Today I've featuring Exclusive Excerpts from A More Perfect Union, a four-author featured anthology focused on the joy that is marriage equality in the US!
Publisher:
Dreamspinner Press
Authors:
B.G.
Thomas
J.
Scott Coatsworth
Jamie
Fessenden
Michael
Murphy
Cover
Artist: Reese Dante
Length: 104K
/ 350 Pages
Format:
eBook, Paperback
Release
Date: 6/26/16
Pairing:
MM
Price:
6.99, 17.99
Blurbs
On June
26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States made a monumental
decision, and at long last, marriage equality became the law of the land. That
ruling made history, and now gay and lesbian Americans will grow up
in a country where they will never be denied the right to marry the
person they love.
But what
about the gay men who waited and wondered all of their lives if the day would
ever come when they could stand beside the person they love and say “I
do”?
Here,
four accomplished authors—married gay men—offer their take on that question as
they explore same-sex relationships, love, and matrimony. Men who thought legal
marriage was aright they would never have. Men who, unbelievably, now
stand legally joined with the men they love. With this book, they share the
magic and excitement of dreams that came true—in tales of fantasy and romance
with a dose of their personal experiences in the mix.
To
commemorate the anniversary of full marriage equality in the US, this anthology
celebrates the idea of marriage itself—and the universal truth of it
that applies to us all, gay or straight.
Someday, by B.G. Thomas
Lucas
Arrowood is walking to school on his first day of kindergarten when he meets
Dalton Churchill—a boy who stops and helps him tie his shoe. He knows from that
moment he is going to marry that boy one day. “Boys can’t marry other
boys,” his mother explains, but that doesn’t stop Lucas. He knows what he
wants.
He and
Dalton become best friends—and then, no matter how much he resists, Dalton
falls in love with Lucas. Dalton's very conservative family can't accept that
their boy loves another boy, but finally Dalton stands up for love and for
Lucas. Still, he declares he won't marry Lucas until it is legal everywhere. He
hates the “Commitment Ceremonies” gay men have. They aren’t the real thing. Why
bother?
So Lucas
waits for his day. The day same-sex marriage finally becomes legal and he can
be joined forever with the love of his life.
My thoughts: I loved how focused Lucas was in the story, and with friends-to-lovers being a favorite trope of mine, B.G.'s story really hit the mark for me. I will say I wanted to smack Dalton a few times but you'll have to read the story to find out why. I will admit I giggled through the whole scene in the except because it is just so classic!
Exclusive Excerpt:
“Samantha drank and
twirled the bottle.
It landed on Julie.
The two of them looked at
each other in surprise. Samantha looked at Diego, her face a question.
“Go on!” growled Diego.
“No exceptions. None.”
Samantha looked at Julie,
who shrugged, and then they did it. They kissed.
Wow. Girls kissing. Who’d
have thought such a thing?
He bit his lips—thought
about it.
Well, why not?”
“And then Julie was
kissing Diego again. And then Diego and Samantha. And then Samantha and Dalton.
(Aaaarrrghhhh!) And then….
Dalton sent the bottle
spinning—
(woop woop woop)
—and it landed on Lucas.
Lucas’s eyes flew wide.
His mouth fell open. He looked up into Dalton’s equally surprised face. Lucas
closed his mouth with an audible click.
Dalton sat back on his
heels. “I’m not kissing my best friend!” he objected.
“Oh yes you are!” shouted
Samantha. “Julie and I kissed, and I am not missing two boys kissing!”
Lucas’s heart was
trip-hammering.
He locked eyes with
Dalton.
Dalton locked eyes with him.
“God damn do it, Dalton,” snapped Diego.
“Fuck,” muttered Dalton.
Lucas had never heard him say “fuck.”
“Do it!” said Julie.
“Fucking do it!” said Samantha.
Would he?
And then Dalton’s eyes
closed and he leaned toward him and—
This is it.
—they kissed.
It lasted only a second.
A brief moment. Dalton’s lips against his.
Lucas thought his heart
would explode.
And he quite suddenly
understood why people kissed.
Flames, by J. Scott Coatsworth
Alex and
Gio had a big fight, and Alex ran away. Then a fire at home destroyed the life
they had built together, and threatened to take Gio away from him.
Alex had
always thought love was enough to keep them together. Why did they need wedding
rings or legal certificates? But now, with Gio lost in a coma, his mother has
banished Alex from his side.
