Two enemies who meet in the line of duty during the early days of the Soviet Union's last war in Afghanistan. Behind enemy lines respect and finally love grow ... but that's only the official version. This epic spans across over twenty-five years of their lives. It's harsh and violent, but life is cruel and they just do what they need to survive. Special Forces - Soldiers is the first cycle of the Special Forces epic, which consists of three cycles and is about a million words. The second cycle is Mercenaries and the third one is Veterans.This print version is the original version of Special Forces (1st edition), as it was edited by the authors of the time of first publication on Marquesate’s website. The Soldiers cycle was published between July 2006 and March 2007. This is the only version that is authorised by Marquesate.The ebook version is available for free download, and the original chapters remain as a free read on Marquesate’s website below:This print version of Special Forces is strictly non-profit and print cost only. The paperback of this original version is available from Lulu.

    For the first time in book form, Judy Shepard speaks about her loss, sharing memories of Matthew, their life as a typical American family, and the pivotal event in the small college town that changed everything.The Meaning of Matthew follows the Shepard family in the days immediately after the crime, when Judy and her husband traveled to see their incapacitated son, kept alive by life support machines; how the Shepards learned of the incredible response from strangers all across America who held candlelit vigils and memorial services for their child; and finally, how they struggled to navigate the legal system as Matthew's murderers were on trial. Heart-wrenchingly honest, Judy Shepard confides with readers about how she handled the crippling loss of her child, why she became a gay rights activist, and the challenges and rewards of raising a gay child in America today.The Meaning of Matthew not only captures the historical significance and complicated civil rights issues surrounding one young man's life and death, but it also chronicles one ordinary woman's struggle to cope with the unthinkable.

    No more so than in the Administration, where the Investigation and Interrogation Division's Val Toreth faces professional and personal hazards every day. And when an attack on one of the most loyal and valued members of his investigative team makes the professional very personal indeed, Toreth finds himself entangled once more in the darker side of corporate life and crime. He'll need help, not just from his colleagues but from his "regular fuck" Keir Warrick, to make it out the other end safely.Even away from their offices, Toreth and Warrick find that their jobs create challenges and tensions that threaten their relationship, because finding a balance is all about knowing when to keep control and when to let it go.The fourth book in the Administration series contains the novellas Control and Coming from America and six other short stories, continuing the lives, loves, and occasionally intricate problems of dedicated and opportunistic para-investigator Val Toreth and up-and-coming corporate Keir Warrick in the near-future dystopia of the European Administration.

    Is it possible that in one part of the European Administration at least, almost all the citizens are happy with their lot in life? It seems unlikely. When the numbers don't add up at the Athens branch of the Investigation and Interrogation Division, Para-investigator Toreth is sent there from New London to review their procedures. With sunshine, a less-than-urgent assignment, and hosts who seem anxious to ensure that he has a good time, it seems like the perfect chance for a holiday on Administration time.Or it would if he didn't have to leave Sara and the rest of his regular team behind. Working alone for once, as the investigation becomes more complex Toreth finds himself surrounded by people he can't trust. Worse than that, he has to leave Warrick on his own in New London, a situation further complicated by the reappearance of an old adversary.The fifth book in the Administration series contains the novella Quis Custodiet and seven short stories, following the careers of para-investigator and inveterate trouble-magnet Val Toreth and ambitious, if occasionally blinkered, corporate Keir Warrick in the near-future dystopia of the European Administration.

    Warrick's and Toreth's relationship goes to the next level but it frightens Toreth off.

    It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist.Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, José Esteban Muñoz recalls the queer past for guidance in presaging its future. He considers the work of seminal artists and writers such as Andy Warhol, LeRoi Jones, Frank O'Hara, Ray Johnson, Fred Herko, Samuel Delany, and Elizabeth Bishop, alongside contemporary performance and visual artists like Dynasty Handbag, My Barbarian, Luke Dowd, Tony Just, and Kevin McCarty in order to decipher the anticipatory illumination of art and its uncanny ability to open windows to the future.In a startling repudiation of what the LGBT movement has held dear, Muñoz contends that queerness is instead a futurity bound phenomenon, a "not yet here" that critically engages pragmatic presentism. Part manifesto, part love-letter to the past and the future, Cruising Utopia argues that the here and now are not enough and issues an urgent call for the revivification of the queer political imagination.

    He and his teammates still get to strut around and have their pick of the girls on Friday nights at the local meat market. That's all he wants--until he meets Lee, a fox with an agenda and an attractive body.Problem is, Lee's not a girl. He's a gay fox who never thought he'd fall for a football player, until he met Dev. Their secret romance is hard enough for them to handle, but that's only the beginning of their problems, as their friends, family, and co-workers keep mounting the pressure to find out what's going on. If they're exposed, they could lose the careers they've fought so hard for.Going it alone would make everything easier. If only they could stop fighting long enough to break up.

    A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won't allow him to murder an innocent man. Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies. Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D's cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was. As the day of Jack's testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives... but also fighting for their future. A future together.

    Used to the busy playground of Winter Park, police chief Reese Daniels is shipped off to sleepy Lake City, Colorado. She takes the job of sheriff seriously, but is clear to one and all: this year is just a blip in her life. When it's done, she's gone. Forest Ranger M. Z. Morgan has lived in Lake City long enough to be considered a local. The pace, the quiet and the many friends make life there well worth the lack of dating material. A girlfriend would still be nice, and the new sheriff is easy on the eyes. It's entirely natural for Morgan and Reese to be friendly, but Reese's repeated reminders that she's not sticking around makes it impossible for anything more between them. That is, until they strike a "no strings" bargain. Some guaranteed exchange of heat as the long winter sets in seems just what they need to pass the time. So what if it's the best sex they've ever had? It's still only temporary. They won't mistake sex for more, even if it only gets better, month after month. After month. No Strings--it seemed like a good idea at the time. Golden Crown Literary Award winner Gerri Hill weaves a sensuous,sizzling story against the spectacular backdrop of a year in the high country.

    Since they yanked their support for college he had to find a way to pay for it. Little did he know that joining the Army was going to change his life forever. Especially when he was introduced to a Drill Sergeant who was nicknamed 'Big Daddy'.Phillip Grabowski had joined the Army to follow in his father's footsteps; by the time Ryan entered, he had already made a name for himself. He was a soldier's soldier, but Ryan was making it really hard for him to remember that.69,653 words.

    His friends despair of him ever meeting someone, but despite his loneliness, Simon is cautious about looking for more. Then his best friends drag him to a party, where he barges into a football conversation and ends up defending the honour of star forward Declan Tyler—unaware that the athlete is present. In that first awkward meeting, neither man has any idea they will change each other's lives forever.Like his entire family, Simon revels in living in Melbourne, the home of Australian Rules football and mecca for serious fans. There, players are treated like gods—until they do something to fall out of public favour. This year, the public is taking Declan to task for suffering injuries outside his control, so Simon's support is a bright spot.But as Simon and Declan fumble toward a relationship, keeping Declan's homosexuality a secret from well-meaning friends and an increasingly suspicious media becomes difficult. Nothing can stay hidden forever. Soon Declan will have to choose between the career he loves and the man he wants, and Simon has never been known to make things easy—for himself or for others.

    Toreth meets Warrick's ex wife and things get even more steamy in the bedroom.

    Brite’s cheerfully chaotic series starring two chefs in New Orleans. The Value of X introduces G-man and Rickey, who grew up in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward and who are slowly realizing there are only two important things in life: cooking and each other. Rickey’s parents aren’t quite so taken with the boy’s plans and get him an impossible-to-resist place at the Culinary Institute of America.In D*U*C*K, Rickey and G-man’s restaurant, Liquor, is doing well but there are the usual complications of running a kitchen: egos get bruised, people get fired . . . and then Rickey is jumped in an alley by one of their ex-waiters.On the mend, Rickey takes a side job to cater the annual Ducks Unlimited banquet, where every course must, of course, include the ducks the hunters have bagged. Rickey’s crew are ready to meet the challenge, but Rickey’s not sure he can do it all and deal with the guest of honor—his childhood hero, former New Orleans Saints quarterback Bobby Hebert."Fun foodie fiction, and readers will scarf it down as quickly as a plate of blackened crawfish."—Publishers WeeklyOriginally published in limited hardcover editions, these two novels are full of the pure joy of love, hard work, and great food and are a tremendous extension (or introduction) to Brite’s series.Praise fo the Rickey and G-man stories:“A high-end restaurant is...a gift that keeps on giving. The heat, the bickerings and intrigue, the pursuit of perfection, the dodgy money keeping it all afloate: the setting spawns plots...Can the [Liquor] franchise sustain itself? The answer is yes.”—New York Times“World-class satire and perfect New Orleans lit.”—Andrei Codrescu“Steeped in spicy dialogue and [New Orleans] flavor...a behind-the-swinging-door peek into the world of chefs.”—Entertainment WeeklyPoppy Z. Brite’s fiction set in the New Orleans restaurant world includes Prime, Liquor, and Soul Kitchen. She has also published five other novels and three short story collections. She lives with her husband Chris, a chef, in New Orleans.

