Alex Silver's Blog

It’s been a little while since I posted in here. And in that time, I’ve had three more new releases. Papa Bear, The Willows and Stud Muffin. I meant to post about each of them, but with Papa Bear and The Willows releasing only a couple of weeks apart, ongoing health issues, and then my entire family coming down with a bad case of covid that lingered for most of November while I was finalizing Stud Muffin, it just didn’t happen. So here’s one big update!

Personal health update:

I’ll preface by saying that I’m alright and if you don’t want to read about health issues, then you can skip to the book updates below, but for those who are interested, here’s what’s going on with me.

TL;DR: I’ve been having vision issues that are likely caused by a treatable neurological condition called idiopathic intracranial hypertension.

I’m still waiting on definitive answers about some vision disturbances (flashing lights, double visions, reduced visual field) that have been going on since the summer. Covid made them worse. My optometrist referred me to an ophthalmologist who sent me straight to the ER for a CT scan to rule out a brain tumor, which thankfully, they did rule that out as a cause. But that was quite the scare.

And as I was in shock heading to the ER and thinking that the news might be terrible, it occurred to me that I am so very thankful to be able to write the books that I write about characters who are near and dear to my heart and there wasn’t a thing about being an author that I would change, so thanks to anyone reading this for allowing me to continue writing books I love, I hope you love them too.

Anyway, I got a positive covid test the morning I was supposed to see another ophthalmologist to follow up on what is causing the vision problems, since it wasn’t a tumor. Covid knocked me out of commission for two weeks, and then I saw the second ophthalmologist who sent me for a lumbar puncture, which showed that I have high cerebrospinal pressure.

It sounds like they think they can resolve my issues with medication, but I am still waiting on a followup post LP since the ophthalmologist I saw was on vacation for the past two weeks and I can’t get ahold of anyone at the clinic. I am hoping to hear from them this coming week, but I know the hospital system they are part of is operating at something like 200% of their capacity, so they are doing the best they can.

All that to say, I’m really pleased to have been able to get these three books out there into the world. And I wanted to do a little mini post about each book in here.

Book updates:

First up is my first full length mpreg shifter romance, Papa Bear. I got to play with some fun tropes. Single parent, enemies to lovers, a smidge of forced proximity and workplace romance. Plus, I got to play around with my own take on omegaverse and shifters, and after several contemporary releases, it was a blast to get back into the groove of spec fic world building.

The part I enjoyed the most about Papa Bear is the characters. I adore Bram, Ty, and his family. Bram and his love of baubles stole my heart. I also loved getting to write about Ty. He’s a genderfluid bear shifter and a single parent, and I loved the chance to explore her femme side and how they navigated their intimacy with Bram. The two of them had such fun chemistry. Plus, there’s Myra, the adorable eight-year-old bear shifter cub with a love of all things sparkly.

It was a blast to write about bird shifters in particular, since you may know I am enamored of birds, and I can’t wait to dive into the books for Bram’s clutchmates. And Ty’s mom. And Ty and Bram’s boss, Felix…let’s just say I have plenty more to stories to tell with these characters. Grab Papa Bear here: https://mybook.to/PapaBear

The second book I haven’t had a chance to post about in here is The Willows. I teamed up with three other authors for a shared world series about the zombie apocalypse and we had a blast imagining what that might look like through several stand alone books. It was great to collaborate with other queer romance authors on this series.

My contribution to the series follows farm boy, Marley and the great love of his life, Russ. The two of them were high school sweethearts, but life took them in different directions. I have a bit of a thing for best friends to lovers and second chance romance as tropes, and I got to include a genderfluid character in Russ, so this was a fun project.

Marley and Russ break up, but Russ is still close to Marley’s sister and the pair end up brothers-in-law when their siblings get married. When the world ends, they are united in their fierce desire to protect the family that they cobble together after fortifying Marley’s family farm.

Over a decade into the new zombie infested world, Marley and Russ embark on an epic quest to save their niece, and their entire community. The pair make their way across the entire state in pursuit of a promised cure, and allow themselves to fall for each other all over again along the way.

