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New M/M Authors who Rock 2012 : As Nominated by Readers

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About 18 months ago I asked readers to nominate M/M authors who they thought rocked, whose books were exceptional and whose writing was so enticing they couldn’t put their books down. The criteria for selection was pretty simple:

1. The author must write M/M

2. He/she must not have been published in the genre for more than a year (give or take a month on the outside)

3. He/she must not have been interviewed or profiled on this site before; and

4. He/she must be someone that the reader believed had the writing ability and talent to become successful in this industry.

A few of the nominees last time were: Harper Fox, Donald L. Hardy, B.G. Thomas, Eden Winters, Kate Cotoner, P.D. Singer, Kate McMurray, Sloan Parker, Mary Calmes, and M.J. O’Shea. Quite an impressive list.

Newbies tend to get lost in all the hype surrounding better known authors and some eventually get so disappointed at not making a breakthrough that they give up, so I wanted to profile a few of them on the site in order that you, the readers, could get to know their work and hopefully, buy their books.

The same rules apply in 2012 except that only readers can submit nominations this time. In 2010 the nominations were not balanced because about half of them were submitted by authors which was really not what I intended. This time around it’s all up to you readers. You pick ’em. I know that authors are also readers but I think it’s important for the readers to nominate their favourite new M/M authors who they think rock.

If you wish to submit a nomination readers here’s what I require: Name of author, a bio/profile, and your reasons for nominating him or her in a paragraph or two. Please comply with the rules above. If your nominee is selected I will ask you for additional information including blurbs of a couple of books he/she has written, as well as book covers. Not every author who is nominated will make the cut – it depends on the number of authors and your reasons why you believe in your nominee. They will be competing with their peers and it’s not first come, first served. To make this fair, each reader can only submit one nomination. An author can be nominated by more than one reader – this increases his/her chances of making the final cut. 🙂

Please email jessewave@gmail.com with the subject line “New M/M Authors who Rock 2012.” If you have any questions you can leave them in the comment section of this post.

Thanks guys and I look forward to your nominations.

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45 comments

  • I’m not positive this author fits all of your criteria. I would still nominate Rhys Ford. I really loved Dirty Kiss, and I hope continues to get published.

    • Hi Nicole

      Rhys Ford’s first book Dirty Kiss was published in June or July of last year so she definitely qualifies in terms of being published under 1 year.

      You will have to get the rest of the information to complete her nomination such as a bio, and write a paragraph about why you think she should be profiled. If she’s selected then I would need a list of her book(s) and blurbs. Thanks.

  • Hi Wave! Just wondering, what sort of bio are you looking for in the nominations? I assume just the blurb you find at the back of their books, or should it be something the nominators write themselves?

    Sorry if this should be an obvious answer, lol.

    • Hi Melissa

      Here’s my first post of nominees which gives you an idea of the information I need from the readers and the author’s bio (which you can ask the author to provide or just take from their website if you want it to be a surprise). Hope this helps.

      http://tinyurl.com/4sbnbzl

  • Oooo for once this “choose/nominate a favorite” is practically a no-brainer: Kaje Harper! 🙂 She’s just been published almost exactly a year, and has become one of my favorite authors in that time. No matter what she writes about, she consistently transports me away from my reality into her own and makes me laugh, cry, and think (often all three at the same time). Her characters and worlds are consistent and believable, and most of all:real.

    She’s also a regular contributor on Goodreads and is always a voice of reason and kindness. One thing she is not, however, is succinct (as you can see by the lengthy bio). That works for me, as I love long stories, but surprisingly, she writes incredible short stories as well.

    About this author
    I live in Minnesota (where the two seasons are snow removal and road-repair, and the mosquito is the state bird, and where sometimes in winter it is so beautiful you can’t breathe for gazing at it). I have been writing for longer than I care to admit, and currently am focused on writing m/m romance. I have an interview on the BookWenches site 07/11/11 that is more biographical, for those who are interested. (http://www.bookwenches.com/iviewkajeharper.htm )

    My first professionally published book, Life Lessons, came out from MLR Press in May 2011. This was the first thing I had submitted anywhere and I was thrilled when it was accepted. There is a free short sequel, And to All a Good Night, available here, on my website and on Smashwords and Amazon. The sequel novel, titled Breaking Cover, came out from MLR in July 2011.

    My free Smashwords book, Lies and Consequences, began as a reaction to the November 2010 election. It looked like the repeal of DADT might be derailed by the political shift and I put the insanity of that law into the book. Then as I was finishing the first draft in mid-December the repeal passed. Which was great, but prompted a rewrite to a lighter and more action/romance book. I decided to put it out as a free read for fun. And then there are a lot more manuscripts on my hard drive, that I hope to go on to publish.