    Prior to that, Laaksonen, better known as Tom of Finland, enjoyed an intense cult in the international gay community but was largely unknown to the broader audience. The Art of Pleasure gave Tom well-deserved recognition and increased his following exponentially; Tom of Finland XXL will fix him forever in the realm of fine art. With Tom of Finland XXL contains nearly 1000 images, covering 6 decades of the artist's career. The work was gathered from all known collections across the world with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation and features many drawings, paintings that have never been reproduced in any book. Completing this collector's edition are eight specially-commissioned essays on Tom's social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith.

    When a young man fleeing for his life reaches the shores of the Dragon Isles, what he finds will change not only his life, but his entire world.

    Then suddenly he becomes the only witness to a brutal murder. Although the killer vows to silence him, Jory refuses to go into witness protection. This puts him into conflict with Sam Kage, a very straight and very hot police detective. When passion flares between the two men, Sam is astonished. Is he really gay? And if so, what will this mean to his career, and his life? As the danger threatening Jory increases, Sam senses that nothing is as it seems, and wonders who is really after his newfound and forbidden love? This book is no longer available at Club Lighthouse Publishing.

    He comes face-to-face with his doubts in the person of Danny Butler, a mid-level drug runner Miller hopes to use to catch a much larger fish: Roberto Hinestroza, a drug lord Miller has pursued for years. Danny has no interest in being a witness against his boss, both out of a sense of twisted loyalty and because he knows double-crossing Hinestroza is a sure death sentence. But he reluctantly agrees to cooperate, and as he suspects, it doesn't take long for Hinestroza to figure out the betrayal. Miller is surprised to discover Danny's not the career-criminal lowlife he expected; at the same time, Danny finds himself helplessly attracted to Miller's innate goodness. They barely begin to explore the sparking attraction between them when Hinestroza's hitman tracks them down, and then they're on the run, both for their lives and for any kind of love.

    John Fell. Looking after his best friend's sub, Charlie gives him the resources to write his thesis and fight his homophobic father for his inheritance. John retreats to his cabin in the woods, but pet-sitting Charlie has shown him a new path. Putting aside his doubts, he finds solace in helping boys learn to serve their owners, and for owners to be worthy of service. Dr. Fell's poverty, pride, and loyalty to Rob hinder his quest for a new boy, but his sense of duty can't let him walk away from someone in need. Forced to confront his responses to abuse and neglect, dispirited by the imperfect relationships of his fellow doms and their subs, and struggling to make ends meet, John gives up the academic dream that sustained him through the lean years with Rob. Time and again, Dr. Fell is drawn back into the outside world by boys in need and by the irrepressible Charlie, who just won't let him be. The center of a growing circle of family and friends, John slowly returns to life. But is all that enough to help him find his 'forever boy'? Will John Fell, PhD, be smart enough to let his past go and make a new future for himself?"

    He's overjoyed when she marries Cliff Laughton and overcome with sorrow when she dies an untimely death, leaving behind her husband and two-year-old son.Out of work again, Len finds a job at Cliff Laughton's sorely neglected farm. Cliff is still mourning his wife, struggling to raise his son, and has little enthusiasm or energy left for work. Len immediately begins to whip the farm—including the two Laughtons—into shape. Working side by side, Len and Cliff grow ever closer, but loving another man takes a lot of courage. They'll have to stand together as they face faltering business, threatening drought, misguided family, and Midwestern prejudices to protect what might be a lifelong love. Prequel to "Love Means No Shame"

    Evan Arden was thought of as a musical genius when at the height of his career he vanished from the spotlight. Together, their relationship is just as intense as their music careers. With success pushing down on them, Jesse must decide between his life of music, or his life with Evan.

    "STARS OF THE NIGHT COMMUTE haunts in three dimensions, knit by a below-words rumble in the sure rhythm of dreams"—Annie Finch. "Bozicevic's poetry has everything—a mastery of language, a distinct and singular voice and a worldview so visionary and all-encompassing, so as to both terrify and astound"—Noelle Kocot. "How does she do it?"—Eileen Myles. "Absolutely anything can happen next but whatever it is, it will be perfect.... She is able to stretch language to its most ineffable and musical limits while maintaining a masterful grasp of the colloquial.... She is able to perceive with the eyes of language—then render with lyrical immediacy—the experience of our collective sleepwalking soul, who may well soon awaken to discover that its terror was not a dream"—Franz Wright.

    But by the early 1990s, the organization they founded, ACT UP, was no more; even as the AIDS epidemic raged on. Weaving together interviews with activists, extensive research, and reflections on the author's time as a member of the organization, Moving Politics is the first book to chronicle the rise and fall of ACT UP, highlighting a key factor in its trajectory: emotion.Surprisingly overlooked by many scholars of social movements, emotion, Gould argues, plays a fundamental role in political activism. From anger to hope, pride to shame, and solidarity to despair, feelings played a significant part in ACT UP's provocative style of protest, which included raucous demonstrations, die-ins, and other kinds of street theater. Detailing the movement's public triumphs and private setbacks, Moving Politics is the definitive account of ACT UP’s origin, development, and decline as well as a searching look at the role of emotion in contentious politics.

    Instead, he got . . . Matthew Kieler, a non-returnable gift, but a gift that kept on giving. Chance encounters are sometimes the ones that most change our lives. He sold Matt a tie, but got more in the bargain - more than most people would want and more than anyone deserved. Although these lovers may not have had the pink American dream, they had it better than most, even as they faced a crisis that would change us all. Look Away Silence is a romance set in the time of AIDS, when ignorance could spell trouble and often did. It encompasses the author's experiences in volunteer community service and personal friendships during a tragic period in American history. The novel is dedicated to the Hyacinth AIDS Foundation, the NAMES Project and to the author's own fallen angels. "Mothers, do not shun your children, because you never know how long you have to revel in them."

    Driving across country, he discovers Micah, a human that smells like dark chocolate and summer rain. He knows immediately that Micah is his mate, but before he can claim him, he has to get Micah's sexy little butt out of trouble. They are attacked by a band of bullies. In his bid to protect his mate, Thomas reveals his true nature to the bullies and to Micah. Afterwards, he has to call in reinforcements to help clean up the mess. It comes in the form of Caleb Hunter, alpha of the Hunter Pack and Micah's other mate. But Micah's human. Isn't he? ** Stolen Desires: Siren Menage Amour: Erotic Alternative Menage a Trois Romance, M/M/M, Werewolves] Ryce Hunter loves his mate of five years, Saul. He doesn't love that every Friday, Saul goes out to find some young stud. Fed up with feeling unwanted, Ryce goes into town to find his own stud. What he finds is Cary, his other mate. Until he has his second mate, Cary won't let Ryce claim him. Ryce assures him their other mate is Saul. However, all is not as it seems. Saul is driven to protect his mates at any cost, including sacrificing his own happiness. ** A Siren Erotic Romance

    They are all are her big decade party.

