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reviews_and_ramblingsWhen I asked my friends to name their favorites, I didn't give them much rules, if not they pick a book read in 2015...
Enduring Night (More Heat than The Sun #7) by John Wiltshire
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (October 22, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608209946
ISBN-13: 978-1608209941
Amazon: Enduring Night (More Heat than The Sun #7)
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The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Nikolas has always liked art. You'd have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learnt that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit. Neither of them, however, foresees the long-term impact that endless winter has on their relationship. They return with a metaphorical darkness that threatens everything they have created together. Desperate and fearing for Nikolas's life, Ben makes a bargain with a surprising ally. For the first time, Nikolas meets an enemy more powerful than he is. But fortunately, not as sneaky...
A.B. Gayle: Unlike many authors, I have not been writing stories all my life. Instead I've been living life. My travels have taken me from the fjords of Norway to the southern tip of New Zealand. In between, I've worked in so many different towns I've lost count. I've shoveled shit in cow yards, mustered sheep, been polite to customers, traded insults with politicians. Sometimes I need to be forgiven as I get confused as to who needs what where. Now living in Sydney, Australia, I finally have time to allow my real life experiences to morph with my fertile imagination in order to create fiction which I hope my readers will enjoy. I do value feedback on my writing, both negative and positive. Be warned though, if you are impolite or unconstructive, who knows, you may just end up as a character in one of my books.
How to be both: A Novel by Ali Smith
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (October 13, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307275256
ISBN-13: 978-0307275257
Amazon: How to be both: A novel
Amazon Kindle: How to be both: A novel
Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith’s novels are like nothing else. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, How to be both is a novel all about art’s versatility. It’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real—and all life’s givens get given a second chance.
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ Charles
Paperback: 234 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (September 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619229676
ISBN-13: 978-1619229679
Amazon: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal
Amazon Kindle: The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal
A story too secret, too terrifying-and too shockingly intimate-for Victorian eyes. A note to the Editor Dear Henry, I have been Simon Feximal's companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide. You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told. So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death. I dare say it may not be quite what you expect. Robert Caldwell September 1914 Warning: Contains a foul-tempered Victorian ghost-hunter, a journalist who's too curious for his own good, villainy, horror, butterflies, unusual body modifications, and a lot of tampering with the occult.
Amy Lane: Amy Lane has two kids in college, two gradeschoolers in soccer, two cats, and two Chi-who-whats at large. She lives in a crumbling crapmansion with most of the children and a bemused spouse. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and m/m romance--and if you accidentally make eye contact, she'll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She'll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.
Chipman's African Adventure by Jim Anderson
Paperback: 454 pages
Publisher: Valentine Press (March 19, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0994224400
ISBN-13: 978-0994224408
Amazon: Chipman's African Adventure
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Chipman's African Adventure by Jim Anderson is a psycho adventure - a blackly comic tale set in the imagined country of Bomzawe in West Africa in 1972.. It also contains a tender gay love story. Though essentially satirical, some people may find the ribald sexuality confronting. Chipman Smith is still in the closet when he arrives at the Hornbill Palace Hotel at Tlula Leisure Beach , but he is well and truly out of it by the time he leaves. Or is he? Mr. Smith will never be the same again, and neither will you, after reading Chipman's African Adventure.This blackly comic tale, set in an imagined West African country, balances throughout on the edge of laughter. Crescendos of absurdity and high camp drama supplant and transcend each other with accelerating speed. Fledgling lawyer Chipman longs for true love. Will he find it with Zach Shaler, the Nebraskan cowboy with Peace Corps dreams, with Drift, the mamba snake catcher, even though Drift is seriously obsessed with Toffee, his intoxicatingly beautiful girlfriend, or with neither? Chipman hopes he has nothing but a drinking problem when he arrives from Sydney. To his horror he finds himself dragged into the bizarre re-birthing rituals of Dr Starry Sanguini, a drug-crazed Australian psychotherapist with a shady past. These rituals rapidly metamorphose into psychedelic theatrical extravaganza. Chipman emerges in one piece, but is he more clear sighted than before or just a slave to Sanguini as guru and ringmaster? Chipman is a benighted but endearing hero, confronted by many moral and ethical dilemmas. His naivety and goodwill are offset by a shrewdness of intellect and an ability not only to observe but to participate in the beauty, brutality and seething sexual shenanigans of his seedy post-colonial environment. The satire is savage and so is the civil war which inevitably comes, but there is an unexpected and underlying tenderness shown in Chipman's dealings with Sanguini's troupe of international outlaws and generational refugees. It would be easy for a psycho adventure like this to fall into caricature. Instead, the protagonists have a depth of characterisation which makes it all touchingly down to earth and real. Not everyone escapes alive, sane or uncompromised from Tlula Leisure Beach. You will never guess the end.
Andrew J. Peters: Andrew J. Peters is the author of the Werecat series and two books for young adults: The Seventh Pleiade and Banished Sons of Poseidon. He grew up in Amherst, New York, studied psychology at Cornell University, and has spent most of his career as a social worker and an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Andrew has written short fiction for many publications and has been a contributing writer for The Good Men Project, YA Highway, GayYA, La Bloga, and Layers of Thought among other media. While writing, Andrew is an administrator at Adelphi University's School of Social Work. He lives in New York City with his husband Genaro and their cat Chloë.
The Last Grand Master by Andrew Q. Gordon
Paperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623802911
ISBN-13: 978-1623802912
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Champion of the Gods: Book One
In a war that shook the earth, the Six gods of Nendor defeated their brother Neldin, god of evil. For the three thousand years since, Nendor and the Seven Kingdoms have known peace and prosperity.
But then a new wizard unleashes the power of Neldin. Meglar, wizard king of Zargon, uses dark magic to create an army of creatures to carry out his master's will.
One by one, the sovereign realms fall. Soon the only wizard who can stop Meglar is Grand Master Farrell, the Prince of Haven, the hidden home of refugees. An untried wizard, Farrell carries a secret that could hold the key to defeating Meglar-or it could destroy the world.
While helping Nerti, queen of the unicorns, Farrell saves Miceral, an immortal muchari warrior the Six have chosen to be Farrell's mate. But Farrell approaches love with caution, and before he can decide how to proceed, Meglar invades a neighboring kingdom. Farrell and Miceral find themselves in the middle of the battle. Farrell pushes himself to the limit as he and Miceral fight not only to stop Meglar but for their very survival.
Anne Barwell: Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing "discussion," and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning. She works in a library, is an avid reader and watcher of a wide range of genres, and is constantly on the look out for more hours in her day.
Family of Lies: Sebastian by Sam Argent
Paperback: 324 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632166801
ISBN-13: 978-1632166807
Amazon: Family of Lies: Sebastian
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Sebastian Orwell did the only thing a smart wizard could do when he stumbled upon the wounded Crown Prince: he healed him and dumped him in a tavern where he could continue not being Sebastian's problem. Unfortunately, the prince isn’t content with being alive, and he hunts Sebastian down to thank him personally. Not only is Sebastian stuck with the prince's unwanted affections, he's also confronted by growing evidence linking the assassination attempt to someone from his father's past.
Lord Orwell is a lot of things: thief, liar, drunk, and all around horrible father, but Sebastian knows he's no murderer. In order to prove it, Sebastian has to keep the prince alive long enough to discover the truth—a task made considerably harder because the idiot prince prefers wooing Sebastian over securing his own survival. On top of everything, Sebastian needs to save the day without revealing his magical powers and the real reason he hides his appearance.
Sebastian had no intention of playing the hero, but whoever is stirring up shit in his country will pay for destroying his quiet life.
Bad Magic by Evelyn Elliott
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (October 28, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Bad Magic
Morality is relative. At least that’s what young sorcerer Regis Teller convinces himself. He’s done what he must to survive: working for a witch since he was nine, helping her throw the kingdom into anarchy, and taking his only comfort in her mysterious son, Crow. And soon, Regis is going to commit his first murder.
A do-gooder named Jonathan White has information the witch needs, and it’s Regis’s job to get that information and slit Jonathan’s throat. But then Regis actually meets Jonathan. And Jonathan is perfect—a hero with a passion for justice and little regard for civility.
Lucky for Regis, Jonathan has a weakness for attractive men. Lucky for Jonathan, Regis is fast developing a conscience and a heart. But for Regis, keeping both of them alive at their adventure’s end means breaking a magical oath and surviving his ruthless boss—all without telling Jonathan the truth. Falling in love is never easy, especially when everyone involved is lying through their teeth.
August Li: August (Gus) Li is a creator of fantasy worlds. When not writing, he enjoys drawing, illustration, costuming and cosplay, and making things in general. He lives near Philadelphia with two cats and too many ball-jointed dolls. He loves to travel and is trying to see as much of the world as possible. Other hobbies include reading (of course), tattoos, and playing video games.
Blue on Black by Carole Cummings
Paperback: 380 pages
Publisher: DSP Publications (June 16, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632169495
ISBN-13: 978-1632169495
Amazon: Blue on Black
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Kimolijah Adani―Class 2 gridTech, beloved brother, most promising student the Academy's ever had the privilege of calling their own, genius mechanical gridstream engineer, brilliantly pioneering inventor... and dead man. But that's what happens when a whiz kid messes with dynamic crystals and, apparently, comes to the attention of Baron Petra Stanslo. Killed for his revolutionary designs, Kimolijah Adani had been set to change the world with his impossible train that runs on nothing more than gridstream locked in a crystal. Technically it shouldn't even be possible, but there is no doubt it works.
Bas is convinced the notoriously covetous and corrupt Stanslo had something to do with Kimolijah Adani's tragic and suspicious end. A Directorate Tracker, Bas has finally managed to catch the scent of Kimolijah Adani's killer, and it leads right into Stanslo's little desert barony. For almost three years, Bas has tried to find a way into Stanslo's Bridge, and when he finally makes it, shock is too small a word for what―or, rather, whom―he finds there.
B.A. Brock: B. A. Brock has lived most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, with a couple years in Oklahoma. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in 2007 at Portland State University--which he mostly uses to contemplate how we can achieve a civilization more closely aligned with Star Trek. During a round of Dungeons and Dragons, he discovered a desire to write out some scenes from his character's story. Those scenes became an obsession, that obsession led to writing classes, and an author was born. When not writing, Brock spends his time reading/reviewing novels, training for marathons, hanging out with his dog, and bemoaning the fact that the world has yet to make a decent gluten free donut.
Call Me Home by Megan Kruse
Paperback: 292 pages
Publisher: Hawthorne Books (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0990437000
ISBN-13: 978-0990437000
Amazon: Call Me Home
Call Me Home has an epic scope in the tradition of Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves or Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and braids the stories of a family in three distinct voices: Amy, who leaves her Texas home at 19 to start a new life with a man she barely knows, and her two children, Jackson and Lydia, who are rocked by their parents’ abusive relationship. When Amy is forced to bargain for the safety of one child over the other, she must retrace the steps in the life she has chosen. Jackson, 18 and made visible by his sexuality, leaves home and eventually finds work on a construction crew in the Idaho mountains, where he begins a potentially ruinous affair with Don, the married foreman of his crew. Lydia, his 12-year-old sister, returns with her mother to Texas, struggling to understand what she perceives to be her mother’s selfishness. At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home.
Carlos T. Mock: Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a middle class family. Grew up in the San Francisco/Santa María suburb of San Juan and attended Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola prep school where upon graduation escaped to The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Then proceeded to attend the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan where he obtained a Doctor in Medicine degree in 1980. After an internship in New Orleans and a four-year obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago he went to work in the private practice in the Chicago suburbs until 1996.Currently shares life in Chicago with his life partner, Bill Rattan, and their dog Tiffany. Very active in the GLBT community by having served on the board of two organizations; Equality Illinois and Orgullo en Acción. He contributes columns regularly to Windy City Times in Chicago, Ambiente Magazine in Miami, Camp Newspaper in Kansas City. He's had several OP-Ed published at the Chicago Tribune. Inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October 18th, 2007.
A Pride of Poppies: Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
Paperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Manifold Press (April 29, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 190831284X
ISBN-13: 978-1908312846
Amazon: A Pride of Poppies: Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
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Ten authors - in thirteen stories - explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people? A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
Charlie Cochrane: As Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne. Charlie's Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.
Chris Quinton: Chris started creating stories not long after she mastered joined-up writing, somewhat to the bemusement of her parents and her English teachers. But she received plenty of encouragement. Her dad gave her an already old Everest typewriter when she was about ten, and it was probably the best gift she'd ever received - until the inventions of the home-computer and the worldwide web. Chris's reading and writing interests range from historical, mystery, and paranormal, to science-fiction and fantasy, mostly in the male/male genre. She also writes male/female novels in the name of Chris Power, see http://chrispower.me.uk. She refuses to be pigeon-holed and intends to uphold the long and honourable tradition of the Eccentric Brit to the best of her ability. In her spare time [hah!] she embroiders, quilts and knits. In the past she has been a part-time and unpaid amateur archaeologist, and a 15th century re-enactor. She currently lives in a small and ancient city in the south-west of the United Kingdom, sharing her usually chaotic home with an extended family, two large dogs, fancy mice, sundry goldfish and a young frilled dragon (Australian lizard) aka Trogdorina.
The 10 Year Plan by JC Calciano
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 7, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1517314844
ISBN-13: 978-1517314842
Amazon: The 10 Year Plan
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Back when… Best friends Myles and Brody are total opposites: Myles believes in true love and happily ever after; Brody believes in hot guys and lots of happy endings. But after Myles has a particularly bad date, they make a plan that, if they haven’t found true love in 10 years they’ll become a couple. 10 years later… Nothing has changed. Myles is still a hopeless romantic looking for Mr. Right and Brody is still on the hunt for Mr. Right Now – both still alone. When they realize it’s almost time to make good on the promise they made to each other a decade earlier, both friends scramble to do whatever it takes to avoid their fate: to be a couple! The search for each other’s perfect partner is on! But maybe the man of their dreams is too close to see… This book also contains special extra content, including: * Myles’ Favorite Recipes * Images From the Movie The 10 Year Plan.
Charlie David: Charlie David has been a host for E! Television, NBC, OutTV, LOGO, here! TV, Pink TV, EGO, Fine Living and Life Network on such shows as FYE!, SpyTV, Crash Test Mommy and his travel series Bump! which now airs in over 10 countries worldwide. He has appeared as musical guest on VH1, BBC, CBS's The Early Show, and dozens of radio shows. Charlie's writing has been published by Instinct, National Youth Ambassador, Adventure Women, Outlooks and BoyCrazy! magazines and AfterElton.com. The latter culminated in a guest appearance on NBC's The Other Half with Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce, and Mario Lopez. In 2009 he had his first two novels, Mulligans and Boy Midflight, published by Palari Publishing. The Cold Reading Series in Vancouver awarded Charlie 'Best Feature Screenplay' for Mulligans and 'Best Short Screenplay' for Narcissus. In 2005 Out Magazine recognized Charlie in the 'Out 100' at their gala in New York. In 2007 the Philadelphia Film Society awarded Charlie with their Rising Star Award. In 2008 the Festival del Sol in Gran Canaria awarded their Best Male Actor Award to Charlie and the male cast of A Four Letter Word. Formerly in a rock band... okay, actually it was a boy band, Charlie opened for Destiny's Child, Pink, Snoop Dogg, Rick Springfield and Black Eyed Peas. Having enjoyed life on the road with music and modeling contracts across North America and Europe, Charlie is now focused on film and TV with recent roles in the films, A Four Letter Word and Kiss the Bride, and on ABC's Ugly Betty, Bravo!'s Godiva's, Showtime's Reefer Madness, Sundance Channel's award winning Terminal City and starring in a 4th season of here! Network's Dante's Cove. Charlie is co-owner of CTM International Enterprises Inc., a Canadian Talent Agency representing over 100 actors for film, television and commercials. In 2007 he started Border2Border Entertainment Inc., a production company whose first project was the film, Mulligans. He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts and currently resides in various hotel rooms around the globe.
Blind: A Memoir by Belo Miguel Cipriani
Paperback: 186 pages
Publisher: Wheatmark (June 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1604945559
ISBN-13: 978-1604945553
Amazon: Blind: A Memoir
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Imagine if the most severe physical pain and sorrow in your life were inflicted by the people you trusted most. In the spring of 2007, Belo Cipriani was beaten and robbed of his sight at the hands of his childhood friends. Blind: A Memoir chronicles the two years immediately following the assault. At the age of twenty-six, Belo found himself learning to walk, cook, and date in the dark. Armed with visual memory and his newly developed senses, Belo shows readers what the blind see. He narrates the recondite world of the blind, where microwaves, watches, and computers talk, and where guide dogs guard as well as lead.
Midday Dreams by Belo Miguel Cipriani
Publisher: Ugly Dog Digital (September 30, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Midday Dreams
Belo Cipriani (Blind: A Memoir) returns with a magical short story that whisks readers away to another time, another place.
In the lyrical “Midday Dreams,” Cipriani takes his readers to a lush, tropical island that isn't the paradise it might appear to be. There, the devout Izabel learns to open her heart love those who don't live and believe as she does.
Infused with prophetic dreams and magical realism, “Midday Dreams” will surely find its way into your heart.
David-Elijah Nahmod: David-Elijah Nahmod is a film critic and reporter in San Francisco. His articles appear regularly in The Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter. He is currently doing a monthly column in South Florida Gay News titled “If You Could Read My Mind: A PTSD Diary.”
Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1) by Heidi Cullinan
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 7, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619227118
ISBN-13: 978-1619227118
Amazon: Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1)
Amazon Kindle: Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1)
Normal is just a setting on the dryer. The Roosevelt, Book 1 High school graduate Jeremey Samson is looking forward to burying his head under the covers and sleeping until it's time to leave for college. Then a tornado named Emmet Washington enters his life. The double major in math and computer science is handsome, forward, wicked smart, interested in dating Jeremey-and he's autistic. But Jeremey doesn't judge him for that. He's too busy judging himself, as are his parents, who don't believe in things like clinical depression. When his untreated illness reaches a critical breaking point, Emmet is the white knight who rescues him and brings him along as a roommate to The Roosevelt, a quirky new assisted living facility nearby. As Jeremey finds his feet at The Roosevelt, Emmet slowly begins to believe he can be loved for the man he is behind the autism. But before he can trust enough to fall head over heels, he must trust his own conviction that friendship is a healing force, and love can overcome any obstacle. Warning: Contains characters obsessed with trains and counting, positive representations of autism and mental illness, a very dark moment, and Elwood Blues.
Prosperity by Alexis Hall
Paperback: 190 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (June 20, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626491771
ISBN-13: 978-1626491779
Amazon: Prosperity
Amazon Kindle: Prosperity
A breathtaking tale of passion and adventure in the untamed skies!
Prosperity, 1863: a lawless skytown where varlets, chancers, and ne’er-do-wells risk everything to chase a fortune in the clouds, and where a Gaslight guttersnipe named Piccadilly is about to cheat the wrong man. This mistake will endanger his life . . . and his heart.
Thrill! As our hero battles dreadful kraken above Prosperity. Gasp! As the miracles of clockwork engineering allow a dead man to wreak his vengeance upon the living. Marvel! At the aerial escapades of the aethership, Shadowless.
Beware! The licentious and unchristian example set by the opium-addled navigatress, Miss Grey. Disapprove Strongly! Of the utter moral iniquity of the dastardly crime prince, Milord. Swoon! At the dashing skycaptain, Byron Kae. Swoon Again! At the tormented clergyman, Ruben Crowe.
This volume (available in print, and for the first time on mechanical book-reading devices) contains the complete original text of Piccadilly’s memoirs as first serialised in All the Year Round. Some passages may prove unsettling to unmarried gentlemen of a sensitive disposition.
E.J. Russell: E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she's spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer and business intelligence consultant. She returned to her childhood love of writing fiction after her twin sons learned to drive and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class. Her daily commute now consists of walking from one side of her office to the other -- from left-brain day job to right-brain author cave -- where she's perfected the fine art of typing with a cat draped across her wrists and a dog attached to her hip. E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her husband, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.
Falling Awake by Kage Alan
Paperback: 84 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (August 24, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1517025516
ISBN-13: 978-1517025519
Amazon: Falling Awake
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Imagine waking up in a place you can’t remember, with a face you don’t recognize, and a name that may not be your own printed on a ticket in your back pocket. And of the five people you meet during the next few hours, four of them hold clues to your past, present, and two possible futures. The outcome of the encounter will determine your soul’s fate, and the only way out of the nightmare may be through falling awake.
Eden Winters: You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of "Hey, y'all!" in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs! Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world's record for curriculum changes to the point that she's never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit. She's trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as "What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?" In the process of her adventures she has written fourteen m/m romance novels, has won several Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches. When not putting characters in dangerous situations she's a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist. Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and the backs of motorcycles.
