Celebrating Lesbian Literature
Did you know we buy the books of each of the winners and runners-up from Amazon?
This is so that we can leave a review for them because reviews are so important to authors. Even a small review can help boost the algorithms so that an author’s book(s) can be seen.
~The Lesfic Bard Awards, making a difference, one book at a time.
Action-Adventure
I’m Not Scared … You Are
by Ocean
Fifteen tales that delve into the unexplainable world of the mystical, paranormal, and supernatural
~ Spiders ~ Cemeteries ~ Skulls ~ Haunted Houses ~ Witches ~ And more!
Each story is uniquely designed to intrigue and delight while inviting sensations of foreboding, terror, and surprise.
Terrorsylvania
A Good Day Fer A Burnin’
A Grave Digger’s Revenge
Diary from Hell’s Waiting Room
The Incredible Ionizing Nano Aerosol Eliminator
Dolly’s Place
Witch Tit Mountain
Promises
Spider Island
Say You’re Sorry
I.M. Strange
The STP Moths
Handy Bob
The Fog Flashlight
Skull Castle
You’re invited to enter these worlds of the bizarre and unusual. Simply get comfortable in a dim candle-lit room and turn the first page.
Author’s Note – Some of these Sapphic adventure stories have been previously published as stand-alone offerings or included in group anthologies.
Fantasy
The Blood-Born Dragon Book One of the Everlands Cycle
by J.C. Rycraft
A bond she didn’t choose.
A love she can’t escape.
A creature so powerful it bends the limits of time…
Smart, sassy, and sanguine, Des Mildue is a traveling sellsword in Rescalin, a dry and dusty kingdom full of rogues, opportunists, and thieves. She keeps her nose clean, brazens it out with a blade when she can’t, and keeps others at arm’s length where they can’t mess up her plans.
That is, until a sword fight gone wrong leaves her tied by blood to the first dragon hatched in centuries. Suddenly, Des has to contend with a new voice in her head: haughty, willful Esquidamelion. Des wants to leave Squid by the roadside, but the blood bond has other ideas.
With half the world on their tail – including Liv, her beautiful, faithless ex who Des is definitely over – Des must search for answers for why so many are willing to kill, maim and torture to get their hands on Squid. But she’s beginning to suspect her blood bond has tied her not only to a dragon, but to a fight for Rescalin’s future…
…and no one else even knows it’s at risk.
Fiction
The Beginning of Goodbye
by Lark Sullivan
Would you follow your desires, no matter the consequences?
A friend, a lover, a stranger…follow the stories of ten women as they decide whether to risk everything to pursue the women they desire and discover the truth behind one woman’s journey to heal a broken heart.
Historical
Say Their Names
by Karen Badger
Jo Benson is a political science professor. Tam Allen is a cardiac care nurse. Jo and Tam met several years previously, at a demonstration protesting police brutality against the black community.
After several years together, they relocate from South Carolina to upstate New York when Jo is offered a tenured position at the State University of New York.
Two years after relocating, Jo and Tam purchase an old mansion in the Adirondack region of New York. History collides when they discover secrets about their new home that will change their lives forever.
Join them as they strive to discover who had been living in their attic for sixty years.
Mystery
The Haunting of Oak Springs
by Crin Claxton
Ghosts are rising at Oak Springs farm, and supernatural detective Tony Carson is facing her deepest mystery yet. Tony and her Trinidadian best friend, Jade, unravel clues searching for a woman who doesn’t want to be found.
Red and Chris are the last lesbians living on the women’s land farm, oblivious to the secrets buried around them. If developers start digging before Tony finds the missing woman, Red and Chris are in trouble. When an old enemy returns to the village, will the rural community of Wooly Mill side with Oak Springs, or will homophobic history repeat itself?
And while Tony and Jade are rallying the women’s group, a devious plan is spinning around them. The supernatural detective needs to watch her step. The past has long fingernails, and they’re clawing at the ground beneath Tony’s feet.
New Author
The Imposed Path ~ The Gem Keepers Saga
I’ve been called Hero, Protector, even an Angel. But to act in this manner, there must be an act of brutal savagery. Sorrow, terror, pain is the Hero’s experience. To be a Hero means to live in a nightmare.
