Tenderness: A Kink & Showtunes Story: Kink & Showtunes, #0.5

By Xan West

When Judith gets dumped by her girlfriend, she feels like her world has imploded. It will take the love and care of her queer chosen family, and the support of her best friend Shiloh in particular, to help her cope with the havoc that this break up has wreaked on her life. This chosen family love story illuminates the ways we can find hope amidst devastating change, if we are supported by folks who understand and care for us as we really are.

This chosen family love story is 6,000 words and contains Jewish, bisexual, fat, autistic, non-binary, and chronic pain representation. It is a prequel to Their Troublesome Crush and includes many of the same characters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xan West
• Release date: Mar 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781386913702

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Xan West

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Tenderness first appeared in Queerly Loving Volume 2, edited by G Benson (Queer Pack).

For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

[e-mail]

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, locales or actual events is purely coincidental.

The author acknowledges the copyrighted or trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

The Fifth Element (1997), Hairspray (original Broadway cast 2002), Leeloo, The Second Mango, Try a Little Tenderness, You Can’t Stop the Beat.

Digital version 1.0

Cover design and illustration by Clarissa C.S. Ryan

All rights reserved.

Early praise for Tenderness

S o poignant and sad but uplifting at the same time. I love seeing a queer found family coming together to comfort one of their own. –Small Queer, Big Opinions

Engulfing and warm, ‘Tenderness’ is a thoroughly enjoyable read, and was gloriously inclusive...watching Judith become more herself was the truest gift of this story. –Dena Celeste

Made me feel safe, accepted, and loved. I will be treasuring this story for the rest of my life. 

–BookDeviant

Gorgeous, gentle, and hopeful in exactly the ways I needed. –Mo

A Brief Note About Trans and Non-Binary Terms

This book has one trans woman character: Ellie. This book has two trans men characters: Ernest and Gideon. This book has two non-binary characters: Shiloh and Dill. These characters use different terms to refer to themselves and each other, so I thought I would include a brief note about each, including a pronunciation guide ( in italics ) for potentially unfamiliar terms. While some non-binary and trans folks shift between pronouns, all of the trans and non-binary characters in this story use one set of pronouns.

I’m including a full set of pronoun examples (nominative, objective, possessive adjective, possessive pronoun and reflective) here, so you can see how they are used.

So, for a character like Judith, Naomi, or Ellie, who uses she/her pronouns, you would use them thus: She knows. I ask her. Her friends are great. That is hers. She likes herself.

Similarly, for a character who uses he/him pronouns, like Ernest or Gideon, you would use them this way: He knows. I ask him. His friends are great. That is his. He likes himself.

Dill uses they/them pronouns, which are used this way: They know. I ask them. Their friends are great. That is