Inside Writing LGBTQ

Four years ago, Bryan Hicks left behind a lucrative corporate job to open a bakery with his trans girlfriend, Nadia Brooks.In conservative Houston, Texas, they had to sue a transphobic landlord just to lease a space. Even so, the shop washumming along until the Covid-19 pandemic slowed their business to a trickle. Cash-strapped and desperate, Bryan turnsto an unsavory character for a loan; when he's unable to pay it back, he's forced to rent out the bakery to an illegal transstrip show to make some extra cash. The dancers and customers trash the place, and one night it gets so rowdy Bryanfires a gun just to clear the store. How did his dream become such a nightmare? The novel moves back in time to tell thehistory of the bakery, from the first "love cake" Bryan made for Nadia to Nadia's Hail Mary effort to win cash in a TV bakingcompetition. All the while, Bryan strives to be a supportive father to his queer son and his increasingly right-wing daughter.Can Bryan save his bakery and his relationship with Nadia, or is he about to lose his love and livelihood in one fell swoop?Bell's workmanlike prose captures both the tranquil atmosphere of the bakery and the wild energy of the trans party scene,as here, when Bryan and Nadia visit a strip club: "Now that they were inside, Nadia looked overwhelmed, standing verystiff. She looked scared to touch anything. Bryan grabbed her and led her through the mesh of bodies to the middle bar.He handed Nadia a beer, and they both turned around to check out the raw scene."

The first Orchid Isle cozy mystery, set in tropical Hilo, Hawai'i, introduces a fun and feisty LGBTQ+ couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions!Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have come to the Big Island of Hawai'i to treat themselves to a well-earned tropical vacation. After the recent loss of her brother, Valerie is in sore need of a distraction from her troubles and is looking forward to enjoying the delicious food and vibrant culture the state has to offer.Early one morning, the couple and their friend - tattooed local boy, Isaac - set out to see an active lava flow, and Valerie is mesmerized by the shape-shifting mass of orange and red creeping over the field of black rock. Spying a boot in the distance, she strides off alone, pondering how it could have gotten there, only to realize to her horror that the boot is still attached to a leg - a leg which is slowly being engulfed by the hot lava.Valerie's convinced a murder has been committed - but as she's the only witness to the now-vanished corpse, who's going to believe her?Determined to prove what she saw, and get justice for the unknown victim, Valerie launches her own investigation. But, thrown into a Hawaiian culture far from the luaus and tiki bars of glossy tourist magazines, she soon begins to fear she may be the next one to end up entombed in shiny black rock . . .

It’s a dream assignment. Former Senator Dorothy Gibson, aka that woman, is the most talked-about person in the country right now, though largely for the wrong reasons. As an independent candidate for President of the United States, Dorothy split the vote and is being blamed for the shocking result. After her very public defeat, she’s retreated to her home in rural Maine, inviting her ghostwriter to join her.Her collaborator is impressed by Dorothy’s work ethic and steel-trap mind, not to mention the stunning surroundings (and one particularly gorgeous bodyguard). But when a neighbor dies under suspicious circumstances, Dorothy is determined to find the killer in their midst. And when Dorothy Gibson asks if you want to team up for a top secret, possibly dangerous murder investigation, the only answer is: “Of course!”The best ghostwriters are adept at asking questions and spinning stories . . . two talents, it turns out, that also come in handy for sleuths. Dorothy’s political career, meanwhile, has made her an expert at recognizing lies and double-dealing. Working together, the two women are soon untangling motives and whittling down suspects, to the exasperation of local police. But this investigation—much like the election—may not unfold the way anyone expects . . .

Welcome to South Hill, a neighborhood of wealth, secrets, gracious Victorians, and austere manor homes overlooking the port of Fairhaven and the dark waters of Bellingham Bay. Seventeen year-old Trevor Blackmoore has lived here his entire life, shunned and feared, along with the rest of his clan, by the elitist and superstitious families that surround them and who regard the Blackmoores as the devil's concubines.As a young medium-clairvoyant dealing not only with the dark secrets of his family but also with his homosexuality--two things which have made him an outsider--he struggles to find normalcy.Trevor's life is made extremely difficult by his tormentors and former childhood friends: Cheri Hannifin, Greg Sheer, and Christian Vasquez; the school gods of the prestigious Mariner High School.His only saving grace is Braxton Volaverunt; a captivating young man with secrets of his own.A diabolical plan sets in motion a chain of events that will fulfill the doomed prophecy of the Blackmoore family, as a centuries' old curse comes to an end, releasing an ancient and bloodthirsty evil set on wiping out the family on Trevor's eighteenth birthday, Christmas Eve, and Trevor learns that he is at the center of it. Realizing that he is all that stands between this darkness and his family's survival.

In October 1992, Dr. Ellen Haskell begins a new therapy practice in Princeton after a tragic error with a former client. Demoralized by her failure, Ellen strives to restore her emotional and professional confidence. Her parents have departed for Greece, leaving Ellen alone in their secluded country house. As her clients are introduced through their individual sessions, Ellen becomes unnerved when she receives hang-up phone calls and a series of bizarre gifts from an anonymous admirer—first at her office and then at home. As the obsessive lover increasingly invades her life, Ellen's anxiety crescendos and she begins to fear the stalker's behavior will escalate into violence.The Psychologist's Shadow is a simmering literary suspense and a portrait of a compassionate, introspective therapist who finds herself in a dangerous struggle. As tension accumulates, the reader gains insights during sessions and through the stalker's journal entries, which serve as discordant counterpoints. Who is the shadow lover? An acquaintance, a shopkeeper, an old boyfriend, or a client?

Monreith, Massachusetts, was once a small community of whalers and farmers. These days it’s a well-to-do town filled with commuters drawn to its rugged coastline and country roads. A peaceful, predictable place—until popular restaurateur Laurel Thibodeau is found brutally murdered in her own home. Suspicion naturally falls on Laurel’s husband, Simon, who had gambling debts that only her life insurance policy could fix. But there are other rumors too . . .Among the group of six friends gathered for Alice Stone’s fortieth birthday, theories abound concerning Laurel’s death. Max Barbosa, police chief, has heard plenty of them, as has his longtime friend, Unitarian minister Georgia Fitzhugh. Local psychiatrist Farley Drake is privy to even more, gleaning snippets of gossip and information from his patients while closely guarding his own past.But maybe everyone in Monreith has something to hide. Because before this late-summer evening has come to a close, one of these six will be dead. And as jealousy, revenge, adultery, and greed converge, the question becomes not who among these friends might be capable of such a thing, but—who isn’t?

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.