The Bonds of Love by J.M. Snyder

Another enstallment in the Matty and Vic's saga, this time, lucky for us, pretty long to let us savour more of this perfect couple.

Matt is an handsome swim instructor who since three year lives with his lover, Vic, a bus driver. They are very different in looks, Matt the classical lean guy, fresh and clear, and Vic all tattoo, piercing and muscle. But they are perfect together since Vic is a total submissive man, despite his looks, and Matt is more than happy to play the role of dom and caretaker for his big guy. There is only a little problem: when they make love, Matt gives to Vic superpowers, and they don't know what to expect the "morning after".

After three years they seem to have settle down and control the superpowers, but everything seem to conjure to make Vic a very jelaous man. First his co-worker, and former boyfriend of Matt, Kyle, wants at every cost to go out together in a double date with their boyfriends, and then they discover that the new boyfriend of Kyle is Jordan, the first lover of Matt, and the first guy to gain superpowers after having sex with Matt. And now that he has found Matt again, he seems to don't accept a no.

With this novel finally I have the chance to read a bit more of Vic and Matt. Above all of Vic, who is a really interesting character. He continues to describe himself like a big guy with very little to draw a man like Matt, but more I read of him, and more I like him. He is so tender and so unable to displease Matt. He would do anything for his man, and cuddle him and spoil him are his first priorities. Matt instead, at first seem more serious and clever, but he is also a nice guy, always ready to laugh and play. What I like most in this couple is their interaction, in and out the bed, which is, despite the paranormal setting, genuine and real, playful and hot.

Both Matt and Vic have waited a lot for Mr Right and now they are happy together, really persuaded to have found their soul mate, even if it's not a perfect model type of man, or an handsome and rich business man. The perfect man is not a symbol, but it's someone you hold tight by night and then play with during breakfast, passing over the fact he is grumpy and growling, and maybe with an old robe and too sleepy to hear what you are saying to him. But he is also the man who thinks you are all his life.

http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=240

Amazon Kindle: The Bonds of Love (Vic and Matt)
Publisher: JMS Books LLC (March 26, 2011)

Series: The Positions of Love
0) The Powers Of Love 1: Origins: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/148228.html
1) The Positions of Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210532.html
2) The Bonds of Love

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Margaret Millar (February 5, 1915 - March 26, 1994)

Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) (February 5, 1915, Kitchener, Ontario - March 26, 1994) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer.

Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often utilized as a locale in her later novels, under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia. The Millars had a daughter who died in 1970.

Millar's books are distinguished by sophistication of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored with an almost literary quality that transcends the mystery genre. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books (for example in The Iron Gates) we are given chilling and fascinating insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and yet admirable economy, often ambitious in the sociological underpinnings of the stories and the quality of the writing.

( Read more... )

First Book - The Invisible Worm (1941)

Last Book - Spider Webs (1986)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Millar

( Dell Mapbacks )

Ursula Parrott (March 26, 1900 – September 1957)

Ursula Parrott, real name Katherine Ursula Towle, was an American writer and screenplayer. She was born on March 26, 1900, in Boston, Massachusetts, and died on September 1957, in New York City, New York.

She married four time: with A. Coster Schermerhorn from March 29, 1939 to February 11, 1944 (divorced); with John J. Wilberg Jr. on March 29, 1934 (divorced); with Charles Terry Greenwood from October 14, 1931, to October 14, 1932 (divorced); with Lindesay Mare Parrott Sr. from 1924 to January 1928 (divorced). She had one son, Lindesay Mare Parrott Jr..

In 1943, in war time, Ursula Parrott made the pages of Time Magazine: a guard at the Miami Beach Army stockade saw the woman, Ursula Parrott (at the time 43 years old), hide an handsome boyfaced soldier prisoner in the back of her car. He shouted for her to halt. She stepped on the gas and charged for the exit gate. Escaping in this reverse Lochinvar was Private Michael Neely Bryan, 26, once a very hot guitar player with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. He had been locked up for flying to New York without permission; also the FBI investigated charges that he was involved in the transport of narcotics.

