Showing posts with label R.D. Cochrane. Show all posts
Showing posts with label R.D. Cochrane. Show all posts

Friday, July 26, 2013

LGBTQ: Upcoming & Recent Releases

There are SO many upcoming LGBTQ releases or books already released that I want to read! Some of the books on my ever growing, greedy list are already in my Kindle and others will be as soon as they release. Here are just a few:

UPCOMING:

RED CAPS by Steve Berman (Lethe Press, October 2013)



Red Caps might be a rock band. Or they might be something more sinister, a fey source of sounds that are but the backdrop to thrills and misadventures. These thirteen stories provide readers jaded with the traditional, Old World fairy tales and tempts them with new stories that will engage bored readers from their suburban ennui. Closets are waiting to be explored. Escape from work camp leads to a dangerous encounter on a wet road. That high school year book is magical and might be mocking you...or helping you find love. And isn't love one of the central premises of the fairy tale? These teenage boys and girls need not fear that their love has no worth, because Steve Berman has written for them princesses who love maidens and adorkable students who have wondrous and smart boyfriends. Readers can be assured that, if the tale does not end happy, it ends most memorably.
This is a new gay Young Adult speculative fiction collection written by Steve Berman. Berman wrote Vintage: A Ghost Story, a book that is loved by many and considered a classic LGBTQ YA read. I'm really looking forward to reading this one!

FOOLISH HEARTS: NEW GAY FICTION by Timothy J. Lambert & R. D. Cochrane (Cleis Press, January 14, 2014)


Okay, I don't have a blurb for Foolish Hearts yet. But, I couldn't wait to highlight it because this is a sequel to one of my favorite anthologies, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction. I have been stalking Becky Cochrane's blog ever since I found out this anthology was on the planning stages. Well, it's going to happen. There's a cover, a release date, and finally, a list of the contributing authors:
Tony Calvert, David Puterbaugh, Trebor Healey, Steven Reigns, Erik Orrantia, Paul Lisicky, Jeffrey Ricker, Taylor McGrath, ‘Nathan Burgoine, Greg Herren, Timothy Forry, Felice Picano, Mark G. Harris, Craig Cotter, Rob Williams, Timothy J. Lambert, Andrew Holleran.
I am really psyched about this anthology! It's all about the lurv...

ALREADY IN MY KINDLE:

PACIFIC RIMMING by Tom Cardamone (Chelsea Station Editions, March 2013)

Lambda Literary finalist Tom Cardamone’s novella, Pacific Rimming, is a dazzling narrative of obsession.

Set in New York City in the late 1990s, a young gay man wanders from bed to bed, creating a life of drug use and sexual conquest to avoid emotional intimacy, his desire focused exclusively on Asian men.
Cardamone is a favorite speculative fiction writer, but with this book he goes into a totally different direction. There is a review in amazon that calls it "filthy/gorgeous" and another one at the Lambda Literary site that makes it sound like an outstanding read. Just what I have come to expect from Cardamone.

CRACK SHOT, WESTERN EROTICA by Dale Chase (Bold Strokes, Books, April 15, 2013)

Men of the Wild West indulge in far more than drinking and gunplay. Cattle drovers, gamblers, miners, outlaws, and the lawmen who chase them rub up against each other in towns where law is thin and a saloon occupies every corner. How could they not indulge in sex? This collection of Western erotica brings to life the intensely masculine Old West in stories such as “Brazen,” in which a man indulging in sexual gratification beside his campfire welcomes a stranger to further indulge; “Thyself A Man,” in which a preacher attempting to save souls in a gold rush camp loses his own through sexual indulgence; “Gandy Dancer,” which shows building the transcontinental railroad involves more than laying track; “Crack Shot,” in which a lawman cannot resist his prisoner; and “Picture Show,” in which the past comes alive as two former lawmen who were once lovers reunite on a silent movie set.
Lovely Ms. Chase whose western gay erotica I absolutely adore! Of course I picked up this collection immediately. I'm so glad I'll have so many of her great stories in one volume and hope to find new favorites to reread over and over again. :D

