Wren Vaneltino

MM Action Adventure, Contemporary, Eotic Romance, Mystery,Suspense, Thriller

As the bestselling author of twenty-one novels, Wren Valentino writes in multiple genres, primarily romance, thriller, young adult, and horror. To date, he has written more than seventy stage plays that have been performed in twelve countries in three...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/wren-valentino/

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Madalyn George

MM Contemporary, Gaylit, Holiday, Politics, Sports

Madalyn George is the author of (mostly) low-angst, (hopefully) funny MM Romance happily ever afters (spoiler alert). I write what I enjoy reading, contemporary stories with sweet clueless guys who are really good at s3x! ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/madalyn-george/

#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon

Check out Lori Alden Holuta

Fantasy, Nonfiction, Poetry

Lori Alden Holuta lives between the cornfields of mid-Michigan, where she grows vegetables, teas and herbs, when she’s not playing games with a cat named Chives. She’s fond of activities from the past, including canning and preserving, crocheting, reading in the dark, and cooking. ...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/lori-alden-holuta/

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Maxie Dara: Get Yourself a Writing Group https://www.writersdigest.com/maxie-dara-get-yourself-a-writing-group #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #Mystery/Thriller #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #CozyMysteries #BeInspired #Interviews #Genre

Nick Croydon: Trust in Your Agent https://www.writersdigest.com/nick-croydon-trust-in-your-agent #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #HistoricalThriller #Mystery/Thriller #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #ThrillerFiction #BeInspired #Historical #Interviews #Genre

Author Spotlight: Alexandra Beaumont

Alexandra Beaumont (she/her) is a fantasy novelist with a passion for folklore, playing musical instruments and exploring the wilds of the UK. Her latest release, Dissonance of Bird Song, is praised for being a “visceral and lyrical” page turner with “praiseworthy worldbuilding” and was recently named Distinguished Favourite in the Independent Press Awards.

Specialising in gothic and folkloric literature, Alexandra’s lyrical books weave together myth, magic and intrigue.

Author Links:

Find her on Instagram: @ABeaumontWriter

Linktree with buy links: linktr.ee/AlexandraBeaumontAuthor

Website: alexandrabeaumontauthor.com

Your novel Ballad River Bones is the concluding part of your duology that begins with Dissonance of Bird Song – can you tell readers more about your influences for this duology, and how it came to be 2 books rather than a series or a standalone, or a trilogy?

I grew up with Cornish folklore: stories of mist and moors. I wanted to write a fantasy book that brought together these elements with another passion of mine: folk music.

The story follows two sisters on either side of the divide of the myst shifting across the earth, and so it made sense for the story to split into two books to tell both their stories through their own eyes.

What particularly draws you to folklore fantasy, and how would you describe it to readers who have maybe never heard of this subgenre before?

Folklore tells the tales veiled in magic, sometimes to explain away strange things or to put mysterious stories to safety morals like not going into the forest. I find that endlessly fascinating as there are so many stories that have grown and changed over the years to make sense of weird phenomena.

This also blends perfectly with the landscape of the gothic, which I specialised in, and this also draws on the mystery and landscape that folklore fantasy does. I am also a LARPer and LARP often draws a lot on folklore and also blends folk music, so it feels like a perfect match in a lot of ways.

What drew you to ancient Cornwall as your setting, and can you tell us more about the way you use the landscape and mythic history of the region in your writing? 

My mum grew up in Cornwall and told me stories of the land, and so in these stories and the land that brings them to life I tell the stories she inspired me to love.

The world of folklore and folk horror relies on landscape, and Cornwall brings this to life in a very special way with its rough cliffs and so it felt like a perfect setting for my tale of myst, magic and bird song.

What folklore can readers expect to find in Ballad River Bones – or indeed, are there any folk ballad influences? How did you incorporate that folklore into your worldbuilding, can you tell us about that part of your writing process? 

There’s a range of folk ballads that influenced both Dissonance of Bird Song and Ballad of River Bones, and probably the best way to experience this is by listening to Storm Tongue – the album I put together to show the music that I wove into my books.

It captures the strange mysteries of Cornwall and the raw power of nature magic in Cornish tales.

The themes of “love, loss, and sacrifice” are very prevalent in the medieval romances and tales like Tristan and Isolde (set in Cornwall, of course) – why were these themes important to you, and why did you choose the characters to be sisters, and use the ties of family and sisterly relationships to explore these themes?

Tristan and Isolde is a great inspiration of mine, but I wanted to tell the story of two sisters who were so close and then torn apart by circumstance as the two siblings run out of sacred Myst and are named outsiders by their people.

Despite all that they still fight to protect the other, and make life-altering choices to do so.

There’s so much wonderful conflict and magical intrigue to play with when you introduce a bit of folklore into the mix and throw love into the recipe too.

I wanted to discuss themes of humanity and how much of it someone will give up to save someone they love, and this provided the perfect setting for that – not unlike Tristan and Isolde.

How did you develop the characters of the sisters, and what is your character development process like? Can you share any tips on character building?

I had a wonderfully fun time running creative writing workshops at a school in Cornwall where we talked about how to build characters and write stories based on folklore.

My tip is always to take a trait you can relate to as your character’s motivation and then throw in a piece of conflict that challenges that view, and test it to its limit.

I use the same approach for writing characters for LARP, and it leads to wonderful and magical dilemmas.

What other work do you have available for readers to pick up after Ballad and do you have anything in the pipeline for readers to look out for? 

My debut, Testament of the Stars, is a Tudor inspired fantasy based on the astrological beliefs of Dr John Dee. It takes these ideas and turns into a fantasy religion where people are fighting over who gets to drink the blood of the stars and steal their memories.

