2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Julian Griffith - Love Continuance and Increasing

Love Continuance and Increasing by Julian Griffith
Paperback: 304 pages
Publisher: Storm Moon Press LLC (August 2, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627570225
ISBN-13: 978-1627570220
Amazon: Love Continuance and Increasing
Amazon Kindle: Love Continuance and Increasing

Lieutenant William Thorne, of His Majesty's Navy, is a man of humble origins. He knows that his affair with Major Anthony Rockingham of the 43rd Infantry can't last forever, not only because the war against Napoleon has sent him on blockade duty in the English Channel while the major's regiment trained ashore, but because Rockingham is a viscount, and viscounts must marry. When Rockingham's letter reaches him, saying that he'd chosen Miss Caroline Filmer as his bride, it is no more than Thorne had expected. What he does not expect, when he returns home after the Battle of Trafalgar, is to find an invitation to the christening of Rockingham's son. He does not expect, when he meets the young viscountess, that he would fall instantly and passionately in love with her. And he certainly does not expect that Caroline would fall just as desperately in love with him. Thorne is sure that their feelings for each other can only lead to disaster, even more so as his love for Rockingham has never gone away. While the war with France continues, Thorne finds himself fighting a war within his own heart.

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Ashley Chunell - A Melody in Harmony

A Melody in Harmony by Ashley Chunell
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 11, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1490575154
ISBN-13: 978-1490575155
Amazon: A Melody in Harmony
Amazon Kindle: A Melody in Harmony

Henderson is a small, old-fashioned town. Growing up here proved tough for Noah Nash, as he knew the truth he lived would never be accepted in this town, even by his family. To him, all he had was his keyboard.

Until one day, that all changed when Noah met Ronan Shea. Ronan’s confidence, wisdom and pride inspires Noah to finally, happily live his truth for the entire town to see.

This is a story of two young men and their journey to a relationship, fighting for equality and listening to their melody while striving to live in harmony.

Charles Busch (born August 23, 1954)

Charles Louis Busch (born August 23, 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, playwright and female impersonator, known for his appearances on stage in his own camp style plays and in film and television. He wrote and starred in his early plays Off-off-Broadway beginning in 1978, generally in drag roles, and also acted in the works of other playwrights. He also wrote for television and began to act in films and on television in the late 1990s. His best known play is The Tale of the Allergist's Wife (2000), which was a success on Broadway.

Busch was born in 1954 and grew up in Hartsdale, New York. He is the Jewish son of Gertrude (née Young) and Benjamin Busch. His father wanted to be an opera singer but owned a record store. His mother died when Busch was age 7. He has two older sisters: Meg Busch, a producer of promotional spots for Showtime, and Betsy Busch, a textile designer. Busch's aunt, Lillian Blum, his mother's oldest sister and a former teacher, brought him to live in Manhattan after the death of his mother. She told an interviewer: "He was so shy it was almost pathological. ... Before he moved in with me, I would pick him up in Hartsdale on a Friday afternoon, and he would be like a zombie. But the minute we crossed the river to New York he was absolutely a new boy." Busch was intensely interested in films as a young child, especially those with female leads from the 30s and 40s. Blum insisted that Busch read the front page of the newspaper every day to help him keep at least one foot in the real world.

Busch attended the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan. He majored in drama at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and received his B.A. in 1976. While at the university, Busch had difficulty being cast in plays and began to write his own material, such as a play called Sister Act about siamese twin showgirls, which succeeded in drawing interest on campus.



( Read more... )

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

( Further Readings )

Laud Humphreys (October 16, 1930 - August 23, 1988)

Robert Allan "Laud" Humphreys, (October 16, 1930–August 23, 1988) was an American sociologist and author.

Robert Allen Humphreys was born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, to Ira Denver Humphreys and Stella Bernice Humphreys. "Laud" was chosen as his first name when he was baptized again upon entering the Episcopal Church. He graduated from the Seabury-Western Episcopal Theological Seminary in 1955, and served as an Episcopal priest. He earned his Ph.D from Washington University in St. Louis in 1968. Due to the perceived dishonesty of his research methods, there was a failed attempt by some faculty members at Washington University to rescind his PhD. He served as professor of sociology at Pitzer College in Claremont, California from 1972–1986 and died of lung cancer in 1988.

Humphreys was married to a woman from 1960 to 1980 and eventually came out as a gay man. Humphreys was a founder of the Sociologists' Gay Caucus, established in 1974.

His biography was published in 2004, under the title Laud Humphreys: Prophet of Homosexuality and Sociology.

Humphreys is best known for his published Ph.D. dissertation, Tearoom Trade (1970), an ethnographic study of anonymous male-male sexual encounters in public toilets (a practice known as "tea-rooming" in U.S. gay slang and "cottaging" in British English). Humphreys asserted that the men participating in such activity came from diverse social backgrounds, had differing personal motives for seeking homosexual contact in such venues, and variously self-perceived as "straight," "bisexual," or "gay."

( Read more... )

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

( Further Readings  )

Patric Michael (November 2, ? - August 23, 2012)

Born during one of the worst fires in L.A. history, PATRIC MICHAEL escaped to the foothills of the Cascade Range where the world is a lot more green, even in summer.

His wide-ranging and varied career, from ship building to making special effects movie props, has given him enough material for a lifetime of stories.

He constantly reinvented himself with each new thing he created. He was a writer of what he loved to read, but only when he could convince the cat that his keyboard wasn't the only place in the house to sleep.

During his long and painful struggle with cancer the one thing that Patric always requested was that people treated him just as a normal guy. I heard from James Buchanan that Patric passed away, and it's with a lot of heartache that I post this. I didn't know him very well, but I unfortunately had experience with cancer, and it's always painful to hear about someone who lost his fight against this evil illness.

