Duct Tape and a Tarp: A Dubious Adventure


Kelli Jae Baeli - 2018
    Sometimes it’s a sprinkle, and sometimes it’s a deluge. This is the wetter one.Drew Keen is not a people-person. No surprise, she’s lived in the Northwoods for the last decade, living simply and working freelance photography jobs for National Geographic. Finally, the loneliness persuades her to attend her college reunion, intent on reconnecting with the one that got away.Amber Richards has gone to every class reunion, hoping to see Drew, who fell off the grid after their graduation led to an inevitable breakup. She didn't expect Drew to be there this year either.She also didn't expect to spend her reunion time with an old flame, running away from her in the Northwoods.

Rabbits of the Apocalypse


Benny Lawrence - 2014
     What with all the hunger, chaos, sunstroke, landmines, and radiation it's hard to get by, and harder still to get laid.  In the remote desert town of Lafontaine, Casey Prentice has been trying to survive the endtimes by keeping her head down and refusing to give a damn about anyone except her younger sister Emily and wingman Malice Hiroyama. But that ceases to be an option when a powerful and mysterious entity known as the Anastasian League descends on the town.Casey offers shelter to genius Pax, who is trying to escape the League. In doing so, she invites a whole new kind of danger into her life on top of a budding romance. The town of Lafontaine has a secret . . . and if the League discovers it, then the apocalypse will be the least of Casey’s worries.

My Real Children


Jo Walton - 2014
    "Confused today," read the notes clipped to the end of her bed. She forgets things she should know—what year it is, major events in the lives of her children. But she remembers things that don’t seem possible. She remembers marrying Mark and having four children. And she remembers not marrying Mark and raising three children with Bee instead. She remembers the bomb that killed President Kennedy in 1963, and she remembers Kennedy in 1964, declining to run again after the nuclear exchange that took out Miami and Kiev.Her childhood, her years at Oxford during the Second World War—those were solid things. But after that, did she marry Mark or not? Did her friends all call her Trish, or Pat? Had she been a housewife who escaped a terrible marriage after her children were grown, or a successful travel writer with homes in Britain and Italy? And the moon outside her window: does it host a benign research station, or a command post bristling with nuclear missiles?Two lives, two worlds, two versions of modern history. Each with their loves and losses, their sorrows and triumphs. My Real Children is the tale of both of Patricia Cowan's lives...and of how every life means the entire world.

Seafire


Natalie C. Parker - 2018
    She captains her ship, the Mors Navis, with a crew of girls and women just like her, who have lost their families and homes because of Aric and his men. The crew has one mission: stay alive, and take down Aric's armed and armored fleet.But when Caledonia's best friend and second-in-command barely survives an attack thanks to help from a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia finds herself questioning whether to let him join their crew. Is this boy the key to taking down Aric Athair once and for all . . . or will he threaten everything the women of the Mors Navis have worked for?

Incursion


Aleksandr Voinov - 2012
     When the local authorities ask Kyle Juenger to hunt a shape-shifting Glyrinny spy, he can’t refuse. After all, he can use the reward to replace his paralyzed legs with cyberware, and maybe even to return to his home planet. Besides, he hates the morphs—those invasive, brain-eating monstrosities whose weapons cost him his legs. Kyle’s best lead is the Scorpion, a mercenary ship armed to the teeth. Grimm, the Scorpion’s pilot and captain, fascinates Kyle. He’s everything Kyle lost with his legs, and he’s from the same home world. He’s also of the warrior caste—half priest, half savior. But Grimm’s been twisted by life as a merc, and Kyle’s stuck undercover as a criminal on the run. That doesn’t stop Grimm from coming on to Kyle, or from insisting he’s more than the sum of his past and his useless legs. But Kyle has other concerns—like tracking a dangerous morph who could be wearing anyone’s face. And as if things weren’t complicated enough, Kyle can’t tell if Grimm is part of the solution . . . or part of the problem.

Don't Let Go


Cynthia Dane - 2019
    Yet there is one resident in her high-rise luxury building who makes coming to work worth it. Cindy Ling, the enigmatic businesswoman who always has a lady on her arm, also has a wink to spare the mild-mannered clerk looking her way. When chance brings Rose up to Cindy’s penthouse suite, her life isn’t simply changed forever. It’s transformed. A Reckoning From the moment she first sees her, Cindy knows that Rose is a font of endless potential. For a woman who has spent her whole life running away from a core part of her identity, taking Rose as a lover is not only the greatest escape, but Cindy’s best chance at reformatting her image as Taiwan’s foremost playgirl. Except whenever Cindy makes such drastic changes to her life, she discovers that the old ghosts she attempts to lock away come hurtling back. Falling in love with Rose is a blessing and a curse from the very deity Cindy has held a grudge against since the tragic death of her father. But Cindy knows they’re a match made in the stars. This time, she’ll overcome her inner demons. A Bargaining Yet when Cindy is inevitably consumed, Rose persists. She’ll overcome her traditional family, her sheltered upbringing, and her insecurities if it means not only bringing Cindy out of the darkness, but reclaiming the world Rose knows they deserve to inhabit. No matter how hard Cindy pushes her away, their carnal connection and fairy-tale romance are too pure to spoil. Rose has nothing to fear. She won’t let go. DON’T LET GO contains no-holds-barred references to mental illness and features non-Western beliefs and settings. It introduces brand-new characters and clubs to the Dane-Billings universe of billionaire girlfriends and the women who are transformed by loving them.