My name is Emma, and this is my life now. I remember tales about heroes as a kid; full of excitement and fantasy endings. But those are just stories. When I got my powers they seemed exciting and fun; but then reality hit. Cosmic war, invading alien fleets, and the Stone Keepers; these are my reality. Those, and other atrocities caused by our own species, overshadow the hero’s path. Atrocities I’m compelled to act upon, which leave everlasting scars – others can’t see. Myself, my partner, and my new friends, are the latest chosen as Gem Keepers. All of the Gem Keepers before us have fallen to a powerful evil. Now, Earth is thrust into a timeless war, against an unimaginable enemy. We must somehow unite our world, or it will all be lost. The ones I love, those who bring me a sense of happiness, will perish. I refuse to let this happen.
So call me a Hero, call me whatever you want. Just understand this was an Imposed Path, and it’s just the beginning.
The Imposed Path is the first book in the Gem Keepers Saga. It follows Emma through her eyes, as she and her new friends are forced into a cosmic war. Powerful enemies, invading alien fleets, and the dark side of human nature; is what she must face. Emma’s new found love, and friendships; will be her strongest tools in overcoming these challenges. This series will dive into the dark aftermath of Emma’s many experiences – the physical and emotional impact of being a hero. Pain, sorrow, and terror fill this journey; will love and friendship be enough. How much can a hero endure? Will she be able to keep her promise to the one she loves, and Never Let Go.
Paranormal
by Virginia Black
Consecrated Ground is a multiracial lesbian paranormal tour de force that will leave you wary of the shadows and absolutely breathless.
Like her father before her, Joan Matthews is a witch. For generations, their family of binder witches has protected Calvert, Oregon from vampires by strengthening the land with spellcraft. Pushing back against tradition, Joan defied her father and left town to become a war witch, one who fights the monsters hand-to-hand. But when her father dies, Joan returns to find her hometown assailed by a vampire lord’s endless attacks—and the answers lie with the one woman who chose a rival over Joan.
Leigh Phan once believed her heart was safe and her future was set. When Joan left town, Leigh’s choices led to ruin and unintended consequences. Now Leigh harbors a dark secret forcing her to live a moment-to-moment existence. Her only hope of survival lies in trusting the war witch who left her behind.
Now it’s up to Joan to fight for a town she left behind, while Leigh faces a destiny she never imagined was possible. With Calvert on the brink of total destruction, Joan and Leigh join forces and face inconvenient truths in order to save their town—and each other.
Romance
Baby Bank: A Lesbian Comedy
By Sarah Robinson
Mila Torres is a successful divorce lawyer by day, stand-up comedian by night and by all accounts—except her mother’s—living a bisexual elder millennial’s dream life in Washington, DC. That is, until she realizes she’s only a year away from hitting the ripe old age of thirty-five and her doctor suggests at her annual pap smear that maybe she should consider freezing her eggs if she wants kids in the future. Except, she doesn’t want a child in the far future…she wants a child right now.
This poses a bit of a problem since she’s ten swipes past single and living Golden Girls style with two of her best friends who work on Capitol Hill and one ornery old cat. That is, until she hears a story from a friend about a free sperm bank online app called Baby Bank. A few margaritas later and Mila has swiped on over fifty sperm donors until she finds the perfect match—handsome, successful, brilliant, everything you’d want your sperm to be.
Now she’s meeting him at a hotel—along with two of her friends for backup—to complete the process. All should have gone smoothly, except when she learns that her sperm donor is the brother of the reporter that Mila has been dodging for months, and that while she originally only wanted this man’s baby, she actually wants his sister, too.
In a comedic story of LGBTQIA+ romance and millennial-specific drama, Mila finds that motherhood and dating are not compatible when you keep it all in the family and that the modern millennial woman might not actually be able to have it all.
Science Fiction
Unity
by Gina A. Pond
Jack Kirby, haunted by the memories of a failed colonization mission and the loss of his lover, seeks solace in a new position as Religious Program Specialist on a remote PreCol station. Surprised to find a new family in his colleagues– his boss, the enigmatic Chaplain Marsha Brooks, cheerful Ensign Jenny, and determined Ensign Mark– he is able to finally start healing. However, after terrorists target a ship from the AI nation of Survey, Jack soon becomes embroiled in an espionage game that has galactic implications. As the stakes rise and dangers loom, can Jack keep his new family safe?
Cover
A Perfect Fit
by Kellan McKnight
Ella Gardner is a high school English teacher and former volleyball star who lost out on her chance to play in college when she became pregnant with her daughter in her senior year of high school. Fed up with the direction of her life, she acknowledges her sexuality at thirty-five and decides to try online dating. While her first and only foray into that world did not work out the way she had intended, happenstance brought her into the orbit of the woman who would change her life forever.
