Burden of Proof
LINCOLNMy best friend fell in love, and it ruined my life. I'd never tell him that, so I'm trying to make the best of my new living situation, but it's lonely, and I'm lonely, and it's the need to be held that drives me to search out a partner who will let me submit for the night. Going to my knees for another man brings up more feelings than I bargained for, and the complications that arise afterward only make things worse. Running to Silas and Marshall for help brings me right into the sights of the man I was trying to get away from.Hunter Covington, Marshall's younger-but equally dominant-brother. HUNTERAccepting a one-night stand kind of proposition was supposed to be my last hurrah, but when the broken man I can't stop thinking about turns out to be the best friend of my brother's boyfriend, there's no chance I'm walking away. Lincoln is scared, but he's brave. He's messy, but he's perfect.I convince Lincoln to give me a chance, and being with him changes everything. I've played with power exchange before, but the circular nature of our dynamic feels special and new. The need to take care of Lincoln and keep him safe is visceral, but the pleasure I find when I sink down to my knees in front of him is indisputable.The closer we get, the more Lincoln wants to run. I can give him a home, but I can't make him stay. The only thing I can do now is hope our love is strong enough to prove Lincoln deserves the life we both want...and more.
The Weeping
Twenty-five years ago, Catherine Whitley was betrayed by her peers and left to die when the Rock Harbor Opera House went up in flames. The fire consumed her body, but not her wrath.Twenty-year-old Heath Ingram comes to Rock Harbor seeking refuge from his own tragedy, but the town offers no peace. The streets whisper. Shadows linger. And inside the restored Opera House, something waits.A girl in a ruined white dress. A secret that never died. A hunger for revenge that has only grown stronger with time.Heath thought he had already lost everything.Rock Harbor is about to prove him wrong.This edition is a revised version of a novel first published in 2012. It has been updated and expanded to reflect the author's original vision.
The Weeping
Twenty-five years ago, Catherine Whitley was betrayed by her peers and left to die when the Rock Harbor Opera House went up in flames. The fire consumed her body, but not her wrath.Twenty-year-old Heath Ingram comes to Rock Harbor seeking refuge from his own tragedy, but the town offers no peace. The streets whisper. Shadows linger. And inside the restored Opera House, something waits.A girl in a ruined white dress. A secret that never died. A hunger for revenge that has only grown stronger with time.Heath thought he had already lost everything. Rock Harbor is about to prove him wrong.
Gaywyck
Sensitive, blond, emerald-eyed Robert Whyte is seventeen, living in a small town where his father is schoolmaster and his mother quite mad. When the local parish Father arranges an introduction to Donough Gaylord, the young, gorgeous, sophisticated (and fabulously wealthy) lord of the manor of Gaywyck, a Long Island estate, a deal is struck: Robert will become the librarian and move into Gaywyck forthwith.Donough's eye-popping New York digs at Gramercy Park, with displays of Van Goghs, C矇zannes and Monets, pales in comparison to the riches found at Gaywyck. Donough's part-time mentoring leaves Robert much time to explore the estate, its secrets and physicalities (a waterfall, gardens, beaches, riding trails, a cave of paintings, hidden closets), and the dark past shared by the inhabitants. His coming of age is bombarded by sexual desires, lies, betrayal, journals full of secrets everyone reads, suicide and murders, erotic encounters, and the sea, always the sea, tranquil or agitated .... Robert, smitten from first meeting, yearns for Donough as a lover. The older man, haunted by guilt from childhood secrets, fights his intense, growing passion even as hidden evil rushes to destroy them both. A cherished classic for almost 50 years. This new edition features a foreword by Damon Suede and an afterword by the author."Gaywyck is the very definition of classic. Using gothic romance to explore the love that once "dared not speak its name," Gaywyck proves compelling fiction and love are truly timeless." - Rick R. Reed"A fascinating mixture of Wilde, the gothic, and, above all, the souls laid to rest in New York." - Angus Wilson"A groundbreaking romance classic by a trailblazing author, Gaywyck blew open the doors of romance, proving what Vincent Virga has said for years: Genre has no gender. Merging the lushness of the best gothics with the big emotions of modern historicals, this is a story that transforms the way you think of the romance novel." - Sarah MacLean"As of 2024, Mr. Virga is one of the only surviving members of a pantheon of gay novelists who changed the way queer stories got told, forever. Suckled on pulps, they wrote books that escaped the camp gulag by sheer force of will via humor and hubris, poesy and porn ... entire subgenres of pop-culture redefined by brilliant queers writing against the grain." - Damon Suede
A Hunter's Dream
Hunters have one mission: to discover the evils of the world and eliminate them.Basti獺n, born into the storied Asturias family and a member of a prestigious guild, holds his responsibilities in the highest regard. When tasked with investigating the rumor of an oni infiltrating the royal family of Yasunai, he must journey to a foreign land filled with unknown demons and trickster spirits. But an untrustworthy crew, a hostile nation, and his own internalmonsters may prove more difficult than anything he's ever experienced.His travels bring him face to face with the frail, enigmatic Prince Eisuke, which causes him to question his long-held beliefs. With the full moon drawing ever closer, Basti獺n is facedwith a choice: fulfill his responsibility as a hunter or risk everything for a burgeoning love.A Hunter's Dream explores the boundaries between duty and desire, love and destiny, and the power of embracing one's true self.
We Are All of Us Left Behind
A queer coming-of-age story about a young man's journey from Canada to Serbia in search of his roots, about the power of truth and lies, and about the persistence of hope when there's nothing else left. Garrett is orphaned and stuck in a one-traffic-light prairie oil town. He yearns for a family to belong to and sets out to find his last known living relative, his grandfather, the Serbian author Milos Milic. Armed with nothing but his wit and resourcefulness, Garrett starts his trek, from his hometown on the Canadian plains, across continents and countries, in search of acceptance and family, which he finds, but in the most unexpected people. We Are All of Us Left Behind is a queer coming-of-age story about the powers of truth and lies, of what a family really is, and the persistence of hope when there's nothing else left. Told in compelling, spare prose, We Are All of Us Left Behind is written in the spirit of The Beach meets The Goldfinch.
