William Holden (born December 26)

William Holden has published more than forty stories of erotica, horror, fictional history, and romance. His short story, "Words to Die By," was a finalist in the 2010 Saints and Sinners Short Fiction Contest. His first book, A Twist of Grimm (Lethe Press), is a finalist for the 2010 Lambda Literary Award. His second book, "Words to Die By," was released in March 2012 by Bold Strokes Books. His first novel, Secret Societies was released in October 2012 and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Erotica.

William has also written encyclopedia articles on the history of gay and lesbian fiction and has authored five bibliographies for the GLBT Round Table of the American Library Association.

Words to Die By won a 2012 Rainbow Award as Best Gay Paranormal/Horror.

Further Readings:

Words to Die By by William Holden
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (March 13, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602826536
ISBN-13: 978-1602826533
Amazon: Words to Die By
Amazon Kindle: Words to Die By

Delve into the darker side of human nature with these sixteen stories by William Holden. As darkness enters the mind through revenge, jealousy, paranoia, or the uncanny operations of a supernatural force, these stories lead you onto new heights of fear… and arousal. In "Felonious Behavior," Jack Stevens takes matters into his own hands when the police can't or won't do anything about the driver who ran him down. In "The Other Man," a sex doll named Joey finds life through jealousy over his owner’s new boyfriend. "Fear #2 – Hierophobia, The Fear of Priests" tells of Gian, who returns home to confront his childhood fear—only to find that the priest who once terrified him isn't human, and his destiny is to follow in the priest’s dark footsteps. The human mind is fragile. How much fear one person can handle depends on how deep the darkness runs.

More Rainbow Awards at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, Rainbow Awards

David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956)

David Raymond Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is an American humorist, comedian, author and radio contributor nominated for a Grammy Award.

Sedaris has been described as 'the rock star of writers'. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next five essay collections, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), became New York Times Best Sellers. In 2010, he released a collection of anthropomorphic stories, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.

By 2008 his books had sold seven million copies. Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, jobs, education, drug use, obsessive behaviors and his life in France, London and the South Downs.

Sedaris was born in Binghamton, New York, to Lou and Sharon (née Leonard) Sedaris and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is of Greek descent. His mother was Protestant and his father was Greek Orthodox.


David Sedaris is an American author. He lives in France with his longtime partner Hugh Hamrick, a painter, set designer, and theater director, who has been mentioned in a number of Sedaris' stories. Sedaris describes them as the "sort of couple who wouldn't get married." The couple divide their time between a Left Bank apartment in Paris, a house in Normandy, and a flat in London's Kensington neighborhood. Sedaris explains the attraction simply: he needed a ladder and Hamrick had one.

( Read more... )

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

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Back Bay Books (June 5, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316776963
ISBN-13: 978-0316776967
Amazon: Me Talk Pretty One Day
Amazon Kindle: Me Talk Pretty One Day

A recent transplant to Paris, humorist David Sedaris, bestselling author of "Naked", presents a collection of his strongest work yet, including the title story about his hilarious attempt to learn French. A number one national bestseller now in paperback.

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels

Reichen Lehmkuhl (born December 26, 1973)

Reichen Lehmkuhl, (born Richard Allen Lehmkuhl; December 26, 1973) is an American former reality show winner, model, and occasional actor. A former United States Air Force officer, he is best known for winning season four of the reality game show The Amazing Race with his then-partner Chip Arndt, and for his much publicized 2006 relationship with pop singer Lance Bass.

After Lehmkuhl's parents, a policeman and a nurse, divorced when he was five, his family moved to Norton, Massachusetts, and his mother remarried. Sometime after 2002, he changed his first name legally from Richard to Reichen.

Lehmkuhl graduated from the United States Air Force Academy. He has since advocated for gay rights in the military as a spokesperson for Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.

Lehmkuhl was working simultaneously as a physics teacher at Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences, flight instructor and model in Los Angeles when he was approached by a casting director for The Amazing Race. Lehmkuhl and Chip Arndt were a happy couple during the competition but have since split. Lehmkuhl moved to Dallas, Texas briefly after his win on The Amazing Race but before all episodes had been broadcast. Reichen's spending habits at that time caused speculation that he had won The Amazing Race — and that he and Arndt had broken up. During the show, the couple was typically described as "Married" in the subtitles that are used to illustrate the relationship between team members (other teams being, for example, "Best Friends" or "Father-Daughter").


