For once, I’m the one with the new release. This week, my YA novella is out from Beaten Track as part of the Seasons of Love anthology. Be sure to check out the rest of these wonderful stories!
About the Book
Title: Year of the Guilty Soul
Author: A.M. Leibowitz
Publisher: Beaten Track
Publication Date: July 29, 2018
Length: 25,500 words
Category: young adult, LGBT, romance and relationships, literary
Purchase Links
Beaten Track | Amazon | Amazon Paperback
Synopsis
Antonia Moskowitz is caught in the middle, always having to pick a side. Whether it’s between her family’s two religions or in her relationships, she has choices to make. But learning who she is has a price, and every decision has consequences. Sometimes it’s hard to choose between being good and being right. Four seasons. Four kisses. One year to figure out what her heart wants.
Excerpt
Currently, I’m turning this way and that, examining every angle in the full-length mirror on the back of the door. We hardly bought anything for me, partly because I haven’t grown at all and partly because I hate shopping. Nothing ever looks right. About eighty percent of the time, I want to stop looking like…well, me, for one thing. My current fashion style can best be described as “depressed potato.”
Cari peers at me over the top of this months’ issue of Seventeen. Probably another thing on the Thou Shalt Not list, as Hannah calls it. It’s not a Christian magazine, and there’s always some stuff in there Pastor has words about.
She sets the magazine down and crosses her legs, tilting her head to the side. I flush under her scrutiny. At last she says, “Why do you want to look like them?”
I know who she means—the Stepford Teens. Those girls who look like they stepped out of a modesty fashion show. Or off the cover of Seventeen. And I do want to look like them, but not for the reasons Cari thinks.
“What do you care?” I mutter. It’s easier than trying to explain the way my hair, my face, my body all feel like baggage.
She stands and comes up behind me, peering over my shoulder at my reflection. “You don’t have to imitate all that boring, bland crap.”
“I do if I want—” I take a deep breath and turn around. “If I want to blend in.”
“And what if you don’t want to?” She puts her hands on her hips. Cari’s not exactly the blending-in type herself.
It might sound strange, but I’ve never thought about it. From the time I was nine, I’ve always tried to mold myself to what I thought would make other people happy. And then for almost two years, I’ve tried to be inconspicuous, to keep my head down and prevent anyone from noticing me.
“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully.
Cari pushes gently until I rotate again. She puts her hands on my shoulders and says, “What would you change right now if you could?”
“My hair,” I say without hesitation. “I hate it. It’s so thick and wavy I can barely comb it, and it looks awful whether I put it up with a scrunchy or hold the front back with a barrette.”
“Hm. I could cut it for you, if you want.”
My mouth drops open. “Right now?”
“Sure.”
I peek out of my room to see if anyone is around. The house is silent, which means Mom and Matteo have finished their discussion. Or rather, Mom’s lecture. I motion to Cari, and we sneak into the bathroom to do the deed. There’s a pair of scissors in the drawer under the sink and towels on the shelf over the toilet.
It doesn’t take long before what feels like an enormous weight has been lifted off my head. Cari’s given me this really cute cut. It’s messy and boyish and I love it. I can’t stop staring at my reflection and wondering why I never thought to do this before.
***
Seasons of Love Anthology
Love follows no rules. Like sun in winter and rain in summer, love can blossom in the most unexpected places. This richly diverse collection of stories proves that love is as universal and as varied as the seasons.
Beaten Track | Amazon | Goodreads
The Stories
Title: Tourist Season
Author: Deven Balsam
Tags: LGBT, romance and relationships, mythology, dark romance
Length: 6k words
Sometimes the darkness becomes too familiar. Sometimes, love lights the way out.
One of Zeus’s own children has a favorite office, hidden deep beneath the streets of Asheville, NC. Hades’ existence, while satisfying, is due for a surprise when his path converges with that of Korey, a gifted art student.
