Tristan dreams of the day he’ll succeed his father as the next Warlord of Markaytia. Elves—creatures famous for their darker passions and tantalizing culture—approach the Markaytian king with an offer he can’t refuse: an alliance with the Elves for the one Tristan Kanes.
Tristan is forced to give up his dream.
He’s not thrilled, but Tristan is a man of duty above all else. What choice does he have? He cannot refuse the king or Markaytia. He begrudgingly comes to terms with the arranged marriage. Is he a tad sour about it? Yes, but he’ll get over it.
Probably.
Maybe it won’t be so bad. Elves have cool weapons, maybe he’ll get one?
Corrik bans him from cool weapons.
Corrik’s seen Tristan’s gruesome death on the point of a sword in a prophetic vision. He bans Tristan from picking up a sword ever again. Tristan wants to accept the marriage with grace to make his people proud, but he resents Corrik for his remorseless attitude over his life’s work.
Facing the Ice Prince and himself.
Tristan’s conflict follows him on the journey to the mysterious Elven land of Mortouge. He hates Corrik for taking him from the life he loved, boy does he, but his new Elven husband is an enigma and he’s captivated. He sets Tristan’s blood on fire and freezes it at the same time. Corrik unravels Tristan’s true nature and despite his best efforts, Tristan falls for his ice prince.
But Corrik won’t bend.
Corrik wants to be obeyed. He’s demanding and possessive. He’s overbearingly protective.
Can these two find a suitable compromise? Or will Tristan’s resentment and Corrik’s arrogance ruin forever their chance at love?
Tristan by Mock (S. Legend) is a gay romance fantasy featuring enemies-to-lovers vibes, an age gap, arranged marriage, first times, and a happy ending (um, eventually). This is the first action-adventure romance in the Tristan Trilogy. Mock may have written it down, but truly it’s told by your lovable host, Tristan Kanes. He’s funny, sarcastic and while it may not seem it at times, he’s the real person in charge of this story.
Excerpt
I walked into the hall with my stomach already churning and when I saw that my father and uncle were not alone, it plummeted like it had been shoved in ice-cold water.
That was when I saw him for the rst time.
The power of his features came from what wasn’t there, rather than from what was. The man was devoid of imper‐ fections; not one thing about his face or his body hinted to a deciency. There was no weakness in his impenetrable demeanor—the man was used to winning and getting what he wanted. His cold purple eyes knew no warmth or sunshine and sat as sentinels atop the high bridge of his patrician nose, complementing the supercilious manner that surrounded him. Without a smile on his face, he looked cruel and stony. At the same time, there was no darkness in him, whatsoever. Gold hair owed long over silver robes that were open to reveal porcelain white skin; unmarred, and solid. The breezy, pretty robes did nothing to diminish the restrained force of his chest and abdomen muscles—he seemed to dominate the eeminate attire, as if he’d already defeated it. Not a body built for eldwork, but for blood—war.
My cock stirred for him and made it impossible to deny that I was attracted to this ice mountain of a man—I blushed. This was not the place I wanted to have an erec‐ tion. I shifted my eyes away from the prince, down to my boots, placing my hands over my crotch.
“King Vilsarion, Prince Corrik. This is Tristan, my son,” Father introduced me.
“Welcome,” I said, giving a deep bow to each using the Markaytian etiquette Papa taught me, then I took my place beside Papa.
“Tristan,” my uncle said. “We are honored to announce that we have reached an alliance with Mortouge.”
I smiled my best smile. Absolutely, bloody fantastic! The Elves didn’t align themselves with just anyone and knowing what I knew of the recent unrest in the Northeastern Plains, since we helped them a while back, I knew it was best to have as many strong alliances as possible, if the Kanes were to maintain our hold of Dragon’s Rock. For the rst time in millennia, we had to take extra measures to protect Markaytia’s crown city.
“That is excellent, Sire.” I turned to the Elven king. “I’ve been named as successor to my father at my coming-of- age ceremony, and as future Warlord, I will look forward to dealings with your Warlord. We Markaytians could learn from your teachings. I’ve read much about your weapons—I know you forge the best ones,” I gushed.
I wage for peace, but war is inevitable and the prospect of ghting alongside an Elf was exciting. All I knew of Elves at the time was of their weapons and great wars. I had little interest in their other qualities. The Elves are a beautiful, mysterious race, but I didn’t see much use getting involved in their politics or anything else about them since they were also a private race who didn’t often allow outsiders into their grand kingdom.
I didn’t expect the Elven king to frown at my words. The smile on his face lit up the room before, and especially standing next to his grouchy-looking son, the contrast was far reaching. I turned to look at Papa, confused, and he took a sharp breath, ready to cry. Father stepped between us; his dark eyes pinned me in place.
