LGBTQ+

by Chance

Ain't No Shame in My Game: Mask Off — Book One By Chance At nineteen, Rain has been married for five years to a man she never chose. She has a secret plan to escape. She has money saved, and a date in mind. What she does not have is a reason to believe she deserves more — until Stormey. Now Rain must choose between the life she was forced into and the love that finally sees her clearly. Playing it safe could keep her alive. Walking away could set her free. But Entebbe does not let go easily. This is a preview: The Prologue and Chapters One through Three

by Chance

Ain't No Shame in My Game: Mask Off — Book One By Chance At nineteen, Rain has been married for five years to a man she never chose. She has a secret plan to escape. She has money saved, and a date in mind. What she does not have is a reason to believe she deserves more — until Stormey. Now Rain must choose between the life she was forced into and the love that finally sees her clearly. Playing it safe could keep her alive. Walking away could set her free. But Entebbe does not let go easily. This is a preview: the Prologue and Chapters One through Three. The full book is coming soon.

by Isaac Y Brooks

**One text message. One spiritual catastrophe. Two hundred and eighty-eight bundles of sage. And one very, very tired boyfriend.** Daniel thought dating Akira, a gorgeous visual kei twink with immaculate eyeliner and a flair for the dramatic, would be relatively normal. He was wrong. When a conversation with an acquaintance leaves Akira convinced that his spiritual cultivation has regressed and his very soul is shivering, Daniel makes the obvious suggestion: block the guy and move on. Unfortunately, Akira is a Sagittarius, Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio, and blocking someone is apparently a primitive response to a sophisticated metaphysical emergency. Enter Master Nishihama, a specialist in visual kei twink spiritual crises, who prescribes a thirty-five-and-a-half-hour purification retreat in a rustic mountain cabin. The shopping list includes aquamarine crystals, living lavender plants, shamanic rugs, unfiltered seawater, and a horse to transport their profoundly unimpressed cat, Mochi. Then there are the scallops. Nobody knows why there are scallops. As Daniel struggles to procure increasingly inexplicable supplies, his boyfriend's spiritual emergency attracts a suspiciously helpful mountain lion, a culinary experiment involving exactly one-tenth of a potato, and the possibility that the entire universe has personally declared war on their household. Daniel loves Akira. He really does. But love has its limits, particularly when the grocery budget has been sacrificed to the cosmos and nobody can explain what the scallop tears are for. **My Vkei Twink Boyfriend Is Having a Spiritual Crisis** is an absurdist relationship comedy about supernatural nonsense, excessive sincerity, and the exhausting logistics of loving someone whose soul shivers at the slightest inconvenience. Sometimes love conquers all. Sometimes you just have to triple the sage.

by Isaac Y Brooks

# TWIN PEAKS TWINK THROUPLE TROUBLES *An Ethically Sourced Romantic Disaster* Love is complicated. Love in San Francisco is expensive. And love in a throuple where everyone has a sustainability manifesto is a full-blown municipal emergency. Meet Gaius, Auberge, and Ruslan: three men, one relationship, and absolutely no ability to let anything go. A questionable avocado becomes an ethical crisis. A twenty-third birthday requires a memorial service for lost cheekbones. Fine lines are diagnosed as Stage Four Crow’s Feet. A prescription medication triggers an existential reckoning with the porcine industrial complex. And meeting the parents? That means navigating Sedona crystal evangelists, Russian borscht diplomacy, and a Texas barbecue patriarch whose Republican politics nearly bring the entire relationship to its knees. Naturally, the solution to every problem is a conference, a committee, or a resolution circle nobody asked for. But when these three attempt to plan a wedding that is emotionally sustainable, ethically sourced, and liberated from the wedding-industrial complex, they discover that even true love has its limits—and that sometimes the most radical act of all is eating the damn cake. Set amid the fog, fabulousness, and occasional existential collapse of San Francisco’s Twin Peaks, *Twin Peaks Twink Throuple Troubles* is a wildly camp, gloriously absurd comedy about queer love, performative virtue, family dysfunction, and the exhausting business of trying to be a good person in a world where even your sandwich might have questionable origins. **Three men. One throuple. Zero ethically uncomplicated avocados.** Some relationships need couples therapy. These three need a city permit.

