ace

Word Count: Click here to reveal30000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Genderfluid, Lesbian (Click here to hide)

Summary: Welcome to the Skeleton Crew. Bring your knitting needles and a good, strong brew. Gender fluid, autistic vampire Hyde Snodgrass runs Between the Leaves—a cosy village book store. Their life revolves around books, all things autumnal, and the two cats who rule their world. The shop also plays host to a weekly knitting group called the Skeleton Crew. When one of the leaders of the village coven fails to show up for the weekly knitting meeting, Hyde finds themselves investigating a horrific murder side by side with their long-term crush, Teresa Vega. Suspicion immediately falls on other members of their group. Hyde and Teresa struggle to find answers to the growing list of questions. It’s made all the more difficult when the killer has them in their sights. Can working together spark the romantic flame within them? Will they solve the mystery before death comes too close?

Word Count: Click here to reveal89.600 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Gay, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Can you leave your heart on the other side of the galaxy? When Wouter, a down-to-earth dyslexic caretaker, accidentally activates a travel disc sent by his late brother, he finds himself whisked away to a distant planet. Desperate to go home and reassure his grieving mother he’s alive, he’s instead stuck struggling to fill his brother’s shoes to keep the amphibian bani from freezing to death. Nif, a bani healer, clings to human music as a lifeline to memories of joy and a world beyond grief after losing his mate. Intrigued by the culture behind the songs he cherishes, he volunteers for Wouter’s support team—even as many of his kin distrust the humans, fearing exploitation of their fuel production. Their first meeting is one of necessity—a human in need and a bani ready to mend. As they navigate mistranslations, killer plants, and space pirates, a deeper connection blossoms between them. Each shared moment and conquered challenge draws them closer to an inevitable farewell. Will Wouter leave his heart or his home? In this slow-burn ace romance, discover a low-angst intergalactic adventure where true connection transcends stars and species. ___________________________ Content notes are available in the book's front matter and on the author's website.

Word Count: Click here to reveal38000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Aromantic, Bisexual, Demigender, Demisexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Word Count: Click here to reveal30000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Get ready for a charmingly quirky romance with a twist of murder mystery in Honey Mead Murder! Follow the heart-warming story of George Bernard Sheth, a devoted pug and bee lover, who has been secretly crushing on a local mead brewer. But when a customer dies during a mead tasting, Murphy Baird, the brewer, finds himself at the centre of a police investigation. As the two navigate the murder mystery, they find themselves falling deeper in love, all while trying to stay alive long enough for their first date. With meddling friends and unexpected plot twists, "Honey Mead Murder" is a must-read for anyone who loves a good MM romance and a thrilling mystery.

Word Count: Click here to reveal118676 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: Once upon a time, before the hunts, dragons were plentiful in the world. Now they exist only in legend…except in the land of Ivria. Without the Dragon Talent, Sascha has long been told his only value is his ability to make the best match possible, whether as concubine or husband. He has always done what his family  expects of him, cultivating grace and beauty, and when his parents make a match for him, Sascha goes without protest. He never anticipates being contractually bound to a cruel man embroiled in a plot to overthrow the king of Ivria. Or being confronted by the king himself, a man with whom Sascha is disturbed to find himself fascinated. With help from the few people he can trust absolutely, King Lysander is working carefully to uncover the members of a conspiracy to overthrow him and expose the existence of dragons to the world. Apprehending one traitor only complicates the situation further, not the least of which because of the man’s beautiful, intriguing concubine. Who may be involved in the plot and whom Lysander is immediately attracted to. As danger looms, Sascha and Lysander grow closer, but can Lysander trust Sascha with his life and heart? And can Sascha be strong enough to love the dragon king?

Word Count: Click here to reveal30000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Niclas Ruiz loves digging in the dirt for ancient artifacts. He’s obsessed with old words and lives in his own world. His summers are often spent traveling to new places to hunt for treasure with his trusty metal detector while trying not to get lost or stumble off a cliff. Love has never been high on his priority list. His being autistic and asexual has often been a hurdle for other people. But he’s happy enough to plod along on his own with his horde like a fairy-tale dragon. But sometimes, he allows himself to dream about a man out of his reach. Two things about Falk “Grizz” Evensen are certain. He runs a successful security firm and has been hopelessly in love with his best friend’s younger brother for many years. Neither of them has ever dared to test the waters. When Niclas plans to visit Cornwall for the summer, his older brother convinces Falk to join him under the auspices of keeping him safe. Is this May-December romance doomed to be derailed by fears of unrequited love? Will their treasure hunt lead them to true love or fool’s gold?