Stories by Lewis Ellingham
Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/shop/lewis-ellingham/stories/paperback/product-22082250.html
Collection of stories/proems from Lewis Ellingham's life in San Francisco
Felice Picano: Felice Picano, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and publisher, was a founding member of the Violet Quill, a pioneering group of gay male writers in the 1980s. Recipient of many awards and citations, he received the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2010, and the City of West Hollywood’s Rainbow Award and Citation in 2013.
For Real by Alexis Hall
Paperback: 362 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (February 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626492808
ISBN-13: 978-1626492806
Amazon: For Real
Amazon Kindle: For Real
Laurence Dalziel, a thirty-seven year old trauma surgeon, is worn down and washed up. And for him the BDSM scene especially is all played out. He’s tired of pantomiming submission, and he’s long since given up looking for more than hollow release.
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. He doesn’t know how he ended up where he is or where he’s meant to be going. But he knows, with all the terrible certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie.
He wants Laurie on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love. But while Laurie will surrender his body to Toby’s desires, he won’t surrender his heart. Because whatever they have, however right it feels, he knows it can’t last. Toby has to live his own life, and Laurie has to let him.
It can’t be for real.
Feliz Faber: Reader, writer, translator. “Small things are what matter: The first cup of coffee in the morning. Starting a new book on a rainy Sunday. Laying awake at night and hearing my family's breaths around me. Meeting with friends and talking about everything and nothing for hours on end. Wording the perfect phrase. Starting a new story. Typing the word "end". That's bliss.”
Kaje Harper: Kaje Harper grew up in Montreal and spent her teen years writing. But as life got busy, the stories began to just live in her head. The characters grew, met, endured, loved, but rarely made it to paper. Serious authorship got sidetracked by ventures into psychology, teaching, and a biomedical career. And by the challenges of raising children. When the kids were more independent, her husband gave her a computer she didn't have to share. She began putting words down in print, just for fun. Hours of fun. Lots of hours of fun. The stories began piling up, and her husband suggested it was time to try to publish one. MLR Press accepted her first book, Life Lessons, which was released in May 2011. Kaje now has several novels and short stories in print. She currently lives in Minnesota with a creative teenager, a crazy little omnivorous white dog, and a remarkably patient spouse.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Atria Books; Reprint edition (December 2, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476709130
ISBN-13: 978-1476709130
Amazon: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Amazon Kindle: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
In her profound and courageous New York Times bestseller, Janet Mock establishes herself as a resounding and inspirational voice for the transgender community—and anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms.
With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering readers accessible language while imparting vital insight about the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Though undoubtedly an account of one woman’s quest for self at all costs, Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another—and of ourselves—showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real.
Giselle Renarde: Giselle Renarde is a queer Canadian, contributor to more than 100 short story anthologies, and award-winning author of dozens of electronic and print books, including Anonymous, Audrey & Lawrence, Ondine, Nanny State, and the Wedding Heat series. Giselle lives across from a park with two bilingual cats who sleep on her head. Ms. Renarde's anthology My Mistress' Thighs: Erotic Transgender Fiction and Poetry received an Honourable Mention in the 2011 Rainbow Awards, and her trans lesbian romance The Red Satin Collection took top prize in the same category in 2012. She is a contributor to Tristan Taormino's Lambda Award-winning book Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica, as well as such notable anthologies as Best Women's Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica, and Best Lesbian Romance.
Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime) by Ann Aptaker
Series: Cantor Gold Crime
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (September 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626394261
ISBN-13: 978-1626394261
Amazon: Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime)
Amazon Kindle: Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime)
New York City, 1950. Cantor Gold, art smuggler and dapper dyke-about-town, hunts for a missing masterpiece she’s risked her life to bring through the port of New York. She must outsmart the Law that wants to jail her; outrun the dockside gangsters who would let her take the fall for murder; and outplay a shady art dealer, his lover, and a beautiful curator who toys with Cantor’s passion. Through it all, Cantor must stay out of the gunsights of a killer who’s knocking off rivals for the missing masterpiece—and stay alive to solve the mystery of her stolen love: Sophie de la Luna y Sol.
A Cantor Gold Crime Novel.
Jaime Maddox: Jaime Maddox spends her mornings practicing medicine, her afternoons playing mom, and nights writing fiction for Bold Strokes Books. Her debut novel Agnes earned her the Alice B Lavender Certificate, and she followed up with three other works: The Common Thread, Bouncing and Deadly Medicine. She loves her native Pocono Mountains, and of her books are set, at least partially, in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She still lives there, with her partner Carolyn, and their eleven year old twins, Jamison and Max, but escapes on occasion for a little diversion. In an effort to keep her blood pressure high, she plays golf. She lowers it again by hanging out with her family, yoga, reading and baking.
Girls in Ice Houses by Linda Morgenstein
Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC (November 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161929222X
ISBN-13: 978-1619292222
Amazon: Girls in Ice Houses
Amazon Kindle: Girls in Ice Houses
Maxie Wolfe is becoming a notorious female paparazzo, a dubious goal that reflects her flight from the past. One scorching night, outside the Bad Mama Supper Club, Maxie scuffles with Fisher Jacobs, female sports agent. They're both arrested and sentenced to anger-management classes. Things go from bad to worse for the pair in Hollywood, until they flee to Fisher's family in Minnesota. Once there, Maxie begins to bond with the Jacobs family and to use her talent to take photos that aren't ugly celebrity exposes. Reluctantly, she uncovers startling secrets about the Jacobs family. Girls in Ice Houses is a thoughtful yet humorous exploration of complex family dynamics, and the nature of art and creativity.
Jess Faraday: Jess Faraday is the author of the Ira Adler Mysteries, the Stein & Vincent Adventures, and the steampunk thriller The Left Hand of Justice. She also edits a series of mystery anthologies for Elm Books, including Death on a Cold Night and Death and the Detective. Her work has been shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, and has received Honorable Mention in the Speak Its Name Book of the Year and Rainbow Award competitions. She lives in the western United States with her family and a small zoo.
Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery by Katie Gilmartin
Paperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Cleis Press; proof edition (November 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627780645
ISBN-13: 978-1627780643
Amazon: Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery
Amazon Kindle: Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery
Josie O'Conner travels to San Francisco in 1951 to locate her gay brother, a private eye investigating a blackmail ring targeting lesbians and gay men. Jimmy's friends claim that just before he disappeared he became a rat, informing the cops on the bar community. Josie adopts Jimmy's trousers and wingtips, to clear his name, halt the blackmailers, and exact justice for too many queer corpses. Along the way she rubs shoulders with a sultry chanteuse running a dyke tavern called Pandora's Box, gets intimate with a red-headed madam operating a brothel from the Police Personnel Department, and conspires with the star of Finocchio's, a dive so disreputable it's off limits to servicemen — so every man in uniform pays a visit.
Blackmail, My Love is an illustrated murder mystery deeply steeped in San Francisco's queer history, as established academic and first-time novelist Katie Gilmartin's diverse set of characters negotiate the risks of same-sex desire in a dangerous era. Set in such legendary locations as the Black Cat Cafe, the Fillmore, the Beat movement's North Beach, and the Tenderloin, Blackmail, My Love is a singular, stunning introduction to a new author and to gay noir.
Jim Provenzano: Jim Provenzano is the author of the Lambda Literary Award winner (Gay Romance) 'Every Time I Think of You,' and its sequel 'Message of Love' (a Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Gay Romance), the novels 'PINS,' 'Monkey Suits,' 'Cyclizen,' the stage adaptation of 'PINS,' as well as numerous published short stories and freelance articles. The curator of 'Sporting Life,' the world's first gay athletics exhibit, he also wrote the syndicated Sports Complex column for ten years. A journalist in LGBT media for more than two decades, he lives in San Francisco.
Humbug by Joanna Chambers
Publication Date: November 17, 2015
Amazon Kindle: Humbug
Quin Flint is unimpressed when his gorgeous colleague, Rob Paget, asks for extra time off at Christmas. As far as Quin is concerned, Christmas is a giant waste of time. Quin's on the fast track to partnership, and the season of goodwill is just getting in the way of his next big project. But when Quin's boss, Marley, confiscates his phone and makes him take an unscheduled day off, Quin finds himself being forced to confront his regrets, past and present, and think about the sort of future he really wants…and who he wants it with.
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (April 14, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802123805
ISBN-13: 978-0802123800
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Now in paperback, Val McDermid’s Northanger Abbey is an updated take on Jane Austen’s classic novel about a young woman whose visit to the stately home of a well-to-do acquaintance stirs her most macabre imaginings. A homeschooled minister’s daughter in the quaint, sheltered Piddle Valley in Dorset, Cat Morland loses herself in novels (and, of course, her smartphone) and is sure there is a glamorous adventure awaiting her beyond the valley’s narrow horizon. So imagine her delight when her neighbors, the Allens, invite her to attend the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh as their guest. Cat quickly begins to take Edinburgh by storm and is taken into the bosom of the Thorpe family, particularly by eldest daughter Bella. And then she meets handsome Henry Tilney, who lives at the beautiful and forbidding Northanger Abbey. Cat is entranced by Henry and his charming sister Eleanor, but she can’t help but wonder if everything about them is as perfect as it seems. Maybe she has just been reading too many novels?
JL Merrow: JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne. She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.
Astounding! By Kim Fielding
Paperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 26, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1634762207
ISBN-13: 978-1634762205
Amazon: Astounding!
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Carter Evans is founder and editor-in-chief of Astounding!―a formerly popular spec fiction magazine currently in its death throes. Not only can he do nothing to save it, but stuck in a rathole apartment with few interpersonal connections, he can’t seem to do much to rescue his future either. And certainly all the booze isn’t helping. He snaps when he receives yet another terrible story submission from the mysterious writer J. Harper―and in a drunken haze, Carter sends Harper a rejection letter he soon regrets.
J. Harper turns out to be John Harper, a sweet man who resembles a ’50s movie star and claims to be an extraterrestrial. Despite John’s delusions, Carter’s apology quickly turns into something more as the two lonely men find a powerful connection. Inexplicably drawn to John, Carter invites him along on a road trip. But as they travel, Carter is in for some big surprises, some major heartbreak… and just maybe the promise of a good future after all.
Jordan Castillo Price: Author and artist Jordan Castillo Price writes paranormal thrillers colored by her time in the midwest, from inner city Chicago, to small town Wisconsin, to liberal Madison. Her influences include Ouija boards, Return of the Living Dead, "light as a feather, stiff as a board," girls with tattoos and boys in eyeliner. Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who's plagued by ghostly visitations. Also check out her new series, Mnevermind, where memories are made...one client at a time.
A Fashionable Indulgence (A Society of Gentlemen Novel #1) by KJ Charles
Publisher: Loveswept (August 11, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: A Fashionable Indulgence (A Society of Gentlemen Novel #1)
In the first novel of an explosive new series from K. J. Charles, a young gentleman and his elegant mentor fight for love in a world of wealth, power, and manipulation.
When he learns that he could be the heir to an unexpected fortune, Harry Vane rejects his past as a Radical fighting for government reform and sets about wooing his lovely cousin. But his heart is captured instead by the most beautiful, chic man he’s ever met: the dandy tasked with instructing him in the manners and style of the ton. Harry’s new station demands conformity—and yet the one thing he desires is a taste of the wrong pair of lips.
After witnessing firsthand the horrors of Waterloo, Julius Norreys sought refuge behind the luxurious facade of the upper crust. Now he concerns himself exclusively with the cut of his coat and the quality of his boots. And yet his protégé is so unblemished by cynicism that he inspires the first flare of genuine desire Julius has felt in years. He cannot protect Harry from the worst excesses of society. But together they can withstand the high price of passion.
Kate McMurray: Kate McMurray is an award-winning author of gay romance and an unabashed romance fan. When she's not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter of Romance Writers of America. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Just Business by Anna Zabo
Publisher: InterMix (June 16, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Just Business
From the thriling new author of Takeover, a steamy new novel about having all the control—and losing it…
Justin White may not look like an up and coming corporate superstar, but his new boss knows he has the smarts, grit, and determination to succeed. Now he just has to convince his company’s CFO, Eli Ovadia. Unfortunately, Justin can’t seem to keep his cool around the domineering Eli—and soon he finds himself taking their heat from the boardroom into the bedroom….
Still haunted by a tragic accident that left him with a wounded leg and broken heart, Eli has a need to be in control. But his desire for Justin makes him want to lose that control—and push them both far beyond their limits. But will his need to dominate Justin drive him away—or will Eli find a way to be the man he needs for both of them?
Kate Pavelle: She learned to use a gas mask in first grade. She fired her first AK47 in her sixth grade civil defense class. Her first dog was a wolf hybrid stolen from the Czechoslovak border guard, and her eccentric father blew out the windows of their house with a stun grenade. On purpose. Unlike his chemical explosions, which were always by accident. Kate Pavelle's high-stakes, high-adrenaline childhood leaves her searching for the next exciting thing. Martial arts and travel and rock climbing. Horses and cookies and toxic mushrooms. Medieval combat and children and brain-tanning deer hide in the driveway. Her quest resonates through her mystery thrillers and romances, matched only by her drive to share the fun with her readers. Kate once knew the hunger of being a political refugee and the terror of being pursued by government agents. Now that she knows lasting love and contentment, she imbues her characters with her own struggle for survival, excellence, and world domination. Only the dead bodies are imaginary.
The Trojan Project by John T Fuller and Richard Rider
Publisher: Lulu.com (November 2, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: The Trojan Project
Written by John T. Fuller (When the Music Stops) and Richard Rider (The Stockholm Syndrome trilogy and Captured Shadows), The Trojan Project is a collection of twelve original stories of gay romance.
A couple move into a new home with that unsettling feeling of being watched; a young man who rescues an antique mannequin from a skip gets more than he bargained for; a lonely campsite worker finally gets up the courage to make a move on the man he admires; an over-privileged student gets more than the standard treatment when he's recruited into a secret society; Andersen, Rimbaud and Verlaine as you've never seen them before – plus fairies, vampires, rockstars, and a surprise appearance from Pip Valentine.
From historical to horror, poetry to porn, there's something to whet every appetite.
We just hope that you like sausage.
KJ Charles: KJ Charles is a writer and editor living in London. She has a serious reading habit, two kids, a cat, a blog, and several books coming out. Somehow.
Building Bonds (Kiss of Leather) by Morticia Knight
Series: Kiss of Leather
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing (August 11, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1784307122
ISBN-13: 978-1784307127
Amazon: Building Bonds (Kiss of Leather)
Amazon Kindle: Building Bonds (Kiss of Leather)
Kyle’s a natural sub who builds dungeon furniture, yet has no interest in BDSM. It takes a hunky Dom to show him just what he’s been missing.
After Kyle’s partner of five years leaves him for another man on the night of their housewarming party, the shy, early-thirties carpenter needs to do a major reassessment of his life in addition to raising some serious cash. With no one to help him pay the lease on his Los Angeles condo, he worries how he’ll survive. His best friend sets up a meeting with one of the Doms and partners at Kiss of Leather, a gay BDSM club being built as a premier destination for those who want the best of the best.
Master Gavin not only wants the best—he demands it. When he meets Kyle, he assumes that part of the builder’s reticence to share anything personal with him must be due to his experiences with an abusive former Master. Not one to back down from a challenge, Gavin determines to break through the walls surrounding the beautiful man he can’t get out of his mind. He’s hopeful that once he convinces Kyle to sign an initial contract, Kyle might be the first sub to open up his heart.
Misunderstandings and accusations almost destroy everything between them before they have a real chance to begin. However, the true obstacle becomes not only whether Kyle will embrace BDSM as a lifestyle, but also whether he can handle a full-time D/s relationship with a big, bad, scary Dom who’s as sexy as hell.
L.M. Somerton: I live in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. I started writing to fill time between jobs and am now firmly and unashamedly addicted. I love the English weather, especially the rain, and adore a thunderstorm. I love good food, warm company and a crackling fire. I'm fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and my stories contain some subtle (and not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM. L M Somerton's first book, The Portrait, was the winner of the 2012 National Leather Association: International, Pauline Reage Award for Best Novel.
Tattooed Teardrops by D Rashad Battle
Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (September 25, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1516894723
ISBN-13: 978-1516894727
Amazon: Tattooed Teardrops
Amazon Kindle: Tattooed Teardrops
Muse Atwood and Tempest Monroe have been friends since junior high school. Thick as thieves, some might say. They even decided to go into business together and open In Your Skin Tattoos, which has seen nothing but success since its doors opened five years ago. When the tall, sexy and troublesome "Trap" walks into the shop one spring afternoon, their lives are changed forever. Muse has to decide between the loyalty for his best friend or his lust-turned-love for Trap, who won't take no for an answer. Tattooed Teardrops is a story of betrayal, love, lust and most of all forgiveness. Some pains heal but this one is permanent.
Larry Duplechan: Larry Duplechan is the author of five novels, including Blackbird (considered the first modern Black "coming-out" novel) and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got 'til it's Gone. His hobbies include singing, playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband of 38 years and a 17 pound Chartreux cat named Mr. Blue.
Backcast by Ann McMann
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Bywater Books (December 8, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1612940633
ISBN-13: 978-1612940632
Amazon: Backcast
Amazon Kindle: Backcast
When sculptor and author Barb Davis is given an NEA grant to pair original feminist sculptures with searing first-person essays on transitions in women's lives, she organizes a two week writing retreat with twelve of the best, brightest, and most notorious lesbian authors in the business. But in between regularly scheduled happy hours and writing sessions, the women enter a tournament bass fishing competition, receive life coaching from a wise-cracking fish named Phoebe, and uncover a subterranean world of secrets and desires that is as varied and elusive as the fish that swim in the waters of Lake Champlain.
Set on the beautiful shores of Vermont's Lake Champlain, Backcast is richly populated with an expansive cast of endearing and outrageous characters who battle writer's block, quirky locals, personal demons, unexpected attractions, and even each other during their two-week residency. For Barb and each of her twelve writers, the stakes in this fast-moving story are high, but its emotional and romantic payoffs are slow and sweet.
Filled with equal parts laugh-out-loud humor and breathtaking pathos, Backcast serves up a sometimes irreverent, sometimes sobering look at the hidden lives of women, and how they laugh, love, lose, and blunder through their own search for meaning.
Lee Lynch: Lee Lynch published her first lesbian fiction in "The Ladder" in the 1960s. Naiad Press issued Toothpick House, Old Dyke Tales, and more. Her novel The Swashbuckler was presented in NYC as a play scripted by Sarah Schulman. New Victoria Publishers brought out Rafferty Street, the last book of Lynch's Morton River Valley Trilogy. Lee's backlist is becoming available in electronic format from Bold Strokes Books. Her newest novels are Beggar of Love and The Raid. Her recent short stories can be found in Romantic Interludes, Women In Uniform, and at www.readtheselips.com. Her reviews and feature articles have appeared in such publications as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Advocate, and The Lambda Book Report. Lynch's syndicated column, "The Amazon Trail," runs in venues such as boldstrokesbooks.com, Erie Gay News, Letters From Camp Rehoboth, Diversity Rules, Keystone Alliance, Epocholips and On Top Magazine. Lee Lynch was honored by the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) as the first recipient (for The Swashbuckler) and namesake of The Lee Lynch Classics Award, which will honor outstanding works in Lesbian Fiction published before awards and honors were given. She also is a recipient of the Alice B. Reader Award for Lesbian Fiction; the James Duggins Mid-Career Author Award, which honors LGBT mid-career novelists of extraordinary talent and service to the LGBT community; and was inducted into the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame. In 2010, Beggar of Love received the GCLS Ann Bannon Readers' Choice Award and the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Bronze Award in Gay/Lesbian Fiction. Lee's most recent novel 'THE RAID' was a winner in 2012 General Fiction from The Golden Crown Literary Society. She has twice been nominated for Lambda Literary Awards and her novel Sweet Creek was a GCLS award finalist. Lee lives in coastal Oregon with her wife, 2 kitties and wee dog.
Song of the Navigator by Astrid Amara
Paperback: 258 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (May 26, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161922951X
ISBN-13: 978-1619229518
Amazon: Song of the Navigator
Amazon Kindle: Song of the Navigator
Worst Possible Birthday: Being sold into slavery by none other than your lover. Tover Duke's rare ability to move anything instantly across light-years of space makes him a powerful, valuable asset to the Harmony Corporation, and a rock star among the people of the colonies. His life is luxurious. Safe. Routine. He has his pick of casual hookups passing through Dadelus-Kaku Station. His one brush with danger of any kind-the only bright spot in his otherwise boring life-is Cruz Arcadio, a dark-haired, hard-bodied engineer whose physical prowess hints he's something much more. When a terrorist abducts Tover, hurling him into a world of torture, exploitation and betrayal, it's with shattering disbelief that he realizes his kidnapper is none other than Cruz. As Tover struggles to find the courage to escape his bondage, he begins to understand the only way to free his body, his mind-and his heart-is to trust the one man who showed him that everything about his once-perfect life was a lie. Warning: This story contains descriptions of extreme violence and assault. It also contains graphic sexual depictions. It also has a lot of birds. And pirate movies from the future. And romance.
