Clare Solomon

November 2016 M/M News

LGBT News

The election of Donald Trump as new US President has caused a lot of worry, particularly with the appointment of racist and anti-LGBT people to various government posts. There are recommendations for legal protection for members of the LGBT community here

Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, who recently appeared at Pride Toronto, has appointed an LGBTQ special advisor to help improve and enforce LGBTQ rights.

A shooting at a gay nightclub in Albany, New York left 3 injured.

British serial killer, Stephen Port, who killed 4 gay men, has received a life sentence.

Ellen DeGeneres has been given the Medal of Freedom by President Obama for her “courage and candour” in news03-santa-baby helping improve issues of equality and acceptance.

Lady Gaga spent Black Friday at the Ali Forney Center, an LGBTI homeless kids shelter, singing, talking and meditating with the people there, while Madonna spent Thanksgiving at the same shelter.

Kylie Minogue and other musicians gave support for same-sex marriage at the Australian ARIA Music Awards.

Articles by M/M Writers

Thought-provoking article on historical fiction and how people are represented by Alex Beecroft here.

New Festive Releases

(Some festive reviews here )

news03-christmas-hex “A Christmas Hex: Winter Wonderland Collection” by Jordan L. Hawk (released 31 October)
“Gingerbread” by Avery Ford (released 7 November)
“A Family for Christmas” by Jay Northcote (released 16 November
“Santa Baby” by Heidi Cullinan (released 8 November)

Popular Books Released in November

Paranormal

“Riding the Tide” by M. A. Church
“Dark Magic” by Kayci Morgan
“Daring Fate” by Megan Erickson

Contemporary

news03-family-for-christmas “Romancing the Wrong Twin” by Clare London
“Rock” by Anyta Sunday
“The Necessary Deaths” by David C. Dawson
“Falling Down” by Eli Easton
“A Country Boy at Heart” by M. A. Church
“Dyeing to be Loved” by Aimee Nicole Walker
“Love at First Hate” by Muriel Garcia
“Catch Me” by Jerry Cole
“A Walk through Fire” by Felice Stevens
“Summer Lessons (Winter Balls Book 2)” by Amy Lane

October M/M News

LGBT News

A UK government bill to overturn historical convictions for gay and bisexual convictions failed to be passed in Parliament due to a Tory minister’s ‘filibuster’ tactics, but will be discussed again at the end of the year.

Hilary Clinton released a video showing her support for the LGBT community – watch it here.

The United Nations launched a campaign to promote intersex awareness.

Film/TV News

Julian Morris and Vanessa Redgrave will star in the upcoming 2-part gay BBC drama “The Man in the Orange Shirt” (no airdate as yet).

Limited release of gay film “King Cobra”, starring Christian Slater and James Franco, from 21 October onwards (US and UK).

‘Dead or Alive’ singer, Pete Burns died on 23 October, aged 57.

“Will and Grace” star, Sean Hayes, said “I should’ve come out sooner” at a recent Outfest awards ceremony.

Interview with gay actor Robin Lord Taylor (“Gotham”) here.

Popular New M/M Books

Paranormal

“Paws and Claws (Alphas Unleashed Book 1)” by M. A. Church
“Branded (Bulletproof Book 2)” by Jenna Galicki
“Wolf’s Clothing (Legend Tripping Book 2)” by E. J. Russell
“PsyCops Briefs: Volume 1” by Jordan Castillo Price
news-sept-hexmaker “The Ghost of Buxton Manor” by Jonathan Ferrara
“Hexmaker (Hexworld Book 2)” by Jordan L. Hawk
“The Mind Spy (Juxtapose City 10)” by Tricia Owens
“All Hallows’ Eve” by Annabelle Jacobs

Fantasy

“Mordred, Bastard Son (The Chronicles of Mordred Book 1)” by Douglas Clegg

Contemporary

“Absinthe of Malice (Book 5 of the Sinners Series)” (audio book) by Rhys Ford and Tristan James (Narrator)
news02-always-you “It Was Always You” compilation by Cardeno C. and 6 others
“Blank Canvas (Paint Book 2)” by Emma Jaye
“Dinner at Jack’s” by Rick R. Reed
“In Vogue” by Lucia Laurent
“Can’t Hide from Me” by Cordelia Kingsbridge
“Eyes Only for You (Eyes of Love 2)” by Andrew Grey
“Overexposed (In Focus Book 4)” audio book by Megan Erickson
news02-dance “Enjoy the Dance (Dancing Book 2)” by Heidi Cullinan
“Bound to Surrender: A Doms Genesis Novella” by Jenna Jacob
“Double Talk (On the Radio Book 2)” by Pandora Pine
“Changing on the Fly” (charity anthology) by various
“Thirds Beyond the Books 2” by Charlie Cochet – proceeds going to Big Cat Rescue
news02-chasing “Chasing the High” by Beth Michele
“Drawn In” by Barbara Elsborg
“Behind the Eight Ball” audio book by M. A. Church
“Tempting Tristan” by Melissa Foster
“Timing” and “After the Sunset” by Mary Calmes
“Must Like Spinach” by Con Riley

