Show No Mercy by Thom Collins

NEW RELEASE

Book Title:  Show No Mercy

Author and Publisher: Thom Collins

Cover Artist: Kelly A Martin

Release Date: November 14, 2024

Tense/POV: Third person/past tense

Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, paranormal thriller

Tropes: Dark romantic suspense, instant attraction

Heat Rating:  4 flames   

Length: 38 000 words/160 pages

It’s a one-off standalone story. No cliffhanger.

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A chance encounter brought them together, but in a world of danger, it might not be for long.

Blurb

When a blind date ends in disaster, Hector is about to swear off dating for good, until he sees a handsome face across a bar and changes his mind. A drink with a troubled man called Callum leads to something far more meaningful. Hector offers Callum the chance to off load his problems.

But when they’re attacked by two men carrying knives, Hector is plunged into a dangerous world of vengeance and retaliation. His decision to stand by Callum puts his life at risk in ways he could never have imagined. Is he prepared to lose everything for a man he barely knows?

Excerpt 

They made it to Hector's apartment without any further incident. He turned on the lights and held the door for Callum before locking it behind him. Callum's hand, where he gripped his injured arm, was red with blood. Hector showed him to the bathroom before going to retrieve his first aid kit.

“How does it feel?” he asked, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.

“It's beginning to throb, but I think the worst of the bleeding has stopped.”

Hector ran warm water into the sink and poured in two cups of antiseptic liquid. “Take off your T-shirt,” he said, soaking cotton balls in the sink. “I'll give you one of mine, once we clean this up and make sure it's no longer bleeding.”

Callum sat on the edge of the bath and removed his T-shirt. He winced and gave a sharp intake of breath. Hector suspected his injury was more painful than he was letting on. He flinched again when Hector applied the soaked cotton balls to his wound.

“Sorry,” he said. “I’ll be gentle as I can.” 

“It's fine,” Callum said. “Just do what you have to.”

The cut was about an inch and a half long. “I don't think it's gone deep,” he said. “You've been lucky.”

“I'm sure Jon-Boy was aiming for something more severe.”

“We have to report this to the police.”

Callum shook his head. “That will be a waste of time.”

“They'll be searching for you anyway. I'm sure the staff at the bar will have called it in. Especially when Jon-Boy pulled a knife on the premises. There must have been a dozen or more witnesses.”

Callum didn't reply, and Hector didn't push it. He would try again in a while. They had a duty to report what had happened. Hector wasn't about to let those thugs get away with what they had done.

Once he had cleaned the wound, Hector patted it dry then applied a fresh medical cloth and bandaged it. “I don't think it's deep enough for you to need stitches, but you'll have to keep an eye on it. You might need to visit your doctor.”

“You've done a great job. Thank you.”

Hector went to his bedroom and rummaged in a drawer. Callum was thicker-built he was, but he found a T-shirt that was too big for him and should fit Callum fine. It was only when he returned to the bathroom that he noticed the rest of Callum’s body. He was incredibly fit with a flat stomach and firm, well developed pecs. His torso was smooth and hairless—he must have shaved it. Hector tried not to stare at his perfect physique as he handed over the T-shirt.

“Come through to the kitchen,” he said. “I'll get you some painkillers.”

Hector was about to offer him a strong drink, then remembered that would not be a good idea while he had an open wound. The bleeding had stopped but it would not be worth the risk of it restarting. He got two glasses from the cupboard and filled them with water from the filter unit in his refrigerator. When Callum came into the room wearing Hector’s T-shirt, he handed him the glass and a blister pack of Ibuprofen.

“Take two. They should help soon enough.”

Callum nodded and gave a weak smile as he popped the pills from their packet. The T-shirt fitted him far better than it ever had Hector. The cotton spread tight across his impressive chest and shoulders. The small nubs of his nipples stood erect. Hector was again startled by how beautiful he was and told himself to stop looking. Callum was in trouble, and this was definitely not the time.

About the Author 

Thom Collins is the author of the Jagged Shores series and the Anthem Trilogy as well as numerous standalone novels and novellas. 

His new series Basic Instincts launches in spring 2025 with the novel Now Comes the Dark.

Thom has lived in the North East of England his whole life. He grew up in Northumberland and now lives in County Durham with his husband and two cats. He loves all kinds of genre fiction, especially bonk-busters, thrillers, romance and horror. He is also a cookery book addict with far too many titles cluttering his shelves. When not writing he can be found in the kitchen trying out new recipes. He’s a keen traveler but with a fear of flying that gets worse with age, but in 2013 he realized cruising is the best way to see the world.

