April was a busy month at the full-time job, and so this post is getting scheduled with only a few hours left before it is to be posted. I wrote more blog posts this past month than usual. This does not bode well for weekly blog post musings, as I was doing those posts last minute too. I guess we’ll see. I’m on call this weekend for work, so it didn’t help the writing and scheduling either.
I wrote little in April, nor did I edit anything either. Towards the end, I submitted three flash fiction pieces to #NationalFlashFictionDay’s 2026 Flash Flood journal posting submission call for June 13th, 2026 that ended April 25th BST previously published from years past from Queer Sci Fi’s annual flash fiction contest anthologies that ended a few years ago. Unfortunately, I did not make it and didn’t see the email until the 30th. It was a last-minute thing, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. I might find inspiration during the #FlashFlood that day due to other chances for authors to create new material. It was worth the chance anyway, and perhaps my editing and muse hats will fit nicely again.
I’m an astronomy enthusiast, especially NASA, and found this gem of a website from a Facebook feed. It’s my first name in satellite pictures from around the world. Check it out: https://science.nasa.gov/specials/your-name-in-landsat/.
I will go on a birthday cruise with family towards the end of May. This will be the first time I’ve gone on a cruise not with a large group. It should be interesting with seven people, including two children under five.
I hope everyone has a great month of May. I’m hoping this cooler weather will get back to normal temperatures this month. It’s been chilly recently.
Please welcome returning author Will Okati to the Moonbeams over Atlanta blog. This is a book blast for the new release Wild Ride box set of four stories in one book: Wild Ride, Hell at One Dark Window, Blood Red, and Sidetracked. It involves time traveling, storytelling, and wild west. Enjoy!
Title: Wild Ride Author: Will Okati Cover Art: Marteeka Karland Genres: Action Adventure, Box Sets, Dark Fantasy, Mystery, Suspense, Intrigue, New Releases, Paranormal, Romance, Wildest West Themes: Capture Fantasy, Dark Romance, LGBTQ+ Gay, Magic, Sorcery, Witchcraft, Second Edition, Vampires Book Length: Box Set Page Count: 220
Time traveler, highwayman, beast, and storyteller — it’s going to be a wild ride.
Wild Ride — Strange dreams tell Nikos he’s meant to be more than a Secret Keeper, tracking the predatory Nightlings. Alexei, a time traveler from the past, has come to find Nikos and take him back to the year 2007. It’s going to be a wild ride…
Hell at One Dark Window — It’s the end of the world as we knew it. For most folk survival is all that matters, and the only justice to be found comes at the end of a pistol or the point of a stake. Barrett, a vampire and a highwayman, gets his kicks out of stealing from robber barons. He’s going to take his human lover, Nathaniel, and getting the hell out of Dodge. So to speak. All he needs is to pull off one last big job…
Blood Red — On the coldest night of the year, Ros is cast out of a village for the sin of lying with another man. He’s meant to go to his death, but stumbles instead into the enchanted garden of a Beast… a vampire Beast. Will the Beast find the salvation he’s sought for so long in the arms of a wise and willing story teller?
Sidetracked — An escort-for-hire, Devon’s just been humiliated and stiffed by his patron of the evening. When the subway taking him home switches tracks, Devon finds himself alone with a man in a white mask and gloves, a man who embodies every sexual fantasy Devon’s ever had. Is this a dream, or has he found himself Phantom Night Rider?
Look for me by moonlight; Watch for me by moonlight; I’ll come to thee by moonlight, Though hell should bar the way!
Alfred Noyes “The Highwayman”
“You’re quiet tonight, lover.”
“Am I?”
“Not a word’s passed your lips except ‘harder,’ ‘more,’ and ‘oh, God…’ and those I recall being spoken in the heat of passion. You’ve not made a peep since. Being the smart type myself, despite all appearances, this tells me you’ve got something going on in that busy mind of yours. You care to share?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Well, that’s fair.” Cool, strong arms wrapped around Nathaniel’s waist, pulling him backwards against his lover’s body. “Of course, you know I don’t plan to let up until you spill the whole pot of beans.”
Nathaniel gave a soft laugh despite himself. “I know you won’t.”
“So? Save us a little trouble, and tell me what’s on your mind right now.”
“Not yet.” Nathaniel raised his hand and placed it palm-down on the cold window glass, where he stood staring out into the night, down to the abandoned stretch of cracked pavement running past his apartment. “There aren’t words, so far.”
