The darkest hour is before the dawn... headlines a sinful new anthology where the dark and light sides of desire collide...Embrace the darkness and experience the light in this all-new anthology filled with touching stories of happily ever after alongside smoldering tales of irresistibly dangerous, otherworldly passion. From bewitching emotions and untamed desire to dazzling romance and tantalizing sensuality, these novellas explore the complex facets of the human ...

Sport officials are tasked with maintaining order and adjudicating sport contests. Given their multifaceted role in enforcing rules, standardizing competitions, and keeping sport safe for all participants, they are a requisite part of the sport workforce.With ongoing reports of annual attrition rates in officiating in excess of 20-35% for various sports around the world, there is more than ample evidence that officiating dropout is a persistent, pervasive, and global challenge unde...

“Lake...cared for and nurtured [her characters], making this not so much a collection of stories as an anthology of characters.”~Lambda Book ReportIn these 14 short stories, Lori L. Lake captures how change and loss influence the course of lives: a mother and daughter have an age-old fight; a frightened woman attempts to deal with an abusive lover; a father tries to understand his lesbian daughter’s retreat from him; an athlete who misses her chance—or does she?

“Lori L. Lake's EIGHT DATES is a complete hoot! From despair to hope, loss to love, and all unexpected points between, Lake will keep you snickering from page one.”~Jessie Chandler, author of The Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series=-=-=-=-=-=Skylar Cassidy has been on her own for less than a year after a disastrous breakup. She’s found that meeting women is difficult – kind of daunting, actually. She feels like she’s been run through the mill, and she doesn’t want to go through...

Dez Reilly, a patrol sergeant with the Saint Paul Police, is trying to decide which direction to go with her career: To SWAT? Or to Investigations? Or does she continue with the patrol supervision she is heartily tired of?Jaylynn Savage cheerfully patrols the city’s skyways and is happy with Dez, who is the love of her life. But when a colleague is murdered on duty, Dez and Jaylynn are both stunned. Before they can even process the loss, a witness is killed, Dez is targeted by a da...

Leona “Leo” Reese is a police patrol sergeant with over a decade of law enforcement experience. After she fails her bi-yearly shooting qualification due to a vision problem, Leo is temporarily assigned to the state’s civilian investigation division. She’s shell-shocked by her vision impairment and frustrated to be off the streets where she feels she’s most needed.On her first day at the new job, Leo is assigned a case where a retired woman at an independent living facility has died...

"Stories and memoir that will touch your heart and stay with you long after the last page is read."~The Independent Gay Writer"This collection of thought-provoking and touching stories about love and loss, happiness and heartbreak would be a great gift..."~Lambda Book Report*****This remarkable anthology contains stories, essays, and memoirs by some of the brightest stars in the lesbian writing world:...

Two world wars, the Civil Rights movement, and a Jheri curl later, Blacks in America continue to have a complex and convoluted relationship with their hair. From the antebellum practice of shaving the head in an attempt to pass as a "free" person to the 2013 uproar over an Ohio school that banned Afro puffs, the issues surrounding Black hair continue to linger as we move through the twenty-first century.Tying the personal to the political and the popular, Hair Story takes ...

Dez Reilly and Jaylynn Savage have settled into a comfortable working and living arrangement. Their house is in good shape, their relationship is wonderful, and their jobs—while busy—are fulfilling. But everyone needs a break once in a while, so when they take off on a camping trip to northern Minnesota with good friends Crystal and Shayna, they expect nothing more than long hikes, romantic wood fires, and plenty of down time. Instead, they find themselves caught in the whirlwind created w...

Under the Gun is the long-awaited sequel to the bestselling novel, Gun Shy, continuing the story of St. Paul Police Officers Dez Reilly and Jaylynn Savage. Picking up just a couple weeks after Gun Shy ended, the sequel finds the two officers continuing to adjust to their relationship, but things start to go downhill when they get dispatched to a double homicide - Jaylynn's first murder scene. Dez is supportive and protective toward Jay, and things seem to be going all right until Dez's nem...

This fun cozy mystery features a “colorful display of Christmas suspense and intrigue” perfect for lovers of true crime and mysteries. Jessica Barker blogs about true crime for an online magazine. But blogging for others is far from her dream job. Then, Jess witnesses what appears to be her next-door neighbor in distress and Jess is the only one who seems to care. When the cops dismiss her as a bothersome true crime reporter with an overactive imagination, Jess must delve into the life of ...

At age 14, Lori Stephens was thrown out into the streets by her mother. This was the beginning of a life no one deserves to endure, ever.Through her struggle to stay alive, in a world she barely understood. Lori survived the next 30 years of drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness, rape, domestic violence, assault, conflict with the Law and jail. See how she was forced to resort to physical violence to stay alive.How she escaped with the courage and the will to stay alive,...