by Jay Venuto

Ernie is twenty-nine, autistic, and reasonably certain that dating should come with an instruction manual. When he meets Eric on a dating app for gay autistic men, things start promisingly enough. Eric seems friendly, their conversations are easy, and nobody appears to be playing the sort of social guessing games Ernie would rather avoid. Then Eric asks to meet for coffee. Suddenly, a simple date becomes an exhausting exercise in overthinking, sensory concerns, and imagining every possible way things could go wrong. Ernie knows he wants to meet Eric. He also knows that staying home would be considerably easier. With a little help from his therapist, Ernie begins to confront a familiar pattern: wanting something, getting close to it, and retreating when it becomes real. But what if Eric really is as nice as he seems? *He Seems Nice* is a warm, gently funny story about autism, anxiety, vulnerability, and the courage it takes to step outside your comfort zone. Because sometimes the biggest adventure isn't falling in love. It's getting out the door.

by Jay Venuto

At forty-five, Andy is about to lose the man he married. His husband, Ben, is thirty-six, and while their divorce is only days away from becoming final, Andy is still wondering whether love can survive the things people do to each other. Their marriage has reached a breaking point, leaving Andy to navigate the painful space between what they once promised each other and what their relationship has become. For Ben, moving on seems straightforward. For Andy, letting go is considerably more complicated. As he revisits the memories, disappointments, and ordinary moments that once made up their life together, Andy must confront an uncomfortable truth: sometimes, wanting to save a relationship isn't enough. And sometimes, the person you're waiting for has already decided not to return. In one final attempt to hold on to what remains, Andy makes a gesture that could change everything—or finally give him the answer he's been avoiding. *The Things We Promise Each Other* is a bittersweet literary novella about love, heartbreak, and the promises we make when we believe forever is possible. With emotional honesty and a quiet, wry understanding of human relationships, it explores what happens when one person is ready to let go and the other is still searching for a reason to stay.

by B. shock

After crash landing on an unknown alien planet a female Xenobiologist finds herself in the company of two strange aliens after they kidnap her in the middle of the night from her ship and crew. luckily the two aliens have yet to show any signs of hostility but when their exploratory touch starts to become more intimate she finds her own sexual urges hard to resist. and being a scientist at heart, how could she deny a chance to learn the anatomy of a new alien species in the most pleasurable way possible?

