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?

Noir has always been one of the most popularand darkestsub-genres of the mystery field. Following in the footsteps of such masters of the form as James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Dashiell Hammett, some of the top writers of gay mystery explore this territory of amoral tough guys with a cynical view of the world by giving classic noir a gay twist. Edited by award winning author/editors Greg Herren and J.M. Redmann, Men of the Mean Streets changes the face of gay mysteryand the reader may never look at gay life and culture in the same way again.

What happens when you lose the one thing you'd give your life to save?

When Valentine Darrow loses her soul, she embraces her role as one of the vampire elite. As Blood Prime of the clan of the Missionary, Valentine spends her days transforming an old family bank into the financial capital of the Consortium and her nights painting the town red. Blood red.

Alexa Newland believes their everafter to be over. But then a new discovery about an ancient myth kindles her hope that Valentine can be saved. Alexa must trek through the mountains of Argentina to recover a rare flower with mystical powers.

Will Alexa succeed in her quest before Valentine irrevocably crosses over to the darkness?

Women. Crime. Justice. At least the search for it. On the mean streets, the back allies, the dark corners.

These are stories of tough women in hard places. The nights are long, the women are fast, and danger is always a short block or quick minute away. Edited by award winning author/editors J.M. Redmann and Greg Herren, Women of the Mean Streets is an anthology of some of the top, tough women crime writers today, noir stories with a lesbian twist.

When the world ends, what's left to care about?

Taylor Stone is no hero. She has three simple rules for life after the plague: Keep moving. Keep to yourself. Don't get involved. The plague took a particular joy in killing the women of the world, making it that much harder for the few who survived. The only thing that matters since she escaped from a small farm outside of Pittsburgh is the truth waiting at the end of her journey home. The rest of the world, or what's left of it, can go straight to Hell as far as she's concerned.

When a group of survivors offers her food and shelter, she is more than happy to spend a few days, take what she needs, and get out, like she always does. But in a place called Burninghead Farm, despite all her rules and plans, Taylor finds a group of people who have more to offer than the basics of survival. Most of all, there is Kate, a woman who makes Taylor realize love is still alive and makes her dream of a future she thought was no longer possible. If only Taylor can find the courage to fight for it.

It turns out that the end of the world isn't about the end of the world at all, but about what happens after.

Firefighter paramedic Mallory "Ice" James commands a crew of smokejumpers—twenty women and men who eat together, sleep together, and parachute into the face of raging forest fires together—and she has thirty days to whip the rookies into shape. Discipline and teamwork mean the difference between life and death on the line, and she's earned her reputation as cool and controlled in the face of danger. Mallory isn't happy when "Hotshot" Jac Russo shows up unannounced for boot camp along with a reputation for being trouble. Jac is none too pleased about her cold reception, even if the new boss is drop-dead gorgeous and hotter than the blazes they're supposed to be dousing. Mallory and Jac may not like each other much, but lust isn't something either can control—and they soon discover ice burns as fiercely as flame.

A First Responders Novel

Business and pleasure don't mix, especially when the business is murder.

When Aimee Howard, successful boutique real estate broker and socialite, is visited by a team of federal agents looking to arrest her wayward niece, she hires the best defense money can buy. But Aimee begins to question her confidence in the law firm when she learns they've hired a disgraced former police detective to take the lead.

Homicide detective Skye Keaton's shortcuts in the name of justice have finally tipped the scales in the wrong direction. She's lost her job, her pride, and the respect of her family and friends. When an old friend trusts her with a simple task, find a young woman in hiding, she's happy to have the work even though the client is a bossy former debutante who wants to micromanage her every move.

Skye reluctantly decides to let Aimee close to the investigation so she can manage Aimee's expectations, but their professional proximity quickly takes a turn toward passion. Despite their best defenses, as they work together to regain what they've lost, both women find the magnetic attraction that develops between them hard to resist.

One mixed-up girl, one dull boy, two hot distractions. How does one figure it all out?