    African American Studies. Asian American Studies. LGBT Studies. Winner of the Publishing Triangle's 2010 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry and the 13th Annual Asian American Literary Award for Poetry. "I applaud Ronaldo Wilson's pathbreaking movement into what has never, never, in history, been said. About sexuality, in particular, these poems speak with incorrigible and raving clarity. And, always, they display intellectual curiosity, and an impatient, gorgeous readiness to make language new."--Wayne Koestenbaum"[A] warning to anyone tempted to believe that in objectification lies freedom. Livid inside an apocalyptic negative capability, these poems are constructed through their maker's deconstruction, and reading, I too, felt unmade."--Claudia Keelan"Ronaldo Wilson's POEMS OF THE BLACK OBJECT turns the parenthetical inside out, contents kicking and alive, person, race and being: where fate is in store in you, not for you, out there; in consciousness, and barely conscious, where consciousness is the accumulation of the scarcely discernible experiences. Wilson's poems captures states of person, the thinking being, the being thinking, the being perceived, and all the slippage between stages of person, Black and on the page, folding and unfolding layers of social construction."--Erica Hunt"The force here is in the erotic attachment between the human figures certainly--but also (and more surprisingly) between history and present-day experience. Ronaldo Wilson teases the reader with earnestness while he refracts event and experience. The effect is dazzling. The poems are panoramic. One part slave narrative, one part pillow book, POEMS OF THE BLACK OBJECT is a triumph of the social lyric: violent, tender, absurd."--G.E Patterson"For all the disturbances examined in this intensely lucid book of bodily desire, dead porn stars, and the high art of human survival, the voice of these poems manages to maintain a kind of giddy composure. Perhaps the trick of it comes through his sense that, 'pattern organizes trauma, and so does speed.' It's not so fast, the pace here; we're made to look, to see, with shrewd intention. It's that Ronaldo Wilson's writing doesn't let you get too comfortable. It shifts experience and reckoning from poem to essay, theory to epistle, these intuitive modes of a person in search of a particular poetics, darting around sharp visions that could bloody or shine on the tempestuous landscape 'the black object' emerges from."--Tisa Bryant

    Two lovers. And a collision course with tragedy.It should have been a perfect night out. Instead, Mark and Donald collide with tragedy when they leave their favorite night spot. That dark October night, three gay-bashers emerge from the gloom, armed with slurs, fists, and an aluminum baseball bat.The hate crime leaves Donald lost and alone, clinging to the memory of the only man he ever loved. He is haunted, both literally and figuratively, by Mark and what might have been. Trapped in a limbo offering no closure, Donald can’t immediately accept the salvation his new neighbor, Walter, offers. Walter’s kindness and patience are qualities his sixteen-year-old nephew, Justin, understands well. Walter provides the only sense of family the boy’s ever known. But Justin holds a dark secret that threatens to tear Donald and Walter apart before their love even has a chance to blossom.

    "Of the many ways of knowing the world, Stacie Cassarino in her elegant and poignant first book of poems, ZERO AT THE BONE, reminds us of the primacy of the senses. She tells us 'our mouths try to get it right' or that the 'mouth of the trees' will swallow us whole, by which she means taste is the most direct authenticator of experience and also the most defenseless because it's instruments of lips and tongue are eager. As a result, her great pre-occupation is with the vulnerability of human relationships, but as the title of the book suggests, Cassarino is fearless in her explorations of the risks. She knows 'you've got to live like everything will hurt you'"--Michael Collier.

    Wild Bill's got the hots for Michael, and will stop at nothing to go home with him. Forget about moonlit castles and windswept moors. These bad boys haunt all-night diners and cheap motels, cut-rate department stores and long, lonely stretches of the Interstate. Ride along with Wild Bill and Michael as the twists and turns of Channeling Morpheus for Scary Mary unfold in America's Heartland.

    You may know how Felix Himner got his powers, but find out how the hero NAKED JUSTICE was born. The world is in turmoil after World War Two, and young Felix Himner struggles to gain control of his brand new super-human abilities. His life has not been easy since his fateful encounter with Cock-A-Tut. One fateful day, Felix finds himself seduced by a handsome stranger. But when Felix explodes in the form of an electrical discharge, he is soon plunged into a battle to save the Earth from Interstellar Invaders. This origins story is packed with new characters to meet, villains to loathe and hot, hard and hung male bodies to admire!

    Teare provides us with poems that insist on the simultaneous physical embodiment of tactile pleasure—that which is found in the textures of thought and language—as well as the action of syntax. Partly informed by an ecological imagination that leads him back to Emerson and Thoreau, Teare's method and fragmented style are nevertheless up to the moment. Remarkable in its range, Sight Map serves at once as a cross-country travelogue, a pilgrim's gnostic progress, an improvised field guide, and a postmodern "pillowbook," recording the erotic conflation of lover and beloved, deity and doubter.

    Long used to being bullied and maligned for his strangeness, he spends his days helping the paranormals that everyone else forgets about.But the people he hunts and the mysteries he solves take him along unusual paths, many of them dangerous. Chris has never been a fan of running from a fight—even the fight that takes him to the door of the most dangerous man in the city.

    Ranging in style from measured narratives to fragmented lyrics that convey the ambiguity of loss, these poems both arc into the past and question the possibility of the future, exploring the ways in which memory at once sustains and fails love. Ultimately the poems are elegies not only to one beloved mother, but to the large and diffusive presences of Keats, Mandelstam, a concentration camp near Prague, a coming-of-age on a Greek island, and the nearly traceless particles of neutrinos that--as with each detail toward which the poet lends her attention -- become precious as the mother departs from her position at the center of the world. Furious, redemptive, and deeply immediate, Houses are Fields is a beautifully moving first book.

    A queen's delight, and it's all too easy for a guy to fall in love with these brave, young warriors. But some of those shipping out won't be coming home, and not all of the wounded wear uniforms.

    Another short story in The Administration series.Warrick and Toreth finally go shopping for curtains.

    Pinkerton. But sales are down in everything but chick lit, and Christopher’s new editor doesn’t like geriatric gumshoes. It’s a pink, pink world for Mr. Holmes.At the urging of his agent, Christopher reluctantly agrees to attend a mystery writers’ conference at a remote Northern California winery. But no sooner does he arrive than he discovers the pajama-clad body of a woman in the woods. If nearly two decades of mystery-writing are anything to go by, the woman doesn’t appear to have died a natural death.With a storm in full force and a washed-out bridge making it impossible for law enforcement to come to the rescue, it’s practically like all those classic murder mysteries in isolated country manors that Christopher has been penning for sixteen years! If only Miss Butterwith was on hand. Or even Mr. Pinkerton…

    Here, under the author’s careful control and easygoing charisma, everything seems up for grabs, and almost anything seems possible.”—Time Out New York Impossible Princess is the third collection of gay short fiction by PEN Award–winning San Francisco–based author Kevin Killian. A member of the “new narrative” circle including Dennis Cooper and Kathy Acker, Killian is a master short story writer, crafting campy and edgy tales that explore the humor and darkness of desire. A former director of Small Press Traffic and a co-editor of Mirage/Periodical, Killian co-wrote Jack Spicer’s biography, Poet Be Like God, and co-edited three Spicer books, including My Vocabulary Did This To Me: Collected Poems. His latest book, Action Kylie, is a collection of poems devoted to Kylie Minogue.

    Seyun, a lithe and catty high school student with a mysterious past, and Yoojin, a rough-and-tumble, straight-laced judo star, are high school friends who struggle with their feelings for each other.

    The only excitement he gets is poker with his friends. That is until he opens the door to the hottest pizza delivery man he's ever seen, and man, does Zac want a piece of that pie.Eric Stanton spends long hours as a medical intern. He also has a part-time job as a pizza delivery driver. When Zac tries to flirt with him, Eric's too tired to reciprocate.Just when Eric wonders if he'll get a second chance with the guy, an order is placed requesting him personally. Tired or not, perhaps things are looking up. Slow-Play: Bobby Quinn loves life on the water. Except for his bi-weekly poker game, he sticks to the solitude of the boat he loves.Dr. Jules Peters knows all about solitude. When not working endless hours, he's tinkering in his garage. A collector of vintage cars in need of TLC, Jules has an impressive collection of cars but few friends.Although their mutual attraction is explosive, neither man is ready to move out of his comfort zone. It might take a meddling med student and an off-season football coach to get these two loners to see there's more to life than inanimate objects.

    But a precious few begin even before birth.In the dual-gendered realm of Ylandre, the great divide between the high-born True Bloods and the lower-ranked Half Bloods is deemed impassable by most. Rohyr Essendri dared to cross it when he took young Lassen Idana from his provincial town and made him his paramour. Lassen perforce learned how to navigate the intricate byways of life at court. What he never expected, however, was to fall in love with Rohyr, a most inadvisable and impractical thing to do when one’s lover is sovereign ruler of the land. But anything worth having is worth fighting for, both figuratively and, as Lassen discovers, literally speaking.Contains hermaphroditism and explicit homoerotic sexual encounters.

    It’s a era of swords, pistols, midnight chases, deceit and sensuality. If you enjoy Keegan's historicals, don't miss this meticulously researched tale of stunning heroes and outrageous fortune.