by Jay Venuto

Where You Cannot Stay is a slow-burn queer romance about love, displacement, and the risks we take to give someone a chance at belonging. Working together as interpreters in Doha, Iyan Morozov and Artem Karimov develop a quiet, unspoken intimacy neither is prepared to name. When Artem returns to Moscow to care for his seriously ill mother, their relationship is left unfinished. Two years later, Iyan is drawn back into Artem’s life when an exposed list of translators puts Artem at risk, and the U.S. State Department asks Iyan to help persuade him to accept asylum. Artem refuses to believe he is in danger, determined to remain in the country he calls home. As old feelings resurface and the stakes become impossible to ignore, Iyan must find a way to make Artem understand what he stands to lose. Their desperate gamble in the heart of Red Square forces a decision neither man can take back. Three years later, in San Francisco, Artem has built a new life, but the past has not finished with him. As he discovers that belonging is more than the right to remain somewhere, an unexpected reunion offers the possibility of healing what exile could not erase. A story about the difference between surviving a place and finding a home, Where You Cannot Stay explores the quiet courage of choosing love when staying may cost you everything.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Set against the polished backdrops of San Francisco, Carmel, Napa Valley, and Paris, *Bound to Both* is a sophisticated LGBTQ+ romantic drama and comedy that explores the quiet dissolution of a long-term marriage and the unexpected awakening of a second chance at happiness. Forty-two-year-old Jonathan Stern has built his life around routine, financial security, and the increasingly cold silence of his marriage to Elliott, a celebrity chef whose restaurant empire and Napa expansion have consumed his entire existence.When Jonathan's friend Michael introduces Martin—a broke, sharp-tongued French-Canadian artist with zero filter and a lifelong dream of seeing Paris—he is reluctantly pulled into Jonathan's spare bedroom as a temporary houseguest. What starts as an awkward living arrangement slowly thaws during a chaotic trip to Carmel and an unforgettable, dream-fulfilling week in Paris, where Jonathan watches Martin experience the world with a raw, joyful authenticity that he hasn't felt in a decade. But as Jonathan's feelings for Martin deepen, the boundaries of his marriage are pushed to a breaking point—culminating in a disastrous misunderstanding, an explosive confrontation, and a sudden UCSF hospital call revealing that Elliott is battling multiple myeloma. In the wake of a life-threatening diagnosis, long-hidden secrets about Elliott's infidelity come to light, forcing Jonathan to confront the reality of his past. Bound together by an unexpected and extraordinary medical sacrifice—and a frantic,classic rom-com dash through San Francisco International Airport—*Bound to Both* is a witty, emotionally grounded story about letting go of what has already faded and finally choosing a life on your own terms.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Juniper Reyes has a type: emotionally complicated men, questionable romantic decisions, and people whose birth charts suggest they should come with a warning label. But even Juniper’s deeply opinionated polycule, The Sanctuary, has its limits. Enter Reggie Vale: devastatingly handsome tech billionaire, human tax bracket, and an Aries. Their meet-cute involves lavender matcha, a ruined designer coat, and enough astrological hostility to trigger a collective emergency meeting. The Sanctuary is unanimous: absolutely not. Unfortunately, Reggie is persistent, Juniper is intrigued, and the chemistry between them is considerably harder to explain away than Mercury retrograde. Soon, Juniper finds himself swept into a world of private jets, extravagant surprises, and a billionaire who might actually be capable of loving someone beyond his own reflection. But falling for Reggie means navigating the friction between Juniper’s chosen family and a man whose idea of solving a problem involves throwing money at it. As the relationship deepens, everyone must confront uncomfortable questions about intimacy, independence, commitment, and whether an Aries can ever truly be trusted. Featuring a gloriously chaotic polycule, an emotionally indispensable lemur, billionaire excess, and enough astrology to make an entire zodiac wheel reconsider its life choices, *My Polycule Hates My Billionaire Boyfriend Because He’s an Aries* is a wildly funny romantic comedy about unconventional relationships, chosen family, and discovering that sometimes love refuses to follow the rules—even the ones written in the stars. Because the universe works in mysterious ways. And apparently, sometimes those ways involve a private island.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Adrian owns three international shipping companies, commands a private jet equipped for international diplomacy, and has survived the sort of boardroom negotiations that would make lesser men weep into their quarterly reports. He considers himself a rational adult. Then he falls in love with Lucien. Lucien is beautiful, emotionally delicate, and apparently capable of turning a perfectly ordinary Tuesday into a full-scale metaphysical emergency. He also has Blaze, his spiritual emergency contact, and Saturn, a man whose relationship with reality is best described as complicated. When Lucien experiences a cosmic crisis of truly unprecedented proportions, Adrian does what any devoted, obscenely wealthy boyfriend would do: he mobilizes private aviation, international wellness specialists, luxury mountain estates, and enough crystals to destabilize a small economy. What follows is an increasingly absurd international wellness expedition involving emergency healing circles, mysterious astronomical phenomena, spiritual containment protocols, and a support team whose collective grasp on reality deteriorates by the hour. Meanwhile, Adrian's long-suffering assistant Marianne is discovering that there are limits to human endurance, even when the espresso is excellent and the expense account is effectively bottomless. Because money can buy private jets, exclusive retreats, and the finest spiritual practitioners on three continents. What it cannot buy is a straightforward explanation for why the moon has apparently become a workplace emergency. *My Emotional Support Twink is Having a Cosmic Crisis* is an absurdist comedy about love, wealth, wellness culture, and the extraordinary lengths one man will go to for his boyfriend—even when absolutely nobody can agree on what the hell is happening. Some relationships require compromise. Others require international logistics, emergency incense, and a very patient executive assistant.