Leona Carver: Leona Carver lurks in a Canadian basement with a cat and an aerospace engineer, one of whom helps with the science while the other scratches at the window to get out. She writes novels and short stories with a penchant for genre mash-ups—because fairy tales need space stations, historical romance needs steam powered cyborgs, merpeople should wear mecha, and all of the aforementioned need a little love. Or a lot of love. When Leona isn’t banging her head against her keyboard, she prepares for the post-apocalypse by running, kickboxing, reviving ancient dances and recipes, and training her hand-eye coordination with joysticks and a D-pad.
The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3) by Josh Lanyon
Series: Holmes & Moriarity
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: JustJoshin (October 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937909506
ISBN-13: 978-1937909505
Amazon: The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3)
Amazon Kindle: The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3)
It’s moving day at Chez Holmes. Somehow, against Kit’s better instincts, he and J.X. are setting up house together. But while J.X. is off at a mystery fiction convention, Kit unpacks a crate that should contain old china. It doesn’t. Within the mounds of Styrofoam popcorn is a dead body. A very dead body. There goes the neighborhood.
Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2) by Mary Calmes
Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1634764870
ISBN-13: 978-1634764872
Amazon: Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2)
Amazon Kindle: Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2)
Deputy US Marshals Miro Jones and Ian Doyle are now partners on and off the job: Miro’s calm professionalism provides an ideal balance to Ian’s passion and quick temper. In a job where one misstep can be the difference between life and death, trust means everything. But every relationship has growing pains, and sometimes Miro stews about where he stands with his fiery lover. Could the heartstrings that so recently tied them together be in danger of unraveling?
Those new bonds are constantly challenged by family intrusions, well-intentioned friends, their personal insecurities, and their dangerous careers―including a trial by fire when an old case of Miro’s comes back to haunt them. It might just be enough to make Ian rethink his decision to let himself be tied down, and Miro can only hope the links they’ve forged will be strong enough to hold.
The World As He Sees It (Perspectives) by AM Arthur
Paperback: 282 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (October 20, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619231964
ISBN-13: 978-1619231962
Amazon: The World As He Sees It (Perspectives)
Amazon Kindle: The World As He Sees It (Perspectives)
Love knows no limits...but fear could keep them from seeing it. Perspectives, Book 2 Gabe lives a double life. As Gabriel Henson, he works multiple jobs to support his remorseless, alcoholic mother. As Tony Ryder, he does internet porn for extra cash and regular safe sex without complications. Yet when he encounters a scared young man freaking out in a night club, he's compelled to reach out. Ever since then, the memory of that young man has haunted him. Tristan Lavelle lives his life thirty minutes at a time. After a traumatic brain injury three years ago, he gets through his day recording his life in spiral notebooks and sticky note reminders. A month after Tristan's embarrassingly public meltdown, another chance meeting with Gabe sparks a warm, emotionally fulfilling email relationship. Both men crave more, but fear of the next step stands between them. Until Tristan gets the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial that could improve his memory-if the side effects don't kill him. But for Tristan, the possibility of a real life with Gabe is worth any risk... Warning: Contains two damaged but lovable heroes, secret-keeping friends with good intentions, and an abundance of inappropriate food innuendo.
Reckoning (Angel & the Assassin #4) by Fyn Alexander
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (September 28, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Reckoning (Angel & the Assassin #4)
Kael Saunders, MI6 specialist operative and leather Daddy, has been living with Angel Button, his sub, for two years in a loving D/s relationship. Angel has been waiting for the time when he too can join MI6, knowing that his sniper skills make him a valuable asset to the organization. Kael loves to kill, it gives him an adrenalin rush, but Angel is certain his Daddy only eliminates those who pose a threat to national security, which is what Angel wants to do. Naive and idealistic, Angel wants to make the world a better place.
Angel’s beliefs are sorely tested a few days later, leaving him unsure if he wants to be an MI6 agent after all. When Kael is given an assignment in Cornwall, he takes Angel with him so they can have a weekend away. Angel finds out about the mission and the target and is left wondering if his Daddy is really the hero Angel thinks he is, placing their relationship in jeopardy.
Will & Patrick Wake Up Married by Leta Blake & Alice Griffiths
Publisher: Leta Blake Books (October 26, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Will & Patrick Wake Up Married (Wake Up Married #1)
Join the fun in this vibrant first installment of the new romantic comedy serial by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!
After a drunken night of hot sex in Vegas, strangers Will Patterson and Dr. Patrick McCloud wake up married. A quickie divorce is the most obvious way out—unless you’re the heir of a staunchly Catholic mafia boss with a draconian position on the sanctity of marriage.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Will and Patrick don't like it, or each other, but they have to make the best of it until they can find another way out of their marriage. To ensure the trust fund Will's charitable foundation relies on isn't revoked by his mobster grandfather, he and Patrick travel to Will’s hometown of Healing, South Dakota, posing as a newlywed couple in the throes of true love at first sight.
Complicating their scheme are Will’s unresolved feelings for his all-too-recent ex-boyfriend Ryan, and Patrick’s desire to get back to the only thing that really matters to him in life: neurosurgery. Will they fool everyone? Or will the mafia get wind that their marriage is a fake? Throw their simmering attraction into the mix and all bets are off!
Lex Valentine: Like most authors, Lex has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. A few years ago, when she posted snippets of her work on her personal blog Sunlight Sucks, author Jennifer Leeland encouraged her to submit her writing to publishers. That led to her first contract in October 2008. Now an award winning, multi-published PAN author, Lex is a member of Romance Writers of America active in the PASIC, Rainbow Romance Writers, and Orange County chapters. Her publishers include: Loose Id, Ellora's Cave, Jupiter Gardens Press (formerly Pink Petal Books), MLR Press, and Liquid Silver Books. She is published in both ebook and print. Born and raised in Salinas, California, Lex moved to Southern California in 1992. She lives in a rugged canyon in Orange County with Rott, her long haired tattooed significant other. She loves loud music, builds her own computers, and has a propensity for having very weird vivid dreams about Nikki Sixx. Lex works full-time at a cemetery as the network administrator.
Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery by Joe Cosentino
Paperback: 196 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (June 12, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590214676
ISBN-13: 978-1590214671
Amazon: Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery
Amazon Kindle: Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery
It could be curtains for college theatre professor Nicky Abbondanza. With dead bodies popping up all over campus, Nicky must use his drama skills to figure out who is playing the role of murderer before it is lights out for Nicky and his colleagues. Complicating matters is Nicky's huge crush on Noah Oliver, a gorgeous assistant professor in his department, who may or may not be involved with a cocky graduate assistant...and is also the top suspect for the murders! You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino's fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat, delightfully entertaining novel. Curtain up!
Lorraine Lesar: Reading is my escapism, I love it. I like sharing my thoughts on books, so that other readers can see what they are getting for their hard earned cash. I don't always leave a review, only when I have something to say. I try to see the positives in every book, even when they are "not my cup of tea" as I believe that authors spend months if not years, writing their masterpieces and it must be soul destroying for them, if they do not get positive and great reviews. Having said that, I will give a low star rating if I feel it's warranted. I work hard and even though my family have now flown the nest (and I have my first grandson), I am involved in their lives offering support and a lot of child-minding hours, so as I said, reading is my escapism!
Wolves of Black Pine (The Wolfkin Saga #1) by SJ Himes
Publication Date: June 30, 2015
Amazon Kindle: Wolves of Black Pine (The Wolfkin Saga #1)
An ancient civilization long hidden from humanity is on the brink of chaos and war. Peaceful for thousands of years, the wolfkin clans are mysteriously losing packmates, kidnapped and killed by unknown foes.
The nightmare begins with an ambush by humans at a gathering of their kind, and lives are lost. Among them is Luca, youngest grandson of the two most powerful wolves in the Northern Clans. Thought long dead and gone, he is forced into a half-life, hidden in the far northern wilds of Canada and cut off from his kind. Those who raised him have no idea the creature they harbor in their midst, and name him Ghost. He begins to lose himself over the long years, and though he barely recalls his true name, the one wolf he never forgets is Kane.
Kane, Heir to the wolfkin clan Black Pine, is charged with hunting down the traitors who betrayed their kind to the humans. Years fly by, and more wolves are dying. He refuses to give up, and he vows to never again fail another of their kind, as he failed young Luca years before. His heart tells him Luca lives, but his mind tells him that it's foolish hope, his guilt eating him alive.
Fate and magic change the course of their lives, and the two wolves long separated by the years find their paths intertwining. Though the gift of their reunion doesn't come without price. Faced by the consequences of their growing love, and the goddess-forged bond between them, Kane and Ghost are besieged on all sides. Enemies are coming for their blood, and without the steadfast loyalty and love of family and friends, they may not be safe from the very people they fight to protect.
M.A. Church: My published name is MA Church. I write m/m romance stories that tend to have nonhuman characters. I believe in HEA and my stories have that; but there may be a few bumps in the road before they get there.
Hurt by Lila Bruce
Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 25, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1508611408
ISBN-13: 978-1508611400
Amazon: Hurt
Amazon Kindle: Hurt
When it comes to matters of the heart, Nicole Landers has made some wrong choices. But now Nicole, one of the top real estate agents in Chattanooga, thinks she’s finally made the right one in Jamie Tate. Despite a serious Johnny Cash obsession and a tendency to shy away from long-term commitment, Jamie seems to be the perfect choice. Jamie is kind, loving and especially nice to Nicole’s elderly grandmother. Now all Nicole has to do is convince the attractive police detective that it's time to take things to the next level. Jamie is crazy in love with Nicole and ready to move their relationship forward. Jamie decides it’s finally time to sell her home and move in together—something that Nicole has been talking about doing for months. Knowing that Nicole believes her to be commitment-shy, Jamie thinks it might be fun to surprise her with the move. However, things take on an ironic twist when an old friend Jamie hasn’t seen in years comes by to look at the house, setting into motion a series of events that leaves more than just Nicole and Jamie’s relationship in jeopardy.
Megan Derr: Megan is a long time resident of m/m fiction, and keeps herself busy reading, writing, and publishing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she's not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her cats, or watch movies (especially all things James Bond). She loves to hear from readers, and can be found all around the internet.
Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum by Jack Scott
Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Springtime Books (May 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 099323772X
ISBN-13: 978-0993237720
Amazon: Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum
Amazon Kindle: Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum
Six months into their Turkish affair, Jack and Liam, a gay couple from London, took lodgings in the oldest ward of Bodrum Town. If they wanted to shy away from the curtain-twitchers, they couldn't have chosen a worse position. Their terrace overlooked Turkey Street like the balcony of Buckingham Palace and the middle-aged infidels stuck out like a couple of drunks at a temperance meeting. Against all the odds, the boys from the Smoke were welcomed into the fold by a feisty mix of eccentric locals and a select group of trailblazing expats, irresistible ladies with racy pasts and plucky presents. Hop aboard Jack's rainbow gulet as he navigates the choppy waters of a town on the march and a national resurgence not seen since Suleiman the Magnificent was at the gates of Vienna. Grab your deckchair for a whirlwind tour of love and duty, passion and betrayal, broken hearts and broken bones, dirty politics and the dawn of a new Ottoman era.
Paul Alan Fahey: Paul Alan Fahey lives and writes on the California Central Coast. He is the editor of the 2013 Rainbow Award winning nonfiction anthology, THE OTHER MAN: 21 Writers Speak Candidly About Sex, Love, Infidelity, & Moving On. He has written several LGBT themed novellas, including the 2012 Rainbow Award winner, THE VIEW FROM 16 PODWALE STREET, WHEN THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG, BOYS WILL BE BOYS, and YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW. Paul is the author of the LOVERS & LIARS gay wartime romance series, featuring the novellas: BOMBER'S MOON, WEEP NOT FOR THE PAST, A MANX TALE, and the short story, A CHRISTMAS IN KENT.
When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing (July 8, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1910635502
ISBN-13: 978-1910635506
Amazon: When Skies Have Fallen
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For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He's a thinker and a dreamer; however, it's not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms-his best friend Jean-who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance. Their love is forbidden, by both the armed forces and the law, but with Jean's cunning and support, Arty and Jim try to bridge the distance between them and find true love despite the danger and a life-threatening disaster that could destroy Arty's dreams for good. Can the pair stand strong together, no matter how many skies have fallen?
Raine O'Tierney: Raine O'Tierney is an always-writing, boundlessly enthusiastic, exclamation point addict! (!!!) She is known for declaring every day "the best day EVER!" and every thing her "all-time FAVORITE!" Raine spends her days working as a library lady, fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom. Frequently changing genres, Raine always tries to imbue her stories with what she calls "The Sweetness" of which there are five Fs (first loves, first times, fidelity, forever-type endings, and... friskiness?). After twenty plus years of writing and dreaming, a decade spent working on M/M, and a year of being a lionheart, Raine is so pleased to finally be a published author! She loves to discuss writing, point-and-click adventure games, and which kind of dachshunds are the best kind of dachshunds!
My Futanari Stepsister by James Oenemal
Publication Date: August 6, 2015
Amazon Kindle: My Futanari Stepsister
Daniel has just finished high school. He has ten weeks of holidays to kill before he can move to college and away from his bitch of a stepsister, Chloe.
While their parents are away, Chloe brings over a few of her closest friends for a movie night, and to make amends for being nasty to Daniel during the evening (and for not leaving him any pizza) they’re about to give Daniel an education he’ll never forget.
Kylie, the apparent leader of the group, and 'the one with the cutest dimples', leads Daniel through a smorgasbord of lessons on how to satisfy a "real" woman. His test subjects include:
Alice: blonde, bubbly, and completely uninhibited,
Sarah: a buxom yet shy beauty,
Ella: Daniel's exotic, raven-haired crush,
and of course: mean, evil-eyed Chloe.
He's about to enter a strange and wonderful world.
The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler
Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 16, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632167727
ISBN-13: 978-1632167729
Amazon: The Gilded Scarab
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When Captain Rafe Lancaster is invalided out of the Britannic Imperium’s Aero Corps after crashing his aerofighter during the Second Boer War, his eyesight is damaged permanently, and his career as a fighter pilot is over. Returning to Londinium in late November 1899, he’s lost the skies he loved, has no place in a society ruled by an elite oligarchy of powerful Houses, and is hard up, homeless, and in desperate need of a new direction in life.
Everything changes when he buys a coffeehouse near the Britannic Imperium Museum in Bloomsbury, the haunt of Aegyptologists. For the first time in years, Rafe is free to be himself. In a city powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston, and where powerful men use House assassins to target their rivals, Rafe must navigate dangerous politics, deal with a jealous and possessive ex-lover, learn to make the best coffee in Londinium, and fend off murder and kidnap attempts before he can find happiness with the man he loves.
Sarah Madison: Sarah Madison has a big dog, a big horse, too many cats and a patient boyfriend. She writes because it is cheaper than therapy. If you've made it to this point, hopefully you are seeking Sarah Madison, Amazon bestseller and award-winning author of m/m romance, adventure, and suspense stories and not Sarah Madison, the actress, or Sarah Madison, the cardiovascular surgeon, or even Sarah Madison, the author of non-fiction historical texts. (Because if you were looking for them, ooops! Big surprise!) What kinds of stories do I like to write? I write primarily about m/m relationships. I like to write long, plotty stories with a lot of angst, bright splashes of humor, a little drama, some action (sex or otherwise), and for the most part, I believe in happy endings.
Susan Laine: I live in Finland, northern Europe. By training, I'm an anthropologist, and by profession, an author of erotic romance, mostly of the LGBT subgenre. Little things to know about me: Apart from reading and writing my passions include saunas and swimming, walking and slalom, music and science. Some of my more annoying habits, picked up since teenage years, include singing along to pop music off-tune, drooling over men's sports (swimming and the like, where they're mostly nude), and devouring stacks of chocolate when no one is looking (but everybody knows). My favorite season is autumn, and my fave time of the year is Christmas. I'm pretty family-oriented, and I'm going to spoil my two baby nieces.
Daydreamers: Stories by Jonathan Harper
Paperback: 164 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (March 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590212967
ISBN-13: 978-1590212967
Amazon: Daydreamers: Stories
Amazon Kindle: Daydreamers: Stories
Ne'er-do-wells, prodigal sons, and young men without so much as a clue to their present state of mind let alone their futures are waiting to be met in the stories within Daydreamers, Jonathan Harper s debut collection. But these men are not Walter Mittys everyday life refuses to allow them languor. Whether it be the roll of the dice in a Dungeons & Dragons game played in a hostile, rural bar, the lure of body modification and being suspended in front of a crowd, or discovering a body on the beach, the rough edges of each young man cannot help but be noticed, even admired. And once a young man is admired, he needs to decide whether or not to awaken from his daydreams.
Scott Alexander Hess: Scott Alexander Hess earned his MFA in creative writing from The New School. He blogs for The Huffington Post and his writing has appeared in Genre Magazine, The Fix, and elsewhere. Hess co-wrote Tom in America, an award winning short film starring Sally Kirkland and Burt Young. The Butcher's Sons is his third novel. His work has been translated into German. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Hess now lives in Manhattan, New York.
Nighttime Wishes (Make A Wish #1) by MA Church
Publisher: All Romance eBooks, LLC (September 9, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Nighttime Wishes (Make A Wish #1)
When you wish upon a star… it comes true in ways you never expected.
Ziang, a tentacled warrior from the planet Maz’Rar, has come to Earth to claim his most precious prize and start a new life. When an unforeseen accident results in a crash landing, his plan for a quick removal of the human Shawn lays in a twisted ruin at his feet, much like his shuttlecraft. If that isn’t enough, the FBI is sniffing around.
Confronted by the very same alien who observed him since he wished on a shooting star as a child, Shawn finds his initial inability to communicate with Ziang leads to misunderstanding and fear. Forced to hide until rescue arrives, tensions mount. Shawn learns of Ziang’s intentions of taking him as a mate. Ziang, on the other hand, is completely befuddled at Shawn’s less than stellar response to said taking.
As they wait, a spark ignites. Turns out humans and Maz’Rarians are very compatible—tentacles and all. Shawn falls for the big alien he jokingly calls E.T. Now he must decide if he’s willing to throw away all he knows to travel the stars with Ziang.
SJ Himes: I'm a thirty something bisexual cisgendered woman with way too big an imagination, but that comes in handy when I'm writing. I have been writing since I was a child, when I took a four page assignment on what I was going to do on summer vacation and turned it into a 100 page fantasy epic all written by hand...in crayons. No joke. I work a day job, but I can't share for who, since the Old Man isn't as liberated as the people who read my books. I'm married, I have furbabies, and I live with loved ones. I adore a certain show about a British consulting detective and his grumpy army doctor, and that spawned an addiction to Johnlock fanfiction, which then evolved into me writing it. Gawd, that's embarrassing. Put this down in the TMI section of my Bio, okay? I enjoy martial arts, movies where things blow up, and I wish I lived in a Marvel movie. I live in the beautiful and lonely Berkshire County in Massachusetts, and I see way more wildlife than I care to on a daily basis (bears!). My perfect day is reading surrounded by friends and family who don't think it's odd I want to hang out but not talk, and my favorite scent of all time is a cool fall evening with leaves burning....less a scent, and more of an experience. My writing is focused on gay and lesbian people, who are more than interesting side characters that hang out with the heterosexual MCs. My wish for the future is that when people ask me what I do for a living, I can say, "I write gay romance," and NOT get weird looks. The sequel to Wolves of Black Pine will be released in December 2015, titled "Wolf of the Northern Star". If you're feeling brave, I also write under my pen name of Revella Hawthorne, and write fanfiction on Fanfiction.net as Revella, for a certain British consulting detective and his army doctor. My erotica, Bred For Love:The Prince's Consort, is available now..
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher Isherwood
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: New Directions (September 27, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811220249
ISBN-13: 978-0811220248
Amazon: Goodbye to Berlin
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Isherwood's classic story of Berlin in the 1930s - and the inspiration for Cabaret - now in a stand-alone edition.
First published in 1934, Goodbye to Berlin has been popularized on stage and screen by Julie Harris in I Am a Camera and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. Isherwood magnificently captures 1931 Berlin: charming, with its avenues and cafés; marvelously grotesque, with its nightlife and dreamers; dangerous, with its vice and intrigue; powerful and seedy, with its mobs and millionaires ― this was the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power. Goodbye to Berlin is inhabited by a wealth of characters: the unforgettable and “divinely decadent”Sally Bowles; plump Frau¨lein Schroeder, who considers reducing her Bu¨steto relieve her heart palpitations; Peter and Otto, a gay couple struggling to come to terms with their relationship; and the distinguished and doomed Jewish family, the Landauers.