    With his best friend, Alayne, in tow, Jonathan returns to the estate to take possession, meet the current staff, and generally learn what it’s like to live as the landed gentry now. He’d only been there once before, fourteen years earlier. But that was a different time, he’s a different person now, determined to put that experience out of his mind and his heart….The locals agree that Jonathan is indeed different from the lost young man he was that long ago summer, when he arrived at the farm for a stay after his mother died. Back then the hot summer days were filled with sunshine, the nearby ocean, and a new friend, Nat. Jonathan and the farmhand had quickly grown close, Jonathan needing comfort in the wake of his grief, and Nat basking in the peace and love he didn’t have at home.But that was also a summer of rumors and strange happenings in the surrounding countryside, romantic triangles and wronged lovers. Tempers would flare like a summer lightning storm, and ebb just as quickly. By the summer’s end, one young man was dead, and another haunted for life.Now Jonathan is determined to start anew. Until he starts seeing the ghost of his former friend everywhere he looks. Until mementos of that summer idyll reappear. Until Alayne’s life is in danger. Until the town’s resident witch tells Jonathan that ghosts are real. And this one is tied to Jonathan unto death…

    But now she found him again. And she doesn't want to leave him.

    Written in vivid fragments that, like the pieces of a mosaic, come together into a glimmering whole, it shows us both the wild nature of grief and the intimate conversation that is love.From the Trade Paperback edition.

    lazarov's wordless short stories are full of humor and lust. after StiCKy and Manly the master of sexual pantomime shows this time with Swedish artist Bastian Jonsson how men seduce men: sweet, romantic, and very direct.

    A summer working on his college roommate's family ranch was a dream come true for a veterinary student. He didn't anticipate his reaction to his best friend and roommate's father, though. Lex Whitefeather hired his son Sam's best friend for the summer. He figured he'd be generous and help the kid out. He wasn't expecting the young Adonis who stepped off the plane. Nick Barker was no kid. Years of repressed sexual desires rose to the surface that summer. When Lex and Nick finally come together and admit their feelings, Lex is plagued by guilt. He's not "out" to his family and friends. Lex pushes Nick away with his unwillingness to open up to his family. A few years later, Nick is back on the ranch. Will Lex be willing to sacrifice his long-held secrets for true love? Gio's DreamFor advertising executive Giovanni Brunelli, moving back to his hometown was the right thing to do. His father's heart surgery and the consequent need for a slower lifestyle pulled Gio from the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Now in Kansas City, Gio sets out to help his father save a dying downtown business. There's only one problem. How is he supposed to work with his dad's business partner and best friend? After years of dreaming, Gio's ready to start doing. But how do you tell your father's best friend you're in love with him?

    Brent Goodman's poems welcome us into a life after death, the death of a brother.

    All four plays collected here resonant with Ridley's trademarkthemes - East London, storytelling, moments of shocking violence,memories of the past, fantastical monologues, and that strange mix ofthe barbaric and the beautiful he has made all his own. Vincent River: '? a grieving mother and a traumatized teenagermeet as adversaries, rough each other up and eventually bond over abarbaric act of cruelty?Ridley asksquestions, lots of them, about how people respond to the loss ofinnocence in their lives, how they hold onto their sanity in the faceof savagery and how they fight to keep the bonds of humanity intact ina mad, mad world.' Variety Mercury Fur: '?depicts a scary, post-apocalyptic London where, intheir struggle to survive, a group of youths are reduced to organisingparties that cater for the most perverted tastes.' Independent Leaves of Glass: 'There is a different kind of murder going on here:the murder of truth that goes on in all families to a lesser or greaterdegree. As with nations, a family's history is written by the victors.' Guardian Piranha Heights: 'The extravagance of Ridley's dark vision suggests adangerously confused society in which individuals seize on randomgobbets of semi-digested information and use them to construct theirown personal narrative.' TheTimes

    The boy swiftly develops a crush on the man, feelings that Joe, a Southern gent with a strong moral sense, feels he cannot acknowledge or return. Joe's further adventures and misadventures during the course of the novel involve a clerk's murder, a flight-surgeon's drug abuse, a fist-fight in the officers' club bar, a straight roommate whose taste for leather gets him in trouble, the combat death of Joe's former lover, and participation in an all-male orgy witnessed by two very married but somewhat confused fighter jocks. In the run-up to the 1967 war, a mob attacks the embassy in nearby Tripoli and the deranged colonel sets out to attack an Arab warship. To bring the pilots and their airplanes safely home - and keep the United States out of the war - Joe has two choices: either come out to his closest, straightest buddies or know himself to be a coward, a failure and a traitor to everything that he holds dear.

    In this collection of photographs, letters, manuscripts, and other selections from Vidal's vast personal archives, readers are now escorted by one of America's wittiest insiders into the Kennedys' Camelot, as well as onto the set of Ben Hur, and into the private lives of Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Newman, and Tennessee Williams, to name just a few.Born into public life, here Vidal looks back on his days as an Army officer in WWII, his rise as a groundbreaking and controversial novelist, his years in Hollywood, his forays into the political arena, and his notoriously public triumphs and feuds. Written with Vidal's legendary wit and literary elegance, this book reveals not only the personal reflections of one of the last of the great generation of American writers, but also a captivating social history of the 20th century told by one of our great raconteurs.

    In Blue, back when their relationship is still new and a little unstable, Rock and Rig know how to tie it up and fight hard. When an out of control argument leaves Rock living on base for a while, it takes some well-meaning friends to get the two of them back together. What sorts of things do two Marines and their very own redneck get up to on their off hours? Find out in Dog Tags and Cowboy Boots, a series of missing moments from the Jarheads novels. Rock, Dick, and Rigger give an intimate look at the games they play and the trouble they get into, from the small details of everyday life to their scorching hot sexual antics. In All Roads Lead Home, when Rock and Dick think something horrible has happened to their favorite redneck, they mount up and show how good Marines are in emergency situations. Rig might be less than impressed, but he's happier with what his Marines come up with next. No matter what they get up to, though, all three of them agree that the best part of any journey is coming home. Together. Don't miss out on these stories and more in this Jarheads story collection

    and sometimes who you are can come as a surprise. That's what makes friends so important... helping you through it all. William Carter started as just another guy, making his way through school, until someone brought him into the spotlight, the journey to self discovery in a land of exile leeds him to a whole new beginning, guided by someone that loves him without question. Possibly for the first time in his life.

    However, his curse of immortality is absolute. Therefore he sends himself back into the body of his infant self, vowing to this time refuse eternity. When do things ever go according to plan? Unexpected changes to the timeline, people who aren't as they once were and more send his life spiraling out of his control.

    When his inheritance turns out to be a genetically-altered slave named Evan, it's just the beginning of the end of Alex's normal, orderly life. Not only does Evan have his own brand of morality, his special abilities are coveted by his late owner's enemies. As the pair head into deep space with their enemies in hot pursuit, Alex's chief rival ahead of them, and a saboteur on board their ship, will they be able to learn to appreciate each other as individuals in time? Or will their differences be too much to overcome?

    Indeed, love is never what you think. When a painter goes beyond the degree of intimacy that provides the connection between him and the older man who is his newly-discovered muse, he is forced to undergo a re-evaluation of the true meaning of love.

    56,000Summary: Following a horrific event on set, Jensen's life hangs in the balance and Jared figures out what's really important. Alternate Summary: Jensen sacrifices like Dean. Jared angsts like Sam.WonderlandRating: PG-13Word Count: Approx. 2,400Summary: Jensen falls down the rabbit hole. Timestamp one year before the main story.Method to the MadnessRating: RWord Count: Approx. 1,400Summary: Some days, Jensen has a hard time being Dean. Some days, Jared has a hard time watching Jensen struggle. Timestamp one year before the main story.Pop PsychologyRating: RWord Count: Approx. 4,000Summary: This is how Jensen copes. Timestamp, covering the period from Wonderland to the main story.Just Because I Want It (Doesn't Mean I'm Gonna to Get It)Rating: RWord Count: Approx. 8,500Summary: Jared may be falling in love, but Jensen fell a long time ago. A glimpse inside of Jensen's head during the events of JOB.You've Already Got Me Coming UndoneRating: NC-17Word Count: Approx. 1,500Summary: It's the morning after the night before. And Jensen is freaking the hell out. Missing scene/interlude for the main story.Just a NumberRating: PG-13Word Count: Approx. 1,375Summary: Jensen turns thirty-five. Timestamp five years on.You'll Start My Heart AgainRating: NC-17Word Count: Approx. 2,600Summary: Some things you never get over. Jared's having a bad day. Timestamp ten years on.GoldenRating: NC-17Word Count: Approx. 1,800Summary: It's a love for a lifetime. Timestamp ten years on.

