Functional alcoholic Kiana Lewis is looking for a way out. Running away from the memories of her mother's horrific death and her own dead-end existence, she decides to crash her ex-lover's New Orleans wedding and put a stop to the whole thing. She arrives in the Big Easy to reclaim her old love, and hopefully, reclaim her own life.

Her plans are disrupted when she meets Genevieve Durand, a seductive and spiritual New Orleans native who challenges Kiana's skewed sense of resolve and control. Spending time with Genevieve, just like drinking, offers Kiana moments of escape. But unlike the numbing effect of alcohol, the intoxicating Genevieve makes Kiana feel and think about things she'd rather not, like the death of her mother and the destructive ways she uses to cope.

On the brink of losing it all, Kiana must decide if she will reach for the next drink or if she'll reach beyond herself to finally slay the demons driving her since childhood.

Iris may have been dumped by Jane a year ago, but she still isn't over her. So she boards a plane to Amsterdam, hoping the physical distance will help. But once there, she finds herself in the middle of nowhere, with no wallet, no map, and no idea how she got there. Some ancient-looking ruins beckon, but once she's inside, the floor collapses, and she begins to fall...straight into another world.

She literally lands on Anandra, a magical woman in a magical place far away from Earth and anything and everything familiar. Anandra is, admittedly, smoking hot, and Iris quickly falls into bed with her. Anandra offers to help Iris get home, and they embark on a journey rife with danger, excitement, and lots of hot sex.

As she travels the land with her new loverand as they close in on a new, mysterious threat to this worldIris begins to wonder if Anandra might be just what she needs to finally move on.

Baby boomer Morgan Ronzio's troubled marriage is the least of her worries when she gets the call that her addled, eighty-six-year-old, half-blind dad, Mac, has stolen a car and escaped the rest home.

Before she can alert her uber-capable wife, Treat, a trio of lady octogenarians appropriates the rest home van to rescue Mac, embarking on an adventure that makes national news. But Morgan knows something they don't: Mac is taking orders from her mom's ghost, trying to make good on a promise he made years ago. Worried sick, Morgan sets out on the 126-mile drive from Fresno to Santa Cruz, praying she finds Mac before he hurts himselfor worse. The chase is on, but the mission becomes one of more than miles; Morgan must also undertake a journey of the heart.

In the small town of Maybon Tir, Joey Scarpetti is the resident playboi. She swore off relationships after college, and her reputation is well deserved. Until she meets Samantha Brewer. All Joey was looking for was a little fun, but she finds herself developing feelings for Samantha.

Samantha is still grieving the loss of her partner and is three months pregnant. She doesn't think she's ready to move on, especially with someone of Joey's reputation. Joey is terrified of Samantha's pregnancy but soon warms to the idea of a family. But is Samantha ready to lay her lost love to rest? Joey struggles to convince Samantha she's the right one for her, but feels helpless competing with a ghost.

Both women have reasons for avoiding the relationship, but sometimes the pull of true love is too strong to ignore.

It's summer in Paris, 1972. Frenchwoman Eva Laroche wants to pass her bar exams and get a good job as a trial attorney, but she's working as a tour guide to pay off debts. American beauty Brigitte Green wants to find a new home in Paris and forget her past that haunts her with vivid waking dreams. Though the beauty of Paris and the magic of its rich feminist culture draw them ever closer, a secret from Brigitte's past life threatens to destroy their chance for a future together. Can their fragile love flourish in the City of Light?

Sleeping with the enemy has never been so complicated.

Twenty-eight-year-old Brooklyn Campbell is having a bad day. A speeding ticket, a towed car, and a broken heel are all working against her laid-back vibe. To top it all off, her birth mother, whom she's never met, has requested contact. The only bright spot is an impromptu date with a beautiful and mysterious brunette.

Jessica Lennox is what you would call a high-powered executive. She's the head of a multimillion-dollar advertising firm in New York City, and it didn't happen by accident. But when the blonde head turner from the wine bistro turns out to be her number one competitor, her life gets infinitely more complex.

