“Well, isn’t queer
adulthood, if one is lucky, having the impossible childhood of your desires?”
― Joss Lake, Future Feeling
Blurb
Carl Young’s biggest secret: he’s always felt like Cara Young.
Through the years, he acknowledged his authentic female self in ways he kept hidden in the
shadows. The makeup, the dresses, the shoes — all of them represented his most longed-for
desires and his deepest shame. When Carl’s husband Roberto comes home early
from work to discover Cara in her wig, makeup, dress, and high heels, he’s shocked. Who is
this person he married decades ago? He flees, leaving their home in Chicago for the
obliviousness of the sunny skies of Southern California. Cara begins making tentative steps into a world she
imagined would always remain secret. She ventures out, dressing the only way she feels
whole. Publicly claiming her identity, she’s terrified, but also filled with joy when she
discovers there are others like her, people who will welcome her with open arms and
support. But for both Roberto and Cara, their long-term and
love-filled marriage is now a challenge with which they both must reckon. Does her
transition mean following separate paths? Or forging a new one … together?
Excerpt
He tried to hold his discomfort and shivering in abeyance as
he climbed the boulders at the north end of the beach and sat down on the cold and wet
rock. He wished he’d worn a warmer coat because he longed to stay here a while, in the
quiet, the only sound the rhythmic pull and push of the waves against the shore. There was
something mesmerizing about watching the flakes drift down, disappearing into the pewter-
colored water. Visibility was nil, but he could see the sun above as a white orb, a glow amidst
the overcast skies. “You know, it’s all right.” The voice came to him more through his head than
his ears. He turned. Sitting next to him was his mother. Carl wasn’t
surprised. She was as she appeared when he was a little boy —
a beautiful woman whose Sicilian heritage endowed her with the most penetrating green
eyes and the creamiest olive complexion. “And the biggest nose,” she’d probably add,
laughing. Staring out at the waves, her face was unlined, her hair glossy, dark, curling around
her face. She wore a mouton coat he’d remembered from his childhood. Once upon a time,
he’d slip into her closet and don the coat; it was unbelievably soft and warm. Its satin lining
was a wonderful contrast to the plushness of the fur. He could smell his mother’s perfume
and the faintest hint of cigarette smoke on the coat. It was almost like being given a hug from
her. “What’s all right?” he asked, almost as if talking to
his younger — and dead — mother on a beach in the middle of a blizzard was the most
normal thing in the world. “The fact that you lost your battle with cancer?” The tears welling
in his eyes worried him because he feared they’d freeze. “Because, Mom, I can tell you, that
is not all right.” He wiped wet snow from his cheeks. “What will I do without you? Who will I
call on Sundays? Who will care about what happens to me? Who will listen now? How will I
feel the hole left in your absence?” He had a lot of questions. She waved his concerns away. Her nails were long,
blood red, just as they’d been when she was young. She stopped caring as she got older and
kept them clipped short, no polish. “Don’t be so dramatic. You always were. I was old, honey.
And the cancer they said they got all of?” She chuckled. “They were wrong.” She shrugged.
“It happens. The big C stands for cancer, right?” He nodded. “Well, it also stands for cunning, because it is. It
comes down to a fight for survival. I take comfort in the fact that even though the big C won
the battle, I won the war.” She smiled, looking Carl in the eye. “No more host. That cancer
just lost his job.” They sat silently for a long time. Carl wondered if
he’d died and now they were in some sort of afterlife. It was quiet enough. The still made it
seem as though they were the only two people on the planet. “Well, what did you mean then? What’s all
right?” She turned and reached out her hands, not quite
reaching his cheeks. He wondered if she was capable of touch or if her hands would reach
him as a cold gust. “You. You’re all right. Just as you are. I’m sorry it took me so long to
realize it. I wish I had told you this when you were little and I caught you wearing my clothes
or makeup.” She shrugged. “Hindsight. But Carl, you’re okay and you will be okay. Don’t let
anyone stop you.” “From what?” “From being exactly who you are.” Carl closed his eyes and that caused the tears to fall
at last. They made him colder, but they made him human. When he opened his eyes again, he was alone on
the beach.
About the Author
Rick R. Reed is an award-
winning and bestselling author of more than fifty works of published fiction. He is a Lambda
Literary Award finalist. Entertainment Weekly has described his work as “heartrending and
sensitive.” Lambda Literary has called him: “A writer that doesn’t disappoint…”
Rick lives in Palm Springs, CA,
with his husband, Bruce, and their two rescue dogs, Kodi and Joaquin.
Mac and Tony thought the hard part was over. They’re
together openly as a couple, sharing a home and building a life with their two kids. It’s what
they dreamed of. But daughter Anna struggles with the changes, Ben
is haunted by old secrets, Mac’s job in Homicide still demands too much of his time, and
Tony is caught in the middle. It’ll take everything these men can give to create a viable
balance between home and work. Especially when life refuses to give them a break.
(This is a lightly edited rerelease of the 2012 original
novel.)
About the Author
I get asked about my name a
lot. It’s not something exotic, though. “Kaje” is pronounced just like “cage” – it’s an old
nickname, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I’ve been writing far longer than I care to
admit (*whispers – forty-five years*), although mostly for my own entertainment. I write
M/M romance, often with added mystery, fantasy, historical, SciFi, paranormal… I also have
Young Adult short stories (some released under the pen name Kira Harp.)