    Elena Georgiou's second collection, RHAPSODY OF THE NAKED IMMIGRANTS, prompts us beyond the question "Where are you from?" to more complicated questions regarding multiple migrations, invasions, post-colonial freedom, and the ability to board international flights. "Elena Georgiou has the unbordered tongue of an immigrant. Her poems travel through the public and private geographies of citizenship, building homes made of bodies and language. Her work is an alphabet, a Greek chorus, a praise poem for the English language and its many tongues. It is your visa to the poetry of immigration"--Lisa Birman. "She reminds us, through the eyes of 'immigrant' experiences, that we too must be our own Expatriate Cartographer' if we are to navigate and survive the losses and gains of living through change and eruption.... Remarkably brave"--Jenny Boully. "Immigrant questions become questions of how to love, how to adhere to an earth ... cut in half.' Elena Georgiou's beautiful book of poems is ... a map ... of silk countries, ' folded and unfolding"--Bhanu Kapil. A choreography of names, places, and the forbidden worn by figures over a shared landscape--urban, rural, in between.

    These books were about gay characters. They were written mostly by gay writers. Above all, they were for gay readers. And, as this entertaining chronicle of the emergence of gay literary pride makes clear, it was a revolution that occurred several years before Stonewall!Their characters were mostly out or struggling to get out. The books were definitely out—out on the revolving paperback bookracks in grocery stores, dime stores, drugstores, magazine agencies, and transportation terminals across the nation for youths and senior citizens, in the cities and the rural areas alike, to find and to devour.Here 19 writers take you on a tour of this Golden Age of Gay Fiction —roughly the period between the first Kinsey Report and the first collection of Tales of the City —paying attention to touchstone novels from the period but, even more, highlighting works of fiction that have been left unjustly to gather dust on literary shelves.Written by authors, scholars, collectors, and one of the publishers, their essays will inform you. They will sometimes amuse you. They will take you into literary corridors you only suspected were there. And the some 200 illustrations, chosen for their historical as well as their artistic interest, provide a visual record of why this was the golden age.

    The man Andrew loves will die without proper medical treatment. To save his life, Andrew makes a choice that could destroy not just his future but his life.

    Once there, Marley befriends the wry yet optimistic Missy, who is fifteen and pregnant in the lowest town on earth, and falls in love with Jesse, an ice-eyed sociopath with an outlaw for a father and a corpse for a mother. As the stress of the summer causes Marley's physical and mental health to decline, it is unclear which of his new friends has the worst influence on him, or whether the instruction of a small town's Baptist-run therapy group will do more harm than good to everyone involved.

    And we find our own hiding place.—Merlie Alunan. Finalist, Gintong Aklat Awards 2010, for English Literature. Winner, 2011 Madrigal-Gonzalez, for First Book Award.

    With no clear models to follow, these new versions of the queer family are creating their own, addressing questions such as: What's the difference between being a donor and being a parent? What happens to non-biological parents when a known donor is also part of the picture? When and how does biology count-or does it? Why do parents choose known donors, and what happens if things get ugly? And what does all this mean for queer families already facing extraordinary social pressures? The contributors-donors, biological and non-bio parents, and their children-offer provocative, nuanced insights into what it means to be or use a known donor and how queer families are being reconceived to include new roles, new rules, and kinship ties that transcend biology.

    While haiku most often depicts the natural world, when focused on the elements of love and sensuality, haiku can be a powerful vehicle for evoking the universal experience of love. In this elegant anthology, love is explored through beautiful images that evoke a range of feelings—from the longing of a lover to the passion of a romantic relationship. Written by contemporary Japanese poets as well as by haiku masters such as Basho, Buson, and Issa, these poems share not only the haiku poets’ vision for love, but their vision of the poignant moments that express it.

    Contains the stories:Escape: When a prison ship crash-lands, Delta-23 replicate Davin jumps at the chance to meet someone different. A prisoner onboard, Trace uses the crash as an opportunity to escape, but the last thing he expects is to meet a replicate eager to get up close and personal with a natural-born.Navigator's Log: Tylar Daire is the navigator on a space mission whose focus is to discover a cure for a mysterious illness killing colonists on Terra. The crew consists of the captain, a soldier for protection, a scientist to study the virus, Tylar himself, and hot-shot ace pilot Rion Z'ev. From the moment Tylar and Rion meet, sparks fly.Parking Lot Hero: It's the weekend of the Super Bowl. Vic is looking forward to a quiet Saturday with his lover, Matt. But when a trio of ruffians terrorize their landlady in the parking lot of the local grocery story, Vic finds the superhero in him called to action.Star-Crossed: On the night of his graduation from the Betelgeuse Flight Academy, Reth finally managed to corner the flamboyant Xan Anders. But what he hoped would be a tender moment that might lead to something more was interrupted when Xan slipped away. Seven months later, Reth is surprised to find all the old feelings still remain when he runs into Xan again.The Bard's Song: Taurin is the king's knight, but he has a weakness for song. When he hears of a new bard performing at Jeanty's Inn, he has to go see the half-elf flautist for himself. Quim's music is captivating, and Taurin returns to the Inn a second night. The knight's interest is evident to the bard, who invites Taurin to his room for a private performance.The Fall: Gabe fell in love with Luce the moment they met. Unfortunately, love is a forbidden emotion among angels, and their sin costs one of them his wings.VR Palace: In a future where pleasure is bought in virtual reality parlors, one man creates the perfect lover. Spun from binary code, everything he could want in a boy except real ... or is he?World Enough and Time: The world is coming to an end. Allan is pretty sure that’s the only explanation for the rain of salt that’s been falling for days, killing people in the streets and bringing Armageddon on a bit sooner than everyone expected. Then he meets Ricky.

    Sixteen slaveowners and their properties around the U.S. and in Canada welcomed the authors into their homes and spoke candidly about how each relationship started, how it evolved to meet the challenges of living in conventional society, and how it works today. All of these bonds have lasted for at least three years, some for well over a dozen years.These relationships are different from the Master/slave stereotypes of erotic fiction. They’re also different from what you may find in how-to books and Internet postings on the subject. Instead of reading what a single writer says this lifestyle “should” be, discover what a generous sampling of gay Masters and slaves are actually doing.Most striking is how different these relationships are from each other. Tradeoffs are made, deals struck, and power exchanged in ways that work for these unique individuals pursuing their respective dreams.Who should read this book? Anyone who’s wondered if being a Master or slave is right for him, or who wishes to understand this lifestyle better. If you’ve read the fantasies and felt something was missing, or tried the experts’ prescriptions and found them wanting, this book is for you. Ask the Man Who Owns Him describes real-life strategies and tactics for success as a Master or a slave.

    Illustrated with thematic photos. In this book, Koh speaks with a range of voices--ancestral, recent and contemporary--and travels a span of ground to investigate the imaginary claims of community and self. In the center of the investigation, as of the book, lies the great question of love. "Koh is a vigorous, physical poet very much captured by the expressive power of rhythm, rhetoric, and the lexicon. He is also, paradoxically, a poet in pursuit of the most elusive and delicate of human emotions. The contradiction is wonderful and compelling, and so are his poems."—Vijay Seshadri, author of The Long Meadow (Graywolf Press)

    "FACE is an archae book written both 'after and before.' Recessive narrative events--faces surfacing, twinned with wet surfaces, gone--are released as agents, as saturations of tone and line. 'Inside and out of passage, ' Melissa Buzzeo forms a document that is both report and threshold: text and radical architecture: a 'beginning' always 'in transit.' What I love about this work is its refusal to feel, if feeling has become impossible, and, in corollary, its willingness to flood its own terrain, to melt a 'frozen book.' In this way, FACE becomes the 'shape which is desire to see.' It brings towards us the 'hesitant' girl who finds a way to breathe and write again, next to the water which is both lake and paper, the pages floating offshore 'in a dream.' Retrieving these pages, Melissa Buzzeo writes to us: a complex, present, also-writing 'you'"--Bhanu Kapil

    African American Studies. Gay & Lesbian Studies. GOSPEL is an ecumenical resistance song in four parts. In this passionate follow-up to 2005's Lambda Literary Award finalist, WHERE THE APPLE FALLS, Bashir's poems challenge truth to stare down the power of fear and paralysis. "We intended gospel to strike a happy medium for the down-trodden," said gospel music pioneer Thomas Dorsey. "This music lifted people out of the muck and mire of poverty and loneliness, of being broke, and gave them some kind of hope anyway. Make it anything but good news, it ceases to be gospel." The good news, according to Bashir, is that we are neither alone in our mess, nor alone in our grasp of the tools to heal. In this pull-no-punches collection Bashir lays down a road map, a portable flashlight, and a shaky-legged escort to usher the way toward recovered sight and strength.

