Website: http://www.mischiefcornerbooks.com
Books Published By Mischief Corner Books
Word Count: 61360
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: A vampire on the run. An elf in need of a purpose. Ro Laceleaf, failed forester, is the sole member of Merseton's town watch. It's not an exciting job by any means, but after Geoffrey's disastrous necromantic experiments, the townsfolk insist it's necessary. Ro is both diligent and bored out of his skull, until one night he's called to an emergency at Mrs. Pickle's. A vampire is attacking her house. On the run for several years, Edmund is near starvation and out of options. His last hope for refuge? Merseton. He's heard the town welcomes people outside the ordinary. Edmund's certainly not an ordinary vampire. While he expected suspicion and initial hostility, he didn't anticipate a beating with a wet kitchen mop. Ro needs to make the determination—is Edmund a monster or a potential resident? The more he speaks to Edmund, the more horrified Ro becomes over what he's been through. Edmund's telling the truth—Ro's certain of that—but he's not telling all of it. Ro needs to gain Edmund's trust to learn the whole story, about Edmund and the terrifying enemies hunting him, while not letting Edmund become a distraction. Yes, fine, he's already a distraction. But Ro's not going to fail, not this time. The town, and Edmund, will be safe, no matter what Ro has to do. This book contains an adorable fruit bat, geese of frightening properties (since when aren't they?), co-habitating demons, and a guaranteed HEA.
Word Count: 24715
Character Identities: Demisexual, Lesbian
Summary: Offend the Frost King? Get kicked from the Court. Land in the jaws of a living dinosaur? Ink, the black ice fairy, isn't shocked that his frostiness banished her, but she's shocked to find herself sent to a swamp. It's hot, sticky and mucky—an ice fae's worst nightmare. Banishment means she's stuck with the heat and the stupid, hungry alligators. She's gone from knowing all the rules of her world to knowing absolutely nothing about existing in her soggy new home. At least the draiad guardian's kinda nice, though what the hell is a draiad? A thunderous boom and an ice fae being dropped into her swamp interrupted Pickerel's quiet, contemplative day of preserving flowers. The fae is abrasive, just shy of rude, and apparently unable to leave. The last thing Pickerel needs this close to the winter solstice celebration is another responsibility. But she can't ignore her host obligations, nor can she deny the fae is rather attractive. When dangerously reckless human poachers invade the swamp, all other concerns evaporate. Ink and Pickerel must learn to work together, combining their knowledge and their wildly different talents to combat the threat to the wildlife and the peace of the swamp. And—oh no—they might even have to admit they like each other. Ice + Alligators is a novella that contains talkative squirrels, a mischievous and overly opinionated alligator, and a shy but grumpy fae who might've found a caring nature spirit who is everything she needed.
Word Count: 76600
Character Identities: Gay, Polyamorous
Summary: The Fredamine Project was just the beginning. Shadow dealings and conspiracies regarding variants intertwine until Damien and his cohorts can no longer tell who the bad guys are. Several months have passed since Blaze and the infamous Variant activist Shudder McKenzie helped Damien rescue the captives of the sinister Fredamine Project. Professionally, everything's great. He's back to working with Damien again and they have a new lead on the three kids who are still missing. Personally, not so much. Blaze has made his peace with Shudder, though nothing between them has even been easy, but his relationship with Damien has taken several steps back. Blaze no longer has any idea where he stands. Adding to the tense atmosphere are the anti-Variant members of legislature who have been slowly gaining popular approval, and the cryptic messages Damien receives from an unknown source. Shudder's back to his old haunts and his old tricks, trying to raise public awareness of imperiled Variant rights—such as the draconic Horace Act that strips due process during Variant trials—and to rescue Variant kids in trouble. His almost mythical luck runs out though when he's arrested for murder only three days after the passage of the Horace Act and a whirlwind trial and sentencing lands him in the most notorious maximum security facility for Variants—San Judas Tadeo. With too many conspirators on both sides of the aisle, Damien, Blaze and Shudder no longer know whom to trust. Peeling through the layers of deceit and half-truths puts them on shakier ground with every discovery and in greater danger than ever before. Variant Configurations takes place in a future Earth where humanity is reclaiming its spot in a gradually healing world. This book contains mentions of past abuse, action-adventure style mayhem, and the sparks of a slow burn, series-spanning relationship.
