Temptation by Design


Andrea Dalling - 2016
    Now, their burning need could cost them everything. This steamy hot-for-teacher, straight-to-bi M/M romance has an HEA and no cliffhanger. Forbidden attraction… Shakespeare professor Ben Silver teaches in a small college town with few prospects for love. Most gay men he meets are students and off-limits. That's never been a problem until architecture major Chase takes over set design for the college production of Macbeth. Older than most college juniors, his maturity and leadership skills—not to mention his smoking-hot body—capture Ben's attention. But a tryst could ruin Ben's career, and he can't risk it. Awakening desire… Former petty officer Chase Coltrane understands fraternization rules. His years in the Navy taught him to keep his hands to himself, especially where people in authority are concerned. But when Ben ignites Chase's attraction to men, Chase's self-control heads out to sea. He wants to explore this newly discovered part of himself, and the sexy, charismatic professor has tied knots around his heart. Will his desperate attempt to win the man he loves destroy their future? Or will it lead them on a path to lasting love?

Like Two Peas in a Pod


Gorou Kanbe - 2020
    When Tanaka and Nakata are given each other’s papers back, they come to a horrible realization... They have almost identical names. And test results. And body types. And taste in fashion. And sports scores. And hobbies. The list goes on, and as annoying as it is, at least they know they always have each other. And maybe, just maybe, their similarities run even deeper.

The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey


James Lecesne - 2016
    It was directed by Tony Speciale; it was produced by Dixon Place; the original music was by Duncan Sheik; the visuals were by Matthew Sandager; and the clothing was by Paul Marlow.

Going All In


Kristine Cayne - 2016
    Rejected by his best friend, abandoned by his family, Harry spurns relationships, settling instead for backroom hookups and one-night stands. Out and proud, he scrapes by selling drinks in gold lamé trunks while struggling to make a name for himself as a musician. Desperate for a change, he and his roommate take a trip to Vegas, where Harry finds himself getting more than he’d bet on. Fragrance chemist Ashton Montgomery is the man behind the Ashton George line of perfumes and colognes. He is also a gay man hiding behind the façade of one of New York City’s most eligible straight bachelors. After a failed paternity suit against him, he sneaks off to Vegas to celebrate his freedom. But is he really free, or is he locked into the future his parents have mapped out for him—CEO to the family business and married to a society woman of their choosing? A chance meeting at a rock concert in Sin City catapults Harry and Ashton into an adventure where each man comes head to head with what he fears most. Can they learn to trust each other as a couple, or is undeniable lust all they have? When all the cards are on the table, they each must decide whether to fold or go all in.

Metes and Bounds


Jay Quinn - 2001
    The novel follows Matt as he leaves home after his high school graduation to work for his uncle, a land surveyor. Matt's story of claiming his place as a surfer and as a gay man in the small and large world of construction sites, fishing piers, and surf breaks is a triumph of storytelling.

MacArthur Park


Andrew Durbin - 2017
    Months later, at an artist residency in upstate New York, Nick finds his subject in disaster itself and the communities shaped by it, where crisis animates both hope and denial, unacknowledged pasts and potential futures. As he travels to Los Angeles and London on assignment, Nick discovers that outsiders--their lives and histories disturbed by sex, loss, and bad weather--are often better understood by what they have hidden from the world than what they have revealed.

Touch: Poems


Henri Cole - 2011
    In his new book, Touch, written with an almost invisible but ever-present art, he continues to render his human topics—a mother’s death, a lover’s addiction, war—with a startling clarity. Cole’s new poems are impelled by a dark knowledge of the body—both its pleasures and its discontents—and they are written with an aesthetic asceticism in the service of truth. Alternating between innocence and violent self-condemnation, between the erotic and the elegiac, and between thought and emotion, these poems represent a kind of mid-life selving that chooses life. With his simultaneous impulses to privacy and to connection, Cole neutralizes pain with understatement, masterful cadences, precise descriptions of the external world, and a formal dexterity rarely found in contemporary American poetry.   Touch is a Publishers Weekly Best Poetry Books title for 2011.

Outlaw Marriages: The Hidden Histories of Fifteen Extraordinary Same-Sex Couples


Rodger Streitmatter - 2012
    Pairs of men and pairs of women joined together in committed unions, standing by each other “for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health” for periods of thirty or forty—sometimes as many as fifty—years. In short, they loved and supported each other every bit as much as any husband and wife. In Outlaw Marriages, cultural historian Rodger Streitmatter reveals how some of these unions didn’t merely improve the quality of life for the two people involved but also enriched the American culture.Contents:Walt Whitman & Peter DoyleMartha Carey Thomas & Mamie SwinnNed Warren & John MarshallMary Rozet Smith & Jane AddamsBessie Marbury & Esie de WolfeJ.C. Leyendecker & Charles BeachAlice B. Toklas & Gertrude SteinJanet Flanner & Solita SolanoGreta Garbo & Mercedes de AcostaAaron Copland & Victor KraftFrank Merlo & Tennessee WilliamsJames Baldwin & Lucien HappersbergRobert Rauschenberg & Jasper JohnsIsmail Merchant & James IvoryFrances Clayton & Audre Lorde

Moonlight


K. Evan Coles - 2018
    Still, something nameless in him yearns for more.An old barn on the farm becomes Ryen’s haven where he spends evenings watching the moon and stars. With Halloween approaching, he volunteers to decorate the barn for a party, knowing the job will guarantee him more time alone.One night as Ryen labors, a man walks out of the woods. Ryen knows he should feel apprehensive, but he is intrigued by the dark-haired stranger who calls himself Kamer. What Ryen doesn’t know is that lurking beneath Kamer's handsome face lies something that could prove dangerous to both Ryen’s body and soul.

