Rainbow Snippets: A Trick of the Light

As it’s release weekend for my new story A Trick of the Light, I had to choose some lines from it for this week’s Rainbow Snippets!

Authors who take part in Rainbow Snippets each weekend are encouraged to post a few lines from one of their stories on their blog and then link back to the group post on Facebook. I always enjoy joining in with Rainbow Snippets, especially to read and comment on everyone else’s choice of snippet.

A Trick of the Light was written for the JMS Books’ Halloween Trick or Treat submissions call and is currently in the 20% off pre-release/new release sale at JMS Books. The story is set in England in 1950s Bristol and ties in with last year’s 18th-century Bristol-set Halloween story, A Tricky Situation as my main character makes a cameo appearance as a ghost.

In A Trick of the Light, Kenneth Taylor has been thrown out of the family home by his dad for having his own life ambitions that go beyond working in the factory where his father is a supervisor. In this snippet, in his shabby rented room in bomb-damaged Kingsdown, Kenneth has been mulling over his options, none of which seem promising, as well as the dilemma of his increasing attraction to Gino, the son of a local café owner. Undecided and discouraged, Kenneth glances in the mirror and sees more than his own reflection, faced with a ghostly vision from a previous century…

He was wearing striped satin knee-length breeches topped by a rich orange coat fitted to the waist, the full skirts ending at mid-thigh, with lace ruffles at his neck and wrists. The finishing touches to the outfit were shiny buckled shoes on his feet, and even a short, powdered wig covering his natural hair. He looked as if he’d stepped out of a historical film or one of Kenneth’s school history books.

But the expression on his face was kind, even compassionate, as though he sympathised with Kenneth. Transfixed, Kenneth watched as the effigy slowly faded, leaving him alone in the darkness with the sound of dance music echoing from the floor above.