Word Count: 68810
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Variant children are vanishing at an alarming rate. It will take a uniquely mismatched pair of trackers to untangle a web of conspiracy and misdirection to find them. In his isolated cabin, variant Damien Hazelwood avoids human contact as much as possible to prevent attacks of blind berserker panic. But his rare talent as a locator makes him the go-to contractor for tricky missing person's cases and when agents bring him a troubling contract involving missing variant children, he finds it impossible to refuse. Licensed tracker Blaze Emerson can't help being irritated when he's expected to follow the strange, twitchy locator's lead on his latest case. He works alone, he's damn good, and as a variant sparker, he has both the fire and the firepower to take on anything out there. Though he has to admit there's something intriguing about a man who can find people with his brain. With vastly different temperaments and backgrounds, Damien and Blaze need to negotiate quickly how to work together if they're going to crack this case. Add in the sudden appearance of Blaze's outlaw ex, the perils of tracking in the wilds, and a maddening lack of discernible motive or method, and they soon find themselves in as much danger as the kids they're trying to rescue. Variant Configurations takes place in a future Earth where humanity is reclaiming its spot in a gradually healing world. This book contains mentions of past abuse, action-adventure style mayhem, and the beginning sparks of a slow burn, series-spanning relationship.
Word Count: 85200
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: A mysterious distress call draws the crew of courier ship Hermes to what appears to be an empty, drifting troop vessel--empty except for the blood and gore spattered corridors and a lone survivor locked in a holding cell. Drawn to the handsome, traumatized man, the crew’s comm officer, Isaac Ozawa, makes Turk his personal responsibility, offering him the kindness and warmth he needs after the horror he experienced. Isaac knows firsthand what it’s like to be different and an outcast, and this cements their bond. Once a promising pilot, Isaac was left with a damaged body when his brain didn't meld with the high-tech implant needed to fly fighter ships. Turk’s brain is no better. The result of a military experiment gone wrong, his natural abilities have been augmented to a dangerous degree. When an amoral, power-hungry admiral kidnaps Isaac and uses him to convince Turk to become the cataclysmic weapon he’s hungered for, it will take Turk’s strength, the ingenuity of the Hermes crew, the help of the enigmatic Drak’tar, and Isaac’s own stubborn will to save them.
Word Count: 45500
Character Identities: Lesbian
Summary:
Word Count: 40,480
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: An outcast necromancer and a half-demon clerk need to save the world from seashell zombies. No pressure. Everyone's always told Aspic that trouble can't help following him because of his heritage. Determined to put the lie to half-demon stereotypes, he's finally landed a good, quiet job as an herbalist's clerk where the owner trusts him to man the shop alone. What could go wrong selling coriander and thyme? When Geoffrey first enters the shop, Aspic finds the little man's eccentric appearance startling, then intriguing. Geoffrey explains, in stops and starts, that he is a theoretical necromancer researching replacements for blood magic. His current line of inquiry involves seashells—do they have any in stock? Aspic's co-workers warn him that Geoffrey is a walking disaster, but he finds himself more and more drawn to a necromancer concerned with ethical death magic. Aspic is with Geoffrey in his lab when he has his first success, but the results aren't at all what he was aiming for. Instead of raising the dead rabbit on his table, the ritual animates the seashell and rock spell components, which flee the lab and cause havoc. They soon discover that the spell-animated objects are "zombies" in that they can "infect" other inanimate things. An unorthodox necromancer and an exasperated shop clerk are going to need some unconventional help to find a working de-animation spell before the world is overrun by zombie seashells and stones gone mad.
Word Count: 38,000
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: An Imperial prince can only hide for so long—but his solution of a hastily invented engagement could backfire spectacularly. Marsh Kensinger's work as the utility mechanic for Bremen Station keeps his life interesting - but never quite as interesting as finding a pilot still hidden inside a hibernation drawer in what should have been a salvage craft. He knows he shouldn't get involved, but the Altairian Imperial crest on the private craft and the semi-conscious pilot's odd questions pique his always-whirling curiosity. Still unattached at a concerning age for an imperial son, Prince Shiro Shinohara hadn't been running from the endless, mind-numbing rounds of omiai his mother, the Empress, had mandated. Not exactly. He'd just wanted a break from persistent suitors at the family retreat on Ceti Tau. The short respite becomes a panicked flight for his life when one of the suitors stalking him attacks the family compound. Worried for the soldiers he was forced to leave behind, afraid there's a conspiracy to kidnap him, Shiro confides in the handsome mechanic who found him and in a moment of panic, concocts the fiction of a serious relationship with Marsh. It's only until Shiro's people can reach him and he can press charges back home. Marsh is willing to play along and Shiro's just going to have to keep himself together and not, under any circumstances, fall for the wonderful, generous man who refuses to stop helping him.