Word Count: Click here to reveal53,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: “Orcs are the answer but what is the question?” Elias is a priest at the Temple of the Divine Sibyl. When he becomes lost in the woods after his brother’s hunting party abandons him, it’s just his luck that he’d stumble upon an angry orc caught in a trap. Unable to stomach the suffering of others, Elias throws self-preservation to the wind and frees the orc. Then Gurrkk—that’s a name?—ends up leading him to safety. Gurrkk finds himself rather smitten by the sweet, awkward human. He’s always been fascinated with his people’s sworn enemy, and now he has a life debt to fulfill to maintain his honor. Hiding an orc among the temple’s crypts wouldn’t have been Elias’s first choice but Gurrkk is stubborn about leaving. As they learn each other’s languages and spend more time together, Elias realizes they’ve become friends… and maybe more. And when the dying sibyl gives her last prophecy, Elias knows it wasn’t chance that brought them together, it was the gods. But why? This is a sweet, ace romance, so no sexy times, but plenty of snuggles and cuddles!

Word Count: Click here to reveal180000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Pansexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: At nearly thirty-one years old, Pittsburgh Griffins captain Elias Karlsson’s hockey years are numbered. Everything is changing around him, including his eleven-year friendship with Nikolai Sidorov. Elias would give anything for Nisha to be a permanent part of his life, but their once bedrock-strong bond has broken into a million pieces, and Elias doesn’t know why. More than anything, Elias wants his friend back, but if that isn’t an option, maybe it’s time for him to look outside of hockey for someone to be there with him when hockey isn’t an option anymore. Nisha’s world is splintering apart. He’s been in love with his two best friends for years, but now one of them has someone. The other, Elias, is searching for everything Nisha wishes he could give him… but he’s looking for it in anyone but Nisha. The farther his friends slip away, the deeper the loneliness sinks in and the bleaker his empty future looks. What can he do but numb the pain in the only ways he knows how? On the eve of the season opener, Nisha’s unexplained absence threatens the cohesion of the team and puts him and Elias on a collision course of strong wills, broken hearts, and shattered trust. In the end, they may lose the very thing that matters most to them both: each other. Scoreless Game is approximately 180,000 words, including a bonus short story. This asexual-pansexual romance is book 2 in the On the Board series. CW: on-page struggles with alcoholism and binge-drinking, suicidal ideation, toxic family dynamics, acephobia

Word Count: Click here to reveal112000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Aromantic, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Be not inhospitable to – handsome – demons, lest they be angels in disguise. Two things are well-known about Alberto. One: he's gorgeous. Like it or not, like him or not, there's no debating that. Two: Alberto feels nothing and everyone constantly jokes about it. There isn't much else to say about him. Floating about like a drifting cloud, Alberto likes minding his own business, but out of nowhere, an angry guy named Mathias charges into his life, demanding answers. Deep down, he knows Mathias isn't the solution to his problems, but it doesn't matter, as long as he feels something. But here's the annoying thing with feelings: they can sneak up on you at the least opportune time... *** Mathias is new in town and enrolled at Colette International due to unfortunate circumstances. His devotion to his family places him face to face with a puzzling equation, one he never thought he'd have to solve before. Now he's forced into the path of a schoolmate he particularly dislikes, and not without reasons. The only problem is, he can't seem to take his eyes, nor his hands, off him. He was promised a peaceful senior year after everything he went through. But Mathias already knows life is never that easy. And now he's in the thralls of an unfeeling demon.     He Looks So Fine is a seven-part story about two young men's rediscovery of empowerment, communication and trust, about the lasting damages of trauma and the healing virtues of friendship. Part One is 360 pages long and contains arcs 1 to 3 pertaining to Alberto and Mathias's journey. The upcoming Part Two is longer; it contains arcs 4 to 7 and concludes their story. As it features several characters from the previous books, it's usually recommended to read the series from the start. However, the tone of this story is darker and more mature and differs from the rest of the series. As a result, this book can also be enjoyed as a standalone. Content Warning:Due to the presence of difficult themes, sexual content and other potentially upsetting scenes, this work isn't intended for readers below the age of eighteen. (A full content warning list can be found at the beginning of the book.) This is not a happy book! This work explores themes such as depression and grief.  If you're looking for fluffy romance, please select another book/author.

