genderqueer

Word Count: Click here to reveal7,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: What would the Earth look like if the very atoms that compose the planet were suffused with magical aether? How would our lives in the modern world be different if this aether was discovered last year, or last decade, or last century, or last millennia? How might the people who inhabit this oh-so-different but still modern Earth explore their gender identities? These are the questions we posed to the 17 authors chosen to contribute to Duck Prints Press's newest anthology Aether Beyond the Binary. Their diverse answers are bound together in this must-not-miss collection of stories about magical worlds, adventures and mysteries, new chances and well-earned endings, and characters as gender-diverse as the worlds they inhabit.

Word Count: Click here to reveal87400 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer (Click here to hide)

Summary: A winter storm blows through Salem, Massachusetts, setting young witch Alexander MacBeth on a perilous path to adulthood as his dying mother gifts him an heirloom and pleads for him to use it to survive. To do so, he will need to perfect his inherited witchcraft to protect himself from those who want him dead. In his journey to adulthood, he falls in love with dashing nobleman Crispin Nottingham. Abandoned by Crispin and pursued by the Puritans, he finds he must harness the wind to assist his escape and flee his homeland aboard a pirate ship led by the handsome captain, Henri the Twisted. Struggling against distrustful pirates, an evil witch, and his continued longing for Crispin, Alexander sharpens his magical skills and falls into a romance with Henri. Chaos and danger confront him at every turn, even as he searches for love and belonging. A new sail on the horizon may signal hope or more danger than ever before—if Alexander can survive to meet his future.

Word Count: Click here to reveal28,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGenderqueer, Pansexual, Polyamorous (Click here to hide)

Summary: This isn't the homecoming they were expecting... Marshall and Rowan have been waiting for their thirtieth birthday for ten years. It's the day they can finally inherit the neighboring houses where they grew up side by side, which had been left to them by their mothers after a freak accident took their lives. Kept apart almost constantly since the age of eighteen, first by college, then by their careers, both Marshall and Rowan are excited to finally stop long-distance dating and start the next stage of their lives, together. They'll finally be home. But little do they know they'll not only be inheriting their childhood homes, but much more. Because there's a family legacy they never knew of, one filled with the magic of angels and a destiny to protect the world from a powerful demon expected to return from Hell very soon. Together, Marshall and Rowan, with the help of two Fallen angels, must learn to master their new powers to defeat demons - starting with the one who caused their mothers' fatal accident. If they can't, it won't just be their lives on the line, but the lives of everyone they've ever cared about. The Angelic Blood Chronicles is a queer paranormal romance series that includes polyamorous arrangements, both new and established relationships, and a strong found family element.

Word Count: Click here to reveal138000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Genderqueer, Polyamorous (Click here to hide)

Summary: Only I would start my new semester at the dark witch academy with a kidnapping (mine) on dragonback and end the night with a marriage proposal I don’t want from the King of the Dark Fae. My intense and sinister kidnapper. Suddenly I’m not only Zara Gemini, the wild rebel queen who’s supposed to save the witching world. I’m the misfit new student at the Avalon Academy for Promising Royals of the Faerie Court. And the unwilling future bride of Zephyr, the Dark Fae King. He claims our union is his last chance to break this curse that’s destroying his realm. Plus I’m already up to my royal neck in dangerous warlocks who’ll kill to rule at my side. Sounds delish, right? Not so much. See, the enchanted secret world of Avalon has a dark side, and so does this Hades-Persephone fairytale my latest suitor and I are enacting. Sure, Zephyr might be powerful as a god. He’s the sexy-pretty hottie every Fae at court is jonesing to shag. Turns out he’s also twisted AF. Let’s just call Zephyr a fixer-upper. Thankfully, my warlocks track me to Avalon, and they’ve got a hate-hate history with Zephyr. They’re hella determined to help me bust out of this joint and get us all back home to our cobbled-together found family. First I’ve got a curse to break and a kingdom to save. That’s gonna take all seven of my witchy suitors learning to trust each other, plus something even more risky from the Dark Fae King to me and my guys. That twisty, shifty, shattered heart of his needs to dare to love. Gemini Wild is a spicy paranormal why-choose romance and the sequel to Gemini Kings. This LGBT-friendly adult academy series delivers wolf and dragon shifters, dragon riders, teacher-student forbidden heat, first-time MM, bi awakening, all swords crossed, a badass queen who never has to choose, and flaming fast-burn heat!