After decades of writing just
for fun, my husband convinced me I really should submit something, somewhere. My first
professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out in May 2011. I now have a good-sized
backlist in ebooks and print, both free and professionally published, including Amazon
bestseller The Rebuilding Year and Rainbow Award Best Mystery-Thriller Tracefinder: Contact.
A complete list with links can be found on my website “Books” page at https://kajeharper.com/books/.
Kings of the Mountain Books 1 and 2 by Morgan
Brice
MM Supernatural Suspense
Fast cars, outlaw country boys, snarky werewolves,
vengeful ghosts, menacing monsters, and a love that can’t be denied.
NEW RELEASE – BOOK 2
Book Title: Sins of the
Fathers—MM Supernatural Suspense
Author: Morgan
Brice
Publisher: Darkwind
Press
Cover Artist: Natania
Barron
Length: 62 000 words/ 213
pages
Release Date: August 28,
2022
Genres: Urban fantasy, MM paranormal romance
Tropes: Hurt/comfort, friends to lovers, established relationship, evolving
relationship, learning to trust, dealing with the past, dealing with family secrets.
Themes: Letting go of the past, moving on after loss, intergenerational
trauma, family secrets
Heat Rating: 4 flames
It is book 2 in the series but
can be read standalone. It does not end on a
cliffhanger.
Reckoning with the past
just might destroy Grady and Dawson’s plans for the future
Blurb
Three deadly accidents that might have been magical
murder. A dark witch with a grudge against the King family. Federal agents with supernatural
abilities. And, as usual, Dawson and Grady are smack dab in the crosshairs of trouble even
they can’t outrun.
When Grady King’s brother Knox is targeted by shady
characters, old secrets, coverups, and lies come to light. Grady and his boyfriend Dawson
begin to question what really happened when Grady’s grandparents and Dawson’s parents
died. Then agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Supernatural Investigation show up
pursuing a different case, only to discover that the crimes appear to be connected, with a
vengeful dark witch at the center of the plot. And since monsters never sleep, Grady and
Dawson are still carrying out their duty to hunt dangerous paranormal creatures, restless
spirits, nefarious faeries, Civil War ghosts, creepy cryptids, and things that go bump in the
night. It’s all part of the centuries-old King family mandate to protect the people of
Cunanoon Mountain and Transylvania County, a mission Grady and Dawson are sworn to
fulfill.
But when it looks like something is hunting the people
Grady loves, it’s time to dig into the family’s painful past, uncovering dangerous details of
long-ago hunts against immortal creatures who never forget—or forgive.
Can they solve the mystery and figure out who’s behind the
deaths, or will they bear the deadly consequences of their hidden history? Reckoning with
the past just might destroy Grady and Dawson’s plans for the future and set loose a tide of
malicious magic that could sweep them all away.
Sins of the Fathers is a thrill-packed MM romance
adventure full of fast cars, outlaw country boys, snarky werewolves, vengeful ghosts,
menacing monsters, and a love that can’t be denied.
Excerpt from Sins of the Fathers
Dawson’s heart went out to Jason, worried about his long-time
partner without news of how he was doing and now afraid of being left alone.
“Lily sent us here to talk.” Grady tag teamed. “She knew you’d
be upset. She also knew how much you two loved each other.”
Lily Franklin was the long-time Meals on Wheels volunteer who
had delivered to Jason and Everett for many years. She’d become a good friend and was
Everett’s emergency contact once Jason passed away.
A door slammed. Grady’s head snapped up, and he shot a
questioning look at Dawson. Dawson reached out to take his hand, intertwining their fingers
and holding their hands in the air.
“We’re like you and Everett. We understand wanting to stay
together.” Dawson picked up the conversation.
The planchette trembled before beginning to move. “D-A-N-G-
E-R-O-U-S,” Dawson said as the pointer moved.
“Dangerous to admit what you and Jason were to each other?”
Grady asked.
The planchette moved to “YES.”
“It can be, but plenty of people are ‘out’ these days. Even
married,” Dawson answered.
A framed photo rocked back and forth on the mantle. Dawson
saw that it showed two men in their thirties decades ago on a sunny day, grinning with arms
slung over each other’s shoulders.
“If Everett can’t come home, do you think you could go to
him?” Grady asked.
The planchette went wild, circling “YES” over and over.
“Is there something here that means a lot to you that you
could ‘travel’ with if we took it to Everett?” Dawson looked around, wondering what objects
among the collections of a shared lifetime might be special enough to anchor a ghost.
A crash sounded from the back of the house. They headed
toward the noise and found the door to a bedroom open and a painting on the floor in a
broken frame. As soon as Dawson entered, he was shoved by invisible hands sending him
stumbling toward one side of an unmade king-size bed.
He nearly fell, and when he braced himself against the edge of
the mattress, he saw a leather jewelry tray on the nightstand, and in it, two silver military
rings.
“These?” Dawson felt a puff of cold air in response.
“What are they?’ Grady stood in the doorway, respecting the
privacy of the old man who had lived there.
“Army service rings. Vietnam, if I’m right.” Dawson picked up
the rings and looked at them in the light.
“Lily said they met when Everett was a nurse at the VA
hospital, and Jason came home wounded from the war,” Grady replied.
