Tag: writing

Exiles and Epics with Noah Bodie

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

We’re reaching back to the early days of the Indie Author Spotlight to shine a light on Noah Bodie.

I feel honor-bound to give everyone their turn even if it’s been weeks (months? sorry!) since their profile in my author newsletter (which you can always join here for free books and other cool stuff.)

Bulwark: Book 2 of the Desert Rose Saga

The next installment of the Desert Rose Saga follows Simon and Andreas as old wounds are reopened, and they’re forced to confront their growing feelings for one another.

What awaits them as they leave the city of Sebree eight months after being sent into isolation? Will Simon be able to confront his inner demons? Will Andreas uncover answers to a surprising revelation about his family? What challenges lie ahead as new foes emerge and a hidden piece of the world’s history claws to light?

From the author’s bio:

Noah is a queer author and illustrator living on the east coast. He’s a proud parent to a teenager, two cats, and a dog. He’s been praised for his world building, emotional storytelling and ‘swoon-worthy’ male characters.

Find Noah’s work here: https://noahbodie.com/

Read Bulwark: Book 2 of the Desert Rose Saga here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F6CYBT11

Hot Holiday Hijinks with AS Adams

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Here on the Indie Author Spotlight we listen and we don’t judge. Sometimes you need to mess up your life (and two other people’s) in the search for yourself, and if you live in Romancelandia it might just be the best thing that ever happened to you.

You’ll have to read The Missing Piece to know for sure.

The Missing Piece

The Missing Piece is a spicy MFF/Why Choose novella about three friends drawn into an elaborate vacation proposal. It’s a high heat, low stakes rom-com with lots of heart.

When Eve Sweetwater goes on vacation with her two best friends, she thinks she’s just along for the ride to help with an elaborate proposal. But the more time they spend together the more old feelings start rising to the surface. Lines start to blur, and now they’re both looking at Eve like they want a first class ticket out of the friend zone.

And since she doesn’t want to be stuck as third wheel forever, Eve’s going to have to risk it all for a chance at happily ever after..

From the author’s bio:

AS Adams is a pen name to protect the author’s family from ever finding out she writes spicy books where the main characters have multiple love interests. She enjoys binge reading romance novels, being a know-it-all about pop culture, and peanut butter centric desserts. You can find her on social media, hiding out at her local indie bookstore, or singing 90’s alternative songs at karaoke night.

Find AS Adam’s work here: https://www.asadamsauthor.com/

Read The Missing Piece here: https://a.co/d/fEgCVjg

A Canadian twist on dragon lore with J. M. Frey

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I picked up this book from J.M. in person at a signing at Grimsby Books. She’s a lovely person and writes some great books and Nine-Tenths was no exception, offering all sorts of twists in the nuclear-grade-pining story of an anxious barista and the straitlaced dragon shifter who’s been crushing on him from afar.

I won’t spoil it by telling you the details but believe me when I say it off in several unexpected directions but brings it all together in a way that makes it clear J.M. intends to write another book (I’ve been told there will be three in the series.) I loved the Canadian touches, Frey dug deep into the local lore and invited the past to play in the present, and I found the effect charming. Both main characters made my little queer heart ache for them to get to their happy ending.

NINE-TENTHS

What do you get when you mix a grumpy barista, a shy dragon, and a kitchen-fire meet awkward? A contemporary romantasy with the best dragon-roasted coffee in town.

This microblurb does not do the story justice, lol. I don’t review books (too many emotions at stake!) but I will say I recommend this for people looking for a different kind of romantasy.

From the author’s bio:

J.M. Frey is an author and lapsed academic. She writes queer speculative fiction and fantasy, both fabulist cozy romances and high fantasy epics. Her debut novel TRIPTYCH was nominated for two Lambda Literary Awards and garnered a place among the Best Books of 2011 from Publishers Weekly, and her most recent novel TIME AND TIDE was named one of The New York Times’ Best Romances of the Year. Her life’s ambition is to step foot on every continent – only three left! She lives in Toronto where she is surrounded by houseplants, because she is allergic to anything with fur. Like her main character, she is also allergic to chocolate. But not wine.

Find J.M. Frey’s work here: https://jmfrey.net/

Buy the book Nine-Tenths here: https://amzn.to/4m642oR

Neurodiversity in Queer Romance: the anthology

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

Let’s start the year with something exciting! Well, I find it exciting, but it’s rare to be asked to write a story where a character’s neurodiversity makes a difference. 🏳️‍🌈

The Neurodivergence in Queer Romance BookFunnel Promotion aims to increase accurate, authentic, compassionate, and respectful representation of the vast and varied neurodivergent experience.

Discover brand new novellas celebrating neurodivergence in queer romance, now available for free! All stories are by a queer neurodivergent author and feature various neurodiverse and queer representation. These are only available to download until January 31.

There’s something for everyone — authors you know and love, authors sharing their debuts, stories from many subgenres, and a range of angst and spice levels.

My book ‘The Worst Boss in the World’ is an enemies-to-employee-to-lovers romance about a strangely compassionate supervillain and the desperate, dangerous man he can’t resist.

