Oct 10

New Release Blitz: Medically Necessary by Emily Carrington (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: Medically Necessary

Author: Emily Carrington

Publisher: Changeling Press

Cover Art: Angela Knight

Genres: Action Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, New Releases, Paranormal, Romance

Themes: LGBTQ+ /Gay, Medical Romance, Multicultural & Interracial, Werewolves & Wolf Shifters

Series: Medically Necessary (#4)

Multiverse: SearchLight Academy (#12)

Book Length: Box Set

Page Count: 300

Synopsis

Trust is Earned (Medically Necessary 1): Amir is a General Practitioner for magical creatures, particularly werewolves. When the leader of all werewolves comes to him with a problem that presents like psychosis, Amir needs help. Oliver’s nursing a grieving heart and a chip on his shoulder. Still, when Amir asks for his help, he jumps at the chance. The submissive wolf is beautiful.

Trust is Fraught (Medically Necessary 2): As the leader of the werewolves sinks further into insanity, Amir and Oliver fight prejudice and time to rescue their alpha. As Oliver and Amir are pulled deeper into the dangers of the psychic world, their love may be the only thing keeping them sane.

Trust is Sacred (Medically Necessary 3): Oliver’s terrible secret is eating him alive. Amir thinks purging and confession are medically necessary for spiritual and physical well-being, but Oliver will stop at almost nothing to hide his scars.

Can either of them learn to trust?

Excerpt

Medically Neccesary
Emily Carrington
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2025 Emily Carrington
Excerpt from Trust is Earned

He had tended to different members of the Tilthos and Merle werewolf packs over the years. Being positioned in southern Erie County, located in Upstate New York, had been the best thing he could do for his medical practice. Once he’d finally convinced Nicholas Black of the Merle pack in Buffalo, New York, to work with him as the werewolf equivalent of a midwife, his office was often full to bursting with pregnant female werewolves.

And it didn’t matter one bit that he spoke Werewelsh, the native language of most werewolves, with an accent or as only his fourth language. For Dr. Amir Othman, the prejudice he might have encountered because of his unusual parentage and his even more unique upbringing was all overshadowed by one truth. He was good at his job.

That didn’t make him less nervous to meet the alpha above all alphas. Tilthos Charles, alpha of his own pack and leader of the wolves of North and South America, was supposedly intimidating. All of which pointed to this truth: while Amir had healed every magical creature from djinns to kelpies, and even two dragons, he still worried about doing or saying the wrong thing in Tilthos Charles’s presence.

What bothered him even more was that he almost qualified as a lone wolf. A “packless loner,” in werewolf-speak, and that was not a compliment. He had a technical pack, run by Kreisha Alexander. When that particular alpha threw his weight around, everyone obeyed. Thankfully, that pack was in Washington, DC, nearly two hundred miles away. So, unless Alpha Alexander gave him an edict directly over the phone, as opposed to in an email or via snail mail, Amir could basically do as he chose.

Except, now the alpha above all alphas was coming to his office and would surely demand to know why he hadn’t switched his allegiance to a pack up here in New York. “It doesn’t have to be mine,” the most powerful werewolf on the planet would say, “but it can’t be you operating under your own aegis.”

So, when his assistant, Carly, sent him a message that Tilthos Charles was here, Amir’s pulse picked up. He responded to her message, saying he’d be in Exam Room Three in under five minutes. Then he did a deep breathing exercise, using the five senses trick he’d learned as a young wolf when he first realized he wanted to become a doctor and would be around blood and anxious magical creatures.

Five things he could see. His fidgety hands. By crossing his eyes, he could see his nose. His computer screen, which held everything his clinic had on the alpha above all alphas. Trying to look farther away in an attempt to slow his racing heart, he looked at the carpet in front of his desk. It was a boring brown that didn’t hold his attention. Finally, he looked at the door where he’d hung a poster of a Great Pyrenees, which was the closest breed to his family’s wolf forms, which were usually white.

Four things he could hear… The thudding of his heart. The rush of blood in his veins, which meant he was really keyed up still because even though he was a werewolf with acute hearing, he didn’t usually pay attention to the sounds of his own or others’ bodies. He struggled hard to refocus and heard the buzzing of the fluorescent light in the ceiling. He needed one more thing, so he made his chair creak. Oddly, the sound of something he could completely control helped him breathe a little easier.

Three things he could touch… The pen in his hand, which he’d been nervously twirling. He set it down. The feel of the chair under him, with his suit coat slung over the back. He could also feel his toes in his shoes. He breathed in more deeply than he’d managed so far and felt still a bit better.

Two things he could smell… He could no longer smell adrenaline. That was a good thing. He lifted his hand to his nose and smelled the soap he’d washed with maybe ten minutes ago.

And one thing he could taste, which was his cold lavender matcha latte.

Glancing at the clock icon on his computer, he saw it had been almost three minutes. Well, it was now or never. He doubted he’d be calmer if he sat here longer. So, he stood, straightened his white medical coat, and left the office. He listened to people talking quietly in the waiting room as he passed. He smiled at Carly, who mouthed, “Good luck.” Then he knocked on the door of Exam Room Three.

“Please come in.”

The voice that had responded was lightly accented, and he wondered why no one had ever told him Tilthos Charles was Hispanic. Then he was in the room, and he saw there were two people inside. The werewolf was certainly Tilthos Charles and the psychic vampire… Oh, yes. Tilthos Charles’s mate was a psychic vampire.

The alpha wolf sat on the exam table and his mate stood at his side. It was actually the psychic vampire who moved first, holding out his hand. “Dr. Othman, I’m Luis McLaughlin.”

Amir shook with him and then offered his hand to the burly werewolf. He saw the wolf’s eyes flicker quickly down to his hand and then away. Then his hand was taken and Tilthos Charles said, “Please to meet you, Dr. Othman.”

He sounded it too, but there was something bothering him. Well, and didn’t that make sense? Folks who were completely healthy rarely came to the doctor’s office.

“The pleasure is mine,” Amir returned, smiling at both of them. Then he retreated until he could sit on his stool. He watched Tilthos Charles’s eyes try to focus on him. “Forgive me, but while I have some information about your general health, I know very little about your visual impairment.”

He saw his guess had been right, that the alpha above all alphas indeed had something wrong with his vision.

“I told you he’d know,” said Luis as his mate brought out a folded white cane from behind his back.

“Forgive me the test, Dr. Othman,” said Charles, “but I’ve been seen by too many doctors who miss the obvious until I point it out to them.” He settled the cane on his leg, keeping one hand on it so it wouldn’t fall. “We’re here today, not because of my visual impairment, which has been unchanged since I was born, but because Luis is convinced there’s something…” He hesitated.

Luis said, “He’s distracted and agitated.”

Amir watched Charles’s nostrils flare and his pupils dilate. “I’m on edge because Agent Sowerby’s… Shit. I must be off-balance somehow if I’m about to spill state secrets.” He smiled ruefully at Amir. “Forgive me. Luis is right. I just can’t figure out how you’ll help me or if there is any help for the mess we’re about to be in.”

“May I examine you?”

Charles nodded.

Amir went through all the basics, including sending the alpha werewolf out to give him a urine sample. When the door closed, he turned to Luis. “How long has he been on edge?” He could smell the wolf’s almost panic.

“About three weeks. “

“Did anything precipitate his anxiety?”

Luis sighed. “I’m not sure what’s really private. I assume you’re bound by medical confidentiality?”

“I am.” He could see the psychic vampire hesitating. “Please tell me everything you can. I cannot be effective while only possessing half the facts.”

“My mate holds the belief that the head of SearchLight is going to expose all magical creatures.”

Amir’s mouth went dry. “I know Tilthos Charles probably has the ear of SearchLight. Is he correct?”

“Absolutely not, but I can’t convince him of that.”

“Has he talked to…” He couldn’t remember the name of the new head of SearchLight, only that Agent Weinberg had stepped down.

“I’ve tried getting Jack Sowerby to talk to him. No dice. Not that Agent Sowerby wouldn’t, but Charlie didn’t believe him.”

Amir held up his hand. The bathroom door had creaked open. He turned his head toward the exam room’s entrance for good measure.

Tilthos Charles entered. “Your assistant took my sample.”

Amir said soothingly, “Please, Alpha, sit down.”

He saw his words had the opposite effect to what he’d intended. Instead of resting on the table again, Tilthos Charles drew himself up. He was taller than Amir by half a foot and intimidating as hell.

Sitting on his stool, making himself as nonthreatening as possible, Amir put his hands palms up on his thighs. “I mean you no harm.”

Purchase at Changeling Press

Meet the Author

Emily Carrington is a multipublished author of male/male and transgender women’s speculative fiction. Seeking a world made of equality, she created SearchLight to live out her dreams. But even SearchLight has its problems, and Emily is looking forward to working all of these out with a host of characters from dragons and genies to psychic vampires. And in the contemporary world she’s named “Sticks & Stones,” Emily has vowed to create small towns where prejudice is challenged by a passionate quest for equality. Find her on Facebook at Shapeshifter Central or on her website.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Shapeshifter Central

 

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Oct 07

New Release Blitz: Husky and Heartfelt by Jole Cannon (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title:  Husky and Heartfelt

Series: Big Boys of Gilroy, Book Two

Author: Jole Cannon

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 10/07/2025

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 75100

Genre: Contemporary, Romance, family-drama, gay, bear, teacher, second chance, coming out

Add to Goodreads

Description

Loneliness has taken its toll on Sean’s life. He once loved Hugo but let him go after college. After twelve years, he misses what they had, but dating a man could end his career as a high school gym teacher and varsity football coach. Staying in the closet has become a shield for him, one that is cracking.

Openly gay music teacher, Hugo, puts on a happy persona to his students and colleagues. He’s tried dating, but they always want what he isn’t: a masculine, well-toned man. Outside, everyone he knows says he’ll find the right guy, and he needs to be patient with himself. Inside, there is a hole in his heart no one can fill except for Sean.

