Gay Romance Novels

Naked in the Rain

March 21, 2014 By Brandon 2 Comments

Welcome Eowyn Wood to the blog. Her award-winning novel, Naked in the Rain was nominated by readers as a 2014 LGBT Book Gem.

My novel Naked in the Rain and its sequel Afterglow tackle the controversial topic of underage prostitution, along with drug addiction, homelessness and… music. It is not all dark and dreary. I hope readers find beauty and humor generously sprinkled throughout both novels.

People ask me, why write about two boys who run away and become prostitutes? The answer is, I don’t really know! Some people attribute it to my “day job” working at Cascade AIDS Project, a non-profit AIDS service organization. While it’s true CAP has exposed me to people with a lot of different life experiences, the story was in my head long before I began working there. [Read more…] about Naked in the Rain

Book Gems come from all sorts of places

January 24, 2014 By Brandon

Welcome Heather Domin to the blog. She’s here to talk to us about another Hidden Book Gem I found while wandering the internet. ~B

Stories come from all sorts of places – this one came from a newsboy cap.

I get most of my ideas from images, usually a random visual that pops up in my head and spins itself first into a character, then into a premise. Back in 2004 (dear lord, I just realized that was 10 years ago) I was watching an interview with an actor I had a crush on; he was wearing a gray newsboy cap, and I said jokingly to my roommate that he looked like an Irish terrorist. It was a throwaway comment (and not even a clever one), but over the next few days the image kept coming back to me, like a montage in a movie trailer: not a terrorist but a hero, running through smoky streets, dodging gunfire, trying to rescue someone he loved. Thus Adam Elliott (and his gray cap) was born. William developed just as quickly – I knew I wanted a cinematic drama with lots of danger and a love story to match, and what could be more dangerous in 1920s Dublin than falling in love with another man who’s secretly working for the Crown? I’m a sucker for the enemies-to-lovers trope. I wanted Adam and William to be two sides of the same coin, two people who had been through similar traumas but reacted to them in a very different ways. I decided to tell the story from William’s point of view so the reader could experience Adam along with him, but it didn’t take long to realize that it was William’s story I was really telling. The outline came together pretty quickly, and everything took off from there. There was so much to explore: history, culture, religion, class, love, loss, fate…. plus, you know, beautiful men with accents angsting all over the place while wearing (or not wearing) period clothes. Because newsboy cap. [Read more…] about Book Gems come from all sorts of places

How I Accidentally Fell Into Writing

January 17, 2014 By Brandon

Welcome John T. Fuller to the blog. John has the distinction to be the first author we’re bringing to you this year for the Hidden Gems blog series. In a nutshell, this series of posts is about helping you find books that you may not have found, but that others have raved about. They come from all facets of LGBTQ lit, so if you know of a book that you think needs to be spotlighted, let us know. I hope you’ll enjoy the blog series! Now, everyone say welcome to John. ~B

When Brandon approached me and asked if I’d like to take part in his 2014 guest blog theme of ‘Hidden Gems’ I was very honoured and incredibly surprised to be contacted by such a prolific and respected author. Just as surprised, in fact, as I’ve been at how my debut (and currently only!) novella When the Music Stops has been received by readers.

You see, I never really intended it to be published. I’ve written on and off as a hobby for most of my adult life, everything from erotica to horror, historical to sci-fi, but none of it ever saw the light of day – in fact a lot of it never even got finished. It was always just a hobby to me, a nice creative outlet when I came home from the (depressingly factual) desk-job. When I wrote When the Music Stops it was the longest piece I’d written to date and I wasn’t thinking about an audience or what readers might think – possibly this was a good thing, as I’d perhaps not have tackled such an emotive and divisive subject if I’d been worried about how it would be received. [Read more…] about How I Accidentally Fell Into Writing

Hidden Gems and Other Bookish Treasures

January 6, 2014 By Brandon

I thought we’d do something a bit different on the blog this year. Last year, we had authors talking about the books they wrote and why one in particular was their favorite. Every author has a fav and I’ve always found their reasons fascinating.

This year, I’m flipping that upside down. We’re scouring the interwebs looking for hidden gems. Books that have made ‘must read’ lists but, for one reason or another, never got much attention. I’ll be contacting the authors and inviting them to the blog so you can learn about them too. I already have a full lineup on the way with some great books and fantastic authors. If you know of such a book, let me know. I may profile it here on the blog.

One of the other new themes on the blog this year will be LGBT science fiction and fantasy. I have been a huge fan of both genres since I was a kid and thought it was about time we brought the genre more exposure. Watch for the posts, and again, if you have a nominee you’d like us to take a look at, let me know.

When The Aliens Come

December 6, 2013 By Brandon 3 Comments

When I was nine, I prayed for aliens to come. I know. Religion and aliens make for awkward bedfellows, but that’s the best thing about being nine. You can believe everything. How the aliens would hear my prayer, I didn’t know. But I guess that if they had the technology to make it as far as Earth, they could probably tune right into the prayers of a random nine-year-old kid, right?

Anyway, it didn’t matter how they got the message, only that they got it. Because the aliens were going to save the world! And here’s the clever part for a nine-year-old: they didn’t have to do anything at all, apart from show up.

Fighting a war over some arbitrary border drawn in the dirt? You’re gonna feel pretty dumb about that once the aliens come and show you how big the universe really is.

Ignoring all those African kids dying of hunger because they’re not your problem? When the aliens come and are so different and weird and, well, alien, all of humanity will suddenly feel like one big family.

Fighting over whose god is the real god? When the aliens turn up, you’ll see just how ludicrous it is to believe in one god who invested himself in one particular group of people on one tiny corner of one insignificant planet, thousands of years ago. [Read more…] about When The Aliens Come

Black Friday Sale for LGBT Readers

November 28, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

I don’t so this often, but it’s been such a spectacular year. Together we have raised over $5000 for homeless LGBT youth and sold over 10,000 books. So, I’m giving back to the readers all weekend long. That’s right, you have until Sunday midnight! But the sales don’t start until Black Friday. Enjoy, and have a great holiday season!

Gay Romance On sale at All Romance eBooks:

Gay Fiction On Sale at Smashwords

For Dust use coupon code: KR86G