by Isaac Y Brooks

Featuring a spiritually exhausted Pisces, an infuriatingly attractive spy, international chaos, weaponized emotional unavailability, and enough questionable relationship decisions to concern several intelligence agencies, *OMG My Super Secretive Boyfriend Might Be a Spy… I Think* is an absurdist romantic comedy about love, lies, and discovering that sometimes the biggest red flag isn't that your boyfriend might be a spy.

by Jay Venuto

A man must come to terms with a tragic loss and navigate life with complex trauma.

by Tre` Calloway

Joi had the ring, the man, and the plan. Then one night changed all three. Now she's done with love, but love, her past, and her family's secrets aren't done with her.

by Tazzsmatic

Tanja’s encounter with the mysterious Josh begins like any classic tale of serendipity a broken- down car, a stranger offering help, a spark of chemistry that feels too good to ignore. But what starts as a chance meeting on a moonlit road soon spirals into a web of lies, secrets, and dangerous allures. Josh's life is far more complicated than Tanja could have ever imagined, and when his wife, Trina, unexpectedly arrives, the truth begins to unravel in a way that shakes Tanja to her core. Josh's confession that he’s living a double life as an undercover agent leaves Tanja torn between heartbreak and the undeniable connection they share. But even after fleeing to paradise for a temporary escape, the shadows of Josh’s world follow her. And when a mysterious message arrives, Tanja is faced with a choice: walk away from the man she’s still drawn to, or risk everything to face the dangerous reality of his secrets. *The Choices We Make* is a tense, gripping psychological thriller where the lines between love, trust, and survival blur. Will Tanja be able to forgive the lies that brought her into Josh’s world? Or will the truth about the man she thought she knew destroy everything they’ve built? As danger closes in, Tanja must decide how far she’s willing to go for Josh, for herself, and for a future that may be darker than she ever imagined.

by A.M Isle

Breath of Celentra expands the world of Celentra, as the group makes their way into Paesuna. Ami's desert home, as much as she wishes to enjoy this moment, is coated in grief for Kathera. Ami must learn to accept her truth, even if it is heavy to carry.  Oliver has been in a coma for thirty days, with Sahora never leaving his bedside. The cost of reviving Kathera is piling. Will they pay it?  Lyrian finds his council needs change; he decides to focus on giving the people of Celentra a voice they have never had. Ready to remake the world, so when Kathera returns, it is the Empire she deserves.  Briar and Castor travel with Mydrn in 1575, learning the secrets that keep Celentra together and the laws that threaten to tear it apart.  Giovanna insists to Carlosa that the prophecy is a half-truth and begins searching the ocean for anything that can prove it.  A story about learning to breathe together even when breathing becomes impossible. Learning that to enjoy life, you must be willing to fight for every breath.

