2014 Rainbow Awards Submission: Gathering Storm

Gay Contemporary Romance
Gathering Storm by Alexa Land
Series: Firsts and Forever
Paperback: 362 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1499280017
ISBN-13: 978-1499280012
Amazon: Gathering Storm
Amazon Kindle: Gathering Storm

Working as a gay porn star has brought twenty-two-year-old Hunter Storm fame and fortune, but it’s cost him a lot, too. He’s learned to think of his body as little more than a commodity, and he copes with his loneliness by giving himself to whoever will have him. The job has also put him in the crosshairs of a stalker, a man so deeply disturbed that Hunter and everyone around him is in danger. Fortunately, Hunter has allies, including his best friend Christopher and Nana, a feisty senior who’s decided he's family. And then there’s Brian Nolan. When Hunter first meets the angry, wheelchair-bound former Marine, it’s hate at first sight. But despite his shattered body and tattered psyche, Brian might turn out to be the best ally of all. This male/male erotic romance is for ADULT READERS ONLY. It includes explicit language and graphic sex. This is the fourth book in Alexa Land’s best-selling Firsts and Forever series, yet each book in the series is written to stand alone, so jump in anywhere.

Charities Donation program progress:
25$ YouthCare: www.youthcare.org/
25$ Lancaster LGBT Center: http://www.centralpalgbtcenter.org/
25$ Inland Northwest LGBT Center: www.thelgbtcenter.org/
25$ Odyssey Youth Center: www.odysseyyouth.org/
30$ Covenant: www.covenanthouseno.org/
50$ Wes for Youth: wesforyouth.privacemail.com/
50$ Lambert House: www.lamberthouse.org/
50$ PFLAG: community.pflag.org/
50$ Ruth Ellis Center: http://www.ruthelliscenter.org/
75$ CARE: careprogram.org/
100$ The Center Colorado: http://www.glbtcolorado.org/
105$ Moveable Feast: http://www.mfeast.org/
110$ Lambda Legal: www.lambdalegal.org/
125$ The Trevor Project: www.thetrevorproject.org/
150$ Point Foundation: www.pointfoundation.org/
160$ UCAN: www.ucanchicago.org/
312$ Lost-n-Found Youth: www.lost-n-found.org/
313$ COLORS: www.colorsyouth.org/
317$ Galop: www.galop.org.uk/
400$ SAGE: giveto.sageusa.org/
710$ Other Funds
710$ Ali Forney Center: www.aliforneycenter.org/
TOTAL: 3917$*

* more than 150$ is a direct donation from a supporter of the Rainbow Awards who isn't submitting; while some authors were more than generous, arriving to donate 5 times the suggested amount, being the submission fee a non mandatory and voluntary direct donation, we were struggling to raise the same amount as last year and there is who decided to cover part of it. I thank you for all you are doing, and if you wish to donate to the above links, please drop me a note with your donation and I will update the total.

2014 Rainbow Awards Guidelines: reviews-and-ramblings.dreamwidth.org/4162490.html

GayRomLit Retreat: Rick R. Reed

Starting from March up until September I will feature authors attending the GayRomLit Retreat in Chicago (October 16-19, 2014: http://gayromlit.com/grl-authors).

Today author is Rick R. Reed: Rick R. Reed is all about exploring the romantic entanglements of gay men in contemporary, realistic settings. While his stories often contain elements of suspense, mystery and the paranormal, his focus ultimately returns to the power of love. He is the author of dozens of published novels, novellas, and short stories. He is a three-time EPIC eBook Award winner (for Orientation, The Blue Moon Cafe, and Caregiver). His novel, Raining Men, also won the Rainbow Award for Best Contemporary General Fiction. Lambda Literary Review has called him, "a writer that doesn't disappoint." Rick lives in Seattle with his husband and a very spoiled Boston terrier. He is forever "at work on another novel."
Website: http://www.rickrreed.com

Rick R. Reed is offering a copy of Legally Wed to one commenter on this blog. You can comment on LJ or DW if you have an account (I will send a PM to the winner), if you don't have an account, please leave a comment on DW with a contact email.

Legally Wed by Rick R. Reed
Paperback: 216 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (January 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627982043
ISBN-13: 978-1627982047
Amazon: Legally Wed
Amazon Kindle: Legally Wed

Love comes along when you least expect it. That’s what Duncan Taylor’s sister, Scout, tells him. Scout has everything Duncan wants—a happy life with a wonderful husband. Now that Seattle has made gay marriage legal, Duncan knows he can have the same thing. But when he proposes to his boyfriend Tucker, he doesn’t get the answer he hoped for. Tucker’s refusal is another misstep in a long line of failed romances. Despairing, Duncan thinks of all the loving unions in his life—and how every one of them is straight. Maybe he could be happy, if not sexually compatible, with a woman. When zany, gay-man-loving Marilyn Samples waltzes into his life, he thinks he may have found his answer.

Determined to settle, Duncan forgets his sister’s wisdom about love and begins planning a wedding with Marilyn. But life throws Duncan a curveball. When he meets wedding planner Peter Dalrymple, unexpected sparks ignite. Neither man knows how long he can resist his powerful attraction to the other. For sure, there’s a wedding in the future. But whose?