Allusions: LGBTQ Writing

How do we live with a God, or ourselves, if who we are dooms us to Hell?As a joyful boy who realized I was gay,I fought for my happiness and faith as prejudices of family and religion isolated me from the world. Battered and withdrawn, could I rediscover the God of love I first learned about as a boy? In the process, could being gay be the gift that introduced me to my soul?In the dark night of our soul we find our own light!

Two years after finishing his tour of duty in the Occupational Forces in Japan, Damson O'Reilly arrives in Siena, Italy. Sight-unseen at a local auction, he buys an abandoned Tuscan farmhouse in which he aims to write, paint, and start a new life.The house, passed over at auction, becomes an impulse buy when it's put up for a final time. He's prepared for a semi-ruin, happy to turn his hand to renovating the house - however, what he's totally unprepared for are three dead bodies, one of which he stumbles over when he arrives at La Mensola, the name of his isolated farmhouse on the road between Siena and Montepulciano.Against the backdrop of a series of grisly murders, The Road to Montepulciano is the story of a young man, still suffering the scars of war, who, despite betrayal of trust and surrounded by a complex web of lies, finds friendship, love and the warmth of community.

The Bell in the Fog, a dazzling historical mystery by Lev AC Rosen, asks―once you have finally found a family, how far would you go to prove yourself to them?San Francisco, 1952. Detective Evander “Andy” Mills has started a new life for himself as a private detective―but his business hasn’t exactly taken off. It turns out that word spreads fast when you have a bad reputation, and no one in the queer community trusts him enough to ask an ex-cop for help.When James, an old flame from the war who had mysteriously disappeared, arrives in his offices above the Ruby, Andy wants to kick him out. But the job seems to be a simple case of blackmail, and Andy’s debts are piling up. He agrees to investigate, despite everything it stirs up.The case will take him back to the shadowy, closeted world of the Navy, and then out into the gay bars of the city, where the past rises up to meet him, like the swell of the ocean under a warship. Missing people, violent strangers, and scandalous photos that could destroy lives are a whirlpool around him, and Andy better make sense of it all before someone pulls him under for good.

Lambda Literary Award-winning author introduces readers to the crime-fighting duo of Fin Donner and Devorah Longstreet—Lovers. Investigators. Women ahead of their time.New York City, 1899—a city on the cusp of a new century. A city growing taller, faster, a city of new inventions, new ideas—and old dangers on its shadowy streets where crime, misery, and murder lurk.When Pauline Godfrey, a young woman embodying the coming modern age, is viciously murdered, her throat cut, private inquiry agents Finola “Fin” Donner and Devorah Longstreet must navigate a world of violence and passion, lust and betrayal, where duty is twisted into bitter obedience and love is soiled.Fin, a tough survivor of the dockside slums, and her beloved companion, the elegant, intellectual socialite Devorah, probe deep into the festering secrets of a family, the rot and corruption of the police department, and the sinister world of the city’s thieves, whores, and thugs to find the killer.

The third terrifying volume in the award-winning anthology series of original queer horror.Like the final girl in a slasher film, the LGBTQIA community knows first-hand what it’s like to fight for its survival. Beaten and bloodied after an extended chase scene through modern-day politics and the courts, we think we’ve triumphed and conquered our oppressors. We breathe a little easier knowing our rainbow is ascending in the distance. But—like the indestructible slasher villain—our enemies rise up again and again, as if on a looping third-act jump scare. It’s a seemingly never-ending return to battle as the pendulum of progress swings back.In this third volume of the award-winning anthology series, the darkest minds from both the LGBT+ and horror literary communities join forces to bring readers an all-new collection of terrifying tales from that line on the horizon where the dark rainbow rises.Stories by Chad Helder, Hailey Piper, Mathew L. Reyes, A.P. Thayer, J. Daniel Stone, Yah Yah Scholfield, Oliver Nash, Holly Lyn Walrath, Paul Tremblay, Carmilla Voiez, James Cato, Lucy A. Snyder, Maxwell I. Gold, Zachary Rosenberg, Matthew Blain-Hartung, Maryse Meijer, Vincent Kovar, CG Inglis, Craig Laurance Gidney, Dan Coxon, Kaitlin Tremblay, Michael Thomas Ford, Craig Brownlie, Amanda M. Blake, Sara Tantlinger, and Eric LaRocca. Edited by Vince A. Liaguno.Praise for Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet: “There is much to praise in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet, a sharp, new gay-themed anthology. The 24 entries comprise a sophisticated collection of topnotch tales of terror, most of which could appear in any fright anthology without qualification and suggest the maturing of ‘gay horror’ into a viable and solid genre indeed.”—Fangoria MagazinePraise for Unspeakable Horror 2: Abominations of Desire: “If Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadowsof the Closet helped to establish speculative fiction as a mature and important genre for queer fiction when it was published about a decade ago, then Unspeakable Horror 2: Abominations of Desire takes it to new heights and creates an expectation of excellence. Tightly written and edited, free of tropes and mundane writing, these stories propel the queer horror genre to scare us while making a statement about our world and accomplish it with the best of writing possible.”—Lambda Literary ReviewProudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