When Sean finally talks to Hugo after avoiding him for years out of fear of being outed, a friendship sparks. Can this spark be enough to reignite the passion they had in college before Sean broke Hugo’s heart, or will it dwindle into nothing?

Excerpt

Husky and Heartfelt
Jole Cannon © 2025
All Rights Reserved

Chapter One
Sean

Friday, January 8th, 1999

Sean locked his car and walked toward the school building. Two dozen cars filled the school’s parking lot. Staff who worked year-round and a few teachers, who like him, came in on the Friday before school started. Everyone would be here on Monday for the mandatory meeting and workday.

Sean entered the front office. One woman sat behind the desk, rifling through papers and checking her computer. Her long blonde hair was tied in a bun on the back of her head.

“Good morning, Helen,” he said.

“Good morning, Sean. Ready for another semester?” She smiled.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m going to scout a few of the Sophomores on the JV team for my team next year. I need to get them ready and in shape.”

“Sounds like you’re looking to win the state championship again.”

“It’s been too long. We have to take it back.”

“Best of luck.”

“Thank you.”

Sean walked to the back office and collected his stack of papers from his box.

He headed to the break room and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. The aroma of the coffee in the pot tantalized his nose. It was store-bought basic coffee, but Helen made sure it was strong. That was what he needed today.

He dropped a quarter into the donation tin and poured a cup. The first taste of the rich black liquid seeped down his throat, awakening his senses.

He sat at one of the small tables and started flipping through the stack of papers until he found his spring roster. Two classes of Sophomore PE, third period prep, and they’d capped him at twenty-five students this semester. He’d complained that trying to wrangle thirty kids while also coaching and training the football team was too draining. A minor threat to quit as head coach next year altered their decision. He enjoyed having some say in his class sizes. His roster this year was tight. He was going to fight for players on his varsity team. He’d watched a few freshmen who could be second string on his team, but the JV coaches would fight to keep them. It was going to be fun this semester building a team.

“Good morning, Sean.” A familiar voice hit his ears. The pleasant and positive tones of Hugo.

“Good morning, Hugo. How are you this morning?” Sean said.

“I’m doing great. How are you?”

How can someone be so lively this early in the morning?

“I’m doing good. I just need coffee to get my engine started.”

“I hear ya,” Hugo said. He placed some change in the bucket and poured himself a cup of coffee. He added powdered creamer and sugar.

Sean watched Hugo. Even in the morning, he appeared very well-dressed. No students, and he still wore his tan slacks, light blue button-up shirt with a gray bow tie, and matching sweater vest his belly pushed against. Hugo’s short blond hair and trimmed goatee rounded out his look. His smile reached his baby-blue eyes, magnified by his round glasses.

Still as handsome as he was in college. I want to run my fingers through that hair again. I wouldn’t mind rubbing my hands over his chest and belly again, either.

Over a decade had passed since Sean broke the man’s heart, and he still remembered what he looked and felt like.

“Would you like to join me for a cup of coffee?” Sean asked. He’d avoided Hugo for six years. He couldn’t do it anymore. It killed him to distance himself from Hugo.

“Oh, yes. Thank you.” Hugo sat down and took a sip of his coffee. Sean read his face. The invitation surprised him. Sean didn’t blame him.

“What’s your schedule for the day?” Hugo asked.

“I’m going to plan the activities for the semester. Usual things. Basketball, some dodgeball, baseball if the weather holds up. What about you?”

“I’m going to choose the music for the semester. I want my advanced band and choir to perform together at the end-of-year rally. They work so hard, and I never get to put them together for a performance. I haven’t selected a song yet, but something will come to me. I talked to the advisor of the rally, and she said she would be happy to give me ten minutes at the rally.”

“That sounds exciting. I’m so happy for you.”

He was honest. He wanted to see Hugo succeed. The man had done so much for the music department, and Sean wanted to support him.

“It’s going to be a great semester,” Hugo said.

“I agree.”

“I’m sorry the team didn’t make it to state this year. I’m sure you’ll get there next year.”

“Thanks. They struggled at the beginning. A lot going on, but I’m sure we’ll do great next season,” Sean said. “I know your band and choir will be spectacular. I can’t wait to hear them.”

“Thank you,” Hugo said. “Do you have plans for the weekend?”

“Not really. Most of my weekends are me lounging around my house. Until baseball season starts.”

“Do you still see that guy I ran into you with at the game?”

“Bernard? Yeah. He’s a friend of mine. He’s a nice guy,” Sean said.

“That’s great.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll play my guitar, clean the house, and maybe watch a musical.”

“Sounds relaxing.”

“Anyway, I better go. I’ll see you around.” Hugo stood to go. “Oh, I forgot to ask. Did Kirkpatrick talk to you yet?”

Matthew Kirkpatrick was the school principal. He was one reason Sean hadn’t come out. Kirkpatrick and some of the administrators, along with the school superintendent, disapproved of same-sex relationships. They weren’t openly hostile—that would violate the union agreements—but everyone knew their position.

“What would he need to talk to me about?” Sean stiffened.

He’d been careful. Bernard was the last man to visit him, and that was over a year ago. He stayed away from places that could incriminate his sexuality, and no one came to his house.

“He mentioned sending some of us to the conference in Austin next month. I couldn’t find details, but it’s a weekend like usual. You and I were the only ones on the list from our district.”

Sean eased up. He didn’t love attending conferences, but there were worse things the district could ask him to do. He’d be able to spend time with Hugo. Maybe take Bernard’s advice and let him know how he felt.

“Thanks for the heads up,” Sean said. “I’ll see you later.”

“See you later.”

Sean sat in thought. He’d need to broach the subject of being gay first.

How can I tell Hugo I’m gay? I convinced him I wasn’t. What will he think if I tell him now?

Sean walked down the path to the gym. The school stood on a large plot of land. Beautiful patches of grass separated the buildings. This gave the campus an open feeling. Sean did his student teaching in a one-building school and agreed he’d never do that again. He enjoyed the spaciousness of Gilroy High.

Sean unlocked the boys’ locker room and made his way to the office.

The office held three desks, one for each male gym teacher, a cabinet with the first aid kit, extra gym equipment, and odds and ends they’d collected over the years.

Sean sat at his desk and powered up his computer. He sipped his coffee and rummaged through papers.

He pulled out the JV roster and started highlighting the players he thought had potential for the varsity team. He was losing more than half his team this year when they graduated. His current juniors needed a lot of help, but he had a plan. Threaten to replace them with the new juniors next year and that would light a fire under them.

A few names popped out. Beau Thompson, Clive Martin, and Stephen Miller. Those boys were fantastic. All three freshmen, and all three could play varsity as sophomores for him next year, if their parents signed off. They would form a powerful defensive line.

He was finishing up the first string of players when there was a knock at the door and Matthew Kirkpatrick walked in.

The principal was tall, over six feet, and glared down at people. This was his fourth year at Gilroy High, but Sean had never got to know him outside of staff meetings. He never visited the teachers, he never had meetings with parents or guardians, he did nothing but deal with paperwork and discipline students. Most of the staff disliked him, and he scared the students. It was fine for students to respect you and behave as a result, but he scared them in a way that upset Sean. He’d raised his voice at students and yelled at his team, but they knew why. Matthew yelled to dominate, not to garner students’ attention when they were being rambunctious. He’d heard Kirkpatrick through the walls of his office shouting at a kid who spit gum on the floor.

“Hello, Matthew. How are you this morning?”

Sean had learned not to call him Matt. The man didn’t appreciate the familiarity of first names and wanted them to use surnames. He gave up the fight when everyone called him, and one another, by their first names, but still refused to let his own name be shortened.

“I am doing well.” His voice echoed through the small office. “Mr. Janssen said you were on campus today. I wanted to talk to you about the conference in Austin. I think you would be a good fit as someone to represent our school. Would you like to attend? I will send you and Mr. Janssen.” Kilpatrick never used contractions. If Sean didn’t know better, he’d say the man was allergic to them.

“I think this would be an excellent opportunity for us. When is it?”

“It will be the last weekend of February. You will fly out on the twenty-fifth and return on the twenty-eighth.”

“I’d be happy to go. It’ll be a great opportunity.”

“Good. I will have the paperwork ready by next Friday so we can get clearance for you both to attend.”

“Is there anything else I need to know?”

“No, that is all.”

“Thank you for visiting. I’ll talk to you later.”

“One more thing,” Kilpatrick said. “We could only acquire one room, so I am going to have you share with Mr. Janssen. I am sorry that we could not get you into your own room. If it becomes an issue rooming with Mr. Janssen, please let me know and we will talk about getting you alternative accommodation.”

An issue? Because he’s gay, right? You can’t say that out loud though, you bigoted asshole.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Okay, I will see you at the staff meeting on Monday morning.”

Matthew held out his hand. Sean shook hands.

“Goodbye, Mr. Patterson.”

“Bastard,” Sean said after he was sure Matthew was out of earshot. He picked up his phone and punched in a series of numbers. “Pick up, pick up. Please be there.”

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Jole Cannon is a high school math and math programming teacher. When he’s not shaping the mathematical minds of tomorrow, he’s playing video games with his partner, watching television, doing math for fun, and working on his master’s in history.

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Oct 03

(No title)

 

Author: Mychael Black

Cover Art: Angela Knight

Genres: Action Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, New Releases, Paranormal, Romance, Urban Fantasy

Themes: Dark Romance, LGBTQ+ /Gay, LGBTQ+ /Sex/Gender Shifters & MPreg, Murder Mystery, Vampires

Series: Splintered Bloodlines (#2)

Book Length: Novella

Page Count: 74

Description

A ritual decades ago leads Beau to the one person he never expected to meet: his fated mate.

Detective Beau Kirkland has to work directly with the local vampire house to find a murderer, but that’s the easy part. The difficult part? His attraction to Garrett Dawson’s, one of House Saridan’s top hunters.

Garrett Dawson’s methods are brutal but very effective, even for a vampire. When a mortal detective begins working with House Saridan, Garrett finds himself unable to ignore the attraction between them.

