Hi peeps! We have a collection of Mischief Corner Books authors popping in today with their holiday release, we have a brilliant guest post from Carole Cummings and a fantastic $25 MCB GC giveaway so check out the post and enter the giveaway! ❤ ~Pixie~
Stay Awhile
Kassandra Lea
The holidays are usually a whirlwind of busy activity for Anson—decorating, baking for friends—but this year, his heart isn’t in it. He’d hoped coming out to Daly as asexual would be the right thing to do. Since then, he hasn’t heard a word from the handsome photographer.
Now Daly’s suddenly shown up at his front door, asking Anson to trust him, to come with him. He doesn’t dare hope in case this is just another build up to a bigger heartbreak.
Contemporary, Holiday, Romance, Thanksgiving, Asexual, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
Burning Down the House
Gregory L. Norris
Leo’s quiet vacation in Vermont is cut short by news that his beloved grandmother’s in the hospital because she tried to burn down her own house. Feeling low and depressed that she might be falling victim to dementia, Leo takes comfort in a man he meets in the hospital’s Quiet Room. The encounter’s supposed to be a one-night stand, one and done, no strings attached, but Leo’s surprised when he wants more.
The problem is that Aaron comes with strings and complications—ones Leo isn’t sure he wants to deal with on top of his own problems. Leo’s going to have to reach deep if he wants more than superficial, but he’s determined to try if the universe will just cooperate.
Contemporary, Holiday, Romance, Thanksgiving, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
The Holiday Spirit
Carole Cummings
It’s hard being the PA for the Holiday Spirit.
Julian is more dedicated than most, and knows the job inside and out. But that doesn’t mean he’ll still have a job when the new Holiday Spirit is elected. It also doesn’t mean he’s immune to the *cough* charms of the office, but that’s a whole other problem.
Fantasy, Holiday, Humor, Romance, Gay, Christmas
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
Slow Thaw
J. Scott Coatsworth
Javier Fernandez is a climate scientist living in a research station near the South Pole. Since his husband was killed in a car crash, he’s preferred to be alone, and is less than thrilled to have a junior scientist thrust upon him by his rich patron.
Col Steele is a trans man fleeing a bad break-up. He is ready for the next step in his career, and eager to spend Christmas anywhere but at home.
When a crack in the ice separates the two men from safety, they are forced to come to terms with their own losses and each other.
Contemporary, Near Future SF, Holiday, Romance, Gay, Trans
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
Celebrations In The Season Of Long Nights
Mere Rain
Having escaped his abusive family by winning a scholarship to college, Shahin promised himself he would never go back. So when his plans for winter break fall through and he’s left homeless for a month, he decides he’d rather camp in the park than go home. But he doesn’t realize it’s the solstice, the longest night of the year, the start of the season when the supernatural is at its strongest.
Yima is a demon-hunter, a duty passed down through his family. He doesn’t resent it, but it does get lonely, especially since his work is at its most difficult and dangerous when everyone else is celebrating with family. After he rescues Shahin from a demon attack and finds that he has nowhere safe to stay, he takes him back to his flat.
Paranormal, Holiday, Romance, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
The Holiday Home Hotel
Lou Sylvre
Daren Novak and Gunny Schuler have known each other since freshmen days at the University of Washington, where they’d started a romance Daren assumed would last. But at the start of winter break, Gunny bowed to the dictates of his lifelong religion and his overbearing father and left UW never to return.
After a failed marriage, Gunny built a quiet life embracing his gay identity, and left his North Dakota home, his marriage, and his father’s business for a forestry and teaching career in Oregon. Meanwhile, Daren has built up his own life around managing a unique holiday venue, the Holiday Home Hotel, and performing for the guests in drag as “Dare.”
A decade has passed since they last saw each other, but now winter’s harsh weather brings them face to face—helped along by a minor goddess and powerful forest spirit. Too much hurt might lie between them now to fix things, but interfering supernatural beings are determined to force them to try.
Magical Realism, Paranormal, Holiday, Interracial, Romance, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
Something to Celebrate
Evelyn Benvie
Niko doesn’t hate the holidays; that would require too much commitment. He just doesn’t care about them anymore. He’s a demi, disillusioned mess and he doesn’t care about much at all. That is, until an enticing stranger blows into his life this Christmas and catches his attention–and his heart.
Fan is lost and lonely, a winter spirit adrift in a human world that has all but forgotten them. And then they meet Niko, a young man with the ability to see them, and they remember what it means to stay somewhere. To want someone.
Chance brings them together. But is chance enough to build a relationship on?
