Joshua Skye on The Argento

Guest post by Joshua Skye

I’ve always been a fan of horror cinema, specifically the more surreal compositions. No one seems to do surreal horror quite like our Italian auteurs. There’s an amazing variety of bizarre films to choose from, and without any doubt the triumphant king of Italian mayhem is Dario Argento. My novel The Argento is a love letter to him.

Although there are clever nods to the master’s films (Suspiria, specifically), The Argento is a wholly original nightmare. Woven in a modern setting, and anchored by a contemporary “damsel in distress.” My goal was to create a relentless decent into hardcore horror. Once it gets going it doesn’t let up! I love to conjure deeply disturbing scenes while granting them an air of the fantastic, flares of fright and fantasy intertwined. And I tried to infuse it all with a distinct 70’s or early 80’s horror vibe. This is an old fashioned hell ride, but with modern little twists.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

The Argento by Joshua Skye

The Argento by Joshua Skye is now available in e-book format!

Beautiful transgendered Camilla Nicolodi has a lifelong obsession with eccentric Italian architect Giuseppe Soavi. Since childhood, she fantasized about the man and his work, dreaming she would meet, fall in love, and marry him one day. But the naïveté of youth fades into an adult desire to own a piece of his legacy. As his work was few and far between, most of it long left to ruin, she finds her wish in an old, rundown slum in New York.

Considered Soavi’s masterpiece, the Argento is a twenty-story residential building hidden in bustling, modern-day Manhattan. Neglected for decades, it’s now home to a festering community of indigents betrayed by contemporary culture to seek pleasures in otherworldly activities. They’ve turned rooms into gruesome shrines to a dark and monstrous entity.

Camilla vows to return the Argento to its original splendor. Spurred by her passion for Soavi and a budding camaraderie with her lawyer, Camilla undertakes the intimidating mission of bringing the Argento back to life.

But dark things fester in the shadowy halls and gloomy rooms, an ancient evil has taken up residence in the building, and it has no intention of being driven out. Cruel, devious, and perverse, the demon seduces trespassers, becoming all they desire and all they fear. The beast’s evil malevolence knows no limit, and it will stop at nothing to take back what it calls its own.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

His and Hers by Eva Hore and Richard Hiscock

His and Hers by Eva Hore and Richard Hiscock is now available in e-book format!

Authors Eva Hore and Richard Hiscock have teamed up for this collection of explicit erotic romance. Some of the stories are told from his point of view, some from hers. Regardless of who tells the tale, these seventeen short stories are sure to set hearts aflame!

On hoilday or at work, while visiting friends or relatives, camping or shopping or flat sitting, the characters in these stories find themselves in sexual situations at every turn! These men and women burn with desire for each other, and their explosive couplings heat up the pages!

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Joann Lee on Broken Star

Guest post by Joann Lee

When you live in a town such as mine one quickly seeks out other modes of entertainment. I grew up with a passion for reading. I remember I used to obsess over the new Nancy Drew books when they were released. My peers looked at me as if I were crazy. Of course at that time I was living in the proverbial closet. I'm not even sure I realized what that meant as a teenager. Living in a small southern town can certainly have its disadvantages when it comes to being knowledgeable about life outside a farming community.

I had a written RPG with my best friend. Even though she and I have never met in real life, we've grown close over the years online. It was through the RPG we ran together that I finally came to admit who I was. I'll never forget when I decided to write my first lesbian storyline. I was terrified because I wasn't sure how she would react when I posted it. I was pleasantly surprised. I was literally shaking when I typed the first kiss between my characters back then! Talk about a bad case of nerves. It's amazing how things change over the years.

In a way I feel that writing saved my life. If I had of remained silent, hidden away without admitting who I was, I don't know where I would be right now. I've always had a love of writing but that incidence strengthened it. Writing a lesbian storyline also helped me to be able to come out with family and friends. It was liberating just to be able to get the words out. I no longer hide who I am anymore. That was years ago. Although, sometimes it truly does seem like it was only yesterday.