( Read more... )

First Book – Ex-Wife (1930)

Last Book - There's Always Tomorrow (1956)

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884693,00.html#ixzz0eTYMxmqy

( Dell Mapacks )

Margaret Millar (February 5, 1915 - March 26, 1994)

Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) (February 5, 1915, Kitchener, Ontario - March 26, 1994) was an American-Canadian mystery and suspense writer.

Born in Kitchener, Ontario, she was educated there and in Toronto. She moved to the United States after marrying Kenneth Millar (better known under the pen name Ross Macdonald). They resided for decades in the city of Santa Barbara, which was often utilized as a locale in her later novels, under the pseudonyms of San Felice or Santa Felicia. The Millars had a daughter who died in 1970.

Millar's books are distinguished by sophistication of characterization. Often we are shown the rather complex interior lives of the people in her books, with issues of class, insecurity, failed ambitions, loneliness or existential isolation or paranoia often being explored with an almost literary quality that transcends the mystery genre. Unusual people, mild societal misfits or people who don't quite fit into their surroundings are given much interior detail. In some of the books (for example in The Iron Gates) we are given chilling and fascinating insight into what it feels like to be losing touch with reality and evolving into madness. In general, she is a writer of both expressive description and yet admirable economy, often ambitious in the sociological underpinnings of the stories and the quality of the writing.

( Read more... )

First Book - The Invisible Worm (1941)

Last Book - Spider Webs (1986)

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Millar

( Dell Mapbacks )

Ursula Parrott (March 26, 1900 – September 1957)

Ursula Parrott, real name Katherine Ursula Towle, was an American writer and screenplayer. She was born on March 26, 1900, in Boston, Massachusetts, and died on September 1957, in New York City, New York.

She married four time: with A. Coster Schermerhorn from March 29, 1939 to February 11, 1944 (divorced); with John J. Wilberg Jr. on March 29, 1934 (divorced); with Charles Terry Greenwood from October 14, 1931, to October 14, 1932 (divorced); with Lindesay Mare Parrott Sr. from 1924 to January 1928 (divorced). She had one son, Lindesay Mare Parrott Jr..

In 1943, in war time, Ursula Parrott made the pages of Time Magazine: a guard at the Miami Beach Army stockade saw the woman, Ursula Parrott (at the time 43 years old), hide an handsome boyfaced soldier prisoner in the back of her car. He shouted for her to halt. She stepped on the gas and charged for the exit gate. Escaping in this reverse Lochinvar was Private Michael Neely Bryan, 26, once a very hot guitar player with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. He had been locked up for flying to New York without permission; also the FBI investigated charges that he was involved in the transport of narcotics.

( Read more... )

First Book – Ex-Wife (1930)

Last Book - There's Always Tomorrow (1956)

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,884693,00.html#ixzz0eTYMxmqy

( Dell Mapacks )

The Bonds of Love by J.M. Snyder

Another enstallment in the Matty and Vic's saga, this time, lucky for us, pretty long to let us savour more of this perfect couple.

Matt is an handsome swim instructor who since three year lives with his lover, Vic, a bus driver. They are very different in looks, Matt the classical lean guy, fresh and clear, and Vic all tattoo, piercing and muscle. But they are perfect together since Vic is a total submissive man, despite his looks, and Matt is more than happy to play the role of dom and caretaker for his big guy. There is only a little problem: when they make love, Matt gives to Vic superpowers, and they don't know what to expect the "morning after".

After three years they seem to have settle down and control the superpowers, but everything seem to conjure to make Vic a very jelaous man. First his co-worker, and former boyfriend of Matt, Kyle, wants at every cost to go out together in a double date with their boyfriends, and then they discover that the new boyfriend of Kyle is Jordan, the first lover of Matt, and the first guy to gain superpowers after having sex with Matt. And now that he has found Matt again, he seems to don't accept a no.

With this novel finally I have the chance to read a bit more of Vic and Matt. Above all of Vic, who is a really interesting character. He continues to describe himself like a big guy with very little to draw a man like Matt, but more I read of him, and more I like him. He is so tender and so unable to displease Matt. He would do anything for his man, and cuddle him and spoil him are his first priorities. Matt instead, at first seem more serious and clever, but he is also a nice guy, always ready to laugh and play. What I like most in this couple is their interaction, in and out the bed, which is, despite the paranormal setting, genuine and real, playful and hot.

