I know it’s been forever since I last posted a story, but… I’ve posted a story! It’s called A Willing Lad, and it’s a 32,000 word gay, BDSM, original character novella. In my head, I see Luke Evans and Sebastian Stan playing the main characters, but you can see whoever you like.

A Willing Lad was conceived in long conversations with my good friend Emma during countless Covid lockdowns. In fact, we’ve dreamed up an entire story universe, of which this is only a very small part. 

Emma turned 50 in January, and had originally planned many lovely celebrations. Obviously, they all went by the wayside because of the pandemic restrictions. So, I thought it’d be nice if I wrote her a story – a little 5000 word snippet about a couple of the characters in our epic gay romantic story-verse, and how they met and fell in love. Obviously, being me, it turned into a 32,000 word opus instead…

More From Xanthe: I’ve spent the past year working on two novels in an entirely separate original character trilogy that I hope to publish some time later this year. I’ve been editing and polishing them for the past twelve months. They are now being professionally edited – and I hope to write the third novel in the trilogy shortly.

It’s not been an easy time for me. I lost my beloved Mum to Covid in April last year, and Dad has just been in hospital for a few weeks with severe pneumonia; he’s now staying with me while he recuperates. It’s been a real tonic for me to return to writing and editing. I’ve very much missed posting my particular brand of bonkers stories, and I’ve missed interacting with all you lovely people about them!

I hope this is the start of a return to being Xanthe again. I don’t know if there are many people out there who still even vaguely remember me, but if you do… please enjoy this offering!

PS If you want to stay up to date with me, I update my Facebook page regularly.