Happy Friday, everyone! This week's audio reading is from Dahlia Donovan's new contemporary, Pure Dumb Luck. Come have a listen and don't forget the Rafflecopter at the end!

Pure Dumb Luck
by Dahlia Donovan

Publisher
Amazon US
Barnes & Noble
Kobo
iBooks


Blurb:
 
When two small-town country dudes win the lottery, they finally find the courage to speak their truth.
 
An unexpected adventure follows.
 
Linwood "Woody" Robinson has a routine. He works for his baby brother in construction, buys three lottery tickets every week, and lusts after his best friend from high school. He's done the same thing for twenty years.
 
Eddison "Eddie" Howard owns the only gas station in their small South Carolina town, sells lottery tickets, and lusts after his best friend from afar. They joke around but never speak their truth. He knows they're cowards but can't seem to find the courage to bridge the gulf between them.
 
And then they win eighty million dollars.
 
Life changes.
 
They go from never talking about their feelings to facing the world together.
 
Can anything pull them apart?

About Dahlia:

Dahlia Donovan wrote her first romance series after a crazy dream about shifters and damsels in distress. She prefers irreverent humour and unconventional characters. An autistic and occasional hermit, her life wouldn’t be complete without her husband and her massive collection of books and video games.

Author Website: https://dahliadonovan.com/
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/dahliadonovan
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/DahliaDonovan
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dahliadonovanauthor/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8184061.Dahlia_Donovan
Author QueeRomance Ink: https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/dahlia-donovan/
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Dahlia-Donovan/e/B00KFNZFHU/

The First Step
A Coastal Carolina Novel
by Shira Anthony

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
ITunes
Kobo
Dreamspinner Press

The first step is the hardest. After a scandal, New York political reporter Reed Barfield is lying low at the North Carolina coast, writing a story about the seafood industry. But it’s the harbor pilots on the Cape Fear River who capture his interest—men who jump across ten feet of open ocean to grab a rope ladder and guide huge container ships into port. Men like sexy but prickly Justin Vance. 

After surviving an abusive childhood and a tour in the Navy, Justin isn’t fazed by his dangerous job—it’s certainly easier to face than Reed’s annoying questions. Justin isn’t out at work, and he doesn’t need Reed digging into his personal life or his past. 

But Reed’s no stranger to using his considerable charm to get what he wants, and as he wears Justin down, they realize they have a lot in common—and that they like spending time together. Moving beyond that, though, will mean Justin confessing his sexuality and learning to trust Reed with his secrets—if Reed even decides to stay. Both men want a future together, but can they find the courage to take the first step?

About Shira:

Shira Anthony was a professional opera singer in her last incarnation, performing roles in such operas as Tosca, i Pagliacci, and La Traviata, among others. She’s given up TV for evenings spent with her laptop, and she never goes anywhere without a pile of unread M/M romance on her Kindle. You can hear Shira singing "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's Tosca by clicking here: Shira's Singing

Shira loves a great happily-ever-after and never writes a story without one. She's happy to write what her muse tells her, whether it's fantasy, sci fi, paranormal, or contemporary romance. She particularly loves writing series, because she thinks of her characters as old friends and she wants to visit them even after their stories are told.

In real life, Shira sang professionally for 14 years, and she currently works as a public sector attorney advocating for children. She's happy to have made writing her second full-time job, even if it means she rarely has time to watch TV or go to the movies. Shira writes about the things she knows and loves, whether it's music and musicians, the ocean, or the places she's lived or traveled to. She spent her middle school years living in France, and tries to visit as often as she can.

Shira and her husband spend as many weekends as they can aboard their 38' catamaran sailboat, Prelude, at the Carolina Coast. Not only has sailing inspired her to write about pirates and mermen, her sailboat is her favorite place to write. And although the only mermen she's found to date are in her own imagination, she keeps a sharp lookout for them when she's on the water.

Shira Anthony: http://www.shiraanthony.com    
Twitter: @WriterShira

Happy Friday, everyone! I'm in Orlando, but I'm leaving my voice here for you with Bob Appavu's new release, The Art of Death! Come have a listen.

Bob's giving away a $10 Amazon Gift Card, so make sure you check at the end of the post, too. :)

The Art of Death
Lychgate 1
by Bob Appavu

DSP Publications
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

Starving artist Riley Burke refuses to be dependent on his rich older boyfriend—hence his second job as a nude model at the local art school.  When the famous artist Coliaro requests him for a private modeling session, he jumps at the chance to earn some real cash.
 
