Historical books

A Harmony Ink Press Title

Hollywood, the mid-1960s. President Kennedy has been assassinated, the country’s civil rights movement is in full swing, and teenager Nate Berrigan is a television sitcom star.

But Nate’s onscreen life looks nothing like the real thing, which stars abusive, addicted parents instead of swooning teenage girls. On top of that, Nate’s questioning his sexuality, and his boss is a demanding monster.

The pressure would get to anyone. Fortunately Nate has Tai Atua, his costar… and maybe the love of his life. As the boys slowly fall for each other, Nate tries to believe in the possibility of his own happiness. Tai could be his savior, pulling Nate away from the precarious knife-edge he’s balancing on.

Of course, he could also be his undoing. Because if anyone finds out about their relationship, Nate’s whole life will come crashing down around him. If that happened, Nate couldn’t live with himself….

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A Harmony Ink Press Title

Gadgets and Shadows: Book Two
A Sequel to The 7th of London

Since Seven saved London and Queen Victoria, problems have begun growing in Victorica, formerly the free states of America. With government corruption running rampant and slavery becoming epidemic, rumors are flying about the Confederacy of the South building an army and threatening war. 

Still haunted by the memory of his old enemy, Seven and his lover, Silas Kettlebent, are sent to investigate the growing corruption of the South, but they find that the problem runs deeper than they could have possibly imagined. Seven is determined to see not only the slaves freed, but the colony as well. It’s going to take the combined efforts of slaves, criminals, politicians, and Abraham Lincoln to avoid a devastating war, and if Seven has anything to say about it, to ensure the freedom of every single Victorican from British rule. 

He’ll just have to do it while contending with the ghost of a previous enemy and another’s thirst for revenge.

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While most pirates sail in search of riches, Captain Devon Hall, the infamous Phantom of the Caribbean, is driven by vengeance. Devon has sworn to put an end to the corrupt governor of Jamaica and break the ruthless man’s stranglehold in the Caribbean.

When Devon is wounded and stranded on land, an unlikely rescuer comes to his aid. Brett Campbell is nothing like his uncle, the governor, and his goals are not so different from Devon’s. Brett longs for freedom, but his obligations to protect those under his uncle’s control keep him from fleeing. Throwing in with Devon might increase both their chances of success—and survival.

When the governor’s attempts to destroy Devon escalate and place Brett in danger and in the hands of the ruthless and depraved pirate Captain Blackburn, Devon must risk everything to save the man he loves and repay his enemies.

All Devon’s ever wanted is his ship, his freedom, friends who stand by his side through thick and thin, and someone to love. But facing dangers at sea and on land, Devon wonders if they will live to enjoy it all.

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A Harmony Ink Press Title

In the era of the Woodstock Festival and the Stonewall Riots, 1969, Dewey Snodgress is in high school in Fort Worth, Texas. He might be far from many of the changes taking place in the world, but they still affect his life. For one, as his school’s theater star, Dewey takes part in a production about a young gay man protesting the Vietnam War. During the play, he meets another uninhibited young actress, Lucretia “Lulu” Belton, and their performances are a hit, changing attitudes about the war—especially the attitude of Dewey’s dad.

It’s also the year Dewey meets Jeep Brickthorn, the school’s hippie and a local musician. They quickly become friends, and although Dewey tries to suppress it, they start to fall in love. Though he knows his father won’t condone their relationship, Dewey can’t resist his feelings for Jeep.

The times are changing, and maybe the time has come for Dewey and Jeep to escape their repressive town for somewhere more open-minded. Somewhere they can pursue their interests in acting and music. Somewhere they’ll have the freedom to be in love.

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Les aventures de Philip Potter, numéro hors série

La veille de Noël, en 1966, Philip Potter, un conservateur du Smithsonian au grand cœur, termine ses achats de dernière minute. Au même instant, James, son compagnon depuis plusieurs années, s’ôte la vie chez eux. Inconscient de ce qui l’attend, Philip dépose des cadeaux à un refuge pour sans-abris, un acte généreux qui fera plus tard de lui un suspect dans le meurtre d’un prostitué.

Après la mort choquante de James, deux hommes entrent dans la vie de Philip… et tous deux conduisent une Continental jaune. L’un d’eux, toutefois, est un tueur avec le sang de six prostitués sur les mains. Et tous deux cachent quelque chose.

