Happy first Friday of December! This week, I'm reading to you from a LitRPG humor novel - My Three Year Old Is A Barbarian and Other Parenting Problems by Aaron Frale. A bit of dark humor - so go in forewarned!

My Three Year Old Is A Barbarian And Other Parenting Problems
by Aaron Frale

​​Buy Links​

Necromantic rituals, murderous ogres, battle-scarred rangers: not a typical Saturday detention for unsuspecting teaching assistant, Petra, and her delinquent teen charges.
 
The Beaverton High School Breakfast Club show up for what they thought would be cleaning the locker room with a toothbrush when the morning goes horribly wrong, and they fall victim to a deadly, dark spell.
 
Some jerkwad moon mage shoves the consciousness of Petra’s three-year-old into the body of a musclebound barbarian, and she is transformed into a halfling. The kids get stuck as a cleric, fire mage, and other stalwarts of your typical fantasy gaming party.
 
Now they must quest through a land of pissed-off warriors, angry giants, a pompous vampire, and a necromancer out to kill Petra and her child.
 
Despite being in a world where everything threatens to shuffle off her mortal coil, the hardest part is convincing a hulked-out man that the battle axe is not a toy, the undead are not cuddly, and he should use the potty.
 
​

About Aaron:

Good times and hope for a better future. Maybe some fun time travel adventures or interdimensional travelers. A toddler stuck in a barbarian and his mom in a halfling. "Comedy and" is my jam. When not writing, I can be found teaching, podcasting Aaron’s Horror Show, and screaming while playing guitar for the band Spiral. Life has brought my wife, myself, and my son to Montana, where we reside at the moment.
 
Author Website: https://www.aaronfrale.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/draconias
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/aaronfrale
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aaronfrale
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/list/255628.Aaron_Frale
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Aaron-Frale/author/B00J329YGW
​ 

 
 

Happy day after Thursday, everyone! :D This week I have urban fantasy - a little dark, a touch of horror, and so very queer. Sophie Whittemore brings us the second in her Gamin Immortals series, Wake The Dead. Come have a listen:

Wake The Dead
Gamin Immortals #2
by Sophie Whittemore

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An ominous presence awakens in the small town of Gamin.
 
Fairies murdered by crazed monsters. Magic that makes immortals lose their minds and their heads (literally). Whispers of a vendetta against the fairy crime lords who own the infamous Kraken Club.
 
One ace siren detective, Lili, is dragged back into defending her turf…and hopefully, she doesn’t die this time around.

About Sophie:

Sophie Whittemore is a Dartmouth Film/Digital Arts major with a mom from Indonesia and a dad from Minnesota. They’re known for their Gamin Immortal series (Catch Lili Too) and Legends of Rahasia series, specifically, the viral publication Priestess for the Blind God. Their writing career kicked off with the whimsical Impetus Rising collection, published at age 17.
 
They grew up in Chicago and live a life of thoroughly unexpected adventures and a dash of mayhem: whether that’s making video games or short films, scripting for a webcomic, or writing about all the punk-rock antiheroes we should give another chance (and subsequently blogging about them).
 
Sophie’s been featured as a Standout in the Daily Herald and makes animated-live action films on the side. Their queer-gamer film “IRL – In Real Life” won in the Freedom & Unity Young Filmmaker Contest (JAMIE KANZLER AWARDS Second Prize; ADULT: Personal Stories, Third Prize) and was a Semifinalist at the NYC Rainbow Cinema Film Festival. They've published in multiple literary magazines and also worked as a staff writer for a time at AsAmNews and Her Campus Media. Ultimately, Sophie lives life with these ideas: 1) live your truth unapologetically and 2) don’t make bets with supernatural creatures.
 
Author Website: https://www.sophiawhittemore.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/sofia.margareth/
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesophiewhit/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15057772.Sophie_Whittemore
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sophie-Whittemore/author/B01CHOEOFS

It's Friday again - and around here, it's still spooky season! :D This week, I'm reading to you from the lovely Ellie Thomas' new ghostly historical, The Monk's Lair. Regency spookiness ftw! Come have a listen:

The Monk's Lair
by Ellie Thomas

​Buy Links

Christian Maxwell is used to being alone. A delicate and over-imaginative young man, he’s abandoned to his own devices and company in his family’s Wiltshire country home. When his aunt, concerned for his well-being, insists he accompany her to the Welsh Borders for a country house party in the autumn of 1816, Christian is resigned to being surrounded by people for the duration.