Mysterious Skin
"Wrenching . . . powerfully sensuous."--New York Times"As searing and unforgettable as an electric shock."--Kirkus ReviewsAs relevant and urgent as when it was first published more than three decades ago, Scott Heim's propulsive novel about abuse and its aftereffects in the lives of two teenage boys is an honest and searing exploration of memory, survival, friendship, and the power of truth.At the age of eight, Brian Lackey is found bleeding under the crawl space of his house, having endured something so traumatic that he has blacked out an entire five-hour period. During the following years he slowly recalls details from that night, fragments that hint at yet cannot explain what happened to him, leaving him to believe that he may have been the victim of an alien encounter.Neil McCormick is fully aware of the events from that summer of 1981. Wise beyond his years, curious about his developing sexuality, Neil found what he perceived to be love and guidance from his baseball coach. Now, ten years later, he is a teenage hustler, unaware of the dangerous path he's on. His recklessness is governed by idealized memories of his coach, memories that unexpectedly change when Brian comes to Neil for help and, ultimately, the truth.
The Butcher's Son
Dick Hardesty, working for a public relations firm, is assigned the task of helping elect a rabidly homophobic police chief governor. Dick's being gay himself, coupled with rumors that the chief had one of his identical twin sons murdered for being gay doesn't make Dick's job easier. He soon finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of politics, drag clubs, a do-good reverend's homeless shelter, and an arsonist torching the city's gay bars.
The Ninth Man
Dick Hardesty is hired to investigate the mysterious death of a client's lover. The police assume the death is drug related. In the course of his investigation Dick learns of eight similar deaths, all seemingly unrelated. The victims had nothing in common other than being gay, and all dying the same way. The police, to whom the deaths of "perverts" means very little, conclude that a serial killer is randomly killing gays, but Dick disagrees and believes that what tied the men together will lead to their killer.
The Bar Watcher
When the obnoxious owner of a gay bathhouse begins receiving threatening messages accusing him of not admitting people inside that he doesn't deem "hot" enough, he enlists the services of private detective Dick Hardesty to find the person behind the notes. When the owner is murdered following a heated argument with Dick, Hardesty becomes a suspect. Following a succession of other seemingly unrelated deaths -- all involving individuals noted for their cruelty to other gays -- Hardesty begins to suspect the actions are of someone who is looking to "take out the garbage" of the gay community. Can he solve the case and clear his name before the body count rises even further?
The Hired Man
When private investigator Dick Hardesty is hired by businessman Stuart Anderson to conduct routine background checks on potential store managers, he becomes reacquainted with a former trick, Phil Stark, who has undergone an amazing transformation from bar hustler to professional escort. When Anderson is murdered, Hardesty is hired by the escort services owners, Arnold and Iris Glick, to keep Phil and the agency away from police scrutiny. Two subsequent murders make this impossible, and Hardesty embarks on a mission to find the identity of the killer.
Curses & Cold Brew
A witch makes a deal with an irresistible demon, but when souls go missing, all Hell breaks loose . . .Maple Hollow is known for its endless October charm, gossiping ghosts, and pumpkin spice everything. Not the sort of town you'd imagine a designer suit-wearing demon to call home. But when Ramona Henry's souls start to go missing, she sets out to find the thief, and that means reluctantly calling in the help of a certain apothecary witch who bears her mark.Iris Stonewood is more than Maple Hollow's most flirtatious witch-she's also a thrill-seeking thorn in Ramona's side. Bored out of her mind being the third wheel to her two best friends, Iris decides she's going to be the Watson to Ramona's Sherlock.Their banter is sharper than a vampire's grin-and twice as deadly. Now that souls are vanishing faster than candy on Halloween night, will Iris and Ramona be able to catch the culprit before it turns its ghoulish gaze on Iris? Everyone's a suspect, from the broomstick busybodies to the vampire knitting club. With the mystery unfolding, Iris and Ramona hunt through the shadows to unmask the villain while trying to ignore their sizzling chemistry that burns hotter than a Halloween bonfire.It's tricks, treats, and just a touch of damnation in this cozy sapphic paranormal rom-com. Expect a hellishly good time in the second installment of the international best-selling Maple Hollow series.
Tangled Webs
Karen Cappelletti, a gritty, battle-tested, battle-scarred middle-aged detective in a small town outside of Philadelphia, finds herself immersed in another dysfunctional relationship. While she has an issue persevering in unhealthy relationships, bigger problems loom. She learns the man she arrested for a brutal felony assault, imprisoned ten years ago, is scheduled to be released on parole the next day. To make matters worse, the ex-con's daughter, Tam, is publicly expressing her attraction to Karen. When the ex-con's daughter reports a dead body on her driveway, a week after her father's release, things take a bizarre turn. As the lonely detective professionally dives into an investigation with few clues, she struggles to understand the unexpected twists and emotional turns in her empty personal life. With the town's safety and her love life on the brink of disaster, Karen finds herself entangled in both a personal betrayal and the cunning brilliance of a sociopath. She must sift through a tangled web of lies to save her town from a heartless killer and save herself from becoming the next victim.
No One is Looking at You
What happens when no one is watching-or when you think no one is?In this razor-sharp, tenderly comic collection, James Magruder charts the evolving landscape of queer identity with heartbreaking honesty and wicked charm. The first half, Origin Stories, follows a group of closeted young men fumbling toward self-knowledge at Cornell University in the late '70s and early '80s-when disco was dying, Reagan was rising, and love still had to hide in the shadows.Fast forward forty years to Parting Shots, where Roger Hauf, a tenured professor of dramatic literature and full-time observer of human folly, offers up the hard-won wisdom of a man who's seen it all-and admits he still doesn't have it figured out. Roger knows his students tune him out, but maybe you'll listen when he tells you: everyone should chase love across an ocean at least once, the right dance belt changes everything, and-spoiler alert-high school never really ends.Smart, sexy, and unafraid to look longing in the eye, No One Is Looking at You is a glorious reminder that while we're all just trying to make it through the scene, the performance is always personal.
Marked by Instinct
Summer break for Erin Storm involves photography, hanging out with friends, and cramming as much partying as he can into three months before the final year of university starts. However, meeting Black Hill's mysterious and handsome newcomer, Victor Lovelace, at a party throws a wrench in those plans as Erin is introduced to a supernatural world driven by two things - fate and instinct.Secrets are threatened.Wars are waged.The Moon weeps.How much is Victor willing to sacrifice to be with Erin?Will Erin be able to overlook the absurdity of werewolves being real?Fate and Instinct play a dangerous game, lurking beneath the surface of the boys' relationship as they take bets on which side will win the brewing battle ... again.