    LGBT Studies. In KINTSUGI, Thomas Meyer has written an intimate elegy for his partner of nearly four decades. As Robert Kelly observes in his foreword, this is a text written in and through the very death it mourned. Kintsugi is a Japanese word meaning golden joinery, and it describes the practice of repairing pottery with gold lacquer. As Kelly suggests, the very rupture is what is highlighted: Meyer's presence to the loss, in the midst of daily life and its attendant concerns, serves as the golden line that holds all this together. Likewise, his supple poetic line joins formal lament with the quiet spontaneity of thinking. The result is poetry of deep grief and wonder: Walk into a room. / Not know where I am. / Once it was Love / had me so distracted. / Now it's Death.

    Their friendly staff will ensure they have a safe environment with daily exercise and raw meat.Rest easy knowing they’re in good hands… as they rot.In Michele Lee’s Rot, you won’t find an apocalypse or Romero-style flesh-eaters. This is far more disturbing.In a world where certain people can will others back from death, Silver Springs Specialty Care Community caters to the undead for those who aren’t quite ready to let go (zombie milk available by special arrangement at the home office).Dean, retired from the military and looking for an easier life, runs security at this zombie herding farm, but he learns that dark injustice is not unique to war. There’s a rotten core to Silver Springs. Now, Dean and a quickly-decaying corpse named Patrick are on the hunt for a woman they both love and lost to a lucrative business that specializes in greed, zombies and never having to say goodbye.

    He’s back home on the Big Island of Hawaii after serving time for manslaughter—for a crime he did not commit—on the mainland. A chance encounter with a newly widowed Filipina turns Pelo’s life upside down.From helping her family undertake the huge preparations necessary for a traditional Filipino funeral to finding a new chance at love with the woman’s sexy and passionate son, Adan, Pelo finds he might finally have a chance for strong roots. On the single biggest festival day in the islands, King Kamehameha Day, will Pelo find his heart?

    Where a man accidentally receives a package meant for his neighbor, a situation complicated by the fact that he lives next door to a Sphinx. A nurse finds herself working in a retirement home for vampires, while in the future a man questions his decision to live life as a manatee. Featuring tales of quiet suburban anomie, to superhero tropes, to intense erotic horror, Pumpkin Teeth spans the range from Palahniuk insanity to Bradburyesque tenderness. Warning, once you are bitten by Pumpkin Teeth, it will not let you go. A finalist for the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror!

    Along with her crew, she has to smuggle out rare black opals, in fulfillment of their latest contract, which skirts the edges of legality. Everything goes as planned until Torri discovers that the hated Coalition is increasing security and that Kai Tinsdale, her former bunkmate at the prestigious martial training institution known as the Academy, is stationed in Newburg to break up dangerous but profitable smuggling rings. Kai is now a captain in the Coalition military forces, and she's very, very good at her job. They'd shared a connection once that deepened not so long ago, but will it mean anything now? Because in a city where allies can quickly become adversaries, Torri and her crew have to navigate both, and any wrong move may be a price too high to pay.

    They've always kept to themselves, careful not to make waves, particularly since their town is home to an infamous anti-gay preacher and his rabid congregation, who go out of their way to make sure that not one queer stone is unturned, including the only gay bar within a hundred miles. When small town bigotry forces them out of the closet they've shared for a quarter century, they find their love, their friends, and their very lives in jeopardy. Everything spirals out of control until at last, backs to the wall, Hank and Beaver choose to fight back. From the betrayal of friends to outright violence, they're not sure if they'll survive the war with their hides-and their love-intact. Sometimes, a bar is more than just a building. Sometimes, it's a belief.

    When a vampyr threatens his liege, though, Lennox is forced to take the next step in his training far sooner than expected. Can Lennox survive the ordeal armed with little more than courage and faith?

    The stories push at the parameters of queer erotic life, featuring contributors both novice and well-known; subject matter ranges from single, significant encounters to the ephemera of emotional desire that never lead to physical pleasure. Throughout, the book deals with the essential erotics of queer male life, to be used as a launching point for exploring the queer male condition: essays that delve into the diverse manifestations of desire between and among men.

    Simon is Molly's oldest, bitchiest, best friend. Since they high-kicked out of university, keen to taste life, Molly has become a jobbing musical theatre actress, while Simon is on the cusp of fame as his caustic, bitter alter-ego: Genita L'Warts, a drag queen with a talent for abusing audiences.They'd always vowed no man would ever come between them, but Simon can't resist his fatal attraction to straight men. When his endless pursuit of Mr Right Now leads to a devastating betrayal, Molly is left broken-hearted and their friendship seems fractured beyond repair.But sometimes it's hard to tell the difference...Distraught, Molly flees for comfort to her one-time landlady, Lilia - an eccentric ex-cabaret singer with an extraordinary past. But is Lilia's bungalow, Kit-Kat Cottage, quite the safe refuge it seems?Lilia has plans for her protégée. She will break Molly down, remake her, and together they will achieve the kind of success that Simon can only dream of. But exactly how far would Lilia go to realise her ambitions...?With his trademark comedy noir, Julian Clary's second novel is a hilarious riot of camp cabaret and murderous mayhem.

    Diane hopes Europe will act as a catalyst to lift Martin from his grief following the suicide of his lover, Peter. But the trip proves to be more than either of them bargained for. Martin finds himself falling in love with one of her students, David McLaren, who is unprepared to cope with his burgeoning sexuality. He also meets a mysterious Parisian woman, Irene Laureaux, who is debilitated by agoraphobia and spends her days spying on the hotel guests across from her apartment. Martin and Irene discover they have a logic-defying connection: a small tribal tattoo on their left hands that means equal but opposite. This is same tattoo that Martin s lover and Irene's husband had inked into their skin. All the characters lives are irrevocably changed in a horrifying terrorist attack on a Paris metro station. Liberated by the blast, forced from her own self-imprisonment, Irene learns her husband's death was not an accident, and dares Martin to acknowledge the role he played in Peter's suicide. Diane, harboring her own secrets and a hidden agenda, takes a drastic step to force David out of the closet and admit his feelings for Martin. From America to England to France, the globe-hopping story places fictional characters amidst historical events such as the Nazi occupation of Paris, the student/worker riots of 1968 and the terrorist bombings of Paris in 1995. Grounded in reality, Conquering Venus is a mystery, a love story and a journey of self-realization.

    Asian American Studies. Timothy Liu is too often reduced to being a poet of sexual audacity. He is audacious, but perhaps in his baroque architecture, his fluency, his intricacy, and his unwillingness to reduce himself by dogma or theory or design. I love his growing, growling work, and his violent soft hints about the whole body politic in progressive zooms. But the permanent, complicated delight is Liu's poetry itself: uncontrollable melancholy and music--David Shapiro. Timothy Liu is the other of seven other books of poetry, most recently POLYTHEOGAMY, also available from SPD. His poems have been translated into nine languages, and his papers and journals are archived in the Berg Collection at the New York Public Library. He lives in Manhattan.

    Blazing hot stories to warm the cold days from four authors who know how to turn up the heat! Join manlove authors Maura Anderson, Kimberly Gardner, Jet Mykles and Luisa Prieto for toasty romantic tales to comfort and inspire a little bedtime snacking!stories:Cooking with Ergot by Luisa Prieto Bittersweet by Maura AndersonThe Shape of a Heart by Kimberly GardnerGiving Thanks by Maura AndersonDevon Cream by Jet Mykles

    After he graduated from high school and enrolled at Gallaudet University, the world’s only university for Deaf people, he discovered gay literature and came out soon after. He eventually got involved with Deaf theater collaborators, educators, and sign language interpreters, from which his worldview is substantially reshaped on issues of identity, literacy, technology, and family.Assembly Required offers a rare in-depth glimpse into what it means to be a Deaf gay man who lives between the Deaf and hearing worlds.

