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reviews_and_ramblingsWith today I will post once a week 10 submissions for the Rainbow Awards randomly. At today we have almost 180 submissions from 46 different publishers. I also remember that, even if I have 89 judges, and they are doing a wonderful job, due to the huge number of submissions, I'm more than welcome other judges. So if you feel like doing it, please contact me. 
1. Geoffrey Knight - The Riddle of the Sands (Cleis Press)
Cleis Press, Gay, Mystery / Thriller
Hot gay tomb raiders. Blackmailed by Jake's nemesis—the vengeful Pierre Perron—Professor Fathom's team of gay adventure-hunters is sent on a seemingly impossible mission. Will they uncover the legendary Riddle of the Sands in time to save one of their own from a rare and deadly poison? Is the Riddle a myth, a mirage, or the greatest engineering feat in the history of ancient Egypt?
2. Tere Michaels - Love and Loyalty (Loose Id)
Loose Id, Gay, Contemporary
Detective James “Jim” Shea is a Seattle homicide detective who has never taken his work home with him – until now. A case has gotten under his skin and though it’s “over," it isn’t for Jim. The emotional toll has left him vulnerable and tied to the victim’s dying father. Meanwhile, Hollywood comes calling for a hot story, and screenwriter Griffin Drake sees the tragic case as his ticket to more serious fare than his usual action blockbusters. But to get the whole story he needs to win over the stoic and protective Detective Shea. Neither man has had much luck when it comes to romance or long-term relationships and neither is particularly looking but there's an attraction from their first meeting that can’t be denied. Their impromptu first date seems to have no end in sight – quickly becomes a barreling freight train of romance. Looming problems outside threaten their relationship – death, secrets and broken trust – and they'll have to learn loyalty to save their newfound love.
3. Stormy Glenn, Aleksandr Voinov, H.C. Brown & Anna O'Neill - Forbidden Love (Noble Romance Publishing)
Noble Romance Publishing, Gay, Historical
My Outlaw, by Stormy Glenn. After getting injured and losing his horse during a cattle drive, Daniel Branson is ordered to ride the stagecoach back home. Little does he realize that it will put him in the hands of the notorious outlaw, Black Bart. And the handsome outlaw has plans for Daniel that don’t involve holding him for ransom!
Forbidden, by H.C. Brown. England 1075—Sir Renoir Danier finds himself in an intolerable situation when he is ordered by King William to marry an elderly Spanish countess. Five years earlier, he met the great love of his life, Sir Sebastian. This deeply sensual dark angel taught him all that a man could give to another. Renoir became a slave to his erotic punishment. After a month of bliss, Sebastian sailed to Spain. Will he return or leave Renoir with a shattered heart?
Poisoned Heart, by Anna O’Neill. The ultimate betrayal . . . . In Edo-period Japan, a prominent family might choose to foster a son from another clan in order to encourage peaceful political relations. When Raiden's family invites twenty-three year old Masashi into their lives, their gesture has the opposite effect: Masashi kills Raiden's parents. Now years later Raiden is studying with a master of magic who allows Raiden the chance to go back in time to kill Masashi before Masashi can lift a finger against his family. But when Raiden is faced with his guest-brother once again, much to his horror he finds that his old feelings for Masashi return. With the weight of the future bearing down on Raiden's shoulders, can he overcome these troublesome emotions, or will his new weakness destroy everything?
Deliverance, by Aleksandr Voinov. William Raven of Kent joined the Knights Templar to do penance for his sins. Formerly a professional tournament fighter and mercenary, William is brought face-to-face with a past he'd thought he had escaped.
4. Drewey Wayne Gunn - The Golden Age of Gay Fiction (MLR Press)
MLR Press, LGBT, Non Fiction
It was the first great explosion of gay writing in history. These books were about gay characters. They were written mostly by gay writers. Above all, they were for gay readers. And, as this entertaining chronicle of the emergence of gay literary pride makes clear, it was a revolution that occurred several years before Stonewall! Their characters were mostly out or struggling to get out. The books were definitely out -- out on the revolving paperback bookracks in grocery stores, dime stores, drugstores, magazine agencies, and transportation terminals across the nation for youths and senior citizens, in the cities and the rural areas alike, to find and to devour. Here 19 writers take you on a tour of this Golden Age of Gay Fiction -- roughly the period between the first Kinsey Report and the first collection of Tales of the City -- paying attention to touchstone novels from the period but, even more, highlighting works of fiction that have been left unjustly to gather dust on literary shelves. Written by authors, scholars, collectors, and one of the publishers, their essays will inform you. They will sometimes amuse you. They will take you into literary corridors you only suspected were there. And the some 200 illustrations, chosen for their historical as well as their artistic interest, provide a visual record of why this was the golden age. It is guaranteed that you will emerge from reading this book with a long list of good reads to request from your favorite booksellers!
5. Jere Myles - Murder Behind Closed Doors (SouthWest Publications)
SouthWest Publications, Gay, Mystery / Thriller
It's three months after Jonathan Rose appeared on Rich Levenson's Until Tomorrow show. Murder Behind Closed Doors picks up where Murder on the Pier left off. Jonathan Rose, a handsome black artist, has become a threat to several rather high ranking officials in Chicago, and many want to see him dead. Naive and trusting, Jon Rose has no clue about this. Set in the 1990s, amidst 'Don't ask, don't tell,' Jon and Mieko's story continues as the murder trilogy descends into a quagmire filled with death and intrigue. 
