A big, tough biker, Axel Bryant has used his muscle to frighten more than a few people over the years. Which makes it ironic how he's spent the last three years patiently trying to persuade Caleb Sullivan, the man he's loved practically at first sight, to stop being afraid of him. A past trauma for which Axel's looks are a trigger has kept Caleb fearful, but just when Axel is thinking he should give up on the younger man, things take a sudden turn. When Caleb makes it clear he's interested in Axel, the biker is over the moon. But with his violent past, is he worthy of someone like Caleb?Caleb has spent the past four years suffering flashbacks of the night his entire family was killed while he hid upstairs in a closet. He's finally found a good therapist, and, more than anything, he wants to be normal again. Axel's big, muscular build both attracts Caleb and terrifies him. He can only hope he's doing the right thing by reaching out to the man and not setting himself back in the recovery he's only recently made strides in.
Swish has been in love with Dante since the day the tough biker found him homeless and miserable in a gas station restroom, but Dante's never shown the younger man anything more than brotherly affection. Deciding it's time to move out of the MC's clubhouse and away from Dante, Swish takes a live-in job working in a privately-owned animal shelter where he can continue his pet stylist business. What he doesn't realize is he's not going to be as far away from the object of his affection as he thinks. Dante's time of being a playboy biker is fast coming to a close. At summer's end he turns 30, and that means fulfilling his promise to his parents and returning to high society in the Hamptons. That dim prospect should be all Dante can think about, only Swish is moving out, and suddenly Dante can't do anything but obsess over the kid he's always thought of as a younger brother. Telling himself he's only making sure Swish is doing okay on his own, Dante takes a summer job landscaping at the animal shelter where Swish has taken a job. There he learns a few things about the young man he's never bothered to find out before, including that Swish's real name is Isaac, and he enjoys wearing a certain something under his jeans--something that Dante's surprised to find he would really like to remove--preferably with his teeth. When Dante gives in to his need for Isaac, the playboy biker quickly finds that disentangling himself from the man he once thought of as a kid brother proves harder than expected, and that perhaps after years of one-night-stands and partying, his priorities need to change. Only not in the way his wealthy and controlling parents want them to.
Through an interview-based study, Victoria Pitts has researched the subcultural milieu of contemporary body modification, focusing on the ways sexuality, gender and ethnicity are being reconfigured through new body technologies - not only tattooing, but piercing, cyberpunk and such 'neotribal' practices as scarification. She interprets the stories of sixteen body modifiers (as well as some subcultural magazines and films) using the tools of feminist and queer theory. Pitts not only covers a hot topic but also situates it in a theoretical context.
"This book is as seductive as the phenomenon that it explores. With courage, love, and joy, Frueh crosses into unexplored terrains of beauty and pleasure, where she finds a grotesquely captivating creature: Monster/Beauty. By illuminating her journey with thoughtful insight and engaging prose, she encourages readers to join her in her quest to articulate fresh ways of thinking about the aesthetic and the erotic and of theorizing the flux of lived experience." —John Alan Farmer, senior editor of Art Journal "Monster/Beauty is a daringly provocative experiment in personal and erotic writing and an important book for anyone interested in breaking normative codes of beauty, pedagogy, and authorial methodology. In a richly self-revealing text, Frueh proposes nothing less than a Rabellaisian re-ordering of aesthetic embodiments within social relations." —Mira Schor, author of Wet: On Painting, Feminism, and Art Culture "Giving new meaning to "embodied writing," this book goes farther than any other toward getting the body into the text. Joanna Frueh is a performance artist first-she is also an art historian, a singer, a poet, a bodybuilder, a professor, an academic celebrity of modest fame, but her performances collapse these distinctions. Frueh's intensely personal, intensely physical prose brings an aura of presence to the book that rivals the effect she achieves on stage." —Robyn Warhol, co-editor of Feminisms "This book is monstrous--full of gorgeous hypermuscular women, step-mothers, and vampires; full of ravishing muscular sex, classroom erotics, splendid aging. It is a performance in which Frueh explores and celebrates her body, its powers and beauties, and those of her friends and lovers." —Alphonso Lingis, author of Excesses, Abuses, and Dangerous Emotions "A welcome voice in contemporary feminist theory, Frueh's Monster/Beauty reminds us of the pleasures of thinking, teaching and creating in wholly embodied, sensual and passionate acts. Frueh poetically enacts the self as an aesthetic/erotic project, affirming the many different and beautiful selves we can become. It is a joy to read." —Marsha Meskimmon, author of We Weren't Modern Enough: Women Artists and the Limits of German Modernism "Joanna Frueh is a hero. I sleep better knowing she's out there writing and thinking." —Michael Cunningham, author of The Hours
Her professor just saw her mostly naked. Awkwardness is guaranteed to ensue. Proceeds for the month of release go to College Track (501c3), providing college scholarships and resources for vulnerable / limited resource populations. At collegetrack.org What do you do when your freakishly smart and wickedly sarcastic Research Methods professor sees you mostly naked? You befriend him, of course. ‘Kissing Galileo’ is the second book in the Dear Professor series, is 60k words, and can be read as a standalone. A shorter version of this story (40k words) was entitled ‘Nobody Looks Good Naked’ and was available via Penny Reid’s newsletter for free over the course of 2018-19.