M/M Halloween: The Monster in the Bed

Luck in the Shadows cover ‘Scary just got sexy’ is the tagline for the show, “Supernatural”, but certain monsters have always had an erotic side. From Dracula onwards, vampires have often been as sexy as they were dangerous. Werewolves, too, have a similar ethos, with early versions of the Red Riding Hood tale – such as Charles Perrault’s 17th century story ‘Le Petit Chaperon Rouge’ – having the wolf represent the Seducer who will lead sexually innocent girls astray.

freebooksarticle-hunter-of-demons-spectr1 In the M/M world the supernatural creature is often one – or more – of the protagonists. Jordan L Hawk’s SPECTR series has a demon as a central character. Gray is powerful and dangerous but also irresistibly attractive to exorcist John Starkweather, the twist being that Gray exists in the body of a third protagonist, Caleb, so sometimes Gray has takes control of the body and the rest of the time he lies dormant with Caleb in control.

Melusine cover In other M/M novels, the supernatural creature or monster is the obstacle stopping the heroes have their happy ending. In Lynn Flewelling’s Nightrunner books Alec and Seregil have to do battle with necromancers and a resurrected god. In “Melusine”, the first book in the series by Sarah Monette, Felix has dark magic performed on him that makes him see ghosts others can’t.

Coexistence_Web Monsters are also a theme in my Human Hybrids books: the cannibal wendigoes are the obvious monsters, but there are also hidden monsters pretending to be good people and those, like werewolf Brand, who have faced so much prejudice that they feel like monsters.

So why is it sexy to be afraid? Perhaps it has something to do with confronting the fear of being vulnerable during sex or, in first time sex, a fear of the unknown. Maybe we like to imagine ourselves having supernatural powers that help make us desirable to others. Perhaps it’s just an inexplicable allure of danger. Whatever the reason, novels that let us explore these contrasting feelings have an enduring appeal and I look forward to reading many more.

Halloween Story: Pleasure and Pain

By Clare Solomon

Blood falls from the gash in his side and spreads across the layer of snow. In the moonlight the blood looks almost black and the snow is rendered blue. Blood is usually his life – a source of food and sexual pleasure – but this is his own. He’s dying.

A shadow falls over him and a blurred face leans closer and comes into focus. It’s Eric, the cop he’s been partnered with these last few weeks. The man who hates vampires. He’ll probably throw a party to celebrate Alexander’s death. It’s strange, though, because the brown eyes look almost concerned. “Why aren’t you healing?”

“The wound is too deep.” He’s too weak to say more. He’ll be dead soon and they never even managed to kill the rogue vampire who’d been slaughtering a dozen or more people each night. It’s a niggling sense of annoyance, that he will die with this work incomplete.

“Drink, Alex.” Eric is holding his wrist in front of Alexander’s mouth, the smooth pale flesh inviting. The vampire can hear the blood pumping through the veins and he swallows and lets instinct take over. He bites through flesh and Eric gasps and tenses. Alexander licks the salty wound, aware of the moment when the cop’s heartbeat speeds up and pain vanishes, then he drinks the warm liquid. His thirst increases with every mouthful and he swallows eagerly, retaining just enough awareness of the other man to stop before he takes too much. He licks slowly over the wound once more to seal it and Eric shudders, not from pain.

Pages: 12

Quotes for Halloween from M/M Books

halloween-banners02-destroyer-of-worlds ‘John had never even imagined Gray smiling; like everything else about him, it was sexy, oddly sweet, and, given the flash of fang, borderline disturbing.’ – “Destroyer of Worlds (SPECTR Book 5)” by Jordan L. Hawk

‘The Fantome was bound by the same working that gave it strength. That ring of blood held it in that room, confined it to the tower; it could not follow me out the door Melusine cover and into the deserted square, where I slumped to my knees, panting, almost sobbing for breath, my heart beating in my chest like a terrified bird’ – “Melusine” by Sarah Monette