Dawson’s gaze went to a photo of a younger version of the two
men standing together in uniform. They were circumspect in their pose, but Dawson
imagined that he could see a slight lean, a bit less space between them than usual, and
broad grins.
That could have been Grady and me if we’d been born
then. I’m glad they found each other and were happy.
Fast cars. Outlaw
country boys. A love that can’t be denied.
Snarky werewolves,
vengeful ghosts and menacing monsters.
Blurb
Fast cars. Outlaw country boys. Snarky werewolves,
vengeful ghosts, and menacing monsters.
Dawson King’s family has been hunting things that go bump
in the night in Transylvania County, North Carolina, since before the Revolutionary
War.
Dawson was never happier than when he was racing his
souped-up Mustang along winding mountain roads and hunting monsters with his best
friend, Grady. Then Grady fell in love with him, which should have been perfect since
Dawson had already fallen hard for Grady.
But Grady was only seventeen, and Dawson feared that
sooner or later, Grady would realize his feelings were just a first crush, and then he’d be
gone, leaving Dawson devastated. They both needed space to figure things out. So Dawson
joined the army, while Grady stayed on the mountain.
Four years later, Dawson is coming home. He’s more sure
than ever Grady is his forever love, and they’ve both agreed to begin this new aspect of their
relationship as soon as Dawson gets back.
Then Grady’s father is killed in a werewolf hunt gone
wrong. Grady is devastated, and he’s throwing mixed signals about moving forward. Dawson
knows he needs to hold off on this new thing between them until Grady has time to grieve.
But monsters never sleep, and one hunt after another throws Dawson and Grady into
constant danger, while tension and unresolved feelings ripple between them.
Making it even harder, Dawson’s got a secret. He’s dreamed
of death omens—which point to something stalking Grady. Can Dawson figure out who’s
trying to kill Grady, save his life, and win back his heart?
Plenty of mutual pining, hurt/comfort, spooky chills,
sexy thrills, and a very happy ending. The Kings of the Mountain is the first novel in the
series. It is a MM romance intended for readers 18 years of age and older.
Excerpt from Kings of the Mountain
The longer they spent time on the road and on hunts together, the more Dawson felt a
powerful attraction to Grady. He’d always been fond of the younger man, but Dawson found
himself admiring the person Grady was growing into. Grady deserved to find the right
guy—if that’s what he wanted—who could make him happy. And as much as Dawson wished
fervently that could be him, he knew he couldn’t take the chance that Grady might feel
pressured or obligated to respond if Dawson made any advances.
Not to mention how Grady’s mother had always carried on about how awful it was to marry
a “cousin,” something that she claimed no one in her family had ever done.
She’d made her position loud and clear while she was married to Aaron, which had not
endeared her to the rest of the community. Such marriages were legal in North Carolina, and
not uncommon in the rural areas.
The fact that Grady wasn’t a cousin by blood probably wouldn’t matter to Camille. But what
if Grady had accepted his mother’s bias? Maybe Dawson had imagined the flirtation, or
worse, projected his own feelings onto the other man. So Dawson took the edge off with
hookups and out-of-town one-night stands, very aware that he tended to choose partners
with a resemblance to Grady.
Until he couldn’t stand it any longer.
That’s when Dawson enlisted.
Once they were on the main highway, Dawson turned to watch Colt’s profile.
“So…what happened with Uncle Denny and Grady?”
Colt’s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and the tic in his jaw told Dawson that the other
man didn’t want to have this conversation. “They’re both alive. But a hunt went wrong a
week ago, and Grady isn’t dealing with it very well.”
A week, Dawson thought. That was when he’d stopped getting emails from
Grady. He had tried to convince himself the silence was due to any number of impersonal
reasons, but Dawson knew in his gut something wasn’t right. His responses from Uncle
Denny had gotten short and less frequent around the same time.
Was this what his nightmare had been warning him about?
“Could you be a little clearer?” Dawson knew Colt could read the warning in his tone.
“Grady got hurt. Aaron was killed. Grady’s not dealing well with it. Uncle Denny didn’t want
to leave Grady alone. So they sent me.”
Dawson’s head swam. Uncle Aaron, dead? That’s hard to even imagine. He was always
so full of life. And Grady—it’s got to be bad if he couldn’t come. Oh, God. I almost lost him.
Plus there’s something Colt isn’t saying, something even worse. Because if Uncle Aaron died
on a hunt, then Grady had to have been right there when it happened. That’s bad, really
bad. No one should see their parent die, especially not like that.
About the Author
Morgan Brice is the romance
pen name of bestselling author Gail Z. Martin. Morgan writes urban fantasy male/male
paranormal romance, with plenty of action, adventure and supernatural thrills to go with the
happily ever after. Gail writes epic fantasy and urban fantasy, and together with co-author
hubby Larry N. Martin, steampunk and comedic horror, all of which have less romance, more
explosions. Characters from her Gail books make frequent appearances in secondary roles in
her Morgan books, and vice versa.
On the rare occasions Morgan
isn’t writing, she’s either reading, cooking, or spoiling two very pampered dogs.