by Jamaal Walker

**ALKEXVERSE** **Official Story Synopsis** **Genre:** Adult Superhero Fiction | Afrofuturism | Fantasy | Action | Drama | LGBTQIA+ | Spirituality In a world where extraordinary abilities exist beneath the surface of ordinary life, an unlikely family of superheroes must confront a terrifying new threat—one that cannot be defeated by strength alone. Jamaal Walker wants nothing more than to enjoy a Saturday afternoon with his lifelong best friends, Rey Edwards and Bradley Demerios. Between shopping, Bradley’s shameless flirting, Rey’s undeniable confidence, and Jamaal’s determination to finally get some pizza, everything seems perfectly normal. Until every television in the mall broadcasts an unexpected address from President Ronald Doge and his second-in-command, Vice President Lucien Voss. Their newly unveiled **Civic Harmony Initiative** promises national unity and public safety. But beneath the carefully crafted message lies something sinister: technology capable of manipulating human emotions, amplifying fear, and turning ordinary citizens against one another. When the mall descends into chaos, the three friends must become their heroic alter egos—**D1V0, Reyleo, and Wolfex**—to protect innocent lives and uncover the truth behind the broadcast. Their victory reveals a disturbing reality: the mall was only one of twelve simultaneous attacks. The following morning, Jamaal’s mother, Ann Walker, encourages him to attend Sunday service at The Creator’s House, where Pastors Naomi Grace Whitfield and Elijah Nathaniel Whitfield deliver messages about faith, compassion, identity, and the strength found in community. Meanwhile, Wolfie Briar prepares the church organ for worship, and Taylor Edwards embarks on his first official date with the captivating Karman S. Bulan, surrounded by his former wife, Mona, and their children. For a few precious hours, love, family, faith, and laughter offer refuge from the previous day’s horrors. But when an unnatural frequency emerges beneath the choir’s music, the heroes discover that Doge’s influence has reached even the sanctuary. Now, from the sacred halls of **Alkebulan Temple**, an expanding alliance of extraordinary individuals must unravel a conspiracy designed to transform humanity’s deepest emotions into instruments of control. As relationships deepen, secrets emerge, and the boundaries between faith and power begin to blur, Jamaal must confront not only the darkness threatening his world but also the complicated desires of his own heart—including his enduring love for the one man who has always stood beside him. Because in the AlkeXVerse, being a superhero is not simply about possessing extraordinary power. **It is about protecting humanity’s right to love, believe, exist, and choose its own destiny—even when the world demands otherwise.**

by Nicholas Scott

by Nicholas Scott

If you listen to Aiden Pike all he wanted to do was try kissing a guy. Cody Beaumont is dubious, though certainly not hesitant. After that first kiss, all he wants is more. Then there's Ashton Prince, the perfect guy, some might say too perfect. Putting their hearts on the line is the last thing they expected.

by Nicholas Scott

Contest for a Valentine story.

by Nicholas Scott

This story came from a contest for an epistolary short story (which is the prologue). What continues is their story.

by Vexen Spell

**You find yourself in the zombie apocalypse with a Serial Killer, a Mafioso, a Loser, a Hockey Player, a Bounty Hunter, and a Preacher’s Son.**   **What could possibly go wrong?**   Welcome to the end of the world.

by Gia Watson

Princess Gràís D’hè MàcBhàtàr was born billions of years ago in a universe long since collapsed. Marked by prophecy as the Eternal Heir, she is destined to rule for a thousand years, then be reborn again and again, carrying her power and memory across countless worlds and ages.\ But even immortals must learn to lead.\ As a teenager in the kingdom of Llamda, Gràís D’hè is sent to the borderlands to hone her skills. Amid smoke, steel, and endless threat, she discovers a rare gift for command—bold gambits, unshakable resolve, and the ability to inspire loyalty where others would yield. Defending a besieged Valorian town against impossible odds, she proves that prophecy alone is not enough. Her destiny must be earned through sacrifice.\ In Valoria, she finds not only her purpose but her heart, in Princess Elara, whose courage awakens a love as fierce as any battle Gràís D’hè has fought. Their union promises to bind kingdoms and challenge enemies, setting the stage for the thousand-year reign foretold at her birth.\ But shadows gather. King Fergus of Dùn Breagha stirs unrest on Valoria’s northern border, and whispers speak of his daughter—ambitious, ruthless, and raised to claim more than her share of power. For Gràís D’hè and Elara, love and alliance will not be enough. They must prepare for the storm Fergus is only beginning to unleash. ​

by Meridian Lyra

How exactly did Io get into this predicament in the first place? Oh yes, that's right, by stupidly volunteering. Now she was the future bride of an alien King, and about to be the queen of an entire planet. *Her* planet, if one wanted to be technical- he wasn't from there, nor did anybody want him there. But there he was.  Sixteen years ago, they came. The Imdalians. War was waged and was lost. Well, humans were the ones on the losing side of that battle, and just over half a decade later they'd officially lost control over Earth. His Majesty took over, redrew borders, renamed countries, established themselves so well it was like they'd been there to begin with.  But with further bloodshed and riots, continued rebellions over the years, something needed to be done about it. Earth history was scoured for a solution, and that solution was a peace treaty- one that was solidified by a royal wedding. How lucky Io was, to be the human to marry the queen. But was she really that lucky, or was she about to find herself in way over her head?

