Timothy J. Lambert and Becky were invited to select and edit stories for the 2014 edition of Cleis Press’s bestselling series from some of gay fiction’s most respected authors as well as several exciting new voices.
In their followup to their 2009 anthology, Timothy J. Lambert and Becky compiled another romantic collection of short stories from both veteran writers and new voices for Cleis Press.
As R.D. Cochrane, Becky co-edited with Timothy J. Lambert this outstanding collection of romantic short stories from Cleis Press. The anthology includes some of the best-known voices in gay fiction along with new writers making their debut.
Coventry, Texas, bills itself as the “tiny town with the big heart.” Amid its picturesque storefronts and open-minded locals, one woman in search of a temporary hideaway might find much more than she hoped for…
Jandy Taylor’s grandfather always teased her about not being able to finish anything. So perhaps it’s not a shock that a few days before her wedding to soap star Hudson Blake, Jandy postpones the ceremony and hitches a ride to Coventry, Texas, with a stranger named Sam, a dog named Sue, and an overwelming desire to escape—if only for a few days…
Coventry is in the middle of its famed annual Godiva Festival, making it the perfect place for Jandy to be carefree and invisible. That is, until the press dubs her a “runaway bride.” Now, with an eager groom, her PR-hungry mother, and a swarm of paparazzi on her trail, Jandy has to figure out if it’s possible that a town, a life, and a man she hardly knows could suddenly feel an awful lot like home…
Coventry, Texas—a place where the locals are friendly and snow has been known to fall in December. And this year, Christmas in Coventry promises the most wonderful and magical gift of all—love!
Keelie Cannon is in danger of becoming a Scrooge. Her job at a Houston bookstore is hardly inspiring Christmas cheer—more like a need for double vodka martinis. Her surrogate mom, the rock of holiday predictability, is suddenly spending Christmas in Hawaii. So, why not grab her friends, get away from it all, and spend a nice quiet Christmas together in Coventry? It sure beats repeats of How the Grinch Stole Christmas…
Between a fractured ankle, a bawdy grandmother, and Hamlet (Keelie’s suddenly under-the-weather hamster), she and the gang are in for a Christmas that is as unpredictable as it is merry.
And when Coventry’s veterinarian starts making house calls to check on Hamlet, Keelie wonders if this Christmas might bring her what she’s always wanted: true love…
Written with Timothy J. Lambert as Cochrane Lambert.
Phillip Powell needs a stroke of good luck. He ditched college and fled his Mississippi Gulf Coast hometown to make a name for himself as a painter in New York. Now, five years later, empty canvases clutter the Hell’s Kitchen apartment he can no longer afford, and his latest lukewarm boyfriend dumps him for a poser named Stefan. Then a very special fortune cookie tells him: Everything is about to change.
An ultimatum—and a generous offer—from his imperious grandfather pulls Phillip back to Mississippi, where his beautiful, sweetly deranged mother hides out in the antebellum mansion where Phillip grew up. As he learns to make connections with his Bible-thumping aunt, a tenderhearted leather daddy, and a high school friend with a secret, Phillip rekindles the creative spark he was afraid he’d lost. He also reaches out to a not-so-lost lover who inspires Phillip to make some luck of his own.
New Year’s Eve, 1999. Millennium celebrations light up the sky from Sydney to Seattle. But in the Houston living room of Aaron Fisher, the fireworks have fizzled!
A gathering with his closest friends has devolved into a depressing deconstruction of the sad state of all of their love lives. Fed up with the moaning, Aaron comes up with The Deal: They all have until next New Year’s Eve to find true love or stop whining about it. The ensuing 12 months will answer many questions: Will Patrick, Aaron’s straight roommate, who has no sympathy for anyone’s relationship problems, be able to ride the waves as his girlfriend, Vivian, decides whether she is Betty Crocker or Betty Friedan? Having embraced her lesbianism (and turned her back on her trust fund,) will Miranda stop vampirically sucking the life out of every romance she encounters? Will Alexander stop dabbling with men’s hearts the way he dabbles in music and his parents’ bank account? And what about Aaron? How is he going to keep his end of the deal when the truth is, he’s happy with a life of bar buddies, gym buddies, and bed buddies even if his ex, Heath, keeps popping up to remind him that he’s almost 30 and has never known real love!
