New Release-Excerpt: X MARKS THE SPOT by Kit Barrie

X Marks the Spot
By Kit Barrie

Where there is gold, there is also blood.

Beset by bad luck and alone in the world, young Jamie Davis is taken in by widowed antiquities dealer, Squire Harrington. Trapped in debt, the squire decides to risk everything to find the buried treasure of the notorious pirate, Captain Charles Locke, and he and Jamie set off on a whirlwind adventure on the high seas!

Entranced by the handsome Captain Ambrose and befriended by the mysterious one-legged cook, Silas Cross, Jamie wonders if good fortune has finally smiled on him. But there is more to their hired crew than meets the eye. Jamie learns that not every cloud has a silver lining, and trust can be worth its weight in gold.

Will Jamie be able to escape the clutches of the pirates, find the treasure, and return home alive? And if he does, can he ever trust someone with his heart again?

X Marks the Spot is an M/M retelling of the classic tale Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

The Queerly Classic Collection is a reimagining of classic stories, with an M/M twist. They contain adult language and situations and are not intended for children.

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Excerpt

The captain was a tall man, taller than the squire by a good several inches and much taller than myself. He carried himself with confidence, his chin lifted high, his back straight. He was currently dressed in a fine linen shirt, waistcoat, and dark trousers, red silk cravat at his throat, with shiny black boots on his feet, and a silk scarf with some of the finest embroidery I had ever seen wrapped around his waist. His hair was short and dark, his eyes the color of melted chocolate drops, and a fine bristle of hair covered his strong jaw. He was probably of late twenties in age, and I might have pegged him for a dandy rather than a seafarer if not for the single ring of gold he wore in his right ear. He smiled, ignoring the few curious or appreciative looks from the inn patrons he received as he strode across the room to us, holding out his hand for the squire to shake. “Good to see you again, Squire.” His voice was deep and flowed elegantly. Then his eyes turned to me, and I am rather ashamed to admit that my breath caught in my throat. “And you must be young Mister Davis.”

He held out his hand, and I took it with my own that trembled slightly, for I had never seen a man such as this. His smile was as bright as the midday sun, and his fingers around mine were warm and firm. “Yes, sir,” I managed to squeak out, and the man laughed heartily and gave my hand a solid shake.

“Miles Ambrose, Captain, at your service,” he said, spreading his arms to the side and giving a slight bow, like an actor after a performance.

“Captain Ambrose crews the MORAY, which we have engaged for our expedition,” Squire Harrington said. “And he has a fine vestment of crew members as well.”

“Indeed I do, sir,” Ambrose said, sitting down at the chair the squire proffered, close enough to me that his knee touched mine under the table. “Seeking a few more solid hands before the mast, but we shall be ready to ship out before the end of the week.”

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About the Author:

Kit Barrie (she/her) was raised by pirates in a traveling carnival where she learned how to fly and to weave fantasy into reality. She identifies as chaotic bisexual, with good intentions and questionable methods. She lives in an utterly unfantastical state in the Midwestern United States with her very supportive spouse (VSS) and at least 4 food goblins who might just be cats gobblin’ food.

Please visit www.kitbarrie.com  for more information on Kit and her other available titles.

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New Release-Excerpt & Giveaway: M.M. SCROOGE by Lee Colgin (Monsters & Mayhem)

M.M. Scrooge

(An MM retelling of A Christmas Carol)

Author and Publisher: Lee Colgin

Cover Artist: Natasha Snow

Release Date:  November 4, 2022

Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance

Heat Rating:  5 flames

Length: 47 000 words/200 pages

It’s part of a multi-author series. Monster & Mayhem #11

It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.

Goodreads

Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited

Universal Link  |  Amazon US  |  Amazon UK

A spicy hot retelling of A Christmas Carol

Blurb 

Marley Jacobs is dead, and Max Masters Scrooge has no time for the grieving son’s sob story. Even if Jacobs Jr. is kinda cute—for a nerd.

