Hi, Lou Sylvre here, at it again. The “books by other authors” theme returns, this month, right after I say my giant, rainbow-hued, sky-written thanks for Dani and the others at Love Bytes for generously allotting pixels to my ramblings.

Also, last month’s contest! Here are the correct matches: One, “A More Beautiful Monster:” Two, “Charlie Chrysalis, Angel or Not;” and Three, “Galean Romance.” No need for random draw. Strangely enough, the only person who entered, won! Trix, I’ll be in touch…

Sadly, no contest this month! That doesn’t of course mean I don’t want to hear from you. And unless Love Bytes kicks me off the roster, I’ll be back next month with the first contest of 2016. 

So…to the matter at hand. My post. It’s about beginnings, as the post title suggests… well, actually spells out quite nicely. Here’s how the whole thing started. You see, I keep a small stack of random books in my bathroom. No, not the telephone books, just books that are on a shelf until I move them to make them available to restroom readers. As I whiled away some time one day, I happened to pick up a Bantam paperback of Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, first copyright 1946. (Yes, it’s even older than me.) I’d read it before, quite some time ago at Lindbergh Jr. High School in Long Beach, California, but I didn’t really remember. I skipped the 1976 introduction and went straight to chapter one.

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, The breathing of the world was long and warm and slow.

I admit, as an editor in this decade, I might have encouraged Mr. Bradbury to edit out that passive voice and possibly change those commas. Thank goodness the reading world of the forties still preferred that easing in to a prime story. Because on my oath, that is one of the best, most enchanted openings I’ve ever read.

So I got to thinking. How well does the M/M romance genre and its close relatives do it? Do our beginnings magic us into the story world, drag us like undertow into a make-believe we can’t escape, pop our presence into the character’s head? I don’t know! Some I found, unfortunately, definitely not. Some… well, meh. Quite a few I thought good. But I can’t answer the question because I’m only me. Do you have some favorite openings that do it for you?

Here are a few I found that I rank as favorites:

“CRASHING a sex lounge required a certain amount of planning.” —Damon Suede. Horn Gate (Dreamspinner Press)

The cold bit deeper than any Vincent had ever endured, beyond a night spent out in the snow or the sting of wind through a threadbare jacket. This was the cold of the grave, of something buried a thousand years in permafrost, or shut away in a tomb untouched by the sun for centuries. —Jordan L. Hawk,Restless Spirits

There’s this boy (Isn’t there always?), this beautiful, glowing creature who makes me feel alive. —Suki Fleet ,This is Not a Love Story (Harmony Ink Press)

The ice around the weed bed glowed blue as the sun stretched tentative fingers across the lake. —Angel Martinez, Rarely Pure and Never Simple

When I first arrived in 1993, I was told I’d know I’d become a real New Yorker when a body pancakes on the cement at my feet at the base of a high rise. —Rafe HazeThe Next (Wilde City Press)

I was late for my appointment with a dead man. —Jordan L. Hawk, Widdershins

The telephone rang and rang. I stared through the window glass of the phone box at rugged green moorland and the distant snaggletoothed remains of a prehistoric circle. The rolling open hills of looked blue and barren against the rain-washed sky. I’d read somewhere they’d filmed The Hound of the Baskervilles around here. It looked like a good day for a hell-hound to be out and about, prowling the eerie ruins and chasing virgin squeak toys to their deaths. —Josh Lanyon, I Spy Something Bloody

Please let me know your thoughts, your favorites! In or out of the M/M fiction world. 

Thanks again for reading, everybody! Back next year. Whatever your way, celebrate light in the dark weeks to come, and enjoy the season. I wish for you all the very best you can imagine.

An excerpt full of love, from Because of Jade (by me ).

Later, while Sonny and Jade lay on the floor in front of the fire, and Sonny read Merry Christmas Mr. Snowman! over and over, Luki paced. He stopped occasionally to look out the window, and just as the sky began to lighten he saw that snow had begun to fall, big flakes touching down soft as feathers to cover the lumpy, frozen ground near the house.

Luki turned around to share the wonder of snow with his family, but they had at last fallen asleep stretched flat on the floor on their stomachs—Jade because of her injuries, Sonny because of his aching back. Luki shook his head and smiled, surprised at how much he loved them, even though he knew.