It’s a year of surprises for all of them, as they take on unfaithful husbands, vindictive rumormongers, well-intentioned stalkers, pixie drummers who write bad poetry, and marauding palmetto bugs. But most of all, they will discover much about themselves through the surprising, touching, and hilarious revelations produced by a year of exploring the nature of love.
Daniel Stephenson’s new Hell’s Kitchen apartment might be cramped and ancient by any self-respecting gay New Yorker’s standards, but the place has its share of amenities. Take the tiny patch of concrete just outside, which Daniel’s newly discovered green thumb has transformed into a blooming urban oasis. Take the proximity to the theater district, where Daniel’s two-timing ex-lover is starring in a revival of “Anything Goes.” And then there’s the view: a straight shot through the window of the most luscious male specimen to hit town since—well, since Daniel himself.
Peeping and pondering Mr. Perfect’s sexuality isn’t all that’s on Daniel’s mind these days. Until now, he’s been content strutting the stage of Club Chaos as his outrageous alter ego, Princess 2Di4. But on the eve of his thirtieth birthday, he’s ready to leave behind the only thing he’s been able to depend on, shedding the sequins and retreating to his own personal Eden to repot his Japanese Maple, snip his spider plant, and contemplate his future.
Practically the moment Daniel turns in his tiara, he comes face to face with his unsuspecting new neighbor—and his new neighbor’s female live-in, who may or may not be Daniel’s rival. Coincidentally, the darkly handsome Blaine Dunhill and Sheila Meyers have just moved to New York from Daniel’s hometown of Eau Claire, WI. Even more coincidentally, Blaine happens to be looking for an administrative assistant just as Daniel happens to be looking for the kind of job that doesn’t require mascara and a manicure.
But is Blaine also looking for love? More importantly, is he looking for love with a woman…or with a man…or perhaps with a man who until now made a living impersonating a woman? Determined to conceal his risqué past while luring the object of his affection out of the closet and into his arms, Daniel launches the biggest masquerade of his life—as a nine-to-five commuter.
Set against the vivid backdrop of a pre-millennial Manhattan populated by beautiful boys and sassy drag queens, Daniel’s hilarious and often poignant journey transports the readers from Chelsea to Christopher Street to corporate cubicles, from bawdy bar rooms to backstage Broadway to bedrooms where anything can happen. Along the way, there are rollicking—and surprising—complications as Daniel attempts to get a life at last…and maybe share it with someone.
Something’s gotta give for Adam Wilson. The hunky, sweet Midwestern entrepreneur might have a dream job creating web sites for artists, a renovated Wisconsin farmhouse, and a mom who organizes bake sales for PFLAG, but his love life is anything but picture-perfect. The guys he dates usually turn out to have criminal records, bankruptcy histories, personality disorders, or wives. And for the first time in his life, Adam is ready to look for Mr. Right instead of Mr. Right-Out-the-Door. But where to look is more the question. It’s not like bucolic, sleepy Eau Claire, Wisconsin, is exactly crawling with adorable, uncloseted gay men. Taking a job in New York City is awfully tempting, and when a computer company makes Adam an offer he can’t refuse, he packs his flannel shirts and heads east in a hurry.
Like lots of driven, career-focused people before him (think Marlo; think Mary Richards; rethink the flannel shirts…) Adam tackles the big city with farm-fresh enthusiasm, taking in the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, and tons of museums. But the most breathtaking sight of all is Jeremy, the blond, brown-eyed beauty Adam catches sight of in a Chelsea coffee shop. In addition to a buff bod and a to-die-for face, Jeremy’s got a few other attributes like a heart, a soul, and a conscience. Trouble is, he may also have an annoying boyfriend bent on turning the sexy TV actor into the yoga-practicing equivalent of Mother Teresa with better shoes. Now that Adam’s sure he’s met the love of his life, how can he get Jeremy to fall in love with him? Catching Jeremy is going to take more than Adam’s sweet-natured country enthusiasm.