Pure Men
A young professor grapples with homophobia in Muslim Senegal in this searching, heart-wrenching novel from the National Book Award-longlisted author of The Most Secret Memory of Men. A viral video makes the rounds in Dakar, showing an incensed crowd that gathers to dig up a grave and drag the corpse from holy ground. When Nd矇n矇, a French literature teacher, watches it, he's surprisingly affected. Who was this man, and what could he have done to deserve such a fate? The answer soon becomes clear: he was a "g籀or-jig矇en," one of the so-called "men-women," the shameful label given to homosexuals, cross-dressers, or any man who lives outside the accepted norm. Haunted by the video, Nd矇n矇 sets out to learn more. With the help of a friend who works in night life, he explores a hidden side of Dakar, away from the rigid Islam of his family and university. Although he feels a certain disgust for homosexuality, he's moved by the suffering and resilience of the people he meets. But the further he goes, the more he doubts his own identity, threatening to become an object of suspicion and scorn himself. A powerful, nuanced portrait of queerness in a conservative society, Pure Men asks the fundamental question of how to find the courage to be true to yourself, whatever the cost.
Closer
"The last literary outlaw in mainstream American fiction."--Bret Easton EllisWinner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ FictionFrom "the most dangerous writer in America" (Village Voice), Dennis Cooper's Closer is the controversial first novel in the award-winning George Miles Cycle--a haunting exploration of 1980s middle America, alienation, and the very limits of experience, now featuring an introduction by cultural critic Lynne TillmanPhysically beautiful and strangely passive, George Miles becomes the object of his fellow students' passions. One after another, his teenage friends rifle through George, ransacking him for love, secrets, or anything else they can plausibly extract.Closer follows the subterranean connections that drag George into the arms of men like John, an artist who drains his portraits of humanity in order to find what lies beneath; Alex, fascinated by splatter films and pornography; and Steve, an underground entrepreneur who turns his parents garage into a nightclub. Boys and men pass George from hand to hand, fascinated by the nightmarish intensity of his detachment, but soon he will be confronted by desires he may find harder to endure.An unflinching dissection of the horrors of middle America, Closer lays bare a world where pain is an undeniable reality, the inevitable companion of truth, and a test of our commitment to life. Nearly four decades since its original publication, Dennis Cooper's brutally frank and provocative cult classic remains unmatched, continuing to push the limits of our minds and sharpen our understanding of the life around us.
Chasm
From the abandoned streets and back alleys of a post-apocalyptic world, to the expansive reaches of our darkest nightmares, Chasm is a look at the horrors of our present and our future through a queer femme lens.This poetry and short story collection is a companion to Respirator, and the second in a three-part trilogy.
Like People In History
Solid, cautious Roger Sansarc and flamboyant, mercurial Alistair Dodge are second cousins who become lifelong friends when they first meet as nine-year-old boys in 1954. Their lives constantly intersect at crucial moments in their personal histories as each discovers his own unique - and uniquely gay - identity. Their complex, tumultuous, and madcap relationship endures against 40 years of history and their involvement with the handsome model, poet, and decorated Vietnam vet Matt Loguidice, whom they both love. Picano chronicles and celebrates gay life and subculture over the last half of the twentieth century: from the legendary 1969 gathering at Woodstock to the legendary parties at Fire Island Pines in the 1970s, from Malibu Beach in its palmiest surfer days to San Francisco during its gayest era, from the cities and jungles of South Vietnam during the war to Manhattan's Greenwich Village and Upper East Side during the 1990s AIDS war.In a book that could have been written only by one who lived it and survived to tell, Picano weaves a powerful saga of four decades in the lives of two men and their lovers, relatives, friends, and enemies. Tragic, comic, sexy, and romantic, filled with varied and colorful characters, Like People in History is both extraordinarily moving and supremely entertaining.First published to acclaim in 1995, winner of the Ferro-Grumley Award for Best Novel, Gay Times Best Novel of the Year and Finalist for Lambda Literary Award Best Gay Fiction, this edition features a new foreword by Richard Bugs Burnett and an afterword by the author."This is the big novel we've all been waiting for - the gay Gone with the Wind. It's the heroic and funny saga of the last three decades by someone who saw everything and forgot nothing." - Edmund White"A gay classic. Read it when I was in college and it helped shape my perception of myself as a gay man." - Christopher Rice"Survivors of extraordinary times sometimes write extraordinary books. Like People in History is one such book: an epic tale of gay lives, American lives, interweaving and colliding through many modern decades. Like any great tale, it's written with a dedicated passion, knowledge, truth, and wit, full of comedy as well as real heartbreak." - Jenifer Levin"Harrowing and sad, and very funny, Like People in History manages to bridge the unnerving chasm between the queer present and the gay past. This heartfelt memorial to a vanished time sees whole, perhaps for the first time, what till now has induced only a tragic sense of disconnection." - Andrew Holleran
Let's Get Criminal