Word Count: Click here to reveal58000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealDemisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Questioning, Pansexual (Click here to hide)

Summary: John, 41, settles in Leicester after his divorce, with hopes of becoming the best version of himself as he builds a new life. He makes friends, starts doing yoga, and joins an RPG campaign. Only one day, he realises he might just have fallen in love with his best friend. Oops. After kissing Stu at a wedding, John runs away, convinced he's ruined things. Only when he finds out that all their friends had suspected he and Stu might have been attracted to each other, he wonders if there's actually a chance for him to fix things... Will they manage to properly communicate and sort themselves out? In this slow paced tale of falling in love over time, follow these characters on their journey to self discovery and acceptance, and found family. This is a story about love in all its forms: friendship, romantic, the family we are born with, and the one we end up choosing.

Word Count: Click here to reveal85700 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Genderqueer (Click here to hide)

Summary: War brews among vampires. Facing extinction at the hands of an ancient one, the Vampire Council plods along with a secret strategy. Jaret Bachmann, both vampire and witch, fears the Council elders move too slowly. He has the power to assist them in defeating their enemy, but the longer they keep him at arm’s length the more defiant he becomes. He’s already pushing the boundaries to assert his will when tragedy strikes, devastating him and compelling him to become even more rebellious. A young vampire alone in the world, Jaret struggles to find his true self and discover how he wants to spend the remainder of his eternal life, even as the vampire war intensifies and the rogue vampire strikes again. To compound his problems, he’s faced with the allure of a hot renegade vampire, not sure if he is friend or foe. Who will win the war, and where will Jaret’s soul-searching lead him? Find out in The Vampire’s War.

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 reveal149,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Genderqueer, Questioning, Polyamorous (Click here to hide)

Summary: I summon the lightning. I claim my power. The warlocks of Icarus Academy claim me. I start my night as a cat burglar in Singapore and I end up queen of the witching world. Too bad this rags-to-riches fairytale's a gig I never applied for and won't accept. My witchcraft is wild and lethal, so I've renounced my power. I'm a fish out of water at Icarus Academy. But these four sexy warlocks who rule the school just won't take no for an answer. They want me to claim my power. They want me to summon the lightning. And they want to claim me as their consort. Because the witching world is dying, and I'm their last chance. But there's a queen killer on the hunt. Unless I figure out how to claim my power before the killer claims my head, there's a global extinction event looming. With my name written all over it. One-click for an intense dark witch academy poly paranormal romance that delivers teacher-student forbidden love, steamy group encounters, possessive warlocks, sexy shifters, first-time M/M, bi awakening, a lightning witch heroine who doesn't have to choose, and enough MMMMF heat to set your Academy uniform on fire. (Contains M/M, M/F, and MMMMF encounters)

Word Count: Click here to reveal125,000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Genderqueer, Lesbian (Click here to hide)

Summary: Bound by love, separated by a tragic mistake; can two Indigenous women realize their happy ending? Long ago, in an age of mysticism, Walks with Spirits, a two-spirit woman, perceives voices whispering on the wind and they empower her with the gift of calling animals. But who she truly wishes to call to her side is her childhood friend, Laughing Brook. Daughter of a shaman and an herbalist-midwife, Laughing Brook holds a prominent place in her society and bears the responsibilities it entails. She is training to be a healer like her mother, but her most compelling desire is to spend her life with Walks with Spirits. When a misunderstanding crushes their dreams of happiness, both women must learn to face the trials that await them in a land where danger lurks behind every tree and honor means more than life. Will the spirits intervene on their behalf, or are they fated never to manifest their visions of love? Walks with Spirits is a historical fantasy set in an ancient time. Packed with Native American themes, heart-touching imagery, and an epic love story, Walks with Spirits will immerse you in an inspiring view of life.

Word Count: Click here to reveal110000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealGay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: Love and acceptance in the small-town of Hollyridge, where there's romance around each corner and dog-friendly wine bars in every neighborhood. Love in Hollyridge is five interconnected novellas, all dual POV. Featuring: age-gap, finding home, loving again, match-making dogs, supportive friends, friends to lovers, instalove, fabulousness, gender fluid character, gay awakening, sleigh rides, hot cider, true love. ♥ Love Limited Edition Will a goofy Labrador, bookish magic and a little assistance from friends, help two men realize their chance at happiness? Brett Tanner never thought he’d love again, it was too much to ask, or want. Then Rory stumbles into Brett's bookstore one evening, awakening his heart. Rory is struggling to find his place in the world. He'd thought moving to the big city was what he needed, but maybe home is where his heart belongs? Originally published in the anthology, Between the Covers. Has been lightly re-edited. ♥ Love Vintage Blend One man is rebuilding his life; the other is trying to keep his from falling apart. Zach is struggling to keep his boutique winery afloat and the summer intern is one more body that will help it happen. One look at Jeff, and Zach knew it was going to be a long, hard summer. ♥ Love Finds a Home Wyatt loves Bennett. Bennett believes he is unlovable. One of them is wrong. ♥ Love From a Stone Skylar Jones has arrived in Hollyridge. Wallace has never hidden his sexuality but as an older, gay, man in a small town, he’s well aware of the haters. Sky is who he is, with no shame. If people don’t appreciate that he’s fabulous they can look the other way. Sky does, however, have a weakness for grouchy old bears and ugly dogs. ♥ Love Comes Home: bonus holiday novella. Elvis has left the building. Again. Rockstar Milo Zajac is back in Hollyridge, hoping to figure out what to do next. Impulsively he bought an old house that needs a lot of work, and he's living there with his husky, Elvis, a master escape artist. When a young husky dog shows up on Davey Childs's ranch, he takes it to the vet, only to discover the irresponsible owner is the grown-up version of the boy he had a crush on in high school. It figures that the eighteen year-old who blew him off has grown into a man who lets his dog run wild. But...it's the holiday season, magic happens. Maybe the two lonely men will find their way back to each other. Maybe the right time is now, not ten years ago.

