Rainbow Awards: Current Submissions 111-120
111) Erica Lawson - The Chronicles of Ratha, Children of the Noorthi, Blue Feather Books, Lesbian Sci-Fi / Futuristic
Paperback: 282 pages
Publisher: Blue Feather Books LTD. (November 29, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1935627937
ISBN-13: 978-1935627937
Love is deaf, dumb and blind... and occasionally stupid as well Jordana Laren is a hard-drinking, hard-fighting womanizer, who works as a freighter pilot in her spare time. Her latest customer drugs her, steals her ship, and abandons her on the desert hellhole Rigeus, infamous penal planet for the worst women criminals. Her chances of survival aren't looking good. She has no food, water, or weapons, and the nearest bar is a million miles away. Just when she's ready to write her last will and testament, Jordana is rescued by a group of barely-clad women. Has she found nirvana? Her own personal harem seems like a possibility, until the intervention of their enemy, the Velkren. Their leader, Vel, remembers Jordana well, and not fondly. But why is Vel on this planet, surrounded by murderers, thieves, and bad-tempered bitches? Jordana knows Vel isn't a prisoner, so why is her nemesis on Rigeus mining mud, of all things? Jordana knows only one thing. She has to get off the planet before Vel kills her. Unfortunately, the women who saved her reveal themselves to be holy. They are the mysterious Noorthi, and Jordana's dream of endless debauchery becomes a nightmare of eternal servitude. The Noorthi make her one of them, marking her with a wrist tattoo, and leaving her no choice but to protect them with her life. The last thing Jordana wants is to become involved in galactic politics or heroic actions. But the tattoo ochre in her body is suddenly giving her morals and scruples, not to mention a better vocabulary! And she really can't pass up a chance to outwit Vel, whose megalomaniac plans are endangering not only the Noorthi, but the civilized galaxy itself. But Jordana is torn. Does she stop Vel at all costs, of does she get out from under the thumb of the Noorthi while she can? Some things were never meant to be easy...
112) Viki Lyn - Out of Bounds, Loose Id, Gay, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Loose Id LLC (October 5, 2010)
Celebrating "Coming Out Day" 2010. Titan Douglas has a brilliant NFL career of legendary statistics until he blows out his knee. For two years he mourns the loss of his career, status and lifestyle -- until the day he wakes up with a strange man in his bed and realizes he needs to go home. Slowly, he rebuilds his life, keeping his sexuality safely secret. After a painful breakup, Chandler Stowe leaves behind Los Angeles with all its memories and returns to his hometown to take care of his parents' estate. Then Chandler meets Titan and his heart leaps back to life. But a relationship with a closeted gay man is risky. When the town folks turn against Chandler and want him to leave, Chandler’s not so sure his lover will get his back. Titan must determine what his heart truly longs for -- and if he willing to step out of bounds for a chance at true love.
113) Lydia Nyx - From Morocco to Paris, Torquere Books, Gay, Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Torquere Press, Inc. (April 13, 2011)
Zane Reed wants to be a movie director, but first he has to learn the ropes by taking every crap job in the industry. Employed as personal assistant to actor Elliot Butler, Zane hopes to further his education when Elliot works with famed director Saul Brennan on an epic movie about Napoleon Bonaparte. However, Zane gets an education in something else entirely when he meets Davey Alexander, one of the production's costumers. Davey, vivacious and erotically-charged, shakes reluctant, sexually-confused Zane down to his core. Zane's feelings for Davey quickly grow beyond lust, but the two can't get it together. During filming, from Morocco to Paris, the two struggle with desire and muddled emotions. In the end, Zane will have to overcome himself if he wants to keep the most intriguing, passionate man he's ever known from walking out of his life.
114) Dale Chase - The Company He Keeps, Bold Strokes Books, Gay, Contemporary Erotica
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822263
ISBN-13: 978-1602822269
What if Henry James wrote erotic stories? The result might very well be The Company He Keeps: Victorian Gentlemen’s Erotica, even if he’d never admit it. Set in the sexually repressed and therefore sexually rampant Victorian era, a riotously erotic collection including stories such as “A Remarkably Well Made Man,” in which a young man at a dance is pressured by his father to take up with a young woman but it is her dance partner who is pursued and ultimately won; “Magnificent Surrender,” in which a young Englishman fails to prevent his lover’s marriage but regains his man; “The Westbrook Club,” in which a young lawyer’s employer proposes him for membership in an exclusive sex club; and “The Late Manner,” in which a respected fiction writer hires a young man to type as he dictates and becomes sexually involved with him to such an extent that it leads the writer into pornography.
115) Winter Pennington - Darkness Embraced, Bold Strokes Books, Lesbian, Paranormal / Horror
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822212
ISBN-13: 978-1602822214
Where there is light, the darkness awaits, never too far behind. Two hundred years ago, Epiphany was reborn a vampire. Sired by Renata, the Queen of the Rosso Lussuria, Epiphany willingly played the role of the queen’s beloved pet-until the day came when she was cast from the Renata’s bed and lost the queen’s protection from the Elder vampires. Epiphany has done her best not to become a target, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible, like a long-forgotten memory huddling beneath the mantle of Vasco’s power, her one true friend among the Rosso Lussuria. But now Renata has called Epiphany forth to face the Challenges that will elevate her clan status to the ranks of the Elder. But Epiphany has few friends and many enemies, and the chances of surviving the Challenges are slim. Surrounded by harsh vampire politics and secret ambitions, Epiphany learns that an old enemy is plotting treason against the woman she once loved, and to save all she holds dear, she must embrace and form an alliance with the dark.