    Benjamin comes from the philosophy that all paths to God are sacred, and David believes that the only way to get to Heaven is to accept Jesus Christ as your Personal Savior and renounce your affiliation with the Democratic Party and declare war on anyone who would take "Christ" out Christmas.The day finally comes when nearly a billion people disappear from the Earth, most of them from the United States South. Meanwhile, in Heaven, things aren't going as expected. Despite the beauty and the splendor, Heaven's the new residents make a gruesome discovery. They don't like each other, but they're stuck with each other forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah!

    Amelia not only recovers the jewels by means of a dazzling piece of trickery, but proceeds to take Pash on a breathtaking series of adventures in which large sums of money are extracted from all manner of rich and unpleasant people by means of intricate sleight-of-hand and carefully calculated ploys. From the curious Girl Guides' Club in London to a matriarchal castle in the highlands of Scotland, Pash meets a world of daring, elegant ladies who dress like 1930s fashion-plates, quip like Dorothy Parker, dance like Ginger Rogers and rob the vulgar world about them with gay insouciance.

    It wouldn't be such a bad thing if Jao was in any other business, but he's an assassin, and quality kinda matters. Since the death of his lover, the heart has kind of gone out of Jao's work and now his boss, the sadistic Kazematsuri, wants a favor from him. There's a new opium dealer muscling in on the local scene and the old drug lord, Aso, is getting worried about the safety of his sons. Masahiro's old enough to look after himself but Ryo's stil la kid and he needs protection. Enter Jao. Too bad for Jao he's not much of a babysitter, and too bad Ryo's brother is damn good looking, because pretty soon Jao's got to keep Masahiro out of trouble too. Can Jao keep it together, or will he be shown up as a mediocre assassin?

    A widower of ten years, fifty-six-year-old Joe is finally interested in a woman besides his late wife. The problem is, Holly is twenty-six years old. Joe knows Holly is attracted to him but the age difference seems too much to overcome. To Holly, small-town doctor Joe has always seemed like the perfect man. She's spent her life looking for someone who could measure up to him. Despite their age difference, Holly finds Joe to be the sexiest man in town, and Holly is ready to unleash her fantasies with him. Joe has his own fantasies. Despite his misgivings, he's ready to explore the sensual side of himself with Holly. He just hopes her heart is in it as much as his own. No Longer His - Kelly seems like a happy, All-American housewife. Two beautiful children and a successful husband should make anyone happy, right? But Kelly lives her life in constant fear of her abusive husband. Any father seems better for her children than having none at all. On a rare vacation to San Diego, Kelly sees there is so much more to life than what she has. She meets Sam and begins to wonder what life would be like without Jack. Does she have the strength to break away from her brutal husband? In one horrific night, the decision is made that will forever change her life. Sam is instantly attracted to Kelly. He is horrified to see the pain in her eyes. No man should treat a woman like that. Once Kelly finally ends her marriage, Sam makes it his business to give Kelly the love she deserves. Can Kelly learn to trust another man? Can love conquer all? Reader Advisory: This book contains references to spousal abuse.

    Jeremiah had one wish: to no longer be more different than the others, to finally be respected and appreciated. For this reason he subjects himself to a summer camp run by extreme Evangelicals with their miracle transformation from a homo to a heterosexual. The promised redemption from his sorrow takes an entirely different path, when he falls in love in the camp with another man. But can this love but really rescue Jeremiah?

    Each story presents a unique voice at a distinct time in history. BLESSED ISLE by Alex Beecroft (1790 British Age of Sail) Blessed Isle is the long-lost diary of Captain Harry Thompson, recently discovered in a dusty safe deposit box and faithfully reproduced in Hidden Conflict. Thompson wrote his diary entries at night and in the morning, his lover and former lieutenant, Garnet Littleton, would add his thoughts and commentary. Thus, Blessed Isle is a dialog between the two men, telling the story of the ill-fated voyage of the HMS Banshee, its mutiny, their escape, and ultimately, how they overcame all odds to build a life together in Rio de Janeiro. NOT TO REASON WHY by Mark R. Probst (1876 US Cavalry) Corporal Brett Price is tired of being a soldier, tired of endless expeditions against the Lakota and Sioux, and tired of hiding his deep love for his friend and sergeant, Dermot Kerrigan. Unfortunately, as a member of the 7th Cavalry stationed at Fort Lincoln, North Dakota, there is little he can do to change his present situation; his love for Dermot is particularly distressing because Dermot is married and devoted to his wife, Sarah. Their commanding officer, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, has been relentless in rounding up the various Native American tribes of the western plains and forcing them off their lands to designated reservations. These battles between love and loyalty, duty and honor, with one of the most horrific battles ever fought on American soil as its backdrop, is the story that is told in Not to Reason Why. NO DARKNESS by Jordan Taylor (1915 World War I Britain and France) When Lieutenant Darnell and Private Fisher are trapped in a root cellar after being shelled behind the trenches on the Western Front, they struggle to survive and escape their black tomb. Strangers to one another, the days and nights underground in pitch darkness bring them together as they share stories of their upbringing. While their lives hang in the balance, they find refuge through the growing bond between them that neither expected. OUR ONE AND ONLY by E.N. Holland (1944 US World War II and aftermath) What happens when one must grieve in private? That is what Philip Cormier is forced to do when his closest friend and lover, Eddie Fiske, is killed in France during the second round of D-Day in September 1944. The story covers a forty year arc, told in decade-long intervals, that chronicle Philip's loss, his life without Eddie, and ultimately, the acceptance and resolution of his grief. Most importantly, it demonstrates the healing power of love that can be found in unexpected places and ways.

    This concise handbook shares the spiritual wisdom of gay shamans throughout history, from the Native American "Two Spirits" to contemporaries like Ram Dass, but does so in a very clear and simple manner, giving readers step-by-step instructions for applying this wisdom to their own spiritual paths. Former Catholic monk and Seventy Times Seven author Salvatore Sapienza also shares his own spiritual journey with readers, helping them to unwrap their own unique gay gifts and to shine this special light on the world. "Think of Gay is a Gift as a Chicken Soup for the Gay Soul," says Web Digest Weekly, and gay spiritual writer Toby Johnson says, "Salvatore Sapienza's Gay is a Gift is itself a gift; a sweet, inspiring portrayal of gay consciousness as blessing, along with a simple, light-hearted - even fun - spiritual practice for bringing more blessing into your life."

    Photographers feared police confiscation, harassment, and worse. This volume uncovers the work of ten different photographers produced during this suppressive period—images hidden away for a generation in private collections and closed archives. The majority have never been published. A full range of styles is included: gleaming muscle gods shot in the physique magazine style, sun-dappled outdoor nudes from the 1960s, and artful black-and-white studio portraits by George Platt Lynes. Uncovered restores a lost chapter to the history of the male nude photograph and reintroduces more than one hundred unsung classics of male erotic photography to the world.

    Everybody needs a little love in his or her life, so whether you’re missing your special someone or just want a reminder of why you fell in love in the first place, Best Gay Love Stories 2010 is filled with stories that reflect the many faces of love, and what makes it worthwhile.

    Her sudden visit awakens something unexpected in two of her friends, who see in her an escape from their grey, monotonous days. Through her friends, the actress sees the life she could have had. The burden of fame has been pursuing her for forty years, and only one thing is evident: this trip awakens passions and changes the lives of everyone she visits.“What Núria Añó gives us in this book is a piece of real life, dissected with the razor-sharp scalpel of her writing. This work contains great use of language and style. The novel is not easy, either its subject or its style, but it is very interesting and, in my opinion, is one of the great promises of contemporary Catalan writing.” –magazine on literary and comparative literature studies, L'Ull crític, No. 15-16.

