historical – 20th century

Word Count: Click here to reveal128000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: As bombs rain down over London during the Blitz, Major Tommy Haupner negotiates the rubble-filled streets of Bloomsbury on his way to perform at a socialite party. The explosive event of the evening is not his virtuosic violin playing, but the 'almost-blond' American who not only insults him, but then steals his heart. The Seventh of December follows a few months in the lives of two Intelligence agents in the early part of World War Two. Set against the backdrop of war-torn occupied Europe, Tommy and his American lover, Henry Reiter, forge a committed relationship that is intertwined with intrigues that threaten the integrity of the British Royal Family and the stability of a Nation at war. Neither bombs nor bullets manage to break the bond that these men form in their struggle against Nazism and the powers of evil.

Word Count: Click here to reveal47,349 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: All the Honorable St. John Ashford ever wanted was his father’s love, but if he can’t have that, he’ll settle for being noticed. In an effort to do that, St. John sets his sights on Andrew Dorincourt, a man for whom the Viscount has nothing but disdain. Surely this will draw his father’s attention? Unfortunately, while Andrew seems willing to date him, he appears entirely disinterested in anything else. St. John knows it’s just a matter of time before all his plans going up in smoke, especially when Andrew becomes attracted to an exotic young man he rescued from Malossini’s House of Oddities. Robin Dorincourt is something of a playboy who enjoys nothing so much as flitting from one boyfriend to another. He doesn’t poach, though, and when he finds himself attracted to St. John Ashford, he does what he can to keep a healthy distance between them, using taunts and teasing. It’s difficult, until he realizes his brother is in love with someone else. Robin’s path toward St. John is clear, and he makes his move. But is his path as clear as he imagines? St. John might be as attracted to Robin as Robin is to him, but he’ll be damned if he allows himself to be passed from one brother to the other as if he’s nothing more than a poor second choice. Now it remains is for Robin to persuade St. John he’s no one’s second choice.

Word Count: Click here to reveal89906 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Complete their mission or lose everything. Berlin, 1943 An encounter with an old friend leaves German physicist Dr Kristopher Lehrer with doubts about his work. But when he confronts his superior, everything goes horribly wrong. Suddenly Kristopher and Michel, a member of the Resistance, are on the run, hunted for treason and a murder they did not commit. If they’re caught, Kristopher’s knowledge could be used to build a terrible weapon that could win the war. For the team sent by the Allies—led by Captain Bryant, Sergeant Lowe, and Dr Zhou—a simple mission escalates into a deadly game against the Gestapo, with Dr Lehrer as the ultimate prize. But in enemy territory, surviving and completing their mission will test their strengths and loyalties and prove more complex than they ever imagined. Author’s note: This is the third edition of Shadowboxing. The first and second editions were released by another publishing house

Word Count: Click here to reveal106,516 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Andrew Dorincourt has the blood of powerful shifters in his veins. It’s his job to take care of his siblings, who are his pack, and he has no intention of letting anything get in the way. However, he’s seen the love shared not only by his parents but by the Papas, the men who raised his mother, and he wants that for himself. The problem is none of the young women he’s dated have left him wanting anything more than to go home alone. Perhaps he’d have more success by dating men, as his brother does. Only it seems he’s not very successful at that, either. Da’ric is the son of Ric’u, a Brachi who’d been stranded on Terra for decades, and David Knight, an ichthyologist who traveled up the Amazon in search of his heart’s desire. Seeing the deep love his fathers have for each other, Da’ric determines to settle for nothing less. At any rate, the dating pool is pretty much empty in the Lagoon of Dreams, and so he goes to the States, where he intends to become a herpetologist. In order to do that, he must mingle with normals, Terrans who have no idea extraterrestrials share the planet with them. When he walks among Terrans, he must disguise his heritage by wearing sunglasses to conceal his rainbow-colored eyes and long-sleeved shirts to hide his scale-patterned skin. After being kidnapped and sold to a high-ranking member of the London underworld to be displayed as the Snake Boy, Da’ despairs of ever seeing his beloved family again, until Drew wanders into the House of Oddities and helps Da’ escape. Is it fate, kismet, or destiny that brings together the offspring of two very unique families? Have these two been waiting for each other, and will the future hold the love they’d both been seeking?