The idea for Broken Star came to me one day while watching one of my favorite movies, Serendipity. I've always loved stories and movies that revolved around a seemingly random meeting of the lead characters. The ladies in Broken Star are complete polar opposites in a lot of ways. Lynn is sort of a drama queen whereas Alexis would be content to avoid it. They live in two different worlds but on a random summer's night, their two worlds collide and that is only the beginning. Broken Star is my first published novel and I hope that you will enjoy reading their story as much as I loved writing it.

Joann Lee
IntrepidReverie.com
facebook.com/AuthorJoannLee

Broken Star by Joann Lee

Broken Star by Joann Lee is now available in e-book format!

From the outside looking in, Lynn Feoras seemingly has everything a woman could desire. With numerous platinum selling CDs, lavish homes, and the ability to bring down the house with her powerful vocals, who could want for more?

Lynn.

Alexis Donatella is a jaded SVU officer who has no tolerance for the rich and famous. She has devoted her life to raising her daughter and to the Florida division of the Special Victims Unit. Venturing into a relationship is the furthest thing from her mind.

When Alexis and Lynn meet on the sandy beaches, sparks do not exactly fly, at least not for Alexis. When you add in a rambunctious child, a tragic secret from Lynn’s past, and obstacles no one could have foreseen, it makes for one frenzied summer.

In the midst of madness, is it possible for these two women to find love?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

The Magician's Apprentice by J.M. Snyder

The Magician's Apprentice by J.M. Snyder is now available in e-book format!

Devon Taylor helped fashion a local street magician called Harry Marvel into the well-known illusionist Harry Marvelous. In the seven years they’ve been together, Devon has worked alongside Harry onstage as his apprentice. To Devon, Harry is an incredibly sexy older man, and the love they share is nothing less than pure magic.

But in today’s world, even children find it hard to believe in magic. When Devon overhears a teenager mocking Harry before a show, he invites the boy on stage to help out with Harry’s famous disappearing act.

Unfortunately, the boy really does disappear on his way back to his seat after the performance.

When the show is over, Devon and Harry find themselves confronted by security. Harry insists his illusions aren’t real, but does Devon know something Harry doesn’t?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Our Last Summer by Matthew J. Metzger

Our Last Summer by Matthew J. Metzger is now available in e-book format!

Spending every summer with his grandmother in the south of England isn't Ryan's idea of a good time, and when he finds someone his own age to hang out with, he doesn't much care who that is. Alex might not say much, but company is company when there's nobody else to choose from, and Ryan will simply have to make do. It isn't, after all, like he really needs a friend.

But Alex is more than just a kid with a thing for smashing up greenhouses, and Ryan finds himself dragged further and further into a dark, uncertain world of alcohol, bruises, a mother's madness, and a father's anger. Worst of all, Alex is dragging Ryan into a world of lust, attraction, and midnight kisses that Ryan is struggling to keep confined to southern summers. This thing with Alex can't go further than summer -- but Alex, and the shadows that surround him, are not so easily forgotten.

Ryan can't forget Alex, but the longer he hangs on, the more he discovers ... not just about Alex, but about himself, his future, and the things that really matter.

But eventually, summer must come to an end.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Muscled Shower Show by Wayne Mansfield

Muscled Shower Show by Wayne Mansfield is now available in e-book format!

Swimming is the perfect, low-impact choice for a whole body workout. The rewards aren’t only a swimmer’s body -- a perfect V-shaped torso, muscular shoulders, and zero body fat -- but also the cavalcade of other sculpted bodies you can admire as they climb out of the pool.

In the changing rooms, you can admire perfect male bodies unobstructed by swimsuits. Clean lines, sculpted muscles, cocks hanging free. Proud men stroll naked to and from the showers, drying themselves openly for all to see.

In the showers themselves, beneath the warm rush of water, you can watch other men washing their hair, torsos, and parts further down. You might even catch the odd furtive glance, the slight increase in the size of a nearby dick to betray someone’s best attempt to look as if he isn’t fascinated by the naked bodies surrounding him.

Occasionally, you might see more than you could have expected or hoped to see. Much more.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

JL Merrow on Light the Fire

Guest post by J.L. Merrow ...