Check out his website for news updates and a free ebook The Night

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Beyond the Stix by CJ Barlowe

NEW RELEASE

Book Title: Beyond the Stix

Author and Publisher: CJ Barlowe

Cover Artist: Jo Clemens

Release Date: November 12, 2024

Genres: Contemporary MM Romance, Dark, Romantic Suspense

Tropes: Domestic abuse

Trigger Warning: on page death, on page ref to cancer

Heat Rating: 5 flames   

Length: 59 163 words/230 pages

It’s a part of a series but can be read as a standalone. It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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Blurb

Shocking news comes to Connor Wild, the drummer for Warrior Black, while they are in the middle of recording their next album. But the loss of his father brings forth terrible memories Connor had along ago buried and leads him straight to the nightmare he wants to forget. Only saving grace is the bodyguard, who can make his body thrum, and helps him to forget the past.

Bodyguard John Brand has been with Warrior Black since their rise to fame, after their appearance at last year’s Rocktoberfest in Black Rock, Nevada. His choice to stay as protection is solely for the drummer, who he can’t get out of his head. John wants more, but Connor refuses to see them no less than a hookup.

Can John beat away the dark demons from Connor’s past? Will Connor risk it all and expose the dark truth to John? Can Connor move on and give John a chance for love?

Connor would have to go Beyond the Stix to see how true love can heal old wounds.

About the Author

Award-winning author CJ Warrant was born overseas as an Army brat and raised in a vibrant Korean-Italian household. She sees life as a journey—filled with both light and dark, good and bad. Embracing each experience, she channels these moments into stories where life’s complexities shine through.

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Armed and Ready for Love by Dann Hazel

NEW RELEASE

Book Title: Armed and Ready for Love

Author: Dann Hazel

Publisher: Original Press

Cover Artist: Josh Fippen

Release Date: November 6, 2024

Tense/POV: third person, past tense, single POV

Genres: Dark MM historical romance

Tropes: Small town romance, second chance, hurt/comfort

Themes: Coming out, forgiveness

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Length: 91 509 words/ 332 pages

This is the first book in the series, Aphrodite in Disguise, but may be read as a standalone.

It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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We all live obsessed by our fiery passions. And yet, we remain so far from satisfaction.

Blurb

Jonathan Wren survives growing up in the South amid extreme homophobia and the ravages of a pandemic. When he meets a charismatic young man in a gay bathhouse, he falls in love, despite his best friend’s warning that looking for love in a bathhouse is a fool’s game.

Several years pass after realizing his friend was right. True love remains as elusive in Jonathan’s life as snow in Miami. 

Until he meets Ryan during a trip to Savannah. 

But even then, there are obstacles in his way.

Jonathan struggles with his own self-loathing, partially brought on by Andre Fast’s rejection of him. Andre was a childhood friend who, after gaining fame and fortune, delivers condemnation and hatred toward gay men.

Jonathan wonders how he can ever attain his “happily ever after.”

Armed and Ready for Love is a dark gay romance, a story of the sadness of love lost, the betrayal of old friends, the torment of obsession and the frustrations of searching for the right man.

Excerpt 

Tommy was tall. Thin but muscular. Not, he said when Jon shamelessly commented on his physique, from consciously bulking up, but because he enjoyed yardwork, sailing, swimming and biking. Like Jon, Tommy remained in his hometown to attend college—he was a junior at the College of Charleston—and while he didn’t live at home, as Jon did, he visited his parents frequently. 

“I’m an only child. And they’re doting parents, for sure. There’s something of a co-dependency in that dynamic, I’ll admit.”

He wore round, wire-framed glasses, a big turn-on, as Jonathan was increasingly attracted to the intellectual type. He noticed a sexy twinkle in Tommy’s playful eyes. 

Jonathan continued to sip his third gin and tonic while Tommy enjoyed a glass of Pinot Grigio. 

“Who was that guy with you when I walked in?” Tommy’s feigned nonchalance was not especially effective at concealing his suspicion.

“He’s a friend of mine. From college.”

“Close friends?”

Jonathan smirked. “I don’t know exactly what you mean by that.”

“Sorry,” Tommy said. “I have a tendency to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Let me put it this way. We’re close, but not intimate.”

Predictably, the two of them wound up in Jonathan’s room. Right away, Jon began crawling all over Tommy with pent-up desire.

“Hold on, cowboy!” Tommy said with a friendly laugh. He placed his glasses on the table next to the condoms. “I’m flattered. Truly I am. But how about we take it slow? Maybe it has something to do with my being from genteel Charleston, but I’m an incurable romantic. I don’t want to jump your bones before we’ve barely said hello.”

