Below find nine (plus one surprise) #ownvoices authors whom I asked to give me their best #ownvoices fiction, just in time to add to your #Pride2024 reading list.
In no particular order, here we go (clicking on each title will lead you to the book's Amazon page).
Christian Baines MY CAT'S GUIDE TO ONLINE DATING
A hook-up gone bad can be purrder.
Fresh from a breakup, deeply closeted freshman Zach jumps at the chance to housesit his family home and enjoy a long, horny summer free of both his ex and his religious parents. But when an old enemy turned hot hookup falls to his death, Zach turns to the only true friend he's ever known—his cat, Grace Jones.
With the dead man's phone and a knack for texting, she promises Zach help, for a price that will satisfy both their appetites. Does it matter if Grace Jones' powers draw on something far more ancient and sinister than a cell phone?
"Get laid, Zachary. Get laid."
Each new hook-up brings Zach darkly humorous discoveries about life, love, sex, and his own desires. But Zach knows it's only a matter of time before someone discovers his secret. Can he rely on his feline protector, or is he trapped in a hungry devil's bargain?
"The author of Puppet Boy this time brings you a gentle romance full of meet-cutes, coffee dates, and talking cats. Sorry, make that a pitch-black sex comedy, with aggressive outdoor hook-ups, unusual tasty treats, and... well, the talking cat bit is true. My Cat's Guide to Online Dating sits somewhere between Gregg Araki for the Grindr generation and what might happen if Dennis Cooper wrote a romcom. Filthy, surreal and darkly funny, you're in for a ride that's going to leave you hungry for flesh in all sorts of unexpected ways." — Matthew Bright, author of The Library of Lost Things
"One of the most unique books I've read - by turns frightening, hilarious, bizarre, and very, very erotic." — Rob Byrnes, author of Straight Lies and The Night We Met
"Christian Baines shows a kitty has more than claws, taking readers along hairpin turns into suburban sprawl and angst, dropping them into a deck of adventurous male/male hookups. The outré quieter moments evoke indie films including Gregg Araki's The Living End, Tim Hunter's River's Edge, and Richard Linklater's SubUrbia. Baines renders the reader complicit with the voracious appetite of his hero Zach and his familiar, Grace Jones. And, at the novel's heart, there darkly beats a steadily mounting horror. Eat this one up!"— James K. Moran, author of Fear Itself and Town & Train
"One hell of a ride. Dark, disturbing, and that's just the cat." — 'Nathan Burgoine, author of Exit Plans for Teenage Freaks
Jazzy Mitchell UNDERTOW
Maggie Ambrose is a fifty-six-year-old career politician who plans to run for president. To kick off her presidential bid and introduce herself to the masses, she’s writing a revealing memoir. Her publisher insists she divulge more than her political pedigree to gain the nation’s attention, but Maggie’s not eager to confess the details of her challenging childhood, complex familial relationships, or her failed first marriage.
Will the nation embrace a female lesbian candidate after she opens the door to a painful past?
Marshall Thornton NIGHT DROP
It’s 1992 and Los Angeles is burning.
Noah Valentine, the owner of Pinx Video in Silver Lake, notices the fires have taken their toll on fellow shopkeeper Guy Peterson’s camera shop. After the riots end, he decides to stop by Guy’s apartment to pick up his overdue videos, only to find Guy’s family dividing up his belongings. He died in the camera store fire—or did he?
Noah and his downstairs neighbors begin to suspect something else might have happened to Guy Peterson. Something truly sinister. The first in a new series from Lambda Award-winner Marshall Thornton, Night Drop strikes a lighter tone than the Boystown Mysteries, while bringing Silver Lake of the early 1990s to life.
Winner, 2017 Lambda Award Gay Mystery
Rob Rosen D.B. AND ME
In the gripping tale of D.B. and Me, the enigmatic hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes into the unknown with $200,000 in ransom money, but little does he know that his daring escape is just the beginning of an unforeseen journey filled with mystery, suspense, and steamy romance.
D.B., now Tim, finds himself along the banks of the Columbia River attempting to fade into the shadows. However, fate has other plans when he encounters Adam, a charismatic stranger who’s also in hiding. The air becomes charged with anticipation as the two men become entangled in a mysterious dance, each harboring secrets that could shatter the fragile equilibrium they've quickly established.
Tim's initial plans to vanish into the vast expanse of Canada are abruptly put on hold as the magnetic pull of Adam draws him into a world where passion and danger collide. As their connection deepens while they wander through the snow-covered forests of the Pacific Northwest, so does the labyrinth of unanswered questions surrounding their pasts. The suspense thickens with every stolen glance, every shared secret, as Tim and Adam navigate a love affair shadowed by the lingering echoes of several daring crimes, all against the backdrop of the Vietnam War.
As the story unfolds, readers are taken on a heart-pounding journey through a landscape of intrigue, where the line between right and wrong blurs, and the boundaries of love are tested. Will Tim's past catch up with him, will Adam’s, or will they find a way to rewrite the narrative that destiny has penned for them?