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

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

Summary: England, 1910. Landscape designer Jonas Laurence arrives at the cheerless and fog enswathed Hillcomb Hall, home to the Earl of Stanley and his family, to renovate their crumbling gardens. With a great storm crashing all around, his time is at the mercy of the house’s odd and mysterious occupants. Captivated by the hauntingly attractive portrait of Lord Stanley’s ancestor, which constantly seems to watch and taunt him, Jonas’s dreams become weird and distressing. And his waking moments are consumed by the strange stories and weird atmosphere of the manor estate. Ghostly visits in the night leave Jonas no choice but to accept his attraction to the otherworldly spirit from the painting. But is this affaire de coeur real? Or it all just a trick of the mind, a sinister game being played by the inhabitants of Hillcomb Hall?

Word Count: Click here to reveal144000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: New York City, 1924 Once their paths cross, their worlds will never be the same. Danny Moore and his crew only meant to rob the hotel suites of rich guests. He wasn’t supposed to find himself in gangster Ricky il Sacchi’s room. And il Sacchi wasn’t supposed to wind up dead. Now Danny has the attention of another notorious gangster. Carmine Battaglia is intrigued by the Irish thieves who would have made off with a huge score if not for il Sacchi’s death. They’re cunning, careful, and exactly what he needs for his rum running operation. But Danny’s already lost two brothers to the violence between New York’s Irish and Sicilian gangs, and he’s not about to sell his soul to Carmine. With gangster’s blood on his hands, Danny needs protection, whether he likes it or not. And that’s to say nothing of the generous pay, which promises to pull him and his crew—not to mention their families—out of destitution. Working together brings Danny and Carmine to a détente, then to something so intense neither can ignore it. Something nearly enough to make them both forget the brutal tensions between their countrymen. But the death of Ricky il Sacchi hasn’t been forgotten. And someone is determined to make Danny bleed for it. The Venetian and the Rum Runner is a 144,000-word gay historical romantic suspense novel set during Prohibition and the Roaring Twenties. CW: graphic violence, PTSD

Word Count: Click here to reveal91,916 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Johnny Smith's luck has been bad from the moment the Stock Market crashed and he'd been forced to leave an exclusive boarding school, and he sees no reason to believe it will ever change. But then he meets Church Chetwood, a dashing, devil-may-care director of motion pictures, and his life is turned topsy-turvy when Chetwood takes him along on what the man promises will be the adventure of a lifetime. Johnny doesn't care, as long as he's with his Mr. Chetwood. The year before, Church had hired Captain Johansen to take him to the mysterious island of Iwi Po'o on the tramp steamer August Moon. There he'd found and captured a sabretooth tiger and brought the animal back to the States. "Chetwood's Kitty," so dubbed by the press, is the reason he has to leave New York so precipitously -- people had died and the law is after him. The only bright spot is the kid he'd come across in a saloon. Church thinks he's had the best idea of his life when he decides to take Johnny along with him to the South Seas. He and Captain Johansen plan to make a living transporting goods from one island to another, and they have every intention of avoiding Iwi Po'o. But a treacherous stowaway has plans to take the August Moon for himself, and convinces the men to mutiny. Johnny, Church, the skipper, the ship's cook, and the wireless operator, accompanied by the little girl Johnny had rescued from prostitution, find themselves in a lifeboat, with Iwi Po'o the only spot of land. The last time Church was on this island, twelve men lost their lives to what lived there. Will Johnny, Church, and their friends somehow manage to make it our alive this time?

Word Count: Click here to reveal17,314 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: IChurch Chetwood, renowned motion picture director, is given an ultimatum by his studio: film a movie with romance or else. Since this is the height of the Depression, and since Church enjoys eating, he reluctantly agrees. He finds a beautiful woman who’s willing to sail on the August Moon to the uncharted island of Iwi Po’o. While there, he makes the discovery of a lifetime, guaranteed to make them all millionaires ... Only it doesn’t exactly turn out like that. The “discovery of a lifetime,” a saber-toothed tiger the press dubs Chetwood’s Kitty, breaks free and runs amok in Manhattan, causing death and mayhem. Months later, Church is facing indictment and a long stretch up the river and has no choice but to lie low until he can get out of town. While nursing his troubles in a saloon, he spots a young man who’s even more down on his luck than Church. Johnny Smith has been on his own since Black Tuesday, four years earlier, and he does what he has to in order to keep body and soul -- what’s left of it -- together, even if it isn’t what he ever expected to do. He enters the saloon, hoping for a little warmth and perhaps a meal. What he finds is Church Chetwood, the director whose documentaries have fascinated him for years. Mr. Chetwood buys him that meal, and Johnny willingly goes with him to his rooming house, ready to do whatever Mr. Chetwood wants, even if Mr. Chetwood claims he isn’t “like that.” Is Johnny’s luck about to take a turn for the better? After all, Mr. Chetwood has a plan to get out of town, and if Johnny’s really lucky, maybe Church will let him come along.