One particular guest, Sam Gillespie, is a handsome amateur scientist of a similar age to Christian who is determined to befriend him. When Sam persuades Christian to join him on an expedition to the scenic ruins of Tintern Abbey, they stumble across an isolated valley that contains a long-dead and sinister monastic force.

Their dreams are haunted by the spirit of the place, so the pair band together to find out the valley’s dark history, kindling their romance along the way. But their ghostly foe is more tenacious than they imagine. Can Christian and Sam manage to defeat the black monk and find lasting happiness?
​

About Ellie:

Ellie Thomas lives by the sea. She comes from a teaching background and goes for long seaside walks where she daydreams about history. She is a voracious reader especially about anything historical. She mainly writes historical gay romance.
                                                                                          
Ellie also writes historical erotic romance as L. E. Thomas.
 
Website: https://elliethomasromance.wordpress.com/
Facebook reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/8308047409266947
Twitter: @e_thomas_author
Bluesky: @elliethomas.bsky.social
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19835510.Ellie_Thomas
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/ellie-thomas

Happy Friday, everyone! It's time for me to read to you! This week, we have paranormal/fantasy humor from Tim Rayborn - the final novel in his Qwyrk series, Faytte. Perfect for Halloween! :D Come have a listen:

Faytte
Qwyrk Tales #4
by Tim Rayborn

​Buy Link

As Halloween draws near, Qwyrk and company are abruptly reminded of just how screwed-up everything can get. Qwyrk and Holly are literally being driven apart by magical forces they don’t understand, and their friends are in disarray. Then Holly goes missing and Qwyrk loses something else that’s almost as important, while the behind-the-scenes scheming and shenanigans come to the fore at last. And who is the mysterious, ancient figure in red that seems to know all and see all, but annoyingly, won’t talk about it?
 
Traitors abound, old friends return, sides will be picked, and the final battle between good and evil will rage. To stop the actual end of the world from happening, Qwyrk might have to make a decision that will change her life forever.
 
Faytte is the final book in a series of four novels about the comic misadventures of a group of misfits at the edge of normal reality in modern northern England, a world of shadows, Nighttime Nasties in a bakery, a mysterious key, every monster you can imagine, an abundance of sarcasm, and the answers to all the questions. Oh, and Qwyrk is going to definitively prove that she’s not a bloody elf; they’re just silly!
​

About Tim:

Tim Rayborn has written a rather ridiculous number of books over the past several years (about fifty!). He lived in England for quite some time and has a PhD from the University of Leeds, which he likes to pretend means that he knows what he’s talking about. His generous output of written material covers such diverse topics as music, the arts, history, the strange and bizarre, fantasy and sci-fi, and general knowledge. He’s already planning on writing more books, whether anyone wants him to or not.
 
He’s also an internationally acclaimed musician. He plays dozens of unusual instruments that quite a few people of have never heard of and often can’t pronounce, including medieval instrument reconstructions and folk instruments from Northern Europe, the Balkans, and the Middle East.
 
He has appeared on over forty recordings, and his musical wan- derings and tours have taken him across the US, all over Europe, to Canada and Australia, and to such romantic locations as Marrakech, Istanbul, Renaissance chateaux, medieval Italian hill towns, and high school gymnasiums.
 
He currently lives in Washington State, surrounded by many books and instruments, as well as with a sometimes-demanding cat. He is rather enthusiastic about good wines and cooking excellent food.
 
Author Website: https://www.timrayborn.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/timrayborn
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/TimRaybornMusicandWriting
Author Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@timrayborn
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayborn.esoterica/
Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/tim-rayborn/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Tim-Rayborn/author/B00DWY5J8E
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Friday's here! Which means I get to read to you! This week. the lovely Ro Merrill has sent me an excerpt for her new release,  You Can Do Magic: Carnival of Mysteries. A bit of time travel and rock stars with your romance? But of course :D Come have a listen:

You Can Do Magic
Carnival of Mysteries
(Summer of Hush 3)
by R. L. Merrill

​Amazon

From the author of Foreword Indies Finalist Summer of Hush and BookLife Prize Quarterfinalist Brains and Brawn comes a new installment in the series, a contemporary gay romance with a side of time travel and magic.

Musical prodigy Kallos Alexandrou has played his calliope for countless visitors at Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, but his one-year residency has come to an end. Scars from a terrible tragedy in his past are the only explanation he has for his loss of speech and memory, but it’s time to move on, so when a music festival sets up next to the carnival, Mr. Ame sends him off with identification, a bottomless billfold, and a set of new clothes. Outside the carnival’s perimeter, Kal finds himself in an unfamiliar world surrounded by strange instruments and vibrant people like nothing he’s ever seen.
 