I had so much fun imagining my home state’s transformation after the zombies arrived and giving Marley and Russ their second chance at love. Grab The Willows here: https://mybook.to/Willows

And last, but not least, Stud Muffin. I wasn’t initially planning on writing this one, but Niko got real loud about having his story told after his part in Q’s story, Puppy Love, and he dragged Ethan and Clark in on his campaign as well. So last week I released the sixth book in my Summer of Adventures series.

It’s got polyamory with an established couple falling for a new love interest, Daddy kink, breath play, CNC, puppy play, Ethan exploring his middle side, best friends to lovers and second chance romance between Ethan and Nick while Clark and Ethan go from metamours to lovers.

The book is steamy and low-angst, but it also deals with parental rejection/transphobia, grief, and mental health. Ethan lost his twin brother, Leo, when they were teenagers. Not long after that, his father rejected him for coming out as trans. That caused him to lose touch with Nick and his old life. He later lost his parents before the book begins and is living in his inherited family home with his pet parrot.

So, Ethan has worked through a lot to get to where he is when Nick and Ethan reconnect. Nick struggles with his bipolar disorder after an incident with his job. And Clark is working toward finding a better balance between his demanding job and the family he’s making with Nick and Ethan. And each of them is there to support the others through their challenges in their own ways.

These three were clamoring to get their story out and it was a pleasure to let them tell me who they were and how they fit together. I love this story and these characters and I hope you will too. Grab Stud Muffin here: https://mybook.to/StudMuffinSM

So that’s it, my latest releases. Hope you’ll check them all out. Happy reading, and happy holidays!

This past spring I saw a call for an anthology and I knew I wanted to submit something. I’ve enjoyed getting to step into different genres for anthologies so far, and this little gem of a horror collection is no exception. If you haven’t read it yet, also check out my little cyberpunk short story Upgrade. Sci Fi was a blast to play around with and it’s part of Fix the World, twelve hopeful sci-fi short stories.

But this year, my anthology of choice is all about queer Gothic horror focused on the theme of sound. I love the whole Gothic vibe, settings that feel like characters, that sense of horror in the mundane. The idea that what’s creeping at the edges of reality is waiting for you right around the corner might not be as scary as the person standing beside you. So much fun to play with.

I began with the idea of Kev being haunted by his past and having that haunting embodied in his childhood home. Then I started writing and Kev and Bert leapt onto the page and I was tempted to make them a pure horror story. But then, at the risk of sharing spoilers, I thought about the sort of queer stories I wish we had more of, and really I needed it to end with hope. Not just hope, but with Kev seizing control of his future and taking his happy ever after for himself, without needing anybody’s permission.

So Haunt is romantic Gothic horror, and I had a ball writing it. I enjoyed working with NineStar Press during the publication process, Elizabetta was wonderful to work with. And I enjoyed working with the other authors involved to come up with promo ideas for it.

I hope you will check Listen out, because it’s a delightful collection of wonderfully queer horror stories perfect for the Halloween season. When I got the ARCs I was sucked right into every single story, they are all truly unique takes on the theme. And Listen: The Sound of Fear is out now, so be sure to grab a copy today!

I’ve got a few fall releases planned, but this week kicks off the start of my venture into the omegaverse. I’m excited to be writing a series where male pregnancy is part of the norm.

When I was pregnant with my kids, reading MPreg was one of the main ways that I dealt with dysphoria around pregnancy and societal expectations. Reading and writing about societies where things like pregnancy aren’t tied to a strict binary is something that I find affirming. As is the wide variety of less than binary sexes found in nature, so I’m glad to have the chance to explore those themes with this series.

My short story, Squirrel Trouble, is available now. Along with eleven other steamy heat sex themed short stories. Squirrel Trouble marks the start of my new series, Shift Work, all about shifters who work in a zoo, showing off their animal forms.

Squirrel Trouble is about Felix, a squirrel shifter and zoo administrator, working to help shifters with an emerging illness that threatens omega shifter fertility. Nothing about the conference he’s attending to present his team’s research goes right, until Thurston, a handsome alpha owl shifter, offers to share his room.