Paranormal, Holiday, Romance, Interracial, Gay, Demisexual, Nonbinary
.•.•.**❣️ Amazon US | Amazon UK | Kobo | B&N | iTunes ❣️**.•.•.
Holiday Hijinks
Toni Griffin
This year the holidays seem to be rubbing Archie the wrong way. He can’t stand that damn happy music blasting in the stores and all over the radio. The decorations went up far too early—and don’t even get Archie started on how cheery everyone is.
Seeing the holidays cause Archie to slip back into a depression, Adze decides to take matters into his own hands. The one thing his mate has always wanted is to see the Tudor houses in England. Besides, it’s the perfect time to escape the humdrum heat in Melbourne. Adze can’t think of anything better than curling up in front of a roaring fire with his mate while snow falls outside.
Of course, life would never be that easy. Baby demon stowaways and Christmas Krampuses hell-bent on doing good leave the pair wondering just where things went wrong.
Paranormal, Holiday, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Release date: 22nd December 2018 MCB ❣️**.•.•.
Yule Planet
Angel Martinez
Sofia Cancino is tired of her mundane life, her artificial environment and her large, boisterous family descending every holiday season. She’s promised herself this year will be different and books a stay on the exclusive—and expensive–holiday-themed resort, Yule Planet. She looks forward to being pampered while reconnecting with Old Earth traditions steeped in the magic and mysticism of nature. Everything will be perfect and she’ll leave as a more authentic human, better connected to her roots.
Naturally, things go horribly wrong. Sofia’s landing pod goes off course and instead of stepping out on the landing pad at the resort, she finds herself in the snow-swept perpetual winter of the planet’s hinterlands. If that wasn’t bad enough, she’s “rescued” by a band of criminals on work release who run deliveries to the resort from far-flung shuttle delivery sites. They refuse to take her, a paying customer, to the resort and insist on dragging her along on their parcel run. Riding giant monsters. In frigid weather. Not to mention, Marta, who handles the monsters, obviously hates her.
If Sofia survives her vacation, she’s definitely yelling at someone’s supervisor until she gets a refund.
Science Fiction, Humor, Romance, Lesbian
.•.•.**❣️ Release date: 26th December 2018 MCB ❣️**.•.•.
Waiting on the Rain
Freddy MacKay
One young man desperate to make things right for the monks who raised him. Another looking to escape the limelight. The two best friends stuck in time because of promises.
A couple looking to make a bigger unconventional family—one young woman who wants to help the world become a more beautiful place, one transwoman looking to put down roots for the both of them.
Love isn’t always easy, but the good kind is worth fighting for, even when others don’t understand it. The story of what becomes of their love is what will be passed down into legend. Because stories like this, people remember.
When Jira, Boon, Areeya and Fon come together to celebrate Yee Peng and Loy Krathong, sparks fly and dreams coalesce. But that’s only the beginning…
Paranormal, Holiday, Romance, Gay
.•.•.**❣️ Release date: 29th December 2018 MCB ❣️**.•.•.
Carole Cummings!
Comedy is hard!
We’ve all heard that one, and I’m not going to say it’s not true. I’m not even going to say that what I write is comedy—more like humor, and I don’t actually find it hard. It’s really kind of my default. A reader gets a better look inside my brain by reading my humor pieces than they do by reading my more serious things. That’s the part I find hard—not the writing part, but the letting people see it part.
You know that awkward kid who used to sit off to the side of the class and snort inelegantly at inappropriate times for what seemed like no reason? And everyone would kind of pause and look around to see where it came from, but all they’d see is that kid sinking down in their desk with their shoulders up around their ears and a “what?” look on their face? Yeah, that was me. I’m the giggle at a funeral, as the song goes. The “Oh, don’t cry, it’s not that—wait, are you laughing?” insensitive cretin. The “It’s not funny!” oblivious clod who just. Can’t. Help it.
And no, I don’t find funerals funny. I’m not actually insensitive, nor oblivious. It’s just… how my brain works. It ticks away without my permission, gathering input and free associating all over the place, and what it nearly always ends up spitting out is a giant pile of fluffy absurdity, like a pressure valve letting off a cloud of steam to prevent an explosion. As though somewhere back when I was wee and wide-eyed, some “wouldn’t it be funny if” switch got flipped to “on” and then just stayed that way.
That’s why letting people see the product of that mindset is difficult—because it’s as close a look as a person is going to get at the very core of me, and if they don’t like what they see…. :/
It stings. It’s a serious blow to not just the ego but the soul. Which, wow, this is creeping over into maudlin with a little bit of “OMG, love me!” on the side, but my point is that… it doesn’t matter. It can’t matter. Because yeah, maybe humor is hard in different ways for different writers, and putting it out there where people can see it is really hard for me personally, but it’s also important.
