reviews_and_ramblings | Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions 91 to 100

91. Chris Corkum - XOXO Hayden (P.D. Publishing)
Gay, Coming of Age / Young Adult

It’s not easy growing up as a gay suburban teenager in the 80’s. It’s even harder when the crush you have on a major British pop star becomes reality. Steven Carlisle and Hayden Whitfield come from two completely different worlds. Steven is a teenager growing up in Orange County, grappling with his sexuality and identity in high school. Hayden is a major English pop star, trying to find acceptance and validation through his music. From the moment they meet, when Steven wins backstage passes to one of Hayden’s concerts, an undeniable connection is created between the two; a connection that lasts eighteen years, evolving from letters into a wonderful, often tumultuous relationship. XOXO Hayden is the story of a suburban teenager’s journey from adolescence into adulthood and the rise and fall of a mighty pop star and the indelible impression he leaves behind.

92. Lee Lynch - Beggar of Love (Bold Strokes Books)
Lesbian, Contemporary

Jefferson is the lover every woman wants to be—or to have. Magnetically attractive, athletic, alcoholic, Jefferson is an anchorless innocent wandering through a world of women who can resist her no more than she can resist them. Never lacking a lover, Jefferson knows little of love; brought up on the right side of the tracks, she's drawn to the wild side. Every lesbian has known Jefferson—or is Jefferson. Not since The Well of Loneliness has there been a lesbian novel of this scope. But much has changed since then…

93. Steven Reigns - Inheritance (Lethe Press)
LGBT, Non Fiction

Steven Reigns poetry offers a gay life lived with pleasure and bitterness and companionability. As National Book Award winning American poet and memoirist Mark Doty so eloquently states: "To read this book is to meet a man alert to his times and the textures of the lives around him, a community observed with tenderness, wit and pleasure."

94. Ethan Day - As You Are (Loose Id)
Gay, Contemporary

Operation Danny…that’s all bartender and recent college graduate, Julian Hallowell has had on his mind the past year. Julian may have no idea what he wants to do with his life, but he definitely knows he‘s in love with the boy next door: the next door down the hall to be exact, housing his roommate and used textbook store owner Danny Wallace. While Julian has done his level best to make Danny fall for him, all his hard work has been in vain. Danny doesn’t seem to view Julian as anything other than a roommate and friend. So when new guy in town Andy Baker asks him out on a date, Julian can’t think of a good reason to say no. Instead, he institutes a Reverse Operation Danny plan, which he’s positive will purge all thoughts of love and lust for his roomie out of his head. He’s ready to move on and start looking for his next Mr. Right, and Andy just might fit the bill. But has he given up too soon?

95. Andrew Grey - Love Means No Boundaries (Dreamspinner Press)
Gay, Contemporary

Joey Sutherland has found a home with Geoff Laughton and his partner, Eli, living and working at the farm that has become a refuge after a motorcycle accident left him with a scarred face and a lot of insecurities. When Geoff’s aunt Mari convinces them to take in a musician from the National Youth Symphony, Joey is reluctantly roped into picking him up, already anticipating the disgust he’ll see on the man’s face. But Robert Edward Jameson surprises him: he’s outgoing and friendly, he’s willing to try just about anything around the farm, and he’s blind, which goes a long way toward easing Joey’s nerves. Joey and Robbie become inseparable and discover the beginnings of love. But summer is coming to an end, and Robbie will return to his home in Mississippi, where his family and servants see to everything he could want or need. Joey can only hope Robbie will take a chance on love and escape the boundaries that have shaped his sightless life. A Love Means... story.

96. Andrew Grey - Love Means No Shame (Dreamspinner Press)
Gay, Contemporary

Geoff is in the city, living the gay life to the hilt, when his father's death convinces him to return to the family farm. Discovering a young Amish man asleep in his barn, Geoff learns that Eli is spending a year away from the community before accepting baptism into the church. Despite their mutual attraction, Geoff is determined not to become involved with him, but Eli has discovered that Geoff shares his feelings and begins to court him, neatly capturing first Geoff's attention and then his heart. Their budding relationship is threatened by closed-minded, gossipy relatives and the society at large, a whole new world to Eli, and he must decide whether to return to the community, his family, and the world and future he knows or to stay with Geoff and have faith in the power of love. A Love Means... story.