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

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

Summary: Warrambool In Gamilaraay, the language of the Kamilaroi peoples of north-western New South Wales, it's the word for The Milky Way. It's also the name of Peter Dixon's homestead and sheep station, situated in the lee of the Liverpool Ranges. In 1947, Peter returns from war, his parents and younger brother dead, the property de-stocked and his older brother, Ron, having emptied out the family bank account and nowhere to be found. The House With a Thousand Stairs is the story of a young man, scarred both on the inside and the outside, trying to re-establish what once was a prosperous and thriving sheep station with the help of his neighbours and his childhood friend, Frank Hunter, the local Indigenous policeman. Enveloped by the world of Indigenous spirituality, the Kamilaroi system of animal guides and totems, Peter and Frank discover the true nature of their predestined friendship, one defined by the stars, the ancestral spirits, and Baiame, the Creator God and Sky Father of The Dreaming. Maliyan bandaarr, maliyan biliirr.

Word Count: Click here to reveal96200 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: When tailor Marvin Gottschalk abandoned New York City for the brash boomtown of silent-film-era Hollywood, he never imagined he’d end up on screen as Martin Brentwood, one of the fledgling film industry’s most popular actors. Five years later a cynical Martin despairs of finding anything genuine in a town where truth is defined by studio politics and publicity. Then he meets Robbie Goodman. Robbie fled Idaho after a run-in with the law. A chance encounter leads him to the film studio where he lands a job as a chauffeur. But one look at Martin and he’s convinced he’s likely to run afoul of those same laws—laws that brand his desires indecent, deviant... sinful. Martin and Robbie embark on a cautious relationship, cocooned in Hollywood’s clandestine gay fraternity, careful to hide from the studio boss, a rival actor, and reporters on the lookout for a juicy story. But when tragedy and scandal rock the town, igniting a morality-based witch hunt fueled by a remorseless press, the studio brass will sacrifice even the greatest careers to defend their endangered empire. Robbie and Martin stand no chance against the firestorm—unless they stand together.

Word Count: Click here to reveal38352 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A chance meeting they never forgot. Six years after meeting British soldier Aiden Foster during the Christmas Truce of 1914, Jochen Weber still finds himself thinking about Aiden, their shared conversation about literature, and Aiden’s beautiful singing voice. A visit to London gives Jochen the opportunity to search for Aiden, but he’s shocked at what he finds. The uniform button Jochen gave him is the only thing Aiden has left of the past he’s lost. The war and its aftermath ripped everything away from him, including his family and his music. When Jochen reappears in his life, Aiden enjoys their growing friendship but knows he has nothing to offer. Not anymore. Author’s note: This story was originally published in 2014 by another publisher. This edition has some added content, and uses UK spelling to reflect its setting.  

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

Summary: Randy Kay has the perfect life with his beautiful wife and adorable son. But Randy's living a lie, untrue to himself and everyone who knows him. He's gay. Marriage and fatherhood, which he thought could change him, have failed. He doubts if anyone can love him for who he really is--especially himself. With his wife's blessing, he sets out to explore the gay world he's hidden from all his life. John Walsh, a paramedic with the Chicago Fire Department, is comfortable in his own skin as a gay man, yet he can never find someone who shares his desire to create a real relationship, a true family. When Randy and John first spy each other in Chicago's Boystown, all kinds of alarms go off--some of joy, others of deep-seated fear. Randy and John must surmount multiple hurdles on the journey to a lasting, meaningful love. Will they succeed or will their chance at love go up in flames, destroyed by missed connections and a lack of self-acceptance?