Both Matt and Vic have waited a lot for Mr Right and now they are happy together, really persuaded to have found their soul mate, even if it's not a perfect model type of man, or an handsome and rich business man. The perfect man is not a symbol, but it's someone you hold tight by night and then play with during breakfast, passing over the fact he is grumpy and growling, and maybe with an old robe and too sleepy to hear what you are saying to him. But he is also the man who thinks you are all his life.

http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7&products_id=240

Amazon Kindle: The Bonds of Love (Vic and Matt)
Publisher: JMS Books LLC (March 26, 2011)

Series: The Positions of Love
0) The Powers Of Love 1: Origins: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/148228.html
1) The Positions of Love: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/210532.html
2) The Bonds of Love

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

LGBT Ebook and Print Releases March, 2011

ACCENT PRESS
( Read more... )

ALPHASCRIPT PUBLISHING
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ALY BOOKS
( Read more... )

AMBER ALLURE (http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/)
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AMIRA PRESS
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AQUARIUS PUBLISHING
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ARCADIA BOOKS
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AUTHORHOUSE
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BARBARIANSPY
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BEACON PRESS
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BEAU TO BEAU BOOKS
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BELLA BOOKS (http://www.bellabooks.com/)
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BIALO PUBLICATIONS
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BITTEN PEACH PRESS
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BOLD STROKES BOOKS (http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/)
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BOOKSURGE PUBLISHING
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BORIS PINTAR
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BREATHLESS PRESS (http://www.breathlesspress.com/)
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BRISTLECONE PINE PRESS (http://www.bcpinepress.com/)
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BRUNO GMUNDER (http://www.brunogmuender.com/)
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BWLPP
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CARINA PRESS (http://ebooks.carinapress.com/)
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CDEJR
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CHELSEA STATION EDITIONS (http://www.chelseastationeditions.com/)
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CHEYENNE PUBLISHING (http://www.cheyennepublishing.com/)
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CIRCLET PRESS (http://www.circlet.com/)
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CLOSED CIRCLE PUBLICATIONS
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COBBLESTONE PRESS
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CREATESPACE
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CROSSING PRESS
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CYBERWORLD PUBLISHING
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DARK ROAST PRESS
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DREAMSPINNER PRESS (http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/)
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DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOKS
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DUTTON ADULT
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ENTARTETES LEBEN
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EQUAL TIME BOOKS
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EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING
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EXCESSICA (http://excessica.com/)
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EXTASY BOOKS (http://www.extasybooks.net/)
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FEATHERWEIGHT PUBLISHING (http://www.featherweightpublishing.com/)
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FIRM HAND BOOKS
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FOUR WAY
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FURPLANET BOOKS
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GENDERWISE PRESS
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GERALD BAUFNER
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HOOPER PUBLISHING
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I.B. TAURIS
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IBAX
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IGNA BOOKS
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JCP BOOKS
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JMS BOOKS (http://www.jms-books.com/)
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KENSINGTON BOOKS (http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/)
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LEFT COAST PRESS
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LETHE PRESS (http://www.lethepressbooks.com/)
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LIQUID SILVER BOOKS (http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/)
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LMINC
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LOOSE ID (http://www.loose-id.com/)
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LOVEYOUDIVINE ALTEROTICA (http://www.loveyoudivine.com/)
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MAVERICK HOUSE PUBLISHERS
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MILL CITY PRESS
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MLR PRESS (http://www.mlrbooks.com/)
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NAZCA PLAINS
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NOBLE ROMANCE PUBLISHING (http://www.nobleromance.com/)
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NYRB CLASSICS
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OVERLOOK
( Read more... )

PALGRAVE/MACMILLIAN
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PASSIONATE WRITER PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

PIERRETTE PUBLISHING
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PINK PETAL BOOKS (http://pinkpetalbooks.com/)
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PUDDLETOWN PUBLISHING GROUP
( Read more... )

PUBLISH GREEN
( Read more... )