But then Westwood, a mysterious stranger, warns him to steer clear—it's said Coliaro is undead. That his worshippers perform rituals to fill him with life energy. That every time he paints a male nude, the painting transforms to depict a gruesome murder. And that shortly after, a young man turns up dead.
 
Riley dismisses the rumors—until they start to play out before his eyes. When he becomes a target, Westwood comes to his aid. But Westwood is secretive and dangerous himself... which just makes him more attractive to Riley. Riley is in over his head, and even his tenuous alliance with Westwood might not save him.

About the Author:
 
Bob Appavu is an author, illustrator, and creator of the long-running LGBTQ+ webcomic Demon of the Underground. Born and raised in a conservative Chicago suburb to South Indian parents, Bob turned to reading at an early age to find the inclusive, illuminating worlds that couldn’t always be accessed in real life. Bob recalls spending most of the 90s at the local bookstore feigning interest in the poetry anthologies that were conveniently shelved next to the LGBT fiction.
 
As a queer writer who enjoys challenging conventions and pushes creative boundaries, Bob has a passion for crafting the types of stories she can’t readily find on the shelf and the types of characters who are often denied the spotlight. Bob is a lover of suspense, speculative fiction, and deep world building, but her greatest joy is portraying the full scope of her queer characters’ humanity.
 
Bob is an incurable workaholic whose preferred fuel is tea. When not at work, she enjoys caring for rescued ferrets.
 
Author Website: https://www.bobappavu.com
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/bobappavu
Author Tumbler: https://bob-artist.tumblr.com/

Notes from Jeff on "Dusk at Marsden Tower"

“Dusk at Marsden Towers” was written for a picture prompt on the Friday Flash Fics Facebook page where we write a flash fiction piece based on the picture. I wrote this one around Christmas based partly on an idea from the great British ghost story writer M. R. James (who wrote his stories to read to friends at Christmastime) about a face or mask that appears at a window. A story James never got around to writing, he mentioned the idea in an essay called “Stories I Have Tried to Write.”

After my story was published, someone commented it reminded them of Charles Dickens’ spooky stories set in rooms at inns. In contrast to the spookiness, I wrote most of this while my husband and I were watching “It’s a Wonderful Life!”

Notes from Jeff on "Camera Obscura"

“Camera Obscura” is one of about twelve stories I’ve written influenced by Sci-fi/fantasy stories told in bars, such as “Tales From the White Hart” by Arthur C. Clarke, who was gay but didn’t write about it. I started writing stories set in Demeter’s Bar, a fictional gay bar in my hometown of Wichita, Kansas, and have actually published a few in venues besides my own website. “Camera Obscura” was written for Friday Flash Fics, a picture prompt site and named after the horror story by Basil Copper, which became an episode of “Night Gallery” in the 70s.

Friday and time for me to read to you! Today I have an excerpt from Jeanne G'Fellers fantasy, Keeping House. Fey in Appalachia, strange bargains, and me trying to do accents. :o

Keeping House
Appalachian Elementals 2
by Jeanne G'Fellers

Publisher
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Smashwords

Centenary Rhodes is caught in a deal she didn’t make. Thanks to her eternal lover, Stowne’s, quick thinking, she’ll live forever, but there’s a hitch. Cent’s now fey, and three months out of the year she’ll live on the other side of Embreeville Mountain among the Hunter Fey, serving their king, Dane Gow.
 
As Cent begins wading through the anachronisms that come with being a Hunter, she learns that nothing is what it initially seems. Cent shares several past lives with Dane, who wants her back, and Stowne’s lied to Cent so many times that she’s having doubts about their marriage. To make matters worse, the past Hunter Kings are influencing Dane’s behavior, and the youngest Hunter, Brinn, might well be the most dangerous of them all.
 
It’s going to be a cold, dark spring, and Cent needs to unite both sides of Embreeville mountain before her eternal life, her relationship with Dane, and her marriage to Stowne come permanently undone.
 
Another rich Contemporary Appalachian tale about fantastic people and the magic they possess, including LGBTQIA+ characters Human and otherwise.

Author Bio:
 
Born and raised in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, Science Fiction and Fantasy author Jeanne G’Fellers' early memories include watching the original Star Trek series with their father and reading the books their librarian mother brought home. Jeanne’s writing influences include Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K. LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert.