Stathis Orphanos: Stathis Orphanos has photographed many of today's top cultural and entertainment figures, including over one hundred authors such as Erskine Caldwell, John Cheever, Graham Greene, John Irving, Christopher Isherwood, Norman Mailer, Sir Stephen Spender, William Styron, John Updike, Gore Vidal, and Nobel laureates Odysseus Elytis of Greece and Naguib Mahfouz of Egypt. His portraits of famous artists and photographers include Don Bachardy, Leonard Baskin, Paul Cadmus, Horst P. Horst, David Hockney, Elaine De Kooning, Larry Rivers, and the legendary Greek painter and designer (for Maria Callas opera productions) Yannis Tsarouchis. His show business portraits feature directors George Cukor, Jules Dassin, Costa Gavras, Jose Quintero, John Schlesinger, Roger Vadim, actresses Claire Bloom, Julie Harris, Lizabeth Scott, Melina Mercouri (former Minister of Culture of Greece), and "New Breed" actors such as Maxwell Caulfield and Esai Morales.
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 22, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455594083
ISBN-13: 978-1455594085
Amazon: A Place Called Winter
Amazon Kindle: A Place Called Winter
A privileged elder son, and stammeringly shy, Harry Cane has followed convention at every step. Even the beginnings of an illicit, dangerous affair do little to shake the foundations of his muted existence - until the shock of discovery and the threat of arrest cost him everything.
Forced to abandon his wife and child, Harry signs up for emigration to the newly colonised Canadian prairies. Remote and unforgiving, his allotted homestead in a place called Winter is a world away from the golden suburbs of turn-of-the-century Edwardian England. And yet it is here, isolated in a seemingly harsh landscape, under the threat of war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism that the fight for survival will reveal in Harry an inner strength and capacity for love beyond anything he has ever known before.
In this exquisite journey of self-discovery, loosely based on a real life family mystery, Patrick Gale has created an epic, intimate human drama, both brutal and breathtaking. It is a novel of secrets, sexuality and, ultimately, of great love.
Tobias Oliver: Tobias Oliver studied Drama at the University of Sheffield. He was part of the Theatre Society: he held the post of Social Secretary, arranged club nights to raise funds (even doing the odd bit of DJing) and acted in as many productions as he could. He also co-presented a show on Forge FM and wrote the (very) occasional article for the student magazine. He is now Marketing Director of Mr Bugg Presents, a theatre company his husband, composer Matthew Bugg, and he set up with producer Keith Arrowsmith.
Champion of the Scarlet Wolf by Ginn Hale
Series: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf
Paperback: 454 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books (October 6, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935560328
ISBN-13: 978-1935560326
Amazon: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf #1
Amazon Kindle: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf #1
Five years after abandoning the Sagrada Acedemy, Elezar Grunito has become infamous in the sanctified circles of noble dueling rings for his brutal temper and lethal blade. Men and women of all ranks gather to cheer and jeer, none of them knowing Elezar’s true purpose. But a violent death outside the ring marks Elezar as a wanted man and sends him into hiding in the far northern wilds of Labara. There, creatures of myth and witchcraft―long since driven from Cadeleon―lurk in dark woods and prowl the winding streets. Soldiers and priests alike fear the return of witch-queens and even demons. Elezar soon learns that magic takes many forms, some too alluring to resist, others too terrible to endure. But just as he begins to find his place in this strange new country, the past he left behind along with his school days returns to challenge him once again.
Ulysses G. Dietz: Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave it to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator for thirty-two years, Ulysses has never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice's landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia is his second novel. Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his partner of 37 years and their two teenaged children. By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents' idea of a joke: he is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother is the President's last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant's Tomb in New York City.
The Butterfly King (The Lost and Founds #3) by Edmond Manning
Series: The Lost and Founds
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Pickwick Ink Press; 1st edition (September 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 098909796X
ISBN-13: 978-0989097963
Amazon: The Butterfly King (The Lost and Founds #3)
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Terrance Altham doesn’t know why he’s been arrested. He’s committed no crime and the cops aren’t talking. Sadly, the man sharing his holding cell talks too much. Known only as Ghost, he is a young grifter, apparently familiar enough with this police station to convince Terrance a break out is possible, and pushy enough to leave Terrance no choice but to follow Ghost into the underbelly of New York City. Terrified by the unjust imprisonment and the possibility of a life behind bars, Terrance searches for proof of his innocence while Ghost seeks the elusive Butterfly King. But neither man seems in control of the weekend’s direction and the consequences of mistakes are life-changing. As Ghost’s manipulations come to an explosive head, each man must decide amid danger and street violence what kind of man will triumph, lost or found? Narrator Vin Vanbly (a.k.a Ghost) returns in the most revealing King Weekend yet, where he faces the dark side of his dangerous manipulations, and learns missteps can be deadly. Vin must confront sinister dealings from his past—and a future promising disaster—as he waltzes Terrance across Manhattan in spring, searching for the elusive and charismatic, Butterfly King.
Vicktor Alexander: Vicktor "Vic" Alexander wrote his first story at the age of ten and hasn't stopped writing since. He loves reading about anything and everything and is a proud member of the little known U.N. group (Undercover Nerds) because while he lives, eats, breathes, and sleeps sports, he also breathes history and science fiction and grew up a Trekkie. But don't ask him about Dungeons & Dragons, because he has no idea how to play that game. When it comes to writing he loves everything from paranormal to contemporary to fantasy to historical and is known not only for being the Epilogue King but also for writing stories that cross lines and boundaries that he doesn't know are there. Vic is a proud father of two daughters one of whom watches over him from Heaven with his deceased partner Christopher. Vic is a proud trans* and gay man, and when he is not writing, he is hanging out with his friends, or being distracted by videos of John Barrowman, Scott Hoying, and Shemar Moore. Vicktor has published numerous bestselling novels and has a WIP list that makes him exhausted just thinking about. He knows that he will be still be writing about hot men falling in love with each other, long after he is living in an assisted living facility, flirting with the hot, male nurses.
Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn by Thursday Euclid
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (June 15, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn
With a sold-out tour looming and intense media attention on their every move, the Artificial Hearts are the hottest rock act in the world. It's just a matter of time until newfound fame illuminates a past Asher Beauregard would rather leave in the shadows. When he meets Leo Harpstedt, the irresistible frontman for the opening act, undeniable chemistry draws them together, but Asher’s secrecy and emotional scars keep Leo at a safe distance.
Posh and well-adjusted despite the blue hair, Englishman Leo comes from a world that Asher, a Louisiana-born high school dropout, can't imagine, never mind inhabit, but as first the Artificial Hearts' manager and then the tour throw them together, the tension between them grows uncontrollable. Leo's seeming confusion about his sexuality and Asher's refusal to let go of the persona and be vulnerable threaten to destroy the tender friendship they've built living and working together.
With help from his drag queen stylist, lesbian sound tech, and a lead guitarist with secrets of his own, can Asher overcome the public revelation of his deepest secrets and seize this chance at love?
Z. Allora: Z. Allora thinks everyone deserves a happy ending, and she makes sure they get one. Her stories are about love and romance and are tied together with erotic sex. She utilizes her time overseas and travels to bring you to places you've yet to visit. She introduces you to cultures you've yet to explore. But with every word she writes she tries to convey love is love. Why do you write Gay Erotic Romance? I've been told it's because on the inside I'm a gay horny teenaged boy who needs to write about hot sex and rainbows with happily ever afters. And while that's true, I think many of us have scars on our sexual identities. Writing erotica allows me to explore and write about the healing power of sex on our sexuality. (And it's freaking hot...) I also believe in the importance of allowing readers to have characters to identify with that happen to be gay. It helps promotes equality. Love is love...
A.B. Gayle: It is not easy to keep the momentum and interest up in a series, but it is a testament to John Wilthsire's skill that Enduring Night, book seven of his More Heat than the Sun series, was as good as, if not better than the rest. A tongue in cheek action packed first half is followed by fighting a force threatening to split them up that needs different tactics.
Enduring Night (More Heat than The Sun #7) by John WiltshirePaperback: 288 pages
Publisher: MLR Press (October 22, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1608209946
ISBN-13: 978-1608209941
Amazon: Enduring Night (More Heat than The Sun #7)
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The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Nikolas has always liked art. You'd have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learnt that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit. Neither of them, however, foresees the long-term impact that endless winter has on their relationship. They return with a metaphorical darkness that threatens everything they have created together. Desperate and fearing for Nikolas's life, Ben makes a bargain with a surprising ally. For the first time, Nikolas meets an enemy more powerful than he is. But fortunately, not as sneaky...
A.B. Gayle: Unlike many authors, I have not been writing stories all my life. Instead I've been living life. My travels have taken me from the fjords of Norway to the southern tip of New Zealand. In between, I've worked in so many different towns I've lost count. I've shoveled shit in cow yards, mustered sheep, been polite to customers, traded insults with politicians. Sometimes I need to be forgiven as I get confused as to who needs what where. Now living in Sydney, Australia, I finally have time to allow my real life experiences to morph with my fertile imagination in order to create fiction which I hope my readers will enjoy. I do value feedback on my writing, both negative and positive. Be warned though, if you are impolite or unconstructive, who knows, you may just end up as a character in one of my books.
Amelia (Rainbow Awards Jury): 'How To Be Both' by Ali Smith -- beautifully written, imaginative, innovative.
How to be both: A Novel by Ali SmithPaperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Anchor; Reprint edition (October 13, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307275256
ISBN-13: 978-0307275257
Amazon: How to be both: A novel
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Passionate, compassionate, vitally inventive and scrupulously playful, Ali Smith’s novels are like nothing else. Borrowing from painting’s fresco technique to make an original literary double-take, How to be both is a novel all about art’s versatility. It’s a fast-moving genre-bending conversation between forms, times, truths and fictions. There’s a Renaissance artist of the 1460s. There’s the child of a child of the 1960s. Two tales of love and injustice twist into a singular yarn where time gets timeless, structural gets playful, knowing gets mysterious, fictional gets real—and all life’s givens get given a second chance.
Amy Lane: My favorite read this year was The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles. I adored this book which hearkened back to the days of Victorian England, and the poignancy of two men investigating to the best of their abilities. The irony--and hope--at the end undid me, and I have spent lots of fruitless--if wonderful time--imagining the ending that I'm sure we all wanted for our heroes. I did not realize until recently that parts of this book were released independently, as individual adventures, and that knowledge only made me love it more. It's like Sherlock Holmes, paranormal style, and I cannot praise it enough.
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by KJ CharlesPaperback: 234 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (September 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619229676
ISBN-13: 978-1619229679
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A story too secret, too terrifying-and too shockingly intimate-for Victorian eyes. A note to the Editor Dear Henry, I have been Simon Feximal's companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide. You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told. So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death. I dare say it may not be quite what you expect. Robert Caldwell September 1914 Warning: Contains a foul-tempered Victorian ghost-hunter, a journalist who's too curious for his own good, villainy, horror, butterflies, unusual body modifications, and a lot of tampering with the occult.
Amy Lane: Amy Lane has two kids in college, two gradeschoolers in soccer, two cats, and two Chi-who-whats at large. She lives in a crumbling crapmansion with most of the children and a bemused spouse. She also has too damned much yarn, a penchant for action adventure movies, and a need to know that somewhere in all the pain is a story of Wuv, Twu Wuv, which she continues to believe in to this day! She writes fantasy, urban fantasy, and m/m romance--and if you accidentally make eye contact, she'll bore you to tears with why those three genres go together. She'll also tell you that sacrifices, large and small, are worth the urge to write.
Andrew J. Peters: I hope the author won't mind me saying that Chipman's African Adventure is a real diamond in the rough. It's long, meandering, and at times off-the-rails absurd. But within that dense, psychodelic jungle of a narrative is one heck of a fun story about a mild-mannered Australian civil servant finding himself in the most unlikely of locations. An inspired cast of misfit characters, many moments of wild and brilliant stream-of-consciousness writing, and a richly imagined setting that swallows you into the story. Reading this crazy book was time well-spent.
Chipman's African Adventure by Jim AndersonPaperback: 454 pages
Publisher: Valentine Press (March 19, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0994224400
ISBN-13: 978-0994224408
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Chipman's African Adventure by Jim Anderson is a psycho adventure - a blackly comic tale set in the imagined country of Bomzawe in West Africa in 1972.. It also contains a tender gay love story. Though essentially satirical, some people may find the ribald sexuality confronting. Chipman Smith is still in the closet when he arrives at the Hornbill Palace Hotel at Tlula Leisure Beach , but he is well and truly out of it by the time he leaves. Or is he? Mr. Smith will never be the same again, and neither will you, after reading Chipman's African Adventure.This blackly comic tale, set in an imagined West African country, balances throughout on the edge of laughter. Crescendos of absurdity and high camp drama supplant and transcend each other with accelerating speed. Fledgling lawyer Chipman longs for true love. Will he find it with Zach Shaler, the Nebraskan cowboy with Peace Corps dreams, with Drift, the mamba snake catcher, even though Drift is seriously obsessed with Toffee, his intoxicatingly beautiful girlfriend, or with neither? Chipman hopes he has nothing but a drinking problem when he arrives from Sydney. To his horror he finds himself dragged into the bizarre re-birthing rituals of Dr Starry Sanguini, a drug-crazed Australian psychotherapist with a shady past. These rituals rapidly metamorphose into psychedelic theatrical extravaganza. Chipman emerges in one piece, but is he more clear sighted than before or just a slave to Sanguini as guru and ringmaster? Chipman is a benighted but endearing hero, confronted by many moral and ethical dilemmas. His naivety and goodwill are offset by a shrewdness of intellect and an ability not only to observe but to participate in the beauty, brutality and seething sexual shenanigans of his seedy post-colonial environment. The satire is savage and so is the civil war which inevitably comes, but there is an unexpected and underlying tenderness shown in Chipman's dealings with Sanguini's troupe of international outlaws and generational refugees. It would be easy for a psycho adventure like this to fall into caricature. Instead, the protagonists have a depth of characterisation which makes it all touchingly down to earth and real. Not everyone escapes alive, sane or uncompromised from Tlula Leisure Beach. You will never guess the end.
Andrew J. Peters: Andrew J. Peters is the author of the Werecat series and two books for young adults: The Seventh Pleiade and Banished Sons of Poseidon. He grew up in Amherst, New York, studied psychology at Cornell University, and has spent most of his career as a social worker and an advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. Andrew has written short fiction for many publications and has been a contributing writer for The Good Men Project, YA Highway, GayYA, La Bloga, and Layers of Thought among other media. While writing, Andrew is an administrator at Adelphi University's School of Social Work. He lives in New York City with his husband Genaro and their cat Chloë.
Anne Barwell: The 'Last Grand Master' by Andrew Q. Gordon reminds me of why I love reading fantasy series. This book, which is book 1 in the 'Champion of the Gods' series takes the time to set up a realistic world populated by intriguing characters, but doesn't slow the story down in doing so. It's not just the two leads - Farrell and Miceral - who are three dimensional, but the supporting characters who are interesting in their own right. Very imaginative. I got sucked into this story very quickly, and became invested in the characters within a few pages. I'm glad their story isn't over yet, because it means I have more to look forward to.
The Last Grand Master by Andrew Q. GordonPaperback: 350 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 1, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1623802911
ISBN-13: 978-1623802912
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Champion of the Gods: Book One
In a war that shook the earth, the Six gods of Nendor defeated their brother Neldin, god of evil. For the three thousand years since, Nendor and the Seven Kingdoms have known peace and prosperity.
But then a new wizard unleashes the power of Neldin. Meglar, wizard king of Zargon, uses dark magic to create an army of creatures to carry out his master's will.
One by one, the sovereign realms fall. Soon the only wizard who can stop Meglar is Grand Master Farrell, the Prince of Haven, the hidden home of refugees. An untried wizard, Farrell carries a secret that could hold the key to defeating Meglar-or it could destroy the world.
While helping Nerti, queen of the unicorns, Farrell saves Miceral, an immortal muchari warrior the Six have chosen to be Farrell's mate. But Farrell approaches love with caution, and before he can decide how to proceed, Meglar invades a neighboring kingdom. Farrell and Miceral find themselves in the middle of the battle. Farrell pushes himself to the limit as he and Miceral fight not only to stop Meglar but for their very survival.
Anne Barwell: Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing "discussion," and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning. She works in a library, is an avid reader and watcher of a wide range of genres, and is constantly on the look out for more hours in her day.
Augusta Li: Family of Lies: Sebastian by Sam Argent and Bad Magic by Evelyn Elliott. Both superb fantasy books with great characterization, sexy, and with some humour to balance out the adventure.
Family of Lies: Sebastian by Sam ArgentPaperback: 324 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (March 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632166801
ISBN-13: 978-1632166807
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Sebastian Orwell did the only thing a smart wizard could do when he stumbled upon the wounded Crown Prince: he healed him and dumped him in a tavern where he could continue not being Sebastian's problem. Unfortunately, the prince isn’t content with being alive, and he hunts Sebastian down to thank him personally. Not only is Sebastian stuck with the prince's unwanted affections, he's also confronted by growing evidence linking the assassination attempt to someone from his father's past.
Lord Orwell is a lot of things: thief, liar, drunk, and all around horrible father, but Sebastian knows he's no murderer. In order to prove it, Sebastian has to keep the prince alive long enough to discover the truth—a task made considerably harder because the idiot prince prefers wooing Sebastian over securing his own survival. On top of everything, Sebastian needs to save the day without revealing his magical powers and the real reason he hides his appearance.
Sebastian had no intention of playing the hero, but whoever is stirring up shit in his country will pay for destroying his quiet life.
Bad Magic by Evelyn ElliottPublisher: Dreamspinner Press; 1 edition (October 28, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Bad Magic
Morality is relative. At least that’s what young sorcerer Regis Teller convinces himself. He’s done what he must to survive: working for a witch since he was nine, helping her throw the kingdom into anarchy, and taking his only comfort in her mysterious son, Crow. And soon, Regis is going to commit his first murder.
A do-gooder named Jonathan White has information the witch needs, and it’s Regis’s job to get that information and slit Jonathan’s throat. But then Regis actually meets Jonathan. And Jonathan is perfect—a hero with a passion for justice and little regard for civility.
Lucky for Regis, Jonathan has a weakness for attractive men. Lucky for Jonathan, Regis is fast developing a conscience and a heart. But for Regis, keeping both of them alive at their adventure’s end means breaking a magical oath and surviving his ruthless boss—all without telling Jonathan the truth. Falling in love is never easy, especially when everyone involved is lying through their teeth.
August Li: August (Gus) Li is a creator of fantasy worlds. When not writing, he enjoys drawing, illustration, costuming and cosplay, and making things in general. He lives near Philadelphia with two cats and too many ball-jointed dolls. He loves to travel and is trying to see as much of the world as possible. Other hobbies include reading (of course), tattoos, and playing video games.
B.A. Brock: "Blue on Black" by Carole Cummings. The writing and plot and characters were superb, and the novel strikes some familiar vibes, à la Steven King's "Dark Tower" series, in that it's a bit steampunk, a bit horror, and a bit psychological thriller. There's also an element of fantastic realism, or magic.
Blue on Black by Carole CummingsPaperback: 380 pages
Publisher: DSP Publications (June 16, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632169495
ISBN-13: 978-1632169495
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Kimolijah Adani―Class 2 gridTech, beloved brother, most promising student the Academy's ever had the privilege of calling their own, genius mechanical gridstream engineer, brilliantly pioneering inventor... and dead man. But that's what happens when a whiz kid messes with dynamic crystals and, apparently, comes to the attention of Baron Petra Stanslo. Killed for his revolutionary designs, Kimolijah Adani had been set to change the world with his impossible train that runs on nothing more than gridstream locked in a crystal. Technically it shouldn't even be possible, but there is no doubt it works.
Bas is convinced the notoriously covetous and corrupt Stanslo had something to do with Kimolijah Adani's tragic and suspicious end. A Directorate Tracker, Bas has finally managed to catch the scent of Kimolijah Adani's killer, and it leads right into Stanslo's little desert barony. For almost three years, Bas has tried to find a way into Stanslo's Bridge, and when he finally makes it, shock is too small a word for what―or, rather, whom―he finds there.
B.A. Brock: B. A. Brock has lived most of his life in the Pacific Northwest, with a couple years in Oklahoma. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Science in 2007 at Portland State University--which he mostly uses to contemplate how we can achieve a civilization more closely aligned with Star Trek. During a round of Dungeons and Dragons, he discovered a desire to write out some scenes from his character's story. Those scenes became an obsession, that obsession led to writing classes, and an author was born. When not writing, Brock spends his time reading/reviewing novels, training for marathons, hanging out with his dog, and bemoaning the fact that the world has yet to make a decent gluten free donut.
Carlos T. Mock: Call Me Home by Megan Kruse. This is a beautiful tale told in three voices: Lydia speaks from the first person point of view, and Jackson and Amy speak from the third person point of view. The timetable is not linear, but the writer purposely reveals the details of their lives as needed. The struggles of physical/mental abuse are shown by each voice as they perceive them and add up to the tragedy that is domestic abuse. The gay theme is masterfully told by both Amy and Jackson. At one point Amy goes to Seattle to participate in an LGBT rally because she wants the best for her son: "She wanted every promise that lit from these hopeful tongues, the warm and waiting streets they marched on. She wanted him to have what was owed to him, for the world to crack open for him. She did not want for him to feel the poor, small life that was already around him for a minute longer, when all of this was here, waiting." There is also the relationship between Lydia and Jackson. more like siblings they are twins. They feel each other's presence even when they are apart: "...if Jackson lives as though he never knew us at all - it doesn't matter. I'll remember it for us, I thought; I will remember all of it; I will leave nothing out. I didn't know why it was important, but it was." The character development is outstanding. They pop out of the page and speak to you. After a few pages you can't help but feel their pain. This is the best novel I've read this year! At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home and family.
