Showing posts with label Hayden Thorne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hayden Thorne. Show all posts

Friday, November 13, 2015

Wollstone - A Gay Boarding School Story That's Also A Contemporary Fairy Tale Fantasy



Wollstone by Hayden Thorne


The moment Emil Gogean sets foot inside Wollstone Academy’s fairy tale-like campus, he realizes his freshman year in high school is bound to be a very strange one. The school itself, a uniquely romanticized boarding school for boys, boasts remarkable elements that appear to be deliberate -- as though a hidden power has chosen woodland details, a chapel ruin, and school masters who seem to hearken back to a long-gone age, with a clear purpose in mind.

When strange things begin to happen to Emil, an unnerving warning from his late grandmother returns to haunt him. A warning about Emil attracting the attention of the king of the dead.

Strange faces in wood patterns and mullioned windows. The apparition of a boy among the trees. The unfathomable feeling of sadness permeating the idyllic environment. Emil gradually learns that Wollstone is more than just a school, that the answers to a three-hundred-year-old mystery surrounding a tragic romance lie in the ruined stones of a small chapel and in Nature itself. And that Emil, whose appearance in school has set certain wheels in motion, will have to place himself at the mercy of three mysterious students if he wishes to learn the truth about Wollstone, the boy lost in the woods, and himself.

Add your review of "Wollstone" in comments!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Helleville - Gay Teen Paranormal Horror and Romance



Helleville by Hayden Thorne

All fifteen-year-old Noah Hipwell wants is to go through high school in peace. Yet he finds himself suspended after a bully pushes him too far, and Noah’s forced to defend himself. His mother, fed up with the school’s indifference to his plight, pulls him out completely and leaves Noah uncertain of his future while they look for a good and safe school for him.

All Dorothy “Dot” Hipwell wants is to go through single motherhood in peace. Yet she and her son are harassed by weekly phone calls from her evangelical family hell-bent on guilt-tripping them both back into the fold. Then Noah’s grandparents ask strange questions about their old van after dropping cryptic references to a group called The Soul Warriors. Fed up, Dot takes Noah away for a much-needed getaway, only to find themselves suddenly transported to an alternate world, where a town called Helleville awaits them and all other condemned souls.

Along with warm-blooded, living human beings, the Hipwells rub shoulders with zombies, vampires, house ghosts, and occasional “green vomit piles” while picking up the pieces and sorting out what could very well be an eternity in a bizarre, fanciful, and humorous world of ghouls and banned books.

When residents suddenly disappear one by one with no trace and for no logical reason, however, doubts being “housed” in an alternate world for their sins are raised, and time suddenly becomes of the essence as Noah and the rest of Helleville’s condemned race to find answers to what’s quickly turning into a dangerous puzzle.

Add your review of "Helleville" in comments!

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Gold In The Clouds - A Gay Teen Fairy Tale Inspired From "Jack And The Beanstalk"



Gold In The Clouds by Hayden Thorne

After his fifteenth birthday, Blythe Midwinter finds himself in a bit of a pickle. It’s high time for him to be a productive member of his family, taking up work he detests in order for his older sister, Molly, to follow her dreams of success as a talented baker. Though the three orphaned Midwinter siblings -- Molly, Bertie, and Blythe -- are lucky enough to work, they still earn only enough to keep themselves clothed and fed. Blythe desperately wishes for more, and it doesn’t help that his best and only friend, Jack Wicket, refuses hard, honest work in favor of good luck as the only means for quick success and instant riches.

Blythe’s dreams of a better life get more desperate when he attracts the attention of another boy, the youngest son of a rebellious old artist, whose family rises well above Blythe’s in wealth and station. Embarrassment and shame muddle Blythe’s perceptions of luck, work, and the promise of love -- that is, until Jack Wicket’s foolish decision to exchange his beloved cow for a handful of magic beans forces Blythe to look past castles in the clouds and understand what it is that truly measures a man’s worth.