Uncle continued. “The alliance will be sealed with a marriage, Tristan. You to Prince Corrik.”
The displeasure must have been plain on my face, though I tried for the life of me to hide it.
About the Author . . .
Mock is an ambitious creative, weaving the most precious aspects of her soul into stories. She is an architect, building fascinating worlds, designed from inquiry, rooted in worldly wonderings. It’s an intuitive process where she is the scribe, the translator, the conduit.
It helped that storytelling was the language spoken at home. One simply didn’t say, “We have an ant infestation. ” In Mock’s family it was, “I was on my way to the living room, when a peculiar ant crossed my path. I looked to my right, a suspicious line of them marched toward the pantry. In that moment I knew; my kitchen was under siege.” The natural flow of conversation always took this form.
And so.
When Mock wrote her first novel, she didn’t plan it chapter by chapter, there was no outline, no “plotting” to speak of. But she didn’t “pants” it either, she didn’t make it up as she went along. She knew how the story felt, where it curved in places and hollowed in others; she knew the destination it rushed toward. Instead of orchestrating, she let the world inspire her, and held space for the words to come, trusting the characters knew what they were doing. All she had to do was tell a story, as she always had done; like breathing.
This is her peace, her healing and solace: Gifts better shared.
Mock’s works are the comfort you seek when you need to come home. Her unique writing style will take you, wayfaring reader, to unexpected destinations.
She always says, “I’m not in the business of making up stories, I couldn’t if I tried. I’m lucky enough to get picked to share someone else’s story when I ask a question to the universe. Someone answers; I write it down.”
New York City is not big enough for The King of New York “Nature Boy” Maré. The world is his playground. Known for styling and profiling across the globe, Maré has earned the reputation of being one of the world’s greatest playboys that ever existed! His sexual appetite for the world’s most beautiful women makes him a legend. Now, in his own words Maré gives explicit details of the ecstasy he experienced with sex goddesses around the world!
Gianni Shamari was born and raised in Harlem, New York. Gianni graduated from City College in 2009, received a Bachelors of Arts degree in English and Science with a minor in Creative Writing. Gianni always had a passion for writing since Elementary School. He had many composition books filled with stories about his favorite superheroes and video games. Gianni enjoys expressing freely on paper and sharing his ideas with the world. Writing is just a big part of Gianni's life. He made his publishing debut with the epic tale, "Another Best Erotic Night of My Life" in the 2016 anthology, The Very Best of Bare Back Magazine. He has three other books published: Monica Hershel Predator on Top, His Highness, the Philogynist, and Maré & Monica: The Best of Both Worlds.
Gianni has been writing for Bare Back Magazine for eight years.
Dex and Dane couldn’t be more different. One is motorcycle boots, leather, and all things wild. The other is a cowboy hat wearing sweetheart who owns the local bar. And Kizzie is the lucky lady who gets to keep them both!
When she moved back to Wolf Hollow, she only wanted a fresh start. Not once did she ever imagine she’d up being mated to two wolves, and just in time for the holidays!
Award-winning author Jessica Coulter Smith has been in love with the written word since she was a child writing her first stories in crayon. If Jessica isn't writing, then she's like reading. Her favorite books are romances, but she also enjoys the occasional mystery or general fiction book. Romance is an integral part of her world and she firmly believes that love will find you at the right time, even if Mr. Right is literally out of this world.
Mr. Ti is hot on the trail of the Poacher, having finally discovered his identity. A trap is laid, but will it get sprung?
Follow Mr. Ti as he hunts down his prey. But who is hunting whom? And will love smack Mr. Ti in the butt face?
Find out this and more exciting answers to questions lurking in the depths of your mind in this next archive from The Assassins’ Guild.
Attention: There is explicit language, violence, and sexual content suitable only for mature audiences. Who are we kidding? Only on bad days are we more mature than teenagers.
Excerpt -Nicola POV
“Nicola, you’re looking,” he scrutinized my appearance especially considering I had worn jeans compared to his thousands of dollars bespoke suit, “underfed.” He waved at someone behind me, and a bowl of the same soup Don Athos was eating appeared before me.
“Thank you, Zio.” Now that the food was in front of me, I realized I was famished. I didn’t remember if I had eaten today. I picked up a spoon and took a bite of the hearty vegetable soup.
“Your mother is worried about you.”
I snorted and finished my mouthful before speaking. “My mother is only worried about the money I send her.” My mother wasn’t Don Athos’s sister, but our family had worked for the Stagliano family for many generations. I grew up at the country estate with my brother and cousins, calling Don Athos uncle.
“Don’t disrespect your mother, boy.” Despite Don Athos nearing seventy, he was still a formidable man and not one to trifle with even if you didn’t know he was one of the most powerful men in the world.