A Nick Hoffman / Academic Mystery, Book 1 - Nick Hoffman has everything he's ever wanted: a good teaching job, a beautiful house, and a solid relationship with his lover, Stefan Borowski, a brilliant novelist and writer-in-residence at the State University of Michigan. But when Perry Cross shows up, Nick's peace of mind is shattered. Not only does he have to share his office with the nefarious Perry, who managed to weasel his way into a tenured position without the right qualifications, he also discovers that Perry played a destructive role in Stefan's past. When Perry turns up dead, Nick wonders if Stefan might be involved, while the campus police force is wondering the same about Nick.Originally published in 1996, this first book in the Nick Hoffman Academic Mystery series includes a new foreword by the author."Deliciously wicked... The perfect book to take away for a weekend in the country... a genuinely funny modern comedy of manners." - Washington Post Book World"The Borgias would not be bored at the State University of Michigan, that snake pit of academic politics." - New York Times Book Review"Clever and sharp social satire." - Los Angeles Times"Lev Raphael skewers academic pretensions with wicked glee [and] Dickensian flair." - Chicago Sun-TimesLev Raphael offers "a delightful take on death in academe." - San Francisco ChronicleA "witty and devastating backstage view of college life." - San Diego Union-Tribune"Some of the most pointed and funny put-downs of academics in my memory." - Detroit Free PressRaphael "elegantly skewers ivory-tower pretensions, petty politics, incompetencies and hypocrisies." - BooklistLev Raphael combines "stylish literary mystery with an intimate look at the jungle of academia... witty, impeccably written." - The Mystery Review"Marvelous humor and satisfying mystery... wickedly fun." - Drood Review of Mystery"Bright, breezy, and laugh-aloud funny." - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine
Decomposition Book
"A slippery page-turner that's as profoundly beautiful as it is totally unhinged."--Rachel Harrison, New York Times bestselling author of Play Nice and So Thirsty"Intense, irreverent, surprising, raw."--Natalia Theodoridou, author of Sour CherryAn emotional, electrifying, and darkly hilarious debut about a woman who finds a dead body and can't give up its ghost, for fans of Mona Awad, Yellowjackets, and weird girl fiction.Spiraling from a disastrous falling-out with her best friend, Savannah retreats to her parents' empty lake house in upstate New York to tend her wounds. Isolated and reeling from rejection, she spends her days in a fog, drinking and overthinking in equal worrisome measure. Until she wakes up one morning in the woods behind the house--next to a dead body.Instead of calling the police, Savannah reads the journal she finds nearby, reliving the last desperate months of this woman's life lost in the wilderness, fighting for survival. Ava, as it turns out, is more than just a cold, lonely corpse. She was funny. She was smart. And Savannah has finally found someone she can talk to...As she pushes deeper into Ava's harrowing story, Savannah notices a change, a shift in her reality. Each page brings her closer to the Ava from the journal...and the ghost before her now. Before long, Savannah feels something for Ava she hasn't felt for anyone else--and there's a good chance letting go would haunt her for the rest of her life.Is Savannah finally losing her grip? Or has she found the friend she's needed all along?
Forever Magical
In the third and final book in The Witches of Prosperity series, readers may wonder if El (freelance attendant and male witch in training) and Anthony (aka The Prince) and their friends, Sebastian and Reginald, will EVER find their happy ending. Well, quite frankly, so are they...It's been a long road to finding love and happiness, and they have overcome a lot, including a cruel step-mother, a beastly curse that makes Reginald not your average guy, a wicked witch on the loose, and an intolerant kingdom that doesn't accept same-sex relationships-or magic, for that matter. Yet despite all this, Elister Hesta and Prince Anthony Enchanting remain deeply in love and committed to each other. Likewise, Lord Sebastian Withers and Duke Reginald Drake-although slower out of the block to confess their feelings for each other and believe they are each worthy of love-are finally on their way to couplehood. But relationships are hard to grow when they must be kept secret, and the Prince is supposed to be looking for a royal lady to be his wife. Not to mention that malicious magic is threatening members of the Court, involving the whole kingdom as things spiral out of their control. Before each of our two couples can even think about a future together, they must stop a powerful witch, break several enchantments, and face various magical foes. Yet all this pales next to their greatest challenge: They must also change their society's opinion about who it is okay to love...Touching, funny, unconventional, romantic, and sometimes steamy, Forever Magical is a story about fighting for who and what is important.
Forever Magical
In the third and final book in The Witches of Prosperity series, readers may wonder if El (freelance attendant and male witch in training) and Anthony (aka The Prince) and their friends, Sebastian and Reginald, will EVER find their happy ending. Well, quite frankly, so are they...It's been a long road to finding love and happiness, and they have overcome a lot, including a cruel step-mother, a beastly curse that makes Reginald not your average guy, a wicked witch on the loose, and an intolerant kingdom that doesn't accept same-sex relationships-or magic, for that matter. Yet despite all this, Elister Hesta and Prince Anthony Enchanting remain deeply in love and committed to each other. Likewise, Lord Sebastian Withers and Duke Reginald Drake-although slower out of the block to confess their feelings for each other and believe they are each worthy of love-are finally on their way to couplehood. But relationships are hard to grow when they must be kept secret, and the Prince is supposed to be looking for a royal lady to be his wife. Not to mention that malicious magic is threatening members of the Court, involving the whole kingdom as things spiral out of their control. Before each of our two couples can even think about a future together, they must stop a powerful witch, break several enchantments, and face various magical foes. Yet all this pales next to their greatest challenge: They must also change their society's opinion about who it is okay to love...Touching, funny, unconventional, romantic, and sometimes steamy, Forever Magical is a story about fighting for who and what is important.
Tongue Tied
A Donald Strachey Mystery, Book 8 - Under normal circumstances, PI Donald Strachey wouldn't take a job from right-wing radio "shock jock" J-Bird - the man's hate-filled homophobic rants offend Strachey deeply. And not just Strachey: listeners include people identifying as members of a long-defunct gay rights activists, the Forces of Free Faggotry. Though peaceful, the group was originally known for rescuing young men from enforced conversion therapy. When J-Bird's potty-mouthed sidekick is kidnapped, and the FFF claim credit, Strachey becomes involved.Leads take Strachey to a Berkshire Wooley Llama Cheese farm, Brooklyn, late night New York and Long Island as he finds himself partnered with a not-out gay cop he'd tangled with in the cop's Albany days and a shy, but talented, housebreaking Amish gay man. When J-Bird himself is kidnapped, the stakes are raised as the first body parts arrive as a warning ... Written over a period of three decades, the Donald Strachey series authentically chronicles gay life as it unfolded across upstate New York, Washington and elsewhere. An author's note is included."Don't we all entertain fantasies about what we'd like to do to those toxic shock jocks who foul the airwaves with their hate-filled rants? Donald Strachey, the fastidious gay sleuth in Richard Stevenson's Tongue Tied and several previous books in this sophisticated series, is above all that. But as a favor to a friend in the New York Police Department, this Albany private eye lends a hand when Jay Plankton, a radio talk show host appositely named for a primitive life-form, is plagued by threats from a long-dormant gay-activist group that appears to have resurfaced as a gang of crypto-terrorists. Once the alphabetized threats turn nasty, Stevenson smoothly engineers the action into a smartly entertaining investigation that also makes a serious point about the uneasy lives of gay cops: 'The out cops get beat up on, and the non-out cops beat up on themselves.'" - New York Times"Richard Stevenson's mysteries are among the wittiest and most politically pointed around today." - Washington Post
Backtrack
California teenager Alan Tarr, extraordinarily bright, has faced challenges in his short life: his father Eric, to whom he bears a striking resemblance ("small, and fair haired, and on the pretty side of handsome"), chose a career as a movie actor, rarely rising beyond bit parts. He lived a somewhat sordid life which ended suddenly when he fell off a balcony. Though his father was charismatic, he made a lot of enemies. One of his friends states: "Eric was a disease you don't recover from."Alan was raised by his mother, Babe, a scraping-by-at-best piano bar entertainer; Eric had abandoned the family when Alan was just six months old; the boy only knew his father from late movie reruns. Trying to connect, Alan heads to LA for the funeral, hitchhiking his only means, and falls in with a pack of hippie musicians; he's befriended by a young woman and her jealous boyfriend. Late for the funeral, he encounters the first of several in the LA agent/actor circle who knew his father intimately. And so begins a journey to learn about himself, his father, and uncover if the death was accident, suicide ... or murder.Much of the story is told in flashback: Alan begins his narration with two broken legs in heavy casts lying in a bed in a ramshackle beach house. He's a sitting duck if there is a murderer out there waiting to finish him off.Hansen produced nearly 40 books including mainstream novels, including Backtrack, A Smile in His Lifetime, and Job's Year from the early 1980s reissued in 2025 by ReQueered Tales. His best known work, the Dave Brandstetter series of mystery novels, pioneered the genre for the LGBT community."Joseph Hansen has written a brilliant piece. His characters are splendidly fleshed out." - The New York Times Book Review"In the tradition of Chandler and Hammett, Joseph Hansen writes with gritty fluency of the sordid side of West Coast life." - Washington Post Books"Hansen's prose is lean: the dialogue relentlessly moves the story along and the novel teems with colorful characters." - Stephen W. Breedlove"Backtrack is beautifully written with fully-realized (memorable) characters, exquisitely evoked mood, and biting humor." - Drew Brainard
Andalusia Dogs
As Spain's fledgling democracy enters the 80s, young artists have transformed Madrid into a city where anything is possible, where outcasts, freaks and creative weirdos of every type let their imaginations run free amid beautiful, hedonistic chaos.All Alex wants is to create one unforgettable show that earns the respect and admiration of his fellow outcasts. When Jago, a handsome and kind, yet secretive young man pulls him from harm's way during a protest, a night of tenderness opens the door to new and thrilling talents. His new friend is also determined to see him succeed... at any price.Caught between suspicion, enthrallment and desire, Alex and his friends dance to the tune of poets and devils. Will it lead them to an opening night triumph? Or is Alex writing the script for a tragedy in the pursuit of fame and love?
Strachey's Folly
A Donald Strachey Mystery, Book 7 - In Washington, D.C., to view the AIDS Memorial Quilt, gay P.I. Donald Strachey, his lover, Timmy, and Timmy's old friend Maynard from their Peace Corps days, are startled to discover a quilt panel for an ex-lover of Maynard. The trouble is Jim Suter isn't dead and was spotted in Mexico barely two weeks earlier. Suter is a golden-haired, back-room, right-wing operative. He's also a breaker of gay men's hearts ... with an angry, resentful cast of hundreds left in his dust.Later in the evening, when Maynard is gunned down in his driveway in a seemingly random attack, a desperate note from Suter is discovered in Maynard's mailbox urging silence and warning of extreme danger. Police are called in but no one seems quite on the level: is there corruption in the local police? An ex-congresswoman, Betty Krumfutz, and subject of a recent messy public divorce, employed Suter and may have vandalized the Suter quilt panel. As Timmy's paranoia of deep cross-connections ratchets up, Strachey finds himself headed for Mexico in search of possible drug cartel involvement. Written over a period of three decades, the Donald Strachey series authentically chronicles gay life as it unfolded across upstate New York, Washington and elsewhere. An author's note is included."A gripping, fast-paced mystery." - Booklist"Sassy and sexy ... Don Strachey is a private dick who really earns his title." - Armistead Maupin"Strachey departs from the classic noir protagonist in two crucial respects. First, he's an openly gay man firmly embedded in Albany's late 70s gay scene. Second, he's funny and sane, not broody and neurotic - the anti-Philip Marlowe. The first aspect gives [this series] its historical and cultural value and the second is what makes it a pleasure, a joy, to read." - Michael Nava
The Imaginary Life of a Laurel Tree
An Italian teacher's relationship with his male student sparks legal and personal turmoil in this compelling novel of truth, desire, and power. A group of old friends are unexpectedly reunited in Calabria for a dinner party. When the conversation turns from reminiscing about their teen years to recent allegations against a local teacher, Marco Ferro, it unsettles the narrator. Days later, still reeling from the news, he sets out to learn more, grappling with the murky facts. His search rekindles a relationship with his former high school friend--Federica, beautiful and spoiled, married to Lino, and the mother of three boys--which in turn unspools in complicated and unanticipated ways. The action then moves to Tunisia, London, and Rome, in an incessant pursuit of who tells and who is told. In the end, it is the story of Marco Ferro and his young student Yussef, played out in both courtrooms and newspaper columns, that restores truth to the complicated sentimental geometries of the narrator and Federica. Exploring secrets and entangled power dynamics, Mario Fortunato's timely new novel raises questions that rarely have simple or unequivocal answers.
Candid About Space
In an epic road trip to remember, Tera and her girlfriend, while giving their relationship one more try, are toting their moms to the New York Finger Lakes for a pleasant wine and cheese weekend. Just two moms and two daughters bonding as much as they can before Tera, approaching her mid-twenties, drifts apart into independence. Only, Tera doesn't know the half of it. Her mom, Pauline, a well-off divorcee, has some plans of her own after the weekend ends. Those plans are realized sooner than expected when Tera bears her angst full force and creates family discord in front of their gracious traveling partners. Pauline will regret her decisions as a parent to the very end, but it won't stop the tumultuous unravelling on the trip.Mother and daughter trips, each one of many, is about getting along and working things out for a day or two, a week, and in life. It's the beginning of a new start for Tera and Pauline both. Keeping the memories happy and harmonious isn't an ultimatum, but Pauline and Terra, both, will always want to look back. When words are all too candid, it takes some space to regroup and formulate the things you always meant to say.