There are a few things Nolan Ouellet has come to accept
about himself. One: that his future with the NHL was irrevocably
destroyed thanks to his reckless actions as a teenager destroying his knee. Two: that he will never fall in love because the very
idea of it sends his skin crawling. Three: he will bed as many NHL players as humanly
possible before he retires his game. And four: he will never apologize for who he is and
what he wants. Then two men come barreling into his life and turn
everything he knows upside down. He still won’t play for the NHL, and he still won’t
change who he is because he’s fought too long and too hard to accept his identity. But
suddenly his future is starting to look a little different than he originally
planned. And that scares the absolute hell out of
him. When he met Marko Rudenko and Luka
Wagner—two veterans of the Denver Huskies—they were supposed to be a game, just like
everyone else. But now all he can think about is how to keep them around without
compromising the person he’s become and ruining the love Marko and Luka have for each
other.
Excerpt
“Is there going to be a fight?” Nolan asked.
The guy scoffed, glancing at him. “Worse. Hockey
players.”
Nolan’s heart rammed against his chest. Not that it could
possibly be Marko or Luka, but he hadn’t seen or spoken to either of them since the
awkward incident at the rink. He hadn’t even been letting himself think about it.
He swallowed thickly. “They come in here a lot?”
“Every once in a while,” the guy said, then lowered his
voice. “Mostly because it’s the furthest thing from a sports bar so no one’s going to notice if
they take someone home.”
Nolan heard that for the warning it was: keep your mouth
shut. The guy might not love having professional athletes in his bar, but he also knew it was
good for business.
He forced himself not to look, bowing over his drink. “Tell
me when it’s safe to escape, and close out my tab.”
“Actually, put his drink on ours.”
Nolan’s entire body froze.
Fuck. Fucking shit fuck shit.
He would have recognized Luka’s voice even if he was
concussed and under water. His throat went tight, but he tried to offer something like a
smile, though given how wide Luka’s eyes were behind his glasses, he realized he was
probably grimacing.
His heart sank even lower when another body slid up
against Luka’s and stared him down. “You don’t answer call or text. We think maybe you
died.”
Yeah, okay. He did kind of deserve that. He’d just left Marko
hanging like an asshole, and the guy didn’t deserve it. But he also didn’t deserve Nolan’s
mess when it was obvious Marko and Luka were both capable of a love that straight up
repulsed Nolan down to his core.
“You know these guys?” the bartender asked. He crossed
his arms over his chest in a protective way, and Nolan felt a pulse of affection for the total
stranger.
“No. We don’t know him. He’s total weirdo who stalk us,”
Marko said.
Luka elbowed him hard. “Stop being an asshole. Yes, we
know him.”
Nolan sighed and gave a nod. “Old friends. In fact, put their drinks on my tab. Get them each one of these,” he said, tapping his
glass.
Both Marko and Luka started to protest, but the bartender
ignored them both with a shrug and walked off to fill the order.
“Why you being child?” Marko demanded.
“Pretty sure a child couldn’t afford a twenty-six-dollar glass
of bourbon for his two friends,” Nolan fired back.
Luka’s brows shot up, and he shoved his glasses higher up
on the bridge of his nose. “Why the fuck are you drinking that?”
“Because it tastes amazing,” he said. And because I can afford it now thanks to a slew of online
strangers who pay me to shove dildos up my ass. But he wasn’t going to say that part aloud as tempting as it was. “You don’t want
it?”
As if summoned, the bartender arrived with three new
glasses, and Nolan took his, watching the other two out of his periphery. Marko showed no
hesitation when snatching up his, but Luka was a little more hesitant.
“It’s not poisoned,” Nolan grumbled.
Marko sighed, then hip-checked Luka out of his way and sat
on the wooden stool. It groaned under his impossibly thick layers of muscle, and Nolan tried
not to stare at the way his arms flexed as he laid one on the bar top and used the other to
lift his glass to his mouth.
“Okay, we talk about weird moment, or we just get drunk
and pretend it never happen?”
Nolan didn’t think the fucker was just going to come out
with it like that. Guilt slammed into him as he looked over at Luka and wondered if this was
some sort of confrontation because Nolan had flirted with them both and gotten a little too
close to Marko recently. He swallowed down another delightfully spiced mouthful of
liquor.
“Should I get drunk for this conversation?”
“Looks like you’re already halfway there,” Luka pointed out.
He wedged himself between Marko and Nolan, leaning his elbow on Marko’s shoulder in a
gesture that telegraphed they were together.
As they should be, Nolan thought bitterly, but he wasn’t
feeling particularly generous considering how badly he wanted them both. “Yeah, well. I
came here to drink my feelings.”
“Mm. You should try feelings burritos,” Marko said. “Is
much better. No hangover.”
“Nah, just burrito farts,” Luka said, then laughed when
Marko rolled his eyes. “Please, you know it’s true. There’s a reason we don’t sleep together
when you and Ravi have burrito night.”
Nolan felt his ears go red, and he had to look away. He
didn’t know what the fuck was wrong with him because, for an aromantic asshole, he loved
watching the people he cared about living their best lives. So why did it force bile up his
throat to think about losing these two to each other?
They wanted things that made his skin crawl.
He jolted slightly when warm fingers touched his wrist, and
he took a breath before he returned his attention to the two men. “I’m still firmly team
bourbon.”
“Are you still team Luka and Marko?” Luka asked so quietly
Nolan mostly had to read his lips over the music.
He swallowed heavily. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you stop talking to me,” Marko said, his booming
voice rising over the music. “We have moment, then you just leave. And then”—he sucked in
air through his teeth—“nothing.”
About the Author
E.M. Lindsey is a non-binary
writer who lives in the southeast United States, close to the water where their heart
lies.