Add your review of "Gold In The Clouds" in comments!

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Rose And Spindle - Gay Historical Fantasy Romance




"Rose and Spindle" by Hayden Thorne

Boy meets boy. Boy hates boy. Each swears never to have anything to do with the other, forever after.

Unfortunately for Prince Hamlin and Prince Edouard, history has a bad habit of repeating itself, and worse, each time the two boys run across each other, things get a touch muddier as well. Destiny and free will go head-to-head, the princes’ dilemma echoing the more baffling curse that’s been placed on Edouard’s young cousin, Princess Roderika. Doomed to prick her finger on a spindle on her fifteenth birthday and fall asleep for a hundred years as a result, Roderika’s rapidly dwindling time becomes an inescapable tapestry into which Hamlin and Edouard’s own fates are woven.

With the help of a magician princess and a crotchety talking raven, Hamlin and Edouard not only have to outgrow prejudices, but also find the courage and the will to define their destinies, even if it were to take them a hundred years.

Add your review of "Rose and Spindle" in comments!

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Dr. Morbid's Castle of Blood - Gay Superheroes Trapped!



Dr. Morbid's Castle of Blood by Hayden Thorne

Part of Hayden's Masks Gay Superhero series...

Following the attacks on Vintage City by the Deathtrap Debutantes, life quiets down, and the superheroes are temporarily without work. Unfortunately, unemployed superheroes mean bored superheroes, and with Peter's birthday just around the corner, Eric asks for help in coming up with the most creative gift he can give a boy who's got everything. Tapping into everyone's fondness for computer games, Eric enlists the heroes' help in experimenting with a video game in a desperate bid to amaze Peter with something unique.

What they don't expect is a game that's been sabotaged by an old nemesis. Eric and the heroes suddenly find themselves trapped in a horror game, forced to advance against the clock or be stuck in it forever. With three of their friends vanishing from the group, Eric and Ridley are forced to use their wits and their limited abilities to fight their way through monsters that are meant to keep them from finding the others. Outside, Althea as Spirit Wire, along with unexpected allies, scrambles to keep a delicate connection with her friends as she tries to save them all.


Add your review of "Dr. Morbid's Castle of Blood" in comments!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Winter Garden and Other Stories - Fairy Tales for Gay Teens



The Winter Garden and Other Stories by Hayden Thorne

The Haunted Glade:

Rumors of mysterious music coming from the wood prompt a small group of adventurous young people from a tiny village to solve the puzzle of the haunted glade, not knowing that the music is meant only for one boy. Realizing this, the village potter tries to discover who is now marked by legend in hopes of helping him come to terms with his destiny.

Out of the Depths:

It has been a year since Konstancji’s lover passed away, but rather than move on with his life, Konstancji works obsessively on a statue, which is the means through which he hopes to bring his beloved back from the dead. “Out of the Depths” is a gothic retelling of the “Pygmallion” myth.

The Dollhouse:

A strange force is at work in a magnificent house filled with revelers. When midnight strikes to mark Christmas Day, guests find themselves in the wrong company. The answer to the riddle, however, is
simpler than they think.

The Winter Garden:

Nicholas’ fragile health forces him into a life of isolation in his family’s spacious and paradisial garden. His life changes when a bold young stranger not only befriends him but also dares to trespass into his quiet world. The boys’ friendship deepens, their connection strengthening in defiance of dangers posed by the winter on Nicholas’ health.

The Knight:

A dragon plagues a tiny kingdom ruled by a weak king and is pacified only through a monthly sacrifice of the kingdom’s young people. When Prince Caedmon’s lover falls victim to the dragon, an act of betrayal is discovered. The prince recklessly offers himself as sacrifice to balance the scales, but a knight appears and thwarts his plans.