There’s just one problem; Thurston’s suite only has one bed and the airline lost the bag with Felix’s heat blockers.

Take me to the giveaway!

This story, like all the others in the giveaway, contains heat sex. It does not contain a pregnancy and there is clear and explicit consent before Felix’s heat begins. There are some great steamy short reads, so be sure to grab them all while they’re available (from August 1st to 14th)

If you haven’t read about Felix and Thurston yet, the next bit may be spoilery. So if that’s not your thing come back later, but here’s a fun fact about bird biology: (Highlight below to read the spoilers)

Much like the avian shifters in Shift Work, in real life bird sex development is determined by the dose of the Z chromosome (at least that the current best understanding of the genetics). While many birds are not sexually dimorphic upon visual inspection, most female birds develop a single dominant ovary. If that ovary is later lost or damaged, the bird’s secondary sex characteristics may revert into that of a male. So, the sex reversion from omega to alpha experienced by avian shifters with Creep in the books is based on that real life transformation in birds.

(Here’s some links so you can read more about the phenomenon of sex reversal in birds, there is even anecdotal evidence of these former hens’ dormant gonad developing into an ovotestis that is capable of creating viable sperm: Backyard Poultry article and Sexual Development journal article)

Pretty cool, right? Goes to show biology isn’t as simple as the colonial ideas about binary genders we learn in grade school. There’s plenty of other fascinating variations on sex found in nature, so stay tuned for more shifter fun.

The next shifter book I’m writing is Papa Bear and it’s available now for pre-order. It’s a single dad/parent romance and it’s about a genderqueer alpha bear shifter, Ty, and his mate, an omega raven shifter named Bramble. There are some fun bear and raven facts to discover, more steamy heat scenes, and an adorable kid. This one does include male pregnancy and kids and it is a full length novel, not a short story.

Pre-order Papa Bear here!

The Heat short story giveaway is only available for a limited time so be sure to check it out while it lasts, it’s got everything from dragon shifters, to humans, to narwhals, fantasy worlds to contemporary settings, and from tentacles to hot library sex, you won’t want to miss it!

Take me to the giveaway!

And if you’re still on the fence, here are the contributing authors: Alex Silver, Amy Bellows, Anna Wineheart, Brea Alepou, Corey Kerr, K.M. Neuhold, Mia Monroe, Reese Morrison, Roe Horvat, Vinni George, Wendy Rathbone, and Willow Dawson.

And if omegaverse isn’t your thing, I’ll have a fun new surprise for a Halloween themed release coming up soon too, so there should be plenty for everyone in the months ahead.

I’ve been wanting to write Q’s story since they first popped into my head while I first toying around with plotting out Summer of Adventures. This pup is near and dear to my heart and I hope my readers will fall in love with them and their Mommy, Kylee, just as much as I did.

Their book, Puppy Love, is unabashedly queer, just like the two of main characters, and I love that I had the chance to write their sapphic love story and bring Q’s surrogacy journey to life.

This is a story about love. The romantic love between Kylee and Quent and how that love grows through adversity. It includes platonic love between friends who are as close as family. It’s also about the filial love between Quent and their brother, Jared. Jared and his husband, Logan’s, love for each other, for Quent, and for the family they envision having. And the love Quent wants to share with a nibling. Love is the heart of the story.

Puppy Love is about how going through something difficult can both strain and strengthen the bonds of love. How love can give you the strength to do what otherwise seems impossible. And it’s also got some scorching hot sex scenes along the way. Kylee and Quent have an open relationship when it comes to their sex life. Their brand of ethical non-monogamy doesn’t include romantic relationships outside the two of them, but they do have sex with other people. There is no cheating and a guaranteed HEA.

Puppy Love includes puppy play, some mild chastity play, surrogacy, pregnancy (and related gender dysphoria and anxiety around medical care), ethical non-monogamy, light medical/veterinary kink, breeding kink, and boot worship.

Like the other books in the Summer of Adventures series, Puppy Love takes place over a summer while the kink club Quent and their friends belong to is closed for remodeling. Each of the books can stand alone, but be sure to check out all of Quent’s friends’ stories too!