97. John Caruso - Lightbearer (Bold Strokes Books)
Gay, Fantasy

Lucifer: fallen angel or martyr of desire? Condemned to die by God and branded a traitor by his fellow fallen angels, Lucifer descends on Boston in a blizzard. He is drawn to humanity and vows to appear before the world again as Lucifer. But with Heaven's longstanding disinformation campaign stacked against him, he does not yet dare. When he learns of a celibate cult, the Wise Virgins, he dons human disguises and enters the lives of two of its leaders, Virgil Caldera and his aunt, Agatha Brimsmead. The powerful archangel Michael, Lucifer's creator and former lover, is behind the cult. Michael is convinced that sex is the source of all misery on earth, and has decreed that humans must renounce erotic love or burn in hellfire. The battle of wills and wits is on—not only over the bodies and souls of Virgil and Agatha, but in that age old struggle between desire and divine authority. Lucifer has one hope of defeating Michael: he must expose the deadly flaw in Michael's plan of salvation. But as long as he remains hidden, he cannot reveal the truth about his past in heaven or the scandal of the world to come. In The Bible and Milton's Paradise Lost, Lucifer is portrayed as the angel whose pride caused him to fall from heaven and turn toward evil. In Lightbearer, he is the artist, the dissident, and the genius of desire who dares to question the premise of creation itself, and who reveals that sin may be all that stands between us and living hell.

98. Greg Herren - Vieux Carre Voodoo (Bold Strokes Books)
Gay, Mystery / Thriller

Former go-go boy turned detective Scotty Bradley is back! When an old family friend apparently commits suicide from his French Quarter balcony, Scotty’s life accelerates from boring to exciting again in a nanosecond. Why would anyone want the old man dead, and what were they looking for in his ransacked apartment? It’s up to Scotty, Frank, his crazy family, and friends to get to the bottom of this bizarre mystery—and when an old, all-too-familiar face turns up, it’s not just Scotty’s life that’s in danger, but his heart.

99. Clifford Henderson - Spanking New (Bold Strokes Books)
Bisexual / Transgender, Contemporary

Getting born is trickier than Spanky ever imagined. Yearning for life, Spanky chooses Nina, a flighty actress just out of college, and Rick, a sax player who changes tires to get by, to be his parents. Only Nina seems to be hung up on her gay guy friend Pablo, and Nina’s best girlfriend Dink is hung up her! Will Nina and Rick get it together in time to conceive Spanky before he evaporates? And if this hurdle gets crossed, will they choose to keep him? There’s not much Spanky can do but watch from above while his fate plays out—and if that’s not scary enough—an unexpected twist of fate makes Spanky have to completely reevaluate his expectations. He’s a girl! A poignant, hilarious, unforgettable look at life, love, gender, and the essence of what makes us who we are.

100. Greg Lilly - Scalping The Red Rocks (Cherokee McGhee)
Gay, Mystery / Thriller

Something's askew in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona. The town's inhabitants are divided by urban growth. Some entrepreneurs try to make a quick buck by selling out the very aspect of the town that drew them: the awe-inspiring views and natural beauty. Spirited, passionate, and a bit mettlesome, Derek Mason helps his aunt Ruby find her place in the New Age haven, but instead they discover her real estate agent scalped in an empty condo. The crafty real estate agent had intended to sell off part of the pristine landscape, to scalp the land to the highest bidder, but someone scalped him first. Derek meets Myra and Topher, best friends with a shared secret from Devil's Bridge; Kimbo Blue, a former child star from Hollywood with a eunuch-ness that defies his adult persona; Clarity Received, the New Age girlfriend of the victim; and Tricia, the diva ex-wife. Along with a troupe of paranoid art gallery owners, gossipy sales clerks, sexy day workers, and a Jeep-driving Yavapai-Apache, the quirky characters of the resort town hamper Derek's attempts to expose the killer. Small town secrets, shady deals, and serial arsonists threaten to throw Derek off the trail. The destructive power of greed materializes in the idyllic setting, and Derek struggles to keep his sense of self-value over the immediate gratification of self-indulgence. Temptation from his past jeopardizes his future, unless he can tame his libido and focus. Or will he lose his head too?

Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions 91 to 100

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