Jonathan wanted to say, sarcastically: But you stumbled into a gay bathhouse. But Jon felt such harshness would probably offend him. 

The tension settled into comfort as the men talked, this time about dreams and goals and the progress they’d made in coming out. “Mom and Dad don’t know,” Tommy admitted. “Whose parents do? But I’ve never told them I was straight, either. I think they suspect I’m gay because they never ask about girlfriends anymore. That’s a relief, but I feel like a stranger to them. Still, I do believe they love me—and would continue to love me, even if I laid it all out for them. But why risk it?” He shrugged, then leaned into a common rationalization among closeted gay men. “My sex life is my own business.”

Jonathan nodded with perfect understanding. 

“What about your parents, Jonathan?”

Jonathan chuckled glumly. “No one in my family knows. I’m as big a wimp as they come. After hearing Mom tell the story of my father’s Navy experience with a gay man in New Orleans, I knew to keep my mouth shut.”

Tommy’s face lit up. He snuggled even closer in the small bed. “Do tell!”

About the Author

Dann Hazel has been writing both fiction and nonfiction for more than twenty years.

Besides writing romance, he has taught high school English and journalism, college psychology and human sexuality, directed federal grants and worked as a therapist in a psychiatric hospital. His fiction genre interests include thrillers, horror, literary and gay romance. He has published the Some Like It Haute Gay Romance Series, including Room for Dessert, My Own Private Biscuit and Lonely Diner.

Nonfiction works include Witness: Gay and Lesbian Clergy Report from the Front and Moving On: The Gay Man’s Guide for Coping When a Relationship Ends.

Dann’s personal interests include reading and writing, cinema, jogging, Broadway, keeping abreast of current events and travel.

Currently, Dann lives in Central Florida with his husband, Josh, and their American Eskimo canine, Flurry.

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The Unquiet House by Ellie Thomas

NEW RELEASE 

Book Title: The Unquiet House (Regency Paranormal, Book 2)

Author: Ellie Thomas

Publisher: JMS Books

Cover Artist: in-house with publisher

Release Date: October 26, 2024

Tense/POV: Third person, past tense, single POV

Genres: MM Historical Paranormal

Tropes: Hurt/Comfort, Opposites Attract, Friends to Lovers

Themes: Haunting, ghosts, romantic suspense, peril

Heat Rating: 3 flames    

Length: 17 520 words

It is not a standalone story.

It is book 2 in my Regency Paranormal series. It does not end on a cliffhanger.

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Buy Links

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In Regency England, Sam and Christian come across a ghostly disturbance at a country house. 

Can their combined skills resolve the problem before someone, including themselves, gets seriously hurt?

Blurb

After barely surviving their terrifying encounter with the spectre of the hooded monk during the previous autumn, Christian Maxwell and Sam Gillespie have consolidated their romantic relationship and are starting to gain a reputation for dealing with the unknown.

For this reason, they receive an invitation to Haverford House in Wiltshire during the spring of 1817. The owners of the historic haunted manor house, Mr. and Mrs. Huxley, are being afflicted by a series of inexplicable incidents.

With his sensitivity to atmosphere, Christian is immediately alerted to danger. Yet, despite their best efforts, neither he nor Sam can discern the cause, although their search brings them closer as a couple and as a team. As sinister events develop, can our devoted duo unmask the culprit without putting themselves in danger?

Excerpt

Christian regarded the stolid group of middle-aged people surrounding Sam, the second vicar, with a darker shade to his complexion from the Caribbean sun. Sam had already struck up an animated conversation with the colonel’s lady. His face, shaded by candlelight into fascinating planes and hollows, was alight with interest. Christian was so distracted that he lost the thread of Mrs. Huxley’s discourse.

“You’ve met my husband, of course.” Christian dragged his attention away from Sam to regard his host. “And near to him is Ernest Bell, a distant relative of mine. It’s very good of him to support us in our endeavours since our son Gordon returned to university after the Christmas vacation. Of course, Ernest’s very fond of the place. He was a regular visitor in my Cousin Grenville’s day.”

Christian placed Mr. Bell in his early thirties, somewhat younger than the Huxleys. There was little or no family resemblance to the fair and even-featured Mrs. Huxley. The man was dark haired and had a strong craggy face. He seemed completely at ease, conversing easily as though taking his cue from his hosts.

As the meal commenced, Mrs. Huxley was monopolised by the gentleman on her other side, allowing Christian to absorb the surrounding ambience. The candlelight flattered the diners and the ready supply of wine increased the merry flow of conversation.