Word Count: Click here to reveal30,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce (Click here to hide)

Summary: When Andriana Milne-Marchetti kisses an old family friend under an apple tree, she never imagines he’ll run halfway around the world and stay gone for three years. Thirty-five-year-old asexual Andie runs a small remote family farm in Scotland. She’s happy with her fruit trees and berries. Her Airedale terrier, Rupert, provides all the companionship she needs. But her heart longs for one man, who probably never felt more than friendship for her. Silver fox Docherty Fabre returns home to Scotland, hoping to break through a year-long battle with writer’s block. He’s taking up residence in a tiny cottage on the Milne-Marchetti farm. Now, if he can avoid embarrassing himself for a second time in front of Andie, everything will be fine. Their second chance at romance comes from a year-long lockdown that prevents them from running away from their feelings. With no one else around, can they find love in the orchard one more time?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Straight, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Weeks into the Progress, and with months still to go, Aria and her Companions have left their allies behind as they move into unfamiliar territory. Awaiting them are friends and enemies, long-buried secrets and truths finally revealed. And a Seer, a son of Earth, who wanders the hills and speaks of the Child, a baby born of all four tribes. Aria’s child. The Seer’s visions say that the Child will bring peace to the world. But at what cost?

Word Count: Click here to reveal100000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Gay, Non Binary, Questioning (Click here to hide)

Summary: Nineteen-year-old Bruno has a secret he can never tell. The sort of secret that means he can never have anything more than sort of friends. Never get close to anyone. Never have a random hook-up or even a kiss—apart from that one time in a club when some beautiful guy wearing luminous wings and neon bangles up his arms, kissed him. His secret means getting fired from job after job washing dishes, until delivering mysterious packages around London is his only way of making any money. His secret means his life is, at its heart, a lie. Bruno thinks he can live that lie. Alone in his empty, furniture-less flat, he thinks he has to. Until the lonely boy next door throws up on him and they get stuck in a lift together. But that’s the problem when someone starts to care about you, your secrets get harder to hide. And as he and Alexei gets closer, Bruno realises that his only real choice is between hiding his heart and trusting it. Alexei is confused. About everything. Hiding out in a room in his cousin's flat, he tries to convince himself that’s where he needs to stay. Bad things happen outside. Things that might make his world grow even darker. Things he doesn’t think he can deal with. He doesn’t want to have feelings for Bruno. Feelings terrify him. But when he starts to understand Bruno has his own troubles, helping him becomes the only thing Alexei wants to do.

Word Count: Click here to reveal33000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Aromantic, Bisexual, Demigender, Demisexual, Gay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Intersex, Lesbian, Non Binary, Questioning, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Straight, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Clarity (noun) Four definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) Coherent and intelligible 2) Transparent or pure 3) Attaining certainty about something 4) Easy to see or hear Clarity features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

Word Count: Click here to reveal115000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Gay, Genderqueer, Lesbian, Non Binary, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Frontiers have always attracted the Other - where they find that the Other is always already there. These 22 stories explore what happens when queer characters encounter weirdness on the edge of the worlds they know. Authors include: Julie Bozza, J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Miguel Flores, Adele Gardner, Roy Gray, KC Grifant, Peter Hackney, Bryn Hammond, Narrelle M Harris, Justin Warren Jackson, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Angus McIntyre, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, and Dawn Vogel.

Word Count: Click here to reveal50,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce (Click here to hide)

Summary: Murder comes knocking when a killer hunts for budding amateur detective Pineapple “Motts” Mottley in the fourth novel of the Motts Cold Case Mystery series. The past and present collide for Motts when two serial killer brothers barge into her plans for Christmas in London. Her desire to solve her childhood friend’s murder brings her ever closer to danger. She finds herself one fall away from the grave herself. When one of her former primary school teachers winds up dead in her burning house, Motts realizes the mystery is far more twisted than she ever imagined. Is she running out of time to catch not one but two killers? What sort of macabre gift will Motts find wrapped under the tree?

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Straight, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: Once an exile, Matthias returns to lead his home Enclave and settles into a new life with his beloved Solomon. Struggling with his new role and responsibilities toward the new town of Sanctuary and the people who had once rejected him, he knows that the relative peace he’s found is temporary—the forces that destroyed Haven are still out there, and he knows that they’ll come looking for him. Until they do, there are alliances to make, mouths to feed, and people who look to him to protect them. Then tragedy strikes, sending Matthias, Solomon and Tam out once more, seeking answers in the forbidden north; answers that may lead to new beginnings, or to the end of everything they’ve ever known.