Life as a servant of
death has its challenges.But the biggest one of all
is Silas’s daemonic guardian, Pitch.
Blurb
Silas Mercer is a dead man walking.
And the mysterious Order of the Golden Dawn have big
plans for their newest ankou and his deathly bandalore.
Life as a servant of death has its challenges.
But the biggest one of all is Silas’s daemonic guardian,
Pitch.
He may look like heaven, but he’s making Silas’s life all kinds
of hell.
The daemon is arrogant, egotistical and his appetite for
violence and tea cakes is fast outgrowing the small village where they have been
recuperating since their run-in with Black Annis.
Now, the increasingly unstable Blight is causing new havoc,
and fresh monstrosities are emerging.
Pitch and Sickle are back in the saddle, and on their way to
the haunted Forest of Dean.
But can Silas rely on his guardian’s protection?
Or will Pitch prove to be the most dangerous encounter of
all?
BOOK 3
Book Title: The Skriker –
Pitch & Sickle Book Three
Length: 369
pages
Release Date: October 20,
2021
Genres: MM Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Silas Mercer has faced wily
boggarts, mad faerie queens and enraged forest spirits. But can he withstand a daemon who
is losing his mind?
Blurb
Silas Mercer has faced wily boggarts, mad faerie queens
and enraged forest spirits.
But can he withstand a daemon who is losing his
mind?
Pitch and Sickle are left bruised, battered and reeling after
their confrontation with the Verderer.
They have learned a startling truth behind the arrowhead
that wounded Silas, a truth that must be taken to the Lady Satine and the Order without
delay.
But his encounters in the Forest of Dean have effected Pitch
in alarming ways. The daemon’s body may have healed but his erratic behaviour and wildly
unpredictable temper grow ever more concerning.
Silas owes his life to Pitch. Their experience in the forest
has brought them a closeness he could not have imagined possible.
But what can he do for a daemon who is losing his
way?
And how long will Silas survive, if he must ride
alone?
BOOK 4
Book Title: The
Greensward – Pitch & Sickle Book Four
Length: 412
pages
Release Date: April 13,
2022
Genres: MM Fantasy, Gaslamp Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
The Lady’s Horsemen
are riding out once more. Carrying death’s scythe to where tormented souls
linger.
But what awaits them in
a world where divine magick has returned?
Blurb
The Lady’s Horsemen are riding out once more. Carrying
death’s scythe to where tormented souls linger.
But what awaits them in a world where divine magick has
returned?
Pitch is recovered from the injuries he received in the
Forest of Dean, and Silas won’t soon forget the part he played in setting his guardian back on
his feet.
The ankou and the daemon have been reunited in a most
unexpected and intimate way, but barely have they caught their breath when a new threat
arises.
A tortured spirit is frightening both the living and the dead
along the roads of Devon.
But is this soul a monster that must be stopped, or another
pawn in the necromancer’s mysterious game?
With Azazel’s magick re-emerging after hundreds of years,
maleficium plagues the world once more. But who is wielding the forbidden arcane magick
of the angels?
Do they work alone?
And why are they so intent on harassing the Lady’s
Horsemen?
Silas has never felt stronger, or more determined to live up
to the Order’s high expectations. He’s faced the walking dead, outwitted the enchanted Hall,
and gained an ally in the skriker.
But he’s not sure he’s equipped to handle his growing
attraction to a troubled daemon.
And Silas fears that getting any closer to Pitch and his tragic
secrets may prove as dangerous as the monsters they are riding to face.
Excerpt from ‘The Bandalore-Pitch & Sickle Book One’
A rather pretty gentleman, sharp featured, pale and fine,
stepped into the room with a flourish of raised hands. His tousled light brown hair was wild
about his shoulders, and his eyes so green it was as though emeralds had been pressed into
the sockets. ‘Let the amusements begin…or should I say…continue.’
His velvet coat, a red almost as bold as the woman’s lips,
was unbuttoned, revealing a black shirt with a silver brocade of Chinese dragons upon it. An
elaborate ruffling of silk tumbled from the collar and covered a good portion of his chest. His
choice of trousers was equally curious, a rather outdated fall-front style in black silk.
The baron groaned, but his smile was ever-present. ‘Good
god, man, we thought you two would never be done.’
‘Perfection takes time, does it not?’
‘Take your seat, you rascal, and stop your showmanship, at
least just for a moment.’
Silas scratched his right palm absently, attempting to stymie
the prickle. Like many things about himself he wasn’t certain of his age, his late twenties was
likely, much the same as the man who had just swept into the room.
Mr Astaroth tilted his head, pursing lips that held a near-
perfect Cupid’s bow. ‘Am I to stand aside so another showman can perform?’
‘Exactly,’ the baron declared.
As Mr Astaroth made his way to his seat with his
companion, he had a notable effect on those in attendance. The ladies all at once seemed
incapable of deciding how they should adjust their gowns upon their seats, and the men
were equally as fidgety. All of them were fixated on Mr Astaroth’s procession across the
room. The man had not spared Silas a glance yet, even when he was deriding him, and Silas
had no issue with that at all. He was not sure he’d enjoy the pierce of those green eyes upon
him. But he could not deny there was indeed something mesmerising about the lad, the
sway of his hips, the coiled tension in his body that gave the impression he might suddenly
leap unannounced in any direction.