Word Count: Click here to reveal102,000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: San Francisco’s legendary promise of acceptance draws Xander Peters to its streets like a rainbow beacon. Despite his parents’ cruel rejection after coming out to them, he is hopeful of the future awaiting him there. Entranced with the sights and sounds of the city he is blissfully unaware of the dangers lurking behind the friendly faces. Jamie Beck watches from the shadows of the bathhouse as a rowdy group of leather daddies try coercing the young twink inside. Unable to idly stand by while the men bait the naive teen, he steps into the crowd and rescues Xander from eminent danger. When Jamie offers Xander the spare bedroom in exchange for help with his ailing partner, he jumps at the opportunity. He’s won the lottery—free room and board in trade for a few hours each day of caretaking. However, the year is 1985 and the AIDS epidemic is relentless. Charles Greyson has a gift for making money. He is a successful lawyer and he harbors a secret. His newest client has a penchant for finding trouble and it’s his job to keep the young activist out of jail. Greyson recognizes his attraction to the young man, but he has a legal obligation to fulfill, and his interest in Xander only impedes his need to stay closeted. Over the course of three decades Remembrance and Renewal recounts the years AIDS savaged a generation. It is the story of one survivor’s journey toward the promise of love in a world left wary by the ravages of a pandemic.

Word Count: Click here to reveal65000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Winner of the 2013 EPIC eBook Award for Best Contemporary Romance It's 1991, and Dan Calzolaio has just moved to Florida with his lover, Mark, having fled Chicago and Mark's addictions to begin a new life on the Gulf Coast. Volunteering for the Tampa AIDS Alliance is just one part of that new beginning, and that's how Dan meets his new buddy, Adam. Adam Schmidt is not at all what Dan expected. The guy is an original - witty, wry, and sarcastic with a fondness for a smart black dress, Barbra Streisand, and a good mai tai. Adam doesn't let his imminent death get him down, even through a downward spiral that sees him thrown in jail. Each step of Adam's journey teaches Dan new lessons about strength and resilience, but it's Adam's lover, Sullivan, to whom Dan feels an almost irresistible pull. Dan knows the attraction isn't right, even after he dumps his cheating, drug-abusing boyfriend. But then Adam passes away, and it leaves Sullivan and Dan both alone to see if they can turn their love for Adam into something whole and real for each other.

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Character Identities: Click here to revealBisexual, Gay, Straight (Click here to hide)

Summary: All his working life, Kurt lived in a world of secrets. Those secrets killed his best friend, Nick. One secret, though, will tear his world apart – the one he’s keeping from himself. December, 1988: For Kurt Nash, CIA operative, a trip to Pemberton in Australia’s south-west to scatter Nick’s ashes should have been routine, except for the guilt plaguing him, and the trauma of the events that nearly killed him as well. When he encounters Lucy, Nick’s fiancée, returned to celebrate Christmas with her brother, Don, Kurt realises the time has come to tell Nick’s story. But Kurt will discover that opening up can be like lighting a fire in a forest. After all, when a forest fire burns, it is hard to predict what will catch and which direction it will turn. But as Kurt begins to find himself hidden under all the layers of secrets, will his growing friendship with Don and Lucy be enough to enable him to deal with those secrets? Will he be strong enough to come to terms with what he has been hiding from himself?

Word Count: Click here to reveal112566 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: David Knight has been plagued by dreams his entire life, only to have all memory of them vanish when he awakens. Now the dreams are coming with more frequency, and they seem to be drawing him to the Amazon. A scientist with a PhD in ichthyology and a dedication to learning all he can about lungfish, whose existence dates back to the Devonian era, David is determined to see what the Amazon holds. His hopes seem about to be answered when Dr. Carlos Avila contacts him. It seems the Brazilian archeologist discovered the remains of a previously undiscovered species on a tributary of the Amazon, and he’d like nothing better than for David to join the expedition to see if more of the creature can be found. Of course David leaps at the opportunity and flies to Pesadelo Bay to join the mismatched team. Once there, he discovers not only does Dr. Avila have his own agenda, but a former conquest as well as a friend who’d saved his life years before are part of the team and are engaged to be married. Meanwhile, the need to sail up the Amazon to find what… or who… is calling him there has become more and more pressing, and David must decide which is the most important—learning what Dr. Avila really is searching for or finding the answer to his dreams?

Word Count: Click here to reveal65600 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Ollie Boyd enjoys Jack Finley's company, likes to make him laugh, and wants to work with him...and maybe something more than that. It sure is confusing to have these feelings for another guy, and in the homophobic 1950s, it's not really safe. Jack Finley finds time for Ollie, sure, but he's just humoring a friend. He's a tough private eye. He's certainly not indulging secretly in a crush, no matter how attractive or charming Ollie might be. Jack's smart and careful, and he's been around the block. It's hard enough to be who he is without taking on extra trouble. But now Jack needs some help, after a botched Good Samaritan act leaves him broken in body and spirit. Ollie wants to be the one who's there for him. He also wants to figure out these feelings—even if they mean he's in pretty deep trouble. A whole lot of bumps in the road—including blackmail and murder—might take these two down more dangerous streets than they'd guess...together.   65,600 words