Parker Chase is everyone’s friend and every woman’s conquest. She’s always looking for her next one-night companion until a statuesque blonde strolls up to her bar one night. She never believed in love at first sight before now, but can she overcome a troublesome past which leaves her feeling unworthy of any lasting affection?
The twists and turns on the road to love are never easy to navigate. And with a cast of characters that will make you cry and keep you in stitches from one chapter to the next, this story visits old tropes and looks at them with new eyes. Happily ever after free with purchase.
The Lesfic Bard Awards participates in the Amazon Associates program. When you click on the buy links on this blog or on our website, you contribute a small percentage that costs you nothing out of your purchase price, to maintaining the awards.
In our continuing efforts to help the authors who are runners-up and winners in the Lesfic Bard Awards, we buy their books (yes, we have the copies they sent in, but we do this for a very specific reason). I don’t know if or of any other awards site that does this. We do this so that we can leave a review on Amazon and part of their rules is that you must have bought the book. This doesn’t mean they will put up the review, they seem to be arbitrary about which reviews they allow up on what.
Now, our reviews are basically the same for every winner and then every runner-up. What I have tried to do is space out the reviews so whoever (or whatever, bots) that reviews the reviews before they are allowed up on the site, might not notice the similarity in reviews. But the day before we announced the runners-up, we bought all of their books (kindle). Then, the day before we announced the winners, we bought their books too. This gives us time to start reviewing the books after they are announced.
We hope by reviewing the books, those who read reviews, see that they have been runners-up or winners of our prestigious awards. That is, if Amazon allows it up. For some reason, it takes days and days or they simply do not put them up. I have put up the reviews, it’s up to them now. I know with the system Amazon put in place the ratings system has gone through the roof. This makes reviews that much MORE important to be seen.
When we review the book, we also put a picture with said review, making it even more noticeable. Those that won an award, get the award beside our review. The same with those who were runners-up, which is just as important. We want to promote their book and support it. They did a lot of hard work to get it to this stage and we are doing a lot of hard work to promote it.
To those authors whom Amazon allows the review to be seen, please, capture and promote it further. It helps your book to be seen, at least that is our hope.
Here is a sample of one of the reviews they allowed:
I would encourage anyone and everyone to leave reviews regardless of where you buy your books.
If you haven’t seen the list of winners and runners-up, check them out here!
Read ~ Review ~ Support our Lesbian Literature authors!
K’Anne Meinel, Author, Publisher, Administrator
At this time we would like to thank ALL the entrants into the 2022 Lesfic Bard Awards. We received the MOST entries this year in all the years we have been running the awards. Our judges were kept quite busy!
Action-Adventure
Britt Evans’ working holiday on picturesque Santorini turns perilous when a Greek photographer plunges from the island’s steep cliffs. The death is ruled an accident, but the enigmatic Susan Marcello of the American Embassy suspects otherwise. She enlists Britt to discover the truth, but is it a setup that will take her life?
Into the mix sails Cassie Burkhardt, a windsurfing computer engineer at the archaeological site. She finds herself falling hard for the enchanting Professor Evans… and becomes, like Britt, caught in a treacherous game between Greek intelligence and a criminal enterprise.
A gripping suspense/romance blend set in the land of myths and ancient ruins.
Drama
Nicole, a socially awkward loner, hasn’t seen her family of origin or her hometown for decades. Blocking out the pain and memories of her earlier life, she’s spent this time honing her skills as a talented wildlife photographer. When she’s offered a dream contract for a book, she hesitates, realizing that she would have to return to her hometown to do it. She takes it, hoping she can enjoy it without seeing her family, the woman she had adored from afar, or dredging up the past.
Erotica
Syrene Harkman likes to be in control. She heads an award-winning global architectural firm, she designs things of beauty, she pays for the finest pleasures. When she loses one of the biggest jobs in her company’s history and turns forty-five on the same day, she does not appreciate the cheap, tacky, dive of a strip club her friends drag her to. With a half-decent whiskey in her hand, she decides to stay. What’s the worst that could happen?
Burlesque dancer and stripper Beatriz Rose has bills to pay, her grandmother to support and dreams of one day doing something more with that art-school degree than just repaying the student debt. She never expects true love to strike when she’s at work, but when it does, it hits her hard in the form of a steely, demanding and outright gorgeous woman. Bea breaks her own rules and finds herself in a client’s bed.