Ryan Wells is the troubled and celebrated lead singer of the metal band Backdrop Silhouette. He’s brought more than his share of baggage on the last cross-country Warped Tour, including harsh restrictions placed on him by his parole officer and the band’s label, but it’s the treatment from his bandmates that have him feeling unsettled. After a tough morning, he spots a strange young man playing carnival music on a keyboard backstage, and the sound takes him back to a particularly vulnerable time in his youth. Intrigued, Ryan asks the young man’s name, but he flees only to appear later as a replacement stagehand for the tour.
 
An invitation from the band Hush to ride on their bus gives Ryan and Kal a welcome distraction. They find the camaraderie and support they’ve both been craving…as well as a little magic and a fresh new romance. But the music business makes personal relationships difficult to maintain, and when the tour ends, Ryan and Kal will have to make a choice: move forward together on an uncertain path, or let fear keep them from trusting that sometimes you really can have everything you desire.
 
You Can Do Magic is part of the multi-author Carnival of Mysteries Series. Each book stands alone, but each one includes at least one visit to Errante Ame’s Carnival of Mysteries, a magical, multiverse traveling show full of unusual acts, games, and rides. The Carnival changes to suit the world it’s on, so each visit is unique and special. This book contains a Depression-era calliaphone, a Ouija board with a purpose, and tour bus hijinks that will warm your heart and make you gigglesnort. Reading Summer of Hush and Brains and Brawn before this book will give you the full Warped Tour experience, but You Can Do Magic can be read as a standalone as well as the other books in the shared universe. Recommended 18+
 
Warnings: Mention of prior sexual abuse, off-page, no descriptions
 
​

About R. L. :

Whether she’s writing swoon-worthy contemporary romance featuring quirky, queer, and relatable characters or diving deep into the supernatural to give readers a shiver, R.L. Merrill loves creating compelling stories that will stay with readers long after closing the book. Ro writes inclusive romance for the Happily Ever After collective, contributes paranormal hilarity to Robyn Peterman’s Magic and Mayhem Universe, and pens horror-inspired tales and music reviews for HorrorAddicts.net. A mom, wife, daughter, and former educator, you can find her rocking out in her Bronco with Great Dane pup Velma, being terrorized by feline twins Dracula and Frankenstein, or headbanging at a rock show near her home in the San Francisco Bay Area! Stay Tuned for more…
 
Author Website: https://www.rlmerrillauthor.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/rochellerlmerrill/
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/rlmerrillauthor
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rlmerrillauthor
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9828914.R_L_Merrill
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/r-l-merrill/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/R.L.-Merrill/author/B00PI6Q1LI
​

Whee! It's Friday! And time to round out our September J. Scott Coatsworth Reading Day extravaganza! This week, though, we're not reading from an anthology Scott headed up, but from his own brand new novel, The Gauntlet Runner! Yaaaay! Come have a listen :)

The Gauntlet Runner
Tharassas Cycle, Book 2
by J. Scott Coatsworth

Buy Link

A GUARD AND A THIEF. WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
 
Aik has fallen hopelessly in love with his best friend. But Raven's a thief, which makes things... complicated. Oh, and Raven has just been kidnapped by a dragon.
 
Now Aik is off on a quest of his own, to hunt down the foul beast and make them give back his ... friend? Lover? Soulmate? The whole not-knowing thing just makes everything harder.
 
Meanwhile, the world of Tharassas is falling apart, besieged by earthquakes, floods, and strange creatures no one has ever seen before. Aik's ex, Silya has gone back to Gullton to do try to save her people as the Hencha Queen, and Aik's stuck in a caravan with her mother and a damnable magical gauntlet that won't let him be. He has to find Raven, before it’s too late.
 
Things were messy before, but now they're much, much worse.
​

About Scott:

Scott lives with his husband Mark in a yellow bungalow in Sacramento. He was indoctrinated into fantasy and sci fi by his mother at the tender age of nine. He devoured her library, but as he grew up, he wondered where all the people like him were.
                                     
He decided that if there weren’t queer characters in his favorite genres, he would remake them to his own ends.
 
A Rainbow Award winning author, he runs Queer Sci Fi, QueeRomance Ink, and Other Worlds Ink with Mark, sites that celebrate fiction reflecting queer reality, and is the committee chair for the Indie Authors Committee at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA).
 
