let me get this straight,” Orlando said, enumerating points on his fingers. “You lost the ‘subsidiary computational drive’ for your machine last week. Young Turing helped you turn the lab upside down, but it had gone. Today the rest of the machine disappeared into thin air.”
“It didn’t transport itself to 2013, I suppose?” Jonty asked, safe in the knowledge he was
outside of whacking range.
Panesar groaned. “I usually appreciate your jokes, Dr. Stewart, but not at this moment. And it wasn’t one of my prototype time travelling machines. It was an engine intended to perform complex mathematical calculations. Invaluable if it comes to fruition. Someone has stolen it, I’m certain.”