Despised by his criminal family, rejected by the law-abiding, Leo Blofeld needs a break. Like a job as a wealthy supervillain’s personal assistant. Not just for the paycheck but for the chance to get his hands on Desmond Desolate’s assets, his wealth, his obliviousness. Just what Leo needs to show up his arrogant family while he puts his plans for vengeance into action.

New to the villainy game, Desmond didn’t realize when he hired an assistant that he was getting a nervy, angry, savage little narcissist with a hunger for submission and an overpowered vendetta. A hatred based on nothing, at least from Desmond’s point of view.

Someone broke Leo, made him hate the world. Made him distrust everyone. Even himself. Something’s making Desmond want to patch him back together.

🏳️‍🌈 Learn more about each book at https://tinyurl.com/ndiqr-info

🏳️‍🌈 Download all of January’s books at https://books.bookfunnel.com/neurodivergenceinqueerromance/f1vshns6ec

And look for another announcement in February for even more original books in Part 2 of this amazing event.

All Bets are Off with Kelly Reynolds

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

Sports romance is having a moment right now thanks to the Crave series Heated Rivalry, based on the book by fellow Canadian author Rachel Reid. But hockey’s not the only game in town (see what I did there?) Baseball has its own rituals, its own heroes, and a lot of tight pants and hands on crotches, just saying…

All Bats are Off

ALL BATS ARE OFF is a spicy MM novella (25k+ words) set in the Rose City Roasters universe. This one night stand-to-lovers romance between a thicc (with two c’s) bisexual baseball player who loves bread almost as much as blowjobs, and a gay, long-haired sports journalist with a pierced peen, features drag queen Bingo, braiding hair as a love language, county fair food porn, hotel bathtub hook-ups, and an almost entirely LGBTQIA+ cast of characters.

From the author’s bio:

By day, Kelly Reynolds works primarily as a freelance writer, professor, and author’s assistant. By night, she hosts the comedic romance novel review podcast, Boobies & Noobies. Since receiving her MFA in Screenwriting in 2016, she’s worked with several casting, development, and production companies and contributed to programs appearing on such networks as MTV, ABC, Hallmark, GSN and Netflix. Originally hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, she currently lives in Portland, Oregon and spends the bulk of her time dreaming up sexy romcoms about fierce, fat girls falling in love.

Find Kelly here: https://substack.com/@authorkellyrey

Find out more about her book All Bats are Off here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/230070367-all-bats-are-off

Tearing though Space! with Cait Gordon & crew

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

And it’s only Season One, you say?

I like a feisty space crew, and bonus points for Cait Gordon for creating a world where disability isn’t erased, it’s normalized. Humans are always mutating, doncha know, and too many fictional worlds leave out disabled people completely. Science fiction is no exception, and we should expect space to cause a whole new category of disability that our descendants will have to accommodate. But there’s no reason reading about it can’t be fun! Sci-fi is where some our best ideas are born and tested out.

Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space!

In a galactic network known as the Keangal, where space is accessible…

Lieutenant Eileen Iris and the command crew of the S.S. SpoonZ haven’t a clue what it means to be disabled. An unexpected conversation with an intergalactic janitor brings up the question but offers no answers before he’s ’ported away.

Unfazed, duties resume as Iris manages an overprotective guidebot; Security Chief Lartha and her sentient prostheses offer kick-ass protection; Mr. Herbert’s inventiveness is a godsend (although he’s not quite grasped how to flirt); Commander Davan’s affable personality comes through whether trumpeted, texted, or signed; and Captain Warq’s gracious but firm leadership keeps everyone at their best.

Until on one mission, where the crew tears through space.

Just a little bit.

From the author’s bio:

Cait Gordon is an autistic, disabled, and queer Canadian writer of speculative fiction celebrating diverse bodyminds. She is the author of the award-winning, disability-hopepunk adventure, Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! Her short stories featuring disabled and/or neurodivergent heroes have appeared in several anthologies and will be included in her first collection, Speculative Shorts: Stories That Fell Out of My Brain (2025, Dinsdale Press). Cait twice joined Talia C. Johnson to co-edit the (award-nominated) Nothing Without Us and (award-winning) Nothing Without Us Too disability fiction anthologies. She is also the host of The Disabled Crone podcast.

Find Cait’s work here: https://caitgordon.com

Read Season One: Iris and the Crew Tear Through Space! here: https://books2read.com/iatcS1

Passion and Peril with C.G. Macington

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

Surely we’re not scared of a little infection, right?

If you like some chills with your thrills and some panic in your plots, C.G. Macington has you covered with this thrilling story that will have you on the edge of your seat (or maybe hiding under the blankets!) But sometimes love thrives under pressure…

Outbreak Protocol

One doctor saves lives from behind a screen. The other saves them with his hands. When the world ends, they are each other’s only hope.

Dr. Felix Müller trusts his gut, and his gut tells him the horrifying new illness tearing through his Hamburg ER is no ordinary flu. When his superiors ignore the mounting body count, Felix risks his career on a single, desperate email to a reclusive, brilliant epidemiologist who is his last resort.