Call Me Home by Megan Kruse Paperback: 292 pages
Publisher: Hawthorne Books (March 3, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0990437000
ISBN-13: 978-0990437000
Amazon: Call Me Home
Call Me Home has an epic scope in the tradition of Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves or Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and braids the stories of a family in three distinct voices: Amy, who leaves her Texas home at 19 to start a new life with a man she barely knows, and her two children, Jackson and Lydia, who are rocked by their parents’ abusive relationship. When Amy is forced to bargain for the safety of one child over the other, she must retrace the steps in the life she has chosen. Jackson, 18 and made visible by his sexuality, leaves home and eventually finds work on a construction crew in the Idaho mountains, where he begins a potentially ruinous affair with Don, the married foreman of his crew. Lydia, his 12-year-old sister, returns with her mother to Texas, struggling to understand what she perceives to be her mother’s selfishness. At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home.
Carlos T. Mock: Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico to a middle class family. Grew up in the San Francisco/Santa María suburb of San Juan and attended Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola prep school where upon graduation escaped to The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. Then proceeded to attend the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan where he obtained a Doctor in Medicine degree in 1980. After an internship in New Orleans and a four-year obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Cook County Hospital in Chicago he went to work in the private practice in the Chicago suburbs until 1996.Currently shares life in Chicago with his life partner, Bill Rattan, and their dog Tiffany. Very active in the GLBT community by having served on the board of two organizations; Equality Illinois and Orgullo en Acción. He contributes columns regularly to Windy City Times in Chicago, Ambiente Magazine in Miami, Camp Newspaper in Kansas City. He's had several OP-Ed published at the Chicago Tribune. Inducted in the Chicago Gay & Lesbian Hall of Fame in October 18th, 2007.
Charlie Cochrane: At the Gate (Jay Lewis Taylor), from anthology Pride of Poppies. I'd like to pick a short story - At the Gate - in the Anthology Pride of Poppies. In my reading notes I used one word for it: stunning. It's the sort of story that made me think, "Well, I might as well give up writing because I could never produce anything this good". You can almost smell the sea and feel the roll of the ship as you read it.
Chris Quinton: My favourite book of 2015 is an anthology - A Pride of Poppies from Manifold Press. Quite apart from the sheer quality of the writing across all the entries, and the eye-catching cover, every one of the stories brought something memorable to the reading. Poignant, gut-wrenching, uplifting, all of them wonderful portrayals of the human spirit, of people not only coping with the ravages of the First World War, but also the difficult life of homosexuals in the early 20th century.
A Pride of Poppies: Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great WarPaperback: 202 pages
Publisher: Manifold Press (April 29, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 190831284X
ISBN-13: 978-1908312846
Amazon: A Pride of Poppies: Modern GLBTQI fiction of the Great War
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Ten authors - in thirteen stories - explore the experiences of GLBTQI people during World War I. In what ways were their lives the same as or different from those of other people? A London pub, an English village, a shell-hole on the Front, the outskirts of Thai Nguyen city, a ship in heavy weather off Zeebrugge, a civilian internment camp … Loves and griefs that must remain unspoken, unexpected freedoms, the tensions between individuality and duty, and every now and then the relief of recognition. You’ll find both heartaches and joys in this astonishing range of thought-provoking stories.
Charlie Cochrane: As Charlie Cochrane couldn't be trusted to do any of her jobs of choice—like managing a rugby team—she writes, with titles published by Carina, Samhain, Bold Strokes, MLR and Cheyenne. Charlie's Cambridge Fellows Series of Edwardian romantic mysteries was instrumental in her being named Author of the Year 2009 by the review site Speak Its Name. She’s a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Mystery People, International Thriller Writers Inc and is on the organising team for UK Meet for readers/writers of GLBT fiction. She regularly appears with The Deadly Dames.
Chris Quinton: Chris started creating stories not long after she mastered joined-up writing, somewhat to the bemusement of her parents and her English teachers. But she received plenty of encouragement. Her dad gave her an already old Everest typewriter when she was about ten, and it was probably the best gift she'd ever received - until the inventions of the home-computer and the worldwide web. Chris's reading and writing interests range from historical, mystery, and paranormal, to science-fiction and fantasy, mostly in the male/male genre. She also writes male/female novels in the name of Chris Power, see http://chrispower.me.uk. She refuses to be pigeon-holed and intends to uphold the long and honourable tradition of the Eccentric Brit to the best of her ability. In her spare time [hah!] she embroiders, quilts and knits. In the past she has been a part-time and unpaid amateur archaeologist, and a 15th century re-enactor. She currently lives in a small and ancient city in the south-west of the United Kingdom, sharing her usually chaotic home with an extended family, two large dogs, fancy mice, sundry goldfish and a young frilled dragon (Australian lizard) aka Trogdorina.
Charlie David: I’d like to pick The 10 Year Plan by JC Calciano as my favorite book this year. As an audio book narrator I’m in the lucky position of getting to read lots of great M/M romance. This year my favorite book was The 10 Year Plan by JC Calciano. It stood out for me because of the comedy as well as a very relatable scenario of negotiating feelings for a best friend that sometimes get confusing. It has all the elements of a great romantic comedy and the characters were so fun to give voice to. In a year of some really good books, this is my top pick.
The 10 Year Plan by JC Calciano Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (October 7, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1517314844
ISBN-13: 978-1517314842
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Back when… Best friends Myles and Brody are total opposites: Myles believes in true love and happily ever after; Brody believes in hot guys and lots of happy endings. But after Myles has a particularly bad date, they make a plan that, if they haven’t found true love in 10 years they’ll become a couple. 10 years later… Nothing has changed. Myles is still a hopeless romantic looking for Mr. Right and Brody is still on the hunt for Mr. Right Now – both still alone. When they realize it’s almost time to make good on the promise they made to each other a decade earlier, both friends scramble to do whatever it takes to avoid their fate: to be a couple! The search for each other’s perfect partner is on! But maybe the man of their dreams is too close to see… This book also contains special extra content, including: * Myles’ Favorite Recipes * Images From the Movie The 10 Year Plan.
Charlie David: Charlie David has been a host for E! Television, NBC, OutTV, LOGO, here! TV, Pink TV, EGO, Fine Living and Life Network on such shows as FYE!, SpyTV, Crash Test Mommy and his travel series Bump! which now airs in over 10 countries worldwide. He has appeared as musical guest on VH1, BBC, CBS's The Early Show, and dozens of radio shows. Charlie's writing has been published by Instinct, National Youth Ambassador, Adventure Women, Outlooks and BoyCrazy! magazines and AfterElton.com. The latter culminated in a guest appearance on NBC's The Other Half with Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce, and Mario Lopez. In 2009 he had his first two novels, Mulligans and Boy Midflight, published by Palari Publishing. The Cold Reading Series in Vancouver awarded Charlie 'Best Feature Screenplay' for Mulligans and 'Best Short Screenplay' for Narcissus. In 2005 Out Magazine recognized Charlie in the 'Out 100' at their gala in New York. In 2007 the Philadelphia Film Society awarded Charlie with their Rising Star Award. In 2008 the Festival del Sol in Gran Canaria awarded their Best Male Actor Award to Charlie and the male cast of A Four Letter Word. Formerly in a rock band... okay, actually it was a boy band, Charlie opened for Destiny's Child, Pink, Snoop Dogg, Rick Springfield and Black Eyed Peas. Having enjoyed life on the road with music and modeling contracts across North America and Europe, Charlie is now focused on film and TV with recent roles in the films, A Four Letter Word and Kiss the Bride, and on ABC's Ugly Betty, Bravo!'s Godiva's, Showtime's Reefer Madness, Sundance Channel's award winning Terminal City and starring in a 4th season of here! Network's Dante's Cove. Charlie is co-owner of CTM International Enterprises Inc., a Canadian Talent Agency representing over 100 actors for film, television and commercials. In 2007 he started Border2Border Entertainment Inc., a production company whose first project was the film, Mulligans. He is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts and currently resides in various hotel rooms around the globe.
David-Elijah Nahmod: I suggest Blind: A Memoir and Midday Dreams for this year's Favorite Books round-up? Both were written by openly gay, totally blind author Belo Cipriani. I strongly recommend Blind: A Memoir and Midday Dreams, both by Belo Miguel Cipriani. Belo was fully sighted until age 26 when a vicious assault, which includes numerous kicks to his head, left him totally blind. Belo is openly gay--so were his attackers! In Blind: A Memoir Belo recalls his beating and his rehabilitation. Midday Dreams is, in part, a gay love story set in 1940s Portugal. Since losing his sight, Belo has become a teacher and a journalist who writes about employment and disability issues. He has served as a Grand Marshal in the 2015 San Francisco Pride Parade and was named Best Disability Advocate for 2015 by SF Weekly. He was also named an Agent of Change by Huffington Post. He is also the official spokesperson for Guide Dogs For the Blind. Belo has been an inspiration to disabled people around the world--there is life after disability.
Blind: A Memoir by Belo Miguel CiprianiPaperback: 186 pages
Publisher: Wheatmark (June 15, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1604945559
ISBN-13: 978-1604945553
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Imagine if the most severe physical pain and sorrow in your life were inflicted by the people you trusted most. In the spring of 2007, Belo Cipriani was beaten and robbed of his sight at the hands of his childhood friends. Blind: A Memoir chronicles the two years immediately following the assault. At the age of twenty-six, Belo found himself learning to walk, cook, and date in the dark. Armed with visual memory and his newly developed senses, Belo shows readers what the blind see. He narrates the recondite world of the blind, where microwaves, watches, and computers talk, and where guide dogs guard as well as lead.
Midday Dreams by Belo Miguel CiprianiPublisher: Ugly Dog Digital (September 30, 2014)
Amazon Kindle: Midday Dreams
Belo Cipriani (Blind: A Memoir) returns with a magical short story that whisks readers away to another time, another place.
In the lyrical “Midday Dreams,” Cipriani takes his readers to a lush, tropical island that isn't the paradise it might appear to be. There, the devout Izabel learns to open her heart love those who don't live and believe as she does.
Infused with prophetic dreams and magical realism, “Midday Dreams” will surely find its way into your heart.
David-Elijah Nahmod: David-Elijah Nahmod is a film critic and reporter in San Francisco. His articles appear regularly in The Bay Area Reporter and SF Weekly. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter. He is currently doing a monthly column in South Florida Gay News titled “If You Could Read My Mind: A PTSD Diary.”
Denise Dechene (Rainbow Awards Jury): Trying to pick a favorite is a hard thing. So many great books. But I have to say that one really stood out to me- Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan. It tackles mental illness and autism. Makes you see their struggles to just live their lives. One of the sayings in the book is “It’s like Elwood Blues says; everybody needs somebody to love. I’m an everybody. I get somebody.” It educates you, entertains you, and inspires you. I truly believe this book should be read by everyone. As she says in the book “There is no normal, not really. Not a right and a wrong way to be. But there is belonging”
Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1) by Heidi Cullinan Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (April 7, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619227118
ISBN-13: 978-1619227118
Amazon: Carry the Ocean (The Roosevelt #1)
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Normal is just a setting on the dryer. The Roosevelt, Book 1 High school graduate Jeremey Samson is looking forward to burying his head under the covers and sleeping until it's time to leave for college. Then a tornado named Emmet Washington enters his life. The double major in math and computer science is handsome, forward, wicked smart, interested in dating Jeremey-and he's autistic. But Jeremey doesn't judge him for that. He's too busy judging himself, as are his parents, who don't believe in things like clinical depression. When his untreated illness reaches a critical breaking point, Emmet is the white knight who rescues him and brings him along as a roommate to The Roosevelt, a quirky new assisted living facility nearby. As Jeremey finds his feet at The Roosevelt, Emmet slowly begins to believe he can be loved for the man he is behind the autism. But before he can trust enough to fall head over heels, he must trust his own conviction that friendship is a healing force, and love can overcome any obstacle. Warning: Contains characters obsessed with trains and counting, positive representations of autism and mental illness, a very dark moment, and Elwood Blues.
E.J. Russell: I read so many wonderful books this year, but just recently, I read Prosperity by Alexis Hall, so it’s front-and-center in my mind. I got completely immersed in the world, fascinated by all the complicated, flawed, and colorful characters. Plus the way Hall uses language…imagery that’s jaw-droppingly (as in literally, and more than once) beautiful.
Prosperity by Alexis Hall Paperback: 190 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (June 20, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626491771
ISBN-13: 978-1626491779
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A breathtaking tale of passion and adventure in the untamed skies!
Prosperity, 1863: a lawless skytown where varlets, chancers, and ne’er-do-wells risk everything to chase a fortune in the clouds, and where a Gaslight guttersnipe named Piccadilly is about to cheat the wrong man. This mistake will endanger his life . . . and his heart.
Thrill! As our hero battles dreadful kraken above Prosperity. Gasp! As the miracles of clockwork engineering allow a dead man to wreak his vengeance upon the living. Marvel! At the aerial escapades of the aethership, Shadowless.
Beware! The licentious and unchristian example set by the opium-addled navigatress, Miss Grey. Disapprove Strongly! Of the utter moral iniquity of the dastardly crime prince, Milord. Swoon! At the dashing skycaptain, Byron Kae. Swoon Again! At the tormented clergyman, Ruben Crowe.
This volume (available in print, and for the first time on mechanical book-reading devices) contains the complete original text of Piccadilly’s memoirs as first serialised in All the Year Round. Some passages may prove unsettling to unmarried gentlemen of a sensitive disposition.
E.J. Russell: E.J. Russell holds a BA and an MFA in theater, so naturally she's spent the last three decades as a financial manager, database designer and business intelligence consultant. She returned to her childhood love of writing fiction after her twin sons learned to drive and she no longer spent half her waking hours ferrying them to dance class. Her daily commute now consists of walking from one side of her office to the other -- from left-brain day job to right-brain author cave -- where she's perfected the fine art of typing with a cat draped across her wrists and a dog attached to her hip. E.J. lives in rural Oregon with her husband, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.
Eden Winters: Although it's a short and not a full novel, the book I read this year that's really stuck with me is Falling Awake by Kage Alan. Such a haunting story, and though this isn't a typical m/m romance, the love story hits you right in the heart. Memorable characters, cultural legends come to life, and above all two souls forever destined to be together. I'm tearing up now just recalling the main characters' bond, not only with each other, but with the friends who travel the way with them. The tale is dark at times, but with a definite light at the end of the tunnel.
Falling Awake by Kage Alan Paperback: 84 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (August 24, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1517025516
ISBN-13: 978-1517025519
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Imagine waking up in a place you can’t remember, with a face you don’t recognize, and a name that may not be your own printed on a ticket in your back pocket. And of the five people you meet during the next few hours, four of them hold clues to your past, present, and two possible futures. The outcome of the encounter will determine your soul’s fate, and the only way out of the nightmare may be through falling awake.
Eden Winters: You will know Eden Winters by her distinctive white plumage and exuberant cry of "Hey, y'all!" in a Southern US drawl so thick it renders even the simplest of words unrecognizable. Watch out, she hugs! Driven by insatiable curiosity, she possibly holds the world's record for curriculum changes to the point that she's never quite earned a degree but is a force to be reckoned with at Trivial Pursuit. She's trudged down hallways with police detectives, learned to disarm knife-wielding bad guys, and witnessed the correct way to blow doors off buildings. Her e-mail contains various snippets of forensic wisdom, such as "What would a dead body left in a Mexican drug tunnel look like after six months?" In the process of her adventures she has written fourteen m/m romance novels, has won several Rainbow Awards, was a Lambda Awards Finalist, and lives in terror of authorities showing up at her door to question her Internet searches. When not putting characters in dangerous situations she's a mild-mannered business executive, mother, grandmother, vegetarian, and PFLAG activist. Her natural habitats are airports, coffee shops, and the backs of motorcycles.
Felice Picano: Stories by Lewis Ellingham is a book of poetry, of mini-dramas, of very short and even shorter stories, and an altogether wonderful look by a perceptive observer and brilliant vvriter of the current state of the city of San Francisco today from someone who had lived there decades. Loves it, and yet sees all of its many different facets.
Lulu: http://www.lulu.com/shop/lewis-ellingham/stories/paperback/product-22082250.html
Collection of stories/proems from Lewis Ellingham's life in San Francisco
Felice Picano: Felice Picano, poet, novelist, playwright, critic and publisher, was a founding member of the Violet Quill, a pioneering group of gay male writers in the 1980s. Recipient of many awards and citations, he received the Lambda Literary Foundation’s Pioneer Award in 2010, and the City of West Hollywood’s Rainbow Award and Citation in 2013.
Feliz Faber: My favorite book of 2015 was For Real by Alexis Hall. The emotionality, the depth and the sheer brilliance of the writing took my breath away. An awesome read and a wonderful, poignant romance.
Kaje Harper: I read some wonderful stories in 2015, but the one that had me turning around and reading it again right away was "For Real" by Alexis Hall. BDSM, but with much more focus on the psychology, the needs of the two men and the balance of the relationship, than any mechanics of the physical side. Not that there aren't excellent sexual episodes in it, but there are no formal scenes here, no careful planning and stylized progression. Just two men, one older, one younger; one experienced in the scene, one completely new to it; one broken by losing love through no fault of his own, one urgently seeking something he's never had... and the young, inexperienced guy is the Dom. This worked for me on so many levels. The writing is excellent. (If you haven't tried this author yet, and were daunted by the accent or the steampunk of other stories, try this one.) The men are imperfect, physically as well as in their very human emotions and psychology. The progression through the relationship is organic, not formalized, moving in very believable fits and starts. There are wonderful moments and painful moments and I read it in one breathless evening, then went back to the beginning.
For Real by Alexis Hall Paperback: 362 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (February 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626492808
ISBN-13: 978-1626492806
Amazon: For Real
Amazon Kindle: For Real
Laurence Dalziel, a thirty-seven year old trauma surgeon, is worn down and washed up. And for him the BDSM scene especially is all played out. He’s tired of pantomiming submission, and he’s long since given up looking for more than hollow release.
Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being.
Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. He doesn’t know how he ended up where he is or where he’s meant to be going. But he knows, with all the terrible certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie.
He wants Laurie on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love. But while Laurie will surrender his body to Toby’s desires, he won’t surrender his heart. Because whatever they have, however right it feels, he knows it can’t last. Toby has to live his own life, and Laurie has to let him.
It can’t be for real.
Feliz Faber: Reader, writer, translator. “Small things are what matter: The first cup of coffee in the morning. Starting a new book on a rainy Sunday. Laying awake at night and hearing my family's breaths around me. Meeting with friends and talking about everything and nothing for hours on end. Wording the perfect phrase. Starting a new story. Typing the word "end". That's bliss.”
Kaje Harper: Kaje Harper grew up in Montreal and spent her teen years writing. But as life got busy, the stories began to just live in her head. The characters grew, met, endured, loved, but rarely made it to paper. Serious authorship got sidetracked by ventures into psychology, teaching, and a biomedical career. And by the challenges of raising children. When the kids were more independent, her husband gave her a computer she didn't have to share. She began putting words down in print, just for fun. Hours of fun. Lots of hours of fun. The stories began piling up, and her husband suggested it was time to try to publish one. MLR Press accepted her first book, Life Lessons, which was released in May 2011. Kaje now has several novels and short stories in print. She currently lives in Minnesota with a creative teenager, a crazy little omnivorous white dog, and a remarkably patient spouse.
Giselle Renarde: My pick is Janet Mock's autobiography, Redefining Realness. There was a lot of hype around this book, and I'd been disappointed by more than a few New York Times bestsellers when I jumped in, but I love Janet Mock (she's really nice on Twitter!) and her memoir proved eloquent, moving, and human. Believe the hype! This is a book that well deserves the praise it receives.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet MockPaperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Atria Books; Reprint edition (December 2, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1476709130
ISBN-13: 978-1476709130
Amazon: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Amazon Kindle: Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
In her profound and courageous New York Times bestseller, Janet Mock establishes herself as a resounding and inspirational voice for the transgender community—and anyone fighting to define themselves on their own terms.
With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, offering readers accessible language while imparting vital insight about the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Though undoubtedly an account of one woman’s quest for self at all costs, Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another—and of ourselves—showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real.
