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When Sean Murphy meets Jeff Hayes in a park one day, he's charmed by the simple pleasure Jeff finds in walking his dog, and despite Jeff's guardian, Jesse, hovering over them, a friendship is born. Sean realizes there’s something different about Jeff, something that would explain his timid nature and fear of disappointing Jesse, and he suspects Jeff has been a victim of abuse.

In a country that has given up hope, Pastor Saul Thompson battles to keep his combination soup kitchen/homeless shelter open. Recently he has started to see Death, which he calls the Black Mantle, hovering over those about to die. Saul fears he is going insane, and only the moral support of his staff and his dedication to help the suffering keep him from collapsing. But when a man nicknamed Pink Cap comes to the soup kitchen, everything changes… it may be the Christmas miracle Saul needs to survive. A story from the Dreamspinner Press 2012 Advent Calendar package "Evergreen."

Zephyr “Zef” Kokinos has just settled into his job as sheriff of a small ranching town when he gets a call to log a report for an animal shooting. He meets Bobby Joe Decker, foreman of Stendhal’s Stand and everything Zef has always looked for in a cowboy. But the real surprise is that Bobby Joe is aka “fckgfired,” a friend Zef has become close to online. Bobby Joe only recently discovered the Internet.

Charlie thinks his Friday will be the same as any other working as an animator, until Quinn Fitzgerald and his rescued Asiatic Lion, Aseem, walk into the studio. While the lion is impressive, his handler is the real reason Charlie’s heart skips a beat. Quinn has devoted years of his life to rescuing big cats, so he can’t turn down the donation the animation company is offering in exchange for using one of his cats as a model. Charlie isn’t quite as confident as the handsome, charming man his sister teasingly calls Sex God Quinn Fitzgerald.

When Benny and Stuart first meet on the bus, it seems like they have nothing in common. Stuart is an up-and-coming ad agency rep. Benny drives a bus Stuart takes when he's too drunk to get behind the wheel. Benny’s a doting father to a little girl who’s his whole world. Stuart’s not sure he ever wants kids. Despite their differences, their shared circumstances bind them together. Benny and Stuart are both expecting unplanned children with women they don’t love. They’ve both spent too much time hiding from their true selves.

A Ren Faire Romance Dale O’Toole, aka Diederik, the Demon Duke of Denmark, takes his Renaissance festivals seriously. He has been on the jousting circuit for five years and enjoys his gypsy lifestyle, traveling to faires around the country. It’s fun and he has good friends. Austin Renfro has worked in a pirate gift shop at the Colorado Renaissance Festival for several years but has a life outside the medieval fantasy world.

1131, The Silk Road. Gallienus of Constantinople, a scarred soldier who used to work the city gates, enters a new phase of his life when he meets and falls in love with Misahuen of Gyeongju. But prejudice of same-sex relationships dominates Byzantine society, and both the Emperor and the Church denounce such love. Should Misahuen and Gallienus be discovered, the punishment is castration or death. Fearing he’ll lose Misahuen, Gallienus decides to go with Misahuen when he leaves the city forever.

Vinnie Bernardi wants to leave his past as a repressed rich boy behind and find himself as a proud, gay submissive. Unfortunately, there's only one man who has ever successfully dominated him, and that man is unattainable. But Vinnie is slowly falling apart and needs a top to help him hold it together, so he decides to go ahead and make his move on Charleston, the military academy instructor at the center of his very favorite fantasies.

Screenwriter Nick Conte left sleepy Sweetwater Springs for the glitz and glamor of Hollywood only to be crushed by the reality of tourist traps, fast-food joints and disappointed dreamers. Serving coffee by day and toiling away on scripts at night, Nick is busy but comfortable until his neighbor, wannabe actor Dean Winship, stumbles into his apartment and his life. As their friendship and their careers take off, Nick decides he wants more, but Dean puts him off, saying only that his life is too complicated already.

Dorian Grant is king of the New Orleans underworld, but he isn’t mafia and doesn’t appreciate the assumption. He’s simply a crude businessman anyone in his right mind would think twice about screwing over. Life in the Big Easy is all about sin, and violent, short-tempered Dorian has committed them all. But not all New Orleans sins leave a bad taste in the mouth, as Dorian discovers the night a man stage-named Sweet Heat dances into his life at a club called Sin and Seduction. Dorian was expecting a hot lay.