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Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Demisexual, Gay, Pansexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: What do you get when you throw a burly blacksmith and the town’s poster child for clumsiness together? A whole lot of swearing and a threatening use of duct tape. And the need to construct a sign that reads, “DO NOT LET CAMPBELL NEAR THE FORGE!” Alabaster Falls’ local blacksmith, Daughtry Blackburn, was satisfied with his reclusive status. He had iron to bend and orders to fill but he knew he needed something to take the business to the next level. His father had fought taking their business into the twenty-first century, but since he’d passed, it was up to Daughtry to keep things forward moving and he knew there was no way to do so without being on the World Wide Web. Metalworking, he got. Computers, not so much. Campbell Jenkins was desperate to be accepted by his peers in the little town he’d called home since birth. Problem was, he was accident-prone. Not just in the sense of an occasional break here or there, but in a can’t walk by glass without it shattering – even when it seemed he was a mile away type of thing. No matter how hard he tried to fit in, this curse led to failure. Forced to stay stuck inside the walls of the home his grandmother left him, he spent his time learning all he could about computers and social media. His online friends never cast him aside—too bad the real world wasn’t as kind. When he answers an ad in the local paper for online marketing assistance, he wasn’t sure what to expect. Least of all, the brawny man answering the door to a log cabin that had seen better days. Can two opposites in forced proximity learn to play nicely or will one wind up in an iron grave?

Word Count: Click here to reveal56800 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Demisexual, Gay (Click here to hide)

Summary: Being in tech time-out totally sucks. Hector Gonzales knew the danger when he hacked the magic grid to marry it with human technology. He’d never imagined this system crash: A total tech suspension while the tradition-bound supe council reviews his case. He’s reduced to running errands for his friends, and seriously? How had people survived before GPS? Then several wrong turns—thank you so much, stupid paper map—lead him to a remote burger joint. And when he spots the cute guy behind the counter? His wolf wakes up and howls You have arrived at your destination. Getting fired—again—totally sucks. Rafi Abbas tries to give customers what they want, he really does. However, when he gets distracted by the lovely man with the gorgeous brown skin, he screws up another customer’s order and his boss fires him on the spot. With no money, no job, and soon nowhere to live, Rafi has no business saying yes when the lovely man asks him out. But something about Hector whispers home. Obeying the Secrecy Pact totally sucks. To keep the supe community safe, werewolves cannot partner romantically with humans. That rule has been programmed into Hector since he was a pup. But as the day slides from bad to worse to are-you-freaking-kidding-me, Hector sees the moratorium for what it is: ridiculous and outdated. For Rafi, he’s willing to challenge the status quo. After all, things can’t very well get worse than worst. Right?   The Skinny on Djinni is a M/M paranormal romance set in E.J. Russell’s popular Mythmatched story universe. While it features instinctual attraction, fated mates are not a thing. You’ll recognize some familiar faces from other Mythmatched tales, and although the romance—complete with HEA—stands alone, the story answers a couple of long-standing questions!

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Pansexual, Straight (Click here to hide)

Summary: Still reeling from his final encounter with the Elders, Matthias finally reaches the promised safety of Haven. There, he is met with suspicion and accusations, learning too late that the new world he’s entered is built on as many illusions and lies as the world he’s left behind, and that the safe home he’s been searching for isn’t safe after all. When all the illusions come crashing down, and Matthias barely escapes with his life and his friends, he finds himself going back to the start—and finds himself one step closer to the truth.

Word Count: Information not available

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay, Questioning (Click here to hide)

Summary: Summer romance is not for those who are led by their heart. For Jonah Thomas, life is wake up, eat breakfast, go to work at his family’s restaurant Ahoy Matey’s. Lather, rinse, repeat. Next! His hometown, the sleepy little Stoney Brook, Maine, doesn’t offer much for someone like Jonah. He’s not really living and has no clear path in front of him. Jonah merely…exists. Party boy, Micah Hannigan is determined to enjoy the summer before his final year of college. Stoney Brooke, Maine is not on his bucket list. Two weeks there with his family is a life sentence, especially when his friends are living it up on the beaches of Florida where he should be. Micah has plans, lots of them but he’d never factored in meeting the beautiful and intriguing Jonah Thomas. It’s crazy how love always finds a way when you least expect it.