Giselle Renarde: Giselle Renarde is a queer Canadian, contributor to more than 100 short story anthologies, and award-winning author of dozens of electronic and print books, including Anonymous, Audrey & Lawrence, Ondine, Nanny State, and the Wedding Heat series. Giselle lives across from a park with two bilingual cats who sleep on her head. Ms. Renarde's anthology My Mistress' Thighs: Erotic Transgender Fiction and Poetry received an Honourable Mention in the 2011 Rainbow Awards, and her trans lesbian romance The Red Satin Collection took top prize in the same category in 2012. She is a contributor to Tristan Taormino's Lambda Award-winning book Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica, as well as such notable anthologies as Best Women's Erotica, Best Lesbian Erotica, Best Bondage Erotica, and Best Lesbian Romance.
Jaime Maddox: My favorite book this year was Ann Aptaker's Tarnished Gold. It's a work of historical fiction, my favorite genre, and is a page turner from the first chapter. The heroine takes on crooked cops and the mob, wears a tux as she escorts ones woman about town even while mentally undressing countless others! Cantor Gold is a woman brave (or foolish) enough to be herself in a time when it was dangerous to do so. Either way, she's a hero(ine).
Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime) by Ann Aptaker Series: Cantor Gold Crime
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (September 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626394261
ISBN-13: 978-1626394261
Amazon: Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime)
Amazon Kindle: Tarnished Gold (Cantor Gold Crime)
New York City, 1950. Cantor Gold, art smuggler and dapper dyke-about-town, hunts for a missing masterpiece she’s risked her life to bring through the port of New York. She must outsmart the Law that wants to jail her; outrun the dockside gangsters who would let her take the fall for murder; and outplay a shady art dealer, his lover, and a beautiful curator who toys with Cantor’s passion. Through it all, Cantor must stay out of the gunsights of a killer who’s knocking off rivals for the missing masterpiece—and stay alive to solve the mystery of her stolen love: Sophie de la Luna y Sol.
A Cantor Gold Crime Novel.
Jaime Maddox: Jaime Maddox spends her mornings practicing medicine, her afternoons playing mom, and nights writing fiction for Bold Strokes Books. Her debut novel Agnes earned her the Alice B Lavender Certificate, and she followed up with three other works: The Common Thread, Bouncing and Deadly Medicine. She loves her native Pocono Mountains, and of her books are set, at least partially, in Northeastern Pennsylvania. She still lives there, with her partner Carolyn, and their eleven year old twins, Jamison and Max, but escapes on occasion for a little diversion. In an effort to keep her blood pressure high, she plays golf. She lowers it again by hanging out with her family, yoga, reading and baking.
Jess Faraday: My favorite LGBT book this year was Girls in Ice Houses by Linda Morgenstein. It was such a quirky, unpredictable story with complicated, sharp-edged characters I was never quite sure about. At the same time, it was impossible to put down. Characters and events were distorted to the cutting edge of unbelievability--and slapstick at times--and yet were fully realized and three-dimensional. A truly tremendous feat on the part of the author. I loved every minute of it.
Girls in Ice Houses by Linda Morgenstein Paperback: 222 pages
Publisher: Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC (November 25, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161929222X
ISBN-13: 978-1619292222
Amazon: Girls in Ice Houses
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Maxie Wolfe is becoming a notorious female paparazzo, a dubious goal that reflects her flight from the past. One scorching night, outside the Bad Mama Supper Club, Maxie scuffles with Fisher Jacobs, female sports agent. They're both arrested and sentenced to anger-management classes. Things go from bad to worse for the pair in Hollywood, until they flee to Fisher's family in Minnesota. Once there, Maxie begins to bond with the Jacobs family and to use her talent to take photos that aren't ugly celebrity exposes. Reluctantly, she uncovers startling secrets about the Jacobs family. Girls in Ice Houses is a thoughtful yet humorous exploration of complex family dynamics, and the nature of art and creativity.
Jess Faraday: Jess Faraday is the author of the Ira Adler Mysteries, the Stein & Vincent Adventures, and the steampunk thriller The Left Hand of Justice. She also edits a series of mystery anthologies for Elm Books, including Death on a Cold Night and Death and the Detective. Her work has been shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award, and has received Honorable Mention in the Speak Its Name Book of the Year and Rainbow Award competitions. She lives in the western United States with her family and a small zoo.
Jim Provenzano: My favorite of 2015, Katie Gilmartin’s Blackmail, My Love. Set in 1950s San Francisco, Gilmartin’s intriguing tale involves a lesbian searching for answers in a secretive gay world of the 1950s. She incorporates real bars and people of the time, as well as a stylish noir prose flair. An accomplished visual artist, Gilmartin’s illustrations add to its unique appeal. I also took pleasure in seeing Gilmartin win the 2015 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Mystery earlier this year in New York; well deserved!
Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery by Katie GilmartinPaperback: 232 pages
Publisher: Cleis Press; proof edition (November 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1627780645
ISBN-13: 978-1627780643
Amazon: Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery
Amazon Kindle: Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery
Josie O'Conner travels to San Francisco in 1951 to locate her gay brother, a private eye investigating a blackmail ring targeting lesbians and gay men. Jimmy's friends claim that just before he disappeared he became a rat, informing the cops on the bar community. Josie adopts Jimmy's trousers and wingtips, to clear his name, halt the blackmailers, and exact justice for too many queer corpses. Along the way she rubs shoulders with a sultry chanteuse running a dyke tavern called Pandora's Box, gets intimate with a red-headed madam operating a brothel from the Police Personnel Department, and conspires with the star of Finocchio's, a dive so disreputable it's off limits to servicemen — so every man in uniform pays a visit.
Blackmail, My Love is an illustrated murder mystery deeply steeped in San Francisco's queer history, as established academic and first-time novelist Katie Gilmartin's diverse set of characters negotiate the risks of same-sex desire in a dangerous era. Set in such legendary locations as the Black Cat Cafe, the Fillmore, the Beat movement's North Beach, and the Tenderloin, Blackmail, My Love is a singular, stunning introduction to a new author and to gay noir.
Jim Provenzano: Jim Provenzano is the author of the Lambda Literary Award winner (Gay Romance) 'Every Time I Think of You,' and its sequel 'Message of Love' (a Lambda Literary Award Finalist - Gay Romance), the novels 'PINS,' 'Monkey Suits,' 'Cyclizen,' the stage adaptation of 'PINS,' as well as numerous published short stories and freelance articles. The curator of 'Sporting Life,' the world's first gay athletics exhibit, he also wrote the syndicated Sports Complex column for ten years. A journalist in LGBT media for more than two decades, he lives in San Francisco.
JL Merrow: For my favourite LGBT book of 2015, I'd like to pick Humbug, by Joanna Chambers. It's a delightful little book, and really put me in the Christmas spirit. It's an updating of an old seasonal favourite, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but it's not a slavish, formulaic re-hash of the old story. Another book I read in 2015 was Val McDermid's updated version of Northanger Abbey, and like McDermid, Chambers has absolutely nailed a thoroughly modern story, populated by modern characters, that's nonetheless entirely true to the redemptive, warm-hearted spirit of the original. And the icing on the top? That cover for Humbug is absolutely glorious, and fits the story perfectly.
Humbug by Joanna Chambers Publication Date: November 17, 2015
Amazon Kindle: Humbug
Quin Flint is unimpressed when his gorgeous colleague, Rob Paget, asks for extra time off at Christmas. As far as Quin is concerned, Christmas is a giant waste of time. Quin's on the fast track to partnership, and the season of goodwill is just getting in the way of his next big project. But when Quin's boss, Marley, confiscates his phone and makes him take an unscheduled day off, Quin finds himself being forced to confront his regrets, past and present, and think about the sort of future he really wants…and who he wants it with.
Northanger Abbey by Val McDermidPaperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grove Press (April 14, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0802123805
ISBN-13: 978-0802123800
Amazon: Northanger Abbey
Amazon Kindle: Northanger Abbey
Now in paperback, Val McDermid’s Northanger Abbey is an updated take on Jane Austen’s classic novel about a young woman whose visit to the stately home of a well-to-do acquaintance stirs her most macabre imaginings. A homeschooled minister’s daughter in the quaint, sheltered Piddle Valley in Dorset, Cat Morland loses herself in novels (and, of course, her smartphone) and is sure there is a glamorous adventure awaiting her beyond the valley’s narrow horizon. So imagine her delight when her neighbors, the Allens, invite her to attend the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh as their guest. Cat quickly begins to take Edinburgh by storm and is taken into the bosom of the Thorpe family, particularly by eldest daughter Bella. And then she meets handsome Henry Tilney, who lives at the beautiful and forbidding Northanger Abbey. Cat is entranced by Henry and his charming sister Eleanor, but she can’t help but wonder if everything about them is as perfect as it seems. Maybe she has just been reading too many novels?
JL Merrow: JL Merrow is that rare beast, an English person who refuses to drink tea. She read Natural Sciences at Cambridge, where she learned many things, chief amongst which was that she never wanted to see the inside of a lab ever again. Her one regret is that she never mastered the ability of punting one-handed whilst holding a glass of champagne. She writes across genres, with a preference for contemporary gay romance and the paranormal, and is frequently accused of humour. Her novella Muscling Through was a 2013 EPIC Award finalist, and her novel Slam! won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best LGBT Romantic Comedy. JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.
Jordan Castillo Price: I would pick Kim Fielding's Astounding! as my favorite book of 2015. The protagonist is a SF/Fantasy editor, and I had just edited a fantasy anthology, so the book really spoke to me! It was subtle and sweet and full of wonder.
Astounding! By Kim FieldingPaperback: 210 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (June 26, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1634762207
ISBN-13: 978-1634762205
Amazon: Astounding!
Amazon Kindle: Astounding!
Carter Evans is founder and editor-in-chief of Astounding!―a formerly popular spec fiction magazine currently in its death throes. Not only can he do nothing to save it, but stuck in a rathole apartment with few interpersonal connections, he can’t seem to do much to rescue his future either. And certainly all the booze isn’t helping. He snaps when he receives yet another terrible story submission from the mysterious writer J. Harper―and in a drunken haze, Carter sends Harper a rejection letter he soon regrets.
J. Harper turns out to be John Harper, a sweet man who resembles a ’50s movie star and claims to be an extraterrestrial. Despite John’s delusions, Carter’s apology quickly turns into something more as the two lonely men find a powerful connection. Inexplicably drawn to John, Carter invites him along on a road trip. But as they travel, Carter is in for some big surprises, some major heartbreak… and just maybe the promise of a good future after all.
Jordan Castillo Price: Author and artist Jordan Castillo Price writes paranormal thrillers colored by her time in the midwest, from inner city Chicago, to small town Wisconsin, to liberal Madison. Her influences include Ouija boards, Return of the Living Dead, "light as a feather, stiff as a board," girls with tattoos and boys in eyeliner. Jordan is best known as the author of the PsyCop series, an unfolding tale of paranormal mystery and suspense starring Victor Bayne, a gay medium who's plagued by ghostly visitations. Also check out her new series, Mnevermind, where memories are made...one client at a time.
Kate McMurray: My favorite LGBT book of the year was A Fashionable Indulgence by K.J. Charles, which features a character who doesn’t know he’s descended from a wealthy family suddenly thrust into high society, and coached by a dandy obsessed with high-quality garments. It’s well-researched and a delightful read.
A Fashionable Indulgence (A Society of Gentlemen Novel #1) by KJ Charles Publisher: Loveswept (August 11, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: A Fashionable Indulgence (A Society of Gentlemen Novel #1)
In the first novel of an explosive new series from K. J. Charles, a young gentleman and his elegant mentor fight for love in a world of wealth, power, and manipulation.
When he learns that he could be the heir to an unexpected fortune, Harry Vane rejects his past as a Radical fighting for government reform and sets about wooing his lovely cousin. But his heart is captured instead by the most beautiful, chic man he’s ever met: the dandy tasked with instructing him in the manners and style of the ton. Harry’s new station demands conformity—and yet the one thing he desires is a taste of the wrong pair of lips.
After witnessing firsthand the horrors of Waterloo, Julius Norreys sought refuge behind the luxurious facade of the upper crust. Now he concerns himself exclusively with the cut of his coat and the quality of his boots. And yet his protégé is so unblemished by cynicism that he inspires the first flare of genuine desire Julius has felt in years. He cannot protect Harry from the worst excesses of society. But together they can withstand the high price of passion.
Kate McMurray: Kate McMurray is an award-winning author of gay romance and an unabashed romance fan. When she's not writing, she works as a nonfiction editor, dabbles in various crafts, and is maybe a tiny bit obsessed with baseball. She has served as President of Rainbow Romance Writers, the LGBT romance chapter of Romance Writers of America. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Kate Pavelle: One of my favorites last year was Anna Zabo’s “Just Business.” The characters have complex histories, one coming from an abusive BDSM relationship and the other from a restrictive Jewish orthodox background. They both have to learn to trust the other, but in different way. Their dynamic is seething hot, their angst is painful to read, and the resolution comes to a happy ending that made this book a frequent comfort read.
Just Business by Anna ZaboPublisher: InterMix (June 16, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Just Business
From the thriling new author of Takeover, a steamy new novel about having all the control—and losing it…
Justin White may not look like an up and coming corporate superstar, but his new boss knows he has the smarts, grit, and determination to succeed. Now he just has to convince his company’s CFO, Eli Ovadia. Unfortunately, Justin can’t seem to keep his cool around the domineering Eli—and soon he finds himself taking their heat from the boardroom into the bedroom….
Still haunted by a tragic accident that left him with a wounded leg and broken heart, Eli has a need to be in control. But his desire for Justin makes him want to lose that control—and push them both far beyond their limits. But will his need to dominate Justin drive him away—or will Eli find a way to be the man he needs for both of them?
Kate Pavelle: She learned to use a gas mask in first grade. She fired her first AK47 in her sixth grade civil defense class. Her first dog was a wolf hybrid stolen from the Czechoslovak border guard, and her eccentric father blew out the windows of their house with a stun grenade. On purpose. Unlike his chemical explosions, which were always by accident. Kate Pavelle's high-stakes, high-adrenaline childhood leaves her searching for the next exciting thing. Martial arts and travel and rock climbing. Horses and cookies and toxic mushrooms. Medieval combat and children and brain-tanning deer hide in the driveway. Her quest resonates through her mystery thrillers and romances, matched only by her drive to share the fun with her readers. Kate once knew the hunger of being a political refugee and the terror of being pursued by government agents. Now that she knows lasting love and contentment, she imbues her characters with her own struggle for survival, excellence, and world domination. Only the dead bodies are imaginary.
KJ Charles: The Trojan Project by John T Fuller and Richard Rider. This is a spectacularly good collection of stories, many though not all gay romance.(Which is to say, it's all gay fiction but not everything has a HEA.) A few of the stories are creepy, fantastic, or even horror; all of them are fabulous, and the pure romances include some of the loveliest stuff I've read in ages. Gorgeous, touching characters and beautifully written. This is by turns funny, sexy, scary and swoony, and even if you don't normally do short stories, you want this. I am...confused by the cover; this book is a seriously classy piece of work and I recommend it wholeheartedly. One of the absolute best of the year for me.
The Trojan Project by John T Fuller and Richard Rider Publisher: Lulu.com (November 2, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: The Trojan Project
Written by John T. Fuller (When the Music Stops) and Richard Rider (The Stockholm Syndrome trilogy and Captured Shadows), The Trojan Project is a collection of twelve original stories of gay romance.
A couple move into a new home with that unsettling feeling of being watched; a young man who rescues an antique mannequin from a skip gets more than he bargained for; a lonely campsite worker finally gets up the courage to make a move on the man he admires; an over-privileged student gets more than the standard treatment when he's recruited into a secret society; Andersen, Rimbaud and Verlaine as you've never seen them before – plus fairies, vampires, rockstars, and a surprise appearance from Pip Valentine.
From historical to horror, poetry to porn, there's something to whet every appetite.
We just hope that you like sausage.
KJ Charles: KJ Charles is a writer and editor living in London. She has a serious reading habit, two kids, a cat, a blog, and several books coming out. Somehow.
L.M. Somerton: Building Bonds by Morticia Knight. There's something innately sexy about a carpenter. I think it's the ability to bring beauty from the wood, shape it and mould it until it realises its potential. That's exactly what happens to Kyle in this book, the first in Morticia's 'Kiss of Leather' series. Kyle is uncertain, new to the scene and he's been burned by an ex. He's the perfect sub character for me - vulnerable, shy, but with hidden passion that hasn't yet found release. Gavin is a really sexy Dom and just as he breaks down Kyle's walls, Kyle does the same for him without even knowing that's what he's doing. The characterisation in the book is great, the story pulled me along in one sitting and I'll definitely be going back for the rest of the series.
Building Bonds (Kiss of Leather) by Morticia Knight Series: Kiss of Leather
Paperback: 220 pages
Publisher: Pride Publishing (August 11, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1784307122
ISBN-13: 978-1784307127
Amazon: Building Bonds (Kiss of Leather)
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Kyle’s a natural sub who builds dungeon furniture, yet has no interest in BDSM. It takes a hunky Dom to show him just what he’s been missing.
After Kyle’s partner of five years leaves him for another man on the night of their housewarming party, the shy, early-thirties carpenter needs to do a major reassessment of his life in addition to raising some serious cash. With no one to help him pay the lease on his Los Angeles condo, he worries how he’ll survive. His best friend sets up a meeting with one of the Doms and partners at Kiss of Leather, a gay BDSM club being built as a premier destination for those who want the best of the best.
Master Gavin not only wants the best—he demands it. When he meets Kyle, he assumes that part of the builder’s reticence to share anything personal with him must be due to his experiences with an abusive former Master. Not one to back down from a challenge, Gavin determines to break through the walls surrounding the beautiful man he can’t get out of his mind. He’s hopeful that once he convinces Kyle to sign an initial contract, Kyle might be the first sub to open up his heart.
Misunderstandings and accusations almost destroy everything between them before they have a real chance to begin. However, the true obstacle becomes not only whether Kyle will embrace BDSM as a lifestyle, but also whether he can handle a full-time D/s relationship with a big, bad, scary Dom who’s as sexy as hell.
L.M. Somerton: I live in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. I started writing to fill time between jobs and am now firmly and unashamedly addicted. I love the English weather, especially the rain, and adore a thunderstorm. I love good food, warm company and a crackling fire. I'm fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and my stories contain some subtle (and not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM. L M Somerton's first book, The Portrait, was the winner of the 2012 National Leather Association: International, Pauline Reage Award for Best Novel.
Larry Duplechan: Tattooed Teardrops, by D Rashad Battle. Battle is a new and intriguing voice in Black queer fiction, and in Tattooed Teardrops he serves up a 21st Century MSM romance with a headful of dreadlocks, a Southern drawl and a hip-hop soundtrack.
Tattooed Teardrops by D Rashad Battle Paperback: 184 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (September 25, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1516894723
ISBN-13: 978-1516894727
Amazon: Tattooed Teardrops
Amazon Kindle: Tattooed Teardrops
Muse Atwood and Tempest Monroe have been friends since junior high school. Thick as thieves, some might say. They even decided to go into business together and open In Your Skin Tattoos, which has seen nothing but success since its doors opened five years ago. When the tall, sexy and troublesome "Trap" walks into the shop one spring afternoon, their lives are changed forever. Muse has to decide between the loyalty for his best friend or his lust-turned-love for Trap, who won't take no for an answer. Tattooed Teardrops is a story of betrayal, love, lust and most of all forgiveness. Some pains heal but this one is permanent.
Larry Duplechan: Larry Duplechan is the author of five novels, including Blackbird (considered the first modern Black "coming-out" novel) and the Lambda Literary Award-winning Got 'til it's Gone. His hobbies include singing, playing the ukulele, reading show business biographies, and pursuing his ongoing quest to forestall the physical aging process and build truly outstanding pecs. He lives in Los Angeles with his husband of 38 years and a 17 pound Chartreux cat named Mr. Blue.
Lee Lynch: Backcast by Ann McMann -This novel is literate, sensitive to our issues, funny and her characters ring so true of lesbians everywhere.
Backcast by Ann McMann Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Bywater Books (December 8, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1612940633
ISBN-13: 978-1612940632
Amazon: Backcast
Amazon Kindle: Backcast
When sculptor and author Barb Davis is given an NEA grant to pair original feminist sculptures with searing first-person essays on transitions in women's lives, she organizes a two week writing retreat with twelve of the best, brightest, and most notorious lesbian authors in the business. But in between regularly scheduled happy hours and writing sessions, the women enter a tournament bass fishing competition, receive life coaching from a wise-cracking fish named Phoebe, and uncover a subterranean world of secrets and desires that is as varied and elusive as the fish that swim in the waters of Lake Champlain.
Set on the beautiful shores of Vermont's Lake Champlain, Backcast is richly populated with an expansive cast of endearing and outrageous characters who battle writer's block, quirky locals, personal demons, unexpected attractions, and even each other during their two-week residency. For Barb and each of her twelve writers, the stakes in this fast-moving story are high, but its emotional and romantic payoffs are slow and sweet.
Filled with equal parts laugh-out-loud humor and breathtaking pathos, Backcast serves up a sometimes irreverent, sometimes sobering look at the hidden lives of women, and how they laugh, love, lose, and blunder through their own search for meaning.