Coyote Blues


Karen F. Williams - 2020
    She’s a werecoyote, to be precise.A foundling adopted by wealthy parents, Riley led a privileged life until she fell in love with Fiona Bell, an evangelical preacher’s daughter. Raging hormones, the full moon, and the pull of Fiona Bell on her teenage heartstrings triggered her first transformation. Unfortunately, her parents witnessed the change and sent her off to college with a trust fund and an agreement never to return home.Twenty years later, Riley shares a lucrative therapy practice with Dr. Margaret Spencer. Margaret, her wife, and her gay brother-in-law are the only ones who know Riley’s secret. Afraid of risking exposure, Riley restricts her love life to online hookups. But when a family is referred for treatment and Fiona Bell comes back into her life, all the rules of the client-therapist relationship are tested and Riley’s world is turned upside down. Cover Artist: Tammy SeidickGenres: Paranormal & Urban Fantasy / Romance Tags: Financial gap/Class disparity, Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship, New York City, Psychological Thriller, Second Chance at Love, Shifters, Children / Families, Virgins/First Love, Small Town Romances, AnimalsWords: 65,000

Batwoman: Elegy


Greg Rucka - 2010
    In this first tale, Batwoman battles a madwoman known only as Alice, inspired by Alice in Wonderland, who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable extras! Batwoman must stop Alice from unleashing a toxic death cloud over all of Gotham City -- but Alice has more up her sleeve than just poison, and Batwoman's life will never ever be the same again. Also, witness the origin of Batwoman in the shocking and tragic story "Go," in which young Kate Kane and her family are kidnapped by terrorists, and Kate's life - and the lives of her family - will never be the same! Detective Comics #854–860.

The Long Way Home


Roslyn Bane - 2017
    After being abandoned by her father and raised in a foster home, she has made the Marine Corps her life. As a helicopter pilot she has excelled under the demands of her career. Always a fierce competitor, she now faces her toughest challenge...living with a disability that threatens her career and dealing with survivor’s guilt that threatens her emotional stability. Lieutenant Commander Kristine Matthews is a highly skilled, combat experienced Navy Surgeon well accustomed to handling the worst destruction war can do to a person. One fateful afternoon their paths cross and their lives change forever. In a world where independence and strength are as valued as teamwork, and these two women struggle through rehabilitation, will they heal enough to live again and find happiness? Or will their shared experience destroy them?

The Lily and the Crown


Roslyn Sinclair - 2017
    The skilled, young botanist rarely leaves her living quarters, where she maintains an elaborate garden. When an imperious older woman is captured from a pirate ship and given to her as a slave, Ariana’s perfectly ordered life is thrown into chaos. Her nameless slave is watchful, intelligent, dangerous, and sexy, and seems to know an awful lot about tactics, star charts, and the dread, marauding pirate queen, Mir. What happens when the slave also reveals an expertise in seduction to her innocent mistress?The Lily and the Crown is a lesbian romance about daring to risk your heart with someone you shouldn’t.87,000 words

Utopia Avenue


David Mitchell - 2020
    Emerging from London’s psychedelic scene in 1967 and fronted by folk singer Elf Holloway, guitar demigod Jasper de Zoet, and blues bassist Dean Moss, Utopia Avenue released only two LPs during its brief, blazing journey from the clubs of Soho and drafty ballrooms to Top of the Pops and the cusp of chart success, and on to glory in Amsterdam, prison in Rome, and a fateful American fortnight in the autumn of 1968.David Mitchell’s captivating new novel tells the unexpurgated story of Utopia Avenue; of riots in the streets and revolutions in the head; of drugs, thugs, madness, love, sex, death, art; of the families we choose and the ones we don’t; of fame’s Faustian pact and stardom’s wobbly ladder. Can we change the world in turbulent times, or does the world change us?

The Diviners


Libba Bray - 2012
    It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. Evie worries her uncle will discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer. As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho is hiding a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened…

The Only Way


Jamie Sullivan - 2014
    When Hart decides that’s not good enough for her, she takes on the high stakes world of no-holds-barred fighting. There's just one problem: women aren’t allowed in the ring. Hair cut short and dressed in her father’s old clothes, Hart ventures into the Alley and the world of arena fighting. There she meets Ruby, the daughter of the Arena owner and a brilliant fighter in her own right. When she offers Hart the chance for friendship, Hart cannot resist.But Ruby thinks Hart is a man, and as she and Ruby grow closer, it gets harder and harder to maintain the façade …

Nightshade


Shea Godfrey - 2010
    A captain in the King’s elite guard and filled with humor and good nature, Darry’s considerable charms pull Jessa rather happily into an unexpected friendship that quickly becomes something more, promising passion and the fulfillment of her deepest desires.Jessa and Darry’s relationship threatens the fragile peace, and the future of two countries might very well hang in the balance. When family secrets and hidden agendas begin to surface, as well as an ancient majik that Jessa has been preparing to use since the day she was born, a prophecy is set in motion that will thrust both lands into a bloody war of revenge and retribution—a war that love alone will not be able to stop.

All We Lack


Sandra Moran - 2015
    Maggie is a funeral director from Indiana who lives a double life. Bug is a ten-year-old boy in the Pennsylvania foster care system who is sent to live with an aunt he doesn't know. Jimmy is a former paramedic and prescription drug addict on his way to meet a woman he met online who thinks he's a successful doctor. Helen is a Chicago insurance investigator who is leaving her marriage in search of the woman she wants to be. Four strangers, all traveling to Boston in search of better lives, are tied together in ways they don't even realize. Each are trying to fill the void of what's missing in their lives. Sometimes it takes a tragedy to overcome all that we lack.