Excerpt

Spellbound (Splintered Bloodlines 2)
Mychael Black
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2025 Mychael Black

Garrett

There were few things I truly loved in this world, and one was currently in my hand as I took the elevator up to the fifteenth floor of Saridan Tower. No one else shared my addiction to the most amazingly sweet coffee concoction currently sending copious amounts of caffeine through my system. I stepped off the elevator on the top floor and headed down the hall to the usual conference room. I didn’t get any farther than the doorway, though. I simply froze, body alternating between hot and cold.

Normally, these meetings were just the three of us lead Venari and Deacon.

Not today, apparently.

Beau Kirkland looked up at me, eyes wide for a moment. No one said a word — not even Deacon. Somehow, I got my feet to move and sat opposite the omega cop. It took more effort than I really had this morning to focus on work and not the stupidly hot human across from me.

I didn’t go for twinks like the others. I liked my men older, more experienced. Beau fit that requirement with ease. His short brown hair bore a little bit of gray here and there, and his dark chocolate-colored eyes studied me whenever I glanced at his face. He was a few inches shorter than my own six-three, and unlike most omegas, he was a bit muscular due to his job. Dressed in his dark navy uniform, he presented the most fucking delectable package on the planet. I cursed silently and tore my gaze from his when all blood began rushing south.

Deacon cleared his throat and looked at each of us. “I’m sure you all know one another, but for protocol’s sake, I’d like to introduce Officer Beau Kirkland. He’s our liaison within the police department. He’s also the one handling this latest case on their end. Officer Kirkland, these are my head Venari: Nikolai Hart, Victor Pace, and Garrett Dawson.”

Beau nodded. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

We exchanged the usual pleasantries before Deacon continued. “I’m stepping back for now,” he said, glancing at me briefly, “but I’m here if needed. To that end, the table’s yours, Officer Kirkland.”

“Thank you,” Beau said. He handed each of us several folders. “Eight victims so far, all completely drained. Eyewitnesses have seen the perp in passing, but no one can agree on a description.”

“Could be a Lupyn,” Vic said as he flipped through the contents of one of the folders.

“That was my assumption, but you all know far better than we do if that’s the case.”

I went through the first folder in front of me. Crime scene photos, pics of the victims post-mortem, notes, and statements. I scanned over everything and couldn’t disagree with the shapeshifter idea. It would make sense.

“What do you need from us?” Nik asked Beau. “We’re more than happy to work with you and your folks.”

I’m not sure I would’ve gone that far, but we did need to get this monster off the streets. I might not have been particularly nuts about humans, but that didn’t mean I wished them dead. My methods were saved for my own kind.

Beau passed out papers to us. “These are the last few places he was sighted. He’s a vampire, so we humans are outgunned here. We can help corner him, but capture is a different story altogether.”

Nik nodded. “Agreed. Well, we’re here and ready to go hunting.”

I didn’t miss the slight grimace on Beau’s face before he managed to school it into something more neutral. Apparently, neither did Deacon, but the man just remained silent.

“Thank you,” Beau said. “Please keep me updated on everything. In the meantime, I’ll be at the station downtown, trying to narrow our possible location leads.”

“Thank you for coming to us,” Deacon said. “I guarantee we will be in touch. These guys are my best hunters, and I have no doubt they’ll find this son of a bitch.”

Despite the situation, Beau smiled. “Thank you very much.”

The others left the room, though Beau shot me a cryptic look before stepping out the door. I stayed seated, knowing Deacon had something to say. Sure enough, as soon as we were alone, he leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.

“Is this going to be an issue?”

I could’ve played dumb, but he already knew everything. There wasn’t any point. “No. I’m fully capable of working with him.”

Deacon raised one eyebrow. “Really? Because pheromones say otherwise.”

I managed to avoid scowling at him. Lupyns were more sensitive to things like that than Venari. “Unlike Nik, I’m perfectly capable of keeping my dick in my pants, Deacon.”

He didn’t say anything for a few seconds. He was far older than us, and being under his scrutiny made even me feel like a scolded kid sometimes. “Don’t let it get the best of you, Garrett. His job involves danger, and you can’t protect him from that unless you’re mated and bonded completely.”

“Who said I was –” I snapped my mouth shut at his glare.

“I’m old, not an idiot.” Deacon leaned forward and put his arms on the table. “Either fight this until the perp is in custody or fucking claim Beau. I can’t have you out there distracted. Understood?”

“Yes,” I replied, biting back a growl.

“Good. Dismissed.”

I stood abruptly, grabbed the folders and paper, and left the conference room. I made it halfway down the hall before Nik and Vic both cornered me. Fuck.

“That didn’t go well, did it?” Vic asked.

“No,” I snarled.

I continued walking, and they followed me to the elevator. I stabbed the DOWN button and had to unclench my fist before I gave into the urge to hit something. In the door’s reflection, I saw Nik and Vic exchange cautious glances.

We all stepped into the elevator and took it to the lobby. Without another word said, it was a given where we’d wind up. Colby’s was the city’s best diner with the most amazing coffee blends. Maybe the combination of carbs, sugar, and caffeine would calm me down because just the thought of claiming Beau sure as fuck wasn’t doing it.

Quite the opposite, actually.

I was hard as a fucking rock.

Purchase at Changeling Press

Meet the Author

Mychael Black has been writing professionally since 2005. He writes gay romance and erotica, but also het romance as Carys Seraphine and queer fantasy as Katherine Cook.

He’s an avid PC gamer with a love for RPGs, a horror fanatic, and a fantasy nut. He also has a weakness for anything relating to skulls, dogs, and Spongebob Squarepants.

Mychael lives on the Eastern Shore of the US with his family. He loves to hear from readers, be it via email or Facebook.

Website | Facebook

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Sep 30

New Release Blitz: It Begins by Eule Grey (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: It Begins

Author: Eule Grey

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/30/2025

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 45700

Genre: Horror, gay romance, explicit sex, group sex, sex games, first time, students, waistcoat love, happy ending, Halloween ‘fun.’

Add to Goodreads

Description

Byron, PhD student and waistcoat admirer, knows about yearning and betrayal. It’s been four years since the love of his life, Ruben, walked off without explanation. Byron dreams of midnight sex he can’t fully remember and a beloved man with dancing eyes. If only Ruben would return… But life moves on. At least it did until you-know-who unexpectedly pitches a tent in the garden, provoking ghosts from the past as well as Byron’s aching heart.

Ruben understands how to push Byron’s buttons. But he doesn’t know why someone is stalking them or why his memories are haunted by students playing a naked truth-dare game in an ancient room. What happened on the claw-marked table covered with crispy skin flakes?

Halloween draws close, and with it comes a rollercoaster ride of sex, fear, and love. At the back of their minds, a chilling, familiar voice reminds Byron and Ruben of a game from long ago and a pact that can’t be abandoned or left unfinished.

True love never dies.

Excerpt

It Begins
Eule Grey © 2025
All Rights Reserved

Oxford. October 31st, 1980

Sid

It begins on Halloween with seven students sitting awkwardly around a table damaged by scratches and deep claw markings an animal must have caused: Elvin, Ed, Vernon, Lily, Veronica, Ola, and me, Sid. Although it’s my first time here, I recognise Ed and Vernon from lectures.

Ola dragged me here in the rain and the cold, all very dramatic. To be honest, I’m surprised no one’s wearing a silly Halloween witch hat or something. I didn’t want to join a crappy society, but she said it would help me make friends. I’m ashamed she noticed I hadn’t made any. She’s weird though. One time, I bumped into her in my dorm corridor, and she was carrying a book about embalming and taxidermy. I asked her what on earth she was reading. She laughed. Beneath the lamp, her face reminded me of an old, rotting potato.

“Just in case I need to steal a body,” she said, leering like a rabid dog seeking flesh to bite into. I realise she was joking, but I was terrified. Still am.

She catches me studying the others and elbows me in the ribs, whispering, “You’re staring. Try to fit in.”

Oh, god. Already, I’ve embarrassed her. Earlier, when we were chatting about the group, Ola’s unblinking eyes reminded me of an owl. Something about her isn’t right. She’s eighteen, the same age as me, but she seems way older, and her accent slips between posh and old-fashioned. I’m not even sure she’s a student. I asked her what course she’s on. She made a growling sound and said, “Fun and games.”

Right, yeah, very helpful, not.

Why are the others in this stinky room when they could be winning awards or making conquests? Vernon’s trying and failing to impress Ed and the women. Having sex is probably the limit of his desires, but I don’t know for sure. He licks his lips often, eyes on Lily’s chest. He reminds me of an orangutan with his red hair and long limbs. His desperation is not appealing.

Lily is an ice queen from a Hollywood movie, wearing a light blue cloak and matching sapphire earrings. Who the fuck wears a cloak? Those shiny stones could pay my rent for the rest of my life. The only clue about her motives is how her body constricts as if kicked when Veronica inches closer.

Ola told me earlier that Veronica is Chinese. Veronica doesn’t seem happy to be here or to exist at all. Her long dark hair is lank and unwashed. She wears beige, apologetic clothing.

Ed is a wanker extraordinaire and a bully. I encountered him during Fresher’s Week, when he treated me like a servant, saying I should fetch his drinks and be grateful. The bastard was incredulous that I was invited into any space he frequented, and he showed this by crossing his muscular arms, diminishing me with a scornful what-the-fuck expression. I expect he’s bored with college, money, and winning. Maybe he wants a different experience. To fail? To be hurt? Degradation? And now I’m aroused and also sickened, which is a surprisingly thrilling combination.

The person I’m most interested in is Elvin, Elvin, Elvin. Inside my head, his name turns into a soft, sexy whisper. The guy’s super handsome, brown-skinned, fit, with hair I wish I could play with. Shit, though, he’s wearing a waistcoat with an actual historical watch fob, for fuck’s sake. First a cloak and now a waistcoat. What’s up with these people?

Elvin sits stiffly at the table head, peering at a neat, organised folder. When I skimmed his society diaries, pinned to the board on the door, I noticed he handwrote them with an old-fashioned ink pen, which I’m guessing belongs to him.