PURPLE SWORD PUBLICATIONS (http://purplesword.com/)
( Read more... )

QUARTERLY ONLINE
( Read more... )

RAZERRACE PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

READHOWYOUWANT
( Read more... )

RESPLENDENCE PUBLISHING (http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/)
( Read more... )

ROUTLEDGE
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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
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SAMHAIN PUBLISHING (http://www.samhainpublishing.com/)
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SEAL PRESS
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SENNEFF HOUSE PUBLISHERS
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SHADOWFIRE PRESS (http://www.shadowfirepress.com/)
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SILVER PUBLISHING (http://silverpublishing.info/)
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STARBOOKS PRESS (http://www.starbookspress.com/)
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SUGAR AND SPICE PRESS
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SUNY PRESS
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T. & F. BOOKS
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THE NEW PRESS
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TORQUERE BOOKS (http://www.torquerebooks.com/)
( Read more... )

TOTAL-E-BOUND (http://www.total-e-bound.com/)
( Read more... )

TRAVELING TEACHER POCKET BOOKS
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UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
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UNLEASHED INK
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UNTREED READS PUBLISHING (http://www.untreedreads.com/)
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VINTAGE
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WAHIDA CLARK PRESENTS PUBLISHING
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WIKIFOCUS BOOKS INTERNATIONAL
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WORLDWIDE
( Read more... )

XOXO PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

ZED BOOKS
( Read more... )

For Publishers: If you would like to be add to the weekly releases post, please contact me.

For Authors: If you would like to post an excerpt, please contact me.

LGBT Ebook and Print Releases March, 2011

ACCENT PRESS
( Read more... )

ALPHASCRIPT PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

ALY BOOKS
( Read more... )

AMBER ALLURE (http://www.amberquill.com/AmberAllure/)
( Read more... )

AMIRA PRESS
( Read more... )

AQUARIUS PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

ARCADIA BOOKS
( Read more... )

AUTHORHOUSE
( Read more... )

BARBARIANSPY
( Read more... )

BEACON PRESS
( Read more... )

BEAU TO BEAU BOOKS
( Read more... )

BELLA BOOKS (http://www.bellabooks.com/)
( Read more... )

BIALO PUBLICATIONS
( Read more... )

BITTEN PEACH PRESS
( Read more... )

BOLD STROKES BOOKS (http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

BOOKSURGE PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

BORIS PINTAR
( Read more... )

BREATHLESS PRESS (http://www.breathlesspress.com/)
( Read more... )

BRISTLECONE PINE PRESS (http://www.bcpinepress.com/)
( Read more... )

BRUNO GMUNDER (http://www.brunogmuender.com/)
( Read more... )

BWLPP
( Read more... )

CARINA PRESS (http://ebooks.carinapress.com/)
( Read more... )

CDEJR
( Read more... )

CHELSEA STATION EDITIONS (http://www.chelseastationeditions.com/)
( Read more... )

CHEYENNE PUBLISHING (http://www.cheyennepublishing.com/)
( Read more... )

CIRCLET PRESS (http://www.circlet.com/)
( Read more... )

CLOSED CIRCLE PUBLICATIONS
( Read more... )

COBBLESTONE PRESS
( Read more... )

CREATESPACE
( Read more... )

CROSSING PRESS
( Read more... )

CYBERWORLD PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

DARK ROAST PRESS
( Read more... )

DREAMSPINNER PRESS (http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/)
( Read more... )

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS BOOKS
( Read more... )

DUTTON ADULT
( Read more... )

ENTARTETES LEBEN
( Read more... )

EQUAL TIME BOOKS
( Read more... )

EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

EXCESSICA (http://excessica.com/)
( Read more... )

EXTASY BOOKS (http://www.extasybooks.net/)
( Read more... )

FEATHERWEIGHT PUBLISHING (http://www.featherweightpublishing.com/)
( Read more... )

FIRM HAND BOOKS
( Read more... )

FOUR WAY
( Read more... )

FURPLANET BOOKS
( Read more... )

GENDERWISE PRESS
( Read more... )

GERALD BAUFNER
( Read more... )

