Lovely, Dark, and Deep

by Michael Jay (Editor), Barbara Geiger (Contributor), C.J. Munoz (Contributor)

Wolves, fairies, ghosts, monsters, lost campers, witches... Fiction is rife with tales of what happens to travelers who ignore warnings and venture deep into dark and mysterious woods... and occasionally about what comes out of them.

» Before the Snow Falls (the Dead Walk) by Barbara Geiger
» The In-Between by C.J. Munoz
» Beneath the Hollow Hills by Althea Claire Duffy
» The Forest Prince by Hope Medina
» Dragon's Curse by Stephanie Rabig
» Jorogumo by Odile Mab
» World View by Charles Yoite
» All the Flowers of the Wood by Elizabeth Gray
» Princess Lily and the Dark Wood by Alice Brix
» The Tree Hugger by Lucy Kemnitzer
» Becoming Shadows by Khrista Coyner
» Macey by P. Talbot
» Uninoch by Michael Schutz-Ryan
» The Warmth of Home by Jamie Sullivan

Genres: Anthologies, Fantasy, Paranormal

692 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 3, 2015

About the author

Michael Jay is an American author, education advocate, and resort community developer whose award-winning memoir, Dog Water Free, explores the moral and emotional formation of a boy confronting love, loss, and responsibility during the defining years of adolescence.

Detroit-born, Michael attended Detroit Catholic Central High School with the help of an anonymous benefactor, graduated from Harvard College, and earned an MBA from Northeastern University. In his career, he has developed award-winning destination resort villages, including the Village at Squaw Valley USA in California (now Palisades Tahoe) and Tamarack Village at Tamarack Resort in Idaho.

Throughout his career, as a Harvard College Admissions Committee Alumni Interviewer, Michael has advocated on behalf of high school students across the Western United States, listening closely to the formative questions young people ask as they prepare for adulthood. That work deeply informs Dog Water Free, a coming-of-age memoir focused on the years when character is shaped long before clarity arrives. Michael Jay lives in Idaho.
AWARDS
Recognized as a Distinguished Favorite by the NYC Big Book Award Committee and honored with an IndieBRAG Medallion for Nonfiction, this full-hearted memoir has the engaging quality of a "truth is stranger than fiction" adventure.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Dog Water Free captures the turbulent yet transformative years between childhood and early adulthood. Called a “mother-son memoir of lasting consequence” by a past president of the Women’s National Book Association (Lynn Henriksen), this memoir of formation follows Mikee, a middle child. His early adolescence is defined by a maelstrom of fateful events involving a solemn, prayerful bargain made in response to his mother’s terminal illness and then irrevocably altered by the sudden death of his father. It begins in a working-class neighborhood in Detroit and ends on the island of Nantucket before the candles are lit to celebrate his 26th birthday.

As Mikee attempts to interpret grief through a child’s flawed logic, the narrative traces how values are absorbed, not through strict instruction or adolescent rebellion, but through sustained observation of a parent living with dignity under pressure. Rather than framing maturity as escape or rupture, Dog Water Free locates meaning in endurance, stewardship, and the quiet inheritance of conduct that could only be endowed by an enlightened mother whose days are numbered.

Reviews

[Jyanx · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an arc through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this collection of stories. While not all of them worked for me personally I loved the variety from romantic to flat out scary. I think the editor did a great job finding stories that fit the theme in a variety of ways, and I liked that the idea of the woods was used so broadly. It made for a great anthology. I loved that the characters were just as diverse as the stories, and that it wasn't just an m/m or a f/f anthology. It added to the depth, and richness of the stories and the collection. A great read, and it would be just as good read in sections or in one sitting (you know like I did.) A great collection of stories especially if you like fairy tales or anything on the scary side.


Deep Dark Woods 2 by khantheripper

[Riina Y.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a wonderful collection of paranormal short stories exploring gay, bisexual, trans-gender and lesbian love.

** ✮.✮.✮.✮. for the collection as a whole. **

Lovely, Dark, and Deep is a well collected and edited anthology. Some of the stories I liked better than the others, but that's the beauty of anthologies; there is always something for everyone!

My favorite picks would be The Warmth of Home by Jamie Sullivan and The Forest Prince by Hope Medina.

Individual Reviews to follow.

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Before the Snow Falls (the Dead Walk) by Barbara Geiger
-> M/M
Luke has been hired by his best friend's parents to find Kent, Jacob's little brother who went missing after joining a cult that turned out to be quite creepy and very dangerous.

The In-Between by C.J. Munoz
-> M/M
Beneath the Hollow Hills by Althea Claire Duffy
-> F/F
The Forest Prince by Hope Medina
-> M/M
Dragon's Curse by Stephanie Rabig
->F/F/F
Jorogumo by Odile Mab
->M/M
World View by Charles Yoite
->Q/T
All the Flowers of the Wood by Elizabeth Gray
->F/F
Princess Lily and the Dark Wood by Alice Brix
->F/F
The Tree Hugger by Lucy Kemnitzer
->M/M
Becoming Shadows by Khrista Coyner
->M/M
Macey by P. Talbot
->T/B
Uninoch by Michael C. Schutz-Ryan
->M/M
The Warmth of Home by Jamie Sullivan
->M/M
Josh lives a secluded life in the woods. One day he finds an injured crane in the snow. He takes the bird back home and tends to its wounds. They bond over the weekend, and for the first time Josh doesn't feel so lonely anymore. He wishes he didn't have to let it go back into the wilderness, and perhaps someone might even grant him that wish!?



Many thanks to the publisher who kindly provided a free copy for an honest and impartial review.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was able to read this book courtesy of NetGalley.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It is a nice mix of new and established authors, and a nice mix of FF & MM themes. All had an ominous feeling which might make people nervous if reading in the dark.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes paranormal LBGT fantasy with a dark side to it, especially if there is an author in the book they know and like. It is a good opportunity to learn about some brand new writers and maybe some you missed.

[Yue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Extremely badly edited: there is a giant gap between each writer's ability to write and their take on fairytales. Some stories were absolutely amazing, and some were incredibly badly written and unsubstantial.

This book would have benefited from a better selection of similarly-skilled authors, a better selection and direction of stories, and CONTENT NOTES.

Choosing a werewolf/detective/kidnapping/cult/rape/wtf-is-going-on neverending rambling mess of a story as first choice when starting this anthology was a very odd choice.

I really really tried to just skim the stories to find the ones I could love but got discouraged quickly and had to put it aside unfinished. There is no logical sense to the order and selection of the stories, no listing or descriptions to help me navigate the book; it was a chore to read through.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Featured on All Our Worlds!

Wilderness has always held a place in the human imagination as a place of monsters, of spirits, of hidden civilizations. These stories explore all of that with a huge helping of queer romance. The forest is forbidden, or the forest is home. The forest is full of monsters, or wonders. And when the outsiders meet the residents of these strange places, things are going to get exciting.

I liked most of these stories. A few were a bit too strange for my liking, or just didn’t interest me. There’s a huge variety, so there’s going to be something for everybody.

My favorites were Beneath the Hollow Hills, where a woman searching for food is captured by an elven camp who must then decide whether they can trust her, Dragon’s Curse, where an undead squire goes on a quest to help a princess and a dragon, and The Warmth of Home, where a man rescues an injured crane in the forest and gains a new friend- and then partner.