Maybe he’s as lonely as me. Why else wear a ridiculous, tight waistcoat if not to keep himself from spilling out? Everything about him fascinates and draws me in. I’ve often followed him around campus, staying out of sight. I’m good at that. Elvin’s always alone, the same as me. I can’t begin to guess what he’s doing here.

Maybe the most pressing question is, what do I want from this unlikely group of students? The answer is tragically simple—to escape the emptiness eating at me since starting college and probably all my life. For years, I toiled to be the first kid from the children’s home to reach Oxford University. Now I’m here—urgh. When did I last enjoy anything? I want to feel, to know I’m alive instead of chasing rich arseholes who beat me on every level.

Ola has forgotten about me. I expect her act of charity is complete now she’s dragged me here. She wanders away and perches on the table beside Lily, admiring the obscene cloak trying to butter up Veronica while all the time resembling a lizard inside a human skin Yuk. Maybe she really has been mummified. Each time she moves her hand, nasty scabs of dried skin land on the table. Ugh. Lily’s trying, and failing, not to appear revolted.

Everyone’s chatting except me and Elvin. I’m used to being on the outside but still feel utterly alone and lonely. Where and how should I sit? Would it be better for me to leave?

Okay, that’s it, I’m off.

I stand, trying to make as little fuss as possible when I slip away.

One person notices my discomfort: Elvin. He pats the chair next to him. “Good evening. You’re welcome. Please, don’t be nervous. Sit, and let’s chat.” BBC accent, bright, hazelnut eyes holding me. And look—the fountain pen peeping from a tiny, embroidered breast pocket. I’d failed to notice his gorgeous, cheeky, shy, irresistible smile though.

Wow.

Sit with Elvin? Oh, yeah. I hurtle across the room gracelessly and gratefully fall into the seat he’s patting. “Thanks. Thank you.” I’m sure he knows about the rip in my jacket, which I bought from a charity shop, and the hole in my shoe.

Elvin watches me intently, the doctor assessing symptoms, not missing a trick. “What’s Ola told you? Our quaint little society must seem rather unusual to newcomers. We had to request permission to use the room.” He grins at me conspiratorially.

Room? I don’t know what he means, so I smile hopefully, my heart racing.

He waits politely, and a little impatiently, for my answer, pen poised, ready to add a ‘pass’ tick against my name.

Like always in this hellish shithole, I don’t understand the rules of the game. “Er, well, she told me you’re doing social research for your studies. I could use the research, too, for my dissertation about peer pressure. And make friends.” Oh god. Why did I admit I have no mates to the most handsome guy I’ve ever met?

He waits for more, watching, always watching.

I’m tired enough to give up, roll over, and die. Why do the students always want more? Don’t they know I have nothing to offer people who own everything.

But I very much want to impress Elvin, so I try again. There are no clues about why this room is special among the many hideous paintings of horses or the stylish furniture. If I had to guess, I’d say this is a place where no one has ever been kind. “It’s a great room. The library is awesome,” I say, referring to a dark corner, which contains a small library filled with weird shit about reincarnation, from what I can see.

Elvin’s shoulders sag. He plays dismissively with his pricey pen. Whatever it was, I’ve failed the test. “Mm-hmm. We’re tired of library learning. We wish to test the boundaries.”

I imagine his life as a series of boarding schools and posh tea parties. However, I really, really want to know him, so I try again. “The room suits your purpose.” It’s a phrase I heard on the news last night in the common room. The broadcaster discussed an ancient, supposedly haunted pub. The new landlord said his ales all bore spooky names.

It works. Elvin leans towards me, chin in his hand, eyes burning with undisguised interest. “Indeed. Did you get a chance to explore the library?”

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NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Eule Grey has settled, for now, in the north UK. She’s worked in education, justice, youth work, and even tried her hand at butter-spreading in a sandwich factory. Sadly, she wasn’t much good at any of them!

She writes novels, novellas, poetry, and a messy combination of all three. Nothing about Eule is tidy but she rocks a boogie on a Saturday night!

For now, Eule is she/her or they/them. Eule has not yet arrived at a pronoun that feels right.

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Sep 23

New Release Blitz: Cryofactory Cryptid by Brenda Murphy (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: Cryofactory Cryptid

Author: Brenda Murphy

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/23/2025

Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 27500

Genre: Horror, Lit/genre, horror, paranormal, urban fantasy, humor, lesbian, urban explorers, cryogenics lab, genetically modified creature

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Description

When urban exploration photographer Cat McIntyre and her wife Lelia stumble upon a gruesome discovery in an abandoned cryofactory, their lives are thrown into chaos. Pursued by relentless security forces, they barely escape only to realize something even more terrifying is stalking them.

The creature in the shadows isn’t just any predator. It’s intelligent. It’s deadly. And it may be tied to Cat in ways she never imagined. As the women fight for survival, Cat must confront a buried secret from her past, one that has unleashed a monster.

When the cryofactory’s enforcers strike again, the bond between Cat and the beast becomes undeniable, forcing Cat and Lelia to make an impossible choice.

A campy horror thriller, Cryofactory Cryptid is a tale of survival, identity, and the unexpected bonds of found family.

Excerpt

Cryofactory Cryptid
Brenda Murphy © 2025
All Rights Reserved

The cryofactory door lock gave way with little effort. Cat advanced her crowbar and used it to lever the door open wide enough for them to slip inside. She winced as the screech of metal on rusty metal echoed through the chill night.

“So much for stealth mode,” Lelia whispered.

Cat turned to Lelia. “This entire row of warehouses is abandoned. The nearest house is over a mile away. I’ve watched this place for weeks. Don’t worry.” She used her shoulder to shove the door open wider and shone her flashlight across the concrete floor before sweeping it over the open room. “The cops don’t even patrol over here. Nobody cares about this place. Tweekers don’t even use it.”

“Then why did we have to climb a fence to get in here? And park so fucking far away? What is wrong with me that I let you talk me into doing this URBEX stuff?”

Cat turned back to Lelia, her face half lit by the flashlight glow. “Cuz you love me.”

Lelia nodded. “Yeah, I do. Let’s get moving. I don’t want to get busted. My mom’s still pissed about the last time she had to bail us out for trespassing.”

“We paid her back.” Glass shards crunched under Cat’s boots as she walked ahead.

“Not the point.” Lelia followed close behind her.

Moonlight filtered into the cavernous space through broken skylights and clerestory windows along the south side of the building, lighting the space with a cool white glow. Cat clipped her flashlight to her sweatshirt and picked up her camera. She framed a shot of computer desks haphazardly piled together against a door surrounded by toppled desk chairs. File cabinets lay on their sides, their contents spilling out. Dirty rain-warped paper littered the floor. “They sure left in a hurry.”

“As should we. I don’t like how this place feels. Or smells.” Lelia stepped up next to her. “You want me to video like last time?”

“Yeah, let me pull my mask up.” Cat pulled her face cover into place and tugged her hat lower.

Skittering rodent sounds followed them as they worked their way around the room, snapping shots of the disarray. Lelia followed Cat closely, filming her adventures. Cat arrived at a door. Its glass panes were spider-webbed, the safety glass hanging out of the top frame. A doorplate identified the space as Laboratory Nineteen.

Lelia lowered her phone. “What kinda place was this? Did you get the bullet holes on the south wall? Did the cops raid this place? There’s fucking tear gas canisters everywhere.”

“Couldn’t find out much online. Cryogenics. Sperm vault. Assisted reproduction research type stuff. Nothing about anything illegal. Are you getting those rat noises? I want to make sure I have them for the video.” Cat stepped over a puddle. “Watch the water.”

“It’s never water in these places.” Lelia walked around the edge of the suspicious puddle. “How much more do you want to explore?”

“Just a bit more. You okay?” Cat turned back to Lelia.

“Not at all. This place is creepy. And it’s rank.”

“Creepier than the mental hospital?”

“Fuck yeah.”

Cat studied Lelia’s face lit by the moonlight. She leaned forward, pulled her face mask down, and kissed her cheek. “Come on, babe, just a little more. I want enough for two episodes and some B-roll.”

“Fine.” Lelia lifted her chin. “But we’re adding this to the ‘you owe me’ column.”

“Fair.” Cat turned and stepped over the threshold into the lab with Lelia behind her. She crouched down, trusting Lelia to get a pan of the room before she proceeded to photograph it. She stared at rust-red spatters on the black and white tile floor before she snapped a few shots of them.

“Holy fuck.” Lelia gripped Cat’s shoulder and dug her fingers in. “Look.”

Cat stood. On the lab bench before her lay what remained of a body. “Oh fuck.” She forced herself to look at it. Covered in the shredded remains of a tattered white uniform shirt was a human torso. Neck bones and sinew stuck out of the shirt collar where the head should have been. One arm remained, its fingers curled around a folding knife.

“That explains the smell.” Cat moved closer to the remains. Past the juicy stage and sheltered from the elements, the body was desiccated. Its rib cage was exposed. Nothing of its internal organs remained. One leg was canted at an odd angle, the other missing below the knee, the exposed bone cracked and splintered. Cat took another shot of the body. Dried bloodstains filled the top of the workbench.

“Get away from it. We need to call the cops.” Lelia’s voice quavered.

“To tell them we found a body while trespassing?” Cat moved along the bench and took another few photos.

“We can’t just leave it here. That’s someone’s person.” Lelia stepped closer to Cat.

Cat bent to study the knife clutched in the body’s hand. Matted hair stuck out along the blood-smeared blade. “We’ll make an anonymous call when we get home.”

“They’ll be able to trace it. Come on. We have to get out of here.” Lelia shoved her phone into her coat pocket. “I’m done with this.”

“Babe. Calm down. I’ll get a burner phone.”

She framed the body and fired off another series of photos as she moved around it from different angles.

“What the fuck are you going to do with those photos?”

“I don’t know. It seems wrong to not record this. What the fuck could have done that?” Cat glanced toward Lelia. “A bear?”

“Are you high? How the hell would a bear get in here? When was the last time you saw a bear in the city outside of the zoo?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. But look at it; it’s ripped wide open. There’s all that black hair on the knife.”

