The passage of the anti-gay marriage Proposition 8 in California in 2008 stunned gay rights activists across the country. Although facing a well-funded campaign in support of the ballot measure, LGBT activists had good reasons for optimism, including the size and strength of their campaign. Since 1974, the LGBT movement has fought 146 anti-gay ballot initiatives sponsored by the religious right and has developed innovative strategies to oppose these measures. In Gay Rights at the Ballo...

What if being kind to yourself was the one habit that changed everything else?You want to enjoy the small moments, but the energy just isn't there. A harsh inner voice narrates your every mistake, and the idea of figuring out who you really are and what you want feels impossibly far away. You give patience and warmth to everyone else, and almost none to yourself.Those damaging thought patterns can feel permanent — as though this is simply who you are. The...

Last chance or last rites?When the corpse of a drug dealer turned federal informant is fished out of Lake Michigan, Special Agent Amelia Storm knows it’s more than just a drug deal gone bad. Not only is the body hideously mutilated and the blood drained, but a number has been carved into the victim’s chest.And he isn’t the only one.Is a hitman responsible for the gruesome murders, or could a larger organized crime enterprise be involved? Or is som...

Fame has a deadly price.Special Agent Amelia Storm, a seasoned FBI veteran, thought stepping away from the Organized Crime Unit and its mafia entanglements would lead to less complex and dangerous cases. She was wrong. Now in the Violent Crimes Division, Amelia is haunted by a chilling pattern that mirrors mob brutality.Murder as a message.How else can she explain why this serial killer murders everyone in the home but leaves the victim alive...an...

This killer is setting the world on fire. One house at a time.Special Agent Amelia Storm thought she’d seen the darkest corners of humanity after facing a killer who exploited social media to broadcast his twisted “message.” But her latest case in the FBI Violent Crimes Unit plunges her into a new nightmare—one that catapults her from the frying pan into the fire.Literally.In the dead of night, an affluent Chicago neighborhood becomes a hellscape ...

A broken curse, fractured relationships, and the return of an old enemy . . .A brief moment of victory is overshadowed by the resurgence of an old foe seeking Bryn's help. But sudden losses have shattered Bryn, and she must take solace in the men who haven't abandoned her.Her hope to start a new life with her remaining lovers is dashed when a dangerous supernatural drug makes its way to the streets. She can't begin again when the poison that ruined her life...

A middle aged, auburn haired woman picking up a slightly younger man at a quiet corner bar. They talk about being alone, and she talks to him about missing the feeling of having a man in her bed - missing the touches, the warmth, and of course, the sex.

Liam has a sexual fantasy. But it is something so perverse, so unnatural, that he has never dared mention it to anyone. He wants to watch a stranger take his wife as he watches. He wants to fade out and watch her reach heights of ecstasy with a different man. He knows his wife would never be up for it….or would she?

The importance of citywide festivals like Mardi Gras and Fiesta for the LGBTQ communityFestivals like Mardi Gras and Fiesta have come to be annual events in which entire cities participate, and LGBTQ people are a visible part of these celebrations. In other words, the party is on, the party is queer, and everyone is invited. In Queer Carnival, Amy Stone takes us inside these colorful, eye-catching, and often raucous events, highlighting their importance to...

Fiesta San Antonio began in 1891 began as a parade in honor of the battles of the Alamo and San Jacinto and has evolved into an annual Mardi Gras-like festival attended by four million with more than 100 cultural events raising money for nonprofit organizations in San Antonio, Texas.At Fiesta's start, the events were socially exclusive, one of the most prominent being the Coronation of the Queen of the Order of the Alamo, a lavish, debutante pageant crowning a queen of the festival...

The first book to focus on the experience of LGBT archival research.Finalist for the 2016 Lambda Literary Award in LGBT Anthology presented by the Lambda Literary FoundationOut of the Closet, Into the Archives takes readers inside the experience of how it feels to do queer archival research and queer research in the archive. The archive, much like the closet, exposes various levels of public and privateness-recognition, awareness, refusal, impulse,...

Celebrates diverse queer experiences on society’s marginsOutskirts addresses the diverse and intricate aspects of the queer experience on the periphery of the social world. From the Korean spa to the Carnival krewe to new sexual identities, this volume asks important questions about the atypical places, spaces, and identities that are an important part of LGBTQ life in the United States. By bringing together scholars specializing in the less visible facets...