Posted on January 21, 2012 by Erastes
From the Lambda Literary Award and Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lee Thomas come a new thrilling novel. 1944 – Barnard, Texas. At the height of World War II, a killer preys on the young men of a quiet Texas town. The murders are calculated, vicious, and they are just beginning. Sheriff Tom Rabbit and his [...]
Filed under: 1940's, America, Fiction, five stars, Lee Thomas, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | Tagged: 1940′s, America, Fiction, five stars, Lee Thomas, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | 8 Comments »
Posted on January 19, 2012 by speakitsname
Set in the very English suburbia of 1962 where everyone has tidy front gardens and lace curtains, Junction X is the story of Edward Johnson, who ostensibly has the perfect life: A beautiful house, a great job, an attractive wife and two well-mannered children. The trouble is he’s been lying to himself all of his [...]
Filed under: 1960's, England, Erastes, Fiction, five stars | Tagged: 1960′s, England, Erastes, Fiction, five stars | 3 Comments »
Posted on January 5, 2012 by Erastes
The best jobs in 1911 Belfast are in the shipyards, but Donal Gallagher’s pay packet at Harland and Wolff doesn’t stretch far enough. He needs to find someone to share his rented room; fellow ship-builder Jimmy Healy’s bright smile and need for lodgings inspire Donal to offer. But how will he sleep, lying scant feet [...]
Filed under: 1910's, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Ireland, novella, P.D. Singer, Reviews | Tagged: 1910's, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Ireland, novella, P.D. Singer, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Posted on December 23, 2011 by Erastes
Sorry to cut into the Advent Calendar which I hope you are all enjoying. We will be reviving the Speak Its Name Awards this year and introducing a new category, the Readers’ Choice. The Awards will be: Best Novel Best Cover Best Author and Readers’ Choice. The first 3 are chosen by Speak Its Name, [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, 4½ Stars, Awards, Best of the Year, five stars | 4 Comments »
Posted on November 16, 2011 by Erastes
1748 Lieutenant Conrad Herriot and Seaman Tom Cotton have been master and servant for over a decade, and friends for almost as long. When Tom is injured during a skirmish, Conrad forgets himself and rushes to Tom’s side, arousing suspicion about the true nature of their relationship. All Tom wants is the chance to consummate [...]
Filed under: Age of Sail, Alex Beecroft, ebook, England, five stars, novella, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Posted on October 10, 2011 by Erastes
The Lilac Tree is a short story included in Marion Husband’s short story collection “Six Little Deaths” dealing–as the title suggests with the subject of death. The only gay historical story, The Lilac Tree, is a reminiscence of an elderly man–in a care home, or rented accommodation, being looked after by non-relatives who has nothing [...]
Filed under: 1910's, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Marion Husband, Reviews, short stories, World War I | 3 Comments »
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Erastes
Assigned to baby-sit a loose-cannon colonel at remote Wheelus Air Base, Libya, handsome, hard-charging Captain Joe Harding spends his off-duty time bedding an enlisted medic and a muscular major, then begins a nurturing friendship with the American ambassador’s teenage son. The boy swiftly develops a crush on the man, feelings that Joe, a Southern gent [...]
Filed under: 1960's, Elliott Mackle, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Middle East, Reviews, War, Western | 3 Comments »
Posted on September 17, 2011 by Erastes
In the darkest days of the Great Depression, New York Times reporter Whit Stoddard has lost the heart to do his job and lives a lonely hand-to-mouth existence with little hope of recovery, until he meets Peter, a man in even greater need of new hope. Review by Erastes Tamara Allen is a very talented [...]
Filed under: 1930's, America, five stars, short stories, Tamara Allen | 4 Comments »
Posted on September 15, 2011 by speakitsname
Gideon Makepeace, a young man of twenty, knows who he is and what he likes: decency, men and women too, horse training, and fun… and in Livingston, Montana, in the lush autumn of 1895, he finds he likes a Lakota Sioux Indian better than he might ought to. Jedediah Buffalo Bird is seriously wounded and [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Fiction, five stars, Margaret Mills, Reviews, Tedy Ward, Western | 2 Comments »
Posted on September 11, 2011 by Erastes
At the age of ten, Dylan Daniels was a placed-out kid sent from New York’s Five Points to a family in Nebraska. But Dylan ran away at the age of eighteen when he realized he preferred boys and didn’t want to be a farmer. Once he made his way to Hollywood, he wound up as [...]