“Don’t touch anything.”

“I’m not stupid.” Cat backed away from the body.

The snap and crackle of a two-way radio echoed through the building. Cat swallowed on a dry throat. She shut her flashlight off and lifted her finger to her lips. Lelia nodded her understanding. Slowly they lowered themselves to the floor and duckwalked to the wall next to a bank of low cabinets. Cat gripped her camera close to her chest and pressed herself against the wall.

Garbled radio conversation mixed with the crunch of footsteps grew louder. Cat set her teeth on her lip. Lelia clasped her hand tight. She focused on her breathing, willing herself not to panic. Cat peeped around the corner of the cabinet. Two pairs of tactical boots. She shrank back against the wall. A light flashed in the upper part of the room, the bright beam sweeping from left to right. It paused on the body on the bench before moving around the room again slowly.

“Anything?”

“Nah. Just Hank. Hanging out.”

“Ha ha. You’re so funny, Chuck. I saw them come in here.”

“So what, Dawn? They’ll end up like Hank. Or we’ll catch them when they come out. Come on. My lunch’s getting cold.”

Their voices faded. Cat lifted Lelia’s hand to her mouth and pressed a kiss to the back of her knuckles. They waited until they no longer heard footsteps before they stood.

“Out. Now,” Lelia whispered. She tugged Cat’s hand, pulling her close to her. “If you stop to take one more picture, I swear I’ll divorce you.”

Cat switched to a red lens for her flashlight. “They’ll be watching the front door.”

Lelia huffed a breath. “So, what do we do?”

“The drone photos I took showed a loading dock out back. We can go out that way. Part of the fence is down. We can scoot through it. Or over it. Hop the guardrail and follow the drainage ditch along the interstate back to our car.”

Staying low, they exited the lab and turned toward the back of the building.

Clouds scuttled across the moon, leaving the space in deep darkness. Cat swept the red beam back and forth as they picked their way through the cluttered warehouse. The scrape of metal on metal echoed through the room. Lelia yipped and bumped into Cat’s back. The short hairs on Cat’s neck stood up. The hum of machinery kicking over and the grinding of gears above their head drew her gaze and she raised her flashlight. Muted by the red lens, it failed to illuminate the far reaches of the ceiling. The floor vibrated under her thick-soled boots, followed by a rhythmic wet thumping sound.

Lelia dug her nails into Cat’s hand. “Run.”

They barreled toward the loading dock. The concrete stairs leading to the dock were littered with bits of bones. They charged up the steps to the loading door. The large roller door was shut. Cat slung her pack off her back and pulled her pry bar from the front pocket. She wedged the edge of it under the door and forced the upper end down. The metal door bent with the force but did not move. She lifted the blade and pushed the edge farther under the door. With both hands she shoved down harder. The blade slid sideways and popped free. The bar spun toward her; the sharp end jabbed into Cat’s hand.

“Fuck me.” Blood welled up from the wound. Bright red, it dripped onto the dusty cement.

“Forget it. There’s a window.” Lelia jerked Cat’s jacket. “Come on.”

Cat wiped her hand on her jeans. Lelia strode to the window over a desk next to the dock. She swept her hand over the desk, shoving clipboards and papers to the floor.

“You first.” Cat held her hand out for Lelia.

Lelia clasped Cat’s hand and clambered to the top of the desk. Cat passed her the pry bar. The window lock lever was rusted shut. Lelia bashed the rusty lock with the end of the pry bar, knocking it loose. With two hands she wedged the flat end of the bar under the window and the sill. She pressed down with her body weight, forcing the window open.

The moon returned from behind the clouds, lighting up the warehouse. Lelia passed the pry bar back to Cat before she hoisted herself up onto the sill.

Silhouetted in the window, she turned to Cat. “You can step on the railing from here then down to the loading dock. There’s glass everywhere. Be careful.”

Lelia disappeared from Cat’s view. The sensation of being watched pricked her skin. Cat glanced over her shoulder. In the pale moonlight, the faint outline of a form on all fours stood out against the darkness. She lifted her camera and snapped off a shot.

“Come on, Cat. Hurry.” Lelia’s desperate tone drove her, and she climbed through the window. Brown glass littered the loading dock, and the parking lot sparkled beneath the full moon.

“There.” Lelia pointed to a bent and twisted section of fence. They bolted across the weedy parking lot and dove through the opening into the wooded highway buffer.

Purchase

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Brenda Murphy (she/her) writes erotic romance. Her most recent novel, Double Six, is the 2020 Golden Crown Literary Society winner for Erotic Novels, and Knotted Legacy, the third book in the Rowan House series, made the 2018 The Lesbian Review’s Top 100 Vacation Reads list. You can catch her musings on writing, books, and living with wicked ADHD on her blog Writing While Distracted. She loves sideshows and tattoos and yes, those are her monkeys. When she is not loitering at her local library, she wrangles twins, one dog, and an unrepentant parrot

I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it. For a free short story, information on book signings, appearances, work in progress snippets, previews and sneak-peeks, sign up for my email list at:

Website: www.brendalmurphy.com

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Sep 19

New Release Blitz: The Bathhouse by Gale Stanley (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: The Bathhouse

Author: Gale Stanley

Publisher: Changeling Press LLC

Release Date: September 19, 2025

Cover Art: Bryan Keller

Genres: Contemporary, New Releases, Romance

Themes: 2nd Chance Romance, LGBTQ+ /Gay, Multicultural & Interracial, Second Edition

Series: Roosters (#10)

Multiverse: Roosters (#1)

Book Length: Novella

Page Count: 75

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Synopsis

Reed Barton is a millionaire who can have anything he wants, except the one thing he desires most. His first love. He’s spent years trying to recreate the night they met in a San Francisco bathhouse. The image of the beautiful Filipino man who took his virginity is never far from his thoughts.

Reed’s life is turned upside down when his long-lost love reappears — and not in a good way. Joseph Castro is not quite what he seems. Time and experience have changed both men, and there’s no going back. But maybe, together, they can go forward.

Excerpt

The Bathhouse (Roosters)
Second Edition
Gale Stanley
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2025 Gale Stanley

Reed Barton had last minute jitters about going to the bathhouse. The men might be old and creepy. His visit might get back to his family. The list went on, but they were just excuses, soon cast aside in favor of discovering what he’d been missing.

Nineteen, almost twenty, and still a virgin. He had little experience with sex. Educated at authoritarian male boarding schools, there wasn’t much time for fooling around. Lessons started early and finished late, and afterwards the boys were kept busy with homework, sports, and dinner until bedtime. Still, he’d witnessed a few incidents. He’d seen one boy sucking another’s penis in the bathroom. At the time, Reed had been appalled, but titillated as well. He pictured himself on his knees, forced to suck another boy’s cock, and longed for the reality, but no opportunity presented itself.

In college, Reed felt the inexplicable draw of chemistry, but only toward other men. To his family he presented a picture of heterosexual “normalcy” but in fact, he took to visiting a bar where gay men hung out. He engaged in several hurried blowjobs in the bathroom, but nothing more. One of his nameless encounters told him about the bathhouse. Bathhouses had once been a rite of passage for gay men, but many had closed through the years. Somehow, this one had survived and Reed was determined to take advantage of whatever it had to offer.

The taxi deposited Reed in a downtown Frisco area known for muggings. Many of the buildings were abandoned and there were no signs or addresses. Confused, Reed questioned the driver. The man pointed down an alley and held out his hand for the fare.

A few working streetlights cast eerie shadows as Reed entered the back street. He felt uneasy, but the sense of danger excited him as well. He’d always been tempted by the forbidden.

A sudden downpour pelted Reed with stinging drops. He picked up his pace, ignoring the beer cans and fast food containers underfoot, and spotted a heavy wooden door with a small sign affixed to it that read Rock Hard Gym. Relieved, Reed pushed the door open and entered a small foyer.

A young man sat behind a window. He scrutinized Reed carefully before selling him a membership. “Do you want a locker or a private room?”

“A locker. I don’t know how long I’ll stay.”

“Fifteen for the membership. Five for the locker.”

Reed exchanged a twenty-dollar bill for an ID card, a white towel and a plastic wristband with a locker key.

“There are condoms and lube in the locker room.” The clerk buzzed Reed through another door.

The heady scent of sex intoxicated him. He didn’t care that the floors were old and slippery with water and body fluids. The lockers were rusty and the walls badly in need of paint, but Reed couldn’t see past the naked male bodies.

Men stood, sat, and lingered in stages of undress, manspreading on changing benches, tiny towels intentionally parted. Reed found it hard to look away from the smorgasbord of flesh so openly exposed.

While searching for his locker, he became aware of the lingering looks he attracted, but none of the men appealed to Reed, not even in the dim lighting. He wanted to explore and he made quick work of undressing.

Wrapping the towel around his hips, Reed left the locker room. There was a gym, small and ill equipped, but a gym nonetheless. Reed bypassed it. Straight ahead he encountered an area where men of all ages and sizes, naked except for their towels, stood around and watched gay porn. He watched the film for a few minutes, then he moved on, entering a series of corridors where men prowled the hallways looking for acceptable partners.

He passed door after door, some closed, many open. Grunts echoed from the shadows. Reed caught glimpses of men grinding and thrusting. Moans filled his ears. Hushed words, frightening and thrilling. Blood rushed to Reed’s dick. It was electrifying to be surrounded by so much sex.

Reed stepped around men who didn’t care about getting a room. Heart pounding, he watched them giving blowjobs or having anal sex in the hall. A few invited him to join in, but he wasn’t ready — yet.

Like a kid in a candy shop, he wandered the labyrinth, taking it all in. Everything astounded him — the soundscape of grunts, moans, hissing, gagging, slapping skin on skin… The halls reeked of sweat and semen.

Reed’s palms were damp with nervous energy. Was he really prepared to do what he’d come here for? Yes. He’d come too far to back off now. He wanted to explore his sexual self.

