2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Sherrie Henry - Last of the Summer Tomatoes

Last of the Summer Tomatoes by Sherrie Henry
Paperback: 246 pages
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press (July 18, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623809592
ISBN-13: 978-1623809591
Amazon: Last of the Summer Tomatoes
Amazon Kindle: Last of the Summer Tomatoes

Kyle Jackowski, typical sullen emo teen, struggles to find a way to deal with his sexuality and finds himself in trouble with the law... again. But instead of being sent to a juvenile detention center like he expected, he is given a chance to commute his sentence by working on a farm for the summer.

Enter Sam, son of the farm owners, who shows Kyle what he feels is perfectly normal and that he doesn't have to hide from his feelings. In turn, Sam's parents show Kyle that his abusive stepfather and battered mother are not the norm. With their love and support, Kyle finds his place in the world-by Sam's side.

Leonard Frey (September 4, 1938 – August 24, 1988)

Leonard Frey (September 4, 1938 – August 24, 1988) was an American actor.

Frey was born in Brooklyn, New York. After college, where he studied art with designs on being a painter, he studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under famed acting coach Sanford Meisner, and pursued a career in theater instead. In 1968, he received critical acclaim for his performance as Harold, a bitter, pockmarked gay man who dreads his birthday in off-Broadway's The Boys in the Band. This landmark play introduced mainstream audiences to the culture of gay men who supported each other, providing friendship, family and, when necessary, reality checks.

Frey, along with the rest of the original cast, appeared in the 1970 film version, directed by William Friedkin.

Frey was nominated for a 1975 Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in The National Health. Other stage credits include revivals of The Time of Your Life (1969), Beggar on Horseback (1970), Twelfth Night (1972) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1980). Frey earned an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Motel the tailor in the film Fiddler on the Roof. (He had appeared in the original Broadway production as Mendel, the rabbi's son.) He played Clare Quilty in the Alan Jay Lerner musical Lolita, My Love which closed, before reaching Broadway, in 1974.

Frey's television credits included appearances on Hallmark Hall of Fame, Medical Center, Mission Impossible, Eight is Enough, Quincy, M.E., Hart to Hart, Barney Miller, Moonlighting, and Murder, She Wrote, as well as a co-starring role as the villainous Parker Tillman on the short-lived ABC western comedy Best of the West.


The cast of ‘Boys in the Band’ with playwright Mart Crowley, left. Next to him are Laurence Luckinbill as Hank, the late Frederick Combs as Donald, the late Robert La Tourneaux as 'Cowboy,' the late Kenneth Nelson as Michael, the late Leonard Frey as Harold, the late Cliff Gorman as Emory, the late Keith Prentice as Larry, Peter White as Alan and Reuben Greene as Bernard. (Photo courtesy of the Karpel Group)

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

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GayRomLit Ebook Giveaway: Max Vos - Sasquatch

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 layla_aaron

Today author is Max Vos: Max Vos is a classically trained chef with over 30 years of food service experience. After retiring in 2011, Max found himself with time on his hands and turned his talents to writing. ‘Cooking English’, a short story, was his first published work, and has two others currently in publication, and he has just completed his second novel.

Sasquatch by Max Vos
Publisher: Max Vos (July 19, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Sasquatch

Jack’s quite happy with his life until Lonnie Cahill gets in his face, spouting off about the gay mag he found in Jack’s truck, outing him in the little red-neck town of Lithonia, Georgia. Jack can take care of himself, but help arrives from an unexpected source—his neighbor, Dave, a man-mountain also known as Sasquatch, for obvious reasons. So when Dave turns up at Jack’s home needing his help, Jack is more than happy to oblige, even if he does have company, his current love interest.

Dave gets more than he bargained for when he peers through Jack’s bedroom door. And things get really interesting when he suddenly find himself dealing with two guys—and a whole new world of experiences. When morning comes, it’s just him and Jack—and the start of something wonderful that will change both of their lives forever….

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Jere' M. Fishback - Tyler Buckspan

Tyler Buckspan by Jere' M. Fishback
Publisher: Prizm Books (August 13, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Tyler Buckspan

Fifteen-year-old Tyler Buckspan lives with his mom and grandmother in 1960s Cassadaga, a Florida community where spiritual “mediums” ply their trade. The mediums--Tyler’s grandmother among them--read palms and tarot cards, conduct seances and speak with the dead. Tyler’s a loner, a bookish boy with few interests, until his half-brother Devin, nineteen and a convicted arsonist, comes to live in Tyler’s home.

For years, Tyler has ignored his attraction to other boys. But with Devin in the house, Tyler can't deny his urges any longer. He falls hopelessly in love with his miscreant half-brother, and with the sport of basketball, once Devin teaches Tyler the finer points of the game. In a time when love between men was forbidden, even criminalized, can Tyler find the love he needs from another boy? And is Devin a person to be trusted? Is he truly clairvoyant, or simply a con artist playing Tyler and others for fools? What does Devin really know about a local murder? And can Tyler trust his own psychic twinges?

2013 Rainbow Awards Submission: Bren Christopher - Second Chance Sam

Second Chance Sam by Bren Christopher
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (January 14, 2013)
Amazon Kindle: Second Chance Sam

Tristan and Cory have been together forever and thought they always would be--until Sam comes into their lives.

In a fit of jealousy, Tristan commits an inexcusable act of anger. Unable to trust his own temper, he leaves Cory although it breaks both of their hearts. Even if Cory can forgive him, Tristan can never forgive himself. Cory is determined to prove that Tristan has nothing to fear and that, together, they can find a way to put the past behind them. Then an old guilt of his own arises to weaken his resolve.

Somehow in this morass of jealousy, remorse and grief, Sam must find a way to reunite the couple he inadvertently tore apart. But the ghosts of Tristan's difficult childhood threaten to keep them separated despite Sam's best efforts. Now Sam must be more than a friend to the two if he is going to bring them back together. He'll do whatever is necessary, and if his plan happens to lead to a bit of fun for all three of them... surely no one can blame him for enjoying it just a little.

But if Sam succeeds, will it mean the end of his own chance for happiness?

Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever Love by Rob Rosen

In common with almost all the other novels I read by Rosen, Sparkle focuses more on the friendship than the romance, like the author wanted to highlight that, even if the quest for the perfect romance is something that everyone is undertaking, the real important thing is to have a best friend by your side. There is strong sense of community, the clear message that, most of these young boys may have lost their native family, but they have now a new, and more supporting family, the one made by their friends.

Sparkle is that friend to Secret. They are extremely young, 22 and 21 years old, and with the world in front of them. Secret is the new boy in town, innocent and naïve, and Sparkle will take him under his wing. Sparkle is the like Harold of The Boys in the Band, like the cricket of Pinocchio, the one you may not like, but who always tells you the truth.

If I have to be sincere, I would have liked for Sparkle and Secret to be together, and why not, maybe when they will be 30 or 40 years old, they will realize they have already spent so much life together, that at this point they can make it permanent, but now is not yet the time for them. As I said, this is a story of friendship and not love, and while at the beginning Sparkle is in hospital and the reader doesn’t know who put him there, that even is not the main focus of the story; through Secret’s words we will have the chance to meet Sparkle, and with him their circle of friends, the goods and the bads of this circle, you can judge them, you can love them, you can cheer for them or wanting to teach them a lessons, because, sometime they are like kids misbehaving.

Amazon: Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever Love
Amazon Kindle: Sparkle: The Queerest Book You'll Ever Love
Paperback: 274 pages
Publisher: Fierce Publishing (June 27, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0983767807
ISBN-13: 978-0983767800

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