6. Hayden Thorne - The Twilight Gods (Prizm Books)
Prizm Books, Gay, Coming of Age / Young Adult
London during the Great Exhibition of 1851 is a new world of technological advances, eye-popping inventions, and glimpses of exotic treasures from the East. For fifteen-year-old Norris Woodhead it’s a time of spectral figures mingling with London’s daily crowds, and an old rectory in a far corner of the English countryside, a great house literally caught in time, where answers to curious little mysteries await him. Confined by his family’s financial woes, Norris suffers a lonely and unsatisfying time till the day he (and only he) notices “shadow-folks” in the streets. Then a strange widow appears, rents a vacant room in the house, and takes him under her wing. She becomes his guardian, slowly revealing those shadows’ secrets, Norris’ connection with them, and the life-altering choices he has to face in the end. The Twilight Gods is a retelling of Native American folktale called “The Girl Who Married a Ghost.” Set in Victorian England, it’s an alternative perspective on a gay teen’s coming-out process, with Norris’ journey of self-discovery couched in magical and supernatural terms and imagery.
7. Gail Sterling - The World is a Stage (Prizm Books)
Prizm Books, Gay, Coming of Age / Young Adult
After his younger sister is killed in a tragic accident, William Palmer's family flees their quiet Warwickshire village for the bustling metropolis of Elizabethan London. The deaths of his parents and the marriage of his remaining sister soon separate William from his family. Taken on by a company of actors in an era where women are forbidden onstage, William makes a good living playing the parts of young girls and beautiful maidens. As he gets older, William finds himself growing out of the female stage parts, even as he develops a less than strictly professional interest in his co-star, Jack Hawkins. The course of true love never did run smooth, and William soon finds himself torn between Jack, the return of an elder sister who needs his help, and the mysterious and intriguing son of the company's patron, Lord Evering.
8. K.A. Mitchell - An Improper Holiday (Samhain Publishing)
Samhain Publishing, Gay, Historical
He followed all the rules…until one man showed him a dozen ways to break them. As second son to an earl, Ian Stanton has always done the proper thing. Obeyed his elders, studied diligently, and dutifully accepted the commission his father purchased for him in the Fifty-Second Infantry Division. The one glaring, shameful, marvelous exception: Nicholas Chatham, heir to the Marquess of Carleigh. Before Ian took his position in His Majesty’s army, he and Nicky consummated two years of physical and emotional discovery. Their inexperience created painful consequences that led Ian to the conviction that their unnatural desires were never meant to be indulged. Five years later, wounded in body and plagued by memories of what happened between them, Ian is sent to carry out his older brother’s plans for a political alliance with Nicky’s father. Their sister Charlotte is the bargaining piece. Nicky never believed that what he and Ian felt for each other was wrong and he has a plan to make things right. Getting Ian to Carleigh is but the first step. Now Nicky has only twelve nights to convince Ian that happiness is not the price of honor and duty, but its reward.
9. Hal Bodner - For Love of the Dead (Ravenous Romance & Alyson Books)
Ravenous Romance, Gay, Paranormal / Horror
Leave all your preconceptions about zombies on page one! Hal Bodner's For Love of the Dead brings an entirely new twist to the Risen Dead in a sultry, steaming hot novel of paranormal erotic romance that will rock your very soul in a story of lost hope, missed opportunities and sensual ecstasy. Hunky mortician Jake Marshall is seeking true love - and a funeral home is definitely the wrong place to look. Or is it...? Emotionally paralyzed by the untimely death of his first lover, Jake finally meets young Mario - the answer to Jake's prayers and the key to his finding love once again. But a specter of indescribable beauty and horrifying evil rises inexplicably from a mortuary table. Mark Hartner has the face of an angel, the body of a young god... and the soul of a demon from Hell. And Mark would like nothing more than to drag Jake back down to Hell with him. The fiend wastes no time in squandering his chance to redeem himself in an orgy of violence, sex and blood. And the only one who can stop him is Jake. How far will Jake go to thwart Mark's terrifying attacks on innocent young men? What sacrifices is the handsome mortician willing to make? Will Mario, the man with whom Jake can finally find happiness, be one of them? From an island paradise hiding terrible secrets to the hushed and sterile halls of a small mortuary, For Love of the Dead will take you on a darkly erotic journey like you've never known, bringing a shiver to your spine and a tingle to your body. Bodner combines heart-breaking emotional impact with the forbidden
allure of dark sex in a truly riveting tale of lust and revenge. Fighting against almost insurmountable obstacles from beyond the grave, his characters struggle against the odds to reach their ultimate reward - a pure and perfect love. Find out how far one man will go, what risks he will take and what dangers he will face... For Love of the Dead.
10. Willa Okati - And Call Me in the Morning (Loose Id)
Loose Id, Gay, Contemporary
Take two, and call me in the morning. Eli and Zane. Colleagues at work and close friends, though on the surface it's an unexpected friendship between an odd couple. While Zane took the "high school to college to med school" track, medicine is Eli's second career and the best choice he ever made. He has work that he loves, an extended second family of colleagues and friends, and Zane. So why does everyone make such a big deal about the pair of them? Yes, they spend a lot of time together. It doesn't mean they're a real couple. When teased about it one too many times by their colleagues, Zane challenges Eli to set the record straight with a kiss to prove there's absolutely no chemistry between them. Neither expected a spark to ignite between them. More than a spark. Desire. Passion. Zane wants to try getting up close and personal again to see if it was a one-time fluke or something more. Eli thinks he's too old to jump the fence now, but he can't say no to Zane and he doesn't want to. Truth be told, Eli's not so sure they can set the record straight after all.
