The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood

By J. Marshall Freeman

Children / Families
Friends & Community
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Coming Out
Royalty
Virgins/First Love
Young Adult
Multicultural 
Other Worlds
Big City
People of Color

High schooler Crispin Haugen already has so many identities to sort through—Asian, Scandinavian, not to mention gay. Then a messenger from another world arrives to tell him he also carries the blood of dragons in his veins.

Transported to the Realm of Fire, where dragons and humans live in harmony, Crispin falls for Davix, a brooding, nerdy scholar. But dark mysteries threaten the peace of Crispin’s new world. Without warning, dragons from the Realm of Air unleash a bloody war.

With everything he cares about on the line, Crispin must find the courage to fight...for justice and for love.

The writing of this book was supported by the Toronto Arts Council with funding from the City of Toronto.

 

Advance praise for THE DUBIOUS GIFT OF DRAGON BLOOD:
"Freeman does a great job of building an unfamiliar environment without overwhelming the reader with superfluous details....VERDICT From swoon-worthy romances to epic dragon fights, this has a little bit of everything for readers to enjoy." —School Library Journal
 
"Sixteen-year-old Crispin Haugen is chosen to be the Dragon Groom who will
mate with the Dragon Queen in order to maintain the Five...Further complicating matters is the growing attraction between Crispin and the Prime Magistrate’s handsome and devout pupil Davix. The recurring emphasis on personal agency and consent is a pleasant surprise, especially as it is applied to both intimate relationships and the chosen-one trope." —Kirkus Reviews
 
"In J. Marshall Freeman’s fantasy novel, Crispin wants to leave the shadow of his sophomore year, when he was outed and lost his first boyfriend, behind him. He takes comfort in starting his junior year as part of the popular clique, even if their ringleader treats him as a filler....Most concerned with a boy who has always felt out of place, The Dubious Gift of Dragon Blood is a young adult fantasy that’s primed for a sequel." —Foreword Reviews
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Loyalty, Love, & Vermouth

By Eric Peterson

Friends & Community
Animals 
Big City

After a bitter and humiliating breakup, Charlie Vernon lives not-quite-alone in his Capitol Hill town house. He kept his beloved dog, Mamie, the cockapoo that he and Freddie adopted together, but he’s just arrived home to find he’s been visited by thieves…and they’ve taken Mamie.

For the next thirty-six hours, he and his family of choice—a pair of rhyming lesbians, a Georgia-born man who might be married to a sex addict, and the hostess of DC’s hottest Drag Bingo—will band together to search for Mamie. What’s at stake isn’t just a cherished pet, but whether Charlie will be brave enough to love anything or anyone, ever again.


“Eric Peterson’s debut novel is a heartwarming and charming tale of love, loss, community, and self-discovery featuring man’s best friends of the two- and four-legged kind. A delightful read.” —Michael Nava, Lambda Literary Award-winning author of Lies With Man

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Faux Ho Ho

By 'Nathan Burgoine

Holidays
A Little Village Novella
Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship

Silas Waite doesn’t want his big-C Conservative Alberta family to know he’s barely making rent. They’d see it as yet another sign that he’s not living up to the Waite family potential and muscle in on his life. When Silas unexpectedly needs a new roommate, he ends up with the gregarious—and gorgeous—personal trainer Constantino “Dino” Papadimitriou.

Silas’s parents try to browbeat him into visiting for Thanksgiving, where they’ll put him on display as an example of how they’re so tolerant for Silas’s brother’s political campaign, but Dino pretends to be his boyfriend to get him out of it, citing a prior commitment. The ruse works—until they receive an invitation to Silas’s sister’s last-minute wedding.

Silas loves his sister, Dino wouldn’t mind a chalet Christmas, and together, they could turn a family obligation into something fun. But after nine months of being roommates, then friends, and now “boyfriends,” Silas finds being with Dino way too easy, and being the son that his parents barely tolerate too hard. Something has to give, but luckily, it’s the season for giving. And maybe what Silas has to give is worth the biggest risk of all.