Life sucks when you're seventeen years old, confused about your sexuality, and the girl of your dreams doesn't even know you exist. The sudden entrance of a hot new emo at school only adds to the confusion.

Clemmie Atkins thinks she's in love with her school friend, the mysterious and alluring J. Devastated that J doesn't even seem to know she exists, Clemmie tries to escape her feelings by dating the nice but dim Ben. Unfortunately for Clemmie—and Ben—J just won't leave her head, or her heart.

Until...

In walks sexy new-girl, Hannah Harrison. Before long, dreams of Hannah begin to eclipse the impossible thoughts of J and the boredom of Ben. Clemmie has exactly 365 days to discover herself, and she's going to have a blast doing it!

What Jude Jaeger seeks is simple. What she needs is complicated. Woman. She has one a night at Conquest, sometimes two. And she gives them what no one else can or will. Pleasure. But outside the club, Jude isn't interested in women, keeping them at arm's length. That is until she's meets Mary, a woman who responds to her touch like none of the others. When Mary shows up at the college where Jude teaches, all the emotions Jude thought she could live without come rushing back stronger than ever.

Mary Brunelle is a socially awkward loner who goes to a private club and finds herself in the arms of a beautiful stranger who conquers every last inch of her and then disappears into the night. Mary tries to find her, desperately wanting to see her again, but has no success until one day in class she looks up to see that the mystery woman is there. And she's her professor. Mary soon sets forth on her own conquest, but can she tame the ultimate dominatrix?

Cancer survivor Addison Hunt knows she can't offer any guarantees, in love or in life, and after experiencing a loss of her own, Brooke Donahue isn't willing to risk her heart.

Addison hasn't been with anyone since her cancer treatment and has convinced herself she is happy with the life she is building on her own. Brooke is attracted to Addison, but that's as far as she is willing to let it go. She doesn't want to get involved, especially not with someone whose future is uncertain. But spending time together while working on a project to raise money and awareness for cancer research has them both questioning their convictions.

Can Brooke and Addison find hope for love, even against their will?

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.

The only thing that frightens shapeshifter Selene Rhodes more than the full moon is the idea of falling in love.

Selene Rhodes has lived her whole life with a terrible secret: not only can she take the form of any animal at will, but once a month the full moon transforms her into a fierce wolf-creature without a human conscience. Managing her condition means living by a strict routine, and more importantly, abstaining from intimate relationships with human beings. Selene is convinced that love and friendship can only bring her pain.

Forensic pathologist Eve Thomas is well-acquainted with the pain of romantic love. Swearing off relationships after having her heart broken by a cheating ex, Eve throws herself into her work: catching murderers. When Selene comes to her aid after an attack by a masked man in Golden Gate Park, Eve is shocked by how powerfully she is drawn to her mysterious savior.

Shaken by her own feelings for Eve, Selene is even more terrified to realize she isn't even close to being the scariest monster stalking San Francisco. There is someone out in the city who is killing for pleasure, and his next target is the one woman he thinks might be able to stop him: Eve.

Falling in love and saving the world are not in the cards, or are they?

Devorah Rosten receives a pack of tarot cards for her Bat Mitzvah, hides them away, and forgets about them. Years later, she resurrects the cards and discovers her ability with tarot is anything but run-of-the-mill. She uses her extraordinary talents to 'reorganize' her wealthy clients' futures. Dev's ethically challenged efforts come to the attention of the cosmic powers. To her dismay, she is chosen as their next gladiator. Rich, brilliant, but flawed, Dev has no intention of becoming anybody's hero.

Laura Bishop, a successful Seattle attorney, has information about her old boss, Senator Elizabeth Stratton. The secrets Laura carries have placed her squarely in the gun sights of Stratton's political movement, a movement that will tolerate no threat to its plan for dominating the country. Alone and endangered, Laura turns to Dev's talents to help her navigate to safety.

Fighting for survival and unsure whether they are prey or predators, Dev and Laura realize their growing desire for each other. Reluctantly, Dev must decide if she will use her unique skills to save Laura, herself, and even humankind from a force called The Malignity.