They’re perfect for each other but their worlds are a million miles apart. In the aftermath of a one night stand that flares hotter than either expected, the two women decide they’re meant for each other—but real life has other ideas.
Society tells them one night to forever is a fairy tale.
Fantasy
Amanda Hawthorne, Dr. Jen Dawson, and Detective Tommy Vietti volunteer to help in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Dr. Jen treats victims in the hospital, including someone once very special to her, but makes a new friend in Nurse Denni Russo.
While on a dark ops mission, Amanda summons her inner strength to avoid falling into old habits as she learns earth-shattering revelations about her Scottish ancestry.
Tommy feels like he’s walking on shifting sands as he transitions from a city detective to an international agent, relying on his gut instincts, drinking abilities, and shooting skills.
Roxy performs a highwire balancing act by revealing something life-changing to Amanda while deftly training Tommy and Amanda to operate in her clandestine world.
Roxy, Tommy, and Amanda might be outgunned and outnumbered on foreign soil, but they’ll never be outsmarted as they attempt to save humanity.
Fiction
Lucy Manetti is positively euphoric over her recent purchase of an old ghost town. Unfortunately, she failed to consult with her wife, Bea, before buying the abandoned village. Predictably, Bea is not as enamored with transforming the ghost town into a sapphic retirement community, but Bea’s love for her wife trumps her displeasure over Lucy’s impulsiveness. The mature couple hires Fiona, an expert at restoring old houses, and Saville, a certified electrician, to bring the ghost town back to its glory days.
According to the adorable real estate agent who recommended the pair, Fiona and Saville have history. Lucy detects a spark between the two young women and decides, against the advice of her wife, to play matchmaker, bringing her beautiful niece into the mix. As the ragtag team begins their work on the old saloon, they discover a lot more than they bargained for, including ghosts, long-buried secrets, an abused golden retriever, and maybe even love.
Historical
Attracted by passion, repelled by war. Can two shieldmaidens navigate battlegrounds of the sword and the heart?
A Viking sapphic enemies-to-lovers action/romance
Sigrid the Valiant is legendary throughout the kingdoms of Norvegr for her heroic deeds, but her love has yet to find a home. Now, racing on the heels of her father’s murder, a neighboring kingdom’s raids signal an all-out conflict.
Elyn is a young shieldmaiden with a score to settle, fighting her own insecurities along with enemies who threaten her homeland, but she suspects a more menacing danger lurks in the shadows.
When the two clash on opposite sides of their shield walls, sparks fly from both their swords and passions. But when they talk, the fierce women discover an antagonist’s plot has pitted their kingdoms against each other.
Can Sigrid and Elyn move past their suspicions and differences to forge a binding love and foil the villain’s scheme, or will the enemy’s assassins end their search for the truth?
Action, adventure, and intrigue ride together with romance in this enemies-to-lovers saga from the pre-Viking land of Norvegr. Award-winning, best-selling author Edale Lane brings history to life in this fast-paced sapphic novel.
Grab your ax and rönd and join the quest by clicking to buy now!
Mystery
Solving mysteries is her business. Finding love is her dream. Will combining the two get her killed?
Daring Duplicity: The Wellington Mysteries, Vol. 1, Adventures of a Lesbian Victorian Detective is a collection of five sequential novellas, each encompassing its own exciting mystery while furthering the story of Stetson’s life in London.
Victorian Era England. Stetson revels in being unconventional. So when society shies away from her independent nature, the bold woman creates an imaginary boss and opens her own detective agency. And her keen observational skills, convincing disguises, and Holmesian methods quickly bring in a string of tough-to-crack cases.
Struggling to squeeze a personal life in around a series of hazardous investigations, Stetson worries she’ll never find a woman of like-passions. But with her heart set on true love despite the risk, she carries on hunting for the perfect relationship.
Will her clever escapades lead to death, or delight?
If you enjoy crime dramas, Victorian era fiction, or a sweet lesbian romance, then you’ll love award-winning author Edale Lane’s Daring Duplicity.
New Author
My world turned to shades of grey as I squared my shoulders and turned around. The woman with the short, dark hair and the blue scarf was the only source of color in the coffee shop. I seemed to glide across the floor until I found myself standing by her table. She had been stunning from across the room; up close she dazzled.
Suddenly, there was Sophie….
On the surface, Jensy Willett appears to have it all: good friends, a storied basketball career, a great job, and most important, the love of her life, Sophie Barnes.