“I’m sorry, Zio.” I looked intently at my soup and took another bite. “Is she well?” I asked after the silence continued.
“She is fine, just worried about her only remaining son.” He paused again. I was sure for dramatic effect. There must be a school people like the capi went to that taught you how to look intimidating when speaking and how to make grandiose speeches. “She tells me that you took another trip out of the country.”
I nodded in confirmation because it was pointless to deny it. If he was coming to me with this, he already knew where I was. I tore a piece of bread off the loaf on the table and dipped it into the remaining bits of soup.
“I have told you to stop looking into the bombing. It is done and over. Nothing will come of continuing down this road.” Don Athos’s voice softened. “Nico, I know you loved your brother, and I am saddened by his loss as well as the loss of my son, may God rest their souls, but he wouldn’t want you to continue on this way. He’d want you to finish school and start your life the way you should have.”
“Zio, I’m so close to finding him. I finally know who bombed the hotel. And if I can just locate them.” I leaned forward in my seat. I refused to believe that Enzo was dead. I couldn’t, wouldn’t believe it until I heard it from the horse’s mouth.
“Stupido, do you think we don’t know who did it?” Don Athos whisper-yelled to not draw more attention to our discussion. “Of course, we know.”
“Then why haven’t you asked The Assassins’ Guild about the abnormality in the account about my brother or who hired them in the first place?” I tried to restrain myself from raising my voice as I boldly called out the organization's name that was only whispered of like the Boogieman.
“You don’t understand, boy. You don’t just ask The Assassins’ Guild questions, and you never ask who hired them. It’s a fool’s errand.” If I didn’t know him better, I’d say that he looked scared just talking about them.
About the Author. . .
D.G. currently lives in Tennessee with their platonic life partner, who is not a dragon. They yearn to live back in Europe and will some day. In their spare time they are addicted to losing themselves in the lovely worlds created by other authors
D.G. is committed to writing the stories they see in their head without restrictions. Love is blind and doesn't see gender, race, or sexuality.
Jillian is ecstatic when she finds out she’s become more than a wolf shifter. The instinct she’s always had that she was meant for something different is validated when a gator-bite turns her into a hybrid shifter with two distinct animal forms.
Her parents are the opposite of thrilled, and plot to have her gator exorcised before it can fully emerge. She’s been promised to the Alpha’s son, and he won’t accept a hybrid.
She does the only thing she can. She runs.
Her new animal form skews her senses when she goes into heat and every gator shifter she comes across looks like an appealing option.
Are the guys she just met the mates she’s truly meant for, or are they destined to break her heart?
Runaway Mate is a standalone new adult fated mates reverse harem romance with college-aged characters, serious steam and an HEA.
Romy Lockhart writes paranormal reverse harem and M/F contemporary romance. All of her books contain steamy scenes between consenting adults. All of her reverse harems have harem ever afters, and all of her romance novels have happy endings.
Recently, Newsweek, compiled a listing of the top true crime documentaries on Netflix. Trial 4which tells the true story of Sean Ellis who was wrongfully convicted as a teenager in the murder of Boston police officer John J. Mulligan in 1993 was in the top five.
If you have not seen it, you must. It will bring you into a world that most of us never knew existed. It will make you angry and ask yourself that proverbial question, how can this happen in the United States of America?
Across eight episodes, the gripping documentary follows Ellis' fight for freedom as he awaits a potential fourth trial and attempts to expose the systemic racism and corruption within the justice system which landed him in jail in the first place.
Enter Elaine Alice Murphy. While living and working in Montreal, she learned of the controversial Mulligan case and Sean’s conviction – and recognized him as her son’s childhood friend from their years in Massachusetts. Stricken to think that the gentle boy she remembered would die in prison an innocent man, she visited him, began researching his case, and committed to join his family and lawyers in a quest to free him. Murphy’s digging uncovered “game-changing” evidence of police corruption that had tainted Sean’s trial and resulted in his conviction being overturned in 2015.
Elaine has written a book, documenting her experiences not only through the trial and her connection to Mr. Ellis, but her own journey through a corrupt criminal justice system and recounts her horror at the vastly different Americas experienced by Sean and her own son growing up.
In For Life, will be released early next year. Distributed in North America and Internationally by Cardinal Publishing Group, her book will be available in bookstores and across all classes of trade as well as online and as an e-book on most platforms.
In For Life, A Journey into Murder, Corruption and Friendship, promises to be a bestselling, must read and perhaps one of the most important books on 2022.
“A remarkable story beautifully told ... of what it takes to make the criminal legal system fair – dogged determination, years and years of work, and a clear-eyed vision of what is right, no matter what the cost.” - Honorable Nancy Gertner, retired judge, U.S. District Court, D. Mass.; senior lecturer, Harvard Law School
Featured in the critically acclaimed Netflix Series “Trial 4”!