Always a Soldier: Service, Sacrifice, and Coming Out as America's Favorite Black, Gay Republican


Rob Smith - 2020
    Before he became a war veteran and political analyst, he was a young black man who enlisted in the U.S. Army right out of high school, survived the notoriously brutal Infantry basic training, and served while remaining a closeted gay man to all but a few of his colleagues. At his first duty station, he finds himself in dangerous territory when the United States declares war on Iraq; in fact, his unit was one of the first called in after the initial invasion. Rob's experience offers a ground-level view of life on the front lines in the United States Army in an unforgettable coming-of-age story with a military twist. In addition to his memoir, Always a Soldier highlights his thoughts on current hot-button political topics like the new crop of Black Republicans and the escalating tactics of the LGBTQ community, announcing him as a voice in American politics that will be heard for years to come.

10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do to Improve Their Lives


Joe Kort - 2003
    Joe Kort explores as he guides readers through the complex journey of becoming a gay man. Dr. Kort points out that the beginning of this journey is about taking responsibility for your own life, and reading this book shows you exactly how to do this. Readers will learn how to identify their own internalized homophobia that is preventing many of gay men from leading satisfying lives and keeping them from having healthy relationships.Gay men often say that after coming out they feel better at first, but for many it doesn't last. 10 Smart Things Gay Men Can Do to Improve Their Lives provides a thorough map for navigating through the difficult terrain of becoming the gay man you want to be in the context of your family, of your sexual health, and ultimately of a partnered relationship.* Discover how to find your authentic gay self* Learn the five biggest mistakes gay men make when seeking a relationship* Understand how to understand loved ones who disapprove of you being gay* Overcome damaging patterns that are holding you back from a healthy sex life

The Flute-Player


D.M. Thomas - 1979
    She is the one constant in their lives, the inspiration, sexually and emotionally generous, at once a muse and a whore.According to Thomas, "This novel emerged out of fascination with Russian poets and particularly Anna Akhmatova. I wanted a generic figure, a woman who preserved the truth of the word, while chaos reigned all around her. I didn't want to individualise the characters too much, so there is very little dialogue in this novel."

Broken Strings


Casey Carson - 2018
    But as much as I’d like to, I can’t put him in that position…or any other positions, for that matter. I’m just here to do a job. It’s not my fault that he looks like an innocent angel and a broken boy all at the same time. That’s why he needs someone like me looking out for him, protecting him, keeping him safe. But can I keep things professional between us? Corey: I’ve been performing on stage in front of thousands of people almost every night of my life since I was nineteen. Living in the public eye means I get hounded everywhere I go. I have zero privacy. I’m exhausted, but my greedy manager and loser bandmates rely on me to keep cranking out hits. To keep going full throttle—and keep everyone happy—I turned to the rock & roll cliché of nonstop booze and drugs. I’m being pulled in every direction. I feel like I’m falling apart. I’m ready for a change. I want something real. After getting stabbed by a random psycho and almost dying, my manager wants to hire a bodyguard for me. I don’t care if he’s big and strong and sexy as hell—I don’t want some meathead with an earpiece following me everywhere I go. I already have no privacy as it is! But maybe…just maybe…Max is different? All I know is that the thought of dealing with everything in my life while trying to stay sober terrifies me. I can’t do it alone. Broken Strings is a 60,000+ word gay romance about finding happiness amidst a lifestyle filled with sex, drugs, and rock & roll. This book contains sexually explicit material and colorful language intended for adults 18 and older. Each book in the Chords of Chaos series can be read as a standalone novel, but they’re better if you read them in order.

As Max Saw It


Louis Begley - 1994
    The time is 1974, and Max, who is fleeing from the wreckage of his first marriage, is a summer-house guest on Lake Como, where he encounters the two characters who will shape his life over the next 20 years: Charlie Swan, a Harvard classmate from the 1950s turned famous architect...and Toby, a poised and polymorphous teenager who is soon to become Charlie's protege and lover."     --TimeBONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Louis Begley's Memories of a Marriage.

Mean Little Deaf Queer: A Memoir


Terry Galloway - 2009
    No one yet knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system, eventually causing her to go deaf. As a self-proclaimed "child freak," she acted out her fury with her boxy hearing aids and Coke-bottle glasses by faking her own drowning at a camp for crippled children. Ever since that first real-life performance, Galloway has used theater, whether onstage or off, to defy and transcend her reality. With disarming candor, she writes about her mental breakdowns, her queer identity, and living in a silent, quirky world populated by unforgettable characters. What could have been a bitter litany of complaint is instead an unexpectedly hilarious and affecting take on life.From the Trade Paperback edition.