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Tales from Under the Desert Palm by Various Authors
Paperbacks
Editorial Reviews, Awards, and Accolades
Nat Burns is an award-winning novelist who lives in New Mexico. Her life has been devoted to the written word, whether poetry, fiction or journalism. She also retired in 2007 from a career as editorial systems coordinator for a medical publishing firm. She now writes full-time.
Her work has appeared in dozens of publications. With somewhat eclectic interests, her writing encompasses several genres and many forms. She is probably best known for the ten romance novels she has with Bella Books. Other fantasy and erotica books are with Regal Crest and her horror novel is with Desert Palm Press.
Kellie Doherty has a master’s in book publishing from Portland State University. She’s the author of the Cicatrix Duology (Finding Hekate and Losing Hold, Desert Palm Press) and is currently working on a five-book fantasy series. The first book, Sunkissed Feathers & Severed Ties, will be out in early 2019. During the day, she’s an office assistant and freelance editor, and by night she’s crafting adventures full of magic and daggers...and maybe a few dragons, too. She also enjoys reading, taking walks, playing video and board games, and hanging out with her friends.
My favorite lesbian fiction book:
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, by Becky Chambers, because while the queer romance is quieter than others, it feels natural and easy.
My old favorite has to be:
Harry Potter, by JK Rowling, because it made me want to be a writer. However, my current favorite is A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab because her characters are amazing, and her plots twist in delicious ways.
Connect with Kellie:
Toni Draper was born and lived most of her life in the Mid-Atlantic state of Maryland. These days, home is a cozy casita on a two-acre sprawl that she shares with her wife and their current pack of perros: Kona, Juneau, Tucker, and Ellie, deep in the heart of Texas. She has rescued a number of senior and special needs underdogs over the years and immortalizes them via nods on her pages. A Spanish Teacher, the language siempre seems to find its way into her writing. Her debut novel WILDFIRE, a second-chance lesbian romance, was published in July 2021.
Ellen Hoil lives in wine country on the North Fork of Long Island between The Sound and The Peconic Bay. “I can’t imagine living anywhere that isn’t near water and open space.” When she isn’t writing fiction, she does writing for her other career as an in-house counsel attorney.
During her downtime, Ellen enjoys her hobbies of photography and getting involved in local politics. She is an ardent Sci-Fi geek and can be found at various conventions. My philosophy on life is that failure is never the end, but only a temporary stopping point for a new adventure.
I was bred, born, and raised in New York and I have no desire to live anywhere else. One day, I would like to travel, but for now, I am content where I am.
I started out writing poetry in junior high. I wrote short stories throughout high school and college. In between writing, I managed to get a college degree in history.
I had fun with fan fiction and decided to try my hand in original fiction. I plan to continue writing as long as I continue getting ideas for stories and it continues to be fun.
Rae D. Magdon is an author of queer speculative fiction. She believes everyone deserves to see themselves represented in the stories they read, especially lesbians, bisexual women, queer women, trans women, and nonbinary folks. She has published over 10 novels through Desert Palm Press. Her cyberpunk novel, Lucky 7, received a Golden Crown Literary Award for Sci-Fi/Fantasy (2019) as well as a Rainbow Award for Science Fiction (2019). Starless Nights, her 2017 space opera with co-author Michelle Magly, also received a Rainbow Award.
A non-lesfic book that has inspired me:
Daughter Of The Forest by Juliet Marillier
Connect with Rae:
WEBSITE
TUMBLR
Jan was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and earned degrees at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She moved to the Washington, DC area, where she taught special education and mathematics for fifteen years before becoming a High School Principal and Director of School Improvement. She earned her Ph.D. in Instructional Leadership for a Changing Population at Notre Dame University of Maryland and taught Educational Leadership. Jan mentors new administrators and enjoys reading, writing, cooking, fitness, and volunteering while traveling between her homes in Annapolis, MD, and Rehoboth Beach, DE. Her most important roles are wife, sister, aunt, and friend.
Ann Tonnell is a retired RN, having worked in management for most of her nursing career. However, her first career was in typesetting and composition. It was not until retirement that she found inspiration to capture stories in writing. She lives with her wife in a small community in the North Georgia mountains just yards from the Appalachian Trail. She is a DIY dabbler and avid cloud admirer.
Books By Authors
Zayla was just an infant noxling when her bitterroot offshoot was destroyed by a terrible suncreature. No one from her home survived. And from what she knows of her Nemora history, she shouldn’t be alive either.
But she is. There’s a constant hum inside her, a shaking that grows more violent and painful each time she harnesses her crafting to do her bidding. Nature is clearly trying to finish the job the suncreature started.
Her only hope is to finish walking the path. When she completes this sacred rite of passage, she'll never need to use her crafting again. She has to get to Ratnaa Grove, her final stop, and the quickest way there is through the deadly Cinder Forest. With the help of her sibling Oryn and an alluring musician named Shadre who they met along the way, Zayla fends off bloodthirsty suncreatures and discovers an invasion of evil sun goddess worshippers bent on razing the Groves.