Jeanne lives in Northeast Tennessee with their spouse and five crazy felines. Their home is tucked against a small woodland where they regularly see deer, turkeys, raccoons, and experience the magic of the natural world.
 
Author Website: https://jeannegfellersauthor.com
Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/Jeannegfellersauthor
Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlgfellers
Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjeannegfellers
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/search?q=Jeanne+G%27Fellers
Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jeanne-GFellers/e/B01N0YWCT7

I have a lovely excerpt today from Lou Hoffman's Dragon's Rise: Sunchild Chronicles 4! This is YA fantasy, and one I've been trying to keep up with. Dragon's Rise is on pre-order now and releases July 9. :)

​Also, this is part of a blog tour, so don't forget to enter the Rafflecopter at the bottom!

Dragon's Rise
The Sunchild Chronicles 4
by Lou Hoffman

Harmony Ink Press 
Amazon ebook
Amazon paperback
B&N
Kobo
iTunes/iBooks 
Books2Read Universal Link

Days ago, with the help of his living sword Ciarrah, Lucky fought through an army of wraiths led by the undead horror that was once his mother. Though he’s seen more bloodshed in his short life than many seasoned warriors, his destiny as the chosen Sun Child of the magical world called Ethra demands more. Otherworldly enemies are regrouping, barely fazed by a single defeat. If they won’t rest, then neither can he.

He travels to the capital city with ancient wizard Thurlock, but instead of allies, he meets open betrayal. An old friend of Thurlock’s and some young supporters boost his morale, but how much help will they offer against zombies, dragons, and evil magic users? In the epic battle looming on the horizon, everything he’s gathered, from mystical tools to a winged horse, a loyal dog, shifter and dragon allies, and even an army at his side might not be enough. Will he measure up to fate’s challenge… or be trampled by it?

About Lou:
Lou Hoffmann, a mother and grandmother now, has carried on her love affair with books for more than half a century, and she hasn’t even made a dent in the list of books she’d love to read—partly because the list keeps growing. She reads factual things—books about physics and history and fractal chaos, but when she wants truth, she looks for it in quality fiction. She loves all sorts of wonderful things: music and silence, laughter and tears, youth and age, sunshine and storms, forests and fields, flora and fauna, rivers and seas. Even good movies and popcorn! Those things help her breathe, and everyone she knows helps her write. (Special mention goes to (1) George the Lady Cat and (2) readers.) Proud to be a bisexual, biracial woman (of European and Native American descent),

Lou considers every person a treasure not to be taken for granted. In her life, she’s seen the world’s willingness to embrace differences change, change back, and change again in dozens of ways, but she has great hope for the world the youth of today will create. She writes for readers who find themselves anywhere on the spectrums of age, sexuality, and gender, aiming to create characters that live not only in their stories, but always in your imagination and your heart.
 
Author Links:
Visit her on her blog: http://www.queerlyya.rainbow-gate.com
Like her page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LouHoffmannBooks/
Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Lou_Hoffmann
Check out her Amazon Author Page: http://queerlyya.rainbow-gate.com/ciarrahs-light-event-schedule-get-blog-tour-links-here/

The Mystery of the Moving Image
Snow & Winter 3
by C.S. Poe

DSP Publications | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Google Play | iBooks | Kobo

It’s summer in New York City, and antique shop owner Sebastian Snow is taking the next big step in his relationship with NYPD homicide detective, Calvin Winter: they’re moving in together. What should have been a wonderful week of playing house and celebrating Calvin’s birthday comes to an abrupt end when a mysterious package arrives at the Emporium.

Inside is a Thomas Edison Kinetoscope, a movie viewer from the nineteenth century, invented by the grandfather of modern cinema, W. K. L. Dickson. And along with it, footage of a murder that took place over a hundred years ago.

Sebastian resists the urge to start sleuthing, even if the culprit is long dead and there’s no apparent danger. But break-ins at the Emporium, a robbery, and dead bodies aren’t as easy to ignore, and Sebastian soon realizes that the century-old murder will lead him to a modern-day killer.

However, even with Sebastian’s vast knowledge of Victorian America and his unrelenting perseverance in the face of danger, this may be the one mystery he won’t survive.

About C.S. Poe

C.S. Poe is a Lambda Literary and two-time EPIC award finalist, and a FAPA award-winning author of gay mystery, romance, and paranormal books.
​
She is an avid fan of coffee, reading, and cats.
C.S. is a member of the International Thriller Writers organization.
 
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