Word Count: 26000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Being an OIL (Onsite Inter-species Liaison) for the Interplanetary Multispecies Pact has never been an easy job. In fact it's a crap job when stuck on a backwater nowhere planet like Earth. But cobra Yervath Sissal Naganos manages. The demotion was swift and heavy-handed, but he'll climb back out of this hell eventually. Humans don't meet his social needs, so, yes, it's been lonely and he tells himself he likes the solitude. That is, until IMP sends him an irritating new assistant he never asked for. Now his peace is well and truly disturbed and his paranoid diplomatic reflexes have reawakened. The worst part is the kid didn't have to be so cute.
Word Count: 80000
Character Identities: Gay, Non Binary, Transgender
Summary: Beware the demon prince who's sick and tired of running. Federico Duomo is dead, to begin with. But this is only the first bit of Shax's problems resolved. Powerful crime lords and an obscenely wealthy oligarch are still determined to destroy him and his crew, and Fluffy's original owner may be coming after the Brimstone now, too. It would be splendid to be able to take on one thing at a time. Adding to the external conflicts, life on board the Brimstone has only grown increasingly stranger. Shax has no idea what to do with the seven partly human children that Heckle rescued from slavers. Heckle himself has grown short-tempered, even with Mac. Someone from Julian's past catches up to them on Barbary. It's enough to put a demon off his cinnamon buns. Shax isn't panicking, though. In fact he's had it up to his handsome royal nose with the people he loves having to live in constant fear. The fox has turned at bay and the Brimstone's enemies are in for a shock. The demon prince of thieves is coming for them.
Word Count: 45000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Returning to the frozen planet Aren died on was bound to have complications... Major Aren Dalsgaard's newest assignment is to investigate a series of murders on the frigid planet, Drass, where relations between the Treaty settlers and the indigenous inhabitants have taken a nasty turn. A linguist and trained xenologist, Major Dalsgaard should be the ideal Special Investigations Officer for this case, but Drass is where he died, over a hundred and twenty years ago. Sent by his family to the chigyel city, Nyachung finds himself confronted with a murder charge, racial prejudice, and a man who claims to be a hero from his grandmother’s generation. The man could be crazy or he could be lying to manipulate Nyachung, but the sincerity in those spring-green eyes disturbs him more than anything else he's encountered in the foreigners’ city. Evidence that makes no sense, mysterious boxes, and a suspicion that they can't trust anyone in the city drives the major and Nyachung together and out into the wilderness. No one's telling Major Dalsgaard everything, but every step leads him closer to a feeling of imminent catastrophe if he can't wrap this case up in time.
Word Count: 30000
Character Identities: Gay, Non Binary, Pansexual
Summary: Flee. Scatter. Take your mates and your offspring and run. The escape pods fall to Earth one by one over the course of weeks, a mysterious and diverse alien diaspora, each pod containing a different alien race and leaving the world's governments scrambling to deal with this unexpected immigration. Serge Kosygin, still grieving and isolated after his husband's death, watches events with gray disinterest until one day he witnesses a pod crash for himself while driving home. Two of the alien visitors have died, but one survives, badly injured, and Serge is determined that if this alien is also going to die, it won't be under the harsh lights of a government facility. Devastated by the loss of his life mates in their desperate effort to reach safety, the knowledge that Een is the last Aalana in this sector of the galaxy only compounds his sorrow. He wakes in an alien dwelling under the care of one of the native dominant builder species, a being who appears to share nothing with Een besides a bipedal structure. Slowly, with the help of his patient and kind host, he discovers they are more similar than he imagined as they share harmonies and his host assists him with language acquisition. Their tentative first contact soon evolves into a deepening friendship, a balm for two grief-weary souls. They'll need each other and their growing bond for the troubles lurking just ahead. Publisher's Note Eating Stars was previously published as part of Meteor Strike: Serge & Een as a novelette. It has undergone extensive rewrites and edits with over 10,000 words of new content added.
Word Count: 35000
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: The Brimstone. Cargo hauler, brigand ship, privateer. Crewed by the exiled, the misplaced, the uniquely strange and even a certain government assassin. Together, they've faced interstellar criminals, the wrath of archangels, the threat of frogs, their own terrors, nearly deadly buttercopters, and government paperwork. Through it all, as Brimstone's inhabitants expanded from two demons on the run to a complement of eleven various and sundry beings, they've become more than crew. They've evolved into family. Join us now for some snippets from the characters' timelines, flash fiction shorts between the stories from Shax and Verin as kids in Hell all the way to events after The Hunt for Red Fluffy. The Brimstone Journals, Collection Three also includes a novelette in which the crew discovers that sometimes the simple task of holiday shopping is much more dangerous than it should be.