by Tal Stineman

It’s Nico’s final day at Harrison & Dillon, and although he’s relieved to leave behind a condescending executive and an exhausting workplace, saying goodbye is bittersweet. He plans to slip through the day with muffins, smiles, and minimal emotional damage—until he walks straight into Cal, the quiet, devastatingly handsome IT guy who has been fueling his workplace fantasies. When an emergency lockdown traps them together in the break room, Nico’s nerves go into overdrive. But as the hours pass, Cal reveals a thoughtful, observant side Nico never expected. Their conversation moves from books and bad bosses to abandoned ambitions and the quiet ways people show they care. Cal has noticed far more about Nico than Nico ever realized—including his kindness, creativity, and not-so-secret attraction. A smoking electrical unit briefly raises the stakes, and Cal’s calm, capable response only makes him more irresistible. Once the danger passes, their growing chemistry becomes impossible to ignore. A nervous confession leads to a heated encounter against the break-room wall, followed by an unexpectedly tender moment together on the sofa. When the lockdown is finally lifted, Nico discovers that their connection isn’t limited to the strange circumstances—or the break room. Before they return to reality, Cal asks him to dinner, transforming Nico’s last day at Harrison & Dillon into the beginning of something new.

by Elijah James

They were supposed to be rivals. They were never supposed to become each other’s weakness.   Mateo is everything football expects him to be: disciplined, controlled, talented—and careful. As the golden captain of Argentina’s U20 team, his future is already mapped out by coaches, sponsors, family, and a world that expects him to never make the wrong move.   Noah is the opposite. Brilliant, reckless, and unapologetically difficult, the German prodigy has built a reputation for saying whatever he thinks and playing like the rules were made for someone else.   When Argentina and Germany collide at the U20 World Cup, their rivalry ignites instantly.   But after the cameras disappear, something neither of them expected begins between them.   What starts as one unforgettable night becomes a secret carried across continents, clubs, championships, and years. Because on the pitch, Mateo and Noah know exactly how to play against each other.   Off it, neither knows how to resist.   And when the world starts watching, Mateo must decide how much of himself he's willing to sacrifice to keep the perfect life he's been taught to want.   Some lines are meant to be crossed. Others are meant to be erased.

by Brittney Paige

Some mysteries are too big for one generation to solve.

by Brittney Paige

Pearl Frost moved to Hearthglen hoping for a fresh start. She just wanted to paint, restore her grandmother’s old farm, and build a life of her own. Instead, she finds a family she chooses, love, and a town full of secrets- including the mysterious theft of several of her paintings. For now, though, she’s content to paint, fall in love, make friends, and build a life in the little town she’s come to call home.  But secrets have a way of lingering. And some mysteries are bigger than one generation can solve.   **Welcome to the Berry Universe.** This isn’t quite the world you know. Here, people are called Berries—ordinary people living ordinary lives in a world filled with extraordinary color. Their skin, hair, and eyes can be shades of lavender, blue, orange, pink, green, purple, or white, passed down through generations in ways that can reveal secrets about where a family came from. It’s an alternate universe where colorful people aren’t unusual. They’re simply people. And this is one family’s story.

by JD Berryhill

At the center of *Stoic* stands Theresa—a matriarch whose life redefines what it truly means to be stoic. Far from cold detachment or suppression, her endurance is an active, grace-filled love that acts as the anchor for her family through relentless trials. ​Spanning decades, the memoir captures the subtle rhythms of family life, the unspoken sacrifices that build home and security, and the tragic loss that ultimately tests their seams. Through raw honesty and poetic grace, J. D. Berryhill reflects on the emotional inheritance passed down from mother to son: the strength to stand steady when everything else falls apart.

