Sometimes our fate is written in the stars. Sometimes in indelible ink.
“Fade to Black” originally appeared in the 2016 charity anthology Magic & Mayhem: Fiction and Essays Celebrating LGBTQA Romance.
Fade to Black is a very short story that sucked me in from the very first sentence, "It is you." Three little words that are so full of wonder: wonder who "you" is, wonder who's saying it, wonder what their previous encounter was, wonder will "you" remember the speaker, and wonder if this encounter will be a positive or negative for either character. Josh Lanyon has once again created a story that grabs you and won't let go. When I finished Fade I was not ready to say goodbye, not because the story was lacking anything in it's shortness but because I found myself that invested in Gene and Gordon's journey. When an author can pull the reader in that deep with so few pages you know you have found a winning keeper in both the story and it's creator.
RATING:
Chapter 1
“It is you.”
I jumped as though I’d been caught mid-robbery and dropped the trash bag I was carrying. A couple of crumpled coffee cups rolled out, dribbling onto the black cement floor. “I didn’t know anyone was still here.”
He was standing in the shadows, but even so he was kind of hard to miss. Tall, lean, weathered. Leathered, in fact. Dark hair, dark eyes, skin deeply tanned. Like one of those Victorian teething dolls. Right down to the ugly seam creasing the left side of his rugged face.
“I saw you through the window,” he said.
“Oh. Yeah. That.” The picture window was Rikki’s idea. And actually, it did generate a lot of business—barring those times that the showcase client turned out to be someone who couldn’t take pain. Then…not so much.
The man in the shadows didn’t move, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. What was that about? Like he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Which was…a man about his own age—forty-ish—medium height, slender, black ponytail, sleeves of tattoo tombstones wound with green and blue ivy. Dotted Line being a tattoo shop. The only tattoo shop on the island.
“We’re closed now,” I said. “You could come back tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t want another tat.”
Good thing. He didn’t have room for any more ink on those muscular arms. Not under the revised military regulations—and he was definitely military. Or maybe ex-military, because he was out of uniform. Sort of. Olive drab T-shirts, faded blue jeans, and huarache sandals are their own uniform.
“Okay. Well…” I picked up the bag of trash again and nodded for G.I. Joe to head on out the door. It was late. I was tired. My back hurt. I hoped this wasn’t going to turn into something weird. Off season was usually pretty calm, but I’ve been robbed twice off season—and the second time the dude had wanted to stay for a carving.
This guy? He was still staring at me like he was seeing a ghost.
Which actually he was. That’s my name. Ghost. Okay, Gordon if you want to get legal about it. Gordon Plymouth, but no one has called me Gordon in over twenty years.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked.
I looked at the ink on his arms again. Nice work, but not mine. Not from anywhere around here. That looked Asian. The real thing. Irezumi. Not your KYF-00049 or a pick from 2011 Ten Best Japanese Tattoos.
“No.”
He reached for the hem of his T-shirt and yanked it up, revealing a brown and brawny chest. Smooth, hairless, and adorned with one of the worst pieces of body art a scratcher had ever carved into a piece of meat.
“What the hell is that?” I stepped closer to get a better look at what appeared to be a stapler adorned with a skull and crossbones.
The guy laughed. “You should know.”
I gaped at him.
He nodded, grinning, and I got a glimpse of a gold incisor.
“Me?”
I took another step forward, peering at his chest—he smelled pleasantly, reassuringly of Ivory soap—and dropped the trash bag again. This time just missing his huaraches. I gazed at him in horror. “I did that?”
“You sure did.” He was grinning like it was the funniest thing ever.
Which…nice he had a sense of humor about it, but…my gaze zeroed back on that evil-looking office product. It was old ink. At least a decade. I felt almost dizzy gazing at those fuzzy lines. I did vaguely remember…
“Wait,” I said. “It was a cover up, right? I was using the Jolly Roger to cover up…something. Bad.”
“Bullet holes. Tats, I mean.” He met my eyes. “I do have bullet scars now. I didn’t then. This was twenty years ago.”
“Twenty years ago,” I repeated in wonder. “Dude. You wore this blowout for twenty years?”
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t read his expression at all. His dark eyes were doing a flickering thing, his gaze roving over my face like he was looking for something from me. If it was remorse, oh hell yeah.
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll fix this for you,” I said. “In fact, if you want, I’ll fix it for you tonight. If you have a couple of hours, I’ll fix it for you now.”
“No, no. That’s not why I…” He stopped.
I couldn’t seem to stop gazing into his eyes. Like everywhere I looked, I was somehow staring at him. It was so weird. But he did have pretty eyes. Kind of a black-brown and almond-shaped, fringed with thick eyelashes. Almost like cartoon eyes. They would be fun to draw for a New School stencil.
He gave me a funny, self-conscious smile. “You really don’t remember me at all, do you?”
“It is you.”
I jumped as though I’d been caught mid-robbery and dropped the trash bag I was carrying. A couple of crumpled coffee cups rolled out, dribbling onto the black cement floor. “I didn’t know anyone was still here.”