First of all, happy Pride! It seems fitting that I’ve got two super queer books coming out this Pride Month. All four of the main characters are trans. The first pairing is M/M (leaning toward X for one of them) and the second is F/X.

First up is Picture Perfect, releasing today. It’s the 4th book in my kinky contemporary romance series, Summer of Adventures. My other June release, Puppy Love, comes out on the 30th and it’s the 5th book in the series.

Picture Perfect features Jax, a genderqueer kink photographer who isn’t a daddy and Connor, a pierced trans boy who works for a nonprofit and just wants someone to love him. It includes sensation play, e-stim, figging, wax play, mild caregiver kink with a little who loves to get messy (sploshing), tentacle roleplay CNC, and oviposition.

When I started writing about Connor, I knew he was the quiet one of the group at Adventures. It took a while for him to open up about who he was and what he wanted from a partner. And then he got comfortable with Jax and turned out to be chock full of kinky ideas.

That was what struck me the most about this pair, Jax has a knack for making Connor feel comfortable with him. And Connor does the same, for Jax, in his own way. The two of them fit together.

So, let me tell you some more about Connor. This boy had me looking up all kinds of things I wouldn’t have expected to see if they were actually feasible and safe for him to do with Jax, and you’ll see in the book that the two of them explore a ton of different sensation play scenes.

I enjoyed getting to know the two of them better through their bedroom explorations as they got to know each other, and I hope you’ll have just as much fun reading about them.

There are a number of hot kinky scenes. And there are also several personal touches that have a lot of meaning to me.

One of the things I loved about this book was writing about Connor’s big, loving family. I’ve been wanting to write about an MC with a genderqueer parent for a while and I love the relationships that Connor has with his modaddy and pop.

As to his blended family, I knew he came from a large family and then I outlined out all his siblings and their basic details, only to realize halfway through the first draft that I’d given him basically the same family composition that I grew up with, if in a slightly different living arrangement.

Like Connor, my step-dad is the main father figure who was reliably around for me for most of my life, so I love that Connor is close to his step-dad and that he feels closer to his family when they are apart through honoring his pop’s religious (Jewish) traditions.

And the story of why Connor’s parent goes by Modaddy is pretty much exactly what my kids called me for a long while before we settled on Papa, so that was a fun personal touch, too.

Which brings me to Jax. Doting dog-parent and photographer extraordinaire. Jax is more of a nurturer than he realizes. He’s up for anything and he has a devious streak that makes him a perfect match for his boy.

And like Connor, Jax is also trans (he’s a demi-guy, for Jax that means he doesn’t entirely identify as a man, but he is comfortable with his masculinity). That gives him a passion for helping other people to see their true selves captured on film. Whether that’s through his kink photography or gender affirming photo shoots for his trans clients.

So, I hope you’ll go along with Connor and Jax for their adventure as they make their way from friends with benefits to lovers in Picture Perfect. And if you enjoy Connor’s interactions with his bestie, Q, be sure to pre-order their story as well. Puppy Love comes out at the end of the month!

Puppy Love is an F/X t4t puppy play romance following an established couple’s journey through one of them becoming a surrogate for their brother.

And Picture Perfect is live as of today, so be sure to grab a copy at mybook.to/Picture_Perfect

I’ve got some cool news. If you’re into sci-fi anthologies, Other Worlds Inc has put together a fantastic book bundle for a limited time. The bundle includes the Fix the World anthology that contains Upgrade, my story of a post-apocalyptic trans cyborg who has to save the city after a prank gone badly awry.