“Hmm. Never known you to be at a loss before.” Nathaniel’s lover jostled him gently, playfully. “Never did meet a man who liked so much to talk about anything and everything. Apples to anthills. That’s why I took a shine to you in the first place — well, aside from an ass you could bounce quarters off and your pretty face. Sing for me.”
“O figlio perdito –“
Nathaniel’s lover jostled him. “Smarty-pants.”
“Yeah.” Nathaniel leaned into his lover’s firm, gentle hold, savoring the feel of being held strong and sure by someone who’d never let him fall. Life taught gay men an early lesson: don’t trust anyone unless you know for a fact they won’t turn on you, and that they mean it when they say they love you. His partner had it all, did it all, said it all, and meant it all.
Nathaniel should have been able to be open about what was worrying him. Yet somehow, he found that he couldn’t put his thoughts into words. Not yet.
His lover seemed to accept that. One thing about him, he did know when not to push. He simply held Nathaniel and rocked them soft and easy against one another, sexy yet comforting. “It’ll be all right,” he murmured after a moment. “Whatever’s got you fretting, it’ll be just fine.”
Nathaniel’s lips curved in a smile. “I know.”
He reached down to lay his hands over his lover’s, feeling the same mild shock as he had the first time they touched, finding them to be cool and satin-slick despite a few calluses. They held still as if carved from marble. No human could ever hold such a pose without so much as twitching.
Nathaniel had learned that there were more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, and so forth, but even he’d had a hard time accepting that the gorgeous man, all tousled hazelnut hair, twinkling blue eyes, and ready wit, was, of all things, a vampire.
Honestly, weren’t vampires supposed to at least give a nod to tradition? He’d seen enough wannabes in his time to know the accepted look was unrelieved black from hair to clothes to boots. This man — vampire — on the other hand, gloried in wearing a soft flannel shirt, molded-on and faded blue jeans, and clean but battered sneakers. No thick, chunky jewelry, save for a cross necklace.
Yeah, a cross.
When he’d leaned back against the bar counter in the sports watering hole where they’d met, arms crossed, grinning broadly, Nathaniel had cracked up and told the man he had a hell of an imagination.
The vampire had shrugged, and asked for one night to prove himself.
Nathaniel didn’t usually go for one-night stands, but this man had the look, he had the wit, and you had to admire someone with balls big enough to tell such outrageous stories.
He’d taken the vampire up on his offer.
And back in his apartment, when sharp fangs that were in no way fake pierced the soft skin of his neck, where throat met shoulder, and the vampire drank deep of his blood, Nathaniel had realized this was no lie. He’d found an honest-to-Satan vampire, and brought him home to bed.
What a bedding it had been, too! Tangled, sweaty limbs, lips and tongues fighting for dominance in wet, devouring kisses, and hands everywhere, from pinching nipples to gently rolling balls to stripping heavy, swollen cocks. Cool fingers, slick with oil, slipping inside Nathaniel, stretching him open with more patience and tenderness than any mortal had ever shown. The feel of the vampire’s cock splitting him open, making him ache for more even as it was given to him, and then the blissful burn of being totally filled… well, Nathaniel hadn’t minded the blood loss by then.
To his surprise, it still hadn’t bothered him when he came down from his orgasm, when he and the vampire lay tangled together in a mass of sweaty sheets, stained with one another’s come, marked by new-forming bruises and love bites. He’d let the vampire rest atop him, not breathing but still quaking in every muscle from the force of his climax, and thought, So, this is a vampire. If this is a creature of the night, I’ll take him over a human any day.
The vampire had chuckled, as if reading Nathaniel’s thoughts. He’d raised his head and grinned. “Barrett,” he’d said, stroking Nathaniel’s cheek. “My name’s Barrett. D’you believe me now?”
Barrett. Nathaniel let himself fall into the soothing, rocking rhythm. When Barrett began to hum, some old tune by Johnny Cash that just fit his raspy voice, Nathaniel almost closed his eyes and purred with the pleasure of it.
Yes, his lover was a killer. More, he was a thief, a gambler, and an all-around bad guy. But Barrett loved Nathaniel with all his un-beating heart, would do anything for him, and that was what mattered in the end.
Nathaniel stared out the window, at the lonely stretch of highway beneath them. He took in a deep breath, and nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Don’t leave me tonight. Promise you won’t leave me.”
Will Okati (formerly known as Willa) has lived through a few Interesting Times, but come out the other side a little grayer, a little wiser, and ready to get writing. Still as passionate about coffee, cats, and crafts as ever, but knowing that to your own self you must be true. Also still one of the quiet ones to watch out for, but life — like storytelling — is always a work in progress.