Dr. Erik Lindqvist trusts in data, not gut feelings. For the reclusive scientist, emotions are a liability. He arrives in Hamburg expecting to correct a flawed analysis, but instead finds a city on the brink of collapse and a frontline doctor whose fiery compassion threatens to shatter the walls around his heart.

Forced into an uneasy alliance, the two men are the city’s first and last line of defense. But as the virus consumes Hamburg and military law is declared, their professional friction ignites into a desperate and dangerous intimacy. In the quiet moments between disasters, they find a connection that could be their only comfort—or a fatal distraction.

As the death toll climbs and the city is sealed from the world, they are in a desperate race for a cure. But the greatest threat might not be the evolving pathogen—it could be the terrifying choices they are forced to make about how much they are willing to sacrifice… and who.

Outbreak Protocol is a gut-wrenching, epic MM romance set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic medical thriller. A perfect story of opposites attract, hurt/comfort, and the found family that can rise from the ashes of the world. Prepare to have your heart seized.

From the author’s bio:

C.G. Macington is a passionate storyteller from Edmonton, Canada. Specialising in heartwarming gay romance, C.G. explores love, identity, and courage, celebrating the nuances of queer life. With a background in arts and creative writing, he crafts narratives that resonate deeply with readers. When not writing, C.G. enjoys reading and spending time with his partner of eleven years.

Find C.G.’s books here: https://www.amazon.ca/stores/author/B0CM73SPDF/allbooks

Read Outbreak Protocol here: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FMDWBQCQ

Rewriting the rules of magic with Benjamin Twigg

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes you’re the Chosen One, and sometimes you’re the Chosen One’s dad…

You know me, I love any twist on a genre standard (like Magical Teen) so I’m glad to see books like this. More middle aged protagonists, please!

DAD MAGIC

Welcome to Spellford
A city where enchanted coffee shops serve lattes with a side of prophecy, and fried chicken is delivered to your door in mere seconds. Here, Brent Abernathy, an ordinary dad with a not-so-ordinary past, is about to have his world flipped upside down. His teenage daughter. Victoria. Is not just any teen: she is the key to an unimaginable power. And sinister forces have taken notice.
Armed with nothing but his wits, some dad jokes, and the help of his half-orc best friend. Paxton Grimtusk. A loveable geek with a heart of gold. Brent sets out on a spellbinding adventure.
As secrets unravel and betrayals sting like cursed nettles Brent finds himself tangled in an age-old conspiracy that threatens the balance of magic itself. To save Victoria, he will need more than just a dad bod and fire spells. He’ll have to face down ancient forces and do the impossible: rewrite the rules of magic.

Benjamin Twigg is a fantasy writer from Australia. As a queer author, Ben strives to write stories that have authentic representation, queer joy and a sense of wonder.
As a child, Ben dreamed of being a fantasy author and dived into those books, devouring the stories and world they created. As an adult, his love for fantasy world-building continued with role-playing video games, and he has racked up hundreds of hours of gameplay, immersing himself in character stories with amazing arcs.

Poetic ponderings from DAJ 2020

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

I like to make space for all writers on this platform so enjoy this departure from our usual featured fiction to delve into the poetic mind of DAJ 2020.

“Emotions” is an ocean of tears and clouds of hope. It contain conversations between my mind, heart, and soul. As you read through the feathers of my thoughts, I hope you get something from my angels and demons. Even from the cries of men one can row a boat in life to prosperity and emotional purity.

“Emotions” is a rare gem, a collection of joy, pain and sorrow. Magnetic words that draw you in and captivate you.” (DAPHAROAH69, award winning and best selling author of “THE KING OF EROTICA” and “LAW OF BEASTS” )

From the author’s bio:

DAJ2020, is a proud son of the African soil and a multi-talented, award winning certified “God of Poetry”.
He’s a creative introvert who irons his words before delivery.
He is a self-taught poet, model, artiste and writer with a miraculous gift of baptizing words to heal souls.
Born and raised in the Pearl of Africa, East Africa. A ride with him is worth a thousand cups of coffee and a million years of adventure, knowledge and wisdom. Let’s roll.

Learn more here: https://www.instagram.com/daj_african_ug

Find their book Emotions here: https://a.co/d/5lOw8fx

Now playing on the Historical Romance Sampler podcast…

~ Will Forrest ~ Leave a comment

We’re back with another author profile except this one’s about…me!

Catch my interview and reading on Katherine Grant’s podcast The Historical Romance Sampler, where we talk about the power of fiction and why Jessica is the best Sweet Valley High twin. As well I read from my gay Regency romance An Inconvenient Earl.

(Please enjoy this sarcastic promo image, because apparently putting the word ‘Gay’ on your book cover isn’t enough of an indicator for some people who think queer identities should come with a trigger warning.)

Find my episode here (or search for Historical Romance Sampler on your favorite podcast service): https://katherinegrantromance.com/historical-romance-sampler-podcast/will-forrest-samples-an-inconvenient-earl