Tavia Lark@tavialark.bsky.social ’s high fantasy romance is well crafted with a dark edge. She manages the genre deftly. John Solo and Kirt Graves@narratorkirt.bsky.social make for a strong duet. sbee.link/v4rfqtybaj
This dark romance from Alexandra St. Pierre delivers exactly what it promises. An edgy romance between a mercenary (hit man) and mortician. The characters are troubled, the morality is gray, and yet the story is oddly wholesome and optimistic. sbee.link/vet9w8xb63
This supernatural noir thriller from Greyson Vale has gritty atmosphere and a slow burn acerbic romance. A well crafted blend of crime and magic. It seemed to end somewhat abruptly, so I was gratified to see the arrival of the second book in the series. sbee.link/nb4ghcj8x9
K.A. Merikan takes us from modern Warsaw to dark slavic mountains where pagan old ways prevail. An exiled priest wrestling with his sexuality and the village bad boy begin a forbidden romance tangled with the occult. Not sure about Wyatt Baker’s narration style. sbee.link/xfjypg3vac
Richard Amos gives great adventure. Usually with a twinkish hero and daddyish love interest. Here a witch assassin and demon. His worlds are a magical, sexy, violent, and whimsical send up to the genre.. This is his second series set in the Midnight Magic universe. sbee.link/pmw7jnbeqx
Fairies (the fey kind) don’t really interest me. Their ubiquitousness in contemporary urban fantasy has taken some getting used to. Kai@kaibutlerauthor.bsky.social ’s hero is a paranormal private PI and closeted fairy whose fun snark and sass serve trickster appeal. A genuinely sweet romance.
Jackson Marsh@ returns to the Victorian world of Lord Clearwater, this time focused on the young men enrolled in his Larkspur Academy. Marsh knows weaves mystery, suspense, and taboo romance in a way that delights and keeps those pages turning. sbee.link/93rj8acwux
Sam Burns@burnswrites.bsky.social blends romantasy with mystery. Our aging twink hero, a private eye, tries to solve murder while contending with a vamp of a vampire mom and a slow burning love interest. Fun and a little over-the-top with an 80s detective show vibe. sbee.link/8nkgd9qvcb
K.D. Edwards delivers top-shelf contemporary fantasy with his Tarot Sequence series. The world, where Tarot trumps are nobles, has an urban Alice in Wonderland feel. Dark and wounded characters navigate adventure, romance, and found family. sbee.link/c7b3aergxy
If there’s such a thing as a cozy thriller, Eli Easton & RJ Scott’s Lake Prophet Mystery series is it. Small town suspense and reluctant romance gives this story a Big Eden vibe. Sean Crisden@ narrates wounded characters with a lovely balance of light and dark. sbee.link/4hrbyejcdq
Lily Mayne @ continues the Monstrous series begun in Soul Eater. This series of stories is formulaic, but that formula works to build a layered and rich dystopian world. Dark queer romantasy: boys and the monsters they love. Imaginative and erotic. sbee.link/fke9hbnpy7
This tale by A.K. Asher would be better classified as fantasy erotica than paranormal romance. Seminary student strays from his class tour to end up face-to-face (and other parts) with the Egyptian god Anubis. Despite the sex, it oddly has the flavor of a morality tale. Author's first work.
Ben Alderson creates a witchy world where Hunger Games-type trials determine the next Grand High. Our enemies-to-lovers compete while navigating violence, murder, betrayal, and, of course, budding romance. Teeters between epic and sprawling. A setup for the sequel.https://sbee.link/aqmcdpkjne
My first encounter with Richard Amos @, this series follows the unlikely romance between an unsuspecting necromancer and Death himself. Amos provides a wildly inventive adventure brought to life by deft and sexy narration from Cooper North. sbee.link/ecq8x6ru9t
Ariana Nash can spin a helluva tale. Her Shadows of London series is quintessential gay urban fantasy with a deliciously dark edge. A masterful balance of romance, magic, action, and suspense makes this 5-book series a page-turning binge. sbee.link/e8xka4nfqg
In urban romantasy, werewolves have been done to death. Aeron Dusk, though, turns the tropes on their heads... Running away from a bad breakup, our hero finds himself a fish-out-of-water in a mysterious town populated by shifters. A queer tale of found family and true love.
This dark and bloody anti-romance from Nero Seal is mesmerizing. He creates a gritty, noir world dripping with violence and lust. Transgressive, taboo, high stakes, and sexy. This one slipped under my skin and stayed there. sbee.link/4waf9hcbu6
Hailey Turner@haileyturner.bsky.social ’s Soulbound series is the gold standard in gay urban romantasy. Masterfully crafted, this epic is fresh and seriously cool. Gary Furlong’s tour de force narration is cinematic. sbee.link/havrqcudmw
This compelling trilogy from Daniel de Lorne is an epic, dark MM romantasy that takes place across centuries. This twisted family saga is drenched in blood and magic. A grown-up Grimm’s fairy tale with teeth. sbee.link/cgx493vrfe
Alex Woolfson delivers an urban MM romantasy romp featuring demons, the fae, vampires, and competing love interests in the form of a disembodied spirit and a kick ass demon hunter. The titular incubus is a lovelorn unlikely hero in this charming trope-filled tale. sbee.link/3tbh8rxecy
A vampire and his dog are the anti-heroes in this grimdark urban fantasy adventure. A brief nod to romance, but this take is all action, mystery, and suspense in a richly imagined world. A true thrill ride from . From Podium. sbee.link/jkq64dyrwx
Stylized Aries bas relief in white marble and gold
Happy New Year!
Will you build something liberated instead of trying to reform the rot?
Because history’s not repeating.
It’s remembering."
So the question isn’t whether fascism can happen here, it’s whether you’re willing to do anything different this time.
Will you divest from the systems that protect whiteness at all costs?
Will you refuse the comfort of neutrality?
You’re watching the great-grandchildren of Confederates, Klansmen, WASPs, and Nazi/Nazi sympathizers reenact the script they inherited, because America has never been held accountable and never held them accountable. These are the chickens coming home to roost.
...were turned away to die.
So when people ask, “How did we get here?”
The answer is: we never left.
We just changed uniforms.
After the war, America didn’t “defeat” Nazism, it absorbed it. German scientists who built the Nazi war machine were granted citizenship and six-figure government contracts under Operation Paperclip. Meanwhile, Jewish refugees (white-bodied but still “undesirable” under immigration quotas)...
When we talk about Nazi Germany, people act like it was some isolated evil, when in truth it was America’s ideological cousin. Hitler himself looked to the U.S. for models of racial hierarchy: Jim Crow laws, Indigenous genocide, and eugenics programs that started here first.
This provocative article by Desiree B. Stephens was written about policing and state-sanctioned violence in July 2024. A little over a year later, amidst ice raids and military forces occupying American cities, it's even more chilling...
open.substack.com/pub/desireeb...
9/6/1994, 1999, 2000, 4/6/2000, 9/29/2011, 2012, 5/27/2012, 5/18/2013, 9/28/2015, 6/9/2019, 2020, 7/22/2020, 2021, 2025 (aka the Tik Tok Prophecy), 2028, 2029, 2057, 2060 (this last prediction from none other than Sir Isaac Newton!)