He was standing in the shadows, but even so he was kind of hard to miss. Tall, lean, weathered. Leathered, in fact. Dark hair, dark eyes, skin deeply tanned. Like one of those Victorian teething dolls. Right down to the ugly seam creasing the left side of his rugged face.
“I saw you through the window,” he said.
“Oh. Yeah. That.” The picture window was Rikki’s idea. And actually, it did generate a lot of business—barring those times that the showcase client turned out to be someone who couldn’t take pain. Then…not so much.
The man in the shadows didn’t move, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up. What was that about? Like he still couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Which was…a man about his own age—forty-ish—medium height, slender, black ponytail, sleeves of tattoo tombstones wound with green and blue ivy. Dotted Line being a tattoo shop. The only tattoo shop on the island.
“We’re closed now,” I said. “You could come back tomorrow.”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t want another tat.”
Good thing. He didn’t have room for any more ink on those muscular arms. Not under the revised military regulations—and he was definitely military. Or maybe ex-military, because he was out of uniform. Sort of. Olive drab T-shirts, faded blue jeans, and huarache sandals are their own uniform.
“Okay. Well…” I picked up the bag of trash again and nodded for G.I. Joe to head on out the door. It was late. I was tired. My back hurt. I hoped this wasn’t going to turn into something weird. Off season was usually pretty calm, but I’ve been robbed twice off season—and the second time the dude had wanted to stay for a carving.
This guy? He was still staring at me like he was seeing a ghost.
Which actually he was. That’s my name. Ghost. Okay, Gordon if you want to get legal about it. Gordon Plymouth, but no one has called me Gordon in over twenty years.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked.
I looked at the ink on his arms again. Nice work, but not mine. Not from anywhere around here. That looked Asian. The real thing. Irezumi. Not your KYF-00049 or a pick from 2011 Ten Best Japanese Tattoos.
“No.”
He reached for the hem of his T-shirt and yanked it up, revealing a brown and brawny chest. Smooth, hairless, and adorned with one of the worst pieces of body art a scratcher had ever carved into a piece of meat.
“What the hell is that?” I stepped closer to get a better look at what appeared to be a stapler adorned with a skull and crossbones.
The guy laughed. “You should know.”
I gaped at him.
He nodded, grinning, and I got a glimpse of a gold incisor.
“Me?”
I took another step forward, peering at his chest—he smelled pleasantly, reassuringly of Ivory soap—and dropped the trash bag again. This time just missing his huaraches. I gazed at him in horror. “I did that?”
“You sure did.” He was grinning like it was the funniest thing ever.
Which…nice he had a sense of humor about it, but…my gaze zeroed back on that evil-looking office product. It was old ink. At least a decade. I felt almost dizzy gazing at those fuzzy lines. I did vaguely remember…
“Wait,” I said. “It was a cover up, right? I was using the Jolly Roger to cover up…something. Bad.”
“Bullet holes. Tats, I mean.” He met my eyes. “I do have bullet scars now. I didn’t then. This was twenty years ago.”
“Twenty years ago,” I repeated in wonder. “Dude. You wore this blowout for twenty years?”
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t read his expression at all. His dark eyes were doing a flickering thing, his gaze roving over my face like he was looking for something from me. If it was remorse, oh hell yeah.
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll fix this for you,” I said. “In fact, if you want, I’ll fix it for you tonight. If you have a couple of hours, I’ll fix it for you now.”
“No, no. That’s not why I…” He stopped.
I couldn’t seem to stop gazing into his eyes. Like everywhere I looked, I was somehow staring at him. It was so weird. But he did have pretty eyes. Kind of a black-brown and almond-shaped, fringed with thick eyelashes. Almost like cartoon eyes. They would be fun to draw for a New School stencil.
He gave me a funny, self-conscious smile. “You really don’t remember me at all, do you?”
Author Bio:Bestselling author of over sixty titles of classic Male/Male fiction featuring twisty mystery, kickass adventure and unapologetic man-on-man romance, JOSH LANYON has been called "the Agatha Christie of gay mystery."
Her work has been translated into eleven languages. The FBI thriller Fair Game was the first male/male title to be published by Harlequin Mondadori, the largest romance publisher in Italy. Stranger on the Shore (Harper Collins Italia) was the first M/M title to be published in print. In 2016 Fatal Shadows placed #5 in Japan's annual Boy Love novel list (the first and only title by a foreign author to place on the list).
The Adrien English Series was awarded All Time Favorite Male Male Couple in the 2nd Annual contest held by the Goodreads M/M Group (which has over 22,000 members). Josh is an Eppie Award winner, a four-time Lambda Literary Award finalist for Gay Mystery, and the first ever recipient of the Goodreads Favorite M/M Author Lifetime Achievement award.
SMASHWORDS / iTUNES / SHELFARI
EMAIL: josh.lanyon@sbcglobal.net
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