Reed’s path ended at the steam room. Excitement floated on clouds of vapor. A dozen heads lifted to size him up. Feeling suddenly timid and embarrassed, Reed backed up, intending to leave. Just then, a group of boisterous frat boys arrived and carried him along with them. Reed separated himself and took a seat on one of the wooden benches.

The warm, wet air enveloped Reed’s body, and loosened his tense muscles. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of relaxation, but the atmosphere changed with the new arrivals. Suddenly the steam room became a hotbed of lust. All wet, slithering bodies sliding up against each other. A strange body pressed up against Reed and startled him. He wished he could be as liberated as these men, but he was too new, too green. There were too many horny men. He needed to find a quieter space.

Reed got as far as the door, but was brought up short by a hand on his shoulder. For a moment, he was too shocked to move. Then he turned.

The man in front of him was shorter. His black hair framed dark eyes, a flat nose and a smiling mouth. Reed scanned the length of him, eyes widening at the tent in his towel. Under it had to be a rock-hard erection. Reed dragged his fascinated gaze back to the man’s exotic face, his broad cheekbones and deep-set eyes.

The stranger’s alluring lips curled in a seductive smile as he spoke. “I don’t blame you for wanting to leave. It’s so noisy in here. A man can’t hear himself think.”

Purchase at Changeling Press LLC

Meet the Author

Gale Stanley grew up in Philadelphia PA. She was the kid who always had her nose in a book, her head in the clouds, and her hands on a pad and pencil.

Some things never change.

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Sep 16

New Release Blitz: The Spellbinding Magic of You and Me by Timoteo Tong (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: The Spellbinding Magic of You and Me

Series: The Magicals’ Alliance, Book Three

Author: Timoteo Tong

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/16/2025

Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 120800

Genre: Paranormal, Young adult, magic/magic users, high school, first love, supernatural war

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Description

In a world where ancient magic is real and monsters roam, Santangelo Lo Geffo’s life is about to change forever.

After the mysterious death of his mother, Santangelo is thrust into a world of magic he never believed in. He struggles with his own powers, with a father who insists magic only brings destruction, and with the weight of the loss that haunts him.

When his former friend Neeky reappears, everything shifts. Neeky’s return ignites long-buried feelings, and together they discover they are connected by more than just magic. They’re caught in a destiny neither can escape.

But a deadly rivalry brews in the Gloom—a realm where monsters roam and enemies seek to tear their world apart. As secrets about Santangelo’s past are revealed, he is faced with a devastating choice: protect the people he loves or embrace a future of darkness.

Love, magic, and monsters collide in this thrilling adventure as Santangelo must face his greatest fears and unlock the mysteries of his bloodline. But time is running out, and if he can’t make the right choice, everything—and everyone—he holds dear could be lost forever.

Excerpt

The Spellbinding Magic of You and Me
Timoteo Tong © 2025
All Rights Reserved

Below the vast concrete maze of Los Angeles, beneath miles of freeways sprawling across valleys, canyons, and passes, a middle-aged woman lounged on a sofa swarming with hundreds of thousands of fire ants. She had long, jet-black hair that cascaded down her back, its inky strands contrasting starkly with her pale skin, which seemed almost ghostly under the lights, tinged with an eerie green hue at the hairline. Her dark eyes, heavily outlined with thick, black eyeliner, cut through the room with a sharp, calculating gaze, like she could see right through a person. Her features gave her an air of regal intensity, but the permanent scowl on her lips sent shivers down the spines of those unfortunate enough to lay eyes on her. Everything about her screamed disdain as if the world itself was a personal annoyance to her.

“Darkness,” she exclaimed, “keep stinging me! Feels very refreshing.” She trimmed her nails with the sharp edge of a machete. At the same time, Coven Radio played in the background in the elaborate parlor of the Palatio de Malac, a gothic horror made of black obsidian decorated with the bones and skulls of countless Ordinaries killed by her kith and kin, the creatures of the shadows, vampires, werewolves, and, most importantly, witches, collectively known as monsters. She leaned over to drink bubbly, fermented Ordinary blood, chugging the heady concoction from a golden chalice.

“Tonight is glorious!” she said to the crows circling overhead in the vast expanse of the vaulted ceiling. “Devlina is getting her just desserts. My bae will emerge victorious, and he will elevate me to my rightful place, my despicable ones.” She stood and brushed several fire ants off her legs. “I will rule with an iron fist, bringing order to the stupid covens who have become complacent.”

A crow cawed loudly and descended in a lazy-eight pattern before lighting on her open hand. “Malius, whoever heard of monsters who don’t terrorize ordinary humans, who don’t hunt down families in the park or hide in shadows, ready to prey on young adults on the leafy universities of Southern California?”

“No one, your horribleness!” the crow said sharply. “Monsters have grown soft, lazy, comfortable.”

“Precisely,” the woman said. “And I can’t simply watch my brethren humiliate themselves in deference to the Pàcifimenta and the stupid Magicals Alliance.”

“Fools, all of them!”

The woman stroked the head of the crow with a long fingernail, filed into the shape of a V and painted black. “And you know, Malius,” she said, “it is time for the Máunadus to step up and lead the monsters. Take our place in the darkness and gloom and show those silly creatures what it truly means to be wicked!”

“Shall we go to the dungeons and scare some Ordinaries? Maybe torture them for fun?”

“Oh, that does sound delightful, Malius,” she said, “but we must plan out the coronation for when I transform from Máu Rabetica into Hêracansa, the Queen of the Gloom!”

Malius chirped, his black eyes sparkling. “What a glorious day that will be, my lady!”

“Won’t it?” Máu Rabetica asked, stroking the bird’s head. “What a turn of events for me, once a humble lesser goddess charged with ensuring the darkness in its entirety in the night, such a silly and tedious job. I went to the Paláujo Dorallen, the famed Golden Palace and home of the Casso Soljallen, the seat of Cupidêro Êímpagońena and his clan of the Sun and pleaded with him to allow me to be important like Amnoxha the Goddess of the Night. He refused, the sniveling fool, because she was the wife of Uvendra, the Goddess of the Moon and head of the Casso Uvendrallen, their rival house. He feared a resumption of war between the Three Houses of Morra Êímpagońena, which had lasted a millennium before the intervention of the Áuqala to restore peace.”

“We love fighting, death, and destruction!”

“That we do, my hated one.” Máu Rabetica ruffled Malius’s feathers gently. “Anyway, the Batanalla siec Êtaulls—the Battle of the Cosmos ends. Amnoxha’s reign of the night is agreed upon to placate Uvendra, and I ask the silly Sun God himself for a new name and more responsibility, and he scoffs. Instead, he offers to train me in Xem Sen Ou, telling me, ‘Coaugelus and Astroístus’—those silly semi-immortal descendants of the gods themselves—‘will revere and call upon me in their hour of need.’ Barf, no thanks. Especially because his condition was that I reject all worldly possessions and dedicate myself to humility.”

“You, humble?” the bird jeered.

“Exactly, pet,” Máu Rabetica said. “He told me to sell my beautiful palace of diamonds and opals situated among the mists at the top of Morra Rampsgàra in Passonea. I had seventy bedrooms, countless mirrors to admire myself, and the villagers below lived in absolute fear of me! And he wanted me to trade that in to learn how to smack a few heads around while also serving the other gods and goddesses?”

“Never!”

Máu Rabetica deepened her voice, imitating Cupidêro: “In order to truly become selfless—the core tenet of Xem Sen Ou—you must let go of your ego and transcend your id.”

“How would you do that? Meditate? Scream at people?” the bird asked.

“No, by scrubbing the toilets of the higher gods and goddesses, washing their feet, scrubbing their floors, and feeding them grapes.” Máu Rabetica gagged. “Can you imagine such humiliation?”

“Not for you.”

“I refused, of course, and, instead, offered to arm wrestle Cupidêro. If I won, I’d become Goddess of the Night; if I lost, he’d buy me dinner.”

“Surely you joke?”

“Never, but to your point, Cupidêro was outraged, and he punished me by sending me from Morra Êímpagońena to the Imvessanabo.”

“The Inversion!”

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NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

Timoteo K. Tong grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles dreaming of living in a rambling Victorian mansion. He currently lives with his husband and way too many plants in San Francisco. He is obsessed with cheese pizza, drinking cola, and daydreaming about magic. He sold his first book when he was age eight, a story about his beloved stuffed animal named Crocker Spaniel. He is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators International.

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Sep 12

New Release Blitz: Consortium of Dragons by Emily Carrington (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: Consortium of Dragons

Author: Emily Carrington

Publisher: Changeling Press

Cover Art: Angela Knight

Genres: Action Adventure, Dark Fantasy, Mystery & Suspense, New Releases, Paranormal, Romance

Themes: Elves, Dragons & Magical Creatures, LGBTQ+ /Bisexual, Nonbinary, Transgender, Multicultural & Interracial, Multiple Partners /Polyamory, Shapeshifters, Werewolves & Wolf Shifters

Series: Dragon Lost (#3)

Multiverse: SearchLight Academy (#13)

Book Length: Novella

Page Count: 113

Synopsis

Two dragons are pulled into a murder mystery when their lover is targeted.

The blind grandson of the world’s most powerful dragon matriarch wants a male and female dragon in his bed. He’s bold enough to get what he wants. Unfortunately, so is the serial killer hunting his family.

A male-female land dragon couple long for their matriarchal society to be equal across the board. As they fight for their needs, they meet the water dragon who will change their lives.

Now a serial killer has these three in his sights.

Excerpt

Consortium of Dragons (Dragon Lost 3)
Emily Carrington
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2025 Emily Carrington

There had been another death, this one of a female dragon Joel had never heard of. She was a distant relative, though, a water dragon who lived in Central America, trying to stay under the radar, as it were, by thriving in the coastal waters of Costa Rica. Or at least she had been thriving. Lady Claudette had called to warn their mother to keep Joel and Jules close. “Rumor has it this monster is on the move north again.”

