Joel Patterson should be happier than ever. He's just returned from a two-week vacation in London, where he met Philip, who might be the man of his dreams. Instead, Joel's heading to Maine for his mother's funeral. He quits his job to fulfill one last request for his mother: unload his parents' albatross of an RV by delivering it to an old family friend--in California.

Somehow, Joel's high school "friend" Lincoln has invited himself along on the ride--and into Joel's bed. The other person who's invited herself along? The ghost of his mother, who still has plenty to say about her son's judgment (or lack thereof). Joel has to get the RV to San Francisco, get rid of Lincoln, and get back to Philip. It would also make him feel better if he learned what's keeping his mother tied to this earthly plane. However Joel manages it, the route is likely to be anything but straight.

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.

In the high stakes world of women's tennis, love means nothing. Or at least that's how Sinjin Smythe sees it. Then she begins to fall for her friend and former doubles partner Laure Fortescue. Having had her heart broken by one player, Sinjin isn't willing to have it happen again. The talented but oft-injured Brit enters Wimbledon fighting her feelings—and struggling to resurrect her career.

Laure Fortescue has fame, fortune, and a ranking inside the top ten. She has everything she ever wanted. Everything except Sinjin Smythe. As a rule, Laure doesn't date other players. A rule she would gladly break if it means winning Sinjin's heart.

Both women reach Wimbledon desperate to claim tennis's crown jewel—Sinjin because it would be her greatest victory, Laure because it could be her last.

Where does love fit in a game that only one can win?

The lives of two women and the community that shelters them shatter in a single night of violence.

Ex-gang member Mica Butler is running from a past that just may kill her if she's ever caught. Paramedic and ordained priest Flynn Edwards struggles to recover her faith in herself and find absolution for her greatest failure. Sheriff Reese Conlon fights to embrace the joy of new life while a dark threat bears down on her partner, Doctor Tory King.

In one explosive night, the destines of all involved change forever as a man with nothing to lose threatens to take anyone in his path with him to the grave.

Seventh in the award-winning Provincetown Tales

Kendal Richoux's life began during the reign of Egypt's only female pharaoh. After accepting the opportunity to drink the elixir of the sun, Kendal becomes immortal and the Genesis Clan's slayer. History has taught her the dangers of getting too close to anyone who hasn't harnessed the power of time.

After many years, she returns to New Orleans to finish a job she's trained for all her life. It's time for her to face her brother Henri, and it will have dire consequences to mankind if she fails.

Piper Marmande believes Kendal has come to take over the company her family has built over generations. As Kendal prepares for the most important battle of her long life, Piper does her best to uncover every one of Kendal's secrets, making herself a distraction Kendal can't afford as she hunts Henri and Ora, the vampire who seduced him to a life of darkness.

Contemporary Gay Romances is the third collection of short fiction by legendary novelist and memoirist, Felice Picano (The Lure, Like People in History, Ambidextrous). It is also his most diverse in terms of the times, places, themes, characters and situations he writes about. Filled with the unexpected, the true, and the amazing, Contemporary Gay Romances moves with ease from gas-lit, upper class London, to a future, climate-altered Bay Area; from semi-rural Florida to Southern California beaches, to an extrasolar planet where people have surprising existences. His characters range from ordinary American suburban housewives to extraordinary children, from grieving young geologists and memory-haunted middle aged men, to British Midlands soccer stars and 22nd Century war heroes. Picano subtitled this collection of stylish, unique, and moving works "Tragic, Comic, Mystic & Horrific," and they are all that and more. The ten tales include prize winners as well as stories published here for the first time, and are as different from any standard "romances" as you can get, but they will linger in the mind and memory.

Great sex can be magical, but what if magic adds sizzle--or horror--to the sex?

A young man's magic binds him to both a demon and a vampire. The unlikely love of two men survives the tragic death of one. A college student experiences a nerve-wracking close encounter with dick-grabbing tentacles slithering out of his toilet. And when a man comes to visit an old school buddy, he's seduced by the father who has stolen his son's soul...

Arcane mystery, supernatural seduction, sex that haunts in a manner both weird and wondrous--these stories by ‘Nathan Burgoine, Gregory L. Norris, Mark Wildyr, Jeff Mann, Johnny Murdoc, Davem Verne, and others offer sexual thrills and perverse arousal, spooky chills, and magical orgasms. Dare to enter a sexual Otherworld.

Everything can change in a heartbeat.

Hunter Roswell thought she had left her past behind. But her carefully structured world starts to fall apart when a serial killer connected to her past emerges from the shadows and begins stalking her. Already responsible for the deaths of five women, the killer now has Hunter firmly in his sights. And he's picked a target date—the night of October's full moon—also known as the blood moon or hunter's moon.

Sara Wilder, a psychologist and former FBI profiler, is brought in to help Hunter unravel the connection between her past and a ruthless killer. But as the search for the killer intensifies, both women find themselves struggling with an unexpected and undeniably mutual attraction. In a race against time, can they survive a killer who is willing to use anything—even love—to further his own agenda?

Dakota Riley is not looking forward to the next three days in Vegas. Her best friend Riann is getting married there, but Dakota doesn't like the heat or the fact that she is going to be spending three days with twenty women she can't stand. All she wants is a little free time and a warm body to fill her bed, that is until her world is upended by the introduction of her best friend's cousin, the mysterious Shawn Camello.

