Everything We Thought Was true

by Lisa Montanaro
Book Cover: Everything We Thought Was true
Editions:Audiobook, ePub, Kindle, Paperback

Los Angeles lawyer Lena Antinori has dedicated her career to fighting discrimination, including for the LGBTQ community, but her own family's secret haunts her. At thirteen years old, she made the startling discovery that her father, Frank, was gay and her mother, Teresa, knew. Fearing social stigma, Teresa instituted a code of silence meant to protect their Italian Catholic family—a code Lena adhered to for decades.

Now, Frank plans to marry his partner, and he wants Lena to help plan the wedding. Lena is torn between maintaining loyalty to her mother and supporting her father's newfound happiness. As her father’s wedding approaches, Lena learns her childhood wounds run deeper than she thought, and failing to heal them might sentence her to a life of hypocrisy and the inability to discover the true meaning of coming out.

Told by Lena in the present, and her parents, Frank and Teresa, in the past, Everything We Thought Was True examines how the truth doesn't set you free until you embrace it.

Published:
Genres:
family drama, fiction, gay, historical, lgbtq
Tags:
audiobook, family drama, gay, gay awakening, Italian American, LGBT, LGBTQ fiction, Los Angeles, New York

First place winner, LGBTQ Fiction, 2024 International Firebird Book Awards

Honorable Mention, General Fiction, 2025 Los Angeles Book Festival

In the Shadow of Heroes

A 3rd Fieldston Mystery

by D.L. O'Neil

In book 3 of the Fieldston mystery series Camp Richland is being prepped to house Lyndon's Warrior Vision but before that can happen, its underground tunnels need to be sorted. The mysterious trunk's contents lead Sarge, Alex, and the others back through the centuries, following a trail to unravel the secrets hidden on the property. Who came before them and what might have been left behind? What makes this place so special to D'Shea? And who is tracking their every move from the shadows.

Join Sarge and the other Fieldston women as they explore the past, the present, and for some, the future.

Published:
Genres:
fiction, historical, lgbtq, mystery
Tags:
college graduate, construction worker, hurt/comfort, interracial couple, lesbian, military vet, Native American, outdoorsman, series, small town, uplifting
Excerpt:

Sarge ended the call and dropped her cell phone on the counter, turning to face Bill and Alex.

“That was Victoria King. The archeology team from Philadelphia is staged and ready. They expect to pull into camp sometime Wednesday afternoon. Once set up, they’ll start examining and mapping what we already discovered and then figure how best to open the trunk without damaging anything inside. King said they bring most of their own workspace but may need an extra storage area, maybe either the barn or the hall next door.” Sarge indicated the attached room which had been the camp’s original dining hall. “The historical significance of this is still unknown, but King said the team lead, Dr. Hawes, thinks it’s likely we stumbled on an unknown railroad station. This may put Camp Richland on the map for more than our warrior program.” Alex and Bill both grinned widely.

The Cultist’s Wife

by BJ Sikes

A gothic horror set in 1908 Bahamas

She loathes him but the cult beckons.

1908, the height of the British Empire. Clara’s autonomy is shattered when her long-absent husband summons her to join him at his eerie sect’s headquarters, insulated on a sparsely inhabited island in the Bahamas.

After a harrowing sea voyage, Clara and her children disembark into an unfamiliar landscape and climate. The children explore the marvels and mysteries of Andros Island and develop friendships with a Bahamian family, while Clara struggles to find her place as a woman within the cult.

But what seems at first to be a spiritual haven for Clara reveals itself to be a monster-worshiping cult intent on draining her family of more than their fortune.

Must Clara give up her quest for independence to protect her children from the cult’s depraved attempts to consume their life essence?

Published:
Editors:
Allison Behrens
Cover Artists:
Sleepy Fox Studio
Genres:
Gothic horror, historical
Tags:
Cult, monster

Farview

by Kim Fielding

Ravaged by a horrific experience, Oliver Webb flees the smog-bound city of Greynox for a quiet seaside village and the inheritance he’s never seen: a cottage called Farview. He discovers clear skies, friendly imps, and a charming storyteller named Felix Corbyn.

With help from Felix’s tales, Oliver learns surprising secrets about his family history and discovers what home really means. But, with Felix cursed, Oliver growing deathly ill, and an obligation in Greynox hanging heavy around his neck, it seems that not even wizards can save the day.

Still, as Felix knows, stories are the best truths and the most powerful magic. Perhaps the right words might yet conjure a chance for happiness.