I also have a few short stories published, which you can find on my website.

Like This? Try These:

• Author Spotlight ~ Blog Tour: Sandy Butchers Date May 19, 2025 Author cmrosens In relation to Author Interview
• Author Jelena Dunato on Croatian History, Folklore, and Writing Fantasy Date April 7, 2025 Author cmrosens In relation to Author Interview
• Author Spotlight: Lauren H. Salisbury Date May 16, 2025 Author cmrosens In relation to Author Interview

#authorInterview #authorSpotlight #fantasy #fantasyAuthors #folklore

Check out Amanda Cherry

Fantasy

Amanda Cherry is a native of Pensacola, FL, and an alumnus of UNLV who hasn't been thoroughly warm since moving to the Seattle area in 2003. Amanda's first love was performing, and she has had a successful career as a theatre, television and film actress.

Amanda’s first book was penned in her family’s den and published by her father in time for Christmas in 1985, she was six ...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/amanda-cherry/

#AuthorSpotlight #Bookstodon @bookstodon #author

Gareth Chris

MM, MF Erotic Romance, Gaylit, Mystery, Sports, Suspense, Thriller

Gareth Chris is the author of the forthcoming 'All on the Line' series, where heroes you'll root for risk everything for love. He has a passion for storytelling and creating compelling characters that find romance in the most difficult situations. ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/gareth-chris/

#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon

Zakiya N. Jamal: You Can’t Fix a Blank Page https://www.writersdigest.com/zakiya-n-jamal-you-cant-fix-a-blank-page #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #BeInspired #Interviews #Romance #romance #Genre

I love sharing some of my author friends with y'all. Check out Sienna Eggler

Fantasy, Paranormal, Sci Fi

Sienna Eggler is a queer and autistic author with a love for campy body horror, black comedy, and supernatural creatures such as shifters and vampires. Their books range from sapphic paranormal romance to science fiction, with bits of horror sprinkled throughout. When not writing, they like to listen to audio...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/sienna-eggler/

#AuthorSpotlight #Bookstodon @bookstodon #author

Time to share another author friend: Becca Seymour

MM Action Adventure, Comedy, Contemporary, Fantasy, Holiday, Interracial, New Adult, Paranormal, People of Color, Sports, Western

Becca Seymour is the #1 gay romance best seller of the True-Blue series. Known for “steamy and endearing” and “emotionally profound love stories” ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/21905/

#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon

Kit Frick: Finishing the First Draft Felt Like Winning a Gold Medal https://www.writersdigest.com/kit-frick-finishing-the-first-draft-felt-like-winning-a-gold-medal #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #Mystery/Thriller #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #BeInspired #Interviews #mystery #Genre

I love sharing some of my author friends with y'all. Check out Tal Frost

Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal

Tal Frost is a trans male author living in England who writes gay & queer supernatural fantasy (MM, MMM+, New Adult/Adult). Demons, gods, shifters, humans, ghosts, hot sex, messy love, characters who struggle and quandaries about good and evil. Please note - these books are NOT suitable for younger readers or for...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/tal-frost/

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Check outLiz Faraim

FF Contemporary, Lesfic, Military, Mystery, Thriller

Liz (she/her) has a full plate between balancing a day job, parenting, writing, and finding some semblance of a social life. In past lives she has been a soldier, a bartender, a shoe salesperson, an assistant museum curator, and even a driving instructor. ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/liz-faraim/

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Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.

Today: J. C. Owens – author of gay fantasy and romance!

I had my first book published back in 2007. Back then I was writing under the name J. C. McGuire with a story of Arthurian Briton, with “My Name is Aelida”, a m/f title that spanned four ...

https://www.jscottcoatsworth.com/author-spotlight-j-c-owens-2/

#AuthorSpotlight #Interview #Author #Writer #Writers #WritersofMastodon

Alana Quintana Albertson: On Retellings, Tequila, and Romance https://www.writersdigest.com/alana-quintana-albertson-on-retellings-tequila-and-romance #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #BeInspired #Interviews #Retellings #Romance #romance #Genre

Rosie A. Point: How Can I Get My Point Across With Fewer Words? https://www.writersdigest.com/rosie-a-point-how-can-i-get-my-point-across-with-fewer-words #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #Mystery/Thriller #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #cozymystery #BeInspired #Interviews #Genre

Check out Mikko Rauhala

Fantasy, Sci Fi

Mikko Rauhala is a Finnish SF author making their foray into the English speaking world. They often write their stories in both languages, which can get frustrating when there’s no one else to blame for the occasional double entendres.

Informed by their master’s degree in intelligent systems, they’re most at home in hard science fiction settings, though they’re not ...

https://www.limfic.com/mbm-book-author/mikko-rauhala/

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Check out Ariella Talix

MM, MF Action Adventure, Contemporary, Erotic Romance, Historical, Military, New Adult, Sports, Suspense, Western

Ariella Talix is the nom de plume of a bestselling author who lives in America's Heartland.

Her goal is to preserve the dignity of family members who would rather not be associated publicly with a woman ...

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/ariella-talix/

#GayRomance #WritersofMastodon #AuthorSpotlight Bookstodon #MMBookstodon #LGBTQBookstodon @LGBTQBookstodon @MMbookstodon

Kayla Cottingham: On Writing Within a Preexisting IP https://www.writersdigest.com/kayla-cottingham-on-writing-within-a-preexisting-ip #Writer'sDigestAuthorSpotlight #AuthorSpotlightSeries #WriteBetterFiction #MiddleGradeHorror #AuthorSpotlights #AuthorSpotlight #BeInspired #Children's #Interviews #Genre