What if
Alex’s voice is the only thing that can bring Gio back from the brink? Their
memories are all Gio has left, and the urge to just let go is getting stronger.
Still,
nothing can keep Alex from Gio's side. If it’s against the rules, he’ll break
them. In stolen moments alone together, Alex fights to bring him back, one
memory at a time.
My thoughts: I felt so, so bad for Alex and Gio when reading this story. I was married to my husband just 3 weeks before we had a major accident, and I was so thankful he was in charge versus my parents when it came to my care when I wasn't able to make my own decisions. That just reinforced the theme of marriage in this anthology, and gave me a whole new appreciation for it.
Exclusive Excerpt:
Gio sat on the floor. At
least he assumed it was the floor. It was white. Everything was white. The
ceiling, the walls, the floor. His breath.
“Hello?”
The atmosphere muffled
the word like a thick mist, although it wasn’t cold or damp. He stood, putting
his hand out in front of him. It disappeared about a foot away, enveloped by
the strange thick air.
He was naked.
His right hand was warm,
as if someone was holding it, but when he brought it up to eye level, there was
nothing else there.
“Is anyone out there?” he
called again. As before, his words were muffled.
The room seemed to press
down on him like layers of soft cloth, pushing in on all sides. His heart beat
faster, and he struggled to breathe. He started to panic. He was trapped, boxed
in on all sides. He could die here.
And then he realized he
couldn’t even remem“ber his own name.
He jumped up and pushed
forward into the white murk, trying to run. But the bonds of the white air
seemed to tighten around his arms and legs. It was like running underwater.
He was going to drown
here.
He redoubled his efforts,
but the air pushed back harder.
Then he felt something
else. Warmth suffused his forehead, and a disembodied voice spoke clearly to him.
Oscar’s gonna take care of you now for a couple minutes. I love you,
Gio.
Of course! He remembered. He did have a name.
It was Gio.
Destined, by Jamie Fessenden
When Jay and Wallace first meet at an LGBTQ group, they
have no idea they’ll be dating six years later. In fact, they quickly forget
each other’s names. But although fate continues to throw them together, the
timing is never quite right. Finally they’re both single and realize they want to be together… but now
they can’t find each other! With determination and the help of mutual friends,
Jay and Wallace can finally pursue the relationship they’ve both wanted for so
long.
It’s only the beginning of the battles they’ll face to
build a life together.
From disapproving family members all the way to the state
legislature, Jay and Wallace’s road to happily ever after is littered with
obstacles. But they’ve come too far to give up the fight.
My thoughts: Geekdom reigns!! These guys kept coming together based on their shared interests, and that is what I liked most about the story. Sure, they both wanted each other, but things were never right until suddenly they were. This was a feel good story that pulled me in from beginning to end, not the least because they were such huge geeks like me. LOL
Exclusive Excerpt
At the end of the
summer, he ran into Steve again at Café on the Corner. He’d been wanting to
find him, but they hadn’t exchanged contact info the last time they’d met, so
it was just chance that Steve walked in one Thursday evening as Jay was
relaxing after work.
“Jay!” Steve sat down
without an invite. “How you been?”
“Okay, I guess.” Jay gave
him the Reader’s Digest version of
his breakup with Doug and the past few months of dating.
“That sucks. I broke up
with Caroline a while ago, but it was kind of a mutual thing. I’m happy being
single for a while.”
Jay sighed and took a sip
of his café latte. “I wish I could say the same. But I really hate being alone.
Does that sound pathetic?”
“Just a little,” Steve
said with a laugh. Then, perhaps seeing the look of dismay on Jay’s face, he
added more soberly, “I think some people are just cut out to be alone and
others aren’t.”
“I’m not saying I’m going
to shack up with anybody who will take me,” Jay said defensively.
“No, of course not.”
Still, Jay felt a bit
pathetic. He just hated coming home to an empty house.
“There was one guy I felt
a connection with,” he said. “More than I ever did with Doug. Though we only
hung out for an afternoon.”
Steve emptied the packets
of sugar he’d picked up at the counter into his coffee. “He didn’t want to
stick around?”
“I think he kind of did.”
At least he wanted to believe that. “But this was back when I was still with
Doug, so we kind of went our separate ways.”
Steve stirred the sugar
in. “So call him up now.”