Joel Junior, whose name was pronounced in the Spanish style, Ho-el, hadn’t actually meant to disregard his grandmother’s orders, but his twin, Jules, was out swimming and Joel didn’t want anything to happen to him. Jules was an impulsive dragon, and he would have probably gone swimming even if he’d been there to hear the phone call.

With Jules most likely already in the water, Joel couldn’t use his sense of smell to find his twin. Instead, because Jules wouldn’t give a crap about a telepathic sending — wouldn’t bother to reply, in other words — Joel stripped on the Alaskan shore, shivering slightly even though it was May and the ice here had largely melted. He assumed his scaly form, all eight feet of sapphire-blue scales, and walked into the water. For humans, he understood, this would have been a Polar Swim despite the fifty-degree weather, but for him, it felt like coming home. Eyes open but blind, he submerged completely and used his other sense, the one honed by years of blindness and necessity, and sought his brother’s large presence in the water. It was almost like sonar, but not quite, being a combination of sound and psychic sense.

He encountered a pod of orcas closer in to shore than usual. He knew them to be members of the dolphin family rather than narwhals because of the amount of water they displaced. Orcas were almost twice the typical narwhal’s length. Now using his telepathy because the sea mammals disrupted his ability to “listen” to the water beyond them, he reached beyond them to see what had driven them toward the land. Orcas weren’t afraid of much.

He found his brother and another dragon devouring a school of fish. He swam toward them, giving the pod a wide margin even though he wasn’t a threat to them. Either the orcas could sense the dragons’ magic or they knew something the dragons didn’t know about the deeper water. With the enigmatic and relatively new interlopers into the Alaskan waters, it was hard to tell. Unlike narwhals, which had shifters among their numbers, Joel didn’t know if that was true of any other sea-going mammal.

He approached and recognized the shape of his brother’s mind. He sent out a blast of sound, a snort through his nose, and realized the other dragon, whom he’d taken for their friend Jean Pierre, was a female dragon. His brother wasn’t hunting, then, or not just hunting. Like Joel himself, Jules was bisexual, although he mostly flirted only with female dragons.

Jules snorted back at him and flicked his tail, stunning several fish. These he gobbled up before heading farther out into the bay. The female dragon went with him.

Joel vaguely recognized her as a distant cousin and wondered at his initial assessment. Water dragons weren’t exactly inbred, but they were connected by strong ties that meant they couldn’t lightly date those who might even bear a strand of similar DNA.

Deciding his brother wouldn’t listen just now, and telling himself no dragon had yet been accosted while in the water, he used his sense of the current to lead him back toward land.

Surfacing, he shifted back to human and walked out of the Arctic Ocean. If any human had seen him, doubtless they would have screamed, or run to get him a blanket. But there were no humans here in this part of Alaska. Sparsely populated as the state was, this little cove and the land that touched it was private property, where no one except the sons of Lady Nicole and all the servants played. Joel’s and Jules’s grandmother hadn’t even been here, afraid as she was that whoever was killing members of her family would find their way here.

Joel used to wonder if she thought he and his twin, nearly seventy years old, couldn’t take care of themselves. Yes, they were blind, but, no, that didn’t make them helpless. The two of them hadn’t been permitted to leave the area around the palace for over a dozen years.

He made his way to the large rock where he’d left his white cane. But when he was a stone’s throw from the place he always used to hold his clothes and cane, he sensed someone there. He paused, listening. He heard nothing. He reached out telepathically and found a shielded mind that he didn’t recognize.

“You’re Joel,” the stranger with an American accent said, although he pronounced Joel’s name correctly.

Wary, Joel took a step back. Despite his bravado of a moment ago, he was anxious. This male dragon was a stranger to him.

Male dragon? He processed that knowledge, realizing he’d gained as much from scent as psychic feel. “Who are you?”

“I guess I’m your uncle.”

That didn’t comfort Joel, not in the slightest. “What are you doing here?” Was someone in their family killing other dragons? He’d heard stories of dragons who ate others of their kind.

He tried to calm himself. If this was indeed the one stalking his family, he sounded awfully casual. Not at all like a serial killer, in other words. Although, beyond reading braille books and listening to the television crime shows, how would Joel know what a mass murderer sounded like?

“I’m trying to decide if I’m really the best person to be guarding you and your brother.” He shifted on the rock, the sound of denim scraping against granite making Joel take a second step back.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Taking out my cell phone. It’s time I let your mother know her defenses were easier to breach than she thinks.”

Joel gained his eight feet of height, putting on his scales. If this was the one who’d been threatening his family, the last thing Joel wanted to do was present him with an easy target. He channeled all his telepathic ability into a single word and sent it to Jules. Danger. Then he settled himself for hand-to-hand fighting.

“Why are you…” The other male dragon sounded flummoxed. “I’m not a threat to you. I’m here to protect you.”

Purchase at Changeling Press

Meet the Author

Emily Carrington is a multipublished author of male/male and transgender women’s speculative fiction. Seeking a world made of equality, she created SearchLight to live out her dreams. But even SearchLight has its problems, and Emily is looking forward to working all of these out with a host of characters from dragons and genies to psychic vampires. And in the contemporary world she’s named “Sticks & Stones,” Emily has vowed to create small towns where prejudice is challenged by a passionate quest for equality. Find her on Facebook at Shapeshifter Central or on her website.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Shapeshifter Central

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Sep 06

New Release Blitz: Cosmo in Retrograde by A. Flowers (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title:  Cosmo in Retrograde

Author: A. Flowers

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 09/09/2025

Heat Level: 2 – Fade to Black Sex

Pairing: Male/Male

Length: 98200

Genre: Fantasy, bisexual, gay, PNR-magic/magic users, investigators, mystery-police investigation, enemies/rivals to lovers, in the closet, disabilities, mental illness, politics, psychic ability, psychic medium, speech impediment/stutterer

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Description

Nothing has ever gone right for Cosmo Valencourt. After an automobile accident that left him permanently disabled, he lost most of his magical prowess and almost failed out of university. Left with only his talent for psychometry, which allows him to see the history of any object he touches, Cosmo has been working as an investigator at New Scotland Yard. A job that, in Cosmo’s opinion, is beneath him.

To make matters worse, Cosmo is tasked to investigate the threatening notes sent to his university rival, Blaise Howell. The notes, sent by a mysterious entity who calls himself the Third Eye, reveal a conspiracy to take down England’s Department for Marvels—starting with Blaise.

At first, every second with the disgustingly perfect Blaise Howell makes Cosmo’s skin crawl. But as the investigation continues, Cosmo finds himself falling for Blaise. Instead of the arrogant rich boy Cosmo remembers from university, he discovers the first person who truly understands him. There’s something sublime about Blaise that calms the chaos in Cosmo’s mind even as the investigation incites more chaos around him. From warding off magical attacks leveled against Blaise to interviewing prisoners at London’s most high-security prison, this investigation is Cosmo’s greatest challenge yet.

But Cosmo’s newfound love for Blaise is challenged when he discovers that Blaise is keeping a dark secret of his own. Between trying to save the Department for Marvels and attempting to keep Blaise’s heart beating, Cosmo is most definitely in over his head. In the end, he is left with a choice: save the Department for Marvels or keep Blaise Howell. There isn’t much chance of doing both.

But Cosmo plans to try. And if he fails, he will do so spectacularly.

Excerpt

Cosmo in Retrograde
A. Flowers © 2025
All Rights Reserved

The World, Judgement, and the Hanged Man. All inverted.

It’s 12:14 in the afternoon, and Cosmo Valencourt has exactly sixteen minutes left of his lunch break. He’ll eat five of those up walking back to New Scotland Yard, so he’s eager to hasten along this current impromptu appointment.

Something gripped him this morning, right between a cup of over-sweetened coffee and an endlessly dull meeting, some efficacious urge to visit with Aziza Birch for the umpteenth time—and Cosmo has never been one to ignore an urge. Especially not one so strong. He gets such impulses at least once a week, and he always follows them just in case they lead him somewhere extraordinary. They haven’t yet, but here’s hoping.

It’s a miracle Aziza agreed to do his reading today. Nine times out of ten, she refuses.

“This is your present,” she explains. As she pushes the stiff cards towards Cosmo, her ring-clad fingers clink musically, as do the coins adorning her headscarf. She always dresses for the occasion. Cosmo doesn’t understand why, seeing as all she does, day in and day out, is meet with slovenly half-desperates who barely even notice what she’s wearing. She’s nothing more than a mouthpiece to them. The Interpreter.

Cosmo tears his eyes from the shimmering coins glimmering in the pink lamplight and redirects his flighty mind to the cards. They’re imbued with magic, of course, and elaborate in design: dark purple, with lavender accents and gold-foil highlights. His fingertips tingle when he touches them. They’re mocking him; he can almost feel it. He hates it when Aziza uses this deck because the cards hate him. It’s a circular issue, hate building upon hate. But the cards have one up on him. They’re not mortal enemies with an inanimate object, after all—though Cosmo does, at times, feel as though he barely exists.

He hates fortune-telling. He never paid much attention in his augury classes. Pointless, those were. Divination is for hopeless fools, an empty, futile grasp at controlling fate, which is, by nature, capricious. Or, at the very least, it’s an attempt at understanding the un-understandable.

Cosmo is paying for his apathy now, however. He’s become one of Aziza’s half-desperates. Though he’s a little past the halfway mark at this point. The irony doesn’t escape him as he straightens his rumpled tweed blazer. “Yes, well, what do they mean?”

“They’re inverted, you see.” Aziza’s eyes, liquid black, seem to swallow him up. “You are incomplete, Cosmo. You—”

“Brilliant, that.” Cosmo sweeps the three cards into a pile and sets them aside. “Let’s move on to my future.” He doesn’t care about the present; he’s never learned to live in the now. Probably because his present has never been much of a gift. A curse, more like.

“No. Draw three for your past.” Aziza is firm. Clients come to her for the truth, and she would not be doing her job properly if she didn’t give it to them in full force.

Cosmo groans, unable and unwilling to conceal his impatience. In his eyes, there is no such thing as the past. He’s moved on from it. He’s bored with it. He’s gotten past it. Grudgingly, he picks another three cards and hands them to Aziza to appease her.