HOOPER PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

I.B. TAURIS
( Read more... )

IBAX
( Read more... )

IGNA BOOKS
( Read more... )

JCP BOOKS
( Read more... )

JMS BOOKS (http://www.jms-books.com/)
( Read more... )

KENSINGTON BOOKS (http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

LEFT COAST PRESS
( Read more... )

LETHE PRESS (http://www.lethepressbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

LIQUID SILVER BOOKS (http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

LMINC
( Read more... )

LOOSE ID (http://www.loose-id.com/)
( Read more... )

LOVEYOUDIVINE ALTEROTICA (http://www.loveyoudivine.com/)
( Read more... )

MAVERICK HOUSE PUBLISHERS
( Read more... )

MILL CITY PRESS
( Read more... )

MLR PRESS (http://www.mlrbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

NAZCA PLAINS
( Read more... )

NOBLE ROMANCE PUBLISHING (http://www.nobleromance.com/)
( Read more... )

NYRB CLASSICS
( Read more... )

OVERLOOK
( Read more... )

PALGRAVE/MACMILLIAN
( Read more... )

PASSIONATE WRITER PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

PIERRETTE PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

PINK PETAL BOOKS (http://pinkpetalbooks.com/)
( Read more... )

PUDDLETOWN PUBLISHING GROUP
( Read more... )

PUBLISH GREEN
( Read more... )

PURPLE SWORD PUBLICATIONS (http://purplesword.com/)
( Read more... )

QUARTERLY ONLINE
( Read more... )

RAZERRACE PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

READHOWYOUWANT
( Read more... )

RESPLENDENCE PUBLISHING (http://www.resplendencepublishing.com/)
( Read more... )

ROUTLEDGE
( Read more... )

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
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SAMHAIN PUBLISHING (http://www.samhainpublishing.com/)
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SEAL PRESS
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SENNEFF HOUSE PUBLISHERS
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SHADOWFIRE PRESS (http://www.shadowfirepress.com/)
( Read more... )

SILVER PUBLISHING (http://silverpublishing.info/)
( Read more... )

STARBOOKS PRESS (http://www.starbookspress.com/)
( Read more... )

SUGAR AND SPICE PRESS
( Read more... )

SUNY PRESS
( Read more... )

T. & F. BOOKS
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THE NEW PRESS
( Read more... )

TORQUERE BOOKS (http://www.torquerebooks.com/)
( Read more... )

TOTAL-E-BOUND (http://www.total-e-bound.com/)
( Read more... )

TRAVELING TEACHER POCKET BOOKS
( Read more... )

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS
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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS
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UNLEASHED INK
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UNTREED READS PUBLISHING (http://www.untreedreads.com/)
( Read more... )

VINTAGE
( Read more... )

WAHIDA CLARK PRESENTS PUBLISHING
( Read more... )

WIKIFOCUS BOOKS INTERNATIONAL
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WORLDWIDE
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XOXO PUBLISHING
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ZED BOOKS
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For Publishers: If you would like to be add to the weekly releases post, please contact me.

For Authors: If you would like to post an excerpt, please contact me.

Behind the Cover: Ben Stahl

Ben Stahl (September 7, 1910 – October 19, 1987) was an American artist, illustrator and author. He showed precocious talent, winning a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago at age twelve. His artwork appeared in the International Watercolor Show at the Art Institute when he was sixteen. He later taught at the Art Institute, as well as at the American Academy of Art, the Art Students League of New York, Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and at various universities.





Stahl won many prizes, including the Saltus Gold Medal of the National Academy of Design. His work appeared in Women's Home Companion, Cosmopolitan (magazine), American Artist, North Light, Esquire, the Chicago Tribune Magazine, Picture Post, Southwest Art and in some 750 stories in The Saturday Evening Post. He was featured in the 1976 television series Journey into Art with Ben Stahl, 26 half-hour programs consisting of lectures and painting demonstrations by the artist. Stahl was one of the founding faculty for the Famous Artists School.

One of his colleagues, the artist Norman Rockwell, once said, ''We are but illustrators, but Ben Stahl is among the masters.''