Daniel Jacobs is anxious, drifting, and lonely. His gut tells him he’s overdue for a dose of self care, but the thought of setting foot in a gym gives him hives. Though he craves gentle guidance, what he gets is the heavy hand of the gym’s head trainer and sleaziest playboy, Max Masters.

Accustomed to topping the leader board, among other things, Max sells Daniel on his gold package. After things get steamy in the locker room showers, Max is ready to make like a ghost and vanish, as usual. But this time, he won’t get away with his selfish antics, not if a vengeful past hookup with a powerful uncle has anything to say about it.

MM Scrooge is a spicy hot horror retelling of A Christmas Carol, as part of the collaboration Monsters & Mayhem: An MM Horror Collection, adapting some of your favorite classic horror stories with an MM romance twist.

Content Warnings:

This book’s list of potential warnings is longer than my grocery list. Buckle in. Readers, feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions. In no particular order: Dub-con that some readers may interpret as non-con. Consent issues. Poorly negotiated BDSM elements. Sexual violence/spanking. Sex as punishment. Death of a parent/grief. Medical kink. Sexually explicit scenes. 

That said, this book doesn’t take itself too seriously, and that list might make it look darker than it really is. Better to err of the side of caution.

Excerpt

Just when I think my first workout is done, Max directs me back to the turf. “Now that you’ve got the hang of it, we’ll repeat each station for four rounds. Squats, rotations, rows. Ten reps each. Thirty seconds between stations. Ready?”

I widen my eyes. “I’m sorry. I could have sworn you said four rounds. I must have misheard. What?”

Max grins. “You’ve got this. Round one, Daniel. Knock it out.”

So I do what the man says and squat.

By the time I’m actually done, sweat beads on my forehead and drips down into crevices that are decidedly not meant to be wet in public. Will I be able to walk tomorrow? Time will tell. My arms are made of pudding.

Max’s warm hand lands on my damp back and squeezes my shoulder. “Nice work. You’ve got grit.”

He can’t possibly mean that, but I thank him anyway. I glance up to meet his eyes. His are hazel, ringed brown in the center and green at the edges.

“How do you feel?”

I blink. My heart pounds, and I’m gulping for air like a fish out of water, but…I feel good. Like maybe I could keep going, or I don’t know, jog somewhere or something. Not a feeling I’m accustomed to. “Great, actually.”

He leans in. He’s a head taller, but he stands close enough his breath ruffles my hair. “It’s the endorphins. They’re a rush, huh?”

“Yeah, a rush.” So this is why people work out.

His gaze lingers on mine. “You want to hit the showers?”

“Oh, I don’t need to wash up.” I didn’t come prepared for that. I don’t even have a change of clothes in my bag. “I’m going home after this. I’ll shower there.”

Max arches his dark brows and darts his tongue out, wetting his upper lip. “I didn’t ask if you needed to. I asked if you wanted to.” His eyes trail down my body like a caress and land on my groin. He looks hungry.

And now that I think about it…tasty.

“Oh.” What an offer. It’s not like me to put out on the first date, and this isn’t even date adjacent.

Orgasms fall under the umbrella of self-care, right? Opportunities like this just don’t land in my lap every day. But will sex make future training sessions awkward? I don’t want things to get weird, though rejecting him would do that too, so…

I peer up at him through my lashes, not completely lacking wiles of my own. “Now that you mention it, I am rather dirty.”

Max’s glinting smile could cut diamonds. “Right this way.”

About the Author 

Lee Colgin has loved vampires since she read Dracula on a hot, sunny beach at 13 years old. She lives in North Carolina with lots of dogs and her husband. No, he's not a vampire, but she loves him anyway. Lee likes to workout so she can eat the maximum amount of cookies with her pizza. Ask her how much she can bench press.

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Spotlight-Excerpt & Giveaway: BETTER ANGELS by Wayne Goodman

Better Angels

Author: Wayne Goodman

Release Date: June 4th 2017

Genre: Gay Fiction, Retelling, Historical

BLURB

Joseph Asten, a handsome, 23-year-old farmer living in the Allegheny River Valley shortly after the Civil War, secretly longed for intimacy and love with other men. He devised a misguided plan to marry a woman who knew of his “dual nature” then his life took some unexpected, fateful turns.