These days especially, we need fluff and nonsense. If we didn’t, rom-coms wouldn’t be a thing. Disney wouldn’t be a thing. Terry Pratchett wouldn’t be basically a god. We need lighthearted, we need amusing, we need ridiculous. We need to every now and then watch characters deal with absurd situations in absurd ways so we can let that little cloud of fluff escape through the pressure valve and give us maybe just a tiny reset so we can cope better with reality. Sometimes we need to read it, sometimes we need to write it, but either way, it’s a real need that I think is right up there with exercising and eating right. (Not that I actually do those things, but still.)
I’ve written a story that takes place at the North Pole. The North Pole, y’all. It’s got elves. It’s got witches. It’s got stirring cocoa with peppermint sticks, it’s got cherubs going on strike, it’s got office gnomes and cis Elf Privilege and annoyed penguins. And the only reason it doesn’t have even more ridiculous fluff is because the story isn’t long enough to cram it in there. It’s absurdity itself, and I won’t pretend I don’t love it like the odd little grinning weirdo it is. I love it because it makes me smile, and when I wrote it I absolutely needed that.
Some of the readers who give The Holiday Spirit a try will roll their eyes at the fluffy nonsense hijinks and put me on their “never again” list, because humor is such a subjective thing, and what works for one person won’t for another. And I won’t lie—it’ll hurt. But some will smirk as they read. Some will snort and sink down in their seats when everyone turns to look at them. Some will laugh outright. And some will sigh out a bit of pressure they didn’t even know was pushing at them and walk away smiling.
I write these things because I need to and they make me happy. I let them loose into the world because sometimes other people need them too.
Those are the ones who make the hard part worth it.
About the authors!
Kassandra Lea: I have my mom to thank for so much. First of all, she fostered a love of reading. According to her I’ve been reading since I could hold a book and I got my first library card at age 3. Growing up I used to read 100 books a year, but of course, that doesn’t happen as often since there’s writing to do and a day job.
Secondly, I have to thank her for always pushing me to keep chasing my dream of being an author. Who else am I going to bounce ideas off of, and she helps me when I get stuck. Suppose you could say she’s my biggest fan.
When I’m not writing I enjoy time with my dog, tending my garden, baking sweet treats, walking through crunchy fall leaves and blankets of cold snow, playing video games, and reading! I’ve a fondness for horses and blankets (is it possible to own too many?)
And yes, some days I still wish I was Batman.
For more information about Kassandra’s work, please visit:
Twitter | Goodreads | Facebook
Gregory L. Norris is a full-time professional writer, with work appearing in numerous short story anthologies, national magazines, novels, the occasional TV episode, and, so far, one produced feature film (Brutal Colors, which debuted on Amazon Prime last January). A former feature writer and columnist at Sci Fi, the official magazine of the Sci Fi Channel (before all those ridiculous Ys invaded), he once worked as a screenwriter on two episodes of Paramount’s modern classic, Star Trek: Voyager.
Two of his paranormal novels (written under his rom-de-plume, Jo Atkinson) were published by Home Shopping Network as part of their “Escape With Romance” line — the first time HSN has offered novels to their global customer base. Norris judged the 2012 Lambda Awards in the SF/F/H category. Three times now, his short stories have notched Honorable Mentions by Ellen Datlow. He won Honorable Mention in the 2016 Roswell Awards in Short SF for his short story ‘Mandered’. Norris lives and writes in the outer limits of New Hampshire with his husband, their small pride of rescue cats, and his emerald-eyed muse. Follow his literary adventures on Facebook, or at www.gregorylnorris.blogspot.com
For more information about Gregory’s work, please visit:
Website | Facebook | Email: gregorynorris@gmail.com
Carole Cummings lives with her husband and family in Pennsylvania, USA, where she spends her time trying to find time to write. Recipient of various amateur and professional writing awards, several of her short stories have been translated into Spanish, German, Chinese and Polish.
Author of the Aisling and Wolf’s-own series, Carole is currently in the process of developing several other works, including more short stories than anyone will ever want to read, and novels that turn into series when she’s not looking.
Carole is an avid reader of just about anything that’s written well and has good characters. She is a lifelong writer of the ‘movies’ that run constantly in her head. Surprisingly, she does manage sleep in there somewhere, and though she is rumored to live on coffee and Pixy Stix™, no one has as yet suggested she might be more comfortable in a padded room.
…Well. Not to her face.
