Bywater Books

A spellbinding tale of hidden desires, whispered secrets, and a darkness that lingers behind every locked door.

Yorkshire, 1898.

When twenty-one-year-old Lilianne Loxley is sent to Lord Bexton’s isolated estate to work off her uncle's debts, she expects drudgery—not danger. With her gift for mimicry, she becomes Bexton’s secretary—and his reluctant forger. Soon she’s trapped in a scheme to create a “lost” novel by Emily Brontë, a deception that could make—or destroy—fortunes.

The house is full of secrets: footsteps echo in empty corridors, lemon-scented ghosts haunt her sleepless nights, and a portrait seems to watch her every move. Yet it’s the living who unsettle her most—especially Wren McAllister, the sharp-tongued maid whose defiance hides a tender heart. Drawn together by loss and longing, Lily and Wren risk everything for a freedom neither has ever known.

As the line between truth and invention blurs, Lily uncovers a shocking connection to the Brontë family—and to Bexton himself—that will force her to choose between love, loyalty, and the dangerous power of her own pen.

Catherine Friend’s The Lost Brontë is an atmospheric gothic romantic mystery steeped in secrets, desire, and literary intrigue.

Award-winning author Anna Burke returns to Seal Cove in this highly anticipated fourth romance, perfect for fans of small-town settings, friends-to-lovers stories, and healing from heartbreak themes.

Kate isn’t seeking love. After a broken engagement, all she wants is to prove she can show up, smile, and maybe remember what it’s like to flirt again. Jen swore she’d never attend Seal Cove’s speed dating night—until her best friend begged her to come along. She’s only there to fill a seat, not to risk her carefully guarded heart.

But the sea air has its own pull, and the small town has a way of turning strangers into something more. One evening. Seven minutes. A spark neither of them planned.

Sometimes love doesn’t come with a grand gesture. Sometimes it waits across a wobbly café table, asking the simplest question of all: What if this time is different?

Question: Do any of you know the truly scary part about being seventeen?

Answer: Your brain doesn't actually know, understand or care what it can't do; and, while this sounds great in theory, in my particular case, my under-developed brain apparently didn't know I couldn't fly.

So I jumped . . .
And I plummeted . . .

And I promise you, if I somehow manage to survive this act of immature-brain-encased-in-unbelievable-stupidity, I will gladly tell you exactly how I got here.

Which, for the record, is chasing a dark-web killer through the middle of a live action role-playing game, better known as a LARP.

On a LARP introduces readers to teen coder, Sid Rubin, a smartass—and super-smart—high school kid with a strong conscience and a knack for solving problems. This high concept, frenetic ride dives into the fascinating world of interactive role-playing when Sid recognizes the photo of a murder victim during an AP field trip to a police station. What starts out as an Aha! moment soon finds Sid and her unlikely posse of friends chasing a dark web killer through the middle of a live action role playing game. Sid and the gang work to unravel a deeply encrypted mystery while simultaneously enduring pop quizzes, endless Ted Talks, teenage heartbreak, suspicious parents, cosplay, and the irresistible lure of the NYC Public Library.

Stefani Deoul is the author of the award-winning novel The Carousel. She has produced TV series such as The Dead Zone, Brave New Girl, and Haven, and was also the executive in charge of production for the series Dresden Files and Missing.

A haunting gay love story where grief becomes devotion, memory becomes myth, and a young man must choose between the ghost of his past and the truth of who he is.

With tension and heart in equal measure, Mario Elías’s Beloved Disciples is a luminous, haunting portrait of grief, devotion, and the blurred edges of memory. In a sun-bleached Caribbean town, Simón is haunted by the ghost of his lover Albi, by the weight of family, and by a faith that no longer comforts. Once bound together by whispered prayers and saltwater kisses, Simón and Albi carved a secret world from the shadows. But when Albi dies unexpectedly, that world begins to unravel.

Now, Simón finds Albi everywhere: in the rectory where they made love, in the queer sanctuaries of their found family, in the ache of things unsaid. As his estranged Catholic mother reappears with promises and expectations, Simón is torn between the love that consumes him and the version of himself he’s been running from. Past and present bleed together, memory distorts, and reality slips into something more uncertain—more sacred.

A day-in-the-life tale laced with longing, Beloved Disciples is a fevered meditation on inheritance, identity, and the desperate need to belong. For readers of Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain, Fernanda Melcho’s Hurricane Season, and André Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name, this debut hums with raw beauty and tender, ruinous love.

Two girls. One celebrity crush. And a pen pal connection that just might be the real love story.

Nineteen-year-old Jay Baker is stuck. Freshly dropped out of college and floundering in her dead-end job, she’s more familiar with fictional love than the real thing—especially when it comes to her all-consuming crush on Josh Owen, the awkwardly endearing actor from the cult zombie show Undead or Alive. Nicknamed “Unrequited Love Girl” by her coworker, Jay’s convinced romance just isn’t in the cards—until she stumbles across the fanfiction account of “MrsJoshOwen.”

Enter Amber Martin: high school senior, head-over-heels Josh Owen fangirl, and the brilliant mind behind the stories that speak straight to Jay’s heart. Trapped under the weight of her family's expectations and a boyfriend who doesn’t quite understand her, Amber isn’t sure what her future holds—except that it’s probably not what everyone else is planning for her.

When Jay and Amber begin exchanging messages, their shared obsession quickly deepens into something far more real. As they open up about their fears, dreams, and everything in between, a genuine connection blossoms—one that just might turn into the kind of love they never saw coming.

At the intersection of Fangirl and She Gets the Girl, Audrey Wilson’s Dear Unrequited Love Girl is a swoony, funny, and emotionally resonant story about growing up, coming out, and discovering your person in the most unexpected way. Perfect for fans of slow-burn romance, chaotic queer crushes, and love stories written one message at a time.

Award-winning sapphic author Macon Leigh presents a luminous novel of quiet resilience, unexpected connection, and the profound beauty found in ordinary moments.

Elsie Cohan is pretty sure she’s going to be okay. And, these days, she’ll take pretty sure. Back home after experiencing a serious mental health episode, Elsie is determined to get back to her life and her art. This time, for the first time, on her terms. Whatever that means. But, don't worry, she’s going to figure it out. At least, she’s pretty sure she will.

Dawson Monroe is making sure she is never not okay again. Step one was leaving behind the high-pressure culinary scene in New York City where she was making a name for herself. Step two was turning an old barn into a roadside barbecue joint. And step three, her final step, is running her roadside barbeque joint in complete obscurity forever.

When Fate brings Elsie to Dawson’s doorstep, the two begin a stumbling journey towards both themselves and, if they can keep it from shattering, love.

Unspectacular Things is a tender, emotionally honest exploration of mental illness, healing, authenticity, and what it means to let yourself be seen. With warmth, humor, and heart, it serves as a gentle reminder that, among all the common and unspectacular things that make up life, love is the most spectacular.

Perfect for fans of novels like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine or Honey Girl, this novel is a gentle celebration of being human—and being loved for it.

Two-time Lambda Literary Award winner Ann McMan presents a lyrical, multi-voiced novel that explores the fragile architecture of the lives we build, the resilience it takes to reimagine them, and the enduring power of friendship that carries us through it all.

Told through the interwoven perspectives of four unforgettable characters—Meg, a gifted chef whose culinary journey anchors the story; Camille, her childhood best friend and unrequited love; Laurent, a sharp-tongued food critic and steadfast confidant; and Kip, a fearless documentary photographer who challenges Meg to live out loud—this richly layered novel spans decades, continents, and the full spectrum of human longing.

From postwar Paris to mid-century New York City to the quiet beauty of Vermont’s Lake Champlain, The Malign Ghosts of Summer traces how the pursuit of love—in all its forms—can shape a life. As each character navigates loss, belonging, and the search for meaning, their voices converge in a story of reinvention, chosen family, and the radiant triumph of becoming who you were always meant to be.

For readers of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, The Hours, and Honey Girl, this is a tender, resonant celebration of resilience, love, and connection.

When academician and artist Belinda Coltswood comes face-to-face with a colleague from her younger years, old feelings and painful memories rise to the surface in uncomfortable and potentially transformative ways.

Professor Belinda Coltswood has made a name for herself. As the recent winner of a prestigious art prize and the object of lingering rumors that nearly ended her career, Coltswood walks a fine line between celebrity and outcast. Though seemingly immune to both censure and accolades, Coltswood’s capacity for cool indifference dissolves in a riptide of memory when she finds herself face-to-face with a woman from her past. A woman she knew only as Wolf. While the Wolf in her office is hardly the same fierce young AIDS activist Coltswood remembers, this meeting has the potential to alter their lives in radical ways.

Prepare for intrigue, suspense, and unforgettable twists in this groundbreaking anthology of queer crime fiction.

In 2023, crime fiction anthologies featured 517 stories across 30 titles—but shockingly, fewer than 1 percent were penned by LGBTQ+ writers. Crime Ink: Iconic (An Anthology of Crime Fiction Inspired by Famous Queer Icons) is a resounding response to this glaring disparity, offering a vibrant collection of stories by and about queer authors and characters.

Drawing inspiration from queer icons—James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, Candy Darling, Radclyffe Hall, Babadook, Megan Rapinoe, Laverne Cox, Dolly Parton, Vita Sackville-West, and many more—these tales span the rich spectrum of crime fiction, from cozy mysteries and whodunits to noir, psychological thrillers, and police procedurals. Each story is a testament to the depth, ingenuity, and thrilling originality of queer voices in the genre.

This anthology showcases an incredible array of talent, including New York Times Best Crime Novels of 2024 honorees Margot Douaihy, Robyn Gigl, John Copenhaver, and Katrina Carrasco; Lambda Literary winners Ann Aptaker, Greg Herren, Ann McMan, and J.M. Redmann; and other celebrated writers like Cheryl Head, Penny Mickelbury, Christa Faust, Jeffrey Marks, and Kelly J. Ford. But that’s not all—this collection also includes many more decorated and emerging voices, ensuring a dynamic reading experience that is as inclusive as it is entertaining.

With a foreword by Ellen Hart and an afterword by Katherine V. Forrest, two luminaries of queer crime fiction, this anthology is more than a collection of stories—it’s a movement. Bursting with intrigue, twists, and unforgettable characters, Crime Ink: Iconic is essential reading for fans of crime fiction and anyone who craves representation in the stories they love.

One night of perfect passion years ago supercharges an epic battle between two head-strong women, each determined to get what they want in this feisty enemies-to-lovers sapphic romance.

When Molly Green’s dream career disintegrated because of an ill-advised affair with an entitled billionaire’s daughter, she fled to the ghost town near her childhood home. After years of hard work, she’s built herself a new path, one tour group and one historical book at a time. Now her life in Theia is being threatened by another bored, rich woman who likes Molly’s kisses but cannot be trusted with her heart.

Seph Milan needs a project to distract her from the fallout surrounding her divorce. She helped her husband build a tech empire and watched as he got all the credit. Now, with money that is rightfully hers, she flees California and lands in the middle of nowhere Montana determined to build something that is all her own. The quaint ghost town of Theia is the perfect place for her personal rebirth, except that the irresistible Molly Green is hellbent on stopping her.

While opposing ideas about Theia’s future pull Molly and Seph in opposite directions, their passion for each other keeps them crashing back together time and again. If you get lost in conflict of interest meets sexual attraction like Rachel Lacey’s The View from the Top and enemies-to-lovers romance in the vein of Haley Cass’ The Snowball Effect, This Means War will leave you hanging on every touch and tussle.

Lambda Literary Award-winning author Ann Aptaker's Cantor Gold faces the questions of who her real friends are and how far she would go to avenge their deaths.

Early November, 1958

New York City

Art thief and smuggler Cantor Gold's latest underworld caper begins when she arrives at big-time bookie Nick Fortunato's apartment to celebrate his birthday, a ritual the two friends have enjoyed for years. But Nick is missing, and there’s blood on the living room carpet. It’s not Nick’s blood, though. Nick’s death still awaits him. Despite crime lord Sig Loreale’s best plans to protect Nick, with whom Sig has financial dealings, a killer finds Nick hidden away in a cheap hotel owned by Loreale.

Among the players in this tale of friendship, betrayal, and the competition for power between the young and the aging, is the beautiful and possibly deadly Abbey O’Brien. She was Nick’s right hand in his bookie operation, and now that he’s dead, she stands to either gain big or lose even bigger.

The operatives and bettors in Nick’s bookmaking business have a stake in Nick’s death, too…and motives to either solve his murder or get him out of the way: there’s Freddie Holmes, who sizes you up before you’re allowed entry into the betting parlor; Mike Leandro, leader of the crew that takes phoned-in bets; Chickie D’Andrea, who posts the odds from every track and sporting event; Harry “Horsehide” Lanz, a major gambler and trackside aficionado; Sylvia Georgiadis, an aging grand dame of the gambling world; and others.

Assisting Cantor, as always, are her young Guy Friday Judson Zane; cabbie, sometime getaway driver and sometime friend with benefits Rosie Bliss; and Cantor’s criminal mentor Esther “Mom” Sheinbaum.

And always circling are the cops.

Kristen Zimmer, author of The Gravity Between Us, When Sparks Fly, and Forbidden Girl takes readers on an adrenalin-fueled dystopian journey into the future where a scrappy band of rebels rise up to bring down an unequal and unrelenting government.

This is your future.

The United States of America has been gone for over a century.

In its place, The Unified American Territories—a nation divided, the impoverished and the wealthy are separated by a looming steel wall. In the Northern Territories—The Vault, as it is known by its inhabitants—the government rules with an iron fist: All citizens are tested for intelligence and aptitude, thrust into compulsory higher education and saddled with insurmountable debt. All student loans are granted and controlled by a branch of the regime called The Federal Bureau of Education. Failure to repay their debt consigns borrowers to the Knowledge Reclamation Process, a mysterious government-sanctioned brainwashing program that strips them of their education with dire mental and physical side effects.

Fletcher Daniels is a recent college graduate struggling to stay ahead of her arrears. After a visit from Reclamation Agents, she knows her life is about to change for the worse. Enter Youth Opposed to Reclamation, a scrappy band of rebels who try in their own small way to bring some relief to the people of The Vault by smuggling as many potential Reclaimees to safety as possible. When Fletcher meets and falls for fellow female YOR member, Sparrow, her world is twisted away from the one she once knew even more radically. The group offers Fletcher a chance to escape her fate, but through them, she sees the promise of bringing real change to The Vault. History has taught her that even the smallest rebellions can trigger revolutions. It’s time for history to repeat itself.

A mysterious figure. A dead televangelist. A series of bizarre rituals.

Margo has spent most of her life without a family, and with a telekinetic gift she can't quite explain. Since losing her mother less than a year ago, she's felt more alone than ever. When her fiancé Sam takes her to his remote Iowa hometown to meet his family and begin planning their wedding, Margo finally begins to feel like she's home. But the feeling doesn't last long, and Margo soon feels out of place among her future in-laws. Sam's family is different from what she'd expected. Not only is their obsession with a deceased televangelist unsettling, but Margo has begun seeing a strange, mysterious figure from her past—a figure that she thought was put to rest with her mother's passing.

As Sam's family begins to take over the wedding plans, Margo tries to regain some control by turning to the town's sole wedding planner, who soon becomes her only confidant, perhaps because she reminds Margo of her former love. But the more Margo tries to distance her past from her future with Sam, the deeper his family pulls her in, forcing upon her generationally archaic traditions that border on ritualistic. As Margo unearths the family's dark web of secrets, she begins to suspect that she may have been brought here for a reason, and it may cost her her life.

In the psychologically unsettling vein of I'm Thinking of Ending Things and The Women in the Dark, combined with the socially aware suspense of Get Out, The Ever End takes elevated horror to a new level with a queer, twisted, feminist story that will keep readers guessing until the end, and stay with them long after that.

Author Virginia Black burst onto the queer speculative fiction scene with her powerful debut, Consecrated Ground. Now Joan of Crows returns to Calvert in this high-octane thriller that pits good versus evil in a penultimate showdown.

War witch Joan Matthews wants little more than to build a life with Leigh Phan. Their hometown is rebuilding under Joan’s protection, but not everyone is happy with her solution to the most recent vampire crisis.

Meanwhile, Leigh’s bloodling powers lead to unforeseen consequences, and Joan is forced to honor a favor owed to a dangerous foe. Neither knows a greater threat lurks behind seemingly unrelated attacks across the land.

Together, Joan and Leigh once saved the town of Calvert. Now that they are separated, each must learn to save herself, or all their gains will be forfeited—and everyone they know will pay the price.

Emmy, Golden Globe, and GLAAD Award-winning writer Mark B. Perry deftly weaves fictional characters with well-known personalities of Hollywood’s golden age into this powerful and sparkling novel about the wages of flesh and sin.

HOLLYWOOD, 1952

Blessed with the smoldering good looks that destine him for the silver screen, the unfortunately named Dan Root arrives on the scene as a naïve but ambitious 21-year-old. Mentored and exploited by a powerful and dashing Svengali-like producer and his beguiling wife (a movie star whose career is on the tragic cusp between fame and fade out), Dan is transformed into the promising young actor, Dexter Gaines.

Soon their three lives become dangerously entangled by sexual awakening and unrequited love, but when their passion and deceit lead to a crushing discovery and attempted murder, Dexter is forced to choose between stardom and survival. Four decades later, a heartbreaking event compels Dan to return to the city of lost dreams and confront his past. It is only then he begins to unravel the twists and turns of a long-ago emotional mystery, to make peace with his past and his foiled chance at stardom.

Mark B. Perry's alternating timelines explore the corrosive confluence of fame, fortune, sexuality, and ill-fated romance in this captivating Capote-esque novel.

Two-time Lambda Literary Award-winning author Ann McMan introduces readers to Isabelle Lebrun, a quick-witted accidental train conductor whose love life leaves her at the wrong station.

What happens when you’re looking for love and all your best friends are romance readers?

Cue a clown car of ill-fated first dates that read more like failed first drafts of romantic fiction tropes than aspiring hunts for the love of her life.

Assistant Conductor, Izzy Lebrun, spends her days riding the rails of The Green Mountain Zephyr between her home in Philadelphia and the end of the line in St. Alban’s, Vermont. Beleaguered Izzy walks a tightrope—desperately trying to achieve a work-life balance between a job that pays the bills, and her dogged determination to finish her graduate degree so she can finally get a job that keeps her rooted in one place.

All she wants is to earn her Ph.D., get a damn cat, and find the love of her life.

Is that too much to ask?

We follow Izzy through her sometimes disastrous, sometimes implausible, but always hilarious journey through a maze of failed dates and epically bad one-night stands. Will Izzy ever reach the end of the line and have her ticket punched for a HEA or is this the end of the line for her?

Author Avery Brooks returns to the steamy city of New Orleans with a smart and sexy sapphic romance that asks, “Can workplace rivals fall in love and find a happily ever after?”

Drea Cordeira likes to have fun. She has quite the reputation for it, having slept with most of the queer women of New Orleans. But behind the humor, charm, and sexy drawl, there's a lot more to Drea, and she's not too keen on sharing it.

Organized, reliable Cassie Sullivan has learned to be resilient through a lifetime of loss. She longs for a stable, loving relationship and someone she can count on, not a one-night stand, and definitely not with her new coworker, Drea.

In the office and under the hot lights of the dance floor, Drea and Cassie’s competitive spirits collide, unearthing a sexy tension and healthy dose of witty banter.

As their connection deepens, threatening the safety of the worlds they’ve carefully crafted, Drea and Cassie must both decide if the risk of revealing their true selves and taking a shot at a love greater than either of them could have imagined outweighs the pain of their pasts and the potential for rejection.

Award-winning author Anna Burke returns to Seal Cove in this long-awaited third romance that is perfect for fans of small-town, friends-to-lovers, and one-bed romantic tropes.

Helping animals for a living? ✔
Having the best friends in the world? ✔
Falling in love with one of those friends? Um . . . ✔

Stevie has everything she wants, except the one thing that matters most: her friend and roommate, Angie. But the shadows of Angie’s past have a long reach, and even though everyone in the small town of Seal Cove knows Stevie and Angie have been in love for years, none of that matters if Angie herself isn’t willing to take the risk.

Risk, as far as Angie is concerned, equals loss. She once risked everything by telling the truth--and that ended badly. Very badly. Friendship is the only thing that has ever worked out for her. She can’t afford to lose Stevie--even at the expense of her own happiness.

However, when their other roommates move out of the house, each finds it harder and harder to resist their feelings. Angie must decide if the scars of her past will dictate her future, and Stevie will need to accept that sometimes, people need to save themselves.

Singer-songwriter and filmmaker Be Steadwell’s lyrical debut is Practical Magic meets Black Cake in this warm and wry family drama with a magical twist about three sisters, a vision of princes, true love, and revolution, and one very complicated year of self-realization, family dynamics, and learning to let go.

The Jones sisters have powers.

Jasmine is a queer, heartbroken baker who crafts beautiful pastries that no one in DC wants to buy. Her sister Ella is a fat and fine bodyworker, begrudgingly serving rich white folk. And Layla, the youngest, is an ambitious affordable housing activist in the rapidly gentrifying district. The sisters are all conjurers, but they aren’t yet sure how to use their magic— and they’re not sure the world deserves it.

When their mother reveals her vision of princes, true love, and revolution, the jaded sisters meet her with skepticism. But after a chance encounter with the filthy rich Black developer Malcolm Scott and his two princely children, their mother’s prophecy begins to unfold.

This romantic novel explores class privilege while placing Black love, queer sex, and joy at its center.

Trailblazing author, Marianne K. Martin asks, “How much are you willing to sacrifice to protect your students and the woman you love?” in this powerful and timely novel.

Johanna Beals decided sixteen years ago to sacrifice everything to raise her daughter Kayla as a single mother. She knew it was the right decision even when it led to lonely nights and broken relationships, and even when adolescent secrets challenged their mother/daughter bond. But the decision to go it alone seems easy compared to the one she is about to face.

Secrets and bouts of teenage angst don’t only challenge parents. English teacher, Miya James, has dealt with her fair share of them over the years. But Kayla Beals seems to be whispering to the wind, an act that stirs uncomfortable memories of Miya’s fractured childhood. As the school year progresses, she finds she wasn’t prepared for this student, for her mother, or for the sparks that add fuel to the teeming atmosphere of unrest, bullying, and homophobia that leaves her school district grappling with life-changing decisions for everyone involved.

When a mysterious dog shows up during the renovation of the Big City Little Theatre, one woman falls in love with the victim of a century-old homicide who might not be as dead as she seems. And now it’s a race against time to ensure she stays that way.

On New Year’s Eve, in 1923, someone walked into Michelle “Mickey” McFadden’s queer speakeasy hidden beneath the Big City Little Theater and shot her and her dog, EZ, dead. Or . . . sort of, mostly, kind of dead, maybe? Because instead of crossing over, they become trapped within the bar’s cinderblock walls. And though EZ eventually manages to wriggle his way free, Mickey remains, her spirit frozen in time.

In 2022, employees of the Big City Little Theater begin encountering a stray dog sneaking in and around the premises. When Ciara, the theater’s bookkeeper, saves the dog from being hit by a truck, she begins to suspect there’s something odd about the mysterious canine and makes it her mission to catch him and either return him to his owners or keep him as her own.

That is until Ciara and her friends happen upon the sealed-up speakeasy in the theater’s subbasement —and find the dog inside. But how did he get in there when the door was locked? And why are there bullet holes in the otherwise beautifully preserved bar? Their discovery launches them on the investigation of a lifetime, complete with an ancient murder to solve, strange occurrences to explain, and a missing person to find.

When Mickey’s spirit, which has been trapped in the mysterious in-between for the past hundred years, begins to find her way out, she and Ciara finally come face-to-face. And it’s more than the speakeasy’s old wiring that makes sparks fly. Ciara’s falling hard for Mickey and Mickey for her. Can they solve the murder and figure out how EZ returned to the world of the living before the clock strikes midnight on the next New Year’s Eve?

Because if they don’t, they’re pretty certain Mickey’s time will finally be up—this time for good.

The Latecomer by Sarah Aldridge was the first book published by the legendary Naiad Press and one of the first known novels to grant a happy ending to its lesbian main characters.

Coming home from a summer spent in research in Europe, Philippa unexpectedly shares her stateroom with Kay, a stranger. Philippa, nearing forty, reserved, inexperienced in close human relationships, and Kay, eight years younger, lively, gregarious, agonizing over a frustrated love affair, spend five days during their stormy Atlantic crossing learning the key to each other’s natures.

Philippa and Kay believe their arrival in New York harbor will end their brief friendship, but circumstance intervenes. They meet again in Washington, D.C., where Kay's lover's career has led to possible catastrophe for all involved. It is Philippa who must act as a mediator for Kay—hiding her growing feelings to protect Kay's best interests.

The Latecomer invites you into the world of Philippa and Kay, strangers who meet aboard a cruise ship and, despite very different lives and aspirations, find a surprising bond. Through political and romantic intrigue, they uncover the truth about themselves.

First comes surrogacy, then comes the messy gay breakup in Tom Pyun’s tragi-comic debut novel that asks, is it ever too late to finally face yourself and grow up?

Winston Kang and Jared Cahill seem like the perfect couple. When they check-in for their flight to Cambodia, where they’re headed to meet the surrogate carrying their baby girl, even the woman at the airline counter recognizes it: “I’m so happy that marriage is legal for you guys,” she says.

But while Jared is already planning for their second kid—half white like him, half Korean like Wynn—Wynn isn't ready to give up his dreams of becoming a hip-hop dancer to become "the hostage of a crying, pooping terrorist." So he does what anyone in his position would do: He leaves Jared at the airport.

Wynn sets off on a journey around the globe, trying to figure out what it means to put himself first, from auditioning for Misty Espinoza’s comeback tour to organizing a Prince-themed flash mob. Oceans away, Jared starts to panic that no one in his life can talk to Meryl about her period or what it’s like to grow up Asian American.

Told in alternating points of view, Pyun’s sardonic and addictive page-turner confronts questions of race, identity, and privilege, and facing the question of whether it’s ever too late to finally face yourself and grow up.

Featuring strong queer female protagonists who must navigate class, race, religion, language, and nationality, Mala Kumar’s What It Meant to Survive is a poignant and heartbreaking commentary on life in modern-day America and Nigeria.

Ramya and Juliet begin to uplift each other and heal the moment they match on Tinder. For nearly a decade, Ramya, an American of Indian origin from Virginia, has grappled with her survivor’s guilt from a devastating mass shooting that occurred during her last year of university. Halfway around the world in Nigeria, Juliet has survived family tragedies, economic downturns, and an oppressive patriarchy. With a one-chance swipe on their phones in a country foreign to them both, the two women begin a remarkable romantic relationship that most fairy tales wouldn’t dare to depict.

But can they hold onto each other?

As their lives intertwine, Ramya suffers acute memory loss so pronounced that she sometimes forgets where she is, who she’s with, and even who she is. Periodically, Juliet experiences time freezes that throw her out of sync with everyone around her. Ultimately, the two women choose to begin a new life together in New York City, where their love will be acknowledged and respected. But for Juliet to make it through the American immigration process, the two women must get to the root causes of these memory loss and time-lapse episodes by coming to terms with their pasts.

Written by a singularly talented, wildly imaginative novelist, What It Meant to Survive is a powerful and bracing work of fiction inspired by the Virginia Tech Massacre, and the author's real-life experience navigating its long-term social and emotional impacts.

Award-winning author Penny Mickelbury takes readers on a beautiful and complicated journey through Harlem in 1953. This captivating story is passionate and alive, teeming with the contradictory joy and pain of Black life in America.

World War II ended less than 10 years ago, and the Korean War less than one. But no one has recovered from wartime privations, especially the Colored soldiers who fought a ruthless enemy on foreign lands, expecting to return home with all the rights and privileges of American citizenship.

But those rights and privileges remain few and far between, and Mickelbury’s cast of characters find themselves reflecting on the Harlem they call home: they are educated and unschooled; wealthy and desperately poor; committed to improving circumstances for Negroes and abjectly hopeless. They create a family of and for themselves—women, men, children, gays, and the proudly self-named. They commit themselves to helping create a world to benefit their people based on hard work, artistic expression, and faith in their community.

They have learned to live in the larger world by two guiding principles: Each One Teaches One, and Harm to One is Harm to All—because in this neighborhood, payback will always be swift and painful.

In this powerful prequel to The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants, Orlando Ortega-Medina weaves an inspiring story of survival, love, and resilience set against the violent backdrop of 1980s El Salvador.

Isaac Perez, a young dreamer caught in the crossfire of El Salvador's civil war, is forced to flee north after his life is torn apart by military brutality. His journey to the United States is fraught with peril, but he’s not alone; by his side is Ahbhu, a loyal Australian Cattle Dog with whom he shares a mysterious, telepathic bond.

Together, Isaac and Ahbhu brave treacherous landscapes and cross paths with unforgettable allies: Suchi, a fierce protector of LGBTQ migrants, and Diego, a young man whose kindness rekindles Isaac’s hope for a future beyond survival. But as they journey through a world scarred by violence and betrayal, Isaac must confront the haunting shadows of his past—and discover whether he has the strength to build a new life in a land of promise.

Set in a magic-touched reality where love and loyalty transcend even the harshest borders, Emerald Road explores the power of connection, the loss of innocence, and the courage needed to forge a new beginning. This gripping tale invites readers into a story where survival and spirit intertwine, testing the limits of hope in the face of unimaginable odds.

From the ground-breaking author of Punk Like Me and Punk and Zen, comes the powerful story of Bennie Grego, an EMT by day and comic book artist by night who is forced to make an impossible decision.

There’s not much more dangerous or exciting than being a New York City emergency medical technician—unless you add being a smokejumper during fire season. It’s all about saving lives one way or another, holding the line against fire, disaster, and death.

Saving lives is what Benadette “Bennie” Grego knows, and she’s damn good at it. Her Nana keeps her gear repaired and blesses Bennie with holy water whenever she leaves on assignment. The work is hazardous, but Bennie loves helping people. And when she’s not saving lives, Bennie pursues her true passion: drawing comics.

Her best friend Tori, has her back out on the ambulance as they roam the NYC streets. Friend Trish Spence, who gave up the glamour of the NYC 911 scene for a full-time vocation as a smoke jumper, is Bennie’s companion, backup, and sometimes even crew boss when they’re out on a scene. They’re close, and there’s a strong chance they can get closer if things go as they could. And they should. Life is good, and Bennie can’t imagine it any other way.

But a bad jump results in a devastating injury, and Bennie, whose life was changed by trauma before, must once again choose: the sirens or the superheroes?

JD Glass delivers the popular workplace, emotional scars, and injury tropes into an action-packed novel about accepting love and devotion and doing everything possible to achieve your dreams.

A compelling comedy of polyamorous romance and nonbinary adventure, this reissue of The Giddy Death of the Gays and the Strange Demise of Straights—includes a Foreword by the author and an Afterword by noted queer writer Meg-John Barker.

Caroline and her Dom live out their normal lives amongst the poverty, alcoholics, and street preachers of Swansea, Wales. But when Dom and his straight roommate fall in love—a passionate, secret, non-sexual love—their lives are transformed into a queer chaos of cross-dressing, gender-bending and free love. Will Dom hold on to his relationship? Can religious fundamentalists be adopted as pets? And just what are The Lesbians up to? The ultimate battle between preachers and drag queens, skinheads and sex workers, boyfriend and girlfriend, is set to change the city forever.

Fay Jacobs is back . . . again . . . really . . . for the LAST time!

As the author of five previous humorous memoirs, activist and comedian Fay Jacobs returns with her FINAL collection of tall tales, Big Girls Don’t Fry: Rehoboth Beach Wrap Up. And, as you’d expect, It’s chock-full of Fay’s signature witty, wise, and often laugh-out-loud commentary about the craziness of contemporary life in the diverse and welcoming resort town of Rehoboth Beach on the Delaware Coast.

This time, though, everyone’s favorite “Sit-Down Comic” tangles with the after-effects of an insane election, kissing penguins, riding an opinionated camel, wearing pussy hats, and masking in the time of Covid . . .

Big Girls Don’t Fry was compiled over the last few years, beginning in January 2021 and ending with an urgent plea to get out and vote for our lives. It chronicles her chronic losing battle with nature and changing technology, revisits some of her greatest hits and misses, deals with the ups and downs of social distancing, masking, and video happy hours, and reflects on what it was like to be honored by a troop of Girl Scouts.

And through it all, Fay finds a way to make her stories provocative, political, occasionally heartwarming, and reliably hilarious.

It’s all captured in the final installment of Fay Jacobs’ award-winning Tales from Rehoboth Series.

Come along for the ride—you’ll be happy you did!

Tides change, but some feelings can’t be washed away.

Lillian Lee doesn’t believe in love at first sight. Hate is a different story—and one she is intimately familiar with. Luckily, she hasn’t seen her arch-nemesis, Ivy Holden, since graduating from veterinary school five years ago. Since then, while her life isn’t going exactly according to plan, she’s happy. She has great friends, a job she loves, and the best pets in the world. Most importantly, her life is stable.

Seal Cove, Maine, is the last place Ivy Holden ever expected to end up. But when an unexpected medical condition forces her to relocate to be closer to family, she can’t turn down the opportunity. Her new job at Seal Cove Veterinary Clinic has everything she needs: flexibility, proximity to her family’s summer home, and the chance to do the work she loves. Unfortunately, it also has Lillian Lee.

Thrown back into one another’s orbits, Lillian and Ivy must find a way to work together, despite the treacherous emotions threatening to drown them both.

Sometimes love finds you when you least expect it . . .

Morgan Donovan had everything she ever wanted: a dream job as a large animal veterinarian, awesome friends, and a loving and supportive fiancée. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancée dumps her after realizing that Morgan’s job will always come first. And, while Morgan still has the job and friends, her heart is broken into a million tiny pieces.

Emilia Russo is a burned-out shelter vet. When the unexpected death of her father triggers a mental breakdown that hastens the end of her relationship, she retreats to his house in Seal Cove, Maine. She plans on spending the summer renovating it while she figures out how to pull the pieces of her life back together. But when she runs into Morgan at the dock where her father’s sailboat is moored, her plans for a quiet summer of healing and reflection sink like a stone—the attraction is immediate and obvious, and Emilia finds herself slipping seamlessly into Morgan’s world.

Each woman knows this fling will end when Emilia returns to Boston at the end of the summer, but they’re unprepared for the intensity and depth of their attraction. And, as the gales of fall begin to drive leaves like spindrift upon Seal Cove, Morgan and Emilia must each come to terms with how much they’re willing to give up to stay together.

Welcome to the National Recovery Bureau, where your assets are as sacred as God’s holy word.

Vera “Nick” Nicholson is an overtaxed and underpaid attorney wasting away on the bottom rung of the gilded ladder at Turner, Witherspoon, Anders, and Tyler in Winston-Salem, NC. When a high-priced luxury car belonging to one of the firm’s top clients goes missing, Nick gets saddled with the unenviable job of recovering the vehicle―and its mysterious contents―without involving the cops. Enter Fast Eddie and his quirky band of misfits at The National Recovery Bureau, a repo agency located in a sleepy town called K-Vegas.

When Nick is unceremoniously furloughed from TWAT, she throws caution to the wind and signs on to become the newest agent of the NRB, teaming up with moonlighting third-grade schoolteacher, Frances “Frankie” Stohler. Frankie’s mortician father and beautician mother are stalwarts of the Winston-Salem community―so it’s no surprise that everyone across three counties has some connection to her family. What is surprising, however, is the Slim Jim Frankie carries in her purse and her preternatural talent for jacking cars.

Nick and Frankie’s stumbling entrée into the surreal world of asset recovery takes them on a hilarious, fast-paced, and mind-bending journey across the back roads and byways of the Tar Heel state, setting into motion a chain of misadventures that lead them both toward financial independence, cataclysmic legal jeopardy, and the discovery that true love can sometimes lurk in the most unlikely places.

"Repo romance might not be a genre, but two-time Lambda Literary Award-winner McMan makes a case that it should be with this delicious and hilarious fever-dream of a novel." —Publisher's Weekly (Starred Review)

Consecrated Ground is a multiracial lesbian paranormal tour de force that will leave you wary of the shadows and absolutely breathless.

Like her father before her, Joan Matthews is a witch. For generations, their family of binder witches has protected Calvert, Oregon from vampires by strengthening the land with spellcraft. Pushing back against tradition, Joan defied her father and left town to become a war witch, one who fights the monsters hand-to-hand. But when her father dies, Joan returns to find her hometown assailed by a vampire lord’s endless attacks—and the answers lie with the one woman who chose a rival over Joan.

Leigh Phan once believed her heart was safe and her future was set. When Joan left town, Leigh’s choices led to ruin and unintended consequences. Now Leigh harbors a dark secret forcing her to live a moment-to-moment existence. Her only hope of survival lies in trusting the war witch who left her behind.

Now it's up to Joan to fight for a town she left behind, while Leigh faces a destiny she never imagined was possible. With Calvert on the brink of total destruction, Joan and Leigh join forces and face inconvenient truths in order to save their town—and each other.

Lambda Literary Award-winning author introduces readers to the crime-fighting duo of Fin Donner and Devorah Longstreet—Lovers. Investigators. Women ahead of their time.

New York City, 1899—a city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.

When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.

Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.

Galileo was awarded the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in the Lesbian Mystery category.

Tim Donovan is a Catholic priest with a guilty conscience—though not in the way you’d guess. And Katherine Donne is a Parisian socialite who long ago kicked her self-respect to the curb—for good and for ill. And much closer, we have a group of men whose fortunes, graying temples and positions in life are distinguished and enviable. But their morals? Anything but. And that’s where Evan Reed comes in. Evan (short for Evangeline) is a highly principled political operative with an imperfect past, tasked with uncovering compromising material on a rotten judge up for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court before he can be rushed through confirmation.

Evan knows it won't be simple to find damaging information against the judge because he's been vetted many times before. When Evan pulls the string after an interview with a cryptic madman, she finds herself struggling to solve a puzzle that gets more complex by the hour. And where crime, money, conscience, and greed come together, danger is sure to lurk. In this sequel to Dust, Ann McMan takes the reader on an intense journey into a world that lies just beneath the thin veneer of civilization—a world teeming with power struggles and warped desires, and a subculture of promises made, kept, and broken.

As Evan pushes further into peril, her personal life sparks into flame with the increasing presence of the ravishing Julia Donne, a book publisher with a progressive bent and troubling questions about her late father. McMan’s specialty of intertwining a hot romance into heart-pounding suspense just keeps getting better and better.

Two-time Lambda Literary Award-winning author Ann McMan takes readers inside the inner workings of the funeral home business as only she can in this remarkable and wholly unforgettable dark romantic comedy that proves life is for the living.

Everything about Lilah Stohler is dark: her clothes, mood, and outlook on life and death. That last part is important because Lilah’s father has just retired and left her in charge of the family funeral home. But Abel Stohler knows his daughter’s comfort level rests “downstairs,” so he hires one Sparkle Lee Sink, to help Lilah manage the living part of the business of death.

 Sparkle is everything that Lilah isn’t—an empathetic marketing whiz who is a true people person.

Lilah isn’t happy about this new arrangement. Still, when business starts booming because of Sparkle’s bright personality, delicious baked goods, and knack for funereal commerce, Lilah thinks things might work out. But joy is fleeting in the funeral home business, and Lilah’s world is turned upside down when an unwitting Instagram post featuring one of her moods goes viral—and now, sightings of “The Black Bird of Chernobyl” have become an obsession across the Instaverse.

Lilah knows that Sparkle needs to go, but before she can give her the send-off she deserves, Lilah must first find a way to deal with the inconvenient attraction she’s developed for the nemesis whose unconventional methods are single-handedly transforming the death trade—and quite possibly the Black Bird, herself.

Filled with McMan's crisp humor and quirky pathos, The Black Bird of Chernobyl is a humorous dark Southern existential crisis of a romance.

NAMED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES AS ONE OF THE 10 BEST ROMANCES OF 2023.

Somewhere foggy, 1837 . . .

Poppy had always loved the night, so it wasn’t too much of a bother to wake one evening in an unfamiliar home far from London, weak and confused and plagued with a terrible thirst for blood, to learn that she could no longer step out into the day. And while vampirism presented several disadvantages, it more than made up for those in its benefits: immortality, a body that could run at speed for hours without tiring, the thrill of becoming a predator, the thing that pulls rabbits from bushes and tears through their fur and flesh with the sharp point of a white fang.

And, of course, Roisin. The mysterious woman who has lived for centuries, who held Poppy through her painful transformation, and who, for some reason, is now teaching her how to adjust to her new, endless life. A tight, lonely, buttoned-up woman, with kindness and care pressed up behind her teeth. The time they spend together is as transformative to Poppy as the changes in her body, and soon, she finds herself hopelessly, overwhelmingly attached. But Roisin has secrets of her own, and can’t make any promises; not when vengeance must be served.

Soon, their little world explodes. Together and apart, they encounter scores of vampires, shifty pirates, conniving opera singers, ancient nobles, glamorous French women, and a found family that throws a very particular sort of party. But overhead, threat looms—one woman who is capable of destroying everything Poppy and Roisin hold dear.

Samara Breger's A Long Time Dead is a lush, Victorian romance, drenched in blood and drama, about the lengths two women will go to secure a love that cannot die.

Agatha Award-winning author, Abigail Padget returns with Book No.2 of the Blue McCarron Mystery series.

When two prominent female politicians die in San Diego of cerebral hemorrhages within days of each other, social psychologist Blue McCarron knows that their deaths are a statistical impossibility—they simply cannot be from natural causes. Within hours, a female evangelist almost dies, and threats from a religious fanatic, illustrated with blue willow plates, tie the three victims together. Blue and her lover, Roxanne, a criminal psychiatrist, are hired by the police as consultants and trace the three women to a posh plastic surgery clinic. As Blue and Rox investigate the clinic, the killer turns his attention on Blue, a strong, nontraditional woman who offends his ultraconservative religious beliefs. When Blue finds a blue willow plate on the doorstep of her isolated desert home, she knows the hunt has become a deadly game and that the unknown killer has every advantage.

In 1983, Livvie Bliss leaves western North Carolina for New York City, armed with a degree in English and a small cushion of cash from a favorite aunt. Her goal is to launch a career in publishing, but also to live openly as a lesbian. A rough start makes Livvie think she should give up and head home, but then a new friend helps her land a job at a literary agency run by the formidable Bea Winston. Bea hopes Livvie’s Southern charm and boyish good looks will help her bond with one of the agency’s most illustrious clients—the cranky Modernist writer Clio Hartt, an octogenarian recluse who accomplished just one great novel. When Livvie becomes Clio’s girl Friday and companion, the plan looks like it’s working: The two connect around their shared western North Carolina heritage, and their rapport gives Clio support and inspiration to think about publishing again. But something isn’t quite right with Clio’s writing. And as Livvie learns more about Clio’s romantic relationship with playwright Flora Haynes, uncomfortable parallels emerge between Livvie’s own circle of friends and the drama-filled world of expatriate artists in Paris in the 1920s. In Clio’s final days, the writer shares a secret that could upend Livvie’s life—and the literary establishment.

Independent Publishers Awards (IPPY) Silver Medalist in LGBT+ Fiction

The eclectic stories in this collection are bound by the threads of desire in its many forms, above all, the desire for love and a place of safety in a world where being Black and gay can thwart the fulfillment of that longing. The characters are complex, driven, difficult, and even, at times, unsympathetic, but always compelling. In other words: fully rounded human beings living complicated lives.

A proud Black woman who escaped her rural, impoverished town returns after the collapse of her marriage and faces the scorn of those she left behind. A middle-aged gay man finds his loneliness temporarily relieved by the arrival of a stray cat. An unhappily married woman becomes enmeshed in her bisexual husband's attempt to create a ménage à trois with a much younger man. A 16-year-old boy discovers the power of his sexuality when he embarks upon a dangerous seduction. Two Black men, one mature and rich, the other young and struggling, are drawn into a contentious affair by their shared love of opera. The legendary blues singer Glady Bentley crashes up against the barriers of race and gender when she gets caught up in a police raid.

Kiss the Scars on the Back of My Neck is a masterful collection of stories by a gifted writer who has fully hit his stride.

Lies With Man is a finalist for the 2022 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Mystery

Los Angeles, 1986.

A group of right-wing Christians has put an initiative on the November ballot to allow health officials to force people with HIV into quarantine camps—and it looks like it’s going to pass. Rios, now living in LA, agrees to be counsel for a group of young activists who call themselves QUEER [Queers United to End Erasure and Repression]. QUEER claims to be committed to peaceful civil disobedience. But when one of its members is implicated in the bombing of an evangelical church that kills its pastor, who publicly supported the quarantine initiative, Rios finds himself with a client suddenly facing the death penalty.

On a cold day deep in the heart of winter, Rowan’s father returns from an ill-fated hunting trip bearing a single, white rose. The rose is followed by the Huntress, a figure out of legend. Tall, cruel, and achingly beautiful, she brings Rowan back with her to a mountain fastness populated solely by the creatures of the hunt. Rowan, who once scorned the villagers for their superstitions, now finds herself at the heart of a curse with roots as deep as the mountains, ruled by an old magic that is as insidious as the touch of the winter rose. Torn between her family loyalties, her guilty relief at escaping her betrothal to the charming but arrogant Avery Lockland, and her complicated feelings for the Huntress, Rowan must find a way to break the curse before it destroys everything she loves. There is only one problem—if she can find a way to lift the curse, she will have to return to the life she left behind. And the only thing more unbearable than endless winter is facing a lifetime of springs without the Huntress.

Thorn was named to the American Library Association's 2020 Over the Rainbow Fiction Longlist.

When dreams and expectations clash in a flurry of sparks, an actress and an aristocrat find themselves searching for common ground.

Lady Victoria Penchant has had enough scandal for one lifetime, and she's sworn off drama for good. But when she makes an unexpected return to her family's castle during high tourist season, drama is exactly what she finds—in the form of a Hollywood film crew and their sharp-tongued, stunning star, Sophia LeBlanc. Sparks of every kind fly from their first encounter and the drama doubles as Vic's every decision draws her closer to Sophia and further from the expectations of the prestigious position she has been raised to protect.

Sophia has worked and scraped and fought her way up from nothing to the brink of stardom. She's spent her career taking direction from rich, pretty, privileged men, and she has no intention of letting some rich, pretty, privileged aristocrat stand in the way now that her wildest dreams are within reach. She vows to stay in control of every situation during filming, but the Lady of the Manor proves to be an unexpectedly stubborn and alluring challenge to the goals she’s fought so hard to achieve.

As the summer heats up, Vic and Sophia learn they have far more in common than their intense sexual attraction, but will that be enough to overcome the pressures of proud histories and find their way toward a new vision of forever?

Mrs. Robinson, meet Holden Caulfield—if Holden were a smart, sexy teenage lesbian in love with her mother’s best friend.

For Candace “Ace” Ragsdale, Mrs. Forest is an irresistible force of nature: luscious, tantalizing—and maybe not completely out of reach.

No one in her family is moored to social convention—but they’ve each learned to surf the wave of the unfamiliar and make the most of chaos. From Ace’s womanizing-yet-worshipful brother to her elusive-yet-loving parents, we watch this well-meaning family weave its way into a rich tapestry of townspeople, often to comic effect.

The backdrop is the Massachusetts seaside town of Horton, cut off from the world. On the surface, boats sway on their moorings, while below bubbles a primal brew of salt and sea life—much like the Ragsdales, a decidedly modern family whose humor and goodwill skim breezily above an ocean of smoldering emotions.

Into this infinite chaos careens a rebel grandmother who shows up to help the family save the town windmill, whose mysterious energy whips up the coastal disturbances of a changing world. As this spectacle of public conflict and private anguish unfolds, we’re fully on Ace’s side as she pilots the turbulent waters of love, sex, and traditionally non-traditional small-town values.

The ocean has always been a place of freedom for Lisa Whelan, and after her newborn son passes away, she returns to her family home by the sea to seek freedom from her grief. She’s not expecting to meet anyone, and is caught off guard by the attraction she feels for Rachel, the part-owner of a local restaurant. That initial spark is dampened, however, when Lisa realizes that Rachel has a child.

Rachel Murray has worked hard to build a life for herself and her son but raising Declan has not been without its challenges. Each day when Rachel picks him up from school, she says a silent prayer that he will be waiting for her in his classroom, and not in the principal’s office. Again. Her son’s behavior has grown increasingly disruptive, and Rachel is at a loss at how to help him.

Despite her grief, Lisa finds herself drawn to both Rachel and Declan. She thinks she can keep her emotions at bay— keep from drowning in grief and keep from falling in love—but she finds both to be a tidal wave, washing over her, sweeping her off her feet. Lisa never intended on falling in love with anyone, and she certainly cannot allow herself to fall for someone whose son is a constant reminder of the child she lost. Or can she?

Salem West and Christel Cogneau have assembled a powerhouse lineup of Bywater Books and Amble Press authors to explore, subvert, and reinvigorate the bountiful feast of All Hallows phantasmagoria in this stunning collection.

To the living, “soul food” has a specific meaning, history, and flavor. But what does “soul food” mean to the demon, ghost, fiend, witch, spirit, or vampire? How does their ingenuity and wit rise and fall in the taking, baking, erasing, embracing, and defacing of sustenance?

West and Cogneau have challenged their authors to explore these and other questions in surprising and fascinating ways. Sometimes sweet and other times terrifying, sometimes warm or otherwise demented, these stories set the table for an otherworldly feast of delight and intrigue.

Let the banquet begin . . .

Soul Food Stories is packed with literary confections by award-winning authors, Anna Burke, Jenn Alexander, Jacob Budenz, Virginia Black, Cathy Pegau, and Ann McMan.

Featured stories include:

“The Five Year Revenge Agency” by Anna Burke
“Tilly’s Tarts” by Jenn Alexander
“Of the Air and Land” by Jacob Budenz
“Ravenous” by Virginia Black
“In Speary Wood” by Cathy Pegau
“Perhaps You Missed My Signs” by Anna Burke
“Ghost Writer” by Ann McMan

Independent Publisher Books Awards (IPPY) Gold Medalist in Mid-Atlantic-Best Regional Fiction

From the author of the New York Times #1 bestseller, The Rapture of Canaan, and steeped in the rich tradition of Southern writers like Carson McCullers and Sue Monk Kidd, The Tender Grave is the gripping story of two estranged sisters who find their unlikely way toward forgiveness—and each other—through a disturbing set of circumstances.

Dori, at age 17, participates in a hate crime against a gay boy from her school and runs away to escape prosecution—and her own harrowing childhood. In her pocket, she carries the address of an older, half-sister she’s never met. She has no idea that her sister Teresa is married to another woman. When Dori and Teresa finally meet, they’re forced to confront that, while they don’t like or really even understand one another, they are inextricably bound together in ways that transcend their differences. Together, the sisters discover that shifting currents of family and connection can sometimes run deeper than the prevailing tides of abandonment and estrangement.

In The Tender Grave, Sheri Reynolds weaves complex themes of parenting, forgiveness, guilt, and accountability into a lyrical and lushly-woven tapestry that chronicles our enduring search for heart, home, and healing.

Thomas McGurrin is a fourth-grade teacher and openly gay man at a private primary school serving Portland, Oregon's wealthy progressive elite when he is falsely accused of inappropriately touching a male student. The accusation comes just as Thomas is thrust back into the center of his unusual family by his younger brother's battle with cancer. Although cleared of the accusation, Thomas is forced to resign from a job he loves during a potentially life-changing family drama.

Davison's novel explores the discrepancy between the progressive ideals and persistent negative stereotypes among the privileged regarding social status, race, and sexual orientation and the impact of that discrepancy on friendships and family relations.

By turns rueful, humorous, angry, and wise, Doubting Thomas marks the debut of an important writer.

Thirty-eight-year-old Xeni is secretly praying for a virgin birth—what could possibly go wrong?

Xeni is a first-generation Greek American, raised in the Greek Orthodox faith, and trained in all the essential skills of a traditional Greek housewife. She knows how to make any Greek dish scrumptious, but the one recipe she hasn’t mastered is how to make a baby—by virgin birth. Xeni is a lesbian and struggles daily to resolve what she wants with what she doesn't—praying for a miracle.

Meanwhile, free-spirited Callie, who ended up with a baby conceived during a boozy one-night stand, is trying to bridge a cultural divide with Gus, her Greek American baby daddy, by learning to cook just like his mother. When Xeni spots Callie in the produce aisle selecting limp spinach and tofu for spanakopita, she's compelled to offer her assistance. After all, food can create miracles, and they both need one.

With undeniable chemistry from their first cooking lesson, Xeni and Callie sublimate their intense attraction to one another by creating mouthwatering meals. But their good intentions are blown to shreds when Gus's mother arrives from Greece and decides that Xeni, not Callie, would make the perfect Greek wife for Gus. Now Xeni must once and for all reconcile her religious beliefs with her sexuality—and decide which love is ultimately the higher power.

The Feasting Virgin is a delectable novel that is full of heart, humor, magical realism, and a veritable feast full of tasty recipes.

A grieving pianist visits the site of her true love’s death hoping to find answers that will help her to move on, but what she finds leaves her with more questions than answers.

Lee Howe, a professional pianist, comes to Southern California from New York on a mournful mission: She believes that if she can see the site where her beloved Devorah met her death, she will begin to accept that she must move on with her own life.

Devorah Manikian had been rehearsing for a starring role in Carmen and was living in Eggerscliffe, a 1920s-style pseudo-castle belonging to the wealthy and eccentric impresario, Annajean Eggers. Devorah was gone only a few weeks before Lee was notified that she was dead—tragically killed in a tower fire at Eggerscliffe.

But as Lee stands alone on a deserted patch of beach just below the castle, she hears Devorah singing. Is it the cocktail of tranquilizers, sleeping pills, anti-depressants, and anti-anxiety drugs Lee has been taking since learning of Devorah’s death that makes her hallucinate her beloved’s voice—or is Devorah being kept a prisoner somewhere in Eggerscliffe?

Phyllis Irwin, a nonagenarian mystery writer, and musician teamed up with her spouse Lillian Faderman (often called the “mother of lesbian history”) to write Ghost Trio.

This novel has been revised and updated from the Bold Strokes Books edition originally published in April 2013 under the nom de plume of Lillian Q. Irwin.

Dreams and Swords is not only the perfect introduction to Katherine V. Forrest’s work—it is also a delicious treat for her fans.

Once upon a time, we were all children and short stories taught us how to read fiction. In the hands of true storytellers, they can still take us back to the very heart of why we love to read—and Katherine V. Forrest is one of those true storytellers.

This collection of her short stories showcases the brilliance of her gift, displaying the scope of her imagination and the range of her voice. From the erotic speculation of “O Captain, My Captain” to the incisive investigation of homicide detective Kate Delafield; from moral dilemma to chilling horror; from peril to passion, Forrest takes us across the vivid landscapes of her remarkable mind. A writer who has inspired both writers and readers, Forrest demonstrates her breathtaking versatility.

Originally published in 1987, Dreams and Swords is not only the perfect introduction to her work—it’s also a delicious treat for her legions of fans.

A young woman summons a demon to help find a dead celebrity crush only to learn that things in Hell are a lot hotter than she ever imagined.

Jules Tolliver has a completely sensible reaction to the death of her favorite movie star: she summons a demon named Ash to accompany her on an epic road trip through the afterlife to save her celebrity crush. But when the dynamic duo takes a hard left into Hell, they encounter the cheeky Fates along with a nasty horde of demons and monsters dead set on derailing their mission.

And then, of course, Ash is kidnapped because, Hell.

One backroom deal later, and Jules kidnaps a beautiful girl as payback for freeing Ash—which is awkward because Jules comes to the unexpected realization that she likes girls, and not just in a friendly way. Complications ensue when Faith, the beautiful girl, is left behind and our reunited dynamic duo continues their quest to rescue the dead celebrity crush and return him to the mortal plane.

But things don't always go as planned in Purgatory, especially when The Fates spring an unholy mission on you when you least expect it. And as Jules stands face-to-face at the convergence of morality, theology, and fan culture, the only question left for her to answer is whether or not she can find her Faith in the beautiful girl in the rearview mirror.

In this stunning work of speculative urban fiction, Redfern Jon Barrett breaks down the binary between utopia and dystopia—presenting an ambitopian vision of the world’s first gay state.

A glittering gay metropolis of 24 million people, Berlin is a bustling world of pride parades, polyamorous trysts, and even an official gay language. Its distant radio broadcasts are a lifeline for teenagers William and Gareth, who flee toward sanctuary. But is there a place for them in the deeply divided city?

Meanwhile, young mother Cissie loves Berlin’s towering high rises and chaotic multiculturalism, yet she’s never left her heterosexual district—not until she and her family are trapped in a queer riot. With her husband Howard plunging into religious paranoia, she discovers a walled-off slum of perpetual twilight, home to the city’s forbidden trans residents.

Challenging assumptions of sex and gender, Proud Pink Sky questions how much of ourselves we need to sacrifice in order to find identity and community.

In the year 2513, the only thing higher than the seas is what’s at stake for those who sail them.

Rose was born facing due north, with an inherent perception of cardinal points flowing through her veins. Her uncanny sense of direction earns her a coveted place among the Archipelago Fleet elite, but it also attracts the attention of Admiral Comita, who sends her on a secret mission deep into pirate territory. Accompanied by a ragtag crew of mercenaries and under the command of Miranda, a captain as bloodthirsty as she is alluring, Rose discovers the hard way that even the best sense of direction won’t be enough to keep her alive if she can’t learn to navigate something far more dangerous than the turbulent seas. Aboard the mercenary ship, Man o’ War, Rose learns quickly that trusting the wrong person can get you killed—and Miranda’s crew have no intention of making things easy for her—especially Miranda’s trusted first mate, Orca, who is as stubborn as she is brutal.

Lambda Literary Award-winning author returns with a stunning mystery proving that Noir is the new black.

A golden city of prosperity, energy, the exciting engine of the American Dream. Just underneath, though, is a dark city, with darker ambitions. This is the world of Cantor Gold, dapper art thief and smuggler, who has her own way of securing the rewards of the American Dream. In the conformist 1950s, when same-sex romance was illegal, Cantor decides that any Law that condemns her as a criminal just for her love of women is not a Law she owes any allegiance to. As an outlaw, she thrives earning fistfuls of cash and living life on her own terms. But someone wants to take it all away. Someone wants to rob Cantor of everything: her success in the underworld, her freedom, her life.

Predators are out to destroy Cantor: the cops who violently raid the Green Door Club, Cantor's favorite watering hole, where the lights are low and the women are willing; and worse, an unknown predator who threatens to destroy Cantor's life, even destroy the lives of people close to her.

Murder is one of the weapons in the hunter's arsenal, involving Cantor in the dangerous fate of each corpse. Another is the taunting, threatening notes that turn up on the corpses or at Cantor's door or at the door of people she visits. And then there are the phone calls and a disguised voice. Someone is invading every minute of Cantor Gold's life.

Lambda Literary Award Winner and Ferro-Grumley Literary Award finalist.

“Malone is back with another story that takes us deeper into the shadowy depths of the mind and heart with every twist of its plot . . . keeping the reader rapt all the way to the unforeseeable conclusion.” —Jane and Jane Magazine

Everybody longs for a happy ending.

The day the kid fell into the river—that was the moment for Claire and Liv. The first inkling of a possibility of something to pull them together. Following the death of her aunt, Claire struggled. For years, their lives had been bound together, with Claire happily writing the brilliant field guides whose covers carried her aunt’s name. Now she was alone. With no way to move forward. Until she looked at Liv with new eyes. Liv, the carpenter, the whirlwind, the beautiful danger. Liv, suddenly here. But sometimes the possibility of love is too much to bear. As opportunities slowly unfurl like the petals of a flower, Claire and Liv negotiate love’s challenges as well as its rewards. And on one terrible winter night, they confront the true cost of loving.

Everybody longs for a happy ending. Don’t they?

Lambda Literary Award-winning author delves into the sudden and extraordinary wave of gay-bashing in 1940s Philadelphia.

It's steaming August in post-war Philadelphia. Clifford Waterman, dishonorably discharged from the Army for "an indecent act with a native" in Cairo, can't go back to his job as a police detective and is struggling to make a go of it as a private investigator. He's soon hired to help a young man caught in a gay bar raid who can't afford the $500 bribe a corrupt judge demands to make a "morals charge" go away.

In the blink of an eye, an entire gay neighborhood is suddenly under siege, and Waterman has to find out why the cops, courts, and the city powers that be have unleashed a wave of brutal gay-bashing—astonishing even for that time and place.

Kept moving by Jim Beam, bluesy jazz, and a stubborn sense of outsider's pride, Waterman makes his way through Philadelphia's social, political, and financial swamp to rescue a few unlucky souls and inflict at least a bit of damage to the rotten system that would lead to the Stonewall rebellion in New York City 22 years later.

Eighty-nine-year-old Regina and ninety-year-old Jackie met in 1955, an era when women were rounded up and jailed simply for dancing together or dressing like a man. On a cold winter day they manage to get themselves out of the house with the help of TJ and Ramon, two young men from their working-class neighborhood in Western Massachusetts. They tie their long-dead Christmas tree to the top of their car and, using a screwdriver in place of a broken gearshift, slowly make the drive to the dump.

This is also the day when everything changes.

During the course of their adventure, memories are triggered. Their history as a passionate and devoted, but troubled couple at the intersection of historic cultural and political change unfolds via scenes from the past—including their first meeting during a police raid on a bar and Regina's epiphany that she could truly love another woman. In the early years, they often live apart as they flee landlords who discover their secret. As their journey leads them to seek jobs and a sustainable life, they are sometimes separated—but always find their way back to each other.

Award-winning author Anna Burke delivers the shivers in this daring queer dark fantasy romance teeming with sensuous vampires, dark academia, plant horrors, and terrifying fungal fae.

When Clara Eden is offered a job as an archivist working for eccentric estate owner Agatha Montague, she thinks her prayers have been answered. Soon, she finds herself sucked into her research world, captivated by a romantic correspondence thousands of years old. But as her feelings for her employer’s assistant, Fiadh, deepen, so does her suspicion that something about Agatha Montague isn’t right. Unfortunately for Clara, it is far too late to run by the time her suspicions are confirmed.

In the year 2514, the only thing more dangerous than the seas is those who sail them.

Life aboard the mercenary ship Man o’ War is rarely dull as hurricanes, swarms of jellyfish, and man-eating squid pose daily doses of danger. As intrigue and subterfuge from enemies old and new begin to surround its captain, the infamous Miranda Stillwater, even an uncanny sense of direction won’t be enough to help Compass Rose navigate these dangerous straits. As dark secrets bubble to the surface and everything she’s fought so hard for begins to crumble, Rose learns the hard way that she'll have to rely on the only person who can save her from certain disaster. Unfortunately, that person is Compass Rose herself.

This swashbuckling 26th-century high-seas adventure novel is fast-paced, whip-smart, and quirky, yet it manages to deliver a healthy dose of heart, humor, and humility on every single page.

The third book in Marie Santora's search for true love finds her big Italian family still serving the up the fun, Italian style: Loud, lusty, and volatile—overflowing with lots of love and laughter.

What's funny about losing everything you love? Plenty, if you're a member of the Santora family.

Marie Santora has always suffered from an enormous case of good luck/bad luck when it comes to women, and the past six years have been no exception. When Marie's love life hits the skids—again—her irrepressible sister Lisa begins to wonder if this is the time that her sister's loss is too great for even their eccentric Italian family to heal.

To help Marie escape the painful memories, Lisa ditches her gay campground for a family lake house, and Marie vows to be done with straight girls once and for all. But just as the Santora clan descends upon Marie to "help", a surprise house call changes her good luck to bad luck once again, putting Mari's willpower to the ultimate test.

The family motto has always been "Either you're IN, or you're OUT!" and this newest family crisis means the Santora's are ALL IN—even though Marie wants them out!

Butcher and Blood Mage, Callie Payne, once left a city behind for a different life. But when she is forced to return to the streets of Seattle, the woman and the things she thought she left behind come to reclaim her.

Callie Payne once ran with the Jackson Street Roses, but she left Seattle—left the Roses—to marry a rancher. After his death, she returns to take over the family butcher shop; a fitting career for an out-of-practice blood mage. When the leader of the Roses, Eileen “EJ” Jordan, stops by, Callie knows it isn’t just to buy T-bone steaks. What does the suave gangster really want after all these years?

EJ needs Callie’s magic against rival gangster Paul Underwood, who is horning in on Rose territory. Callie refuses to get involved; she won’t risk violating the Laws of the Covenant forbidding intentional harm. Then EJ tells her Underwood was responsible for the death of one of the Roses years ago. Callie is compelled to get revenge however she can.

A three-day incantation to repel Underwood re-establishes and strengthens Callie’s connection to the Roses, particularly EJ. Old feelings return, but EJ worries a personal relationship will endanger Callie. Their desire, however, proves impossible to ignore.

Days after Underwood threatens them, he’s found dead in an area awash in magic residue. The cops and the Covenant Investigation Office are eyeing EJ and Callie for the crime. Whoever is responsible knows magic well enough to be a step ahead, and they’re setting up EJ and Callie to take the fall.

EJ is determined to find the culprit, no matter the cost, and Callie is willing to bend the Laws for her. Can they catch the killer before more blood is spilled?

Marie Santora has always known her Italian family is a little crazy, but they now have a million more reasons to act nuts when she inherits her grandmother's estate. It soon becomes clear that the money Marie needs to live comfortably will be decided by her family—if they don’t get enough of her money she won’t live comfortably.

Marie Plans her escape. She’ll give her family a parting gift and then move to Hollywood to chase her dream of writing film scripts. But with millions at stake, it will take more than a free vacation to Jamaica to get the erratic Santora family to toe the line. And the timing couldn’t be worse when her hot pursuit changes from screenplay to foreplay. Now she has to stop her loud-mouthed clan from spilling her secrets as fast as they’re swilling Jamaican rum.

Climb aboard this hilarious rollercoaster ride where Marie is left wishing “out” was the new “in,” and where every lounge chair is a hot seat when the Santora family ventures this close to the equator. The island of Jamaica just may not be big enough.

 The Gianna Maglione/Mimi Patterson Mystery Series Continues.

Police Lieutenant Gianna Maglione, a newly-minted Captain, is still recovering from a life-threatening gunshot injury as she finds herself and her Hate Crimes Unit assigned a new boss, and a new squad called Special Intelligence Mobile and Tactical Unit, which includes hate crimes. And Gianna’s colleagues in the group are diverse, quirky, loyal, and ready for teamwork. And Mimi Patterson, who quit her job as the lead investigative reporter for Washington DC's top newspaper, is coaxed back to work after having quit rather than apologize to a racist, sexist homophobe as ordered by her new editor. The editor is gone, and the newsroom welcomes Mimi back but she has one condition: she will write no more of her reputation-building stories about corrupt government officials and politicians, and instead, concentrate on stories that help people in the community.

With hatred a bigger business than ever, taking different and uglier forms, Mimi and Gianna feel hopelessness, knowing that women are always prey for bullies and haters. Young girls—children, really—make even easier targets. When the reporter and the Captain are tipped off about a depraved ring of men and women, buying and selling young girls for profit, Mimi writes the story, paving the way for Gianna and her team to try to take the ring down. And Mimi, her vow not to cover corruption scandals be damned, helps a colleague chase down a story which winds up intersecting with Gianna’s efforts to take down the repulsive purveyors of child prostitution.

Out of this harrowing and unimaginable ugliness, the women view their jobs and relationship with new eyes, realizing they might, after all, be able to improve some horribly broken young lives, heal their own traumas and become better, stronger, more loving women to and for each other.

Beowulf for Cretins: A Love Story was awarded the 2019 Lambda Literary Award in the Lesbian Romance category.

English professor and aspiring novelist, Grace Warner spends her days teaching four sections of "Beowulf for Cretins" to bored and disinterested students at one of New England's “hidden ivy” colleges. Not long after she is dumped by her longtime girlfriend, Grace meets the engaging and mysterious Abbie on a cross-country flight. Sparks fly on and off the plane as the two strangers give in to one night of reckless passion with no strings attached, and no contact information exchanged.

Back home at St. Albans, the college rocks Grace's world when it announces the appointment of a new president, the first woman in its 165-year history. Cue Abbie—and cue Grace's collision course with a neurotic dog named Grendel, a fractious rival for tenure, and a woman called Ochre, in what very well might be Grace's last real shot at happiness.

This full-length novel reimagines and expands on the short story, “Falling From Grace,” which was originally published in the award-winning story collection, Sidecar by Ann McMan.

Jenn Alexander introduces readers to a different kind of romance—think Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a coffee shop with lesbians, vampires, and a wide selection of coffinated beverages.

Still reeling from the unexpected loss of her parents, Edie McLean doesn’t have time to grieve. She’s the 4th-generation owner of the McLean Family Coffee Shop, her family’s legacy. Unfortunately, this legacy is littered with decades worth of bad business, regrettable purchases, and massive debt. The McLean family motto was always that “good coffee is in our blood,” but the shop has become an eyesore and its small, loyal customer base isn’t enough to keep it afloat—and if Edie doesn’t find a way to turn business around quickly, the family’s legacy will end with her.

As Edie tries to pull all the pieces of her life together, she finds herself drawn to an alluring night-shift nurse who stops by for coffee every evening after sunset, while contending with a quirky new roommate who sleeps in an honest-to-God coffin. When all three worlds collide spectacularly, Edie’s eyes are opened to a new and untapped market that just may be the key to saving her family’s coffee shop. However, when her Draculattes and Cold Blood Cold Brews begin to raise more alarm than sales, suddenly the stakes involved appear to be of the wooden variety.