116) Kristen Marra - 78 Keys, Bold Strokes Books, Lesbian, Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822220
ISBN-13: 978-1602822221
Falling in love and saving the world are not in the cards, or are they? Devorah Rosten received a pack of tarot cards for her Bat Mitzvah, hid them away, and forgot about them. Years later, she resurrects the cards and discovers her ability with tarot is anything but run-of-the-mill. She uses her extraordinary talents to “reorganize” her wealthy clients’ futures. Dev’s ethically challenged efforts come to the attention of the cosmic powers. To her dismay, she is chosen as their next gladiator. Rich, brilliant, but flawed, Dev has no intention of becoming anybody’s hero. Laura Bishop, a successful young attorney, is courted by her law firm’s powerful and charismatic partner Elizabeth Stratton. After years of their secret affair, Laura finds herself becoming an impediment to Elizabeth’s ambitions. When the relationship ends, Laura makes choices that have profound effects. Fighting for survival and unsure whether they are prey or predators, Dev and Laura realize their growing desire for each other. Reluctantly, Dev must decide if she will use her unique skills to save Laura, herself, and even humankind from a force called The Malignity.
117) Lesley Davis - Playing Passions Game, Bold Strokes Books, Lesbian, Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822239
ISBN-13: 978-1602822238
In most games, you play to win. In matters of the heart, you play for keeps. Trent Williams’s entire world revolves around her love of gaming. She has little time for romantic distractions and prefers instead to be with her closest friends who, like her, live for the thrill that comes from a competition well played. Happy in her job, seemingly content with her life, Trent still finds herself haunted by the past that threatens to keep her alone forever. The self-imposed solitude she places on her heart only leaves her all too aware of just how lonely she is. All work and no play in her executive job forces Juliet Sullivan to search for a different direction in life. Disillusioned by it all, Juliet is desperate to seek out new horizons. When Trent unwittingly comes to the rescue of her younger sister, Juliet immediately finds herself drawn to Trent’s silent strength and undeniable charm. Now the new direction Juliet so desperately desires seems intent on leading her straight into Trent’s arms.
118) Martha Miller - Retirement Plan, Bold Strokes Books, Lesbian, Contemporary General Fiction
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822247
ISBN-13: 978-1602822245
What do you do when you fall through the loopholes in the system and all you have to rely on are your own wits? Lois and Sophie have scrambled and saved for years, planning for their retirement in Florida. But now they've lost it all, and Lois's sniper training from her long-ago service as an Army nurse leads to a desperate career choice. When Detective Morgan Holiday is assigned to investigate a spate of sniper killings, it's just one more stress point in her already overburdened life. But as she grows increasingly solitary-coping with an Alzheimer’s-plagued mother who refuses to be confined to a nursing home, and a police partner counting the days to retirement-she comes to realize that these murders may cut close to home. A modern morality tale of justice, retribution, and women who refuse to be politely invisible.
119) Greg Herren - Who Dat Whodunnit, Bold Strokes Books, Gay, Mystery / Thriller
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602822255
ISBN-13: 978-1602822252
A Scotty Bradley Mystery. The Saints’ victory in the Super Bowl just prior to the start of Carnival season has everyone in New Orleans floating on Cloud Nine. But for Scotty Bradley, Carnival looks like it’s going to be grim yet again when his estranged cousin Jared-who plays for the Saints-becomes the number one suspect in the murder of his girlfriend, dethroned former Miss Louisiana Tara Bourgeouis. Scotty’s not entirely convinced his cousin isn’t the killer, but when he starts digging around into the homophobic beauty queen’s sordid life, he finds that any number of people wanted her dead. With the help of his friends and family, he plunges deeper and deeper into Tara’s tawdry world of sex tapes, fundamentalist fascists, and mind-boggling secrets-secrets some are willing to kill to keep!
120) Julie Smith - Cursebusters!, Bold Strokes Books, Lesbian, Coming of Age / Young Adult
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 264 pages
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books; NONE edition (May 17, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1602825599
ISBN-13: 978-1602825598
Budding-psychic Reeno is the most accomplished teenage burglar in California, but one tiny screw-up and poof!-she's sentenced to Bad Girl School. And that isn’t even her worst problem. Her sister Haley’s dying of an illness no one can diagnose, and now she can’t even help. But wait, maybe she can! The school psychics have found each other and formed their own club. With the help of her gay friend Carlos and the other Ozone Rangers, Reeno finds out Haley’s disease is the result of an ancient Mayan curse. And A.B., the group's sinister non-faculty adviser, claims he knows how to break it. All Reeno has to do is time-travel to an ancient Mayan city and steal a little item A.B. needs to save the world. Since she’s an ace thief, he has complete confidence she can execute the task before the outraged Mayans can execute her. But can she trust A.B.? Despite his cuddly appearance, she knows he’s a merciless predator and ruthless assassin. And he's not even human.