D.B. and Me is a riveting exploration of love in the face of danger, a tale where passion and suspense interweave, leaving readers breathless and eagerly turning each page to unravel the secrets hidden within the folds of this captivating romance. Will Tim find redemption or be swallowed by the sadness of his past? And what about Adam and his troubled family and the ever-nagging reminders of a horrible war that still plague him? Dive into the depths of mystery and desire in this thrilling novel that will keep you on the edge until the very end.
Brad Storm doesn’t believe in ghosts, but moving into the house at 324 Abercorn just may change his mind.
Devid Khandelwal desperately wants to experience the supernatural. After years of studying everything from crystals to tarot to spellcasting, nothing has happened that would tell him the Shadow Realm is real. And that kills Dev. As a last-ditch resort, he purchases a summoning board, an occult tool that will grant him his ultimate desires.
Cameron Habersham is Dev’s best friend. Cam loves Dev like a brother and will do anything for him, as long as he looks good doing it. So when Dev asks him to perform the summoning board’s ritual, he reluctantly agrees, but he knows nothing will come of it. Nothing ever does.
However, within a day, Dev and Cam’s lives are turned upside down as wishes begin to come true. They discover the existence of a supernatural world beyond their imagination, but peace between the species is tenuous at best.
Dev finally gets to see the Shadow Realm, meets the man of his dreams, and is inducted into the local male coven. But for all the desires that were summoned into existence, Dev soon realizes the magical community dances the line between good and evil, and Cam ends up on the wrong side of everything.
The old adage is true: Be careful what you wish for.
Shane Morton THE TROUBLE WITH OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING
Edgar Allen Poe meets Drag Race!
What’s a young drag queen to do when they accidentally burn down their college dorm?
Move into a gothic mansion, of course!
Bobby Wolfe is lost and it’s going to take something terrifying to get him back on course. Enter the mysterious Adam and a dilapidated mansion filled with dark secrets. Bobby uncovers a mystery that’s about to take a very bad turn.
Who are these people and what do they want of him?
With the help of his hunky new boyfriend, Bryan, and Bobby’s best friend, the much beloved drag queen Ursula Moolay, Bobby begins to uncover the vast deadly secrets that the Lovett Mansion holds and looks fabulous doing it.
The house has been waiting for Bobby – Is he the promised one that can save them?
Can he survive? Or will he bring death to all?
You’ll adore this college paranormal tale that takes you on a harrowing journey with fabulous wigs and stilettos!
Gregory Ashe THE SAME BREATH
Teancum Leon, who goes by Tean, is a wildlife veterinarian. His life has settled into a holding pattern: he loves his job, he hates first dates, and he only occasionally has to deal with his neighbor Mrs. Wish’s cat-related disasters.
All of that changes, though, when a man appears in his office, asking for help to find his brother. Jem is convinced that something bad has happened to Benny, and he thinks Tean might be able to help. Tean isn’t sure, but he’s willing to try. After all, Jem is charming and sweet and surprisingly vulnerable. Oh. And hot.
Then things get strange: phone calls with no one on the other end of the line; surveillance footage that shows what might be an abduction; a truck that tries to run Tean and Jem off the road. As Tean and Jem investigate, they realize that Benny might have stumbled onto a conspiracy and that someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.
But not everything is as it seems, and Tean suspects that Jem has been keeping secrets of his own.
Ulysses Grant Dietz CLIFFHANGER
Two young men, a mysterious silver bowl, and a shuttered Victorian mansion steeped in the sadness of a family curse ...
Alex White and Xander Browne are newly-hired curators in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The rediscovery of a long-forgotten silver bowl covered in Arabic and Hebrew inscriptions sends the pair on a hunt for clues as to why it was made and by whom. Their search begins to unravel the secrets of the bowl’s origins as well as its connection to the Bencliffe family, whose centuries-old history is darkened by a legacy of madness and suicide.
What begins as a professional friendship for Alex and Xander quickly turns personal as the two find their lives increasingly intertwined in unanticipated ways. Far beyond a mere curatorial research project, the story of the Bencliffe bowl takes on the aura of destiny as Alex and Xander make discoveries together that turn their world upside down.
From neglected archives in New York and Boston to the shadowed corners of Cliffhanger, the turreted Bencliffe mansion looming over the Hudson River, the truth emerges, forcing Alex and Xander to wonder if, perhaps, their meeting might not have been a coincidence after all.
And of course, I had to save a spot for myself, a proud #ownvoices author since 2007. My best #Pride #ownvoices book? Today, I pick:
Rick R. Reed THE Q
Step out for a Saturday night at The Q—the small town gay bar in Appalachia where the locals congregate. Whose secret love is revealed? What long-term relationship comes to a crossroad? What revelations come to light? The DJ mixes a soundtrack to inspire dancing, drinking, singing, and falling in (or out) of love.
This pivotal Saturday night at The Q is one its regulars will never forget. Lives irrevocably change. Laugh, shed a tear, and root for folks you’ll come to love and remember long after the last page.
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