Comme Philip est sur le point de le découvrir, aucune bonne action ne reste impunie.

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All for Love: Book Three

“Are you surprised that strength is drawn to strength?”

For the last six years, the gypsy healer Raúl has lived a life he never dreamed possible. Gerrard Hawkins has stood at his side, his love a source of silent strength like nothing Raúl has ever known.

When a letter from Gerrard’s estranged father forces them in separate directions—Gerrard back to England to make peace with his family and Raúl to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer for his annual pilgrimage—Raúl expects to suffer for their parting, but he holds on to their plans to meet again in France when Gerrard has satisfied his father’s demands.

Gerrard left England never expecting to return, especially after he pledged his life and love to Raúl. Yet he cannot dismiss his father’s offer of peace without some acknowledgment. When he arrives in England to find tragedy, his sense of duty toward his family’s tenants wars with his promises to Raúl.

As tensions mount and illness spreads in France, Raúl stands as a bastion of hope, but his strength is not limitless. Gerrard is the rock he leans on, and without that strength, Gerrard’s arrival in France may come too late.

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A Harmony Ink Press Title

Life changes for Marian Banner when she leaves the countryside for the big city of Nottingham with her father, Sir Erik the Fortunate, and Marian doesn’t think it’s an improvement. She must trade braids and leggings for jewelry and dresses, and hunting and wandering the woods for dancing and a life at court. But into Marian’s dull new world comes someone exciting—a girl named Robin Hood who is as courageous and dedicated as she is small. Robin is determined to become a knight, and she won’t let her gender stand in her way. The two girls quickly become inseparable.

Their friendship changes as time passes and becomes something much more serious—and more magical. When Marian’s father is killed and the king takes an interest in her, she’ll need Robin to prove she’s the hero she always wanted to be.

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Harmony Ink Press is delighted and honored to showcase the short fiction of some of the best up-and-coming authors working in the LGBT genre. The stories in this third volume of Harmonious Hearts represent the winners of our Young Author Challenge—a group of talented writers between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one. 

The stories in this anthology are as diverse as their creators and range from the speculative to snapshots of everyday life for people growing up in a society in flux. They confront many issues facing young adults, and they celebrate the joys of this sometimes rocky period of transition: friendship, loyalty, first love, and learning to feel comfortable in one’s own skin. These experiences are universal, and thanks to the courage and talent of authors such as these, young people of all gender identities, expressions, and orientations are starting to see themselves included. Everyone deserves a story that speaks to them, and in these pages, they’ll find that story.

Dani Anderson—To Lauren

Nick Anthony—Scrapyard Sunsets

Hilda Friday—A Progression of Love

Arbour Ames—You Saw Blue

Chloe Smith—Plenty of Fish

Caleb Andrews—I Am Logan

Sarah Caulfield—Make Mad the Guilty

Xoe Juliani—Loving You Through the Years

Irene Grant—Jordan and A.J.

Latitude Brown—Equinox

Anika Olivo—Melodimensional

Frisk Gillespie—Ten Words

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

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Durant  l’hiver glacial de 1891, alors que la nation est encore sous le choc de la crise bancaire de Baring, l’inspecteur Philemon Raft revient d’un congé sabbatique involontaire, et se retrouve chargé de résoudre l’enlèvement de Miriam Dewberry, une jeune fille de bonne famille. Projeté dans un milieu sordide où les classes supérieures se livrent à des investissements honteux, de l’autre côté de l’océan, pour engraisser leur compte en banque, Raft se retrouve perdu sans son compagnon, le constable Freddie Crook. Loin d’offrir son aide, l’élite cherche à tout prix à empêcher Raft de découvrir la vérité au sujet de la malheureuse victime de cet enlèvement, Miriam Dewberry… qui n’existe peut-être même pas.

Bientôt, Raft découvre que son vieil ennemi, le maître de l’hospice, John Gallant, est de retour à Londres. Gallant n’a pas avoué ses ambitions, mais il en sait assez pour ruiner la carrière de Raft, et peut-être même sa vie. Raft tente de résoudre cette affaire grâce à sa perspicacité habituelle et étrange, mais d’autres forces plus sombres sont à l’œuvre. Londres est encore terrifiée : c’est le Londres de Whitechapel, de Jack l’Éventreur, le Londres de la pauvreté, de la saleté et du désespoir, où s’engager dans la mauvaise allée pourrait envoyer Raft tout droit à la morgue.