But there is a secret in Jensy Willett’s past that she will not share. Not even with her beloved Sophie. That vow of silence will have far-reaching ramifications when a chance encounter results in a disastrous decision. A decision that will tear at the fabric of Jensy and Sophie’s relationship and send them spiraling out of control.
Can their relationship be saved?
Paranormal
In Book Two of this Mystic Meteor Tale, the meddling spirit Lily is back in matchmaking mode, working with a few new cohorts to help two women find their Evermore.
Raven, a reclusive but wealthy video game developer, needs more than just a paid caretaker; she needs true healing to melt the cold core of her deeply wounded heart. She’s lived her entire life without love and trusts no one. Only once did Raven allow anyone close, but it wasn’t to be, and she vowed Nevermore!
Lynn, a gifted empath, seeks a safe haven not only for herself but for a little girl that she’s sworn to protect. Like Raven, she experienced an early childhood rejection. Although she didn’t close herself off to others, Lynn has never shared herself entirely with another. It has kept her moving on from one relationship to another.
The advent of a spectral raven starts these women down a path that can potentially redress these old hurts if only they can open their hearts to each other. Join these two women in their quest to discover if the spirits and fate will bring them together or tear them apart.
Romance
Cover
Lenora owned a bar and had a great family and friends. But two things were missing.
One she was working on and the other just walked into her bedroom.
Jess was new in town and just started at the South Bend Indiana Police station in homicide. Her partner Sam had to make a quick stop one morning and she followed her in not knowing this one innocent move could very well change their lives forever.
If you are looking for an honest look at what really goes on in a relationship with a good laugh or two, not to mention hot sex that curls your toes be ready to enjoy, Rainbow Roses.
Novella ~ Erotica
Emily – I like simplicity, calmness and I love routine. So you can imagine how much I disliked having to find a new place to live and a new roommate. River is cluttered, she is a tornado of personality, sarcasm and nerdiness that makes my left eye twitch. Not to mention her hellcat, Gizmo, who wants to kill me in my sleep. But, once I looked past the wall of sarcastic remarks and attitude, I saw the real her, the one that she couldn’t show to the world and seeing her in that light became a drug.
River – I have a five year plan. Keep my head down, work myself up the ladder at the law firm and keep my ass tucked neatly in the closet until I can support myself without my parents’ help. It was going perfect, that is until Emily walked into my loft, critiquing my grammar and telling me exactly why the Ravenclaw house was far less superior than Hufflepuff. She irritated me, like an itch I couldn’t scratch, until she wasn’t. Then she became the person that made me want to throw away my five year plan for, but how could I? How could I throw my career, my life away for my roommate?
Novella ~ New Author
You can see all these, including links and bio’s (where available) on the website!
Lesfic Bard Awards is a participant in the Amazon Associates program. This costs you nothing additional if you use our links above.
Every click on the buy links contributes a small % of the sale of the books to help us support our awards, advertising, and the promotion of the authors who are winners or finalists.
Stone Memory by Aimée
available on Amazon
Queen’s Ransom: A Fog City Novel by Layla Reyne
available on Amazon
Self-Published at http://www.laylareyne.com
Save the Date by various authors
Anne Roberts
Tagan Shepard
Jessie Chandler
Louise McBain
M.B. Guel
E. J. Noyes
Celeste Castro
Kay Acker
Dillon Watson
Cade Haddock Strong
Kate Gavin
Jaime Clevenger
available on Amazon
Publisher: Bella Books
Girl Island by Kate Castle
Available on Amazon
Publisher: Dark Horse Publishing
Uncharted by Alli Temple
Available on Amazon
Self-Published
Sculpting Her Heart by Annette Mori
Available on Amazon
Publisher: Affinity Rainbow Publications
Retrospect: The Hidden Life of Mac Scott by A.J. Forton
Available on Amazon
Self Published
Retrospect: The Hidden Life of Mac Scott by A.J. Forton
Available on Amazon
Self Published
Love Under Lockdown by Maggie McIntyre
Available on Amazon
Publisher: Ryeland Press
Secrets of the Strand A Melanie Lockhart Journey by Randi Goldleif
Available on Amazon
Self Published
Lesfic Bard Awards is a participant in the Amazon Associates program. Every click on the buy links above contributes a small % of the sale of the books to help us support our awards, advertising, and the promotion of the authors who are runners-up and winners.
Lesfic Bard Awards News 