Randy’s honest and heartbreaking stories from childhood to adulthood show us what it means to be human in an age when homosexuality is still under attack. Having been one of the “attackers” himself for a period of his life (through ex-gay ministry), we learn how anyone can be groomed to do harm to others—especially when they are desperately searching for connection and community.

If you’ve ever wondered how someone can join a cult and go against their own community, this book documents the journey from abuse to brainwashing to betrayal, ultimately arriving at truth. In his page-turning memoir, author Randy Scobey shares his most personal moments and explores what it means to live—truly live—his life as a gay man of faith.

WHY: A Memoir - Kindle edition by Scobey, Randy, Heche, Anne. Religion & Spirituality Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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A maverick celebrity chef reluctantly agrees to let the CIA use his hugely popular international food, culture, and travel TV series as cover for a dangerous espionage mission.

When the CIA approaches celebrity chef Sebastian Pike about using his award-winning food and culture travel show as cover for espionage, the outspoken bad-boy host says no. When they point out how roaming the globe interviewing foodies, heads of state, rock stars, journalists-in-exile, poets, subversives, supermodels—even the pope—gives him perfect cover, Pike smiles and says, “F@#! no.”

They push. Promising it’s only one mission. Vowing he won’t be in danger. Calling him the MVB: Most Valuable Bystander. They’d embed their top agent in his crew to do the spy work.

It’s still no. But when they hit him with the patriotism card, he weakens. And when romantic sparks crackle between him and the female agent, Pike’s all in, kicking off a romantic spy thriller in which the globetrotting celebrity chef uses his TV series to help sneak Putin’s accountant out of Russia before he’s exposed as a mole for US intelligence.

The high-stakes mission quickly puts Pike in harm’s way. So much for MVB. There’s danger, there’s double dealing, there’s torture, there’s shooting with real bullets. Plus, a minefield of complications from the hot romance that grows between Pike and his gutsy CIA handler-producer, Cammie Nova.

From Paris to Provence, this chef is no bystander. Beyond their attraction, Pike and Nova become an operational team, not only to survive the perils they face but to pull off an operation fraught with one twist after another, capped by a shocking, emotional climax.

The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef - Kindle edition by Straw, Tom. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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​It's GO time! Author Versus AI has officially started!

To follow along with my journey, check out my "sister" website Author Versus AI. I'll be doing fun things to mark my journey throughout the course of the year, such as posting summaries of the books I'm working on, fun tidbits about genres and tips about writing, as well as updating my word count daily. There MIGHT even be a few silly pictures here and there. You never know.

On top of that, you'll get a sneak preview of the books themselves because I plan (as long as technology cooperates) to post short videos at the end of each week that will feature me reading an excerpt from the "hot off the typewriter" book I've been working on for that week.

Also, look out for me in and around the Edmonton, Alberta area. I'll be doing readings and giving workshops at various places and literary conferences, as well as having "office hours" at local libraries if you'd like to come see the writer at work. I'll be posting a schedule once I've gotten into the groove of things with the writing and feel ready to take my show on the road. I'm also a scheduled guest at several upcoming podcasts, so if you're not anywhere near Canada, you can still hear me chat about Author Versus AI online or on streaming services.

I keep saying that I'll be running a Kickstarter soon, which I will be (soon being a relative term). I'll be raising funds to pay the NON-AI (read: human) creatives who have signed up to participate in creating lovely artwork for the covers of my lovely books. And there will be all sorts of fun rewards if you support the project, such as being a character in a book or getting a one-on-one Zoom session to edit your own work or give you some targeted advice about writing. So, stay tuned for an announcement about that too.

Phew! Lots of things going on, but the first thing that's going to happen with me right now: writing like mad to get my word count in for today. Happy writing, all!

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In this newest collection of short stories from award-winning writer, Daniel M. Jaffe, red-blooded American men make mischief while exploring themselves and others throughout the United States. These men grow exhausted fulfilling heaven's anointment as a West Hollywood sex angel, endure medical sacrifice in Minneapolis while saving gay men from global extinction, encounter joy at the moment of Palm Springs transcendence to the afterlife, discover unexpected romance with someone of ambiguous gender in Chicago, revel in the laid-back sexual camaraderie of South Florida's older gay community, struggle to cease vanishing into thin air whenever spotting their beloved on Harvard's campus, fall in love with a magical Texarkana circus masturbator, and worry about the mental health of an aging Brooklyn husband. These tales of fantasy, sci-fi, horror, romance, and good old-fashioned realism, evoke deep pride in the varied wonders of being an American male.

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The next high concept horror novel from New York Times bestselling author Christopher Golden.

Across Italy there are many half-empty towns, nearly abandoned by those who migrate to the coast or to cities. The beautiful, crumbling hilltop town of Becchina is among them, but its mayor has taken drastic measures to rebuild—selling abandoned homes to anyone in the world for a single Euro, as long as the buyer promises to live there for at least five years.

It’s a no-brainer for American couple Tommy and Kate Puglisi. Both work remotely, and Becchina is the home of Tommy’s grandparents, his closest living relatives. It feels like a romantic adventure, an opportunity the young couple would be crazy not to seize. But from the moment they move in, they both feel a shadow has fallen on them. Tommy’s grandmother is furious, even a little frightened, when she realizes which house they’ve bought.

There are rooms in an annex at the back of the house that they didn’t know were there. The place makes strange noises at night, locked doors are suddenly open, and when they go to a family gathering, they’re certain people are whispering about them, and about their house, which one neighbor refers to as The House of Last Resort. Soon, they learn that the home was owned for generations by the Church, but the real secret, and the true dread, is unlocked when they finally learn what the priests were doing in this house for all those long years…and how many people died in the strange chapel inside. While down in the catacombs beneath Becchina…something stirs.