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A Philip Potter Story

Terrence Bottom wants to change the world. Little does he know the world is already changing, and his part in it won’t be what he expects. A prelaw student at Columbia University, Terrence’s interests range from opposing the draft and the war in Vietnam, to civil rights for gays, to anything to do with Cameron McKenzie, the rugged blond hanging around the Stonewall Inn. Too bad Cameron bolts whenever Terrence looks his way.

College dropout Cameron McKenzie left tiny Paris, Kentucky, with dreams of a career on Broadway. Although he claims to be straight, he prostitutes himself to survive. Now the Mafia is using him to entrap men for extortion schemes. He’s in over his head with no way out—at least not a way that doesn’t involve cement shoes and a swim in the Hudson.

Terrence finally confronts Cameron, and they return to the Stonewall Inn during another police raid. But this time the patrons aren’t going quietly. While Terrence sees his chance to stand beside his friends and stand up for his beliefs, Cameron sees the distraction of the riots as an opportunity to escape—even if it means walking away from the only man he’s ever loved.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2014.

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All for Love: Book One

When sword-for-hire Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar accepts a commission to “rescue” Lord Christian Blackwood from unsuitable influences, he has no idea he’s landed himself in the middle of a plot to assassinate King Philip IV of Spain and blame the English ambassador for the deed. Nor does he expect the spoiled child he’s sent to retrieve to be a handsome, engaging young man.

As Teodoro and Christian face down enemies at every turn, they fall more and more in love, an emotion they can’t safely indulge with the threat of the Inquisition looming over them. It will take all their combined guile and influence to outmaneuver the powerful men who would see them separated… or even killed.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2009.

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Enjoy J.S. Cook’s best mysteries, with a side of lust and romance, in this collection. In But Not for Me, gangster boss Nino Moretti rescues beautiful mob accountant Stanley Zadwadzki from a rival, but the consequences may cost them any chance at a relationship. In A Little Night Murder, insurance investigator Frank Boyle may have escaped from danger once with help from detective Sam Lipinski, but a new investigation is turning up trouble once again. In Come to Dust, Inspector Philemon Raft is set adrift among the deceitful ton of turn-of-the-century London, trying to locate the kidnapped Miriam Dewberry. In The Lovely Beast, Jacob van Willingen is on a mission to exterminate the evil Caleb Donnithorn, but things aren’t quite what they seem to be at this Romanian castle. In Skid Row Serenade, novelist and war hero Tony Leonard visits his estranged wife only to find her beaten to death. On the run, he decides to fake his own death, with a little help from private investigator Edwin Malloy.

See excerpt for individual blurbs.

But Not for Me previously published by Dreamspinner Press, March 2013 Cover Art by Aaron Anderson aaronbydesign55@gmail.com A Little Night Murder previously published by Dreamspinner Press, September 2013 Cover Art by Catt Ford Come to Dust previously published by Dreamspinner Press, November 2013 Cover Art by Maria Fanning The Lovely Beast previously published by Dreamspinner Press, July 2014 Cover Art by L.C. Chase http://www.lcchase.com Skid Row Serenade previously published by Dreamspinner Press, August 2015 Cover Art by Aaron Anderson aaronbydesign55@gmail.com

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1 Samuel 18:1 & 3: “And it came to pass… that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.”

David not only slew Goliath, he won the heart of Prince Jonathan, heir to the throne of Israel. They were star-crossed warrior lovers whose passionate affair changed history and gave rise to the nation of Israel, a legacy that has endured for 3,000 years. Their epic love story stands at the center of a religious tradition that shaped the world.

But Jonathan and David were also two men torn between duty and tradition, driven by their undeniably passionate and physical love for one another. Who were they beyond the historical facts given in the Bible? What were they like—as men? This modern-day novel tells the story of Israel’s first king and the man who captured his heart.

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A Philip Potter Story

On Christmas Eve in 1966, Philip Potter, a kind-hearted Smithsonian curator, wraps up his last-minute shopping. Meanwhile, James, his lover of several years, takes his own life back in their home. Unaware of what awaits him, Philip drops off gifts at a homeless shelter, an act of generosity that will later make him a suspect in the murder of a male prostitute.