For more information about Carole’s work, please visit:
Website | Facebook | Facebook Page | Twitter | Email: carole@carolecummings.com
J. Scott Coatsworth is the admin for the Queer Sci Fi site. He has been writing since elementary school, when he and won a University of Arizona writing contest in 4th grade for his first sci fi story (with illustrations!). He finished his first novel in his mid twenties, but after seeing it rejected by ten publishers, he gave up on writing for a while.
Over the ensuing years, he came back to it periodically, but it never stuck. Then one day, he was complaining to Mark, his husband, early last year about how he had been derailed yet again by the death of a family member, and Mark said to him “the only one stopping you from writing is you.”
Since then, Scott has gone back to writing in a big way, finishing more than a dozen short stories – some new, some that he had started years before – and seeing his first sale. He’s embarking on a new trilogy, and also runs a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural fiction.
For more information about Scott’s work, please visit:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Facebook Page
Mere Rain is an international nonentity of mystery whose library resides in California.
Mere likes reading, travel, food, art, and you.
For more information about Mere’s work, please visit:
Facebook | Email: mererainwriting@gmail.com
Lou Sylvre loves romance with all its ups and downs, and she likes to conjure it into books. The sweethearts on her pages are men who end up loving each other, and sometimes saving each other from unspeakable danger. It’s all pretty crazy and very sexy.
As if you’d want to know more, she’ll happily tell you that she is a proudly bisexual woman, a mother, grandmother, lover of languages, and cat-herder. She works closely with lead cat and writing assistant, the (male) Queen of Budapest, Boudreau St. Clair.
She is the author of the six well-loved books of the Vasquez and James Series and a holiday favorite, Falling Snow on Snow. She teamed up with Kiwi author Anne Barwell to write Sunset at Pencarrow, an adventurous tale of New Zealand romance.
For more information about Lou’s work, please visit:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Blog | Email: lou.sylvre@gmail.com
Evelyn Benvie is a wooly jumper from a family of black sheep and has always wanted to be a writer. She was raised on a steady diet of classic fantasy and science fiction but grew dissatisfied with the way people and relationships were often portrayed in mainstream books. Like, why does the princess have to get married at all? Why are aliens gender-coded? Why is every single person straight?
So she dreamed of writing sensible books with sensible characters who better reflected her own experiences as a queer woman. It’s taken a while, and fiction has gotten a lot more diverse since then (even as her own characters have gotten a whole lot less sensible), but it’s all good. “Something To Celebrate” is her first major publication; please continue to support the author in the future!
For more information about Evelyn’s work, please visit:
Toni Griffin lives in Darwin, the smallest of Australia’s capital cities. Born and raised in the state she’s a Territorian through and through. Growing up Toni hated English with a passion (as her editors can probably attest to) and found her strength lies with numbers.
Now, though, she loves escaping to the worlds she creates and hopes to continue to do so for many years to come. She’s a single mother of one and works full time. When she’s not writing you can just about guarantee that she will be reading one of the many MM authors she loves.
Feel free to drop her a line at info@tonigriffin.net anytime.
For more information about Toni’s work, please visit:
While Angel Martinez is the adult fiction pen name of a writer of several genres, she writes both kinds of queer fiction – Science Fiction and Fantasy. Currently living part time in the hectic sprawl of northern Delaware, (and full time inside the author’s head) Angel has one husband, one son, two cats, a changing variety of other furred and scaled companions, a love of all things beautiful and a terrible addiction to the consumption of both knowledge and chocolate.
For more information on Angel’s work, please visit:
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Email: angelmartinezauthor@gmail.com
Freddy Mackay grew up in the Midwest, playing sports and running around outside. And honestly, that much has not changed since Freddy was small and throwing worms at other kids, except worm throwing has been replaced with a healthy geocaching addiction. Freddy enjoys traveling and holds the view a person should continually to learn about new things and people whenever possible.
Freddy’s contemporary LGBTQ book, Incubation: Finding Peace 2, won 3rd Place – Best Gay Erotic Fiction in the 2012 Rainbow Awards. In 2013, Freddy’s story, Internment, tied for 3rd Place – Best Gay Fantasy in the Rainbow Awards. Freddy’s steampunk/SF story, Feel Me, was a Finalist and honorable mention in the 2014 Rainbow Awards for SF. And in 2015, Freddy’s urban fantasy Snow on Spirit Bridge was also a Finalist and honorable mention.
For more information on Freddy’s work, please visit or email:
Website | Twitter | Email: freddy.m.mackay@gmail.com
Giveaway!
Win a $25 Mischief Corner Books gift card!