Word Count: 24000
Character Identities: Lesbian
Summary: Chief Engineer Shandi Leavenworth has been crushing on Major Tyra Sur ever since she joined station staff, though the laconic customs officer doesn't give up personal information easily. A few scraps of information lead Shandi to the perfect Solstice present, until of course everything goes horribly wrong. Major Sur took the job on Onwa Station for the stability, the quiet, and out of a need to be useful. It's been all of those things up until the moment the woman she's been quietly flirting with at the bar puts in a desperate call for help. There's no question they need to save the station, but Tyra's not so sure about saving their budding relationship.
Word Count: 43240
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: Someone abandons a pedigree hellcat right where Shax can conveniently claim her and sets off a cataclysmic domino line of events. It's time for the other shoe to drop since the Brimstone has a shadow cabal after them - partly due to Shax's own, er, interesting decisions and partly due to the presence of Agent Julian Parallax onboard. As ship security officer, Ness has a lot on his mind—a dangerous new pet, even more dangerous criminals tracking the Brimstone, and yet another unexpected rescued guest. The last thing he needs is a distraction and Julian, who confuses and confounds him more every moment, is exactly the distraction he doesn't need. Between Shax's reckless gambits and Julian's disregard for his own safety, how is Ness supposed to keep anyone safe? The Brimstone and her intrepid crew do all they can to stay one step ahead, but this time the hunters are closing in.
Word Count: 52000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual, Lesbian, Non Binary, Polyamorous, Transgender
Summary: One young man desperate to make things right for the monks who raised him. Another looking to escape the limelight. The two best friends stuck in time because of promises. A couple looking to make a bigger unconventional family—one young woman who wants to help the world become a more beautiful place, one transwoman looking to put down roots for the both of them. Love isn’t always easy, but the good kind is worth fighting for, even when others don’t understand it. The story of what becomes of their love is what will be passed down into legend. Because stories like this, people remember. When Jira, Boon, Areeya and Fon come together to celebrate Yee Peng and Loy Krathong, sparks fly and dreams coalesce. But that’s only the beginning…
Word Count: 29000
Character Identities: Lesbian
Summary: Sofia Cancino is tired of her mundane life, her artificial environment and her large, boisterous family descending every holiday season. She's promised herself this year will be different and books a stay on the exclusive—and expensive--holiday-themed resort, Yule Planet. She looks forward to being pampered while reconnecting with Old Earth traditions steeped in the magic and mysticism of nature. Everything will be perfect and she'll leave as a more authentic human, better connected to her roots. Naturally, things go horribly wrong. Sofia's landing pod goes off course and instead of stepping out on the landing pad at the resort, she finds herself in the snow-swept perpetual winter of the planet's hinterlands. If that wasn't bad enough, she's "rescued" by a band of criminals on work release who run deliveries to the resort from far-flung shuttle delivery sites. They refuse to take her, a paying customer, to the resort and insist on dragging her along on their parcel run. Riding giant monsters. In frigid weather. Not to mention, Marta, who handles the monsters, obviously hates her. If Sofia survives her vacation, she's definitely yelling at someone's supervisor until she gets a refund.
Word Count: 31000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Daren Novak and Gunny Schuler have known each other since freshmen days at the University of Washington, where they'd started a romance Daren assumed would last. But at the start of winter break, Gunny bowed to the dictates of his lifelong religion and his overbearing father and left UW never to return. After a failed marriage, Gunny built a quiet life embracing his gay identity, and left his North Dakota home, his marriage, and his father's business for a forestry and teaching career in Oregon. Meanwhile, Daren has built up his own life around managing a unique holiday venue, the Holiday Home Hotel, and performing for the guests in drag as "Dare." A decade has passed since they last saw each other, but now winter’s harsh weather brings them face to face—helped along by a minor goddess and powerful forest spirit. Too much hurt might lie between them now to fix things, but interfering supernatural beings are determined to force them to try.