Filed under: 1930's, America, Fiction, five stars, novella, P.A. Brown, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 19, 2011 by jfaraday
Wu Jin has both brains and beauty. Though poor, his family are noble enough for Jin to sit the imperial examinations in the hope of obtaining a high-ranking government position at the court of Tang Dynasty China. When his parents are killed, Jin clings to his dreams, and travels to the provincial capital for the [...]
Filed under: Asia, China, five stars, novella, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 10, 2011 by Erastes
Wealthy San Francisco playboy Brett Sheridan thinks he knows the score when he hires tough guy private eye Neil Patrick Rafferty to find a priceless stolen folio of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Brett’s convinced his partner-in-crime sister is behind the theft — a theft that’s liable to bring more scandal to their eccentric family, and cost [...]
Filed under: 1930's, America, ebook, five stars, Josh Lanyon, novella | Leave a Comment »
Posted on July 7, 2011 by speakitsname
Bohemia, 1866 They met in a port-side tavern, their lust-filled moments stolen from days of marching and madness. After eighteen months, Captain Rudolph von Ratzlaff and First Lieutenant Mathias Hofmann have decided to run away from everything they hold dear. Resigning their commissions is social suicide, but there’s no other choice. Someone will eventually see [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, Erastes, Fiction, five stars, novella | Leave a Comment »
Posted on June 9, 2011 by Erastes
Istanbul, 1622. Considered hotbeds of sedition, the city’s coffee houses are in constant danger of being shut down by imperial command. Haluk, who runs a cafe in an old caravanserai, is more concerned with brewing the perfect cup of coffee than inciting rebellion. While storms in coffee cups rage around him, Haluk tends his clientele [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Kate Cotoner, Middle East, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 28, 2011 by jfaraday
Crippled by a devastating stammer, Alfie would prefer to hide himself away in the audience of London’s theaters. But as the perfect Georgian gentleman, it’s his responsibility to find a husband for his ward Eleanor. The pain of having to converse with strangers is lessened by the appearance of the kind-hearted Lord George Caldwell and [...]
Filed under: England, five stars, G S Wiley, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 20, 2011 by Erastes
London 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue of a porcelain dog from Goddard’s blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone’s after it, including [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, free read, Jess Faraday, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Victorian | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 8, 2011 by Erastes
HEROES IN HELLCATS Jack Hardigan’s Hellcat fighter squadron blew the Japanese Zekes out of the blazing Pacific skies. But a more subtle kind of hell was brewing in his feelings for rookie pilot Fred Trusteau. As another wingman watches–and waits for the beautiful woman who loves Jack–Hardigan and Trusteau cut a fiery swath through the [...]
Filed under: 1940's, Ensan Case, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, World War II | 7 Comments »
Posted on April 13, 2011 by Erastes
Lord Oliver Marsden’s life is perfect…well, almost perfect. His bookshop is doing well, his bank account isn’t empty, and his nights are filled with a deliciously dominant man…who tends to be a bit too domineering outside of the bedchamber. But Vincent loves him and that’s all that should matter. Right? And of course, Vincent still [...]
Filed under: Ava March, BDSM, ebook, Fiction, five stars, Regency, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Posted on March 22, 2011 by Erastes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1651062/ (from imdb) In 1931 budding author Christopher Isherwood goes to Berlin at the invitation of his friend W. H. Auden for the gay sex that abounds in the city. Whilst working as an English teacher his housemates include bewigged old queen Gerald Hamilton and would-be actress Jean Ross,who sings tunelessly in a seedy [...]
