The Visitor
'Queer Dimensions' (QueeredFiction)Can love follow
a person through time? When Madoc meets a man
from the future he little realizes it
will be the catalyst to change his world, nor
that he will spend much of his life following
that love through the future of his own.
The
story has been published in 'Queer
Dimensions' by QueeredFiction, an electronic
and print publisher specialising in gay
speculative and dark fiction. The anthology
includes seventeen stories with a gay sf time
theme, by a variety of new and established
authors.
'Queer
Dimensions' is available in both electronic
and print formats - see the sidebar for more
details.
"After
the excellent Queer Wolves collection, I was
really looking forward to this science
fiction anthology, and Rasmussen and his
authors did not disappoint! [...] The
collection as a whole ranges from the strong
to the brilliant, and comes highly
recommended."
Rainbow Reviews
Excerpt
of The Visitor:
"Sorry,
I'm just visiting." Madoc shook his head
at the young bloke who was trying to pick him
up. He wasn't at the bar for sex, although he
was looking for a man - a very specific man,
who so far wasn't here. It was odd how things
had changed over the last thirty years, he
thought, watching a gaggle of excited
youngsters spill out of the timesex booths.
If he'd gone into a bar and propositioned
another man when he was this kid's age he'd
have been jailed for sure, possibly even
stoned. It happened from time to time round
the docks where he used to work - guys caught
with their pants round their knees and beaten
half to death. Madoc himself had come close a
couple of times, but always managed to slip
away. Knowing the docks as well as he did
meant he always chose an alley with another
way out, but not being caught wasn't always
enough. The caste gangs had suspected anyway
and treated him rough.
"C'mon,
four-eyes, haven't you finished that arsing
manifest yet?" Mick the supervisor
yelled, shoving him so hard he almost lost
his balance and fell. "We've got
time-travelers waiting to catch their blink
and you're the only thing holding 'em up.
They can't go without their belongings and
they can't take their belongings till you've
checked 'em off on the list." Rules were
tight on the docks. Time travelers had to
have every last scrap of their luggage
checked, to make sure they weren't leaving
with any more, or less, than they'd had when
they'd arrived. Everyone was aware of
time-loops and the havoc they could cause.
"Sorry,
Mr Oates, I've nearly finished."
"Well
make it quick - I've got a timetable to keep.
If you spent less time staring at the men's
arses and more doing your job you'd have
finished by now. I see you ogling again and
you'll catch the back of my hand." Mick
held his fist up close to Madoc's face. Madoc
stared back into the hate-tinged gaze with as
much deference as he could. Last time Mick
hit him he'd knocked the glasses clean off
Madoc's face, and it had cost two weeks'
wages to have them fixed. He didn't want to
risk that again, so he ducked his head and
said...
"You
want a refill on that, mate?" It was the
barman, pointing to his almost-empty glass.
"What?
Oh, sorry, I was miles away. No, thanks,
better not. I don't think the man I wanted to
meet is coming."
The
barman pulled a sympathetic face. "Yeah?
Bad luck, mate. Blind date, was it?"
Madoc
drained the last of his drink. "No, just
someone I hoped would be here." Today,
like every other day for the last few months,
spent haunting one bar after another in the
vain hope that familiar face would suddenly
appear. It looked as though today would be no
different to the rest.
Just
visiting...
His own
words echoed in his ears, sparking the
memories again. That's what Josh had always
said; the words alone could cast him thirty
years into his past as though it was
yesterday. The words Josh had repeated, over
and over again, for the whole of the two
months they were together. Words that even
now were seared into Madoc's brain.
© 2009
Fiona Glass
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