Mr Astaroth stopped to take a glass of champagne from the
tray offered by a somewhat flustered young footman. The liquid wobbled in its crystal
confines, and the boy’s eyes darted so quickly between the floor and the man before him, it
was as though he’d lost control of his eyeballs.
‘Thank you, kind sir. What a wonderful job you do.’ Mr
Astaroth’s smile was discomfortingly suggestive, his whispered appreciation of the boy’s
offering far too intimate, and the serving boy nearly stumbled over his own feet to move
away.
Mr Astaroth was slender, not remarkable in height, and the
angles of his face were delicate to the point of being feminine, but he held a presence that
quite overwhelmed the room. Silas’s gaze moved down the length of the man’s body to his
feet. He wore heeled boots, which meant he was shorter than first impressions allowed. The
glean of polished leather distracted Silas from what became startlingly obvious a moment
later. He tensed and closed his eyes a second, as though that might change things. But alas it
was not to be.
The ground at Tobias Astaroth’s feet held no
shadow.
Whoever this man was, he was not, for all intents and
purposes, human. Silas took hold of the arms of the chair, filled with the sudden desire to
depart. No one had thought to instruct him on an encounter such as this.
‘Stop frightening the help and get your arse on a chair,’
declared the bespectacled man at Silas’s left. ‘We know how you hate to have attention
diverted from you, so do try and behave, Pitch old boy.’
Evidently the group knew the man well enough to have
endowed him with a nickname. Silas could only imagine its origins.
‘Oh Brenton,’ Victoria, Mr Astaroth’s companion, said. ‘As
far as I’m concerned, Tobias has been on his best behaviour all evening.’ She had taken her
seat and leaned her elbows upon the table, utterly at ease.
‘Thank you, my dear,’ Mr Astaroth said. ‘You are as sensible
as you are extremely talented in the art of, what were we calling it? Tarot reading.’ He tilted
his glass towards her before turning to Silas. The air quite vanished from Silas’s lungs
beneath the daggers of his emerald stare. ‘How very nice to make your acquaintance, Mr
Mercer. I do hope we are in for a wonderful show.’
Book 5 – Coming Soon – October 20,
2022
The Fulbourn – Pitch & Sickle Book Five:
The Diabolus Chronicles
When the King of
Daemonkind comes to call, be ready for hell to follow.
After Lucifer’s disturbing visit, the quest to destroy the Blight takes on a desperate urgency.
Finding Lieutenant Edward Charters is paramount.
But what role does a mortal man play in Seraphiel’s dangerous game?
The angel has sent Pitch a talisman from beyond the grave, a seemingly innocuous watch
that may be the key to ending the Watcher King’s dark legacy. But to learn its secret Pitch
and Silas must find the man intended to carry it.
As the search for the lieutenant begins, the Horsemen find themselves gifted with
something more precious than any angelic token. An evening of unexpected freedom.
A night that will deepen their intimacy and bring long-stifled feelings to the fore.
But what price will they pay for choosing breathless pleasure over rigid duty?
The Morrigan have not forgiven the destruction at the greensward. They are prepared to do
whatever it takes to rid themselves of the Horsemen and heed the Watcher King’s ghostly
call.
The Fulbourn is Pitch and Silas’s greatest threat yet.
A place that will drive them into the depths of their most terrible fears and seek to tear
them apart.
They are closer than ever before but will that fragile new bond be
enough to save them?
Or have the daemon prince and his ankou found the nemesis that will destroy them once
and for all?
The Diabolus Chronicles is a slow-burn MM Gaslamp
Fantasy series that contains on-page sex scenes, gore and violence, and rather a lot of
cursing.
This is the fifth book in the on-going series.
About the Author
Danielle K Girl is an Aussie who lives in stunning Tasmania with
her three furkids, cats Luffy, Sweetie and Ren.
Her idea of heaven is a farm full of rescue animals, with a
vegie garden that sprouts peanut M&M’s and chocolate wheaten biscuits.
When she’s not keyboard-deep in mysterious, beguiling
worlds, she is binge watching K-Dramas, listening to K-Pop or hiking through the beautiful
Tasmanian wilderness.
It will be a wide preorder
& in KU 1 week after release
An FF Holiday
Romance
Blurb
Morgan loves three things; Books, women, and being
single. But when Grad school costs more than her rent, she needs to come up with a way to
make some money and fast. After a one-night stand with a beautiful woman, she wakes the
next morning in a hurry to make it to her interview as a live-in nanny.
Despite acing the interview, she has to pass one final test;
meeting the mother—who just so happens to be her one-night stand. They both decide to
call it a one-night thing and move forward, with Morgan becoming her son’s nanny.
As a divorced, single mom Lucy can get all the help she
needs. But as the mistletoe is hung and the stockings are filled, are sparks flying too? As Lucy
begins to fall for her son’s nanny, she shows her love in a series of her favorite books.
Counting down the 24 days of Christmas with Morgan, by trying to tell her how she feels,
worried she doesn’t feel the same.
Morgan devours each book, desperate to know if Lucy is
sending her a sign. But as Christmas approaches, will each woman get what they want? Or
will they be stuck out in the cold as the days of Morgan’s nannying contract are up?
