Wounded Beacon

by Leslie Lee Sanders

Dear Author,
It seems to me that there’s something both sweet and sad about this embrace, like there’s an underlying sense of desperation on the part of the man on the left and acceptance on the part of the man on the right. What’s the real story here? Has the man on the right just passed on bad news that his partner can’t handle? Are they saying good-bye before leaving for different parts of the country, the world, or maybe the universe? Or is this the reunion after a long time apart, with neither half of this couple quite sure yet how they fit back together?

Photo Description:
Two silhouetted men embrace in a passionate kiss laced with a bit of sweetness and sadness, inside a dimly-lit room near a closed window where the branches of a tree are visible. One man seems to be determined, near desperate, and the other seems to be coming to terms with or accepting a situation.

This story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story.

This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Science Fiction, LGBT, Fiction, Short Stories, Dark

52 pages, ebook

First published June 10, 2014

About the author

Leslie Lee Sanders resides in Arizona with her husband, three daughters, and a wild beast she calls her imagination.

She launched her writing career in 2005, publishing over thirty books across multiple genres. Writing as L.L. Sanders, she crafts psychological thrillers and horror, while her works under Leslie Lee Sanders explore diverse romance and dystopian fiction, often blending genres in unexpected ways.

In 2025, Leslie published a first in nonfiction, a deeply personal spiritual self-help memoir she hopes will inspire others to find their power and manifest the life they desire, titled 'Ready to Listen?'

Reviews

[Meep · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't get the story, or the characterisation, or the connection to the prompt.

- There's no way Luke could be a leader, it's not in his nature to be.
- As a displaced leader why was he still free, not killed or locked up as a prisoner?
- I don't get why escaped prisoners are all so eager to return to what we're told is a sadistic wanna-be-leader.
- I don't get why anyone would welcome Luke back as leader.
- I don't get the other aspects of the plot.

I just don't get it!

[Verity · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story of a dystopian world, where everyone struggled to survive. At the beginning of the story I was confused as to why Luke was the leader, as he just didn’t seemed like one. But as the story progressed I realised that he wasn’t one, just a good person trying to make a better place for others. But because he didn’t have support and back up he was overwhelmed by the evil and cruelty that was Santos and the many things that he had experienced in his life.
I thought the title was just perfect for this story as Luke was very much a wounded beacon.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quite dark post apocalyptic/distopian story with some interesting world building and characters. The author does a good job to give the prompter a positive ending to the story. Not really my kind of story, but an interesting read.

[Lia Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not quite what I would call a romance (although there are some sweet and tender moments) but a very good story, all the same.
Luke is a reluctant leader. He's a man with good ideas who tries hard to put them into practice, but trying to do it all alone has apparently resulted in disaster more than once. His character resonated with me-- a tragic non-hero, who keeps ending up in charge, because nobody else wants the responsibility. It's a scenario played out quietly throughout history and society; people are quick to praise when things go right, and just as quick to condemn when it all goes terribly wrong. People are inherently imperfect, and that's what totally made Luke work for me.
Although I am not sure where Aidan was before this story began, it is obvious that he is the strength and hope that Luke needed to keep from giving up on himself. Maybe he was just a silent supporter in the background, or maybe, seeing that Luke had not abandoned them, had given him the courage to fight back.
I would love to see this as a longer story, someday. To fully realize the potential of the characters and the romance between them.
This is a new to me author, and I love that she was inspired by a story written for the event last year. :-)

[Leslie Lee Sanders]

Wounded Beacon is the dystopian short story I wrote for the Love's Landscapes event. Please enjoy!

Download it for free at these sites:

Read now: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
MM Romance Group: http://www.mmromancegroup.com/wounded...
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1uAQ0uG
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1qD8do7
All Romance (ARe): http://bit.ly/1xbn8yC
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1un3k6V
Kobo: http://bit.ly/1CqnxNQ
Smashwords: http://bit.ly/1nWSqzw

Thanks to Cari for such a wonderful prompt! As my first time participating in the event, I had a great time writing Wounded Beacon and its emotionally wounded characters.

Not every day the world collapses.
Not many people can say they helped rebuild.
Not many survived, but for those who did, we need something or someone to help us stand strong and tall. Sometimes even wounds can serve that purpose by healing much more than injuries.

[Erica Pike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a post-apoc geek and I loved this story. The writing was tight and the author captured the hopelessness of a suffering world perfectly. The post-apoc trope is all about survival and that's what this story is about. Luke, whether he wanted to or not, became a leader of a group of people in a small community. He is a natural leader because of his ability to organize and figure out problems. However, because he's not willing to punish or kill people for disobedience, he runs into trouble with people who think that leadership should be about fear. On top of that, Luke is struggling with the loss of the people in his life and he's at the end of his rope, until he allows himself to get closer to Aiden.

If you're looking for a typical romance, this isn't the story for you. However, if you want to read about emotional and physical survival, and the birth of new hope, this might be right up your alley.

[Debbie McGowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing story that is so perfectly titled - a beacon of hope in a bleak, post-apocalyptic world.

This is not my usual read, but I'm so glad I had the opportunity to read this wonderful story.

It's hard to say anything more about it without giving the plot away, so I'll just say I loved it, and if you like your romance fairly clean, with poignant highs and lows, plus a good dose of hope, then you're more than likely going to love Wounded Beacon too.

[Curtis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an interesting concept but it didn't quite connect for me as much as I think it could have. The story just sort of jumps in with no explanation and is really confusing. It all comes together as rather unrealistic and even the brief moments of relationship just don't have much of a spark to them at all. I would have liked a bit more depth...

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had trouble getting through this one because I found it boring, and the characters didn't interest me. I couldn't figure out why anyone considered Luke a leader since he didn't seem to know how to do anything. I never saw him act like a leader. I also thought the decision at the end was pretty ill-advised.

[Sandra]

Offered for FREE from the M/M Romance Group's Love's Landscapes event. Thank you too all the amazing authors who participated!

That picture! Swoon.

[Cassie Richards · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know this was a free book, and I'm grateful to the author for the time and effort she put in writing it.

However I didn't get on with the story. Mostly I was confused. I didn't understand the world and I didn't understand the characters or their motivations so I really didn't enjoy reading it unfortunately.

[Anna Kļaviņa]

DNF

I don't get this.

[Rachel Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this, I liked the emotion, the characters, and how it ended on a positive note. Thanks for a great story!

[Mandy*reads obsessively*]

Another LL picture prompt event story.
This is a darker, dystopian and more a story of survival and hoping for a better future than a romance or love story.

[GlamLawyer]

dnf

[Misty · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry to say that this story didn't work for me at all

[A.J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Melanie~~]

[NOTE: I rate most writing event stories (free reads) 4 or 5 stars because of my appreciation of the author's participation and gift.]

[Rissa (an M/M kinda Girl!!)]

STORY INFO:
Genre: science fiction
Tags: dystopian, post-apocalyptic, sweet/no sex, dark, prison/captivity, debilitating injury, hurt/comfort, fighting
Word Count: 16,124

[Penny · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few nice moments, but at times confusing.

[Suzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story was well written but I found the characters to be a little two dimensional which made them hard to connect with.

[Zane Kage · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars