New fiction
Romance, murder mysteries, coming out tales, erotica… the best new fiction for gay men.
The latest titles…
Sugarless: A Novel by James Magruder
Things look bad for Rick Lahrem, a high school sophomore in a cookie-cutter Chicago suburb in 1976. His mother’s second husband is a licensed psychologist who eats like an ape, his stepsister is a stoner slut, and his father is engaged to a Southern belle. Rick’s only solace is his growing collection of original Broadway-cast LPs, bought on the sly at Wax Trax. After he brings two girls in speech class to tears by reading a story aloud, Rick is coaxed onto the interscholastic forensics team to perform an eight-minute dramatic interpretation of The Boys in the Band, the controversial sixties play about homosexuality. Unexpectedly successful at this oddball event, Rick begins winning tournaments and making friends with his teammates. Rick also discovers the joys of sex — with a speech coach from a rival school — just as his mother, reacting to a deteriorating home environment, makes an unnerving commitment to Christ. The newly confident Rick assumes this too shall pass — until the combined forces of family, sex, and faith threaten to undo him at the state meet in Peoria. James Magruder’s Sugarless offers a ruefully entertaining take on the simultaneous struggles of coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming-to-Jesus.
Divas Las Vegas by Rob Rosen
What happens when you find out that Grandma's vase mistakenly sold at a yard sale is worth tens of thousands of dollars—and somebody else is about to cash in on it on Antiques Roadshow? Of course, you hop on a plane with your best friend and race off to Las Vegas to get Grandma's vase back! Filled with action and suspense, hunky blackjack dealers, divine drag queens, strange sex, and sex in strange places, plus a Federal agent or two, Divas Las Vegas puts the sin in Sin City. A fun, new take on the murder mystery genre, Rob Rosen's Divas Las Vegas is a hilarious, touching, and compulsively readable page turner! “What could be more fun than a trip to Las Vegas with your gay best friend? Justin and Em go to search for an antique heirloom vase, but take plenty of wacky detours on their way to find it. Rob Rosen’s Divas Las Vegas is a thrill ride of classic camp comedy that gets even crazier when “real girl” friend Glenda comes down from San Francisco to join the guys. From time to time Rosen lets Em talk directly to the reader, giving us a travelogue of sex in high- (and low-) end resort casinos. Throw a Patsy Cline impersonator into the mix with all the murder, thievery and mayhem and you have so many outlandish situations that it makes me wish I’d written this book myself.” — Mark Abramson, author of the Beach Reading series
Lover's Knot: A Romance by Donald Hardy
Jonathan Williams has inherited Trevaglan Farm from a distant relative. With his best friend, Alayne, in tow, Jonathan returns to the estate to take possession, meet the current staff, and generally learn what it’s like to live as the landed gentry now. He’d only been there once before, fourteen years earlier. But that was a different time, he’s a different person now, determined to put that experience out of his mind and his heart…. The locals agree that Jonathan is indeed different from the lost young man he was that long ago summer, when he arrived at the farm for a stay after his mother died. Back then the hot summer days were filled with sunshine, the nearby ocean, and a new friend, Nat. Jonathan and the farmhand had quickly grown close, Jonathan needing comfort in the wake of his grief, and Nat basking in the peace and love he didn’t have at home. But that was also a summer of rumors and strange happenings in the surrounding countryside, romantic triangles and wronged lovers. Tempers would flare like a summer lightning storm, and ebb just as quickly. By the summer’s end, one young man was dead, and another haunted for life. Now Jonathan is determined to start anew. Until he starts seeing the ghost of his former friend everywhere he looks. Until mementos of that summer idyll reappear. Until Alayne’s life is in danger. Until the town’s resident witch tells Jonathan that ghosts are real. And this one is tied to Jonathan unto death…
Tangled Web: A Romance by Lee Rowan
Regency London… Brendan Townsend is a young man who is very loyal to his friends. So when Tony—his best friend, occasional lover, and a complete screw-up—comes to him in trouble, Brendan is determined to help. Tony is being blackmailed by the owner of a “molly house”, the private club that Tony—and other like-minded gentlemen—frequent in order to indulge their entertainment needs. Brendan is disappointed in his friend, but goes to seek the help of his older brother’s military commander. Philip Carlisle is a gentleman to Society, and also a man Brendan’s brother trusted completely and told his younger brother to seek out if he ever was in trouble. Philip is a 40-year-old widower, and finds himself charmed, for the first time, by an attractive young man. Brendan is likewise besotted with hero-worship, especially when Philip turns the tables on the blackmailer and saves the day for many of Society’s closeted sons. What follows is a tale of desire, regrets, cross-country pursuit, hidden identities, lovers torn asunder then reunited, clever cover stories, and the requisite pistols at dawn.
The Silver Hearted: A Novel by David McConnell
Set against a background of revolution and profiteering of an unnamed port town, the story’s unnamed narrator is hired to protect a vast sum of money shadowy investors have entrusted to him. Literally chests of silver coins, this fortune must be protected at all costs. He turns for assistance to a naïve sailor, beautiful and young, who helps the narrator evacuate his money from a trading emporium overrun by violent mobs. With a hopeless fondness, the boy wants acknowledgement that lives have been destroyed for the sake of money. Unfortunately the ruthless calculus of profit and loss has an eerie appeal the narrator can’t shake, and the mobs are closing in. And he again has to get his fortune out of the city he’s found uneasy shelter in. “The Silver Hearted is our Heart of Darkness. It is just as ominous, as violent, as exotic, as darkly colonial. But it is a lot better written than Conrad’s book. Whereas Conrad is always resorting to ‘the unspeakable,’ McConnell tells us everything in glowing detail and in fresh, eloquent language. Sexy, demonic, elusive, The Silver Hearted is a perfect work of art.” — Edmund White
Shelter: A Novel by Caleb McCarthy
Shelter centers on a young man, Zach, in San Pedro, California, who gives up on his dream of art school in order to provide for his family, consisting of his aging father and his young nephew Cody, whose mother Jeanne has decided her priorities lie elsewhere. When his best friend's brother Shaun returns to town, Zach finds in him a friend and confidant. As Zach becomes increasingly attracted to Shaun, their casual surfing relationship turns into much more, setting off a chain of events that forces Zach to choose between continuing to put others first or fighting for what he wants for himself.
Best Gay Romance 2010
Best Gay Romance 2010 covers every romantic possibility with first love, true love, wake-up sex, makeup sex and everything in between. Richard Labonté has gathered a sensational collection of stories about finding love at home, at work, at any age, and often in the most unexpected places. Contributor David Holly's "meet cute" hook-up in "Guy Sydney," is a thoroughly modern love story, while Elazarus Wills's dramatic "A Companion for the Road" shows that many things get better with age. Trebor Healy's New Orleans star-crossed lovers in "Trunk" encounter voodoo, hoodoo, and an unexpectedly sweet surprise. Each story is redolent with romance, great sex, and characters who are fully fleshed out in more ways than one. Sometimes rowdy, always randy, and surprisingly tender, these tales celebrate the coming together of souls as well as bodies. Whether happily ever after or just a happy ending, Labonté continues to raise the bar on gay love stories.
Best Gay Erotica 2010
Writers clamor to get into the Best Gay Erotica series because it sets the bar for the highest quality of sexy, gay stories. Richard Labonté is an icon in the field of erotic and romantic writing who has a knack for finding seductive, literary talent. Blair Mastbaum, author, editor, producer, and actor, selected this year's crop, picking top-notch stories that are unparalleled in hotness and excellence. Best Gay Erotica 2010 is the biggest page-turner of them all, with stories running the gamut of gay male sexual experiences, from first times to one-night stands, from long-time lovers to explosive group get-togethers. In "A Beautiful Place," a young male ingenue brings Hollywood to its knees, literally. "The Suburban Boy" reveals that the real magic kingdom in central Florida, where every erotic wish comes true. Contributors include Simon Sheppard, Rachel Kramer Bussel, David Holly, Nick Hudson, Marvin Partridge, Thom Wolf, and Jamie Freeman.
Elsewhere…
E Lynn Harris wowed more than three million readers with the wicked drama and undeniable heart in his novels.
This isn't porn accompanied by a wah-wah guitar, this is porn to the strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy.
M W Moore began writing while incarcerated in 1997, serving a 15-year prison term for several bank robberies.
Finding Me is a fresh, new “indie” film about a young black man’s journey of self-discovery, affirmation and love.
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