Is New York big enough for both Brooklyn and Jessica? Maybe it's just time they experienced it together...

Soho Loft Romances

After two years and too many lost troops, Navy medic Max de Milles is ready to go home. Her last tour is up in four days and she will soon be catching a transport to the States. Life is looking good until she gets detailed to evacuate a humanitarian group in south Somalia.

Rachel Winslow and her Red Cross team are caught in the crossfire during a vicious civil uprising, but she refuses to abandon her team members as the rebels close in on their camp. By the time Max and the Black Hawk arrive, it may already be too late.

Hunted by extremists, Max and Rachel are forced to work together if they are to survive, and in the process, discover something far more lasting.

Meredith Moser served as an Army nurse in Vietnam. She went to Saigon in 1967 looking to help those in need. She didn't expect to meet the love of her life along the way. Forty-seven years later, a summer vacation with her granddaughter, Jordan Gonzalez, puts Meredith on a collision course with someone from her past and sends Jordan on a journey toward an uncertain future.

When Meredith comes face-to-face with Natalie Robinson, a woman whose heart she once broke, can a love once lost be regained? When Jordan meets Natalie's niece Tatum, wheelchair-bound as a result of injuries she suffered when her Marine unit came under fire in Afghanistan, will her anti-war beliefs prevent her from falling in love?

Annie Jump Navarro is an Ivy League math whiz kid who has won numerous Internet poker championships under the handle supern0va. But when the Feds crack down on legislation making the funding of online gambling accounts illegal, most of Nova's assets are frozen. Her sponsors will only continue to support her if she can win a championship bracelet at one of the live events of the World Series of Poker. She heads for Vegas, where she meets Vesper Blake, an ambitious but jaded casino host who has seen too many fools flock to the strip only to leave broke and humiliated. Will Vesper be able to successfully coach the volatile Nova to win at live poker? And will Nova be able to convince Vesper that she should take a gamble on true romance?

Recently turned from human to vampire, Kylie wants nothing to do with her new life or with the clan that claims her. She certainly wants nothing to do with her mother, Belle, who is completely infatuated with her vampire wife and clan leader.

To escape her unwanted existence, Kylie befriends a human, Olivia, who has been abandoned by her family. But unknown to Kylie, someone is watching her. An enemy has targeted her as the perfect way to destroy her clan. While battling this enemy, Kylie also grapples with the surprising desires she feels for the human. Desires that she'd once seen as wicked and wrong.

Fighting for her life, Kylie must confront both the assassins and the beast within her that would do anything to keep her loved ones safe.

Vampire Riah Preston has made peace with her immortality and uses it, along with the others of the Spiritus Group, to fight evil. She is comfortable with her lengthy past staying right where it isuntil the cousin of her friend and ally, Ivy Hernandez, goes missing. An impromptu trip to Romania takes her back to a land she swore she'd never step foot on again, and when the universe further conspires to send her back in time over five hundred years, everything she's fought so hard for is in jeopardy: her friends, her life, her love. One man holds the key, but can she and the others survive their encounter with him? Or will the very real Vlad Dracula finally spell the end for Riah?

Paige Burton meets the love of her sexual life at a masked sex party when she's too young to realize how special their connection is. After years of searching for similar sexual bliss, she has officially given up. Now she pours out her frustration via her online blog and by dancing away her frustrations in her club.

Billionaire architect Mayson Montgomery made her fortune building eco-friendly offshore wind turbines. She learned quickly that money stood in the way of finding a happy ever after. But she still remembers her masked angel years ago.

When they meet again, Paige doesn't make the connection between her masked lover from the past and Galveston's raunchy rich heart throb. Fortunately, Mayson is a little more aware and won't give up until Paige has fallen head over heels for her.

Will Paige and Mayson grasp the love in front of them or will they let it slip away a second time?