THE DUST OF WONDERLAND by Lee Thomas (Lethe Press, June 3, 2013)

A panicked call from his ex-wife summons Ken Nicholson back to New Orleans, where his son has been attacked and left for dead. While his child's life hangs in the balance, Ken endures visions connected to a terrifying time from his past. As a teenager, he witnessed the brutal deaths of several young men, an act orchestrated by his benefactor, Travis Brugier. Following the shocking spectacle, Brugier kills himself before Ken's eyes. Now, decades later, someone wants Ken to remember, wants Ken to return to those violent days.

With the lives of his estranged family and his lover, David, threatened, Ken has no choice but to follow his nightmares back to their origin. There he will battle a corrupt and powerful being that believes every life is a story to be captured and rewritten, a being that doesn't believe in happy endings.

Welcome back to Wonderland.
My expectations of a Lee Thomas novel or novella are rather high at this point. He is such a talented writer. The Dust of Wonderland is Lee Thomas's latest novel and I'm hoping to sink my teeth into it soon, soon, soon!

Also added to my Kindle: What Comes Around by Jameson Currier (Chelsea Station Editions, 2012), Love, Christopher Street: Reflections of New York City ed. by Thomas Keith (Vantage Point, 2012) , and On the Clock by Chris Owen (Torquere Press, July 17, 2013).

Sunday, December 26, 2010

2010 LGBT: Favorite Books & Authors

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We are having a snow storm/blizzard today, so we missed having a "white Christmas" by one day! I've been reading and enjoying my days off... relaxing mainly. I hope you are all doing the same after the holidays. Since there is less than a week left to the year, I decided to go ahead and begin recapping 2010 and am beginning with a sub-genre that I love.

2010 was an interesting year for me when it comes to LGBT. I didn't read as many M/M Romance books as I did last year even though I have books galore in my TBR pile! However, that's not to say I didn't read LGBT, I did! Plenty. But, I seemed to have veered in a different direction and read more speculative fiction -- fantasy, horror -- mysteries and anthologies/collections. Of course I also read romance and erotica, how could I not, and those categories are also represented here. I love the fact that LGBT has it all! So, it shouldn't be a surprise that I've included all those categories on my list of favorite authors and works this year.

Sandra McDonald - LGBT Speculative Fiction

Sandra McDonald wrote one of my favorite speculative fiction books of 2010. Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories was a new 2010 release by Lethe Press Books. This is a book that stayed with me after I turned that last page. As a matter of fact I truly couldn't put it away and re-read it almost immediately. I loved the fantasy world, the unique characters, plus the circumstances that McDonald created for this collection of stories. 

As an interesting aside, and unrelated to LGBT, this year I also enjoyed the first book in McDonald's Sci-Fi/Fantasy series, The Outback Stars (another genre I love!), so you know this is an author that I will definitely look for in the future.

Other Favorites:
Timothy Lambert and R.D. Cochrane - LGBT Romance

In the LGBT romance category there's no question that I have one favorite this year, and that's an anthology. If you visit my blog regularly, you might have noticed the February LOVE blitz that occurred around here for Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy Lambert and R.D. CochraneThis book was a 2009 release by Cleis Press that I read in 2010. There are short stories by different authors with different styles of writing, but I can tell you this much, I loved it so much that I read it and re-read it for three full months, from January through March. And, I still go back to the book and read certain stories every so often.

So it's tough to choose one author as a favorite here. I loved them ALL. Instead in this category, I'm choosing the editors for putting together an amazing group of writers and stories: Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane.

Other favorites:
Josh Lanyon - M/M Romance Mysteries

And who else would I mention in this category, but the Andrien English Mysteries by Josh Lanyon? Talk about addiction! I became so addicted to this series that I read and re-read these books over and over again during what I termed my Adrien English Obsessive Cycle. After that, well... I've tried to read as many of Mr. Lanyon's books as possible, both TBR reads and new releases. And still, I can't say that I've been disappointed.

