Romance Books

Jess Madison has problems. His aging parents seem hell-bent on belittling him in new and increasingly infuriating ways, he's fallen for his bestand, unfortunately, heterosexualfriend David, and his grandmother has recently taken to climbing out on her roof in hopes of contacting the spirit of her late husband, the much-beloved Grandpa Jess.All Jess wants to do is live his life and feed his goldfish in peace, but instead, he finds himself at the heart of a familial clash that seems ready to tear his family apart. With the help of his two younger brothers, uber-manly AJ and lovably weird Thomas, Jess sets out to reconcile his family, keep Grandma off the roof, and sort out the mess his life has becomewith just a little help from Grandpa Jess.

Contemporary Gay Romances is the third collection of short fiction by legendary novelist and memoirist, Felice Picano (The Lure, Like People in History, Ambidextrous). It is also his most diverse in terms of the times, places, themes, characters and situations he writes about. Filled with the unexpected, the true, and the amazing, Contemporary Gay Romances moves with ease from gas-lit, upper class London, to a future, climate-altered Bay Area; from semi-rural Florida to Southern California beaches, to an extrasolar planet where people have surprising existences. His characters range from ordinary American suburban housewives to extraordinary children, from grieving young geologists and memory-haunted middle aged men, to British Midlands soccer stars and 22nd Century war heroes. Picano subtitled this collection of stylish, unique, and moving works "Tragic, Comic, Mystic & Horrific," and they are all that and more. The ten tales include prize winners as well as stories published here for the first time, and are as different from any standard "romances" as you can get, but they will linger in the mind and memory.

Eric Matthews survives a near-fatal accident only to find his whole life has changed. Eric Matthews wakes up in the hospital with no memory of how he wound up there--and soon learns that it's vital that he remember. Apparently, he was in a car accident, and the body of classmate Sean Brody was found in his car, shot to death. But nothing makes sense to Eric. He and Sean weren't friends. In fact, they disliked each other. Sean was gay, and Eric is...well, he's not sure of much right now! Except he is certain he didn't shoot Sean, even though he can't remember anything about the day of the accident. To make matters worse, he starts having psychic flashes about the people around him: his doctor, a nurse, his mother, and other visitors. As Eric's memories slowly start to come back to him, he becomes more and more certain that not only is he innocent, but that the real murderer is out there...and wants to shut him up permanently. Author: Greg HerrenPages: 240Pub Date: March 2011ISBN 13: 9781602825093Read an excerptRead reviews of this title