It’s not that surprising that Light the Fire is set, to a large extent, in a gym.

I love the gym. I get a lot of ideas there, from plot points to inspiration for characters, and any time I’m feeling creatively blocked, it’s a sure-fire literary enema. Partly it’s because of all the people you see there, ranging from the fit to the not-so-fit to the Oh-my-God-does-your-doctor-know-you’re-here. Most of them dressed in lycra and going through their paces on the machines in a way guaranteed to make even the most reluctant muscles bulge. It’s like a pick ’n’ mix of potential characters, all of them strutting around in bright plumage that virtually screams, “Me! Me! Notice me!”

But also, I think, it’s the way physical activity frees up the mind to wander in all sorts of productive ways. I get my best ideas, I’ve found, on the rowing machine. It’s an exercise that involves your whole body, with its hypnotic, pull-push rhythm of in-out-in-out (go wash your minds out, you in the cheap seats). And probably crucially, there’s no TV screen attached. The weights machines are good for the odd inspiration too, and I’ve often had them come in the showers (oh, for heaven’s sake, this is your last warning).

Are there any downsides? Well, it’s seriously undermining my ambition to have to be removed from my writing chair with a crane at some unspecified future date. And I sometimes wonder what the other gym-goers think about the madwoman in the changing room, grinning manically to herself as she scribbles down notes with her kit half off.

I live in hope that one day, someone will ask about it, and I’ll be able to plug my latest book to them. Trouble is, we’re British. I’d better not hold my breath.

***


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 is a 2013 EPIC ebook Award finalist.

JL Merrow is a member of the UK GLBTQ Fiction Meet organising team.

Find JL Merrow online at jlmerrow.com, on Twitter as @jlmerrow, and on Facebook at facebook.com/jl.merrow.

Image courtesy of stockimages.

Light the Fire by J.L. Merrow

Light the Fire by J.L. Merrow is now available in e-book format!

Two years after the death of his lover at the hands of bigots, Kurt’s still not looking for another relationship, even though the big old house he bought with Raoul seems cold and empty these days. But there’s a perky kid at his gym who just won't take no for an answer.

Matt can tell there’s more to Kurt than just a great set of pecs. He’s drawn to the big guy’s caring, protective attitude as much as to his muscles. But when push comes to shove, can Matt show Kurt he’s not just a big mouth in a small package?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

The Sinkhole by Joshua Skye

The Sinkhole by Joshua Skye is now available in e-book format!

Beatty Field used to be a strawberry farm, but after a storm, it collapsed into a massive sinkhole. It's become a place where young people swim and make out, and dream of getting away from Wren Township. But I never got away -- I married Iris and was content. Then Iris drowned in that sinkhole, and I was left with alone with our ten-year-old daughter, Sylvia.

As time passed, dangerous crossbred snakes filled the deep water, and Sylvia withdrew more and more from me. We seemed to have nothing to say to one another ... until the night we crashed our car in the sinkhole.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Richard Fazio on Stone in Water, Waiting

Guest post by Richard Fazio ...

My story depicts an air of expectancy off the coast of San Francisco where a majority of the populace has been willed to witness an extraordinary event. In its wake, society undergoes the biggest paradigm shift in history and a door to the collective unconscious is unlocked.

Back in the late 1960's/early 1970's there was a cultural renaissance of a sort, which expressed Gaia consciousness through various artistic media, and perhaps with good reason; it was also around that period that disregard of our planet had increased exponentially. Not until somewhat recently has the human race begun to pay attention those decades-old warnings, and so it prompted me to write about the return of the ancient gods. Stone in Water, Waiting combines the old adage about history repeating itself with the plight of the Earth Mother. Have we actually progressed very far? Are we any better than the ancient civilizations that somehow doomed themselves? There is only so much our habitat can withstand before we've fully condemned the ecosystem that sustains us. Chemtrails, fracking, acid rain, geo-engineering: where does it all end? I wanted my story to take on these issues and, hopefully, resonate with the environmentalist in each of us.