About the Author
Shannon O’Connor is a twenty-something, bisexual, self-published poet of several books and
counting. She released her first novel, Electric Love in 2021 and is currently working on
several sapphic romance novels. She believes there is a lack of positive Female/Female
romances in the world, and wants to make them more accessible. She is often found in
coffee shops, probably writing about someone she shouldn’t be.
Since she broke up with me, I get my needs met any time I
want, without putting my heart on the line. Exactly how I like it.
But when she is called overseas and leaves me with our
child, my bachelor lifestyle ends faster than you can say, “Daddy, I want a pony.”
I need help.
Problem is, help’s come in the form of an incredibly hot
nanny.
My employee.
Who is much younger than me.
And also … a guy.
I watch Scott care for my kid and can’t help feeling like he
clicks into place in her life.
When he looks at me, though … I get an entirely different
feeling. One that makes me long for things I can’t have.
Like him.
Unmanageable is a contemporary m/m age gap romance
about a starry-eyed nanny who wants hot-air balloon rides and singing telegrams and a
grumpy single dad who most definitely does not.
Excerpt
I wish I had Murph’s confidence. Before that dustup with
Edsel, I was positive he was the one, but now my optimism has left me, never to
return.
“What do I do while I’m waiting for ‘the one’? And how do I
solve my money issues?” My voice cracks. “I might lose my place.”
“How can I help?” He bites his lip. “Do you need to borrow
some money?”
“No.” My tone comes out much more forcefully than I
intend. But hell no. “I’m not getting into more debt, especially not to a friend. I just need to put
my job search into hyperdrive. I have to get myself a job that pays more than the greeting
card gig.”
“Now, that’s a solvable problem.” Murph’s eyes
light up, and he claps. “What do you want to do for work? What skills do you have?”
“None.”
He glares at me. “You have to be good at
something.”
“Well, I’m very good at arranging romantic dates, but that’s
not exactly a salaried position.”
He tilts his head to the side. “You could be a wedding
planner!”
I scratch the back of my neck. “Actually, that’s not a bad
idea.” My shoulders slump. “But I don’t know how to break into that business. And I need
money fast.”
“Who needs money fast? You’re still job hunting?” A body
hovers over us, and I look up to see my friend Jeremy Everett. After he and I got a tiny bit
sauced one night here at V and V, he adopted me as a member of his booklover gang. Like
Murph, Jeremy’s a force of nature, only he’s a bit more reformed fuckboi and a bit less
princess. He runs a hand through his halo of dirty-blond hair. “You could sell plasma. Or
sperm.”
“Hey,” I say, scooting over in the seat to let him in. “And,
um, no.”
“I’m not gonna judge,” Jeremy says, holding up his hands.
“You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“Even if I were desperate enough to bring the product of
my ham candle to market, I’m pretty sure I don’t want to pass on my genetic material. The
recipient might end up in as dire straits as me.”
“Product of
your ham candle?” Murph and Jeremy say at
the same time.
Shrugging, I hide my smile.
They burst out laughing, and then Murph clucks his tongue.
“I’ve had about enough of ‘Bag on Scottybear’ time. No more, okay? We’re problem
solving.”
“Fine.” I grimace. “Just no, uh, dissemination of my, um,
semen. For profit. I mean, I don’t have a problem with it, but it’s not for me.”
They crack up again, and now we’re getting looks from
around the bar. Vino and Veritas is all chatter and good vibes, but there is a point where you
can be a little too loud. We might be getting there.
“Do you have to get back to work?” I ask Murph.
He checks his phone. “I have a couple minutes left of my
break. And this is more entertaining than that time Jason and Tai lost bets to me and
Emmett and had to stand on the street corner across from city hall in Speedos holding signs
that said, ‘Love me, love my Nantucket Nad Bucket.’”
Jeremy raises his eyebrows. “I missed that one.”
“You did,” Murph and I say together.
About the Author
Leslie McAdam is a California
girl who loves romance and well-defined abs. She lives in a drafty old farmhouse on a small
orange tree farm in Southern California with her husband and two children. Leslie’s first
published book, The Sun and the
Moon, won a 2015 Watty, which is the world’s
largest online writing competition. She’s gone on to receive additional literary awards and
has been featured in multiple publications, including Cosmopolitan.com. Her books have
been Top 100 Bestsellers on both Amazon and Apple Books. Leslie is employed by day but
spends her nights writing about the men of your fantasies.
The books in the Pizza
Chronicles series follow the main character, RV, through his high school years, as he tries to
answer his many questions about life, God, prayer, sexuality, being the son of immigrants,
and staying loyal to his heritage while carving out his own life and relationships.
The stories should
be read in order.
Book #1: Why Can’t Life Be
Like Pizza?
Book #2: Why Can’t
Freshman Summer Be Like Pizza?
Book #3: Why Can’t
Relationships Be Like Pizza?
Book #4: Why Can’t Sophomore Summer Be Like Pizza?
Sixteen year-old RV
negotiates the ups and down of junior year of high school, filled with pressure, new
romance, and unexpected discoveries.
Blurb
RV is now a junior in Book #5,
Why Can’t Dating Be Like Pizza?. It’s the most important year of high school, as his guidance
counselor makes clear. He pushes RV to improve his grades, get more active socially, and
show colleges why they should accept him over other candidates. But RV has other things on
his mind. He has met Luke, freshly arrived in Boston from Los Angeles. Luke shows him a
whole new world of romance, movie making, and fun. RV’s friends and family pull him in
other directions though. There’s the responsibility of earning money. His longtime friend
Carole pulls him into politics, asking him to direct her campaign running for the student
council. His old crush Bobby isn’t around much, and RV has to accept that he and Bobby are
no longer an item, though he still has some feelings for him. But when Luke makes an
unexpected announcement, RV really has to accept that dating has painful downs as well as
joyful ups.
