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gay history

New Release: The Eternal Spell – Rebecca Cohen

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The Eternal Spell - Rebecca Cohen

QSFer Rebecca Cohen has a new MM historical fantasy romance out in the Pharaoh’s Promise shared word series: The Eternal Spell. Callum Gething meets the alluring Dominic Fairweather at a card game during a night on the Ton, and agrees to take a strange pottery object to stand-in for his winnings. But a spell from thousands of years ago is going to change everything Dominic and Callum thought about themselves, and who they were in Ancient Egypt when their souls were first bound together. The Eternal Spell is the first in a shared world of The Pharaoh’s Promise. An ancient … Read more

New Release: Point of Knives – Melissa Scott

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Point of Knives - Melissa Scott

QSFer Melissa Scott has a new MM fantasy/mystery out, an Astreiant novella – Point of Knives. Nicolas Rathe and Philip Eslingen are back, drawn together from opposite sides of the law to investigate a series of murders whose impact stretches deep into Astreiant’s underworld. Eslingen is now a professional knife working for a prominent crimelord while Rathe is an Adjunct Point, sworn to uphold the city’s laws. By rights, they should be wary foes, but instead they find themselves sharing an investigation as well as a bed as their search takes them into the heart of Point of Knives and … Read more

New Release: The House of the Red Balconies – A.J. Demas

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House of the Red Balconies - A.J. Demas

QSFer A.J. Demas has a new MM alt-historical romance out: The House of the Red Balconies. Hylas has come to Tykanos to build an aqueduct. He has not come to enjoy the island’s main attraction: the six houses where the companions of Tykanos, courtesans both female and male, offer tea and elegant conversation. Yet he cannot ignore them as he finds himself renting a room in one of the tea houses and meeting his neighbour, the beautiful, chronically ill companion Zo. Over breakfasts in Zo’s garden, the two men begin a friendship that transforms the isolation of their lives. But … Read more

New Release: Devin’s Dreams – D. C. Wilkinson

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Devin's Dreams - D. C. Wilkinson

QSFer D.C. Wilkinson has a new queer historical fantasy out: Devin’s Dreams. Devin Sharp, a gentle-natured boy, has trouble sleeping. Recurring visions of strangers moving among shadows in his bedroom keep waking him at night. He swears that what he sees and hears is real. To no avail. No one believes him. An older sibling taunts him. “Silly dreams,” she says. But are they? Coming of age as a gay teen in the seventies, Devin’s sleep issues are just one more secret safely locked up in his closet. But not for long. Freshman year in college brings a measure of … Read more

Review: Fiorenzo – Sebastian Nothwell

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Fiorenzo - Sebastian Nothwell

Genre: Historical, Fantasy, Romance LGBTQ+ Category: Gay Reviewers: Linda, PRG; Whiskey November, Paranormal Romance Guild Get It At Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Apple | Smashwords About The Book Fiore has a plan. Find a wealthy elderly gentleman, delight him until the end of his days, and retire on the resulting inheritance. It’s the best outcome a low-born courtesan in the city of Halcyon can hope for. And it seems a perfect scheme… until a mysterious masked man upends it. Banished from university after a disastrous duel, Enzo wanders the city searching for scraps of the affection he’s lost. His public mask conceals private agonies. A single … Read more

Review: The Monk’s Lair – Ellie Thomas

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The Monk's Lair - Ellie Thomas

Genre: Historical, Paranormal LGBTQ+ Category: Gay Reviewer: Maryann Publisher | Amazon | Apple | B&N | Kobo About The Book Christian Maxwell is used to being alone. A delicate and over-imaginative young man, he’s abandoned to his own devices and company in his family’s Wiltshire country home. When his aunt, concerned for his well-being, insists he accompany her to the Welsh Borders for a country house party in the autumn of 1816, Christian is resigned to being surrounded by people for the duration. One particular guest, Sam Gillespie, is a handsome amateur scientist of a similar age to Christian who … Read more

New Release: The Monk’s Lair – Ellie Thomas

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The Monk's Lair - Ellie Thomas

QSFer Ellie Thomas has a new MM historical paranormal book out: The Monk’s Lair. Christian Maxwell is used to being alone. A delicate and over-imaginative young man, he’s abandoned to his own devices and company in his family’s Wiltshire country home. When his aunt, concerned for his well-being, insists he accompany her to the Welsh Borders for a country house party in the autumn of 1816, Christian is resigned to being surrounded by people for the duration. One particular guest, Sam Gillespie, is a handsome amateur scientist of a similar age to Christian who is determined to befriend him. When … Read more

New Release: Fiorenzo – Sebastian Nothwell

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Fiorenzo - Sebastian Nothwell

QSFer Sebastian Nothwell has a new MM historical fantasy out: Fiorenzo. Fiore has a plan. Find a wealthy elderly gentleman, delight him until the end of his days, and retire on the resulting inheritance. It’s the best outcome a low-born courtesan in the city of Halcyon can hope for. And it seems a perfect scheme… until a mysterious masked man upends it. Banished from university after a disastrous duel, Enzo wanders the city searching for scraps of the affection he’s lost. His public mask conceals private agonies. A single night in the company of a courtesan, however, balms his wounded … Read more

Review: His Tomb Raider – Stephanie Lake

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His Tomb Raider - Stephanie Lake

Genre: Paranormal, Historical, Romance LGBTQ+ Category: Gay Reviewer: Maryann Get It On Amazon About The Book Indiana Jones meets The Magpie Lord in this suspenseful MM Victorian era romance from award-winning author Stephanie Lake. Tormented by nightmares, and fighting to maintain his sanity, Kit Asplin struggles to keep his business afloat. He might sell the occasional ancient artifact to make ends meet, but he never mixes business with pleasure. And he certainly does not have time for an inexperienced, prickly Englishman with a flirty sidekick. Everything Dylan Mansfield holds dear is in jeopardy. If he doesn’t find a specific sacred … Read more

Was Buckingham Palace Once the Site of a Gay Brothel?

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Buckingham Palace - Pixabay

For our alt history fans… Hundreds of years ago, there was likely to have been a gay brothel on the site where Buckingham Palace now stands, historians believe. According to LGBT+ historian Norton Rictor’s 2013 essay The Gay Subculture in Early Eighteenth-Century London, gay cruising spots and brothels may have started popping up in London in the early 1600s. Although evidence is scarce, in 1649 English politician Clement Walker made an observation that has fascinated Londoners for centuries. In his Anarchia Anglicana, Walker wrote that “there stood “new-erected sodoms and spintries at the Mulberry Garden at S. James’s”. At the … Read more