The Inalienable Right
In the age of AIDS and Section 28: a secret that could change political history It is 1987, and Tommy Wildeblood has put his days as a Piccadilly Circus rent boy long behind him. Slightly to his own surprise, he is now a rookie teacher at a South London comprehensive. But when Margaret Thatcher's government launches a chilling attack on the ' promotion' of homosexuality in a new law known as Section 28, Tommy can't stay silent - especially when he realises he may have information about one of Thatcher's key lieutenants that could change the political situation completely. Forming an uneasy alliance with a sharp-elbowed tabloid journalist, and delving deep into his past on the ' Dilly', he puts everything on the line - both for himself and his old friends - in a desperate bid to expose the truth. With his trademark blend of historical research and ' what if' fiction, Adam Macqueen captures the spirit of a frightening age in another spellbinding case that lifts the lid on the Eighties political establishment's murkiest secrets.
Twilight Manors in Palm Springs
From Hairdos to Hairdon'ts: Brian and St矇phane's Most Chaotic Case YetBrian and St矇phane are back-and spreading chaos as only they can. When this retired gay duo stumbles onto a lunatic planting TOP SECRET deadly devices in women's curlers, things spiral out of control faster than a bad perm gone rogue.Their "investigation" (and we use that term loosely) tangles them in a deliriously twisted web of intrigue involving mobsters, poodles, and even a brief, eye-rolling cameo by the insufferable Chihuahua, Mitzi.On the trail of the elusive Hairdo Killer, Brian and St矇phane encounter a grieving cat named Fish Paste, an old friend showing up with his new "wife," a woman with an interchangeable head, trigger-happy lesbian gardeners filming Godzilla vs. Frida Kahlo, the Jilted Wives Club, a sausage-wielding Viking, giant giraffes, covert ops, an Andy Warhol superstar, a wardrobe-malfunctioning waitress, an English tearoom serving questionable cakes-and a production of Hedda Gabler so bad it should be illegal.And seriously-why is everyone licking the Forever Marilyn statue in Palm Springs? Don't ask. Just buckle up.Campy, chaotic, and completely bonkers-this is one wild ride on a rollercoaster of absurdity and satire you won't want to miss.
The Otto Digmore Decision
Book 2 in The Otto Digmore Series"If we get caught, they'll throw us in jail. On the other hand, we'll have been involved in one of the craziest Hollywood stories I've ever heard, and maybe someone will want to turn that into a movie!"Otto Digmore is back, still trying to make it as an actor in Hollywood - despite his facial scars - but frustrated by all the schemers who'll stab you in the back to get ahead. But then Otto's good friend Russel Middlebrook sells a screenplay, a heist movie set in the Middle Ages - and Otto has been cast in an important supporting role! For twelve weeks, Otto and Russel will be on location together in England and Malta.Problem is, once production is underway, it quickly becomes clear that the director is ruining Russel's script. If the movie ends up being the bomb that both Otto and Russel expect it to be, it could destroy both their Hollywood careers forever.But Otto and Russel aren't willing to take that chance. Together, they hatch a crazy plan to make a good movie behind the director's back. But how far are they willing to go to save their careers? Are they willing to become exactly the kind of scheming backstabbers they always said they hated?The Otto Digmore Decision is partly a caper story, partly a humorous Hollywood satire. It's also an inside look at the struggles of anyone "different," and it's even something of a love story, except it's one between two friends.More than anything, The Otto Digmore Decision proves the old adage about creative pursuits: the most interesting drama always happens behind the scenes!REVIEWS"An adventure, a caper-within-a-caper, [and] a Hollywood story about a movie being made... Wonderfully, and horribly, all of my angst is reflected in the bright, beautiful hearts of Otto and Russel. They make me sad, and they give me hope at the same time."- This Gay Book I Loved"I enjoyed every second...I can't imagine that people won't fall in love with Otto!"- Bite Into Books"It was great to see Otto and Russell back together again, continuing their adventures. Their friendship is inspiring; it is clear that it reaches a new, clearer level in this story. I'm looking forward to reading more about this awesome pair."- Rainbow Book Reviews PRAISE FOR BRENT HARTINGER"Hits the narrative sweet spot."- NPR's All Things Considered"Downright refreshing."- USA Today"I really think this guy could be the next Judy Blume." - Pop Candy
The Disappearance Boy
1953. The backstreets of Brighton are buzzing with preparations for the celebrations of the Coronation of Elizabeth II and, at the Grand Theatre, illusionist Teddy Brookes is plotting something crowd-pleasing to crown the occasion-with some assistance from glamorous Soho showgirl Pamela Rose. What the audience can never see is that, hidden behind the smoke and mirrors of his act, there is a whole world of secrets and lies... And a disappearance boy. In his acclaimed fourth novel, Neil Bartlett once again performs his trademark trick of slipping into the hidden spaces of queer history and bringing them vividly to life.'Seductive, dark, theatrical and fascinating, Bartlett's writing is spellbinding'RUSSELL TOVEY'Bartlett is a seductive narrator. The Disappearance Boy is written in an intimate, conspiratorial tone familiar to readers of his Costa-nominated novel, Skin Lane ... Bartlett is particularly good at evoking the faded glamour of the theatre and the brittle egos that compete offstage... An entertaining routine and Bartlett pulls it off with aplomb.' THE INDEPENDENT
A Star-Cursed Heart
Two women are cursed to be mortal enemies, despite their love for each other, in this queer, fantastical novel by Annie Mare. In the lead-up to the Salem witch trials, a desperate man made a deal with the devil--a deal that would drag two families down with him. Now, over 400 years later, the Steadfasts and the Prynnes remain caught in a curse that sentences both families to an existence of rigid rules, torturous consequences, and half-lives. Lucy Prynne and Ashes Steadfast are the latest to take on the mantle of this centuries-old deal: Lucy, born to try to reap the souls of the hopeful; and Ashes, born to stop Lucy, no matter the cost. But before they inherited their respective curses, it sure felt like Ash's purpose was Lucy. Her best friend, her closest confidant, her true love. Ash knows the rules. She keeps her head down, her emotions in check, and she fights Lucy, no matter the personal cost. They are doomed to an incessant battle between good and bad, self-righteous and carnal. Or so Ash thinks. But when she resists her instincts to fight Lucy and finally starts to fight the curse instead, she realizes there might just be a way to end this once and for all. If not in this timeline, then the next. As generational secrets begin to unravel, Ashes and Lucy join forces against the true threat that has haunted their families for centuries, even if it costs them their lives--and their love.