Elaine Alice Murphy was born and raised in Massachusetts, and graduated from Boston College in 1967 with an honors degree in English and earned a master’s degree in human development from Harvard University in 1978. After a post-college year as a Pan Am flight attendant during which she flew in and out of war-torn Vietnam with U.S. troops, she spent a decade in education. She was an English teacher in Boston and then a program administrator for the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Judith Anderson’s no-nonsense attitude and confidence served her well in her climb to homicide lieutenant in the Baltimore County PD, but that confidence is shaken when she finds herself one step behind a serial killer—just eight days into her new job as Chief of Police in a small Florida city.
The first victim, a female college student, may be a case of wrong place, wrong time. But the bodies keep coming, with a mishmash of MOs, and the murders may be linked to various cases in nearby Jacksonville.
While Judith assumed the CoP job would be challenging, she’s finding it harder than she imagined to establish her authority without alienating and be more hands-on without micro-managing. Plus, evidence is stacking up that there’s a leak in her department.
Who can she trust? If she makes the wrong assumption, the wrong decision, it may be her last. In a race to save lives, she’ll draw on every talent and instinct that made her a star in Baltimore. But will it be enough this time?
Fans of JA Jance’s Sheriff Joanna Brady and JD Robb’s Eve Dallas will love this new female cop on the scene!
In her youth, Kassandra Lamb had two great passions—psychology and writing. Advised that writers need day jobs—and being partial to eating—she studied psychology. Her career as a psychotherapist and college professor taught her much about the dark side of human nature, but also much about resilience, perseverance, and the healing power of laughter. Now retired, she spends most of her time in an alternate universe populated by her fictional characters. The portal to this universe (aka her computer) is located in North Central Florida where her husband and dog catch occasional glimpses of her.
In a time of castles, muskets, and hideous creatures of the night, a beautiful woman travels across the treacherous Dark Forest to be by the side of her dying grandmother. With only a young carriage driver to protect her, she must use her wits and all of her courage to cross the wild country—and to evade the mysterious beast who stalks her.
What follows is a tale full of horror, mystery, and romance: gruesome murders at a village hidden deep in the forest, a castle that holds dark secrets, and a black wolf leading a deadly pack. Nothing is as it seems, and this journey has only just begun. The beautiful lady in the carriage will learn that only love can defeat evil, but is it love or danger that cries out to her in the deceitful light of the moon?
Father Daniel and his Right Hand of God Order are a secret society fighting hideous creatures of the night. Gathering relics and creating weapons for decades at a place called The Forge. The Forge was built at the face of a silver mine below the Abbey on Feldberg mountain. The monks there compiled this Compendium at the Abbey in hopes it may help you understand the story that is A Cry in the Moon’s Light. Dispelling myths, retelling legends and digging deeper into the characters and places you love from the story. There are over 75 illustrations from various artists along with detailed descriptions and some spoilers where the past and future collide! Everything you need to fight evil.
Alan McGill is an American author who lives in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a clowder of cats. Alan was close to his grandparents who grew up in the Great Depression. They were married young and remained together until his grandmother’s passing. His grandfather served in the Navy during WWII and was a gifted storyteller who weaved humorous tales about tough events. Alan grew up with these stories of right and wrong along with watching fictional heroes such as The Lone Ranger, Adam West’s Batman and Captain America. Heroes who stood up to bullies and protected those who could not protect themselves. This made an impression on the author to always do what was right in his own life and shaped his love for storytelling. He is a multi-genre author with his debut novel being A Cry in the Moon’s Light which is a horror romance and mystery series. As with all his books, one of the primary themes involves characters who strive to do the right thing regardless of the adversity they face. The second theme present in all his books is love. A pure and deep love that defeats all evil.
The greatest gifts aren’t always under the Christmas tree.
Believing herself abandoned by her fiancé in the wilds of Northern Wales, actress Babbie Crispen and her wheelchair-bound son struggle to find shelter on a frigid night before Christmas.
A strange man the locals call the Wicked Scot finds them near death on a snow-covered hillside. He brings them to his castle, a place of both terrifying and wonderful magic so powerful it changes all their lives.
Elf Ahearn was an actress, a journalist, a communications specialist, and the worst mathematician the insurance industry ever experienced. Fortunately, she is now a dedicated kitten mom and the author of “Regency romance with a Gothic twist.” For one brief, shining moment, her first book, A Rogue in Sheep’s Clothing, was #1 in its category on Amazon. Elf lives in New York with her romantic hero and the aforementioned cats. And, in case you were wondering, Elf is her real name… Her parents are interesting people.