by K.D. Page

by K.D. Page

Rhosalin It’s funny how murder investigations will have you doing things you didn’t think possible. Four years ago, I made the horrible mistake of letting my bloodlust run wild. Rayvn kicked me to the curb with nothing but the clothes on my back and the bill for cleaning services. I never thought I'd ask him for help in my wildest imagination, but here we are. Rayvn As a former angel, the repercussions of leaving the Realm of Deities and O.M.B Vice Presidency are hard enough to handle on a good day. With an asshole getting under my skin at every turn and gods from different pantheons vying for my assistance, life couldn’t be more of a living hell. Or so I thought until Rhosalin came barrelling back into my world.

by Jeff B White

Octavia survived banishment to the crushing depths of the Trench by carving away the merman she was expected to be. She's managed to build a life for herself where she is genuinely happy and able to give back to those less fortunate than her. And what does she get for it? Deadnamed by her brother-in-law and blackmailed by her trashy niece. She gives her niece legs in exchange for her voice so that the stupid girl can go to the surface and try to bag a prince. But the girl's beauty was a trick played by the distortion of water. She ended up a drooling mute with bad hair and trollop vibes. So Octavia says goodbye to her hips and watches her own breasts fade as she stuffs herself into a man shaped suit and heads to the surface to help the helpless. But the Prince is a Queen, so to speak and he has other plans. Based on Andersen's *The Little Mermaid*, this campy and irreverent fairy tale retelling pays homage to John Waters and the late Harris Glenn Milstead with a girthy celebration of drag and filth that is not the fish story that you're used to.

by oliverd

## **Where They Begin** Since losing her husband and then both parents, Dee has quietly convinced herself that happiness is dangerous — that every joyful moment is simply another loss waiting to happen. Years of caregiving have taught her to rescue everyone except herself. She has become so skilled at surviving that she no longer knows how to choose joy. When she breaks one of her own emotional rules and watches an elderly woman dance with an invisible partner, long-buried grief begins to surface. Gary, also sixty-five and eleven years sober, has spent a lifetime running — from relationships, from vulnerability, and ultimately from Dee. Five years earlier they met aboard a cruise, fell deeply in love, and exchanged letters for months. But when his growing feelings challenged everything he believed about himself, fear won, and he simply disappeared. ## **The Reunion** When Gary sits down at Dee’s casino table, five years of longing collide with five years of heartbreak. Dee grants him one hour to explain, on one condition: complete honesty, especially when the truth makes him look bad. Every conversation becomes a test. Gary must prove through actions — not promises — that he has become someone capable of staying. AA becomes the unexpected blueprint for rebuilding love. In meetings aboard ship, Gary abandons the polished explanations that have protected him for years and confesses the truths most likely to cost him Dee, including the shame of imagining her waiting after he vanished. For the first time, telling the truth matters more to him than being forgiven. ## **The Turn** While Gary learns to stay, Dee must learn that her worth is not measured by how useful she is to others. Each day Gary asks a question no one has asked her in years: *When was the last time you did something simply because you wanted to?* She cannot answer. Two people illuminate her path. Lou, Dee’s fiercely loyal friend, challenges her to separate evidence from fear rather than let grief masquerade as wisdom. Sandra — the elegant woman dancing each evening with an invisible partner — reveals the novel’s deepest truth: loving again does not betray the dead. Love does not end. It changes form. ## **The Test** The turning point is not a misunderstanding but a series of chances to trust. On a beach with a hidden rip current, Gary risks his life to pull a drowning boy from the water while entrusting Dee to organize the rescue from shore — and for the first time she learns what it is to be trusted rather than only to rescue. Days later, on a zip line strung across a rainforest gorge, it is Dee’s turn: she has to let go of the cable and fall, on faith, with Gary waiting below. Trust, the novel insists, is built in ordinary acts repeated until they hold. The true climax comes when Dee falls hard on the ship’s pickleball court, breaking her ankle and her nose on the last days of the cruise. Gary — days from a national championship he has trained three years for — quietly withdraws to fly her home and see her settled, asking for neither recognition nor gratitude. The choice detonates a hidden conflict: his tournament partner and closest friend, who has quietly loved him for years, forces a reckoning that proves Dee right about her all along and costs Gary the person he thought knew him best. Watching him choose her and lose something real for it, Dee confronts her deepest fear — not losing Gary, but leaving first, before she can be hurt again. In the terminal she confesses that for one honest moment she hoped he would miss his flight, and telling the truth, rather than being reassured, is the point. ## **Where They Arrive** By the end of ten days, both have crossed the distance that truly matters. Gary learns that staying is the most courageous promise he can make. Dee finally abandons the belief that avoiding joy can somehow prevent loss; grief came anyway, and refusing happiness never protected her from it. On the flight home, her ankle in a cast, she places her hand in his — and lets herself, perhaps for the first time in years, receive love without believing she must earn it. Then the novel turns the story inside out. Then ending chapters present a major twist and readers are left to craft an answer to a final question.