Bayard Taylor’s Joseph and His Friend: A Pennsylvania Story is considered the first American Gay novel. Originally published in 1869 as a serial in The Atlantic, the author could not relate the story openly and had to use suggestive ways to describe his characters’ activities and motivations. In Better Angels, Goodman retells the tale frankly and candidly, free from antiquated 19th Century cultural restraints. This is the author’s second book revivifying forgotten, historically-significant Queer stories. Previously, in Vanya Says, “Go!,” Goodman updated the first Russian-language Gay novel Wings, by Silver-Age poet Mikhail Kuzmin.

Find Better Angels on Goodreads

Buy Links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Available on Kindle Unlimited

Praise for Better Angels:

“A lovely story, sumptuous in language and ideas with a rich ambience. For people who love a love story, it is thoroughly rewarding.” –Vincent Meis, author of Deluge

“Goodman has turned the pallid prose of travel writer Bayard Taylor into a scintillating trip through 19th Century America. Those who loved James Baldwin’s Another Country and Giovanni’s Room will find something of value in Goodman’s latest triumph.” – Kevin Killian, author of Tony Greene Era

“Better Angels is a great read and a wonderful glimpse into a story of the 19th Century that has rarely been told. It writes queerness back into liter­ary history, with an anti-racist spin.” – Dr. Ajuan Mance, author of Before Harlem

“A remarkable literary feat of resurrecting the first American gay novel. With meticulous prose and clever dialogue, Goodman offers a fascinating glimpse into love between American men in the 19th Century.” – Elizeya Quate, author of Face of Our Town

“Better Angels takes another obscure, early Gay novel and brings it back to life, updating language, amplifying the story, and presenting love between men and men, and women and women more di­rectly than it could have been presented when the book was first published. Goodman performs a his­torical service, giving readers a glimpse of Gay life lived 150 years ago.” –Richard May, author of Inhuman Beings

EXCERPT

Joseph felt the hum from the multitudinous spirits of life in every nerve and vein, marching triumphantly in a procession through secret passages and summoning the phantoms of sense to their completed chambers. He imagined his mind and soul balanced above a strong pinion as he rode farther and farther from his home.

At once, the great joy of human life filled and thrilled him. All possibilities of action and pleasure and emotion swam before his eyes. He envisioned many of the individual careers he had ever read about in all ages, climates, and conditions of humanity–dazzling pictures of the myriad-sided Earth. All this could be his if he but dared to seize the freedom waiting for his grasp.

He finally accepted that he did feel love for his longtime friend, Elwood Withers, as he himself had described it on their ride to the first gathering at the Warriners. Joseph would rather touch Elwood’s hand, or shirt, more than kissing anyone else. Miss Blessing and Lucy Henderson may have stirred a mild passion in him, but nothing like his constant craving for male companionship. Even with all the buffoonery and loud talk, Elwood had captured Joseph’s heart. Elwood embodied all the things Joseph aspired to be–outgoing, confident, worldly–and it made his brain run to his heels whenever Elwood came into view. However, Elwood professed to be interested in the young women, particularly Miss Elizabeth Henderson. Joseph understood his feelings could not be reciprocated, and he had to accept that his feelings differed from the others. His love for another man made him feel like a lone stalk of corn in a field of waving wheat.

GIVEAWAY: Win a SIGNED copy of Better Angels and 2x ebook copies

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About the Author

Wayne Goodman has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of his life (with too many cats). When not writing, he enjoys playing Gilded Age parlor music on the piano, with an emphasis on women, gay, and Black composers.

