Showing results by author "Edward C. Patterson" in All Categories

Lord Belmundus – The Omnibus One is a compilation of Books 1 through 5 of The Adventures of Lord Belmundus, a remarkable tale of other worlds, strange customs, beauty and warfare; and, in its grips, lands a young celebrity, who has the chaps to play the many parts this great journey requires. It includes the complete contents of: Book 1 – The Rise of Lord Belmundus Book 2 – The Didaniyisgi Book 3 – The Kalugu Book 4 – Across the Forling Book 5 – Cetronia Strikes Back Each are available separately but offered, along with the remaining ten books in a three-part Omnibus edition for...

Martin Powers wanted an ironing board for Christmas. Instead, he got . . . Matthew Kieler, a non-returnable gift, but a gift that kept on giving. Chance encounters are sometimes the ones that most change our lives. He sold Matt a tie, but got more in the bargain - more than most people would want and more than anyone deserved. Although these lovers may not have had the pink American dream, they had it better than most, even as they faced a crisis that would change us all. Look Away Silence is a romance set in the time of AIDS, when ignorance could spell trouble and often did. It encompasses...

“China Hands! To Me!” A green fog has engulfed the Wei River Valley. The First Emperor’s tomb is mysteriously rumbling. The Big Goose Pagoda is glowing like a lighthouse. And to blame? A bunch of Americans stranded in the consulate at Bei-jing, who, at the end of the last installment, came bursting through a portal in the People’s History Museum. “China Hands! To Me!” With that command, Rowden Gray has summoned his forces to return to the action - to the Dragon’s Pool in the shadow of Her hem, where the Jade Owl’s overlord commands an army of creatures, engineering the end ...

"A bigger fool the world has never known than I - a coarse fellow with no business to clutch a brush and scribble. I only know the scrawl, because my master took pleasure in teaching me between my chores. Not many men are so cursed . . ." Thus begins the tale of Li K’ai-men as told by his faithful, but mischievous servant, K’u Ko-ling - a tale of 12th Century China, where state service meant a life long journey across a landscape of turmoil and bliss. A tale of sacrifice, love, war and duty - a fragile balance between rituals and passions. An epic commitment between two men to define ...

In memory of lives spent and lives cut short during the plague years of the 90’s, words come to the edge of ground broken and spill like tears to both mourn and comfort. When age takes its toll, we embrace it. But when the young are taken with no apology or succor, verses seem hollow and depleted. Still, the vibrancy of a cautious line, scrawled as an epitaph for all to see, can stir long past the fall and last beyond a spade full of loam. In the time of AIDS, I served with the new army of caring hearts who embraced those fallen — angels thought to be abandoned by neighbor, community ...

For all the softness verse instills, there’s an uncontained fire beneath, which burns until the skin wears thin and the flames burst forth. There’s a time for nuance and a time for hammering, not to put a too-fine ecclesiastical point on it — and this is the time to assure the word becomes the sword — the word provokes reaction. A mighty battle is being fought by the cultural warriors in the land — a war to be recognized as equal and unique. Normal is an ubiquitous label not fit for the American collective conscious. It runs counter to the soul of the nation. So, sometimes soft ...

Pacific Crimson — Forget Me Not is a tribute in verse to the men and women who fought War II in the Pacific. The world owes more than it could ever muster to these defenders of freedom during humankind’s deepest, darkest and dire hours — a century rivaling the bleakest days in human history. Still, when the lights went out, the lamps came on. It was the everyday citizen, who suffered, but it was the everyday citizen who lifted the lamps and gave their sweat and lives to assure the world would be free of the more bestial end of tyranny’s spectrum. These verses seek to capture the ...

From the dim, dark reaches under the overpass, sits a man with a story — a tale he’ll tell to anyone who will listen. His name — Vincent Cassidy. His occupation — well, he’ll tell you himself. His fall from grace — a strange encounter in a mirror and his own misguided curiosity. From the pinnacle to the pit, come listen to his tale. The Twinning of Vincent Cassidy is a short fiction piece meant to tantalize you for an evening unless you decide to read it twice, in which case, be prepared to double the experience and magnify the outcome.

When deep in the soul the true self stirs and arises to remove the mask; when nature overtakes art and courageously comes out of the night into the day; when the closet opens and fills the room with light — then we have The Awakening. Capturing the heart-soaring moment when a person faces themselves and then the world — a brave new world, which calls forth the best and heals the lies, is a momentous time. Like the first fireflies on a summer night, to share yourself with first one person; and then another, and then those closest and those furthest until the world knows — a world fresh...

Do ghosts mourn the living? Perry Chaplin is in mourning for his life partner, Bobby - a time of stress, notwithstanding. The more he drifts, the more he becomes unhinged until he's one room short of a rubber one. "Get a grip, Perry." So he takes his chances on a blind date, which further plunges him along the nightmare highway. He gets an unsought lesson in life-after-death that turns his bereavement into a horrific adventure. Come peek through Perry Chaplin's mysterious window. See what there is to see. Enter Our Lady of Perpetual Grace, where the holy water boils and the confessionals ...