On Sale: May 4th

Ends: May 26th

Website Address: https://storybundle.com/anthology

The Blurb: 

Escape Vector

Shout Kill Revel Repeat

Tangents & Tachyons

The Way of the Laser

Bonus Books (everyone who spends at least $20 gets these too):

A Metal Box Floating Between Stars and Other Stories

Beamed Up

Fix the World

In Harm’s Way

Into the Black

Lost Signals

Mirror Shards

Once Upon a Star

The Blurb: 

Other Worlds Ink is excited to be curating its first StoryBundle – Explore 200 Sci-Fi Worlds. We’ve included fifteen sci-fi anthologies and collections showcasing 139 authors and more than 200 individual stories, but it’s available for a limited time only – from May 4th to May 26th. This StoryBundle offers a large selection of ebooks from independent and small press fantasy writers. You can grab it now at

https://storybundle.com/anthology

This StoryBundle features a wide variety of themes – fighting climate change, exploring the far reaches of the galaxy, future crime, hopepunk, sci-fi zombies, space marines, exosapiens, LGBTQ+ heroes, and so much more. With 139 authors, chances are that you’ll find some new writers to love.

SFWA StoryBundles are curated collections of ebooks offered at a steeply discounted price. Readers who purchase Explore 200 Sci-Fi Worlds will gain a rich collection of sci-fi short story fiction, and can opt to donate part of their purchase price to support SFWA’s new Heritage Author Republication Program (HARP), aimed to help elder and disabled authors get their books back into print.

Readers may choose what price they want to pay for the initial four books, starting at $5. Spending $20 unlocks eleven more books that they can receive with their purchase.

Once May 26th passes, this particular collection will be gone forever, so grab it now!

Further details about how StoryBundle works are here: https://storybundle.com/faq. 

The list of books is as follows:

Core Bundle

· Escape Vector

· Shout Kill Revel Repeat

· Tangents & Tachyons

· The Way of the Laser

Bonus Books

· A Metal Box Floating Between Stars and Other Stories

· Beamed Up

· Fix the World

· In Harm’s Way

· Into the Black

· Lost Signals

· Mirror Shards

· Once Upon a Star

· Soulmates

· The Future Will Be Written by Robots

· Transcendent 4

Questions about the StoryBundle can be emailed to Scott at scott@otherworldsink.com.

I’m excited to have Service Call up for sale now. Working on Tate and Rory’s book was a joy. I even got to look at cute penguin pictures as research, since Tate is into them. The two of them had so many tender scenes together and I’m so glad I get to tell their story and explore some deeper age play than I’ve written before. I always love getting to play around with new kinks/experiences in my books, and I had a blast with this one.

In case you haven’t read the rest of the series, the second book in Summer of Adventures, Knotty Boy is a best friend’s brother romance about Luke and Monty. Service Call is Tate’s story. He is the best friend and brother to Monty and Luke. Luke is Tate’s step-brother and business partner.

When the story opens, Rory is newly moved to the city and Tate gets called away from his usual playtime at Adventures to deal with Rory’s plumbing emergency. So they meet over a broken toilet. And that is the same service call that results in Monty and Luke playing together for the first time in Knotty Boy.

Be sure to check out the entire series, available in KU. And if you want a short bonus scene with Luke and Tate before they were step-brothers, check out the group files in my FB group.

All of the Summer of Adventures books take place over that same summer, so the timelines do interconnect, so you get more glimpses of how the summer unfolds for each of the friends in the series and I’m very excited to share the rest of the series soon!

So, if you’ve read Service Call, I’d appreciate it if you leave a review to help others find the books you enjoy and if you haven’t, what are you waiting for? mybook.to/ServiceCall

I know, it’s been a bit since I updated with a blog post and so much has changed. I stopped updating the blog because I find it easier to post from my PC and for the past couple of years I’ve been working/writing almost exclusively from my phone.

I’m going to jump right in with talking about my current WIPs (and yeah, there are several in the works because focusing on a single task has not been my strong suit lately, they will eventually get finished). For the moment, I am prioritizing finishing my Summer of Adventures contemporary kinky romance series.

The next book, Service Call, features Tate (the best friend/brother to the MCs from Knotty Boy. His love interest is a trans man. And that’s sort of what prompted me to write this post. Fair warning, I am about to talk about STIs and genitals, so if that’s not your thing, click away.

Still here? Cool. I try to write sex scenes that address STI risk in some way, whether with testing or condoms or at a bare minimum discussing risks with a new partner. (We had discussion about why in my FB group, so check it out if you’re interested). But it turns out the answer to “can you get/transmit STIs after phalloplasty” is basically, we don’t really know, but we assume not since it’s not made of mucosal tissue.

