I love M/M romance and its authors and want to give a few of the newer writers an opportunity to shine. “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. Last week I asked M/M fans to come up with the names of new authors who they thought were the real deal …… and did they ever respond! The criteria was fairly simple – the author must write M/M and not have been published in the sub genre for more than a year (give or take a couple of months), must not have been interviewed on this site before, and must be someone that the reader believed had the writing talent to become successful in this industry.
I’ll be featuring five authors in each post, so if your nominated author is not here today he/she will be in the post scheduled for July 23rd. You can continue to send in nominations of your favouorite new authors for a little while longer and it would be great if more historical, steampunk, or speculative fiction authors are nominated.
Some of these nominated authors in today’s post you already know, others are perhaps not as well known because they write historical, science fiction, paranormal, steampunk or something other than contemporary which we all know is the most popular theme. My purpose in profiling these authors is to give M/M fans a second and third look at them and an opportunity to become familiar with their work and maybe even buy some of their books. So instead of my usual Friday rant post, here are five new authors who readers think rock!!
Donald L. Hardy (nominated by Leslie and Chris Dixon) 
Leslie said: I’d like to nominate Donald Hardy. I thought Lover’s Knot was an absolutely terrific book–one of my top favorites for 2009. It came out in November and is his first book. Unfortunately, it seems to have gotten very little publicity– I just loved this spooky, passionate story which had lots of plot, terrific characters, a wonderful description of the setting and a totally believable (not tacked on) happy ending.
Chris said: I would like to recommend Donald L Hardy, author of Lovers’ Knot. Lovers’ Knot (Running Press, December 2009) is Don’s only published novel to date. In this novel he has created some wonderful characters whom we really come to care about, and takes us with them on a journey which runs the full gamut of emotions from raw passion to deep, abiding friendship. Donald’s great strength lies in creating scenes of real emotional intensity, and he is such a gifted writer that the reader finds him or herself completely swept along with the characters’ experiences. In addition to this, he has created in Lovers’ Knot a genuinely eerie ghost story which evokes a marvellous sense of the place and period in which it is set. I really cannot recommend it too highly and I look forward to reading more of Donald’s wonderful writing in the future.
I certainly hope he has more books in the works because I definitely want to read more from this author.
Donald’s bio
“A San Francisco Bay Area resident for the past twelve years, Donald Hardy moved from the east coast, where he had lived since childhood, while trapped in the grip of a midlife crisis of Biblical proportions, and lives in a small, tree shaded cottage with a very conversational Schnauzer named Schultz and too many books.
He began writing after moving west and dumping his television, and has gradually expanded his output. His first novel, Lovers’ Knot, was released in December of 2009 by Running Press to critical acclaim. He is currently working on a stage adaptation of Pride and Prejudice for the Butterfield 8 Theater Company. Other work includes Space/Time Magic, (as editor) by Taylor Ellwood, for Immanion Press, and his biographical essay Puppy Whipped was published in Paws And Reflect (by Alyson Press).When he isn’t writing — or catering to the demands of Schultz — he can be found onstage or in rehearsal with Butterfield 8, usually performing in Shakespeare with a twist. On certain weekends, he’s an avid Renaissance (Faire) Man — proving that even when he’s offstage, he’s onstage.
He has discovered, in the writing of this biography, that speaking of himself in the third person is strangely appealing, and is struggling with his desire to break into the royal first person plural. He fears he may fail, and so will end, lest he offend even more.