Erl-King:

Baltasar grows up in a world of absolutes, of black and white, right and wrong. In the countryside he stumbles across an enchanted land and its melancholy, ageless ruler -- a land full of color and magic, and a bond that defies everything he’s always known. "Erl-King" is a retelling of Goethe’s ballad by the same title.

Clouds' Illusions:

Five-year-old Simon, along with his parents and older sister Amy, go to a carnival one day. When a sudden deluge separates the family and leaves Simon alone and frightened, the child undergoes a journey of maturation as he searches for his parents and sister.

The Bridge:

Remy Pepin is orphaned, poor, and bullied by his employer. His only source of hope is a superstition about a lit candle sitting by a window, which is said to attract luck. Day after day, Remy lights his
candle and waits. One snowy evening, a boy appears at his doorstep, seeking shelter.

The Water-Irises:

Hugh LaCaille’s quiet, scholarly life is interrupted one day by a wealthy but obnoxious businessman who hires Hugh as a tutor to his young son, whom he wants to see grow up to be just as successful as
his father in commerce. When Hugh finally meets Aubin, he realizes there’s a great deal more than what meets the eye as far as the boy’s concerned ... particularly his curious and outlandish stories
involving a strange kingdom found at the bottom of a pond filled with water-irises.

Add your review of "The Winter Garden and Other Stories" in comments!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Renfred's Masquerade: A Gay Teen Fantasy Romance




By Hayden Thorne

It's a world of magic.

Impossible dreams.

Masquerades.

And unrequited love.

Torn from his family and thrust into that world, 16 year old Nicola, a boy with a disability who thought he had to stop dreaming, has to solve the mystery of another teen's disappearance before time runs out. 


Add your review of Renfred's Masquerade in comments!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

The Glass Minstrel - Gay Historical Fiction


By Hayden Thorne

It's the Christmas season in mid-19th century Bavaria...

Oh, I can't do better than Hayden on this, so here's the author's synopsis:
Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schiff­fer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their eldest sons. Bauer, a bril­liant toy­maker, fash­ions glass Christ­mas orna­ments and his lat­est cre­ation is a min­strel with a secret molded into its features.

When Schif­fer sees Bauer’s min­strel orna­ment in the toy shop, he real­izes that Bauer is strug­gling to keep his son’s mem­ory alive through his craft. At first he tries to fault him for this, but then rec­og­nizes that he, too, is seek­ing solace and heal­ing by read­ing his son’s diary, a jour­nal that reveals, in both painful as well as beau­ti­ful detail, the true nature of his rela­tion­ship with the artisan’s son.

Then there’s fifteen-year-old Jakob Diederich. The young man is bur­dened with his own secret; he devel­ops an obses­sion with a trav­el­ing Eng­lish­man who stays at the inn where Jakob works. The lives of all three men inter­sect dur­ing the hol­i­day as Schif­fer tries to focus on his fam­ily in the present, Bauer strug­gles to rec­on­cile his past, and Jakob copes with an uncer­tain future.


Add your review of "The Glass Minstrel" in comments!

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Curse Of Arachnaman - A Gay Teen Superhero Fantasy


By Hayden Thorne

Hayden picks up the story of Gay Teen Eric (after the series' opening trilogy - Masks: Rise of Heroes, Masks: Evolution, and Masks: Ordinary Champions) who is struggling with a new kind of closet - kept from talking freely about his relationship with Calais and the other superheroes.

Vintage City is under attack again - this time by an angry lunatic who will stop at noth­ing to purge the city of what he sees as "unde­sir­able elements."

Can Eric and his friends save innocent citizens and triumph over the 'Curse of Arachnaman?'


Add your review of "Curse Of Arachnaman" in comments!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

The Twilight Gods


By Hayden Thorne

A Coming Out/Historical/Ghost story!

London. 1851.

Norris Woodhead is 15. His family is poor.

And then, one day, Norris notices shadows moving in the streets. They're moving independently of the people around them.

And he understands. They are ghosts.