Patric’s friends put together an anthology, edited by Kris Jacen, Wishing on a Blue Star, a joint undertaking between Dreamspinner and MLR Press that is going to be his memorial.

Further Readings:

Conway's Curse by Patric Michael
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 2, 2010)
Amazon Kindle: Conway's Curse

It's while walking along a quiet road that Tion and Kail unexpectedly collide with Conway, a misguided man on a quest to resolve a potentially terrible truth: he's cursed with bad luck—bad luck that transfers to Tion and Kail in a most unexpected and inconvenient way!

Now they must aid Conway on his quest. Along the way, they'll meet duped villagers, a frighteningly ravenous "woof," and their only hope for salvation: a reluctant warrior wizard named Wylde who may be able to bring the trio, and himself, to an extraordinary happy ending.

GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Nicole Dennis - Grant's Mechanic

I asked to all the authors joining the GayRomLit convention in Atlanta in October (http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors) a personal favor, a special Ebook Giveaway: everyday I will post 1 book from each author, and among those who will leave a comment, I will draw a winner. Very easy and very fast ;-) I will send a PM to the winner, so remember to not leave anonymous comments!

And the ebook giveaway goes to: Suze

Today author is Nicole Dennis: Ever the quiet one growing up, Nicole Dennis often slid away from reality and curled up with a book to slip into the worlds of her favorite authors. Since then, she’s had a fascination with fantasy, paranormal and the never-ending appeal and beauty of romance. It seems only natural all of these loves would come together in her writing. She’s created a personal library full of novels filled with dragons, fairies, vampires, shape-shifters of all kinds, and romance. Still, there were these characters in her head, worlds wanting to be built on paper, and stories wanting to be told and she began writing them down whether during or after class. She continues to this day. Only recently has it begun to become fruitful, spreading out to let others read and enter her worlds, meet her characters, and see what she sees. No matter what she writes, her stories of romance with their twists of paranormal, fantasy, GLBT and erotica will always have their Happily Ever Afters. She currently works in a quiet office in Central Florida, where she also makes her home, and enjoys the down time to slip into her characters and worlds to escape reality from time to time. At home, she becomes human slave to a semi-demonic black-orange calico.
Website: http://nicoledennisauthor.blogspot.com/
Most recent title : Luna Moon Dance
Publishers: Silver Publishing, Siren Bookstrand, Lyrical Press, Breathless Press

Grant's Mechanic [Blue Collar Lovers] by Nicole Dennis
Series: Blue Collar Lovers
Paperback: 180 pages
Publisher: Siren Publishing, Inc. (May 14, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627400605
ISBN-13: 978-1627400602
Amazon: Grant's Mechanic [Blue Collar Lovers]
Amazon Kindle: Grant's Mechanic [Blue Collar Lovers]

When an ass in coveralls attracts him after a dry spell, Grant Carlton wants to know more about the new mechanic at his friend's garage. Then he finds there is more going on with the garage, the decline of his old friend's health, and the gorgeous man in those coveralls working on his favorite car, a '65 Mustang. Unable to walk away, Grant finds ways to help and be around his new mechanic. Morric Donahue struggles with being a parolee, not wanting to lose control after stepping outside the prison walls, especially knowing he never committed the crime. Wary of all commitments which don't include engines, he keeps a close eye on the enticing rich boy who keeps coming around. While he admires the hot muscle car, he wants to know more about the man driving it, even if it means going outside his self-imposed cell.

Texas Pride by Kindle Alexander

The strongest point of this novel is that is a solid, traditional, well-crafted western romance; the plot maybe is not overtly original, burned out Hollywood star goes back to his roots and falls love for hometown school buddy, but the romance is good, the turn of events where you are expecting it, and overall, an uplifting happily ever after that has just that touch of glamour without being too out of the realm of reality.

What I noticed is that, there are two pacing in the story, at first the author is going fast, Austin and Kitt have just the time to reacquainting again and they are already in bed, going at it like bunnies, but then, once the knot is tight, she decides to put a break, having the two spend months together and just “meeting” with them every 2/3 months. I suppose that was necessary to give credibility to Austin’s choice, something that, if he took on the spur of the moment, wasn’t to have the same chance of happiness than like this.

The story is a mix of glamour and homemade cooking, Austin coming back home is not simple as buying an home and settling down, he comes with high level security, money to buy whatever, and whoever he wants, the chance to just take up the phone and change the life of someone else. On the other side there is Kitt, too much land and too little money, too much proud and too little trust in the community, but simple cause he was an abused child, and the fault of the community was to not intervene helping him. Kitt learned that, if he wanted something, he had to fight alone, and so he is still doing.

Both Kitt than Austin are gay, actually both of them fantasizing about each other when they were in high school, only that Austin’s memories of Kitt faded away once he hit the road, but to Kitt, Austin is still the best fantasy, one he still feeds with all the movies and the magazines about the actor. And now his dream comes to live next door, and he is also pretty open in wanting Kitt. Of course, there is no hesitance, at least until everything remains in the closet.

There is a lot of sex, sometime to me it was even too raw; don’t get me wrong, nothing fancy, just plain, old, basic, good sex, but at some point the details bordered on the Erotica; to me it was like being jerked off from my dreamy land of romance, even if, after the hot sex, the two men always went back to that romance land, and for sure, Austin’s behavior at the end is that of the best romance heroes.

Amazon: Texas Pride
Amazon Kindle: Texas Pride
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Kindle Alexander LLC.; 1st edition (March 18, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0989117316
ISBN-13: 978-0989117319

Updates: http://www.goodreads.com/user/updates_rss/2156728?key=011e4dd0a1ff993d8c2322e691d6229ed9bbf74b