Richard Fazio
richardfazio.yolasite.com

Stone in Water, Waiting by Richard Fazio

Stone in Water, Waiting by Richard Fazio is now available in e-book format!

George Terranova may be the last sane man on the planet. At least, that's what it feels like when he fails to convince his friend Skye Mitchell that something very odd is going on right under their noses. Severe climate changes in two years? People reverting unprompted to old Egyptian customs?

But Skye doesn't see anything very strange in it, until the day he and George sit next to each other in Sutro Heights Park and watch the gods walk onto the land from the sea.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Paul Alan Fahey on Bomber's Moon

Guest post by Paul Alan Fahey ...

My novella, Bomber's Moon, came about because of my interest in the London Blitz that began early in childhood. In the 1950's, my mother worked in an upscale dress shop and one of her customers was a lovely Englishwoman who had lived through this terrifying time. I remember sitting at the breakfast table while Mother related to me this woman's stories of death, courage and the survival of the human spirit. I was completely fascinated by every detail.

Years later, when I began writing short stories and novellas, I knew one day I'd return to this interesting period in history.

Bomber's Moon is a M/M wartime romance set within the mystery/thriller genre. I knew in the writing I wanted to explore several questions: What was it like to be gay in wartime London? Was post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) a way to explain behavior-how people lived under such unimaginable conditions and somehow survived the terrors of the Blitz? These and other questions guided the character development and plot elements and led me to the main theme of the story: Following one's heart leads to happiness. (In addition, the themes of light, darkness and shadow play a part in the book and color setting and character mood.) I hope you'll like the main characters, Leslie, Caroline, and Robert) and enjoy their journey in Bomber's Moon. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a sequel: Weep Not for the Past. For more information about me, my writing and what's coming up next, please visit my website.

Paul Alan Fahey
paulalanfahey.com

Bomber's Moon by Paul Alan Fahey

Bomber's Moon by Paul Alan Fahey is now available in e-book format!

After losing his lover in a tragic motorcar accident, Leslie Atwater goes about the motions but doesn’t really feel alive. Not without Edward. In a time where “one of us” was a euphemism for being gay, Leslie and Edward managed to live a quiet, private life together, but nothing prepares Leslie for a world without his partner.

During the day, Leslie works as a clerk in a modest bookshop in central London. By night, he’s an air raid warden in his district responsible for the safety of his “flock.” In an effort to feel closer to Edward, Leslie spends evenings in his flat reviewing Edward’s portfolio of sketches. Edward had worked as a freelance artist, and his depiction of Londoners surviving in the midst of World War II appeared daily in The Globe.

While reviewing the drawings, Leslie discovers irregularities in the sketches from Edward’s final assignment which he simply can’t explain. He begins to question what he was told about Edward’s death, and his investigation leads him down a tangled trail from the center of London to the coast of Great Britain.

Tension mounts and nothing is what it seems. In a showdown with German spies at a lighthouse overlooking the English Channel, bombs fall, people die, and Leslie gets more than he bargains for in his search for the truth behind his lover’s untimely death.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Miners by Wayne Mansfield

Miners by Wayne Mansfield is now available in e-book format!

Australia’s Outback is a tough place to work. The heat, the red dirt that gets into everything, the flies, and above all, the isolation. Mining is big business in Western Australia, but it’s hard work. No doubt about it. Twelve hours on and twelve hours off. Just enough time to eat, shower and sleep. Or, if you’re lucky enough, you might find another way to pass the time.

Duke is all man. He’s made of just the right kind of stuff to handle the demanding life of a miner. But even real men need some loving -- a warm body to feel next to theirs during the cold desert nights. One day, he opens the door to his small, portable cabin and meets his new roommate, Josh.

A handsome man, Josh has worked his fair share of mine sites. As Duke begins to peel his dirty, sweat-soaked clothes off, Josh becomes aroused. He tries his best to hide it, but as he is removing his clothing as well, Duke soon notices.

Both men know life in an Outback mining camp can be hard, demanding, and downright tough. But it doesn’t have to be ...