Donald’s website: http://www.donaldhardy.net/
email: author@donaldhardy.net
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Harper Fox (nominated by TJ)
TJ said: “I would like to recommend Harper Fox as a new M/M author. I thought that Life After Joe released by Carina Press was just brilliant. It seemed so fresh, the characters were original, flawed and believable. I can definitely see Josh Lanyon’s positive influence on her, although I don’t know how involved he was in her actual writing process. The writing was on par with veteran authors, the story was interesting (not something that I’d read before) and the sex flowed from and actually advanced the story and character development. What a novel idea! And if that wasn’t enough, the relationship didn’t seem rushed as we always complain about in M/M stories”
Harper has an upcoming novel to be released by Samhain Publishing on August 17 called Driftwood
Harper’s bio
Harper Fox weaves her stories from her home in rural Northumbria in the UK. She loves northern England all the more because it is the country of her adoption—her grandfather came here as a refugee from Lithuania during the Second World War. The landscape inspires her to poetry of the magical-realist kind, and her work has appeared in several British literary magazines. She is not quite sure why the area also inspires her to erotic M/M prose, but she doesn’t look the gift horse in the mouth.
Harper has been published by Carina (her first success), Samhain Publishing and Loose Id. She has written M/M stories all her life, and she hid them in drawers until the hard drive was invented. She loves being able to share her romances with a readership now, as well as the backgrounds they’re set against, which are some of her favourite places in the UK.
She is lucky enough to have lived for the past twenty-four years with her SO, Jane. She isn’t that old, really—they met when they were very young. Honest.
Harper’s contact information
wiki page: http://bookworld.editme.com/HarperFox
email: harperfox777@yahoo.co.uk
livejournal: http://harperfox777.livejournal.com/
******
Aleksandr Voinov (Nominated by Feliz Faber)
Feliz Faber said: “I would like to nominate Aleksandr Voinov. Aleksandr’s books have this “from the heart” feeling to them. I’m particularly fond of his sex scenes. There’s nothing repetitive, boring or mechanical 
about them, and they definitely don’t feel like chores, but are there to forward the story. Another forte of Voinov’s is the way he balances Plot with Sex: enough of both, but not so much of either that something’s missing.”
Titles: Deliverance/ Test of Faith/ Spoils of War/Burn/ Clean Slate/ Blood Run Cold/Risky Maneuvers/ Lion of Kent/ First Blood/ Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Aleksandr’s bio
Aleksandr Voinov is an emigrant German author living near London where he makes his living as a financial journalist, freelance editor and creative writing teacher. At 34 years of age, Voinov has written about 13 novels and commercially published five with German publishers. After many years 
working in the horror, science fiction, cyberpunk and fantasy genres, Voinov has set his sights now on contemporary and historical erotic gay novels. He publishes his non-commercial work as Vashtan.
Voinov’s natural form is the novel, as all short stories eventually turn into novels. Described as a “workaholic speed-writing freak” by fellow writers, a “creative writing class drill sergeant” by his writing ‘padawans’, Voinov is a self-confessed geek and has enlarged his days by 12 secret hours in return for the sacrifice of ten albino virgin pygmy hippos.
Voinov’s characters are often scarred lonely souls at odds with their environment and pitted against odds that make or break them. He described the perfect ending for his books as “the characters make it out alive, but at a terrible cost, usually by the skin of their teeth. I want to see what’s at the core of them, and stripping them down to that core is rarely pleasant for them. But it does make them wiser, and often stronger people.”
website: http://www.aleksandrvoinov.com
*******
Eden Winters (nominated by Feliz Faber) “I like Eden Winters’ books because they are honest. That’s something I appreciate very much in an 
author, her or him writing “from the heart”, even if the actual stories don’t really appeal to me. Especially The Telling has this quality.
The emotion between Eden’s’ protagonists is so genuine it’s almost palpable. Plus, I haven’t read a superfluous sex scene by her. She manages to create erotic tension between her heroes without them getting physical. Also I like her wry sense of humor, showed best in The Wish.
The only little fault I’ve found with Eden Winters’ books is the fact they are sometimes tinged with a hint of insta-love. But then again: It’s romance, isn’t it? Sometimes this just hits the spot.”
Eden’s books: The Telling/ The Wish/ The Angel of 13th Street/ Flame/ Tinsel and Frost. Coming up: Duet
Eden’s bio
Our heroine sits quietly in her cube, just one of many, typing, filing, and breaking the occasional nail, hiding her true identity beneath her clever disguise of nerdy glasses and business suits (with sensible shoes!) Frantic eyes watch the clock as she waits impatiently for the ruse to end and her true calling to begin.