***
Title: Machete Betty & the Office Sharks
Author: Neptune Flowers
Tags: LGBT, humor, romance and relationships, fantasy, experimental/surreal
Length: 8,600 words
Tim is in the A team, professionally trained to investigate allegations of the potential mass hypnosis of the nation… But Tim is bored and horny. Who wouldn’t be? The office is full of idiots, and summer just keeps getting hotter and hotter. Reality starts to blur, screensavers come to life, and before he can say jiggyjig, he finds himself cavorting with a chain-smoking foul-mouthed merman.
Tim’s training is forgotten as he becomes immersed in fishy hedonism and office shenanigans. Can he save the day? Or will the team be forever lost in shameful acts of bouncybounce?
Find out in this tail of office boredom and surreal fun.
Warning! This story does not reflect realistic relationships with mermen or sharks.
***
Title: Once Around Seven
Author: Ofelia Gränd
Tags: LGBT, romance and relationships, adult, pure romance – M/M
Length: 24,600 words
Series: Nortown
Oswald Sattle is out of money and out of options. After more than eight months of sleeping in his car, when an acquaintance from his past offers him a job opportunity in the middle of nowhere, he can’t turn it down. No matter how much he’d like to.
Joshua Roth moved to Nortown four years ago, and he has everything he needs—a job, friends, peace and quiet. He’s not interested in a relationship, or anything else that would upset the life he’s built for himself.
But sometimes fate has other plans, and a single glimpse can completely change the course of a life.
In a small town, where everyone knows everyone else’s business, reaching for what you want can feel like a risk. But some risks are worth taking.
***
Title: Winter Blossoms
Author: Paul Iasevoli
Tags: LGBT, romance and relationships, literary, adult
Length: 17,300 words
Chris, a naïve twenty-four-year-old, breaks up with the first man he’s ever lived with. In the months that follow, he travels from Queens to The Hamptons, Manhattan to Brooklyn to find love. In the process, he discovers more about himself and realizes the man he hoped to meet has been in front of him the entire time.
Winter Blossoms will take you on a ride through the streets and subways of New York City. Every stop along the way highlights the 1980s’ vibrant, gay nightlife. Part nostalgic romp, part coming-of-age story, Winter Blossoms will delight the reader as it comes into full bloom.
***
Title: The Great Village Bun Fight
Author: Debbie McGowan
Tags: LGBT, humor, romance and relationships, new adult
Length: 22k words
All’s fair in love and war. But not in baking.
***
Title: A Springful of Winters
Author: Dawn Sister
Category: LGBT, humor, romance and relationships
Length: 41,500 words
Kit is a bit socially awkward. In fact, the rules of social encounters are mostly a bit of a mystery to him, but he gets by, with lots of lists and contingency plans. He doesn’t have any plans in place for when he first meets Stephan, however, and he keeps bumping into the man in the most embarrassing situations. The trouble is, Stephan keeps turning up in unexpected places, arousing suspicion that this gorgeous man might just have some contingency plans of his own where Kit is concerned.
***
Title: Out of Season
Author: Bob Stone
Tags: fantasy, romance and relationships
Length: 16,900 words
Series: Missing Beat
It’s the old, old story. Demon meets girl, demon falls for girl, demon creates a perfect summer’s day in the middle of winter. What could possibly go wrong?
***
Title: Seashell Voices
Author: Alexis Woods
Tags: young adult, LGBT, romance and relationships, fantasy, pure romance – M/M
Length: 7k words
Once upon a time, a merboy spied a human child. The merboy, who longed to walk the sandy shore, spent his days watching the human boy grow to become a man who loved the sea. A man he’s admired from afar. The one he wishes he could be.
But how can a merman express his greatest wish when he has no voice with which to speak?
***
Title: Courting Light
Author: A. Zukowski
Tags: young adult, LGBT, romance and relationships, contemporary fiction
Length: 28,600 words
Our days were numbered but precious.
Courting Light is the story of Josie, an eighteen-year-old about to leave home to start university in London. She volunteers at a summer camp for disabled children. When Josie is paired with the autistic teenager Lucian, she faces intense experiences that are truly eye-opening. To her surprise, Lucian is not the only one who captures her attention. Over the weeks, Josie develops powerful desires evoked by the camp’s enigmatic young leader with a shaved head and tattoo on her skull.
