🏞️London Living

🎄‘Tis the season…!’ 🎄

I’m not a fan of Christmas. My mum loved it, and I loved watching her delight, but I’ve never loved it as much myself. Since she passed away, I find the whole holiday season quite difficult.

Mum and I both enjoyed Christmas carol services and communal singing – we once sang in a choir together. I do love listening to the familiar songs of my childhood and feeling all nostalgic. So I took my neighbour, Denise, to see G4’s Christmas concert at Westminster Central Hall on Saturday.

G4 are a male voice group with gorgeous operatic voices, and the venue was spectacular – Westminster Hall, which is opposite the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. London looked beautiful, lit up for Christmas, and I was hoping the concert would get me into the Christmas spirit. It was enjoyable, but sadly, there were no spine-tingling moments that really made me feel the season.

Never mind – I had a nice night out with a good friend!

I’m returning to Somerset on Sunday – I know the cats will be pleased, and I’m looking forward to doing some fun stuff with Emma again.

Xanthe’s G4 Concert Rating –  ⭐⭐⭐

Piccies below.

🎅 Alex and Josiah are having a very merry Christmas!

They’ve had quite a year! Here they are enjoying their hard-earned HEA at Christmas 🩷. (Courtesy of Emma)

📅 Events 📅

I’m attending some book signings and events in 2026. I hope to see some of you there!

• ShiMMer: June 27th, Birmingham (UK).
• Rainbow Readers Cruise: August 10-14th, Florida (USA).

🎁 Walter’s World Gifts!

📚 Exclusive Story Content

• Dark Water bonus novella Safe Harbour 

• FREE gay BDSM pirate novella A Willing Lad

• The Worlds of Xanthe Walter chapter sampler.

•  Birth Day – an MM Vampire short story.

🎵 Multimedia Extras

• Curated Spotify Playlists Ashton’s complete song from Ghost Eye

• Alex’s photo stash from The Lost Zone

• Two editions of News-Spec on Rising Radio, featuring Amanda and Alan at their most annoying. Plus ads and songs from 2095.

•  Frankie Lamb’s late-night show on Rising Radio.

🗺️ World-Building Deep Dives

• Flood map showing London’s lost zones

• The Daily Lowdown – a fully designed news site with headlines from Elliot Dacre’s murder

🧑🏻‍🤝‍🧑🏻 Featured Author

I feature another MM author’s work in each newsletter to share the MM love. In this newsletter,  it’s Caleb Marks with Covering Christmas. 

Clay
Instead of reporting on the biggest story of my career, I end up in this podunk town to cover a Christmas Festival. Now my rental winds up stuck in a snowbank!

My savior though…a hunky handyman digs me out. But I’m sure my in-the-heat-of-the-moment snappy comebacks must have turned him cold to me. Why, Clay?

He seems to be everywhere I turn though, including fixing my sink at the B&B. Maybe having him fix more than my leaking pipes might provide the diversion I desperately need?

Too bad I won’t be here much longer. Once my story is done…I’m out of here!

Dylan
Who comes to a snowy New Hampshire town not dressed for winter weather?

I’m staring at him…this cocky, yet easy-on-the-eyes, reporter is just a bit jaded. So of course, he’s staying at my folks’ B&B.

My responsibilities are endless leading up to the big Christmas Festival, helping around the B&B, and raising my belated sister’s son, Aiden. I can’t even dream of adding him to my plate to warm my bed.

Though I’m willing to give it a try.

When Clay uncovers a deeper story that threatens everyone…our town, my folks, Aiden, and us, will exposing the truth change what we’ve just started forever?