Shawn Camello has been invited to her cousin Riann's bachelorette party at the last minute. She is reluctant to go but is persuaded by Riann in the hope that they can become re-acquainted after not seeing each other for twenty-five years. The moment she meets the sexy, determined Dakota Riley, she tries avoiding her at every turn. The problem is, everywhere she looks, Dakota is there, and she's becoming harder and harder to resist.

In a town like Vegas where anything can happen, Shawn and Dakota find that the stakes are love at all costs, and it's a gamble neither can afford to lose.

Mixing business with pleasure can be dangerous at best. In antebellum Louisiana, Baton Rouge businesswoman Corrine Staples returns to New Orleans to help her lifelong friend, Della Prentiss, with her plantation records. She's there to work but becomes increasingly intrigued by Della's delightfully alluring daughter, Katie, a fiery Southern belle who pushes the limits of propriety.

Katie Prentiss is a headstrong temptress with an active libido. She is immediately attracted to Corrine and sets her sights on seducing her. Corrine tries to keep her feelings in check, but soon finds herself giving in to forbidden passions.

Notorious pirate and mercenary Weiss Kyakh works as a reluctant double-agent for the Supreme Constellations. Her mission is to infiltrate a cutthroat band of space pirates along with a sentient bio-android, Madisyn Pimm. Pimm's sole purpose is to bring pirates to justice. The sophisticated android looks human, but Weiss soon realizes that Madisyn has her own heartbreaking secrets.

As war rages in the Realm, Weiss longs to escape from both the pirates and SC forces, but her growing affection for Madisyn makes her delay her plans. With thousands of lives in the balance as the final endgame approaches, will her delay cost them their lives?

Book Four in the Supreme Constellations romantic sci-fi adventure series.

Sex and skateboards and surfing on the California coast. What more could anyone want?

Alden McKenna has spent her entire life not growing up. Being an adult is tedious, not to mention totally boring. And requires less skateboarding. So why bother? Moving to a small beach town seems like an awesome idea. The skateboarding is good, the sun is always shining, and no one moves very fast. She even meets a hot chick like five minutes after moving there. Life is good. Except young Weston Duvall has already grown up and her reasons for doing so surprise Alden even more because she didn't see them coming. Weston can't trust Alden, and Alden isn't sure she wants to be trusted. So why can't they seem to stay away from each other?

Speaking Out features stories for and about LGBT and Q teens by fresh voices and noted authors in the field of young adult literature. These are inspiring stories of overcoming adversity (against intolerance and homophobia) and experiencing life after "coming out." Queer teens need tales of what might happen next in their lives, and editor Steve Berman showcases a diversity of events, challenges, and, especially, triumphs.

If you don't get lost, there's a chance you may never be found.

Jenna McGovern has spent her whole life training for the stage. She's taken dance classes, voice lessons, and even earned her performance degree from one of the most prestigious musical theater programs in the nation. At graduation, she's stunned when a chance audition lands her a prime supporting role in the hottest Broadway touring production in the country. In more exciting news, Jenna discovers acclaimed television star Adrienne Kenyon is headlining the production.

Jenna settles easily in to life on tour and has a promising career laid out in front of her, if only she plays her cards right. She's waited for this opportunity her entire life and will let nothing stand in her way. The one thing she didn't prepare for, however, was Adrienne. Her new costar is talented, beautiful, generous, and the utmost professional. As the two women grow closer onstage and off, they must learn how to fit each other into a demanding lifestyle full of unexpected twists and difficult decisions. But is Jenna ready to sacrifice what she's worked so hard for in exchange for a shot at something much deeper?

They are creatures of extraordinary beauty and incredible power. Messengers of God or protectors of the human race, these mysterious creatures of light can also take human form--and can experience the emotions, lusts, and desires of a man. Some of the top writers of gay male erotica tackle the daunting subject of angels and the mixture of spirituality and sexuality, passion and desire that occurs when an angel feels desire for a beautiful human male. These stories mix heat with tenderness, amazing sex with spirituality, and earthy sensuality with an other-worldly heat.

You'll never look at angels quite the same way again.

Till Death Us Do Part...sometimes.

Clara Dearheart works in a funeral parlor and talks to her clients. Her friends and family have watched her suffer after the loss of her partner and urge her to move on, but all Clara wants is to stand still.

Bebe Franklin writes terrible soap episodes and needs a career change. Her boss hates her; her friends are sharp as knives; all Bebe wants to do is run. And she doesstraight into Clara's calm, ordered, and extraordinary life. For Clara can see ghosts and waits for her dead lover. How can Bebe compete with a love that transcends death, a love that knows no rest? A love that haunts all it touches.

Sometimes conformity and control are only shields, and all it takes is the right woman to shatter the illusions forever.

Andrea Taylor craves peace in her life, no matter what the personal sacrifice. She arranges her career as a violist, her relationships with family and friends, and even her love life so she can avoid strife at all costs. Everything is going according to plan until she meets Brooke Stanton the night before Brooke's wedding rehearsal and her ordered existence falls apart.

When Brooke hires a string quartet to play at her rehearsal dinner, she doesn't expect to meet a woman who threatens the security of her already predetermined future. Suddenly she has doubts about the conventional path she has chosen and desires she can no longer ignore.

In an eclectic neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, these two women face a life-altering decision—will they fight the attraction that threatens their carefully structured lives or take a chance on finding the harmony only love creates?