 

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Calvin's Head

By David Swatling

A Jason Dekker Mystery
Amnesia
Amateur Sleuths
Actors/Artists
Calvin Mystery Series | Book 1
Psychological Thriller
Animals 
International Setting

Life in Amsterdam isn't all windmills and tulips when you're homeless. Jason Dekker lives in a jeep with his dog, Calvin, on the outskirts of the city. A thesis on Van Gogh brought him to the Netherlands, and the love of Dutch artist Willy Hart convinced him to stay. But Willy is gone and Dekker is on the brink of a total meltdown. On a summer morning in the park, Calvin sniffs out the victim of a grisly murder. Dekker sees the opportunity for a risky strategy that might solve their problems. Unfortunately, it puts them directly in the sights of the calculating stone-cold killer, Gadget. Their paths are destined to collide, but nothing goes according to plan when they end up together in an attic sex-dungeon. Identities shift and events careen out of control, much to the bewilderment of one ever-watchful canine. Oscar Wilde wrote that each man kills the thing he loves. He didn't mean it literally. Or did he?

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The Marrying Kind

By Ken O'Neill

New York City
Weddings

Wedding planner Adam More has an epiphany: He has devoted all his life's energy to creating events that he and his partner Steven are forbidden by federal law for having for themselves. So Adam decides to make a change. Organizing a boycott of the wedding industry, Steven and Adam call on gay organists, hairdressers, cater-waiters, priests, and hairdressers everywhere to get out of the business and to stop going to weddings, too. In this screwball, romantic comedy both the movement they've begun and their relationship are put in jeopardy when Steven's brother proposes to Adam's sister and they must decide whether they're attending or sending regrets.

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Murder in the Rue Dauphine

By Greg Herren

A Chanse MacLeod Mystery | Book 1
Private Investigator
New Orleans 

A simple blackmail case goes south when Chanse finds the murdered body of his muscleboy client in what appears to be a hate crime. But neither Chanse nor the police are convinced it was a hate crime, despite the frenzy being whipped up in the city by a charismatic but attention-seeking gay rights activist. The trail leads to a call boy ring, blackmail of wealthy Uptown closet cases, and it's not long before Chanse's investigation has put not only his life at risk, but that of everyone he cares about!

The first Chanse Macleod mystery.

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History's Passion

By Richard Labonte

Four acclaimed erotic authors re-imagine the past...welcome to the hidden queer history of men loving men not so very longand centuriesago.

In "Heaven on Earth," Lambda Literary Award-winner editor and author Simon Sheppard evokes a noirish Depression-era setting for Wichita rich kid Eli who, with an innocent young gas station attendant as his sidekick, embarks on a bloody, lust-fueled crime spree: Bonnie and Clyde meet Leopold and Loeb.

In "Camp Allegheny," Lambda finalist Jeff Mann recounts a clandestine Civil War romance between two Rebel soldiers whose passionate lovemaking survives bitter winters, life-threatening sickness, and bloody fighting during the real-life Battle of Allegheny in 1861 and the Battle of McDowell in 1862.

In "Tender Mercies," Dale Chase imagines the world of young Luke Farrow, a failure at prospecting during the California Gold Rush who succeeds in the more lucrative role of camp boy, where physical violence is as much a part of a rough, raw world as is selling sex for nuggets of golduntil a surprisingly tender man comes into Luke's life.

In "The Valley of Salt," David Holly blends legend with lust in the beautiful city of Gomorrah more than 3,000 years ago, where the Priests of Ball summon a beautiful young man as a temple sacrifice which means he's now the indoor sport of the legendary city's sexually potent warriors, until taken captive during the Battle of the Vale of Siddom.

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The Affair of the Porcelain Dog

By Jess Faraday

Ira Adler Series
Amateur Sleuths
International Setting

London 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue from Goddard's blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone's after it, including Ira's bitter ex, Dr. Timothy Lazarus. No sooner does Ira have the porcelain dog in his hot little hands, than he loses it to a nimble-fingered prostitute. As Ira's search for the dog drags him back to the mean East End streets where he grew up, he discovers secrets about his own past, and about Goddard's present business dealings, which make him question everything he thought he knew. An old friend turns up dead, and an old enemy proves himself a friend. Goddard is pressing Ira for a commitment, but every new discovery casts doubt on whether Ira can, in good conscience, remain with him. In the end, Ira must choose between his hard-won life of luxury and standing against a grievous wrong.

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