As she struggles to survive, betrayal lurks on every side, and her crafting demands a higher price than even she expected. But the fate of the Nemora Groves, and the world as she knows it, might just lie within her.
From the author of How Sweet the Sound, Not Sorry, Not Too Old, and Not Again. Photographer Karla Berne finds herself in the middle of a a ritualistic serial murder inquiry when her drone captures the image of one of the victims. Love interest Aspen Ambrose knows more about the murders than she lets on, walking a fine line of deception to protect Karla from becoming the next victim. Will Karla forgive Aspen in this novel of betrayal, magic, murder and romance?
Sixty something Sam Avery has sworn off new relationships.
Surrounded by supportive friends, she focuses on a cycling trip along
the east coast. The ride should center her and honor the memory of the
love of her life, whose dream was to be riding also. Avid long-distance
cyclist, Lee Floyd, is invited to sub for the missing Deb and sets her
hopes in Sam. While Sam gives Lee no encouragement, she is pulled in as
a nurse helper when Lee’s health takes a turn. Will this necessitated
closeness give Lee’s desires a chance? Or will Sam remain steadfast in
her determination to find her happily ever after in the company of
friends? Something unexpected happens when a chance encounter literally
knocks her off her feet.
From the author of How Sweet the Sound, Not Sorry, and Not Too Old, this is Ann Tonnell’s third Mountains to Coast Romance.
Valis Nyxera Aefbain, queen of the snow elves, must find a consort of magic blood as soon as possible. A dangerous secret slumbers beneath her palace and only a powerful ritual can keep her kingdom safe. Brynn Woodwarden, a wood elf with misfiring magical abilities, hates the snow elves. They killed her brother, Darrow, while poaching unicorns. But dangerous creatures prowl her forest home−twisted, Rotted things that infect anyone they bite. The wood elves can't fend them off alone. Only Brynn's unique blood is suitable for Valis' ritual. Only Valis has the soldiers and alchemists Brynn needs to stop the Rotted creatures. An arranged marriage is the perfect solution−but such a union might be more than either of them bargained for.
2024 GCLS Goldie Recipient - Fantasy
No scribe has ever returned from the Sunglade. It's a continent of burning sunlight and terrifying suncreatures, and the home of the worshippers of Ponuriah, the evil sun goddess. When Adaris Kavari, a disgraced wandering scribe with a lame leg, finds herself following her curiosity too far and gets captured by those worshippers, she's forced to record their side of history in order to survive. Much to the worshippers' glee, Adaris is also a Divus—a race whose crafting is used mainly to heal, and sometimes to hurt—and a terrifying young researcher immediately latches onto her because of it. But Adaris isn't the only prisoner here. She meets an attractive and snarky painter named Rhonwen with an unfortunate link to Adaris' past. Wanting to save them both, Adaris conforms to the sun goddess worshippers' ways while looking for an escape. She knows that once she's free, she'll have recorded a keystone story that would help restore her tarnished reputation and might even turn the tide of the upcoming war. The sun goddess worshippers' influence is strong, especially with the new elements of crafting Adaris encounters—elements that could turn her pitiful crafting into something new and powerful—and her scribe's curiosity twists into something even she didn't anticipate. As a scribe, she's recorded many heroes' adventures. Now, it's her turn to become the hero—by any means necessary. The Broken Chronicles - Book 3
2024 GCLS Goldie Finalist
Then becoming a teacher and high school principal, I also lived a secret nocturnal life−my triple life. Bartending in shady parts of D.C., I was hit by a rock, saw a gun pulled on my friend, and witnessed fights, arrests, and marches that pitted straights against gays. I jumped from girlfriend to girlfriend, courted a few straight girls, and dabbled in activities far different from the straight educator I portrayed by day. On the day of my father's funeral, my mother proclaimed her recognition of my gayness. What I hoped would be a celebration of love and openness was anticlimactic. I had wasted too many years. My father was gone, and I had lost friends rather than share my truth. Against the backdrop of the burgeoning LGBTQ movement, I became a courageous trailblazer and did my own coming out in a big way, I married a woman. Now I share my truth with the world and enjoy the happiness that honesty has given me.
Do not make the mistakes I made. Openly love who you love.
A serial killer's daughter must prove her innocence when a new killer starts copying her infamous father's heinous crimes. Karina Jäger has spent twenty years running from her father’s legacy. As the daughter of a notorious serial killer, she’s built a quiet life far from the headlines. Even Aubrey Peterson, the tenacious true-crime author writing her father’s biography, can’t ruin what Karina has made for herself. But when fresh bodies appear in Karina’s sleepy Wisconsin hometown, suspicion turns toward her. With a copycat killer at large, Karina must confront a darker truth: she may not be so different from her father after all. And Aubrey might just be too tempting to resist. Natural Predator includes violence, death, and a consensual love scene. It is recommended for mature readers.