Word Count: Click here to reveal36000 (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: INK (NOUN) Five definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) A colored fluid used for writing 2) The action of signing a deal 3) A black liquid ejected by squid 4) Publicity in the written media 5) A slang word for tattoos Ink 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 reveal45000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: Grey I was just a divorced, small town, hardware store owner, and the man most people considered a gentleman. A slip up in my strict routine would send the town gossips into a frenzy. Yet I'd grown up in that town and everyone knew everyone. No secrets were safe, but I carried one that would send my world into chaos if I let it. I was falling for a town transplant and one of my best friends, Sugar. He was everything I wasn't. Spontaneous, fun, and knew exactly who he was. What would he see in a boring man like me? Sugar (Shug) I was that fat, nonbinary person who hadn't known the inside of a closet in my life. With a mom like mine, she taught me to never live with regrets, but I had a massive one. I fell in love with my straight, gentlemanly best friend. Grey was everything I wasn't. Thankfully, he was clueless, but our shared friend group wasn't. How long could our friends stay silent in a town as small as ours?

Word Count: Click here to reveal65,255 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Is there a time limit on love and forgiveness? Fifteen years ago, Manny didn’t show up to take Wes to the Shelby High School prom as he promised. Instead, Wes found Manny’s letter jacket at their meeting spot without a note or any explanation. From college to his current job in Monterey, California, Wes has carted the jacket around as a memento of his teenage love and rejection. This year he decides enough is enough. He’s attending the high school class reunion, returning Manny’s jacket, and going home free to find the real love of his life. When Manny sees Wes at the reunion tour of the new high school facilities, he’s determined not to let his teenage lover leave without them clearing the air and possibly getting back together. Through reunion activities such as a quiz bowl, meet-and-greet meals, and a formal banquet with a prom-like ball as well as outside activities like the quinceañera of Manny’s niece, Wes and Manny work through the lies and misunderstandings of the past. With so much to reconcile and forgive on both sides, will they end up together? Or go their separate ways with only memories of the past?

Word Count: Click here to reveal80000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Demisexual, Gay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Intersex, Lesbian, Non Binary, Questioning, Straight (Click here to hide)

Summary: “In The Unicorn, The Mystery, we meet a unicorn who tells us the story of the seven tapestries, called “The Hunt of the Unicorn” from the 1500s on display in “the unicorn room” in The Cloister in Manhattan, now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The tapestries tell the story of what is still called an “unsolved mystery.” The story is set in an abbey in France not far from the barn in the countryside where the tapestries were discovered. Pursued by a band of hunters, the unicorn is led along by observing birds, smelling and eating the abbey flowers and fruits (including imbibing in fermented pomegranates), pursuing chaste maidens (there is one in the tapestry) and at times speaks to other animals such as the majestic stag. A magical, medieval world through the eyes of a unicorn and the heretical young monk who is enthralled by her is in The Unicorn, The Mystery by Janet Mason. Hunters are out to capture and perhaps kill the unicorn. The monk’s devotion may turn out to be the unicorn’s rescue or downfall. Like a beautiful tapestry, the novel weaves together theological debate and unforgettable characters, including queer nuns and their secret cat companion. Mason blends myth and history to conjure up a spellbinding vision.” - Kittredge Cherry, Publisher, Qspirit.net, Author of “Jesus in Love: A Novel” “In her latest novel, The Unicorn, the Mystery, Janet Mason weaves a fascinating tale told from the alternating perspectives of a unicorn and a monk. With the gorgeous and magical Unicorn Tapestries at the Cloisters in New York as a conduit, Janet Mason unfolds her story with lyricism, poetry, philosophy, and a profound spiritual consciousness.” - Maria Fama, Poet and Educator, author of The Good for the Good, Other Nations: an animal journal, and other books. “The Unicorn, The Mystery has all the big ideas -- passion, redemption, guilt, loneliness, empathy, pride, destiny, humility, lust, and love — told in simple, down-to-earth language. The unicorn's story will resonate with me for a long time.” - Louis Greenstein, author, The Song of Life Janet Mason, an award-winning creative writer, is the author of THEY, a biblical tale of secret genders (Adelaide Books; 2018). Her book Tea Leaves, a memoir of mothers and daughters (Bella Books; 2012) was chosen by the American Library Association for its 2013 Over the Rainbow List. Tea Leaves also received a Goldie Award. Mason is also a teacher, a Unitarian Universalist lay minister, and blogger.