“Because it is not only my heart and soul that crave it,” he said, his voice strained. “There is a terrible need… in the darkest part of me… and it will never be satisfied until I have wrenched you from the light of the world and into the shadows with me” – “Merrick” by Claire Cray

freebooksarticle-nor-iron-bars-a-cage ‘Perhaps what separated nightmare from life was that extra edge of pain that your mind could not conceive of’ – “Nor Iron Bars a Cage” by Kaje Harper

‘The seduction frightened Tony more than the Hunger. Even shadow-held, he’d responded … He was alive because Henry wanted him alive. He’d die smoke-and-shadows when Henry decided it was time. Sure, that applied to pretty much anyone who shared a vampire’s territory, but he knew it. Personally. Hell, biblically’ – “Smoke and Shadows” by Tanya Huff

‘The god of wolves is the god of death … He is the god who knows that nothing comes without price’ – “A Companion to Wolves (Iskryne)” by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear

black-blades-rifter-3 ‘They would use her to destroy their enemies and then they would poison her, bleed her, and murder her. Then they would retrieve her bones to carve another yasi’halaun, find another woman, and do the whole thing again’ – “Black Blades (The Rifter Book 3)” by Ginn Hale

‘Alec was beginning to be as frightened of Seregil as he was Luck in the Shadows cover for him. He hadn’t intended to sleep the previous night, but the exhaustion of the past few days caught up with him and he’d dozed off. In the middle of the night he’d awakened to find Seregil crouched less than a foot away, eyes shining like a cat’s in the dark, his breathing was so harsh it was almost a growl. Motionless, he simply stared at Alec’ – “Luck in the Shadows” by Lynn Flewelling

September M/M News Round-Up

Upcoming

“Enjoy the Dance” by Heidi Cullinan will be released on 11 October but can be pre-ordered now.

“Hexmaker (Hexworld Book 2)” by Jordan L. Hawk will be out on 14 October but is available for pre-order now.

Articles and Podcasts

There’s a great podcast interview with Jordan L. Hawk about self-publishing here. I’ve only just discovered these podcasts but they have discussed some really interesting LGBT fiction subjects and interviewed authors including K J Charles, so I’ll definitely be listening to more of them at https://thehopelessromantic.simplecast.fm/

Interesting article with Lexi Ander about her new paranormal series, including ideas about the nature of werewolves at GGR-review here.

Of LGBT interest, there’s a great BBC article celebrating LGBT history here: “Queer History Landmarks Celebrated by Historic England”.

Some new M/M novel releases for September

Paranormal

news-sept-unsafe-exposure “Flux (Ennek Trilogy Book 2)” by Kim Fielding
“Wild Retaliation” by Ethan Stone
“Werewolf’s Tale and A Druid’s Sword (I.O.N. Book 2) by Lexi Ander
“Reclaiming (Immortal Ink Book 1)” and “A Private Hunger” by Sean Michael
“Shield of the Dragon (Dance with the Devil Book 6) by Megan Derr
“The Persecution of Wolves” by Lucy Felthouse
“Unsafe Exposure (Hidden Wolves Book 4)” by Kaje Harper
“The Pill Bugs of Time (Offbeat Crimes Book 2)” by Angel Martinez
“Blood and Choice (Book 2 of the Human Hybrids Trilogy)” by Clare Solomon (Mine!)

Fantasy

“An Evidence of Magic (Everlight Book 1)” by Kris Michaels and Patricia A. Knight
“Into You” by Jay Northcote
“The Autumn Prince” by Sadie Sins
“Mad Lizard Mambo (The Kai Gracen Series Book 2)” by Rhys Ford
“Forgotten Things (Men of Magic Book 1)” by Hollis Shiloh
“Bitterwood” by Rowan Speedwell

Science-Fiction

“Flight (Queer Sci-Fi’s Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest)” by various authors

Contemporary

“The Senator’s Secret” by K. C. Wells
“Optical Illusion” by Emma Jaye
“Rescued” by Felice Stevens
“Tart and Sweet” by Amy Lane
“The Weight of It All” by N. R. Walker
“Pushing the Envelope” by Kim Dare
“Just a Summer Deal” by Zach Jenkins and E. Davies
“Hope for Pulse: Hate Will Never Win” anthology by various authors for Equality Florida charity
“Out of My Mind (Browerton University Book 3)” by A. J. Truman
“One Pulse” anthology for charity
“Broken Pieces” (audio book) by Riley Hart (Author) and Jack DuPont (Narrator)

The Best of Free M/M Books and Stories

Here are a few free novels and stories that I’ve found and enjoyed.

