2023 Winners of the Lesfic Bard Award

Action Adventure

The Paris Contagion

by CA Farlow

Global terrorism, bioweapons, despots, and a deadly new virus all combine to make the world an unstable place, particularly for Samantha Michaels, an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency, and for Cassandra Stanley, captain of a US Navy guided missile cruiser.


Fears mount as weapons of mass destruction are tested by North Korea’s Supreme Leader and a deadly pandemic sweeps through the world. When missiles capable of reaching the United States are tested, it’s clear North Korea must be stopped. Ripped from today’s news headlines, The Paris Contagion spans the globe.


Can the Supreme Leader of the Democratic Republic of Korea be stopped before Armageddon is launched on the world?

Fantasy

Elyon’s Ghost

by Alison Naomi Holt

Elyon’s Ghost is the second in the explosive new sapphic series, The Daughters of Elyon. This series introduces a world full of intrigue and adventure, one that pulls the reader deep into the lives of the characters and refuses to let go.


The story follows Sábria, the Arch Priestess, and her warriors, commonly known as Elyon’s Blades—strong female protagonists following the mandates of their Goddess, Elyon, who demands her warriors risk all to defend womankind.

Fiction

When It’s True

by Barbara Murphy

Happily married couple Beth and Kelly get a last-minute visitor for the holidays in the form of Beth’s womanizing ex-girlfriend Jackie, who boldly announces that she plans to walk away from this visit with more than just good memories.


When Kelly’s sister Paige arrives a day later, the sparks fly with Jackie. Kelly is determined to convince her sister that Jackie is not to be trusted. But Paige sees a different side of Jackie and puts her past heartache aside to give Jackie a chance.


Meanwhile, Beth and Kelly rely on the strength of their love to support each other through an unimaginable ordeal.

Historical

War and Solace

by Edale Lane

A battle-hardened shieldmaiden. A pacifist healer. Can the two find love amid the chaos of war?
From Edale Lane, the award-winning, best-selling author of Sigrid & Elyn, comes a new Tale from Norgevr!

Tyrdis is a stalwart warrior raised to value honor, courage, and military prowess. When a traumatic injury renders the powerful protector helpless, she depends on the lovely, tender-hearted Adelle to restore her from the brink of death. Is it merely gratitude or true love that draws Tyrdis to the healer?

Defying cultural norms, Adelle despises violence and those who propagate it, but when her shieldmaiden patient saves the life of her beloved little girl, she must reexamine her values. Could Tyrdis be more than a stiff, efficient killer with an amazing body?

In a kingdom steeped in conflict with their neighbors and internal strife, shocking secrets are revealed, and both women strive to ensure justice prevails. Can they overcome their differences to safeguard their friends, end the war, and fall in love, or will fate prove to be a cruel sovereign?

This Sapphic Viking Historical nursed-back-to-health, opposites-attract Romance is packed with action, intrigue, and mythical references. If you enjoy rich storytelling that brings the past to life, vivid characters you won’t forget, and a surprise twist on the way to a HEA ending, then you’ll love War and Solace.

Mystery

Stormy Weather

by Iza Moreau & R. E. Conary

Book 6 of the Elodie Fontaine Mystery series finds the high school sleuth trying to solve her first murder. Trouble is, the murder happened 20 years ago and a strong hurricane has just devastated the ancient crime scene at Maudry Manor–an artists retreat owned by a beloved author of children’s stories. To top it off, her new friend Bell is being blackmailed by someone who has embarrassing selfies. Both the murderer and the blackmailer will try their hardest to make sure Elodie fails.

New Author

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.

Paranormal

Haunted by Myth

by Barbara Ann Wright

Chloe knew her future would be boring. Every job pales in comparison to the family legacy: hunting monsters and banishing ghosts. But that birthright belongs to her mother and sister, leaving Chloe forever outside looking in. Until her sister dies without warning. Chloe gets the family magic, a lack of self-confidence, a grieving mother, a sarcastic spirit guide, and room for nothing else, especially love. And lately, someone seems to be summoning ghosts and protecting monsters, and all clues point to one very famous face: Helen of Troy.


Helen has spent hundreds of years running a sanctuary and rehab for the last mythical creatures on earth. And she has a huge chip on her shoulder about that whole Trojan War thing. Neither she nor Chloe has time for the other’s philosophy or to see if their growing attraction is more than skin-deep, not when there are some monsters that won’t be sent to the Underworld without a fight.

Romance

Always Emilie

by Alyson Root

Charlie Baxter has it all. A beautiful house, successful company and a set of tattoos that light women on fire at the mere sight of them. Not to mention, she’s tall and gorgeous! Life is good… Well, that is until her old music teacher calls insisting she return to her old school to take part in their annual charity ball. Charlie left Pickerton Academy behind twenty years ago. She also left behind the heartache caused by the only girl she ever loved.


Emilie Martin is an international superstar. She’s had fame and fortune for the past two decades, but what she really wants now is a break. Maybe a couple of weeks in the English countryside and a visit to her old school is just what she needs. Sounds perfect, and it would be if it weren’t for the fact it meant seeing the one person Emilie has pined over for twenty years. The girl that got away. No, the girl Emilie threw away.


With both women on a collision course with their past, can they put all the hurt behind them and start again? Can they keep their hands off each other long enough to really figure out what they want?

Science Fiction

With Love From Planet B

By Zaayin Salaam

We ignored the climate deadlines. The bombs made it worse. Now it’s 2085, and the 6th extinction event is unfolding.


Zara is a master lucid dreamer, training her team in this rare skill, so that one day, if a suitable earth-like exoplanet is found, they can safely teleport there. It seems her dreams are coming true when Lex, her girlfriend and team mathematician discovers Planet B.


But Planet B won’t let anyone enter… Join Zara and Lex on their hero’s journey as they go within to find their real selves, and face new revelations about reality. Will they manage to cure themselves of the Three Spiritual Diseases that afflict all Earthlings? Will they get to survive on Planet B?

Cover

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.

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2023 Runners Up of the Lesfic Bard Awards

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

by Timothy M. David

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

Consecrated Ground

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.

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