My other absolute favorite book in this category is also by Mr. Lanyon: Somebody Killed His Editor: Holmes and Moriarity, Book 1. There are still more than a few books in that TBR, but you know that I'll get to them in 2011.

Adrien English Mysteries - 2007/2009 Loose ID LLC
Somebody Killed His Editor: Holmes and Moriarity - 2009 Samhain Publishing, Ltd

Gavin Atlas - LGBT Erotica

In this category my top read this year was another 2010 new release by Lethe Press BooksThe Boy Can't Help It: Sensual Stories of Young Bottoms by Gavin Atlas. This was an excellent collection of Mr. Atlas' works, featuring erotic fantasies and highlighting his writing style. And, although I read a few other anthologies, and single books in this category that were good or excellent, this is the book that stayed with me throughout the year. There are still single stories in this book that I revisit from time to time. ;P

Other Favorites:
Who were your favorite LGBT authors of 2010? How about your favorite books?

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Angels, What You Must Hear on High by John H. Roush

A happily ever after...

I wouldn't be anywhere else except with Tom. He keeps me grounded. He's the silent type, and you know what they say about the silent type: They're animals in bed! This man could make me praise Jesus in twenty-one different languages. Oh, sorry about that, Angel. Page 258

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane


About the Author:
John H. Roush lives in a quiet New England town in Connecticut with his partner. He belongs to a nonprofit organization that goes throughout the United States and Canada raising money for other nonprofit groups. He is one of New England's leading female impersonators. Mr. Roush doesn't have a website (at least not that I could find).

Everyone Says I'll Forget in Time by Greg Herren

Closure and new beginnings.
I got through it all; I survived; I went on. I went through the closet and the dresser and took his clothes to Goodwill. I did all the things you're supposed to do, and I got through it all.

But the bed still seems empty every morning when I wake up. The house seems quieter, no matter how loudly I play the stereo. The world seems different, somehow -- the sun a little less bright, the sky a little less blue, the grass a little less green.

Everyone says I'll forget in time.
Page 240

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

See a list of books by Greg Herren here.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Two Kinds of Rapture by Andrew Holleran

Yearning.

...I found rapture in a street of yellow leaves, and the super from Guatemala, or his wife and daughter, have located it in a miniature Christmas tree. But better than all these is love, he thought as he went into the building. Oh, how I wish I were in love. Page 238

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

See list of books by Andrew Holleran here.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Party Planning by Rob Williams

Free to love.
Inside the house, I could hear my mother's voice introducing Linda to the partygoers. She spoke slowly, no longer yelling, but now high and light, like a wind chime. I wondered if Kurt would keep walking or would he wait for me at the end of the block. Or would there be someone, someone else. Soon. Waiting for me. Page 224
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Rob Williams here.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Heart by 'Nathan Burgoine

The gift of love. I enjoyed the beat.

"Can we dance?" Miah asks, voice nearly a whisper now. I can see through him again.

We dance in the parking lot, and I close my eyes. He presses against my chest, and I spin him. We step and turn and rock back and forth gently, without music. He grows lighter in my arms, and for a while, my tears gather in his hair. I can even smell his soap.

My heart.
 


Page 207
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit 'Nathan Burgoine here.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Two Tales by Paul Lisicky

Ties and recognition.

Tale 1. Bear Week
Tale 2. Friends  
Quote from Friends:
He sat the character down in a chair, dropped a teabag into a teacup. Quietly, he walked across the room. He lifted his violin from the lid of his piano, drew his bow, and began to play the most spontaneous notes that had ever been played. The character closed his eyes; if it wasn't music as he knew it, it was something richer, stranger. Song sparrows? Marsh wrens?

"Friend," said the man from the novel.