freebooksarticle-hunter-of-demons-spectr1 “Hunter of Demons (SPECTR Book 1)” by Jordan L Hawk is currently free at Amazon – this is a wonderful paranormal series so, if you haven’t already got this, I highly recommend it. It involves a romance between an exorcist, John Starkweather; a paranormal, Caleb; and Gray, the demon who inhabits Caleb.
US link UK link

freebooksarticle-nor-iron-bars-a-cage If you check out Kaje Harper’s author page at Amazon, she has a number of free books, some full length novels and some short stories, in different genres. I read and really enjoyed her free fantasy novel, “Nor Iron Bars a Cage”, about a sorcerer coaxed out of his self-imposed prison by a man he once loved. The download royalties for this book help raise money for the Gay Men’s Domestic Violence Project.

freebooksarticle-something-sweet Megan Derr has a couple of wonderful free short M/M fairytale stories at Amazon – “The Stableboy” and “Blood in the Water” (based on “The Little Mermaid”) – as well as a couple of contemporary stories – “Something Sweet” and “Delivery with a Smile”. The proceeds for the downloads go towards a scholarship foundation for LGBT students.

freebooksarticle-the-foxhole-court “The Foxhole Court (All For the Game Book 1)” by Nora Sakavic isn’t my usual kind of genre, being about a teenager who’s on the run because of his crime lord father and joins a sports team. (I should probably also mention that the romance doesn’t develop until book 3.) However, I loved the whole series so I really recommend trying the free first novel. US link UK link

K J Charles has some great free stories, that are part of her published paranormal and historical series (including one co-written with Jordan L Hawk), at http://kjcharleswriter.com/free-reads/

J L Merrow has a number of entertaining free stories in a variety of genres at https://jlmerrow.com/free-reads/

“Blood and Choice” Released Today

BloodAndChoice_Large “Blood and Choice” (Book 2 of the Human Hybrids Gay Paranormal Series) is available from today. Liam and Tig are probably my favourite characters in the whole series so I really loved writing their romance. I’ve included flashbacks of how they became friends and started working together so the reader gets to see the whole evolution of their relationship. Liam goes through a lot of heartache and the whole relationship between the 2 characters comes close to breaking point. The wendigo threat is also getting more deadly in this novel, putting Liam and Tig in increasing danger, and building for the final massive battle that will take place in Book 3.

Free Gay Paranormal Books and Paperback Giveaways

Coexistence_Web Don’t forget to get your free Kindle copy of “Coexistence” between now and 13 September then, if you enjoy it, you can download the free prequel, “A Destructive Power“, on the Books page, and get the companion novel, “Kye“, for free by signing up to my e-mail list!

BloodAndChoice_Large “Blood and Choice“, the next book in the series, is available for pre-order at half-price until its release on 19 September.

You can read descriptions of all the books on my Books page above.

Buying Links

“Coexistence” Kindle book available for free download at Amazon in the US UK AU and DE.

“Blood and Choice” Kindle book available for pre-order at half price at Amazon in the US UK AU and DE.

Giveaways

I have a signed paperback copy of “Coexistence” to give away at Goodreads and another at Zipper Rippers so sign up for a chance to win!

Sale and Free Novel to Launch “Blood and Choice”

Blood and Choice Cover ‘Liam watched, Tig standing next to him, as uniformed police officers exhumed dead bodies that the wendigo’s funeral home had been responsible for. It was cold, dark and gruesome and having spent two hours previously listening to Tig talking about Megan and using words like beautiful and incredible and I’m so happy, this was the highlight of his night.’ – “Blood and Choice”

“Blood and Choice“, the second novel in my gay paranormal Human Hybrids trilogy will go on sale at Amazon on 19 September 2016. To celebrate its launch, the Kindle e-book of “Coexistence” (Book 1 in the series) will be free at Amazon from 9 to 13 September. You can download it at Amazon US, Amazon UK or other Amazon stores.

“Blood and Choice” is available for pre-order now at half its regular price: at Amazon US for just $1.49, Amazon UK for £0.99 and also in Amazon stores in other countries at the sale price.

Book description for “Blood and Choice“:-

Years ago Liam faced the destruction of his village in Ireland by wendigoes who murdered nearly everyone in his life. Now, working in Invercade HyCO and still tormented by the past, the only person he has left is his best friend, Tig. The two of them kill a wendigo who has been living and working in the city for years and begin to unravel a plot by the creatures that could be more dangerous than anything they have experienced so far.

When Tig starts dating someone else Liam realises he is in love with him and his jealousy causes their friendship to start falling apart. Liam thinks his life can’t get much worse but wendigoes always find a way to prove him wrong and before long both their lives are in mortal danger.