“Exile is a state best experienced to understand. To spend thirteen years in a fly-infested wetland, slogging through jungle streams and unfurled on deserted beaches - to be blown hither and thither by storms and falling palms, is a lesson no book can teach. Still, I, K’u Ko-ling, had lived so long to tell of the fire, which heats the back until noodles could be tossed on it and stew made from the sweat.” Thus begins the sweeping fourth installment of The Southern Swallow Series - a tapestry of historical adventure and intrigue set in 12th Century China. While Li K’ai-men and his ...

Kevin Borden has a secret, and that secret is about to shake the world around him - a tame and suburban world ruled by his widowed mother, Sarah and peppered by his study-mate, Louis. Teenagers sometimes do the darndest things, but in Kevin and Louis' case, it's a stroke of wisdom wrapped in fool's gold. In a time not so long ago, in the days of JIM CROW and NO IRISH NEED APPLY signage, the world made hate clear to those regarded as the fringe. "Stay away." To those who know no better - or perhaps know best, such lines are only meant to be crossed, or why else would they be drawn. No Irish ...

Before the first Emperor conquered the Han peoples and the world came under the sway of Heaven, the villagers of Yu-shui-ch'ien paid homage to the creatures under Mount Li, pledging to keep the ch'i world alive and the feathered-kin's lineage intact. In return, they received a great gift - a treasure that promised them power beyond aspiration. Now the China Hands hear this prophesy from the three women. Now Rowden Gray must gather the relics to redeem the promise - to awake the sleeping and the dead. It is the time for the heroes to seal this pact before the Moon days devour the Earth. The ...

“Clothes don’t make the queen. The queen makes the queen.” It’s Santa Saturday in New Hope, Pennsylvania and Mother Asphodel is trudging through the snow to a gig at the Phoenix Club - her drag queen couture bundled in a shopping cart - her bony feet stuffed into galoshes. At seventy-seven plus, Mother has seen the glory days and, in the course of this evening, she’ll share those memories with a younger queen, Brooks MacDonald (a.k.a. Simone DeFleurry of The Jade Owl fame). Listen to these stylish dames as they plan Mother’s return into the spotlight, to shine once again in the ...

Welcome to Ft. Gordon, Ga - the Special Training Unit. It's 1967, the height of the Vietnam War and Private Winslow Gibbs has been drafted. He's two-hundred and seventy pounds and a bundle of nerves. He also has issues of a different nature, but in these days before the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, these are dealt with in the American Gulag, the Army's answer to the problem. What they don't count on are the ones like Private Gibbs, who want to survive it and serve. Based on the author's own experiences, Surviving an American Gulag is a story that the military would prefer remain a ...

The last time we encountered Nick Firestone (in The People’s Treasure and In the Shadow of Her Hem - Book 4 and 5 of The Jade Owl Legacy) he was a five year old scamp, precocious and filled with the spirit of adventure. Now he’s all grow’d up, as Simone DeFleurry would say, and itching for an occupation worthy of the scratch. It’s 2025 in San Francisco (post-earthquake of 2020) and things have changed for the adventurer as he wakes up to the sparkle of a rare relic – a Chinese hat-pin called The Sapphire Astonishment. This first Nick Firestone mystery will take you on a wild ride ...

A Journey from the Darkness Into the Light The closet is a dark and airless place, so when I emerged from it, what else could I do but extol the truth's glory over systemic lies - life's beauty in its infinite variety over societal servitude in its deafening prejudice. The Closet Clandestine is a paean to existance beyond the closet - seven peans, in fact - chapbooks dedicated to my OUTbound journey. Sensitive, bold, Gay and sometimes shocking, these are the lyrics of my journey from darkness to twilight to sunshine. Included - seven chapbooks: The Awakening Catherine and Other Poems The ...

Oh, Dainty Triolet is a compilation of three of Edward C. Patterson’s most popular works into an Omnibus Edition comprising Cutting the Cheese, Bobby’s Trace and No Irish Need Apply. Cutting the Cheese is a comic romp through the world of gay activism. Bobby’s Trace is a ghost story with an unusual twist. No Irish Need Apply is a teenage coming of age story in a world fraught with prejudice. All three novellas have been revised and expanded for this edition and are still offered separately as they are a triptych in three different genres. What reviewers say about these three works: ...

It is Chi Lin’s wedding day – an exciting time for any bride, unless the groom has died before the ceremony and the ceremony, as per contract, must proceed. Chi Lin becomes the Fourth Wife – the ghost bride in the House of Wu, a respectable Ming Dynasty household. But to keep her honor, Chi Lin assumes her role under the stern command of her mother-in-law and the disdainful eye of the First Wife. Still, as Mistress Purple Sage, Chi Lin survives, managing to bring fresh breath into this ancient household. Women in Fourteenth Century China played a subservient role. Most accepted their ...

It’s the golden time of year, when hearths are fired to chase away the chill; and hobgoblins are carved and set out waiting for the moppet parade. All that has blossomed begins to shed. All that beamed under the summer sun, seeks cover in the woodshed and warmth under plaid blankets. It’s a cozy time, when things mature, trying to cast off thoughts of winter’s coming. Words are brash and bronze, shunning silver’s hastening. The yawning of the year — my Gay October, creeps into my bones and spurs me to versify — quiet words and jocular ones and sly and pure. The ale bubbles and ...