He needs to get away from his abusive father before he suffers the same grisly fate as his mother. Because he's learned the hard way running away doesn’t work, he’s counting the days until his eighteenth birthday. Jimmy Bennet should be spending his lunch studying so his senior GPA is good enough to get him into college, but he can't seem to focus thanks to his distracting artist. When he’s given the opportunity to tutor Simon in Trig and discovers Simon’s home-life nightmare, he wants nothing more than to get Simon out of danger. This need becomes more urgent when Simon comes to school the Monday after their first date with bruises, but it takes a broken leg before Jimmy can convince his boyfriend the Bennets really want him. But the danger Simon thought was past shows up at the most unexpected time, and he must stand up to the fears he’s held so long to protect not only himself, but the man he wants to spend his life with.

    When Milo is called home from college to attend his domineering father’s funeral, he and Andrew finally act on their mutual attraction. But, doubtful of his worth, Milo decides to sever all ties with his childhood friend. Circumstances send both men home again years later, and their long held feelings will not be denied. But will they have what it takes to find lasting love?

    Melinda Gold is a young mother whose desire for position in the neighborhood is at odds with her upbringing by her ultra conservative mother. The same mother who makes life hell for Melinda's son, Patrick; Cassie Bloom is the grand dame of Jasper Lane, living on a cul du sac and doing her best to annoy Melinda. But she has a secret of her own regarding her missing husband and son that only a few, including the transsexual Vera, know about; Rick has just moved into the neighborhood and has immediately fallen for the ex-Army man, James. Will he find the courage to go after what he wants?; Terrence, Rick's good friend, has found out he has a son from a one-night stand years before where he dallied with heterosexuality; and the perfect couple Steve and Sandy have run into a rough patch which forces Steve to find employment in the porn industry. All these stories interlock and play out in a brightly comic way with gay porn parties, sexually confused animals, and dead bodies all being thrown in the mix. It may not be perfect, but it sure is fun!

    When seventeen-year old high school newspaper editor Jake Powell, fresh from Alabama, lands in New York City to attend Columbia University's prestigious summer journalism program, it's a dream come true. But his father, a fundamentalist Christian preacher, smells trouble. And his father is rarely wrong.Jake navigates new and unfamiliar ways "up North." Starting with his feelings for a handsome Jewish classmate named Sam. What Jake could keep hidden back home is now pushed to the surface in the Big Apple.Standing by his side are a gorgeous brunette with a Park Avenue attitude and the designer bags to match, a high school friend who has watched Jake grow up and isn't sure she's ready to let him go, and an outrageously flamboyant aunt who's determined to help Jake find the courage to accept love and avoid the pain that she has experienced. Provocative and moving, Playing by The Book is a feel-good novel about the pain and joy we encounter in the search for our own truth."In Playing by the Book, S. Chris Shirley tells a story I loved curling up with, featuring one of the most endearing teen protagonists I've read in years." --Alex Sanchez, author of The God Box and Boyfriends with Girlfriends "There's so much to admire in Chris Shirley's debut novel, but the most remarkable thing may be its voice. Jake is both earnest and skeptical, curious and guarded, and he tells his story with an endearing humility that-somehow-avoids the sarcasm that has become the norm. Playing by the Book reminds us of how rewarding it can be to climb into someone else's head."--Patrick Ryan, author of Send Me and Saints of Augustine

     Theo Cooper just wants to find his place in life, but despite his outer veneer of confidence, he’s filled with doubts about whether he can truly find happiness. A homophobic father and an ex-fiancé who likes to sleep around have shaken his faith in himself. Walking in on his ex in bed with Theo’s replacement is the last straw, and now Theo is ready to do whatever it will take to scrape together the cash for a new place to live. Self-doubt keeps holding him back... Elliot James is too shy, too smart, and too socially awkward to do anything about his desire to meet a man. So far, his best friend, wealthy socialite Brianna LaFontaine, is the only person he’s had the courage to come out to. Despite her best efforts to push him out of his comfort zone—which is behind a computer screen—he has successfully avoided any chance of finding love. When a mutual friend pushes them together... Brianna cares about her friends, and when Theo won’t take the money she offers to get him out of his financial mess, she comes up with a simple proposition: help shy Elliot break out of his nervous shell to experience one night of passion, and Theo can name his price. It’s the answer to Theo’s money problems and an easy way for some fast cash. But one night brings both men more than they expect, and leads both to wonder... Is it possible to fall in love after Just One Night? Just One Night is a steamy gay romance with a happily-ever-after ending and no cliffhangers.