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

Summary: “Sometimes the hardest part of my job is dealing with human cruelty and its aftermath. It’s almost always instigated by fear. I wonder if we will ever evolve out of that instinct.” Pastor Phil Sturgis in The Handyman’s Summer By the late spring of 1987, Handyman Ed Stephens and his life partner Rick Benton are anticipating a lazy, peaceful, even boring summer. Things do not go as planned as Ed and Rick suddenly find themselves embroiled in mystery, scandal, surprises, and a lesson in both the kindness and cruelty of people. When local bag lady, Evie Fountain, suddenly dies of a stroke, Ed and Rick become interested in her rundown house. Evie’s house turns out to be shrouded not only with overgrown bushes, but also in secrecy. Ed and Rick are drawn into the murky legend of the official town character, determined to discover the truth underneath the rumors that have circulated throughout Porterfield, Indiana, for almost thirty years. When a personal journal is found in the house, they become immersed in a shameful story of small town bigotry and its tragic results. There is plenty of other activity to keep Ed and Rick busy over the summer. Neal Soames, the gay teenager they have been mentoring, graduates high school and suddenly gets cold feet about going away to college. He moves into Penfield Manor while Ed and Rick try to convince him leaving Porterfield is in his best interests. Ed’s friend, Dr. Paul Klarn, calls Ed for help when one of his patients is an unidentified victim of a queer-bashing. Ed and Rick decide to take this young man in as well, creating, as their friend Gordy calls it, “Uncle Ed’s Home for Wayward Homos.” Ed’s mother, Norma, also stirs up drama when she involves Ed in her troubles with the local garden club. Ed develops a scheme to turn the tables on a pushy, obnoxious woman who is determined to run the club in her own best interests. Norma will have another surprise for Ed before the summer is out. “Expect the unexpected,” Norma tells him. Muriel Weisberg, self-proclaimed vision-impaired bitch goddess, is on the scene as well throughout the summer, providing much needed comic relief for Ed. She uses her new role as a columnist for the local newspaper to solve problems, spout her sometimes unconventional wisdom, and to assist in the mystery of Evie’s house. As always, Ed supplies a soundtrack of both oldies and current hits to help him cope with this busy season, one that will, in some ways, change the lives of Ed and his beloved Rick forever. Join these two gallant men as they continue to create an oasis of freedom and acceptance in an otherwise narrow-minded world. Together, hand in hand, still in love, Ed and Rick move triumphantly forward, ready to take on the world.

Word Count: Click here to reveal75000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: A dancer who cannot dance and a doctor who cannot heal must find in each other the strength to love.  History books will call it The Great War, but for Benjamin Holm, that is a misnomer. The war is a disaster, a calamity, and it leaves Benjamin profoundly wounded, his mind and memory shattered. A year after Armistice, still struggling to regain his mental faculties, he returns to Paris in search of his closest friend, Elias. Benjamin meets Louis Donadieu, a striking and mysterious dance master. Though Louis is a difficult man to know, he offers to help Benjamin. Together they search the cabarets, salons, and art exhibits in the newly revitalized city on the brink of les années folles (the Crazy Years). Almost despite himself, Benjamin breaches Louis’s defenses, and the two men discover an unexpected passion. As his memory slowly returns, Benjamin will need every ounce of courage he possesses to recover Elias’s story. He and Louis will need even more than that to lay claim to the love – and the future – they deserve.

Word Count: Click here to reveal34000 (Click here to hide)

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

Summary: Stiles Long emphatically did not want his lover, Michael O’Leary to go on the assignment he had been given. He didn’t care that Michael was an amazing poker player or that his commander thought Michael was the perfect man for the job. He almost lost Michael once. He couldn’t go through that again. Michael needed this. He needed to prove that he was able to take care of himself. He didn’t need Stiles to take care of him. He needed to be Stiles’ equal. The poker game in Durango, Colorado was his chance to prove that. The fact that Stiles didn’t want him to go didn’t matter. Michael had to do this. Lizzie Ferguson was Stiles partner in the Pinkerton Agency. She was a good agent. That didn’t mean, she had to like being dressed in satin and lace, showing way too much of her body to total strangers. Lizzie knew there was more going on at Maverick’s Saloon, and it might just cost her life. None of them suspected that a simple poker game would turn into a deadly nightmare. If the three of them weren’t careful, one of them might just end up the next victim.