Filed under: 1930's, Christopher Isherwood, films, five stars | 2 Comments »
Posted on March 6, 2011 by Erastes
Written in the language of the period, this vivid and utterly transfixing love story between two men is set in the nineteenth-century American Midwest. Douglas Fortescue is a successful poet in England who flees the country for America following an Oscar Wilde-like scandal insinuating sexual impropriety; Joshua Jenkyns is a feral young outlaw who was [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 16, 2011 by Erastes
When Victorian private investigator Nick Romney’s step-father, an Anglican bishop, is murdered, Nick refuses to get involved. At the urging of his family, though, Nick and his lover Davy step in to investigate. Together they uncover the truth of the bishop’s involvement in the dark and horrifying world of child prostitution, the reason why he [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, detective, Europe, Fiction, five stars, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Victorian | 8 Comments »
Posted on February 14, 2011 by speakitsname
Eros and Thanatos converge in this story of a glorious youth, an untimely death, and an imperial love affair that gives rise to the last pagan god of antiquity, Antinous. In this coming-of-age novel set in second century Rome, the Greek youth Antinous of Bithynia recounts his seven-year affair with Hadrian, the fourteenth Roman emperor. [...]
Filed under: Ancient Rome, Ancient World, Fiction, five stars, Melanie McDonald, Reviews | 3 Comments »
Posted on February 12, 2011 by jfaraday
Love: it’s a triangle. War: is coming. Betrayal: is inevitable. Sex: watch out for the naughty puppets. Review by Jess Faraday This wasn’t an easy book. I mean this in a technical sense. It wasn’t like sitting down to read a civilized story in which one is introduced to the characters, setting, and story questions [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Fiction, five stars, Kathe Koja, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on February 10, 2011 by speakitsname
The fourth book in the Royal Navy series, Home Is the Sailor is set immediately following Eye of the Storm. After an unprovoked attack during peacetime — was it revenge for their abduction of one of Bonaparte’s top military scientists? — Commander William Marshall and his lover, David Archer, are sent into hiding at David’s [...]
Filed under: Age of Sail, England, Fiction, five stars, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Posted on January 24, 2011 by speakitsname
Sal Mineo is probably most well-known for his unforgettable, Academy Award–nominated turn opposite James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and his tragic murder at the age of thirty-seven. Finally, in this riveting new biography filled with exclusive, candid interviews with both Mineo’s closest female and male lovers and never-before-published photographs, Michael Gregg Michaud tells [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, Biography, five stars | 1 Comment »
Posted on January 20, 2011 by speakitsname
They once faced each other on a battlefield. Now soldier-turned-spy Jonathan Reese must keep watch over the man he’s never forgotten. A close encounter reveals Karl von Binder, the count’s son, also recalls the day he spared Jonathan’s life. Sparks fly between the former enemies and Jonathan begins to lose perspective on his mission. He [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, Europe, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | 4 Comments »
Posted on October 9, 2010 by Erastes
Having returned to Elizabethan London after an absence of two years, Hugh Seaton is happy to resume his old job as tailor to the company of actors known as Strange’s Men. He is less content when he finds himself looking for a murderer, and hiding his former lover, playwright Christopher Marlowe, who is suspected of [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, Elizabethan, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, K C Warwick, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 2, 2010 by Erastes
Billy Strobaw’s world turns on its axis when he has a surprising and physical reaction to a young Indian he and two of his travelling companions have taken captive. The handsome warrior, Cut Hand, eventually not only earns his freedom but also steals Billy’s heart and prevails upon the American to come live among his [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Fiction, five stars, Mark Wildyr, Reviews, Western | 8 Comments »
Posted on September 7, 2010 by Erastes
Barbara Kingsolver takes us on an epic journey from the Mexico City of artists Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo to the America of Pearl Harbor, FDR, and J. Edgar Hoover. The Lacuna is a poignant story of a man pulled between two nations as they invent their modern identities. Born in the United States, reared [...]
Filed under: 1930's, 1940's, America, Barbara Kingsolver, Fiction, five stars, Mexico, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on September 2, 2010 by Erastes
At eighteen Dylan Rutledge has one obsession: music. He believes his destiny is to be the greatest composer of the rapidly approaching twentieth century. Only Laurence Northcliff, a young history master at The Venerable Bede School for Young Gentlemen, believes in Dylan’s talent and encourages his dream, not realizing Dylan is in love with him. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Ruth Sims | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 19, 2010 by Erastes
He thought he knew who he was. Now he’s a stranger to himself. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 7 When Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith witness the suspicious death of a young man at the White City exhibition in London, they’re keen to investigate—especially after the cause of death proves to be murder. But police Inspector [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 4 Comments »
Posted on June 1, 2010 by Erastes
“When I think of the things that happened and the things I did, it is as though I were living them … My hands feel what I touched, and the smells that surrounded me fill my nostrils … Old joys swell my heart, old sorrows clutch at my throat … I remember every face, every [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 19th Century, Anel Viz, Europe, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 12, 2010 by Leslie
Last Gasp, a series of four short novellas wherein we discover: four gay couples who struggle to find happiness during historical periods on the brink of change. Take a trip back to 1840s Hong Kong, Edwardian Syria, 1898 Yukon and 1936 Italy, and experience passion that will endure through the ages. The Stories: Tributary by Erastes It’s 1936 [...]