    When the man pretends he knows him and has a one-sided conversation that proves his suspicion correct, he almost ends the call. The fast thinking of the stranger on the other end of the line likely saves his life, but what will Dalton find when he gets there?Kannon Butler is an old soul. Working at an old folks home, his friends are his clients and he’s okay with that. Being attacked in broad daylight just doesn’t happen in their small town, except this day, it does. To him. Quick thinking and a prayer, he ends up on the line with Dalton Davis, who quite literally saves his life.Healing and living are a struggle after being attacked, but Dalton can’t seem to stay away and Kannon doesn’t want him to. With an amazing family who takes him under their wing, and a gorgeous private investigator that makes it his mission to find out who hurt Kannon, what do you think happens?

    It’s hard to tell. I mean, what do I know? I’m an almost thirty year old virgin. Everyone else makes it look so easy, but my head makes it the most complicated thing in the world. And then I book Evan for an evening, and everything gets infinitely more complicated. It’s not anything he does. He’s perfect. Being with him is perfect. Touching him comes naturally. Flirting with him is effortless. My lack of experience isn’t a problem at all, because who needs to know how to swim when I’d happily drown in his kisses instead? But its also easy to forget this is just a job to him. The lines are so blurred I sometimes forget they exist at all. And then I have to remind myself: the only future here is the rough landing I’m in for when I finally take the plunge. Bringing our business transaction to a close. I’m no longer afraid to be intimate with another man. Being with him that way is what I want more than anything. But taking that step means watching him walk out of my life the moment it’s over. EVAN Life lessons for rent boys: never take jobs with hot, sweet, innocent virgins. They’re way too easy to fall in love with. Jacob was supposed to be just another job. An easy one too…never hurts when the client’s a bit of eye candy himself. Our date didn’t go as planned. He was too nervous to take it as far as he wanted. And making him uncomfortable was the last thing I wanted, so we parted as friends. And then hung out again as friends. And again. And again. But when I suggest helping coach him over his hang ups, reality comes crashing back after he brings up the bill. It’d been so easy to forget what I was when I was with him. To fool myself into believing he’d ever see me as more than a rent boy. I don’t know how much longer I can act like it’s all just pretend. Like I’m not falling in love with him. But I know I’ll keep playing the part for as long as he’ll let me, just to be near him. This 50,000 word standalone gay romance with a HEA makes the business of pleasure a VERY pleasurable read for anyone over eighteen! A First Time Gay Virgin Romance

    For Jackson Roanoke, the greatest consequence of his parents’ divorce was watching his mother drive away with his twin brother Ben, putting thousands of miles between them. Eight years later and with college looming, Jackson is tasked with reroofing his father’s house. After a tempting offer of help from a young man, Jackson finds himself caught up in a growing attraction he’s hesitant to embrace. But when his brother Ben reappears at the front door, Jackson is confronted by more than he’s prepared for. Brought together by circumstance, the estranged brothers are forced to navigate a relationship that persists only in their memories. Marked by the heat of a Midwest summer and rolling wheat fields, the short months are punctuated by scattered moments of closeness between the two brothers, hinting at the possibility of rekindling the connection they once shared.

    Sadly, Russell Moore isn’t so blessed. Since his coming out and marriage prompted a less-than-joyful reaction from his religious parents, Russ has kept his distance to avoid their conservative disapproval. With his husband David deployed overseas for the second Christmas in a row, Russ gives in to the loneliness and takes his stepchildren to meet his parents for the first time, hoping the “goodwill toward men” spirit will overcome his mother’s zealotry. But Russ’s Christmas joy is too quickly deflated by his mother’s unmet expectations, leaving Russ to ponder if peace, love, and perhaps matricide go hand in hand.

    But dragging them into the light is never easy—and it isn’t something Cyrus Hood can do alone.Amidst the atmosphere of suspicion brought on by the Cold War, Cyrus struggles to keep a lid on his family’s dark secrets, like the reason for his little brother, Charlie, being “not right in the head” and his father’s drinking, conspiracy theories, and abuse. While trying to hold together a family hell-bent on tearing itself apart, Cyrus is also discovering things within himself he can’t divulge—like his attraction to his best friend Oliver. Yet it might be Oliver who stands with Cyrus when Cyrus is at his most lost and vulnerable, and it might be Oliver to show him that no matter how many times life knocks you down, love can raise you up again.

    One of those promises was to stay in touch and keep seeing each other. But Chad never called, and Jeff remained behind to finish high school. Chad broke Jeff’s heart, but both men suffered. Chad couldn’t forgive himself for being a coward and not standing up to his parents, and Jeff wouldn’t let anyone into his heart again to hurt him. A year after Katrina and ten years after that fateful summer, Chad and Jeff meet again, only this time it’s in the ER of a local hospital. Chad is the attending doctor and Jeff is an assault victim, on the brink of death. Chad is once again swept into the past by the only man he’s ever loved, and like before, Chad makes promises to Jeff—promises he will keep, or else. When Jeff awakes from a coma, he finds the man who broke his heart sitting in his hospital room. Angry, confused and scared, Jeff has no defense against this man. And he also has no one else to care for him, only Chad. After all these years, Jeff’s dream has finally come true, Chad is back in his life. But for how long? And is Jeff willing to open his heart to the man who broke it?