Simpleman
No man is that simple.Ronald Simpleman is not about to take the fall for the faults of the fathers. He may be a pansy, but he's no patsy. While his conscience has been in full-blown crisis mode for three quarters of a century, this self-exiled hermit feels like it might be finally safe to ease out of hiding. Misguided in childhood through the faults of his father, just as his grandfather had misled his dad, Simpleman has been burdened by secrets he's lugged around since he was a kid. Lying low as a recluse on family acreage clinging to the sloped outskirts of Crested Butte, he has managed to outlive ten presidents and-at least so far-outsmart those who might be after him.Now, with what might be his final winter upon him and too little time left to expunge his guilt-ridden soul, Simpleman believes he just might get away scot-free as he begins to round up his closeted skeletons for the short trip to his final resting place in the Simpleman Family plot.
Simpleman
No man is that simple.Ronald Simpleman is not about to take the fall for the faults of the fathers. He may be a pansy, but he's no patsy. While his conscience has been in full-blown crisis mode for three quarters of a century, this self-exiled hermit feels like it might be finally safe to ease out of hiding.Misguided in childhood through the faults of his father, just as his grandfather had misled his dad, Simpleman has been burdened by secrets he's lugged around since he was a kid. Lying low as a recluse on family acreage clinging to the sloped outskirts of Crested Butte, he has managed to outlive ten presidents and-at least so far-outsmart those who might be after him.Now, with what might be his final winter upon him and too little time left to expunge his guilt-ridden soul, Simpleman believes he just might get away scot-free as he begins to round up his closeted skeletons for the short trip to his final resting place in the Simpleman Family plot.
The War Between Cedar and Oak Collection
Monsoon QueenTwenty-year-old Noor has been hiding her magic and biding her time in the spice markets of 1812 Tajoura as she and her neighbours wait for the ravenous British Empire to sail into their homeport, cannons blazing. But when the HMS Victory arrives, so does the chance of a lifetime to join a found family in the Yemeni resistance. Noor finds herself caught up in the fight against the Empire's battle mages and Rami, the dark prince who leads them.In a case of mistaken identity, Noor heals Rami before a decisive battle. She sees the good in him, and her heart is torn.Noor's new friend Razan-a brilliant and beautiful inventor for the resistance-has no such qualms. She hates Rami for his role in the raid that killed her parents. Razan has found a way to harness Noor's power to defeat the British, and the two women grow ever closer. On a perilous camel ride to the coffee roasting city of Mocha, Rami strikes, kidnapping Noor and taking her back to his cruel master on the HMS Victory.In order to survive, Noor will need to call on everything she learned in the spice markets and the Yemeni resistance.Rebels, mages, lovers. With the final battle looming and the resistance struggling without her, Noor must keep her eye on the prize: saving Yemen from the British Empire. If she can keep Razan in her bed and save Rami from the Empire, she will have the future she's always dreamed of. But first, Noor has to survive the storms to come.Dream SwimmersEvery night, Noor saves a drowning prince.In her dreams, she finds him drifting deeper, ever farther from the midnight stars of a half-remembered Gaza. She hauls him to the surface, forces him to breathe, to talk, to tell her where he is.He doesn't know.Noor awakens on the Cormorant, a once-and-future pirate ship searching for Rami, the former prince of Yemen whom she aims to rescue from his British captors before it's too late. While Rami fights to survive the secret British prison, Noor will have to use her magic, cunning, and skill to find him. But she won't be alone. Her found family is with her. Lovers, inventors, pirates, rebels, and deserters, they all must come together as they hunt the Arabian Sea for the lost prince.Dream magic connects Noor and Rami, but in the end, what saves him won't be magic or science or even love, but the stars themselves.
Once Upon Elora's Eve
An emergency landing leaves Vee stranded on a tiny planet that is barely a blip on the radar. The sooner their ship is repaired, the sooner they can put this disaster behind them, but then they meet Emery, the beautiful Terran working at the local tavern.Emery loves the quiet life that comes with living on the small planet of Iyiabos, including helping her brother-in-law out with the tavern and learning new dishes. Finding a partner for Elora's Eve isn't even on her mind, since the holiday focuses on mated couples, new life and new beginnings. That changes when a Sorellian bounty hunter walks through the door.Elora's Eve is about new beginnings. Could this be the start of something more?A cozy sci-fi romance in the spirit of Legends and Lattes, Once Upon Elora's Eve is a queer novelette featuring a non-binary alien love interest.
Above the Ash, I Rise
Nalin Taylor has always felt like more of a caretaker towards his twin brother than an actual sibling. He knows that Lindy is running from something that happened in the past, he's just not sure exactly what. Diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, Nalin must deal with resurfacing flashbacks of his childhood while balancing college, soccer, an unstable home life, figuring out his sexuality, and taking care of his twin brother when he returns home from a rehab program.Lindy Taylor remembers everything. Plagued with the haunting memories of what happened to him and his brother as children, he dives into a dangerous drug addiction in a desperate attempt to forget. He knows that Nalin doesn't remember anything about what happened, and struggles between wanting him to know the truth or letting him remain in the dark for his own well-being. When Lindy gets home form a 90-day-rehab program, he tries his best to deal with the past and keep himself on the right path towards a better future.When demons from Nalin and Lindy's past suddenly come crashing back onto their lives, they both must team up with an unlikely ally in order to try to break free from the abuse.
Cut to the Feeling
For Bryce Derrickson, rejection is nothing new. He's used to Broadway casting directors seeing his size and assuming he can't be a graceful dancer. But getting dumped with no notice is a special kind of burn. At least his sweet dog Bobo still loves him.As if being left without warning isn't bad enough, Bryce's ex sublets their apartment without telling him, leaving him without a place to live. When his new 'roommate' turns out to be a stuffy, elbow-patches-on-blazer, permanent-frown-on-face professor, Bryce is furious. No way will he give up his bohemian pad without a fight.Years ago, Emerson Grant was on the fast track to being a preeminent scholar in his field, but his lack of people skills has kept him stuck at a commuter school in a cornfield. Landing a guest lecturing spot at a prestigious New York institution could be the jet fuel his career needs to finally take off. That is, if the man and dog blatantly squatting in his sublet don't drive him bananas first.Sharing a one-bedroom apartment with a stranger is a New York rite of passage. Sharing it with a stranger you might be falling for is something else entirely.