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The Oceanus Crisis

A deadly blast of unknown energy strikes a jetliner over the Pacific Ocean.

Hostile aliens? Or a new and unthinkably powerful form of Earth life?

An ingenious troubleshooter, a reluctant psychic, a bionic xenobiologist, a brilliant engineer, and a blind psychologist will descend to the depths in a prototype submarine habitat, facing the most inhospitable environment on the planet to attempt a First Contact.

Before the nuclear nations of the world take matters into their own hands.

The critical question is: are they investigators? Ambassadors?

Or just bait.

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The Queen of the Rex Ball at New Orleans’ raucous and world-famous Mardi Gras—beautiful, vibrant, and dressed in an ivory silk lamé gown with chevrons and gold beading—collapses and dies. Was foul play involved?

Jenna Depreaux, a maiden in the Queen’s court, is rich, popular, and jealous. By any measure —birth, social standing, looks—she should have been selected queen. Or so she believes. Is there blood on her hands?

Detective Decker O’Day is on the case. A tough kid from the Irish Channel, he is the son of a cop who was beaten to death on the job and a mother who lost her way to alcohol and promiscuity. He teams up with Detective Gail Waites. She carries her own baggage: a Black woman and a lesbian, her daughter is found dead under mysterious circumstances—nude and drugged, and dumped outside University Hospital.

Meanwhile: Two gunmen kill fifty-three souls at a Jewish Synagogue in town. A popular anchor at the local TV news station disappears without a trace. A woman is killed when an unidentified pair drops a cinderblock from an overpass, smashing the windshield of her car.

As the bodies pile up, as New Orleans society closes ranks, O’Day and Waites must avoid attempts on their own lives and puzzle together the disparate crimes. Are the events connected? Conflicts arise and tempers flare in this taught and picaresque psychological thriller.

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Clyde's idyllic afternoon in the surf with his mates is interrupted by the news that there's been a quadruple suicide in an apartment overlooking the beach.

Two of the deceased are the parents of Barry Wilkinson, one of Clyde's childhood friends, a man he hasn't seen since Clyde donned the khaki and left for war. Wilkinson engages Clyde to discover the identity of a mysterious woman who has been left a huge sum of money in his father's will.

On the surface, what appears to be a straightforward case evolves into a complex story of deception, lies, violence and murder. Relationships are tested and new ones formed, and Clyde discovers that those connections that seem unrelated are closely linked behind a veil of secrecy.

The early summer of 1957 is a time in which Clyde nearly loses everything he holds dear—his own life included—all because of two couples who died while playing bridge at the beach.

Bridge at the Beach (The Clyde Smith Mysteries Book 5) - Kindle edition by Jones, Garrick. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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In 1939, fourteen-year-old Violet and her parents arrive at the Sulphur Springs Hotel, drawn in along with other desperate guests by legends of the waters’ restorative properties. Here, curious young Violet strikes up an instant friendship with the hotelier’s worldly daughter, Julia. Together, they attempt to solve the mysteries behind the hotel’s luxury façade — including the cases of the brownie thief, the secretive hotel director, and the flirtatious gardener.

But when one of Violet’s investigations leads her to commit an act of treachery, she unwittingly aides a murderous plot. Seventy years later, the killer has yet to be caught.

In 2009, a widowed Violet returns to the hotel, now in ruins. Her intention is to solve this cold case. The scene of the crime reveals new clues and revives old memories, including that of her lost family and her own sexual awakening. Now, confronting her final years, Violet is desperate to make peace with her ghosts, even if she may be seventy years too late.

The Sulphur Springs Cure - Kindle edition by Round, Jeffrey. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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Women Empowered, Enlightened, and Transformed

Step back in time to the revolutionary 1970s with Desert Haven, a compelling exploration of a hidden facet of history. Born at the crossroads of feminism, sexual liberation, lesbian separatism, and a return to nature, this novel breathes life into the movement that sought to forge self-governed women-centered societies within intentional communities. Across a span of forty years, Desert Haven meticulously weaves the political, social, and spiritual tapestry of a marginalized subgroup within the queer community. Through nuanced storytelling, the women grapple with the challenges of preserving their vision, offering tales of grief and hope, loss and celebration, passion, and solitude.

Against the evocative backdrop of women's land, where cactus and creosote stand beneath expansive skies and monsoon rains paint the landscape, Desert Haven unfolds through fifteen interconnected characters over four decades. Each character, a chapter in this rich narrative, contributes to a chorus of diverse voices that resonate with the intricacies of the broader community. As women seamlessly flow in and out of each other's stories, Desert Haven reveals a network of evolving relationships, creating a captivating portrayal of resilience and the enduring bonds that shape our collective history.

Desert Haven - Kindle edition by Starr, Penelope. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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Who wouldn't want sage yet sassy advice from the ghost of their dead cat?

It's 1987 and New York actor/singer/waiter Matthew is struggling to restart his career, regain a sense of optimism, and open himself up to dating in the aftermath of his lover's death from AIDS-all with the spiritual guidance of his recently deceased cat, Hobo. Life is uncertain in this turbulent era of the '80s, as the gay community is reeling from the onslaught of AIDS and struggling with the government's lack of support. After some missteps seeking love in all the wrong places, will Hobo's lessons for Matt on how to believe in himself, and in his ability to find love, lead to romance once again? Can he get his career back on track if he auditions for a new and timely show? Will he find his voice on the grand stage and realize his dream of making it to Broadway? Find out in this journey of discovery- a sweet and entertaining valentine of a yarn.

A Cat in the Act - Kindle edition by Arsenault, Brian. Literature & Fiction Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

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