The Shearing Gun
Blurb: At twenty-five, Hank owns a small parcel of land in Australia’s rural southwest where he supplements his income from the property with seasonal shearing. Hank is a “shearing gun”—an ace shearer able to shear large numbers of sheep in a single day. His own father kicked him out when his sexuality was revealed, and since no one would ever hire a gay shearer, Hank has remained firmly closeted ever since.
Elliot is the newbie doctor in town—city-born and somewhat shell-shocked from his transplant to the country. When a football injury brings Hank to Elliot’s attention, an inappropriate sexual glance and the stuttered apology afterward kickstarts their friendship. Romance and love soon blossom, but it’s hard for either of them to hope for anything permanent. As if the constant threat of being caught isn’t enough, Elliot’s contract runs out after only a year.
Excited?
Why did I write this story? Well, back in the dark days (ie before Loving Jay was published) I was thinking about what to write about. Country boys are always so sexy – but we don’t get a lot of cowboys in my section of Western Australia. To the south of Perth is prime farming land. We have huge industries in grapes, oranges, forestry and dairy. To the south east it is sheep and wheat land. To get your cowboys you need to go way way north.
But then I thought – why not shearers? Do you get gay shearers? You must do. Not that very many of them would be out… <<plot bunnies hatched all over the place>>
Shearing and sheep are in my blood. My father was a shearer at one stage of his life (way before I was born). He raised sheep my entire life. I have brothers, nephews and even a sister-in-law who are all shearers.
So please, sit back and enjoy Hank’s coming out story.
Available for pre-order from Dreamspinner within the next couple of days. I'll post the link as soon as it's live.