Clarissa and Lexie couldn't be more different. Clarissa is a chirpy, optimistic do-gooder and a top rider on the school's equestrian team. Lexie is an angry, punk rock activist and the only out lesbian at their school.

When Clarissa declares she's bi and starts a Gay-Straight Alliance, she unwittingly presses all of Lexie's buttons, so Lexie makes it her job to cut Clarissa down to size. But Lexie goes too far and finds herself an unwitting participant in Clarissa's latest crusade. Both are surprised to find their mutual loathing turning to love.

A change in her family's fortunes begins to unravel Clarissa's seemingly perfect life, and the girls' fledgling love is put to the test. Clarissa and Lexie each have what the other needs to save their relationship and the people they love from forces that could tear them all apart.

When Charlie Porter meets Hazaar Alim her first year of university, she's instantly smitten. Hazaar has it all: beauty, talent, and brains. What she doesn't realize is that Hazaar's future has already been decided, and Charlie has no place in it.

Hazaar desperately wants to break with her traditions and stay with Charlie, but when forced to choose, she chooses her family over love. When she realizes the choice she made is the worst one possible, it's too late.

Years later, while working in Pakistan as a diplomat and negotiator, Charlie receives a phone call from a woman who says her British sister-in-law is to be killed for the family's honor and asks if someone can save her.

Charlie and Hazaar are on a collision course with destiny. If they make it out alive, can they believe in their love once again?

Andi Massey lives a secluded life in rural Tennessee. Since a brutal attack, she has avoided emotional connections. She is certain she has nothing left to offer anyone, but secretly wishes her life could be different.

Gwen Palmer has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Betrayed and tired of meaningless sex, she leaves her roots in the big city, seeking the quiet and peace of the mountains. The last thing she wants is another emotionally distant relationship.

Andi and Gwen find that small town life has a way of bringing them together whether they like it or not. But all may be lost when Andi comes face-to-face with her past and the man who has vowed to destroy everything she loves. Can Andi and Gwen overcome their past hurts and fearsas well as present dangersand accept love without boundaries?

Imagine if, after fifteen years as a lesbian couple, your partner turned to you and said, "I think I'm really a man." What would you do? How would you respond? For Diane and Jacob (née Suzy) Anderson-Minshall this isn't a hypothetical question. It's what really happened. Eight years later, the couple not only remains together, they still identify as queer, still work in LGBT media, and remain part of the LGBT community. How did their relationship survive a gender transition? The authors explore this question and delve into their relationship to reveal the trials and tribulations they have faced along the way. In doing so, they paint a portrait of love, not only to each other, but to the San Francisco Bay Area, LGBT publishing, and the queer community. Queerly Beloved is a love story that flies in the face of expectations and raises questions about the true nature of identity, sexuality, and love.

Tinsley Swann is cursed to change into a beast for seven days, every seven years. She keeps her distance from the world, and has more of a relationship with the antique erotic postcards she collects. With the time of her transformation approaching, she finds herself torn between two women. One woman is Sandra, Tinsley's new boss, and the two are having an affair. Sandra glimpses her transformation and is kind, not frightened. The other woman, Leda, bears a striking resemblance to one of Tinsley's turn of the century postcards, and she becomes obsessed with the young woman. Tinsley must choose between these two women and ultimately two factions, one that will save the world, the other with plans to destroy it.

An anthology of short fiction featuring the finalist selections from the 2014 Saints + Sinners Literary Festival.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction by Jewel Gomez
• Voodoo John by James Russell
• Mum’s the Word by Jeff Lindemann
• Eleusis by Robert Hyers
• Sample Day by Jerry Rabushka
• Stinkbug by Rich Barnett
• If On A Dark Night Two Strangers Should Come by William Hawkins
• Corset by Sally Bellerose
• The Dark Symphony by Eric Andrews-Katz
• Love Thy Neighbor by N.S. Beranek
• Beanstalk by Clifford Henderson
• Rhinestone Magic by J.R. Greenwell
• The Red Coat by George E. Jordan