2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Jay Bell - Something like autumn

Something Like Autumn by Jay Bell
Paperback: 418 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 27, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1484814770
ISBN-13: 978-1484814772
Amazon: Something Like Autumn
Amazon Kindle: Something Like Autumn

Love can appear unexpectedly: a chance meeting at a friend's wedding, the arrival of a handsome new co-worker... or while being robbed at a convenience store.

For some, love seems an impossible dream. Growing up gay in small-town Missouri, Jace Holden thought his chance would never come. When he meets Victor--a wild soul and fellow outsider--his chances of finding love go from bleak to a very uncertain maybe. Bracing his heart, Jace chases after his desire, hoping for a warm hand to hold his tight.

Something Like Autumn tells the story of Jace's life before the events of Something Like Summer, while also revisiting his time with Benjamin Bentley.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Dick O'Connor - Stiff, Memoirs of a Dick

Stiff: Memoirs of a Dick by Dick O'Connor
Publisher: JMS Books LLC (March 3, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Stiff: Memoirs of a Dick

Take a new gay "Baby Hoodrat" from California; combine with an older, barhopping mentor; mix with dancing, drugging, drinking, and dicking; and you've got a killer recipe for a hot story.

"Stiff: Memoirs of a Dick" follows the coming-of-age college years of Dick O’Connor's evolution from naive “gayby,” new to club culture and dating, to knowledgeable -- and arrogant -- self-proclaimed “dick.”

In this laugh-out-loud gay satire, Dick binge-drinks and bed-hops his way through university matriculation while learning many life lessons the hard way ... pun intended. Try this tasty mix of debauchery and humor!

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Nicole Disney - Dissonance in A Minor

Dissonance in A Minor by Nicole Disney
ISBN: 9781611529142
LENGTH: 73,151 words

Rainn never meant to fall in love, and definitely not with a meth addict. Living in the alley is dangerous, but she's found the beauty in having nothing to lose. It's also provided her the focus to single-mindedly pursue her only dream. Though controlling her wild bandmates is an unrelenting struggle, Rainn knows they're close to breaking out of their dive bar and into the real music scene.

But Jaselle is the only one who doesn't see Rainn as the homeless girl. Jaselle's ability to look past the ripped clothes and into the meaning of Rainn's lyrics makes her worth the emotion Rainn has trained herself not to feel. But as Rainn is coming out of her emotional coma, Jaselle is falling into numbness, desperation, and dependence on the drug that's taking everything from her.

Rainn already lost her brother, Michael, when he died of asphyxiation from huffing butane. She thinks she already knows this road. Hoping to succeed where she failed before, Rainn devotes herself to saving Jaselle. But the drug is smarter than she thinks, and soon she's faced with adversity she could never have prepared for, putting both their souls and lives on the line.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Lois Cloarec Hart - Walking the labyrinth

Walking the Labyrinth by Lois Cloarec Hart
Publisher: Ylva Publishing (June 11, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Walking the Labyrinth

Is there life after loss? Lee Glenn, co-owner of a private security company, didn’t think so. Crushed by grief after the death of her wife, she uncharacteristically retreats from life.

But love doesn’t give up easily. After her friends and family stage a dramatic intervention, Lee rejoins the world of the living, resolved to regain some sense of normalcy but only half-believing that it’s possible. Her old friend and business partner convinces her to take on what appears on the surface to be a minor personal protection detail.

The assignment takes her far from home, from the darkness of her loss to the dawning of a life reborn. Along the way, Lee encounters people unlike any she’s ever met before: Wrong-Way Wally, a small-town oracle shunned by the locals for his off-putting speech and mannerisms; and Wally’s best friend, Gaëlle, a woman who not only translates the oracle’s uncanny predictions, but who also appears to have a deep personal connection to life beyond life. Lee is shocked to find herself fascinated by Gaëlle, despite dismissing the woman’s exotic beliefs as “hooey.”

But opening yourself to love also means opening yourself to the possibility of pain. Will Lee have the courage to follow that path, a path that once led to the greatest agony she’d ever experienced? Or will she run back to the cold comfort of a safer solitary life?