Aziza sets them down on the purple cloth covering the table. It’s always purple with her.

Death, the Chariot, and Justice. Only the last is inverted.

“No wonder,” Aziza mumbles, shaking her head at the cards. Maybe she feels it, too, the loathing they harbour towards her client. “There’s something terribly wrong with you, Cosmo.”

“There’s something terribly unprofessional about you, Aziza,” he shoots back. She’s wasting both of their time by telling him something he already knows. He stares at the Death card for a moment, taking in the rather dour image of a skeleton in billowing black robes, a gold-foil butterfly flittering about behind him. Yes: this is a grim waste of time.

Aziza glances up, once again consuming Cosmo in her disquieting gaze like a blanket smothering a baby. Her face has the magnetic pull of the planet Earth, and Cosmo is unable to look away.

“I read your tea leaves last month,” she admits. “At Mr Godfrey’s party.”

Cosmo sputters. The party was long and dull and absolutely a waste of time, but he didn’t expect it to be an invasion of his privacy. “Unprofessional, again. I don’t recall ever giving you permission to do that. And why would you read my tea leaves when you usually refuse to read my cards?”

He guards his tea leaves as he guards his life: with abandon. Still, no one has any right to be poking about in them.

Aziza ignores him. She always ignores him, treating him as if he doesn’t have anything particularly important to say. He usually doesn’t, but it would be nice for someone to take him seriously once in a while.

“Do you know what I saw?” she asks, leaning back in her chair. It creaks in protest; Cosmo is just waiting for the day when the ancient thing falls apart. It must be at least a hundred years old—Aziza never buys anything brand new. “Pain. Terror. And a great deal of chocolate-chip ice cream.”

Not only is Cosmo more than half-desperate, he’s also more than half-starved. “When abouts does this ice cream make an appearance?”

Her eyes narrow. “You’re not listening.”

“I heard you say ‘ice cream’ and promptly forgot the rest.” Rather than wait for Aziza to instruct him to draw another set of cards, Cosmo reaches for her deck and frees three more. He flips them over. They’re slippery in his hands. Treacherous.

The Moon, the Tower, and the Star. All upright.

“Bugger this!” In a sudden fit of anger, he slices his hand across the slick tablecloth, knocking them all to the floor. They flipper through the air with a rifling sound.

“Cosmo.” Aziza’s voice is that of practiced calm. She’s used to reactions like this; her readings are always honest. More often than not, they’re a little too honest. “Cosmo, this is the third time I’ve read your cards this month—”

“Each visit more of a bloody waste than the last,” he mumbles. The cards are, most definitely, mocking him. All but the nine he drew landed face down on the floor, and of those, the cards with little characters pictured on them leer at him, golden eyes wide and purple mouths twisted into mocking smiles.

Jesus fucking Christ.

Aziza’s sigh is a sound that Cosmo has become intimately familiar with. She has three types. First, the soft you-think-you’re-so-funny-don’t-you? nasal exhale. Second, the harsher, will-you-shut-up-already-my-mysticality-is-suffering? mouth exhale. And finally, the exasperated part-groan that she does now. Cosmo knows she despises his irreverence for the art of divination, but he can’t keep himself from coming back. It’s an itch he has to scratch, a stone he has to skip, a shoe he has to tie.

In other words, it’s a compulsion. He suffers from those chronically. And he’s never learned how to say no to himself.

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NineStar Press | Books2Read

Meet the Author

A. Flowers loves all things fantasy, horror, and romance. She lives in a Vermont forest with a duo of mischievous cats. Her favorite place in the world is Kensington Gardens.

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Sep 05

New Release Blitz: Beer Truck by Emily Carrington (Excerpt & Giveaway)

Title: Beer Truck

Author: Emily Carrington

Publisher: Changeling Press

Cover Art: Angela Knight

Genres: Contemporary, New Releases, Romance

Themes: 2nd Chance Romance, LGBTQ+ /Gay, Medical Romance, Rock Star Romance, Second Edition

Series: Roosters (#9)

Multiverse: Roosters (#1)

Book Length: Novella

Page Count: 103

Synopsis

When TJ, a famous country star, finds out he has cancer, he retreats to his hometown to heal away from the paparazzi. Uncomfortable living with his parents, he gets a job as a beer truck driver.

Harvey is the owner of a local bar. He’s been following TJ’s career because the two of them used to be lovers. But TJ insisted on being in the closet. Now that Harvey’s older, he can’t imagine burying himself like that ever again.

But when TJ walks into his bar, both men are shocked by the attraction that still blossoms between them. But neither will budge in their beliefs. How can they possibly find happiness in each other’s arms?

Publisher’s Note: Content trigger warnings for both internal and external homophobia and physical illness (cancer survivor).

Excerpt

Beer Truck (Roosters)
Second Edition
Emily Carrington
All rights reserved.
Copyright ©2025 Emily Carrington

The music for the gathering was the weirdest mix Harvey had ever heard. As he served drinks for the extremely co-ed bachelor party, he heard the Carpenters, Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Evanescence, Lily Allen, and a host of others that he didn’t know. He knew the music had no significance for one of the bachelors, Peter, because Peter was completely deaf. So, maybe Abe, his soon-to-be husband, had chosen everything? That didn’t seem likely. Peter and Abe were a team and rarely did anything solo anymore. Ever since their first night, when they’d met in this very bar, they’d operated almost as one unit, or at least that was how it looked from the outside.

Harvey remembered fondly approaching Abe, pronounced Ah-Bay in the Japanese style, on Christmas Eve a few years ago, asking if he and Peter wanted to be Mr. and Mrs. Claus. Considering that Abe was the shorter and smaller of the two, Harvey had presented him with the blond wig and belted jacket/skirt combination. Abe had asked Harvey to wait to offer Peter the other half of the costuming, but Harvey had jumped right in, loving Christmas in general and especially Christmas Eve at Maurice’s. He’d fumbled his explanation because even though at the time Peter could still hear the low thrum of a loud bassline, he hadn’t been able to hear speech and Harvey couldn’t sign more than “I love you.”

It had gone off rather smoothly after Abe stepped in. Harvey would never forget the way Peter’s eyes widened with obvious appreciation and lust as he’d viewed Abe in that red skirt.

Now, here they were, ready to get married in a couple of days.

Harvey pressed his lips together and turned away from the sight of the couple swaying on the dance floor, Abe guiding Peter with discreet touches that looked only slightly sexual. But from the shine of Peter’s eyes, he was feeling the full effects of his lover’s motions.

Being grumpy at a couple’s bachelor party wasn’t kosher or polite, so Harvey refocused on pouring drinks. Or would have, if anyone had been there asking for more. Instead, everyone, damn, every single person in the bar, was paired up and dancing.

Harvey bit his tongue to keep from frowning or showing any other sign of displeasure. He wasn’t actually displeased, just feeling left out. Granted, on nights like this, he or whoever was tending bar usually made a hefty surplus of tips, but he hadn’t wanted to be here for this. He had been invited, told he could bring a plus one. But he had to work instead. His business partner, CeeCee, was busy. Her daughter had some sort of medical emergency. And the regular Saturday afternoon bartender had COVID.

He tried to focus on thoughts of CeeCee’s daughter, who was like a niece to him, but he honestly couldn’t, and not just because CeeCee hadn’t revealed the nature of her teenager’s medical issue.

It was the sheer number of couples. From Mike and Aidan Delaney, easily the oldest pair in the room, to their nonbinary young adult, Ash and Ash’s lover, Theresa, the youngest, everybody was in a twosome. He wasn’t jealous. Or at least he refused to be where anyone could see him. But, damn, he missed having someone in his life.

All right, that wasn’t exactly true. He had occasional flings. But nothing serious. Not since college. Even his three-week, whirlwind relationship with CeeCee had ended, although not badly. They’d both decided working and sleeping together wasn’t for them. During that time, he’d casually referred to CeeCee as his partner, more out of desperation to have someone in his life than because he’d actually thought they had a hope in hell of making things work out. When they’d broken up right after Christmas, he’d blushed to think he’d given her that title.

He longed for a return to the days of his early twenties, when life had been a song and —

“And I was trapped in the closet, banging a man who dropped me the first chance he got.” Realizing he’d been speaking aloud, if softly, Harvey shut his mouth. And here came Aidan, almost the tallest man in the room as well as the oldest. Okay, oldest among the partygoers. At forty-two, Harvey had a year on him. And, damn it, he was the only single person here.

Forcing a smile, knowing the blind man couldn’t see it but also understanding the expression would carry in his voice, Harvey asked, “Get you anything, Aidan?”

“Just wanted to check on Dustin and CeeCee.”

That made Harvey’s smile genuine. “Dusty has the VID, which he’s probably tweeted to half the town by now because he’s so bored. He doesn’t have many symptoms but knows our zero-tolerance policy. CeeCee…” What could he say when he knew so little and wasn’t sure what she wanted bandied around? “She’s okay.”

Aidan nodded. “And you’re okay?”

Damn it, the man was too perceptive for someone who couldn’t see light or dark. Or maybe it was just a casual question. Maybe Harvey was just being paranoid because he’d had run-ins with Aidan’s intuitiveness before. So, instead of lying, because that might be caught, he asked, “How’s Mike? Are you two really going to go for a third adopted child?”

Aidan grinned. “Mike’s fabulous, and yes we are.” Then he sobered. “But are you okay?”

Damn. He should’ve known he couldn’t fly under the radar. “I’ll be fine.”

“Anything I can do?”

Purchase at Changeling Press

Meet the Author

Emily Carrington is a multipublished author of male/male and transgender women’s speculative fiction. Seeking a world made of equality, she created SearchLight to live out her dreams. But even SearchLight has its problems, and Emily is looking forward to working all of these out with a host of characters from dragons and genies to psychic vampires. And in the contemporary world she’s named “Sticks & Stones,” Emily has vowed to create small towns where prejudice is challenged by a passionate quest for equality. Find her on Facebook at Shapeshifter Central or on her website.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Shapeshifter Central

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