Filed under: 1930's, Charlie Cochrane, England, Erastes, five stars, Jordan Taylor, Leslie H Nicoll, Reviews | Tagged: 1840s, 19th Century, Canada, Chris Smith, Hong Kong, Syria, Yukon Territories | 4 Comments »
Posted on April 14, 2010 by Leslie
When war veteran Sir Alan Watleigh goes searching for sex, he never imagines the street rat he brings home for one last bit of pleasure in his darkest hour will be the man who hauls him back from the edge of the grave. A night of meaningless sex turns into an offer of permanent employment. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, five stars, Leslie H Nicoll, Regency, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Posted on March 7, 2010 by Erastes
A “who and why-done-it” mystery set in 1940s Florida, Dan Ewing is the manager of the Caloosa Hotel, which privately caters to the very special needs of its guests, and Bud Wright is a police detective whose passionate desire for Dan is in conflict with his desire to shut Dan’s business down. When one black [...]
Filed under: 1940's, Elliott Mackle, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | Tagged: 1940’s, Elliott Mackle, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Murder Mystery, Reviews, World War II | 10 Comments »
Posted on February 25, 2010 by Erastes
Charles Latham, wastrel younger son of the Earl of Clitheroe, returns home drunk from the theatre to find his father gruesomely dead. He suspects murder. But when the Latham ghosts turn nasty, and Charles finds himself falling in love with the priest brought in to calm them, he has to unearth the skeleton in the [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, Alex Beecroft, Authors, England, Fiction, five stars, novella, Reviews | Tagged: 18th Century, Alex Beecroft, Authors, England, Fiction, five stars, novella, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on February 23, 2010 by speakitsname
The author’s favorite of his own novels. When A Single Man was originally published, it shocked many by its frank, sympathetic, and moving portrayal of a gay man in midlife. George, the protagonist, is adjusting to life on his own after the sudden death of his partner, and determines to persist in the routines of [...]
Filed under: 1960's, America, Christopher Isherwood, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | Tagged: 1960's, book review, christopher isherwood, five stars | 1 Comment »
Posted on February 3, 2010 by speakitsname
The place is gaudy yet drab, lively yet death-like, dispassionate mother hen to a brood of dithered chicks. Discover its bizarre existence from the inside, through the muddled collective mind of the outcast in-group, a gay throng of third-sex bewildered ones who frantically seek a why–but must always settle for The Why Not! Review by [...]
Filed under: 1960's, America, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Victor J Banis | Tagged: 1960’s, America, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Victor J Banis | 6 Comments »
Posted on January 24, 2010 by Leslie
Big Roy is a hard rock miner with a not so secret love for the theater, so when he hears a new troupe of actors are coming to the Telluride opera house to put on a Shakespeare play, he saddles his mule and makes the trek into town to see it. The play doesn’t disappoint, [...]
Filed under: America, ebook, five stars, Julia Talbot, Leslie H Nicoll, novella, Reviews, Western | Tagged: America, ebook, five stars, Julia Talbot, Leslie H Nicoll, novella, Reviews, Western | 2 Comments »
Posted on January 18, 2010 by davidnsteerforth
Cornwall, 1906 After inheriting Trevaglan Farm from a distant relative, Jonathan Williams returns to the estate to take possession, with his best friend, Alayne, by his side. He’d only been to Trevaglan once before, fourteen years earlier when he’d been sent there after a family scandal and his mother’s death. But that was a different [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Donald L Hardy, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | Tagged: 1900’s, Donald L Hardy, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 12 Comments »
Posted on January 4, 2010 by Erastes
He thinks he has everything. Until someone tries to steal it. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 5 For friends and lovers Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart, a visit to Bath starts out full of promise. While Orlando assesses the value of some old manuscripts, Jonty plans to finish his book of sonnets. Nothing exciting…until they are [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, novella, Reviews | Tagged: 1900's, Charlie Cochrane | 5 Comments »
Posted on January 1, 2010 by Leslie
The key issue keeping the U.S. armed forces from going beyond Don’t Ask Don’t Tell to give gay servicemen equal rights is a blind fear of love relationships forming, not between enlisted soldiers but between officers and soldiers, which would undermine the chain of command. The Lonely War tackles this topic head on. It tells [...]