"Friend," said the hermit, swallowing back tears. Page 194

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Paul Lisicky here.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

At the End of the Leash by Jeffrey Ricker

Man's best friend knows best. :)

"Dinner" Brian said, while thinking, You are reading my mind and know exactly what I want you to do and are willing to do it.

Carl turned a bright crimson that started at his ears and spread like wildfire across his cheeks, "I have this theory that people who own dogs are automatically in a different category. You can't hide things from dogs, you know? They follow their hunch when it comes to people because it's all they've got. So if someone has a dog or if my dog likes someone, I figure they're good people."

Your dog liked me...
Pages 170-171.

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Jeffrey Ricker here.

Like No One's Watching by Josh Helmin

First love.
In a development that Mark found somewhat unnerving, his eyes were glued to the actor playing Jack every time he appeared on stage. Just the sight of Jack, played by Seth Stratton, a fellow senior with a mop of brown hair and a tall, lean frame, caused Mark to hold his breath and his palms to sweat. Mark sometimes stared at Seth even when he was supposed to be watching somebody else. In the first act, when Seth sang a song about his adventures up the beanstalk, Mark felt himself growing lightheaded.  Pages 150-151
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Josh Helmin at the Josh & Josh are Rich and Famous blog.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

De Anima by Joel Derfner

Love and the knitted soul.

It was the morning after my boyfriend told me he wanted to seek freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ that I decided to knit the brain.  Page 133
...I looked through my yarn stash (I hate that term but that's what they call it), and after briefly considering a gorgeous soft green alpaca, went with a cheap purple polyester, as I suspected it was more appropriate for an ex-gay. I started knitting according to the diagram I had drawn up, yanking the yarn hard as I went... Page 139

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Joel Derfner here.

Trunk by Trebor Healey

Finding love on the edge.

They muttered and wept as they communed together and didn't really stop crying completely until they'd betrayed the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, as well as Paul's letter to the Corinthians and Romans --and arguably Timothy.   Page 130

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Trebor Healey here.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Happy Hour at Café Jones by Rob Byrnes


Looking back, love was always there.
...if you can't be silly standing in a cold misty rain on the cracked asphalt of a municipal parking lot with the man you've just realized you never stopped loving, when can you? Page 99
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Rob Byrnes here.

Gratitude by Felice Picano


Love at any age. Happiness found the hard way!
He was hardly a child, closer to sixty than fifty. No friend to the reflections of window panes and looking glasses that had a startling way of creeping up and suddenly presenting him to his nowadays always unsuspecting and usually horrified self. Page 70

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Find out about Felice Picano's work here.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

The View by Brandon M. Long

The Fates. Recognizing love.
The view was spectacular, city lights reflecting off the Sound in myriad dancing shimmers. I walked to the window and stared. I could feel Will standing next to me, but he didn't say anything. He just let me take it in. After a while, I turned to him.

  "I don't really know what to say," I stammered. "There aren't words to do it justice."

For once, Will wasn't smiling. He stepped closer and gently kissed me....

Page 60

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Brandon M. Long lives with his partner, two dogs, several fish, a bunch of birds, and a tortoise in Salt Lake City. He is not a Mormon. Mr. Long has no website.

Matchmaker by Shawn Anniston

Anything but romance.
....The swans intrigued me, so I consented to a second date. It ended badly when he wanted to give me a full body massage with scented oils.

  "What the hell is wrong with these men?" I demanded of Mick. "Have they no pride? Can't they just scratch their balls and offer me a can of Budweiser? Why must I always be tormented with moonlight and roses?"

  "You poor lamb," Mick said. Page 37

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit Shawn Anniston here.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Thai Angel by David Puterbaugh

Looking for love.

Kama looked at the note. "Well, I don't know what this word is," he said, picking up a pen. "But this is how you say hello. Sawasdee Khrap."

"Sawasdee Khrap," Sean repeated. He smiled at Kama. "Cool."