Author Website: https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com
Author Facebook (Personal): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworth/
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/jscottcoatsworthauthor
Author Mastodon: https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@jscottcoatsworth
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jscottcoatsworth/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8392709.J_Scott_Coatsworth
Author Liminal Fiction (LimFic.com): https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/j-scott-coatsworth/
Author Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/J.-Scott-Coatsworth/e/B011AFO4OQ

Happy Friday! This week I have a fun one for you - stories from the annual Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction contest! 300 words, speculative fiction with queer characters, on the theme, Rise. The anthology of chosen stories comes out October 25, but I get to read you a selection early! :D Come have a listen:

Rise
The ninth annual Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction anthology

Coming in ebook and paperback October 25!

Happy Friday, everyone! This week is our last installment of our Elevator anthology series of readings! I'm reading excerpts from three paranormal offerings from the anthology - stories from Pandora Pine, BL Maxwell and Eden Winters. :D Come have a listen:

Midnight in the Renaissance Elevator
A Charity Anthology
by Miski Harris, et al

​Amazon

Do you like mechanical devices with personality? Sure, who doesn’t? How about when they hold your life in the palm of their hands? Hmm…less sure now, yes? Don’t worry, you’re gonna love this.

At an LGBTQ literary retreat in October of 2022, a group of authors met a particularly cantankerous elevator. Doors slamming open or closed for no apparent reason? Check. Scary noises, also for no apparent reason? Also, check. Were we concerned for our lives? Okay, listen…
This cranky elevator figured heavily into conversations for the next few days, many of which included expletives in a dozen languages, but eventually, it became a (somewhat) beloved mascot. Some people actually chose it over the other elevators!
The resulting mayhem is over twenty-five different author takes on the underlying story behind the elevator’s peculiar behavior. Possession? Poltergeists? Personified mechanical objects? Vampires?
All these unique stories come together in one volume: Midnight in the Renaissance Elevator. Join us as we attempt to explain the unexplainable, rationalize the unrationalizable, and give imagination free rein.
Proceeds for the sale of this book benefit The Trevor Project, which provides crisis support services to LGBTQ young people. More information can be found about this worthy cause at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/

Friday's here! Summer is almost over! (small cheer for us heat intolerant folks) This week, I'm reading to you from Transform the World, an anthology edited by our good friend, J. Scott Coatsworth who gathered SF authors together to write hopeful stories about the future. Come have a listen!

Transform the World
J. Scott Coatsworth, et al

Amazon

Fourteen Ways to Change the Planet

Income inequality is worse than it was in the Roaring Twenties. Corporations are moving fast and breaking things, and the social contract seems to be falling apart, aided by social media disruption and division on steroids.

There has to be a better way.

We asked fourteen sci-fi writers to come up with innovative ways the world could work better. Universal basic income, smaller communities, AI voting, and learning to live in harmony with nature are just a few of the ideas explored inside these pages. So buckle up and settle in for a look at the world of the future.

The world’s not going to transform itself.

We're all so excited for the release of the elevator anthology tomorrow! 29 authors, one elevator, a whole pack of fun stories for you ranging from contemporary to fantasy to paranormal!

Midnight in the Renaissance Elevator is a charity anthology - all proceeds, every last red cent, go to the Trevor Project to help support our queer youth.

Available on Kindle Unlimited and in paperback - come snag your copy!

Midnight in the Renaissance Elevator
A Charity Anthology

​Do you like mechanical devices with personality? Sure, who doesn’t? How about when they hold your life in the palm of their hands? Hmm…less sure now, yes? Don’t worry, you’re gonna love this.

At an LGBTQ literary retreat in October of 2022, a group of authors met a particularly cantankerous elevator. Doors slamming open or closed for no apparent reason? Check. Scary noises, also for no apparent reason? Also, check. Were we concerned for our lives? Okay, listen…
This cranky elevator figured heavily into conversations for the next few days, many of which included expletives in a dozen languages, but eventually, it became a (somewhat) beloved mascot. Some people actually chose it over the other elevators!
The resulting mayhem is over twenty-five different author takes on the underlying story behind the elevator’s peculiar behavior. Possession? Poltergeists? Personified mechanical objects? Vampires?
All these unique stories come together in one volume: Midnight in the Renaissance Elevator. Join us as we attempt to explain the unexplainable, rationalize the unrationalizable, and give imagination free rein.
Proceeds for the sale of this book benefit The Trevor Project, which provides crisis support services to LGBTQ young people. More information can be found about this worthy cause at https://www.thetrevorproject.org/