    One great love. Get between the covers with Ethan and Brian, the men whose hearts connected online and offline in the best-selling VGL Male Seeks Same. Follow them on their continuing journey in NEG UB2, where a shocking health diagnosis derails the couple's blissful romance and teaches them both a lot about acceptance, forgiveness, and faith...especially when it comes to love. Previously available only in electronic format, these twin novellas of gay erotic romance have now been combined for a paperback edition!......VGL Male Seeks Same Poor Ethan Schwartz. It seems like he will never find that special someone. At age 42, he's still alone, his bed still empty, and his 42-inch HDTV overworked. He's tried the bars and other places where gay men are supposed to find one another, but for Ethan, it never works out. He wonders if it ever will. Should he get a cat? But all of that is about to change. At work, Ethan hears about a website that promises to deliver more than just the tawdry hook-ups associated with so many other sites. Ethan wants romance, and although he's always been a little shy about the whole cyber-dating scene, he figures he has nothing to lose. Well, maybe he does have something to lose: his self-esteem. After he posts his profile, he gets zero responses. But Ethan realizes one thing about the cyberworld that isn't true in the real one: Online, Ethan can be anyone he wants to be. And a new persona is born. The new Ethan is handsome--with someone else's pic--and the sudden recipient of dozens of online come-ons. What Ethan doesn't count on, however, is finding--among the propositions and the flattery--his one true love. Not just a gorgeous man, but one who suits him in almost every way. How does Ethan turn his budding cyber love into a real one? And can he hang on to his mystery suitor without turning him off with his deception?......NEG UB2 Poor Ethan Schwartz. He's just had the most shocking news a gay man can get--he's been diagnosed HIV positive. Up until today, he thought his life was on a perfect course. He had a job he loved and something else he thought he'd never have: Brian, a new man, one whom Ethan thought of as 'the one.' The one who would complete him, who would take his life from a lonely existence to a place filled with laughter, hot sex, and romance. But along with the fateful diagnosis comes another shock--who is this new love? Had Ethan ever really known Brian? And did Brian infect him? As Ethan says, his love history had been more of a haiku than an epic and Brian seems the likely culprit in his newfound diagnosis. The course of true love never runs smoothly, right? And for Ethan and Brian, their new love, once so bright and shining, now appears tinged with darkness and deceit. Can they face this hurdle together with honesty and forgiveness? Or will this revelation tear them apart? Ethan turns to creating a blog, Off to See the Wizard of Poz, to help him deal with his diagnosis and love troubles, and what he finds there just may be more hope and support in the world than he once believed. And one of his blog readers just might have the key to Ethan's happily ever after.

    I only know the scrawl, because my master took pleasure in teaching me between my chores. Not many men are so cursed . . ." Thus begins the tale of Li K'ai-men as told by his faithful, but mischievous servant, K'u Ko-ling - a tale of 12th Century China, where state service meant a life long journey across a landscape of turmoil and bliss. A tale of sacrifice, love, war and duty - a fragile balance between rituals and passions. Here begins the legacy of the Jade Owl and its custodian as he holds true to his warrants. The Academician is the first of four books in the Southern Swallow series, capturing the turbulence of the Sung Dynasty in transition. Spanning the silvery days under the Emperor Hui to the disasters that followed, The Academician is a slice of world events that should never have been forgotten.

    Classicist, poet, wit, raconteur extraordinary, and Warden of Wadham College for over thirty years, he met nearly everyone of consequence in the worlds of literature and politics and had stories to tell about them all, from Jean Cocteau to Virginia Woolf, from Adolf Hitler to the Kennedys, from Isaiah Berlin to Charlie Chaplin. By force of personality and intellectual range, he influenced the thinking of almost everyone with whom he came into contact.Above all, brought up in Edwardian England, he was able to chart the ways in which the values of his youth were tested by new democratic ideas. His experiences allowed him to develop and employ theories of education that were startling, and which would mould the thinking of a generation of English intellectuals.Based upon a wide range of interviews and previously unpublished manuscript material, this is the first ever biography of Bowra, and covers every aspect of his life, from soldier on the Western Front to Oxford classicist, from celebrated wit to frustrated poet manqu��.

    But how did he get to be a supernatural matchmaker? Percy's story is full of romance and tragedy. He wanted true love, but it wasn't easy for find to find. But when he did, his life changed forever.

    Her first poetry collection, The Cartographer's Vacation, received the Owl Creek Poetry Prize; other honors include a PEN Discovery Award and Glimmertrain's Short Fiction Award. She directs the Blacksmith House Reading Series and writes about marine research at MIT. "...an ideal and recommended introduction for those new to her poetic style, and a welcome update for those previously familiar with her work..."--Midwest Book Review. "For a poet with Cohen's gift, it must require immense control to stop once she starts. When Cohen turns to a topic like 'Current Events, ' she swerves away from the expected meditation on today's headlines and begins to catalog a simpler kind of current event instead."-Rain Taxi Review Summer 2010

    Second Edition ebook version available as of October 11, 2011******In the year 2039, the world is a better place, thanks to one man. Fresh from college, Malcolm Wilder engineered a cheap fix to fossil fuel dependence. The new energy-for-all economy brought on world peace, and as Earth and its people began to heal, creatures once thought to be the stuff of myth decided it was finally safe to reveal themselves. A decade later, Malcolm is a corporate giant living in exotic Dubai. Malcolm's business partner and lifelong friend, Levi Tanner, is concerned that Malcolm isn't allowing himself to enjoy his fame and fortune. Levi finally takes Malcolm to Mortal Sins, a local hot spot that caters to those looking for something a little different in the way of adult recreation. Little does Malcolm know, but the world still has a few problems of Biblical proportion and all hell is about to break loose. Just when things seem their darkest, an unlikely visitor brings the world an unexpected message of hope.

    U.S. diplomat Chet Bender saves young Nabil Shabili in an extraction from Palestinian refugee camps inside Lebanon, in the shadow of an impending Israeli attack that will lead to a massacre in the camps. He subsequently accepts Nabil into his life, bed, and heart.Nearly twenty years later, Nabil is in the running to take the presidency of Lebanon and the forces promoting this rise are busy cleaning up loose ends in his past. And one of those loose ends is Chet.

    This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

    Edited by James EM Rasmussen. THE NIGHT HUNTER by Jacques L Condor Maka Tai Meh "Lights in the sky, circles in the snow and stolen moose carcasses...in the Alaskan wilderness two former lovers stand together in the face of the unknown." BORROWED by RJ Bradshaw "In Borrowed, Pete's average working day takes a bewildering turn when his hot neighbor pays him an uncharacteristic visit." THE COMMUNION FIELDS by Trent Roman "Around the world, a group of people find themselves in a strange dreamland when they go to sleep, where the laws of physics are suspended and something lurks over the horizon." STARGAZING by Inga Gorslar "The journey might just be the reward." THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE ROOM by Mallory Path "Duster Mann adores women-especially when they have XY chromosomes like the woman he fell for at first sight and has been searching for ever since. " TIME NOW by CS Fuqua "Mattie will do anything to change the past...but what if the past won't let her?" THE MAN IN THE MIRROR by Lacey Louwagie "In a world of declining male birthrates, Gina moves to a Ranch searching for love. When Gina's marriage fails, her best friend Andi takes drastic steps to make sure Gina's dreams of love still come true." THE TOTI by Micheal Itig "Where can the gay man who has everything find fulfillment? There's only one possible place: in the arms of a toti...." THE VISITOR by Fiona Glass "Can love follow a person through time? When Madoc meets a man from the future he little realizes it will be the catalyst to change his world." ZOOGARISH by John Randall Williams "Cole's panic attacks aren't about to keep him from a Zoogarish. He fights his fears only to find the hallucinations generated by this Zoogarish are something different, something truly deadly." THE FUTURE OF DR LOLE SAN PAULO by RJ Astruc "High above the morals and laws of the civilized world, a disgraced geneticist finds a new lease on life when an unusual thief comes to him with an indecent proposal." THE SISTER BUSH by Joel Best " A young woman from the distant future, plagued by strange dreams, learns that love and profit can be at odds with one another." PLUMBING THE DEPTHS by Angelia Sparrow & Naomi Brooks "Washed-up Space Exploration Rangers, Cliff Cody and his husband Jake, are sent on a mission to the earth's core, only to have the nature of their world and relationship shaken." OFF COURSE by Logan Zachary "Disaster leads to a close encounter of the best kind." EURYDICE by James EM Rasmussen "Eurydice: a world filled with fanatics, lunatics and isolationists where they'd rather kill you than say hello. The perfect holiday stop, only if you're still young enough to feel immortal..." WHATEVER THE RISK by Erastes "Paroche is one planet Teless never wants to go to. When his partner and Captain announces that they are going to be trading there on their next jump, Teless knows it can only end badly." HERE BE GARDENS by David Edison "Jaime's been living off world when the death of an ex-lover draws him back to Earth-or does he have a different motive for leaving the herbaceous Dyson Sphere he's called home for two years?