Following James’s shocking death, two men enter Philip's life—and both drive yellow Continentals. One of them, though, is a killer, with the blood of at least six hustlers on his hands. And both are hiding something.

As Philip is about to discover, no good deed goes unpunished.

2nd Edition
First Edition published as After Christmas Eve by MLR Press, 2013.

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When Feldwebel Horst Stussel is murdered in Jake Plenty’s Moroccan brothel, local police chief Nicolas Renard suspects Jake’s involvement in the crime. Renard has loved Jake since their service in the Legion Etrangère during the Great War, but in this era of concentration camps, gas chambers, and the infamous pink triangle, his love for the American dare not speak its name. 

When sadistic Nazi officer Major Danzig, a fanatic who excels at the arts of torture and interrogation, comes to Maarif, it isn’t because of the Feldwebel. He is in search of Christophe Picard, Resistance leader and Jake’s former lover. Danzig will stop at nothing to uncover Picard’s whereabouts, to find him and destroy him, and in so doing, strike a fatal blow against everything Picard stands for.

With an Allied invasion of North Africa mere days away, Jake and Renard must combine their wits, cunning, and courage to help Picard escape to America and freedom. In the midst of war and struggle, the two men are drawn into the fight of the century—and each other’s arms. 

2nd Edition
First Edition published by ManLove Romance Press, 2009.

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Hour of the Lotus 

General Sho Iwata is devastated when the man he secretly loves, Prince Narita, is struck with a mysterious illness. Iwata's current lover, Hiroshi, is well aware of the general's unrequited passion. But that isn’t his biggest problem. His sister is Narita’s favorite consort, but Hiroshi believes she has been replaced by an imposter. When they discover the true cause of the illness, they will have to battle an ancient spirit and survive.

Fox Hunter

Lord General Iwata Sho sets out in search of the mysterious Fox Hunter. When he finds his former lover, Hiroshi, he discovers a changed man, scarred inside and out and consumed by vengeance. Together with Narita’s grown son Daigo, Iwata and Hiroshi pursue the malicious spirit as it leaves bloodshed in its wake. Iwata worries about what will become of Hiroshi when the fox is defeated—if Hiroshi’s revenge doesn’t kill him first.

Hour of the Lotus published by Dreamspinner Press, May 2013

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The realities of war are brutal for any man, but for a Buddhist like Andrew Waters, they’re unthinkable. And reconciling his serene nature with the savagery of World War II isn’t the only challenge Andrew faces. First, he must overcome the deep prejudice his half-Chinese ancestry evokes from his shipmates, a feat he manages by providing them with the best meals any destroyer crew ever had. Then he falls in love with his superior officer, and the two men struggle to satisfy their growing passion within the confines of the military code of conduct. In a distracted moment, he reveals his sexuality to the crew, and his effort to serve his country seems doomed.

When the ship is destroyed, Andrew and the crew are interned in Changi, a notorious Japanese POW camp. In order to save the life of the man he loves, Andrew agrees to become the commandant's whore. He uses his influence with the commandant to help his crew survive the hideous conditions, but will they understand his sacrifice or condemn him as a traitor? 

Third Edition
First edition published by Zumaya Publications, November 2009. Second edition published by Dreamspinner Press, April 2012.

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The son of a Han traitor who had let the Xianbei Mongols invade the borders, Jiang Shicai swears to restore his family’s honor, hoping to better the Hans’ lives through peaceful means. He believes violence is never the answer, but to gain respect, he finds himself fighting for the Xianbei.

Ten years later, an annoying but handsome playboy, Dugu Xuechi, arrives as the incompetent new military inspector of Shicai’s region. Shameless, irresponsible, and obnoxious, Xuechi tests Shicai's patience almost every second. Despite their mutual dislike, Shicai finds himself drawn to the capricious man, especially when he sees the resemblance between Xuechi and his deceased best friend. Yet Xuechi's self-destructive behavior and refusal to accept help require attention that distracts Shicai from his goal for peace--and it doesn't help that Xuechi is Shicai's strongest political opposition. Haunted by a childhood promise he never had the chance to fulfill, Shicai must choose between his feelings and his values.

2nd Edition
First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, February 2013.

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