Word Count: 22000
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: Javier Fernandez is a climate scientist living in a research station near the South Pole. Since his husband was killed in a car crash, he’s preferred to be alone, and is less than thrilled to have a junior scientist thrust upon him by his rich patron. Col Steele is a trans man fleeing a bad break-up. He is ready for the next step in his career, and eager to spend Christmas anywhere but at home. When a crack in the ice separates the two men from safety, they are forced to come to terms with their own losses and each other. About the Escape From the Holidays series: For the second year in a row, Mischief Corner Books is putting out a winter holiday collection – ten stories revolving around various December holidays: The end of year holidays can get overwhelming for anyone. Things to do. People to see. Last minute work obligations to take care of. Sometimes it’s just easier to escape from it all, running away from the responsibilities and expectations, or ignore the underlying disappointment from relatives who don’t see eye-to-eye with you. Because escaping the holiday grind can lead to new, unexpected paths, and breathe new life into one that’s been stuck in a rut. Giving something to run to instead. Sometimes, getting away from it all lets you know what you really have. Sometimes, taking a chance on the unknown leads to what you really want.
Word Count: 59337
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: The Brimstone. Demon owned and—mostly—demon operated. Shax, an exiled prince of Hell, has gathered only the best misfits for his motley crew. You've been with us from the rescue of a runaway angel in a psychedelic nightmare jungle to the house that Poe built. Now share some in-between moments with the Brimstone crew – flash fiction snippets plucked from various spots in each personal timeline, from Shax and Verin's youth in Hell to after the events of Beside a Black Tarn. The Brimstone Journals, Collection Two also includes an exclusive short story, never published as part of the blog series. Leopold meets his formidable grandmama, much to his father's dismay.
Word Count: 136000
Character Identities: Ace, Gay, Pansexual
Summary: With his career firmly established and his reputation as a successful PI growing, Hades should have the perfect life with his human lover, his faithful ferryman, his dogs and the parts of his family still speaking to him. But murder and chaos are never far away for death lords as his nephew Dionysus and his oldest friend Charon are drawn into the maelstrom. Includes: Books, Bulls & Bacchanals: Brandywine Investigations #4 Midwinter Dancing: Brandywine Investigations #4.5 Pack Up The Moon: Brandywine Investigations #5 Please note: Books, Bulls & Bacchanals has been re-edited for this edition.
Word Count: 7200
Character Identities: Ace, Gay, Genderqueer
Summary: Part of the "A Holiday to Remember 2017 Series" On the colony planet Vega III, everyone knows Beck—outgoing, fabulous, and genderqueer—and nobody notices Anil, the quiet plant biologist. But when Anil finds Beck hiding in his greenhouse, lonely and missing Earth, it's Anil who is able to comfort Beck by letting them talk about what they miss most—the feeling that comes with celebrating the holidays with loved ones, especially New Year's Eve. The two of them are drawn to one another, but both of them are hiding secrets about their sexuality. With trust between them already on shaky ground, Anil's elaborate plans to cheer Beck may well backfire. A Holiday to Remember Freddy MacKay - Watermelon Kisses Foster Bridget Cassidy - But to Love More Toni Griffin - Corey's Christmas Bundle Angel Martinez - Safety Protocols for Human Holidays Nicole Dennis - Secrets & Silk Kassandra Lea - Winter Home Jill Wexler - The Christmas Eve Craigslist Killer Jayne Lockwood - New Beginnings Tray Ellis - A Piece of Ourselves J. Scott Coatsworth - I Only Want to Be With You Siri Paulson - A New Year on Vega III
Word Count: 8200
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Derrek is dealing with the recent, unexpected death of his mother just before Thanksgiving. He’s been alone for five year since his husband Will died, and he’s ready to find someone new and to start living again. Ryan lost his partner, David, in an auto accident, and is dating Alex, who doesn’t treat him right. Derrek can’t figure out why Ryan won’t see what’s right in front of his face. Why does Ryan come to him to talk about all his hopes, dreams, and fears, then go home to Alex? If Derrek can figure that out, they might just have a shot.
Word Count: 9200
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: A Secret Santa Gift Exchange offers more than gifts to two co-workers. It opens a path to talk, learn more about secrets, and deal with a bully. Quiet, strait-laced David Appleton thinks he’s going to have a problem at work. A new co-worker discovers his secret in the locker room. Unable to confront someone, David let him walk away. Now he worries everyone will know his deepest held secret. A secret hidden under his signature vest, tie, and trousers. Since walking in on his co-worker, CJ O’Connell tries to get a moment to speak with the shy David, but nothing works. His last hope – the Secret Santa Gift Exchange party. Perhaps a special gift can peel away the secrets.