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Guest post by Richard Fazio

Guest post by Richard Fazio

Life has changed for a San Francisco lab technician and his gay son when aliens land on Earth, inadvertently provide mankind with rare gifts, and attempt to satisfy their own curiosity about the human race.

With all the recent apocalyptic predictions, and justified concerns about global warming and depletion of natural resources, I wanted to show how an otherworldly event could have a positive effect on a planetary scale. Though I've written other alien visitation scenarios, I thought I'd make this one different by putting a contemporary spin on the sort of tales that had emerged from the Golden Age of Science Fiction, which were prevalent during my childhood; whatever they lacked in plot development or verisimilitude they made up for with a sense of wonder. From a LGBT standpoint, I felt compelled to depict the impact of HIV transmission in the most human way possible, without relying on tropes or emotional manipulation. I hope I succeeded.

I am a San Francisco writer whose debut novel The Nexus was also published by JMS Books LLC in 2010; this was followed by a novelette, Dreaming Sparta, in 2011 and a short story, Saving Face, in 2012.

Richard Fazio
richardfazio.yolasite.com

How Is Mankind? by Richard Fazio

How Is Mankind? by Richard Fazio is now available in e-book format!

Divorced David MacElroy is a lab technician in San Francisco who stays in touch with his grown gay son, Justin. At Justin's urging, David begins to keep a journal, in which he recounts the first-ever alien visitation to Earth.

The enigmatic visitors from space cause quite a stir while attempting to satisfy their own curiosity about us. Are the aliens friend or foe? Do they mean us harm? David doesn't know, but he chronicles their visit in his journal. The consequences of this first encounter between aliens and humans are both awkward and humorous. For David, they may even be a matter of life and death.

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Quintessential by J.M. Snyder

Quintessential by J.M. Snyder is now available in e-book format!

Jerry Bennett doesn't consider himself an "old fogey." At 43, he's still a swinging bachelor, spending his weekends with whoever catches his fancy, male or female. He's still sexy and he knows it.

But when his company switches from Windows-based computers to MacBooks, Jerry feels outdated. Refusing to conform, he continues to use his laptop, until a porn video he viewed on it infects the PC with a virus, and he has to call the IT department for help.

The guy who comes to his rescue is a young hipster named Quin who threatens to turn Jerry in for the porn video ... unless they can come to some sort of mutual arrangement that will benefit them both.

But their evening together ignites more than mere lust in Jerry. Is he just another conquest for the mysterious Quin? Or is there something Jerry's young coworker isn't telling him?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!

Vincent Diamond on Feathers

Guest post by Vincent Diamond ...

Feathers releases today from JMS Books, and remembering where I was and what I was doing during the time I wrote it was enlightening. The story itself was written before my own father's death, but the feeling of grief and sadness that Brandon was working through felt very real to me. And I've had readers comment that his sense of dislocation about his life was right on target. The story has some sad moments, but overall, I don't think it's a depressing one.

As with many of my stories, this one is based on real places in central Florida. The raptor center where they take the injured hawk is based on the real-life Audubon Center for Birds of Prey based in Maitland, Florida. It's just a sub-city on the west side of Orlando, easy to get to if you're every doing Disney and want some genuine experiences. They rescue and rehab all types of raptors: owls, hawks, eagles, kites, and others. It's been years since I visited, but that last time I was there you could get your picture taken with a bald eagle. I was never brave enough; those talons were bigger than a human hand and very intimidating!

And the orange grove where Ramon and Brandon take a ride is based on a real-life grove where some of my barn-mates took trail rides. Zephyrhills is pretty hilly, for Florida, and the views from the grove were way cool.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, and check out Feathers!

Vincent Diamond
vincentdiamond.com

Feathers by Vincent Diamond

Feathers by Vincent Diamond is now available in e-book format!

Two years after his father's death, Brandon is still grieving, running his father's store, watching his sister grow more depressed. Until Ramon saunters into his life bringing sunshine, blue skies, and an injured hawk. But Ramon has issues of his own to deal with, an abusive lover who won't take no for an answer.

If Ramon can wriggle free of the ex, can Brandon take a chance on loving again?

Read an excerpt or buy a copy today!