Five authors have joined together to produce stories evoking both loss and hope. Reaching deep within their fiery imaginations, these stories take flight and showcase dreams for a better today and future for LGBT everywhere. Embodying a diverse set of talents and stories, this volume sets out to grab the hearts of those who read the m/m genre and to offer hope to LGBT across the globe. By offering this book, we hope to support the following charities across the globe:
GALA, South Africa
Lost-n-Found, USA
Youth Off The Streets, Australia
The Albert Kennedy Trust, United Kingdom
This anthology edited by Louis J Harris and Kimi D Saunders
Indigent has been produced to entertain and delight and all the stories leave the reader with a “feel good” state of mind.
Frederick Eugene Feeley Jr’s “Indigent”, after which the anthology takes its name, brings the reader to witness an apocalyptic war between the good and evil that rages in one man’s mind. Soon he will know that his problems are insignificant compared to those of others.
Mari Evan’s “Stumbling into Forever”, involves a handsome young vampire who will learn that just a sip of blood is the difference between love and freezing to death.
Leona Windwalker’s “If Only the World”, takes rejection to another level. A heartbreaking story that is turned on its head by the kindness of strangers.
Shaye Evans’ “Rescued”, is a contemporary social statement about the aftermath of a young man’s life after his drink has been spiked at a bar.
LeAnne Phoenix’s “Higher Love”, takes us on an almost spiritual journey through the minds of two people who have never met, but have spoken on a telepathic level. When they do come together, that bond is already cemented, but there is a price to pay.
From CoolDudes Publishing – we’re making an effort to support our gay community. Are you?
Buy links:
Book trailer code: <iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/-kUTSeHZFg4″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Hi folks, this is Mari Evans and I was invited to Love Bytes to talk a bit about this new anthology by CoolDudes. It’s the first book they released for charity, and they’re planning more!
When I was first asked to write a short story to raise money for LGBT youth centers across the world, I was pretty excited. But then you start thinking…. This has to be pretty good, because you want to raise as much money for these kids as possible. These centers operates largely on donations as funding is scarce.
I liked the idea to donate to multiple projects and across the globe, so there’s help for more than just one little part of it. Children are still chucked out of their house by the people who are supposed to love them unconditionally, and all because they happen to be gay/lesbian/bi/transsexual/gender fluid or any other sexuality you can name. So the parents basically say; I only love you if you’re straight. But how is that love? I’m a mother and I cannot for the live of me think of one reason I would stop loving my child. Even if she murdered someone, I could not stop. I’d be disappointed, angry, sad, and a whole lot of other things, but stop loving her? Never.
I got a little rant-y over there, sorry. It’s just something I feel very strongly about. Children are to be cherished, not abandoned. That’s why I was very happy to help with this first edition of this anthology.
So what’s my story about… It’s about Ollie, a young vampire who has been kicked out by his dad when he found out Ollie was gay. When he stumbles out of his hiding place, he walks right into a handsome young man. This man offers him a warm meal and a place to crash, but it turns out to be far more than that.
This idea was not my first go at writing a short story for this anthology. I had already started a different one, when I was just not feeling it. The idea was good (at least I thought so) but somehow the MC’s didn’t speak to me. Then Ollie popped into my head and I decided to give him a chance.
Ben came along naturally, they were just meant to be. But Ash also seemed to just belong in this story, because as soon as I knew where I wanted Ollie and Ben to meet, Ash made himself known to me too. So the story was basically born.
I enjoyed writing these young men very much, and I was kind of sad it could only be a short story. But then again, when I was done it felt complete. I might write another story about Ash someday though.
I hope you all buy this book to support the youth that needs our help. It’s a shame that it’s necessary but it is. Of course I also hope you’ll enjoy the stories, and you’ll be entertained enough to want to buy the next one when it comes out. Maybe share the link on social media, so it gets exposure and we earn a whole lot of money for the youth centers.
Thank you for listening to my rant and the rest of my little ‘chat’,
Love,
Mari
Even when he wanted to, he wasn’t comfortable using swear words. His dad had used them all the time, and so had his brothers and sisters. It was just so crude, and his mama had always said that people only used them if they lacked communication skills. Not that her superior knowledge of words had saved her from getting murdered by a bunch of wild animals. Bloody assholes tore her apart for trying to save a little girl, and he got to watch.
“Might be why I’m so messed up in the brain department. That, and being
a vampire. Too bad being a vamp doesn’t give me the power to deal with this freaking cold.”
He stumbled through the dark alley.
“And now I’m talking to myself. Great, I’m officially pathetic. All I need is an aluminum foil hat and an imaginary pet, then I’ll be ready for a straight- jacket.”
He reached the end of the alley but his feet still weren’t fully cooperating, at the intersection of the alley and the street, he tripped over his shoes and fell head-on into a passerby.
THWACK!
His face smacked into a hard shoulder and pain exploded behind his eyes. “Umpf,” was all he was capable of mumbling before sliding down to the
sidewalk. He landed with a thud, shoulders first because his face was still slid- ing down the strangers legs. When he finally lay on the ground, he decided to stay there. It was safer, because walking was too difficult for him. His cheek and eye throbbed and he was dizzy.
“Oh my god! Are you all right? Are you hurt? Shit, shit, shit…um, kid?” A frantic male voice blurted out. It did weird things to Ollie’s stomach. ‘Or may- be that’s the hunger,’ he thought.