Published:
Publisher: Tin Box Press (http://tinboxpress.com)
Editors:
Allison Behrens
Narrators:
Joel Leslie
Genres:
fantasy, fiction, gay, historical, lgbtq, M/M, magical realism, romance
Tags:
bard, curse, gay romance, MM, seaside, small town

Winner of the 2021 BookLife Fiction Prize

Foreword INDIES Book of the Year finalist

Blyd and Pearce

by Kim Fielding

Born into poverty and orphaned young, Daveth Blyd had one chance for success when his fighting prowess earned him a place in the Tangye city guard - a place he lost to false accusations of theft. Now he scrapes out a living searching for wayward spouses and missing children. When a nobleman offers him a small fortune to find an entertainer who’s stolen a ring, Daveth takes the case.

While Jory Pearce may or may not be a thief, he certainly can’t be trusted. But, enchanted by Jory’s beauty and haunting voice, Daveth soon finds himself caught in the middle of a conspiracy. As he searches desperately for answers, he realizes that he’s also falling for Jory. The two men face river wraiths, assassins, a necromancer, and a talking head that could be Daveth’s salvation on their quest for the truth. But with everyone’s integrity in question and Death eager to dance, Daveth will need more than sorcery to survive.

Published:
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/)
Narrators:
Nathaniel Priestley
Genres:
action-adventure, fantasy, fiction, gay, historical, M/M, noir, suspense-thriller
Tags:
castle, entertainer, gay romance, guard, MM, private investigator, quest, thief

Brute

by Kim Fielding

Brute leads a lonely life in a world where magic is commonplace. He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life.

Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths—dreams that come true.

As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.

Published:
Narrators:
K.C. Kelly
Genres:
action-adventure, fantasy, fiction, gay, historical, lgbtq, M/M, romance
Tags:
castle, curse, gay romance, guard, MM, prisoner

Crow’s Fate

by Kim Fielding

You can’t fly away from destiny.

Crow Rapp assumes he’ll spend his life growing corn in rural Illinois, like the grandparents who raised him. But during a visit to a traveling carnival, he encounters a handsome stranger named Simeon Bell—and receives a prophecy of a horrifying future. When that future materializes soon afterward, Crow flees… only to find that no matter how far he goes, fate pursues him.

Simeon reenters his life a decade later and causes Crow to consider whether actively fighting his fate might be better than constant attempts at escape. In a world tinged by magic, where myths are as real as the sky above them, the men try to determine Crow’s true identity. Along the way, they test the powers of friendship and love and explore the boundaries of free will—ultimately discovering whether the force of destiny can be overcome.

Published:
Publisher: Tin Box Press (http://tinboxpress.com)
Editors:
Allison Behrens
Cover Artists:
Dianne Thies
Narrators:
Joel Leslie
Genres:
fantasy, fiction, gay, historical, M/M, magical realism, paranormal, romance
Tags:
gay romance, MM, quest

The Archimedean Heart

The Roboticist of Versailles book 1

by BJ Sikes

Paris 1880, the City of Electric Light

Clockwork nobles of the Court promenade through the halls of Versailles, while Watcher spheres and cyborg police menace citizens of France in the streets.

The Royal Scientist Doctor works frantically on an automaton designed to replace the failing sovereigns, but will it be ready in time to save the monarchy?

In the cafes of Montmartre, Henri paints the common people chafing under the reign of the Augmented monarchs and dreams of a France free of machines.

John yearns to capture the essence of beauty in his paintings with the luminous Marie-Ange his muse-and handmaid to the ancient Queen of France.

With his brother Henri entangled in revolution, he must choose between the artificial beauty of Court and the movement to restore France.

How much humanity can be lost before you are no longer human?

 

Published:
Genres:
fantasy, fiction, historical, lgbtq, steampunk

The Vitruvian Mask

The Roboticist of Versailles book 2

by BJ Sikes

Paris 1881: the new Naturalist king of France has banned all technology. Adelaide, formerly a high-ranking Scientist, is in hiding from his enforcers at the Hotel-Dieu, a Paris hospital run by nun-nurses with strange powers. She’s driven to use her forbidden scientific skills to help the Augmented veterans even though she faces execution if she’s discovered.

The Vitruvian Mask continues the story of Adelaide Coumain, the Roboticist of Versailles, that began in The Archimedean Heart but can be read as a standalone.

Published:
Genres:
fantasy, fiction, historical, lgbtq, steampunk