In Why Can’t Life Be Like Pizza? RV begins freshman year at demanding Boston Latin School, doing his best to keep
up and fit in while wrestling with his immigrant heritage and his sexuality.
Blurb
Wrestling with his sexuality, along with a lot of other things, RV thinks all is okay when he starts going out with
Carole. But things get more complicated when RV develops a crush on Bobby, a football
player in his class, who admits he may have gay feelings, too. Bobby is African American and
facing his own pressures. Luckily, RV develops a friendship with Mr. Aniso, his Latin teacher,
who is gay and always there to talk to when the pressure becomes overwhelming.
BOOK 2
Book Title: Why Can’t
Freshman Summer Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Cover Artist: Natasha Snow
Length: 50 200 words/196
pages
Release Date: June 1,
2020
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Trope: Summer Vacation
Themes: Obstacles to exploring sexuality and enjoying summer
This story is a continuation of
Book #1 with the same characters
Tagline In Why Can’t Freshman Summer Be Like
Pizza? RV and Bobby have survived freshman
year and are looking forward to spending a wonderful summer together. But life has other
plans.
Blurb
RV and Bobby’s summer is not what they wish for. They
hardly have time to spend with each other.Bobby is busy at football camp and working at a job his father has pressured him into
taking. RV is busy with a summer job, too, and also has to help his parents pass their U.S.
citizenship test. His friend Carole jumps at the chance to spend her summer in Paris. As
always, Mr. Aniso, RV’s Latin teacher is there to talk to when RV gets too lonely. He’s also
there when RV inadvertently spills one of Bobby’s secrets, and Bobby is so angry at him RV is
afraid he’s ready to cut off the friendship.
BOOK 3
Book Title: Why Can’t
Relationships Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V. Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star Press
Length: 58 000 words/ 272
pages
Release Date: March 15,
2021
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Trope: Forming relationships
Themes: Maintaining relationships through difficulties/helping friend
through tragedy
This is a continuation of Book
#2 of The Pizza Chronicles
In Why Can’t Relationships Be Like Pizza?, Book #3, RV begins sophomore year in high school, though his
relationships create more questions than answers.
Blurb
RV is trying to maintain his newfound friendship with
Bobby, but it’s becoming harder and harder. Bobby
seems a different, more distant, person. RV’s friend Carole is distracted with the ups and
downs in her relationships with the French boyfriends she met during her summer in Paris.
RV’s new friend Mark is focused on his family’s troubles. School is a mixed bag. But Mr.
Aniso, RV’s former teacher and mentor, is there to lean on, especially when near tragedy
strikes and RV needs Mr. Aniso’s counsel to stay strong and provide help where
it’s needed most.
BOOK 4
Book Title: Why
Can’t Sophomore Summer Be Like Pizza?
Author: Andy V.
Roamer
Publisher: Nine Star
Press
Length: 52 000
words
Release Date: August
23, 2021
Genre: Young Adult LGBT
Tropes: Summer vacation between freshman & sophomore
years of high school
Themes: Teenage steps toward maturity: ups & downs of
romance, driving lessons, coming out to family
It is a standalone story, with the same characters from books
1-3.
The books have frequent references to previous titles in the
series, so better if they are read in order.
RV’s summer after sophomore year of high school
isn’t all fun and games as he navigates a budding new relationship, struggles with driving
lessons, copes with the ups and downs of his summer job in a movie theatre, and tries to be
patient with his traditional family that doesn’t want to deal with his sexuality.
Blurb
It’s the summer after sophomore year and RV enjoys new
adventures and faces new challenges having finished two years of high school. Since he
loves movies, he’s happy to get a job as an usher at a movie multiplex, but learns the
realities of dealing with job stresses and unruly customers. It’s time for him to start learning
how to drive, and his father is eager to give him lessons. But he’s not the most patient of
teachers and RV is not the most capable of drivers. Bobby is still around, but he’s doing the
hard job of recovering from his injury so doesn’t have time for much else. RV tries to open
himself up to a new relationship and is happy when he meets Matteo, who works at the
multiplex also. It looks like the start of a budding romance – until it isn’t. And then there is
RV’s family, loving but traditional, not ready or willing to discuss issues of sexuality. Luckily,
as always, there is Mr. Aniso, RV’s freshmen-year teacher, who has become a friend and is
always there to talk over anything that might be bothering RV. But he’s away for the summer,
helping his partner’s family, so there’s only so much time and attention he can give RV.
About the Author
Andy V. Roamer grew up in the Boston area and moved to New
York City after college. He worked in book publishing for many years, starting out in the
children’s and YA books division and then wearing many other hats. This is his first novel
about RV, the teenage son of immigrants from Lithuania in Eastern Europe, as RV tries to
negotiate his demanding high school, his budding sexuality, and new relationships. He has
written an adult novel,Confessions of a
Gay Curmudgeon, under the pen name Andy V. Ambrose. To relax, Andy loves to ride his
bike, read, watch foreign and independent movies, and travel.