    That's when he learns what it truly means to surrender everything. Cody is strong, sexy, and more generous than Travis believed possible. He takes him in and begins unraveling all the pain and secrets that led to Travis being alone, homeless, and running for his life with an envelope of stolen cash.With such a sweet, fragile heart, Travis has never let his guard down with anyone, but he can’t resist falling deeper and deeper into Cody’s effortless dominance and possessive touch. Over stormy summer nights in Cody’s isolated cabin, Travis discovers the euphoric passion of giving in to the desires Cody draws out of him.Heart. Mind. Body. Travis hands over everything to the man who taught him to trust. The only problem is... Cody isn’t who he says he is—and his own dangerous secrets may shatter the faith Travis put in him.This is a 70,000 word stand-alone novel which contains intensely intimate scenes between two men, and a happily ever after with no cliffhangers.

    He has a small circle of close friends, a career he loves, and a baby on the way via a surrogate. Mr. Right is nowhere to be found, but Lee isn’t about to let that little tidbit rain on his parade. He’s more than willing to thrust his other needs aside and focus on fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a father.With his love life in the gutter, Lee turns to fantasies of his hunky neighbor, Finn Alexander. His daydreaming is merely a harmless diversion until Finn comes to Lee’s rescue on a dark and stormy night.To Lee’s surprise, the chemistry they shared in his imagination is nothing compared to the real thing. Finn is as hot between the sheets as Lee always envisioned. Better still, they get along famously outside the bedroom. The only things standing in the way of Lee having it all are the bundle of joy due any minute and Finn’s apparent aversion to children.

    The sting hasn't faded after that night three months ago when his last art show bombed right before he was dumped. He designs t-shirts to pay the bills, but he's dateless and creatively uninspired now, hardly moving from the couch until a chatty Siamese cat invades his apartment. When his best friend drags him out to a gay bar to get him drawing people again, Connor's stunned to reunite with the last guy he'd expect behind that bar: Zach Stephens, the heartthrob of his first year in art school.“That's when my parents kicked me out.”It's been five years since bartender Zach Stephens had to drop out of engineering school and lost touch with his best friend from freshman year. After he was caught holding hands with another guy, Zach and his dog escaped his parents, and Zach's been struggling ever since to build a stable life. He just can't reconcile the hunky, tattooed Zach everyone else sees—and wants—with the little he feels like he has to offer. But Connor sees him for more than his abs, and falling into his first relationship with his old friend is the easiest thing in the world. “I want to do something with my life.” When Zach's boss tells them the bar's closing in sixty days unless he finds a buyer, Zach has a choice to make: move and find a proper career but lose Connor, his first boyfriend, stay in town but work in dead-end bartending jobs... or take the third option, the scariest of all, and secure a future for everyone. While Connor struggles with his fear of certain failure if he enters the next big art show, Zach has to decide what kind of man he wants to be. Can Connor and Zach screw up their courage and be brave, or will they only screw up the one good thing they had going?Last Call is a steamy, standalone gay romance novel with a HEA and no cliffhangers.

    Brady Novak was kind, responsible and easy on the eyes. Yeah, the guy had a kid but Ryan loved her too. What could go wrong? Well, Ryan's sister Ellie, that's what. Ellie is a flighty, love-em-and-leave-em kinda girl with a big heart who doesn't realize she dated the guy Ryan had fantasized about. But, like all of Ellie's other relationships, this one ended within two months, just in time to send Brady running off to take a job in Phoenix, taking Ryan's heart with him.Ryan never thought he'd see Brady again until eight years later Ryan's sister blindsides him by announcing that not only is Brady back in Atlanta but she'd asked him out on a date. And he'd accepted. As if that wasn't enough to send Ryan on a tailspin, a neighborhood girl brings him face to face with Brady in an unexpected way.Brady can't believe when he sees Ryan again. He assumed Ryan had moved on from Atlanta, like he'd always said he would. But Brady hasn't forgotten his cute, nerdy friend and wants nothing more than to have a chance to try the relationship they never got to have all those years ago, but convincing Ryan that he hadn't slept with Ellie proves difficult. Ryan is still hurt over the way they left things and makes it an uphill battle, but Brady has waited too long. He'll damn well give a good go of trying to get his man and with the help of his precocious teenage daughter and a little help from friends they may just get their Happily Ever After. *2nd Edition, has been re-edited and revised*