by Stuart Grant

**For twenty years, Stuart Grant stood inches from the spotlight while witnessing everything audiences were never supposed to see.**   **Remember, I’ve Seen You Naked: A Backstage Memoir pulls back the curtain on life behind some of America’s biggest touring theatrical productions. As a hairdresser, makeup artist, wardrobe professional, and quick-change expert, Stuart traveled from city to city helping performers become glamorous, heroic, terrifying, and occasionally presentable—often while complete chaos erupted around them.**   **Backstage, personal boundaries disappeared quickly. Actors undressed without hesitation, wigs malfunctioned at the worst possible moment, costume changes became full-contact sports, and conversations took turns no ordinary workplace would survive. Stuart found himself surrounded by outrageous personalities, unexpected hookups, touring disasters, sexual misadventures, nightclub escapades, and situations so absurd they could only have happened in show business.**   **But beneath the laughter is the story of a demanding and deeply intimate world built by people the audience rarely notices. It is also a remembrance of the friendships formed on the road, the people whose curtain came down too soon, and a career Stuart believed would last forever—until an injury abruptly took it away.**   **Candid, adult, darkly funny, and unexpectedly moving, Remember, I’ve Seen You Naked celebrates the people behind the scenery who make the magic happen, clean up the disasters, and return the next night to do it all again.**

by A.M Isle

A century of stillness does not end quietly. The empire is waking hungry and afraid, and the people who survived the freeze are discovering that survival was only the beginning. Kathera is returning, and the world is moving again. It should feel like enough.\ \ It isn't.\ \ Sahora never asked to be the one who carried Kathera's soul across realms. She never asked to crawl to the bottom of a waterfall and trade her breath for a world she barely knew. She never asked to stand trial before a village that wants her dead, or to fall for the man who broke every oath he had ever kept just to pull her back from the dark. She never asked for any of it.\ \ The world didn't ask either. It just needed her anyway.\ \ While Oliver faces the cost of choosing love over law, and Lyrian holds together an empire built on grief and rose gardens, a darkness older than the freeze is moving in the east. Carlosa of the Dark Court does not doubt. She does not stumble. She has spent a lifetime being certain. But something is pulling her toward the cliffs of Sinthia, something her shadow recognized long before she did, and Carlosa is beginning to understand that certainty is only as strong as what you refuse to look at.\ \ Ten shards. One stone. A world still remembering how to breathe.\ \ And the people brave enough, or broken enough, or desperate enough, to believe it can.

by L.A. Peña

Kaelin was bred for control, a subject engineered with a fragile spine augmented by ruthless technology. When the Cradle burns and her world shatters, she escapes into the inhospitable wasteland of Ashkaru with a silent, feverish child whose eyes see too much. The Drifting Truth, an old patched ship, becomes her sanctuary - but the Core reclamation teams are relentless, their reach stretching into the broken edges of space. As alliances shift and secrets emerge, Kaelin must navigate a maze of trust, technology, and survival. Will she protect those she loves, or become the weapon they made her to be?

by A.M Isle

A saga following a mercenary who is being hunted by people who keep telling her Celentra must stay frozen. She doesn't know what this means until she meets a cloaked stranger who tells her that she is carrying the soul of a dead Empress from another world. That she must revive this Empress to save a world frozen in time.

by Shea Hallen