Drown Me Gently
He was never meant to fall in love with the surface.Auren is a Mer prince with a restless heart and a dangerous fascination for the surface world. When he falls for Elias, a charming human with a smile like sunlight, Auren breaks every law of the deep to see him again. But someone is watching-Ulric, the Kraken court sorcerer sworn to protect him, and the only one who knows what it will cost if the sea decides to punish Auren's defiance.He was never meant to feel anything at all.Ulric has guarded Poseidon's bloodline for centuries, bound by ancient magic and an oath he cannot break. Auren was supposed to be a duty, nothing more. But every rule Ulric has lived by starts to fray the moment the reckless prince dares to look at him like he's more than a monster. And when Auren turns to him for comfort, for touch-Ulric knows the price of breaking his oath may be his soul.In a world of gods, monsters, and forbidden magic, love is the one thing neither of them was meant to survive.But when a prince offers his heart to the dark, the dark just might love him back-with all its teeth.
Three Parties
A queer Palestinian refugee plans to come out at his elaborate birthday dinner party in this tragicomic modern reimagining of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway. Firas Dareer wakes up on his twenty-third birthday with a sense of purpose: today he'll jump from a Stage 3 to a Stage 6 in his self-determined Coming Out Scale, professing his sexuality to a captive audience of immediate and extended family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and neighbours. But despite the meticulously designed invitations, carefully chosen place settings and floral centerpieces, painstakingly curated playlist, and agonizingly fretted-over menu, factors begin to spin out of his control. Threatening to thwart his big moment are his younger brother, whose mental fragility requires him to be monitored at all times; his cantankerous grandfather, who's just completed his third escape from the retirement home; the Dareers' embittered housekeeper (and Firas's arch nemesis), who could scoop the story before he gets the chance; his harried boss, who on this of all days calls him into work at the architecture firm, where his colleagues share a talent for butchering his name; and his mother, whose accidental text message may have blown the cover of an illicit extra-marital affair. There's also the fact that Firas too has found himself in a love triangle of sorts, choosing between soft and steady Tyrese and fiery Kashif, who makes a sport out of demonstrating how Palestinian he is. As the future Firas has precisely architected for himself slips further out of his grasp, the past comes crashing in like a wrecking ball. Sharp, darkly funny, and full of surprises, Three Parties pays twisted homage to a literary classic, gleefully upends the western coming-out narrative, and sensitively explores the traumas and pressures faced by Palestinian immigrants--all in the span of a single life-changing day.
Beyond the Shoreline
Emotional pulls are stronger than the tide in this slow-burn lesbian romance about healing, honesty, and finding the courage to choose yourself.Literary icon Brielle Stone has crafted an admirable life-an adoring daughter, a handsome partner, and a stunning Manhattan apartment. It would be perfect if only she could fall in love with the safe, kind man she's dating.Therapist Maeve Raleigh has spent a career helping others untangle complicated emotions, but nothing prepares her for the quiet allure of her client, Brielle.Worse, a chance encounter at a seaside escape reveals the unthinkable: Maeve's brother is the man Brielle is trying so hard to love. But ending their professional relationship doesn't stop the women's intense attraction. Even torn by family, emotions, and ethics, the ache and longing remains.Are they willing to risk everything for a forbidden love that feels like coming home?
I Wish You Love
Had she waited years for the perfect moment that would never come?Alice McBain spent a lifetime putting others first-her family, her friends, and Marilyn Morgan, the woman she's secretly loved for over a decade.But Marilyn isn't just the mayor of Tuckaway Bay and Alice's superior-she's running for a state Senate seat and insists on keeping their relationship under wraps until after the election. Her constituents, and her husband, must never know.Even though Alice has come to an amicable arrangement with her own husband, she is tired of hiding. After years of whispers and waiting, she wants the life she and Marilyn have dreamed of for years-out loud and in the open.But when she finally finds the courage to demand more than hidden moments, the carefully constructed fa癟ade of her life crumbles. The fallout touches everything. Her family is thrown into chaos, and Marilyn's political ambitions hang in the balance.And the woman who's always put others first must decide what love truly means when you finally choose yourself.I Wish You Love is poignant, powerful story of identity, sacrifice, and the courage to live-and love-authentically.
The Taos Truth Game
When Myron Brinig arrived in Taos in 1933, he thought he was just passing through on his way to a screenwriting job in Hollywood. But Brinig fell in love--with the landscape, the burgeoning art colony that centered around Mabel Dodge Luhan, and especially with Cady Wells, a talented young painter who had left his wealthy family in the East to settle in Taos. Brinig remained in the West off and on for the next twenty years.Earl Ganz centers this entertaining novel on Brinig's conflicted relationships with Taos and its denizens. Myron Brinig, a completely forgotten writer, is brought back to center stage, along with many of the people who made Taos the epicenter of the utopian avant garde in America between the world wars. Among the cast of characters are Frieda Lawrence, Robinson and Una Jeffers, and Frank Waters, with cameo appearances by Gertrude Stein and Henry Roth."The Taos Truth Game reminds us that Americans have historically romped through the surprisingly wide open recreational reserves of marriage, sexuality, and friendship. Mr. Ganz exposes the daily drama of life in Mabel Dodge Luhan's orbit, and offers a rare look at our queer heritage in the American West that goes beyond the usual footnote or erasure. By weaving this pastiche from a forgotten novelist's memoirs, Mr. Ganz delightfully resurrects the truth game and invites us to play a hand."--Karl Olson, PRIDE Inc., Montana's LGBT advocacy organization"Earl Ganz pulls off the impossible trick. He raises the famous dead and restores them not just to animated life, but to the full psychological and spiritual life of the living. The Taos Truth Game is a major literary achievement. How Ganz manages to do this is one of fiction writing's enduring and humbling mysteries. This book will have a wide and enthusiastic audience, starting with me."--Rick DeMarinis, author of Apocalypse