Lee Lynch: Lee Lynch published her first lesbian fiction in "The Ladder" in the 1960s. Naiad Press issued Toothpick House, Old Dyke Tales, and more. Her novel The Swashbuckler was presented in NYC as a play scripted by Sarah Schulman. New Victoria Publishers brought out Rafferty Street, the last book of Lynch's Morton River Valley Trilogy. Lee's backlist is becoming available in electronic format from Bold Strokes Books. Her newest novels are Beggar of Love and The Raid. Her recent short stories can be found in Romantic Interludes, Women In Uniform, and at www.readtheselips.com. Her reviews and feature articles have appeared in such publications as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Advocate, and The Lambda Book Report. Lynch's syndicated column, "The Amazon Trail," runs in venues such as boldstrokesbooks.com, Erie Gay News, Letters From Camp Rehoboth, Diversity Rules, Keystone Alliance, Epocholips and On Top Magazine. Lee Lynch was honored by the Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) as the first recipient (for The Swashbuckler) and namesake of The Lee Lynch Classics Award, which will honor outstanding works in Lesbian Fiction published before awards and honors were given. She also is a recipient of the Alice B. Reader Award for Lesbian Fiction; the James Duggins Mid-Career Author Award, which honors LGBT mid-career novelists of extraordinary talent and service to the LGBT community; and was inducted into the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame. In 2010, Beggar of Love received the GCLS Ann Bannon Readers' Choice Award and the ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Bronze Award in Gay/Lesbian Fiction. Lee's most recent novel 'THE RAID' was a winner in 2012 General Fiction from The Golden Crown Literary Society. She has twice been nominated for Lambda Literary Awards and her novel Sweet Creek was a GCLS award finalist. Lee lives in coastal Oregon with her wife, 2 kitties and wee dog.
Leona Carver: My favourite book in 2015 was Astrid Amara's Song of the Navigator. This novel was just all around perfect. I loved the characters, the writing style, the plot, the romance, the setting, the darkness, and the happy ending... Everything about it. I've rarely been so satisfied when I've finished a book, or more eager for the next one.
Song of the Navigator by Astrid AmaraPaperback: 258 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (May 26, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 161922951X
ISBN-13: 978-1619229518
Amazon: Song of the Navigator
Amazon Kindle: Song of the Navigator
Worst Possible Birthday: Being sold into slavery by none other than your lover. Tover Duke's rare ability to move anything instantly across light-years of space makes him a powerful, valuable asset to the Harmony Corporation, and a rock star among the people of the colonies. His life is luxurious. Safe. Routine. He has his pick of casual hookups passing through Dadelus-Kaku Station. His one brush with danger of any kind-the only bright spot in his otherwise boring life-is Cruz Arcadio, a dark-haired, hard-bodied engineer whose physical prowess hints he's something much more. When a terrorist abducts Tover, hurling him into a world of torture, exploitation and betrayal, it's with shattering disbelief that he realizes his kidnapper is none other than Cruz. As Tover struggles to find the courage to escape his bondage, he begins to understand the only way to free his body, his mind-and his heart-is to trust the one man who showed him that everything about his once-perfect life was a lie. Warning: This story contains descriptions of extreme violence and assault. It also contains graphic sexual depictions. It also has a lot of birds. And pirate movies from the future. And romance.
Leona Carver: Leona Carver lurks in a Canadian basement with a cat and an aerospace engineer, one of whom helps with the science while the other scratches at the window to get out. She writes novels and short stories with a penchant for genre mash-ups—because fairy tales need space stations, historical romance needs steam powered cyborgs, merpeople should wear mecha, and all of the aforementioned need a little love. Or a lot of love. When Leona isn’t banging her head against her keyboard, she prepares for the post-apocalypse by running, kickboxing, reviving ancient dances and recipes, and training her hand-eye coordination with joysticks and a D-pad.
Lex Valentine: As usual, there is never just one book that I would call my favorite of the year. This year the ones I couldn’t stop re-reading were:
The Boy With the Painful Tattoo – Josh Lanyon – Seeing the relationship between Kit and JX taken to the next level was awesome! And totally worth the wait.
Fit To Be Tied – Mary Calmes – I can never get enough Miro and Ian. Book 2 gives us more of the interesting and frightening villain Craig Hartley and takes us deeper into Miro and Ian’s heads and relationship. Hugely satisfying read that leaves you wanting more Miro and Ian!
The World As He Sees It – AM Arthur – The best, most unique hero ever! You cannot help but root for Tristan, not just because he’s such an unusual and unlikely hero but because he’s just so perfectly drawn that you can see and feel everything he does and it breaks your heart.
Reckoning – Angel & the Assassin 4 – Fyn Alexander – Angel and his Daddy never disappoint and this long awaited sequel delves deeper into why these two are together with a satisfying result.
And last but not least, the Will & Patrick Wake Up Married series by Leta Blake. Funny, heartwarming and amazing. With three of the six series “episodes” out already, I find myself eagerly awaiting the next one because watching these two men fall for each other is such a guilty treat!
The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3) by Josh Lanyon Series: Holmes & Moriarity
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: JustJoshin (October 3, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1937909506
ISBN-13: 978-1937909505
Amazon: The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3)
Amazon Kindle: The Boy With the Painful Tattoo (Holmes & Moriarity #3)
It’s moving day at Chez Holmes. Somehow, against Kit’s better instincts, he and J.X. are setting up house together. But while J.X. is off at a mystery fiction convention, Kit unpacks a crate that should contain old china. It doesn’t. Within the mounds of Styrofoam popcorn is a dead body. A very dead body. There goes the neighborhood.
Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2) by Mary Calmes Paperback: 244 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1634764870
ISBN-13: 978-1634764872
Amazon: Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2)
Amazon Kindle: Fit To Be Tied (Marshals #2)
Deputy US Marshals Miro Jones and Ian Doyle are now partners on and off the job: Miro’s calm professionalism provides an ideal balance to Ian’s passion and quick temper. In a job where one misstep can be the difference between life and death, trust means everything. But every relationship has growing pains, and sometimes Miro stews about where he stands with his fiery lover. Could the heartstrings that so recently tied them together be in danger of unraveling?
Those new bonds are constantly challenged by family intrusions, well-intentioned friends, their personal insecurities, and their dangerous careers―including a trial by fire when an old case of Miro’s comes back to haunt them. It might just be enough to make Ian rethink his decision to let himself be tied down, and Miro can only hope the links they’ve forged will be strong enough to hold.
The World As He Sees It (Perspectives) by AM ArthurPaperback: 282 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (October 20, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1619231964
ISBN-13: 978-1619231962
Amazon: The World As He Sees It (Perspectives)
Amazon Kindle: The World As He Sees It (Perspectives)
Love knows no limits...but fear could keep them from seeing it. Perspectives, Book 2 Gabe lives a double life. As Gabriel Henson, he works multiple jobs to support his remorseless, alcoholic mother. As Tony Ryder, he does internet porn for extra cash and regular safe sex without complications. Yet when he encounters a scared young man freaking out in a night club, he's compelled to reach out. Ever since then, the memory of that young man has haunted him. Tristan Lavelle lives his life thirty minutes at a time. After a traumatic brain injury three years ago, he gets through his day recording his life in spiral notebooks and sticky note reminders. A month after Tristan's embarrassingly public meltdown, another chance meeting with Gabe sparks a warm, emotionally fulfilling email relationship. Both men crave more, but fear of the next step stands between them. Until Tristan gets the opportunity to take part in a clinical trial that could improve his memory-if the side effects don't kill him. But for Tristan, the possibility of a real life with Gabe is worth any risk... Warning: Contains two damaged but lovable heroes, secret-keeping friends with good intentions, and an abundance of inappropriate food innuendo.
Reckoning (Angel & the Assassin #4) by Fyn AlexanderPublisher: Loose Id LLC (September 28, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Reckoning (Angel & the Assassin #4)
Kael Saunders, MI6 specialist operative and leather Daddy, has been living with Angel Button, his sub, for two years in a loving D/s relationship. Angel has been waiting for the time when he too can join MI6, knowing that his sniper skills make him a valuable asset to the organization. Kael loves to kill, it gives him an adrenalin rush, but Angel is certain his Daddy only eliminates those who pose a threat to national security, which is what Angel wants to do. Naive and idealistic, Angel wants to make the world a better place.
Angel’s beliefs are sorely tested a few days later, leaving him unsure if he wants to be an MI6 agent after all. When Kael is given an assignment in Cornwall, he takes Angel with him so they can have a weekend away. Angel finds out about the mission and the target and is left wondering if his Daddy is really the hero Angel thinks he is, placing their relationship in jeopardy.
Will & Patrick Wake Up Married by Leta Blake & Alice GriffithsPublisher: Leta Blake Books (October 26, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Will & Patrick Wake Up Married (Wake Up Married #1)
Join the fun in this vibrant first installment of the new romantic comedy serial by best-selling author Leta Blake and newcomer Alice Griffiths!
After a drunken night of hot sex in Vegas, strangers Will Patterson and Dr. Patrick McCloud wake up married. A quickie divorce is the most obvious way out—unless you’re the heir of a staunchly Catholic mafia boss with a draconian position on the sanctity of marriage.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, Will and Patrick don't like it, or each other, but they have to make the best of it until they can find another way out of their marriage. To ensure the trust fund Will's charitable foundation relies on isn't revoked by his mobster grandfather, he and Patrick travel to Will’s hometown of Healing, South Dakota, posing as a newlywed couple in the throes of true love at first sight.
Complicating their scheme are Will’s unresolved feelings for his all-too-recent ex-boyfriend Ryan, and Patrick’s desire to get back to the only thing that really matters to him in life: neurosurgery. Will they fool everyone? Or will the mafia get wind that their marriage is a fake? Throw their simmering attraction into the mix and all bets are off!
Lex Valentine: Like most authors, Lex has been writing ever since she could hold a pencil. A few years ago, when she posted snippets of her work on her personal blog Sunlight Sucks, author Jennifer Leeland encouraged her to submit her writing to publishers. That led to her first contract in October 2008. Now an award winning, multi-published PAN author, Lex is a member of Romance Writers of America active in the PASIC, Rainbow Romance Writers, and Orange County chapters. Her publishers include: Loose Id, Ellora's Cave, Jupiter Gardens Press (formerly Pink Petal Books), MLR Press, and Liquid Silver Books. She is published in both ebook and print. Born and raised in Salinas, California, Lex moved to Southern California in 1992. She lives in a rugged canyon in Orange County with Rott, her long haired tattooed significant other. She loves loud music, builds her own computers, and has a propensity for having very weird vivid dreams about Nikki Sixx. Lex works full-time at a cemetery as the network administrator.
Lorraine Lesar: I would like to nominate Drama Queen by Joe Cosentino (June 2015). Most probably the funniest book I have read in my long history of reading. It was absolutely hilarious, it held the vibe of an old fashioned "English Farce" with a modern twist. The authors observational skills hit like a tsunami, totally unexpected and devilishly cunning in his execution - the result? belly-ache laughter at loud, it should carry a health warning "do not read in a public place, the author is not responsible if warning is unheeded".
Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery by Joe Cosentino Paperback: 196 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (June 12, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590214676
ISBN-13: 978-1590214671
Amazon: Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery
Amazon Kindle: Drama Queen: A Nicky and Noah Mystery
It could be curtains for college theatre professor Nicky Abbondanza. With dead bodies popping up all over campus, Nicky must use his drama skills to figure out who is playing the role of murderer before it is lights out for Nicky and his colleagues. Complicating matters is Nicky's huge crush on Noah Oliver, a gorgeous assistant professor in his department, who may or may not be involved with a cocky graduate assistant...and is also the top suspect for the murders! You will be applauding and shouting Bravo for Joe Cosentino's fast-paced, side-splittingly funny, edge-of-your-seat, delightfully entertaining novel. Curtain up!
Lorraine Lesar: Reading is my escapism, I love it. I like sharing my thoughts on books, so that other readers can see what they are getting for their hard earned cash. I don't always leave a review, only when I have something to say. I try to see the positives in every book, even when they are "not my cup of tea" as I believe that authors spend months if not years, writing their masterpieces and it must be soul destroying for them, if they do not get positive and great reviews. Having said that, I will give a low star rating if I feel it's warranted. I work hard and even though my family have now flown the nest (and I have my first grandson), I am involved in their lives offering support and a lot of child-minding hours, so as I said, reading is my escapism!
M.A. Church: Wolves of Black Pine (The Wolfkin Saga Book 1) by SJ Himes is my selection for the favorite book list of 2015. I really like this book because it had a totally new twist on the shifter lore. The author also described the settings in the book so eloquently you can almost see it. :)
Wolves of Black Pine (The Wolfkin Saga #1) by SJ Himes Publication Date: June 30, 2015
Amazon Kindle: Wolves of Black Pine (The Wolfkin Saga #1)
An ancient civilization long hidden from humanity is on the brink of chaos and war. Peaceful for thousands of years, the wolfkin clans are mysteriously losing packmates, kidnapped and killed by unknown foes.
The nightmare begins with an ambush by humans at a gathering of their kind, and lives are lost. Among them is Luca, youngest grandson of the two most powerful wolves in the Northern Clans. Thought long dead and gone, he is forced into a half-life, hidden in the far northern wilds of Canada and cut off from his kind. Those who raised him have no idea the creature they harbor in their midst, and name him Ghost. He begins to lose himself over the long years, and though he barely recalls his true name, the one wolf he never forgets is Kane.
Kane, Heir to the wolfkin clan Black Pine, is charged with hunting down the traitors who betrayed their kind to the humans. Years fly by, and more wolves are dying. He refuses to give up, and he vows to never again fail another of their kind, as he failed young Luca years before. His heart tells him Luca lives, but his mind tells him that it's foolish hope, his guilt eating him alive.
Fate and magic change the course of their lives, and the two wolves long separated by the years find their paths intertwining. Though the gift of their reunion doesn't come without price. Faced by the consequences of their growing love, and the goddess-forged bond between them, Kane and Ghost are besieged on all sides. Enemies are coming for their blood, and without the steadfast loyalty and love of family and friends, they may not be safe from the very people they fight to protect.
M.A. Church: My published name is MA Church. I write m/m romance stories that tend to have nonhuman characters. I believe in HEA and my stories have that; but there may be a few bumps in the road before they get there.
Megan Derr: Hurt by Lila Bruce. This was a highly engaging book. The misunderstanding trope is one of the hardest to pull off, and this author did it splendidly. I loved all the characters and relationships, the romance was sweet, real, and so much fun to cheer for. Couldn’t put the book down, it was a truly excellent read.
Hurt by Lila Bruce Paperback: 270 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (February 25, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1508611408
ISBN-13: 978-1508611400
Amazon: Hurt
Amazon Kindle: Hurt
When it comes to matters of the heart, Nicole Landers has made some wrong choices. But now Nicole, one of the top real estate agents in Chattanooga, thinks she’s finally made the right one in Jamie Tate. Despite a serious Johnny Cash obsession and a tendency to shy away from long-term commitment, Jamie seems to be the perfect choice. Jamie is kind, loving and especially nice to Nicole’s elderly grandmother. Now all Nicole has to do is convince the attractive police detective that it's time to take things to the next level. Jamie is crazy in love with Nicole and ready to move their relationship forward. Jamie decides it’s finally time to sell her home and move in together—something that Nicole has been talking about doing for months. Knowing that Nicole believes her to be commitment-shy, Jamie thinks it might be fun to surprise her with the move. However, things take on an ironic twist when an old friend Jamie hasn’t seen in years comes by to look at the house, setting into motion a series of events that leaves more than just Nicole and Jamie’s relationship in jeopardy.
Megan Derr: Megan is a long time resident of m/m fiction, and keeps herself busy reading, writing, and publishing it. She is often accused of fluff and nonsense. When she's not involved in writing, she likes to cook, harass her cats, or watch movies (especially all things James Bond). She loves to hear from readers, and can be found all around the internet.
Paul Alan Fahey: one of the best gay/bio/memoirs I read this year is Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum by Jack Scott. It’s a fast read, brimming with atmosphere, interesting characters, and wonderful central ones. Sophisticated dialogue that’s fast and funny.”
Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum by Jack Scott Paperback: 344 pages
Publisher: Springtime Books (May 18, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 099323772X
ISBN-13: 978-0993237720
Amazon: Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum
Amazon Kindle: Turkey Street, Jack and Liam Move to Bodrum
Six months into their Turkish affair, Jack and Liam, a gay couple from London, took lodgings in the oldest ward of Bodrum Town. If they wanted to shy away from the curtain-twitchers, they couldn't have chosen a worse position. Their terrace overlooked Turkey Street like the balcony of Buckingham Palace and the middle-aged infidels stuck out like a couple of drunks at a temperance meeting. Against all the odds, the boys from the Smoke were welcomed into the fold by a feisty mix of eccentric locals and a select group of trailblazing expats, irresistible ladies with racy pasts and plucky presents. Hop aboard Jack's rainbow gulet as he navigates the choppy waters of a town on the march and a national resurgence not seen since Suleiman the Magnificent was at the gates of Vienna. Grab your deckchair for a whirlwind tour of love and duty, passion and betrayal, broken hearts and broken bones, dirty politics and the dawn of a new Ottoman era.
Paul Alan Fahey: Paul Alan Fahey lives and writes on the California Central Coast. He is the editor of the 2013 Rainbow Award winning nonfiction anthology, THE OTHER MAN: 21 Writers Speak Candidly About Sex, Love, Infidelity, & Moving On. He has written several LGBT themed novellas, including the 2012 Rainbow Award winner, THE VIEW FROM 16 PODWALE STREET, WHEN THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG, BOYS WILL BE BOYS, and YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW. Paul is the author of the LOVERS & LIARS gay wartime romance series, featuring the novellas: BOMBER'S MOON, WEEP NOT FOR THE PAST, A MANX TALE, and the short story, A CHRISTMAS IN KENT.
Raine O'Tierney: When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan. When Skies Have Fallen is probably the most stunning book I've ever read. It fundamentally broke and then rebuilt me. I walked away from reading it with a wholly better understanding not only of what LGBT people went through during the mid-twentieth century, but also how those trials translate into modern society. Beautiful.
When Skies Have Fallen by Debbie McGowan Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing (July 8, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1910635502
ISBN-13: 978-1910635506
Amazon: When Skies Have Fallen
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For many in war-torn 1944, love blossoms in the dance hall, and airman Arty Clarke is no exception. He's a thinker and a dreamer; however, it's not the beautiful, talented dancer in his arms-his best friend Jean-who inspires his dreams. For when his gaze meets that of Technical Sergeant Jim Johnson, Arty dares to imagine a different dance. Their love is forbidden, by both the armed forces and the law, but with Jean's cunning and support, Arty and Jim try to bridge the distance between them and find true love despite the danger and a life-threatening disaster that could destroy Arty's dreams for good. Can the pair stand strong together, no matter how many skies have fallen?
Raine O'Tierney: Raine O'Tierney is an always-writing, boundlessly enthusiastic, exclamation point addict! (!!!) She is known for declaring every day "the best day EVER!" and every thing her "all-time FAVORITE!" Raine spends her days working as a library lady, fighting the good fight for intellectual freedom. Frequently changing genres, Raine always tries to imbue her stories with what she calls "The Sweetness" of which there are five Fs (first loves, first times, fidelity, forever-type endings, and... friskiness?). After twenty plus years of writing and dreaming, a decade spent working on M/M, and a year of being a lionheart, Raine is so pleased to finally be a published author! She loves to discuss writing, point-and-click adventure games, and which kind of dachshunds are the best kind of dachshunds!
Sally (Rainbow Awards Jury): My Futanari Stepsister by James Oenemal. This may be an odd, over-the-top, inclusion in this year's list, but I cannot think of another story that was so imaginative, so erotic, and so narratively playful. It's kinky and taboo, but also self-aware. Just a heck of a lot of gender-bending fun.
My Futanari Stepsister by James Oenemal Publication Date: August 6, 2015
Amazon Kindle: My Futanari Stepsister
Daniel has just finished high school. He has ten weeks of holidays to kill before he can move to college and away from his bitch of a stepsister, Chloe.
While their parents are away, Chloe brings over a few of her closest friends for a movie night, and to make amends for being nasty to Daniel during the evening (and for not leaving him any pizza) they’re about to give Daniel an education he’ll never forget.
Kylie, the apparent leader of the group, and 'the one with the cutest dimples', leads Daniel through a smorgasbord of lessons on how to satisfy a "real" woman. His test subjects include:
Alice: blonde, bubbly, and completely uninhibited,
Sarah: a buxom yet shy beauty,
Ella: Daniel's exotic, raven-haired crush,
and of course: mean, evil-eyed Chloe.
He's about to enter a strange and wonderful world.
Sarah Madison: My favorite book for 2015 was The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler. If you haven't read Anna's work yet, you're missing out. She is a phenomenal world-builder, and the master of political intrigue. Her Rafe Lancaster is a charming rascal and his narrative drives the story well. I'm not the only one who feels this way: The Gilded Scarab was nominated for the RT 2015 Reviewer's Choice awards in the Steampunk category.