With eager anticipation she drives her average car to her average home, and eats her average (vegetarian and completely healthy!) meal alone. The minutes tick by, and when the sun finally sets she leaps tall sofas in a single bound, shedding her disguise to take on her true super heroine persona! Is she in such a rush to save the world? Save the city? Save the neighbor’s kitten from a tree? No! She liberates her laptop from the evil clutches of arch villain, Hall Closet, and flings it open to free the worlds hiding within its depths. There are lonely werewolves searching desperately for mates, spoiled rich boys just waiting for her gentle caress of the keyboard to create someone who’ll truly understand them, and futuristic soldiers, gunning across the universe to save the men they love… No scenario is too bizarre! A time traveling pirate? No problem! Violin playing specter haunting a Scottish castle? You betcha!
When she’d not busily creating happy-ever-afters for fictional hotties, our heroine enjoys music, the great outdoors, and cruising down the highway on the back of a Harley Davidson.
Eden’s email: edenwinters@gmail.com
http://edenwinters.blogspot.com/?zx=b87e60eeaa225b56
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B.G. (Ben) Thomas (nominated by Angelia Sparrow) 
“I’d like to nominate B.G. Thomas. He used to write for Drummer and other gay magazines in the 80s, before growing discouraged with their demands for more sex and less plot/character. I turned him on to the growing field of m/m romance and suggested he write something. At the moment he has two shorts out from Dreamspinner and one forthcoming from Torquere.
Ben is a really sweet guy who is just getting into pro-writing again. His voice is unique and playful, his characters are very realistic. He brings a distinctive perspective, being a midwestern bear in his fifth decade who has lived through the freedom of the late 70s, the 80s’ AIDS crisis and all the losses and fear and the 90s with all its political stuff. Not to mention, Soul of the Mummy is an excellent little paranormal.”
B.G. Thomas’s bio
B.G. Thomas lives in Kansas City with his husband of over nine years and their fabulous little dog, Sarah Jane. He sees his wonderful daughter just often enough to miss her when she isn’t there! He has a romantic soul and is extraordinarily lucky to have many friends.
He loves science fiction & fantasy, horror, romance and more, has gone to SF&F conventions his entire adult life, and been lucky enough to meet many of his favorite writers. He is a “Star Trek” and Joss Whedon fan from way back!
He has written all his life, it is where he finds his joy.
B.G’s Books:
Soul of the Mummy–Dreamspinner
Just Guys–Dreamspinner
My Best Friend--Torquere (forthcoming)
Website: http://bgthomas.t83.net/
Contact B.G. at his website or through
gayphoenixkc@aol.com
Hello and good morning! Thank you very much for the nomination, TJ. I’m really delighted that you like my work. Big thanks to Wave, too.
Best
Harper x
Life After Joe was wonderful and I am so looking forward to other works by you. 😀
Write fast! I’m impatient.
Merith
You won’t have long to wait for Harper’s newest offering. I will be reviewing Driftwood soon. 🙂
Hi, Merith! Thanks for that. I’m writing as fast as I can 😀
Hi Harper
Thank you for writing Life After Joe, a delightful book which I read more than once because I can’t get enough of the characters. 🙂 I’m looking forward to Driftwood. Keep writing! I can’t wait for your new releases.
Oh, “more than once” is what we love to hear. A very big compliment. Many thanks, Wave x
I feel honored to see my name appear in this group. Thanks, Feliz, for the nomination and for feeling my work merits such attention. Thanks, Wave, as usual, for your support of m/m authors, particularly us newbies.
Hi Eden
I think you are more than deserving going by the number of quality books that you have produced in such a short time. I support the new authors because I know how tough it can be to make it in this very crowded field. It’s hard to make an impression if no one knows you’re even there.
WTG, Eden! Nice to see your name here. I’m really eager to read The Angel of 13th Street.
