Hail and Well Met, Newsletter Friends!

I did it!! The first chapter of Taking Short Steps One Foot at a Time (and Keep My Head Low), a.k.a Short Steps, has been published. It's called "Corporate Has All the Best Choreographers", and includes the first (but by no means the last) graphic depiction of violence against printers.

Here's the summary:

Meet Crowley, an office drone who did not climb the corporate ladder so much as saunter vaguely upward. He’s spent the last six years working at Brimstone Holdings ZLC, tech/finance juggernaut and the world’s first Zero Liability Corporation. The only good thing about his job is that it’s close to the Heaven’s Gate Café and Biscotti Emporium, which has exactly one cute barista by the name of Aziraphale. Beyond that he's stuck in a holding pattern of overpriced coffee, useless meetings, and endless evenings of Golden Girls reruns—until two consultants arrive to shake up the office forever (although if you were to ask Crowley what he thought after all the dust finally settled, he’d tell you it was mostly Anathema’s fault).

Basically, it's the cast of Good Omens and the (heavily edited) plot of Office Space. I'm very excited. I also don't think I've written anything this long before in my life. We'll see how it turns out.

Speaking of Good Omens, here's a nice thing: if you go to about 1:49:30 in this BBC show, you can listen to David Tennant read the scene where Crowley and Aziraphale get absolutely smashed in the bookshop. It's very charming.

Currently on the WIP docket: lots of Good Omens--the next chapter of Short Steps, of course, and that super mushy Pilot/Flight Attendant AU, and another hurt/comfort fic that I'm trying not to get suckered into. I also dug up a forgotten outline of a historical ficlet where Aziraphale becomes an anchorite during the Plague. I realize that sounds pretty dark, but it's actually quite a lighthearted story.

“Is that allowed?” Aziraphale’s eyes are wide and bright in the dark cell.

“What, tempting an anchorite?” says Crowley. “’Course it is. I’m angling for a promotion here—already gotten loads of accolades for this beastly plague.”

“This is your doing? I should’ve known.”

“You flatter me Angel.” Crowley’s voice is tinged with irritation. “Do you want a drink or no?”

Aziraphale sighs, long and heavy, before reaching through the window and taking the flask from Crowley.

Okay, maybe it's a little dark (definitely still a draft).

I've also got another Broadchurch oneshot kicking around, but so far it's just an idea with nothing on paper. It might end up being a loose sequel to Pommel and Guard. Writing about the Hardy family turned out to be a lot of fun, even if there's not as much of a "market" compared to Hardy/Miller fics.

Unfortunately, I do have to go back to classes soon, so it'll probably be a lot of Short Steps for a while. Hopefully the second chapter will be out in a couple weeks.

---unsmilingchuck