Filed under: 1940's, Alan Chin, five stars, Leslie H Nicoll, Reviews, World War II | 4 Comments »
Posted on December 30, 2009 by Erastes
As second son to an earl, Ian Stanton has always done the proper thing. Obeyed his elders, studied diligently, and dutifully accepted the commission his father purchased for him in the Fifty-Second Infantry Division. The one glaring, shameful, marvelous exception: Nicholas Chatham, heir to the Marquess of Carleigh. Before Ian took his position in His [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, England, five stars, K A Mitchell, novella, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: five stars, gay historical romance, K A Mitchell | 5 Comments »
Posted on November 13, 2009 by Leslie
The “American hunk” is a cultural icon: the image of the chiseled, well-built male body has been promoted and exploited for commercial use for over 125 years, whether in movies, magazines, advertisements, or on consumer products, not only in America but throughout the world. American Hunks is a fascinating collection of images (many in full [...]
Filed under: 1900's, 1910's, 1920's, 1930's, 1940's, 1950's, 1960's, 19th Century, America, five stars, Leslie H Nicoll, Photography, Resources, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Posted on November 6, 2009 by Erastes
Erotic slang words from Great Britain, Canada, the United States, Australia, and other English-speaking nations number well into the tens of thousands. But the history of terms used to describe the sexual activities of gays and lesbians have opposing sources: one, the discreet networks of gay men and lesbians who sought to come up with [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, five stars, history, Resources, Reviews, textbook, Writing | Tagged: book review, gay interest, resource, textbook, wriitng | 3 Comments »
Posted on October 25, 2009 by Erastes
When Harry Watson, an attractive and personable ex-Guardsman, becomes involved with the young novelist Martin Murray, he is quick to assimilate Martin’s left-wing views. He fits readily into Martin’s circle, along with the earl’s daughter and communist Lady Nellie Griffiths, her playboy nephew Pugh, and the unconfident Oxford undergraduate Gavin Summers. But then Harry’s enthusiasm [...]
Filed under: 1930's, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Spanish Civil War | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 23, 2009 by Erastes
Stodgy British archivist Henry Percival-Smythe slaves away in the dusty basement of Ealing College in 1934, the only bright spot in his life his obsession with a strange Australian mammal, the thylacine. It has been hunted to the edge of extinction, and Henry would love nothing more than to help the rare creature survive. Then [...]
Filed under: 1930's, Australia, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 6 Comments »
Posted on October 22, 2009 by gehayi
The ghosts of the past will shape your future. Unless you fight them. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 4 Cambridge, 1907 After settling in their new home, Cambridge dons Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart are looking forward to nothing more exciting than teaching their students and playing rugby. Their plans change when a friend asks their [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Posted on October 20, 2009 by Erastes
Lambda Award finalist Josh Lanyon takes you step-by-step through the writing process: from how to find fresh ideas and strong hooks, to how to submit your carefully edited manuscript. With help from the genre’s top publishers, editors, reviewers, and writers – experts in the field of M/M and gay romantic fiction – Lanyon offers insight [...]
Filed under: Essential Reads, five stars, Resources, Reviews, textbook, Writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted on October 18, 2009 by speakitsname
Set in the hills of Northern Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, the book is told from the point of view of Gabriel Harkin, the eldest of four children in a working-class family, who struggles through a loving yet often brutal childhood. It’s a turbulent time in Ulster, and, in the staunchly Catholic community to [...]
Filed under: 1960's, Fiction, five stars, Ireland, Reviews | 3 Comments »