If I hadn’t been lazy, I would have nominated you too, Eden. And I really like your bio.
I just wanted to pop in here and say what a terrific batch of first nominees you’ve selected. Excellent choices all, judging by the excerpts I’ve seen. I look forward to seeing more of their work.
I’m particularly thrilled readers are taking to Harper’s writing. I feel the same way about it. Every time she says she’s working on something new I feel a rush of anticipation.
Here’s wishing you all lots of success!
Hi Josh
Thank you for dropping by to wish all these new writers much success. I think they all deserve it, and if being here gives them a little push then it’s all good, but it’s their writing that will take them over the top.
Harper is a tremendous talent – thank you for telling me about her. Like you, I get a rush when I hear that she’s writing another book and I’m looking forward to reading Driftwood her upcoming Samhain release.
Oh, hi and good morning, Svengali. You know I love to keep those rushes coming. Especially if there’s actually some writing to back them up. Er… there will be! :-0
xxx
Oh my! A whole batch of new authors to explore! I need to start hunting up new books by these authors. 😀
Thanks for the list!
Great nominations! The only one whose work I’ve read so far is Aleksandr’s, and I’m glad to see him nominated here — and I’m very interested to try the fiction of the other nominees. 🙂
Val
I think you will be surprised at the wonderful quality of the books from these new authors. I have reviewed Life After Joe by Harper and I bought Just Guys by B.G. Thomas recently. Lovers’ Knot by Donald Hardy will be reviewed by Leslie tomorrow, so there’s another author’s work with which you will become familiar and Eden’s books have all been reviewed on the site. As for B.G. Thomas, I’m not familiar with his writing but I will be soon since I bought one of his books last week, before I knew he was being nominated. 🙂
Yay! I had thought about nominating Eden Winters, but was too busy with other things (darn RL commitments!) to get the email in on time. I’m glad to see her listed here anyway, as I loved what I’ve read by her and look forward to reading more. I’m also glad to see you’ve extended the deadline; I can nominate one of the several others I considered.
Of course, this series is going to seriously increase my TBB and TBR piles, which are already longer than I have time for. Oh well, I’ll just have to work or sleep a little less, right? 😀
Jessica
If there is one luxury that we should allow ourselves, reading should top the list.
I think these authors will only enhance your electronic library so what’s the harm in spending a bit more money than you planned. If you run out of money you can always eat catfood. 🙂 Scrub that – I believe catfood is pretty expensive
Wow, I’m a “hot young thing”. Awesome. 🙂
Thanks for the nomination – and the idea. I nominated a couple writers myself. Donald was on my radar, but I have to admit I was completely ignorant of the others. Will check them out ASAP and remedy that.
Hi Aleks
Thank you – I did receive your nominations and they will be featured in upcoming posts.
I think that all the nominated authors rock and you won’t go wrong to check out their books. Guess you never knew you were a “hot young thing”. 🙂
Harper Fox’s Life After Joe is in my TBR file along with Eden Winters’ The Telling……so I guess this means I know what I will be reading next;) Thanks Wave for the insight into these 5 amazing authors. *runs off to find BG Thomas, Donald Hardy and Aleksandr Voinov titles*….cause I am totally intrigued.
I’m always happy to help you spend your money Elaine. 🙂 I don’t believe you can miss with these authors. More to come …..
@Wave: Well, I’m hot all right. *sweats* Bloody heat wave 🙂 Young…nah. 35 is halfway there (to assumed retirement age, anyway).
Hello!
Thank you! I really appreciate this nomination, and what a great idea. Since I’m still very new to this business, it helps me a lot finding out about folks I’d not otherwise know.
Thanks, Wave!
Don
Don
You’re quite welcome. Everyone who has read Lovers’ Knot loves it. Leslie is going to review it tomorrow on the site so you should check it out, as well as books by your fellow nominees. 🙂
I’ll make certain to check the site tomorrow for the review. Thank you!!