Stahl also produced advertising artwork for various companies, and posters for several movies, including Ben-Hur. He illustrated a number of books, including The Innkeeper's Wife by A.J. Cronin, a limited edition of Madame Bovary, and the 25th anniversary edition of Gone with the Wind. Stahl wrote two novels: Blackbeard's Ghost was published in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin, and made into a movie by The Walt Disney Company in 1969; The Secret of Red Skull, a sequel to Blackbeard's Ghost, was also published by Houghton Mifflin.

Ben Stahl also served as an official U.S. Air Force artist and as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. In 1986, he guest starred on The Joy of Painting.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/24/obituaries/ben-stahl-illustrator-is-dead-a-founder-of-artists-school.html

( more covers )

Behind the Cover: Ben Stahl

Ben Stahl (September 7, 1910 – October 19, 1987) was an American artist, illustrator and author. He showed precocious talent, winning a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago at age twelve. His artwork appeared in the International Watercolor Show at the Art Institute when he was sixteen. He later taught at the Art Institute, as well as at the American Academy of Art, the Art Students League of New York, Brooklyn's Pratt Institute and at various universities.





Stahl won many prizes, including the Saltus Gold Medal of the National Academy of Design. His work appeared in Women's Home Companion, Cosmopolitan (magazine), American Artist, North Light, Esquire, the Chicago Tribune Magazine, Picture Post, Southwest Art and in some 750 stories in The Saturday Evening Post. He was featured in the 1976 television series Journey into Art with Ben Stahl, 26 half-hour programs consisting of lectures and painting demonstrations by the artist. Stahl was one of the founding faculty for the Famous Artists School.

One of his colleagues, the artist Norman Rockwell, once said, ''We are but illustrators, but Ben Stahl is among the masters.''

Stahl also produced advertising artwork for various companies, and posters for several movies, including Ben-Hur. He illustrated a number of books, including The Innkeeper's Wife by A.J. Cronin, a limited edition of Madame Bovary, and the 25th anniversary edition of Gone with the Wind. Stahl wrote two novels: Blackbeard's Ghost was published in 1965 by Houghton Mifflin, and made into a movie by The Walt Disney Company in 1969; The Secret of Red Skull, a sequel to Blackbeard's Ghost, was also published by Houghton Mifflin.

Ben Stahl also served as an official U.S. Air Force artist and as an officer in the U.S. Air Force Reserve. In 1986, he guest starred on The Joy of Painting.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1987/10/24/obituaries/ben-stahl-illustrator-is-dead-a-founder-of-artists-school.html

( more covers )

Boys in Love: Game Boys by Rochelle H. Ragnarok

From an unknown author and publisher (at least for me) this novel already managed a big success: having an eye catching cover that pushed me to buy the book. Of course the cover have to be up to the story and that is what I will explain now.

First of all, Yaoi is its own genre; it’s not Gay Fiction, it’s maybe a variance of M/M romance, but you absolutely have not to compare it with western standard. This story is set among high school students, but these are not your ordinary western high school students. They are criminals (who will meet an horrendous death), rich kids with too many money and too less scrupulous, young girls who are way too emancipated for my taste, and probably the most ordinary of all of them are the nerds with game boards first in mind and them maybe sex and relationships.

This is not a theme I’m new at, and one thing I noticed again and again is the lack of parental figures: where are the fathers and mothers of these boys? Sometime there is an old grandfather/grandmother, most of the time stepmother/stepfather or uncle/aunt, but the real parents are sorely missing. Now I’m not saying that all the bad these boys are doing is due to the lack of good upbringing, but I wondered on the real lack of any good example in these boys’s life.

More or less the two main characters are Kane and Dai: Kane is the rich boy with a tragic past who now I think is making pay everyone for it; doesn’t matter the real villain (or villains) are not the people Kane is treating like objects, or that the one he should love, his brother, is becoming a criminal due to the lack of affection, Kane I think reached a point where his mind is twisted and he is no more able to understand what is good or what is bad. By the way, Kane is not even gay, he is probably bisexual (and yes, with this I’m alerting the reader that there is a heterosexual relationship in the story, if relationship can be defined…); like probably Dai, that more than once expresses interest for a girl, but he is a virgin and Kane will be his first lover, so he has no comparison.