Word Count: 14000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Lesbian
Summary: As a security officer on an interspecies ship, Growlan Raskli's experienced in heading off species-specific aberrant behaviors in order to keep the peace. But when her captain asks her to find out what's bothering their sole human crew member, Raskli's out of her depths. She hardly knows anything about humans and she's not a psych doctor. Something's definitely upset Human Jen, something to do with human holidays. The more time Raskli spends studying humans and interacting with the intriguing Human Jen, the more personal the assignment becomes. Determined to lift the dark cloud from Human Jen, Raskli will do whatever it takes—within safe parameters, of course.
Word Count: 18000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Life hasn't been easy for Amir since he fled Iran after a brutal imprisonment. The trauma experienced at the hands of the guards left a dark spot on his soul. The one constant in his life since relocating to Chicago has been his lover—now husband—Esmail, whose steadfast love and support has soothed his wounded heart. But this Shab-e Yalda, Amir wants to be the one giving his husband something special, because even after the darkest nights, the sun will rise again.
Word Count: 436522
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual
Summary: Namid è un ragazzo di città in tutto e per tutto, ma gli serve un cambiamento. Stanco di manovre politiche e pretese varie, conseguenze dell’essere un medico a Chicago, si trasferisce più a ovest, per la precisione a Hooper Town. Sta per scoprire che “cittadina caratteristica” è un eufemismo per “completamente assurda”. Tra verande che assalgono la gente, orde di gatti enookomis che lo spiano come falchi, c’è un solo motivo determinante per cui Namid accetta di restare nella piccola città: un cowboy recluso che si da’ il caso lui abbia salvato da un incendio. Se poi riuscisse anche a trovare un modo per dire a Dusty che l’intera città spettegola allegramente su loro due e sul fatto che stiano insieme, sarebbe perfetto...
Word Count: 62000
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: Alone on his mountain, the kitsune Tadashi only wishes to be left in peace so he can mourn his lost lover and take care of his temple. Unfortunately, several townsmen who have no idea of Tadashi’s true nature have different plans for the "Jap on the mountain" and his land. When they push the kitsune too far, he reacts with horrific violence, leaving tragedy in his wake. Broken and terrified of himself, Tadashi represses his natural drives and shuts himself off from the world. The intrusion of a lost little girl and her persistent veterinarian uncle, Berg, stumbling into Tadashi’s life, though, and turn his carefully ordered world upside-down. The reluctant hero needs to decide whether he is truly happier alone or whether he can once again embrace a truth he used to know, that life is for the living. Please Note: This is a re-edited, second edition with 4 illustrations. No changes have been made to the story. There will be B&W and Color print editions released.
Word Count: 35454
Character Identities: Ace, Gay
Summary: A poltergeist haunts Taro, dogging his international travels. It washes glasses, puts dishes away, and even dusts. At least he hopes it's a cleaning-obsessed poltergeist and not his own anxieties burbling over into neat freak fits he doesn't remember. When his property manager suggests he call paranormal expert, Jack Montrose, Taro's skeptical but desperate enough to try even a ghost hunter. Jack's arrival crushes Taro's hopes of a dashing Van Helsing-style hero. Instead of an invincible hunter, he gets Ichabod Crane. As the paranormal puzzles multiply and Jack begins to suggest the entity might not be a ghostly one, Taro adds a budding friendship with Jack to his pile of anxieties. It's a race to see whether Taro's poltergeist or his relationship with the obviously-not-ace Jack will reach maximum strangeness first.
Word Count: 44366
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: The Brimstone. Cargo ship, hive of thievery and profiteering. Captained by a demon prince and manned by a crew that puts any batch of misfits to shame. You've come along with a cargo of anti-gravity cows and one of jeweled-toned potatoes. You've shared the horrors of frogs and nightmares. Now share some, more or less, quieter moments with the Brimstone crew—small snippets plucked from various spots in each personal timeline, from Shax and Verin's childhood in Hell to after the events of Beside a Black Tarn. The Brimstone Journals, Collection One also includes an exclusive holiday short story, never published as part of the blog series. Shax would probably like to keep it that way, but too bad.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Bisexual
Summary: When humans forsake the temples, the gods need to find other employment. Hades opens Brandywine Investigations after his divorce and his subsequent move to the modern world. If he was hoping for boring infidelity cases and lost dogs, he’s sorely mistaken as murder and mayhem find his agency and his extended family at an astonishing rate. Includes: Canines, Crosshairs & Corpses: Brandywine Investigations #1 No Enemy But Time: Brandywine Investigations #2 Dragons, Diamonds & Discord: Brandywine Investigations #3
Word Count: 41016
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: Autumn has always been Zak's favorite season for hiking and camping. Not to mention breathing in all that crisp fall air and sitting around toasty bonfires. That all changed a year and a half ago when a rich prick high on prescription pills sideswiped Zak while he was out biking. Now his days are filled with pain and limited mobility. No more camping. No more trails. Zak's life as he knew it is gone forever. Back at his beloved stomping grounds, Zak is ready to say hello and goodbye one last time. But when a cry from the frigid Lake Superior waters throws him into the role of a rescuer, more than just his life hangs in the balance. Little did Zak know how much one person giving a damn mattered to him.