The food is excellent, Christian thought, nibbling on a chicken leg. The dishes were removed by a small number of well-trained staff. The Huxleys clearly hadn’t stinted on the domestic sphere of their enterprise.

“Have you come far?”

A gruff male voice broke into Christian’s preoccupations.

“Not at all. Only the other side of the county,” he replied.

“We hail from Suffolk.”

Unprompted, the gentleman leaned over the lady sitting between them and launched into a treatise on the historic sights of that region. Thankfully, he required little in the way of a response. Without having to pay much attention, Christian simply interjected the occasional, “Oh really? How interesting.”

In such congenial surroundings, Christian almost forgot that he and Sam weren’t invited to enjoy the convivial atmosphere.

When the hair rose on the back of Christian’s neck, at first, he assumed it was due to a stray draught, understandable in such an ancient and large space. Rather than easing, the sensation intensified and Christian felt his shoulders tense, as if braced for attack.

He felt a sudden burst of malice like a silent cackle of mocking laughter.

Again, he couldn’t place the source of ill-intent until a footman leaned between Christian and Mrs. Huxley to place a covered salver on the table.

As the servant reached across to lift the lid, Christian hissed, “Don’t!”

His voice was low, but his urgency transmitted to his hostess and the footman, who hesitated in mid-action.

Mrs. Huxley threw a startled glance towards Christian. However, her voice was calm as she said, “Take it away, please, Simon.”

The young server obeyed without question. Mrs. Huxley murmured, “Excuse me.” She accompanied the footman from the room without attracting any attention.

Christian’s collar felt constricting and the candlelight too bright for his strained nerves. He took a sip of wine to steady himself before he glanced around the table.

There was no discernible change in the level of chatter and general merriment. Christian attempted to focus in vain. He could no longer sense the slightest whiff of the ill-feeling that had vanished like a puff of smoke in a strong breeze.

He jumped at the light touch on his shoulder.

“May I borrow you for a moment?” Mrs. Huxley asked.

Christian turned to see that his hostess was pale, her eyes wide with alarm.

“Yes, of course.”

He rose to follow her, unnoticed except by Mr. Huxley, briefly hesitating in mid-comment, and Sam, who quickly looked up before resuming his discourse.

Christian followed the lady into the service region of the house. In a pantry, the silver salver sat alone on a shelf, guarded by the footman.

“I thought you ought to see this for yourself.”

Mrs. Huxley nodded to the footman, who lifted the lid without ceremony. Instead of the expected delicacy, on the gleaming silver platter lay a dead rat with a candied cherry in its mouth.

About the Author  

Ellie Thomas lives by the sea. She comes from a teaching background and goes for long seaside walks where she daydreams about history. She is a voracious reader, especially about anything historical. She mainly writes historical gay romance.

Ellie also writes historical erotic romance as L. E. Thomas.

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Persistence of Memory by J.M. Snyder

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Book Title: Persistence of Memory

Author: J.M. Snyder

Publisher: JMS Books LLC

Narrator: Nick Johnson

Release Date: September 25, 2024

Tense/POV: first person, present tense, single.

Genres: MM Dystopian Romance

Tropes: amnesia 

Themes: love despite everything

Heat Rating: 1 flame      

Length:  2 hours and 28 minutes

It is a standalone story and does not end on a cliffhanger.

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Blurb 

Five years ago Joah was culled—kidnapped by the government to be trained as a soldier. In the process, they erased his memory, destroying his past, his dreams, everything but his name. Armed with that alone, Joah escapes from the facility in search of someone to help him recall the man he used to be.

That person is Tobin, Joah’s husband, who never gave up hope of finding him again. He refuses to believe that the strength of his love alone won’t be enough to bring back Joah’s memories of their shared lives, and he’s determined to bring back the man beneath the soldier, the man he knows has to love him.

But an alarm in the chip blocking Joah’s memories was triggered at his escape, and if it isn’t removed soon, it will shriek his life away. Removing it won’t bring back his past, and may destroy the present that Tobin has tried so hard to build between them. How can the love they once shared possibly survive?

About the Author  

J.M. Snyder is a multi-published author of gay erotic romance who started writing fanfic (specifically, boyband slash). She has worked with several different e-publishers, including Amber Allure Press and Torquere Press, and had short stories published in anthologies by Alyson Books, Cleis Press, eXcessica, and Lethe Press.

In 2010, she started JMS Books LLC to promote and publish her own work as well as that of other authors she enjoys.

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