"Why the sudden interest in learning Thai? Kama asked.

Sean shrugged. "Just figured I come in here enough. Thought it'd be polite if I learned how to say hi." Page 2

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

Visit David Puterbaugh here.

Love Taps by Mark G. Harris

Fighting for love.

Memory bathed him at the right temperature. He remembered why he'd written so passionately in his journal the night he and Chuck had met. He remembered Chuck teaching him how to bowl. He remembered how, when he and Chuck went to protests, Chuck would always, between shouted slogans, mutter under his breath asides to him. Things like I love you more than my snooze button, or I could eat you with a spork. Page 23

Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

You can visit Mark G. Harris here.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Review: Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction edited by Timothy J. Lambert and R. D. Cochrane

A very dear friend sent me the Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction anthology as a Christmas present, and what a wonderful present it was. I chose it as my first read of 2010 and as the first book to read and review for Anezthezea's M/M Romance Challenge.


In an age of hookups and cybersex, who has time for a little romance? For all those who think love’s gone the way of the 8-track tape comes a collection of new gay fiction designed to reignite their belief in love and romance. Follow the travails of a dog walker enchanted with his new client, a restaurant owner who catches the eye of his most loyal customer, a blind date fix-up, and other seekers of the lost flame as they stumble upon romance and a possible chance at love.
Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction is comprised of seventeen short stories by some of today's best-known gay writers, as well as some writers whose work was published for the first time in this anthology. I was really looking forward to reading works by both the well known and the newly published writers. However, I knew this book was going to be special after reading the Prologue written by Timothy J. Lambert.

Mr. Lambert's introduction is indeed beautifully honest and thought provoking. I remember writing and telling the friend who gave me this book that the introduction should have a title: "Romance and I." After I finished reading it, I felt as if I'd just finished reading the first short story and couldn't wait to read the rest of the book.
We've had some good times, Romance and I. We first met on a rocky beach in New England and held hands as we walked, not caring that the salty surf soaked our sneakers as the sun set on another summer. Later, we warmed our feet on a hearth made of granite and held each other close as we looked at photographs Romance had taken earlier of majestic pine trees and pairs of seagulls blithely crapping on weathered driftwood.
The introduction certainly reflected the beauty, quality and honesty and in some cases edginess I found when I read the book. Every. single. one. of the writers and the stories contributed are praise worthy and I refuse to choose a favorite among the seventeen included in this book.

As I began writing this review, I decided to do something different. I would like to give you a glimpse of the different stories and writing styles you'll find in this beautiful Gay Fiction anthology. Instead of writing one long review reprising each story, in coming days I'll be doing a series of short posts featuring each writer. I'll be posting a one-line summary and will highlight a short quote from each one. The quotes will either reflect the plot, or they'll be the ones I couldn't resist -- that's all. After all of them have been posted, they will be linked to the bottom of this review.

Beautifully written and edited, Fool for Love: New Gay Fiction is an anthology full of stories some of which I found to be sweet, some edgy, some heart wrenching, some funny and some just downright romantic. Above all this anthology is about love. I recommend this excellent book be read slowly for greater enjoyment.

Gay Fiction/Romance: Grade A

Thai Angel by David Puterbaugh
Love Taps by Mark G. Harris
Matchmaker by Shawn Anniston
The View by Brandon M. Long
Gratitude by Felice Picano
Happy Hour at Café Jones by Rob Byrnes
Trunk by Trebor Healey
De Anima by Joel Derfner
Like No One's Watching by Josh Helmin
At the End of the Leash by Jeffrey Ricker
Two Tales by Paul Lisicky
Heart by 'Nathan Burgoine
Party Planning by Rob Williams
Two Kinds of Rapture by Andrew Holleran
Everyone Says I'll Forget in Time by Greg Herren
Angels, What You Must Hear on High by John H. Roush

Other Reviews:
Indigene - The Three Dollar Bill Reviews

Find anthology here or here