“We didn’t exchange
numbers. I can’t even “remember what his name was—it was a couple years ago.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah.” Jay hesitated
before blurting out, “Do you happen to know where Julie and her husband moved
to?”
Steve paused in the act
of taking a sip of coffee, then set the cup down. He looked thoughtful. “Not
really. Somewhere way up north, I think. Mark got a job offer in the Berlin
area he couldn’t pass up.”
“Oh.” Jay tried to hide
his disappointment.
“But I have their number,
if you’d like it.”
Jeordi and Tom, by Michael Murphy
Living
as an open, loving gay couple in the rural South isn’t easy—even today.
When
Jeordi and Tom move in together and come out to their families, Jeordi's family
does not take the news especially well. When yelling doesn’t work, they send in
one sibling after another to try to separate the couple. When that fails, they
call out their pastor to help Jeordi see the error of his ways. But Jeordi’s
love for Tom is greater than anything they throw at them.
When an
accident sends Jeordi to the hospital, his family goes too far when they try to
keep Tom from visiting his partner. Jeordi and Tom are determined to do
everything in their power to gain legal protection so this can never happen
again. But when a bigoted county clerk refuses to issue them a marriage
license, Jeordi decides a big, bold effort is called for, which is precisely
what he sets in moVon so no one can ever separate him from Tom again.
My thoughts: Even people without a lot of money have dreams of being just like everyone else! The gritty nature of this story featuring the common man... er, men, who struggle to be together against overwhelming odds was so touching. Not everyone can afford to have the perfect ceremony, but when you say, "I do" that's makes it magical no matter who or where or how it all came about. I also loved the pay it forward theme. By far, this was my favorite story of the four (sorry guys, I can't lie!)
Exclusive Excerpt:
Before they could
continue their conversation, though, there was a sharp knock at the door.
“What fresh hell awaits
us now?” Jeordi muttered. Opening the door, he found another one of his
brothers, one who had not been present earlier at the afternoon inquisition—the
joys of coming from a very large family.
“What the hell are you
doing this for?” the man asked as he pushed his way into the living room.
“Do come in, Jessie,”
Jeordi said.
“Answer the question,”
Jessie ordered.
“Excuse me?” Jeordi said.
“Cut the crap and answer
the goddamned question, Jeordi. Why are you so determined to embarrass Mom and
Dad in front of the whole community?”
Jeordi glanced to Tom,
who shrugged, not understanding the question any more than Jeordi.
“Didn’t know that I was,
so I’m afraid you’ve got to be more specific than that,” Jeordi said.
“Why is everything a
fight with you?” Jessie demanded.
“It isn’t, as far as I
know,” Jeordi said. “Now what the hell are you talking about?”
“This whole gay business,” he said, clearly unhappy
at even having to say the G word aloud.
Jeordi stood as tall as
he could. “I don’t see where you’re going with any of this, Jessie, so I’m
afraid you’ve got to explain yourself a bit better.”
“Cut the crap. You know
how embarrassing it is for Mom and Dad for you to be prancing around like some
girl with another guy for the entire world to see. So just what is it that they
did to piss you off so much? Huh?”
Jeordi shook his head.
“Do you really not get it? Do you really think me being gay is some way to get
back at them for something?”
“Well, of course it is.
You’re not gay. I’ve known you your whole life, and you never gave any hints of
being… one of those people.”
“I was just really good
at keeping who I actually was hidden from all of you because I knew how poorly
you’d all deal with the truth.”
“Bull. You couldn’t hide
something like that. You don’t prance around like some ballerina.”
“Excuse me?” Jeordi said,
his voice rising a little in strength.
“You look and act like a guy.”
“Thank you,” Jeordi said.
“I think.”
“So what’s really going
on?” he pushed.
“What’s really going on
is I love Tom and he loves me. We are happy. He’s the first person I’ve ever
been able to be myself with. He’s the first person who has ever loved me for
me, not for some superficial cardboard representation of the person everyone
wants me to be.”
BUY LINKS
Dreamspinner eBook: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7854
Dreamspinner paperback: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=7855
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/More-Perfect-Union-B-G-Thomas-ebook/dp/B01GMDKIQ4
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1123882859?ean=2940158105135
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All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-amoreperfectunion-2053791-166.html
FIND IT AT:
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
B.G. Thomas
B.G.
Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade and their
fabulous little dog. He is lucky enough to have a lovely daughter as well as
many extraordinary friends. He has a great passion for life.