Word Count: 35656
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: When Shax stumbles across rumors of an experimental house that responds to the occupant’s brain functions, creating scenarios to please and delight, naturally he wants to steal it. While stealing an entire house sounds impossible, the demon prince has a cunning plan. But a night at the ballet heralds the return of a troubled and hunted Julian Parallax. He brings ominous news to whisper in Shax's ear and forces Ness to battle a new emotion – raging jealousy. With nefarious plots in the background and an overabundance of Poe references, even Shax’s scheming may not be enough to get the Brimstone crew out alive this time.
Word Count: 45120
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay
Summary: Da solo in Giappone, Finni lotta costantemente contro la sfiducia, l’isolamento e la xenofobia che incontra ogni giorno sul suo cammino. Sente la mancanza della sua casa e della sua famiglia. Il nervosismo gli procura il riacutizzarsi di tremendi incubi e, soprattutto, nel paese del Sol Levante il Natale non sembra neppure Natale. Non per come lo intende lui, almeno. Dispiaciuto per la tristezza che vede aleggiare intorno al ragazzo, il suo coinquilino Mamoru si offre di fare le veci della sua famiglia durante la cena della Vigilia, senza però rendersi conto di quanto quell’accordo cambierà completamente il loro rapporto, perché ciascuno nasconde a suo modo segreti all’apparenza inimmaginabili.
Word Count: 25745
Character Identities: Gay, Transgender
Summary: When a steel trap of celestial and infernal politics threatens to close around them, Shax and Verin flee Earth’s system in a stolen ship, leaving everything behind. It’s an elegantly simple plan, with a new ship and a new life as carefree brigands among the stars. But the ship seems to hate them, and in order to have any sort of life they need funds. A frightened man offering them a contract to deliver three mysterious crates comes just in time, and Shax is sure their troubles are over. Out of his environment and in over his head, Shax scrambles to understand the players and the consequences of his new life. With cargo that’s not what it seems, shadowy motives around every turn, and a gorgeous rogue named Julian for a dash of added confusion, Shax’s grand schemes of a new start may be his demise before he can even begin.
Word Count: 7150
Character Identities: Non Binary
Summary: In a four-gendered world where correct gender identity is law, Venk struggles with his inability to choose one sexual orientation over another. His body has matured, but he still shows the multi-colored crest of a juvenile, someone who has not yet presented proper orientation. With his family losing patience and others beginning to whisper, Venk must find a way to change his crest or be labeled an aberration. But the only choice he sees is a dishonest one.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Exiled to Earth for perhaps the worst failure in Irasolan history, General Teer must assimilate or die. Earth is too warm, too wet, too foreign, but he does the best he can even though human males are loud, childish louts whom he can't imitate successfully. When a grieving seaplane pilot strikes up a strange and uneasy friendship with him, he finds he may have been too quick to judge human males. They are strange to look at, but perhaps not as unbearable as he thought.
Word Count: 41861
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay
Summary: Alone in Japan, Finni is struggling against the constant distrust, avoidance, and xenophobia he experiences every day. He misses home. He misses his family. Nightmares come all too frequently because of the stress, and well, Christmas is just not Christmas in Japan. Not how he understands it. Distressed by how miserable Finni is, his roommate, Mamoru, offers to be Finni's family for Christmas. Little does he know how much one agreement would change everything between them, because both of them kept secrets neither ever dreamed were true. 2015 Rainbow Awards, Honorable Mention & Finalist - Best Gay Fantasy
Word Count: 69300
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Vassily Belikov, composer and pampered son of privilege, suffered neurological damage in the accident that killed his father. Resentful of being treated as an invalid, he lives as a recluse, dependent on his mother. That changes the day she brings home a new husband with two sons of his own. When deep-space pirates capture Vassily's mother, he's left to the mercy of his cruel, amoral stepfather. Fighting addiction and his physical shortcomings, he's forced to seek out the criminal mastermind Baba Yaga for a crucial piece of equipment. While she agrees to deal with him if he beats his Exoticus addiction, paranoia and mysterious intentions infuse her household. Drawn to her fierce, suspicious youngest son, certain his actions are all carefully observed, Vassily must find the courage to face both his fears and his desires if he expects to survive.