While Adam chases Jeremy through New York’s finest restaurants and hottest nightclubs, the former Wisconsin jock has to admit he’s having the time of his life. Taking his own bite out of the Big Apple, Adam discovers a truth worth fighting for … that sometimes, getting Mr. Right isn’t about holding on, it’s about letting go and following wherever your heart leads you.
A wedding, a baby, a gossip columnist with an agenda, a glam-goth teenager, an executive assistant who looks like Jennifer Lopez, a massage therapist, a career change, a centuries-old rift between two New Age dowagers, and a mouthy parrot. What do these things have in common? They all complicate the lives of ad exec Blaine Dunhill and soap star Daniel Stephenson in Timothy James Beck’s third novel, I’M YOUR MAN. Can two nice Midwestern boys living in Manhattan accept that sometimes being in control means letting go?
At the Mall of the Universe, you can get anything you want. Marc Jacobs shoes. Hugo Boss suits. Food. Drinks. Dry cleaning. A room at the five-star hotel or a lane at the bowling alley. Of course, some things are harder to come by. Just ask…
Vienna. She’s one beautiful sister who’s not going to be dependent on any man ever again, thanks to her cheating, should-be-dead ex. When she’s not selling overpriced mascara to rich snobs, Vienna’s checking out the scenery. Not that she wants another man. Much. Good thing she can tell it all to…
Davii. The top hairdresser at CosmicTology is fast with a wickedly funny quip and with his shears. Nobody puts one over on Davii. But what he really craves is a nice guy to come home to. A guy who makes him want to be a better person. A guy who looks an awful lot like…
Derek. He never planned to become a kept man, but it’s hard to give up Belgian waffles delivered by room service. But no more. It’s time for New Derek—new life, new friends, new job. And who better to help him take those baby steps toward independence than…
Christian. Cool and savvy, he’s cornered the market on charm. His sales skills have won him a fawning clientele. There’s nothing he can’t do, no point he can’t score, no woman he can’t woo. But there’s a first time for everything.
Meeting for coffee, dishing over drinks, dealing with heinous bosses, scheming backstabbers, clueless customers, and the occasional object of desire, four new friends are about to discover the joys of shopping for love in a place where what you need most might just be where you least expect to find it.
For nineteen years, he’s been the “one who disappears” to his disapproving Midwestern family. And now in New York City, a metropolis of anonymity built on not making eye contact, he feels right at home. Walking in the streets of the Village, sneaking into dive bars, cleaning apartments, and trying to co-exist in a cramped apartment with his three roommates, Nick’s trying to find his way without doing anything to put his wounded heart at risk, all the while wondering, “Does anything last?”
But Nick’s vanishing act is about to be challenged in ways he never dreamed. Little by little, he’s being forced into the land of the living—into relationships and opportunities, love and sex, truth and acceptance, into the heartbreaking secrets of his past and the hopeful chances of his future. And the more visible Nick becomes, the more he realizes that in life and love, disappearing is not an option…
Becky’s short story “Never Judge a Book” is included in this collection from Alyson Books.
Inspired by Harley Jane Kozak and invited to contribute by Greg Herren, Becky talks a little about writing on the November 6-12 page of Insight Out’s 2006 daily calendar.
What are you working on now? My Mom loves the Coventry Books!
Thanks for telling me.
Would you believe I have FIVE books working in my head and nothing getting done on paper? It’s crazy. I don’t know why it’s all in my brain only.
Hey just wanted to say that I loved “Three Fortunes in One Cookie” and didn’t realize it was a collaboration. I’m off to check out your other books.
Thanks so much!