Unless of course mucosal tissue was used for the urethra or grafts (like for scrotoplasty), and then we think the risk is present, but low. Also, if the person with the phalloplasty still has a vagina or is the receptive partner for anal, then they are at the usual risk of STIs with those organs (and yeah it is possible to have lower surgery and not remove the original parts in case you’re curious).

So basically, we don’t know and they (CDC and other public health organizations) don’t collect the information that would allow us to get an answer that is anything other than anecdotal. It’s frustrating, and that seems to be the norm for most a lot of health questions trans folks have.

The one clear answer I’ve found for this particular concern is that it’s a good idea to use condoms to reduce the risk of urinary tract infections post-phallo, because that is increased due to the lack of smooth muscle in the neo-urethra and PrEP/PEP are potentially a good idea depending on an individual’s risk profile.

And I’m posting about it here because stuff like this makes it feel like trans folks are invisible and writing novels with trans characters makes me feel like I’m at least doing something to make us that little bit more real and relatable. So, if you want to read the characters that got me started on researching this little detail, check out Service Call (available soon). As I mentioned above, it’s the third book in my contemporary kinky romance series Summer of Adventures.

Hello, I hope you got a chance to check out the massive MM Winter Wonderland Giveaway event to kick off the new year (Today is the last day, if you are reading this on January 10th it’s not too late to claim a ton of great free stories). If not, you can still get Roll for Initiative at Amazon, or free through Kindle Unlimited as of January 12th. RFI is the first installment in my new contemporary romance series, Table Topped.

Table Topped follows a gaming group as they find love. The group are all in the video game industry and work at the same studio in Vancouver, BC. It’s fun to write something based on a city where I’ve lived and a studio I worked at with my husband before our kids were born. In that sense it’s nostalgic to revisit old memories (with some creative license) with the Table Topped gang.

Gui and Pascal are the first two characters to get a story, and I hope you enjoy them. It was fun to play with their enemies to lovers dynamic. Exploring a sexual attraction before the characters really liked each other, with mutual affection developing later, was different for me, but I’m happy with the result and it works for these guys. They were a pleasure.

This entire series has been a joy to write. At present, Roll for Initiative (M/M) is out now, Charisma Check (M/M) comes out on the 18th, and Saving Throw (M/NB) comes out on February 1st. I hope to have Critical Success (M/NB) done by the end of February. The remaining book is at least halfway written, and is more lit fic than romance, but it’s M/M/NB and there may or may not be an F/F short story to round out the series.

RFI is the only book with two cis dudes as protags. The remaining books all explore different trans identities, many of which reflect pieces of my experience. Next up is Charisma Check, featuring Theo, who is a binary trans man in the process of pursuing his medical transition. Hope you check out the series!

Happy new year!

I’m kicking off the new year with a new contemporary romance series. And the first installment is free as part of a massively awesome Prolific Works giveaway until January 10th.

This giveaway is seriously huge and features some of the most popular MM authors out there. You won’t want to miss out on over 180 free stories full of brand new content! Available at https://claims.prolificworks.com/gg/JLTjVrW0AfEHpRji1K2z

My contribution to the giveaway is Roll for Initiative, the first book in the Table Topped series. It features Paz, a baker who needs a new roommate after his ex kicks him out, and Gui, an animator who is working on a tight holiday deadline while adjusting to a persnickety new roomie. It’s an enemies to lovers, novella length story.

The series follows a group of table top gamers who all work at Eye-On, a video game studio in Vancouver, BC. The group includes Gui, Theo, Errol, Laura, Pia, Jude and Max. So far I’ve written Gui, Theo, Jude, and Errol’s stories. Pia and Max each have a book in the works and Laura will probably have a short bonus story eventually.

Theo and Jude’s book, Table Topped, is available for pre-order now: www.amzn.com/B08R6J14VZ

Once Table Topped hits the shelves you can expect more Hauntastic Haunts to follow. Cheers, and happy new year!