Dai is the nerd, what I can probably define the most ordinary among all of them, but like all of them, he has a naiveté that borders in stupidity: how can he don’t recognize who Kane really is? How can he fall for that boy? And here actually I have to make a remark: the series is named Boys in Love but I’m not really sure there is love involved between these boys, maybe lust, for sure passion, but I’m not really sure this is a strong and deep feeling like love. These two boys are a good example of young men that I can easily see taking a separate path in the future, maybe even an heterosexual one, slowly forgetting what they did in high school.

Coming back to the fact this is a new author, I believe to her first novel, and a new publisher, probably more on the level of a self-publishing, there are some points of the novel that I think would have gained by a good editing. Nothing major and moreover being me not an English tongue reader it’s something I easily disregarded, but still sometime it stopped my reading; plus I think some point of the story could have been lightened up, they were really too much and too dark (like all the young criminals around).

Amazon: Game Boys: Boys in Love (Yaoi Novel)
Amazon Kindle: Game Boys: Boys in Love (Yaoi Novel)
Paperback: 242 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (November 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781453881743
ISBN-13: 978-1453881743

Reading List:



http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Candra

Boys in Love: Game Boys by Rochelle H. Ragnarok

From an unknown author and publisher (at least for me) this novel already managed a big success: having an eye catching cover that pushed me to buy the book. Of course the cover have to be up to the story and that is what I will explain now.

First of all, Yaoi is its own genre; it’s not Gay Fiction, it’s maybe a variance of M/M romance, but you absolutely have not to compare it with western standard. This story is set among high school students, but these are not your ordinary western high school students. They are criminals (who will meet an horrendous death), rich kids with too many money and too less scrupulous, young girls who are way too emancipated for my taste, and probably the most ordinary of all of them are the nerds with game boards first in mind and them maybe sex and relationships.

This is not a theme I’m new at, and one thing I noticed again and again is the lack of parental figures: where are the fathers and mothers of these boys? Sometime there is an old grandfather/grandmother, most of the time stepmother/stepfather or uncle/aunt, but the real parents are sorely missing. Now I’m not saying that all the bad these boys are doing is due to the lack of good upbringing, but I wondered on the real lack of any good example in these boys’s life.

More or less the two main characters are Kane and Dai: Kane is the rich boy with a tragic past who now I think is making pay everyone for it; doesn’t matter the real villain (or villains) are not the people Kane is treating like objects, or that the one he should love, his brother, is becoming a criminal due to the lack of affection, Kane I think reached a point where his mind is twisted and he is no more able to understand what is good or what is bad. By the way, Kane is not even gay, he is probably bisexual (and yes, with this I’m alerting the reader that there is a heterosexual relationship in the story, if relationship can be defined…); like probably Dai, that more than once expresses interest for a girl, but he is a virgin and Kane will be his first lover, so he has no comparison.

Dai is the nerd, what I can probably define the most ordinary among all of them, but like all of them, he has a naiveté that borders in stupidity: how can he don’t recognize who Kane really is? How can he fall for that boy? And here actually I have to make a remark: the series is named Boys in Love but I’m not really sure there is love involved between these boys, maybe lust, for sure passion, but I’m not really sure this is a strong and deep feeling like love. These two boys are a good example of young men that I can easily see taking a separate path in the future, maybe even an heterosexual one, slowly forgetting what they did in high school.

Coming back to the fact this is a new author, I believe to her first novel, and a new publisher, probably more on the level of a self-publishing, there are some points of the novel that I think would have gained by a good editing. Nothing major and moreover being me not an English tongue reader it’s something I easily disregarded, but still sometime it stopped my reading; plus I think some point of the story could have been lightened up, they were really too much and too dark (like all the young criminals around).

Amazon: Game Boys: Boys in Love (Yaoi Novel)
Amazon Kindle: Game Boys: Boys in Love (Yaoi Novel)
Paperback: 242 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (November 16, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9781453881743
ISBN-13: 978-1453881743

Reading List:



http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle


Cover Art by Candra