A relaxing trip to a Palm Springs resort turns deadly for Mason Adler and his friend Walter Wingate when first one of their fellow guests, then another, ends up murdered. Suspects and motives abound among the remaining guests as well as the owner of the Oasis resort, Marvin Gagliardi, an old friend of Walter’s.Mason investigates, hoping to prove Marvin’s innocence, but the more he uncovers, the more he wonders if Marvin actually might be the murderer. Distracting Mason is the handsome and eligible police detective assigned to the case, Brian Branchford. Mason had vowed not to become interested in anyone living a five-hour drive from Phoenix, but Branchford’s green eyes, gray hair, and toothbrush moustache are compelling reasons to give it a try.It’s up to Mason to uncover the truth about the deaths at the Oasis, and to discover if there’s romance as well as murder at the Oasis.

"the patient routine is a merciless, anxiety-charged, possible-apocalypse, possible-zombie thriller, long narrative poem about the body in maddening conversation with itself. luna rey hall takes us through the terrifying halls of a hospital in lockdown while deftly exploring an immensely personal journey through the shifting realities of an over-medicalized mind, a body snared in systems that do not understand or serve it. The tension between inner and outer worlds is relentless and the body horror hits all the worst/best buttons while raising philosophical questions of identity and power. What a torturously smart little book."— Joe Koch, author of The Wingspan of Severed Hands and ConvulsiveAshton is convinced they are dying. whether it be from cancer, heart disease, or a fungal infection, they know something bad is always about to happen. after a night of health-related panic attacks, & urged by a voice in their head, Ashton decides to check in to the ER again but when another patient is brought in with an unknown ailment that puts the entire hospital on lockdown, Ashton may be trapped in their worst nightmare.

Backed by his band The Close Contacts, Reuben’s unmissable live shows have sold out in Australia, London and Europe, winning the prestigious Off West End (Offie) Award for Best Cabaret in London as well as multiple Australian Green Room Awards for Best Artist & Best Cabaret Production, as well as the Adelaide Fringe Award for Best Cabaret twice, gleefully proving that he is the much needed, swarovski studded revolt against the ever narrowing views of an increasingly conservative world and he’s done it all while looking fabulous!

He went into the woods…and never came out.In 1986, thirteen-year-old Jeb Kleber vanished during his small town’s Fourth of July fireworks. His mysterious disappearance left his first love, Sammy Blake, grieving for years.Flash forward to present day. A now middle-aged Sam Blake has a comfortable and predictable life with his husband Marc in Chicago. All that changes when a stranger arrives at Sam’s door, claiming to be the missing Jeb Kleber. The stranger knows things he couldn’t possibly know—including the hidden love the boys shared during the summer of ’86. He also wears an amethyst pendant Sam gave him shortly before he disappeared.Could this be the real Jeb Kleber, missing for thirty-seven years? If not, who is this mysterious stranger? And what does he want after all this time? His appearance plunges Sam’s life into a nightmare of questionable identity, long-buried secrets, and perhaps even murder.