A few months ago, Raine O’Tierney emailed me and asked me if I would like to be part of an anthology with her and L.J. LaBarthe. I immediately agreed and the three of us got together to discuss a theme. One of the ideas that floated to the surface quite quickly was healing. We were all incredibly inspired to write about not just an illness or disability, but the person who is afflicted.

I work in healthcare, and I see this a lot–the idea that it is our job to treat the disease, and many times the person is forgotten. When healing was chosen as the theme, I didn’t even need to think about what to write. I already had a story in mind.

A while ago, I met a patient while I was at work. He came in a few times for blood tests, and honestly, over the course of two months, I probably spent a grand total of ten minutes with him. I don’t know anything about him, other than his name, his age, his HIV status, and that he is incredibly kind. The first time I encountered him, I did my best not to react to the knowledge that he was so young (early 20’s) and HIV positive. I reacted like a lot of people do. Despite being educated in all things blood-related, my knee-jerk reaction was sympathy, because in the back of my mind, I was thinking “this kid is going to die”.

HIV is not something to take lightly. It’s a serious disease that can have serious complications, but there are treatments. There are ways to prevent it. There now exist functional cures and the prognosis for patients today is not what it was twenty years ago. There is a light–a very bright light–at the end of the tunnel on the pathway to finding a cure and eliminating it completely. We’re not there yet, but we’re on our way. In the meantime, the most potent threat to public health is ignorance.

My husband told me a story once, about a paramedic he was working with. She booked off work early to have a blood test done, and told him that she was being tested for HIV. She had picked up a patient three months earlier who was positive.

He asked her if she had poked herself with a contaminated needle.

No.

Did she get some of the patient’s blood on her?

No.

Did she even touch the patient?

No.

But this woman–this fully trained, fully licensed medic–was afraid of being infected, just from standing in the same room with the HIV positive person.

I am telling the story, not to belittle the medic who was so very, very misinformed, but to demonstrate that even the people with knowledge beyond what they layperson has, are still susceptible to the stigma with which HIV positive people live every day. There are so many misconceptions, and frankly a lot of distortion of the truth when it comes to HIV and AIDS.

That’s the reason I chose to write Red Runs Through.

Several people warned me about writing a story with an HIV positive character, especially a story in which that character has sex with an HIV negative partner. They told me it was “taboo” and there would be people who wouldn’t want to read it on that fact alone. I knew that going in. I know not everyone is going to be comfortable reading about sex within a serodiscordant couple, but the reality is that couples like that exist. They love one another. They have sex. They’re just smart about it (hopefully, anyway). So yes, there are going to be some readers who won’t be willing to read a story like this, but I am hoping that those who are fall in love with the characters as much as I did, and are able to see past Matthew’s status to the person, rather than the disease.

Reviews have already started coming in for Red Runs Through, and I’m pleased to report that so far, readers have been open-minded.

A Piece Us Back Together story
Carter McClintock’s life is uncomplicated. For the past five years, he’s spent so much time in hospital scrubs that one day bleeds into the next, and that’s just the way he likes it. That is, until he meets Matthew Nolan. Carter has never had a patient affect him the way Matthew does. During Matthew’s stay in the hospital, the chemistry is unmistakable, and once he is discharged, Carter asks him out.

Despite the obvious attraction between them, Matthew’s HIV status keeps him from handing Carter his heart, refusing to believe anyone could ever truly want him. When Matthew’s past comes to light, their budding relationship is threatened before it has even begun. But Carter isn’t one to give up without a fight, and he will do anything to show Matthew the lengths he will go to keep them together.

You can find the novella from Dreamspinner Press here

Click here for the print anthology with all three stories