Showing titles in Literature & Fiction

The last thing I want is another relationship or another broken heart. All I need are my bees and the occasional hookup to scratch the itch. Okay, maybe meeting up with my hot contractor weekly is a little more than occasional. And maybe the way I’m starting to feel about the guy I’ve been anonymously chatting with online should concern me. But CaulkyAF doesn’t want to meet, and Cole doesn’t want anything serious, so what’s the worst that could happen?

The tenants of 28 Barbary Lane have fled their cozy nest for adventures far afield. Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with a forgetful stranger, Mona Ramsey discovers her doppelgänger in a desert whorehouse, and Michael Tolliver bumps into his favorite gynecologist in a Mexican bar. Meanwhile, their venerable landlady takes the biggest journey of all - without ever leaving home.

Among the cast of this groundbreaking saga are the lovelorn residents of 28 Barbary Lane: the bewildered but aspiring Mary Ann Singleton; the libidinous Brian Hawkins; Mona Ramsey, still in a'60s trance; Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, forever in bright-eyed pursuit of Mr. Right; and their marijuana-growing landlady, the indefatigable Mrs. Madrigal.

Misha is a jaded scriptwriter who has been working in Hollywood for decades, and has just been nominated for his first Oscar. But when he's pressured by his producers to kill off a gay character in the upcoming season finale—"for the algorithm"—Misha discovers that it's not that simple. As he is haunted by his past, and past mistakes, Misha must risk everything to find a way to do what's right—before it's too late.

I left my family and tiny Texas hometown 15 years ago to escape small-town gossips and to give my mom and sister the chance at a better life. But when a phone call from an attorney back home informs me that my sister passed away, leaving me custody of her newborn baby, I'm shocked out of the steady life I've built for myself running a tattoo shop in San Francisco. The thing is: I don't do babies. And I don't do small towns. Or commitment. And I especially don't do family.

It's after a night in Cardiff's loudest gay bar that Toni first lays eyes on Gav, a retired Welsh boxer, and his boyfriend Karol, an aspiring Polish photographer. The trio soon fall into an intimate, ambiguous love triangle.

Resonant, raw, and vibrant, Home is a lyrical map to navigating heartbreak. Tracing the stages of healing - from the despair that comes with the end of a relationship to the eventual light and liberation that comes with time - the poems in Home provide comfort and solace, while revitalizing your soul - and helping you make peace with your bees.

Thirteen-year-old Byron needs to get away and doesn't care how. Sick of being beaten up by lads for 'talkin' like a poof' after school. Sick of dad - the weightlifting, womanising Gaz - and Mam, who selfishly pissed off to Turkey. Sick of the people who shuffle about Hucknall like the living dead, going on about kitchens they're too skint to do up and marriages they're too scared to leave. It's a new millennium, Madonna's Music is top of the charts and there's a whole world to explore - and Byron's happy to beg, steal and skank onto a rollercoaster ride of hedonism.

After breaking up with his cheating ex, Mark Kenmore turns to rebound sex with the campus drug dealer, Tim Halwell. He's heard the rumors about all the hearts Tim's broken, but after how he's been hurt, there's no way he'll let himself fall into that trap. Besides, if the press found out he was screwing around with a drug dealer, it would tarnish his governor mother's reputation. He expects the sex to be hot and exciting. What he doesn't expect is the most intense, mind-blowing experience he's ever had.

A year ago, Kelly Cannon couldn't imagine he'd end up with his formerly straight best friend. It's hard to believe he can finally kiss Blue anytime he wants...as long as they're in private. And there's the rub. Despite Kelly's promise to wait until Blue is ready to come out, he's tired of sneaking around. The cracks in their relationship are starting to show, and there might not be enough Spackle in the world to fix them.

Charlie's career as a filmmaker is on standby, she hasn't had a girlfriend in forever, her best friend is sickeningly successful (and being awkward since that night) and her dad is dying of cancer. So the invitation from Cork Film Festival comes like a sign - a chance to explore the Irish homeland she's never seen. But this isn't just any search for long-lost ancestry: Charlie's father is the sole survivor of a tragic accident that killed every other child on the small island where he grew up, and Charlie's one achievement is the film she made that tells his story.

Malcolm Tate hung up his flogger when his submissive sought out another Dom and landed in the hands of a serial killer. Convinced his lack of dominance sent his sub away, Mal has spent two years blaming himself for what happened. But when his best friend finally convinces him to go back to the local dungeon, Mal's grateful. Especially when he wins beautiful, submissive, firmly closeted Kyle Bingham in a charity slave auction.

Honor Wrenley is ready to explore, but she’s hesitant. When she comes across an ad for an art installation unlike any other, she resists before finally giving in. The exhibit is one about the freedom to be oneself, along with exploring inner desires, and Honor can’t stop herself from going back for more.

Straight Acting is a surprising portrait of Shakespeare's queer lives - his own and those in his plays and poems. It is a journey back in time and through Shakespeare's England, revealing a culture that both endorsed and supressed same-sex desire. It is a call to stop making Shakespeare act straight and to recognise how queerness powerfully shaped the life and career of the world's most famous playwright.

I have a soul-destroying corporate job, I iron my underpants, and I was unceremoniously dumped for an influencer hippie a few years ago. Every day feels the same, and I don't know how much longer I can cope before I do something unhinged like rip off my shirt in the middle of my co-worker's office birthday party and smear lemon cake all over my chest. Then, a case of mistaken identity suddenly lands me in the middle of a covert professional wrestling league, which is apparently being run in the basement of my office building. Weird. Even weirder are the wrestlers.

In the Black Country in the 1950s, ex-boxer Norman Alonso is a determined and humble Jamaican who has moved to Britain with his wife to secure a brighter future for themselves and their children. At the turn of the millennium, Jesse seeks a fresh start in London - escaping from a broken immediate family, a repressive religious community and the desolate, disempowered Black Country - but finds himself at a loss for a new centre of gravity and turns to sex work to create new notions of love, fatherhood and spirituality.

After giving twelve years of my life to the service, I didn't just lose my leg. I lost everything, including my career. When the dust settled, the only person still standing by my side in the rubble was Brandt—the single lifeline I had left to a world I didn't want to live in anymore. With painstaking care, he healed my body and my mind. When he eventually started healing my heart, I realized I didn't just need him in my life, I needed him in ways I'd never wanted him before.

Perfect for mature teens and nostalgic adults, this LGBTQ+ series celebrates authentic intimacy, realistic relationships, and the beautiful chaos of growing up queer. Rewind to the nineties and join a group of teenagers as they try to figure out who they are, and who they want to love. Meet your new friends:

Madison Wayward, niece to the most notorious captain among the outlaw Stardrifters, has a plan. She’ll stop at nothing to give humanity a flicker of hope in its darkest hour. If she would consider pausing, her plans might not blow up in her face quite so much. Kirehe Mahono, a skilled warrior with an uncommon gift, has a dragon. She’ll stop at nothing to protect her people from the enemy machines infesting her planet. If she had something better than a knife to bring to a laser fight, she might have better luck. Taken prisoner, both will have to harness their strengths to survive.

Christopher Buckley at his best: an extraordinary, wide-ranging selection of essays both hilarious and poignant, irreverent and delightful. In his first book of essays since his 1997 best seller, Wry Martinis, Buckley delivers a rare combination of big ideas and truly fun writing. Listening to these essays is the equivalent of being in the company of a tremendously witty and enlightening companion.