Word Count: Click here to reveal57,500 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Several years ago, Will's best friend ran away with an alien to live happily ever after. They've kept in touch, but Will misses the man that might as well be his brother. So, he decides he's going to go visit. Who cares if visiting requires a trip to outer space? No big deal, right? Ticheck met Will for the first time while trying to find a friend who had gotten lost. Since then, they've seen him a couple times a year at most. Ticheck wasn't expecting him to be coming for a surprise visit, and they definitely weren't expecting to end up with him as a temporary roommate when cramped quarters on the ship force them to share. From strangers, to surprise roommates, to friends…and maybe something else? But do they dare to dream of a life together when they literally come from two different worlds? Roommates and Space Trees is a sweet asexual romance. It is book two in the Iska Universe series, but can be read as a stand-alone.

Word Count: Click here to reveal47000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Bisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Non Binary (Click here to hide)

Summary: In the middle of a training trip, Keeska's shuttle navigation fails and strands Keeska on Earth—alone, no way to contact home, and with no chance of help from the locals...until one does. When Eric starts leaving food in front of an abandoned storefront in the crappy strip mall by his house, he thought he was helping a dog or a homeless kid. He gets the shock of his life when he discovers an alien instead. Not sure what else to do, especially with the alien bleeding and in shock, Eric realizes he's about to have an unusual houseguest. But as Keeska's health improves, they both forget that Keeska should probably be finding a way home. As they grow increasingly close, they are forced to figure out the answers to questions they never thought would have to be asked...

Word Count: Click here to reveal100500 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealAce, Genderqueer, Non Binary, Pansexual, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: For Ress, survival is a complicated nightmare. Caught between two masters on different sides of the law, his life is falling apart one bad decision at a time. All he wants is to be is a good person, a loyal family man, and a successful metalsmith—a dream he can never obtain while he works for the Shar-denn, the violent gang that plagues the republic of Kattal. To make matters worse, he works as an informant for the High Council. He scrapes through both jobs waiting for his last breath. As the Shar-denn motto says: the only way out is dead. No stranger to living complicated decisions, Adren is caught between worlds of cir own. As the child of a Shar-denn faction boss, cir life is a conflicted tangle of expectation and duty. When cir family is arrested, Adren manages to escape, but nowhere is safe. Desperate and on the run, Adren is determined to punish Ress for turning in cir family. No one who betrays the gang can live. Ress must pay the price, even if Adren has to go against everything ce is.

Word Count: Click here to reveal40000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Demisexual, Genderqueer, Non Binary, Pansexual, Polyamorous, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: After four years in the Alpha Centauri solar system, astrobiologist Dath Bellin is relieved to be back at ECHO-Crosspoint Space Station. His next mission: return to Earth and take a vacation. There's family to see, R&R to catch up on, and Imbolc to celebrate with his Druid grove—everything he could hope for from a Canadian winter. Unfortunately, everything goes wrong before he can even leave the station. There's also the matter of his exes, whom he can't have back no matter how much he wants them, not after his horrible mistake. For the past four years, Mack Ainsley Tsallis and Kytzia Polović have wanted to know why Dath left them the way he did. They're determined to win him back together, especially since Mack is convinced Dath wasn't completely honest with xem and Kytzia before he ran off to Alpha Centauri. Being ignored isn't cutting it anymore: it's time to start fresh and prove the three of them are perfect for each other.

Word Count: Click here to reveal79000 (Click here to hide)

Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Intersex, Lesbian, Non Binary, Questioning, Transgender (Click here to hide)

Summary: THEY is a groundbreaking work that will prove to be lifesaving for those in the LGBT community and enlightening and liberating to others.  In this novel, we met Tamar from the Hebrew Bible. Tamar lives as a hermit in the desert, is content with her life and is happily barren. She is attached to her pet camel. Her aversion to goat sacrifices becomes so strong that it prompts her to become a vegetarian. Tamar has a twin sister Tabitha who becomes pregnant after seducing a young muscular shepherd. Tamar plots with Tabitha to trick Judah (a patriarch from the Bible) into believing that the baby is his so that she can have status in society rather than being burnt at the stake. Tabitha gives birth to twins. Tamar becomes attached to the children (born intersex), who call her auntie, and follows their line of intersex twins.