Phineas Smith has been cursed with a power no one could control. Roark Lyne is his worst enemy and his only hope. First in the Darkest Court series. The only human student at Mather’s School of Magick, Phineas Smith has a target on his back. Born with the rare ability to tap into unlimited magick, he finds both Faerie Courts want his allegiance—and will do anything to get it. They don’t realize he can’t levitate a feather, much less defend the Faerie Realm as it slips into civil war. Unseelie Prince Roark Lyne—Phineas’s roommate and self-proclaimed arch nemesis—is beautiful and brave and a pain in the ass. Phineas can’t begin to sort through their six years of sexual tension masquerading as mutual dislike. But Roark is also the only one able to help Finn tame his magick. Trusting Roark’s mysterious motives may be foolish; not accepting his temporary protection would be deadly. Caught in the middle of the impending war, Phineas and Roark forge a dangerous alliance. And as the walls between them crumble, Phineas realizes that Roark isn’t the monster he’d imagined. But their growing intimacy threatens to expose a secret that could either turn the tide of the war . . . or destroy them both. Praise for the Darkest Court series “Stunningly brilliant.” —Mirrigold “This is such a fantastic series! The contemporary twist on classic high fantasy is beautifully executed.” —Wicked Reads “I am utterly infatuated with this series and cannot wait for the next book.” —The Novel Approach Reviews
When Tony left town, Cane accepted the guilt of having driven the sexy computer whiz away by rejecting him after a night of passion. Now Tony's back, and Cane wants him more than ever. But nothing's changed; Cane is still under the control of his ruthless cousin, and getting close to Tony would only draw the young man into the egocentric conman's orbit. Keeping Tony at arm's length, however, proves extremely difficult.When Tony returns to the Hedonists' clubhouse, he tells himself to stay away from Cane Winters. He knows there's more to the man than the shallow hunk-of-muscle Cane portrays, but Tony refuses to insert himself where Cane's made it clear Tony isn't wanted.When a twist of fate introduces Tony to Karl Bruder, Cane's powerful cousin, Tony swiftly becomes embroiled in the hidden side of Cane's life. Soon the two men realize the full extent of Bruder's nefarious deeds and begin to work together to bring the man down. This means putting their lives on the line just when their feelings for each other become too strong to deny--which is just the advantage Bruder needs.
Informed by feminism and the fields of anthropology and sociology of sport, this anthology investigates women's place in sport and exercise from a sociocultural perspective, documenting women's struggle into the sports arenas of male hegemony. The nine ethnographic case studies explore issues of identity, embodiment, and meaning in various sports and exercise, including triathlons, aerobics, basketball, bodybuilding, weightlifting, motorcycle riding, softball, casual exercise, and rugby.
“Barnes gets the story, and with the full participation of those brave musicians who attempted to interpret Beefheart's sometimes otherworldly methodology” – The Times Through new interview material, and with reference to reports and eulogies that appeared in the media, Mike Barnes studies the star’s legacy – putting the last two decades into context with the revelation of Van Vliet’s battle with MS.