Don
What a great idea. I have read some of Eden’s work (have more waiting for me) and have Harper’s in my TBR file. Looking forward to checking out some of the other new names and all seem to be very worthy choices. Congrats to all the “newbies”. 🙂
Tam
I hope some day to congratulate you as one of the newbies. 🙂
Hi Wave,
You did a wonderful job on this. Again, what a great idea. I’m happy to hear that Harper has another book coming soon. I really did love Life After Joe. I will be rereading that soon.
I’ve also read and loved Eden’s work and would have nominated her as well, if she wasn’t already taken.
I am looking forward to trying the other authors profiled. You are seriously ruining my budget with all of these interesting new books to read!
TJ
Thanks for dropping by. I know how pleased Harper was when I told her how impressed you were with her writing.
Sorry about the budget but it’s much better to spend your money on books than on cheap booze and even cheaper men. 🙂
I promise not to post my review of Driftwood too soon since it won’t be released until August 17 (I think).
Thanks, ya’ll, for your kind words and encouragement. They are deeply appreciated. I look forward to your next new authors post, Wave, and will be on the lookout for the Lover’s Knot review tomorrow.
I thoroughly enjoyed both Lovers’ Knot and Life After Joe, and look forward to reading more by these authors. The other new authors look interesting as well.
I think it’s great, you showcasing new authors 🙂
Hi Joely
Thank you for checking out this post. It’s good to know that other readers and authors have enjoyed some of these books and I hope that others will get to love them as well.
I thought it would be a good thing to stop beating up on my favourite authors and praise them instead (but only for one week.) 🙂
Angel! Thank you so much for nominating me! And Jesse, you don’t know what this means to me. Your site is lovely and you not only made my day, you made my month! (((HUG)))
BG
Hello BG
I’m happy to see your comment because the site has been acting up this evening.
If I had known that being nice was such a good thing I might have tried it before. 🙂
Jesse – I think it is pretty darned obvious that you are nice – and yes, it looks like the posting is working now _ (((HUGS))) BG
Thank you to the lovely people who visited the post (my) overnight and said kind things about my writing. Thank you again to Wave. Being nominated meant the world to me, TJ. It’s tough sometimes on Planet Newbie and this is a *massive* encouragement.
Lots of love
Harper xxx
Hi Harper,
The praise is well deserved. Life After Joe was truly well done and it’s hard to believe that you’re a newbie. I know that I’ll be rereading it many times – that’s how good it is!
We are all looking forward to your next book (no pressure there!). But you have Josh Lanyon to guide you along the way, lucky lady. He is a really talented man.
Josh is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon all right, TJ. I wouldn’t be doing this without him – simple as that. It’s one thing to know (or believe :)) you’re a decent writer, quite another to have someone show you how to turn your gifts to good account. The other reason I’m soldiering on with this is the extraordinary amount of friendship and support I’ve found in the M/M community, from people like you who’ve enjoyed my work and taken the time to say so, to review and nominate and all the other things that make a beginner feel she might have a future. I’m not overly beset by insecurities (just the usual amount???) but nor am I what you might call over-confident, and your appreciation makes all the difference x
Sigh. I am struggling under the weight of my already massive TBR pile, which has just grown. I know how I’m spending my vacation, but can’t resist these glowing reviews, or a good book. I simply must get to know the other authors listed here.
This is fabulous thing you are doing, Wave, alerting us to new authors and sharing other readers’ recommendations and I am hoping that this will be an ongoing thing. Personally, I am particularly looking forward to any some steampunk rec’s readers may have. I have been reading SF/S and paranormal/horror for a long time already, but I just recently found out that I also enjoy steampunk. I only know of the ones already reviewed on your site, so here hopin’…
Keep up the good work!
Patricia
Thanks very much Patricia. Right now off the top I can only remember two recent M/M steampunk books – Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale and Wings of Equity by Sean Kennedy, but there may be a post on steampunk M/M books within a few weeks if I or the author I asked can find the time to do it. Watch for an announcement soon.