    And now I have other work in print, both free and professionally published. This writing thing is addictive. So read, comment, tell me what you like and what you don’t, and help me make the upcoming books even better. I have a blog here on Goodreads, and a website with WordPress, (http://kajeharper.wordpress.com/ ) if you are interested in the ramblings of a new author.

    • Hi Jeayci

      Kaje certainly qualifies. 🙂 She’s a prolific author and her first book was published in mid 2011.

      YIKES, I just checked her backlist and she may be a better candidate for an interview. Would you mind if I steal her if she’s interested in being interviewed on the site? Then you get to do this all over again and nominate someone else. 🙂

      • Of course I don’t mind! 😎 Though if you do steal her it means I’ll be back to my usual dithering about who to nominate. :grumble:

        • Your first choice was great so I’m sure you won’t have a problem finding a replacement if Kaje agrees to be interviewed. I’ll let you know. 🙂

      • LOL well so much for my nomination as well! XD Kaje Harper’s my favorite of the authors I’ve read in the M/M genre, I’ll be so glad to see her get some well-deserved recognition on this site. 😀

        Now to ponder who else I’d nominate…

  • It’s been a good year for new authors, I’m going to take a few minutes and make myself a list. One name floats to the top immediately…or two…yikes!

    Glad to see Rhys Ford is already nominated, she would have been on my short list.

    Do we e-mail or post our nominations?

  • Hey Wave, for ‘3. He/she must not have been interviewed on this site before’ profiling isn’t the same as interviewing right? I want to nominate Taylor V. Donovan but not sure if she’d qualify since she was profiled a few months back.

    • Yes Raine of course you’re allowed to nominate an author. You’re not a secret author are you? 😆 Be sure to check that your nominee has not been published for more than a year and meets the rest of the criteria. 🙂

  • Is JM Cartwright too far out of the year span? 😕 Just in case, below is the bio…

    __________

    I’ve been a mix of a dreamer and a doer for pretty much my whole life. The doer part is usually in charge. But I think it’s the dreamer that adds the spice, the panache and the zest.

    My stories come from both sides – the doer helps me get the damned things done while the dreamer lets me express my creative, artistic side. My day job of running a small business appreciates both parts and I’ve learned to be more patient, more thoughtful as I go through the day-to-day tasks and interact with people. I’ve learned to appreciate a lot more things about my life since I started seriously writing, and I’ve had an entire world opened up to me from the day I was brave enough to click send and submit my manuscript.

    I sold A Change Of Tune (which was actually the third book in the Change series that I wrote) first. I felt it was the strongest, which at the time I think was fairly accurate. By working with an incredible editor (Kate, I adore you) the other two got stronger, held a little more depth. I believe that each book I pen reflects my growth as a writer and I’m grateful to those in the business who are helping me, teaching me, letting me virtually hang around and absorb smartness.

    The community of writers is an interesting place. Like all industries, it has its quirks, its absolutely riveting drama and its uplifting, triumphant events. I’m really glad to be accepted into it and I hope to broaden the readership for LGBT books by my participation in Rainbow Romance Writers.

    I grew up in and live in America’s Second City. It’s an exciting place to be and offers lots of professional challenges and opportunities. I do have a hankering for the mountains, though. I love tall trees, water, green spaces and critters. I’m lucky enough to live surrounded by some of that, and my gardens are my pride and joy.

  • Hi Wave, so Raine already asked whether reviewers can nominate but I have another one :). Do we just email it to you or we also post our nomination here? Thanks 🙂

    • Sirius
      You can either email me or post your nomination here. Since my inbox is so full it’s probably better for me if you just post it here. Thanks.

  • I’m super torn between two authors who are finalists in this year’s Lambda Literary awards.

    But since we can only nominate one :crying2: (are you sure? lol), and since I thought his debut MM novel–Tinseltown– was so engrossing and so different, I’d like to nominate Barry Brennessel. (I think he qualifies since Tinseltown came out in June last year. He has a mystery that came out earlier, but it doesn’t seem to be M/M.)

    I picked parts of his bio from Goodreads. It might be longer than Kaje Harper’s. LOL

    *******

    When Barry’s first collection of stories was read aloud by his second grade teacher, the author hid in the bathroom. As the years flew by, he wrote more, hid less (not really), and branched out to Super 8 films and cassette tape recorders. Barry’s audience—consisting solely of friends and family—were both amused and bemused.

    Since those childhood days, Barry has earned degrees in English and French from the State University of New York College at Brockport, and a Master of Arts in Writing from the Johns Hopkins University.