B.G.
loves romance, comedies, fantasy, science fiction, and even horror—as far as he
is concerned, as long as the stories are character driven and entertaining, it
doesn’t matter the genre. He has gone to literature conventions his entire
adult life where he’s been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers.
He has made up stories since he was a child; it is where he finds his joy.
In
the nineties, he wrote for gay magazines but stopped because the editors wanted
all sex without plot. “The sex is never as important as the characters,” he
says. “Who cares what they are doing if we don’t care about them?” Excited
about the growing male/male romance market, he began writing again. Gay men are
what he knows best, after all—since he grew out of being a “practicing”
homosexual long ago. He submitted a story and was thrilled when it was accepted
in four days. Since then the stories have poured out of him. “It’s like I’m
somehow making up for a lifetime’s worth of stories!”
“Leap,
and the net will appear” is his personal philosophy and his message to all. “It
is never too late,” he states. “Pursue your dreams. They will come true!”
Scott
has been writing since elementary school. After leaving writing for twenty
years, Mark, his husband, told 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 the Queer
Sci Fi
site, a support group for writers of gay sci fi, fantasy, and supernatural
fiction.
Mark
and Scott have been together for twenty four years. They met at the Pacific
Center, an LGBT center in Berkeley, California, in 1992. They dated for two
weeks, and then Scott moved in with Mark, and the rest is history. They run
their own business together, study Italian, and are almost never found apart.
Jamie Fessenden
Jamie Fessenden set out to be a writer in junior high
school. He published a couple of short pieces in his high school's literary
magazine, but it wasn't until he met his partner, Erich, almost twenty years
later, that he began writing again in earnest. With Erich alternately inspiring
and goading him, Jamie published his first novella in 2010, and has since
published over twenty other novels and novellas.
After legally marrying in 2010, buying a house together,
and getting a dog, Jamie and Erich have settled down to life in the country,
surrounded by wild turkeys, deer, and the occasional coyote. A few years ago,
Jamie was able to quit the tech support job that gave him insanely high blood
pressure. He now writes full-time... and feels much better.
Michael Murphy
Michael
Murphy met his husband Dan thirty-four years ago during a Sunday service at MCC
in Washington, DC when a hot, smart man sat down beside him. Due to a shortage
of hymnals they had to share. The touch of one hand on the other in that
moment was electric. Sparks flew that day. Though neither had planned it, they
spent the day together followed by the night. From that day, for more
than three decades they’ve rarely been separated, each finding in the other
their soul mate.
In
the District of Columbia, where they lived, marriage became possible in early
March 2010. The minute it happened they were in line to get a marriage
license, only to be stumped because the license required the name of the person
who was going to marry them. There was such a sudden rush of same sex couples
wanting to get married that the office already had a two-month backlog before
an appointment could be secured. Since they weren’t at all convinced that
the Congress wasn’t going to step in and do something stupid to take away this
right, they started calling everywhere to find someone who would marry them. It
might be legal, but finding someone to marry them was proving to be a
challenge.
When
an article appeared in the newspaper telling of a small, local United Methodist
Church that had decided to go against general church policy because marriage
equality mattered deeply to them, a conversation started. After a series
of emails and phone calls, suddenly they were seated with two retired UMC
ministers who were willing to risk it all to do the right thing. A few
days later, license in hand, surrounded by a handful of friends and their best
dog, Shadow, they were finally legally married.
B.G.
Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of more than a decade and their
fabulous little dog. He is lucky enough to have a lovely daughter as well as
many extraordinary friends. He has a great passion for life.
Scott
has been writing since elementary school. After leaving writing for twenty
years, Mark, his husband, told him “the only one stopping you from writing is
you.”
Jamie Fessenden set out to be a writer in junior high
school. He published a couple of short pieces in his high school's literary
magazine, but it wasn't until he met his partner, Erich, almost twenty years
later, that he began writing again in earnest. With Erich alternately inspiring
and goading him, Jamie published his first novella in 2010, and has since
published over twenty other novels and novellas. 
Michael
Murphy met his husband Dan thirty-four years ago during a Sunday service at MCC
in Washington, DC when a hot, smart man sat down beside him. Due to a shortage
of hymnals they had to share. The touch of one hand on the other in that
moment was electric. Sparks flew that day. Though neither had planned it, they
spent the day together followed by the night. From that day, for more
than three decades they’ve rarely been separated, each finding in the other
their soul mate.