Word Count: 32850
Character Identities: Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay
Summary:
Word Count: 39865
Character Identities: Gay
Summary:
The boys desperately need a vacation. With the not-quite-ill-gotten gains from the Frog incident, Shax takes the Brimstone's crew to the exclusive resort planet, Opal, for some much needed rest and relaxation. The resort has everything a demon prince and his crew could want, but an incident on the Trauma Ball court has Ness stalking off in anger and sends events swiftly spiraling out of control.
Loving a demon isn't easy, as Ness has discovered, and harder still for a newly fallen who's still sorting out what that means. A new friend lending a sympathetic ear helps until Ness learns too late that friendship was the last thing on BJ's mind.
Word Count: 31368
Character Identities: Gay
Summary:
While Shax recovers from a near fatality, his shipmates have been busy. He's rather proud of them for taking the initiative and finding them a lucrative cargo run. His pride turns to outright horror, though, when he finds out what sort of cargo. Frogs. The one thing in the universe that incites mindless panic in Shax. Unfortunately, he also soon discovers that a healthy fear of frogs doesn't prevent frog-driven disasters.
An unlikely series of overlapping mishaps hurls the Brimstone back to an even more unlikely point in history for a couple of demons and a fallen angel in a spaceship. Somehow they need to repair and refuel, and puzzle out how to get home. Time travel has never been so messy.
Word Count: 41600
Character Identities: Bisexual, Gay
Summary: Namid’s a city boy, born and bred, but he needs a change of pace. Tired of the political jockeying and demands of being a doctor in Chicago, he moves West to Hooper's Town. He’s about to find out that “quaint small town” is really a euphemism for “completely weird.” Porches that attack people, herds of cats, nookomis watching him like hawks, Namid accepts the small town as it is because of one important factor—a recluse of a cowboy he just happens to save from a fire. Now if only Namid could find a way to tell Dusty the whole town is gleefully gossiping about them dating.
Word Count: 23000
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Shax, the Demon Prince of Thieves, has reconciled himself to exile. He has a grand time careening around the galaxy as a high-end, intergalactic purloiner of pretties. Everything's going just fine, thank you very much. All right, fine, the anti-gravity cows are a bit problematic and some of his buyers are bad for his health, but he manages until he comes across an injured angel in a psychedelic alien jungle. He only rescues the wing boy for his golden feathers, but what Shax doesn’t know about angels could fill an intergalactic encyclopedia. Ness, since his full, angelic name is too much to deal with, is shockingly naïve and seems convinced that Shax and Verin have brought him aboard to torture him or perhaps eat him. Little by little, Shax begins to earn his trust in the quest to wheedle a golden feather or two from him until to Shax's dismay, the yearning after pretties becomes a different sort of yearning entirely.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Any landing you can crawl away from is a good one. A data privateer crash-lands on a barely habitable moon where he's rescued by a research scientist who refuses to show his face. Though suspicious and paranoid by necessity, Rhodi finds himself drawn to the soft-spoken man behind the mask. Professor Covington prefers being isolated with his research. He has good reason to limit human contact, but he can’t abandon anyone to the ravages of a fickle and dangerous environment. He knows Rhodi’s hiding things. It’s none of his business and his mysterious guest will leave once a nasty native virus has run its course. Strange how the thought makes him less happy by the hour.
Word Count: 19193
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Erik decides geocaching is the best way to heal himself after work and personal problems overwhelm him, but the trip goes horribly wrong. Falling down the side of a mountain deters Erik's plans for a quick cache find, but his rescuer is the one person who may be able to save Erik in more ways than he can imagine.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Information not available
Summary: While the cell is sparse and cold, at least this one has a bed. The figure resting there is too thin; too still, the prominent bones the result of long starvation, the stillness the product of too much anguish and abuse. He watches, though. An anxious, intelligent mind still occupies this frail and failing body, one that watches and wonders about the new guard occupying his cell each night.
Word Count: Information not available
Character Identities: Gay
Summary: Michael Sarver hates Valentine's Day. Between the flowers, the tacky decorations and his sleazy boss, he's certain he's about to experience the worst costumed office party in history. But Cupid's minions and a certain Hawaiian god have other ideas. Let the mayhem begin.
Word Count: 6050
Character Identities: Gay
Summary:
