You Can't Die But Once

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, 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.

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

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?