Author of Contemporary Gay Romance
Our first stop is the Boys in our Books blog for an exclusive excerpt from HoT. It’s just a little tiny teaser for those of you who love Lem so much. You can also read their review while you’re there.
Pre-order Heart of Timber from Smashwords, Kobo, or ARe.
We’re starting something new here on the blog, we’re featuring science fiction and fantasy with LGBT characters. There’s a lot of it out there, but for some reason, it’s not all that easy to find. I am a huge fan of both sci-fi and fantasy, and am very happy to kick off the first post featuring this sub-genre with an excerpt from In Liam’s Wake, the first book of Ashlyn Forge‘s new Toys and Soldiers Series. Enjoy!
For eight years, Liam has been trapped underground in The Colony—a sanctuary so determined to stay hidden it forbids anyone from leaving once they’ve entered. His only hope of returning home rests on his best friend Riley who, on the eve of their escape, slipped into a coma.
Despite staggering debt, vengeful mutants and bounty hunters, Liam continues a seemingly never-ending quest for a cure to end Riley’s unnatural five-year sleep. Every night, Liam stares at the listless man who not only holds his escape, but his heart. The suffering can end, however; Liam must only forsake all hope of ever returning home again, abandon Riley to his fate, and wholeheartedly serve as a soldier for The Colony—the very people he’s trying to escape.
Live the life within his reach, or continue chasing the one just beyond his grasp? He need only submit.
“Opponent, do you accept this challenge?” an unfamiliar voice called out.
With a soft groan, Liam pulled himself into a sitting position. His mouth tasted dry and foul, but he could speak.
“Yeah. Wait…what?”
“Challenge accepted,” said the voice. “Enjoy.”
Liam rubbed his brow and then his eyes, taking stock of his surroundings. He was in a tunnel.
A fight? How’d I end up in a fight? Where the hell am I, anyway?
There were thin-framed metal bleachers behind him, and directly before him sat his opponent.
For a brief moment, Liam wondered if the drugs were causing him to hallucinate. He wasn’t sure he’d taken them, though, so he considered the possibility that he was succumbing to his ailment. Whatever the reason, he now sat some distance away from something he’d thought was a myth. [Read more…] about In Liam’s Wake – New LGBT Sci-fi (excerpt)
Afflicted by love’s madness all are blind – Sextus Propertius
Hunter knew this wasn’t one of those childish boy-whores trolling for perverts; this was a man. Young, but still a man. He couldn’t see him, but his voice told Hunter that he was a man that had done things of which he’d never spoken; a man who lent himself to situations where his precociousness could not have extracted him safely, yet he’d gone anyway. For the money, or the drugs, or the thrill, Hunter wasn’t sure which.
He had a hard street smell to him: the coarse weave of slightly greasy jeans; the soft, worn odor of a leather jacket; the musty, unwashed smell of lank hair. What would his feet be like trapped in boots all day? Hunter wondered. Not rank, no; a slight vinegar smell, like chips, only with a more sensual under-tongue taste.
Hunter also questioned himself about the haughtiness of the man’s poise. Did he hold a mild distance, unerringly begging you to pull him in close? Did he burn you with a cool, liquid stare that dried the mouth? Or did he bark a seductive, fuck me trash-boy look that would melt your eyes? [Read more…] about Afflicted – Excerpt