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Spotlight-Excerpt & Giveaway: VANYA SAYS, "GO!" - A Retelling of Mikhail Kuzmin's 'Wings' by Wayne Goodman

Vanya Says, “Go!” - A Retelling of Mikhail Kuzmin’s ‘Wings’

Author: Wayne Goodman

Release Date: October 20th 2016

Genre: Retelling, Gay Fiction

Blurb

In 1906, Mikhail Kuzmin published "Wings," the first book in Russian to discuss same-sex relationships in a positive light. With "Vanya Says, ‘Go!,’" Wayne Goodman retells the story from the perspective of the young man at the heart of the tale. The original work contained only three sections, but a fourth has been added to round out the story and provide some closure.

Kuzmin was one of the most celebrated poets of his time, the Silver Age of Russian Poetry. While his poems were quite successful, his somewhat-autobiographical novel "Wings" met with skepticism and criticism. Kuzmin used many constructs from poetry (characters who appear all too briefly with no second mention, plot jumps with little connecting material, long-winded orations); however, his descriptions of scenery are exquisite, and the dialogue is quirky and colorful. "Vanya Says, 'Go!'" is crafted for the modern reader while keeping much of the original Russian style. It is a window into a time and places long gone. The story is narrated by the main character, who at 16 years of age is dealing with being an orphan foisted off on friends of distant relatives and attempting to acquaint himself with his sexual orientation while also discovering various religious and philosophical frameworks.

"An exemplary study in classic Russian literary charm... with a choice cast of picaresque characters. Goodman draws the reader into the desperate historical moment of pre-revolutionary St. Petersburg, and artfully stages Vanya's gay yearnings against its fast-moving currents." -- Edmund Zagorin

"The author accurately evokes a long-lost Russia through his marvelous characters and descriptions... the underlying commentary on the decaying social order, and the romance of that forgotten time period." -- Andrew Demcak

"Set in Old Russia... this is an interesting, fact-based story of an orphaned gay youth and his attempt to find himself, his own opinions, and love." -- Daniel Curzon

Goodreads

Purchase: 

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

Watch Wayne Goodman read from Vanya Says “Go!” on Facebook

Excerpt

Stroop glanced down at my lap, “What’s that? Homer?”

“Yes. The Greek class is especially awful.”

“You mean you don’t like Greek?” His sparkling eyes returned to mine, and an invisible shiver pulsed through me.

“Who really likes Greek?” I said, feeling a bit foolish about that sarcastic remark. It made me sound pretentious, but, then again, I probably was for only 16 years of age.

The corner of Stroop’s mouth flinched, “That’s a pity.”

“What is?”

“That you don’t like languages,” he responded coolly, lips pouting slightly, his goatee jutting forward. “I have nothing against modern languages–you can read just about anything–but who would want to struggle with such antediluvian nonsense in Greek?”

I could feel Stroop’s eyes examining me. “What a boy you are, Vanya. The whole world–worlds are closed to you.” He looked away and then back at me, “Though a world of beauty–not just to know, but to love. It is the basis of all education.”

“But if I wanted to learn about that, I could read translated works. Why must we spend so much time learning their obsolete grammar?”

His head dropped and shook gently from side to side. I felt like I had just impaled him with a rusty pin.

“Instead of a person of flesh and blood, laughing or frowning, who can love, kiss, or hate–which one can detect in the blood surging through their veins, and the natural grace of a naked body–we are like soulless dolls, often made by artisan hands. That… that is translated. You don’t need to spend a great deal of time with a preparatory lesson on grammar.” He turned to face me. “The only requirement? Read, read, and read. Read–looking up every word in the dictionary–like you’re wading through a thicket in the forest, and you would find untried delights. And it seems to me, Vanya, that you have the makings to become such a new, authentic person.”

I just stared at this very attractive man with my jaw hanging, probably looking like an open samovar. I believed he was trying to tell me I shouldn’t shirk my language studies and that if I read enough books, I could become a better person. No one had ever given me such encouragement before. If it hadn’t been improper to do so, I would have leaned over and kissed him on his palpable lips.

Giveaway: Win a SIGNED paperback of Vanya Says, “Go!”

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About the Author

Wayne Goodman has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area most of his life (with too many cats). When not writing, he enjoys playing Gilded Age parlor music on the piano, with an emphasis on women, gay, and Black composers.

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