But no one else can see them.

With the help of the strange widow who rents a room in his family's house, Norris comes to terms with the shadow's secrets. And his own.


Add your review of "The Twilight Gods" in comments!

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Masks: Ordinary Champions


by Hayden Thorne

Book Three in the trilogy (check out book one here, and book two here) finds Eric a newly transformed super-villain sidekick!

The Devil's Trill uses Eric's relationship with Peter to gain an upper hand against the superheroes.

And Eric seems to be losing his powers and his will... but he has to do something to turn the tables on the Devil's Trill, and make things right, even if it costs him everything!


Add your review of "Masks: Ordinary Champions" in comments!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Masks: Evolution


By Hayden Thorne

Being a teenager in a relationship is tough.

It's even tougher when you're gay.

But it's toughest when your boyfriend is a superhero... and you're not.

In this completely addictive sequel (to "Masks: Rise Of Heroes"), Hayden Thorne masterfully puts us back inside Eric's skin and we feel every sweet, sexy, and conflicted moment with him. Vintage city is exploding - with supervillain attacks and with new teenagers coming into their superhuman powers. With his boyfriend Peter (the superhero Calais) and his Best Friend Althea (the superhero Spirit Wire) too busy fighting crime to hang out, Eric's left on his own to deal with angst, a libido in overdrive, and the stabbing pain of mysterious headaches.

Funny, thought-provoking, and real in a way that only the best fantasies can be, "Masks: Evolution" makes you want to stay up all night reading, hiding under the covers with a flashlight because you just can't put it down!

How I wish I could have read this when I was a Teen!


Look carefully at the blurb on the bottom of the cover:





Hayden asked me to blurb the book - and there, on the cover, is an excerpt of my review above... and my name. And even the name of this blogsite! My first blurb! Thanks, Hayden!

Friday, July 11, 2008

Masks: Rise Of Heroes


By Hayden Thorne

When 16 year old Eric is rescued from a sabotaged train by Magnifiman, Vintage City's newest studly superhero, his life starts to change.

You see, his best friend, Peter, is in love with him. Which is complicated because their best gal pal, Althea, is in love with Peter.

But the three friends don't have much time to figure it out - All around them, trains, banks and malls are being attacked by The Devil's Trill, the new supervillain in town.

And before they know it, Eric, Peter, and Althea are pulled into the war between good and evil.

Secrets are revealed. Masks are torn off. And Heroes Rise.


"Masks: Rise Of Heroes" is the first book in a trilogy - go Hayden!


Add your review of this book in Comments!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Banshee - A Gay Teen Book


By Hayden Thorne

In this Victorian Ghost story, Natty (Nathaniel) leaves the secluded village where he grew up and accompanies his cousin to the estate of the sophisticated Miles Lovell.

Natty discovers he's attracted to the more worldly Miles, and struggles against his own nature.

Meanwhile, his family is self-destructing, and if that weren't enough, the faceless ghost of a woman starts to haunt him. He becomes convinced she's a Banshee, a harbinger of doom.

If he's ever going to have a life to call his own, Natty must navigate all these perils...


Add your review of "Banshee" in comments!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Icarus In Flight


By Hayden Thorne

I'm super excited about this new release - Hayden's written a gay Victorian Historical Romance for Teens!

James is wealthy and hates school.

Daniel is penniless and ambitious - alone in the world but for a brother.

James and Daniel meet at school and become friends. Their friendship soon grows to something more. But it's the mid 1800s in England, and there's not much future in loving another guy.

Then James' father dies, leaving young James wealthy and beset with responsibilities. Daniel's brother also dies in a freak accident, and now he is truly alone in the world. Or is he?

Both young men struggle with their losses, how to live their lives, and how to deal with their love for each other.


Add your review of this book in "comments!"

While "Icarus in Flight" isn't officially out until September 2008, it is already available at some booksellers, including Amazon and Lambda Rising.