    Tinseltown is Barry’s first novel.

    His stories, novels and teleplays have won awards, including a 2008 Pushcart Prize nomination; 3rd Place in the 2010 Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) literary contest and finalist status in the 2006, 2008 and 2009 PNWA contests; 3rd Place in the 79th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition and finalist status in the Winter 2010 WILDSound Screenplay competition.

    • Hi Bryant

      Your nominee definitely qualifies since he’s been published in M/M for less than a year. WOW, He’s certainly been busy.

  • LOL I see two people beat me to it in nominating Rhys Ford! I seriously cannot wait to read her next book 😀

  • I’d like to nominate Katey Hawthorne.

    I particularly like the intensity of her books, there is a lovely concentration of attention to detail in her characters. Her trick of exploring her character’s personalities through very well written sex scenes is clever and effective. The three books I’ve read all have heat, humour and are very enjoyable with the added value of great playlists!

    Biography
    Katey Hawthorne is an avid reader and writer of dark fiction and superpowered romance, even though the only degree she holds is in the history of art. (Or, possibly, because the only degree she holds is in the history of art.) Originally from the Appalachian foothills of West Virginia, she currently lives in the D.C. Metro Area. In her spare time she enjoys comic books, B-movies, loud music, Epiphones, and Bushmills.

    There is a longer bio on her website. http://www.kateyhawthorne.com/

  • :wave:

    I would like to nominate Ben Monopoli 😀

    “Gay 30-year-old male in Boston likes books, Italian food and long walks on the beach. Just kidding. Actually that’s all true, especially beaches with lighthouses. As for the writing, I’ve always had a thing for writing. Books are important in my family, so that got me off to a good start, but mostly I just like how writing feels. There’s a little jolt of awesome that happens when I feel like I’ve written a good sentence. And fiction, in particular, because I like making things up. To me, writing nonfiction feels too much like work.” (taken from an interview) :computer:

    What can I say? I think his two books (The Cranberry Hush & The Painting of Porcupine City) are great, touching characters and unforgettable stories 😎

    I´m sure there are more 2011 awesome authors out there but I usually can´t remmeber when they first were published 😕 :doh:

  • I want to nominate G.N.Chevalier. Bonds of earth is a wonderful book. The short bio is from the Dreamspinner press site. On the author`s site is even less:G.N. Chevalier has lived in Ottawa, Toronto, Québec City, and Montreal, but currently resides in Novia Scotia with her partner of many years. A long-time student of history. she is particularly interested in helping to tell the hidden stories that are only now being rediscovered. Some of her hobbies include playing music, video remixing, and photography.
    I hope the author fits all of the criteria.

      • I am going to third this one, since this was my original nomination (in my mind :)) as well, but I guess I cant do it and nominate another one? If not, please disregard the third vote Wave. I would like to nominate JF Smith, self published author of Falling off the face of the Earth and Latakia. Unfortunately this author does not appear to have a website yet, so I cannot provide you with his biography (would love to be proven wrong).

        I want to nominate him, because while I do not consider his writing perfect yet, I think he has a gift of creating truly memorable characters, who I want to revisit over and over again. I also think that while there is only a six month interval between publishing Falling of the Face of the earth and Latakia, he already shows tremendous improvement in Latakia, which draggs much less and which besides the main couple has several secondary characters who are so very awesome. I also think that he can write superb action scenes.

  • I’d like to nominate Lisa Henry.
    I’m putting my faith and hope on this author to produce more books in the future that I will love as much as I did The Island.

    I think all of the signs are there.

    The plot of The Island is intense and the suspense is palpable, so that you become completely immersed in the story. There’s no shying away from a challenging storyline.

    It’s not just what is written by this author that makes her writing so effective but what she chooses to withhold. She cleverly encourages you to use your own imagination alongside her, so that you feel a real involvement and connection to the characters.

    I can’t wait for more!

    Bio: Lisa credits her love of reading to her grandfather, who had stacks of books in every room in his house, and to her parents, who couldn’t afford a television when she was a child.
    Lisa lives in Australia, and shares her house with too many pets. She still devours books today.
    She also has a television.

  • I’d like to nominate Blaine D. Arden! 🙂 She has put out a couple titles through Storm Moon Press this last year. (I think those were her first? Correct me if I’m wrong!) I just love the way she builds her fantasy worlds. It was especially cool the way she mixed CSI-like investigation with magic in her short story ‘The Forester’, which I think has a sequel in the works? Lots of potential, and she’s not afraid to take on the challenge of writing M/M/M, which I love!