Reichen Lehmkuhl (born December 26, 1973) is an American former reality show winner, model, and occasional actor. A former United States Air Force officer, he is best known for winning season four of the reality game show The Amazing Race with his then-partner Chip Arndt. Lehmkuhl was working simultaneously as a physics teacher at Crossroads School for the Arts and Sciences, flight instructor and model in Los Angeles when he was approached by a casting director for The Amazing Race.

( Read more... )

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reichen_Lehmkuhl

Here's What We'll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force Academy by Reichen Lehmkul
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Da Capo Press (October 26, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0786720352
ISBN-13: 978-0786720354
Amazon: Here's What We'll Say: Growing Up, Coming Out, and the U.S. Air Force Academy

Reichen Lehmkuhl is perhaps best known for the ambition, intelligence, and athleticism that won him the grand prize on CBS's Amazing Race. Since winning the million-dollar prize, Lehmkuhl has gone on to find success acting in film and television. However, he played the biggest role of his life long before his professional acting debut, when he was forced to hide his sexuality to comply with the Air Force's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Here's What We'll Say tells the harrowing inside story of what happens when cadets who are committed to serving their nation's military figure out that they are in fact gay. With no way out and no place to turn for protection, a new code of conduct emerged among gay and lesbian cadets that helped ensure their safety. Gathering secretly in various locations, cadets formed a hidden network. To guarantee the privacy of individuals in attendance, however, each meeting opened with, "Here's what we'll say…" — a pledge so sacred that the group had it inscribed on the inside of their class rings.

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My List/Gay Novels

Cover Reveal: Nights Like These by Chris Scully

Nights Like These by Chris Scully
eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5935
Paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5936

Starting over sucks. At forty, Miles Koprowski thought he had life all figured out. He had a nice car, a hot young lover, and a cushy job… and then he didn’t. Call it fate, or karma, or a downturn in the market, but this opinionated cynic is now forced to play rent-a-cop in a dying office building in the burbs just to make ends meet. Throw in an unhinged ex, a coworker who hates him, and a hot new boss, and suddenly everything is uncertain.
Miles doesn’t plan on liking the night shift or becoming embroiled in a mystery that reawakens old passions and puts him in danger. And he certainly doesn’t plan on falling for the overbearing head of security, Colton Decker, former soldier and doting dad. But nights like these can change a man, make him start to believe there’s more to life than a high paying job and a warm body in his bed. With a thief on the loose and his new job in jeopardy, Miles will have to decide what’s truly important. He might discover things he never knew he wanted… as long as he makes it through the night.

( Excerpt )

Author Bio:
CHRIS SCULLY lives in Toronto, Canada where she grew up spinning romantic stories in her head. When the tedium of a corporate day job grew too much, she took a chance and found her creative escape in writing. Always searching for something different, she has discovered a home in M/M romance and strives to give her characters the happy endings they deserve.

What is for you the perfect book hero? In the romance genre my perfect hero is someone who changes and learns a lesson over the course of the story. Someone who rises above his circumstances and has to do something hard. Maybe they have to sacrifice or risk something, or learn to compromise. I don’t need a muscle-bound, gun-toting alpha. I’m much more interested in what happens when you throw everyday people into “heroic” situations.

When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head or is it built progressively? It depends. For books that are more character-driven I don’t always have all the details planned, but I do have an outline, even if it may only be a collection of random scenes. Then I let the characters take over. It's a balance; you don't want to stifle your characters, but at minimum I think you need a plan, if only to make sure the pace is correct. Occasionally I will think of a great scene at the last minute and then need to fit it in somewhere.

For something like Nights Like These, which has a mystery built-in, I did have a detailed plan in order to properly develop the mystery. You have to drop hints in the right places and build suspense. In that case I had the whole story worked out in advance. I do this by writing individual scenes on cue cards and then playing around with them to order the scenes properly and expose gaps in the narrative. Even though I had the plot points all worked out, I wanted to leave flexibility in the characters, so they could still develop a voice. Miles for example, started out as cynical and sarcastic, which he still is, but along the way developed more vulnerabilities than I intended.

The days are 25 hours. How do you spent that extra hour? Sleeping or day-dreaming (if you could combine the two it would be perfect).

Author Contact:
https://www.facebook.com/chris.scully.author



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