But then the guy touched him and Ollie could barely suppress a shiver. Warm fingertips squeezed his wrist carefully, trying to find a pulse.
After few seconds the guy sighed. “Not dead, thank god.” A warm hand softly tapped his cheek “Hello, kid? Can you hear me? Open your eyes for me…please?”
Ollie groaned. He didn’t want to open his eyes. If he did, he had to face the world again, and he wasn’t too fond of the world right then. But the pleading tone in the man’s voice made him want to sooth his panic. He wanted to take away his fear, all fears. He wanted to protect him from everything scary and painful in life.
-Stumbling Into Forever, Mari Evans
F.E. Freeley Jr:
F.E. Feeley Jr was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and lived there for twenty years before joining the military. He is a veteran of the US Armed Services; having done a tour in support of Operation Iraq Freedom in 2002-2003, he turned college student, pursuing a degree in political science. He now lives in Southeast Texas where he is married to the love of his life, John, and where they raise their 1½ year old German shepherd, Kaiser.
As a young man, reading took center stage in his life, especially those novels about ghosts, witches, goblins, and all the other things that went bump in the night. His favorite authors include such writers as Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and Anne Rice, whose work allowed him to travel to far off places and meet fascinating and scary characters. As a gay man, he wishes to be able to write good fictional literature for those who love the genre and to write characters that readers can relate to. All in all, he is a cigarette smokin’, whiskey drinkin’, rock and roll lovin’, tattoo wearin’ dreamer of a man with a wonderful husband who puts up with his crap and lets him write his stories.
Author links:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/F.E.-Feeley-Jr./e/B00B3ERX34/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6806438.F_E_Feeley_Jr_
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnandfrederick.forgasfeeley?fref=ufi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/fefeeleyjr
Leona Windwalker:
Leona is a longtime staunch supporter of human rights and environmental causes. Her favourite genre to read is M/M fiction and she particularly enjoys science fiction, fantasy, and action/suspense subgenres–especially if they have a nice seasoning of romance. She has far too many books on her Kindle, has overloaded her phone with even more and, when not reading, writing, being driven to distraction by her children, or being overlorded by her three cats, can be found trying to locate the portal that the sock monster uses to steal socks from her dryer.
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10920862.Leona_Windwalker
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Leona-Windwalker/890405037684824?ref=bookmarks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShroudedDancer
Mari Evans:
Mari is a wife and the proud mother of a very active daughter, two
dogs and two cats. She’s a very social kind of girl, who loves to talk. It’s both her best and worst quality.
From the moment she could read, she devoured books. Anything goes, as long as it has a happy ending.
There were always stories swirling around in her head and as a child she liked to lay in bed and let the characters have their story and happy ending. It wasn’t until 2013 that she actually tried to put one of the whole stories down and submit it to a publisher. To her own surprise and excitement it was accept- ed. This gave her the drive to keep going.
The decision to write m/m was made when a friend told a story about a young gay man that struck a chord, even as her husband had already encour- aged her to try it earlier.
Now she found her passion, having already found the love in her family and friends, her life is completely chaotic, crazy but wonderful.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Mari-Evans/e/B00YB3I2R0/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_5?qid=1433961141&sr=1-5
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8394560.Mari_Evans
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mari-Evans/1412324675676352?fref=ts
M.LeAnne Phoenix:
M.LeAnne Phoenix would tell you that the worst time of her life was the two years that she attempted to take off from writing. If you asked her to explain exactly why she did such a thing, you would most likely get the mad attempt to arch an eyebrow like her dad and then a shake of the head as she told you it was unlucky to speak of such things. Suffice it to say, it will never happen again!
Born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas in the mid-1970’s, Ms. Phoenix was young and wild (and even free!) during the crazy wondrous decade known as the 1980’s and the even crazier but now grungy decade of the 1990’s. Music is second only to the muses that live and breathe to fill her mind with beautiful men, and music always helps them to tell their stories. She is never without her iPod or her computer no matter where she goes, although, she does like to hike and take pictures of the sky and the moon, and even the occasional shot of the sun through the branches of a tree.
An avid cat lover, Ms. Phoenix has been owned by many throughout her life, though her current owner is one Lily-Rose, who really would like for her to step away from the keyboard and pay her some attention! After all, hasn’t she earned it?
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/mleannephoenix
Twitter at https://twitter.com/MLPhoenix
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8302010.M_LeAnne_Phoenix
Shaye Evans:
Shaye Evans is a proud Australian author of the M/M Romance genre. She prides herself in not only writing the genre but also reading it. As an author and supporter to the LGBT community, Shaye wishes to inspire anyone who reads her books and hope they help in whatever insignificant or significant way.
At age nineteen, Shaye found her love in the genre when she read her first M/M and was instantly hooked, but it took her an entire year to begin writing her own. She has had five of nine short stories accepted to be published in 2014 alone. Something she is very proud to admit–and who wouldn’t be?
When not writing or plotting her next piece, Shaye keeps busy by either reading one of over four-hundred books in her collection, designing her next book cover, or shopping. She one day dreams of being a paramedic and her books making it to the movies!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Shaye-Evans/e/B00RNVZRT8/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_4
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11012242.Shaye_Evans
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShayeLEvans?fref=ts
Want to show your support:
https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/28009-indigent-the-lgbt-fundraiser?locale=en