    Titles out now: ‘The Forester’, ‘The Fifth Son’, and a few free ones – ‘The Storyteller’ and ‘Color Me’

    Book coming soon: ‘Aliens, Smith and Jones’ (I don’t read much Sci-Fi, but I’d give it a go with this author!)

    Here’s her bio…

    Blaine is a purple haired, forty-something writer of gay fiction with a love of men, music, mystery, magic, fairies (the pointy eared ones), platform shoes and the colours black, purple and red.

    Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent many hours of her sheltered youth reading, day dreaming, making up stories and acting them out with her barbies.

    Though she wrote her first gay fiction as a teenager, Blaine’s true inspiration comes from the wonderful gay romance called ‘Beautiful Thing’—an adaptation of the play by Jonathan Harvey—through which she gained some very dear gay friends and a postponed bout of puberty that caused an introverted and shy Blaine to finally grow into herself.

    Supporting Blaine in all matters regarding household, teenagers, cairn terrier Kendra and pursuing her dreams, is her long-suffering husband for over twenty years.

    When not writing, reading or at choir practice, Blaine has singing lessons and hopes to be in a band someday.

  • I’d like to nominate Edmond Manning. For me, King Perry was easily the best book I’ve read so far this year.

    Edmond Manning has always been fascinated by fiction: how ordinary words could be sculpted into heartfelt emotions, how heartfelt emotions could leave an imprint inside you stronger than the real world. Mr. Manning never felt worthy to seek publication until recently, when he accidentally stumbled into his own writer’s voice that fit perfectly, like his favorite skull-print, fuzzy jammies. He finally realized that he didn’t have to write like Charles Dickens or Armistead Maupin, two author heroes, and that perhaps his own fiction was juuuuuuust right, because it was his true voice, so he looked around the scrappy word kingdom that he created for himself and shouted, “I’M HOME!” He is now a writer.

  • I would like to nominate Piper Vaughn, author of “Moonlight Becomes You”, “The Luckiest”, “Wanting” and “Zombie Wonderland”, to name a few.

    Bio: Piper Vaughn wrote her first love story at eleven and never looked back. Since then, she’s known that writing in some form was exactly what she wanted to do. A reader at the core, Piper loves nothing more than getting lost in a great book—fantasy, young adult, romance, she loves them all (and has a thousand book library to prove it!). She grew up in Chicago, in an ethnically diverse neighborhood, and loves to put faces and characters of every ethnicity in her stories, so her fictional worlds are as colorful as the real one. Above all, she believes that everyone needs a little true love in their life…even if it’s only in a book.

    I was first introduced to Piper’s work during the Hot Summer Days event, summer 2011, at the M/M Romance Goodreads group. I was impressed with Ms. Vaughn’s storytelling skills. For a romance that was only around 21,000 words, “Wanting” was rich in detail with likable characters and an entertaining plot and read like a much longer book. I continued to read Piper’s work beginning with “Moonlight Becomes You” and her books quickly became automatic buys.

    Piper’s most current story, “The Luckiest” was released in March of 2012. This book is part of the Lucky Moon trilogy co-written with M.J. O’Shea. Other than laughing at Nicky’s snarky humor, wanting to smack Nick for his douchebaggery behavior and falling in love with Nicky and Luka, I observed the growth in Piper’s writing from “Moonlight Becomes You” to “The Luckiest”. I believe that Piper Vaughn has what it takes to grow and develop as a writer and become a true force in this genre.

  • I would like to nominate Erica Pike.

    Her book A Life Without You(Boston Boys, #1)was fantastic! Her writing is awesome and her story was filled with everything I love to read about. I am waiting anxiously for Boston Boys, #2 Absolutely Eric which is due to come out on May 11th.

    Biography
    Erica Pike
    born-January 01, 1978 in Iceland
    gender-female
    website-http://www.ericapike.com
    twitter-usernameEricaPike
    genre-Gay & Lesbian, Romance

    About this author
    I haven’t been writing since I was in diapers, nor have I been an avid reader since I learned my ABC’s. I have, however, always been a daydreamer spinning tales after tales. After having exhausted every possible scenario of man-woman love, I started weaving stories of men who love men. I know! So much hotter. This time I wrote it all down.

    I live in Iceland with my adorable little twin boys, and I’m happy with what I have. I often say that my real name sounds like Klingon to foreigners so I don’t even bother revealing it.
    I’ve been writing for several years, or ever since reading became an obsession.

  • Hi guys
    I’ll be closing off this post soon as I think I have enough nominations. If you wish to nominate an author please do so by Sunday when it will be all over until next time. 🙂

  • My brain is only minimally functional this week, but do Damon Suede and/or SE Culpepper qualify for nomination?

    Also excited to find new authors!

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