Susan Laine: My favorite read of 2015 was undeniably The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler. Here's in short what I thought of it: "The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler was my favorite book of 2015. Part of this story reads like steampunk Starbucks coffee wars. I loved every bit of this story taking place in the complex steampunk world of the Britannic Imperium. The way everything from writing and plot to characters and sex scenes is handled, it is all absolutely captivating. I give this superbly woven tale top marks and my highest recommendations. I can't wait for the next book in the series."
The Gilded Scarab by Anna Butler Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (February 16, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1632167727
ISBN-13: 978-1632167729
Amazon: The Gilded Scarab
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When Captain Rafe Lancaster is invalided out of the Britannic Imperium’s Aero Corps after crashing his aerofighter during the Second Boer War, his eyesight is damaged permanently, and his career as a fighter pilot is over. Returning to Londinium in late November 1899, he’s lost the skies he loved, has no place in a society ruled by an elite oligarchy of powerful Houses, and is hard up, homeless, and in desperate need of a new direction in life.
Everything changes when he buys a coffeehouse near the Britannic Imperium Museum in Bloomsbury, the haunt of Aegyptologists. For the first time in years, Rafe is free to be himself. In a city powered by luminiferous aether and phlogiston, and where powerful men use House assassins to target their rivals, Rafe must navigate dangerous politics, deal with a jealous and possessive ex-lover, learn to make the best coffee in Londinium, and fend off murder and kidnap attempts before he can find happiness with the man he loves.
Sarah Madison: Sarah Madison has a big dog, a big horse, too many cats and a patient boyfriend. She writes because it is cheaper than therapy. If you've made it to this point, hopefully you are seeking Sarah Madison, Amazon bestseller and award-winning author of m/m romance, adventure, and suspense stories and not Sarah Madison, the actress, or Sarah Madison, the cardiovascular surgeon, or even Sarah Madison, the author of non-fiction historical texts. (Because if you were looking for them, ooops! Big surprise!) What kinds of stories do I like to write? I write primarily about m/m relationships. I like to write long, plotty stories with a lot of angst, bright splashes of humor, a little drama, some action (sex or otherwise), and for the most part, I believe in happy endings.
Susan Laine: I live in Finland, northern Europe. By training, I'm an anthropologist, and by profession, an author of erotic romance, mostly of the LGBT subgenre. Little things to know about me: Apart from reading and writing my passions include saunas and swimming, walking and slalom, music and science. Some of my more annoying habits, picked up since teenage years, include singing along to pop music off-tune, drooling over men's sports (swimming and the like, where they're mostly nude), and devouring stacks of chocolate when no one is looking (but everybody knows). My favorite season is autumn, and my fave time of the year is Christmas. I'm pretty family-oriented, and I'm going to spoil my two baby nieces.
Scott Alexander Hess: Jonathan Harper, Daydreamers. A stark sharply written debut collection of stories featuring hapless losers and hopeful youths that stirs the soul with subtly and heart.
Daydreamers: Stories by Jonathan HarperPaperback: 164 pages
Publisher: Lethe Press (March 15, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1590212967
ISBN-13: 978-1590212967
Amazon: Daydreamers: Stories
Amazon Kindle: Daydreamers: Stories
Ne'er-do-wells, prodigal sons, and young men without so much as a clue to their present state of mind let alone their futures are waiting to be met in the stories within Daydreamers, Jonathan Harper s debut collection. But these men are not Walter Mittys everyday life refuses to allow them languor. Whether it be the roll of the dice in a Dungeons & Dragons game played in a hostile, rural bar, the lure of body modification and being suspended in front of a crowd, or discovering a body on the beach, the rough edges of each young man cannot help but be noticed, even admired. And once a young man is admired, he needs to decide whether or not to awaken from his daydreams.
Scott Alexander Hess: Scott Alexander Hess earned his MFA in creative writing from The New School. He blogs for The Huffington Post and his writing has appeared in Genre Magazine, The Fix, and elsewhere. Hess co-wrote Tom in America, an award winning short film starring Sally Kirkland and Burt Young. The Butcher's Sons is his third novel. His work has been translated into German. Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Hess now lives in Manhattan, New York.
SJ Himes: Nighttime Wishes (Make A Wish Book 1) by MA Church. This book is one of my favorites reads for 2015 due to its sheer fearlessness. MA takes a fringe, almost taboo element of mm eroticism in having our hero be a tentacle alpha male from another world—and making me LOVE it, and him. There’s no shame, no embarrassment, no shying away from the assumed deviance to be found in getting off on having a lover with tentacles, and she weaves a well-thought out plot and adds truly original elements to her tale. She’s a sci-fi fan after my own leanings, and Nighttime Wishes is the embodiment of every hidden kink I carry in my heart..
Nighttime Wishes (Make A Wish #1) by MA ChurchPublisher: All Romance eBooks, LLC (September 9, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Nighttime Wishes (Make A Wish #1)
When you wish upon a star… it comes true in ways you never expected.
Ziang, a tentacled warrior from the planet Maz’Rar, has come to Earth to claim his most precious prize and start a new life. When an unforeseen accident results in a crash landing, his plan for a quick removal of the human Shawn lays in a twisted ruin at his feet, much like his shuttlecraft. If that isn’t enough, the FBI is sniffing around.
Confronted by the very same alien who observed him since he wished on a shooting star as a child, Shawn finds his initial inability to communicate with Ziang leads to misunderstanding and fear. Forced to hide until rescue arrives, tensions mount. Shawn learns of Ziang’s intentions of taking him as a mate. Ziang, on the other hand, is completely befuddled at Shawn’s less than stellar response to said taking.
As they wait, a spark ignites. Turns out humans and Maz’Rarians are very compatible—tentacles and all. Shawn falls for the big alien he jokingly calls E.T. Now he must decide if he’s willing to throw away all he knows to travel the stars with Ziang.
SJ Himes: I'm a thirty something bisexual cisgendered woman with way too big an imagination, but that comes in handy when I'm writing. I have been writing since I was a child, when I took a four page assignment on what I was going to do on summer vacation and turned it into a 100 page fantasy epic all written by hand...in crayons. No joke. I work a day job, but I can't share for who, since the Old Man isn't as liberated as the people who read my books. I'm married, I have furbabies, and I live with loved ones. I adore a certain show about a British consulting detective and his grumpy army doctor, and that spawned an addiction to Johnlock fanfiction, which then evolved into me writing it. Gawd, that's embarrassing. Put this down in the TMI section of my Bio, okay? I enjoy martial arts, movies where things blow up, and I wish I lived in a Marvel movie. I live in the beautiful and lonely Berkshire County in Massachusetts, and I see way more wildlife than I care to on a daily basis (bears!). My perfect day is reading surrounded by friends and family who don't think it's odd I want to hang out but not talk, and my favorite scent of all time is a cool fall evening with leaves burning....less a scent, and more of an experience. My writing is focused on gay and lesbian people, who are more than interesting side characters that hang out with the heterosexual MCs. My wish for the future is that when people ask me what I do for a living, I can say, "I write gay romance," and NOT get weird looks. The sequel to Wolves of Black Pine will be released in December 2015, titled "Wolf of the Northern Star". If you're feeling brave, I also write under my pen name of Revella Hawthorne, and write fanfiction on Fanfiction.net as Revella, for a certain British consulting detective and his army doctor. My erotica, Bred For Love:The Prince's Consort, is available now..
Stathis Orphanos: I have been rereading Christopher Isherwood's novels, via split and dog eared early paperbacks, the only editions I kept from my 500 plus fully-signed Christopher Isherwood Collection that The Library of Congress purchased a couple of years ago. What a pleasure it is to encounter Chris' vivid characters again and to revisit his Berlin in Goodbye to Berlin and The Last of Mr. Norris. It's an homage to the endurance of those novels that Cabaret is revived as a Broadway blockbuster every five years or so. It was an honor to have known him, photographed him, and to have him - expressed through his generosity and affection - consider me a friend.
Goodbye to Berlin by Christopher IsherwoodPaperback: 224 pages
Publisher: New Directions (September 27, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0811220249
ISBN-13: 978-0811220248
Amazon: Goodbye to Berlin
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Isherwood's classic story of Berlin in the 1930s - and the inspiration for Cabaret - now in a stand-alone edition.
First published in 1934, Goodbye to Berlin has been popularized on stage and screen by Julie Harris in I Am a Camera and Liza Minelli in Cabaret. Isherwood magnificently captures 1931 Berlin: charming, with its avenues and cafés; marvelously grotesque, with its nightlife and dreamers; dangerous, with its vice and intrigue; powerful and seedy, with its mobs and millionaires ― this was the period when Hitler was beginning his move to power. Goodbye to Berlin is inhabited by a wealth of characters: the unforgettable and “divinely decadent”Sally Bowles; plump Frau¨lein Schroeder, who considers reducing her Bu¨steto relieve her heart palpitations; Peter and Otto, a gay couple struggling to come to terms with their relationship; and the distinguished and doomed Jewish family, the Landauers.
Stathis Orphanos: Stathis Orphanos has photographed many of today's top cultural and entertainment figures, including over one hundred authors such as Erskine Caldwell, John Cheever, Graham Greene, John Irving, Christopher Isherwood, Norman Mailer, Sir Stephen Spender, William Styron, John Updike, Gore Vidal, and Nobel laureates Odysseus Elytis of Greece and Naguib Mahfouz of Egypt. His portraits of famous artists and photographers include Don Bachardy, Leonard Baskin, Paul Cadmus, Horst P. Horst, David Hockney, Elaine De Kooning, Larry Rivers, and the legendary Greek painter and designer (for Maria Callas opera productions) Yannis Tsarouchis. His show business portraits feature directors George Cukor, Jules Dassin, Costa Gavras, Jose Quintero, John Schlesinger, Roger Vadim, actresses Claire Bloom, Julie Harris, Lizabeth Scott, Melina Mercouri (former Minister of Culture of Greece), and "New Breed" actors such as Maxwell Caulfield and Esai Morales.
Tobias Oliver: A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale. I love Patrick Gale’s writing and was very excited to read his latest novel, A Place Called Winter. This beautiful book didn’t disappoint and had me gripped from the first to the last page. It tells the story of one man’s exile from the privilege and luxury of upper-class Edwardian England, due to the discovery of a homosexual affair, to the harsh realities and privations of life as a Canadian settler. Above all it is a heart-breaking voyage of self-discovery as Harry Cane learns that not only can love blossom in even the coldest of climates but sadly also that love sometimes comes at the highest possible price. This is a particularly personal book because Gale takes his inspiration from his own family history. The depth of this profound emotional attachment and honestly shines out from every page. It is a reminder of the centuries of untold gay stories that were all too often brushed under the family carpet. A Place Called Winter made me cry and gave me plenty of food for thought, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (March 22, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1455594083
ISBN-13: 978-1455594085
Amazon: A Place Called Winter
Amazon Kindle: A Place Called Winter
A privileged elder son, and stammeringly shy, Harry Cane has followed convention at every step. Even the beginnings of an illicit, dangerous affair do little to shake the foundations of his muted existence - until the shock of discovery and the threat of arrest cost him everything.
Forced to abandon his wife and child, Harry signs up for emigration to the newly colonised Canadian prairies. Remote and unforgiving, his allotted homestead in a place called Winter is a world away from the golden suburbs of turn-of-the-century Edwardian England. And yet it is here, isolated in a seemingly harsh landscape, under the threat of war, madness and an evil man of undeniable magnetism that the fight for survival will reveal in Harry an inner strength and capacity for love beyond anything he has ever known before.
In this exquisite journey of self-discovery, loosely based on a real life family mystery, Patrick Gale has created an epic, intimate human drama, both brutal and breathtaking. It is a novel of secrets, sexuality and, ultimately, of great love.
Tobias Oliver: Tobias Oliver studied Drama at the University of Sheffield. He was part of the Theatre Society: he held the post of Social Secretary, arranged club nights to raise funds (even doing the odd bit of DJing) and acted in as many productions as he could. He also co-presented a show on Forge FM and wrote the (very) occasional article for the student magazine. He is now Marketing Director of Mr Bugg Presents, a theatre company his husband, composer Matthew Bugg, and he set up with producer Keith Arrowsmith.
Ulysses G. Dietz: Ginn Hale, Champion of the Scarlet Wolf, #1 and #2…the two books are the second half of a four-book series, but they stand alone (however, they must be read together!). In the world of contemporary epic fantasy, Ginn Hale is, in my opinion, a master. Not only does she write with an elegance and a passion that sucks the reader into the intense, complicated plots, but she creates worlds of startling beauty and characters of great power and compassion—and humor. Frankly, Hale’s a better writer than Tolkien.
Champion of the Scarlet Wolf by Ginn HaleSeries: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf
Paperback: 454 pages
Publisher: Blind Eye Books (October 6, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935560328
ISBN-13: 978-1935560326
Amazon: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf #1
Amazon Kindle: Champion of the Scarlet Wolf #1
Five years after abandoning the Sagrada Acedemy, Elezar Grunito has become infamous in the sanctified circles of noble dueling rings for his brutal temper and lethal blade. Men and women of all ranks gather to cheer and jeer, none of them knowing Elezar’s true purpose. But a violent death outside the ring marks Elezar as a wanted man and sends him into hiding in the far northern wilds of Labara. There, creatures of myth and witchcraft―long since driven from Cadeleon―lurk in dark woods and prowl the winding streets. Soldiers and priests alike fear the return of witch-queens and even demons. Elezar soon learns that magic takes many forms, some too alluring to resist, others too terrible to endure. But just as he begins to find his place in this strange new country, the past he left behind along with his school days returns to challenge him once again.
Ulysses G. Dietz: Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave it to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator for thirty-two years, Ulysses has never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice's landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia is his second novel. Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his partner of 37 years and their two teenaged children. By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents' idea of a joke: he is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother is the President's last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant's Tomb in New York City.
Vicktor Alexander: It was hard for me to choose just one book that was my "favorite" book of this year. There were sooo many that I enjoyed. So many that I read and wanted to go back and read again: Mary Calmes' "Forging the Future," Amy Lane's "Behind the Stain", AE Via's "Defined By Deceit", Tara Lain's "Canning The Center," but there was one book that I read that resonated with me so strongly, not just as a reader, and not just as a gay man, but as a black man, and that is: The Butterfly King by Edmond Manning. I was able to read it for the Rainbow Awards and read it twice before submitting my score because of the affect it had on me. Edmond's ability to admit an uncomfortable and unpopular truth, to show the gritty, dark, violent, ugly, side of racism, prejudice, and even self-hatred because of outside opinions and how those things can prevent us from becoming our powerful true selves, greatly touched me. The book reminded me of Maya Angelou's poem "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings". In particular the lines:
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn bright lawn
and he names the sky his own
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
And the words I expressed in my review of the book for the Rainbow Awards are so true: While I did not cry throughout the telling of this story, the Author's Note at the end, coupled with the dedication and these passages: he’s still a man, subject to the arrows and heartaches of men everywhere. That I understand. Being a gay man—I relate to those issues as well. But existing as a black man in a white-centric culture, he brings unique heartaches which I may never fully comprehend, despite my best intentions. “You call it black history and don’t you see how that distances us, acting like this was our private moment, when in fact, you were there. You were there. It’s our history. Our fucking history together.” "One day a woman came over and told me how impressed she was with my reading, my stack of books. She gushed over me. I loved it. I thought she could see something in me, special. That night, when I told mom about it, bragging about myself, she asked if the lady was white. I told her, yes. I was shocked my mother would guess that. I knew there were black people and white people and other colors, too, but I didn’t know what that meant. My mom explained the lady wasn’t impressed, she was surprised. She was surprised to see a young black boy reading so ravenously..." -made me choke up. Because it was the acknowledgment of it, things I have experienced, thoughts I have had but not wanted or been able to express because I AM a gay, black man and people are uncomfortable when these wounds are ripped open and revealed for all to see, it was the sympathy and the compassion by someone who can only imagine what it means to be a "bronze man", a black man, in this time, in this country that brought tears to my eyes.
The Butterfly King (The Lost and Founds #3) by Edmond Manning Series: The Lost and Founds
Paperback: 290 pages
Publisher: Pickwick Ink Press; 1st edition (September 18, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 098909796X
ISBN-13: 978-0989097963
Amazon: The Butterfly King (The Lost and Founds #3)
Amazon Kindle: The Butterfly King (The Lost and Founds #3)
Terrance Altham doesn’t know why he’s been arrested. He’s committed no crime and the cops aren’t talking. Sadly, the man sharing his holding cell talks too much. Known only as Ghost, he is a young grifter, apparently familiar enough with this police station to convince Terrance a break out is possible, and pushy enough to leave Terrance no choice but to follow Ghost into the underbelly of New York City. Terrified by the unjust imprisonment and the possibility of a life behind bars, Terrance searches for proof of his innocence while Ghost seeks the elusive Butterfly King. But neither man seems in control of the weekend’s direction and the consequences of mistakes are life-changing. As Ghost’s manipulations come to an explosive head, each man must decide amid danger and street violence what kind of man will triumph, lost or found? Narrator Vin Vanbly (a.k.a Ghost) returns in the most revealing King Weekend yet, where he faces the dark side of his dangerous manipulations, and learns missteps can be deadly. Vin must confront sinister dealings from his past—and a future promising disaster—as he waltzes Terrance across Manhattan in spring, searching for the elusive and charismatic, Butterfly King.
Vicktor Alexander: Vicktor "Vic" Alexander wrote his first story at the age of ten and hasn't stopped writing since. He loves reading about anything and everything and is a proud member of the little known U.N. group (Undercover Nerds) because while he lives, eats, breathes, and sleeps sports, he also breathes history and science fiction and grew up a Trekkie. But don't ask him about Dungeons & Dragons, because he has no idea how to play that game. When it comes to writing he loves everything from paranormal to contemporary to fantasy to historical and is known not only for being the Epilogue King but also for writing stories that cross lines and boundaries that he doesn't know are there. Vic is a proud father of two daughters one of whom watches over him from Heaven with his deceased partner Christopher. Vic is a proud trans* and gay man, and when he is not writing, he is hanging out with his friends, or being distracted by videos of John Barrowman, Scott Hoying, and Shemar Moore. Vicktor has published numerous bestselling novels and has a WIP list that makes him exhausted just thinking about. He knows that he will be still be writing about hot men falling in love with each other, long after he is living in an assisted living facility, flirting with the hot, male nurses.
Z. Allora: I chose Thursday Euclid's Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn. (He better hurry the HELL up and write the next book!!!) While Thursday Euclid is no stranger to the hot rocker sub-genre this is his first solo novel and it's incredible. I could ramble about Thursday's writing talent or the fact he studied Creole to make sure Asher's voice was authentic but I'm going to focus on the characters. Asher is raw angst combined with a profound need and his broken parts will smash your heart into ten million pieces. I was afraid the empty parts of his soul could never be filled in with anything but hurt and loss until Leo... Thursday has given us a special kind of perfection I've rarely found. There were so many wonderful books of 2015 but Asher and Leo stole my heart. Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn is my favorite book of 2015.
Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn by Thursday EuclidPublisher: Loose Id LLC (June 15, 2015)
Amazon Kindle: Asher Beauregard Attempts to Give a Damn
With a sold-out tour looming and intense media attention on their every move, the Artificial Hearts are the hottest rock act in the world. It's just a matter of time until newfound fame illuminates a past Asher Beauregard would rather leave in the shadows. When he meets Leo Harpstedt, the irresistible frontman for the opening act, undeniable chemistry draws them together, but Asher’s secrecy and emotional scars keep Leo at a safe distance.
Posh and well-adjusted despite the blue hair, Englishman Leo comes from a world that Asher, a Louisiana-born high school dropout, can't imagine, never mind inhabit, but as first the Artificial Hearts' manager and then the tour throw them together, the tension between them grows uncontrollable. Leo's seeming confusion about his sexuality and Asher's refusal to let go of the persona and be vulnerable threaten to destroy the tender friendship they've built living and working together.
With help from his drag queen stylist, lesbian sound tech, and a lead guitarist with secrets of his own, can Asher overcome the public revelation of his deepest secrets and seize this chance at love?
Z. Allora: Z. Allora thinks everyone deserves a happy ending, and she makes sure they get one. Her stories are about love and romance and are tied together with erotic sex. She utilizes her time overseas and travels to bring you to places you've yet to visit. She introduces you to cultures you've yet to explore. But with every word she writes she tries to convey love is love. Why do you write Gay Erotic Romance? I've been told it's because on the inside I'm a gay horny teenaged boy who needs to write about hot sex and rainbows with happily ever afters. And while that's true, I think many of us have scars on our sexual identities. Writing erotica allows me to explore and write about the healing power of sex on our sexuality. (And it's freaking hot...) I also believe in the importance of allowing readers to have characters to identify with that happen to be gay. It helps promotes equality. Love is love...
